Starting Modding

[eMJayBeast]

So maybe I'm way in over my head here, I can't even figure out how to get started.
I enjoy messing around with mods so much and trying to make what I think is my best wasteland. Can anyone point me to the direction to start modding (I just wanna mod armor)
I've read Nexus' Installer help but I think it is too outdated because I can't seem to even find some of the programs.

I thank you ahead of time for your help.

[RoyBatty]

You mean making or altering armors?

Do you want to use blender or 3ds max?

[eMJayBeast]

Mainly altering at least to start I have downloaded blender already I am open to trying 3D Max (I think thats what its called) but I'm not ready to pay for the app when I am just starting.
I mainly want to take the bulk out of a lot of the armor and try to find the middle of sexy reveling while keeping it lore friendly

[RoyBatty]

Working with armors is one of the most difficult things because they are skinned. Probably want to start with some easier stuff and work your way up to that after learning your 3D tool of choice.

If you are in school you can get a 3 year student license for max, not that it will help much without an up to date import/export plugin.

[eMJayBeast]

No I'm not going to school at the moment, but I'll look into it when I start where would you recommend I start with blender?

[RoyBatty]

Learn proper nif structure by examining vanilla nifs. Everything is important ,flags, node order, etc. Biggest mistake people do is make sloppy nifs.

I would start with learning the UI, not my cup of tea, I think it was programmed by mentally challenged drunken monkeys myself. I can't really offer much advice there as I'm a 3ds max user.

[eMJayBeast]

Yeah it's actually going pretty good with blender I finally found some good tutorials but I have come across a problem with exporting a nif file I have all the plug ins that I need but I am getting an error.

IndexError: List index out of range
location <unknown location>:-1