How to change race skyrim

How to change race skyrim

Ever wanted to change your characters’ race, but don’t feel like worrying about all the issues that go with? (Randomly changed skills, make-up/warpaint miss-match, etc.)
Well you can! It’s flawless and easy! And I’m not actually sure if this is common knowledge or not since I can’t find it posted anywhere else on the interwebs. (Since I sorta figured it out all on my own through toying with the system enough. )
A perfect Race Change! An all-issues* workaround!

*Known issues, anyway, which is probably most if not all.

2021 Edit/Notice: This guide was made for Vanilla Skyrim, back in 2013 with several bugs found in the comments added into a «bugz» section over time that’s rarely read. I have not tested it in the other editions. Also mentioned in bugs is that it doesn’t work well with controllers. I’m not able to do any more testing, so I apologize that I won’t be able to respond to any more questions or directly assist.

Use these steps to successfully avoid both the skill reset and other stuff-n-such problems with Skyrim race changing. (Am I the first to post this, or has nobody found it before? I was toying with it for a while, but still.)
But before that, it’s usually recommended to get into a building, since the Race Menu occasionally slows down a ton outdoors. Or so I’ve heard. Then follow these steps.
This will work around stat resets, make-up mis-matches, yada yada. Basically, it’s flawless. No mods, no excessive stat editing, no nada. ;D

So here we go!
1) Open command console (`), and enter: ShowRaceMenu
2) Close command console (`) and go to the races page (DO NOT select the race yet. Also, this step isn’t utterly neccessary, but gives you a better idea what’s happening. But, don’t select the race yet, this is vital.)
3) Open the command console and enter: Player.SetRace [Desired Race]
4) Close the command console. Your character should have changed heights just slightly and their face will look like putty. Also, the race won’t be shown as selected. (This is good.)
5) Now select the [Desired Race] through the normal menu, and edit as much as ya want, just don’t change the race without doing it through the Command Console first.
6) Press finish/enter name/whatever, since you’re done! Tada! Uber complex, I know. :3
(Oh, and as a 7th-ish step, your hands will be tied, ignore that, it means nothing with this workaround if you did it right. You can untie your hands by unsheathing/sheathing.)

This works around the stat reset, as the RaceMenu still thinks you’re the selected race, but the game thinks you’re the Desired race, so when you select the Desired race (after having entered it) it will just refresh their looks without affecting their stats. Or so I figure. Have fun, and happy Skyrim-ing. 😉
(Also, as a neat little aside, those images attached were taken from doing these steps quick for a guide pic. Yes, even beast races and elves, custom races and downloaded races, they all work. Everything works. If it doesn’t, then it won’t even work with a clean restart. So a quicker way to test mod races, yes?)

Also, leave comments/messages if you have any questions. I may add a FAQ if needed, but this is fairly simple and straight forward. Oh, and credit me for posting it (and lemme know) if you decide to translate it! Or something. Like a YouTube vid, even though 6 steps are easier to read, imo.

I’ve done some fairly conclusive testing which seems to say that if you want to change your race, it has to be before you’ve become a vampire lord/werewolf. When you first transform, Skyrim makes note of your race so it knows what to turn you back to. Even if you change your race at any point after this, you’ll return to your original race when exiting Vamp lord/Werewolf.

by doing «player.setrace (desired race)» after you transform from werewolf or vampire lord back to normal, it will put your face back to normal.

Thanks for the tip HaVoC!

[PyrosLU] Pyros Leage United helped me realize I forgot to mention that you have to click on the desired race with the mouse, if you scroll through with a controller (like when it loads each race in between) you’d have to change each one individually until you reach the desired one. So it’s a LOT easier to use the mouse, like just definitely select it using the mouse unless you can’t, then enter each race in the setrace then change to it until you reach the desired one.

Creating a custom race for Skyrim

Contents

Overview

This tutorial shows all the main steps you need to follow to create a custom race and add it to Skyrim. In this tutorial I assume that you have already created all the required textures / meshes (or that you are reusing existing ones). This tutorial will only show you how to put them all together and make them available in-game for a new race.

Required tools

Create a custom race

The main steps for creating a new custom race for Skyrim are:

The order in which I’ve listed the things to do is the most efficient one for me for adding a new race, even though it may not seem the most logical one when facing this task for the first time.

Place all the meshes and texture files in their folders

First of all, copy all the meshes (nif) files and texture (dds) files that your race will use to the right folder. I recommend that you create a specific subfolder for your files, as this will make it easier to manually install or uninstall your mod. copy only the files that your race is going to use and that are going to be different than the vanilla equivalent file. For example, if your race is going to use the vanilla head mesh, there is no need for you to make a copy of it in your own race folder (except if you want to make sure that users of your mod won’t change the head mesh unintentionally when installing a mod that changes that mesh for vanilla races).

Add the required texture sets

In the CK create the texture sets (following the steps in this tutorial: Using Texture sets for Skyrim) for all the custom textures you are going to use with your race:

When creating the texture sets, select the texture files you’ve copied in the \Data\Textures\»MyCustomRace»\ folder.

Note: Notice that you don’t have to create any texture sets for the hair styles you are adding. This means that the textures are set inside the hair and hairline nif files. To edit the nif files to link them to the textures you’ve copied in the \Data\Textures\»MyCustomRace»\ folder, follow the instructions given here Add textures to the nif file

Create the new race

Right now we are only going to create a new race object in the CK because we need it on the next steps, but nothing else. We will define the race characteristics at the last step.

To create the Race object:

Add the required form lists

If you want your race to use specific head parts (like eye colours, hair styles, brows, etc) you have to create a new form list for your race. To create the new form list:

You also have to create four additional form lists:

Add the required head parts

The next step is to create head parts for each of the custom objects you want to add to your race:

I am going to explain here how to add a new hair style as a head part. This is the most difficult one as it is composed of two head parts which are the hairline and the hair:

To add the head parts corresponding to the eye colours, brow types and the head, just follow the same steps linking in each case the corresponding meshes and texture sets and using as a base the same type of head part (i.e. if you are going to add a new eye colour, begin by editing a vanilla eye colour, etc).

Add the required Armour and Armour addons

In Skyrim, the body, feet and hands used by a race are defined as armour objects. To create a new armour object the first step is to create an armour addon object.

The steps for creating an the ArmorAddon and the Armor object are the same than the ones explained here: Creating an armour for Skyrim, with the following things to take into account:

Once you’ve created the three ArmorAddon objects, it is time to create a new Armour object that will contain the full body. Assign to this Armor object all the three ArmourAddon objects you created previously (the hands, the body and the feet) as shown in picture Full body Armour.

Set the race characteristics

Now that you have created all the required individual objects, the only remaining step is to assign them to your custom race and also to set all the characteristics (skills, powers, etc) that your custom race is going to have.

Go back to your race:

How to change Race without losing progress?

Hi, today I tried to change my Race with «showracemenu» but after that all my progress would be lost.
I tried to regain my skilllevels with «advskill» but this takes too much time. Is there any easier way
to change race without losing progress?

Best Regards
Cracksoldier

Hi, I tried it but everytime I try the command «save» without quotation I got the Error that the
Script is not compiled. I also tried something like this «save new» then I got no error but there is
no Savegame to load.

Best Regards
Cracksoldier

When you save a game via the console, you’ll need to load the game via the console. The Load Game menu only looks for saves saved by the Save Game menu.

I have already tried «load new» but it does nothing. It doesnt load anything.
I have also tried this video:

But it doesnt work.

Best Regards
Cracksoldier

Awake at stupid o’clock

I tried this and then I tried «load » but there is no reaction.

Best Regards
Cracksoldier

Try it this way:

Open console (tilde key).
Type «showracemenu» (without quotes).
Close console (tilde key again).
Make character alterations.
DO NOT close menu or click ‘save’
Open console again.
Open Main Menu (esc).
Make a new save.
With Race Menu still up load last save.

See if that works any better for you.

During the Race Menu is shown the save Button is disabled and so I cant save
any game I can just load a game. I have tried it now that way:

1. Type «sexchange» because I want to play a female character
2. Type «player.setRace Redguard»
3. Type «showracemenu» and change the character

It seems working that way but when I save this and load this my character is invinsible
I have already tried to save the game with 1st person view as it was mentioned in
another forum but my character is still invisible.

Edit:// I have now solved my problem.
I started a new game and recreated my progress
with the console because I want to play a female Nord.

Best Regards
Cracksoldier

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Change your Race (ShowRaceMenu Alternative)

Author : Seb263
Link to the Nexus : http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/20394
Current Version : 3.0.0 (02/01/2014)
If you like this mod, don’t forget to support it!

ShowRaceMenu Alternative allows to your character to change into any race, including custom ones, and preserve your skills and perks.

This mod is not only a debug function, it is also integrated into the game without breaking immersion.
A «lore» version allows you to customize and have race-changing scrolls added to the various mages in-game for purchase.

Whatever your race may be, even if vampire’s blood runs through your veins, you can change into any race, including custom ones, and preserve your skills and perks.

All you have to do is to go in the spells menu (in the powers tab), use the «ShowRaceMenu Alternative» spell and follow the instructions.

Don’t use directly the «ShowRaceMenu» command, it will not work.

If your character has any legendary skills, you will need to launch Skyrim with SKSE to preserve them.
SKSE is NOT NECESSARY for every other function of the mod.

This mod does not change any Race, NPCs, quest, or anything else.
The original game (Vanilla) was completely preserved, there should therefore be no conflict with any other mod.

Thanks to bbe [forums.nexusmods.com] for his translations of the mod description, as well as for testing this mod.
Thanks to Sagittarius22 [forums.nexusmods.com] for testing this mod.
Music: Thanks to Matti Paalanen [www.jamendo.com] for this wonderful copyright free music used in the mod.

This mod may not be published or modified without my permission.

Can I change my character’s race/name after the start?

I was asked what my race was, and I chose. but then I managed to exit without setting a name, gender. anything else. So now I’m a dude called «Prisoner». I’d hate to play the whole game with such a lame name. Am I going to be given an opportunity, like in Oblivion, to change these things again at some point, or do I need to start over, or.

4 Answers 4

As far as I know, the only way to change your character’s details after the initial setup is through the console, which is only available on the PC version.

You can use the /showracemenu command to change the details. See here for a listing of all console commands.

I have played skyrim and so far I haven’t had the option to change my name or race. I don’t think there will be a way. but we will see.

I’ve heard there’s a converter to change your savegame from XBox 360 to PC and back. If you can find one of those, and have a friend (or know someone online) with the PC version, you could give them the savegame, run the console command, adjust your name, then convert it back to XBox 360.

Seeing as it’s a single-player game, I really don’t see any tos issues with a converter (you can supposedly do this to redo your perks, or give yourself a billion health, etc., as well). However, having never seen or used it, I’ve no idea if it might corrupt your savegame later.

Another possibility might be to hex-edit the data on the XBox 360 version of the savefile from your computer. I can’t find my character name this way, but someone better at that sort of thing might be able to find it (editing the name on the first line of the file just changes the text displayed on the save/load screes, not the name of the player container). Your best luck in that case would be to make the new name eight characters long, or there might be formatting issues.