When player character + followers get a gray face, is it permanent?

[bufossil]

I have read forums here and there that say once the player's face and all follower faces turn gray, there is no way to get rid of it, including deleting and reinstalling the game.

Note: I am not talking about an individual NPC face, so don't point me to the Youtube video with the Ctrl + F4 trick. I was trying to customize an esp file for Serana with Creation Kit, and when I got back into the game, everyone's face was gray (player character, Lydia, and Serana).



As I said, from what I have read, there is no fixing this. Anyone had this same issue? Has someone figured out how to fix this recently?

Thanks in advance.

[Roscaria]

Have you tried verifying the game cache?

[Undead Rufus]

If it's beyond your will to narrow down what happened to cause the bug, then verifying your game cache (right-click, Properties -> Local files -> Verify integrity...) should solve the gray face issue. Make sure the *.esp file you created is deactivated. If you're running player, follower or NPC appearance mods, deactivate those as well.

If you can describe what you did in the Creation Kit, it might help to find a solution without redoing all your mods, but the above should fix your problem.

[bufossil]

Originally posted by Undead Rufus:

If it's beyond your will to narrow down what happened to cause the bug, then verifying your game cache (right-click, Properties -> Local files -> Verify integrity...) should solve the gray face issue. Make sure the *.esp file you created is deactivated. If you're running player, follower or NPC appearance mods, deactivate those as well.

If you can describe what you did in the Creation Kit, it might help to find a solution without redoing all your mods, but the above should fix your problem.

Well, it is not beyond my will to conceal anything. I just do not know what caused the bug. I edited the appearance of Serana, and then saved the file. It has been over a year since I used Creation Kit, so I forgot about the Ctrl + F4 step when I saved the plugin for Serana. That is honestly all I know.

I do not want to play Skyrim without the appearance mods (Better Females by Bella, Apachii hair, Eyes of Beauty, etc.). I have played Skyrim for over 600 hours, so if it is time to move on, I will. However, I will try the verify integrity step. I did not know about that.

Thanks for Roscaria and Undead for the suggestions.

[Stoob]

There is a tint mask associated with each NPC. In most cases, this will just be in the skyrikm.esm (or DLC) but for any modded (such as Serana) if the esp data that facegendata don't match, there will be grey face. For reference, the tints are located at:
...\skyrim\data\textures\actors\character\facegendata\facetint\
And then a sub-folder specific to the DLC/mod, such as 'Dawnguard' for the Dawnguard.

If you've edited Serana then those changes will not show until you hit ctrl+F4 while selecting her actor to export the facegendata you created.

Same goes for facegeoms, the nif meshes created for the actor's head:
...\skyrim\data\meshes\actors\character\facegendata\facegeom\
Also generated when using ctrl+F4 to export face data.

Edit: I see you sorted that particular issue sry. :)

[Stoob]

For the player's grey face, can we get a screenie to help diagnosis? That shouldn't be difficult to fix TBH. Initially, I'd just say to go to the textures\actors\characters folder and delete the 'female' folder and the race normals folders (bretonfemale, orcfemale, etc) then re-install your texture mods if all is well after that.

Oh, sry, last thing, is the Serana mod active and actully causing the problem or does it persist when that esp is inactive?

[★Kelvy★]

Just remember,vanilla NPC have a set wieght of 50. Appachii hair models are set at 100.
When you say grey faces they are grey to black or just mismatch in neck seam colour slightly changed.
Can change by console the set weight of NCP but not sure of actual command.

[bufossil]

Ok, I just tried the right-click, Properties -> Local files -> Verify integrity idea. When it got done running, a little window said it could not validate one file, and was reacquiring that file. When I started a new game and got to the point where I customize the new character, there was a conspicuous neck seam and the skin tint above the neck seam was noticeably darker than the tint below the neck seam.

Also, I disabled the esp file for Serana and loaded the latest file of the previous game, and all three faces were still gray. The Apachii hair (and all other mods) did not create the gray faces for the first 600 hours of play time. I would give you a screen capture, but I do not know how to post it on this forum. Just believe me when I say I have been using mods and enjoying the game for a long time, and this is the first time all faces have turned gray (I have had one face turn gray before).

I am going to have to be offline for a while, so I am not going to be able to respond to your suggestions. I am not opposed to totally deleting the whole game and downloading it again if I was somewhat certain it would fix the problem.

Thanks again.

[Stoob]

Originally posted by Kelvy:

Just remember,vanilla NPC have a set wieght of 50. Appachii hair models are set at 100.
When you say grey faces they are grey to black or just mismatch in neck seam colour slightly changed.
Can change by console the set weight of NCP but not sure of actual command.

Not all NPCs have a weight of 50, and that makes no difference to hair anyway. I'd suggest not going around randomly changing the weight of NPCs unless you'd like neck seams to go with your grey face.

[Stoob]

It'd create a dependency on ApachiiSkyHair for the follower's esp, but possibly that's intended to be discarded anyway. I can see that it may well give the game a 'kick'. I wonder now if OP is using an NPC hair replacer mod as well?

[★Kelvy★]

Cheeky Grimus, Ha!! stole my thunder(my solution). Was holding back on this before issuing it just trying to assertain whether he had grey/black or just off colour faces.
If it is for odd colour neck lines etc this will not be the answer. It will be more within the modder descriptions for solutions.

[Stoob]

Not sure if any of all that would help with player char face though? Still sounds like mismatching textures to me... :)

[★Kelvy★]

Most face and hair mods, the modders have added fixes to them.
Stoob as you said if OP has other face and hair mods other than lets say the main ones then there could be and issue within them.
Stated played 600 hours without it maybe the last mod he (face or hair mod) added may be the cause.

[Stoob]

Although seemingly gone for the night...

@OP: Serana and Lydia are both Nord, is your player char Nord too? Are Bretons and the rest grey faced too?

[★Kelvy★]

You can do this to all breeds, Nords, Imperials, and Bretons etc in CK just by selecting each group(or named persons) in turn using the method (above) and remove all listed in C: drive. Start game and they are replaced with new features(hopefully no grey faces)

[Stoob]

I was just wondering, diagnosing, pondering. :)