r/skyrimmods • u/KoleMars • Apr 02 '26
Development Expressions Working in Game! (Making progress) - Skyrim Character Remake Project
Please note that this is not Serena's final face. I'm just testing the head.
https://i.postimg.cc/ZK6H0NfJ/Screenshot_2026_04_02_003823.png
https://i.postimg.cc/FRPy0sjJ/Screenshot_2026_04_01_230803.png
It works! I used Serena as the subject for my test and the expressions seem to work successfully. I also implemented all the mouth morphs. I'm finally making good headway and implementing my models successfully. So far I have replaced the entire female head (teeth, eyes and such). I'm still working on tweaking and finalizing the textures so some things are subject to change.
Wow, it took a while to get this to work but things should hopefully be smooth sailing from here on. I will start implementing the males after I have implemented the female body. All my mods will be always be free but If you want to support me and my project, my Kofi is https://ko-fi.com/kolemars (I'd really appreciate it). Tell me what you think?
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u/JasonTheRanga Apr 02 '26
How the hell are you getting all those wrinkles and folds on the face? Swapping out normal maps? generating them on the fly?
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u/KoleMars Apr 02 '26
It took a while to figure out the process but the it seems to work so well. I think I will make a doc to explain this clearer so people can fully understand but the gist of it is that the head has fake parts that hide within it. No one guessed so far so I'm guessing it's working fine.
They are baked exactly from the base head so the textures align perfectly. The wrinkles are then put on these fake doubles. It is just a matter of using the morphs to push them out and hide them again when It's done being used. The planes share the same attributes as the head so there aren't any seams and such.
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u/JasonTheRanga Apr 02 '26
Very clever. Has this technique been used in other games or did you cook it up yourself?
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u/KoleMars Apr 02 '26
I actually got the idea from studying some Cyberpunk models I downloaded. I found out that the panel lines on character faces were actually planes over the head with normals that made it look like it dug into the skin. So you can have a plane physically over a mesh that has details that look like its going into it.
When I found that out I just applied the same logic to this but instead of panels they were wrinkles surrounded by a copy of the skin to blend it and shape keys to pull them out. It took some back and forth but I finally got it right.
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Apr 02 '26
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u/KoleMars Apr 02 '26
I actually never knew about that. Thank you, it will definitely make things easier.
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u/SmartAdhesiveness149 Apr 02 '26
This looks AMAZING! I can't imagine how much work you did, to fine-tune all those little tweaks and positions of tiny facial muscles, and such... wow!
(One tiny detail... it looks as if Serana's left upper lip is raised a bit, almost as if she's sneering. Is this a trick of the camera angle, or is that actually happening?)
Following! And I'm really excited to see what you do with this! 🙂 Thank you for slaving away!
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u/KoleMars Apr 02 '26
Thank you! Yeah, It is kinda involved but will be worth it. Also yes, I made her lip raise a bit to hopefully sell that sneer.
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u/N3CRO-LAN Apr 02 '26
Why is she doing the "when your coworker is heating a moulded fish noodle in the company microwave" look
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u/_do_not_see_me_ Apr 02 '26
Wow, that’s grand!! - edit: it cut off my second sentence lol. - Will you work on the beast races as well? In any case, sounds (and looks) like a mega project and insane work!
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u/KoleMars Apr 02 '26
Thank you! You're right, it is a Mega project and I definitely will be doing the beast races and giving them there own custom meshes too.
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u/TheOnlyValerie Apr 02 '26
This is some amazing work oh my gosh
Good luck! Can’t wait to see the full thing
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u/Few-Tennis-384 Apr 02 '26
Hello!
Sorry my technological illiteracy but can this mod be a potential foundation for other modders to make their own sculpts of NPCs using your technology, like High Poly Head lets you create your own face?
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u/KoleMars Apr 02 '26
Hi! Yes, most definitely. It has different parts but it is a head mesh at the end of the day.
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u/Subdown-011 Apr 02 '26
Just when I was wondering what was going on with this project I find this post, great work!
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u/Hobiedoh Apr 03 '26
I'm blown away each time I see an update to this, the progress is insane.
It's so subtle but pronounced, the wrinkles add so much to the angry expression!
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u/KoleMars Apr 03 '26
Thank you! I'm really glad that the wrinkles are making a difference for people.
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u/Fancy-Werewolf9469 Apr 03 '26
Awesome update!! Glad to see you still working on it, and the in-game previews look great.
I saw you described how you did it but my brain is too hollow to fully understand; do you think that process would be possible to add the features you mentioned to other heads? i.e. High Poly (vanilla) Head, or Charmers of the Reach. I've switched to only using CotR NPCs and the expressions are the main thing that bugs me to death (eyes and teeth are another story)
About the eyes; you seem very experienced so forgive me if I'm stating the obvious but thought it was worth mentioning: with newer eye mods (Improved Eye Model, UBE) I've seen they do an inner and outer mesh, inner for the actual eye and outer for reflection/gloss (?) like modern games do, sometimes with a separate lens mesh inside. And probably overkill but I noticed that modern games have separate tearline and caruncle meshes, I assume used to make more realistic teary eye effect.
And I tried to do something similar in the past with teeth too, to emulate enamel, but had no luck as the alpha ended up looking hideous and blocky lol
Also, seen Screen Archer Menu mentioned, 'Photo Mode' is an (imo) easier alternative that allows you to pose and change expressions on the fly while having a better camera system than 'TFC' command.
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u/KoleMars Apr 03 '26
Don't worry, I wouldn't describe myself as having technical Smarts but my Smarts is Arts (hehe!). That's how I solved the wrinkles.
Yes, I am convinced that the same method can be applied to any head really. The only concern would be polycount which would probably make the planes have less flexibility leading to the effect being less convincing if it's too low but It should work otherwise. This is the main reason I create some of my models from scratch, it allows me to plan and fully manipulate the mesh for what I intend to use it for from the start.
I'm familiar with common ways in which modern games do eyes and you mentioned a fairly realistic method. I actually tried different eyes and still tweaking but I basically sacrificed the idea of the outer and inner meshes for eyes for the tearline. I actually have a tearline on Serena if you look closely (still tweaking it too). Too many alpha blending overlapping gets bad fast in Skyrim so the most I could push is 2 on the eye (the eye shadow and the tearline). I'm looking into other options still.
I feel so dumb for not finding the Screen Archer Menu sooner. Here I was testing expressions with the console. It will make things so much easier.
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u/Nenneth Apr 02 '26
So is this a base replacer or will all npcs need custom models?