Mass Effect 2 Gibbed Save Editor Change Hair Color

Share your Mass Effect hero with your fellow gamers!

Are you tired of the boring old un-attractive female hair styles that look rediculous when in a battle surrounded by a swarm of geth? Well not to worry, some clever people have created a way to import some of the female NPC hair styles (shown below) into shepards hair, and here are the steps to follow:
  1. If you haven't already, download Gibbed's Mass Effect 2 Save Editor.
  2. Start a new Mass Effect 2 game preferably with a female shepard (although putting female hairstyles on a male shepard will surely have interesting results). When you are at the character creation screen for the new character, create your shepard, and then choose the hair colour you want your shepard to wear with the new style, and choose a random hair style (doesn't matter which one as you will be changing the imput code anyway).
  3. Once you have created the game, save the game where you are and exit Mass Effect 2, remembering what character you saved as. Also I recommend making a backup file of your save game as you never know. =]
  4. Open Gibbed's Mass Effect 2 Save Editor. Now the fun begins! xD Click on the FOLDER icon at the top left corner to open a save game. Find the save game you just made in the folder Bioware/Mass Effect 2/Saves/*name of character*/Save0001 (or something like that).
  5. Your game details should have loaded into the Save Editor. Next click on the RAW tab at the top. This is where all the modifications can be made for your game.
  6. To modify the hair style, under the heading '2. Squad', there are the words 'Henchmen' and 'Player', we want 'Player' at the moment. Click on the CROSS, left of 'Player', then the same for 'Appearance', and then the same for 'Morph Head'. Now if you look next to 'Hair Mesh' there is a code starting with 'BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO....'. This is the code you need to change for the different hair meshs.
    To change it literally copy and paste one of these codes below into it's place. *Don't worry this won't overite the original hair mesh file, it will only change the input code for the game to register what hair mesh to use.
    BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Mom.HMF_HIR_Mom_MDL
    BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Sexy.HMF_HIR_Sxy_MDL
    BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Cyberbabe.HMF_HIR_Cyb_MDL
    BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Mohawk.HMF_HIR_Mhk_MDL
    Almost done, you have copied the mesh into the right place, all that is left to do is copy the correct texture codes into the correct place otherwise your hair will look very strange. :P
  7. To change the hair texture code, below 'Hair Mesh' next to 'Texture Parameters', it will say '(Collection)'. Click on the word and on the right there should be a box with an ellipsis (...) in it. Click on that. A new window should come up with all the different texture codes. For the non-standard hair style you have used you only need to replace the _Diff and _Norm codes, don't worry about the _Mask and _Tang. If you look next to the numbers [4] and [5] on the left, there should be HAIR_Diff = ... and HAIR_Norm = ... These are the textures you need to change. Click on 'HAIR_Diff = ' to start with.
    On the right there should be the Name -> HAIR_Diff and Value -> BIOG_HMF_HIR.. etc.
    All you need to do is copy and paste the Value code of the following corresponding textures codes of which non-standard hair mesh you replaced earlier. Do the same for the _Norm code.
    BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Mom.HMF_HIR_Mom_Diff
    BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Mom.HMF_HIR_Mom_Norm
    BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Sexy.HMF_HIR_Sxy_Diff
    BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Sexy.HMF_HIR_Sxy_Norm
    BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Cyberbabe.HMF_HIR_Cyb_Diff
    BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Cyberbabe.HMF_HIR_Cyb_Norm
    BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Mohawk.HMF_HIR_Mhk_Diff
    BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Mohawk.HMF_HIR_Mhk_Norm
    BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Mohawk.HMF_HIR_Mhk_Scalp_Diff
    BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Mohawk.HMF_HIR_Mhk_Scalp_Norm
    BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Mohawk.HMF_HIR_Mhk_Scalp_Mask
    *For the Mowhawk, you will need to also replace the Scalp: _Diff, _Norm, and _Mask codes because you are exposing the scalp textures as well. =]
  8. Once you are done, click on the FLOPPY DISK icon at the top left to save your changes. Save by overiting the original save game file, but make sure you save it as the same name it was originally.
  9. Et Voila! You should be able to load that save game and be able to play with your brand new awesome hair style!
How to Use the Default ME3 Femshep Facial Textures

If you've been reading my post on hair, you'll notice each one has 2 lines of code associated with them. You'll need these to change your Shepard's hair via Gibbed. Where do they go?! Open up the save you want to edit and navigate over to the 'Raw' tab. Click Player - Appearance - Head Morph This is what we're interested in. Faces Of Gaming is a new community that allows gamers all around the world to share and display their characters and in-game creations. Link for newest gibbed's editor Register or Signin to view external links. Extract your Save000# file out of ur save and open it in Gibbeds mass effect 3 editor 1) In Raw - Player - Appearance - Morph Head.

I downloaded the mass effect 2 gibbed mod, and fiddled with it a little bit. I changed hair style, color, and eye color/glow. I tried to save it, but didn't know how, so stupid me, I went into the. When you are at the character creation screen for the new character, create your shepard, and then choose the hair colour you want your shepard to wear with the new style, and choose a random hair style (doesn't matter which one as you will be changing the imput code anyway).


I successfully managed to get the ME3 default femshep facial texture onto my custom femshep. I'm just compiling information others have shared into one place. Give the credit to the makers of the Gibbed's ME3 editor and a number of users on these forums.
*Depending on which nose shape and facial structure you use in creating your custom femshep, you may notice some minor texture artifacts around the bottom of your femshep's nose. In my opinion, these artifacts are worth how much better the default facial texture looks compared to the presets, and for me, these are unnoticeable in all but a few weird angles. But if anyone comes up with a solution, please share!
**I'm not responsible if your savefile is corrupted. Make sure to back up your original savegame somewhere.**
If you're doing this on Xbox, you'll need some other things first to transfer your save file to your computer. I use Xplorer and Modio for this, and the method is the same as for Mass Effect 2 savefiles.
1) Download Gibbed's Mass Effect 3 Editor. The latest build can be found here:
http://svn.gib.me/builds/masseffect3/
2) Open your extracted .xbsav or .pcsav file in the editor. As of this post, the Player and Plot tabs in the editor are unavailable. Click on the raw tab.
3) Click the little arrows to open up the lists under Squad -> Player -> Appearance -> Morph Head
4) Click on Texture parameters and the click on the small button with the ellipsis to the right of where it says Collection.
5) Once in this menu, this is where you'll need to change which textures your savefiles looks for when rendering your character.
Change the values under each key to the following:
Key: HED_Scalp_Diff
Value: BIOG_HMF_HED_PROMorph_R.PROShepard.HMF_HED_PROShepard_Scalp_Diff
Key: HED_Scalp_Norm
Value: BIOG_HMF_HED_PROMorph_R.PROShepard.HMF_HED_PROShepard_Scalp_Norm
Key: HED_Diff'
Value: BIOG_HMF_HED_PROMorph_R.PROShepard.HMF_HED_PROShepard_Face_Diff
Key: HED_Norm
Value: BIOG_HMF_HED_PROMorph_R.PROShepard.HMF_HED_PROSheppard_Face_Norm_Stack
Key: HED_Brow
Value: BIOG_HMF_HED_PROMorph_R.Base.HMF_HED_PROCustom_Blank_Norm

Mass Effect 2 Gibbed Save Editor Change Hair Color Swatches


Click OK and back out to the main Editor panel. Save your savefile. For Xbox, you'll need to Inject your savefile properly with Modio (or another program), making sure to Rehash and Resign, and then use Xplorer (or another program) and your Xbox-formatted jump drive to load the save into your game.
There you go! Your femshep should have the facial structure, eye color, and hair color you've slaved to choose and create, but will have the freckled, eye-shadowed, lip-sticked face of the ME3 default femshep!
How to use the Default Femshep hairstyle, without clipping issues! Courtesy of Dizzig
If you've tried to used the Default hairstyle before, you've noticed a bald spot due to the hair clipping through the custom character forehead. This is because Bioware decided to use a different shape for the default femshep head. To fix it, you'll need to edit the actual vertices that define the head shape, essentially moving them farther back behind the hair so it appears to fit properly.
First, change the hair mesh to:Editor
BIOG_HMF_HIR_PRO.Hair_PROShepard.HMF_HIR_PROShepard_MDL
Then, change the Hair_Diff texture to:
biog_hmf_hir_pro.Global.HAIR_Long_Diff
Now to the tedious part. Until Gibbed figures out a way to import and export Lod0Vertices, we'll have to edit them by hand. Locate the Lod0Vertices section, and change the following. Where you see commas in the following list, such as 5,5, this means 5.5. A comma is a decimal point in these cases. There is a very small clipping issue remaining farther up the scalp near the part. It is barely noticeable.
Index Number = X/Y
250 = 5/2
251 = 6/1
252 = 5/1
253 = 4/2
254 = 3/2
255 = 3/1
256 = 1/1
257 = 1/2
Mass effect 2 gibbed save editor change hair color chart269 = 0,5/5,5
270 = 1/5,5
271 = 1,5/5,5
287 = 3/4
288 = 4/4
289 = 5/3
290 = 4/3
291 = 2/4
292 = 3/3
293 = 1/4
300 = 2,5/5,5
330 = 1,5/4,5
331 = 2,5/4,5
340 = 1/4,5
355 = 5,5/1,5
356 = 6,5/1,5
357 = 3,5/1
358 = 3,5/1,5
362 = pending
363 = pending
364 = pending
365 = pending
366 = pending
369 = 2/4,5
1460 = 6,5/1,5
1461 = 6,5/0,860723436
1462 = 5,5/3,5
1463 = 4,5/4,5
1464 = 6,5/2,5
1465 = 3,5/5,5
1466 = 3,5/5,5
As you can imagine, teasing this out by hand would have been incredibly tedious. A big thanks to Dizzig for a heroic effort in figuring this out.
How to darken makeup to make your femshep look more like ME2
For those of you that just want darker eyeshadow, adjusted skin tone, or the ME2 auburn / red hair color, here are some adjustments in Gibbed's Editor I find to work well. I think this is a closer match to how faces look in ME2. Use these with the default preset complexions.
Changing the face code field in the editor after the game has started will not alter your face, just the code displayed in the squad menu. To change your facial appearance mid-game, you'll need to alter the head morph, or import a new one.
Edit: The following colors here have been pleasantly rendered obsolete by the new versions of Gibbed that include a color picker. I'll keep them here for reference. To use these values in the color picker, multiply them by 255. Of course, they can still be entered into the Raw section as before.
SkinTone -- skin tones look bleached in ME3. this is slightly darker from the old default, looks more like ME2
B: 0.16114029
G: 0.284192272
R: 0.6474706
Edit: 3/31/12 - Hair colors in ME3 are more complicated, using multiple variables adjusting the color can make a difference but the changes may not always be intuitive.
HED_Hair_Color_Vector -- ME2 red/auburn hair color
B: 0.0445526168
G: 0.0846414939
R: 0.215764433
EyeShadow_Tint_Vector -- ME2 darkest eye shadow color
B: 0.019918

Mass Effect 2 Gibbed Save Editor Change Hair Color Chart

G: 0.004559
R: 0.019918
HED_Brow_Tint_Vector -- ME2 darkest eye shadow color
B: 0.009021491
G: 0.00775102666
R: 0.009021491
HED_Brow_Tint_Scalar -- ME2 darkest eye shadow
1.55
HED_Addn_Spec_Lips_Scalar -- slightly more glossy lips
0.2
HED_Lips_Tint_Scalar -- slightly darker lips

Mass Effect 2 Gibbed Save Editor Change Hair Color Page

0.225
Hair Mesh - slightly different hairstyle, works better with visors, helmets, etc

Mass Effect 2 Gibbed Save Editor Change Hair Color Combinations


biog_hmf_hir_pro.Hair_PROCustomSexy.HMF_HIR_PROCustom_Sexy_MDL

Edited by Captain Arty, 03 April 2012 - 04:41 AM.