Folks,

I used to be quite active in Skyrim modding and have completed a number of personal pet projects about 2 to 3 years ago. I'd assume many aspects of Skyrim modding have changed over the last few years in terms of what tools are being used and methods used to create/alter mods.

Back in the days, I used the following set of tools:

• Blender 2.49b
• NifScripts 2.5.9
• PYFFI 2.1.11
• NIfScope 1.1.0

I guess I could still use these tools to pick up where I left off, but I remember the whole process was rather lengthy, tedious, and confusing. And I did quite a bit of Googling on where the above tools stand in terms of newer versions and their compatibility with one another, but I felt mostly confused and/or lost as to where to begin.

So, the question is, has any of these tools "evolved" in a way that offers a more efficient way to create Skyrim mods? Also, if newer set of tools are available for modding, I'd like to know if there's a good tutorial on how to use these tools together.

Thanks all!

Hana's guides listed oldest to newest :

http://afkmods.iguanadons.net/index.php?/topic/3658-skyrim-skyrim-meshes-and-blender-importingexporting/

http://afkmods.iguanadons.net/index.php?/topic/4022-skyrim-blender-basics-add-materials-and-textures-to-nifs/

http://afkmods.iguanadons.net/index.php?/topic/4141-blender-27x-set-up-preferences/

And NifSkope v2 Development topic :

http://afkmods.iguanadons.net/index.php?/topic/4136-nifskope-20-dev/

Any questions .. I would ask Hana ( she may notice this topic yet, give it a day or so )

I dabble with NifSkope, but mesh creation with Blender and any conversion processes .. I never got into ( wanted to a couple of times )

Maybe you should give 3ds Max a go. I've only used it for making armors but I've gotten used to using it. Besides, it's free on the Autodesk website and if you need help getting it, watch Nightasy's tutorial.

http://youtu.be/MSpL13jVF34

Edit Never mind, you have to be a student to get 3dsmax.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/62065

You can just pretend to be a student.