Show some form of orientation in workshop menu

[Retsam]

For Fallout 4 mod

The goal is to show players some form of orientation marker while placing a workshop constructable object.

Specifically the objects are furniture objects with animation markers.
The objects are squares, so the transform/preview does not really help. They have animation, so the direction the object is placed is important.
I'm fine with the Marker Model I use showing, or using something generic like an arrow.
I've been scraping through CK trying to find an example, and even Google failed me.

If someone could give me a hint for where to look for examples or the correct key words for searching that would be great.
Thanks.

Edited June 5, 2023 by Retsam

[pepperman35]

Try looking at door in the CK. Some of them have markers to show the orientation of how the door will open. You can see these when you have the M key toggled on. These markers are built into the door's nif file.

[Retsam]

Try looking at door in the CK. Some of them have markers to show the orientation of how the door will open. You can see these when you have the M key toggled on. These markers are built into the door's nif file.

 

I'm not referring to markers in CK. I mean in the game. But thanks for responding.

[Retsam]

To be a little more descriptive:
First, I have no modeling experience or programs. I have got this far just using NifSkope.

I was considering how when in the Workshop build menu, an item that is selected appears in the world as highlighted with the UI color, in my case bright green.
My thinking was that perhaps that highlighting is being applied to the entire model, regardless of visuals; textures or materials etc.
With that in mind I was hoping I could add a marker with no texture/material/collosion that would be highlighted while in build menu but once placed, the part with no skin would be invisible in the game world.
To that end I took a nif with a marker arrow and copied the BSTriShape node into a floor mat nif.
(I just used imgur for the first time ever in an effort to share a pic of what I have. Hopefully that works.)
https://imgur.com/a/3I9OfJg

I am not savvy in the slightest with graphic terminology or NifSkope. I've only been using it a few weeks now. My approach has been primitive- I delete and change stuff to see what it does.

So far I have not found the right combination. I end up with either the mat and arrow showing up in the game after being placed, or a combination of one or the other.

To reiterate, the goal is for the marker arrow to only show up (in any way) only while in build mode. It should be invisible during game play.

[LarannKiar]

You can either:

 

1) create a custom 3D file that contains the arrow and an animation sequence that "hides" the arrow when it's played upon OnWorkshopObjectPlaced() or

2) attach an Object Reference script to your Furniture form that downscales the placed furniture reference to 0.0 when the workshop mode is exited to make it "invisible", then upscales it back when the player enters workshop mode.

[Retsam]

You can either:

 

1) create a custom 3D file that contains the arrow and an animation sequence that "hides" the arrow when it's played upon OnWorkshopObjectPlaced() or

2) attach an Object Reference script to your Furniture form that downscales the placed furniture reference to 0.0 when the workshop mode is exited to make it "invisible", then upscales it back when the player enters workshop mode.

Thanks for the info. I have no way of making 3D files, and I have not got into scripts yet, although it is on my list. I did figure out how to accomplish my goal though, I'll post it separately.

It is purely nif based, so it may not be as good as what you suggest. I'm still learning.

Again, TYVM for the info. I'm filing it as 'Most stuff to learn'.

:)

[Retsam]

I figured out how to accomplish my goal purely in NifSkope. It may or not be the best method, but so far it seems to work.

I'm not going to try and give detailed steps, just the general idea so others might be able to figure something out for their needs.

 

I copied a block from a nif file that had a marker arrow.

I pasted that into the destination nif file.

I moved hierarchy stuff around so the new block was in the root.

I removed the textures from the new block.

I converted it to BSMeshLODTriShape.

Under that added BSLightingShader property, and within set Alpha to zero.

 

Now, the arrow is part of the whole object. This means when it is shown selected in the workshop build menu, prior to placing it on the ground, the arrow is seen since it is glow-colored like any other object.

Once it placed, the arrow is not seen because alpha=0 makes it transparent.

It also has no collision, so for all intents it 'disappears'.

 

The original object, in this case a ground decoration, was not touched. It still have materials/textures/alpha settings as they were.

So the ground decoration remains visible, the arrow is only visible when the ground decoration is selected in the workshop build menu.

 

I still have to test things out more thoroughly, but that's what I have so far.

Edited June 6, 2023 by Retsam