Differences modding Remaster vs Oldblivion?

[uhmattbravo]

Hi. I have a bit of experience modding the original Oblivion and want to make some stuff for the Remaster.

 

So far, I copied the .esm's from the remaster into the data folder for my GOG install of the original and was able to make a simple scripted spell that worked. I also tried to make a basic mountain lion follower, but it crashed the game every time I got near where I had placed it, or where I tried having a script place it in a clean second attempt.

 

So, my questions are:

 

1. Is using an older version of the Construction Set like that actually viable?

 

2. Are there new limitations to what the old CS can do because of changes in the Remaster?

 

3. Is there a way to prevent things that wouldn't crash the Original (i tested some) from crashing the Remaster.

 

4. Can I still use Blender 2.49b for meshes and animations, and GIMP for textures, and is there anything I have to do after exporting to get them to work specific to the Remaster. And what compression to use for textures?

 

5. Does anyone know how to get rid of the NL prefix yet?

 

Thank you in advance. I've been having fun playing unmodded, but I'm at a point where there's some stuff I'd really like to make to play with and share with you all.

[corruptscript1]

In the remaster, exposed strings are intended to be lookups into a the game's Localization Table. NL, appearing on strings that don't follow this convention, presumably stands for 'Not Localized'. If the string follows the convention of a lookup, but doesn't actually point to anything in the reference table, the string seen in game is instead replaced with '<MISSING STRING TABLE ENTRY>'. Since the old Construction Set is only fit to work with classic data, where strings just are as they appear in the editor, edits to existing data specify changes that result in strings being reverted in the resulting plugin. Entering new cells causes a crash. And modifying existing cells in general requires extra work, because like the problem with strings, CS is still only working with old data.

For adding new text and cells, the most lucrative solution I've found is MagicLoader, which enables modders to link everything up with a .json file, and have .pak files be generated with the appropriate patches.

Edited Thursday at 04:56 AM by corruptscript1

[uhmattbravo]

That's a bit over my head in some ways. I'm more used to just opening up CS or GECK and presumably letting them handle that end of it. It does however seem to explain literally every crash I was getting. Basically, you're saying this Magic Loader has the tools I'll need to be able to make new or modify existing cells and that I should get that and figure out how to use it? I can probably do a bit with that much.

Am I lucky enough that you also happen to know if I need to do anything with new models or animations for the Remaster beyond what would be needed to get them working in the original game?

 

Edit: oof that's a direct dependency? Not super thrilled about that. Is there a way to edit these things manually?

Edited Wednesday at 11:58 PM by uhmattbravo
New info

[corruptscript1]

So far I've only been scripting, and playing around with the Construction Set. Someone better knowledgeable about UE, modeling, and animation is probably about infinitely better suited to answering those other questions you asked. I'm just not yet super familiar with that side of modding, unfortunately.

Response to edit: MagicLoader would be an additional dependency. But if you're not adding new text or cells, your mod won't need it. For fixing NL tags with existing strings, you'll only need to modify the plugin fields such that they properly link back up with the string localization table, using how the entries appear in AltarESPMain.esp as a guide (you can technically see this in plain text, without the need of any special tools). If there existed a means of adding or writing to specific table entries, without the mod outright overwriting the related files, I'd imagine it could be feasible to patch in entirely new text manually. But that's a good question for someone with more experience with UE patching. I know that there are means of dynamic patching with UE4SS. But of course, UE4SS is a dependency in of itself.

Edited Thursday at 11:17 AM by corruptscript1

[uhmattbravo]

In the least, it's a direction to start looking. I looked around and saw mods without listed dependencies and no convoluted installation instructions that have added stuff into cells like house mods (which would presumably also add new cells), and even a dog companion which to some degree would need to vaguely need to resemble my mountain lion test, so it's gotta be possible.

[corruptscript1]

The house mods without any dependencies appear to merely be recycling underused cells, rather than creating new ones altogether. If I find out more, I'll make sure to tell you all about it. But hopefully at some point this thread attracts the attention of those more in the know. 

From what I understand, the general essence of the answer to questions 1, 2, 3, and 5, is that Construction Set widely remains viable for most of its usual tasks. With a notable caveat being that CS is working with largely outdated data. And so while many issues can be fixed by encoding plugins with the appropriate altar file changes, there does exist a subset of features that seem to have just been totally and ultimately moved over to the UE side of modding, in ways that now make them effectively untouchable by plugins alone. Modifying existing cells looks to be possible without taking up additional dependencies; though for these reasons, has become less intuitive, and perhaps also in some ways more limited.

Edited Thursday at 12:15 PM by corruptscript1