Custom race question

[ergaon]

Hello, i have tiny question about oblivion and races. If i modify one of playable races, for example, ill give imperials very low atributes and some weakneses or something, will it affect npc with that race? or is npc race different from player race? i couldnt find the answer when looking, but maybe im just noob. thanks for answer

[Striker879]

I think Imperial is Imperial, whether it's the player or an NPC. If you want to nerf your character without affecting all of the other NPCs of that race you'll need to make a copy of the race and edit that one for your character.

[IkeCoast]

Yep, NInja Master Striker-san tells the truth.

 

If you change Race assets in the Races window, all NPCs belonging to that race, including the PC if he/she is of that race, will have the effects.

 

If you change some of the Imperial Race attributes, you're not creating a custom race, you are editing a vanilla race. Custom races are newly created races, or duplicates of vanilla races with a different EditorId.

 

Cheers!

[ergaon]

so i can "create" (copy and modify) some race, and then somehow (wish i know how :D, any help pls ?) replace that race on my PC (presumably after the sewers ?) or is the custom race in creation fixed (somewhere/somehow (afaik you couldnt select your created race, only the original 10 were there, unless you modified the one of the original ones))?

[ergaon]

oh, also, secondary question, do NPCs use birthsigns?

[IkeCoast]

How races work:

 

You can duplicate a vanilla race, give it a new FormId and, if you want, a new Name (the game allows for more than one race with the same name), put a mark in its "Playable" flag, and the game will recognize it and will show it in the Character creator and in the Character Editor at the end of the sewers, and alo when using the showracemenu console command.

 

That showracemenu console command is the only option to change your race once you have exited the tutorial sewers. It's pretty simple, you open the command console, type the command

 

showracemenu

 

and the Character Generator (CharGen) will appear as when you started the game. You edit your character race and physical features here. The drawback is, once you have finished and hit the "Done" button, the game will reset all your stats to the default ones for your Race, Class and Level. If you want to keep your carefully customised stats, do the following:

 

Raise command console (tilde key, leftmost upper key in your keyboard, right below the Esc key). Enter the showracemenu command. MAKE SURE YOU DON'T CLOSE THE COMMAND CONSOLE. Edit your character to your liking. When you're satisfied with your changes, DO NOT HIT "DONE": still on CharGen and with the command console still open, hit the Esc key to bring the Save/Load menu, save in a new slot, and once saved, WITHOUT EXITING THE SAVE MENU, load this new savegame. Your character is now the new race, but the stats will remain the same.

 

Yep, NPCs can have birthsigns, and even they can have birthsigns that are not available for the PC.

 

Birthsigns is one of the ways the developers used to assign race powers and basic spell sets to races and individual npcs.

 

Why do you ask?

[ergaon]

i got an idea of further nerfing a PC with birthsign :) i wanted extra hard mode, very low stats, very low dispositions, very high weakneses, etc. wondered how far am i gonna get :). so i can also create playable birthsign or only a race?

[IkeCoast]

Hey, Ergaon!

 

You can create new birthsigns using the Construction Set, and make them playable, of course.

 

When you create a custom race, be it by duplicating a vanilla one (remember to change the FormId to something suitable) or starting from scratch, you can customize EVERYTHING about it, not only meshes and textures: height, weight, race stats, race powers, how the other races will react to them (friendly or unfriendly) and so on.

 

So don't be shy, experiment with them. Creating your own races is fun and satisfying.

 

Cheers!