including decals in weight painting for rigged models I have created details on a character models clothing using the method described

here

which basically copies the underlying mesh and projects the detail onto it. this works well because i can have a high resolution detail (such as a logo on a shirt) without having to make the whole shirt match that resolution. this technique works fine for still models but as soon as i try to rig the model using auto weight painting it runs into problems. it seems that the decals, despite being exact replicas of the mesh underneath them, are not included in the weight painting and so react unpredictably(i have tried joining and boolean union on  the mesh) . is there any way to get past this without having to bake on these textures which would result in the need for a very large resolution texture?
many thanks.
I think that you should be able to make use of 'empty weights' and mesh data transfer to copy the weights from your weight painted body to the separate clothes.
I came across this useful answer that should hopefully be of use to you : https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34719718/transferring-rig-weights-from-one-mesh-to-another-in-blender-2-76/34760742#34760742