NPC Follower mods w/UNDERWEAR

[cleavagesweat]

so there are some NPC mods out there that have underwear on them bc they use diff body meshes? sorry, I have a remedial understanding of the magic behind the mods but let me see if I understand this:

 

- these mods are using their own body meshes and are completely standalone

 

- if one wants to change something like an underwear mesh on the body they would have to:

 

1 - swap the body mesh files to another (e.g. the default players one which I am using SoS so...)

 

2 - edit some files in nifscope?

 

here is the mod in question:

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/65347/?

 

if anyone can provide input on the best way to remove the underwear I wud appresh.

 

(see pic below)

[allsunday]

Lol. Just swap the meshes in whichever folder they are located. Copy. Paste (change names if necessary). Overwrite. Done. No Nifskope required.

[cleavagesweat]

the neck/body color is not gonna be all mismatched?

 

lol? no lol... there is no lol in skyrim

 

can u post a screenshot of the files in question?

[myuhinny]

Depends on the body you are going to replace them with some body meshes might be different from one to the other not sure on the texture files for them though as I don't play male characters.

 

Open the followers rar file and see where their body files are then go to your skyrim game folder and find them and replace them with ones without underwear. 

 

I doubt you can edit the underwear out of the nif as the chance that there is no body mesh underneath the underwear is pretty high. But you can check and see by opening the rar file and finding the body file and loading it into nifskope and click remove branch and see if there is a body under the underwear or not you never know there might be a body under the underwear as some author place outfits/underwear in the body nif to prevent nude bodies or something like that.

[allsunday]

the neck/body color is not gonna be all mismatched?

 

lol? no lol... there is no lol in skyrim

 

can u post a screenshot of the files in question?

 

What Myuhinny said is all true.

 

Step 1:  To elaborate, you want the files in question?  Go to Skyrim-wherever-the-hell-you-installed-it\Data\Meshes\Actors\Character\Character Assets and find your malebody.nif files.  

 

(Never forget:  .nif is a Mesh and a .dds is a Texture for Skyrim).  Very important to remember.

 

Step 2:  Then double click that male follower you downloaded and open it up, look at it.  Maybe it's called Joe Blow follower or something.  Double click it.  Open it up.  Look at the folders and see where the folder for Joe Blow's meshes are located.  Now that you know where the folder is, go back to your Skyrim installation folder (assuming you ALREADY installed Joe Blow) and look for the same folder.

 

Final step:  replace all files that you see in the Joe Blow meshes folder with the regular male body meshes you found in Step 1.  Normally it's the malebody_0.nif, malebody_1.nif and malefeet_0.nif and malefeet_1.nif, but who knows?  That's why you have to open the follower mod and check with your own eyes. 

Sometimes you might have to change the name though.  Sometimes mod authors like to be cute and change the name of the mesh from malebody_1.nif to... joeblowbody_1.nif.  So logic dictates, you change the name of your male body .nif to the name the author gave to Joe Blow's body mesh and overwrite it.  

 

Should be self explanatory from here.  Basically all you're doing is tricking Joe Blow follower to use the male body you want.  Like a true prankster.

 

[cleavagesweat]

hey thanx all!

[allsunday]

hey thanx all!

 

Ur welcome.  Don't forget to mark your problems as solved to help anyone else who may have the same questions.

[cleavagesweat]

so for that mod I linked above I cannot find the files ... like at all. not sure how the mod is running if the files don't exist on the HD.

 

I tried it for a diff mod and found the files and swapped them but there is a color mismatch.

 

ah well...

[Tweens]

so for that mod I linked above I cannot find the files ... like at all. not sure how the mod is running if the files don't exist on the HD.

 

I tried it for a diff mod and found the files and swapped them but there is a color mismatch.

 

ah well...

 

The NK Followers mod has all of it's assets in a .BSA file. You can find it in the Data folder with the .ESP.  You would need to extract them in order to edit.  There are a few .BSA extractors on Nexus. 

[cleavagesweat]

 

so for that mod I linked above I cannot find the files ... like at all. not sure how the mod is running if the files don't exist on the HD.

 

I tried it for a diff mod and found the files and swapped them but there is a color mismatch.

 

ah well...

The NK Followers mod has all of it's assets in a .BSA file. You can find it in the Data folder with the .ESP. You would need to extract them in order to edit. There are a few .BSA extractors on Nexus.

que? are u telling me that the mod doesn't install any files? it just refers to a bsa file (which is a compressed file?) when it runs?

[Tweens]

que? are u telling me that the mod doesn't install any files? it just refers to a bsa file (which is a compressed file?) when it runs?

 

 

Correct.

[cleavagesweat]

so I just used a BSA unpacker and found it like u said. I think I need to repack it? I'm gonna need a diff app?

[allsunday]

so for that mod I linked above I cannot find the files ... like at all. not sure how the mod is running if the files don't exist on the HD.

 

I tried it for a diff mod and found the files and swapped them but there is a color mismatch.

 

ah well...

 

Oh, that's my bad, I totally forgot to check the mod in question and tell you about how to deal with .bsa packages.  I'll take the blame for that.

 

What different follower mod did you try it with?  And is the color mismatch you're referring to about the neck seam?  Or the body?  Something else?  I mentioned before but then erased the advice, but you should also check which textures the follower mod is using.  Same exact process as checking the meshes folder for a follower.  

 

If you give follower mod a different body mesh (A) but the follower is still using textures (X) then there will most likely be a color mismatch.  

Therefore, take the textures for body (A) and replace them in the textures folder for said follower.  Textures (A) will only work with body mesh (A), and likewise textures (X) will only work with body mesh (X).  Simple enough.

 

Textures in Skyrim are always a hassle to deal with.  You can't always apply the same textures for a different kind of body mesh (Schlongs of Skyrim body, Vanilla body, etc.) and expect it to have no problems.  

Also, you'll have to remember additional things like head textures need to be the same exact type of texture (from whichever texture mod you downloaded) as the body textures and hand textures, and also you'll have to remember that sometimes follower mods will have the follower's head mesh in a separate folder, and then the body shared with every other male in your Skyrim game... or any other number of weird combinations.  

 

Mod authors will do whatever they please, so to accurately determine what they did with their mod it's crucial to open the mod and examine it.  

[cleavagesweat]

 

so for that mod I linked above I cannot find the files ... like at all. not sure how the mod is running if the files don't exist on the HD.

 

I tried it for a diff mod and found the files and swapped them but there is a color mismatch.

 

ah well...

 

Oh, that's my bad, I totally forgot to check the mod in question and tell you about how to deal with .bsa packages.  I'll take the blame for that.

 

What different follower mod did you try it with?  And is the color mismatch you're referring to about the neck seam?  Or the body?  Something else?  I mentioned before but then erased the advice, but you should also check which textures the follower mod is using.  Same exact process as checking the meshes folder for a follower.  

 

If you give follower mod a different body mesh (A) but the follower is still using textures (X) then there will most likely be a color mismatch.  

Therefore, take the textures for body (A) and replace them in the textures folder for said follower.  Textures (A) will only work with body mesh (A), and likewise textures (X) will only work with body mesh (X).  Simple enough.

 

Textures in Skyrim are always a hassle to deal with.  You can't always apply the same textures for a different kind of body mesh (Schlongs of Skyrim body, Vanilla body, etc.) and expect it to have no problems.  

Also, you'll have to remember additional things like head textures need to be the same exact type of texture (from whichever texture mod you downloaded) as the body textures and hand textures, and also you'll have to remember that sometimes follower mods will have the follower's head mesh in a separate folder, and then the body shared with every other male in your Skyrim game... or any other number of weird combinations.  

 

Mod authors will do whatever they please, so to accurately determine what they did with their mod it's crucial to open the mod and examine it.  

 

 

no apologies man! I'm just glad someone still takes the time to answer noob questions

 

I appresh wutever I can get and try to collect some knowledge here and there

 

but seriously... how to I repack the BSA files? lol I just figured it out... someone shud do a tutorial on it. I had to unpack.... put the files in the Data folder and sub folders where it shud go... then open CK and "Create Archive" which made a new BSA with the edited files...

 

I "think" that's the way to do it. if there is a better way plz share

[allsunday]

 

 

 

no apologies man! I'm just glad someone still takes the time to answer noob questions

 

I appresh wutever I can get and try to collect some knowledge here and there

 

but seriously... how to I repack the BSA files? lol

 

 

 

No sweat, I was in your shoes before.  

 

To unpack a BSA I use BSAOpt.  http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/247/?

 

Some people will recommend other BSA unpackers, but this is the one I use because it's the first one I came across.  It's actually kind of weird to unpack a .bsa so I'll tell you how really quick.

 

Step 1.  First make a copy of the .bsa you want and put it in a separate folder.  Normally, I just make a new folder on my desktop and put the .bsa in it.

 

Step 2.  Open BSAOpt (I use the x64 version because why not?) and you will see two windows one on top of each other.  Click on browse on the top window.  Browse to that .bsa I told you to put in the new folder from Step 1.

 

Step 3.  Next, click on browse on the bottom window.  This step is when you select the folder for which you will unpack all the files of the .bsa.  Obviously you only select the FOLDER where you want to unpack the .bsa and nothing else.  Makes sense, right?  You must click Use Folder instead of Open.  Very easy to miss.

 

Step 4.  Click Unpack in BSAOpt and you're done.  Now you'll see all the files from that .bsa unpacked.  These are called "Loose Files" because they are files that can be separated and placed wherever you want as opposed to a .bsa which you can't do anything about.  You may delete that .bsa if you want now, no reason to keep it around.  When you put these "Loose Files" into your Skyrim Data folder then they overwrite any and everything from the .bsa they came from.  

 

Because Loose Files and a .bsa can obviously contain the same information, it's important to remember that:  "Loose Files" will always overwrite any .bsa.

 

Often when I download an armor mod I will unpack it into Loose Files and throw those files into my Skyrim Data folder so that any bodyslide changes I make to the armor will appear in game.  I delete the .bsa because it's not needed anymore.

[cleavagesweat]

 

"Because Loose Files and a .bsa can obviously contain the same information, it's important to remember that:  "Loose Files" will always overwrite any .bsa."

 

 

so after I do all my file swaps and open CK and recreate the BSA ... can I then delete the loose files???

 

 

 

 

[allsunday]

 

"Because Loose Files and a .bsa can obviously contain the same information, it's important to remember that:  "Loose Files" will always overwrite any .bsa."

 

 

so after I do all my file swaps and open CK and recreate the BSA ... can I then delete the loose files???

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, since Loose Files will overwrite the .bsa, if you want to continue using the .bsa you'll have to delete the Loose Files... or just never install the Loose Files ever, that'll solve the problem also.

[cleavagesweat]

 

 

"Because Loose Files and a .bsa can obviously contain the same information, it's important to remember that:  "Loose Files" will always overwrite any .bsa."

 

 

so after I do all my file swaps and open CK and recreate the BSA ... can I then delete the loose files???

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, since Loose Files will overwrite the .bsa, if you want to continue using the .bsa you'll have to delete the Loose Files... or just never install the Loose Files ever, that'll solve the problem also.

 

 

well you have to unpack the BSA and install the loose files into the designated folders so you can swap them with wutever files warranted u to unpack the BSA in the first place (for me it was to swap body meshes) and then you can repackage the BSA... the question is after you repackage do u go ahead and keep using the loose files or the BSA? I guess it doesn't really matter?

[allsunday]

You don't have to install the loose files at all. The loose files are already in the proper format to be repacked into a .bsa assuming you switched out the body meshes like you originally planned. Just think about that for a second.

Lastly, again, loose files will overwrite the .bsa.

If you want to continue using loose files then install the loose files. If you want to revert back to the .bsa then you must delete the loose files or never install them at all.

Personally I have a great hatred for .bsa packages because they're more annoying than convenient and I always unpack to loose files and toss the .bsa unless it's a big hassle: aka. Skyrim Monster Mod.

[cleavagesweat]

I think we have a disconnect here. where do you unpack the BSA? I unpacked mine in a folder on my desktop. thinking about it now maybe I shud have just made a backup copy of the BSA and unpacked it right there in the data folder?

[allsunday]

Lol. It's up to you where you want to unpack it. I unpack the .bsa in a folder in my desktop so that I know EXACTLY what files came out of that .bsa.

 

You can unpack the .bsa directly into your data folder but good luck trying to figure out which files and folders came out of the .bsa. Nobody's going to tell you which files they were. Not even Jesus.

 

Think about it. How are you going to replace the body mesh for that follower if you have no idea where Joe Blow's files and folders are?

[cleavagesweat]

Lol. It's up to you where you want to unpack it. I unpack the .bsa in a folder in my desktop so that I know EXACTLY what files came out of that .bsa.

 

You can unpack the .bsa directly into your data folder but good luck trying to figure out which files and folders came out of the .bsa. Nobody's going to tell you which files they were. Not even Jesus.

 

Think about it. How are you going to replace the body mesh for that follower if you have no idea where Joe Blow's files and folders are?

 

yea so that's exactly why I did it that way (folder on desktop) it seems we're on the same page there... the issue is repackaging the BSA. when you open the CK and repack it needs the files in the correct folder hierarchy in the skyrim data folder (unless you know something I don't)...

 

[allsunday]

 

Lol. It's up to you where you want to unpack it. I unpack the .bsa in a folder in my desktop so that I know EXACTLY what files came out of that .bsa.

 

You can unpack the .bsa directly into your data folder but good luck trying to figure out which files and folders came out of the .bsa. Nobody's going to tell you which files they were. Not even Jesus.

 

Think about it. How are you going to replace the body mesh for that follower if you have no idea where Joe Blow's files and folders are?

 

yea so that's exactly why I did it that way (folder on desktop) it seems we're on the same page there... the issue is repackaging the BSA. when you open the CK and repack it needs the files in the correct folder hierarchy in the skyrim data folder (unless you know something I don't)...

 

 

 

I still don't know what's so cool about the .bsa file format, I personally despise them with a passion, but if you really need to repack it then just use BSAopt again. 

 

Only this time, when you click the Browse button on the top window you pick the folder that's ready to be packaged into a .bsa.  

 

In the middle of BSAopt, make sure .bsa is selected and click Apply.

 

Then at the bottom window of BSAopt you click Browse to pick where you want your packed .bsa to pop out in your computer and then click Pack.  Done.

 

 

[cleavagesweat]

 

 

Lol. It's up to you where you want to unpack it. I unpack the .bsa in a folder in my desktop so that I know EXACTLY what files came out of that .bsa.

 

You can unpack the .bsa directly into your data folder but good luck trying to figure out which files and folders came out of the .bsa. Nobody's going to tell you which files they were. Not even Jesus.

 

Think about it. How are you going to replace the body mesh for that follower if you have no idea where Joe Blow's files and folders are?

 

yea so that's exactly why I did it that way (folder on desktop) it seems we're on the same page there... the issue is repackaging the BSA. when you open the CK and repack it needs the files in the correct folder hierarchy in the skyrim data folder (unless you know something I don't)...

 

 

 

I still don't know what's so cool about the .bsa file format, I personally despise them with a passion, but if you really need to repack it then just use BSAopt again. 

 

Only this time, when you click the Browse button on the top window you pick the folder that's ready to be packaged into a .bsa.  

 

In the middle of BSAopt, make sure .bsa is selected and click Apply.

 

Then at the bottom window of BSAopt you click Browse to pick where you want your packed .bsa to pop out in your computer and then click Pack.  Done.

 

 

nope I don't like the BSA either so I guess one shud just unpack in a secluded folder just so they can discern what files are in there and then place them or unpack again in the skyrim data folder and then be done with the BSA...

 

right?

 

[allsunday]

 

 

 

nope I don't like the BSA either so I guess one shud just unpack in a secluded folder just so they can discern what files are in there and then place them or unpack again in the skyrim data folder and then be done with the BSA...

 

right?

 

 

 

Yes.  Totally.  A .bsa file is a great example of someone trying to be helpful by creating a convenient file that is small in size and easy to manage but it ends up being very counter-productive, more often than not.