[Creating a Custom Intro/Outro Slideshow in the Format of FO:NV]

So one of the biggest things I want to do in GoE is to make the classic finale slideshow.

 

I've read through the scripts and they indicate that while they show as just "Slides" they're actually Bink video files.

 

Has anyone tried to do this before in a mod? Would you be willing to give some general suggestions and guidelines?

 

For example, will the compressor on the Bink website be enough to create the files or do we actually need a license for Bink?

 

Or is there a way to "fake it" using some sort of changing texture system?

[Preferred Method for Creating PipBoy Maps for New Worldspaces?]

 

Thaiauxn did ours. You could probably ask him.

I know that the format is important - ours is 2048x2048 DXT1 with no mipmaps

I think he started with an export of the height map - which is just an image - possibly multiple image sections - Then paste them together and do magic in whatever photo-imaging program he uses. There's a map offset in the worldspace record that you use to line it up in the pipboy, I believe.

 

 

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll get in contact with him and see if he's interested in working with us or at least giving us some tips and advice. :)

[Preferred Method for Creating PipBoy Maps for New Worldspaces?]

For some crazy reason, I thought the silly thing autogenerated. Boy was I mistaken.

 

Considering it's impossible to see exact locations using the GECK Renderer and Heightmap only gives you terrain features...what do you folks do create a good Fallout: New Vegas-style map for a new worldspace?

[Creating "Bobbing" Effect for SCOL/Mesh]

For once it's not a FNVEdit/Mod component question!

 

So I just found out about the huge amount of Mothership Zeta assets in FO:NV and I created a "Power Core" that's designed to float on an internal levitation field of its own. It's a SCOL off of a few different FO:NV items, including the "Generator Core" from MZ.

 

Any suggestions on how would I go about animating a slight "floating/bobbing" effect for this item?

[Multiple Team Members work on the same .ESP]

You should only use FNVEdit to toggle the master bit in a plugin because neither wrye nor snip will update the ONAM table for overwritten worldspace records (in the case where your esm overrides worldspace references in FalloutNV.esm or other masters). For simple plugins it doesn't matter, though.

 

Good tip. I'll make sure that gets out to the whole team. Thank you again! :)

[Multiple Team Members work on the same .ESP]

 

I wouldn't let TesSnip touch my project. It was never updated for New Vegas. Record definitions have changed since FO3 and there are new ones. Plus it doesn't handle ONAM records at all.

Turn your main file into an esm. Everyone uses the same esm and makes new plugins with your esm as a master. Try not to over-lap each other. Periodically call in all the plugins for a merge (don't wait too long between merges). Everybody stops working till the merge is done and they have a copy of the new esm.

In the beginning when there is just world building (no scripting or quests) it's safe to just use FNVPlugin to merge esps (one at a time!) into the esm. Then you distribute the new esm. IMPORTANT - the esp's that were merged need to be discarded and all new esp's created for continuing work. If you keep using the same esp, then next time a merge occurs, the old stuff will be duplicated again and you will have a huge mess. That is because FORMIds change during the merge.

FNVPlugin has some bugs in regards to references moving from non persistent in the master to persistent in a plugin so drag persistent references over in FNVEdit before using FNVPlugin.

Later on when you start to have scripts, quests, and dialog you need to learn 'merge by injection' with FNVEdit.

This is basically how we've done Project Brazil for the last few years.

 

 

So to check that I'm understanding you, it sounds like the best solution would be indeed to split off all custom assets (doors, hallways, static objects, activators, etc) into an .esm and then have all levels/worldspaces as a separate .esp. Or instead just convert the whole thing to an .esm (I usually use WyreBash for that, as there's a single click solution to that)?

 

But won't that end up duplicating all of the levels every time we have a merge? Or do we just delete the original .esm one? That would make sense as long as we were sure that no one was working at the same level at the same time.

 

(Sadly, I have a stupid injury that prevents me from reading for long periods of time--such as the FNVEdit Manual :tongue:).

 

(I found that FNVEdit's Master creation was just as simple as WyreBash. Just a few more clicks)

 

Aha! I missed a key word. You said new. I didn't make the connection that you meant new, empty mod. Okay, so now this makes perfect sense. When you merge them back in, it just merges the changes, not a whole new level. That means we don't have to flip it back and forth between .esp and .esm.

 

Again, thank you a billion times over for pointing me in the right direction. :)

[Multiple Team Members work on the same .ESP]

This one's specifically for those who have done collaborations, specifically in the realm of level design.

 

I'm doing the primary level design for areas, creating the fundamental structure with hallways, rooms and lighting. After that's done, I'm going to pass it off to my "interior decorator" member of the team.

 

But I realized if I continue working on it, there's going to be problems because we'll end up in different versions of the mod since we have only a single mod for the actual levels. What's the best way to handle this?

 

Off the top of my head, here's a few ideas...but has anyone found an effective way to do this in practice? I really don't want to have to wait until the other person is done to work on another level.

 

• Create "mini-mods" that contain only the level in to be decorated, then use TESSnip or FNVEdit (I actually haven't found the entry on how to do this directly in FNVEdit yet) to copy the finished levels back into the primary mod, deleting the original levels and replacing them with the decorated ones.
• Duplicate the ENTIRE mod so the decorator has all of our custom assets (there's a lot) then just merge the level part back in.
• Divide the mod into separate sections for ONLY levels and then ONLY assets. (This would be difficult as we tend to create new assets as we go when we find a need for them) and then do something similar to Step 1 or 2.

Any suggestions?

 

 

[Removing a Terrian Texture from an Entire Worldspace?]

This is good

 

And...I'm an idiot. I actually have that saved to my computer, I just forgot about it. *Sigh*

[Removing a Terrian Texture from an Entire Worldspace?]

You are a gentlemen, a scholar and an all-around freaking epicly wonderful person. Thank you so much for answering these newb questions. Is there a good documentation source on the various scripts and abilities of FNVEdit so I don't have to pester your brilliant mind?

[Removing a Terrian Texture from an Entire Worldspace?]

So I have now come face-to-face with rather lazy naming scheme of Fallout: New Vegas when it comes to DLCs. Namely, that they weren't freakin' consistent by having the prefix NVDLC before various items.

 

In this ignorance, I ended up using "ScrubBarrenWastes02GrassMix." I ended up using a water moss one as well because I wasn't paying attention. I'm trying to remove the Honest Hearts dependancy.

 

While FNVEdit's Scripts have pointed out all the various locations the texture is being used...I can't seem to find a way to utterly obliterate the texture from existence in my worldspace.

 

Is there any simple way to do this, or do I really need to go quad by quad through the space?

 

 

 

[Merging Mod Components/Master Dependancy]

The reason 'clean masters' doesn't remove a master is that some object in your plugin is using something from it. Highlight your plugin, right-click and 'apply script'. Choose 'List records referencing specific plugin'. Then type in the mod index of the master and all the dependencies will be listed in the right 'Messages' window.

 

I freaking LOVE you. I've been searching for this ability for months and just no one's pointed it out to me. I could never find the right reference material (I likely simply didn't search deep enough). But imagine my shock that I found two tiny little entries of electrical arcs that are from Dead Money while the FX aren't actually labeled as from Dead Money.

 

You just saved me an absurd amount of time and effort. Thank you so very much!

[Merging Mod Components/Master Dependancy]

I'm not on my computer to check exactly how it was done, but you can remove unwanted DLCs in the GECK. If I recall correctly, open it, make your mod active (but don't actually open it) and the required DLCs will appear on the right. Select the one you want to remove and press Delete. A notification window should pop up. Just click OK and that should work. Just make sure you don't have anything that actually requires the DLC you're removing or your mod will break.

 

I'm not sure about the merging, but with resources most of the time you just have to include the meshes and textures alongside your mod without dependencies, just credits in the mod page. It depends on the resource and the permissions given, really. A few (such as Speedy's) do have their own esm, but you don't really need to make your mod depend on it - you can simply take the meshes and textures and use them without the esm. For organization, you could make folders with the resource author's names inside your meshes and textures folders with the stuff you'll use.

 

I've tried the technique a couple times in the GECK and it always ends up destroying the mod file, making it into a 0K nothing. I decided to try it again and same result (don't worry, backed up first, so nothing lost.) The only way I've found to successfully do this is to use TESsnip to copy/paste into a new mod with the already-set dependancies that we want (Vanilla + Old World Blues).

 

As for the merging, say I've been using the Speedy.esm for a time and I decide it's time to lose the dependancy. Should I just create new objects from the resource, duplicate them or something else? Because if I remove the entry, the listing itself won't exist in the GECK anymore. I'm just going to have to do it a lot and I'm trying to be as efficient as possible.

[Retexturing "Old World Blues" Utility Tilesets]

In case anyone comes across this issue, it's actually not a texture, but an emitter within the model .nifs themselves. Depending on the model, there can be either 1 or 2 emitters that need to be changed to have the correct effect.

 

At a later date, I will be releasing a series of these for those who want to use them.

[Merging Mod Components/Master Dependancy]

So we're working on GoE as a modular project, partially because we have different people on different sections of the game and partially because the autosave time gets too blasted long.

 

Because of the damn .nam files, at one point, I ended up with having our mods requiring all the DLCs when it should just require Old World Blues. Clean Masters in FNVEdit doesn't work to remove it. While we've bypassed the problem by "duplicating" the mod (copy/pasting) into a new clean mod, is there any other better way to do this?

 

Secondly, I have two "Asset Core" .esms (Because I didn't have a clue what I was doing way back when) which two "Level/Worldspace" .esps are dependent upon.

 

What's the most effective way to merge the two Asset Cores without causing problems with the Level/Worldspace .esp dependencies?

 

Finally, how do you handle modder's resources? What's the most effective way to get the assets into your mod without too much trouble and without having yet another dependency?

[Help Wanted for Gardens of Equestria!]

The Manehattan Project needs your help! We are looking to fill the last three critical roles for our Gardens of Equestria project. Any interested and highly motivated candidates are encouraged to apply!

 

Texture Artist/Editor - We are looking for someone to help tweak and ponify existing textures. This role may extend to creating original artwork, but not necessarily. In other words, you do not need to be a highly skilled digital artist! Of course it's a plus if you are, but we are happy to work with anyone with an interest. Experience with Photoshop or similar image editing software is required, complete mastery is not. Please send us sample images you have edited (and describe the changes you made) or otherwise created with your application.

 

Public Relations Manager - If you are interested in writing, marketing, or any other aspect of PR, we have a position for you. Our public relations manager would be responsible for writing advertisements, keeping updated development blogs, and reaching out to various communities to expand our audience. Web development experience is a plus, but not required. Please send us writing samples with your application. It could be as simple as a fake news bulletin about Gardens of Equestria written five minutes ago, or a blog post you wrote last month.

 

NIF Modeler - We’re looking for someone specific to create custom static models or manipulate existing models we already have. Some of them are simple, such as attaching medical boxes to lab coats, while others involve creating interdimensional portals and statuettes. You do need to be familiar with .NIF files through Blender, 3ds Max or Maya and have the programs necessary (Blender is free). You need not be a master, but you some experience is required. You also need to know how to work with UV Wraps so we can create effective textures for the models. Please send us some examples of your work or direct us to locations of your work in other mods or programs.

If you or someone you know is a great fit for either of these positions, please reach out to us at [email protected] or head to http://gardensofequestria.com/60-2/manehattan-project-recruitment/.

[Creating Fallout-Style Slideshows?]

Thanks. The cell itself wasn't helpful, but the script attached to the activator pointed at the correct script. Dangit. All Binks.

 

Now to figure out how to do this in a Bink.

[Creating Fallout-Style Slideshows?]

We've all seen the slideshows at the beginning and end of Fallout 3 and New Vegas, along with the DLCs of New Vegas (I don't think the FO3 DLCs had them).

 

We're designing a massive story-driven mod and I'm curious...are they actual slideshows or are they movies and has anyone had any experience in creating them for mods?

 

Thanks for your time!