Non TLDR version: For some reason my blend file is only showing up as NiNodes I think?? Is that the term? I even learned how to convert a Nif to a Blend back to a Nif again but... Uh there's problems as you'll see.

Here's a preview of what this new mechanical creature will look like http://i.imgur.com/LadgbNQ.png http://i.imgur.com/qDhoc2z.png http://i.imgur.com/q6eBY4L.png http://i.imgur.com/CTTl8ld.png I will alter it to be more dwemer robot looking- it's still in the extremely early stages of creation, I really need to make the body and limbs less organic looking which I can do in time... But for now, I want to make a saved copy of it in Nif form to both see how it looks in game as well as save my progress. This is the first custom mesh I ever made, well actually like the second, I made it after experimenting with a similar mesh ahead of time, before learning to partially merge models together like I partially seemed to accomplish.

When making this new creature I used the sabrecat as a base, hoping to maintain it's skeleton to act/animate like most sabrecats... And I attached a few Dwarven Centurion parts to it, to make it look more mechanical/dwemer like. (Here's one more picture of it in Blend http://i.imgur.com/OySgnxL.png)

Only problem is... Here's what happens when the file enters Nifskope... Suddenly all that work I spent on making this feline into a more mechanical version is now all gone, and just those... Things show up, I don't know what they are, a skeleton, or NiNodes or something else. http://i.imgur.com/yA8B5no.png

So incidentally... I FINALLY figured out how to get nif files or change them so they can enter Blender... And even have a very rudimentary knowledge of how to edit meshes now... After all these years. Here's what I'm working on a... A robotic dwemer sabrecat. The idea is that, it's stronger than a sphere centurion yet weaker than a steam centurion also known as Dwarven Centurion- not having NEARLY as much health or damage as the dwarven centurion but high speed to make up for it.

I was INITIALLY only going for a retexture only using Blender for that reason... When after FINALLY installing Blender right which to be honest was quite difficult and confusing, upon realizing that editing meshes was far easier than I previously thought, I decided, I should probably go ahead, and make the custom meshes I always dreamed of.

And this creature would also be an optional summon, and maybe mount if that isn't difficult beyond my capability... Albeit, it would either require defeating a very hard enemy or spending 20-50 thousand gold or doing some difficult quest or something. Lastly, I would also make it a modders resource, so other modders could use the new dwemer sabrecat.

(I actually have an entire idea, of a wearable mask that adds the spell to summon this creature once a day, but the spell can only be cast when wearing it- though that's another story for now).

That looks very much like a skin mesh without a skin. Have you applied the skin and dismemberment modifiers to your mesh? If you have make sure you don't collapse the stack and check your niftools export settings.

I can't give you complete help here since I don't use Blender.

Edit... Sorry I can't resist - You have to skin the cat!

On the upside it appears that I can easily make it actually look like a dwarven robot, by simply modifying a steam centurion texture, note the current one looks quite sloppy, and is in need of a lot of alterations http://i.imgur.com/4tuEBks.png though I don't think texturing it will require a massive amount of effort- this seems to be purely a mesh issue... On the downside I have a new problem...

I managed to upload it to Nifskope by... Instead exporting it to the Fallout 3 option rather than Morrowind, so it finally works in Nifskope at least... But... Whenever it's put into the Creation Kit as a mesh it's a red exclamation point. Here's some pictures of the settings in Nifskope if it makes it easier to tell what's going on.... Maybe I'm overlooking something incredibly obvious for all I know? Here's some screenshots of the Nifskope settings.

http://i.imgur.com/me86Duw.png http://i.imgur.com/tEjOnn9.png http://i.imgur.com/YF5OTBl.png http://i.imgur.com/YfCdibu.png http://i.imgur.com/xNJ3BX8.png http://i.imgur.com/me86Duw.png

And I don't think I applied the dismemberment modifiers- I don't even know how yet, would something like an altered sabrecat need those I wonder? As for whatever I shaped, I don't know if it counts as a skin, or a UV map, although when I'm editing this model in blender, Blender seems to regard it as being made of vertices... And I still have the default skeleton inside of that layer, rather it's a skin or UV map or something else... I think it's a skin but I'm not 100 sure, I could be totally mistaken.

Also here's a picture of the Blender export settings... Maybe they aren't set up right? http://i.imgur.com/8HJZT7b.png

After exporting the mesh to Fallout 3 format, you are converting it in Nifskope to Skyrim format, aren't you?

You might consider, rather than re-skinning a sabrecat, instead converting the steam centurion armour to fit a sabrecat? http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Converting_an_armour_to_another_body_for_Skyrim might be of some use - though it's aimed at adapting the armours for Player/NPCs rather than creatures. The steam centurion armour can be found in CK under Armour as SkinDwarvenSteamCenturion, and there's also a SkinSabrecat armour you could use for comparison. Both link through to the relevant Armour Addon which say's where the mesh is.

I have no knowledge in this area, so ignore me if this is clearly a stupid suggestion .

That link will give the right settings for the Blender export.