Invalid error, when? When you try to open ck, or when you select your master files?

like when you go in to put the new nif files into a duplicate copy of the vanilla template. it says invaild 3D object or whatever. Please, help!

i keep getting a marker_error

I suspect this will be beyond my abilities, but until an experienced modder sees this...

Where are your nif files stored right now? Are they in a new "meshes" folder, off the main data folder?

yeah

Ok, so you're in the duplicate template. That usually takes the gnd model meshes. Then you go to the AA template,which takes the biped and 1st person (if any) meshes. It would have the same info from the original, linking to a standard armor mesh. When you select and try to choose one, it gives you the big exclamation point in the view window?

If that's the case, double check that you have the correct meshes retextured. I've had that happen a couple of times, where there's a boot_0 and a boot_1, for example. I ended up opening the vanilla versions of the templates and AAs for each piece of armor, and writing down precisely which nif they took, extracting only those nifs and putting the new texture to them.

The only other thing I can think of, offhand, is if they're not where they were originally linked from and ck can't find them. I experienced that when I tried to extract them to a folder in my documents, rather than in data.

this is a long shot but could you make a short tutorial showing me what you mean? i know its alot to ask but i get confused easily when reading instruction instead of watching them

I don't have any way to make a tutorial like that, but here are a few I found on youtube...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p02NysXwV5U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJP_PfQ9vuQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OCJM3c9UEg

In fact, I'm going to watch them too...haven't seen them yet.

these didnt help with armors tho

okay how do i make a retextured file that doesnt replace the vanilla files???

You select the vanilla file you're going to use as a template. Right-click and duplicate it. Then highlight it and press f2 and rename it. Then do all your changes to the renamed dup file. That allows the original to stay intact. If you work only the orignal armor, you will have to give it to yourself by opening console in-game and typing:

help "armor name" and then getting the code number from the list

player.additem (code number) (however many you want) So, if the item is c0012c9 for example, you would type:

player.additem c0012c9 1 and it would put one in your inventory.

To be able to make it at the forge, you have to do the same copy/rename for the blue-logo entries of Recipe and Temper. In those boxes, you go to the top right dropdown and change the finished product from the vanilla name to your new item, again leaving the originals to produce vanilla items, while your renamed files produce your items.

So if it was iron boots, you should still have the original files:

armorironboots
recipeironboots
temperironboots
ironbootsAA (armor addon...tells the system what models to use on your body)

as well as

mynewironboots
recipemynewironboots
tempermynewironboots
mynewironbootsAA

what about the nif files

The nif files I'm not sure about. I always rename them, so I know that works. What I don't know is, if you don't rename them, but they stay in the file folder associated with their mod, whether they will affect the standard armors. Safest bet is to rename them.

The way I do that is to go through all the vanilla components of the armor I'm modding, including the AAs, and write down exactly which nif the components take. Then I extract only those nifs. Before hand, I create my mod folders. I already have meshes and textures folders from previous mods, so I go into them, under "armor" and add a folder for whatever name I give it, then I make a "m" and "f" folder inside that. I extract the male components first, directly into that folder, so they're already in the right place. Then I repeat for the female.

Once I have all the components I need, I use nifskope to apply the textures to each one. Then when I hit 'save as' I give it a whole new name, according to what I'm making. So it might change from boots_1 to JoeGoldBootsMale or something like that. Save it right into its own file.

When you're done, you'll have twice as many files. Select the ones that aren't named with your new name and delete them, or move them to a storage folder if you want to try new armor.

This should give you meshes / armor / JoeGoldArmor / m / JoeGoldBootsMale
/ JoeGoldBootsGO
/ JoeGoldGauntletsMale
/ JoeGold1stPersonGauntletsMale
/ JoeGoldGauntletsGO
...etc. As long as that armor mod file falls under meshes / armor / you should be ok. Shields, I think, can go in either m or f, but I usually just lump everything that's not female specific in m.

Then open up each new armor component (the ones you duplicated earlier) in ck, apply the GO or GND models to the world view. I don't know what the difference is, but I think it's just different programmers denoting them as world view, what it looks like sitting on the ground, or in inventory. Open the corresponding AA file and change the biped (top) and 1st person (bottom) views to the appropriate nif files. Do this for both male and female in the AA file.

When you close and save, and have done all the armor components and their AA files, you should have a separate set of armor, which does not affect the appearance or availability of the vanilla armors.

I have to qualify this with the statement that I've only done two armor mods so far, so I'm still very new at this. An experienced modder will most likely have better or more efficient methods for you.

This is the tutorial I used to get through it. Although it's weapon oriented, it's not too much different for armors.

When you do the helmets, you will also have to look into the AA for the other races. So for helmet, let's say you're recoloring Elven, you'll have ElvenHelmetAA, ElvenHelmetArgAA, ElvenHelmetKhaAA, and ElvenHelmetOrcAA. Each of those other races helmets will have a male and a female nif associated, so that's another 3 in the m and another 3 in the f folder. I named mine just like the helmet JoeGoldHelmetArg in nifskope. For the creation kit, you'll have to dup and rename them as well. Being new at it, I was pretty daunted by that, so I held off until I had everything else working first, then did them one at a time.

When you're done, each component in CK should have a corresponding AA file, as well as a corresponding Recipe and a Temper. So four entries for each component, except the helmet which will have the base and four separate AAs itself.

A couple of things I ran into: The textures aren't always well organized, and I tried to apply the cuirass texture to a female nif, then found out it wouldn't go. I went back in and searched, and discovered that I needed a specifically female texture for the cuirass, though the boots and all worked on the same texture. That was Elven. I'm not sure if all armors have that or not, but you will want to be on the lookout for it.

In ck, when you pull up a helmet component (this confused the hell out of me) about the bottom, middle of the box, it has a section to tell you what AA it uses. ArmorElvenHelmet uses ElvenHelmetAA. Right above that is an empty tic box that says "show all." You have to click that to get the list of the AAs it uses for other races. So, when you do most armor, it's just delete the vanilla AA from that box and add your own created AA. With the helmet, you have to 'show all' and do this for all four.

Hope it helps.