PS5 graphics change when in a menu

fizl101 · March 2025

The graphics for the face and skin of my character has changed post update (PS5). If you look at the two screenshots below, you will see my characters face seems to have a lot of shading/shadows, but also the skin looks strangely flat. The first pic is pre update 45, the second is post. I tried taking the screenshots in the same place for comparison, but I am also getting this strange look in full sunlight in Rimmen for example

ZOS_Kevin · March 2025

Hi @fizl101. We are aware of this issue and are currently investigating. Are you running any face markings/makeup on that character? If so, removing it may assist for now while we investigate.

fizl101 · March 2025

Hi Kevin, its happening on all my characters (just been checking with a friend). I’ll try removing her makeup and see if it helps

fizl101 · March 2025

Update - removing facemarkings fixed it, I cant put any markings back on though. On another character I had to remove their body markings so they didnt appear flat

I dont know if it was co-incidental (I assume it is as I cant see how the systems are linked) but I noticed it after getting the patrons not loading error. The only other thing I had done was adjust my green cp

LunaFlora · March 2025

yea i also noticed that

ZOS_Kevin · March 2025

Thanks for the info, @fizl101. Could you provide some additional context for us? We are passing this to our team as they are actively investigating.

When you say you cannot put any markings back on, do you mean that the marking will not reapply if you try to do so, or that when you apply the marking, the shading/shadow issue comes back?
Which marking/makeup are you using that caused the issue?

fizl101 · March 2025

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Thanks for the info, @fizl101. Could you provide some additional context for us? We are passing this to our team as they are actively investigating.
When you say you cannot put any markings back on, do you mean that the marking will not reapply if you try to do so, or that when you apply the marking, the shading/shadow issue comes back?

Which marking/makeup are you using that caused the issue?

Hi
1. When I apply another face marking I get the shadow issue straight back
2. On this character, it was the subtle natural makeup, but I just tested applying the first facemarking on the list and it caused the shadow issue. On another character it was a makeup with black lipstick. On a third character it was the abyssal embrace body markings that did it. First two characters are female, last character is male if it makes a difference

jrmwvu04 · March 2025

It seems like the face and body markings invert the lighting source. Happens with most every marking that I tried. Xbox.

fizl101 · March 2025

Npc seem to have the issue too you can see her face and neck are completely different colour and lighting

katanagirl1 · March 2025

I am seeing sharp shadows at night on the faces of many of my characters from light sources, and none of them have any collectible markings or makeup used, only one has a dragon body tattoo from the character creation selector. My dark elf necro has the worst of it, she has the darkest skin color selected. The shadowing at night causes one side of the body to be lit and the other completely dark.

I will upload images of what I am seeing later.

Lluanda · March 2025

It's really bad... this is on xbox with and without markings. Luckily I have the face markings pack to select "no face markings" since that is the only "fix" right now. 😐

ZOS_Kevin · March 2025

Hi folks, just an update here. We have identified the issue impacting shaders and face/body markings. The team is working on a fix now. Once we have more info, we can update timing on a potential fix. Just wanted to give a heads up incase more folks start asking about this. We have an article for this issue as well: https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/#en/answer/69216

Ingenon · March 2025

The faces of many NPC in game look awful on PS/NA. Dayna Imayn, Banker in Vivec City looks like a clown with a bad coat of face paint.

ZOS_Kevin · March 2025

Ingenon wrote: »

The faces of many NPC in game look awful on PS/NA. Dayna Imayn, Banker in Vivec City looks like a clown with a bad coat of face paint.

Yep, we are aware. The fix will address those as well. But we are aware and working on it.

Ingenon · March 2025

ZOS_Kevin wrote: »

Ingenon wrote: »

The faces of many NPC in game look awful on PS/NA. Dayna Imayn, Banker in Vivec City looks like a clown with a bad coat of face paint.

Yep, we are aware. The fix will address those as well. But we are aware and working on it.

Thanks! I park all my alts in front of her in Vivec City, and she looked "off" since the game patch earlier today.

ZOS_Kevin · March 2025

Hi all, we have an update on the character face/shader issues: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/675203

katanagirl1 · March 2025

@ZOS_Kevin I noticed there is a banner up on the PS NA server at login that mentions this issue. I have not seen anything like this before, so it is a nice addition.

katanagirl1 · March 2025

Here's what I am seeing on my dark elf with the dragon tattoo:

Her face is blacked out in shadow

Here she has one black arm and one black leg

My poor Khajiit snow leopard (who should be white):

She has one orange arm and one blue one

Most of her looks blue

It's like a blue shadow is always on her no matter the lighting

SpiritofESO · March 2025

I was going to start a thread, but I see I don't have to.

As I investigated this, I noticed comments about face markings or makeup. The only "makeup" would be the Dark Emphasis Eyelashes. It made no difference if they were ON or OFF.

However, when I removed my character's hair, I was shocked.

You can clearly see the problem.

When I put on Head Markings it made a huge difference to coloration on the whole body, however, I found an acceptable work-around by using the Ancient Dragon, Elder Dragon or Eye-Briar Gemmed Tattoo head marks (and a few others) which immediately corrected all body and face discolorations.