bgBalancingEVOptionalSeamReducerHighElfFix

[nenina]

I have been trying to get this fix working for me for a long time with no success. bgBalancingEVOptionalSeamReducerHighElfFix.esp is an optional file that comes with Race Balancing Project. Its purpose is to remedy a side effect of Luchaire's HGEC Body Seam Reducer, which makes all High Elves have yellowish heads and pinkish bodies that don't match. Luchaire's Seam Reducer is a set of three .egt files that go into the Mesh folder, two for bodies and one for the head.

The problem with bgBalancingEVOptionalSeamReducerHighElfFix.esp is that support for it is vague, only saying that Wrye Bash is needed.

My testing npc is Palonirya in the Market District. She is the npc I view everytime I try to use bgBalancingEVOptionalSeamReducerHighElfFix.esp. Here is how it affects my game:

If bgBalancingEVOptionalSeamReducerHighElfFix.esp in the load order before bgBalancingEVCore.esp and bash merged then High Elf bodies will be yellowish and the head is a non-matching default head. If bgBalancingEVOptionalSeamReducerHighElfFix.esp is in the load order after bgBalancingEVCore.esp and bashed merged then High Elf heads will be yellowish and the body is a non-matching default body.

Nothing I have done so far has resulted in heads matching bodies, and Luchaire's Seam Reducer side effect actually looks less bad than the results I've had with the fix.

Eloise suggested that I choose the load order that has High Elf bodies be yellowish and use the NPC Face Color Unlocker to let the heads match the bodies. If I use the unlocker as an OMOD archive it has no effect. If I pack the files into the Oblivion - Textures Compressed.bsa then High Elves and other races willl have neon yellow heads!

It is as if the fix does not want to work properly at all, or else it works for everyone else and mine is a unique problem.

[Hanaisse]

It's never a good idea to add texture files into the vanilla textures .bsa. It makes installation and uninstallation a nightmare and removes the ability of other mods to replace these textures.

I've never used these mods you mention but it sounds easy enough. It's about installation order, not necessarily load order. The last mod installed wins.

Put the NPC Face Color Unlocker aside for now. Take those textures out of textures.bsa. Manually remove the egt files from Luchaires seam fixer in your Data/meshes folder and manually remove the texture files from bg's fix from your Data/textures. Start from the beginning. Since you use Wrye Bash I recommend using BAIN to install these.

With the basic bgBalancingEVCore.esp and files installed already, add Luchaire's seam fix and let it overwrite any files if necessary. Rebuild your bashed patch and import/merge any tags it requires (check in Import Graphics and Race Records). Then install bg's fix and let it overwrite any files if necessary. Rebuild your bashed patch again and import/merge any tags it requires. Ultimately those are the texture files you want, right? You should be able to see in Bash Installers tab if the files are overwritten.

Are you using any other body mods? There could possibly be something else in play here if it's not working.

[greenwarden]

I use the fix, and it works perfectly well for me. bg's fix works by assigning the Golden Saint textures to High Elves, and then tweaking the color settings- do you have Shivering Isles? And have you tried placing Golden Saint textures in your textures/characters/Golden Saint directory? If that directory does not exist, make one- Navetsea made some beautiful textures for GS females (HGEC and its umpteen variants), I believe Fantasy Figures has them as part of the default installation, and Slof did some lovely ones for males. He also says it requires a bashed patch to work correctly. Are you using one? As for vaguely worded, I downloaded it here: http://www.theelderscrolls.info/?go=dlfile&fileid=346, and found the description and the requirements very specific.

I am with Hana here: reinstall the mods in question. Luchaire's seam reducer needs to go in your meshes/characters/_male directory. Let it overwrite whatever is in there- if you don't like it, you can delete it and the game will revert to using what is in the OB meshes.bsa.

I would install the color unlocker and Golden Saint textures (if needed) manually, for certainty of placement. Then add bg's esp to your data folder, place it below bgBalancingCore, check it, and rebuild the Bash Patch, making sure it is accounted for per how it is tagged in the Bash Patch window.

However, I don't really understand why NPC color unlocker is needed, unless you are also using a mod like "Beautiful Women and Handsome Gents" or "TNR" which alters individual faces, but does not alter race data. It is not listed as a requirement for the mod, and indeed, I used it without it for a very long time. BG's fix doesn't alter the individual NPC face settings, it just makes an entire race use a different race's textures, and tweaks the color settings (again, for an entire race, not individual NPCs) via an esp.