What do you do to keep a nice workflow and stay organized and focused?

[Athanasa]

I'm ADHD enough that all my organization really doesn't help me be more productive as a modder. Â Pretty much I go with whatever looks shiniest to me at any given moment. Â Getting organized and cleaning is just my way of procrastinating when modding isn't shiny enough. :D

Same. I'll have a day of ADHD/Aspie hyperfocus productivity and organise a load of stuff, get really obsessed by it. Spreadsheets, diagrams, to-do lists, colour schemes, physical notes.

 

... only to slip back into laziness in a week.

[genolune]

I did massively clean up my main m2 ssd where I have Blender, Creation Kit, Audacity, DDS Converter, Gimp, NifSkope, Nexus Mod Manager and Fallout 4. All my backups are on the hard drive. I keep a lot of unzipped textures for comparison there and to mix and match the different maps for different effects.

 

To help me focus, I just deleted all the utilities I wasn't using, wiped all my games (after zipping them and sending them to the hard drive), and did a fresh install of steam and Fallout 4. I wiped my bookmarks clean and now I have a more or less sterile working environment to focus on actually producing content and learning skills when I am at my computer.

 

The hard part for me is to stay focused and keep working on my 3D modelling/Creation Kit/voice acting knowledge and skills.

[damanding]

 

I'm ADHD enough that all my organization really doesn't help me be more productive as a modder. Â Pretty much I go with whatever looks shiniest to me at any given moment. Â Getting organized and cleaning is just my way of procrastinating when modding isn't shiny enough. :D

Same. I'll have a day of ADHD/Aspie hyperfocus productivity and organise a load of stuff, get really obsessed by it. Spreadsheets, diagrams, to-do lists, colour schemes, physical notes.

 

... only to slip back into laziness in a week.

 

Me too. That's the funny part about ADHD that most people don't realize happens...the hyperfocus. Super useful though for getting stuff done. You just have to find a way to make it shiny enough and interesting enough to hyperfocus on it. :D

[AGreatWeight]

a) Nifskope, three versions of PS for texture work/visuals for mod page, OBS and Rad Video Tools for recording/encoding game footage, Shotcut for video editing, Reason + Audacity for audio editing, CK, BAE for mesh/texture/sound archiving. I have everything on my F drive (with a back-up on my I drive that I really need to back-up more frequently) on one folder, split up into completed mods and w-i-p mods folders. Inside w-i-p folder I have sub folders for the random ideas I have for mods - some are actually works in progress, but the majority are little lightbulb moments that I have no idea if they'll ever be realized as usually they're a little over-ambitious for me. I try to keep a similar file structure to the vanilla fallout 4 files so it makes it easier to reference them if needed. I did have seperate shortcuts on my desktop for everything, but like my desktop clutter free so just have one shortcut now that takes me to my my mods folder on the F drive. I'm still searching for an optimal and more intuative way of organizing things, so will likely change it all in the next week or so (I've taken a few weeks out from modding so I could play Fallout 4 for a change)

b) There's a pile of post-it notes that I've been piling up on a drawing pad next to my keyboard for the last few months that I really should take a look at.

c) I usually just let a massive list build up until I get so annoying having to scroll through it trying to find something that I force myself to organize it.

d) Usually via a parent folder, containing lots of sub-folders for the required files. Keep it like tree branches. Any folders that need to be next to each other for easier identification/navigation I usually prefix with X, Y, or Z.

[greekrage]

i never keep track on anything, i just do wat i wana do, and most of the time it works fine, meaning in the end it works like i want and or intended

 

cleaning your desk ?, i eat smoke drink above my keyboard only thing i don't do is sleeping on it, 1's in a while i turn my keyboard over and give it some slaps, you would be surprise wat come's out :D

Thats me as well OH and A LOT of coffee...in a beer mug :P

[greekrage]

A friendly tip..

 

Modding isnt a JOB .

 

We have enough "organization" shoved up our butts at work...

 

Relax...have a beer or coffee...go with the flow...dont force yourself to finish something cause that leads to mistakes or oversights.

 

When i do my locations i go back and forth from CK to in game and look at what ive done..I hover over it etc...thinking and sometimes i even end up REdoing the whole thing cause it looked bad to me..

 

You need to let it sink in and think about it.....In most cases leaving it and going back you are re-inspired and maybe have a new idea or approach..

 

and above all try to have FUN...cause thats why we do it...

[BlahBlahDEEBlahBlah]

I won't go through all the other stuff, as I use all the same programs everyone else here does.

 

Edit: I take that back. I do tend to use texts for reminders and my phones browser for looking up certain things quicker. Also, I will frequently have Creation Kit open on the other systems so I can reference something from another DLC (Far Harbor, Nuka, etc) without the possibility of adding it as a master, as I had a very lame issue with that before and took a week to clean out the master (even using FO4Edit with help from their posts page...nice people, by the way).

/Edit

 

However, I will note that having 5-6 object windows open is very helpful to me. Things like (as noted by Greek in another thread) bunker pieces will be in a couple different places, and easier than searching each time or doing some other workaround.

 

Also, that I've taken to never saving from within my worldspace. Instead, I click into aaamarkers and save while there. As your mods grow into the hundreds of MBs, this can prove a major time saver.

[genolune]

@ Damanding and Athanasa

You guys do anything to overcome those issues?

 

Also you have given me an idea to research turning on hyperfocus at will.

 

Also, pictures are up for anyone interested.

 

Can a moderator please sticky this? This may help other modders significantly.

[llamaRCA]

@ Damanding and Athanasa

You guys do anything to overcome those issues?

 

 

I have a ADD diagnosis and the attention issues that go with that. What works for me is to work only on things that completely captivate me. That's no exaggeration. I have to totally love what I'm working on and enjoy something about the game I'm working in or I can't get anything done. One of the biggest reasons I've never been able to finish a companion for Skyrim is because I just don't like being in the game enough to build there. And I just cannot power through that boredom or whatever it is about being in a game I just don't much like.

 

I also find that large projects are best for me. They offer so much variety in the kinds of tasks that need to be done that I can bounce around to work on whichever sounds interesting to me in that moment. If one day I don't feel like scripting, I can go work on textures, or if that sounds terrible I can go build some dialogue, or if that sounds too boring for words I can go set up some other thing. A large mod that offers lots of options with a unified goal keeps me on target and allows me to harness the hyperfocus for good.

 

I keep a lot of notes and lists because I rarely start working on a particular feature and complete it all in one go. So I end up needing notes and reference documents to guide me during my intermittent work sessions on that particular thing.

[Athanasa]

@ Damanding and Athanasa

You guys do anything to overcome those issues?

I just give in to the whims of my brain. Sort of like when you can't remember a word, and chasing it only makes it run further away. But really, there isn't enough space on a phone to properly say what I want to say.

 

Other than that, Ritalin/Concerta.

 

Living with ADHD is like... I hope you can drive.

 

It's like driving a car with crap breaks. By the time you realise you shouldn't be doing something it's too late.

 

Basically the part of your brain responsible for impulse control is underdeveloped. Y'know how your brain will throw up suggestions like, "You could do X in this station..." in day to day life? Ours skips the "you should" and goes straight to "you are" before your conscious mind can sanity check the action.

 

The actual time delay is tiny - think of it as like playing with lag, except you lag FORWARD. Like playing League or something with 500 ping, except your character has a mind of its own and keeps getting distracted.

 

Mind you, it's mostly the instinctive part of the brain that does this. The lizard brain, or whatever. Our decision making isn't slowed, it just tends to arrive at our conscious mind slower than it becomes action.

 

A short term solution (read: an hour before it gets exhausting) is to be highly mentally aware of EVERYTHING you are doing. Like supervising a toddler on a sugar high, except you are also the toddler.

 

Being tired or stressed makes it worse, further inhibiting our attempts to keep up with ourselves.

 

ANYWAY! ADHD meds are usually stimulants, and they work because they boost everything in our brains, INCLUDING the under developed part responsible for impulse control.

 

Imagine the meds give +5 to everything in your brain, picking arbitrary numbers.

 

Most stuff in your brain has a score of 40.

Your Impulsinator's score is 10.

 

Boosting your Impulsinator score to 15 is an increase of half as much again, it's a MASSIVE difference. The +5 everywhere else it's nice, but not as important as this.

 

Also why ADHD meds should by taken at a dosage that wouldn't get anyone high. You don't feel yourself getting smarter our colours getting brighter - you're just finally able to keep focused on what you're doing.

Edited November 24, 2016 by Athanasa