steelfeathers

I have a question for the community, if anyone can help me. I'm having difficulty getting some of the deathclaw paint overlays to appear correctly. What I did was take the standard deathclaw mesh, then gave it a texture with only the paint lines, and left everything else transparent. The alpha properties seem to work fine - when I preview the paint mesh in the CK, I get floating paint lines, like I would expect. The problem, however, is that for all but 1 of the deathclaw paint overlays, the paint tends to "flicker" when applied to a deathclaw. As in, if your cursor is on the deathclaw, you can see the paint, but as soon as you look away, it vanishes. The really frustrating thing is that I've gotten it to work for the standard deathclaw mesh with no flickering whatsoever by duplicating the mesh object in the nif file and giving it the alpha property from the chameleon deathclaw "color" layer. But when I tried doing this with, say, the Matriarch mesh (copy the base matriarch mesh, replace the alpha property), it doesn't help. And what's REALLY bonkers is that if I apply the working paint overlay to the matriarch/savage/albino, it doesn't have any flickering problems. So it can't be a problem with z-fighting between the two meshes. It has to be something to do with the alpha properties. I just can't figure out what.... If anyone has any suggestions, please speak up!

HOLY s*** THAT LOOKS UNBELIEVABLE i cant f***ing wait to stroll the wasteland with my tribal painted deathclaw with a neck chain. But one question, do you craft each body paint section individually or do you craft something like "Tribal deathclaw paint" and you just equip it on your deathclaw and most of its body is painted? Like for example, say, i only want the head painted. Not the legs, arms, jaw etc, only the head. Can i craft that individual paint? I swear i cant get enough of these screenshots, whenever you post a screenshot my hunger for more grows stronger. You don't craft anything. That would be a bit silly. :P Instead, the option "Apply paint" appears when you talk to your pet if you have red, yellow, or blue paint in your inventory. And if your pet is already painted and you want to get rid of the paint, just find some turpentine and then talk to them again - the option "Remove paint" will now appear instead, and you can scrub away the body paint. (So no, you can't just paint one section. Getting the deathclaw paint to work has been finicky enough as it is - especially since I need 5 different overlays to fit the 5 different deathclaw meshes. And for some bizarre reason, the Savage deathclaw skin conflicts with the Savage deathclaw paint overlay. No idea why.)

http://imgur.com/NOetObq.jpg

I learned a lot from this tutorial, as well as from downloading existing "simple" companion mods and opening them up in the CK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKViKsNcXVY

Well, I don't intend to try to wait until it's COMPLETELY done (I'd be waiting quite a long time for that), but I'm not going to put it out in half-baked beta form either. Honestly, I'm chomping at the bit to have it done and published more than you guys are, lol. But if you're really interested in testing, I can send you your very own beta copy. At this point the mechanics are all pretty solid, it's just a matter of ferreting out where things have unintended consequences, or get annoying, or just don't balance well. Aside from finishing up the body paints and fixing some mesh rigging issues, there are a few lingering things that are driving me crazy, but I'm not entirely sure whether they are fixable: 1) I'm about 97% sure that it's impossible to be able to give your pet a custom name without using some sort of SetDisplayName function, which doesn't exist yet, and won't until FO4SE kicks into high gear. (More specifically: It's impossible to give your pet a custom name, AND be able to change it at will, AND have an unlimited number of pets each have a custom name, without using SetDisplayName) 2) Player voice files. It drives me bananas that you can't select the file path for the voice file you want to use when creating a new line of dialogue - the file path (and file name) are auto-generated. And copying the player voice .fuz files into that file path results in silent dialogue lines. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong or how to fix it. So at the moment, in order to re-use existing player voice files, I'm overwriting two quests that I'm sure will cause conflicts down the line: PlayerCommandDialogue, and DogmeatQuest.

That's kind of what I'm doing. There's a silver lining - I've added two new options. "Know any tricks?" and "Change combat style". "Know any tricks?" plays an idle animation for that creature. Some are better than others; the Deathclaw trick is pretty impressive. Nick even commented on it with "oh crap!" :D Others are....less impressive. But that's the limitation of only having the standard animations to work with. But I suppose for immersion it can be thought of as "yeah, brahmin aren't very good at doing tricks...that's okay, I love the guy anyway. Even if he is derpy." "Change combat style" allows you to set when your pet will attack and how cautious (or not) they will be in battle. Oh and here, have a pretty in-game screenshot of a painted radscorpion: http://i.imgur.com/icXySbj.jpg

It's official: I LOATHE the FO4 dialogue system. Not because it's a wheel, or because you can't see exactly what your character will say. No, I hate it because: 1) You are locked into only 4 dialogue choices. You can't add more without needing to go to another branch. And you MUST have 4, because otherwise you'll have an option that says something stupid like "Positive Response". (It couldn't just be blank - that would make too much sense) 2) Adding a menu of activate options is impossible. In Skyrim, when you activated an NPC, you could pop up a message box with a range of options for doing things like, say, feeding treats, or applying body paint. But in FO4, you can only have 1 activate option. Try to add more than that, and guess what? The normal dialogue choices are overridden by those options. So instead of seeing "Talk", "Follow me", "Nevermind", and "How you doing?" when you talk to the NPC, you'll see something bonkers like, "Talk", "Apply Paint", "Talk", "Feed Treat". Best still, one of those Talk options is a lie - it's actually the "Stay" command. It just SAYS "Talk". 3) Just LOOKING at an NPC counts as activating them. So does choosing an option from a message box that is shown during conversation. In a beautiful twist of logic, this makes it so that if you often get caught in a never-ending message box loop if you have code that shows the messagebox upon activating the NPC. Talk > message box > choose option > message box > choose option > message box > choose option > message box > choose option....repeat until doomsday. *Steelfeathers flips the table*

http://i.imgur.com/ACzz0MC.png

Wow, that's a lot of ideas! Okay, first - yes, you will be able to paint your deathclaws. Deathclaws, mirelurks, radscorpions, radroaches, and stingwings can all get paint jobs. Also, addressing the armor thing: I want to make creature armor. I really do. However, the amount of effort that would be needed for such an undertaking is ENORMOUS. Discounting the bug creatures, that would be 10 brand new sets of armor that I would need to model, texture, and rig. That's an entire mod project right there. So I'm not saying "no" - again, I'd love to have Deathclaw armor, just like everyone else - it's just not going to happen in the near future. Thanks for replying! And don't be a stranger. Lurking hurts my soul. Ah, i completely understand the armor thing. But surely you can bring on some experienced modders in your project? You will finish things much quicker and with much better results, you will form a formidable modding team! But if that's also not possible, that's ok. Maybe you can create "mini" simple armor pieces? Like only a helmet to your deathclaw or back armor for mirelurks and stuff like that, instead of a full armored suit. But if that's also not possible, i wont mind. It's definitely not going to make me NOT download the mod, modders are human too and have lives. Im REALLY looking forward for this mod, it seems like the type of mod id download and never disable. And by the way, what's your progress? unless thats secretive.. I'm really not interested in turning this mod into a collaboration - I've been part of several modding teams before, and either a) it falls apart, or b) it takes forever. I'm really quite good at creating armor, so it would probably be faster to just do it myself than to try to find someone else to do it for me, anyway. :P But never say never! I may find the time and energy to do a massive "creature armor" update sometime after the initial release, so let the dream die just yet. Progress is going well. This is my remaining to-do list: -Finish adding body paints -Clean up the model rigging for some of the chain collars and saddlebags -Test (and potentially fix) the "Give Treat" mechanic -Play test the hell out of everything with Echo, my glowing Mirelurk King, just to make sure that nothing strange pops up

Wow, that's a lot of ideas! Okay, first - yes, you will be able to paint your deathclaws. Deathclaws, mirelurks, radscorpions, radroaches, and stingwings can all get paint jobs. Also, addressing the armor thing: I want to make creature armor. I really do. However, the amount of effort that would be needed for such an undertaking is ENORMOUS. Discounting the bug creatures, that would be 10 brand new sets of armor that I would need to model, texture, and rig. That's an entire mod project right there. So I'm not saying "no" - again, I'd love to have Deathclaw armor, just like everyone else - it's just not going to happen in the near future. Thanks for replying! And don't be a stranger. Lurking hurts my soul.

Wow. That is awesome. Would love to see an Institute white version. But, maybe you tried that and it didn't look good? Those are the 3 colors of paint you can find in the game. There isn't any white to reference, unfortunately. Edit: though I suppose it wouldn't be too difficult to add new paint items that can be created by mixing other paints at the chemistry station...

Here we have a tribal design for Radroach carapace paint. Available in 3 colors. http://imgur.com/KOj3Iw6.jpg

Editing meshes is actually pretty easy. You don't need to export as obj files. Follow this tutorial instead. It works for all meshes, not just armor. http://wiki.tesnexus.com/index.php/Creating_an_armour_for_Fallout_4._Part_1

Hmm. Well, in skyrim a similar problem could be fixed by interacting with a furniture marker, which would force you into another animation and restore your character to normal. Have you tried using a cooking pot or something to see if that helps? It won't help to solve your root issue, but if it works, it will at least help narrow down the problem.

Wow. I think you have some misdirected anger there, zanity. Also, I find it telling that you continue to play, mod, and chat about FO4, all while trashing it and the people who made it. Seriously dude, take a deep breath and relax a bit. Oh, and one more thing: you can't have spent any time with the updated CK yet, because I HAVE, and I can tell you that it's leagues better than the version used for skyrim. Not necessarily in world editing (i have no experience there), but in everything else. And believe me, world editing is only a small part of modding.

Whether or not an NPC (animal or human) will attack depends on 3 things: Their reaction to the player. Their aggressiveness. Their bravery. So, for instance, you could have a homicidal brahmin who hates the player, but it still won't attack if its bravery is set to "cowardly". Or you could have an aggressive, foolhardy deathclaw, and it won't attack the player because it's allied with the player. Check all those things I listed. The answer is in there. (And make sure you haven't done tcai in the console)

Answering everyone at once... -No custom names, unfortunately. This will be impossible until the FO4 script extender implements a SetDisplayName function. Right now, the only way to change the display name (the name you see) is by assigning each creature to a ref collection alias that has the desired name as it's display name. BUT, in order to make it so that you can change your pet's name at will, the alias display name can't be marked as permanent- otherwise it will stick with your pet forever. And obviously you can't just change the display name of the alias, because that would change the names of every pet filling that alias. -Deathclaws are the size they are. No pocket deathclaws in this mod, sorry. If you know you're going into a sewer or something, just take a smaller creature, or command the deathclaw to wait outside. -haha, flower crowns might be cool! But they'll have to wait for a future update. I don't think they're necessary for the initial release.

Good suggestion, but it won't work for me. I'm trying to implement a "Feed treat" function - it would be really weird to be able to "feed" my pet a piece of armor or something instead of only food.

So apparently the function ShowGiftMenu no longer works for FO4. Which leads to the question - what sort of function could I use to start a trade where only certain types of items can be passed as a "gift"? The only similar function I know of is OpenInventory, but that lets you pass anything you want, so it won't work for what I need.

Hi there! Welcome to the weird, wild, and wonderful world of modding. Here's a first piece of advice: Take a deep breath and relax. Modding is a lot harder than it seems, especially if you don't have a background in software or game systems. It's going to take you time to learn, and that's okay. Everyone started there at one point. Second, creating a quest mod that would allow the minutement to take the Prydwen is a HUGE undertaking, especially for someone just starting out. You'll need to start smaller to get your feet wet, or you'll get discouraged by the enormity of the task...any by how often you'll fail. (Trust me, it happens all the time, even to veteran modders). Don't try to eat the entire elephant in one go, so to speak. So, in terms of learning how to mod: First, if you haven't already, start using mods in your own game. Learn how to install them. Open up the files and take a look at what's inside. Next, you'll want these tools: 1) Bethesda Archive Extractor (BAE) > this will allow you to pull all the meshes and textures used in the base game out of their packaged archives, so that you can edit them. 2) FO4Edit > this is the ultimate clean-up tool for fixing mistakes in your mod. It has a lot of other uses, but when you're just starting, you'll mostly use it to check that you haven't accidentally saved over something you didn't mean to. 3) Creation Kit > Download the Bethesda launcher and download/install the CK. After that, google is your friend. Open Fallout4.esm in the CK and take a look around. Open records, see what they are. Right-click and choose "Used In" to see where records are used, to get a sense for how everything is all tied together. From there, just try your hand at making a small, simple mod and test it in-game. Just the process of creating a simple mod and getting it working in-game will teach you so much. Good luck!

Make sure all the following things are set in the actor records: 1) Has the DefaultMasterPackageList AI package 2) Has a faction that is an enemy of PlayerFaction 3) Aggression is set to "Aggressive" or "Very Aggressive" 4) Bravery is set to "Brave" or "Foolhardy"

http://imgur.com/3EZ1FxX.jpg That's awesome. I would love radroach paint jobs as a feature! It would apply to more than just radroaches, btw - you would also be able to paint your stingwings, mirelurks, radscorpions, and deathclaws. :)

Where's the +1 button for this comment...

Keep in mind that giant, awesome mods take time to make. I'm working on a massive creature companion overhaul right now that will allow you to tame, name, accessorize, and befriend wasteland creatures (check out the WIP thread if you're interested), but it's obviously going to take a while to complete. Another thing to keep in mind is that it takes a while for the community to work out what a game really needs. Aside from urgent bug fixes or pretty HD textures, it takes time to work out where the mechanics as a whole fall short, and how to fix them.

Huh. For some reason it didn't work until I saved over the material file again....chalk it up to CK weirdness, I guess. Anyway! Here's a body paint test on a radroach. Is this something you guys would be interested in, or is it too bizarre and I should just skip it? http://imgur.com/3EZ1FxX.jpg