I've searched all over for any topic that would answer this question so I wouldn't have to post this but I can't find anything. I've been going thru the basics of the Creation Kit and everything was going smooth. Now I'm trying my hand at making unique armors, weapons, and the rainbow chicken from the video that's in the Wiki list. But I'm don't have any model, mesh, or texture files other than what's in a hair mod I downloaded. This picture shows what I'm talking about..... http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp171/beerbottlebuster/file2.png

I am running Windows 7 and have Skyrim on a disk. I thought the reason for this might be because the CK can't take files from a disk. So I was willing to buy Skyrim from the Steam site thinking those files would be downloaded along with the game. Problem is, since I originally registered the game with a code I got when I bought the disc it says I can't rebuy the download version. That would be bad if my disc ever went bad and I couldn't find another one at Best Buy.

Anyhow, I was wondering if there is anyplace I can download the model and texture files from or will I have to create a new Steam account and buy the download version from that. As I said I've looked all over the place for the answer to this but I can't find it. And there's no option in Steam support for this type of question. Thanks for any advice.

I don't get it.

If you have Skyrim on DVD (as I do), you still have to have Steam to run it (and the CK). If Skyrim is installed, all the files will be on your PC and the CK will access them from there and if you delete any Steam will download them when you verify cache etc.

The meshes and textures are in bsa files, so you need FOMM (Fallout Mod Manager) to extract them.

Any meshes and textures that are part of a mod will be the author's work and you'd need permission to use them, or at least if you plan to upload them.

~.~

The game is exactly the same, regardless of whether you bought it on disk or from Steam. The disk can merely be used as an installation aid in avoiding the need for a large initial download. You can forget all about the disk after installation, and you don't even necessarily need it for that either, apart from the code, and even that has no further use (other than proof of purchase, perhaps) once your copy of the game is registered to your Steam account.

You should have a set of .bsa files in your Data folder. They are file archives (like .zip files, but of a different Bethesda-specific format), and they contain all the meshes and textures, as well as other resource files. To access the resource files you need to unpack those archives using 3rd party software, such as BSAopt, for example.

P.S. Looks like I was a bit sluggish. Well, c'est la vie.

Thanks for the replies. I can't see those .bsa files inside my data folder so I guess I would have to use either of the two software suggestions to see and extract them. I don't have Fallout so I can't use the FOMM. But will try to find the BSAopt. I'm not very technical on those types of software but will give it a shot. Thanks. Funny how the instruction vids all tell you how to go once those files are in your folder but I can't find even one that tells how to extract the files to start with.

I got the BSAopt but it sees the same thing I see when I go directly to my data file which is the one folder that goes to a downloaded mod. http://i409.photobucket.com/albums/pp171/beerbottlebuster/55.png

It's like those files are hiding from me. Guess I'll just stick to the basic stuff. lol

Or you could try looking in ...\Data\ rather than ...\Data\meshes\.

I don't think you can see them in the CK, but you should see them if you look in the DATA folder, unless Windows has hidden file extensions.

But, yeah, if you want to change textures and nifs you'll have to extract them. And if you want to recolour textures you'll need GIMP and to change textures in a nif you will need something like NifSkope.

I make copies of what I want to play with and put _shb_ at the front so I can recognise them easily, and then some initials to represent the mod, then the name of the texture or mesh. Same with Forms in the CK. I duplicate first, then re-name (unless I want something to overwrite Vanilla - I usually make new additions to the game rather than changing what's already there). Then I can mess about as much as I like without wrecking anything.

FOMM is pretty simple once it is set up. And you can associate it with bsa files so the icon is like a little radioactive symbol. Now I just click on a bsa and FOMM launches and it opens up and then I select whatever I want to extract to a separate folder, or you can extract everything.

~.~

Neither do I, but FOMM works with Skyrim BSAs just fine.

And, yes, you are looking in the wrong place for the bsa files. They are in DATA, with the esp files.

~.~

Bingo. I'm such an idiot sometimes. I wasn't looking down far enough. Thanks. I can extract what I see. lol