Custom Armor as Vanilla Replacement HELP

[mercurysunrise]

Hi there, I'm trying to replace the Stormcloak/Guard armor with Ashara's Elven Knight.

I wanted to add the various extra pauldron meshes to the base mesh, which is the top and panties, and use that compilation mesh to replace the Stormcloak/Guard cuirass. I followed the instructions of guides for merging meshes in Nifskope and saved the mesh succesfully. Problem is that none of the added meshes will show in-game. In Nifskope and CK the mesh looks marvelous but once I get in game all I have is the top and panties.

 

Help would be so greatly appreciated, I've got around 10 more armors I want to replace and getting this first one done finally would at the very least be a relief.

[Groovtama]

Slots?

[Nergui]

For a replacer, check each "BSDismemberSkinInstance" in each "NiTriShape" of that mesh and confirm they are all set to "SBP_32_BODY"

 

Thusly

[mercurysunrise]

I tried setting them all to body, as well as several other alternatives, and every time I just get a crazy glitched mess.

 

[Nergui]

You could try using Nifskope's various mesh repair functions. But I don't know enough about .nif meshes or nifskope to say for certain how they work.

 

Alternatively, It's usually at the time I cross that mesh off my "would work as a replacer" list, delete the files and look elsewhere.

[mercurysunrise]

I gave repair a shot to no avail. Update tangent, remove bogus nodes, check links, reorder blocks.... No change.

I suppose this is a hopeless endeavor with this armor. Thanks anyway guys.

[mercurysunrise]

Btw, I didn't actually realize that there are just some armors that can't be made into replacements... How do I know which ones I can use and which ones I can't?

[Nergui]

Btw, I didn't actually realize that there are just some armors that can't be made into replacements... How do I know which ones I can use and which ones I can't?

 

I downloaded Ashara's Elven Knight mod to see what the issues were with the mesh and discovered it's modular. I'm assuming you copied and pasted those modular parts into a single mesh and your end result is as you saw.

 

Basically, a replacer needs to be one that you know for certain works with no issues and needs as little editing as possible. It's also best if it's poly count isn't too excessive either since it will be used everywhere. As an weird example, you could change the slot used by the open padded belt in DDa to 32 and use that for all female clothing.

 

Download lots of armour mods, and create a test mod using their meshes. If you receive no errors either during the creation of the .esp or in game, it's viable as a replacer.

[mercurysunrise]

I've tried quite a few other armors now, I keep getting the same glitchy crap with all of them. I'm starting to think it's literally impossible to take a custom armor and make it a replacement. So depressing.

What exactly does it mean if a mesh is "modular"? 

Is there a way to make it not modular?

[Seracen]

I've tried quite a few other armors now, I keep getting the same glitchy crap with all of them. I'm starting to think it's literally impossible to take a custom armor and make it a replacement. So depressing.

What exactly does it mean if a mesh is "modular"? 

Is there a way to make it not modular?

 

Certain armors are full sets in one piece.  For example, I am trying to find a nice replacement for the Royal Vampire Armor.  I am trying to replace with with the Scarlet Dawn Armor.  Unfortunately, the Scarlet Dawn has more pieces (torso and other pieces).

 

I am new to this, so I could be wrong, but this seems to be my issue anyways.  Hope you get it figured out!