How to Edit a Vanilla NPC's Face

I've had many requests over the years to make some tutorials on this or that subject of modding Skyrim. I usually answered that, well there are already so many tutorials out there, so why are you asking me instead of reading/watching them? Hi-profile modders like Gopher and DarkFox, yet people ask me. I'm honestly confused. Anyway, I was recently asked for simple instructions to edit a vanilla NPC, because those popular tutorials had a bunch of other stuff some people don't need or want, usually dealing with how to make a custom follower with a bunch of unique aspects.

DISCLAIMER: I wrote this from memory. Parts of this knowledge I gathered from videos and other tutorials ages ago, and parts of it are from my own exploration and discoveries in the CK.

This tutorial makes no assumptions about previous modding abilities. If you already know how to Duplicate and navigate the Creation Kit menu trees, you can probably skip the first bit.

Here are several excellent Youtube Video tutorials. The first 10 here are official ones by Bethesda. The rest are community-made tutorials. I highly recommend watching at LEAST the very first one, Introduction to the Kit, which explains the menus, "buttons" and how to navigate the Kit. Full list of videos here:

https://www.creationkit.com/index.php?title=Video_Tutorials

Here are several popular NPC "beautifying" resource mods. You must check each modder's individual permissions if you plan on publishing your mod with their assets incorporated. That's called making a "Standalone" NPC mod. Alternatively, you can not package these assets into your mod, and MAKE IT CLEAR to users that THEY MUST DOWNLOAD those mods separately to make the mod work as intended.

CBBE Meshes & Textures

SG Textures Renewal

Urshi's Smooth Male Textures

Skysight Skins (male)

Bjinn's Skins (female)

(many more)

Eyes of Beauty

Natural Eyes

Ruby Red Vampire Eyes

Eyes of Aber

Kala's Eyes

(many more)

Apachii Hair (Males and Females)

Lore-Friendly Hairs

Makeup & Warpaint Mods:

TairenSoul Warpaints

Community Overlays, 1 and 2

(many, many more)

If you found this helpful, please Endorse it :)

If you're feeling extra appreciative and generous, please drop by my Patreon page and have a