NPV - V as custom NPC
How to create your V as an NPC
Created by @manavortex Published May 13 2023
This guide will show you how to do the following things:
Setting up a Wolvenkit project with the prepared example files
Creating your V's head in Blender (has its own sub-page)
Adding them as an NPC to spawn them with AppearanceMenuMod (has its own sub-page)
Difficulty:
Easy, but not trivial: you don't need any prior knowledge, but the process is complex, and if you miss steps or deviate from the instructions, things will end up not working for you.
If you run into issues with this guide, the right place to ask for help is #mod-dev-chat on the redmodding Discord server.
This guide uses the following versions:
Cyberpunk 2077 game version >= 1.6
AppearanceMenuMod >= 2.1
This tutorial should cover your basic needs, but there are many more guides and resources about NPV creation outside of this wiki. You can find them here.
If you want to edit original V's files, you're (generally) in the right place. You can find extra information on A new head for V.
None of this would have been possible without NoraLee, who pioneered the process and taught me everything that I needed to know to set up these tools. This guide doesn't use any of their resources, but a lot of their knowledge. For the full guide with all edge-cases, bells, whistles and context, see their Google Drive.
This is the speedrun version. If you want extra details and context, please check Nora's Google Doc.
Preparation: The character preset
Due to the complexity of V's head mesh, you have to do a little bit of prep work here.
Don't worry, I'll walk you through it step by step.
To create a face, we need to know your character's values. For that, you need to have AppearanceChangeUnlocker installed, or you won't see them:
Eyes
Eyebrows
Nose
Mouth
Jaw
Ears
Find the mirror in V's apartment and note down the numerical values.
Setting up the files
Body gender:
As a rule of thumb, I'll document the process for an NPV with a female body gender, because as we all know, the other doesn't exist I have one of those. If yours has a male body gender, your file paths will be slightly different, but the process is exactly the same.
Create a Wolvenkit project
Download the example files from Nexus
Merge the
sourcefolder in the download with thesourcefolder in your Wolvenkit project directoryIn Wolvenkit's archive tab, find the prepared folders per body gender:
female
tutorial\npv\your_female_character
male
tutorial\npv\your_male_character
Delete the one you're not using (do one Wolvenkit project per NPC. No, really, I mean it.)
In Wolvenkit's resource tab, delete the
.luafile for the body gender that you don't want to use.
This tutorial assumes that you will rename and re-path your files at the very end, because the prepared files rely on a certain file structure. We'll get to it!
Check if it works
This is a working Wolvenkit project — let's make sure that it works.
You can do this at any time during the tutorial to check your progress!
On the Wolvenkit toolbar, you'll find a button to install the project
Switch it to "Install and launch"
Click it
When the game starts, load a savegame
Open the CET overlay
Switch AMM to the "Spawn" tab
Search for
TutorialSpawn
Tutorial WomanorTutorial Man
You should now see a person in front of you.
Get cracking
Now it's time to do the actual work.
If you want to create your V's head for Cyberpunk, go to NPV: Creating a custom NPC
If you just want to set up the file structure, go to NPV: Creating a custom NPC
Please remember that before sharing your NPV, you have to change the paths! At the very least, rename the tutorial folders inside of archive and resources to your user name and then do a fulltext search and replace in json.
However, you might want to do that after preparing the head in Blender, as you would otherwise have to move the utility script around.
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