What is a W-Array and how do I modify it!?!?!?

[name523]

Hi everyone, I'm about to start pulling my hair out over this issue I've been having with this little armor mod I've been working on. To say I'm a novice at modding meshes is a gross understatement, and I'm hoping with all my heart that someone infinitely wiser than I can provide me with some answers.

 

I didn't think what I was trying to do was going to be so frustratingly difficult. I wanted to take the hood from the Skaal outfit in Dragonborn and add it to the scaled armor mesh. I did some homework and found out how to import a mesh from Skyrim into Blender so that I could get rid of the body part (coat pants etc) from the Skaal clothes, and then slightly reshape the base of the hood so that it would fit over the exposed neck/chest area of the Scaled Armor without clipping. Afterwards I exported it and re-opened it in Nifskope where I re-added the BSLightingShaderProperty to the objects in the mesh. After further reading I decided that it would be in my best interest to just copy the hood block from my new mesh and paste it into the original Scaled Armor mesh. So I deleted both the NiTriShapes of the armor and the body from my modified mesh and then removed all the remaining "bogus nodes" in order to identify the necessary bones that the hood itself used. I then double checked the original armor mesh to make sure that it had the same 6 bones (and it did). So after re-naming the modified "root node" to match the original mesh, I copied the hood's NiTriShape block and successfully pasted it into the original armor meshes (both _0 and _1), proceeded to rename them, and then my luck ended.

 

I opened up a new instance of the creation kit and proceeded to open up ArmorScaledCuirass so I could use it as a base for stats and what not. I selected HideCuirass02AA and replaced the biped model with my modified model which appeared in the "Model Data" window flawlessly and hit "OK" until I was back at the window to edit the name, weight, value etc. I re-named it's editor id to "ArmorHoodedScaledCuirass" and tweaked it's weight, price and armor points to where I wanted them. I decided it would be best to test it on a character in a preview window rather than fire up Skyrim and see if it was working. So I made a "dummy" female high elf and placed the armor in her inventory, but when I checked the "Full Preview" box, I received and error message saying, "MODELS: Bad w-array value for 'armor\hide\f\HCuirassHeavy_1.nif'. Value on shape 'FurHood01' (the name of the hood's NiTriShape block) was 0 but should be in the range of 30-62." I clicked OK and the preview showed up, the armor was showing just fine, but no hood.

 

I've since searched high and low for any information on this "w-array value" and how to modify it to fit within the parameters, but to absolutely no avail. I've only come across roughly 3 pages that even mention it and none go into any sort of detail as to what it is or how to fix it. I'm about ready to put my fist through my monitor, so please... to anyone with any information on this... PLEASE help me figure this out so that I don't end up $350 in the hole with possibly a broken hand.

[ShimoOkami]

I honestly don't know what a w-array is, but the problem you're having is probably due to the biped slot in the .nif being incorrect. Basically, the CK gets upset if the .nif's biped slot isn't one used by Skyrim or is different from what you set in the armor addon. If you don't know how to change it, take a look at this.

[name523]

Sir, with a single hand you have saved my monitor and my hair. Thank you sooooooo much.

[ShimoOkami]

No problem. I was pretty close to tearing my own hair out before I finally figured it out, haha.

I'm actually a girl, but "ma'am" makes me feel old so whatever.