Model Selector (Use Likeness)

Model Selector (Use Likeness) is the odd one out in the ComfyUI-RPG-Characters pack. The other nodes are all about generating prompts; this one doesn't touch text at all. It's a plain A/B switch for checkpoints: feed it two MODELS, set a boolean, and it hands back whichever one you picked.

The "likeness" in the name is the giveaway for the intended use. If you have a character-specific checkpoint or a model that's good at a particular face (a "likeness" model), and a general-purpose one for everything else, this lets you keep both loaded in one workflow and toggle between them instead of swapping checkpoints by hand. That's genuinely useful in character workflows, where you often want to test the same RPG prompt against a face-tuned model and a general one side by side.

How it works

The mechanism is a one-line ternary, no shame in it:

selected_model = model_if_true if use_likeness else model_if_false

use_likeness is a boolean widget (default off). When it's on, you get model_if_true; when it's off, you get model_if_false. Two MODEL inputs, one MODEL output, plus the boolean itself passed through as a second output so you can branch other logic on the same toggle. That passthrough is the only bit beyond "dumb switch" - you can drive, say, a different sampler setting off the exact same condition without re-deriving it.

Note it switches the model before anything else happens. The output MODEL feeds your CLIP/sampler as usual - the switch just decides which checkpoint's model tensor flows down the line.

Inputs and outputs

Inputs: use_likeness (boolean), model_if_true (MODEL), model_if_false (MODEL).

Outputs:

• selected_model - the MODEL the boolean picked.
• use_likeness_value - the boolean, echoed out for other nodes.

Install

Ships with the pack, even though it's not in the README's feature list or any example workflow. ComfyUI Manager, search RPG-Characters, install, restart. Or:

cd ComfyUI/custom_nodes
git clone https://github.com/lord-lethris/ComfyUI-RPG-Characters.git

Restart ComfyUI. No requirements.txt, no extra dependencies.

Honest assessment

Let's be straight: this is the most redundant node in the pack. ComfyUI's built-in Primitive system can do the same thing, and rgthree's Switch nodes or the ecosystem's various model routers handle this more flexibly. If you already have a switch tool you like, you don't need this one.

That said, it's free, it's zero-config, and if you're already in this pack for the character selector, it's the path of least resistance for the classic two-checkpoint comparison. It also has one nice property: it switches on the model object itself, before any CLIP or VAE wiring, so your comparison starts from a genuinely clean model swap rather than a prompt-level workaround.

Common issues

• Both models load into VRAM. Like any model-switch graph, both checkpoints have to be loaded to feed the two inputs. If you're VRAM-tight, the "switch" doesn't save you memory - it saves you manual checkpoint swapping. Pick the workflow accordingly.
• Nothing connects? It outputs MODEL, so wire selected_model into a CLIP Text Encode (as the model) or wherever your checkpoint's model normally flows. Forgetting the model→CLIP link is the usual first mistake.
• It's not in the pack's examples. Don't hunt for a demo workflow - the author didn't ship one. The pattern is simple enough that wiring it yourself is faster than searching.

A small, honest utility. If you're A/B-ing a likeness model against a general one for the pack's character portraits, it does exactly what it says, with no surprises.