I've progressed far enough with this to comfortably publicise this project with promise of releasing it.

My previous modding work has very much centered around Skyrim characters (see: Ethereal Elven Overhaul), but a cursory examination of Oblivion's character system made me realize I could do a whole bunch to significantly improve the looks of all races and all playable characters and NPCs. The changes are rather comprehensive:

-Each race now has their own dedicated head mesh that has been shaped to really push their identifying looks
-New skin textures, handpainted

-Up to 12 new normal maps sculpted for each race with rebuilt age slider elements

-General aesthetic tweaks to each race and some individual NPCs to make the most out of the new assets

-Planned: Revisiting the shape of nonhuman races' ears

With properly sculpted normals the characters' faces gain tons more depth and personality. I've also distributed face types more gradually along the age slider - your character won't turn wrinkly the instant you nudge the slider forward. The faces look more believable and the general visual direction I've followed with my asset creation has been strongly based on both Skyrim and Morrowind's aesthetics.

Another major problem I wanted to address was how hard it has been to create even-looking and aesthetically appealing faces in the game. The results with these changes have been highly positive so far and it's really easy to get consistently pleasant faces with balanced proportions in just a few slider adjustments. Do note that aesthetic appeal doesn't necessarily mean conventionally attractive - this isn't a beautification mod, nor does it erase the 'ugly' aspects of TES races, it just aims to present the spectrum of it in a way that's easier on the eyes than vanilla's delivery.

Some screenshots so far:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/d79937e9ecd6218402a843cf3618d0b8/tumblr_mm345st9BX1s8q3l4o2_1280.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/8809f522d29557ebddd82257aea01dea/tumblr_mlyzvviq3j1s8q3l4o1_1280.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/4d42b29408b92ef465d235542c2d885f/tumblr_mlyy9eyDYZ1s8q3l4o2_1280.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/92b513658db898a7d3f81385186d6455/tumblr_mlxpfdsiTY1s8q3l4o1_1280.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/c72db9c8f4a6cad919023ba04b5f3fdc/tumblr_mlxsiuSxbC1s8q3l4o1_1280.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/956aa2f79f02ecd1814caba29ce4aac1/tumblr_mlxmc2l7Rq1s8q3l4o1_1280.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/26d28b274df1d7f7ec4d494e30097411/tumblr_mlxceaxUHl1s8q3l4o1_1280.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/2b12a82f89d51729e163f74464d58844/tumblr_mm345st9BX1s8q3l4o1_1280.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/a45e4208c91e7c2e5eeff4985c995f63/tumblr_mm367sqALo1s8q3l4o2_1280.jpg

http://24.media.tumblr.com/efe9ec2b4d7a8ea451758f6668faff37/tumblr_mm367sqALo1s8q3l4o1_1280.jpg

http://25.media.tumblr.com/f91aefa6ceb8a7177a2f20448bf4d9fe/tumblr_mm4erbadPO1s8q3l4o1_1280.jpg

I'm still adding customisation features to some races and refining existing assets, I'll get a substantial comparison set once I've reached the 'feature complete' point with this, which ought to be quite soon.

You can also follow my progress on http://nuskamods.tumblr.com/

Feedback and ideas are welcome at this stage!

Looks great! Can't wait to eventually use this in my current (or future) Oblivion playthrough.

These are f'ing fantastic!

I pretty much have to agree. No matter how many texture replacers I throw at it, the faces of non-human races were lacking something to make them truly... not human, and it seems like this will finally deliver in that regard. I haven't played Skyrim but from screenshots and vids I do like that they went further to differentiate races through their faces. These have a Morrowind vibe which I really like.

i love it! please release it

Can't say it much better than this. This is really, really cool looking. The first thing I thought when I saw the Dunmer was "MORROWIND!"

Oh YEAH! This will definitely go on 'http://testg.wikidot.com/oblivion:char-faces Faces' page when it's released. I'd also like to use your 'assorted NPCs' image to illustrate it at that time, if you don't mind. Though perhaps you could expand it to include the vanilla heads above each of your revised ones? Comparisons really sell the difference.

I'll be tracking your progress here.

-Dubious-

Wonderful to see you working on Oblivion again!

I love your work, so this is something of a dream come true.

Thank you.

This look completely amazing. Looking forward to it. Meanwhile, I'm installing Ethereal Elven Overhaul as we speak. Hadn't heard of it (rather new to Skyrim) and it looks exquisite as well.

Thanks guys! Fixed the blog link, oops.

Well done. I've never really been satisfied with the mod solutions for Oblivion faces. The ones that retain the original feel still have that "egghead" shape, and the ones that go further turn into anime dolls. You've found a great common ground here.

Yeah, that was largely my motivation for really looking into this. Since I've worked extensively with Skyrim's head construction I figured it has to have similarities, and it did. Only major downside has been that it's not possible to use separate head shapes for female and male characters without splitting the races into two by gender, which I don't want to do and which doesn't help existing NPCs. I've also not been able to crack open how the head deformation and colour changes for genders are handled, looking into what little documentation is available for EGM and EGT files (which I believe are where the information is stored) hasn't been very helpful for my specific case.

In a bizarre way this is really satisfying to work with though, seeing the characters finally live up to the potential they always had but which was never brought out.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/f91aefa6ceb8a7177a2f20448bf4d9fe/tumblr_mm4erbadPO1s8q3l4o1_1280.jpg

I am so looking forward to this, it's amazing how you went from potato face to this. Sure I'll miss some of the silly faces, but these ones are too good to pass up, heck I think this will most definitely become a staple of many load orders, mine for sure. Keep up the good work.

Simply amazing work. Well done.

Will there be an option to pick and choose races? I use an Orc mod that makes them more monsterous looking and would love to keep that one if I could.

I'm not even thinking about eventual options or compatibilities yet, that's for the time when I have everything fully working and ready to go. I can say there are complications regarding the idea of splitting this into individual races and it goes into the field of unartistic extra work and shuffling files around that I generally avoid having to do.

Lonewolf, I'm pretty sure the rule of one will do the trick here if you are using wryebash. I presume that one set of files will overwrote the other, so this would be a matter of installation order.

There's really no reason for there to be a split up individual races in this case.

Also, you definitely do not want to split up males and females as separate races, as it would break a lot of mods. But in general I think that's okay. With all the hair and body mods out there, there are plenty of ways to differentiate the sixes.

Very impressive! I'm far more in to scenic improvement rather than character / NPC overhauls, but this might just sway me to take the plunge.

-Decrepit-

I've been adapting NPCs to the new looks and the http://25.media.tumblr.com/57ccfdeb4185381ceefc8e8f47eb2452/tumblr_mm4x57dFnW1s8q3l4o1_1280.jpg

Though http://25.media.tumblr.com/dfa914f20a52bdd3ebd049d2645861e2/tumblr_mm4wutNc1M1s8q3l4o1_500.jpg will always stay the same.

This looks amazing, indeed.

This project looks really well done - keep up the good work. I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being an essential mod for a lot of people.

The only mod I am aware of that seems to have gotten any sort of 'real' handle on how FaceGen works and (presumably) EGM and EGT is 'http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/mods/35487' by the_philanthropy. If the mod doesn't help you, try contacting the author.

-Dubious-

This is awesome. I use Tweaked Generic Faces, along with IFT and Enayla's textures, so most NPCs look okay, but some real differentiation between races would be fantastic.

Sort of a lone voice so far in this thread, but in the interest of feedback - I really don't care for the sharp creases at the top of the brow ridges. The ridges themselves are a great addition and are, IMO, pretty much exactly what was most needed to differentiate the non-human races (along with more prominent cheekbones, which I also note, and which look great). However, I think the brow ridges would look much better - and much more realistic - if the transition from the ridge to the rest of the forehead was smoother. As it is, it's quite sharp, so from head on, it doesn't even really look like a brow ridge so much as just an odd sort of V-shaped crease in the forehead. And from the side, since the ridges don't taper into the skull, it almost looks as if they're composed of separate material - like an extra V-shaped layer of something was inserted between the skin and the skull.

I don't intend to disparage the obvious work you've done. It's just.... this is something I'd really like to see and it looks like you've done an admirable job (the textures are terrific, by the bye), but as it stands, I doubt I'd use it and that just because those sharp transitions at the top of the brow ridges look so unnatural and distracting. And I thought this was the time and the place, if any, to say so, just in case it was something that could be adjusted, and that you were inclined to do.

I disagree I think that the ridges are as subtle as they should be.