[LE] How to make spells not harm non-hostile characters?

[StarboyCosmic]

First, I do appreciate your help. And I wasnt trying to be "aggressive", moreso I was defensive because some of the way you say things comes across as condescending, reiterating to me that I'm uneducated in CK as if I dont already know that and thus why I'm here to begin with asking for help and guidance. It comes across as if you are trying to noob shame a self aware noob who is just trying to learn. You also seem to be at odds with yourself, saying you choose to exhaust yourself to help a million threads and people, but yet you dont want to hand hold guide people either. So you should understand that has a tantalizing effect when you answer people in that way, from that place. That's why I'm just like, ok if you dont want to do that, then dont, thats fine. But why bother replying to noobs with vague details or parts of information, when its obviouisly not going to be a comprehensive lesson or walkthrough for said noob to be able to utilize correctly? And then act annoyed about it when more questions inevitably come up.. That just doesnt make sense, and its frustrating for both parties.

And besides, i asked if you could just point me to resources or tutorials instead, which you claim there are "hundreds of on the subject", whilst at the same time saying you've never used them yourself. So how would you even know that there's supposedly so many or not on the subject. lol

But I am telling you, as someone who uses tutorials whenever possible, and who has searched through every search engine, youtube, and even in this forum (and Skyrim SE forum now too), there's literally zero results on this specific subject. I wouldnt have posted here asking about it if the information was somewhere so freely and easily accessible as you claim it is. If i'm somehow wrong, then again, i'd ask you to share those resources please. Because it looks to me like I am the only person to have ever asked this question in either forum. Making this probably the only thread about it too.

In other places online, i have seen people mentioning it in passing, just saying its not even possible, or they wish it was possible, etc. But I kind of had a suspicion that maybe it is, regardless of what other people were saying in those instances, they just probably didnt know how to do it. But clearly you do, and you chose to keep replying here, even though you're not enjoying it. lol i'm sorry, that part is funny to me. But i really do appreciate your help.

 

Now with the modding: I just did what you said to do, I created a custom Explosion, set the Force and Damage to 0. Then chose it as the Explosion in the dropdown of my Magic Effect.

I didnt really know what exactly to do from that point, since no further walkthrough details were provided.

So I just proceeded to use my limited knowledge between what you said, and what I learned elsewhere. Just doing basic trial and error testing on various things, to try to formulate a full spell with it.

But there are still several things i dont know what they even do, or how they function. So i obviously dont know how everything else, including what you told me, connects properly.

For example, in Magic Effect, there is a subheading called Spellmaking with its own Power Affects Magnitude checkbox and an input bar for Area. I dont know if I am supposed to use these in this case (or in any case tbh), but either way i've tried with and without adding values to these anyways.

Then when you actually add the Magic Effect to a Spell, there is a Magnitude and Area input here as well, i have also tried adjusting these, or turning off completely, etc. At this point i'm pretty sure these are the main inputs for controlling spell damages.

In any case, I am fairly certain i have tried every possible combination when it comes to filling these out or leaving empty, or Magnitude on, Area off, and vice versa, both in the Magic Effect Spellmaking tab, and in the Spell Effects tab. In all my testing, the Explosion set up was 0 Force/Damage, as you advised. In cases where Area and Magnitude are turned off, the Explosion does not occur/appear in game. When i turn them on, the Explosion appears, but it still causes damage to non-hostile npcs, regardless of the IsHostileToActor script being on both the magic effect and spell.

So clearly i am still missing some other step somewhere. Which either you have not covered here, Or i have not been able to find elsewhere. I have spent hours trying to figure it out and guess, etc.

 

Things I still havent been able to find detailed information about, to even know if it has any relevance to my issue, include:

- the Effect Archetype: is there some specific one i should be choosing for the types of spells im trying to make? or any i should avoid?

- the Flags category in magic effect: ive just selected ones basic spell tutorials have said to use. But is there more i should know for the types of spells im trying to create?

- Magic Effect Keywords and Counter effects: is there anything i could use here that will help my goal? I know next to nothing about these

- Impact Data Set: does this effect anything to do with the explosion causing harm?

 

And finally, I am also wondering, if it's just as simple as i'm supposed to be making two separate Magic Effects for the kind of spells i want. Like one Magic Effect will just be the vfx explosion, then the second Magic Effect will actually be the part of the spell that does damage. I saw somewhere people discussing using more than one Magic Effect for other kinds of spells, they said usually only one of the Magic Effects will actually show in game and the others just turn invisible. I did try setting up a Spell this way, and again the Explosion part just didnt show in game.

 

So as you can see, between your limited answers, and the other research I've done, there is just still too much information missing for me to fully grasp it all. Which again, is why i posted here. I am pretty sure i have read through and watched as much of tutorials and walkthroughs as there are easily available online on the subject, and anything else to do with CK. There really is nothing too in depth i have come across, its always so basic. Thats why i thought the forums would be the next natural step in getting more info. But its crazy to me, that even searching in the forums search tab, nothing comes up on this. at all.

 

Anyways, with all of that said. What would help me the most, is if you or someone else could just post the exact set up of a spell that functions in this way. Then I could just use that to quickly learn and reference to really start building my own spells. You have said its easy to do, so i assume that would mean you actually have already done it yourself for your own game or a mod at some point. Dropping a simple template spell, or a walkthrough of how to do it, doesnt sound like it would be that hard to do pretty quickly and effortlessly for someone who already knows what they're doing. Yet, it doesnt seem like anyone has actually done this, or even dropped any mods with spells that function this way. Correct me if im wrong. But i have even seen other modders in the Skyrimse nexus saying its not even possible to make these kinds of spells. I have seen that alot in other online places too, so many people dont even believe its possible to do. You might be one of the only people who has figured it out as far as I can tell.

[StarboyCosmic]

This is why it's so hard to even get into serious modding. Barely any tutorials beyond surface level stuff and basics. And then asking for help with something, people are irritated to even do it, if they even bother to try at all, because you dont already know enough.. smh