Did you try putting it directly in the game from the export, or did you use a vanila file and copy the data over to it?

The method where you keep two instances of nifscope open, is a godsend for this stuff.
Replacing the NiTriShapeData from the old to the new (using hte paste-over function) helps a ton. And then its just a matter of changing the texture under each tri-shape/data to match the new texture... at least, from what i've seen.

Ah so you think I should put it over an existing model for the hat? I normally only do that for statics like weapons.

Which data should I copy over? Just trishape data?

Did you check the alpha float? When I exported out of max directly into the ck it was set at .1 or something like that. Make sure thats a 1. Also I was able to get this architectural horse head for a wip player house into the game without having to copy into a vanilla nif.
[IMG]http://i1051.photobucket.com/albums/s440/redfender1/Screenshot13723.png[/IMG]