Creating a duplicate item, but with new mesh?

[NewYears1978]

Not sure if this is even possible without CK..but figured I would ask anyways.

 

Sorry if it's been covered..not having luck finding it. Basically, right now my char wears Elven armor. I don't like fancy metal looking stuff, and would much rather replace the look of it, but it still be Elven armor.

So what I wanted to do for starters is just replace the Elven Helmet with the same item, but with a hood mesh.

 

I loaded up SkyEdit (maybe this is my problem..maybe I have to use TESSNIP instead) and thought I could just duplicate the ElvenArmorHelmet, then just tell it to use the mesh of a hood..but that didn't work.. Is this possible?

 

I am about to redownload tessnip and try with it (maybe it will work where SkyEdit wouldn't) Thanks in advance.

[NewYears1978]

So for shameless bump..moved to page two without any views :(

[Imperfections]

It's a simple edit just open your skyrim.esm with tessnip(FO3 or F:NV version) and if you want this edit to be permanent press ctrl + F and type in "0001391d" this is the Form ID of the elven armor(just a reference) what you really want to do is edit the ARMA, I assume this refers to armor attachment or something of that sort, the ARMA form ID of the elven armor is "0008969C". With this info you now search for that Form ID the same way you did to find the elven armor. From here you will see a series of data in the bottom left hand for the ARMA. What you want to edit is MOD2 and MOD3. These refer to NIF files. All you have to do is double click the MOD2 and it will open a hex editor for this file. On the right hand side it will display a cd path to the nif file that the Elven armor uses. So from here all you need to know is the location of the helmet/hood you wish to replace the elven helmet with. To find the cd path of armor types or clothing type(easiest way) is use FOMM's BSA Browser on your meshes.bsa.

[NewYears1978]

Thanks for this :) I will look into it. I was using Skyedit, as it lays things out MUCH better, however it is not fully functional yet. When usingTESNIP I got lost..since things are sorta all jumbled up. Your post helps, thank you.

[Boopi]

I don't know if that could help you but i'm actually making lot of modifications for my mod. Using both of the tools grant me much more possibilities, Skyedit and TesSnip are actually not completed tools, but using both, you can reach almost all of your goal about content modifications. Of course you still have to make a big reseach work about how to plan your mod ans also a big wonder work to link all that between the 2 tools without broken your mod. Just get in it, you will find.

 

Another thing, about the mesh replacment, you still need to make your new model to reach the original one's "riggs (or what ever it is called in the tes mod world). Or you would not be able to use your model properly (location, animation...) or at all. Another thing, Skyrim meshs are made for slime ones or fat ones :)

Edited January 1, 2012 by Boopi

[teklanika]

Note: I spent like 30 minutes typing and fixing this up to help you out, I hope you come back to the thread to read it haha!*

 

This is even easier than using a hex editor. Skyrim replaces any default texture/mesh with whatever you put into the Data folder by the same name.

 

So, take your Elven Armor for example:

 

1. Find the model and texture you would like to use as a replacement. These are located in your Skyrim Data folder, and are called "textures.bsa" and "meshes.bsa" (open these using Fallout Mod Manager)

- Make sure to note the path of the texture, when using Fallout Mod Manager to extract. For Imperial Armor, the file path will look something like this:

~ "Meshes/Armor/imperialarmor/imperialchestpiece.nif"

 

2. Extract the mesh/textures you want. (For models, it will be a .NIF file. For textures, there will be .DDS files. For textures, you must extract the files that say "_n" on them. These are the normal maps for the mesh. You must also extract the glow map, shown with a "m" after the name.)

- So for Imperial Armor, the files you need to extract will LIKELY look like:

~ Imperialchestpiece.dds, Imperialchestpiece_n.dds, Imperialchestpiecem.dds (Note, not all armor has a "m" file)

 

3. Rename the .NIF and .DDS files you extracted to whatever armor you are replacing. For example:

- If you are using Elven Armor, and want it to look like Imperial Armor:

~ Rename "Imperialchestpiece.nif" to "elvenchestpiece.nif" and so on.

 

4. Once you have your replacement meshes and textures, create the folders "Meshes/armor/<name of whatever you are replacing>/" and "Textures/armor/<name of whatever you are replacing>/" (These are just file paths. I'm sure you know how that works.)

- For example, if you have a file called "imperialchestpiece.nif" and want it to replace the Elven Chestpiece:

~ Put your replacement file into "Meshes/Armor/elvenarmor/" and rename it to "elvenchestpiece.nif" and so on.

 

5. Now you have your meshes and textures in two folders; "Textures" and "Meshes" with all the sub-folders you created.

- The file path should look like "textures/armor/elvenarmor/<name of armor piece you are replacing>.dds" and so on.

 

 

6. Take these two folders, and place them inside the "Data" folder of Skyrim, located in "C:/Program Files/Steam/steamapps/Skyrim."

 

7. Voila! If done correctly, your Elven Armor will look like Imperial Armor! Or, whatever replacement you've used.

 

 

NOTE: Here is what your files should look like as you progress through my little guide. (I will use Elven Armor and Imperial Armor. Imperial Armor being the replacement to Elven.)

 

Find these files with Fallout Mod Manager, using the BSA extractor---then extract them:

 

meshes/armor/imperialarmor/imperialhelm.nif

meshes/armor/imperialarmor/imperialchestpiece.nif

meshes/armor/imperialarmor/imperialboots.nif

meshes/armor/imperialarmor/imperialgauntlets.nif

 

and

 

textures/armor/imperialarmor/imperialhelm.dds

textures/armor/imperialarmor/imperialhelm_n.dds

textures/armor/imperialarmor/imperialchestpiece.dds

textures/armor/imperialarmor/imperialchestpiece_n.dds

textures/armor/imperialarmor/imperialboots.dds

textures/armor/imperialarmor/imperialboots_n.dds

textures/armor/imperialarmor/imperialgauntlets.dds

textures/armor/imperialarmor/imperialgauntlets_n.dds

 

(Extracting the whole folders works, too, instead of getting individual files.)

 

Once you have all these files, you need to simply rename them. Here is a small example, but ALL files you must do this:

 

textures/armor/imperialarmor/imperialhelm.dds <<<turns into>>> textures/armor/elvenarmor/elvenhelm.dds

 

What this will do is, tell the game to use the Imperial Helm texture and mesh with Elven Armor stats. Rename ALL the textures/meshes you extracted, to whatever armor you want them to REPLACE.

 

In the end, you should have TWO big folders, along with their respective sub-folders. One folder called "Meshes" which contains ALL Imperial Armor meshes renamed to Elven. The second called "Textures" which contains ALL Imperial Armor textures renamed to Elven.

 

Drop these into your "Data" folder, and done.

Edited January 1, 2012 by teklanika

[NewYears1978]

teklanika, Thanks for the great post, I am going over it now and see if i can make this work.

 

Appreciate it =) Both of you.

 

Edit:

I read your post and that is perfect for replacing all armors in game..but I wanted to create a "custom" item just for my char to wear so that it didn't effect all NPC's wearing that armor as well.

 

Specifically I want to take the Elven Helm and make it appear as a Hood (probably the Psijic Order one), but custom so that it didn't change all helms in game.

Edited January 2, 2012 by NewYears1978

[teklanika]

Oh! In that case you'll need SkyEdit or something along those lines. Hex editing is the only way to make such an item without the Construction Kit. Though I'd just wait for the kit instead of using SkyEdit, as hex editing is messy and the kit is close to release, anyway.