Understanding "CBBE" what is it and what does it do

[Angelwantstoplay]

Hello Fallout 4 Fans. I added a mod called Project Valkyrie. While playing with this mod, I also notice that whenever my character wears different clothing, armor, etc; my character's skin looks blotching (brown/white) or even missing body parts until I switch back to what came with the game. A friend told me that I need a CBBE mod. I don't know exactly what that is. So I was wondering could someone out there recommend a CBBE mod to me to help me get started and learn how this mod interacts with Fallout 4. Thank you very much in advance for any helpful content.

[jerrypocalypse]

CBBE basically alters the character bodies in some way, there are a few variations. Some clothing mods depend on a CBBE mod due to the clothing in the mod being "fitted" for that body type instead of the vanilla body. I avoid clothing mods that depend on them so I don't have any recommendations

[steventirey]

Its a body mod. Caliente's Beautiful Bodies Enhancer. Changes the character model for females, with optional nudity. Many modded clothing items are made for a different character body type than what came with the game, and so do not display properly on base game bodies.

[wesnef]

Body mods have multiple components.

- There's the actual body (a new 3D file for the torso/arms/legs - the head, hands, and feet are a separate thing).

- There's the skins (texture files, body mods usually come with a default skin, but various modders/artists make up other variants. Higher res, more 'realistic', cleaner, dirtier, etc.)

- There's the clothes. (models & textures)

edit3: - oh, right. And there's the Skeleton, which is how animations/etc effect the body. You only need to replace the default skeleton if you want to use a mod that says so - more advanced animation mods, high heeled shoe mods, etc.


The key here is that "main outfits" in Bethesda-engine games (in FO4, full suits like all the clothes, the vault suits, etc) include the body model, replacing the default "nude" one when you equip it. So your clothes need to match your base body or you get graphics errors.
Things like the armor pieces, hats, glasses & facemasks. . . those are separate bits that just get layered over.

(multi-part clothing - mods that let you put an outfit together from shirt/pants/jackets/gloves/underwear/etc, are another layer of complicated so I won't go into them here. :D)




The other complication is "Bodyslide", which is an additional utility program that lets you reshape the proportions of your body & clothes. Most clothes & body mods come in default shapes, so as long as they all match (like, say, "CBBE Curvy") you're fine and don't need to fiddle with Bodyslide unless you want to.
Some prolific clothing modders have their own preferred body shape, and put out all their clothes in that one, so if you start to mix & match between authors, you end up having to pick one of them and use Bodyslide to reshape all the other clothes to match the one you've chosen. (DeserterX and vtaw both have specific body presets that they make all their stuff for, for instance.)


edit: huh, odd. Checked Project Valkyrie to see if it said what CBBE variant to use, and it doesn't list it as a requirement. Neither does Outcasts & Remnants, the only pre-req listed for PV.


edit2: Just to be clear, the only thing you should *need* to get & install is the basic CBBE mod
https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout4/mods/15
It includes a default skin, and basic clothing replacers for the base game outfits.
Using Bodyslide to get a different shape, a fancier skin, a different base game clothing replacer. . . those are all optional. And a deep rabbit hole to fall down. :D

[Angelwantstoplay]

Thank YOU wesnef for the detail information that you sent me. This IS MOST helpful. I will start with the basic CBBE and learn how to use this. Also I cannot forget steventirey and jerrypocalypse for your help and info as well. Thank you all. I really do appreciate the support. Happy Gaming!!

[Razer]

Brown face issue is an issue specific to Valkyrie face mod. It's likely caused by combining it with other mods. But I don't want to remove any. I have the same issue and cannot fix it. Only thing I can do is save and reload which makes it go away for a while. CBBE has nothing to do with it.

Edit: This made me reinvestigate the issue. It's definitely related to the mod itself. Sometimes in combination with something else, but can also cause it on its own. Either due to texture memory leaks or in particular due to the mod creator messing up one of the Speculiar files. Removing or replacing that one can also fix it. I've not tried it myself.