Vilja Quick Hair Change Instructions

# Vilja Quick Hair Change Instructions 2.2.0

So you want to change Vilja's hair style in your game?

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

If you want to change her race, body type, or eyes try the Complete Makeover instructions instead.

We will only be using the TES4 Construction Set and any other hair 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 hair resources you want to use. This guide will help you through that process.

## Contents

- Before You Start
- Picking a hair style
- Making the Change
- Saving and Testing

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. Download and install any additional hair resources you want.

   It should be obvious, but if you want a custom hair style that isn't part of the game you'll need to have it installed before you can add it to Vilja. If you don't already have the one you want installed on your computer, you'll need to get it before you continue.

## Picking a hair style

If you already know the Mesh and Texture name for the hair you want to use, skip to the Making the Change section.

A limitation in the Construction Set makes it very unwise to edit an ESP file when you have more than one loaded. Unfortunatley, most hair changing mods are ESPs. So you'll need to locate the names of the Mesh and Texture for the hair style you want to use.

1. Start the Construction Set and mark the `1em_Vilja.esp` and any beauty pack, race, or other ESP files that might have a hair style you want to use.

   The NoMerge files in the `Vilja_Customization_More_Examples` folder have appropriate hair and mesh entries if you're thinking of changing one of the custom versions. But you still need to download and install the matching race.

   You shouldn't set any files as active, and it's OK that you don't have an active file because we are just browsing.

   We're just looking for a hair style that looks good on Vilja here so we can record a Mesh and Texture name.
   Don't save any changes you might accidentally make here because the results would be a broken mod.

2. Select Characters - Race... on the menu and choose the `NordVilja` race and then the Body Data tab on the Race window.

   Drag the window toward the right side of your screen because the only part of interest is the list of hair styles on the right side and we're going to be dropping new hair styles into it.

3. Select Characters - Hair... on the menu to open tha Hair window.

   This is the window with the technical details we need (the .nif and .dds file names on the long buttons in the middle), but finding the correct hair style will take more effort if you need to see what the look like on Vilja.

   StokerWolff.esp includes a few hairs by Ren Soya. Most of Ren's hairs use a texture named RenHair01.dds but most other hairs have matching mesh and texture names like the Soya example. Note that the Construction Set has three places for names, the EditorID, the Name, and then the actual file names and the three names don't have to match.

   You'll want to move this to the left of your screen for later because we'll be using it multiple times and it's nicer if it doesn't end up behind something else when we need it.

4. Add hair styles to Vilja's race.

   Drag as many hair styles from the list of hairs in the Hair window into the Hair Styles section of the Race window as you like.

   Unfortunately, you have to drag them one at a time. Don't worry if nothing seems to change, the new ones are added to the bottom of the list and you can't add them twice. You can scroll down to the bottom if you want to make sure you've added them.

5. Close the Race window using the OK button.

   You need to press OK so that your changes will be saved before the next step. Pressing OK also closes the window.

6. See what the hair styles look like on Vilja.

   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.

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

   You can drag the preview image to turn her head to get a look at the hair from different angles. (You may also want to choose View - Bright Light on the menu.)

   There are controls for changing her hair color and hair length but they don't work for every style of hair and many styles will look fine with her defaults.

7. Record the Mesh and Texture names and other properties for your chosen hair.

   Look at the EditorID name that you used to select a hair in the bottom of the NPC window, then find that hair in the list on the Hair window.

   The names you want are on the two long buttons and end with .nif and .dds.

   As an example, if I choose StokerWolff's `A909RenHair2` version of Ren's hair style 2, then the two file names I need are `characters\Ren\Hair\Ren_Hair02F.nif` and `characters\Ren\Hair\RenHair01.dds`.

   You should also make note of which options are checked, especially the Fixed Color option.

   You'll probably want to write them down because there are a few steps between now and when you're going to use them.

8. Exit from the Construction Set without saving your changes.

   Yes, all of that work and we aren't going to save any of it. Don't worry you're almost done because actually editing her hair will be easy now that you know those two file names.

## Making the Change

### Doing it fast

Technically, you can skip all of my instructions about swapping out the 1em_Vilja.esp file in the next section and simply edit it directly. But there are consequences. Every time there is a new release of the mod you will need to reapply your hair changes to the new version. You can just open the editor with 1em_Vilja.esp as the Active mod, open the Hair window, and change 1emmViljaHair to use the mesh and texture file you've chosen. I don't recommend it.

### Doing it right

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 game 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.

   - First rename the real `1em_Vilja.esp` file to `1em_Vilja2.esp`.
   - Then rename `1em_Vilja_master.esp` to `1em_Vilja.esp`.

   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.

   If you are just getting started and want to give the default Vilja a different hair style, then you can simply select File - Data... on the menu then mark the `1em_Vilja.esp` file (which is listed as a Master) with an X. There won't be an active file since you're going to create a new one.

   I've you are modifying an existing custom version then you will need to mark that ESP file as the Active File to edit it.

   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.

6. Change the hair and mesh file names for Vilja's unique hair type.

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

   Use the two long 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.

7. You can modify the color and length from the NPC window for `1emmVilja` like you did when picking a hair style.

   This stage is entirely optional. And I recommend skipping it if the default length and color don't bother you too much because if you don't change anything from the NPC window then your custom Vilja will work for every future version of Vilja that Emma and I ever create.

   If you do change her hair length or color, you're custom Vilja will still work for many future versions, but some day we might need to make a change that will break it. If that happens, I'll provide instructions on how to fix it.

8. 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.

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

   - First rename the special `1em_Vilja.esp` file back to `1em_Vilja_master.esp`.
   - Then rename the real version `1em_Vilja2.esp` to `1em_Vilja.esp`.

10. 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.

11. 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.)

12. 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

Charles Cooley
2010-08-08