Construction Set problem

[Campaigner]

Hello all, I'm new to modding, never tried past looking up form IDs. I went into the Construction Set with the intention of making a few items using pre-existing models, but with my own effects (such as skulls for soul stones, infinite healing potion Silver Goblet, etc), however when I try to make an item (soul stone skull as example), I can easily get the skull's mesh, but the script that the soul stones have are not on the list of available scripts.

 

Then, I wanted to make a Grummite Shield that hat better stats (Petrified Horseshoe Crabs need more love), so I went to make a custom one after writing down the file locations of each part (nif file, texture file, all that good stuff), yet when I right click > new, those parts are NOT available. The folder for the grummite textures are not available when I try to make them.

 

 

 

I can see every item from all of my mods and plugins. I have made sure that every mod and plugin was activated. I made sure the game was turned off, in case it had any effect on the construction set. I checked the folders that the textures and models should have been in, and they do not exist. Help?

 

I run Windows Vista, if that's any help.

[thePhilanthropy]

Soulgems don't use scripts. In the CS in the Object Window, under Items choose the SoulGem tab. All the soulgems are listed here. Open for example 'SoulGem5Grand5GrandSoul'. In the lower right corner of the new window you can see 'Capacity' and 'Soul'. You can also see a button with the label 'Clutter\SoulGemLesser01.NIF'. That's the path for the mesh.

To change the soulgem to use a skull as mesh you first need to have a mesh for that. Either a custom one or a vanilla one. The reason why you can't find that mesh is because Oblivion gets its data from the BSA files in your Oblivion\Data directory. You first need to unpack the files you want to use (i recommend OBMM). The mesh for the skull is supposed to be in 'Dungeon\Misc\' with the name 'skull01.NIF'.

So, first thing you do is create that directory in you data folder. That would be 'Oblivion\Data\Meshes\Dungeon\Misc\'. Now extract 'skull01.NIF' using OBMM from the 'Oblivion - Meshes.bsa' in your data folder to the directory you just created.

It should now be possible to change the mesh path of 'SoulGem5Grand5GrandSoul' to 'Dungeon\Misc\skull01.nif' in the CS. And voila!

 

If you're using the vanilla meshes you can also just rename any file, e.g 'new document.txt' to 'skull01.nif', put it in the directory you need it in, and delete it after setting the path in the CS. Oblivion will just look that file up in the 'Oblivion - Meshes.bsa'. That way you can skip the whole file-extraction completely.

 

Good Luck!

[Campaigner]

If you're using the vanilla meshes you can also just rename any file, e.g 'new document.txt' to 'skull01.nif', put it in the directory you need it in, and delete it after setting the path in the CS. Oblivion will just look that file up in the 'Oblivion - Meshes.bsa'. That way you can skip the whole file-extraction completely.

 

This part. I just make a random new file, such as a completely blank text document, name it what file I want, and the CS will find the file that has that name? I was honestly contemplating on this, but it sounded so crazy that it didn't seem possible. I'll try that out.

[thePhilanthropy]

If you're using the vanilla meshes you can also just rename any file, e.g 'new document.txt' to 'skull01.nif', put it in the directory you need it in, and delete it after setting the path in the CS. Oblivion will just look that file up in the 'Oblivion - Meshes.bsa'. That way you can skip the whole file-extraction completely.

 

This part. I just make a random new file, such as a completely blank text document, name it what file I want, and the CS will find the file that has that name? I was honestly contemplating on this, but it sounded so crazy that it didn't seem possible. I'll try that out.

 

Oblivion will not find that file automatically. You still need to maintain the path that file has in the 'Oblivion - Meshes.bsa'. The method is only good for setting a pre-existing path for a new/altered item. But at least you don't have to mess with extraction if you already know that path. And you really should delete that dummy file after setting the path, so that Oblivion still uses the original one, and not your random text-file^^.

[Campaigner]

Forgive my ignorance, cause this is a little much for me.

 

I unpacked the Oblivion files. I found the skull01.nif, among hundreds of other things. These files are all set aside in another folder.

 

Should I copy the skull01.nif file over to the new path (meshes/dungeon/misc/filehere.nif), and make a new soulgem like that?

 

 

 

EDIT:

I got it to work, woo. Skull Soulstone, minus the icon in the inventory, is made. Now, dumb question; how do I make it work as an Azura Star?

 

 

Also, do I do what I did for the skull for any other custom items I want to make?

[thePhilanthropy]

EDIT:

I got it to work, woo. Skull Soulstone, minus the icon in the inventory, is made. Now, dumb question; how do I make it work as an Azura Star?

 

About the Azura Star.... Same way you did the skull gem, I guess.

 

I actually have no idea how the engine handles soulgems. Just make a copy of the Azuar star or change the mesh/icon.

 

Also, do I do what I did for the skull for any other custom items I want to make?

 

Depends on what kind of items you want to make...

For simply editing/altering items: YES!

For new items: If you want to create a new item right-click in the catergory you want it to be in and choose new. Or, which is easier/faster, just alter the ID of an already existing item that comes close to what you have in mind. Apply whatever changes you made and the CS will ask whether to create a new item. New meshes go into 'Oblivion\Data\Meshes', icons go into 'Oblivion\Data\Textures\menus\Icons'. Set the paths in the CS.

You still have to drop the new items somewhere in the game-world or cheat them to make use of them.

[Campaigner]

just alter the ID of an already existing item that comes close to what you have in mind. Apply whatever changes you made and the CS will ask whether to create a new item.

 

This worked wonders, thank you.

 

 

One last question, and I'll be done being inexperienced (hopefully); How do I make custom enchants, and make it so that it has an endless charge? For example, An Akaviri Katana with 50 points Frenzy, 50 points Calm, 50 Damage Health, 50 points Heal on strike. Also, speed; what's fast and what's not? Is it in seconds per swing, where 1 is one attack per second?

[thePhilanthropy]

One last question, and I'll be done being inexperienced (hopefully); How do I make custom enchants, and make it so that it has an endless charge? For example, An Akaviri Katana with 50 points Frenzy, 50 points Calm, 50 Damage Health, 50 points Heal on strike. Also, speed; what's fast and what's not? Is it in seconds per swing, where 1 is one attack per second?

 

In the 'Object Window' under 'Magic' is a tab called 'Enchantment'. Every Enchantment has a type: Apparel, Scroll, Staff and Weapon. The effects of an enchantment are listed under 'Effects' (Duh!). You can make new effects or manipulate existing ones so they fit your desiring. In order to achieve infinite charges your best bet would be to untick 'Auto-Calculate' and set the values for both 'Charge Amount' and 'Enchantment Cost' to 0 (Enchantment Cost could also mean the amount of money it costs to recharge. I dunno...). Give your enchantment a memorable name (so that you can find it later; preferably something with a 0 in front of it, e.g. "0MyOverpoweredCheaterKatana") and save it.

Now create the weapon of your liking in the Weapon tab under Items. Now, with your weapon open, you can see a sroll-down list labeled 'Enchanting', where all the Weapon-Type enchantments are listed. Choose "0MyOverpoweredCheaterKatana". Set the value of Enchantment to 65535, just to be sure it lasts a while should the charge decrease after all.

Save it and there you go.

About speed. The higher the number the faster the weapon. 1.4 would be a dagger, 0.8 a claymore. Just experiment with it.

 

I hope that answers your question. If you have more questions, try this. And experiment a little. I'm not a pro, but I know my way around without ever having read a single tutorial. That doesn't have to apply to you, though.

And lastly, and most importantly, have fun modding! :thumbsup: