# Replace a player item with an NPC item
### Summary
**Created & Published**: November 05 2022 by **@manavortex**\
**Last documented edit**: Feb 28 2024 by **@manavortex**
This tutorial will teach you how to switch a player mesh for an NPC garment and map its variants to the existing colours.
Other relevant know-how for this process (you don't need to read them if you already know which item you want to replace):
* [Finding an item's spawn code and mesh](https://wiki.redmodding.org/cyberpunk-2077-modding/for-mod-creators-theory/references-lists-and-overviews/equipment/spawn-codes-baseids-hashes#from-a-baseid-to-an-items-materials)
For a guide how to import meshes into Cyberpunk, check [here](https://wiki.redmodding.org/cyberpunk-2077-modding/for-mod-creators-theory/3d-modelling/exporting-and-importing-meshes).
{% hint style="danger" %}
Make sure that you replace an item that you can actually spawn — not all items in V's folder are actually spawn-able =>[spawn-codes-baseids-hashes](https://wiki.redmodding.org/cyberpunk-2077-modding/for-mod-creators-theory/references-lists-and-overviews/equipment/spawn-codes-baseids-hashes "mention")
{% endhint %}
## Step 1: Replace the mesh
**Perquisite:** You need a Wolvenkit project.
Find the mesh that you want to use ("the old mesh") and replace it with the one that you want to switch in ("the new mesh").
{% hint style="info" %}
Example: Replacing the short-sleeved poser jacket with the monk shirt with the tied-back sleeves. For the male variant, replace `_pwa_` with `_pma`\_ and `_wa_` with `_ma_`.
{% endhint %}
| the old mesh | `base\characters\garment\player_equipment\torso\t2_084_jacket__short_sleeves\t2_084_pwa__short_sleeves.mesh` |
| ------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| the new mesh |
|
1. Find both files in the Asset Browser and add them to your project.
2. Move the replacement mesh to the original mesh's folder.
3. Rename the old mesh (e.g. "`t2_084_pwa__short_sleeves.mesh`" -> "`original.mesh`").
4. Rename the new mesh to **replace** the old mesh (e.g. "`t2_135_wa_jacket__monk_shirt.mesh`" -> "`t2_084_pwa__short_sleeves.mesh`")
5. Open both meshes in WolvenKit by double-clicking them in the Project Explorer — we will now transfer the appearance names to enable **variants**.
See Step 2 for more intel on this
## Step 2: Enabling variants
The game looks up appearances in a mesh file **by name**. If none can be found, then game meshes will fall back to the `default` appearance, which is how the early replacers worked — every variant (base\_01, old\_01, rich\_01) would simply spawn the default appearance.
We can simply transfer the names from the old mesh to the new mesh by renaming the entries in the appearances array.
{% hint style="info" %}
If there are more entries than variants available, or if you're just curious which spawn code corresponds to which appearance, go [here](https://wiki.redmodding.org/cyberpunk-2077-modding/for-mod-creators-theory/references-lists-and-overviews/equipment/spawn-codes-baseids-hashes#from-a-baseid-to-an-items-materials) for a guide how to find out.
{% endhint %}
Now that we have done that, we can start recolouring.
## Step 3 (optional): Find the .mlsetups
Each appearance in the appearances array has a list of chunkMask entries (one per submesh), which are assigned a material by name.
{% hint style="info" %}
For a full guide on [Editing mesh appearances](https://wiki.redmodding.org/cyberpunk-2077-modding/modding-guides/items-equipment/editing-existing-items/changing-materials-colors-and-textures), follow the link (you don't have to).
{% endhint %}
For a more detailed explanation, you can check [this page](https://github.com/CDPR-Modding-Documentation/Cyberpunk-Modding-Docs/blob/main/for-mod-creators-theory/files-and-what-they-do/file-formats/3d-objects-.mesh-files#chunkmaterials), but all we care about right now is this lookup chain:
## Step 4: Success!
You can now save your mesh, then **install your mod** by clicking on the green arrow in Wolvenkit's toolbar. Once you have started up the game, the old item will now look like your new mesh — including its variants.
{% hint style="info" %}
For a guide on how to edit an .mlsetup file (or to change an item's appearance in general), see [here](https://wiki.redmodding.org/cyberpunk-2077-modding/modding-guides/items-equipment/changing-materials-colors-and-textures#exporting-the-.mlsetup).
{% endhint %}
Enjoy!
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