deepfakes/faceswap · error · FaceswapError

Load weights selected, but the path

Error message

Load weights selected, but the path '{weights_file}' does not exist. Please check and try again.

What it means

Raised while validating the 'load weights' input in the training model IO: the user selected a weights file, but its path does not exist (the subsequent branch rejects paths that are not .keras files). It is a pre-flight check that runs before any weights are actually read.

Solutions

1. Correct the path so it points at the existing .keras weights file (use an absolute path).
2. Confirm the extension is '.keras' — a valid file with the wrong extension fails the next check in the same function.
3. If you no longer want to warm-start, clear the load-weights setting.

Example fix

# before
faceswap train ... -wm weights/model.h5

# after
faceswap train ... -wm /home/user/weights/model.keras

import os
assert not weights_path or (os.path.exists(weights_path)
                             and os.path.splitext(weights_path)[-1].lower() == ".keras"), \
    "weights path must exist and end in .keras"

def is_valid_weights_file(path: str | None) -> bool:
    return path is None or (os.path.isfile(path) and path.lower().endswith(".keras"))

When it happens

Trigger: Launching training with the load-weights option pointing at a non-existent path — typo, file moved/deleted, or relative path resolved from the wrong working directory.

Common situations: Passing --load-weights / -wm paths by hand after moving files; scripts running with a different cwd; placeholder paths left in launch commands.

Related errors

• ' ' is not a valid clipping method. Select from
• ' ' is not a valid optimizer. Select from
• No weights were successfully loaded from your weights file
• Penalized Mask Loss has been selected but you have not…
• You have selected the mask type

AI-assisted analysis of deepfakes/faceswap@f530cb7508 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/13f917ee381889b8. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/train/model/_base/io.py:424

        Returns
        -------
        The full path to a weights file
        """
        if not weights_file:
            logger.debug("[Weights] No weights file selected.")
            return None

        msg = ""
        if not os.path.exists(weights_file):
            msg = f"Load weights selected, but the path '{weights_file}' does not exist."
        elif not os.path.splitext(weights_file)[-1].lower() == ".keras":
            msg = (f"Load weights selected, but the path '{weights_file}' is not a valid Keras "
                   f"model (.keras) file.")

        if msg:
            msg += " Please check and try again."
            raise FaceswapError(msg)

        logger.verbose("Using weights file: %s", weights_file)  # type:ignore
        return weights_file

    def freeze(self) -> None:
        """If freeze has been selected in the cli arguments, then freeze those models indicated
        in the plugin's configuration. """
        # Blanket unfreeze layers, as checking the value of :attr:`layer.trainable` appears to
        # return ``True`` even when the weights have been frozen
        for layer in get_all_sub_models(self._model):
            layer.trainable = True

        if not self._do_freeze:
            logger.debug("[Weights] Freeze weights deselected. Not freezing")
            return

        for layer in get_all_sub_models(self._model):
            if layer.name in self._freeze_layers:

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