Where Winds Meet leans hard into character customization, but not everyone wants to spend their first evening sliding nose bridges back and forth. The game solves this with a mix of built-in presets, AI “Smart” tools, and later‑game appearance changes. It also has a separate preset‑sharing ecosystem on the Chinese side that, for now, does not carry over cleanly to the global release.
Where Winds Meet character presets: what you get out of the box
When you start a new character, the game walks you through a fixed sequence. The crucial shortcuts are the built-in presets and the option to skip deep editing entirely.
| Step | What you choose | Impact on presets |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Gender | Male or Female | Determines which preset pools, hairstyles, and cosmetics you see. |
| 2. Style group | Elegant or Realistic | Selects a bank of pre‑built faces and looks for your chosen gender. |
| 3. Preset face | A specific character face within that group | Becomes your base; you can stop here or refine further. |
| 4. Optional editing | Customization, Makeup, Hairstyle, Smart | Lets you override any part of the preset, from bone structure to hair. |
| 5. Outfit and profile | Try On, Background, Poses | Finalizes how your character appears in menus and the world. |
If you want the fastest possible start, you can:
- Pick a gender.
- Choose either Elegant or Realistic.
- Click through a preset face you like.
- Skip Customization and Smart entirely, jump straight to outfit selection, then confirm.
These day‑one choices do not affect combat stats, builds, or story outcomes. They are purely visual. That matters because it means you can safely prioritize “looks good enough, now let me play” and tidy up details later, once you have access to appearance changes.
Chinese preset websites vs. global: what actually works
On the Chinese PC release, NetEase runs an official hub that aggregates player‑made presets and related visuals. It covers far more than just faces.
| Preset type on the Chinese hub | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Character customization presets | Full face setup and basic appearance. |
| Hair presets | Specific hairstyles or hair configurations. |
| Outfit dye presets | Color combinations for clothing pieces. |
| Character profile backgrounds | Static backdrops for your profile screen. |
| Group backgrounds and screenshot presets | Framing and scenery choices for group shots and photos. |
Players on the Chinese client can copy codes from that hub and paste them into in‑game preset slots to instantly load complex looks, color schemes, or profile scenes. You can see the same idea from inside the game whenever you enter a dye or background menu: player‑created options appear as selectable presets.
For global players, there is an important limitation: codes generated on that Chinese hub do not currently apply to the global client. Community testing shows these entries simply report as expired or invalid. You can still browse them for inspiration, but you cannot rely on them as plug‑and‑play templates on global servers.
That leaves three realistic options today if you want “early start” character presets outside China:
- Use the built‑in Elegant/Realistic presets and avoid manual sculpting.
- Leverage the Smart tools (image or voice) as your “preset generator.”
- Re‑create a look you like by eye, using screenshots from other regions as reference.
Global‑specific sharing features may still expand later; for now, treat region‑locked preset hubs as reference galleries, not functional tools.
Smart customization: using image and voice as pseudo‑presets
Where Winds Meet includes an AI‑driven “Smart” category in character creation. This is the closest thing to automated presets built directly into the global client.
| Smart feature | What you do | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Image → face | Upload a photo of a person. | Generates a facial preset approximating that image. |
| Smart → Record | Read text into your microphone. | Creates a character voice and, in some regions/builds, can help drive an appearance baseline. |
The Image option is the practical time‑saver: you supply a selfie or another portrait, and the game auto‑builds a face with similar bone structure, eyes, and general proportions. It will not be a perfect likeness, but it gets you past the “blank slate” stage in seconds.
A fast workflow looks like this:
- Pick a gender and a preset style group (Elegant or Realistic).
- Jump into the Smart tab and run Image with a suitable photo.
- Once the game generates a face, fine‑tune a handful of sliders in Customization instead of building from zero.
- Optionally record your voice under Smart → Record to bind a voice profile to that face.
How detailed manual presets really get
If you choose to refine or create your own presets, the editor goes deeper than most action RPGs. It exposes both broad and very small facial features:
- High‑level controls: overall face type, age appearance, skin tone, and complexion.
- Fine anatomy: glabella (between the eyebrows), philtrum (upper lip groove), nasal columella, brow arch height, cheekbone angle, jaw contour, and more.
- Per‑feature editors: separate menus for eyes, brows, nose, and lips with presets and sliders for shape, width, tilt, height, and asymmetry.
Body editing is intentionally simpler. You can nudge general build and silhouette, but there are no per‑muscle or ultra‑granular sliders. In practice, your outfit and armor silhouette influence perceived body type as much as those base values.
This level of control means you can absolutely build “grittier” or less conventionally pretty faces if you want. Preset pools do skew toward polished looks, but nothing stops you from widening jaws, deepening lines, or dialing back idealized proportions to create something more ordinary or even harsh.
Changing appearance later: how respecs and small tweaks work
If you rush through creation with a preset, you are not permanently stuck with that face. The game supports appearance changes mid‑progress, with different rules for minor adjustments and full re‑sculpts.
| Change type | Where you do it | Cost | What you can edit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free makeover (early story) | Talk to Cheng Xin after finishing his Faceless Ones quest chain. | One full recustomization at no charge. | Almost everything except gender. |
| Later full recustomizations | Cheng Xin’s “Disguise” option or main menu Appearance → Appearance. | Requires a Water Lady Script. | Same as above: facial structure, body, etc., but not gender. |
| Minor cosmetic tweaks | Finalization/appearance screen → Makeup category. | Free. | Makeup layers, eye color, facial hair, similar surface‑level details. |
To unlock full recustomization, you progress through an early quest sequence involving Ruby, the General’s Shrine, and the Faceless Ones in an underground area. You eventually obtain and use the Nameless Jade Flute to manipulate pressure plates, then meet Cheng Xin near the shrine’s exit. Returning the flute lets you ask him to “Disguise” you, which effectively reopens the character creation screen.
From that point on, you have two routes:
- Fast travel back to Cheng Xin’s location and request another disguise when you have a Water Lady Script.
- Open the main menu, go to Appearance, then select Appearance again at the bottom and confirm to enter customization (again, consuming a Water Lady Script for full structure changes).
Water Lady Scripts are bought from the Jianghu Treasures Shop, turning major rewrites into a deliberate choice rather than something you do every session. Small surface changes under Makeup remain free, so you can swap eye color or adjust facial hair whenever without worrying about currency.
Using community sharing boards as a preset source
For global players, the most promising path toward preset‑like sharing is emerging inside official community spaces rather than via the Chinese web hub.
NetEase and partners run a Character Sharing Board that collects designs from players. In practice, this functions as a gallery of looks you can copy manually, using screenshots and listed parameters as your blueprint inside the in‑game editor.
Because cross‑region codes are not currently honored, expect to recreate any favorite design by hand. Begin from a similar Elegant or Realistic preset, then map the key slider positions and makeup choices you see in the shared build. Once you are satisfied, that becomes your personal preset for future recustomizations via Cheng Xin or the Appearance menu.
If your goal is simple—avoid losing two hours to sliders before you ever swing a sword—lean on three tools: the default Elegant/Realistic presets, the Smart image upload, and the early free recustomization unlocked through Cheng Xin’s quest. That combination gets you into the game quickly, gives you one no‑risk chance to rethink your look, and leaves the door open for more precise, paid rewrites once you care enough about your hero’s face to invest a Water Lady Script.
