The infamous dark head glitch even though I don't have any NPC-altering mods as far as I know.

[FusRoDah]

So yeah, I've searched for the fix to this and found various answers involving removing face/hair replacers for NPC (which I don't have), applying texblend fixes (this made the transition for some models a bit smoother at least but didn't fix it), installing new headmods over it, disabling anything with the Skyrim.esm face texture thingy, but no cigar. 

Happens with both men and women, but more prominently women. Only saw it on Human races so far.

  0  0 Skyrim.esm

  1  1 Update.esm

  2  2 Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp

  3  3 Dawnguard.esm

  4  4 HearthFires.esm

  5  5 Dragonborn.esm

  6  6 ApachiiHairFemales.esm

  7  7 ClimatesOfTamriel.esm

  8  8 Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Main.esm

  9  9 SkyMoMod.esm

 10  a RaceCompatibility.esm

 11  b AOM.esm

 12  c Gray Fox Cowl.esm

 13  d mannyBlackRock.esm

 14  e moonpath.esm

 15  f ZaZAnimationPack.esm

 16 10 daymoyl.esm

 17 11 TravellersOfSkyrim.esm

 18 12 RSkyrimChildren.esm

 19 13 hdtHighHeel.esm

 20 14 EnhancedLightsandFX.esp

 21 15 northern_encounters2.esp

 22 16 LegacyoftheDragonbornV13.esp

 23 17 WetandCold.esp

 24 18 AOS.esp

 25 19 ELFX - Exteriors.esp

 26 1a Wintermyst - Enchantments of Skyrim.esp

 27 1b 3DNPC.esp

 28 1c Prometheus_No_snow_Under_the_roof.esp

 29 1d WARZONES - Civil Unrest.esp

 30 1e SkyMoMod Extras Collectables.esp

 31 1f SkyUI.esp

 32 20 AchieveThat.esp

 33 21 DSAMG - Miraak Music Fixes.esp

 34 22 Book Covers Skyrim.esp

 35 23 Life In Prison.esp

 36 24 Skyrim Immersive Creatures.esp

 37 25 Helgen Reborn.esp

 38 26 Breezehome_Fully_Upgradable.esp

 39 27 SkyFalls + SkyMills + DG + DB.esp

 40 28 SoS - The Wilds.esp

 41 29 Rebirth Monster.esp

 42 2a ethereal_elven_overhaul.esp

 43 2b Northern Bathhouses.esp

 44 2c OBIS.esp

 45 2d OBISDB.esp

 46 2e Civil War Overhaul.esp

 47 2f Guard Dialogue Overhaul.esp

 48 30 SoS - Civilization.esp

 49 31 SIS.esp

 50 32 Traps Are Dangerous.esp

 51 33 FireAndIceOverhaul.esp

 52 34 DeadlySpellImpacts.esp

 53 35 AOS2_FIO Patch.esp

 54 36 AOS2_DSI Patch.esp

 55 37 AOS2_WetandCold Patch.esp

 56 38 ABT - Faster Arrows Improved +25%.esp

 57 39 ABT - Faster Bolts Improved +50%.esp

 58 3a vAutosaveManager.esp

 59 3b Bring Out Your Dead.esp

 60 3c w2salem.esp

 61 3d Skyrim Immersive Creatures - DLC2.esp

 62 3e DeadlyDragons.esp

 63 3f AOS2_DD Patch.esp

 64 40 SoS - The Dungeons.esp

 65 41 AOS2_SoS_CoT Patch.esp

 66 42 MoonAndStar_MAS.esp

 67 43 Undeath.esp

 68 44 FCO - Follower Commentary Overhaul.esp

 69 45 HearthfireMultiKid.esp

 70 46 Height Adjusted Races with True Giants.esp

 71 47 PrinceandPauperRS.esp

 72 48 RSChildren - Complete.esp

 73 49 Size does matter.esp

 74 4a AOM.esp

 75 4b Immersive Weapons.esp

 76 4c Hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp

 77 4d Mrissi.esp

 78 4e BFT Ships and Carriages.esp

 79 4f Inconsequential NPCs.esp

 80 50 SkyrimsUniqueTreasures.esp

 81 51 CinematicFireFX.esp

 82 52 Cloaks.esp

 83 53 Run For Your Lives.esp

 84 54 moonpath_questdata.esp

 85 55 NorthernCardinal.esp

 86 56 prostitutes.esp

 87 57 SMIM-ShackRoofFixes.esp

 88 58 AgentOfRighteousMight.esp

 89 59 marriagedynamicoutfits.esp

 90 5a HoamaiiClearskyHideout.esp

 91 5b Chesko_Frostfall.esp

 92 5c LIAT - Sounds.esp

 93 5d quest_pitfighter.esp

 94 5e TradeRoutes.esp

 95 5f RealisticNeedsandDiseases.esp

 96 60 RND_HearthFires-Patch.esp

 97 61 Midas Magic Expanded.esp

 98 62 3DNPC Alternative Locations.esp

 99 63 Forsworn Children.esp

100 64 kankaraya.esp

101 65 SKY.esp

102 66 Purewaters.esp

103 67 ImprovedFishBASIC.esp

104 68 Supreme Storms - Cot Version.esp

105 69 AOS2_SupremeStorms_CoT Patch.esp

106 6a Additional Children Clothes.esp

107 6b EnhancedCharacterEdit.esp

108 6c Dr_Bandolier.esp

109 6d Bathing in Skyrim - Main.esp

110 6e RealisticRoomRental.esp

111 6f Bathing in Skyrim - Realistic Room Rental.esp

112 70 Bathing in Skyrim - Water for Pure Waters (Legendary).esp

113 71 BFSEffects.esp

114 72 BLEED.esp

115 73 BuryTheDead.esp

116 74 More Salt Please.esp

117 75 RND_USKP-Patch.esp

118 76 ClamsDropPearls.esp

119 77 ClimatesOfTamriel-Dungeons-Hazardous.esp

120 78 ClimatesOfTamriel-Interiors-Warm.esp

121 79 ClimatesOfTamriel-Nights-Level-2.esp

122 7a WetandCold - Ashes.esp

123 7b ClimatesOfTamriel-Dragonborn-Patch.esp

124 7c ClimatesOfTamriel-Dawnguard-Patch.esp

125 7d SoS - The Wilds-PatchCoT.esp

126 7e SoS - Civilization-PatchCoT.esp

127 7f RND_PureWaters-Patch.esp

128 80 RND_Dragonborn-Patch.esp

129 81 Realistic crime report radius.esp

130 82 CrimeDecay.esp

131 83 DD_Dawnguard Additions.esp

132 84 DD_Dragonborn Additions.esp

133 85 Disease Descriptions_RND Compatibile.esp

134 86 DiversePriests.esp

135 87 QuieterDogs.esp

136 88 TorchRadius.esp

137 89 Dragon Combat Overhaul.esp

138 8a DraugrSkirts_Havok.esp

139 8b DYNAVISION Dynamic Depth of Field.esp

140 8c Extended UI.esp

141 8d abotFiresHurt.esp

142 8e Footprints.esp

143 8f getSnowy.esp

144 90 getSnowy_WnC-Ashes Patch.esp

145 91 Immersive detection of NPC.esp

146 92 iHUD.esp

147 93 More Salt Please - Dragonborn Addon.esp

148 94 NoPsychicLockKnowledge.esp

149 95 dD-No Spinning Death Animation.esp

150 96 NPCWaterAIScripted.esp

151 97 Private Needs.esp

152 98 Project Ultimatum.esp

153 99 Pupetteer Master.esp

154 9a dD - Realistic Ragdoll Force - Realistic.esp

155 9b RND_Dawnguard-Patch.esp

156 9c SkyFalls Dragonborn Small waterfalls.esp

157 9d Rebirth Monster - SIC Patch.esp

158 9e SMIM-DragonbornTernFix.esp

159 9f SMIM-DungeonsCliffsIceSkirts.esp

160 a0 SMIM-FurnitureChestSnowFix.esp

161 a1 Supreme Fog - CoT.esp

162 a2 TKRecoil.esp

163 a3 TravellersOfSkyrim - Bags and Pouches Addon.esp

164 a4 TravellersOfSkyrim - Vanilla.esp

165 a5 UIExtensions.esp

166 a6 UltimateCombat.esp

167 a7 Unique Region Names.esp

168 a8 vwr Wet Eyes.esp

169 a9 Chesko_WearableLantern.esp

170 aa Better Vampires.esp

171 ab trulyundead.esp

172 ac RabbitHole.esp

173 ad HoldBorderBanners.esp

174 ae Immersive Music Temples.esp

175 af FemaleBriarHearts.esp

176 b0 Immersive Music.esp

177 b1 Unique Uniques.esp

178 b2 AOS2_GDO Patch.esp

179 b3 ABT - Increased Progressive Damage (with Nord Hero Arrow) +50%.esp

180 b4 BF.esp

181 b5 ELFX - NoBreezehome.esp

182 b6 Sweet&Sexy Lingerie.esp

183 b7 MoonAndStar_Undeath_compat.esp

184 b8 HjakhtraevarrTomb.esp

185 b9 Cloaks - Dawnguard.esp

186 ba Diseased.esp

187 bb SPTConsistentOlderPeople.esp

188 bc DiversePriests_BringOutYourDeadPatch.esp

189 bd DiversePriests_ConsistentOlderPeoplePatch.esp

190 be ELFX - Moonpath.esp

191 bf Facelight.esp

192 c0 XNLLT.esp

193 c1 PrvtI_HeavyArmory.esp

194 c2 LIAT - Less NPCs.esp

195 c3 CookingExpanded.esp

196 c4 Equipping Overhaul.esp

197 c5 murder_DjiinCube.esp

198 c6 HraghenskaagLabyrinths.esp

199 c7 ForgottenMagic_Redone.esp

200 c8 RND_AnimalLoot.esp

201 c9 ReneersCrimeOverhaul.esp

202 ca quest_pitfighter_dlc01.esp

203 cb SMIM-FarmhouseFlickeringFix.esp

204 cc SMIM-ShackRoofFixesDragonborn.esp

205 cd 1nivWICCloaks.esp

206 ce Inconsequential NPCs - Enhancement.esp

207 cf 1nivWICSkyCloaksPatch.esp

208 d0 Dead Body Collision.esp

209 d1 WondersofWeather.esp

210 d2 When Vampires Attack.esp

211 d3 CalienteVanillaArmorTweaks.esp

212 d4 CharacterMakingExtender.esp

213 d5 RaceCompatibilityUSKPOverride.esp

214 d6 USKP Patcher for RaceCompatibility.esp

215 d7 RSChildren_NonPlayableOverride.esp216 d8 RSChildren_PatchUSKP.esp

217 d9 GreenWaterFix_v2withDawnguard.esp

218 da magicmoonsp.esp

219 db The Dance of Death - Ultimate Edition.esp

220 dc The Joy of Perspective.esp

221 dd TradeRoutes-HelgenReborn-Patch.esp

222 de TradeRoutes-RNaD-Patch.esp

223 df Cooking Expanded - RND Support.esp

224 e0 CookingExpanded - Dragonborn.esp

225 e1 CookingExpanded - Hearthfire.esp

226 e2 ImprovedFishBASIC-RND.esp

227 e3 Alternate Start - Live Another Life.esp

Also seems to be more prominent on mod-added NPC's? IDK, might just be a coincidence.

 

My own character is fine though, but she's a custom race.

 

[GSBmodders]

post your load order, so we can look for the culprit. Doh I beeen out edited

 

you got a number of plugins that mess with npc's, I use inconsequential npcs and it can get screwy every now and then and throw me a black face. So that could be your culprit.

[FusRoDah]

using mod organizer btw.

The only facetint-editing mod I haven't tried disabling yet is RS children overhaul, because I figured something that edits children wouldn't have effect on adults. Could it be a culprit nontheless maybe?

[Kendo 2]

What body replacers are you using?

[GSBmodders]

using mod organizer btw.

The only facetint-editing mod I haven't tried disabling yet is RS children overhaul, because I figured something that edits children wouldn't have effect on adults. Could it be a culprit nontheless maybe?

 

anything that touches npc's could be it.

[FusRoDah]

Allright, Allright. I'll disable it and report back.
 

What body replacers are you using?

For everyone, just CBBE I believe, with Texblend used to add the neckseam fixers and pubic hair.
Installed Fair Skin Complexion texture and Girl of Innocence for my own race only if all went well

[FusRoDah]

Nope, disabled RSOchildren, nothing fixed. 

[Kendo 2]

Allright, Allright. I'll disable it and report back.

For everyone, just CBBE I believe, with Texblend used to add the neckseam fixers and pubic hair.

Installed Fair Skin Complexion texture and Girl of Innocence for my own race only if all went well

I'm going try and tackle this dark head issue from outside of the box.

Read this tutorial.

Read this post.

 

What I think is going on in your game:  You're using player-made meshes and textures and somewhere along the way your game is trying to process texture swaps between races, that are pathed incorrectly.  Eventually (after 1 or 2 hours of play), you run out of memory and you start getting mismatched heads and bodies, usually at cell load.  One minute every NPC looks fine, the next and NPCs have dark heads or dark bodies.

 

[FusRoDah]

I think that might be it, considering some NPCs seem to be fine.
I'll try those, thanks. 

[Swissenergy]

USKP does change the textures and meshes of some NPCs faces, you just open it up in MO and check for any conflicting mods. No guarantee that will help to find the problem to the issue, but it may give you a possible place to start. 

[Kendo 2]

Something else to consider: if you are using 4096x4096 'hi-rez' skin textures you need to look at the _msn normal maps that go along with them.  If the _msn normal is 2048x2048 or smaller you do not need those large skin textures.  They aren't doing anything but sucking video card performance and memory.  Downsize you skin textures to 2048x2048.  If you are using 'hi-rez' tint masks for lips, warpaint, or other make up effects consider getting rid of those too.  The game cannot effectively process tints higher than 256x256.

[FusRoDah]

So the .nif I'll need to fix with Nifskope would be 
femalebody_0.nif and femalebody_1.nif
in
X:\Mod Organizer\mods\Calientes Beautiful Bodies Edition -CBBE-\meshes\actors\character\character assets
?

Nah, I don't have that high res. 

I'll try disabling USKP then
EDIT: Disabling USKP didn't help

[Kendo 2]

For that tutorial, go into the folder structure where the game draws the files it uses.  I do not use MO so I'm not familiar with how it paths files.

The default game path is: Program Files\Steam\SteamApps\common\Skyrim\Data\meshes\actors\character\character assets.

 

And yes, you make the changes to both femalebody_0 and _1.  If you use modded hands and feet do them too. (_0 and _1).

 

This might seem like a minor thing, but the game is burning and churning while it's trying to figure out what textures to apply.  Equate it to papyrus running a cell scan very ten seconds for a mod script you don't use.

[FusRoDah]

Sourceforge is down so I can't do this. Do you have a mirror or can you send me your nifskope?

[Kendo 2]

Sourceforge is down so I can't do this. Do you have a mirror or can you send me your nifskope?

No, the auto installer for nifscope is system specific.

 

If you want, attach the files you wanted fixed here and I'll do it for you.

[Swissenergy]

You don't really need to disable USKP, just open it up in MO and look at the conflicts tab and see if any mods conflict with FaceGenData. Missing or incorrect FaceGenData is generally the reason for dark faces on NPCs, just look for these folder paths in the USKP conflict window:

meshes/actors/character/facegendata/facegeom/skyrim.esm/

textures/actors/character/facegendata/facetint/skyrim.esm/

[Kendo 2]

The abscence of generated facetints won't make NPCs' heads dark.  That makes them a uniform flesh tone, like whatever face texture is being used.

[Swissenergy]

Well, I recently found a vanilla NPC with the dark face bug in my game. Turns out that when I was making my own plugin that alters NPC hair and face complexion for some, I forgot to place the meshes and textures for that one particular NPC in the mod folder path. Once I did, his face returned to back to the way it should be.

 

I'm not the most knowledgeable person about this by any means, all I know from trial and error is that missing or incorrectly exported facegendata usually results in the NPCs head being darker than the rest of their body. 

[FusRoDah]

Allright, thank you.
here are the files from the CBBE folder and FemFeet Redesigned folder.

I'm still skeptical though. As I said, I've also seen this happen to males, who are unaffected by CBBE or FemFeet. 

 

USKP conflicts say RSchildren and Ethereal's Elf Overhaul

femalebody_0.nif

femalebody_1.nif

femalefeet_0.nif

femalefeet_1.nif

[Swissenergy]

Well, you could try loading up TES5Edit and find an NPC you know has the dark face (expand Skyrim.esm and then under the category, Non-Player Character (Actor) ), and look to see if any of your plugins makes reference to that NPC. Of course, if the mod causing the problem doesn't have a plugin, then you're kind of back to where you started. 

 

Doing this may not help at all but, it certainly wouldn't hurt. 

One question, the problem NPCs aren't just vampires by chance, are they?

[Kendo 2]

@FusRohDah

The meshes in your attachments were jacked so I fixed them.

 

CBBE_Fixed.rar

 

*renamed NiNodes and NiTriShapes to what they need to be.

*Set flags in the NiTriShapeData branches back to vanilla standard.

*Set values in BSLightingShaderProperty to what they need to be.

*Repathed BSShaderTextureSets to the folders and files the game uses.

 

This might not correct the dark head issue for you, but at least this is one thing in your game that is now fixed.  The problem remains that most likely every mesh replacer you use for vanilla armor and clothes probably has these same issues.  You can blame the modders who made them for not knowing what they're doing and leaving default FO3 properties and values in Skyrim nifs and renaming NiTriShapes to things the game will not recognize.

If the game is trying to process a texture swap and it's looking for the branch FemaleUnderwearBody:0 but only it finds a branch named BaseShape it will freak out and dedicate more memory to make the swap happen.  It can only do that so many times before you run out of memory and start getting dark heads and bodies and eventually CTDs on cell loads.

 

And one thing I did notice about your mod list; Ethereal Elven Overhaul needs to be one of the last mods in your load order because it uses custom files paths for meshes, tris and textures and the paths in that esp need to take priority over other esps.

[FusRoDah]

Replaced the meshes with yours and moved Ethereal to the bottom of my load order. Unfortunately, nothing changed in terms of the grey head error. I hope this doesn't result in CTD's late-game like you said. Maybe if I installed a new skin texture, would that help?

Well, you could try loading up TES5Edit and find an NPC you know has the dark face (expand Skyrim.esm and then under the category, Non-Player Character (Actor) ), and look to see if any of your plugins makes reference to that NPC. Of course, if the mod causing the problem doesn't have a plugin, then you're kind of back to where you started. 

 

Doing this may not help at all but, it certainly wouldn't hurt. 

One question, the problem NPCs aren't just vampires by chance, are they?

They're not. At least, not by Vanilla. I haven't noticed any fangs.

[Dubhorizon]

Could be that you have one or two npc beauty mods. Lets say you have "mod a" then you install "mod b" that overwrites those characters. But then on your load order if "Mod a" comes after "mod b" then you'll get grey faces because "mod A" is more prioritized but is missing it's facegens, that were overwritten by "mod B ".

 

I hope you use MO, cause it will be easy to double check.

 

[Kendo 2]

I would do this: In the Data folder, rename the textures folder and mesh folder (to something like TexturesX and MeshesX).  Start a new game and make a vanilla character.  No custom race, no player-made hair or eyes.  Just use what the game comes with.  IF the dark head bug persists then you will know it is not a texture/mesh issue.  When you're done just name the folders back to what they were.

 

The only thing I can think of is somehow the character detail maps (freckles, rough, age 40, age 50, ect.) were replaced with modded ones that were made wrong.  OR it could be the _msn head normals.

[FusRoDah]

Ugh my game is starting to crash, so I really should fix this asap.

Dubhorizon, I have multiple beauty mods but I´ve made sure they only apply to my custom race. Kept the NPC´s vanilla to keep their weathered Nord look and preventing conflicts (which didnt work out well at all apparently lel)

Kendo, You said this happens when the texture swaps clog and the game starts messing up? Does that mean this doesn't happen instantly?
Do I need to play around a bit or wait a few days or can I still test it if I just directly coc to Sleeping Giant Inn?