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Changing an NPC's default appearances (and adding more via AMM)

Appearances: change the looks

Summary

Published December 27 2022 by @manavortex
Last documented update: January 06 2024 by @manavortex

This guide will walk you through editing NPC appearances for Cyberpunk 2077.

You can find a more detailed guide under altering-appearances-within-wolvenkit-full-workflow.md

It uses the following versions:

  • Cyberpunk 2077 game version >= 1.6
  • WolvenKit >= 8.15 (some of the UI elements will be missing in older versions)
  • (only if you want to add new appearances) AppearanceMenuMod >= 1.15

Wait, this isn't what I want!

Prerequisites

Links will give you additional context. If you can complete the guide without them, feel free to ignore them.

Finding the right files

This section will show you how to find an NPC's .app file, which you will add to your project. We do this by finding the NPC's .ent file, since it will be linked in there.

The .ent file

The NPC's root entity file is the entry point for the game. It defines an NPC's appearances, linking them to the actual definitions inside the corresponding .app file.

{% hint style="info" %} You don't need to add this file to your project (and if you do it by accident, you should delete it later). For details, see amm-custom-npc-appearances.md. {% endhint %}

You can try finding your NPC's .ent file on people. If you can't find your entry, the page has information how you can search for it — please add it to the page, this wiki is a community project!

Point your Asset Browser to the file you have found. We want to find the .app file and add it to our project. You can right-click on the .ent file and select Find used files, or you look up the path in the .ent file:

If you are using Appearance Menu Mod, this list will look familiar.

The .app file

Now that you have found the .app file, let's add it to your Wolvenkit project and look inside.

The array appearances will contain a list with every appearance that's defined for this NPC, matching the key appearanceName in the .ent file.

{% hint style="info" %} Not all of these have been "published" (as in "hooked up to .ent files"). For an example of this, check base\characters\appearances\citizen\citizen__children_mc.app {% endhint %}

The only thing you need to care about is the components array (learn more about these here). This is where you add, remove, or modify parts of an NPC's appearance:

Removing Johnny's head won't make him shut up. Try it out, say "Arasaka".

{% hint style="info" %} The names of components should be unique so you can manipulate them outside of the .app file. You should generally stick to CDPR's naming scheme, including the prefixes (why is this important?).

CDPR's style of unique naming allows us to find components and their usage across the game files, which will come on handy when we're trying to add items. {% endhint %}

This is where the magic happens.

Changing and removing components

Change items by selecting a different appearance or a different mesh:

Wake up, Johnny! … Follow the white rabbit, Johnny!

Remove items by deleting their entries from the list or by setting their chunkMasks to 0:

no more ring!

(Safely) adding components

{% hint style="info" %} For a detailed guide on adding hair, check npv-creating-a-custom-npc.md - #hair {% endhint %}

If you want to add a new item, first duplicate an existing one. After that, you can pretend that it is just another change:

This is usually safe, as long as you are sticking to entSkinnedMeshComponents.

And this might work.

Or it might end up leaving them standing in an exploded pixel cloud. In case of animated components, editing them will almost certainly break them (see #animations-if-you-cant-avoid-them-copy-them-as-well)

{% hint style="danger" %} Anything of the type entGarmentSkinnedMeshComponent is prone to breaking unless you copy everything it needs. {% endhint %}

Let's do it…

Step by step: Putting Johnny in Scorpion's vest

You need to find the thing you want to add in the files, check where it is defined, and then copy all of its components.

  1. Search for the mesh name of the vest that you want to use (e.g. ma_vest__high_collar*.mesh)

  2. Select the mesh, then "find files using this":

  3. If you find an .ent file called _pwa_ or _pma_, that's a player mesh entity, which contains only the components you need — jackpot, use that one. Otherwise, find any .app file that sounds promising - for example Scorpion's.

    Open it without adding it to the project (you don't need the file).

  4. Find and select the components in the other NPC's appearance list:

  5. Select "Copy Selection From Array/Buffer"

  6. Go back to your original .app file and select either the root of the components array, or any component inside the array. Now right-click and select "Paste Selection From Array/Buffer".

  7. If you haven't done that yet, delete the original component(s) and its animations/dangles. Skipping this step will give Johnny two vests, and he's not the type to do that.\

{% hint style="success" %} Save the .app file, install your mod, and go testing! {% endhint %}

Animations: if you can't avoid them, copy them as well!

Anything of the type entAnimatedComponent means that components are animated. That's mostly the case for physics-enabled stuff influenced by gravity, such as coats, jackets, or long hair.

{% hint style="info" %} Physics gave us the atomic bomb. (It also gave us computers, but this is besides the point right now.) {% endhint %}

Animations are usually unique to meshes on a by-pixel basis and do not react kindly to edits or swaps. (Try splitting the obi from Saburo's kimono into its own submesh if you don't believe me).

If you copy an animated component (e.g. Johnny's vest), then you need to copy the corresponding entAnimatedComponent as well, or the mesh won't move.

Any of these are an indicator that there is TROUBLE

{% hint style="info" %} If you delete a physics-enabled component, you can safely delete the corresponding AnimatedComponent. {% endhint %}

Adding items from mods

Getting the .mesh

  1. Switch your Asset Browser to Mod Browser
  2. Use the search to find mesh files in your target .archive:
    archive:my_mod_name > .mesh
  3. Add the file(s) you want to your Wolvenkit project

{% hint style="info" %} Many ArchiveXL mods contain a number of meshes for different body mods and body genders. You only need one of them — the one for your body mod and body gender.

Look for w/m to indicate gender, and base_body to indicate the body mod. {% endhint %}

  1. Move them to a custom path (you don't want them to interfere with the original modded files)

Clean up the .mesh

  1. Before adding the necessary dependencies, delete all appearances from the .mesh file that you don't want:

  1. From the Clean up menu, use Delete unused Materials
  2. Save the file
  3. From the Materials menu, use add material dependencies
    • Wolvenkit will now run a scan of all your mods. This may take a moment!
  4. You will now see a textures folder with all files for your materials.
    • If there isn't one, the mesh only uses base game materials and textures. There's no need to custompath those — if you want to do it anyway, hold the shift key while selecting the option.

  1. You can now save your mesh and optionally run file validation from the menu bar.
  2. Optional: If any of the files in your texture folders are .mi, .mltemplate, or .mlsetup files, open them and run add material dependencies again (your mesh will have a weird purple hue if any of those are missing)
  3. You can now save your .mesh!

Adding the .mesh to the appearance

{% hint style="info" %} This works for simple components. Anything more complicated with physics (.anim or .rig), you should stealcopy from an .ent file inside the mod (see the previous section, #safely-adding-components) {% endhint %}

  1. Open your NPC's .app file
  2. find the appearance that you want to change
  3. duplicate an existing entSkinnedMeshComponent:

  1. Select the new component. In the panel on the right, change the following properties:
    1. mesh -> DepotPath: relative path to your mesh
      tutorial\npv\your_female_character\feet\s1_converse\s1__pwa__converse.mesh
      You can right-click on the .mesh file in the project browser and select copy relative path
    2. mesh -> meshAppearance: the appearance that you did not delete during cleanup
      e.g. black
      You find this in the appearances array inside the .mesh file
    3. name: a unique name that identifies your component.
      &#xNAN;You should get into the habit of using garment prefixes, as they come in handy for clothing items.
    4. chunkMask: Extend the dropdown and make sure that the submeshes you want are visible (just check the boxes for 0-11 if you're not sure)

  1. That's it! Save and test!

Adding new appearances

Adding new appearances to an existing NPC requires you to overwrite that NPC's .ent file (see amm-custom-npc-appearances.md). For that matter, it's recommended that you create a new entity instead. You can find a guide for this under amm-custom-npcs.

Troubleshooting

My new component won't move at all!

You may have forgotten to copy the animation file. Look for an entAnimatedComponent inside the .app — they're usually called something like xxx_dangle(s) or collar. (See here)

If it's a clothing item not moving, check the skinning array for the component and make sure the bindName is set to root. If you swapped out a component for something else, you also might need to update its matching entry in AppearanceVisualController -> appearanceDependency. But don't do that unless necessary.

I added an appearance, but a random one is showing when I select it

That's what happens when the game can't find the appearance you picked. You're probably trying to add an AMM appearance. Check the spelling between your lua file with the appearance name, the mapping entry inside the .ent, and the appearance's name in the .app file.

For further troubleshooting steps, see here.