move/rename complex objects?

[davidlallen]

I am creating my first quest mod. It has several objects with complex behavior, such as a briefcase with two copies: one activator, one not, using enable/disable to flip them as the quest progresses. For testing, I am dropping all these objects into one wilderness cell so that I don't have to wander all over the wasteland to test. But in the final version, I want these objects spread around, in different cells and added to some existing building interiors.

 

Am I getting myself in trouble here? There does not seem to be any way to move an object into another cell, but only to delete it and add a new object. If I had not customized the objects, I wouldn't care. But if I delete one object, all the references to the object get deleted, and then I have to customize it and re-add the references. It will be a drag if I have to redo that when I get to the stage of spreading the objects around.

 

Can I move these objects to other cells/interiors? If it can be done in some other tool besides GECK, that would be fine; I have used FNVEdit to clean up some objects I changed by accident, and I have installed FOMM but haven't done anything with it yet.

[WastelandAssassin]

is your object something that you can find in the side panel in the GECK?? (under whatever category, as in items, object, actors and such)

if so, then you can just load the new cell where you want to have the objects, and then just put the new object there, just like you put the original object

 

as for activators, i'm not so sure

i don't really know how this works, but it might not be as simple

 

my best advice for you is to just try it, and see if this works or not

trial and error is the name of the game here ;)

[davidlallen]

Here's a more detailed example. I want to place a console in my wilderness cell, so I drag clutter/consoles/console01 from the object view into the render window and place it near my other items. I add a reference editor ID to the object, to give it a name which I can refer to. Now in my quest, I want to put a quest marker on this. So in the quest objectives tab, I use the Quest Target Data panel and select this as a reference in the render window. This works; the quest marker appears on the console in game.

 

Now I want to spread out the objects into the game world. I want to put the console somewhere far away from here. If I start out by dropping another console01, I have to re-enter the quest marker. I cannot give the new console01 the same name, because GECK will complain the name is already in use. If I delete the existing console01 first, then GECK warns me all the references will be deleted. In particular, the quest marker will be deleted. So if I do it this way, I have to go find all the references like the quest marker, and re-make them.

 

I was hoping there is a way to just move this object into another cell or an interior, without deleting it and re-creating it. For some quest objects, there can be many references and it will be a pain to re-enter them. But, I cannot think of anything else to try. Is there a good way to do this?

[WastelandAssassin]

oh, well now it helps understanding the problem

 

as far as i can tell, you will have to add the new quest markers anyhow, as it is pointing to a specific ID (can be an actor, an item, an area etc)

so if you move the item that you are pointing the quest to, you will have to place a new pointer on it's new location (at least as far as i know)

 

i'm sorry i can't help you more, but i really have no idea with this kind of thing.......

 

my best advice would be to put all the things where they should be in the quest at it's final stage

it's best to work a little bit more now, and not have to re-do all it later

besides, you might find problems, and it's best to find it now, and not just before you think the quest is completed

 

you can always just use cheats to get to the areas faster (like if you put the console in an area with many enemies, you don't actually have to kill them for testing, unless they are part of the quest)

[davidlallen]

If anybody can suggest a solution to moving objects, that would be great. From the database standpoint, there is no reason I shouldn't be able to just change the location field ("re-parenting", if you will).

[davidlallen]

If anybody can suggest a solution to moving objects, that would be great. From the database standpoint, there is no reason I shouldn't be able to just change the location field ("re-parenting", if you will).

Answering my own question for posterity ...

 

Renaming is possible but quite a pain. The old object is kept in geck after you save, until you exit. Suppose I have a script named A and I really wish I had named it B. It is possible to rename but it takes several steps.

 

1. Copy A to B.

2. With the "use info" choice, find all the references of A and edit them to use B. ("Search and replace" only seems to search objects, I was not able to use that for this.)

3. Try to delete B. If you have missed any uses of B, you will get a confirmation dialog. But at this point, it is likely that "use info" has not updated and some of the places you changed, still show a usage of A.

4. Save and exit geck, then re-enter and reload; then you will see the updated "use info" list. Repeat 2-4 till done.

5. Once there are really no references of B, delete it.

 

Moving a long distance outside is not so hard. Moving from one interior to another I have not tried yet. To move a long distance outside, across multiple cells, put a dummy object at the new desired location. Write down the X and Y values, you don't need the decimal places. Then edit the object at the old location and set the X and Y to about the same numbers (within 10 anyway). You may need to set Z to a larger value. Then "F" to drop it to the ground and fine-tune the position.

[Quetzlsacatanango]

Create an xmarker where you want the thing to be moved to, and simply do

 

myrefid.moveto myxmarkerref

Edited December 7, 2010 by Quetzlsacatanango

[davidlallen]

Create an xmarker where you want the thing to be moved to, and simply do

 

myrefid.moveto myxmarkerref

Interesting. Where do I type this? GECK is all gui based. I would love to be able to create scripts that do stuff, such as batch create a bunch of related dialog topics.

[Quetzlsacatanango]

It depends on the nature of what you're doing. The result script box for a quest stage might be a good place. Or on a dialog topic.

You can't create dialog topics this way, but you could conceivably enable many at once by setting conditions or using AddTopic (see geck wiki).

[davidlallen]

Sorry for the confusion. I was talking about moving items or adding topics while creating the mod, not while the mod is running. I find it painfully slow to use the topics or conversation editor to enter all the information about linkted topics. I was hoping to find a quicker pure-text way.