Replacing Armor Textures

[HuskerMath]

Hey all, been a part of Nexus for awhile now, though this is my first post. I believe this will be something that is easily answered, but due to my almost complete lack of knowledge in the field of modding, I'm at a loss. Long story short, would like to replace an armor texture in game with one that a modder has already made. Now, I know that replacers certainly exist, and here is my question: could I take any armor texture from Nexus, rename it to the armor texture in-game, and simply replace the file? Basically, it could turn, say, Steel Armor into the Archmage's Robes while still keeping the stats of Steel Armor. I apologize if this is a redundant question, though I'd appreciate any help.

[ghosu]

No, you can't. An armor needs 2 essential parts: mesh+texture. Mesh is the 3D model you see, texture is it's skin...so when you replace it with a texture that doesn't "fit" (i don't even start talking 'bout UV maps...) you will simply see the new texture on the old 3D model = won't work. If you want to replace stuff you might use the creation kit and change the model paths, easier way would be to open the form of the armor you want to be displayed and change its stats like weight/armor...whatever, time to use the search function :D Edited October 18, 2012 by ghosu

[HuskerMath]

Ah, thank you! Going to try doing that tonight.

 

Edit:

Before I try to do this and end up crying myself to sleep, is this what I'm supposed to be doing (following your latter advice)?

 

Just to be clear, I'm editing a custom armor set (link below) to have the same enchantments as the Archmage's robes.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/18113

Edited October 18, 2012 by HuskerMath

[ghosu]

Sry, can't watch this video longer than 10seconds :D

 

But skipping through the video it looks alright...you have to study the Archmage Robe's forms (the forms should be something like archmage, archmageAA,temper and recipe archmage blabla). Remember the most important values like enchantment and armor rating and enter the same values in the forms of the modded armor (i guess you should find it when you search for TRISS in the CK).

 

To open both, Skyrim and Armor, press LOAD, check SKYRIM.ESM and the Mod's .esp, set Mod as active (there is an own button) and load.

Edited October 18, 2012 by ghosu