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[LE] Need help creating a headwear (Earrings) mod


AkiKay

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Hello everyone,

 

I'm currently modelling and texturing a pair of earrings for Skyrim and was wondering if anyone could tell me how to prepare them for ingame use and how to make them wearable ? A few months back I tried to make another headwear mod but couldn't find a single tutorial on how to do it.

I tried around myself a bit but eventually gave up.

 

I'd really appreciate some help!

Edited by AkiKay
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Whenever you are looking to create your own mod of any kind the first thing you should ask yourself is what does my mod do and what is needed to do it. In your case your mod is one that adds new headparts in the game that a player can use. Since your mod is adding new to the game and not replacing existing your mod will need to create a new plugin (esp, esm etc) to work. Take advantage of stable existing mods that do the same or similar to what your mod will do and use them as a reference. This will potentially save you alot of trial and error as you can use it to see what files and record changes are made in it as you will likely need to do the same for yours.

Example. KS Jewelry by Stealthic and Kalilies https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/67309

First thing to look at is the file structure. You can see that new files are added into both meshes and textures folders so you will want to do similar. I have found it is generally desirable to use the name or abbreviation of the name you will give your mod so for this will just say "My New Earrings"

Meshes\My New Earrings\
Textures\My New Earrings\

So now you have a new folder to put both your new models and textures you made.

For the meshes, look for a good general tutorial that is made for whatever program you used to create them. The steps will be different for Blender vs 3DSM etc. You need to export your model into a nif file the game can read. Same goes for the textures. This is again where using an existing mod helps you. You can look at what texture types, resolution and what if any compression was used.

To add in the new record changes you can first use Xedit to pull up KS and see what changes it made as you will likely be doing the same or very similar for yours. Doing this I can see that you will need to at the very least create both a new Armor Addon and Armor for each new item your mod adds. The cell and container edits you see was to have a new box or chest that the player can retrieve them from in the game. I have seen many new mods that do not do that and simply tell the user to add them with a mod like additemmenu. Not very immersive but much simpler as you do not then need to place them in the game.

Using creation kit find an existing armor and armor add on that is closest to what you want to add in the game. Once you find one open each and say for example you have a silver pair so you could name the add on 00MNEsilverAA and armor 00MNEsilver. Make the changes needed to include pointing to your new nif. Save and close creating a new record for each. Now you have a gold pair you simply open your new silver you made and change name to gold and any changes it needs. Rinse and repeat until you have a new Armor and Armor addon for each piece your mod adds to the game.

This should give you a basic summary of what you will need to do. When you get to testing it if you run into issues go back and cross check it with a known good in this case KS. The record can be easily compared using Xedit, nifs compared with nifscope etc many times you can catch simple mistakes made easily this way. As a final note, consider tracking and writing down what you do. Once you get your own mod made and working you can then share your own tutorial for others.

Good luck and happy modding

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Whenever you are looking to create your own mod of any kind the first thing you should ask yourself is what does my mod do and what is needed to do it. In your case your mod is one that adds new headparts in the game that a player can use. Since your mod is adding new to the game and not replacing existing your mod will need to create a new plugin (esp, esm etc) to work. Take advantage of stable existing mods that do the same or similar to what your mod will do and use them as a reference. This will potentially save you alot of trial and error as you can use it to see what files and record changes are made in it as you will likely need to do the same for yours.

 

Example. KS Jewelry by Stealthic and Kalilies https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/67309

 

First thing to look at is the file structure. You can see that new files are added into both meshes and textures folders so you will want to do similar. I have found it is generally desirable to use the name or abbreviation of the name you will give your mod so for this will just say "My New Earrings"

 

Meshes\My New Earrings\

Textures\My New Earrings\

 

So now you have a new folder to put both your new models and textures you made.

 

For the meshes, look for a good general tutorial that is made for whatever program you used to create them. The steps will be different for Blender vs 3DSM etc. You need to export your model into a nif file the game can read. Same goes for the textures. This is again where using an existing mod helps you. You can look at what texture types, resolution and what if any compression was used.

 

To add in the new record changes you can first use Xedit to pull up KS and see what changes it made as you will likely be doing the same or very similar for yours. Doing this I can see that you will need to at the very least create both a new Armor Addon and Armor for each new item your mod adds. The cell and container edits you see was to have a new box or chest that the player can retrieve them from in the game. I have seen many new mods that do not do that and simply tell the user to add them with a mod like additemmenu. Not very immersive but much simpler as you do not then need to place them in the game.

 

Using creation kit find an existing armor and armor add on that is closest to what you want to add in the game. Once you find one open each and say for example you have a silver pair so you could name the add on 00MNEsilverAA and armor 00MNEsilver. Make the changes needed to include pointing to your new nif. Save and close creating a new record for each. Now you have a gold pair you simply open your new silver you made and change name to gold and any changes it needs. Rinse and repeat until you have a new Armor and Armor addon for each piece your mod adds to the game.

 

This should give you a basic summary of what you will need to do. When you get to testing it if you run into issues go back and cross check it with a known good in this case KS. The record can be easily compared using Xedit, nifs compared with nifscope etc many times you can catch simple mistakes made easily this way. As a final note, consider tracking and writing down what you do. Once you get your own mod made and working you can then share your own tutorial for others.

 

Good luck and happy modding

 

Thanks for the help! After a bunch of asking around and trying out, I managed to get all the way to the last step, importing it into the Creation Kit. So after I was done, I went to check it out in game and noticed that my earrings were in fact invisible. I tried asking some people and tried some stuff out but nothing really seemed to work.In particular, I tried unchecking 'Skinned' in the Shader Property in nifskope, tried to assign a proper 'body part' in the Partitions tab of BSDismemberSkinInstance and also tried re-doing my weights. Yet again, nothing seems to work and there doesn't seem to be any help in sight.

 

Do you have any idea why my .nif could be invisible in game ? I'm so close to being done so I'd hate to stop on the last step of the way :sad:

Edited by AkiKay
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Some things to check to ensure they are setup correctly.

For your Record ( esp, esl etc)

Use Xedit and pull your plugin up. Expand both armor and armor addon in the left pane.

For armor addon

body slot flag set for 43-Ears

For race "Default Race" selected

Double check it is correct nif/path

Under additional races ensure all playable races you wish to be able to use it are listed. If not add them in.

For armor

body slot flag set for 43-Ears

For race "Default Race" selected

Double check it is correct nif/path

Armature - check to make sure the correct armor addon is here

For your new textures. Verify they were saved in a format the game can read. There are tools that scan textures for issues you may consider using if you are unsure

For your new models.

nifscope allows multiple windows so you can open a known working alongside yours that is invisible to compare settings. Check your lighting shader property to ensure you have the correct map set and flags.

Under shader texture set check to make sure the paths are correct for diffuse, normal etc

Check under partitions to make sure that it is the same as what is set in the plugin. In this case 43-Ears. Expect issues if there is mismatch between the slot(s) set in nif and plugin they should be the same

Finally if you have done all you know how and still have trouble reach out to one of the resident pros here that specialize in jewelry. Some have made enough they can prob do it in there sleep by now like NEWMILLER

Dont give up, I ran into many issues when I made my own mods and kept at it till it did what I wanted without errors. You are very close and it will feel good when you get it that way for yourself.

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Some things to check to ensure they are setup correctly.

 

For your Record ( esp, esl etc)

 

Use Xedit and pull your plugin up. Expand both armor and armor addon in the left pane.

 

For armor addon

 

body slot flag set for 43-Ears

 

For race "Default Race" selected

 

Double check it is correct nif/path

 

Under additional races ensure all playable races you wish to be able to use it are listed. If not add them in.

 

For armor

 

body slot flag set for 43-Ears

 

For race "Default Race" selected

 

Double check it is correct nif/path

 

Armature - check to make sure the correct armor addon is here

 

For your new textures. Verify they were saved in a format the game can read. There are tools that scan textures for issues you may consider using if you are unsure

 

For your new models.

 

nifscope allows multiple windows so you can open a known working alongside yours that is invisible to compare settings. Check your lighting shader property to ensure you have the correct map set and flags.

 

Under shader texture set check to make sure the paths are correct for diffuse, normal etc

 

Check under partitions to make sure that it is the same as what is set in the plugin. In this case 43-Ears. Expect issues if there is mismatch between the slot(s) set in nif and plugin they should be the same

 

Finally if you have done all you know how and still have trouble reach out to one of the resident pros here that specialize in jewelry. Some have made enough they can prob do it in there sleep by now like NEWMILLER

 

Dont give up, I ran into many issues when I made my own mods and kept at it till it did what I wanted without errors. You are very close and it will feel good when you get it that way for yourself.

 

Thanks again,

 

I'll try to go through the steps and see if something fixes it. Some I already tried but there are a few to still check I suppose.

 

Also I saved my textures in .dds but did not use some sort of compression (BC7 I think). Can that cause issues ? Additionally, the way I applied all my textures in nifskope could be wrong. I went to the textureset and just inserted my diffuse map into the first one, the normal map into the second, the metallic map into the third and the smoothness map into the fourth. I'm not exactly sure if this is the correct way and order really. I haven't quite understood how textures work yet and if they can cause this invisibility, as this is one of my first attempts at getting something game-ready :sweat:

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