[LE] Scripting/Papyrus tutorial sites?

[xenaclone]

I have searched the 'net far and low, through Google, through Bing, where else can I go? :laugh: Bethesda left off at "Hello World" it seems, which just isn't comprehensive enough for those of us who have grander visions.

 

Seriously, where are the really in-depth scripting tutorials? How do you folks (Agerweb, Ishara the Pale Reguard, etc.) learn? Or are you all somehow self-taught in the ways of Papyrus in the Creation Kit? -- When learning OB's Construction set & Fallout 3's GECK I was able to find plenty of tutorials: on YouTube or in written form. After setting aside a couple weeks for learning (NO gaming) I was able to learn quite a lot within that time. After awhile I began to just "get it".

 

I'm just asking so I don't have to keep buggin y'all in the future. Found some classes at TES Alliance for instance, but those were mostly made way back in 2012, and (again) just don't go far enough.

Edited December 23, 2022 by xenaclone

[greyday01]

google Darkfox127. He made a LOT of video tutorials of everything from mannequins to custom containers to a build your own house thing. Really, he is so useful and good at showing all the steps.

[IsharaMeradin]

I must confess that I had to teach myself Papyrus. I looked at existing scripts that did the same or similar thing. Performed a lot of trial and error to get what I wanted. Paid attention to threads where others requested help. Sometimes I could assist, other times I would learn something new myself.

 

There is this site that does explain things a little bit better or at least differently than the CK wiki does: http://www.cipscis.com/skyrim/tutorials/beginners.aspx

[maxarturo]

You were able to find scripting tutorials for games before Skyrim because the language Bethesda used for those games was just a series of commands and nothing more, while since Skyrim was developed the Papyrus language actually started to become a real coding language with one of its attributes to be the many different ways a coder can achieve the same thing without the restriction of having to follow one single 'how to do path'.

However this does not mean that all applicable coding ways are equally find and best and here is where the coder's experience and knowhow comes in to distinguish the best approach for the requiered situation.

Now as IsharaMeradin mentioned the majority of modders who didn't knew or had any association with programing, they learned following the same path as IsharaMeradin.

My advice to someone that wants to learn coding/Papyrus is to exclusively concentrate on that and nothing more.

Create a 'Test ESP' and dedicate 2 weeks to 1 month only in reading > manipulating > creating > testing scripts, after a month you will be able to create your own scripts for all your basic needs.

After you have conquered that part, we are here to guide you to more complex stuff and show you things that actually need some programming knowledge and applicable knowhow.

[Sphered]

The sources themselves are invaluable. They literally tell you everything available in the game, and many functions are noted with detail of what they accomplish. They are in your data folder for immediate usefulness

 

Self-teaching when motivated with a goal is imo the best method

[xenaclone]

Wow, thanks for these answers! And happy holidays, of course. :sick:

 

greyday01: Cool, I'll look up Darkfox127 once I'm back in front of my gaming computer. :smile: I think part of the problem is I mostly rely on those massive search engines, which only pull up the most popular results. So somebody like Darkfox falls way through the cracks.

 

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Ishara: That's the feeling I got about you after reading dozens of posts; that you're self-taught when it comes to Papyrus. But you probably grew up with coding and such, learning C+ and all those languages way before getting into gaming, right? Really wish I had taken computer classes when I was in high school, and everything was free.

 

My problem is I tend to come up with some wacky idea, and then there are no examples from Bethesda to accomplish what I've got in mind. It's like I'm on my own, then. Thank you for the cipscis link! -- I know this name, but did not know he's got his own pages. Wow, look at this. This link delves right into the subjects I'm interested in. :dance:

 

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maxarturo & Sphered: Self-teaching works to a point, but after a while I get too frustrated to continue with what I'll call 'the experiments'. I need help, but in pre-existing media such as tutorials. Something which explains it all right up front, which saves me time in the long run.

 

The earlier games use that different language which I found to be easier to learn, which must be true for dozens of other modders out there as well, hence all the tutorials for earlier games.

 

Create a 'Test ESP' and dedicate 2 weeks to 1 month only in reading > manipulating > creating > testing scripts, after a month you will be able to create your own scripts for all your basic needs.

 

This is pretty much what I've been doing for the month of December, but also on and off for the past 2 years. I have this story I am writing and some ideas I want to implement via scripting. No gaming. I still get stumped on what seems to be easy stuff -- Error message after error message, and when I do figure something which finally compiles, it doesn't do anything in the game. :mad: Gets to be really frustrating.

 

I'd rather learn from something which pre-exists (hence this thread) because after awhile experimentation gets me nowhere. Knowledge + logic > experiments, sometimes.

Edited December 26, 2022 by xenaclone

[Sphered]

Def check out https://www.creationkit.com/index.php?title=Category:Papyrus

 

It was a common reference for me with AI packs and animation events but also has an excellent papyrus section with categories and would likely be useful to you

 

Do know though there are things you will pick up that arent common knowledge or known possible

 

These two blocks accomplish the exact same thing...

If Nazeem.IsDisabled()
  Nazeem.Enable()
EndIf

Vs...

!Nazeem.IsDisabled() || Nazeem.Enable()

One line vs three. For me, tidyness starts to really help when a script starts getting a bit busy. Lot easier to read one way vs another depending on preference. Point being, do you, and enjoy learning. Anyhow, good luck on your project

[xenaclone]

Sweet, thanks Sphered. That page starts with the "Hello World" tutorial, which I've seen before, but then toward the bottom there's some more advanced stuff, and THAT is what I need. :) This is gonna sound weird, but I've never seen this page before.

[IsharaMeradin]

 

Ishara: That's the feeling I got about you after reading dozens of posts; that you're self-taught when it comes to Papyrus. But you probably grew up with coding and such, learning C+ and all those languages way before getting into gaming, right? Really wish I had taken computer classes when I was in high school, and everything was free.

 

My problem is I tend to come up with some wacky idea, and then there are no examples from Bethesda to accomplish what I've got in mind. It's like I'm on my own, then. Thank you for the cipscis link! -- I know this name, but did not know he's got his own pages. Wow, look at this. This link delves right into the subjects I'm interested in. :dance:

 

Sorry, to burst your bubble as it were. But not really. I did sort of self learn Basic by reading the big book that came with my parent's first computer (IBM PC compatible, 512 kb ram, Two 5 1/4 floppy drives with a monochrome CRT monitor). But most of the "coding" I did was manipulating code that my brother wrote. I never created anything from scratch like he did. I still remember his program that drew out the New York skyline while beeping out a very basic sounding "New York, New York"

 

I did take a few computer classes here and there but nothing that touched on coding outside of some HTML.

 

Fast forward to circa 2006 when I got into Baldur's Gate and other Infinity Engine games. I learned how to write code used by a program called Weidu to manipulate the files at the byte level. This method was the only way at that time for those games to have multiple mods modify the same file(s) and be able to work alongside each other instead of overwriting each others changes.

 

So.... I am not a stranger to coding. But I am still fairly clueless especially when it comes to the real languages that modern programs and websites are written with.

[greyday01]

D

 

Sweet, thanks Sphered. That page starts with the "Hello World" tutorial, which I've seen before, but then toward the bottom there's some more advanced stuff, and THAT is what I need. :smile: This is gonna sound weird, but I've never seen this page before.

Don't forget to look at the right side for links to complete example scripts and community script tutorials