So I've heard that when creating an NPC with facial features like scars, war paint, or different skin tones that the game tends to ignore these changes and reverts the NPCs to a sort of "default state", if you will. Now, I have also noticed people mentioning the NPC creation tool on the Nexus which is supposed to allow for creation of NPCs with effective features like real in game lighting, proper facial data, and a more intuitive face-gen process. My question is this, are there any drawbacks to using the NPC creation tool? Is this the standard practice as long as the facial data bug is in effect? Would I be better off attempting to export the facial data from the CK?

Please just let me know if this tool is a viable option or not.

I've never used the tool, but http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1385699-warpaint-trouble-in-actor-menu/page__view__findpost__p__21204202. Create your NPC in-game using the character generation screen, use SPF YourCharactersName in the console to export the .npc file, set up your NPC in the CK and import the .npc file, Ctrl + F4 to export the face data. Works fine for me. I don't think having to export is a bug, it's just part of the workflow. If you don't like the vanilla lighting in the character gen screen, you can set up a cell in the CK with any lighting you like. Plenty of people take that extra step.

I think people run into problems with the CK for the following reasons: forgetting to hit Ctrl + F4; forgetting to increase the interpolation value on war paint (it doesn't show up in the preview window if it's 0); scars don't show up in the preview window for Head, but do for Full; if you try to Ctrl + F4 with Is CharGen Face Preset ticked, it won't work.

As long as you do things correctly, it should work, though, of course, it's always possible that some people have system-related problems.

okay ill stick with exporting the face data, thanks for the tip