Cheat Sheet: Head
Summary
Last documented edit: January 14 2024 by mana vortex
This page lists various properties of the player head. Use the Table of Contents or your browser's search (Hotkey: Ctrl+F) to quickly find what you're looking for.
You can find much additional information about the player head under NPV: Preparing the head in Blender
Wait, this isn't what I'm looking for!
If you want to edit the player's head, you need meshes and morphtargets.
If you want to make a custom NPC, check NPV - V as custom NPC
Head file paths
female
.mesh
base\characters\head\player_base_heads\player_female_average\h0_000_pwa_c__basehead\
female
.morphtarget
base\characters\head\player_base_heads\player_female_average
male
.mesh
base\characters\head\player_base_heads\player_man_average\h0_000_pwa_c__basehead\
male
.morphtarget
base\characters\head\player_base_heads\player_man_average
The folders contain the entire player head. The minimum amount of meshes rendered is 3 (head, teeth, eyes), and can go up to 13 (fem V)/14 (masc V).
Head file prefixes
h0_
head (with ears)
hb_
male V only: beard
heb_
eyebrows
he_
eyes
ht_
teeth
hx_
applied on top of h0:
cyberware
makeup
freckles
pimples
tattoos
scars
l1_
ear ring (01-04)
Skin tones by index
1
01_ca_pale
2
01_ca_pale_00_warm_ivory
3
02_ca_limestone
4
02_ca_limestone_00_beige
5
03_ca_senna
6
03_ca_senna_00_amber
7
03_ca_senna_01_honey
8
03_ca_senna_02_band
9
04_ca_almond
10
04_ca_almond_00_umber
11
05_bl_espresso
12
06_bl_dark
List compiled by wolv
Complexions
Every complexion has its own associated texture file. These are sorted by body gender under
The files are ending in 01..05. Each complexion has its own appearance in the head mesh, e.g.:
Skin definitions
Skin materials are defined in the base head file:
female body gender
base\characters\head\player_base_heads\player_female_average\h0_000_pwa_c__basehead\h0_000_pwa_c__basehead.mesh
male body gender
base\characters\head\player_base_heads\player_man_average\h0_000_pma_c__basehead\h0_000_pma_c__basehead.mesh
You can find the definitions in the localMaterialBuffer. Each material overrides the following properties locally:
Normal (bump/height map)
Albedo (diffuse/complexion)
All other properties are pulled from a .mi file in the following folder:
female body gender
base\characters\common\skin\character_mat_instance\female\head\
male body gender
base\characters\common\skin\character_mat_instance\male\head\
Head: material instances
This section only lists .mi files used by the player head.
About half of these files are shared by NPCs. Editing or replacing these will affect all of Night City!
female_head_01_ca_pale_00_warm_ivory.mi
❌
female_head_01_ca_pale.mi
✔
female_head_02_ca_limestone_00_beige.mi
❌
female_head_02_ca_limestone.mi
✔
female_head_03_ca_senna_00_amber.mi
❌
female_head_03_ca_senna_01_honey.mi
❌
female_head_03_ca_senna_02_band.mi
❌
female_head_03_ca_senna.mi
✔
female_head_04_ca_almond_00_umber.mi
❌
female_head_04_ca_almond.mi
✔
female_head_05_bl_espresso.mi
✔
female_head_06_bl_dark.mi
✔
Freckles / cheek make-up
For a list of freckles and make-up sorted by colour and skin type, see NoraLee's NPV guide.
Lipstick
For a mod fixing various mix-ups in the character creator, see here.
Lipstick colours and styles are sorted in (more or less) ascending order in the appearance list in the mesh.
Style order is Default - Glossy - Matte (no suffix, _02, _03)
Link: Reference images on imgur
Eyeliner and kohl
To be done. Are you bored (and potentially have OCD)? Please get in touch via Discord!
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