Dustmo7e

I am trying very hard to delve deeper into the further complexities of modding, which is difficult, because I have no prior knowledge of any kind of coding or scripting or working "under the hood" so to speak. I have even asked about this same topic before, but still find it confusing. Therefore I am trying to write simple instructions for myself by doing a kind of "transcription" of the tutorial videos I watch. I tried to learn how to create LODs for custom worldspaces. I watched a tutorial by the creator of Falskaar The tutorial video on Youtube to help teach me and I did manage to create trees but nothing else. This is apparently because Skyrim SE uses different settings. I don't know what that means, but someone in the video comments said so. That is why I'm posting my "transcription" here on the off chance that someone who knows what's wrong with it sees it and leaves a comment. Creating Custom Worldspace LOD -Alexander JVelicky PART ONE 1.Folder: Skyrim->data (BSA models unpacked Nexus Modmanager has a utility for unpacking) Opening Skyrim meshes - LOD settings -Tamriel LOD -extract- save to desktop (You can now close the meshes bsa folder) 2. Rename the folder to match your worldspace. The needs to match exactly. (For example FALSKAAR.LOD ). 3. Go back to your data folder and create a new folder. Name it: lodsettings . Place your renamed file into that folder. (You may run into issues if your worldspace is larger than Tamriel.) 4.Open your BSA textures -landscape -mountains -choose mountainslab02.dds and mountainslab02_n.dds Extract and save these textures to your desktop. 5. Drag this texture file to your Skyrim data folder and click "overwrite" to everything in order to merge the file. 6. In data/textures you should now see Actors and landscape files. In landscape folder you should have mountains folder and in that folder you should have the mountainslab02 and mountainslab02_n files. 7.Open your plugin in Creation Kit. 8. Go to World-> world spaces -> select your custom worldspace. Pick HD LOD Diffuse and find your data/textures/landscape/mountains/mountainslab02. Then pick HD LOD Normal and choose the mountainslab02_n file. You now have file paths to these textures. Click OK and save. 9. Next extract textures/terrain/tamriel/tamrieltreelod.dds to your desktop. Rename the "tamriel" part of this tree lod to match your worldspace. For example: falskaartreelod.dds 10. Go to your skyrim/data/textures and create a new folder: terrain. (It might already exist. If not, create it.) 11. Create a new folder into the terrain folder and name it your worldspace. For example terrain/falskaar.Create another folder into your worldspace folder and name it trees. For example: terrain/falskaar/trees 12. Take the yourworldspacetreelod folder you made earlier and put it in this "trees" folder. For example: terrain/falskaar/trees/falskaartreelod.dds PART TWO 1. Extract Skyrim LOD meshes. Find them in meshes.bsa (Whether you are using NNM or you have already extracted the files somewhere, type LOD in the search bar to bring up every lod.nif file. Pick them all. (Pick the top one, hold "shift" and press N.) Exctract them to your desktop to find them easily. If the LOD settings folder is extracted, delete it. You don't need it. 2. Take the meshes folder you just created and put it in skyrim/data. Allow overwrite, if the program asks. You now have 6 new folders needed for LOD generation. 3. Next extract LOD textures. Go to skyrim/textures and type LOD again like you did with the "meshes" file. Pick them all and extract them to your desktop. Now you should have a file called "textures" on your desktop. 4. Get a programme called Nconvert. https://www.xnview.com/en/nconvert/ 5. Extract the programme (ncovert.exe) 6. Download Notepad++ if you don't have it already https://notepad-plus-plus.org/ 7. Open Notepad and the save as: nconvertbatch.bat You can call the file whatever you like, but it must end with .bat . Save. Make sure the file you created has a "gears" icon, because that means it is a batch file. Your new .bat file should be in the nconvert file. 8. Open the file you just created by clicking "edit". Write: nconvert -out tga *dds 9. Open the textures file that you just created on your desktop. You can remove the "Actors" file, because it contain alduin and dragon LODs. also delete the "terrain" that you find within. You should be left with architexture and lod files. 10. Now, let's start converting. Go to archetecture/farmhouse and copy nconvert.exe and nconvertBatch.bat files and paste them into the farmhouse folder. The nconverter only converts files in its folder (not from another folder). 11. Double-click on the nconvertbatch.bat file. This should generate files ending with .tga 12. Cut the batch and nconvert.exe files and paste them into the whiterun file. Run the batch.bat file again. Now you have files ending .tga here as well. Repeat this process one last time in the lod file where the textures are. 13. Cut and copy the nconvert.exe adn the batch.bat files back to the nconvert file where you took them from, because you don't need them anymore. 14. Search in the textures file .dds files and delete them, because you don't need them anymore. You only need the .tga (targa) files now. 15. Now go to steam/steamapps/common/source. If the "source" file does not exist, you need to create it. In the "source" file you need to create a file called: TGATextures. Now open the textures folder on your desktop and place the architecture and lod files into the TGATextures file. 16. You can delete the textures file from your desktop now. 17. Open your mod in CK again. Click "world" and then "world LOD". 18. Select your own worldspace from the list on the left. (Alexander picks "Falskaar".) CK may crash if you try to do all of the LODs in one go but you can try it. To avoid crashes, you can do them one at a time. (Also, if you have your worldspace open in the background, CK can crash. So, empty render window is best.) 19. Let's do "static objects" first. Check the box and click "generate". This will not take long. If you get any "missing textures" warnings, it means you made a mistake when converting them into TGA. You will get too high vertex count -warnings, but this simply means that there is no LOD for that object. 20. Close the window when it is done. Uncheck "static objects" and check "trees" next. Click "generate" and wait. This takes a little bit longer than the static objects. 21. Now go to the steamapps/common/source file. You have a new folder called DDSTextures. This contains tecture atlases that your game needs but they are in the wrong place. Cut or copy the TERRAIN file in the DDSTextures file. 22. Go to skyrim/data/textures and paste the terrain file here. Allow to overwrite. (These two files are regenerated every time you make object LOD, so every time you make these, you ned to copy these two files into the terrain folder. ) All that is left now is to generate land. It requires Oscape. 1. Get Oscape https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/4727 2. Extract everything to be sure. Open Oscape.exe (32 or 64, which ever fits your computer version system). 3.Click "game" and pick "Skyrim". Now make sure that the file to your worldspace is selected. For Alexander this is Falskaar.esm. For you it could be MyLand.esp. 4. Go down and click "Fill". Check the boxes "feature-map" and "surface-map". 5. Click "Browse". You can extract everything to your desktop to find it easily. 6. Your file name should be your worldspace name, and it should be exactly the same, so that the LOD will load. For Alexander this mean Falskaar. Click save. Now click EXCTRACT. 7. Now you are in the preview window. You will notice that the water is missing (at least if you made an island). You will see under config "sealevel" that reads 0. Type here your water level for your worldspace. Hit "Enter" and now you should see your island surrounded by blue water. 8. Next, click on "generator". 9. Set the "Target of max resolution to 25600 (1/1 of 1000 per tile). This is the maximum detail of the land. If picking this number crashed Oscape, pick a lower resolution. 10. Make sure "meshes" are checked. Within Lods, make sure that 1/1 1/2 1/4 1/8 and optimize for overdraw and formats: NIF are checked. 11. In "Normals" make sure that the "normals" box is checked. LODS all should be checked like they were in the meshes box. You only need one resolution. Alexander recommends picking 1024x1024 so check that. Also check DirectX. You don't need PNG images, so uncheck that. 12. Check "colours", becayse you want your LODs to have colours. All the lods should be checked here too. Just pick one resolution (Alexander recommends 1024x1024) and in formats you only need to have DirectX checked. 13. You can choose your desktop to find the Oscape file easily. Click GENERATE. How long this generating takes, depends on your computer. (Generating land in CK takes far longer, because it only uses one core and your file must be a master file. So OScape is needed. This generation takes about 5 minutes for land half the size of Skyrim. If your worldspace is smaller, it takes less time. 14. When your lods are created, OScape moves you to the installer tab. You can use OScape to generate the LOD file that we created at the very beginning. But if you already have it, it is enough. You only need to create it once. Click on "install" on all levels. Leave everything else on defaults and check that Oscape installs to your skyrim/data folder. 15. If your LOD works, you can delete all of the files you made on your desktop. 16. When releasing your mod, you need to include all custom files. skyrim/data/lodsettings. Meshes (architecture, effects, landscape,lod, magic,mps), terrain, your worldspace. textures/terrain/Yourworldspace

Hey! Thank you so much for this addon. It has been a long while since I last used Blender, so I have forgotten almost everything to do with it and I never tried to export nifs anywhere. Thanks also for the help on ow to install ( Edit ->Preferences -> Add-ons -> tiny little down-arrow in the upper right corner -> install from disk. Select the zip.) I had forgotten about that too. Would you or anyone else know whether this tutorial is still valid? https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php?title=Creating_an_armour_for_Skyrim._Part_1 With Niftly, all that pre-fiddling in Nifscope is probably not needed anymore? Anyway, thanks again!

OK! Thank you both. That doesn't sound so hard. I have extracted the files way back when and I saved them to an external drive back then. I figured I could always just take what I needed from there.

Hi! How are aspens retextured in Skyrim CK (or is it even possible?) ? I have aspen branches in my unpacked skyrim texture files but there are no texturesets for tree braches (that I could find) in CK. Only the tree bark. Also, when I click on the tree, I only get the window that prompts me to upload a model for the tree. All this has me STUMPED... I tried to search for tree retexturing tutorials but I couldn't find them. Is retexturing a tree the same as retexturing a weapon? I have never tried to do that, so I don't know. If you know a good tutorial about tree textures, could you drop me link, please?

So much to learn...

I'm adding my "what I did" steps, just in case someone wonders. Ok, as instructed: -Starting XEdit. Wait, what? So "XEdit" means SSEEdit, and the "X" stands for "whatever games we cover"? Or something? Well, opening SSEEdit. Loading mods. Picking GPI (my mod). Right-clicking. Choosing "other". Generate LOD. "Objects LOD generation for Skyrim Special Edition and Skyrim VR is possible in xLODGen mode either by renaming executable to SSELODGen.exe or running with -lodgen command line parameter. What? So I need to copy the exe and rename it into SSELODGen? I click OK and get a box that suggests Tamriel "Skyrim" LOD generation, Trees LOD is checked. Up on the same window there is an "objects" LOD, which is un-checkable. That will be precisely the box that I need to check for my mod. I need mountains. Even if I get nothing else, I would be happy if I had mountains. Now to cancel and do the whole copy-rename -thing. Okeydok. SSELODGen.exe renamed. Clickety-click! ...Aaand my mod does not appear on the LOD generation list. Info text says: "Only worldspaces that have existing lodsettings file "LODSettings\<Worldspace>.lod" are shown either in the Data folder, or in BSA/BA2 archives. Archives are loaded similar to the game itself - the ones specified in the game ini file and those that match loaded plugin names. ...So! Data file it is! Pressing "cancel" and rushing off to create a file called LODSettings\<Dustmote_Gold_Pile_Isle>.lod But do I need to include the... what are they called? https://www.computerhope.com/keys.htm ANGLE BRACKETS? I'll include them anyway. If I shouldn't have, I'm sure I will find out. Ok. "The file name cannot include any of the following characters:", and it removed all of the offending characters by itself, leaving me with a file that is called: LODSettingsDustmote_Gold_Pile_Isle.lod Back to SSELODGen. And waaait. And -my mod still does not appear in the list of available worldspaces. Only the original Skyrim and Skyrim DLC files are listed. If I built the atlas for Skyrim, would it appear in some form that I could use in my worldspace? Would the files no longer be TGA's? I don't know, so I won't try. I don't want to destroy my game (Slow internet and all that. Takes hours to reload.) But I am soooo tempted... I don't click that button. I don't know what would happen, after all. I press cancel.

Well, thanks. You're very nice to try and help anyway, even though it has been a while for you. I'll try that. But if I need to somehow supply the bilboards, that might be my undoing. Heh.

Do you have the cell grid on? (Press "B" twice to see the cells through water and everything). It might be that you have just reached the edge of a cell. Navigation mesh cannot go outside the cell it exists in. You need to make separate navmesh for each cell, check that the mesh edges touch and press "finalize". When the edge turns green, the navmeshes have succesfully connected. If you are more advanced and you already know all this, I'm sorry to say I can't help. I don't know what else could cause that to happen.

Hi! Would someone happen to know how to add my custom worldspace into the "camping allowed" -list? This is for Anniversary Edition's camping (ccqdrsse002-firewood.esl). CK has someting called FormLists but I cannot modify the one that lists all of the places allowed for camping. The ID of it is: ccQDRSSE002_CampingAllowedWorldspaces . It lists Tamriel and the DLC's and some other worldspaces. Right now the game tells me that I am "not allowed to camp here" if I try to click on my camping supplies in my worldspace. Thank you!

So, basically Dyndolod is kind of like a tool for creating a mod that contains lods for my game? Others could use it too, then, and make their own LODs. I don't even want to imagine. I find it all stressful enough as it is. XD I'm only considering using Dyndolod now myself, because it became easier.

I like making enclosed little world spaces that have mountains and raised up ground around them (much like Bloated Man's Grotto). The problem is that in game there are no lod models for them and so they just disappear. You need to go in quite close before they pop into view. Before they do, all you see is sky. I have read and tried to follow LOD-creation tutorials on Youtube and on CKWiki https://ck.uesp.net/wiki/Creating_a_Custom_Worldspace_with_LOD , but those tend to fall flat when it is time to use the .bat file to convert the DDS's into TGA's. I have the notepad file and the nxConvert exe in the same file as the DDS's and everything, all of the programs and Steam and Skyrim live on my D-drive. I double-click on the Notepad .bat-file and it will not run. I tried going through the whole process twice, but it just will not run. I'm not computer savvy myself at all. I'm just trying to follow the instructions but I have little to no personal understanding about what I'm doing. If I cannot create LODs, is it possible to let people create them themselves with Dyndolod? I have not used Dyndolod myself, because it is (or at least it used to be) quite complited to set up for someone who does not understand what they are doing. Thank you.

Ok, thanks guys. I'm ok with the robotic original look, as long as the birds are doing something. I'm trying to find a bird in Skyrim so that I could see what that does. I'm not importing any custom animation though; I'm not that advanced. I just wanted some life to my scene. But maybe I could try to find the chicken animation and put that on my bird? I never thought of that. Yes, the sounds arrange themselves but the sad part is that I can't see the sound range. but I can hear it when I test, so I guess that's not so bad. I'm not bringing in any own sounds for this mod, because that would mean acquiring a new skill. Maybe for some later mod.

Hi My first question is about the general ambient soundscape that plays in the background of the game. I mean the kind of sounds that "Audio Overhaul for Skyrim" and "Immersive Sounds Compedium" change. The kind of background sounds that make the exterior worldspace feel more alive. Are those sounds really all attached to the green sound files and nowhere else? I need to go to audio-->sound markers, and start dropping them in? There is no package for "pine forest ambient sounds", for example? Something that would play in the background just like the background music does? No ambient soundtrack exists? My second question is about placing birds in my worldspace. The bird of prey is fine, but I cannot get the "small bird" critter to work in game. If I drop one in, it stands there like model of a bird. No animation plays. Does it require some extra step? I really did try to find info on this but I couldn't find anything. Thank you in advance!

So, I'm replying to myself again. I finally found a discussion chain about this very issue https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=search&fromMainBar=1 The CACO author says to make a patch for your mod. Trying to edit your own mod with another mod enabled is apparently not how you make a patch. I'll go and find tutorials for patch making but if someone knows a good one, please leave a link to it.

So it was CACO. I tested that today. So, to make a mod that is compatible with CACO, I should include it in my own mod, I think. Maybe I need to redo the whole veggie patch after I have included CACO,

Hi guys! I found a good tutorial on how to add those grow-your-own planters to your own mods. I followed the instructions and when I tested in vanilla game, it worked well. But when I tested with a modded game, I suddenly could not get the planters to respond to me at all. When I tried to interact with the fertile soil, I did get the prompt text but I could not do anything. The fertile soil mound did not recognise my controller (playing with a PC, using a controller) button at all. The only other mod I use that has the keyword "alchemy" is CACO. I checked the pages but there is nothing there about it not working with other CK created mods. I also use Sky UI but I tested with a mouse and a keyboard, and fertile soil did not respond to pressing "E" either. Does anyone else have this problem? Does anyone know what causes it? Does anyone know how to fix it? Thank you.

HI. :) When you post a question, try to describe the problem as accurately and concisely as you can. That way it is easier for people to help you. So, your problem is that when you came in the Temple of Mara, the statue had unexpectedly moved forward to sit on the table? You don't tell us what sort of modification you made there yourself or if you are using other mods that affect the temple. I thought you were talking about problems with your own mod, but you mean mods that you have downloaded? There is probably just a conflict there somewhere. Maybe one of the mods that you are using repostions the statue? The easiest solution is to open CK, go into the temple and push the statue back yourself. :) Otherwise go through all the mods that affect the temple and turn them off one by one to see which one messes up the layout. If you have never opened CK, there are many good videos about it on Youtube. :) I made one myself. It lasts for 10 minutes and while I admit that it is not the best one out there, just watching it will give you an insight on how to operate CK, if it is completely new to you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3I_JWJ4UL4 I hope you find a solution.

Hi! Thank you so much for your time. :) I really appreciate it. Yeah. XD Well, That is there just for you. I'm going to take it down for the published version. Applause, applause for finding your treat! Perhaps I should have said that the boiled creme was on top a rock that looks like a boiled creme. And uhm... yes. Not small. At all. But it was supposed to be. Before the name became a joke, it was honestly just supposed to be small hole-in-the-wall, like literally. XD It just kind of expanded somehow. But I thought I could keep the "small" in the name, because the actual space is not very detailed aside from the river's edge. I'm sorry if that was misleading and you found yourself with more "work" than you expected. Yes, I had this little story in my head that since the Dwemer were very pompous people, this house would have once belonged to someone who wanted to impress their guests upon arrival, so they would greet them standing on a podium like royalty. The lights are also positioned so that the person on the balcony looking down can step into the shadow if s/he wants but the person at the door (looking up) is fully lit. And then the ancient building project was halted; perhaps because of the families living Nchuand-Zel? Maybe this Dwemer moved there too or maybe they were banished from the city? In any case, this little personal villa was never finished. The Silver-Bloods have not claimed the place, because it is so impractical. Ok. I'll get to sorting out everything that I can. I wonder whether the rock that you walk through is like that because it is a small rock that I have scaled up? Anyway, thanks again and props for your diverting image titles. :laugh:

Hi! Sorry if this isn't the right place for this. I thought it looked the most appropriate. The request: I'm making a smallish player-home style mod. Would there be anyone out there willing to test it? About the mod: The mod is called "Little Markarth House" but it is not actually a house. My idea was to publish a mod that some other modder could mod further, if they felt like it. Kind of like a game; "Mod My Mod" or something. :smile: That means that there isn't much there, but I would like it to be clean and without holes. (I left a boiled cream treat for you on a rock as a 'thank you'. I also left a tiny chuckle on the left wall.) The mod is added here as an attachment, You can find the house within Markarth, opposite the Silverblood Inn. The cell's ID is DM_LMH. If you think you might want to see the mod but you don't feel comfortable downloading it here, I can also send it to you via email.

Sorry for the late reply. So much I never knew. I have looked at the folders when I download texture mods from Nexus but somehow I never noticed how many folders you need to create to put them in the right place. Thank you for taking the time to help me.

OK, thank you. Does this mean that if I am assigning a new texture set in CK to an existing mesh in game, I will still need NifScope to see the path? Because my textures are where they should be, but they are not showing in game. Also, if you or someone could tell me if I'm doing something wrong: when I make a texture mod, I create the textures in Gimp and save them into the data/textures folder. Then I make the mod in CK and save. I create a folder for the mod on my desktop, and copy the plugin and the texture folder inside. I run the plugin through SSEEdit quick auto-clean and then pack it into a zip-file and upload to Nexus. Sorry for the late reply. Thank you. I knew that the textures need to be in the game's texture folder but most of this was news to me.

OK, thank you. Does this mean that if I am assigning a new texture set in CK to an existing mesh in game, I will still need NifScope to see the path? Because my textures are where they should be, but they are not showing in game. Also, if you or someone could tell me if I'm doing something wrong: when I make a texture mod, I create the textures in Gimp and save them into the data/textures folder. Then I make the mod in CK and save. I create a folder for the mod on my desktop, and copy the plugin and the texture folder inside. I run the plugin through SSEEdit quick auto-clean and then pack it into a zip-file and upload to Nexus.

Hi! What are "paths" and where can I see them? I would like to be able to view the path that leads from my own texture folder to the model in game, because it seems that some people get purple models, which means that even though the textures are published with the mod, the route from the texture folder to the model is somehow wrong. Do I need SSEEdit to do that? I tried it but I could not see paths anywhere, even though I clicked everything open. (I tried to search with keywords "skyrim"+ "paths" and "mod paths" and even "what is a path" but I did not get any page results explaning this. I am a complete newbie when it comes to all things scripting or even just using SSEEdit for anything other than doing a quick clean.)

I think that is the best way to learn anything. :) Sometimes yu just require some previous knowledge to understand what you are seeing. I suspected that the child is a "doll" with only facial animations attached. That you cannot change anything about it, because there is anothing to change. But then I realised that it still wears different wigs in game and there have to be some vertices somewhere for the animations to work. So, I thought the problem was in the model itself, but perhaps it is not? Perhaps I'll have another look-see myself, too. And who knows, maybe some of the modders modding children will have Youtube channels about that.

Thank you for your reply. :smile: I think would need to know how to read script to really see how the mods differ from the original? They have more sliders in CK but how that is accomplished, I do not know. OK, so you need to make a special race, because "opening" the original somehow just doesn't work. Thanks again!