bodyslide - invisible outfits in game - general diagnosis

[Fraying9981]

hi all,

 

looking for general tips to debug outfits being invisible in game.

 

Interestingly, this happened a lot more lately on an existing save. So it looks like some form of garbage accumulating somewhere?

 

Situation:

• Mods A, B, C (independent authors): fresh installs. ran body slide with both build morphs/build batch boxes ticked. The outfits are displayed in BS. But all outfits are invisible in game. Mods are from independent authors so I have doubts they are ALL broken (but could be possible). All esl flagged.
• I already have a Mo2 mod called bodyslide output where BS stuff is redirected. 
• Nevertheless, idk why but over time I do get extra meshes above this BS output mod directly in the overwrite. I simply merge, I did it again this time, reran bodyslide afterwards, restarted the game but outfits were still invisible.
• Obody 3ba user so I generally just leave zeroed sliders and batch run.
• Strangely enough, for one specific mod (let's call it mod D): I had perhaps 2 outfits visible from that mod in game out of ~30. not sure why these 2 worked but not the others.
• this save: ~1000 saves so far lvl 20.

 

Tried:

• Mo2 user. Changed Bodyslide settings game data path to Mo2/bodsylide output mod (default is Skyrim data folder though I suppose Mo2 is able to do some magic here so it doesnt actually land there). I did this because my LLM suggested it. But it didn't change anything, except that now most ouffits inside BS dont show the textures anymore (just no image).
• Cleaned up meshes in overwrite -> merged with my BS output.
• Noticed: sometimes zeroed sliders dont seem to be available for all outfit mods. "[- Zeroed Sliders]" instead of "- Zeroed Sliders" but this is probably part of the problem, not the full problem
• Mods tried:
  • https://dwemermods.com/mods/4320
  • https://dwemermods.com/mods/3997
  • https://dwemermods.com/mods/1404
  • https://dwemermods.com/mods/2259
  • https://dwemermods.com/mods/2266
  • https://dwemermods.com/mods/2272
  • https://dwemermods.com/mods/2393
  • https://dwemermods.com/mods/3031

 

It seems to me there is a fight somewhere. but i barely know about meshes so not sure where to look for beyond overwrite/meshes.

 

Thanks in advance for your tips!

Edited September 13 by Fraying9981

[IBAGadget]

Not an MO2 user, so not much help I can provide.

 

Invisible outfits are usually the result of the following:

 

Outfits not built in BS, or the files are not being put in the right place

Partition mismatch between the outfit Nif, ARMA, and ARMO records. Body Partition (slot) taken up by the outfit must match exactly between all three records. Nif partition can be checked easily in Outfit Studio, while ARMA and ARMO records will have to be checked using SSEEdit.

 

Additionally, you should know that all those mods are pirated and posted to that site without the original author's permission. Arca sourced mods are generally ok, as they are generally available to all, if hard to find and access, but anything that is not listed as having come from Arca was likely sourced from behind a paywall and uploaded without permission (stolen)

[traison]

5 hours ago, Fraying9981 said:

looking for general tips to debug outfits being invisible in game.

 

Generally the mesh partitions should match the equipment slots in both the ARMO and ARMA records. Notable exceptions potentially being helmets and armors where extra partitions have been added to hide certain armor elements to avoid clipping. Think the Fallout PipBoy for instance that will hide the sleeve on certain armors, or certain Skyrim armors that hide necklaces because they have their own built-in ones (wench outfit).

 

5 hours ago, Fraying9981 said:

I already have a Mo2 mod called bodyslide output where BS stuff is redirected.

 

Remember that only NEW files are placed here. If a file already exists elsewhere, it won't be where you might expect it to be. I personally wouldn't recommend using this feature.

 

5 hours ago, Fraying9981 said:

sometimes zeroed sliders dont seem to be available for all outfit mods.

 

Zeroed Sliders is a preset just like any other; most likely provided by your body mod. And just like any preset it has outfit groups assigned to it. If the group an outfit belongs to hasn't been included in the Zeroed Sliders preset then it won't be available. In the end the only thing BodySlide cares about is the slider names, and thus you're free to mix-n-match UNP presets on a CBBE body, or in other words, add the outfit group to your Zeroed Sliders preset and you're back in business.

 

This has nothing to do with invisible outfits however.

 

5 hours ago, Fraying9981 said:

It seems to me there is a fight somewhere. but i barely know about meshes so not sure where to look for beyond overwrite/meshes.

 

ARMO and ARMA records are in xEdit. This is where the equipment slots are. Outfit Studio can show you the partitions. Remember to rebuild the outfit in BS after modifying it in OS or NifSkope.

 

2 hours ago, IBAGadget said:

Outfits not built in BS, or the files are not being put in the right place

 

Since it seems like Bethesda removed the red exclamation mark for missing meshes at some point (I haven't properly tested this) it is indeed possible invisible armor could be the result of a missing mesh (not a missing texture, that's different). More Informative Console can show you this easily.

 

2 hours ago, IBAGadget said:

Partition mismatch between the outfit Nif, ARMA, and ARMO records. Body Partition (slot) taken up by the outfit must match exactly between all three records.

 

Mismatches are fine but to keep things simple we should indeed start with a 1:1 setup. It's the overlaps/conflicts that cause invisible armor and armor parts. Equipment slot conflicts cause parts to get unequipped when something else is equipped, like a helmet removing your gloves when equipped. Partition conflicts will hide your gloves but leave them marked as equipped in the Inventory menu.

[Fraying9981]

3 hours ago, IBAGadget said:

Partition mismatch between the outfit Nif, ARMA, and ARMO records. Body Partition (slot) taken up by the outfit must match exactly between all three records. Nif partition can be checked easily in Outfit Studio, while ARMA and ARMO records will have to be checked using SSEEdit.

 

 

thank you.

• what is the workflow like for Nif x Outfit Studio? I have tried nifskope once and still have nightmares about it  
• SSEEdit: would a script be able to do the work for any mod (given the name), or must this be checked one by one?

 

3 hours ago, IBAGadget said:

Additionally, you should know that all those mods are pirated and posted to that site without the original author's permission. Arca sourced mods are generally ok, as they are generally available to all, if hard to find and access, but anything that is not listed as having come from Arca was likely sourced from behind a paywall and uploaded without permission (stolen)

 

I'm starting to consider that this could be the main cause. This website is relatively new.

I don't understand why people would upload broken mods though.

 

1 hour ago, traison said:

Remember that only NEW files are placed here. If a file already exists elsewhere, it won't be where you might expect it to be. I personally wouldn't recommend using this feature.

 

 

yeah but then it would be either here or in the overwrites/meshes right? that's the only 2 places to cover, correct?

 

1 hour ago, traison said:

ARMO and ARMA records are in xEdit. This is where the equipment slots are. Outfit Studio can show you the partitions. Remember to rebuild the outfit in BS after modifying it in OS or NifSkope.

 

 

is there any reason that a certain user on a certain machine would have to do this but another wouldn't?

I'm trying to understand if the issues I have are somewhat specific to my machine. Or if it's just the mod that is broken and requires this polishing done by every user.

 

1 hour ago, traison said:

Mismatches are fine but to keep things simple we should indeed start with a 1:1 setup. It's the overlaps/conflicts that cause invisible armor and armor parts. Equipment slot conflicts cause parts to get unequipped when something else is equipped, like a helmet removing your gloves when equipped. Partition conflicts will hide your gloves but leave them marked as equipped in the Inventory menu.

 

Is there a simple way to check this in game, real time?

I'm building an outfit wardrobe mod and this could be an interesting feature: flag the items that have this kind of issues in the selection list

[traison]

1 hour ago, Fraying9981 said:

yeah but then it would be either here or in the overwrites/meshes right? that's the only 2 places to cover, correct?

 

If BestHatMod17 has path\to\mod\file.txt and you edit this in a tool, that mod file will be edited. There most likely (see list below) won't be a file.txt in your overwrite folder, nor will there be one in your mod output folder. Some outfit mods come with prebuilt meshes, thus these won't be in your mod output folder.

 

My point is, if you use this feature and you want to be sure all (lets say Pandora generated files) are all in your mod output folder, you must first know the following:

1. Which files will this tool write to.
2. How is it going to write to these files?
   1. Open and truncate - writes to an existing file.
   2. Open and append - writes to the end of an existing file.
   3. Delete and create - appears to write to an existing file, but from the pov of the filesystem this is a new file.
3. Every time you install a mod you need to go through its files to see if any of them conflict with your "Pandora file output map".

Personally I don't bother with this and just assume the file is either in the mod it came with or in the Overwrite folder; or to put that another way, I browse the Skyrim Data directory with the included Explorer++ app or by using the Data tab on the right side of MO2's UI.

 

Edit: I should perhaps mention that this might be an unfair advantage I have for modding Skyrim for over a decade. I can see the appeal in keeping files well organized and that's probably the path you should pursuit regardless of how good you are at modding. I just warn people of this pitfall because when it says "new files" it literally means that, and there might be a disconnect between what a human considers a new file and how the computer sees it.

 

1 hour ago, Fraying9981 said:

is there any reason that a certain user on a certain machine would have to do this but another wouldn't?

 

Sure. If you have body armor that occupies slots 32 and 48 you might have issues with components from TAWOBA, specifically those occupying slot 48. For example, maybe you can't wear TAWOBA's pauldrons with this body armor even if it would work fine visually. If we stick to components provided by a single mod then no, everyone will have the same slot conflicts with the same combination of worn items.

 

1 hour ago, Fraying9981 said:

Is there a simple way to check this in game, real time?

 

I don't think MIC can show mesh partitions so I'm going to default to "no". MIC will however show you which meshes are worn in which equipment slots, and from these mesh file names you can get the partitions using either NifSkope or Outfit Studio.

Edited September 13 by traison

[Fraying9981]

1 hour ago, traison said:

If BestHatMod17 has path\to\mod\file.txt and you edit this in a tool, that mod file will be edited. There most likely (see list below) won't be a file.txt in your overwrite folder, nor will there be one in your mod output folder. Some outfit mods come with prebuilt meshes, thus these won't be in your mod output folder.

 

My point is, if you use this feature and you want to be sure all (lets say Pandora generated files) are all in your mod output folder, you must first know the following:

1. Which files will this tool write to.
2. How is it going to write to these files?
   1. Open and truncate - writes to an existing file.
   2. Open and append - writes to the end of an existing file.
   3. Delete and create - appears to write to an existing file, but from the pov of the filesystem this is a new file.
3. Every time you install a mod you need to go through its files to see if any of them conflict with your "Pandora file output map".

Personally I don't bother with this and just assume the file is either in the mod it came with or in the Overwrite folder; or to put that another way, I browse the Skyrim Data directory with the included Explorer++ app or by using the Data tab on the right side of MO2's UI.

 

Edit: I should perhaps mention that this might be an unfair advantage I have for modding Skyrim for over a decade. I can see the appeal in keeping files well organized and that's probably the path you should pursuit regardless of how good you are at modding. I just warn people of this pitfall because when it says "new files" it literally means that, and there might be a disconnect between what a human considers a new file and how the computer sees it.

 

im not editing any files so far.

i'm just saying once i run bodyslide on an outfit mod, the output is pushed to a certain folder. no manual edits from me.

 

from there I'm not sure I get your point? Could you clarify because I can tell it's interesting, since you go in depth into the theory and I'm curious about it

[traison]

1 hour ago, Fraying9981 said:

Could you clarify...

 

mod "A":

• \path\to\mod\file_01.txt
• \path\to\mod\file_02.txt
• \path\to\mod\file_03.txt

mod "B":

• \path\to\mod\file_02.txt

Mod "B" since it loads after mod "A" will overwrite "file_02.txt" in mod "A".

 

Now introduce a tool, lets just call it "hammer" . Have it output its NEW files into mod "C". Hammer will generate the text files in mod "A" because that's what it does, plus an additional file called "hammer.log":

• If hammer writes the files with the open and truncate/append method:
  • file_01.txt and file_03.txt in mod "A" now got edited.
  • file_02.txt in mod "B" got edited.
  • A new file appeared in mod "C" called hammer.log.
  • So despite you having a mod output folder specified, both mod "A" and mod "B" now contain hammer made files and the output from hammer is spread out over 3 mods rather than 1.
  • When you uninstall mod "B", file_02.txt in mod "A" will not be generated by hammer and may thus be incompatible in some way. When you uninstall the output mod "C" all you achieve is removing hammer's log file - the changes made by hammer still remain and most likely function as if nothing had happened.
• If hammer writes the files by first deleting existing ones I'd recommend you read up on the source code of the USVFS. Specifically the DeleteFile hook, and see how it handles it.

 

 

Edit: And to clarify further, not using the mod output folder is not going to dodge any of these issues. The files from hammer will still be spread out over 3 mods but the point is that the mod output folder feature might put you in a false sense of security where you *think* you know where your files are. If that assumption is never made, you're hopefully better prepared for the day when you have to start hunting for these files.

 

Edit again: A cookie for you if you've used the Hammer map editor and/or know what it is.

Edited September 13 by traison

[Fraying9981]

On 9/13/2026 at 11:17 AM, traison said:

 

mod "A":

• \path\to\mod\file_01.txt
• \path\to\mod\file_02.txt
• \path\to\mod\file_03.txt

mod "B":

• \path\to\mod\file_02.txt

Mod "B" since it loads after mod "A" will overwrite "file_02.txt" in mod "A".

 

Now introduce a tool, lets just call it "hammer" . Have it output its NEW files into mod "C". Hammer will generate the text files in mod "A" because that's what it does, plus an additional file called "hammer.log":

• If hammer writes the files with the open and truncate/append method:
  • file_01.txt and file_03.txt in mod "A" now got edited.
  • file_02.txt in mod "B" got edited.
  • A new file appeared in mod "C" called hammer.log.
  • So despite you having a mod output folder specified, both mod "A" and mod "B" now contain hammer made files and the output from hammer is spread out over 3 mods rather than 1.
  • When you uninstall mod "B", file_02.txt in mod "A" will not be generated by hammer and may thus be incompatible in some way. When you uninstall the output mod "C" all you achieve is removing hammer's log file - the changes made by hammer still remain and most likely function as if nothing had happened.
• If hammer writes the files by first deleting existing ones I'd recommend you read up on the source code of the USVFS. Specifically the DeleteFile hook, and see how it handles it.

 

 

Edit: And to clarify further, not using the mod output folder is not going to dodge any of these issues. The files from hammer will still be spread out over 3 mods but the point is that the mod output folder feature might put you in a false sense of security where you *think* you know where your files are. If that assumption is never made, you're hopefully better prepared for the day when you have to start hunting for these files.

 

Edit again: A cookie for you if you've used the Hammer map editor and/or know what it is.

 

thanks, ok i get your point. basically the output of bodyslide might be distributed across mods and overwritten along the way. 

 

so I have been testing a bit more mods: it seems that any new mod I install and generate with BS is invisible. old mods are fine.

 

looking into it, here is what i notice:

 

this mod works. i can see nif and tri generated in BS.

 

Spoiler

 

this one doesnt however:

 

Spoiler

 

so I'm wondering if BS is executing correctly?

 

I also have weird oddities such as Nini outfit pack having 90% of outfits OK, but only the slutty versions invisible.

I've checked my main overwrite folder, and I don't see meshes in there. my BS output mod is not overwritten by anything. So it's as if when i generate BS it's not properly generated.

 

I'm not sure what to investigate next. open to ideas

[traison]

8 hours ago, Fraying9981 said:

so I'm wondering if BS is executing correctly?

 

I'm not sure what to investigate next. open to ideas

• CalienteTools\BodySlide\SliderSets has the osp file that tells BS where a project is built and what the final file name(s) will be.
• Process Monitor from Sysinternals (Microsoft) can tell you where it was actually put. Keep in mind that the USVFS will look weird in this one.
• xEdit or More Informative Console can tell you where the game is expecting to find the meshes.
• When building a single project in BS, it will show you a popup message showing where it put the resulting nifs but remember that the path it shows you is from the POV of the game.

 

Edited September 22 by traison

[Fraying9981]

3 hours ago, traison said:

• CalienteTools\BodySlide\SliderSets has the osp file that tells BS where a project is built and what the final file name(s) will be.
• Process Monitor from Sysinternals (Microsoft) can tell you where it was actually put. Keep in mind that the USVFS will look weird in this one.
• xEdit or More Informative Console can tell you where the game is expecting to find the meshes.
• When building a single project in BS, it will show you a popup message showing where it put the resulting nifs but remember that the path it shows you is from the POV of the game.

 

 

thanks.

so here is an example of an outfit that doesnt render in game

 

Spoiler

 

 

looks like everything is correct? wdyt?

[traison]

2 hours ago, Fraying9981 said:

looks like everything is correct? wdyt?

 

If the in-game ARMA piece is looking for meshes\toys\purple_dildo.nif then no, that is not correct.

 

To put that another way, vital information is missing from your post and no determination can be made based on that.

[Fraying9981]

10 hours ago, traison said:

 

If the in-game ARMA piece is looking for meshes\toys\purple_dildo.nif then no, that is not correct.

 

To put that another way, vital information is missing from your post and no determination can be made based on that.

 

 

wdyt?

 

Spoiler

 

[traison]

6 hours ago, Fraying9981 said:

wdyt?

 

That's the ARMO record, not the ARMA record.

 

The model path is in 0DressyUpperSluttyAA.

[Dorabella]

From what I can see in the screenshots, XEdit offers a path : ninstuff\Dressy\gnd\Upper Slutty.nif

Bodyslide points to another one : ninistuff\HighLeg Dressy\Outfit Slutty_1.nif

 

ArmorAddons, Which route does it indicate? .  If the paths don't match, you'll never find it

[traison]

7 hours ago, Dorabella said:

From what I can see in the screenshots, XEdit offers a path : ninstuff\Dressy\gnd\Upper Slutty.nif

 

gnd is the mesh for the item (not the worn armor), i.e. the one that is shown when the item is dropped from your inventory or otherwise placed in the world. Hint is in the field name: World Model. This field is optional. If it's not specified, the mesh in the ARMA record is used instead.

 

Edit: Actually not 100% sure if the world model is optional. Not gonna check now as I got work to do.

Edited September 23 by traison

[Dorabella]

6 hours ago, traison said:

gnd is the mesh for the item (not the worn armor), i.e. the one that is shown when the item is dropped from your inventory or otherwise placed in the world.

It's just visual, but I've often found that if I couldn't see the GND, I didn't have the outfit equipped. I got around the problem the simplest way possible: I equipped it using the same process as ArmorAddon.

 

From here, verify that the Xedit paths match those of Bodyslide 

 

7 hours ago, traison said:

Actually not 100% sure if the world model is optional. Not gonna check now as I got work to do.

Sometimes there isn't even one, or there's one that has nothing to do with the outfit 

 

It probably has nothing to do with it, but checking the routes is the most obvious solution anyway

[Fraying9981]

thank you both for your help.

Allow me to take a different example so it's clearer, because the previous one has an ambiguous name (dressy) and I have a couple of Nini mods that overwrite one another.

 

so let's take this one, wdyt? do i need to check something else? body is invisible in game

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

[Dorabella]

Since Xedit does not contain a texture set, Bodyslide does not detect the textures; the likely cause is that the DDS files are missing and/or are located inside a BSA file. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

BSA Browser (with .BA2 support)  Check whether the textures exist, and if they are inside a BSA file, use that to extract them

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

[traison]

1 hour ago, Dorabella said:

...the likely cause is that the DDS files are missing...

 

That makes the mesh blueish in-game, not transparent.

 

1 hour ago, Dorabella said:

Since Xedit does not contain a texture set, Bodyslide does not detect the textures;

 

Fairly certain BodySlide does not go through all your plugins looking for TextureSet records. Textures missing in BodySlide is not an issue I personally pay any attention to. Same goes for NifSkope. What it looks like in-game is the only thing that matters.

 

5 hours ago, Fraying9981 said:

so let's take this one, wdyt? do i need to check something else? body is invisible in game

 

1. For some reason the equipment slots in the ARMA record are different from the ones in the ARMO records. While this is not a requirement by the game engine as far as I know, in situations like these I would normalize these.
2. The body might be missing because of a mesh partition conflict. You can see these in Outfit Studio and NifSkope. Test in-game with nothing else equipped except for the invisible armor. Use the "player.inv" console command to make sure nothing else is equipped.

[Fraying9981]

thanks both!

So btw I can confirm this happens on any new item set now. I've been testing a lot of different packs for a few weeks now. only my old ones work (from like 1month + to 2 years).

 

I tested on a NPC half sail: removed all items with removeallitems then had them equip half sail and check the inv with the console: they have half sail, move coin (sexy moves) and ahegao (from ahegao mod).

 

i think this is definitely an issue with my bodyslide, not the outfit mod. what should i investigate next?

[traison]

1 hour ago, Fraying9981 said:

i think this is definitely an issue with my bodyslide, not the outfit mod. what should i investigate next?

 

Everything relevant has already been stated except for a dll altering relevant vanilla functionality. I think you're missing something.

[Fraying9981]

alright im continuing the investigation with my LLM friend.

here are the results so far

 

Field    COCO Bride (WORKS)    Half Sail (FAILS)    BingHua (FAILS)    RQDY (WORKS)
femaleWorld    own mesh ✓    own mesh ✓    own mesh ✓    own mesh ✓
maleWorld    empty    empty    bandit (ignored)    bandit (ignored)
female1st    own mesh    bandit    own mesh    own mesh
slots ARMO    32    32    32    32
slots ARMA    32    32+34+38    32    32
file serves    ✓    ✓    ✓    ✓
partClone    7 nodes    null    null    13 nodes

 

it seems partclone and bandit stuff are the issue

 

[traison]

1 hour ago, Fraying9981 said:

it seems partclone and bandit stuff are the issue

 

Lots of nonsensical things in that table, but sure.

 

It seems it would be a lot easier to go at this with MIC, xEdit and your mod manager. If it's a dll doing it then the LLM isn't going to find it either, unless it's already a known problem.

[Fraying9981]

16 minutes ago, traison said:

 

Lots of nonsensical things in that table, but sure.

 

It seems it would be a lot easier to go at this with MIC, xEdit and your mod manager. If it's a dll doing it then the LLM isn't going to find it either, unless it's already a known problem.

 

for sure, it's LLM debugging for lack of better options - I'm learning about all this.

What is MIC?

 

I'm checking my load order by installation date:

• I can tell from which date any new outfit stopped working - 8/31/2026 was the last outfit i installed that worked.
• since then i only installed outfit mods. 

 

So why would a dll start messing around at this point on an existing save?

Edited September 26 by Fraying9981

[traison]

35 minutes ago, Fraying9981 said:

What is MIC?

 

More Informative Console.

 

36 minutes ago, Fraying9981 said:

So why would a dll start messing around at this point on an existing save?

 

A dll can do anything SkyrimSE.exe can do. That includes (but is not limited to) swapping your character's head with Lydia's, making your character fart every time they fall more than 3 feet, make the water invisible, steal your real life banking information and spy on you using your TV's built in microphones and camera. What I'm saying is, if you have an SKSE mod with a dll installed then until the source code of that dll has been inspected all bets are off when it comes to what it might or might not be doing.

 

Every single day the past couple of years of Skyrim modding, dll mods have become more and more popular. Take for instance, a mod that swaps out objects based on a set conditions. This seems like a great idea for the people that want seasons in Skyrim and need to swap out some houses and rocks with snowy variants. But it's a horrible tool when used by someone that couldn't be bothered to open the CK to replace a bush behind Riften, or when its done in the name of compatibility with other mods. One of these is nice, the other will ruin your day when you're trying to figure out why a bush behind Riften has pink dildos growing on it like berries. I'm not deliberately singleing out Base Object Swapper here, these kinds of mods get released every day now. Excellent ideas most of them, but absolute nightmares to debug when things go wrong - impossible to debug for those that aren't already familiar with compilers, debuggers and the assembly languages.