couple of questions for Skyrim

[megilex]

Hey there!!

 

i have some questions pertaining to Skyrim

 

Q. #1: I am looking for a mod that allows you to pan the camera around your character while he/she is in motion and not standing around, like you normally would be able to pan the camera.

 

Q. #2: I have seen pictures from MANY many mod files posted either by the creator and/or the players via feedback and sharing of awesomness... How do I take a screenshot of my Skyrim character??? i wanna share the loves too!!

 

hope to get a reply soon

-megilex

[kleinstaff]

Hey there!!

 

i have some questions pertaining to Skyrim

 

Q. #1: I am looking for a mod that allows you to pan the camera around your character while he/she is in motion and not standing around, like you normally would be able to pan the camera.

 

Q. #2: I have seen pictures from MANY many mod files posted either by the creator and/or the players via feedback and sharing of awesomness... How do I take a screenshot of my Skyrim character??? i wanna share the loves too!!

 

hope to get a reply soon

-megilex

for screen shots open your console and type tfc 1

game will freeze and you can pan your camera around

to get rif of the HUD open console again and type tm

to return to normal play open console again and type tfc 1 again

 

to have a free camera while moving or not paused just type tfc in your console

make sure you save before

[megilex]

 

Hey there!!

 

i have some questions pertaining to Skyrim

 

Q. #1: I am looking for a mod that allows you to pan the camera around your character while he/she is in motion and not standing around, like you normally would be able to pan the camera.

 

Q. #2: I have seen pictures from MANY many mod files posted either by the creator and/or the players via feedback and sharing of awesomness... How do I take a screenshot of my Skyrim character??? i wanna share the loves too!!

 

hope to get a reply soon

-megilex

for screen shots open your console and type tfc 1

game will freeze and you can pan your camera around

to get rif of the HUD open console again and type tm

to return to normal play open console again and type tfc 1 again

 

to have a free camera while moving or not paused just type tfc in your console

make sure you save before

 

Ah i see... thanks for the insight, it is much appreciated :)

[SineWaveDrox]

For question #1, there is a console command that allows you to do that. Type animcam into the console. The controls are slightly different than normal camera movement though, but fairly quick to get used to (you will need to enter first person to tilt the camera up and down, as normal up and down controls are replaced with zoom). To switch back to normal camera mode, simply type animcam into the console again.

 

For question #2, I'm not sure if you're asking how to actually take the screenshot, or how to set up for the screenshot. So I'll try to help a bit with both.

 

For taking a screenshot, there are many options to choose from. Steam has a screenshot function built-in, though I've never used it, so I'm not entirely sure how it works. If you use ENB, you may want to use that for taking screenshots, though, I've also never used that function, so I can't help out with that. There are also several programs you can download and install which can be used for screenshots. I use FRAPS, it has a free version that is more than adequate for most screenshot needs.

 

The process of actually setting up for a screenshot can be a bit more complicated. There are quite a few console commands that are very useful in taking screenshots.

 

A very useful feature is the flying camera. To use the flying camera, type into the console tfc. You can control the camera with wasd, and rotate with the mouse, in addition, you are able to move vertically by using the left and right click buttons on the mouse. If you want to use the flying camera and freeze time, such that everything stops moving (characters, arrows, magic, etc), instead of tfc, use tfc 1 and you will have flying camera with all action stopped. To exit flying camera, type tfc into the console again.

 

In order to get the exact view you want, you may want to change the field of view. To do this, use the command fov x replacing x with your desired value. Smaller values means smaller field of view (looks zoomed in), and larger values show more. Experiment with different values to find the right one for the shot you are attempting. To return the game to default, type fov with no number.

 

Since you specifically mention an interest in taking screenshots of your character, there are some additional tricks that may help you with that. If you want your character to do something more interesting for your shot than just standing there, you may want to look into acquiring some pose mods. There are several available, such as Pretty Motion Package and Pinup Poser (it's on that page, just ctrl-f and search for it). Make sure to follow installation instructions on those, they require FNIS.

 

Or if you want to get a shot of your character swinging a weapon at just the right time, you can attack, and then in the middle of the attack, pull up the console and use tfc 1 as mentioned earlier. If you find that the attacks are moving too fast, and you can't quite capture the perfect moment, you can use the command sgtm x replacing x with a value to change how quickly time passes. That value is a multiplier, so small changes in value can have quite a large effect. The default value is 1. If you set it to 2, the game will move twice as fast. If you set it for 1.5, it will move 50% faster than normal. If you set it to a lower value than 1, it will move slower. So setting it to 0.5 will cause the game to move at half normal speed, and 0.25 will cause the game to go at one quarter normal speed. You can use this to capture the swing of a sword, or the flight of an arrow, or the explosion of a spell, at just the perfect moment. Set it back to 1 to return the game to normal. Keep in mind that setting it too low or too high can cause issues. Setting it to 0 caused my game to crash. People have reported issues with setting it over 20, though I haven't tried that myself.

 

You might also want to give your character a certain facial expression. For that, you'll need the MFG Console mod, which fixes some console commands that the last Skyrim update broke. This is a bit complicated as well. To use this, open the console and click on the character that you want to modify (the name of the character should then appear in the console). You can then use the commands me (short of modify expression), mp (short for modify phoneme), and mm (short for modify modifier). To use these commands, type the command, followed by the number of the modifier you want to alter, followed by the value you want to place on it. So it would be something like mm 8 40. This tells it to set modifier 8 to a value of 40. Modifier 8 is "look down", so your character's eyes will look down a bit (you must close the console and not have frozen time with tfc 1 for it to take effect). When you first selected your character, a window should have popped up telling what each phoneme and modifier does, as well as its current value. So modifier 9 is "look left", phoneme 0 is "Aah", etc. If you want to revert to default, and clear all your alterations, type mfg reset. Manipulating these commands to get the perfect result takes patience and practice, so it may take some time before you really get used to using it.

 

Once you've got the shot completely set, you may also want to remove the UI (compass, health bar, etc). To do that, type tm into the console. Keep in mind, this will also make the console disappear. It is still there, and you can type into it, you just can't see it. After you've taken your shot, you can toggle the UI and console back on by typing the command again.

 

That covers quite a few of the commands I commonly use when screenshooting. There are some more complicated commands you can use as well. If you want to read about those, check the readme files in that Pinup Poser I linked earlier, there are several commands mentioned there that I didn't cover here.

 

I also have some general screenshot tips as well. First, and most important, don't be afraid to experiment. Just because everyone else does something a certain way, doesn't mean you have to do it that way too. Play around with angles, play with the lighting. Try different backgrounds, different locations, different weather, etc. Secondly, if at first your screenshots don't seem to get much attention, don't worry too much about it. Just keep at it, keep practicing, and keep pushing yourself to come up with better and better shots.