This guide shows you how to create custom outfit mod for fallout 4 with your 3D model files containing textures(not cover creating or modifying textures or model files). This is based on my own workflow and experience, so there may be some incorrect information. I would appreciate it if you let me know if you see anything wrong.

Basic

• B.A.E.(Bethesda Archive Extractor)[www.nexusmods.com]
  Used for extracting BA2(fallout4 asset) files.
  
• Outfit Studio[www.nexusmods.com]
  Used for editing the meshes and rigging
  
• paint net[www.getpaint.net]
  Used for editing dds texture files (you can use any dds editing program instead
  
• Material Editor[www.nexusmods.com]
  Used for editing BGSM, BGEM material files.
  
• Creation Kit
  Used for making and editing esp file.

Optional

• Creation Kit patch[www.nexusmods.com]
  
• 3ds max or blender for editing meshes.
  
• Photoshop

The meshes and textures of the game are inside compressed files in BSA format. You need to extract the BA2 file with B.A.E. BA files located in the Fallout/Data folder. (If you're using CBBE just load the Nif from data folder.)
(~Steam\steamapps\common\Fallout 4\Data)





To create a mod, you first need body meshes. If you also need texture and material files, you can release them. Once you've unpacked all the files, you can find meshes folder. The Meshes \ Actors \ CharacterAsets folder contains body part meshes of the default playable character. Choose the files you need and save them in any folder you want.

For my mod, which includes a helmet and costume, I used the BaseMaleHead.nif(the back head mesh), maleheadRear.nif(the back head mesh), MaleBody.nif(Body) files. If you plan to edit or refer to in-game clothing, you can find them in the \Armor or \Clothes folder.

Import a model you want to convert and the skeleton file. You can import NIF, OBJ, or FBX files to Outfit Studio.




I will make a helmet and armor one by one, so I imported the body part first.



Load your models. It'll be much easier to proceed with the rest of this section with the 3d modeling program. so If you're a blender/3ds max user I recommend using them: export the skeleton Nif to OBJ. Load it to the program with the mesh file and modify them.


You can adjust the size and angle in the window after you import.
Refer to the grid and resize it. In the image, the mesh is rotated 90 degrees(X), size of 10%.



I just imported a model file, so it contains many meshes, the helmet and clothes are combined. The more objects are contained, the harder it becomes in the later parts. so once you have all the parts imported, merge meshes that use the same texture and remove objects you don't need. (If you don't know what texture this mesh uses, create and apply the material file. Please refer to the material setting part.)
You can use Merge Geometry function to do this.






This function can only be used between meshes have the same texture and shader, so check it carefully. Right-click the object and click the Properties menu. Then you can check the object's state here.



To rotate or move, use the transform tool in the upper left corner or use the Move, Scale, and Rotate function in the menu that appears when you right-click the object

If you resize your model properly, it looks like this.



Create a BGSM material file with the Material Editor before modifying the meshes. Launch the Material Editor.



Create a new file, or just load the vanilla material file(it is in the Materials folder) to edit. Make sure that the Two sided option on the General tab and the Cast Shadows option on the Material tab are checked.



On the Materials tab, set the dds file location. If your textures have jpg and png format, convert them to dds using the paint.net program. BGSM and BGEM files should be within the Data/Material folder. Likewise, put the dds texture file in Data/Textures/yourmod.
Once you make material files, load them in Outfit studio. Double-clicking an object in the list opens a property window. Press ... to set the material.



If there is no trouble with the path and texture, it will be displayed in the Outfit studio.



Edit the specular tab if you'll make a shiny object. The image below is the specular setting of a helmet.




You can make the translucent material, but NifSkope is required.

If the texture is loaded well, use the mesh tool on the top bar and modify meshes until the your outfits are well fitted.

• Masking Brush: Protects the area you drag on. The protected vertices
  
• Inflate Brush: Pushes vertices towards the camera as you hold down the mouse button or drag. Hold down the ALT key to deflate.
  
• Deflate Brush: Pushes vertices away from the camera as you hold down the mouse button or drag.
  
• Move Brush: Pushes vertices forward as you drag.
  
• Smooth Brush: Smooths out the vertices on the dragging surface.

Adjust the size and strength of the brush in Brush setting on the right of toolbar.
If you need a bit more precise movement of vertices, you can use a masking tool. Tap the pencil icon to the left of the image to show the vertex.



After that, press the masking tool on the top (a square mark) and drag on the mesh. then you can see the vertex disabled(it means the vertices are protected).



Move, delete function only applies to green vertexes.

(vertics deleted)



Turning on this option in the left panel prevents the brush from affecting any objects other than the one where the stroke started. It is recommended to keep it on.

Now you have to set the bone weight for meshes. The weights make outfits move with the body of the character.

If this value is not set correctly, meshes can be twisted or look odd every time the character animates. Below is an example of the weight value is set/unset.



If the value is not set properly, like this, some parts of clothes look missing or stretched. so adjust it carefully.

First, right-click on the skeleton and set the reference. Reference objects are marked with a bold green name.




Once the reference is set, select the objects and click the Copy Bone Weight menu.




This way, we can just copy the bone weights value of the reference modeling to our meshes. The Search Radius means how wide a range of vertexes will be affected by the reference. Set to 8.



Go to the Bone tab, you can see where and how much weight is applied to each part.



It is recommended to modify it with a weight brush. The weight brush can be used while you're in the Bones tab only. Dragging the cursor on the mesh will paint the color (which means will be influenced by movement) and doing the same while holding down the alt key will erase it.
If you don't know how to modify it, move the skeleton sideways to refer. It's also helpful to import a similar outfit(vanilla or any mod) nif and check how the weight was set.



I think it's helpful to reduce the number of bones that affect on the mesh. Many bones can distort the mesh.




For example, if an electronic device on the back is too affected by back muscles, the antenna will bend together when the character bends down. Meshes also stretch out with muscles and look like gum. In this case, assigning 1 or 2 skeletons is better.

* Unweighted vertices error



When this warning window appears, it means that there are parts of the vertices that are not affected by any part of the body. To resolve this issue, select the object that mentioned the error screen, click the pencil icon again, and then click Mask weighted vertices.




Then, you can see which part of the vertices are not weighted. Add bone weight to the area.

Now you have to make the outfit work for fallout4. Export the mesh file by nif.



Save the nif within the fallout / data / meshes / yourmod folder. It is safe to check the location of other files(material, texture, etc) before loading them with Creation Kit.

When the files are all ready, launch Creation Kit(I downloaded the Creation Kit patch, so the UI is a little different).



File>Data, check the Fallout4.esm only.



Move to the Armor tab in the object window. Here you can view and modify the elements in the master file. Now we'll duplicate an existing armor data and edit it.



It's good to choose the outfit that is equipped on the same body part. I selected the Kellogg's armor.



Right-click the outfit you selected and click duplicate. This creates an ID with COPY0000. Double-click the copy. Armor settings window will appear.

1. The name used in the Creation Kit
   
   
2. The name appeared in fallout 4
   
   
3. Max caps you can sell the item for
   
   
4. Additional options a legendary gear can have
   
   
5. It means where this armor is equipped. armors that don't have the same biped part can be equipped together.
   
   
   An example of a vault suit/leather chest armor. A vault suit can be equipped with leather chest armor because it has no armor biped part(only underarmor). Kellogg's armor can't be equipped with the vault suit because they both have the BODY part.
   
   
6. The model that it will look like when the item is on the field(dropped). I recommend that just copy it from an existing model.
   
   
7. This is what the character looks like when the item is equipped. We will load the Nif file made earlier here.
   
   
8. What damage resistance the armor has. Right-click in the blank and click New to add resistance.

Double-click one Armor Add-on to replace the nif file.



Change the ID to anything you want. Click select on the Male/Female tab on the left and upload the nif file.
First person is the looks of the hand in the first person. If you don't have a nif for it, just Leave it or copy from an existing file.




It's all done.




We changed the existing ID, so please hit Yes when the pop-up appears. Otherwise, the item of the game will be changed as well.

Now delete the original add-ons.




Right-click>New
Search and select the ID you make earlier.



We are almost done with armor setting. If the pop-up appears, hit No this time.



At the end of the process, a ID with the modified name is displayed on the object window.



Save(Data>Save) the file to the Fallout/Data folder. Now you can test your mod in fallout 4. Here's how to add the outfit to inventory:

1. open the console and type 'help ITEM NAME 4 armor'
2. check the ID of the item
3. type player.additem ID 1

Then the item spawned in inventory.


*

If you modified the master file by mistake, follow these steps. It's very difficult to restore it manually. go to the Data tab, select the mod and click Details.



You can see what this mod affects on.



Select the part you want to delete from the list and press delete. The modifications are initialized.

We added a new item to the game, so it's time to add how to get it. We can set the item to be acquired in a specific location or storage box, but I'll explain only about making a new recipe for the item. I think it's the easiest way.

First, load the mod you made. Go to data and set the mod as active file.


Select All on the Object window category and type 'co_'.



You can see recipe IDs. Copy one of them and edit.

1. The name used on Creation Kit
   
   
2. mean what workbench you can craft it on. You can select Chemlab (workbenchChemlab) / Cooking station (workbenchCooking) / Armor workbench (workbencharmor).
   
   
3. The category appears on a workbench. choose an existing one or add a new name.
   
   
   
   The name you'll see in the workbench is Display name.
   
   
4. The Item you'll craft.
   
5. The items you need to craft your item. Right-click>new and add items. Make sure the item type is CMPO.

Just delete all stuff in the Match Conditions unless you know well.



The setup is finished. Save it. If it is applied without any problems, the recipe will appear on the workstation.

Now, we're going to create a compressed file that is used to install the mod with Mod Manager (which users can install the mod by extracting it to the data folder). If you're an experienced mode user, you'll get a quick sense of how to create a mod archive file. but the more files you manually export, the more troublesome it is. We're going to do all processes with Creation Kit and B.A.E.

On Creation Kit, open the mod as the active file, and click Create Archive from Data.




Hit OK, then the window for saving appears.



A window appears twice(1.main file-2.texture file). Please set different names.

Once the BA2 files have been created, release them again with B.A.E. to your folder.



You can get essential the files for the installation.



Copy your esp file here and compress all of them. Now you're ready to upload your mod to Nexus.