SSE Custom Weapon Mesh workflow?

[BearMund]

Hi there everyone.
I'm having a little trouble with things in particular with exporting nif files from Nifscope to 3dsMax 2018.

Here's the story.

So i'm a proficient modeler and textural artist in 3ds,zbrush and substance and I had this crazy Idea to start a mod for Skyrim, it has been on my mind every since first playing it back on release.

Now the issue lies with, not knowing what the heck is going on with needing software for exporting and decompressing and compressing etc. etc?

I was thinking that it was just as simple as opening things up in the CKit and exporting the selected file from there, have it open right up in max and bobs your uncle you have a size reference for the model you are working on with textures showing up and everything.

But this was not the case.

 

I have searched and searched for a workflow that seems to be good for people but I keep running into compatibility issues.....i'm starting to think it because of the release of Skyrim special edition?

 

I want to take a iron sword, which I have now managed to open up in Max. ( I had to manually find the textures again after exporting them from BSA Browser) and use it as a scale reference for when I create my own weapons for the game.

But but then what.... where do I go from there?

Any help would be much appreciated