Ok, so I have tried the tutorial on making my own weapons and armor with custom characteristics, etc. I have successfully created the necessary crafting and improvement recipies and my character can make and use the new stuff. So far, so good, but I want to change the "looks" of my items.

What I would like to do next is to use image data from normally non-caftable items for my new creations in place of the normal ones. For example, lets say I'm making a new light armor curiass; how can I associate my new item with the looks and images of the Savior's Hide, for example? I don't just want to place the new item in the world, but rather be able to craft it as desired, with the materials I decide to use. Simplarly for a new sword - I'd like it to be craftable, yet look like a ghost sword (which can be obtained, but not crafted).

I tried experimenting with the kit, but have not been successful.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
- WDF01-

It is not just a case of setting something in the ck to change the material of a piece of armour. The only way to accomplish this is to make a custom texture for your armour in an image editing program like photoshop. Here is a set of tutorials that explains (note: these tutorials cover making custom models and then texturing, not 100% what you are asking for, but hopefully it will give you a bit more understanding of the whole process)

LeckerHamster's Tutorials:
http://www.youtu.be/8hYHj2Dy49s?hd=1
http://www.youtu.be/6t_yECNDXNA?hd=1
http://www.youtu.be/CwPIUDFi5_Y?hd=1
http://www.youtu.be/9-nKesD7p2c?hd=1

- Hypno

Thanks for your input.

I had previously looked at the videos to which you linked in your reply, but found that he focuses on making entirely new objects, something which I feel is too advanced for me right now. You are correct in that this is not what I was asking about.

I want to associate an already created, non manufacturable, item image with a new item that I create to be forged by my character.

As you suggest, I will re-look at the linked videos to see how he gets his new images into the game and try something along that line. I had not previously observed in great detail just how he does that. I had thought from something I heard in one of the videos that he merely places the object into the world as needed, which is a fallback technique that I could adopt.

I asked the question as I did because I thought there might be a straightforward association (within the creation kit) between an item and an image/physics/first person view/third person view. By changing those links, the object's image would be remappable.


Thanks for your advice,
- WDF01-

Boy, now I really feel like an idiot. My plan was to:

(1) duplicate existing object's item, recipie and temper files and rename them
(2) use the art and sound tab to access the model data tab and change the file to which it points to my new intended target file

Although I feel that the above will work, I can't find the .NIF filles !!! I opened the skyrim/data folder, but there is no mesh folder there (yes, I have folder options set for view hidden files). My Oblivion (not under steam) install has its .NIF files right where they should be, but not Skyrim (under steam). I did the search, but only the Oblivion .NIF's showed up.

Have mercy. Please help the villiage idiot find his .NIF's !


thanks,
- WDF01-

They're packed into the BSA files.

THANK YOU, Varana!

After I read your answer, I found and installed this bsa unpacker: http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=3117#content . (Note that "bsa commander" recommended elsewhere, was not able to open my Skyrim .bsa's). The unpacker in the link above was able to read the contents of the mesh bsa and I will use it to extract the .nif's I need.

Now I'll see if editing the .nif pointer in the art and sound tab will allow pointing to my new file. It was really wierd that editing the location was essentially a Windows Explorer type of clickable input rather than an entry that could be typed in manually - that would have saved me considerable grief.

Thanks again,
-WDF01-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are wheels within wheels...

First use the BSA unpacker to get hold of the texture for the armour you want to edit. Then make your changes, be sure to make a normal map aswell. Then load up the ck and make a new texture set which points to these new textures. Now find the vanilla armour you want to edit and make a duplicate with its own unique name. Open it up and make any stat changes you need. Then go to the middle and add your texture to the world model. Now take a note at what ArmorAddon is listed. In the object list click on the ArmorAddon branch and locate the one you just noted and duplicate and rename it aswell. Open it up and add in your textures for the male and female sections. Finally go back to the actual armour and replace the ArmorAddon with your one and voila! your very own custom armour.

It's a bit of a long process but you get used to it after a couple of goes. You will need an image editing software like Adobe Photoshop (GIMP is meant to be a good free alternative) and also the nVidia dds plugin so you can open up the textures. This plug in comes with a filter for creating functional, if a bit rough, normal maps

Good luck

- Hypno

Hypno88 - Thank you so much for your help. I have unpacked the .nif files for the target armor (Savior's Hide) and can now point to those meshes in the construction kit. Something is still not working right, so I'm breaking the problem down to even simpler steps for me. For example, since I don't see my new stuff in the forge menue, I'll try this: duplicate, then rename the savior's hide armor (there's only a cuirass) and add a recepie to craft it (recepie based on a hide cuirass). That way, the integrity and linking of the .nif files should be good because I haven't changed them. I'll also research on the forums on problems others have had in making new stuff appear on the forge lists. After all that works, I'll start the appearance modding.....


Thanks so much for your advice,
- WDF01 -

Solved!!!

Here is what I found out:
- creation kit saves (.esp files) should be created in one shot, i.e. don't make changes, reload and resave; whenever I reloaded, something always got deleted upon resave
- naming convention is unstated, but important - xxxxArmor is not the same as Armorxxxx when naming objects; I wound up appending my new name to the back of the existing name
- I have a lot more to learn

Here is what I did:
- started by using bsa unpacker to extract my desired .nifs for male,female bodies/male, female first person views/world view file; all these were saved in a new folder I created
- duplicated an existing armor cuirass, its associated Accessory object, its recepie temper files
- renamed the 4 files above by concatonating my new name at the tail end (but before the 'AA' of the Armor Accessory object; I took off the 'Copy 0001' tags as well
- edited my renamed files: changed characteristics, pointed to the .nifs I had saved at the start to get the look I wanted
- note that after the Armor Accessory object ic created, you have to go back to the Armor file itself and update the model info at center bottom, deleting the original model
- in recepie and temper files, change the created object to the new armor, which will now be on the pull down list

What I got in the game:
- I used the process above to create a forgeable, unenchanted Savior's Hide. Since my character has the 'double enchanting' skill, I can add two powerful enchantments to this armor, which I like on female characters because the amulet being worn is visible. I also made the armor lighter and more effective, just because I could.

Thanks to Hypno88 and Varana for all your help.

- WDF01 -