Changing an NPC's hair

[gnewna]

Is it possible to create a plugin to give a mod-added NPC (from a mod with an .esp rather than an .esm) new hair, preferably one of the Apachii ones? I've done it before with a vanilla NPC/hairstyle, but I'm not sure (and my google fu is right out of the window tonight) if you can make a plugin based on an .esp - I mean, I guess that's what mod patches do, right? I know there's mods like that hairstyler one, but I really only want to change one NPC's hair, so I don't much fancy installing a whole mod to do that... (The Apachii files are .esm, so that's one less thing to worry about.)

[gnewna]

Hmm, okay, I actually tried to open the CK and try this today and I got an error message telling me I couldn't use multiple masters (I tried to use Apachii for males and 3DNPC so as to use one of the Apachii hairs on my follower). Am I missing something? It didn't say I couldn't use an .esp as a master, but that I couldn't have multiple masters, but obviously it must be possible to do so (or there must be a thing I'm missing) because otherwise how can you make patches for two mods etc in CK, which AFAIK you can? Also, when I opened just 3DNPC to try and just give him a different vanilla hair, I got a LOT of error messages (missing things and whatnot), is that normal? I've only ever really used the CK to tweak vanilla stuff before, not loaded a big mod like 3DNPC.

Otherwise, has anyone used the Apachii wigs mod that adds a 'wigs anvil spell' to let you craft wigs of some of the older Apachii hairs? I'm a bit wary of mods that use spells to activate things like that (rather than just adding stuff to the normal crafting menu or having an MCM or something)...

[Nazenn]

The multiple masters thing is relating to esm files. Originally the CK is only set up for Skyrims esm files to be loaded, you have to manually add your other esm files, such as dragonborn, etac etc to the list. Theres instructions on how to do it online that are specifically for the dlcs, but also work for mod esms.

And yes, the CK will throw off tones of errors messages about absolutely bloody everything, even if you only load up skyrim. Just ignore them.

As for the rest of it, I'm not sure, npc modding isnt something ive done yet

[pedantic_roc]

Morning gnewna :-)

In SkyrimEditor.ini - under [General] - add or change - bAllowMultipleMasterLoads=1

Edit: and add the .esm to the list, like what Nazenn says :-)

[Skyrimnut]

Ah, poor Rumarin. :) Nerussa better like him for all the effort he's going through to look his best.

Morning gnewna.

[Amplifier]

No, no, *shakes head* Nazenn is half wrong. You only have to do these few tweaks in your SkyrimEditor: change bAllowMultipleMasterLoads=1 line and add ONLY the DLC esm names to the list.
You don't have to add any mod ESMs to the list.
You can follow the refer to the descript here for clearer instructions:
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/21690/?


As for lots of the error messages you get, yes, it's normal. That's just how sh***ty the CK works. Click Ignore All whenever you encounter any.
Or you can change the line in your INI file to bBlockMessageBoxes=1 to stop the messages from appearing.

As for making a plugin based on a ESP, you'll have to make the ESP (3DNPC.esp in this case) a temporary master ESM first. Then make your edits in CK, save, and change your ESM back to ESP. If you don't do this, the ESP won't be saved as a master for your plugin, everything corrupts and your computer explodes.

[Nazenn]

Originally posted by Crowe Freighter:

No, no, *shakes head* Nazenn is half wrong. You only have to do these few tweaks in your SkyrimEditor: change bAllowMultipleMasterLoads=1 line and add ONLY the DLC esm names to the list.
You don't have to add any mod ESMs to the list.

Thanks for the info, I was unaware of that, as I couldnt get ETAC to load in the CK without it but I probably changed something else as well, it was a long time ago I made the ini edits XD

[pedantic_roc]

Yes, Crowe :-) I didn't mean 'add to the .bsa list' I meant in the selected .esm's :-)

[gnewna]

Thanks, everyone! Unfortunately when I searched for tutorials I only got a bunch of people talking about things like the NPC Editor mod (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/4554/?) which looks interesting but I don't think it will work with non-vanilla NPCs?

[gnewna]

Originally posted by Crowe Freighter:

No, no, *shakes head* Nazenn is half wrong. You only have to do these few tweaks in your SkyrimEditor: change bAllowMultipleMasterLoads=1 line and add ONLY the DLC esm names to the list.
You don't have to add any mod ESMs to the list.
You can follow the refer to the descript here for clearer instructions:
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/21690/?


As for lots of the error messages you get, yes, it's normal. That's just how sh***ty the CK works. Click Ignore All whenever you encounter any.
Or you can change the line in your INI file to bBlockMessageBoxes=1 to stop the messages from appearing.

As for making a plugin based on a ESP, you'll have to make the ESP (3DNPC.esp in this case) a temporary master ESM first. Then make your edits in CK, save, and change your ESM back to ESP. If you don't do this, the ESP won't be saved as a master for your plugin, everything corrupts and your computer explodes.

Thanks (crossposted as I went to do a thing so I hadn't seen the last few replies). Hmm, but I wasn't trying to use any DLC .esm files when I started the CK and got the 'multiple masters' error, just Skyrim/Update/Apachii and also the 3DNPC.esp. How do I make the .esp a temporary .esm?

[Nazenn]

Originally posted by gnewna:

Thanks (crossposted as I went to do a thing so I hadn't seen the last few replies). Hmm, but I wasn't trying to use any DLC .esm files when I started the CK and got the 'multiple masters' error, just Skyrim/Update/Apachii and also the 3DNPC.esp. How do I make the .esp a temporary .esm?

You still need to set the ini file setting that pedantic_roc gave you

And you can do it easily via wrye bash. Pretty sure you click on the esp and hit the 'ESM-ify' option or something akin to that off the top of my head

[gnewna]

Ah, okay, that makes sense, thanks!

Originally posted by Skyrimnut:

Ah, poor Rumarin. :) Nerussa better like him for all the effort he's going through to look his best.

Morning gnewna.

It's got to be better than that horrid ponytail...

[gnewna]

Hmm, no luck so far, I haven't been able to find a decent tutorial (I used a really good, clear, straightforward one when I made a little mod to change Jenassa's hair last year, can't find it for toffee) which doesn't help. I thought I'd done it (opened the relevant .esm/.esmified files, edited Rumarin's record, saved as a plugin) but it's not made the changes in-game.

[pedantic_roc]

I think you might still need to export the Facegen, gnewna. Haven't use the CK in a while but it's something like Ctrl +F4 - try out your googling for precision :-)

[gnewna]

Hmm, I don't remember having done that with Jenassa, but I'll give it a go, thanks!

[gnewna]

Right, couldn't get it to work, tried the NPC Editor thing and it *didn't* change Rumarin's hair but *did* give him a grey face :/ Also, in the NPC Editor thing, it renders their face/hair and his hair doesn't show up. All very odd. I think it's time to either give up or test out the wiggy mod... *sigh*