I would like to get into New Vegas Modding.

[ChinchillaFlats]

Like the title says, I want to learn how to make mods for New Vegas. I have played all the various Fallout titles and I love them all, but the other day I started a new New Vegas play through and it was like a light clicked on. I fell in love with the aesthetics, the regions, the story, the npcs, the look, the vibe. Everything. Currently I have GECK installed, but mostly have just been looking around. I am only as far knowing how to start a new mod and being able to view everything in the game in GECK.

 

I also downloaded FNVEdit, though it isn't installed and I haven't began snooping there yet. My first question is does it matter which one I use? Does the answer vary depending on the mod I want to make? To me, it seems logical, that the more I know how to use both then that will be to my benefit. Initially, the mods I learn to make are going to be small tweaks that I want in the game and then as my talent for creating grows the plan is to start doing things others may be looking for.

 

My first mod is going to be a small quest mod. I'll mark it in spoilers just in case people don't want details given away that they might not be privy to.

 

 

I want to do a variant of Dr. Dala's breathers she does with the lobotomite/courier. In my version I want it be a repeatable quest that can be done providing one sides with the Think Tank that rewards 15 energy cells. I would like it to be repeatable every 24 to 48 hours. Once I get this and it is working as intended, my plan is to do a mod that would allow the various Think Tank doctors to be companions. As I have indicated, I am not very far into learning the programs so I know there is gonna be a curve there before I get it to do what I want. I am just starting to try and learn this stuff, but it seems like it would be doable. I'm right aren't I, something like that could be done? Also would it be better to go the GECK route or the FNVEdit route? Or is it basic enough what I want that either can do it?

 

 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

[Radioactivelad]

FNVEdit isn't a content creation tool. Generally you'll only use it for undoing something you accidentally saved and copying resources between mods. The Geck is where you'll actually make your mod.

 

As for your first project; the universal creative advice for when you're starting out is to take the smallest idea you can think of and make it smaller.

 

Before you try to make a repeatable quest, how about a non-repeating quest? "Kill The Baddie" is a good format for a basic quest and will teach you the fundamentals.

[ChinchillaFlats]

OK, that makes sense. I guess the names are big hints as to what each is for. Edit vs. Creation Kit. And the idea of a non-repeatable first also seems logical. Thank you for the input.

[madmongo]

The GECK can be a fairly miserable tool set. I have often said that the GECK is really a secret Vault-Tec experiment designed to test modder's frustration levels.

 

The GECK allows you to place objects, NPCs, etc. You can create NPCs, and can create copies of things to make unique versions of them. But otherwise, the GECK doesn't create assets. In other words, if you want a new type of chair, you can't create the 3d model for the chair in the GECK. 3d models for FNV are in NIF format, which is not a common format.

 

If you want to create your own 3d models, your two main options are Blender and 3dsMax. Both require additional plugins to support the NIF format and both of these only have specific versions that work with the NIF tools properly. Most modders use Blender since it's free. There are free versions of 3dsMax but they don't work with the NIF tools.

 

You can do some minor editing of NIFs with a program called NifSkope. This is included with the Blender NIF tools and I believe you can download it without the NIF tools as well if you want to be able to do the simple editing that requires NifSkope but not the complex editing required to do proper 3d modeling. A common thing to do with NifSkope is to retexture something, so you create a new texture for an existing object and then create a copy of an existing NIF and modify its texture in NifSkope for your new texture. Example - you can take the couch that is in the GECK and give it a lovely floral pattern by changing its texture.

 

Textures are in DDS format. Your options here are GIMP, Photoshop, and Paint.Net. GIMP is the most popular for modders, again because it is free. Very few modders use Photoshop due to its cost. Paint.Net is another free alternative. It's not the free Paint that comes with Windows, but it is a free download. Paint.Net is easier to use and more intuitive, but less powerful, and does not handle texture alpha channel very well.

 

Starting out as a newbie, the easiest things to do are things like placing objects and creating new interiors. For example, you can take one of the unused homes in Goodsprings and create your own custom interior for it.

 

Creating NPCs is a bit more difficult, partly because the dialog system is really funky and partly because NPCs need to be defined in a master file (esm) and not a regular mod file (esp). So now you need to know how to create an esm. The easy way to create an esm is to create an esp using the GECK (basically just create a mod and save it) and then edit the esp using FNVEdit to change it to an esm. If you define your NPC in an esp, you end up with the infamous head/body mismatch bug where the textures don't match.

 

The dialog system is a confusing mess until you realize that it grew out of the dialog system for Morrowind. In that game, most of the NPCs were not voiced, and different NPCs would give you bits of information about different topics. Often more than one NPC could give you the same information, so it made a lot more sense to organize things by topics instead of by NPC. So what happens in the GECK is that things are still often organized by topics, which means that if you are trying to figure out where an NPC says something it can be in numerous different quests. Doc Mitchell has generic conversation in one place but all of his medical stuff in another quest that is shared by all of the game's doctors, for example. It's a bit funky, but you get used to it.

 

If you want to create a follower NPC, you need to set up the topics and everything correctly or the companion wheel won't work. Here is the best tutorial that I have found:

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/45278

 

Quests are relatively easy to make. NPC dialog is handled by quests so once you figure out how to do NPC dialog you'll know how to do most of what you need to do to make quests.

 

Animations are hard and good documentation for how to create animations for FNV doesn't exist. Stay away from creating animations if you are a newbie.

 

Creating new world spaces is very difficult and gets you into the truly buggy parts of the GECK. This is also something that you want to avoid as a newbie. Creating a new worldspace properly generally involves setting up the GECK in network developer mode and using version control, which is not how most modders set up their GECK. Stay away from all of this as a newbie.

 

All of this is a lot to take in, but it's just an overview to give you a rough roadmap of what is easy to start out with and what you can get into as your modding skills progress.

 

My advice is to make a little house mod first, then create an NPC follower, then once you have all of that down then try to make your quest mod.

 

It is MUCH easier to create a new think tank doctor to make as a companion than to try to hack into the existing quests to convert an existing think tank doctor into a companion.

 

There is a lot of good info here, including links to tools and a lot of advice and common issues and tips:

https://wiki.nexusmods.com/index.php/Getting_started_creating_mods_using_GECK

 

Have fun! And save often. The GECK is a buggy piece of crap.

[ChinchillaFlats]

Madmongo,

 

thank you for all of that. There's a lot there to digest, for sure. Hopefully, once I get in and start messing with things it will all fall into place. I'm a little bummed about the advice to stay away from quest mod for a bit because I was hoping to have it for this play through before I leave the area. Then again, if following convention wisdom on the matter, I really shouldn't install a mod mid-play through anyway so maybe it is just as well.