Having trouble with meshes

[Tropea]

Hello, i was trying to modify leather greaves recently with various pieces i found on nexus for personal use (dagger strapped on them, belt, that kind of thing) but they doesn't show up in game! Just an old greaves, without my meshes, but i can see them in nifscope. I'm not sure what's the problem is...
Sorry for bad English.

[DrakeTheDragon]

What means did you use to get them into game? Is it a new item record you put an instance of somewhere into the game world? Or are you trying to make it replace an existing item, e.g. by simply making it a replacement NIF?

We need to figure out if simply your replacement isn't taken, or if there's something wrong within the NIF instead.

[Tropea]

What means did you use to get them into game? Is it a new item record you put an instance of somewhere into the game world? Or are you trying to make it replace an existing item, e.g. by simply making it a replacement NIF?

We need to figure out if simply your replacement isn't taken, or if there's something wrong within the NIF instead.

I was just trying to make a replacement.

[DrakeTheDragon]

And now you're seeing the same old item from the original game still instead of the contents of the new NIF file you made?

 

If so, we might have to check your Archive Invalidation, as in other distributions than the retail disc (like Steam or GoG for example) it's required for all kinds of replacements to work.

 

I also take it the replacement NIF file is in the proper place, that is exactly where the original game's NIF file would be when extracted from the BSA? The folder structure inside the BSA and outside with loose files has to match, of course, for replacement files to work.

[Tropea]

And now you're seeing the same old item from the original game still instead of the contents of the new NIF file you made?

 

If so, we might have to check your Archive Invalidation, as in other distributions than the retail disc (like Steam or GoG for example) it's required for all kinds of replacements to work.

 

I also take it the replacement NIF file is in the proper place, that is exactly where the original game's NIF file would be when extracted from the BSA? The folder structure inside the BSA and outside with loose files has to match, of course, for replacement files to work.

Do you mean that replacement NIF should be in the same folder as the original, I mean, they both should be there? Or that I should simply replace original with replacement?

[DrakeTheDragon]

Well, the game doesn't have almost any of its files outside the BSA archives originally. Replacement doesn't mean physically replacing (=overwriting) a file.

All the game's files are inside the BSA archives. Just like in ZIP archives there's a whole folder structure inside there.

 

You won't find for example "meshes/armor/iron/m/cuirass.nif" anywhere inside your data folder (unless you're already using another item replacer mod replacing said file).

But if you place a different "cuirass.nif" into "meshes/armor/iron/m/", provided Archive Invalidation is correctly set up and working, the game will automatically use the external, so-called loose, file over the one inside the BSA.

 

If, however, Archive Invalidation is not working, the game will simply ignore the replacement file and stick to the one inside the BSA instead.

That's why normally uninstalling a replacement mod only involves deletion of its files, not somehow recovering previously overwritten files instead, as no files have actually been overwritten.

[bobbyskel78]

seeing they seem oblivious about the bsa archive, i would have to assume you're altering a nif (mesh) from another mod that may not be replacing, but adding an instance of a new item ... which is normal practice for quest mods. however, if your using a hgec version of a body, for example ... other authors have added replacement meshes for those body types to avoid clipping.

as Drake already stated, you can use a program such as 'bsa commander' open the oblivion<mesh> folder (data/oblivion-meshes.bsa) and see the directory structure to see if your replacing or modding a mod, the latter probably not being a global replacement. usually a good hint, is look at the structure of where the nif is located at that your altering ... ie. data/meshes/armor/apachii <-that's definitely a modded mesh, .../chainmail/f <- more than likely a replacement for a body type.

get the formid and add the item to your inventory. player.additem <formid> <qty>. if this works and your not seeing a global change, your modding a mod and your mod is a child of the mod ... if you renamed it without changing the path structure in the CS, it's not going to show up, the original nor your changes.

i'm ranting, sorry.