So for my next set of spells I'm thinking of making "turret" spells. The idea is basically to have the spell place a hazard at the point of impact, and then have the hazard fire its own spell-based projectiles for the duration (basically like those soul gem traps in some ruins that shoot lightning or ice at you, but in the form of a player-owned spell).

I've been thinking about what kind of graphic to use for the turret itself. A soul gem wouldn't work because... well, you're casting a spell, that wouldn't create a soul gem. Which means I need something else to use as a graphic for the turret.

I don't have the skill or means to create my own graphics / visual effects, so its gonna have to be something within the game itself. I've concluded that a good option would be to use the spell menu icons. You know, the glowing spheres you see when you highlight a spell in your spell menu in-game. Named stuff like MAGINVShockSpell in the CK. Having a sphere float at the point of impact and then fire projectiles, I think that'd look just fine.

The only problem is... I don't really know how I'd go about using that sort of a graphic. Since hazards use a specific .nif art file and not something from a simple dropdown menu I assume I'll need to unpack the .bsa files in order to get at the actual .nif file, since it seems impossible to just reference an existing BSA (I go into the Skyrim > Data folder and see no usable art whatsoever despite the .bsa files present in said folder).

But which .bsa contains all the magic art? Shaders? Misc? Interface?

Also, are the files even usable as world effects? They're originally menu icons, would they even be usable as launched spell effects, or are they completely different file types that are usable only in menus?