Hello, everyone - I am a modding newbie, and, as such, this is probably something everyone else here would find trivial, but any help is appreciated.

I am trying to replace the Imperial Officer's Helm with the (Full-Faced) Imperial Helm, but I am having some issues...

I managed to get the http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/648750155732100243/5C5CB7B278B6D1CDC088D2A51BEB61C38263ED29/ to work, but while equipped, it http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/648750155732098500/5F8BDCF617B947B8CE8BFBDDC8BEFE5134B2AA29/.

Is there some file I didn't copy/name correctly, or is this something that would require an .esp? If it is the later, any information on how I could pull this off would be appreciated.

Bumping to see if anyone can help me out.

Trouble is, there's 2 "Helmet" meshes (for the Officer Helm):

helmet.nif
helmetgnd.nif

But there are 3 Full-Face Helm meshes:

helmetfullface_0.nif
helmetfullface_1.nif
helmetfullfacegnd.nif

Is it just a question of trial and error, then? Or do the _0 and _1 denote which is the Preview mesh and which is the in-game mesh?

I looked at the _0 and _1 files in Nifskope, and the _1 file had nodes on it, so I figured it was the correct one - however, now, when equipped, the imperial officer's helm does... http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/648750155733055844/809FD8A9D2F9CB0363F2D8015BDBF9ABEDAEA727/

I THINK I'm getting closer, anyway.

So, full disclosure, here is what I have done so far:

1. Copied "helmetfullface_1.nif" and "helmetfullfacegnd.nif" into Meshes > Armor > Imperial > M, as "helmet.nif" and "helmetgnd.nif."
2. Copied the Full-Face Helmet's Texture, and pasted it into Textures > Armor > Imperial > M, and renamed appropriately (did the same for the Normal).
3. I do have mods that affect the Light and Studded helms - would that effect this? I don't THINK they should, because they are separate meshes, but...

It isn't as simple to replace an open helmet with a full-size as it is to replace one weapon with another.

You may need to use SkyEdit, or wait for the CK in order to modify the helmet object to behave as a full helmet instead of an open helmet. The reason you can't just swap the models in the folders is one helmet works by replacing the player's entire head and the other works by replacing the player's hair.

If you're using a mod that changes the textures of the light/studded helm that may cause a problem.

Looking at the items in SkyEdit I see that my hypothesis was correct. The Imperial Helmet replaces the player's "crown" while the full helmet replaces several body parts. You're going to have to change those variables in SkyEdit.

EDIT: Additionally, even if they were both "crowns" and you could change them by simply copying the meshes and renaming them, you would not have to move or do anything else to the textures. It's the mesh file (.nif) itself that defines which texture will be used by that model.

You should be able to make the required changes to the base objects with TESSNIP. Within TESSNIP you can modify the open helm objects to use the closed helm meshes, as well as replacing the proper body parts.

http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=5064

Well, this is embarrassing... I seem to have somehow accidentally corrupted my Skyrim.esm while in Skyedit. Will try to follow your advice CORRECTLY this time once I get it sorted out.

I didn't know you could make changes to Skyrim.esm while in SkyEdit.

When opening SkyEdit or TESSNIP be sure to never make Skyrim.esm the active file. Before you make your first .esp, you open Skyrim.esm as a master file, make your changes to the specific objects you want to change and then use 'save as...' to create the .esp. Afterwords you select your .esp as the active file while also selecting Skyrim.esm to load. Sorry if I mess you up.

SkyEdit is easier and more intuitive to use than TESSNIP, however I do not think SkyEdit yet allows you to modify armour objects in the way you're trying to do. I think you will have to use TESSNIP to make those particular changes.

Ohhh, it's not just in the module, you'll have to do some mesh work too. The BSDismemberSkinInstance contains info that's specific to particular head slot configurations.

Found that out after much frustration making this: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=4866

Well, if he simply wants the open helmet's to appear as the closed helmets, he won't need to do any mesh work, but he will need to modify the object record.

This is exactly what I want; I just think the vanilla Imperial Captain helm looks ridiculous. As far as I know, there is only the one in the game, but it just bugs me. Plus, I figure this is good practice for other stuff I might do.

Well you picked a complicated thing to do first, lol. If you open both objects in SkyEdit or TESSNIP you can see the differences are more than just the meshes used. You're going to have to change which body parts the object use.

There was a new version of SKyEdit released. Version 0.041. You may be in luck!