Modding Help for creating Custom Race [WH40K Tau]

[wower2345]

I am trying to make a Skyrim race mod based on the WH40K Tau. I know how to make meshes but other than that I'm not too good with Skyrim modding therefore I decided to use the SkyDraenei mod as a baseline (due to the similarities), only editing the meshes and textures to fit the Tau race https://www.immyneedscake.com/skyrim-se-mods/skydraenei-race.
I found a free-to-use female Tau model online (https://sfmlab.com/project/28240/) and converted it to .obj then to .nif and scaled it down in Outfit Studio.
After that, I tried just replacing the Draenei body mesh with the converted Tau model, while also removing some of the unwanted parts of the Draenei mesh (like the tail and "hair tentacles"). I am not stupid enough to think that'd be all there is to do but I did hope that it would clear up some questions about the mod-making process. As you can see in the attached picture the body is T-posing and has those weird polygonal shapes on it. It doesn't cover the whole body because the mod uses separate meshes for hands, head, and hooves. The T-posing probably stems from a lack of bone-weighing. But the weird texture is a complete mystery to me. I tried applying a gray texture to the Tau body .nif in NifSkope (it seemed fine) but in-game it looked like the second screenshot until I turned on the racemenu and then it went back to polygons once more. I attached the .obj files and the .nif body file of the Tau girl. Any help is welcome, thanks!

 

 

Tau Body.obj Tau Hand.obj Tau Scaled Down.nif

Edited November 13, 2023 by wower2345