Scripting, moddeling etc

[Parkillous]

Ive read frequently that there are only a few people who can really do advanced modding well.. ie make new lands, quests/guilds (quality, btw), etc.

 

Now my Q is: Is it really that hard of a thing to learn? or is just that too many people with not much intelligence attempt it?

 

My next Q is: How long would it take a complete beginner of modding, but of above average intelligence to learn enough that they can make quality quests/guilds/etc?

 

By above average intelligence im not implying im some sort of genius... ive just found that there are a lot of not-so-smart people out there if you know what i mean XD.

 

btw, please dont give me some smart ass comment like "you need 65 intelligence" :P

[Abramul]

Ive read frequently that there are only a few people who can really do advanced modding well.. ie make new lands, quests/guilds (quality, btw), etc.

 

Now my Q is: Is it really that hard of a thing to learn? or is just that too many people with not much intelligence attempt it?

 

My next Q is: How long would it take a complete beginner of modding, but of above average intelligence to learn enough that they can make quality quests/guilds/etc?

 

By above average intelligence im not implying im some sort of genius... ive just found that there are a lot of not-so-smart people out there if you know what i mean XD.

You may be thinking of modelling.

 

"Ninety percent of everything is crud"

There are a huge number of mediocre (or worse) modders, and a reasonable number of competent modders.

 

"Nothing is always absolutely so"

Those who can MODEL, on the other hand, tend to be reasonably good at it, probably because it requires a significant investment of time to get to a point where you'd even consider showing your work to others.

 

btw, please dont give me some smart ass comment like "you need 65 intelligence" :P

Actually, it's more a matter of Willpower.

[Povuholo]

btw, please dont give me some smart ass comment like "you need 65 intelligence" :P

Of course we won't. You need at least 80!

Now my Q is: Is it really that hard of a thing to learn? or is just that too many people with not much intelligence attempt it?

 

For quests:

 

Many just start with huge projects which requires a lot of help while they don't have any experience in modding yet themselves. They didn't read this.

 

'Look at my cool idea i wanna make a huge land with two castles you can join good or evil and destroy other castle and you get a new sword is very cool and i need modellers scripters texturers plz!'

 

There's nothing wrong with Oblivion's textures. You don't need other people to do everything for you. Not all quests have to be huge quests giving the player a retextured sword as a reward, and not every quest has to have a huge impact on the world.

 

You should start smaller.

You can make a quest using a (my) Quest Tutorial. I started with a quest tutorial as well. After making two small quests with it I understood the system and was able to do without.

 

It's not that hard to learn, and it doesn't take too long.

[Vagrant0]

Learning modding is essentially all about the time you invest in it. There aren't alot of modders who do new areas, quests, guilds, and such because most people starting try to do this massive poorly thought out mod, spend a week, usually asking for help getting it working by day 4, get about 5% done, then give up. Or they have all the statics, and npcs placed, get confused by all the scripting stuff, pathgridding, AI, and give up. Then there are those that set out to do something that isn't possible, spend a few days setting it up, then get frustrated because it doesn't want to work. Worldbuilding itself doesn't require much scripting or AI knowledge, but is instead a long teadious process in getting things placed right. Making a new dungeon isn't too difficult (technically speaking), just takes lots of time and patience.

 

Essentially it isn't hard to learn if you take the time to read and thing things through. Meanwhile you do small meaningless mods (like making an NPC walk across town, pick up an item, walk back across town, drop item.) to get yourself familiar with the CS and particular aspects of modding. Once you've done a couple of those, start on something larger that combines what you've already done.

[Parkillous]

Well sorry i dont have willpower or 80 intelligence...

 

But anyways you elite 3 of the forums have proven what i thought... its merely the amount of work you put in... bah... i guess ill have to start small... i probably wont be making big mods until i finish my last two years of school... especially next year all my time will go to school work and sport (one year of blitzkrieg sets me up for life :P)... but ive still got this year to do a bit of it...

 

anyways thanks for the answers

[SickleYield]

Modeling in particular:

 

I've been working at learning to model for probably 2-4 hours daily average for 2-3 years now. My best (released) results still get complaints because they're not as good as Bethesda's. On the other end, there have been quest and script-based mods released that are IMO entirely superior to most of Bethesda's original content.

 

Modding worldspace and AI and quests is a matter of time and patience. So is dialogue, though of course that depends on your imagination and skill.

 

Scripting might be also, but it's a bigger investment I haven't been willing to make. Making new models of anything other than swords (weapons are probably the easiest of the things you can make new models for in Oblivion, which is why there are so many more new weapon models than armor models) is not easy and is not fast. It's not easy or fast to learn, either. You have to be willing to make the same mistake thirty times in a row to figure out what it was you did and fix it.

 

Most people spend a little time learning the basics of Blender, then try to export straight from there, then give up when they realize they have to learn to do things like weight paint and do the entire workaround required for functional models in Oblivion.

 

Modding takes time. Modeling takes a LOT of time.

[Tiberiu911]

Some of those things require a little talent, and all of them require interest. Example, if you wish to model a complicated creature mesh, I sure hope you have at least a little artistic sense/talent , or else you will be lost. If you plan on scripting, I better hope you enjoy numb3rs, slashes and logic. Placing static objects, for example, requires patience. Dialogue depends on your imagination, like SickleYield said, and writing skills. No one wants to read something like this:

 

"Hi! How are you today?"

 

"I'm fine. How about you?"

 

"I'm fine too. Anything new?"

 

It's not that hard to learn, it's just time consuming. If you are interestend in it, I dont see any reason why you wouldn't attempt modding. It is a great experience. Gives you this feel that you are beyond the game, over the box.

 

And I couldn't of said it better:

 

Modding takes time. Modeling takes a LOT of time.

[Parkillous]

Right well Im more interested in creating quests and guilds, seeing as this is what (the lack of) bores me in oblivion... so it will probably be scripting for me.

 

I doubt im gonna get very far this year, probably just stand alone quests, because of school etc... but after school I plan to have a couple years of bludginess so I should be able to do more complex stuff then.

 

Ill probably just use oblivion for practise and really get into it with TES5.

 

Anyways thanks for the warning/advice guys ;)

[Povuholo]

"Hi! How are you today?"

 

"I'm fine. How about you?"

 

"I'm fine too. Anything new?"

That sounds just like the conversations the npc's in the game have! With a few long silences in between.