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Any advice on how to start modding


CenterWing

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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.

 

ok... any suggestions then? My C: has 63.9 GB of space compared to my D:'s 425.

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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.

 

ok... any suggestions then? My C: has 63.9 GB of space compared to my D:'s 425.

 

Well, I think making projects in the D: drive helps... I don't know what will happen to my preferences though...

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Something you can do for some space (if you haven't already) is change the drive your Documents/Downloads/Music/etc... (The main user folders) are on (starting with Windows 7, Properties -> Location). Most programs that use those folders (such as 3ds Max, and probably Maya as well) will register the change and make the relevant folders (which includes saves for 3ds max) automatically use the new location. There are a few programs that will ignore it and use C anyway, but those are few and far between.

 

Unfortunately can't help you with Maya, I have only been using 3ds Max.

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By no means trying to hijack this thread, but rather than starting a new post for a question related to this,, seemed the better route..

Basically, I havent yet touched scripting, and I need to. I saw it mentioned that the CK / GECK generally has built in script functionality (editing and creation?), so I am curious on an opinion more than anything:

Do you think its worth trying to work with the current third party tools and learn scripting, or waiting for the GECK? Does the GECK typically have referrences to the various variables and commands possible within papyrus, making it easier for someone like myself that while I understand the concept of telling a script what event / action to look for, and running an if / then / else type of command, I have no clue of any papyrus commands nor how to properly write in it. So I wonder if the GECK might be more straight forward for it?


Suppose I could always reinstall Skyrim here soon and mess with scripts in its CK to get an idea. Just kinda curious to an opinion more than anything, not looking for tutorials / guides as they are already posted :)

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I'm sorry JujooGuppy but I've never used the Creation Kit, so I don't actually know the answer to that. Also Bethesda tends to update their Creation Kit with every game they release (thus the long wait for this CK) so it's impossible to predict what features it will offer.

 

Personally whenever I'm working with Papyrus I will have the CK wiki for Skyrim (it's actually more relevant to FO4 than any of the older Fallout GECK info, at least so far as I've seen) open on one side of the screen and the script I'm working on open in Notepad++ (if you don't have this get it, it's free and I can't recommend it enough). While this doesn't prompt you itself about the programming syntax, you can easily use the search window on the CK to find what you're looking for.

 

This works well for me, but of course whether it's the best method for you or not is up to you to decide.

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ok so apparently maya is a lot more complicated than I thought, I don't understand how to open up projects.

I remember this thought! In the beginning the Maya tutorials on their website are actually good enough for the basics. Idk if they tell you things like you don't have mental ray without downloading the Service Pack, or even you have to point Maya to the plugin, then activate the plugin, then select the render engine...Mental Ray is nVidia's iRay really.

 

Either way, it's only complicated cause it's new to you. It's like the inverse of a new gf when even her selfishness is endearing. Then after a few months, you wonder if she's worth the trouble just to be in a queue for a ride. With stuff that's actually valuable, the longer you interact with it, the better it gets, unlike the former.

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ok so apparently maya is a lot more complicated than I thought, I don't understand how to open up projects.

I remember this thought! In the beginning the Maya tutorials on their website are actually good enough for the basics. Idk if they tell you things like you don't have mental ray without downloading the Service Pack, or even you have to point Maya to the plugin, then activate the plugin, then select the render engine...Mental Ray is nVidia's iRay really.

 

Either way, it's only complicated cause it's new to you. It's like the inverse of a new gf when even her selfishness is endearing. Then after a few months, you wonder if she's worth the trouble just to be in a queue for a ride. With stuff that's actually valuable, the longer you interact with it, the better it gets, unlike the former.

 

Yeah, I'm figuring things out. Right now I'm just playing around and looking at videos.

On that note, what's a tri face? Apparently it's something bad but I don't know why.

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