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About this mod
Lightweight NPC overhaul made to minimize conflicts with your favorite individual NPC replacer mod(s).
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
About
There are any number of NPC replacers out there. I made this one for a specific purpose. The concept for this mod is simple - just go in a completely different direction to what is out there. I don't change any NPC records - AT ALL. I simply upgrade the base game assets in MY game, and then regenerate the NPC facegens so the NPCs look more like they belong in a (fairly) current game (Unity or Unreal, this engine is NOT). This is something that a "Special Edition" remaster SHOULD have done.
One advantage of this approach is that if a particular NPC is attractive, plain, or downright ugly, those characteristics are carried over. They just have some basic improvements and fixes, the most noticeable typically is replacement of the low poly hair and upgraded face tints. Most humanoid hairstyles were replaced, except some of the close cropped and mohawk/dreadlock types - Imperial, some Redguard, i.e. shaved head, etc. I felt those types looked fine in game. And I made a few repairs to meshes to fit better and reduce clipping. As a bonus you have these hairstyles as defaults when you make a character!
This mod is standalone, nothing else is needed, thanks to the generous permission of Apachii (thank you!) and the open permissions of the KS team.
Technical
The hair meshes I used were modified to make this mod much more efficient than any other high poly hair replacer mod, period. Almost all hair mods for Skyrim use three to four separate meshes in each hair type. The largest, most complex meshes get duplicated in all of them. I changed the shader settings so I could delete the duplicate high poly hairline meshes. I use a second very small dummy mesh to pad the original esm settings (which generally call for two hair meshes), so I don't need an override NPC record that can conflict with other mods. You get high resolution hair meshes with half the usual mesh memory overhead. The look of the meshes change a little bit, and will look similar to "Salt and Wind" type mods.
This mod also includes the Seamless Males fix, the Brow Fix for every human/elven-type NPC (except kids, because they are spuds), plus the Oldrim eye glitch fix that Bethesda just couldn't be bothered with to fix in SE as well.
Usage
NMM/Vortex installation is recommended. The mod includes two files, an esm and a matching bsa. The two must be used together, do NOT extract the bsa. The esm is a blank that merely calls the assets, so this mod will NOT clash with mods that alter NPC records - you simply use load order to adjust the look of the NPCs. An esm was used as this mod is meant to be a base mod that individual NPC beautification mods can overwrite, so I wanted it to load first.
Note - mods that replace NPC game records with loose files can cause significant issues, including CTD. Loose file mods always overwrite everything else and cause issues if the load order isn't exact. There is no reason for anyone to make such a mod, but they will, and do, for reasons I can't fathom. I recommend either removing those type of mods or learn how to archive the files yourself. The archive tool is provided with the Creation Kit.
Credits
ApachiiSkyHair SSE
KS Hairdos SSE
Fair Skin Complexion
Hi-res Vanilla Warpaint
Forsworn and Blackblood and Boethiah Tattoos 2k
Female Facial Animation (improved female mouth mesh)
Adorable Face (improved female head mesh - no longer available, but open permissions with credit in readme)
and the many Sims authors that made the hair mods possible, such as Anto, Cazy, Geonox NY, Kozaburo, Peggy, NewSea and Nouk.
Permissions
The only restrictions on the use of the mod are to check with the above authors for xbox ports, other sites, etc. Don't ask me, I'm just using other author's assets with their permission. Credit and a link to this page would be appreciated.
Recommended
These are only revised facegen files. NPCs can only look as good as the underlying texture files. I use a custom blend of textures in my base game, some of which are proprietary, but if you use Fair Skin for the women, and Better Males Younger Faces for the men, you'll get pretty close to the look in the screenshots. I also use and highly recommend The Eyes Of Beauty and Brows. There are many more options, and when you use this mod, it will use YOUR favorite texture mods, not mine. On purpose. Keep that in mind when looking at the screenshots. Also, highly recommended - the animations from Female Facial Animation (the tri files work in SE)
FAQ
Q: OMG, the NPCs in my game don't look like yours. They just look fugly vanilla with different hair.
A: Do yourself a favor. Pick one of the many excellent female and male NPC texture replacers available. Any one. Just do it. Now.
Q: I need more slots. I'm going to extract the archives and ditch the esm.
A: Not recommended, or supported. Will just cause unending issues, and the mod size becomes HUGE.
Q: I'm getting dark heads.
A: If you follow the simple directions, it's not from my mod. This mod was specifically designed to NOT cause that issue or any others. There are unfortunately dozens of them that will and do. If you are using NPC replacer mods in loose file format, you open yourself up to issues. The solution is quite simple - get rid of those mods. Or learn how to use the Bethesda archive tool.
Q: Patches?
A: Check the optional downloads.
Q: Why you always bashing on Beth? You're surely on their most hated modder list.
A: I'm just Braithing them. I secretly want to kiss them for making such a great game. But NOT fixing the same old bugs in it, when they had the perfect opportunity, makes me want to punch them in the face sometimes. I can't help it.
Listening
Aye, someone wrote a song about me <blush>
There are any number of NPC replacers out there. I made this one for a specific purpose. The concept for this mod is simple - just go in a completely different direction to what is out there. I don't change any NPC records - AT ALL. I simply upgrade the base game assets in MY game, and then regenerate the NPC facegens so the NPCs look more like they belong in a (fairly) current game (Unity or Unreal, this engine is NOT). This is something that a "Special Edition" remaster SHOULD have done.
One advantage of this approach is that if a particular NPC is attractive, plain, or downright ugly, those characteristics are carried over. They just have some basic improvements and fixes, the most noticeable typically is replacement of the low poly hair and upgraded face tints. Most humanoid hairstyles were replaced, except some of the close cropped and mohawk/dreadlock types - Imperial, some Redguard, i.e. shaved head, etc. I felt those types looked fine in game. And I made a few repairs to meshes to fit better and reduce clipping. As a bonus you have these hairstyles as defaults when you make a character!
This mod is standalone, nothing else is needed, thanks to the generous permission of Apachii (thank you!) and the open permissions of the KS team.
Technical
The hair meshes I used were modified to make this mod much more efficient than any other high poly hair replacer mod, period. Almost all hair mods for Skyrim use three to four separate meshes in each hair type. The largest, most complex meshes get duplicated in all of them. I changed the shader settings so I could delete the duplicate high poly hairline meshes. I use a second very small dummy mesh to pad the original esm settings (which generally call for two hair meshes), so I don't need an override NPC record that can conflict with other mods. You get high resolution hair meshes with half the usual mesh memory overhead. The look of the meshes change a little bit, and will look similar to "Salt and Wind" type mods.
This mod also includes the Seamless Males fix, the Brow Fix for every human/elven-type NPC (except kids, because they are spuds), plus the Oldrim eye glitch fix that Bethesda just couldn't be bothered with to fix in SE as well.
Usage
NMM/Vortex installation is recommended. The mod includes two files, an esm and a matching bsa. The two must be used together, do NOT extract the bsa. The esm is a blank that merely calls the assets, so this mod will NOT clash with mods that alter NPC records - you simply use load order to adjust the look of the NPCs. An esm was used as this mod is meant to be a base mod that individual NPC beautification mods can overwrite, so I wanted it to load first.
Note - mods that replace NPC game records with loose files can cause significant issues, including CTD. Loose file mods always overwrite everything else and cause issues if the load order isn't exact. There is no reason for anyone to make such a mod, but they will, and do, for reasons I can't fathom. I recommend either removing those type of mods or learn how to archive the files yourself. The archive tool is provided with the Creation Kit.
Credits
ApachiiSkyHair SSE
KS Hairdos SSE
Fair Skin Complexion
Hi-res Vanilla Warpaint
Forsworn and Blackblood and Boethiah Tattoos 2k
Female Facial Animation (improved female mouth mesh)
Adorable Face (improved female head mesh - no longer available, but open permissions with credit in readme)
and the many Sims authors that made the hair mods possible, such as Anto, Cazy, Geonox NY, Kozaburo, Peggy, NewSea and Nouk.
Permissions
The only restrictions on the use of the mod are to check with the above authors for xbox ports, other sites, etc. Don't ask me, I'm just using other author's assets with their permission. Credit and a link to this page would be appreciated.
Recommended
These are only revised facegen files. NPCs can only look as good as the underlying texture files. I use a custom blend of textures in my base game, some of which are proprietary, but if you use Fair Skin for the women, and Better Males Younger Faces for the men, you'll get pretty close to the look in the screenshots. I also use and highly recommend The Eyes Of Beauty and Brows. There are many more options, and when you use this mod, it will use YOUR favorite texture mods, not mine. On purpose. Keep that in mind when looking at the screenshots. Also, highly recommended - the animations from Female Facial Animation (the tri files work in SE)
FAQ
Q: OMG, the NPCs in my game don't look like yours. They just look fugly vanilla with different hair.
A: Do yourself a favor. Pick one of the many excellent female and male NPC texture replacers available. Any one. Just do it. Now.
Q: I need more slots. I'm going to extract the archives and ditch the esm.
A: Not recommended, or supported. Will just cause unending issues, and the mod size becomes HUGE.
Q: I'm getting dark heads.
A: If you follow the simple directions, it's not from my mod. This mod was specifically designed to NOT cause that issue or any others. There are unfortunately dozens of them that will and do. If you are using NPC replacer mods in loose file format, you open yourself up to issues. The solution is quite simple - get rid of those mods. Or learn how to use the Bethesda archive tool.
Q: Patches?
A: Check the optional downloads.
Q: Why you always bashing on Beth? You're surely on their most hated modder list.
A: I'm just Braithing them. I secretly want to kiss them for making such a great game. But NOT fixing the same old bugs in it, when they had the perfect opportunity, makes me want to punch them in the face sometimes. I can't help it.
Listening
Aye, someone wrote a song about me <blush>