[Tutorial] Changing slots in armors

[ashani]

1.)Introduction

This tutorial will cover changing slots of various armor pieces of your mod. I assume you already know how to use Mod Organizer, and have knowledge of basic mod folder structure.

 

In short you need to change slots in 3 places :

-.nif file

in .esp file under categories:

-ArmorAddon

-Armor

 

As an example I will use Midnigt Breed Armor.

It contains 8 pieces:

Belts - slot 49 ->49

Boots - slot 37 ->37

Corsets - slot 32 ->32

Gloves - slot 33 ->33

Shoulders - slot 57 ->59

Sleeves - slot 59 ->59

Strap - slot 54 ->53

Tights - slot 53 ->54

I want to convert those slots to make it usable in OSA mods(more on that in section 5!). If time allows i will do a tutorial on OSA myequip feature.

 

2.)Tools

You need to have Nifskope and Skyrim Creation Kit.

Personally I linked Creation Kit as executable in Mod Organizer. Remember to always run those two programs in administrator mode. 

 

3.)Nifskope

It is a program which allows you to previev armors, and alter some data in .nif file - which contains a model of armor.

REMEMBER TO OPEN IT WITH ADMIN PRIVILEGE !

Almost all armors are named in manner xxx_0, and xxx_1, where xxx is a name of armor, and 0 and 1 represent the max bodyweight of said armor. If you want to edit slots you have to edit both of these files.

 

First of all you need to open your .nif file by Clicking : File->Data... , and the select the file you wish to alter.

     If you want to display textures on model, you need to select from the top bar Options->Settings->Resources, and the select the file a top of 'textures' folder.

 

Then you have to click small triangles in list in order : NiNode->NiTriShape.

You should then have one or more elements. Clicking each will highlight objects of armor which it contains information about. You shouldn't change slots of members which contain body, unless you know what you're doing.

 

Expand NiTriShape by clicking on triangle, then click on 3BSDismemberSkinInstance. Go to list in lower level, and expand partitions. Then at the bottom you need to change the slot next to 'Body Part'. Click on the number two times, and expand triangle should appear. Select your desired slot from list.

 

Repeat the process if your armor consists of multiple NiTriShapes, you can change different slots so your armor occupies more than 1 slot.

 

When you are finished editing slots go to top bar, click Spells->Batch->Update All Tangent Spaces

     I have no idea what it does but many tutorials recommend to do it.

 

Don't forget to save your edits, and modify pair of ..._0.nif and ..._1.nif.

 

4.)Creation kit

It's a program in which Skyrim was created. It's powerful and big.

 

After loading Creation Kit you have to load an .esp file. .esp file is file which contains the locations of textures, .nif files and what they are.

 

You load .esp file by clicking file->Data..., then from the list select your desired esp, and mark it as active file, then press ok. Loading will take some time,  ignore all errors/warnings.

 

Then you should expand Items with '+', click 'Armor' and either search for items manually, or use filter. For Midnight Breed Armor typing 'mid' was enough. This armor pack consists of 8 items, with 5 color variants, so in total you should have 40 items.

 

Click two times on item and edit Biped Object list by clicking on its members. As you can see you can assign multiple slots to same armor. When you are done click ok, and repeat for other armor pieces.

 

Then repeat the process for list 'ArmorAddon'.

 

Don't forget to save your changes !

 

If you did everything right, your armors should have reassigned slots !

 

5.)Notes

Slots must be the same in all three places, if they are not, they will not display.

 

You can occupy more slots in Creation Kit, but those which are in .nif must be occuppied as well.

 

There isn't one agreed upon standard to which armor slots are assigned. I personaly use one designated by CE0 in his OSA mods:

30-Head

32-Cuirass

33-Gloves

35-Necklace

36-Ring

37-Boots

43-Earrings

44-Glasses

45-Panties

46-Skirt

48-Upper Body Accessory -I consider it as everything not covering nipples, but above waist, for example abs cover

49-Middle Body Accessory -I consider it as waist accessory, for example belts

53-Lower Body Accessory -I consider it as leg accessory, like garter

54-Stocking

56-Bra

57-Cape

59-Arm Accessory - For example sleeves, shoulder pads, etc.

As you can see there are quite a few empty fields between 30-59, which can be accomodated by your own designated slots like left and right arm accessories, etc.

 

If you have questions, problems or some steps are inadequately explained feel free to leave a post in this thread.