I'm just starting out adding new shields to the game and have never done this before. I seem to be running into what's probably a rookie mistake. I've got the shield showing up in-world just fine, and it functions like a shield when equipped, but the shield is invisible when equipped.

I've been messing with the NIF, so I can't be sure whether the problem is in the CK settings or in the NIF. Essentially, I copied a Hide Shield, deleted its mesh block branch (#7) in NifSkope, then pasted in the mesh data from staff02. I'm guessing it's a NIF problem, because it did show up as a Hide Shield just fine before I pointed the CK item at my hacked-together mesh.

Any idea of where I went wrong, or what step I've missed? This is my first time trying to mod new items into Skyrim, and only the second time working with models at all (did a little bit in Oblivion).

(Edit: and I flubbed the post's tags. If it matters, a mod is welcome to fix those.)

Would need to look at the NIF in order to tell for sure -- BUT from the info you provided it sounds like you probably did not paste the new model into the nif correctly ( ie. it is in a separate tree instead off a sub tree of the shield and thus is not rendered in game or is not properly attached to the player skeleton ( using a PRN attachment to the shield node) - or it could also be a problem with the texture you are using.

Can you upload it somewhere and post a link here so someone can download and take a look ( need the Nif and possibly textures if using newly made textures )

It does show up on the ground when dropped, so I'd be surprised if the NIF was completely wrong...

Anyway, I packed it up in a proper mod format so it's easy to find its parts, and to (un)install with your manager of choice for in-game testing: http://www.mediafire.com/?uhbid6t2y1w60cd. I much appreciate the offer to take a look at it!

You were right! I pasted it in as a sibling to the node 0, not as a child. Moving the mesh data branch below node 0 fixed it. It shows up in-game beautifully!

Now to work on non-placeholder content. Thanks for the newbie help!