Construction Set Woes - Adding items

[majikmonkee]

I used to be pretty good at modding...back in the 90's during a much simpler FPS time. Now, I find the process of editing Oblivion in any way a little bit daunting. For the most part, I don't actually "mod", but I've used the construction set to force my will upon Cyrodiil a couple of times, and I'm having issues. Maybe someone can help, I spent about three hours working on this and reading up to see what I was doing wrong.

 

There is a mod I played through where a partner NPC wears a certain set of armor during the game, but when you get them as a partner, the armor is never seen again for some reason (it's lost during the course of the story). I know it exists as an item the player can get, because if you play through the mod following a different path, said companion dies and their body is available to be looted. After a loooooot of studying, I figured out how to go into the editor, locate the ID of the item in question, then figure out how to actually determine the proper "additem" ID in game. However, while it tells me the items I wanted have been "added" when I use the console, they are nowhere to be found in my actual inventory, or in that of my partner when I try adding it to her. At first, I thought the problem was that I was using the wrong ID (it's a leveled item, so there's the number that defines it as a leveled item, then the three numbers for the three possible items it could add based on level, if that makes sense). I tried "adding" both the ID of the item just defined as the leveled item, then instead tried adding the best possible of the options from the leveled list, and neither gives me anything besides a message saying it was added.

 

I apologize for anyone who had to read this, but what am I doing wrong? On the up side, I did effectively use the console to edit the hairstyle of a mod NPC that was actually slowing down my system...weird...

[The_Vyper]

The problem you're running into is caused by using the wrong FormID. When you load the mod in the CS and find the item(s) you're looking for, the first two digits of the FormID show up as 01. For instance, a sword added by the mod might have a FormID of 0100CF75. The problem is that, in game, the first two digits actually depend on the load order of the mod. The first plugin to load after the Oblivion.esm will use 01 for the first two digits of all it's FormIDs. The second plugin in the load order will use 02, the third will use 03 and so on in hexadecimal progression. The easiest way (that I know of) to find out what the first two digits really are is to download and install TES4Edit and load it with all of your active plugins selected (it does this by default when you open it). Once everything is loaded, the first two digits of the FormIDs unique to each mod will be displayed to the left of the plugin listing. Screenshot. Once you know the actual first two digits, you can type in the rest and it will add the item.

[majikmonkee]

I did actually chance the leading characters when I did it originally. it was actually 1a for the mod I used, yet it didn't work. I got a sword from the mod added this way but even though it tells me the armor is added, I get no actual items.

[Shadowfen]

The problem you're running into is caused by using the wrong FormID. When you load the mod in the CS and find the item(s) you're looking for, the first two digits of the FormID show up as 01. For instance, a sword added by the mod might have a FormID of 0100CF75. The problem is that, in game, the first two digits actually depend on the load order of the mod. The first plugin to load after the Oblivion.esm will use 01 for the first two digits of all it's FormIDs. The second plugin in the load order will use 02, the third will use 03 and so on in hexadecimal progression. The easiest way (that I know of) to find out what the first two digits really are is to download and install TES4Edit and load it with all of your active plugins selected (it does this by default when you open it). Once everything is loaded, the first two digits of the FormIDs unique to each mod will be displayed to the left of the plugin listing. Screenshot. Once you know the actual first two digits, you can type in the rest and it will add the item.

 

Other ways to find out the leading two characters of the FormID:

 

* Wrye Bash tells you on the mod page.

* Use another mod such as "What's this from?" or "Refscope" to determine from in-game what the form id is for an item that you know is from the mod you want the load number for.

 

Since you report that you do know the correct load order number and you still cannot add the item, here is another possibility: is it possible that the item you want has actually been merged into the Bashed Patch esp so you are using the wrong load order number referring to the original mod file?

[majikmonkee]

I don't think so. The icon and name it shows when it tells me it's been been added match the icon and name assigned in the CS. And I made sure to use the ID of the armor on her lootable corpse, not the armor she wears when she's an npc.

[Smooth613]

Just adding another useful mod to assist with Form ID's.

 

FormID Finder and FormID Guides

Edited November 25, 2010 by Smooth613

[majikmonkee]

That would have been helpful the other day, it took me a good hour of studying to figure out the form id translation thing.