This is my first time making a mod for TES. I want to create my own custom race for Skyrim. I've scoured the internet for a tutorial or any information on the topic, but the best thing I've found is the page on the creation kit wiki about creating a playable race. It covers the basics of implementation, but does not cover how exactly the race mesh is put together in the game, etc. I also found the page entitled "Race" which has some information on what data is used for races but it doesn't go into any detail. The information I am missing is:

- How are character meshes set up? Are body parts modular? I assume that when you equip boots on your character the foot meshes are replaced with the boot meshes, but how is this set up within the character model file? Are they just separated meshes? Is there something I need to do to allow the game to recognize certain mesh sections?
- Is armor assigned to the character via the skeleton? i.e. do boots get assigned to feet in relation to the foot joints?
- What sort of special set up for armor would I have to do with my character mesh if I make a completely custom character model? For example, making sure helms fit over the head. How do you test armor on the character mesh?
- How does face deformation in character creation in game work technically? What do I need to do with my mesh to prepare it for customization?
- How do I include custom hair, skin patterns, etc.?
- I've seen many sites that talk about using nifskope to edit meshes, but apparently it does it with .obj's. Since obj's are geometry-only files, how do you bind the mesh to an existing Skyrim skeleton?
- How do I set up my new race to show up and be used in the game?

I'm plenty proficient on the art side so I've got that part covered. I'm planning on using the argonian race as a starting point, then heavily editing it. I would greatly appreciate any advice you have to offer!

I'm also interested in this if you find any further information.

http://www.creationkit.com/Tutorial_Creating_a_Playable_Race

Hopefully this answers your questions. I haven't had the chance to play with it yet, personally.

I would like help on this issue too... I tried just taking the troll race, and making the ID playtrollrace so it's basically as if I saved as, troll race but under different name so i wouldn't override. I've made the morph stuff list as troll, and added some racial bonuses, similiar to orc minus 10 and some racial stuff like immune to poison and disease. When i try playing the character on the showracemenu and pick troll, skyrim closes. When I load a saved game and do setrace playtrollrace it uses my troll, but from 1st person view i don't see anything, and when i change the pov, i am at the feet, but my guy is see thru, like with the right lighting i can see like his form outline but thats it. Once and only once, i was able to zoom out and actually see my troll but then i moved and never could seem to replicate. Any way to make like some of the characters playable or... I figured maybe i'll just start with orc race and alter the images to look more troll like, but I don't know how to take the images that are used for orc, and alter and save them back in the files and select them for my altered orc race. anyone able to help with this?

@esrafael
"but the best thing I've found is the page on the creation kit wiki about creating a playable race. It covers the basics of implementation, but does not cover how exactly the race mesh is put together in the game, etc." -Talaaya

I did spend some time looking at it yesterday and concluded that the races with the ActorNPC keyword are the ones that have the bone/naming format to be used as a player character. If we figure out the proper format and naming conventions of models with that keyword you should be able to add it as a player race. I don't know how to go about this (well, kinda, but I don't want to) but if anyone figures it out please keep this thread updated.

Hi, I got sick and never properly finished writing that tutorial, but it is mostly meant to be basic work in the CK. Still kind of discovering things myself. And I'm too tired to give a full answer tonight, I'll have a better go in the morning.

Have you looked at the tutorials for getting models in-game yet?

For starters, take a look at the existing models in NifSkope, everything for the base race stuff is in meshes\actors\character\. Also, http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/522532-skyrim-tutorials/ is a collection of tutorials, mostly for working with the exporters.

1) we have the main body, feet, hands and head. Skyrim uses a "dismember" skin node to assign groups of triangles to partitioned groups to handle head decapitation, and for controlling visibility via armor layers. Gloves can hide the hands, as well as part of the wrists. Hair has several groups, so the bulk of the model doesn't clip through hoods or other headwear.

2) In the .nif, Armor is weighted to the skeleton bones, as well as being assigned to skin partitions. The partitions need to match up with the body parts in an .esp plugin. Boots would need to be assigned to feet in both.

3/4) Facial morphs are stored in .tri files.
You can get a suite of tools for pulling morphs out as .obj http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=18566, and the http://tes.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=9360 is good for duplicating existing morphs for a new head. (my tutorial in the first link is mostly invalid for Skyrim.) There is no height/width morph, so there is no issue with morphs interfering with headwear.