Custom Races and Custom Armor

[theblindartist]

I'm a little bit stumped here. The answer is probably simple, and not the one I want to hear because it is a lot of work.

 

Say I have a custom race of 3 fingered, horned hobbits, complete with their own textures and meshes, that sit neatly inside their own little .esp file. Say I also have a mountain of custom standalone armor mods I have downloaded that I would like this race to be able to wear.

 

I'm no expert at modding, but what I understand from a few days of messing about with the CK is that each of the new armor items has an ArmorAddon item which lists what races are able to wear said armor (essentially what allows the model to show when it is equiped to them). When both the race .esp file and the armor .esp file are active the race appears in this ArmorAddon item list and you can allow the race to wear it. It will even show up in the previewer if you mock up a new NPC and add it to their inventory.

 

The problem starts here. Regardless of which file is the active file, after you save and close the files it loses the data, either through being unable to find the referenced race or causing a duplicate ID error when looking up the ARMA in its respective .esp file. The only way around this I have found is to recreate all the various parts for the armor in the race file to allow it to find the race so the armor can be displayed.

 

I really hope that isn't the only way around this. Especially considering mods cloaks of skyrim, or the wearable lantern (good god, how am I going to do that?). I am hoping that there is something simple that I just haven't worked out yet to get around this issue. Otherwise, ugh.

[gasti89]

I think you just have to "esmify" your race plugin (or the armor plugins).

 

This because an esp can't use features from another esp, but only from a parent esm.

 

So you tick the race esm and set the armor esps as active. Then you mess with the ARMAs etc etc.

 

This will create a parent-child relation, and loading both esm and esp will do just like skyrim.esm + mods.

Edited May 29, 2012 by gasti89

[theblindartist]

I think you just have to "esmify" your race plugin (or the armor plugins).

 

This because an esp can't use features from another esp, but only from a parent esm.

 

So you tick the race esm and set the armor esps as active. Then you mess with the ARMAs etc etc.

 

This will create a parent-child relation, and loading both esm and esp will do just like skyrim.esm + mods.

 

That is an answer I hadn't considered because I don't know how to do that. I'll give it a try and see if it works.

[theblindartist]

For the sake of people in the same stuck position I was, I will outline the process I followed.

 

Turning the race.esp file into a .esm using the TESnip tool in the FOMM worked. Using the Creation Kit with the new race.esm and the armor.esp selected, and the armor.esp file set active I was able to edit the ArmorAddon to include the custom races. The armors now appear on the custom race in the game.

 

It works with every new armor added. Thanks to gasti89 for the key to the simple solution.