I updated blender, downloaded the nif scripts, and a few of the other tools mentioned on the wiki. However each and every time I tried to do the import/export .nif in blender it gave me the error saying the dll and .py files weren't there when in fact, they were. I downloaded different versions of python and blender (based on a few forum posts I found via google) to no avail.
I have since completely uninstalled Blender, Nifscope, the Nif scripts, and all versions of Python on my computer.
Several of the file versions specifically mentioned in several walkthroughs on how to get this working are no longer available for download, so I'm not really sure what will and won't work at this point.
Can someone please correct my blunder?
(Normally I'd just continue digging around to find the answer myself, but I'm tired and frustrated and just want to get it done. (Also Sourceforge and the Blender website are being amazingly slow for me today for some reason, further wearing on my patience.)
On a semi relevant side note, is Blender generally the way to go, or would 3dsmax, Lightwave, or Maya be better in the long run (or in the short run for someone just starting out for that matter)?