Replace Sofia

[Werefoxx]

So I have spent tons of hours searching for an answer but none of them were of use to me. I want to replace Sofia's body. A certain body. The one every female character uses which I determined by BodySlide. Now Sofia doesn't really care about that. I have been told that I have to replace her meshes with those I want to use. Now I don't know where BodySlide saves these meshes. They are supposed to be .nif but all I can find are .xml files. Maybe I am totally on the wrong track because I have no clue when it comes to replacing bodies or modding in general so if anyone could tell me where BodySlide saves the meshes of the presets or could tell me what I have to do if I am totally on the wrong track, that'd be great.

Thanks in advance and have a nice day!

[Mez558]

You will find the normal meshes in here:-

 

steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\Meshes\actors\character\character assets

 

this is also the default location for Bodyslide to place the .nif files you create.

 

If you create a  body in Bodyslide and Hold CTRL when you press BUILD it will place the .nif files you have just created in:-

 

steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\CalienteTools\BodySlide

 

 

 

[tookachinchilla]

1 hour ago, Werefoxx said:

Now I don't know where BodySlide saves these meshes.

The body meshes that BS generates are in the /skyrim/data/meshes/actor/character/character assets. If you look there, you'll find the .nif and .tri files that were generated when you ran BS to generate the body for female characters.

 

I haven't used Sofia, but in the /character folder, find the /Sofia subfolder. Then, copy or move all of the .nif and .tri files from the /character/character assets folder into the /Sophia folder. Before you do, though, copy the files from the /Sofia folder into a different folder (in case something gets screwed up and you need to go back to what's there now).

 

If you're not using UNP as your base body, you'll also have to replace the texture files for the body you are using. Same process as for the meshes, but different folders.

 

There's a tutorial here: https://youtu.be/OS8F4B1QG6o

 

Note, however, that if Sofia uses armor that you haven't bodyslided, she'll still have the Sofia body when wearing that armor (the body armor mesh supersedes the body mesh). Although, based on the Nexus page, she's not wearing anything to start with, so that shouldn't be a problem.

[Werefoxx]

@tookachinchilla and @Mez558 Thank you both for you answers so far but it does not seem to work. I already downloaded a customizer that was made by the same person who created Sofia and this Customizer was made only for her. With that Customizer I changed her body to cbbe. Could this be the reason why it doesn't work? I pasted the nif files into sofias files but nothing changed so far.

[Werefoxx]

 

2 hours ago, tookachinchilla said:

The body meshes that BS generates are in the /skyrim/data/meshes/actor/character/character assets. If you look there, you'll find the .nif and .tri files that were generated when you ran BS to generate the body for female characters.

 

I haven't used Sofia, but in the /character folder, find the /Sofia subfolder. Then, copy or move all of the .nif and .tri files from the /character/character assets folder into the /Sophia folder. Before you do, though, copy the files from the /Sofia folder into a different folder (in case something gets screwed up and you need to go back to what's there now).

 

If you're not using UNP as your base body, you'll also have to replace the texture files for the body you are using. Same process as for the meshes, but different folders.

 

There's a tutorial here: https://youtu.be/OS8F4B1QG6o

 

Note, however, that if Sofia uses armor that you haven't bodyslided, she'll still have the Sofia body when wearing that armor (the body armor mesh supersedes the body mesh). Although, based on the Nexus page, she's not wearing anything to start with, so that shouldn't be a problem.

I did as you told me to but replacing the files didn't do anything. I tried out the loose version, which is supposed to be more customizable than the bsa version, but all to no avail. Am I doing something wrong?

[Reesewow]

2 hours ago, Werefoxx said:

@tookachinchilla and @Mez558 Thank you both for you answers so far but it does not seem to work. I already downloaded a customizer that was made by the same person who created Sofia and this Customizer was made only for her. With that Customizer I changed her body to cbbe. Could this be the reason why it doesn't work? I pasted the nif files into sofias files but nothing changed so far.

Sofia's body files are located at data\meshes\actors\character\sofia (they won't be there if you are using a .bsa version, but dropping replacement files there will load those instead). 

 

If your Sofia Customizer mod changed the location however, you would need to find the path it uses instead.  The easiest thing to do would be to just open the Sofia Customizer mod's file and actually look at where that mod puts the meshes.  Also double-check that it uses the same names of the different files, if the customizer changes the names you would need to make sure your replacement files match and over-write them.

[Werefoxx]

5 minutes ago, Reesewow said:

Sofia's body files are located at data\meshes\actors\character\sofia (they won't be there if you are using a .bsa version, but dropping replacement files there will load those instead). 

 

If your Sofia Customizer mod changed the location however, you would need to find the path it uses instead.  The easiest thing to do would be to just open the Sofia Customizer mod's file and actually look at where that mod puts the meshes.  Also double-check that it uses the same names of the different files, if the customizer changes the names you would need to make sure your replacement files match and over-write them.

How can I find out to what location the customizer changed them? I installed it all with NMM if thats important.

 

[Reesewow]

4 minutes ago, Werefoxx said:

How can I find out to what location the customizer changed them? I installed it all with NMM if thats important.

 

Extract the customizer mod to a random folder and manually look at where it puts the CBBE files.  Or open the mod with WinRAR ect and look at where the body files are located.

[Werefoxx]

14 minutes ago, Reesewow said:

Extract the customizer mod to a random folder and manually look at where it puts the CBBE files.  Or open the mod with WinRAR ect and look at where the body files are located.

Okay so I did just that. But how am I supposed to see where it saves these files? There is one file I can see after extraction that contains cbbe files. But these are the files that you can pick for the customizer to replace the default. I tried to replace the replacer (lol) files with the ones I want to use but that didn't work either.

[tookachinchilla]

2 hours ago, Werefoxx said:

But how am I supposed to see where it saves these files?

Looking at the Customizer page, it looks like the replacer just overwrites what's in the /sofia/body folder, and uses the same filenames that BS uses. I'm not sure why putting the meshes you created with BS into that folder isn't working. Did you run BS on the armor that you gave her?

 

For example, if you use CBBE Curvy HDT as your body, you first run BS to create the body meshes (this creates the meshes for the nude body for your character and for all NPCs that don't have unique body meshes - and these are the files you move from the /character/character assets folder to the /sofia/body folder). But then you also have to run BS to create the shape data for whatever armor/clothing mods you're using (this makes the armor/clothing "fit" the body meshes you created - otherwise, when you equip it, it will "reshape" the body to whatever the armor/clothing's default shape is).

 

It can be confusing if you're new to modding and using BS. If you search for Gopher's videos on YouTube, he has some great tutorials on BS and other modding tools.

[Werefoxx]

15 hours ago, tookachinchilla said:

Looking at the Customizer page, it looks like the replacer just overwrites what's in the /sofia/body folder, and uses the same filenames that BS uses. I'm not sure why putting the meshes you created with BS into that folder isn't working. Did you run BS on the armor that you gave her?

 

For example, if you use CBBE Curvy HDT as your body, you first run BS to create the body meshes (this creates the meshes for the nude body for your character and for all NPCs that don't have unique body meshes - and these are the files you move from the /character/character assets folder to the /sofia/body folder). But then you also have to run BS to create the shape data for whatever armor/clothing mods you're using (this makes the armor/clothing "fit" the body meshes you created - otherwise, when you equip it, it will "reshape" the body to whatever the armor/clothing's default shape is).

 

It can be confusing if you're new to modding and using BS. If you search for Gopher's videos on YouTube, he has some great tutorials on BS and other modding tools.

I haven't given her any armor yet. I decided to left her naked until the body changes. Once it works I will take care of the clothing. Also I don't think I will have to do that since I want her to use the body that every FemNPC uses and I already adjusted the clothes and armor to that body. But replacing the meshes does not do anything at all. Also the /character/sofia file is only existing when I use the customizer. That means if I only install the core file, the meshes will have to be saved somewhere else. I wonder where the core file saves the meshes. Maybe I can replace them that way.

[Reesewow]

5 minutes ago, Werefoxx said:

I haven't given her any armor yet. I decided to left her naked until the body changes. Once it works I will take care of the clothing. Also I don't think I will have to do that since I want her to use the body that every FemNPC uses and I already adjusted the clothes and armor to that body. But replacing the meshes does not do anything at all. Also the /character/sofia file is only existing when I use the customizer. That means if I only install the core file, the meshes will have to be saved somewhere else. I wonder where the core file saves the meshes. Maybe I can replace them that way.

The files don't exist without the customizer because they are packed into a .bsa archive - they can still be over-written by creating the that folder manually and placing the files.  Loose files load after .bsa files, so you can "update" her body without the customizer if the files are in the right folder and named correctly (the "loose" version is just the .bsa version with all the files unpacked).

 

At this point I don't think people can offer much help unless you provide screenshots of what you are doing.  If the customzier works in general, replacing the customizer-added files should definitely work because Sofia needs to load her body files from that source.  I don't recall ever having any issues tweaking Sofia's body files manually when I used her in my game.

[Werefoxx]

30 minutes ago, Reesewow said:

The files don't exist without the customizer because they are packed into a .bsa archive - they can still be over-written by creating the that folder manually and placing the files.  Loose files load after .bsa files, so you can "update" her body without the customizer if the files are in the right folder and named correctly (the "loose" version is just the .bsa version with all the files unpacked).

 

At this point I don't think people can offer much help unless you provide screenshots of what you are doing.  If the customzier works in general, replacing the customizer-added files should definitely work because Sofia needs to load her body files from that source.  I don't recall ever having any issues tweaking Sofia's body files manually when I used her in my game.

Right now I try to replace the replacer files once more. The last time I tried it I made a copy of the customizer, no wonder it didn't change anything. But I somehow can't replace them now. I open the archive and when I try to replace the nif files it says "this action is not supported for this file".

EDIT:
I found a way to replace them but the replacing takes forever. I delete the files that it usually uses and then paste my own. But the deleting part takes forever and the file size says something about "2700M" which could never be true.

[Werefoxx]

@Reesewow Before I provide any screenshots, let me try this ( https://youtu.be/OS8F4B1QG6o ) tutorial. I will do everything the creator of this video does and document what happens. I will use the Loose version. So I go to /character/sofia. I will copy and paste the files I created by doing what Mez558 said in his comment.

(If you create a  body in Bodyslide and Hold CTRL when you press BUILD it will place the .nif files you have just created in:-

 

steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\CalienteTools\BodySlide)

aff.jpg shows which files I mean and where I want to paste them.
So I pasted them and now the body looks like on the screenshot bodysofia.jpg
Also it feels wrong doing this since the guy in the video adds more than just "femalebody" files to the Sofia folder. What am I missing/doing wrong?

[Reesewow]

24 minutes ago, Werefoxx said:

@Reesewow Before I provide any screenshots, let me try this ( https://youtu.be/OS8F4B1QG6o ) tutorial. I will do everything the creator of this video does and document what happens. I will use the Loose version. So I go to /character/sofia. I will copy and paste the files I created by doing what Mez558 said in his comment.

(If you create a  body in Bodyslide and Hold CTRL when you press BUILD it will place the .nif files you have just created in:-

 

steamapps\common\Skyrim\Data\CalienteTools\BodySlide)

aff.jpg shows which files I mean and where I want to paste them.
So I pasted them and now the body looks like on the screenshot bodysofia.jpg
Also it feels wrong doing this since the guy in the video adds more than just "femalebody" files to the Sofia folder. What am I missing/doing wrong?

You should probably just follow that video exactly - at 1:15 it says you also need to replace her textures.  The body in that picture is replaced just fine - the problem is she has textures too (probably in textures/actors/character/sofia).  If you want her to use a CBBE body you also need to giver her CBBE body textures - in that picture she is still using her UNP textures that do not work on CBBE bodies. 

 

You should also replace the hands and feet meshes or you will get gaps at the wrists/ankles/neck, as shown in that video.

[Werefoxx]

9 minutes ago, Reesewow said:

You should probably just follow that video exactly - at 1:15 it says you also need to replace her textures.  The body in that picture is replaced just fine - the problem is she has textures too (probably in textures/actors/character/sofia).  If you want her to use a CBBE body you also need to giver her CBBE body textures - in that picture she is still using her UNP textures that do not work on CBBE bodies. 

 

You should also replace the hands and feet meshes or you will get gaps at the wrists/ankles/neck, as shown in that video.

Yea but I cannot find these textures. As shown on the screenshot there are only 2 body files. Thats it. Also the body doesn't even look remotely like the one I created. 

[Werefoxx]

@Reesewow I added a cbbe skin texture now but the body isn't the same as the one I created in BodySlide. Any ideas why?

[Werefoxx]

I surrender. This is way to annoying. Thanks for your help anyway and have a nice day.