Okay so recently I was trying to bring some meshes/textures over to Oblivion from, ahem, 2002, and I was just wondering how to update the NIF and get it working in Oblivion. Oblivion apparently needs a version 20.0.0.5 when exporting from modelling software, and in NifSkope the user version needs to be 11. The problem is these meshes are from 2002 like I said. It seems like it should be as simple as downloading a trial version of w/e I would care to use (maya, 3ds, blender) exporting with the 20.0.0.5 version, and then opening the mesh in NifSkope and setting the user version to 11. Then I could import these older meshes into Oblivion with no issue, correct? (by placing the mesh with whatever textures I'm using in the corresponding data folders and creating them in the Oblivion CS right?)

The problem I'm having is with plugins.. as would be the case, all of the trials (of 3ds, maya etc) I seem to be finding are 2012 versions, and none of these NIF plugins seem to be updated past 2011 at best (more often than not 2010 or 09).

As a complete and utter modding nube (although I can set the speed of arrows in the CS like a pro) I was just hoping someone might be able to address my issues with working with/importing older meshes into Oblivion (and hopefully Skyrim) and what would be the easiest way to go about that, taking into mind my inability to find free modelling software with current up to date NIF plugins.

Thanks guys .

Oh and P.S. hoping to bring in some of these other older models of mine into Skyrim when they release the dang CK, and although this isn't the Skyrim modding area, would I have to wait for people to develop up to date NIF plugins and then do the whole dang thing over again by exporting the models in w/e version they need to be and then updating them in NifSkope? Thanks again.

http://tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12248 is what you're looking for. Free 3D modelling software, bundled with the required plug-ins for importing/exporting, required Python files and the appropriate version of Nifskope.

The v2.49b there is the current supported version for Oblivion. It does not yet support Skyrim until the NifScripts folks update the plug-in but there are ways around that. 3DSMax, I believe, has a plug-in to support Skyrim.

Hmm, well when I was checking the nif plugins for 3ds I didn't see any that had been updated for 3ds 2012. Thanks for the response though . Also I'm thinking my best bet will be going with Blender. AutoDesk hasn't seemed to be working on my level (which btw is crappy beginner level lol)