Vilja Complete Makeover Instructions 2.2.0

So you want to customize Vilja's appearance in your game?

This guide will walk you through the basic process step by step.

If you just want to change her hair style try the Quick Hair Change instructions instead.

We will only be using the TES4 Construction Set, resources provided in this pack, and any body, race, hair, eye, and other resources you might download to integrate in your custom Vilja.

In many cases you will need to know the mesh and texture names for the resources you want to use. The easiest way to get those is to look through the instructions below to see which values you need to change. Then open another mod that uses the resources you need and find the matching windows so you can see the names you are supposed to use. You'll want to write those down because you can't usually have the other mod open at the same time as the one you are editing.

Contents

You can skip changes to specific body parts, but but don't skip the 4 main steps!

Before You Start

  1. Make a save of your current game.

    You'll need that to test your new creation and so that you can reload it if anything goes wrong.

  2. Make sure you have a working version of Vilja installed.

    It's at Emma's web site: http://lovkullen.net/Emma/index.htm and at: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=28977

  3. Try out at least one of the pre-created custom Viljas.

    I recommend the Argonian by Nivea because it's such a radical change and only needs a few additional files that are provided.

  4. Decide what type of Vilja you really want.

    See if one of the custom versions in this archive is a close match. You can always start from scratch, but it's easier to just make minor changes to one of the existing versions.

  5. Download and install any additional body, race, hair, eye, or other resources.

    You probably don't need to do anything for this step right now. You most likely already have whatever resources installed that you will need, but take this as a friendly reminder to install any recent downloads you might want to use.

Preparation

  1. I recommend closing mod managers like OBMM, Bash, and BOSS.

    Those managers will probably not be happy with the next steps so its easier to just not let them see.

  2. Open a window to your Oblivion\Data folder and keep it open.

    You'll be renaming files at the beginning and end of this process. If you installed the name in the default location then the full path is C:\Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion\Data.

  3. Copy 1em_Vilja_master.esp from the Vilja_Customization_Master folder into your Oblivion\Data folder.

    This is a special (and very small) version that will be a master while you create your custom Vilja. It's only for use in the Construction Set, so don't activate it in the game!

  4. Swap out the real 1em_Vilja.esp with the special 1em_Vilja_Master.esp version.

    You will still be able to tell the two apart because the real one is much larger although your dates may not match the ones shown.

  5. Start the Construction Set and load the mod you'll be using as a base for your custom Vilja.

    Select File - Data... on the menu then choose one of the custom versions that you want to use as a base for your Vilja and mark it as the Active File.

    Alternately, you can just select the 1em_Vilja.esp file (which is listed as a Master) without any active file. This will let you create your own new Vilja starting from scratch.

    If any resources you want to use are in an ESM file you can also select it as a master. Warning: Do not load more than one ESP file (except for the special 1em_Vilja.esp) at a time or you will corrupt your mod. If you need resources from another mod you'll need to recreate them.

    The Vilja_Customization_More_Examples folder has custom versions with more hair and eye options. These can't be merged into a Bashed Patch, but they might be easier to modify than the main versions.

Making changes

This guide can't cover every specific change you many want to make but there are some guidelines for changes to the five main features people want to change. Skip any of these that don't apply and then jump to the Saving and Testing section.

Hair

There are three different situations for changing Vilja's hair.

I've listed these in the order you will need to do them if you want to make a radical change, but you can also skip ahead to one of the others if you are less ambitious.

Adding a new hair style to the game

You will need to know the details for the new hair style. The easiest way is to load some other mod that uses the hair in the Construction Set and write down the values. Then reopen your custom Vilja mod and recreate the values.

Select Character - Hair... on the menu and then choose the 1emmViljaHairStyle if it's not already the default.

Use the two buttons to replace the Mesh (.nif file) and Texture (.dds file). You may also need to check the "Fixed Color" box depending on the hair style. You can also change the name but it won't affect the game.

Since this is Vilja's default hair you can save your change and then skip to the section about changing its color or length.

Using existing non-Nord styles

Vilja can only use hair styles that are assigned to the NordVilja race which includes only the default Nord styles. There are more styles in the original game and you might have others available to you in other ESM files. You can add any of the existing hairs to the NordVilja race.

Select Character - Race... on the menu and then choose the NordVilja race.

Then choose the Body Data tab and position the window so it is toward the right side of your screen.

Select Character - Hair... on the menu and then with both windows open you can drag hair styles from the Hair window into the Hair Styles section of the Race window.

Close the Hair window and save your changes in the Race window before continuing to the next section where you can have Vilja use the new hair style.

Switching the style, color, and length

In the Object Window expand the Actors section and click on NPC. Double-click on 1emmVilja in the list of NPCs to open the NPC window.

Click the Head checkbox on the bottom right of the window then switch to the Face tab to see your changes in the preview pane. (You can drag the preview image to turn her head.)

You can select a new hair style using the selection box at the bottom of the window.

The controls for changing her hair color and hair length don't work for every style of hair.

Eyes

Changing eyes is more complicated than changing hair because the game doesn't tightly connect eye shape and eye color. So I'm going to over-simplify the process specifically for Vilja.

If you just want to switch the default blue eyes to green, you can do that from the NPC window similar to switching her hair style (in the previous section).

To choose a different set of eyes for Vilja, you will need to set the Mesh and Texture properties in two different windows.

The eye mesh is set from the Character - Race... window in the Face Data tab.

Select the NordVilja race and change both the right and left eye mesh choice.

The eye texture is set from the Character - Eyes... window.

Change the viljaNew10 eye texture since that's the one Vilja uses by default.

(Technically you can create your own new named eye type. But then you'll need to add it to the NordVilja race and then select it for Vilja just like adding and selecting hair styles.)

Body

Select Characters - Race... on the menu and choose the Body tab on the Race window.

You can change Vilja's height and weight here along with the racial body meshes.

General body type is shared by all races, but some races can have tails so you have the option to select a tail mesh for your race.

Changing the 4 (or 5 with a tail) textures is usually very easy since most race mods package them using Bethesda's naming scheme. For custom races you can generally find them in a folder with the race name in the Characters folder. Some races share textures though. In the default game Nords and Bretons use the textures in the Imperial folder.

There's one other special note about changing bodies. If your new race is a beast race or needs some special skeleton you need to set that for the 1emmVilja NPC.

Head

I'm not an expert on head replacers but the core data you need to edit is in the Face Data tab on the Race window.

Eyes are handled separately from the rest, but the others all have mesh and texture pairs.

Custom races frequently alter the use of some of these. For example, the Sheogorath race from Bethesda uses the tongue slot for his beard. Some races combine the upper and lower teeth to make room for wings. So you will need to find an example ESP with the race you want to use so you can see which meshes to put in which slot.

Face

While the Race window has a FaceGen tab, for modifying Vilja you want the tabs on the NPC window instead.

In the Object Window expand the Actors section and click on NPC. Double-click on 1emmVilja in the list of NPCs to open the NPC window.

Click the Head checkbox on the bottom right of the window then switch to the Face tab to see your changes in the preview pane. (You can drag the preview image to turn her head.)

On the Face tab you can change her age and general complexion (and her hair as desribed in the hair section).

Switch to the next tab, Face Advanced, and you have greater control over the details of her face.

Use of these controls is far beyond my ability to describe, but if you have the preview window active you can experiment.

Saving and Testing

  1. Choose File - Save to save your custom Vilja and then exit the Construction Set.

    If you started from scratch without an active mod you'll need to give your new version a name.

  2. Swap out the special 1em_Vilja_master.esp with the real 1em_Vilja.esp version.

  3. Restart whatever mod managers you use and verify that your new mod loads after 1em_Vilja.esp.

    If you were editing an existing file you'll also want to let the manager reset it's date.

    If you had merged your version into a Bashed Patch, then you'll need to rebuild the patch to see your changes.

  4. Start the game and try out your new version.

    Hopefully everything works as you expect, but it's not unusual to find something wrong.

    Don't ever activate the 1em_Vilja_master.esp file for the game, if you do you'll get a very annoying message box to remind you that you've made a mistake. (When you're satisfied with your changes you may want to delete the master file so that you don't accidentally activate it later.)

  5. If there are problems, you'll need to go back to step 4 and swap the ESP's again before reloading your mod in the Construction Set.

    I wish there was a better way to do this, but the Construction Set and the game need to see different versions of the 1em_Vilja.esp file so you'll need two swap them back and forth every time you switch between editing your mod and playing it.

The End

Technically there are other things that you could change to create a custom Vilja, but I don't recommend it.

Charles Cooley
2010-08-08