Just tested it out and it works! Time to get cracking!
Thank you very much for your support and your instant response. I'll be sure to share my mod work when it's taken shape.
Edit: Well, I'm left dealing with this issue:
http://i.imgur.com/KoydePI.jpg (nude barbie doll anatomy warning)
Even though I'm exporting a smooth clean unified mesh, it comes out split up at UV seams with messed up normals. I baked out super clean normal maps but it was no help. Possibly related to the normal vector issues from prior? I also saw this happening when the lighting issue was occurring.
I can send files over again if it's necessary, just let me know.
Edit: Nevermind! I flipped a normal map axis and the problem went poof
