Modding for PS4, what can we do? (Q&A)

[ErianDragonborn]

As you probably know, making mods for PS4 is not easy.

I don't own a PS4, but I'd still like to make as many of my mods PS4-friendly as I can and I now want to know exactly what the restrictions are, and what possible workarounds are.

 

Perhaps other modauthors can help think of workarounds for PS4 problems?

Cause:
The cause of a big part of the trouble is that PS4 doesn't allow external assets. As far as I'm aware, that means no new textures, no new meshes, no new scripts.

Also, the mod number limit has gone down to 100. This means that you have to use your modspace wisely.

 

Q&A:
- One can't add custom scripts, but are scripts that are attached to a quest also forbidden? Quests pretty much always use a script for starting a scene, for advancing through the stages etc. Can we use those on PS4?

I don't know yet. I will try this weekend, unless someone comes with an answer before then.

- Can I edit existing scripts and use those?

No. This will also require you to package it, and that is impossible (thanks to Lisselli).

 

Workarounds:

- We can't add scripts to make mods configurable with a menu

In some cases, you can work around it by adding a configure chest with configure items somewhere in Skyrim.
For example: say you want to change the duration of the candlelight spell to either 1 min, 2 min, or 5 min. You can add 3 (weightless) items to a chest. One for each option. Then, change the candlelight spell so that the duration of the spell depends on which item is present in the players inventory.
Restrictions: This can only be done for things that accept conditions. Spell effects are an example of this.

 

- we can't add new textures

Entirely new textures are no possibility on PS4, but there is something you can do. This workaround comes from cyan49, over on Bethesda.net, who was nice enough to share it with me.
"The Creation Kit has a feature called Texture Set. This is primarily Pack of files such as Diffuse Map, Normal Map, Environment Mask.
I can use this function to change the color of weapons and armor. Texture Set and Altenate Texture are existing CK systems, which are actually used in the game.

To make sure of this you should refer to Item / ArmorAddon / StormcloakCuirass /... Cuirass of Whiterun and Dawnster is doing Altenate Texture to the model of Armor \ StormCloaks \ CuirassM_1.nif.

If you want to change the color of the weapon, the 3rd person model of that weapon and 1st person model of WorldObjects / Static / Weapons / ... Then change 1st Person Model Object in the Item / Weapon / [Art and Sound] tab. If you created a new 1st Person Model, specify it.

Texture Set can be used as Alternate Texture of Item Data. And they can be created newly in the Creation Kit. I am composing Texture Set by combining Skyrim's existing Texture. However, since the Creation Kit can not read the bsa. File, you need to open the Texture.bsa file once.

Even if Texture of the internal resource is used, Creation Kit handles files in the Data/Texture tab as external files, so temporarily move all files in Data/Texture when uploading as PS4 mod It is necessary to do. It is necessary to move temporarily to somewhere else that is not Skyrim Special Edition / Data folder. It can be My Documents folder or desktop.

If the file path is correct, it will work without external resources."

Edited April 10, 2017 by ErianDragonborn

[Lisselli]

Can't add new scripts. Can't edit vanilla scripts in an attempt to be clever. Both means you need to add them to your BSA.. therefore, adding a script to a quest of any nature = you need to add the source file to your BSA. And scenes come with their own scripts if you add a script to the scene forms. PS4 = No BSAs I believe.

[ErvielSchmerviel97]

This thread is a little old but it can't hurt to try I guess:

 

I am trying to create a mod for the PS4 since that is where I play Skyrim, and I have been struggling to figure out what constitutes an external asset. I want to make sure that everything I am doing will work properly before I even try to port it to Playstation for testing. I have found ZERO online sources that explain what an external asset is, except for one or two comments on this Forum, and obviously I am still fairly lost.

 

Right now I am trying to figure out if creating NEW triggers will be allowed. The triggers will all use existing scripts, and are essentially duplicates of existing triggers, they just need to function for different items.

 

I am sure later down the line I might have other questions but for now this is the only thing that has been bugging me. If anyone knows, or if anyone can point me in the right direction, I would be truly greatful!

 

Thanks!

[KhajitDave]

AFAIK you can edit scripts in a way- it seems that some scripts have certain properties that can be edited.

For example, there's a "Transmogrify" spell which turns people into chickens. If you go into the dunTransmogrifyFFaimed magic effect, you will see the script in the bottom right corner and you can edit the properties. So you can edit this to make it so that NPC's turn into a different creature, and this works on PS4 since it doesn't count as a new script- you're just editing certain aspects of the script (in the same way you can edit an NPC's stats). However, the property itself, which designates the type of thing the NPC is turned into, is set as "actor", and this can't be changed as far as I know.

 

 

This thread is a little old but it can't hurt to try I guess:

 

I am trying to create a mod for the PS4 since that is where I play Skyrim, and I have been struggling to figure out what constitutes an external asset. I want to make sure that everything I am doing will work properly before I even try to port it to Playstation for testing. I have found ZERO online sources that explain what an external asset is, except for one or two comments on this Forum, and obviously I am still fairly lost.

 

Right now I am trying to figure out if creating NEW triggers will be allowed. The triggers will all use existing scripts, and are essentially duplicates of existing triggers, they just need to function for different items.

 

I am sure later down the line I might have other questions but for now this is the only thing that has been bugging me. If anyone knows, or if anyone can point me in the right direction, I would be truly greatful!

 

Thanks!

 

As far as I know an external asset is any new file other than the ".esp" mod file. So modding for PS4 can only involve editing numbers, values and parameters etc. New models, sounds, scripts and textures are all extra files. I think as a general rule of thumb, anything you can do within the Creation Kit won't be an external asset. I suppose you could think of it as a giant database or spreadsheet- you can add new rows, change the data types and modify the values, but that's all. Adding a picture in the spreadsheet for example obviously involves an external file.

 

I haven't tried it out yet but I think your method of using triggers could work. Like I mentioned earlier, you should be able to modify existing scripts so that they point to your quest instead of the quest they were originally made for.