Hmm, can't say i'm knowledgeable in the efficiency of SFM. But unless the problem proves significant, or a more efficient (and still compact) alternative is suggested, i'm probably going to keep the models combined. Because while trying to make the preview images, it was indeed tedious sifting through all the variants and having to repeatedly load in and try a different model until the textures finally lined up.

Not sure as sfm is very efficent, but it may cause extra memory usage if theyre bodygrouped into same model? not sure at all but just something to consider maybe

@Osha Lominsa
Thank you for the advice. I had originally thought texture groups for the different variations, but since they were different mappings of the textures, I couldn't do that. I hadn't even considered body groups. I'll have an update as soon as I can.

holy shit man ty ty ty

This is pretty awesome, my only comment would be that it would help reduce clutter if the different variations of a piece was body grouped to one model instead of separating them to 4.