How to Fix Washed Out Faces

[Brandybuck]

Trying to get my Skryim set up but I have a problem with washed out faces. This seems to only happen with pale or low-complexion faces in shadow on a bright day. The contrast is so low that faces appear flat. Here are two screenshots illustrating this problem:

http://i.imgur.com/VPKjMrV.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/tjuefKO.jpg

Any ideas what's causing this and/or how to fix it? The only graphics related mod I currently have installed is XCE. I've tried realistic lighting, immersive contrast, etc., but nothing seems to fix it.

[DeadBeat]

how did you install the mod?

[Brandybuck]

Which mod? I don't understand the question. I'm not looking for instructions on installing a mod, I'm looking for help fixing this particular problem.

[DeadBeat]

You said you have XCE installed which is a face mod. You don't think its possible the mod is installed incorrectly thereby causing this issue?

[OuchThatHurt]

Face Light is a must have mod for better looking faces it changes lighting effects and is a spell ;)

Did you use LOOT and TES5Edit to clean the files?

[gnewna]

I've found XCE does tend to make some faces look a bit funny in the shade, have you tried Total Character Makeover? It's similar, still fairly close to vanilla (although a little further from it than XCE, I think I have some screenshots that show the difference, though they're a while ago). I use it with the Brows retexture mod because I found a few of the TCM brows were weirdly over-plucked (mainly Hulda in the Bannered Mare) although that could have been an issue with *my* install.

[Brandybuck]

I've tried it with and without XCE. I thought I said that, but I guess I didn't. I tried with BOTH with and without XCE. No difference. I used Mod Organizer, although I don't see how that makes a difference. I used LOOT, but did not use TES5Edit. I'm not going to use TES5Edit unless I know something specifically needs cleaning. Looking at the mod Face Light, it doesn't look like it solves my problem, and besides I'm not going to be casting spells at every NPC in the game. That's a cure worse than the disease.

Let me rephrase the question, because I think I was not clear: What is causing this washed out face effect, and how can I fix it? I have provided links to screenshots illustrating the problem.

Thank you.

[gnewna]

Ah, sorry, I just typed out this and it's obviously not much use if it happens with and without XCE, but just in case you're curious about TCM I may as well put it here anyway and then try to have a think what else could be going on:

Lydia with TCM (ignore the hair, I was trying to make a mod to give her and Rumarin Apachii hairs) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=408461209 I don't have a pic of her with XCE but I'm guessing you know what Lydia looks like!

My character with TCM http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=398874582 I think it makes a more obvious difference to elves as their faces are usually harsher, so the fairly mild softening it does to most characters is more obvious, or something??

Same character with XCE http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=398893321


Same character with XCE before visiting the Face Sculptor http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=390407408

And with TCM http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=390407752

[gnewna]

Have you got any mods that affect lighting? That'd seem like the next most obvious suggestion (so you've probably already thought of it). Oh, you mentioned realistic lighting didn't help. Hmm.

[Brandybuck]

To clarify some more: The problem is not the textures. The problem exists with or without XCE. The problem exists with vanilla textures. It's not the textures. I'm not a graphics whiz, but to my untrained eye it looks like a lighting problem of some kind. Please look at my screenshots. The faces look fine outside of shadow.

[OuchThatHurt]

Running any ENB mods? Or have you tried better femals of skyrim i think the mod is called it overhaul all the femal faces ...from nexus i believe

[gnewna]

Originally posted by Brandybuck:

To clarify some more: The problem is not the textures. The problem exists with or without XCE. The problem exists with vanilla textures. It's not the textures. I'm not a graphics whiz, but to my untrained eye it looks like a lighting problem of some kind. Please look at my screenshots. The faces look fine outside of shadow.

(Sorry, by the way, I forgot Steam screenshots show up as preview thingies, rather than links, I can delete if you'd rather not have to scroll through all that!)

Yeah, I'm trying to think what might help with lighting. Do you have a screenshot of the same characters in better lighting so we can better see the difference?

I had a weird glitch with my mountains a while back, in the early afternoon they went really weird and flat/kinda yellowy looking. Only thing that helped was reinstalling, and I've a feeling I had to do it twice because the first time didn't help :/ (Hopefully this can be sorted without anything so drastic, esp as you're using MO which should limit issues from getting that bad, to an extent.)

[Brandybuck]

My current mod list (which is continually changing as I get this new playthrough set up):

+Sabre Gear Backpacks v2a
+Camping Lite
+iNeed - Food, Water and Sleep
+Follower Commentary Overhaul
+Whistle
+Grey orcish Weapons
+Grey Orcish ingot
+Grey orcish armor
+Brandybuck's Changes (my own personal tweaks)
+When Vampires Attack
+Thieves Guild Requirements
+The Paarthurnax Dilemma
+Morrowind Imports
+OpenUnlock
+Upgrade Leveled Items Spell - Dragonborn
+True Bound Armors
+slower companions remade
+Run For Your Lives
+Trade And Barter - Hearthfire
+Skyrim Unbound 5.4
+Cutting Room Floor
+Serana patch
+FollowerWander6
+Mead Keg Backpack
+Hearthfire Display Case Fix
+AOF Believable Hair 1 3 2 -Female and Male-
+XCE
+Mounted Followers
+Oblivious Horses
+SkyUI
+Better Beast Races-2 00-Lite
+Gender and Race Heights
+A Quality World Map and Solstheim Map - With Roads
+Unofficial High Resolution Patch
+Unofficial Dragonborn Patch
*Unmanaged: Dragonborn
+Unofficial Hearthfire Patch
*Unmanaged: HearthFires
+Unofficial Dawnguard Patch
*Unmanaged: Dawnguard
+Unofficial Skyrim Patch
*Unmanaged: HighResTexturePack01
*Unmanaged: HighResTexturePack02
*Unmanaged: HighResTexturePack03

[OuchThatHurt]

Try adding this, Better females by bella i think it still works it's high res face pack that might help with the washed out look

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/2812/?

[gnewna]

Originally posted by VikingDream - OuchThatHurt:

Try adding this, Better females by bella i think it still works it's high res face pack that might help with the washed out look

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/2812/?

Going out on a limb here, but I'm guessing that Brandybuck is happy with the vanilla look (or the close-to-vanilla-but-not-so-blocky look of XCE). It's probably also best to try and fix the existing issue (which is present without XCE so is probably not a texture issue anyway) rather than stick more mods on top and hope it disguises it.

(Although, that said, something like Imaginator lets you tweak saturation, contrast and other things about the lighting type stuff, and might be worth a try? Sorry, for now I'm a bit stumped.)

[OuchThatHurt]

Well i tend to pile mods up then clean the files and hope it works some times you get good resualts others times you need to remove mods and start again there are so many it's some tims hard to get a good list without trail and error.