Thanks for the electronic cookie, Hanaisse. I can enjoy it without guilt.
To be honest, I don't know what exact file it was. I was trying to change textures on armor add-on models and the global model for a thieves guild variant that I had copied and renamed. The hope was to make the armor look unique without having to learn high level design and spend a lot of time on little things.
Then I got a texture error, the file disappeared off the menu and I don't really know how to put it back. So I just closed without saving. It was just the copies I was messing with, or so I thought. But now that you mention it, the armor did just disappear, like the root mesh file (maybe?) for all characters was screwed up.
When I returned, the files were back in the proper place, but some of the body stuff was missing. It was just armor without a torso arm model in the curaiss category. I checked some of the original files and they looked okay, but in-game the armor not only didn't appear on characters, but on me as well.
I think that what you said initially about CK update problem may be the cause. Of course, logically, that has to get resolved before I do any more tinkering or move forward on what I think I did wrong. Best to wait for the fix on the update (I did get it,) before trying to troubleshoot what may be nothing.
Thank you so much for your help. I will definitely be staying around to learn more about this confounded program.