dpcollier128

Hello. I have been playing the game for quite some time and want to either try modding it myself or identify a niche that I can't find yet in the community. First, there's a little thing in my building experience that seems just a bit fiddly to deal with, orientation on a pre-existing grid. I have been experimenting with joining foundations on different levels together as shown in this video: The problem I'm running into is one of having a concrete reference to the orientation of the original structure. The method described in the video gets very close but still has wiggle room within the walls, unfortunately. Why Pocket Pair can't just let foundations snap to existing walls, I have no idea. I started using cardinal directions that the compass shows, but orienting on the compass lettering alone (N, S, E, W) is proving inexact. I would also like to have a concrete reference on the compass for various degrees of rotation such as exact mid-directions like northwest and southeast between the cardinal directions. I attempted to make these modifications myself, but finding the right texture to replace is proving difficult. Could someone either identify the texture I need to replace or make the modifications I described in the texture? It would help me and other OCD individuals be more exact with their buildings in the game. Thank you in advance, the crazy one

Thanks for your help. I'll go over your other findings here when I have more time. The plugin conflicts you found for other mods seem worth noting for later. I'll also see what I can do about some redundant sound files at the install location for GNR Enhanced, including a .mp3 version of each track, a _mono.mp3 version, and _mono.wav versions. They all seem to overlap significantly with each other. I'll see which versions of the files work best for me as I go, but I think the plugin is going to load the files without a '_mono' file name first unless I'm mistaken. It's odd to me that file extension largely doesn't matter to the game. I don't entirely know how the game loads sound assets or if it uses a priority of some kind, but I plan to just tuck the other files away someplace during play so they won't get loaded by mistake. PS: Cool mod suggestion. I'll look into adding it if I start to need more music for my gameplay.

If the redundant title wasn't enough, here's my problem. It started last year when I installed GNR Enhanced... the music there was too quiet in comparison to the rest of my game so I looked into another fix called GNR Enhanced WAV Only... Next thing I know, each song beyond the initial set from vanilla started to play at least twice in a row. I let that thing go for a while, even implemented a similar fix for Conelrad Civil Defense Radio which made all the tracks into WAV. This problem also shows up on that radio station with only WAV's. Otherwise, the mp3's are just too quiet in comparison to gameplay, even when I turn the radio volume in the game up to maximum. The news and intro bits aren't affected by this oddity in the mp3's... resulting in either the news bits sounding far too loud when they show up or just at normal volume with the music too low. WAV's have been the solution to this other problem so far, but as I've said... the repeats in the WAV treatments have been getting to me. Cut to this year, I get the itch to play Fallout 3 again and my radio stations are still repeating themselves with each new song. I checked each of the WAV files created by the converter from GNR Enhanced WAV Only, but the tracks themselves aren't doubled up inside the files. It has to be a bug within the scripts or dialog topics that make some (most) of the tracks repeat themselves at least twice. I gave each a cursory glance but cannot find a definitive cause. This is a minor problem, but it's hard not to notice when it occurs during quiet moments of the gameplay. As I've said, all tracks other than the ones already in vanilla seem to be affected. None of the news segments by Three Dog or music intros seem affected, much like in my radio volume mismatch problem before but not quite. Please let me know if you can provide some insight into my problem and any possible fixes. I'll be playing along anyway as this isn't game-breaking, but the repeats do get quite annoying at times... Currently, I'm running my game on Windows 10. If my OS might be a cause of my problem, I don't see how I can fix it. This is my only game-running PC, and my other non-gaming PC's also run Windows 10. I've had no other issues with Fallout 3 so far other than the odd crash here or there. Again, let me know what you can find out about my radio repeats problem.

Please help. I use OCOv2, Seamless OCOv2 by junkacc, all of Seamless's requirements, OCOv2 Seamless Head Replacer by kartoffels, and HGEC body. The seam between head and body is gone from what I can tell, but... her head looks like it was stuck in the sun too long in comparison to the rest of her. The long subject to this post and impromptu screenshot attached to it says it all. How can I fix this weird coloration mistake while also properly blending the seam away? I want character customization setting pointers, mod suggestions, black magic of the most accursed sort (game programming and console commands), anything which can help my desert rose (female Redguard) bloom a more uniform color, like the rest of her (preferably a terra-cotta brown skin tone from top to bottom).

Sorry I missed this ... but don't worry about my mention of utilizing ownership / weight / value. That was a mention before I looked at the mod structure ... and was misguided in understanding your goals ? Ya they could work for more customization , but think at this juncture is just adding to much possibility confusion. The cell depth / distance and LOS should give you the biggest impact presently. All the rest is more a result of my brain still comprehending stuff ... sorry :/ Don't worry about it. :smile: I'm just starting to figure out how to streamline this mod more myself. I'll see how well reducing the cell depth works first. UPDATE: Reducing cell depth definitely worked, and I also tried using a tricksy way of checking for a list of items. It's done in a messy way, but much more compact than I was doing it. What I did was make two int variables "exclude" and "include" then set them both to 0 by default. I check the current reference against an item editor ID with GetIsID by ORing it with either of these variables. Then, I have the exclude check result in the script doing nothing (this is in each of the main category scripts). After the exclude, I have the include check result in the script painting the object in question with a default effect shader. It's not really what it sounds like as I still use form type ID during reference walking to paint anything outside of the "exclude" and "include" checks with the customized color selected in-game using global variables. The "include" color is something noticeable like magenta, reminiscent of a mesh error color. I did all this because my more specific item group scripts weren't working as expected, not even for bobby pins or caps. The main categories could be overwriting the more specific searches, but this other method seems to work just fine... It just doesn't seem like this way of painting specific items with unique colors is going to give itself well to customization very easily or neatly. Although, that doesn't really matter. It works at least for me. I'll keep looking into making this mod more efficient for others and possibly ask the original mod's author if I may repost a new version. For now, it's just a hobby.

Oh... Well, one could do that, but it wouldn't do much to minimize how many objects get checked. If you fill a FormList with the references from a cell that fit within a certain form type (not using the GECK to fill it), it doesn't do much to make a sub-type of a certain type of objects unless you further filter the form types checked by GetFirst and GetNext during reference walking (in my head, it's all objects in the cells checked > all objects which fit a form type ID like "containers" > all objects which fit both the form type "containers" and those which fit the sub-type of "first-aid kit/box"). Although, since my problem with the mod right now seems to be when the scripts check and paint too many objects at once, the act of lowering the cell depth might fix the issue on its own. If not, I'll no doubt ask for more help or use another method for lowering the processing load. EDIT: Also, when it comes to making more quests to handle each glow color, I could actually use set glow colors per item category instead of giving users the option to change them all. Barring that, I could separate out the alpha intensity options into separate plugins, reducing the list of quests and possible shaders the chosen plugin loads by half. These are options for reducing list members (quest lists, shader lists, etc.) to down within usable limits for the game's systems. Or it's just some way to reduce user decision fatigue and modder mind-bogglement. I dunno. I'm just thinking about quality over quantity right now.

OMG!!! Why didn't I think of that first thing? Manipulating the quests themselves sounds SO much better. Also, about clothing and ingredients, I've started to delete those references without issue. Lastly, I have actually tried using custom form lists for the categories I wanted to narrow down. I haven't really tried reducing the cell depth value, though. I'll let yall know if what I'm trying next will work. Thanks for all the help. EDIT: Wait. The existing mod has a pair of glasses as a toggle for the glow effect which manipulates quests... but I guess I could do away with that and have the controller and terminal windows manipulate the quests instead without a blanket toggle. I dunno. What do you think? UPDATE: I also tried using the default quest script delay (5 seconds). The delay is such that I can try another idea rattling around in my head, making the alpha value of the shader fade in and out on an interval. It didn't work well before because the delay was set to .83 or some such. Now, I can likely add another intensity option "pulse" to the list of brightnesses... but not right now. I'll be looking into how to structure the terminal tree for quest manipulation first.

Those are some very nice ideas. I didn't even know about the quest script process delay. That alone might help immensely. I'll likely try that and the get distance/los checks first as they make the most sense. I don't know if I can split up the color/dimness checks as those properties are innate to the effect shaders... unless I could change those values in the effect shaders on-the-fly. Hmm... this last part is worth looking into. I'll do some more research into what's available for changing effect shader properties in a script. Otherwise, I don't think splitting up the effect shader property checks will work well. EDIT: Also, I'm curious to the viability of checking an item's weight or cap value with a script. If it's possible, I'd like to know how. Also, if one could check the weight or cap value of an item, does that also mean one could change those values dynamically through a script? In that case, would it be possible to change anything's data properties from the GECK (including effect shaders) from a script?

I linked the pre-existing mod I'm working to improve in the OP. It's called "Glowing Items" if you can't seem to get that link to work. The basic concept is to make every item or container in the game glow different, customizable colors based on categories. The plugin version of this mod doesn't replace any of the meshes, unlike the first version. Both versions work to some degree... I just think the categories used in the plugin version are too broad for my installation to handle all at once. Also, the replacer version conflicts with some other mods I use (mostly dealing with fixing collision meshes). So, I'm trying to make the mod's scripts narrow each category down to only what the user (or myself) want via some form of sub-categories or pointing to specific items. The problem with this is that many objects in the game (containers in particular) have multiple base IDs which get used all over. For example, there are over 30 entries in the GECK named "Locker" in-game, some of which are empty, don't have very many appearances, have various groups of useful items ranging from weapons to medicine, etc. I'm trying to only make certain items glow so that the useless or unwanted ones don't. This saves the mod some processing time, my computer some struggling, and my head its usual aches when the game crashes or freezes. It's not any specific thing but a whole host of different things: weapons, ammo, medicine, first-aid boxes, ammo boxes, crafting components, other junk, pretty much EVERYTHING but in a customizable fashion for each item sub-category or individual group of named objects (such as "all lockers" instead of "just one form of locker"). The thing is, I'm so close to making this sub-categories idea work, but the methods for getting it to work either require knowledge of systems I don't have or messy coding skills I'd rather not use as extensively as they are required. This is why I'm asking for help. If there isn't any way for me to use a reference to compare with entries from FormLists, that's fine. I just need to know if there's an easier way of narrowing the categories down to manageable chunks than to simply spam the same command with a different editorID connected by OR operators. If there were some form of NOT operator, it would help the messy way of doing this quite a bit. Instead of checking for items to include, one could check for the few NOT to include. So, I have multiple methods in mind for solving this particular problem, but using the first method of choice is preferred.

The mod already does this, but typeIDs like 27 for containers tend to freeze my game when painting everything in certain cells (tons of filing cabinets, lockers, boxes, etc). Is there something like a "subtypeID" which I could use to narrow all these objects down to just a few? If not, using a FormList with the items I'd like to check from each category is the only thing I can think of right now.

Okay. I've run into a snag for my Glowing Items "revival" project from last week (the mod in question is here). The original mod author had the bright idea to use FormLists to help control which objects in the cells get painted with an effect shader (he only used it for painting Stimpaks, but still), and I wanted to give it a try for everything else... It didn't work as expected. I'm using the IsInList function to attempt to check a list of items I'd like to be painted by the mod's scripts, but it seems that this function doesn't check for object references in the list but just base forms (whatever-that-means). I tried using ListGetFormIndex in conjunction with some midling boolean algebra... no luck there, either. I even tried using both ListGetFormIndex AND IsInList checks connected by an OR operator, still nada. I then tried listing out a chain of checks for the reference being an instance of specific item ids connected by OR operators. This worked with mixed results (some of the items listed didn't glow until I took them then dropped them from my inventory)... but it doesn't make for any sort of clean code at all. I've looked into whether arrays were implemented in the Fallout 3 scripting system or FOSE... but it's only been implemented in NVSE, in a system for another game. Also, there's another reference-based function called IsRefInList which I'd like to try, but that too is only used in NVSE. It's starting to look like I can't do this the easy way. The first easy way (FormList checks) didn't work and all I have left is the VERY messy way (ItemID checks). My question is this: is there some way in either FOSE or the base Fallout 3 scripting architecture to successfully check an object reference from GetFirstRef and GetNextRef against a FormList? If there's some kind of type-casting to be had from a reference to a base form, that would likely do the trick, but it's late and I have yet to find such a thing. Another thing that might work is some way to easily unpack a FormList and check each element, but I don't see this being a very good way to do it as there's no "for" or "foreach" loop to speak of in Fallout 3 (NVSE has a "foreach" for arrays though). I'm running out of truly viable options for checking a list of items for the mod to paint. Thanks in advance for any pointers and suggestions... I'll be in the corner cursing at my computer for being dumb.

Thanks much for the response. I'll take it into consideration.

I've been working on changing a few things about this one mod, Glowing Items: https://www.nexusmods.com/fallout3/mods/18231?tab=description I don't have any game-breaking problems with it aside from the game crashing when I use too many effect shaders on too many objects at once (containers in particular). So, I'm looking into how to paint more specific sets of objects rather than blanket form types; that's armor, weapons, ammo, ingestibles, etc. To clarify, I use V2 (the plugin) of this mod. There's a form type referenced in the mod's scripts which I'm having trouble identifying (used in the context of arguments for GetFirstRef or GetFirstRefInCell in FOSE-enabled scripts). According to geckwiki.com, type id 29 is attributed to the form type "Ingredients," and I have yet to find a list of specific items which belong to this type in Fallout 3 (Oblivion likely having plenty). Is this form type just unused? Lacking a definitive answer, I'm hesitant to remove it from the scripts. There's another oddity concerning form types in Fallout 3's systems. There appears to be an "Armor" type as well as a "Clothing" type, but I'm to understand that all Fallout 3's clothing counts as an armor reference. Given that these two similar type ids exist, which one pertains to all the possible wearable items? Or do both types refer to them all? It's somewhat obvious to me that this form type system and its oddities are hold-overs from Oblivion, but I'd like to sort out what is and isn't used in Fallout 3. I'd like to make this interesting and useful mod more efficient as a result. Using the replacer version is likely easier, but I have other mods which use meshes I'd rather keep and which Glowing Items V1 would replace. The plugin version's use of effect shaders handily fixes that problem for me. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hi. It's me again. I'm back with another question about Oblivion game mechanics which seem beneficial on the surface, but that I'd rather change. This time, it's about the inability for my detrimental custom enchanting constant effects to have magnitudes (for example, Drain Personality on a piece of jewelry so that my bloated attribute count won't prevent me from having a good bandit fight or the odd highwayman encounter). The root of my example might be a good topic for another day, but today, I want to be able to put detrimental effects on my own gear. I've looked through some of my mods dealing with enchanting and the like for some option to turn on, but I cannot seem to find any in regards to my particular conundrum. FEA doesn't allow for this counter-intuitive feature. Is there another mod out there which does and won't conflict with FEA? I know about Enchantment Enhanced but see many of its features are handled better to my wants in FEA. Is there anything else which might allow me to put effective detrimental effects on my apparel, with benefits to doing so or not?

Thanks for the suggestion. I had to uninstall elys uncapper, but it wasn't doing me many favors on its own, not exactly feature rich. I made sure to turn my iavuMagicCasterSkillCostUseDR on, and now, my spellmaking isn't as insanely overpowered as it was... I'm gonna have to delete my old spells and start over, though. I turned my magnitude and other limits down to 300 or so; so my 1000 mag spells are all uncastable without ludicrous magicka buffs. Oops. Eh. Most of those actually crashed my game a few times anyway.