NitroReaper

For anyone with the same problem, it seems that you can only use nodes that correspond to biped slots in this way. Pipboy, Back, and Weapon are fine, but because nodes like Bip01 R Thigh don't have a slot in the GECK, they can't be used as parent nodes in NiStringExtraData. In the end, using Blender as uhmattbravo explained was the solution.

Thank you! The problem seems to be with the second step: "Rename Extra Data to the bone you want." This seems to do nothing at all - I can attach and remove parts from the Pip-Boy and HERK meshes (https://imgur.com/a/BbdUL), but changing the value of NiStringExtraData leaves exactly it where it was originally e.g. changing it to Bip01 R Thigh on the Pip-Boy leaves it attached to the arm. 1. Is there a certain method or way to have the changes take effect ingame? 2. If not, is there a pre-existing mesh (in game or on Nexus - I have done some searching through both) which already has the right thigh parented in this method? Edit: Here is the mesh in question: https://www.mediafire.com/file/1rtqu2ktzs4hyr2/holster.nif. Once I have it attached I can add/tweak parts as necessary.

That's the info I've been using, but the second image (which presumably contains the actual instructions) will not load for me: http://imgbox.com/10HZKifk

Thanks for the reply. As far as I know that will manually attach the mesh to the bone and export both into the .nif. Is it possible to use NiStringExtraData to parent a bone, as seen in the Pip-Boy and HERK meshes? Examples: https://imgur.com/a/BbdUL, the nif doesn't contain the skeleton but the meshes are attached to Bip01 Neck and Bip01 L ForeTwist. I'm trying to do the same but for Bip01 R Thigh.

I've been trying to attach a weapon mesh to the right thigh to use as an armour piece. After some unsuccessful attempts in Blender, I decided to try attaching it with a NiStringExtraData block (Name = "Prn", String Data = "Bip01 R Thigh"). While this seems to work in other cases (I can attach it to the left arm by pasting it into the Pipboy mesh, and to the back by pasting into one of HERK's (https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/7531/?) meshes, I can't get the weapon mesh to attach to any other bones, no matter what I change the String Data to. How can I attach the mesh to other bones using the same method?