Dark Face Bug

[rogere1164]

I am having an issue with vampires having a dark face. I have read all the posts and found that most are outdated. I have tried the mod "Dark Face Fix" and have tried GECK Ctrl F4 and tried deleting the .esm file from the facegen folders (all that did was give more random npc's the problem). Using setnpcweight does work but its useless on vampires because they are trying to kill you
This is my load order :
0 0 Skyrim.esm
1 1 Update.esm
2 2 Dawnguard.esm
3 3 HearthFires.esm
4 4 Dragonborn.esm
254 FE 0 ccbgssse002-exoticarrows.esl
254 FE 1 ccbgssse014-spellpack01.esl
5 5 Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch.esp
6 6 3DNPC.esp
7 7 ClimatesOfTamriel.esm
8 8 Forgotten DungeonsSSE.esm
9 9 BOSSE.esm
10 a Campfire.esm
11 b SexLab.esm
12 c FlowerGirls SE.esm
13 d OSA.esm
14 e ZaZAnimationPack.esm
15 f Schlongs of Skyrim - Core.esm
16 10 SkyUI_SE.esp
17 11 SMIM-SE-Merged-All.esp
18 12 ELFX - Exteriors.esp
19 13 Immersive Wenches.esp
20 14 TrueStormsSE.esp
21 15 EnhancedLightsandFX.esp
22 16 KS Hairdo's.esp
23 17 ClimatesOfTamriel-Nights-L2.esp
24 18 ClimatesOfTamriel-Dungeons-Darker.esp
25 19 JKs Skyrim.esp
26 1a MagicalCollegeofWinterhold.esp
27 1b ProudspiremanorTNF.esp
28 1c Cutting Room Floor.esp
29 1d ClimatesOfTamriel-Interiors-Warm.esp
30 1e SimplerKnock.esp
31 1f Remodeled Armor - Underwear.esp
32 20 Dawnguard Delayed - Level 30.esp
33 21 RaceMenuMorphsCBBE.esp
34 22 CBBE.esp
35 23 FNIS.esp
36 24 BOSSE_SOSpatch.esp
254 FE 2 3DNPC0.esp
37 25 SexyMannequinsFemale_SSE.esp
38 26 SOS - Female Pubics.esp
39 27 runandwalkpaces.esp
40 28 SOSRaceMenu.esp
41 29 SeranaDialogAddon.esp
42 2a Rayg_NoBYOHAttacks.esp
254 FE 3 Black Books Begone.esp
43 2b SexyMannequinsFemaleHF_SSE.esp
44 2c RM Light Glass.esp
45 2d AmazingFollowerTweaks.esp
46 2e Delayed Dragonborn.esp
47 2f Footprints.esp
48 30 SilentSneakAttack.esp
49 31 icepenguinworldmapclassic.esp
254 FE 4 MeridiaRevoiced.esp
50 32 HearthfireMultiKid.esp
51 33 AI Overhaul.esp
52 34 BreezehomeByLupus.esp
53 35 lamposts of skyrim.esp
54 36 Hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp
55 37 Hothtrooper44_Armor_Ecksstra.esp
56 38 hearthfireextended.esp
57 39 point the way.esp
58 3a HF_Lakeview_PHB_EX.esp
59 3b Immersive Weapons.esp
60 3c Remodeled Armor - Vanilla Replacer.esp
254 FE 5 Qw_AIOverhaul_CRF Patch.esp
61 3d Bijin Warmaidens.esp
62 3e TKAA.esp
63 3f Thora.esp
64 40 male npc overahul se.esp
65 41 MBWSFollowersReplacer.esp
66 42 ai overhaul patch.esp
67 43 SexLabDefeat.esp
254 FE 6 SexlabLightMeUp.esp
68 44 HearthfireMultiKid_LastName.esp
69 45 Craftable Crossbows x2.esp
70 46 JaxonzEnhGrab.esp
71 47 Schlongs of Skyrim.esp
72 48 SOS - Smurf Average Addon.esp
73 49 DibellasCompulsion-NudeSpell-1-1.esp
74 4a Nieve.esp
75 4b se_dontrecruitme.esp
76 4c cloaks&capes.esp
254 FE 7 Qw_CloaksAndCapes_CRF Patch.esp
77 4d 50 more perk points.esp
78 4e lefthandrings.esp
79 4f ModularArmorSE.esp
80 50 LazyItemEdit.esp
81 51 LazyBodyEdit.esp
254 FE 8 GoToBed.esp
82 52 QuickLight.esp
254 FE 9 fox-DisableAutoAim.esp
83 53 voidLetsGetNaked.esp
84 54 No Killmoves, No Killcams, No Killbites.esp
85 55 RaceMenu.esp
86 56 XPMSE.esp
87 57 RaceMenuPlugin.esp
88 58 sptdiverseguardsskyrimse.esp
89 59 Dracos Hearthfire Homes Lakeview.esp
254 FE a Qw_3DNPC_USSEP Patch.esp
90 5a Raven Rock Reborn.esp
91 5b Orlando Heljarchen Walls - Buildable Ver02b.esp
92 5c DoubleBedsAreForTwoPeople.esp
93 5d HF_Windstad_PHB_EX.esp
94 5e Dracos Hearthfire Homes Windstad.esp
254 FE b HotChicks have HotSisters.esp
95 5f HF_Heljarchen_PHBXB1_EX.esp
96 60 LADX_SSE.esp
254 FE c JKs Skyrim_Cutting Room Floor_Patch.esp
97 61 dragon home.esp
98 62 The Paarthurnax Dilemma.esp
99 63 middenexpandedlitesse.esp
100 64 MS Lein Followers.esp
101 65 DisarmorShout.esp
254 FE d Delphine's Map Reveals Dragon Mounds.esp
102 66 HFE-CRF-Patch.esp
103 67 College students.esp
104 68 SexLab Romance.esp
105 69 TheEyesOfBeauty.esp
106 6a alternate start - live another life.esp
107 6b ELFXEnhancer.esp
108 6c RealisticWaterTwo.esp
109 6d Skyrim Flora Overhaul.esp
254 FE e RealisticWaterTwo - Watercolor.esp

[Uncle64]

How have you installed your mods and in what order?
You may have overwrited wrong files.

[★Kelvy★]

Which mod and which NPC have it. CK64 will fix it.
Open CK
Go to data
Click boxes for these
Skyrim.esm
KS Hairdo's (didn't see Apachii hair so put that in)
Click activate and OK
Actors
Choose race male or female, Highlight them all and press ctrl/F4 let it complete list(shows NPC's bottom page wait until finish repeat for next race and repeat procedure and so on. When finish just save. (This will take awhile)

For a mod NPC's
Skyrim.esm
KS Hairdo's
Mod in question (last in activation process)
Click activate and OK

Note any NPC's in that mod will have a * in the 'count column' showing which npc's have been used.
Highlight those and repeat ctrl/F4 and when finish save it.
Make sure the mod is the activated plugin(shown top of page) this is important.

I use MO2 so textures and meshes will bein overwrites so create a new mod to put changes into or add them to the mod. I usually keep them separate for ease of knowing where they are..

[rogere1164]

Let me see..............yes I did clearly state that vampires had a dark face issue and maybe my wording of CK64 (GECK) was wrong. I am using Vortex as my mod manager and if there is a conflict it will make suggestions. The load order is via LOOT. I don't know which mod is causing the issue and the NPC's are the Vampires from the game itself and not a particular mod.

[★Kelvy★]

Just do the same as above for dark elf vampires, high elf vampires, nord vampires etc.. Highlight each race male or female and ctrl/f4 facegen them all and save.
Only need Skyrim.esm ticked in data, activate and OK, then in object window actors/ and race M or F.
I have to do it for Jenassa when I change her looks and hair.

Easier if you know which vampires are having the issues.

[rogere1164]

All of them . I've just started a new game so I'll try those things

[Randox]

A lot of mods that alter face/body textures also need to modify what I'll call "face data" (mostly looks like lighting settings). Those changes can be overwritten by a mod that alters the same charecters skills or inventory, because the values for both things are in the same record. The texture isn't compatible with the vanilla face data the other mod is using, and for some reason that means black face (or something like that. I don't entirely understand the issue, but I can spot and fix it).

I use xEdit to resolve these issues by building merged patches. For every character that needs to be fixed, I copy the character record from the last mod affecting that character into my patch plugin, then I replace all the texture and lighting values with the ones from the character overhaul mod.

There are guides for this, or I'll try to remeber to grab a picture from my own files.

[★Kelvy★]

In CK using ctrl and F4 you can fix the problems.

I do not merge plugins unless you keep a records of what you have done to them, they can skew up pretty quick just by adding newer mods etc..

I have change 102 plus female faces and hairs styles in my game but keep them all in a separate plugin.
Also over 35 male faces and hair and made a separate plugin for them.

I have a excel spread sheet which shows all the changes I have made to them all.
Also in CK when you open either plugin the changes are highlighted by an * in the count column against the names of NPC's.

Knowing which NPC has the problem is easy to fix, find NPC plus *, highlight it, ctrl/F4 when completed, just save back into that plugin.

[rogere1164]

Unfortunately nothing is working. @Kelvy I followed your suggestions but no luck. Looks like I have to do the long method .......run the game in vanilla then load the mods one by one until I find the cause

[Randox]

You might speed the process up with tes5edit. By default it will load all active plugins. Once it's done, right click in the left view pane and select filter to show conflict loosers" or something like that. It may take a few minutes (longer than loading all the plugins did).

Once that's done, look at the top of the left pane. There are two search boxes. Type the name of an NPC you know has black face, hit enter, and wait (you can do this without applying the filter first, but the filter will reduce records to just those that edit the same things). The right pane should show you what is happening to that character for each mod that touches them

Try to start with an npc who isn't used in the opening scene or other cut scenes. Those charecters tend to have multiple versions. Start with an npc that only exists once.

[rogere1164]

Lol shame I just did a reinstall but I'll keep that in mind if I can't find the cause

[rogere1164]

@Randox unfortunately Tes5edit is out of date and doesn't look like SSEEdit so I was struggling to follow what you were trying to say.

I'll just ignore those vampires because they get killed anyway and the ones I can to talk to means I can use setnpcweight.

I'll leave this open for a while in case some does come up with a fix (that works)

[RadCon One]

Originally posted by rogere1164:

@Randox unfortunately Tes5edit is out of date and doesn't look like SSEEdit so I was struggling to follow what you were trying to say.

I'll just ignore those vampires because they get killed anyway and the ones I can to talk to means I can use setnpcweight.

I'll leave this open for a while in case some does come up with a fix (that works)

If it is only happening to vampires try both of these mods
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/10936
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2708

The same thing happened to me for vampires on oldrim, but I don't actually remember what caused it or what fixed it, but these two are worth a shot.

[smr1957]

Tes5Edit and SSEEdit are exactly the same program (as is F04Edit) - xEdit but with different prefixes.

[rogere1164]

I know that Tes5Edit and SSEEdit are the same program. What I meant was that SSEEdit is the newer version and the interface is different to the earlier version.

Just to clarify the vampires that have the dark face issue are the general no name vampires. The main characters i.e. Serana, Valerica, Harkon, Hert, etc are not affected. And for some reason Sybille Stentor has a dark face but you can use either Ctrl F4 or setnpcweight for her and they work perfectly.

[blairweescot]

Happens to me too, and I use very few mods that you do.

The ones I use that you have (not counting DLC)

Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch
ClimatesOfTamriel
Dawnguard Delayed
Immersive Weapons.