It's a Bethesda-oriented thread, really. You'll see.
I may have made a huge mistake. In my neverending quest to make a good-looking character, I sometimes do things to my load order to perhaps enhance the process. In this case, I uninstalled
Enhanced Character Edit [ECE] and replaced it with
RaceMenu. Now, I preferred ECE due to its new sliders, etc.; RaceMenu seemed to be just the mod you used if you wanted to layer face paint on your character. But the latest version of RaceMenu actually has a goodly number of sliders and such...apparently, it "caught up" (to quote someone else's observation) to ECE in terms of complexity.
Also, there's an HD head mesh mod (
CITRUS Heads) that demands it as a requirement...really, the only true reason I switched over: the HD mesh. However, now that I've messed with it for a while, I don't really see that much of an improvement over ECE. And while RaceMenu was easier to set up for my custom races (never could get ECE to work with them completely), it just seems...well...unsatisfying, somehow.
To my eye, the HD meshes aren't really all that much of an improvement. Maybe a few screens might explain a bit.
First, the blonde face made with ECE:
Here she is approximated with RaceMenu:
(I had to approximate, as I forgot to note down her slider numbers before I uninstalled ECE.)
Although I think the RM face looks more realistic, perhaps, I still prefer the dreamier first face.
More ECE-crafted examples of, technically, the same face (the second has some minor variations):
Now this next one was made in RaceMenu and screwed with until I was absolutely sick of it:
That's right...she looks like Daisy Duck now.
In summary: I think I'm going back to ECE.
I haven't been having much luck with faces in ANY game lately...for example, Fallout 4:
That jawline is a catastrophe.
And to counteract my somewhat depressing disappointment with FO4, I've reinstalled Oblivion.
Now. My current OB install is nowhere as complex as it was back in 2011, when I last messed with it. Currently, it's almost barebones; the only mods I have installed are the official DLC, the unofficial patches, the 2 body replacement mods (Robert's and HGEC), a bag of holding, the StarX vampire death mod (always a favorite), enhanced water, Timeslip's nighteye shader mod, something that makes the NPCs better-looking, and of course the most important mod of all: mine.
(Actually, I intended just to have my mod and the DLC, but come on...sometimes you just need vampires to burst into flames on death.)
I intend to slowly add all of my precious mods back into the experience and eliminate others (i.e., horse armor), but I'm just trying to reacclimatize myself to a game I played incessantly for almost five years but haven't played in almost five years.
...yeah, that sort of makes sense. The key to a happy life is not to proofread (or apologize for) what you've written around 2:30am.
Anyway, just re-learning how to get from point A to point B was...well, fun. I missed the Ayleid ruins (much like I've missed the Daedric ruins in MW), and even though I had to check online how to drop an item in my inventory (shift+click the item), it's all coming back to me. Which is why I'm not exactly eager to reinstall one of the overhauls...
But my most challenging issue was, yes, my character's FACE. Although I remember the nightmarish sliders vividly, I was reminded forcibly just how horrible they are. Being completely out of practice with those intransigent little demons, my first attempt didn't come out so well:
Since I exist day to day feeling as if someone hit me in the face with a roll of foam rubber, I didn't have the energy to even TRY to fix that. So I resorted to using one of my mod's savegames.
Still not terribly happy with it, but there are some things I guess I will just have to learn to live with. Can I see that one screen again?
Thank you. I feel a little better. Not much, but...you know...baby steps.
Anyway, so many things they left out of Skyrim: solid-feeling combat (and shields), classes, stats, paper doll in inventory...and while I do prefer Skyrim's faces and magic system (even though it's weak as a kitten fart), I miss being able to cast a spell with a weapon and shield equipped.
With that said, I also miss the ability, in Morrowind, to cast a fireball from my sword. The guys working on OB sneered at fireball-spewing swords, but they never stopped to think that maybe SOME of us out here in the middle of nowhere LIKE being able to shoot fireballs from our swords, that perhaps we NEED to shoot fireballs from our swords. Maybe this is why some of us go out and contract the clap intentionally, because we just like the burning sensation. Why do I scream when I pee? It's Bethesda's fault, dammit.
Yeah. Sleep deprivation? What's that?
