Any advice on how to start modding

[CenterWing]

Well there's nothing wrong with trying to learn everything, just so long as you understand that it's a huge undertaking that will never truly be finished and that your individual work in any one field will probably never match a focused specialist in that field.

 

If you want to start with 3d modelling for Fallout 4, then I'd say your first stop should be Nightasy's video tutorial. While this one specifically focuses on creating armour and outfits, the beginning of the series largely covers the programs you need and the setup required to get them talking to Fallout.

 

 

However don't forget that the basic skills involved often have nothing to do with Fallout 4. It's worth your time seeking out other tutorials for programs like Maya, Photoshop and other tools you might be using. Likewise you don't have to focus just on papyrus scripting, spending the time to read about object oriented design principles is time just as well spent.

I'm fallowing the video, but I'm having trouble setting up autodesk maya

NVM, I got it working

Edited March 27, 2016 by CenterWing

[PoliteRaider]

 

Well there's nothing wrong with trying to learn everything, just so long as you understand that it's a huge undertaking that will never truly be finished and that your individual work in any one field will probably never match a focused specialist in that field.

 

If you want to start with 3d modelling for Fallout 4, then I'd say your first stop should be Nightasy's video tutorial. While this one specifically focuses on creating armour and outfits, the beginning of the series largely covers the programs you need and the setup required to get them talking to Fallout.

 

 

However don't forget that the basic skills involved often have nothing to do with Fallout 4. It's worth your time seeking out other tutorials for programs like Maya, Photoshop and other tools you might be using. Likewise you don't have to focus just on papyrus scripting, spending the time to read about object oriented design principles is time just as well spent.

I'm fallowing the video, but I'm having trouble setting up autodesk maya

NVM, I got it working

 

Great. I had a little trouble too, so if you hadn't fixed it I might have been able to advise you if it was the same problem.

 

Although I'm still having trouble with getting 3dsmax to work. Not in terms of Fallout, just in general. If I can't figure it out soon I'm going to have to contact Autodesk technical support because it just won't load without crashing instantly.

[skubblebubble]

You can also get your toes wet by looking into mods already done, and modding them. I did that with a few for Skyrim and FONV.

 

Doing that while reading some of the tutorials made the tutorials make more sense. (they were pretty barebones)

 

Changing what armor is used, what models, skins and a few other things. Wound up with some pretty hilarious combos, but

gives a start.

 

I too am waiting for GECK as I do want to make my own mod(s) from scratch this time.

 

Automatron has the feel of a tutorial for doing mods. Couple of quests, a few new chars, weapons, new workshop, add new cell to area already

in use (mechanist lair) etc.

 

I'm gonna rip that sucker apart to see what they did, how they did it. It's not all that big except for the artwork (which I'm NOT going to get into)

I want the scripts. My artistic endeavors leave a lot to be desired. (translated: they suck) lol.

 

Going through Tale of Two Wastelands and converting mods to work with it also gives a bit of help on what various things do inside mods.

(dependencies, masters etc)

 

So if you have any of those games, poke about in them while waiting. Basic framework is very similar and will give a headstart (I hope) for FO4

[ThoraldGM]

DLC has ~480 scripts (found using the method I described). I extracted them but haven't decompiled yet. Played through Automatron and am finding my motivation to create mods again.

[CenterWing]

You can also get your toes wet by looking into mods already done, and modding them. I did that with a few for Skyrim and FONV.

 

Doing that while reading some of the tutorials made the tutorials make more sense. (they were pretty barebones)

 

Changing what armor is used, what models, skins and a few other things. Wound up with some pretty hilarious combos, but

gives a start.

 

I too am waiting for GECK as I do want to make my own mod(s) from scratch this time.

 

Automatron has the feel of a tutorial for doing mods. Couple of quests, a few new chars, weapons, new workshop, add new cell to area already

in use (mechanist lair) etc.

 

I'm gonna rip that sucker apart to see what they did, how they did it. It's not all that big except for the artwork (which I'm NOT going to get into)

I want the scripts. My artistic endeavors leave a lot to be desired. (translated: they suck) lol.

 

Going through Tale of Two Wastelands and converting mods to work with it also gives a bit of help on what various things do inside mods.

(dependencies, masters etc)

 

So if you have any of those games, poke about in them while waiting. Basic framework is very similar and will give a headstart (I hope) for FO4

I'm waiting for the GECK too before I do anything, for now I'm going to try and make 3D objects. On that note how big are the units in FO4?

[PoliteRaider]

 

I'm waiting for the GECK too before I do anything, for now I'm going to try and make 3D objects. On that note how big are the units in FO4?

 

I'm not sure I'm sorry, but just wanted to offer a tip that may help. If you have Nifskope, you can export FO4 meshes in the .obj format which most 3d programs can load if you want to use in game assets for comparison.

 

Just be aware that exporting is very easy right now, importing is extremely difficult. Your exported copy won't have the collisions, navmesh, physics and other game unique properties if you're trying to put them back in the game again to replace the original.

[CenterWing]

 

 

I'm waiting for the GECK too before I do anything, for now I'm going to try and make 3D objects. On that note how big are the units in FO4?

 

I'm not sure I'm sorry, but just wanted to offer a tip that may help. If you have Nifskope, you can export FO4 meshes in the .obj format which most 3d programs can load if you want to use in game assets for comparison.

 

Just be aware that exporting is very easy right now, importing is extremely difficult. Your exported copy won't have the collisions, navmesh, physics and other game unique properties if you're trying to put them back in the game again to replace the original.

 

I don't have Nifskope, I don't know what meshes are, nor .obj. I'm just getting into the very basics of 3D design now. ;^^

[PoliteRaider]

 

I don't have Nifskope, I don't know what meshes are, nor .obj. I'm just getting into the very basics of 3D design now. ;^^

 

Firstly, get Nifskope you'll need it later. This is the program to work with Fallout 4's 3d models.

 

Fallout 4 creates on object on the screen from quite a lot of different things but most of them are lighting information for the space they're in etc. There are only really three things that are used for the object itself.

 

A mesh, stored as a .nif file, which is the 3d shape of the object including animation information, the polygons and instructions about how any textures should be stretched around its surface to fit.

The material, stored as a .bgsm or .bgem file, which provides the information about how the object should visually appear and interact with light, etc. The .nif includes instructions about which material the item should use.

The textures, which are 2 dimensional art that gets "painted" over the surface of the model. The main texture is the diffuse, which provides a colour map of what colour each piece should be. However there are many more types of textures that can be used. The material file says which textures the object should use and any special details about how they're applied.

 

An .obj file hasn't got anything to do with Fallout 4, it's just a 3d model format which can be read by multiple programs so it's a good way of moving information from one program to another.

 

P.S. Materials are something new in Fallout 4, back in Skyrim there was just the Mesh and the Textures.

[CenterWing]

 

 

I don't have Nifskope, I don't know what meshes are, nor .obj. I'm just getting into the very basics of 3D design now. ;^^

 

Firstly, get Nifskope you'll need it later. This is the program to work with Fallout 4's 3d models.

 

Fallout 4 creates on object on the screen from quite a lot of different things but most of them are lighting information for the space they're in etc. There are only really three things that are used for the object itself.

 

A mesh, stored as a .nif file, which is the 3d shape of the object including animation information, the polygons and instructions about how any textures should be stretched around its surface to fit.

The material, stored as a .bgsm or .bgem file, which provides the information about how the object should visually appear and interact with light, etc. The .nif includes instructions about which material the item should use.

The textures, which are 2 dimensional art that gets "painted" over the surface of the model. The main texture is the diffuse, which provides a colour map of what colour each piece should be. However there are many more types of textures that can be used. The material file says which textures the object should use and any special details about how they're applied.

 

An .obj file hasn't got anything to do with Fallout 4, it's just a 3d model format which can be read by multiple programs so it's a good way of moving information from one program to another.

 

P.S. Materials are something new in Fallout 4, back in Skyrim there was just the Mesh and the Textures.

 

Ok, here's another question I think you are able to answer. How do I move Maya from my C drive to my D drive? It's been annoying me for over a day now. Despite the fact that I set it up in my D drive everything from the projects to the preferences goes in the C drive. The C drive is far smaller than the D so my reasons are self explanatory. I've already tried to get help on the autodesk forums but haven't gotten any solutions. :/

[VIitS]

 

 

 

I don't have Nifskope, I don't know what meshes are, nor .obj. I'm just getting into the very basics of 3D design now. ;^^

 

Firstly, get Nifskope you'll need it later. This is the program to work with Fallout 4's 3d models.

 

Fallout 4 creates on object on the screen from quite a lot of different things but most of them are lighting information for the space they're in etc. There are only really three things that are used for the object itself.

 

A mesh, stored as a .nif file, which is the 3d shape of the object including animation information, the polygons and instructions about how any textures should be stretched around its surface to fit.

The material, stored as a .bgsm or .bgem file, which provides the information about how the object should visually appear and interact with light, etc. The .nif includes instructions about which material the item should use.

The textures, which are 2 dimensional art that gets "painted" over the surface of the model. The main texture is the diffuse, which provides a colour map of what colour each piece should be. However there are many more types of textures that can be used. The material file says which textures the object should use and any special details about how they're applied.

 

An .obj file hasn't got anything to do with Fallout 4, it's just a 3d model format which can be read by multiple programs so it's a good way of moving information from one program to another.

 

P.S. Materials are something new in Fallout 4, back in Skyrim there was just the Mesh and the Textures.

 

Ok, here's another question I think you are able to answer. How do I move Maya from my C drive to my D drive? It's been annoying me for over a day now. Despite the fact that I set it up in my D drive everything from the projects to the preferences goes in the C drive. The C drive is far smaller than the D so my reasons are self explanatory. I've already tried to get help on the autodesk forums but haven't gotten any solutions. :/

 

In my experience, you can't. Trying to change installation location only moves a small part of the installation, the rest is still put on C drive. It's not just Maya, I've run into that with every Autodesk program I have ever installed.