Okay guys, I am sorry if this has already been posted, but I have been searching for about three days and haven't been able to locate an answer.

I am planning on purchasing a 3-d printer for cosplay, and have been playing around with .nif files from Skyrim. My question is, once you convert the .nif mesh to .obj, are you only able to print the mesh .obj files? As in, are MTL texture files 2d without a 3d substance to them, making them unprintable? I've figured out how to open the .nif files in nifskope and apply the correct textures to them, but when I export and open in 123D it's a very rough model with tons of polygonal edges. Am I doing something wrong, here? I am guessing the texture files do not actually add a physical texture to the mesh, only color, or am I wrong and doing ten thousand different noob mistakes?

Also, if my assumption is correct, how would I go about actually adding the MTL texture so it will convert over and physically print as literal texture? I am not opposed to learning or hours of research, I just don't want to drop a fortune on a printer and then find out I didn't know what I was doing and end up having it sit in storage for months while I learn ins and outs.