How can I make the ash pile invisible without removing it?

[jk3691215]

I'm still new to modding and the creation kit and was playing around creating a basic magic effect script that basically turns the target into a chicken permanently by simply killing the target and placing a chicken at its position, but was wondering if there's a way to make the ash pile invisible (still remain, but invisible so I can access the target inventory) or if there's an invisible container that I can place instead of the ash pile that still allows me to access the inventory.

Here's the magic effect script

Scriptname DsChickenTransmutationEffectScript extends activemagiceffect  

ActorBase      property chicken                      Auto
Explosion      property FXDragonPriestSmallExplosion Auto
Activator      property DefaultAshPileGhost    Auto


event OnEffectStart(Actor akTarget, Actor akCaster)

    akTarget.PlaceAtMe(FXDragonPriestSmallExplosion)
    akTarget.Kill(akCaster)

    akTarget.SetCriticalStage(akTarget.CritStage_DisintegrateStart)
    akTarget.AttachAshPile(DefaultAshPileGhost)
    akTarget.SetAlpha (0.0, False)
    akTarget.SetCriticalStage(akTarget.CritStage_DisintegrateEnd)
    

    akTarget.placeAtMe(chicken)
    ; akTarget.Disable()

endEvent

 

Edited March 12 by jk3691215

[Sphered]

I would probably create a custom ash pile record which uses an invisible model, and use that when wanted

[scorrp10]

That kinda makes little sense.  How would player know where to target if the thing is invisible?

My ideas would be:

Make your custom pile model look like a blackend spot on ground. (From the explosion effect)

Or, make it look like an egg . 

Or, jyust ransfer victim's items to the chicken.

 

[PeterMartyr]

there is a SKSE Color Script version I have never used 

setAlpha

Edit, I've use Paint, GIMP, Photoshop, I know messing with colors alpha can make it "invisible", but I got no idea what that SKSE code gonna do 

OFF track as anyone tried GIMP 3 with its native DDS BC7 support yet? You need the RC3 version, it's not officially released yet 

[xkkmEl]

Wouldn't setWorldModelPath do the trick?

[jk3691215]

On 3/12/2025 at 8:26 PM, scorrp10 said:

That kinda makes little sense.  How would player know where to target if the thing is invisible?

My ideas would be:

Make your custom pile model look like a blackend spot on ground. (From the explosion effect)

Or, make it look like an egg . 

Or, jyust ransfer victim's items to the chicken.

 

How can you transfer items though, is there an SKSE function for that? 
I tried doing it myself, but it always results in an empty corpse, I'm obviously doing wrong, but I can't pinpoint which CK or SKSE functions are used to achieve this effect.

Edited March 13 by jk3691215

[scorrp10]

ObjectReference chickenRef = akTarget.placeAtMe(chicken)
akTarget.RemoveAllItems(chickenRef)