Allannaa

Good point, Ishara. At any rate, I'm still plugging along with Sjogga's tute. I'm not sure I'm "getting" it, but at least we can understand what he writes, which is a huge plus!

I did that, following the steps EXACTLY, and no matter what, the script would not compile. I also actually did the "game.getplayer().add.item(questriddle,1) and it refused. I got so frustrated I actually made the amulet from the bethesda tute and typed THAT in there, and it wouldn't compile. Then I tried it with random items and books straight out of the CK's stock iassets and nothing -- no matter whether or not I created an alias (an alias for believe it or not, 500 gold even), it DID NOT compile, ever. It wouldn't run as part of a dialogue either, because I tried like heck to attatch it to the OldLady's dialogues. She goes thru her Yes I got work for ya, you want it?.... just fine. She lets the player say Yes or No just fine. What she won't do is give the list, accept the items once collected, give the key, or mark the map. I literally have followed every Beth tute on this, to include doing the exact quest the given tute is on, and I cannot get stuff to work like the tutes. I also tried this: Then I did this: I gave up. Sjogga has since written a tutorial on another thread that actually teaches Papyrus without all the confusing silly crap, so I'm working on that in hopes to learn how this does, in fact, work. But it doesn't cut the frustration; I gues Ob spoiled me, because you basically really COULD type "event mynpc do this endevent" and have it work. Oh and, "OldLadyList" is actually a "note", and it's called "OldLadyRiddle"... based on an existing note with (obviously! hehe) the text of the list, not Delphine's Dossier (the model used).

Are we any closer to finding or writing tutrorials for some of the other items on our front page? Also are we any closer to a scripting tute that won't go as in depth as Sjogga's does? I'm talking along the lines of "Type this in this part, to make this happen" more than "This is how it works and why". Sjogga's covers that last type better than any other one I've found. I personally am still working with Sjogga's to learn the script itself. It's not easy but his tutorials are so much more understandable than the "official ones".

Copied your snippet exactly, and here's the compile fail: Starting 1 compile threads for 1 files... Compiling "TIF__01023EA2"... c:\steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\Data\Scripts\Source\temp\TIF__01023EA2.psc(11,0): variable Alias_OldLadyAlias is undefined c:\steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\Data\Scripts\Source\temp\TIF__01023EA2.psc(11,17): none is not a known user-defined type c:\steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\Data\Scripts\Source\temp\TIF__01023EA2.psc(11,35): variable Alias_QuestList is undefined c:\steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\Data\Scripts\Source\temp\TIF__01023EA2.psc(11,54): none is not a known user-defined type c:\steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\Data\Scripts\Source\temp\TIF__01023EA2.psc(11,26): none is not a known user-defined type No output generated for TIF__01023EA2, compilation failed. Batch compile of 1 files finished. 0 succeeded, 1 failed. Failed on TIF__01023EA2 What on earth am I goofing up? The aliases themselves?

I did cover this in my tutorial, though I used the term typecast. OH!!! Okay *now* I almost begin to understand, thank you!

you are correct. it means a WHOLE number. So -- "Int" = number from 0 to 9 and -- "Float" = a decimal like .14159 or sumpin?

Okay, Ishara, that makes sense -- but -- is there a way for things to be explained, which will make sense to non-programmers (or in my case, idiots)? Honestly, I still don't know if the snippet I copied, has something to do with casting a spell or what. Seriously, like I said, Sjogga's tutorials are awesome (even this one that I don't understand) but surely there are some commonalities among "modder-written" scripts, like the ones I mentioned -- advance a quest, add or take an item, mark a map, and so on...? Yes, all mods are different, and yes, everyone's stuff does something a little new or whatnot but still -- aren't there those commonalities I mentioned? Frankly -- I can get all the damn rocks I want to talk, I can bring back all the amulets from all the dead thieves in Skyrim, and so on. But I can't extend that to other situations, and all the code definitions in the universe aren't going to help me, when the definitions are so "weird" to an average person. (For instance, and this is NOT NOT NOT a slam at Sjogga) I still think "int" or "integer" refers to some off the wall math term that may mean "a number", and I still think "cast" has something to do with a spell. You see what I'm getting at? I'm going to keep looking for "scripting for beyond dumb dummies" to post here for us all, but meantime, I'm also going to keep re-reading Sjogga's already-posted stuff. Which reminds me, there are still other bits of the "list of stuff we want to learn" that need finding -- Don't be shy folks, if you wrote or found one, link it in and we'll add it! (And aside to Kiwi-Hawk, I thought I was the only person on earth who still said Kia Ora!)

The only issue I have with tutes of this sort tho, is, it assumes the person really wants to learn to code -- That isn't always the case. Sometimes, the reader just wants to know how to do something specific -- How to add an item to inventory, how to make a quest update after a bad guy is killed, and so on. I'm NOT saying it's a bad thing to explain how to code, btw. I just wonder if there are also tutes anyone has found which don't explain "why", and just say "do this to make this happen" type things. I read the pages linked by Sjogga above, and basically none of it meant anything to me because the examples were too abstract... or because I'm dumb as a rock, take your pick, but I'm not the only one. For instance -- "The cast operator attempts to cast the value from the left expression to the type to the right of it, and returns the resulting value. Examples: ; cast a to a float and assign it to i i = a as float" What on earth does that mean? To me "cast" means cast a spell... is that what this code snippet does? And what happened to simple "code" like "If (player has killed baddie)... Then (quest update setstage 100)" type stuff? I guess what I'm saying is, does a person really need to know what all these things mean in terms of computer language? Isn't there just some simple way of saying "Type this to make this happen, and attach it to this NPC or to this item". Like the "make anything a chair" or "display your claws" tutorials -- we didn't have to understand all these esoteric terms. We just had to know, Do this, This, and This.

Okay, this is the part where I admit I'm apparently dumb as a sack of rocks. I tried Littleork's suggestion and I still am getting nowhere. This is what I have that won't compile: Scriptname OldLady01OldLadyList extends ObjectReference Quest Property OldLady01 Auto Event game.getplayer().additem(0101CC88,1) OldLady01.SetObjectiveDisplayed(20) OldLady01.SetStage(20) EndEvent At this point all I want to do is get the darned list into the player's hot little hands so the player can figure out the riddles and collect the 7 items. *tantrum* Thoughts? Advice?

Littleork -- Actually, no, I don't care how the list gets to the player's inventory, nor do I care how the key gets there (heck, at this point I'm ready to choke OldLady with that darned key)... So long as they GET there at the right point in the quest, hehe. I will start over again, this time with your method. I was wondering if the bear (for instance) from which the player loots the bear skin after she's killed it (one of the needed items) counts as a container, AND if the player counts as a container, when she's looted the item... And therefore, if I should be using container-type scripts (which are mostly what I see discussed here). I mean obviously this isn't one of those "onEquip" things -- you can't equip thistles or sabre-cat eyes. But you can harvest a thistle, and you can kill a bear or cat or slaughterfish and loot goodies off them. I still have no idea how to make the quest advance to "Go back to OldLady now ya got her stuff." I just thought it would be kinda nice if that popped up in the Journal as the next stage, so the player can keep track of how far along she is in the quest. I don't think an update is needed for each one (like the "bring me jazbay grapes" quest updates to 1/10 or 2/10 or whatever, each time you harvest some jazbay) but I WOULD like an update of some sort when all the different things are acquired. I *think* I know how to add the map marker (and make it fast-travel-able) after trialing-and-erroring around -- isn't it this....? "MyCottageMarker.AddToMap(true)" ... without the " marks obviously I haven't tried that yet, though, because I'm still stuck on getting OldLady's 7 items figured out.

Okay, I've read through 37 results over 2 pages, and I'm still horribly confused. And obviously, my script isn't compiling. Here's the deal. The player meets OldLady on the street in Whiterun and asks her if she knows of any work available. (That part worked.) She says Yep, I need someone to bring me some stuff. If you bring it, I'll give you my old house. (That worked.) The player can say Naw, not interested... or Sure, I'll get yer stuff. (That part worked.) HOWEVER.... now comes all the parts that I can't figure out/don't work. One -- When the player accepts the quest, OldLady will give him a list. I made the list (OldLadyNote) and put it in the OldLady's inventory. Was that wrong? I can't figure out how to get the list from OldLady to the player. (You know, like how a Courier hands you a mysterious note or sumpin'). I'd post the snippets of what I tried but honestly I worked on it for five days and none of it worked so I dumped it. I can't even remember how I started now. Two -- Eventually, the player buys, or loots, each of the 7 items off creatures/bandits/foresworn (and picks a particular flower). I don't care if the quest updates with each item, or updates when the player has all 7 items, and I've tried it both ways but I can't seem to get the quest script to advance. I can't get the player to give them to OldLady, either. I'm not sure if I'm needing "AddInventoryEvent" and specify the item, or "OnItemAdded" or what. Three -- Once the player has all 7 items and returns to OldLady, she's supposed to say Yay, you rock. Here's the key to the house, and I'll mark the spot on yer map. I've made the key and put it in OldLady's inventory; the exterior cell has its proper map marker. How the heck do I get the key from OldLady to the player, and how do I update the player's map? YES, I have read the Bethesda tutorial. YES, I got that whole "get my amulet back from the thief" thing to work. But as with the "talking rock" tutorial -- what good does it do me? I don't want to get OldLady's amulet back from some random bandit. I want OldLady to give the player a list, I want the player to collect the items, I want the player to give them back to OldLady, and I want OldLady to give the key and mark the map. I don't want to learn every in and out of papyrus scripting. I just want... well, the above. Where can I look for more specific tutorials, or, how do I do the above?

Sjogga, that was AWESOME! As soon as I remember how to link from a post to a post, I'll add this to our front page.

Okay, that's quest writing, that makes sense. But what about -- The cow that "gives" milk? (That was a PM conversation between Sjogga and me 'cause I wanted the cow to, well, give milk) That was scripting, correct? So tutorials that explain how to go about that kind of thing, and of course how to "attach" such a script to the cow (or whatever) is, I think, what I'm wanting to add to our list here. (Or obviously, links to same.)

Actually, Sjogga, that's a very good point, but I don't know enough about scripting to even answer, I'm afraid. What about "How to add quest dialogue" or something? For instance, say you've created a new NPC named Sam, who lives around Markarth. When you approach him, you can "Talk"... Ask about rumours, how he feels about the war, if he knows of any odd jobs. That's already a dialogue package. But say Sam would trade you a key to a two-room house, if you brought him three different items -- say a bear claw, a wisp wrap, and a sabre cat eyeball (I am winging this, can you tell?) So first off, you need to tell Sam "Not interested" or "Hey cool, okay." Then you need to be able to bring him one item at a time -- or if it's easier, require the player to collect all three before Sam will talk again. Then you need Sam to say "Neato, thanx, here's yer key, watch the skies!" or something. Obviously you'd *also* need Sam's Grocery List to appear in the player's inventory when he gives the quest, and of course, you'd need the key to do the same, and be set to open Sam's House once the player has earned it. So, how would a person go about: *Adding the responses to a dialogue pack *Adding Sam's list to the player's inventory *Making Sam accept each item (or all items at once), which is to say, remove them from inventory *Making Sam hand over the key and send the player on her merry way *Making Sam use "friendly" dialogues if the player runs into him again OR *Making Sam disappear from Skyrim and go retire in Valenwood or sumpin' after the quest is done I realise this may involve tutorials for more than one kind of scripting, but as I keep sayin' this is NOT my area of expertise ever at all completely! So I wouldn't even know what tutes to add here, and certainly would never dare write one. (I should mention, I'm NOT asking someone to write this or a similar script -- I'm asking if anyone can write, or knows of, tutorials so that people can LEARN to write these kinds of things.)

Sorry I haven't been around to keep this updated better, or to move my tutes to my own page, but you know how it is, life interferes with Skyrim! Has anyone found scripting tutorials other than the ones on the "official" page? I noticed we're conspicuously lacking in those, and since I personally stink at using papyrus (I trial-and-error everything).... I don't think I should try writing a tute for it, nor recommending tutes since I wouldn't know if they were good or not.

Steve -- To be honest, when I did this, I had an "edit" window up for I think it was Delphine's Dossier... and I set MY fields to the same sort of info -- the world object is the "lowpoly" and the the Inventory Art was always "highpoly" version of that same thing (found in ... Data > Clutter > Books > Book01 > CharacterAssets -- if that matters). I'm always scared to "duplicate" an item because I don't want to accidentally get the Asterisk of Changed Stuff, but I eventually actually tried that, too -- Duplicated an existing journal, and just substituted my NIF and DDS files. Still nuffin'. But you may be right, maybe I needed to make it in Moveable instead. Any further thoughts? *Edit* As it turns out, that wasn't the answer, either. What I ultimately did was this -- Object Window > Static > MQ201DelphineDossier > Duplicate ID MyCookBook01 Model ...data > meshes > mymeshes > mycookbook01 DO NOT alter the textures. Leave that alone after all. Create New Form Object Window > Books > New ID MyCookbook Name My Cook Book Weight, Value left alone Teaches unticked (because it doesn't) Inventory image Left alone as it doesn't seem to matter one way or the other in game Message Icon left alone World Art ...data > meshes > mymeshes > mycookbook Inventory Art > MyCookBook01 (the static object I created) Book Text (my stuff) THIS has worked. (With the slight exception that the in-game book text is a little blurry for whatever reason, compared to "vanilla" books).

Okay, I must be dumb as a sack of wet mudcrabs, because I'm not understanding any of this, nor understanding what I'm doing wrong. Here's what I've done so far: In Creation Kit... Object Window > Textures > New MyCookbookTexture Diffuse > Mycookbook.dds Normal > Mycookbook_n.dds Object Window > Static > New ID MyCookBook01 Model ...data > meshes > mymeshes > mycookbook01 (created in Nifskope as a re-texture of HighPolyJournal02) Alternate Textures > Drag Mycookbooktexture into the slots Object Window > Books > New ID MyCookbook Name My Cook Book Weight, Value left alone Teaches unticked (because it doesn't) Inventory image Left alone as it doesn't seem to matter one way or the other in game Message Icon left alone World Art ...data > meshes > mymeshes > mycookbook (created in Nifskope as a re-texture of JournalLowPoly02) Inventory Art > MyCookBook01 (the static object I created) OR Inventory Art > HighPolyBasicBook07 Book Text {the text of the book, obviously} No script, Keyword Editor ID is Vendor Item Book Now, as long as that Inventory Art window points to something already existing (For instance, HighPolyJournal02 -- which is what I re-textured, and added the "handwritten text" to) then everything works in game -- You can read the book, you can pick it up, and you can see it in your inventory. HOWEVER.... This ONLY WORKS if the inventory icon is the HighPolyJournal02. It will NOT work the book I made. Any time I *try* to use "MyCookBook01", you can NOT read the book, though you can take it, and you can see it, with the proper look, in inventory. When you try to read it, you simply get a blank screen, with the "page turn" and "take" prompts. (It also occasionally crashes Skyrim, but not always.) Using the HighPoly for both the World Art and the Inventory Art resulted in an un-touchable, un-readable object -- basically it acted like a static non-interactive item. This isn't the first item I've modelled or retextured; I've been doing this sort of thing since Morrowind, and specifically I made tonnes of books for Oblivion -- and never once had this sort of issue. I realise this is relatively minor; the inventory art is just eye candy so long as the rest of the book works -- but -- eye candy is important or we wouldn't be playing a game like Skyrim, amirite? What have I done wrong, can anyone figure it out? *edit 'cause I typo'd somethin*

One thing I did find out about weapons racks and bookshelves. The CK Wiki has TWO articles on each subject, but one article of each pair is... Not helpful. As I learned the hard way (see above) DO NOT follow the advice to "copy somethin' outta some cell you think is cool" because that will dirty your mod. Use the Warehouse cells. Then tweak as needed. Seriously. This tutorial was the one I ultimately used for bookshelves (and a potion cabinet). And, although I wouldn't ordinarily link to an actual download, Eldiabs has made a quickie "mod" that contains pre-set-up racks, shelves, and so on.

All that actually happened was, I told the editor to "ignore" the asterisked cell -- Breezehome. The CK crashed, obviously, then refused to restart, and so on... that's why I eventually got the idea of having Steam check Skyrim itself. And no, no adjustments to the ini other than as you say, masters and 2 instances of the CK running. What I did, basically was have the system "try" to change the skyrim.esm.... hence the crash and so on. Lesson learned, no matter how frakked up weapons racks are (or anything else), don't ever touch another cell during the process of making your own mod. I honestly could not believe it did the AoD when all I did was copy/paste from the cell window without ever touching the render window. I expect troubles like this will beset newbie modders, maybe there's some tips and tricks we should collect here too, any thoughts, folks?

Okay, not sure if I should add this into a tutorial or what, but it's a heads-up for those using this collection of stuff. I wanted to see something in another cell (specifically WhiterunBreezehome, the cheapest player-purchase house). Somehow, although I did nothing but copy a reference to paste into a blank cell to look at, I changed Breezehome. I didn't click on the thing in the Render window, I used the CellView window, highlighted the object, right-clicked, and so on. However, doing this put a "change flag", the well-known Asterisk of Death, on Breezehome. No worries, I thought, I'll just clean it the usual way -- Data > Details > Ignore flag (the delete key, with the changed reference highlighted). Oh, so wrong. It caused the CK to crash, and to refuse to load, even when ONLY skyrim.esm was checked. I uninstalled CK, I rolled back my computer, I reinstalled, I verified, I did everything I could think of (including forum searches) and nothing worked. Then I got the bright idea of having Steam validate SKYRIM -- not the CK, but the GAME. That fixed the CK crash as well as whatever I'd invisibly changed in Breezehome. The reason for the crashing? I was trying to clean SKYRIM -- not the plug-in file that had the change-flag on Breezehome. Save before you ever touch a cell you haven't created yourself. Then if you get the AoD, reload and the cell will be back to its unchanged state. And be careful. Be very careful. Be really very careful.

hey, that's neato! And I like how you used the "spoiler tag" thingy. I'm going to try out your instructions.

Just in case anyone else ever wants to tie "cure disease" to anything, I figured out how, WITHOUT script-writing. (Side rant about the CK tutorials series... Learning how to make a rock talk in game does not teach anything at all about writing useful, usable scripts. All it does is teach you how to make a rock talk. I R disappoint, as the kids say.) Anyway.... For those not aware, I made a bathtub, with water, that's activatable. I used the tutorial posted here, about how to turn anything into a chair, and then, using the marker created with that tutorial: In the edit window for that item, on the lower left of the window, is a drop-down for "Associated Spell". Scroll through it until you find "dunHallOfTheVigilantCureDisease" This is, apparently, the ONLY cure disease spell in Skyrim (other than the potions you make at your Alchemy bench). In the middle column of this window -- the same place where Sjogga instructs us to click "IS MARKER", there is another dropdown for "Interaction keyword". Select MagicAlchBeneficial. (note, I'm not absolutely positive that's necessary, but it's what I did). Click OK. Now put the marker in the bathtub, horse-trough, privy, washbasin -- whatever you were making -- and it WILL cure disease! Yay! (Thanks to Ishara, Sjogga, Steve40, and a few others for advice, and for their patience as I did this!)

Let me start by saying I went through the official Bethesda tutorial on Papyrus. It was absolutely no help at all. I don't understand any of it, and none of it seemed to apply to anything relevant to reality. I've noticed that's the problem with "example tutorials" like that -- they take you through a process that actually applies ONLY to that process. The "Hello World" series is cute and all that, but I don't want to make a bloody blooming rock talk to the player, I want to cure disease on the player. I've been working on this all day -- and by all day I mean since 8am my time. (roughly 11 hours, with one break to fix dinner for the family and eat, and that doesn't include the time I spent yesterday trying to find a nice bear to germ me up for testing purposes). I don't want to learn to write code. That's what game devs are for. All I want to do is attach a cure-disease "script" or "event" or wtf-ever, to an activator and have it WORK. I followed the steps in the "Ridiculous Talking Rock" tutorial. To the damn letter. Yay fine, I can make a talking rock. What I cannot do is make a bathtub full of water cure diseases on the player. Does anyone know where I can find a tutorial that will help with THAT kind of thing, or, alternatively -- -- Does anyone feel like WRITING that small snippet of code? Thanks! Edit -- Problem solved. Here's what I ultimately did -- In the edit window for the bathtub's marker, on the lower left of the window, is a drop-down for "Associated Spell". I looked through it until I found the ONLY "Cure Disease" spell in Skyrim -- "dunHallOfTheVigilantCureDisease". In the middle column of this window -- the same place where I ticked the box for "IS MARKER", there is another dropdown for "Interaction keyword". I selected MagicAlchBeneficial. (note, I'm not absolutely positive that's necessary, but it's what I did). Now the bathtub cures disease!

Okay at some point, someone had a "cell grid map" for Skyrim, to make it easy to pick an exterior cell to use for placing a house, linking a dungeon door, and so on. I can't find mine, and I apparently didn't favourite the download page. If anyone has the link, let's add *that* here, too. This is one I found earlier but for me at least, it was a huge download, so I haven't even got it ready to open yet. Tamriel World-Space Modder's Map Edit -- Okay, after 2 hour download (rural internet, yay?) I *finally* got this installed, and it is pretty good, though the grid numbers are pretty hard to read, and oh lawdy, the clouds of Skyrim.... But it does work well enough, it's very nice for general cell ID so you can go into the CK and find your spot.

Gil -- Thanks for the info, I didn't know it wasn't just me. As for why not just pick it up, the dropping thing is so I can get at it to ID it. Let me make sure I understand your other instructions though.... In console, I'd type help "Allafingerbone" for example?