@MIDNIGHT Did you add these to the CreationKit.ini file? I forgot to mention it in the video.

[Debug]
bAlwaysGenerateCpuGeometryExtraFields=1
bEnableEditorSaveGeometry=1

followed this guide exactly, but I ended up with the classic buzz cut and different race face/neck. I think that was because I was not 'packing' the mod (followed the steps regarding baking including closing the window before going back to bake it) and I of course have the two lines in my customconfig and config files. now instead of the buzz cut, my edited companion is now a freaky looking pair of eyeballs and set of teeth floating where their head once was.

I don't understand how the actual devs of the game designed an entire toolkit for modders, yet it's so functionally obtuse that someone such as myself with previous modding experience in several different games has spent literally 12 hours troubleshooting myself and scouring the depths of the web, just to accomplish something as fundamentally elementary as editing just the appearance of literally ONE NPC.