Creating a Custom Horse

[ElioraArin]

These are the steps that I have discovered work.

 

1. In the Object Window filter box type in horsegrey, then scroll down the list & click all - this should only bring up each of the 4 things that you will need to duplicate & edit to make your own horse.

 

2. Double click SkinHorseGrey & change the ID name. Click on Diffuse once, click on edit next to the texture box, select the texture for the custom colour you have made or downloaded (if you do not have Normal/Gloss or Glow textures just leave these as they are). Click ok & select create new form.

If you also want to use a custom manetail you will then need to make a skin as above for the manetail (enter skinhorsemane in filter box to find what you will need to duplicate), you will probably only have a Diffuse & a Normal/Gloss texture for these.

 

3. Double click NakedHorseGreyAA & change the ID name. Click select next to Biped Model. Only click edit next to the Model File Name box to select a custom mesh if you are using one. In the Alternate Textures box double click horse:0 & select the skin that you created in step 2, repeat this for horse:1, if you also wish to use a custom mane/tail texture right click on horse:3, click on new & select the texture. Click on ok, click on ok & create new form.

 

4. Double click SkinHorseGreyHide & change the ID name. Towards the middle of the bottom right click on NakedHorseGreyAA, click new & select the NakedHorse you made in step 3. Delete NakedHorseGreyAA now listed above your NakedHorse, click ok & create new form.

 

5. Double click EncHorseGrey & change ID name. If you want to give the horse a custom in game name type it in the Name box - the horse will keep this name & will not be given a random one the first time you mount it. If you want the horse to be essential tick the Essential box. Select the Traits bar & in the skin box choose the Hide that you created in step 4. If you want the horse to have a saddle click the Inventory bar & in the Default Outfit box select the horsesaddle you prefer. These are probably the only things you will want to change. Click ok & create new form.

 

6. Open the cell that you want to place your horse in & place the EncHorse you have created, save, exit & test it out in your game.

 

Wallah! The excitement I felt to finally have a chestnut in Skyrim was, well kind of pathetic really, but yay!!!

 

Hope this helps someone else :smile:

Edited November 26, 2015 by ElioraArin

[ElioraArin]

I don't normally venture outside Nexus to get mods or textures, but in trying to find free to use horse resources I just discovered www.slofslair.co.uk - definitely check this one out if you want custom horse colours in your game!

[kittybrod]

Thanks, though I have figured out how to make the buyable horses custom colors (the mane and tail was a NIGHTMARE, but now I have a black with White mane and white with Black mane :D) I have been thinking of taking slof's other textures (I LOVE her textures and have from the first minute I saw them WAAAY back in Pegas Horse Ranch Days) that haven't been used, and adding them to the game as well so I can have a heard of pretty horses :D

[ElioraArin]

The manetail gave me a headache too! I couldn't find any tutorials for making horses & had to figure it all out by trying to see what another mod author had done, then through lots of trial & error - something so easy is made so hard when you have to do it this way! hence the quick post to help out others who may need it :)

[kittybrod]

I tried that as well, though I could never find the mane and tail textures, where it was changed. So finally I asked on the forums and got pointed towards where to change it, so look out skyrim.. Lots of horses with many pretty manes and tails (truthfully I really loved how Oblivion handled the horses where you could choose mane/tail/head/body plus any tack etc.. you wanted to put on individual horses. Endless customization possibilities :D)

[ElioraArin]

Sorry, I forgot to add in instructions for the manetail, hopefully that is easier to understand now after editing - I'm also assuming that people know where to put mesh/texture files, there was a time when I didn't so if anyone is still in that space please me know if you need further direction :D

[kittybrod]

It might help others to put it in, but I have been modding since Morrowind, so I know where to put those by now ;) Plus I usually just go looking through the vanilla files to see where to put everything.

 

Now I have a maybe strange question, maybe obvious. Is there anything 'magical' about their naming structure in the CK? ie they have like enchorseY, skinhorseY, NakedHorseY. Are those there just to keep things straight or do they really need to be named along those lines (haven't downloaded enough mods to tell if anyone deviated from this) I am asking because I am putting the horse textures I have found into one esp for comparison, but it is extremely irritating to have to scroll up and down and change the filter to find all the objects I have to edit and replace, especially when I get out of order so it would be REALLY helpful if I could use my own naming scheme. I know you could in at MW and OB but they have changed a lot in SK that I can see.

 

This all seems so needlessly complicated. My first thought when I was trying to figure this out was that they didn't WANT people to mod the game... It is like trying to make the various horses essential. In OB you went, found the horse, and clicked essential, here you have to find horse, debate whether you want to click that 'traits' box or go find the object that apparently that horse is based upon and check that essential, but what else would that make essential... (sorry for the small rant, but it is very frustrating. One horse skin into the game and you need a dozen steps it seems.....)

[ElioraArin]

I don't think it matters, I have found the horse textures much easier to deal with than the food & plant ones - their file paths don't need to be as specific (I can organise them in new folders that suit me within actors/horse no problem, whereas I couldn't do that with food & plants) so I imagine that there will be flexibility with the names. I would try to make one horse without Enc & Hide etc in the names & see what happens. I made it easier to find mine by putting the initials of my mod at the beginning of each name, then typing my mod initials into the filter & sort boxes.

Edited November 27, 2015 by ElioraArin

[kittybrod]

Okay, thanks, that is what I was wanting to know (ie I would put 'Cat' in front of the horse so I could search 'CatHorse' to bring up all the things needed :D) I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't some hidden script that was used and thus searched for specific naming structure.

 

Yeah, I sort of liked it when you could put your textures/meshes where ever you wanted with no problems, but...

[Billkwando]

These are the steps that I have discovered work.

 

1. In the Object Window filter box type in horsegrey, then scroll down the list & click all - this should only bring up each of the 4 things that you will need to duplicate & edit to make your own horse.

 

2. Double click SkinHorseGrey & change the ID name. Click on Diffuse once, click on edit next to the texture box, select the texture for the custom colour you have made or downloaded (if you do not have Normal/Gloss or Glow textures just leave these as they are). Click ok & select create new form.

If you also want to use a custom manetail you will then need to make a skin as above for the manetail (enter skinhorsemane in filter box to find what you will need to duplicate), you will probably only have a Diffuse & a Normal/Gloss texture for these.

 

3. Double click NakedHorseGreyAA & change the ID name. Click select next to Biped Model. Only click edit next to the Model File Name box to select a custom mesh if you are using one. In the Alternate Textures box double click horse:0 & select the skin that you created in step 2, repeat this for horse:1, if you also wish to use a custom mane/tail texture right click on horse:3, click on new & select the texture. Click on ok, click on ok & create new form.

 

4. Double click SkinHorseGreyHide & change the ID name. Towards the middle of the bottom right click on NakedHorseGreyAA, click new & select the NakedHorse you made in step 3. Delete NakedHorseGreyAA now listed above your NakedHorse, click ok & create new form.

 

5. Double click EncHorseGrey & change ID name. If you want to give the horse a custom in game name type it in the Name box - the horse will keep this name & will not be given a random one the first time you mount it. If you want the horse to be essential tick the Essential box. Select the Traits bar & in the skin box choose the Hide that you created in step 4. If you want the horse to have a saddle click the Inventory bar & in the Default Outfit box select the horsesaddle you prefer. These are probably the only things you will want to change. Click ok & create new form.

 

6. Open the cell that you want to place your horse in & place the EncHorse you have created, save, exit & test it out in your game.

 

Wallah! The excitement I felt to finally have a chestnut in Skyrim was, well kind of pathetic really, but yay!!!

 

Hope this helps someone else :smile:

 

This was very helpful, but the one huge thing it's missing is how to keep your horse from wandering away.

 

The AI Packages tab, in the Edit window.

 

 

 

You just have to right-click on that window and click New and choose DefaultStayAtCurrentLocation and then the horse won't wander back to the cell they came from.

 

I know it's an old thread, but I spent a night and a morning trying to figure this out, and I'm not leaving it so it can happen to the next person who stumbles in via Google.

Edited October 25, 2021 by Billkwando