Instructional Website For Modding Fallout 4

[th3t3rr1bl30n3]

I was upgrading to Windows 10 while contemplating an instructional guide for modding and watching The Matrix, and it turns out those 3 things go together incredibly well. So, I've started a purely instructional website for how to mod Fallout 4 which aims to be a big project, and I'm looking for help to develop it from anyone who knows CSS/Bootstrap/HTML/JS or PHP; and eventually from everyone who knows useful information. I'm only a hobbyist programmer and I'm entirely web/self educated so, input or help from anyone who builds sites professionally is especially appreciated.

The idea is two-fold, to create a central resource that links to all of the various places where valuable modding information can be found, and provide detailed instructions for how to mod Fallout 4, complete from the purchasing of a new PC or the installation of a new Operating System (especially with the release of Win 10 and all of the features that "should" be disabled to free up system resources), through the installation of the game and peripheral software like F4SE, FO4Edit and the GECK, and all the way through troubleshooting load order conflicts, and how to setup a "development environment" on a PC to get started creating mods.

 

New modders have a lot to learn in order to mod their game successfully, and I feel like the absence of clear, helpful instructions is a hindrance to the modding community in general, not only preventing some people from beginning to mod their games, but also requiring the people with answers to continually repeat themselves in various forums on various websites. For these reasons I feel that a simple instructional website which provides links to at least the most relevant mod sites and forums, and also provides clear and simple instructions and answers to questions, would be a great benefit to both current and new modders and authors.

I already have the site "live" so that I can link it here to help gain interest in developing it further, but it is still in the earliest stages of development so please do not share the link yet.

There is an "intro" page which plays about 30 seconds of animation and then offers a choice to proceed to the website or not. The first link is to the intro page, the second link is to the main menu page after the intro. If you play the intro, you have to take the Red pill to enter the site.

http://www.th3t3rr1bl30n3.com/

 

http://www.th3t3rr1bl30n3.com/theModdingHasYou.php

Edited December 29, 2015 by th3t3rr1bl30n3

[terso]

hi, i was trying to create something like that , but restricted to modding the game with fo4edit , looks like your idea is better . i have no knowledge in building sites, but maybe i can help in providing/answering questions on how to mod it on fo4edit ... i am not pretending to be a guru in that but i modded my skyrim for a long time on xedit, never went in ck unless i have to ...

 

i would discard my project for that matter, and help you instead in yours if you want.

[mazakala]

The CK/GECK has always been a pretty straightforward thing, it always has bugs, but information is obtainable. Creating 3d models and animations for Bethesda games, however, has always seemed a bit like rocket science to me... I've only recently started to learn 3D modelling, but I'm totally clueless when it comes to new quirks of the nif format, or making animations. Occasionally some kind soul makes a tutorial on YouTube, but it would be great to have all the info in one place... Ideally it would be the official GECK wiki, but that's never going to happen.

[scrivener07]

Occasionally some kind soul makes a tutorial on YouTube, but it would be great to have all the info in one place... Ideally it would be the official GECK wiki, but that's never going to happen.

Why would the wikis never have all the info in one place? They pretty much already do. If you think they are missing something then add it. Support your wiki!

 

With that the wikis are geared towards mod creators but the sites are designed in a way I think would benefit a mod user site. Have a look at past CK sites.

http://cs.elderscrolls.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

http://geck.bethsoft.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

http://www.creationkit.com/Main_Page

 

 

 

There is an "intro" page which plays about 30 seconds of animation and then offers a choice to proceed to the website or not. The first link is to the intro page, the second link is to the main menu page after the intro. If you play the intro, you have to take the Red pill to enter the site.

I think you should drop the animations and serve the content as fast as possible. If not for the purpose of testing your site I would have left in about three seconds of not finding what I was looking for. Red pill or blue pill? I know its a matrix thing but I still have no idea the meaning behind red or blue? Why is this needed on an information site?

[th3t3rr1bl30n3]

 

Occasionally some kind soul makes a tutorial on YouTube, but it would be great to have all the info in one place... Ideally it would be the official GECK wiki, but that's never going to happen.

Why would the wikis never have all the info in one place? They pretty much already do. If you think they are missing something then add it. Support your wiki!

 

With that the wikis are geared towards mod creators but the sites are designed in a way I think would benefit a mod user site. Have a look at past CK sites.

http://cs.elderscrolls.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

http://geck.bethsoft.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

http://www.creationkit.com/Main_Page

 

 

 

There is an "intro" page which plays about 30 seconds of animation and then offers a choice to proceed to the website or not. The first link is to the intro page, the second link is to the main menu page after the intro. If you play the intro, you have to take the Red pill to enter the site.

I think you should drop the animations and serve the content as fast as possible. If not for the purpose of testing your site I would have left in about three seconds of not finding what I was looking for. Red pill or blue pill? I know its a matrix thing but I still have no idea the meaning behind red or blue? Why is this needed on an information site?

 

 

Damn. That's for sure a good point. So, I should probably remove the animation from each page and have them load normally also. I thought the effect was cool but, patience is limited in the new millennium.

 

This site will totally support the wikis, the Nexus and it's forums, a couple of Reddits that are pretty informational, the GECK and Bethesda sites, Lover's Lab and hopefully all of the "legitimate" informational modding sites for Fallout 4. But none of those sites are currently all accessible from a single location except Google, which also returns worthless magazine articles and ads that "seem" informative but don't go into any depth, and are sometimes even wrong in the information they provide.

 

Organizing the information from these sites by category will also be really helpful. So, having a page that has links to all of the known forum posts on the topic of how to create an armor piece, or how to create a weapon mod. And doing that for every topic from how to install the game on various OS, to how to create and upload a mod to the Nexus. When information is already provided in good detail, it can be linked to or videos can be embedded, and when something is not currently covered it can be explained.

Edited December 30, 2015 by th3t3rr1bl30n3

[scrivener07]

I think at your stage you need to ask yourself two questions to define what exactly your creating.

1. Who does my site serve?

2. How does my site serve them?

 

Some good answers to might look like this. Choose one answer per question.

 

Q1. Who does my site serve?

A. People who install and play mods.

A. People who create and share mods.

 

Q2. How does my site serve them?

A. Provide a hyper-link portal to topics that serve "Q1".

A. Provide original content on topics that serve "Q1".

 

I think if you can answer these questions it will help you create a design that serves a focused purpose.

 

Edit: Have a look a STEP website. Its a skyrim informational site geared towards mod users. This sites purpose and audience is crystal clear with minimal scope creep.

[BlandSauce]

I was planning something really really similar the other day. You seem to be trying for more of a catch-all, and I'm wanting to do a little more on the technical side of things.
I have the groundwork set up at fo4.gjnub.com/wiki

Will hopefully have it more fleshed out tomorrow, but anybody feel free to contribute. At the very least, I'd appreciate any good guides or info added to the External Links page.

Two things if you're continuing:

As others have said, get rid of the animations, and I would say, get rid of all the Matrix vibe completely. It comes across as really dated, and barely connects to the content.

 

Your domain is, honestly, bad. It's (marginally) acceptable as a user name, but is confusing as a url. And "theModdingHasYou.php"? I assume it's something to do with your Matrix themeing, but it just comes across weird.

And then from a branding standpoint, I'd avoid having it start right at your base domain unless you, th3t3rr1bl30n3, want to be known primarily as a Fallout 4 modder. So at the very least, move everything to a subdomain (fallout4.th3t3rr1bl30n3.com) or at least a directory (www.th3t3rr1bl30n3/fallout4), but I'd really consider picking up a new domain. Otherwise, somebody tries to tell their friend about it, and it's "terrible something with a lot of threes?"

[th3t3rr1bl30n3]

Otherwise, somebody tries to tell their friend about it, and it's "terrible something with a lot of threes?"

 

Please tell me that you and your friends aren't still using word of mouth to communicate url's though.

[BlandSauce]

Please tell me that you and your friends aren't still using word of mouth to communicate url's though.

 

Not often, but it does come up, where I communicate without the assistance of technology.

 

Doesn't matter unless I've specifically saved the url. If I've only seen it around, I still need to type it out, and I'm probably going to misspell it.

There's no way you can argue that it's a "good" url, in fact, it's a terrible one. (See what I did there?)

The only argument for it, is that you already had the domain, which is valid, but I will stand by everything I said about it.

[th3t3rr1bl30n3]

There's no way that you can argue fo4.gjnub.com/wiki is a better url. Do you understand how little sense your trolling makes?

 

Everything else you said sounds like a child making fun of another child for having a dumb name. It makes you seem immature and childish, and jealous, to be criticizing such an insignificant detail of a project that is trying to be helpful to others. People don't type url's into the address bar anymore; and a site's "name" and "address" are different things, so you're arguing about something will have virtually no impact on whether the site gets traffic or not if it's left alone, and even less impact if a minor change is made. Your suggestions have been noted, but do you see now, how I might not respect you enough to take your comments seriously? (It's rhetorical.) Please be helpful, or divert your attention to working quietly on your own site instead of bringing negativity here.