Neck gaps come from three major factors:
NPC's Weight Value
NPC's Weight Modification Based on its Race
The Skeleton It Uses.
These neck gap very often appear when those three values/resources were changed on an esp/nif level (the esp files was changed, or the NPC suddenly uses a new body and skeleton.
Most of the time any SKSE users who have a spell that allows them to cast QueueNiNodeUpdate() on themselves can help, but there are a few times in which that can even fail.
Luckily for us there is a console command
called "SetNPCWeight" which does exactly what we need to fix this.
(at least for me, and Ive had to deal with about 25-30 instances them now :D)
Directions For Those Who Know Their Way Around
If you know how tes5edit works, take a look at the winning override record
of the NPC which has the neck problem and check its weight value, "NAM7 - Weight"
Ck users just need to load in the appropriate esp file and take a look at the NPC normally.
After writing down the weight value quit out of tes5edit/ck and load up your game which has the neck gap issue.
1. In console, select the NPC which has the neck gap. ( this mod will make sure that the reference you have selected is the right reference.
2. Type in "SetNPCWeight ###" [replace ## with the value which was shown
in tes5edit, as an integer] (round to the nearest integer if you have
to).
Note: The NPC's head may look suuuper weird after using this function. THATS OK!
3. Make a new save and reload the game. Any weird head problems will go away
Thats it. :D
Note: If it's still not right you can use the console command again, just adjust the weight value higher or lower (if you see a neck gap then you need to make the character lighter, if your neck is overlapping your body you need to make the character a little heavier)
Directions For Those Who Like Step By Step Instructions
Step 1: Get The Base Record ID of the NPC in question. (The 8 digit hex number)
1. Select the Affected NPC in console.
1a. If you have MFGConsole then it will be listed on the bottom right side of the screen."baseID"
1b. Otherwise type in:
help "[Name Of NPC]" 4
and it should display the name of your NPC, with its Base FormID wrapped in parenthesis.
Something like:
NPC_"Lydia"(000a2c8e) [000a2c8e is the base formid.]
Note: If you have multiple listings that are not what you are looking for, then use the PAGEUP and PAGEDOWN keys to scroll through the listings until you find what you are looking for.
2. Write Down that 8 Digit Hex number. In the Example above, the formID for Lydia would be 000a2c8e.
Step 2: Look Up The NPC In Question and find its weight value.
3. Run Tes5Edit (if you use Mod Organizer, you need to run Tes5edit through Mod Organizer)
4. A checkbox list titled "Master/Plugin Selection" will appear. Just Press OK.
5. Wait for it to finish loading.
6. At the top left-hand corner is a input box titled "FormID". Input the formId you wrote down and press enter.
7. Shift your focus to the big window and pretend you are looking at a big excel spreadsheet.
8. In the first column there will be a cell called "NAM7- Weight", it can be found around halfway.
9. Next to it will be a number, that is the weight value we are looking for! Write it down.
Note: If the background of the spreadsheet is a combination of yellow red and green, and the row we are looking at has multiple values, grab the value that is farthest to the right. To help keep track, you can highlight the appropriate row by clicking it.
Step 3: Use The Console Command With The Supplied Weight
10. Load up your save and select the npc we are modifying in the console
11. Type in:
SetNPCWeight ### [where ### will be the value you wrote down in step 9]
Note: The NPC's head may look suuuper weird after using this command. THATS OK!
12. Make a new save and then reload the game.
That's it!
Note: If it's still not right you can use the console command again, just adjust the weight value higher or lower (if you see a neck gap then you need to make the character heavier, if
your neck is overlapping your body you need to make the character lighter. Remember you always have that backup save so experiment until you get it right!)
12 comments
:-]
The issue you are describing has often been called other things, such as the "gray face bug." It is not technically a seam, but a mismatch of the tint applied to the head texture.
I created my first mod. a custom NPC by exporting data from showracemenu and using creation kit/nifskope/nifmerge/gimp (4 programs!?!)
at first my character was fine except the facial sliders and expressions were not loading, my error i needed to do some work with the dds via gimp
after that the face was great - expression, colour was fine but there was a neck gap
using ~console to edit the weight of my NPC does correct the neck gap, but now the face colour has gone pale and the face sliders/expressions have reverted back to default.
I tired to do the nifmerge and gimp processes again but it didn't fix the problem.
i think the problem is because when i exported the data via showracemenu i wrote down the weight, but didn't know how to convert it to the weight in ck. can i edit the weight of my npc in ck to fix the problem?
If it doesn't work straight away, keep trying different weights. I recently created a Bodyslide Preset to use in CK, but it created a neck gap when at a weight lower than 100.
And as the color of the head and body to do the same?