drewsbrew

Hello all, I'm starting work on a hunting and survival mod where the main idea is that you get more harvestable goods from animals; you will get more than one type of meat for each animal and you will get a realistic amount of meat too, you will also get internal organs (which can be eaten, and in some cases used to make other types of food-- like using intestines as sausage casings), you will also be able to get bones (which eventually will be used in crafting recipes), you will also get fat (which I would eventually make it usable in fires in the campfires mod by Chesko), blood (which will eventually be used to lure foxes and larger preaditory animals like wolves and bears). For example, when you kill a rabbit you will be able to harvest a fur pelt which can be turned into leather strips and an entire skinned body which can be cooked whole, or cut into smaller parts; 2 hind legs (vanilla haunches) 2 front legs, stew meat, and maybe even ribs. You will also get the brain, heart, liver, and possibly lungs, a bowl of fat (mesh and textures will be based on Troll Fat), and a jar of blood. Also, after the meat is consumed, you will get the bones. The things that can be harvested from animals will depend on the type of animal; cows, deer, and elk will have tongues for example, some animals will have intestines (which, as I said, will be used to make sausage), some will have stomachs (which can be turned into water pouches), and so on. In addition, the mod will also have new food recipes like rabbit stew for example, although I might not have these right away in the first version... I haven't decided yet. The first version of the mod will strictly consist of meshes and textures for all the new items, and recipes to cook the new food items, there won't be any scripts as I have been having a lot of trouble with my ScriptCompile.bat file, so I haven't even been able to get started learning how to script which is a big part of what's holding up progress on my crime and punishment overhaul mod. Don't worry (for those of you who are waiting on that mod) I haven't given up on it, nor will I. This survival mod will also have new equipment, such as survival/hunting knives (which will eventually be required to harvest/loot anything from animals once I can get started scripting). There will be different knife designs that will be based on the races; there will be an Argonian, Breaton, Imperial, Nordic, Orcish, Redguard, and Woodelf variants for sure... maybe even all the races, I haven't decided yet. Here are quick design sketches for what I have in mind for the Argonian and Breaton knives; There may eventually even be multiple types of hunting knives for each race. The main question I want to ask everyone is; what races are you most interested in seeing knives for? Also, for all of the die hard Kajiit and Argonian players out there, do any of you have any specific ideas of what a survival/hunting knife for those races should look like? I have literally never played as either of those races, and I don't know a huge amount about them but I want to make sure I get it right in terms of design features. Also, what other features would you want to see in this mod? I'm very early on in the design stages so I am very open to suggestions right now, just keep in mind that I can't do much in terms of scripting at the moment.

Thanks, but I'm going to guess that only that last link is going to be of significant help, as I don't have 3DS Max (it's really expensive, to say the least)- but, I thank you for being thoughtful, and I'll check out that last link. True, that's what I meant by it being needed for the NIF plugins to work- I have the newest Blender installed for actually making the models, but I have the old 2.49 for import/export. You can get the student version of 3ds max for free. The only catch is that you can't use a student license version of the software for commercial projects, you can't do freelance work with it, or basically anything else where you'll actually make money. Mods are fine though. The first few videos of the playlist I linked will go through the setup of various programs and 3ds max is covered there. It'll also cover how to extract meshes and textures from Skyrim, which is something you'll need to do.

Here is a link to a good, thorough 'how to make armor' tutorial, It's long though and I haven't finished it all yet, but so far so good! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL38C28CE97107F8F3 Here's a link to a video on how to make custom weapons that I found somewhat helpful, although the author does go really fast and I think he probably should have slowed down to elaborate on some things, I was able to follow this video to make my first mod which was a sword mod. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA6A9Hy4usM Here are a couple more weapon tutorial vids to help; Here is a video that shows how to export things from blender and get them set up in NifSkope; Also there are some tutorials posted in this form too. Hope this helps!

What is your skill set? I'm a life long self taught sketch artist and a while ago I decided to start breaking into the digital domain (as far as art goes) and I started learning photoshop and other programs. I also learned a little about 3D modeling and animation too, so for me it wasn't a big leap to start making objects (weapons, armor, clothing, potions, and other clutter items) for Skyrim. I'm also trying to learn scripting, but having no previous programming skill/experience I'm having a rough time of things right now, but if you have that skill set that might be a good place for you to start. Also, what kind of mods do you want to make? Just because you existing skill set doesn't lend itself to any particular aspect of modding (if that is the case) doesn't mean you can't acquire new skills.

Thanks so much for all of your help! Still no luck on my end unfortunately, but I'll keep trying. In the meantime while I try to get all this programming stuff figured out I've got plenty of other work to do for the mods I want to make so I'm definitely not giving up on this!

Thanks for the help, but it still isn't working. I modified the ScriptCompile.bat with the lines of code (changing the 'G' drive to 'C' because that's where mine is) and the new message says it can't find the file path. I double and triple checked that the path was right.

OK, so a few days ago I created a post in the forums here explaining that I was having some trouble getting Notepad++ set up for scripting. Firstly, I was told that I needed to extract the files from the Scripts.rar file in the data folder (which I did) and I was also told to modify the ScriptCompile.bat file with this line of code; "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Skyrim\Papyrus Compiler\PapyrusCompiler.exe" %1 -f="TESV_Papyrus_Flags.flg" -i="C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Skyrim\Data\Scripts\Source" -o="C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Skyrim\Data\Scripts"pause I did that and got this message; So basically I think I probably need to use a different line of code in the ScriptCompile.bat file, but I don't know what. In the creation kit (which I'm running through MO) I tried to attach a script to a duplicate barrel I made, I clicked the 'Add' button, I selected '[New Script]', clicked 'OK' and got this error message; Starting 1 compile threads for 1 files...Compiling "AAATestScript"...<unknown>(0,0): unable to locate script AAATestScriptNo output generated for AAATestScript, compilation failed. Batch compile of 1 files finished. 0 succeeded, 1 failed.Failed on AAATestScript Anyone know what I need to do to fix this?

Thanks for the links NexusComa, but when I tried to edit the ScriptCompile.bat file with the line from the second link it said the compilation failed. I got this message box;

Thanks for letting me know about the Scripts.rar file, I unpacked everything so hopefully things will go smoother now... fingers crossed!

Thanks for your help! I guess I'll forget all about Notepad++ then, at least for now anyway. I definitely want to learn what I'm doing as far as scripting goes so I won't just be copying and pasting scripts from tutorials, but since I don't know the first thing about scripting I thought following some tutorials would at least give me a baseline knowledge to get started.

I was told that Notepad++ is 'helpful' for scripting, and the author of the tutorial series recommended using it. I'm a total n00b so I was just following advice.

Hello all, I want to learn how to script and recently I was following some video tutorials on YouTube and I ran into an issue before I got very far. I shelved the learning how to script thing for a little while but went back to it and I asked the author of the video for some assistance. I tried to explain the problem I was having and also I offered to make a video showing exactly what the issue was. The author asked that I do so and I decided (since I hadn't gotten far anyway) I'd go through the whole process again... just to be sure I had done everything right. Anyway, the second time around I don't think I even got Notepad++ set up right! I was following the instructions on the creation kit wiki (which a lot of people said they were having a hard time following) and I think I'm one of them. This is the link to my video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX1L9RYpxGU Basically, long story short, I'm expecting something should happen when I click the 'Run' button at the end of the video. If anyone could tell me what I've done wrong and what to do right I'd be greatly appreciative! Thanks :)

I was trying to follow the video tutorials linked here a while ago but I wasn't able to get Notepad++ set up properly. I did it once (by accident I suppose) but I ran into an issue while trying to follow the tutorial. I asked the author for help, and I offered to make a video showing the issue I was having. I went back through the steps for the video I made and had problems getting Notepad++ set up to my surprise. Here is a link; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX1L9RYpxGU Can anyone tell me what I did wrong? Thanks!

Check out Darkfox127, I find his tutorials to be fairly good and he usually does a good job of staying on top of the comments and responding to questions. Here is a link to exactly the kind of tutorial you're asking about, but I've never actually tried to follow it so I can't say much about how helpful it is, but since it's one of Darkfox's I'm sure it's good. Hope this helps, your mod sounds interesting.

I probably can't help much with the CK, and I most certainly can't help with the voice acting, but I might be able to help a little bit with the modeling. I'm a beginner, and I'm working on a few things of my own at the moment, but you did say the modeling isn't urgent. I created a custom sword mod, Drusus' Sword (I'm better at texturing now) and I'm in the middle of working on a series of crime mods, keep an eye on this one for more samples of my work. I'm also learning how to script at the moment too, so I may eventually be able to help there as well. Just keep in mind I'll probably be working on my own mods for some time to come and I'm helping the Beyond Skyrim team here and there too. If you're interested, let me know what it is you need modeled, and I'll try and help if I can. Out of curiosity, would you consider making this compatible with Arisssa and Inigo as well? This mod sounds great though, and I'd like to see it come to fruition!

Thanks so much!

Thanks again for all your help! I think I found what I'm looking for, just for the sake of being sure though, I took a screen cap. This is what you were talking about right;

Thanks for the response! Where would I find the aliases in the CK?

Hello all, Like the title says I'm looking for Alea's Shield and Vilkas's Sword in the CK, the ones you get in the Companions quest line, check the links if you're unsure what I'm talking about. I've been able to find messages about the sword and shield, but nothing that tells the game what models to use. Basically, I want those to use custom meshes and textures rather than generic steel models. Why, three reasons 1) why not 2) because the fact that the game uses generic models bugs me, and 3) because I could use some practice modeling and creating textures, particularly for weapons, and why not start with things that aren't that important. :) ...A fourth reason would be because due to some unfortunate circumstances I don't want to talk about I may find myself with some extra time in the next few weeks and I'm trying to make that something positive :) While I'm asking, does anyone know how to get the game to use custom models for thane weapons for that matter? I'm asking because I know it can be done, and I suspect that the answer may be similar to the above. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this, and especially to anyone who has some answers for me!

Hello all, I've been trying to find a tutorial on how to make custom cube maps for Skyrim and I found this one, but the problem I have with it is it does not explain how to prepare the image to make a cube map out of it. It basically just gives you the dimensions of the file, tells you to cut and paste the images in from left to right and shows you how to assign the new cube map in NifSkope (all useful) but the first fundamental step (of how you make the image ready to be used for a cube map so you can cut and paste the parts into place) seems to be missing. If anyone could explain that part of the process to me or link me to a tutorial that would be much appreciated! I primarily use Gimp, I'm the most familiar with it, but I have Photoshop and Paint.net too so instructions for any of those would be fine. Thanks! :)

Thanks for the response! I had seen a couple of Skallagrim's videos before, namely the Skyrim weapons scrutinized. Haha, I don't like the Daedric weapons and armor in any of the games, or really any of the advanced weapon and armor sets for that matter, hence half the reason for this mod :) I guess I've got some research to do, that being said I'm not going to go too crazy with it, realism is a focus but not the only or even the main focus. Primarily I want the weapons and armor to 'fit into' the TES games with the established styles and whatnot but I will probably design weapons similar to the Better Shaped Weapons (one of my favorites) and Weapon De-LARP-ification mods. I did post a sword mod I made from scratch (I'm better at texturing now) and it's a good representation of the kind of weapons I'll be designing for this mod, plus I'll be doing some research and taking pointers (no pun intended) from Skallagrim's videos. Thanks again for the Response :)

Hello all, In the next few days or so I want to try and start some design work on a fairly ambitious weapons and armor mod which I think I'm going to call 'Weapons and Armor of Tamriel". Basically the main point is I want to add iron and steel weapons and armor as well as leather (and possibly hide and fur armors where it makes sense) for all 9 provinces of Tamriel. Basically, all of the 'down to earth' types of weapons and armor. I wouldn't just add one set of each either, I would want to add multiple sets of varying stats (from not so good to very good) so it becomes viable to continue to use those types of weapons and armor throughout the game. My question is are there any features that lend themselves to the overall quality or usefulness of the various medieval weapon types? For example, if you take the basic iron axe already in the vanilla game, the leather warping over the grip of the axe is probably preferable to just the bare wood (which would probably give you more blisters). Also (though I am certainly no expert) I already know that having a frame around a shield makes it hold together more, withstand more punishment, and last longer. that's the kind of stuff I'm after here, basically I want to try and design the weapons in a way that it makes sense why the 'good' weapons and armor are actually better than the 'not so good' weapons and armor, although I do realize that most designe features of weapons are probably a compromise; better for 'this' worse for 'that'. If anyone could give me a few pointers, maybe some terminology to look up, or better yet some links that would be great. Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to help! :)

I had a problem with an 'invisible .nif/object in game' too and my problem turned out to be the 'Alpha' setting under 'BSLightingShaderProperty'. The setting should be '1'. Also, after I changed that, I had an all black model too. There were a number of settings I changed (on the advice of someone else) and that wound up solving the problem. The advice I got was from someone over at Dark Creations, I poted a question about the problems I was having and got some answers. Here is the link; http://www.darkcreations.org/forums/topic/10202-nifskope-help/ and in case that isn't working for some reason, here are all the settings I was told to change; "I noticed several issues with your nif: NiTriShapeData: BS Num UV Sets: is 1 in your nif, should be 4097 for Skyrim BSLightingShaderProperty: UV Scale is X and Y= 0 in your nif, should be X and Y = 1 Texture Clamp Mode is CLAMP_S_CLAMP_T in your nif, Skyrim nifs use WRAP_S_WRAP_T Has no Alpha Property! Skyrim Shader Type is set to Default in your nif, should be "Environment Map" as such a map is included The texture paths in your nif are absolute (c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\data\textures\clutter\potions\nightshadeextract.dds), should always start with "textures\..." like this: textures\clutter\potions\nightshadeextract.dds. (Not everyone has Skyrim installed where you have, I have Steam and Skyrim on drive F: for instance.) Well, I simply copied the complete BSLightingShaderProperty from the Skooma that you used as base nif and replaced the texture paths. Now everything worked. Finetuning: Right click on the NiTriShape - >Mesh - > face normals; then right click again -> update tangent space and you will notice a significant improvement. Another right click and -> smooth normals makes it even better. And while I was at it, I made a better fitting collision for the bottle." Now, as far as how to make the gold bits shiny, you'll have to set up an environmental map, and also check the "Glossiness", "Specular Strength", "Lighting Effects 1 and 2", and "Environment Map Scale" under the "BSLightingShaderProperty". You'll jut have to play with the settings until you get the look you want. As far as how to make the red and blue parts translucent, I can't help you there... If you turn the "Alpha setting down a bit, that would start to make them translucent but that probably wouldn't look very good (and the effect would be applied to the whole model) so I'm guessing there is a better way. hope this helps!

I've tried installing a couple of mods but they don't seem to be working... OBSE seems to be working, but the Darnified UI isn't, and I'm starting to think the problem is with the ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated. I downloaded it, ran the installer, everything seems to have gone fine, but I don't seem to be able to get any replacer mods to work properly. Any thoughts?

@Striker879 Thanks for the response! I have played vanilla Oblivion quite a bit, though it has been a few years since I've played. I still remember it quite well though. Ha, I only played the main quest once though (much like my Skyrim playing habits). I never installed mods because back in my Oblivion days my computer could only just barely run the vanilla game, plus (believe it or not) I really did't have an internet connection at the time, not for my own computer anyway. Basically, what I'm getting at is that Skyrim is the first (and so far the only) game that I've ever installed mods for, and for that I had Gopher's 'Beginners Guide to Modding Skyrim' series to help me through some of the basics but unfortunately I haven't found anything like that for Oblivion. I'm sure I have enough experience modding Skyrim that I can probably figure most things out though. Thanks again for the advice and pointers and I guess I'll ask you if I get stuck on anything. :)