Eager To Learn!

[CaseysLaw]

Hey folks! I just recently introduced myself over here where Lisnpuppy has kindly told me to check out Tes Alliance, which sounds like a great resource, but I thought I'd start here.

 

Firstly, I've identified my biggest hurdle as biting off more than I can chew! I've already got three substantially sized mods in my head that I'd like to make and I don't want to get carried away with grandiose plans. To counter this I've been picking small standalone aspects of these ideas and trying to create them without worrying about the bigger picture. I think this is working out well, it's certainly easier to learn these bite sized tasks and I know that eventually I will be able to start putting the jigsaw together.

 

I would like to run a few things by you veteran modders though to make sure I'm on the right track. I'm a little worried that I'm wasting time trying to learn things that are actually impossible or chasing down non existent information. Here we go(please be gentle I'm very new to this):

 

 

1) I am playing around with animations and I'd like to pull some humanoid creature(draugr/giant) animations and convert them for use on the player character. First thing I did was stuff the animations into a PCEA2 file ...and quickly called an exorcist to deal with the hell-spawn that I had created. I was already pretty certain it wouldn't work because a) it was far too easy and b) I had spotted what I'm guessing are unique skeletons for each creature?

 

If I'm correct about the unique skeletons does that mean there is a way to attach the creature animations to the player character skeleton in 3dsmax? If anyone can point me in the direction of some information or a tutorial on this I'd be very grateful indeed!

 

2) Somewhere far down the line when I can consider myself a capable modder I have my heart set on building a very particular mod. I would want the start of the experience to be at the title menu where there would be a second 'New' option below the original, clicking it would start a cut scene and at the end of that place you in the world at a new starting location. All of the original quests would need to be removed during this play through too. There would be a few quests created by myself and after the final quest was completed the game would end and you wouldn't be allowed to play any further on this play through. Is any of that even remotely possible or is this a total pipe dream?

 

I'm really determined to realise this idea one day and although there wouldn't be a whole lot I'd have to add to the game, there would be a few fundamental changes to how Skyrim works that may not even be implementable. I would be very interested to hear if I need to go back to the drawing board or if these changes are plausible.

 

 

Thank you for reading, and hopefully replying too, I'm sure I'll have more questions but I think that's more than enough to keep us all going! Haha!

[Ryagard]

Hey Casey! So first of you have the right idea, do not just try and go for the pièce de résistnace first it Is always great to try chunks first and get to know them, so If you want to make a Stormcloak overhaul with new ranks, arms and quests try just making stand alone weapon mods and that suff first, it just works!

 

So about you first inquiry yes Monsters do use different skeletons as the Humans so it would be more complicated than just copy paste. I know there are .nif plugins that can Import Bones to 3dsmax so that may be useful for animations (have yet to look at that myself) And secondly that is possible, there is an awesome mod that utalises this (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/71021/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D71021%26preview%3D&pUp=1) but it would definetely be something for the expert Mod makers, so maybe don't try this straight away :) If you have any more questions feel free to drop me a PM

[csbx]

(2) is mostly possible I think--we've seen different existing mods achieve various aspects. Alternative Start:LAL alters the startup and could potentially place you in another worldspace (if that is what you are referring to). There is also a mod whose name I forget--could be dead is dead ? Where the mod literally deletes your file when you lose. A less extreme version of that where you just can't play any further with that character would be possible, it seems to me.

[Shivala]

This summer, sureAI release a complete overhaul, and clicking new will run their game, not Skyrim!

I think they have forums as well. By the way same goes for Skywind thats in the works. So it is definitely possible.

I assume you can override most quests and stuff, Timing is Everything allows you postpone quests, I am sure you can hide them. You are not the Dragonborn is another mod that takes you out of the Mainquest.

[CaseysLaw]

Thanks for the replies guys! I was a little worried, this being the internet, about what sort of response I would get but you've all been very helpful and, more importantly, encouraging. :D

 

Hey Casey! So first of you have the right idea, do not just try and go for the pièce de résistnace first it Is always great to try chunks first and get to know them, so If you want to make a Stormcloak overhaul with new ranks, arms and quests try just making stand alone weapon mods and that suff first, it just works!

 

So about you first inquiry yes Monsters do use different skeletons as the Humans so it would be more complicated than just copy paste. I know there are .nif plugins that can Import Bones to 3dsmax so that may be useful for animations (have yet to look at that myself) And secondly that is possible, there is an awesome mod that utalises this (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/71021/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D71021%26preview%3D&pUp=1) but it would definetely be something for the expert Mod makers, so maybe don't try this straight away :smile: If you have any more questions feel free to drop me a PM

Brillant, I'm really glad that I'm not doing this totally backwards! I've chosen 4 minor mods to work on which means if I get stuck or bored with one or two then I can do something fresh for a while and give myself some time to think of solutions without losing momentum.

 

I'm sooo glad to hear that my second idea isn't impossible to do. I won't be tackling it any time soon but it's given me a target to work towards. Thank you, I may well take you up on that offer of a pm next time creation kit makes me cry!

 

(2) is mostly possible I think--we've seen different existing mods achieve various aspects. Alternative Start:LAL alters the startup and could potentially place you in another worldspace (if that is what you are referring to). There is also a mod whose name I forget--could be dead is dead ? Where the mod literally deletes your file when you lose. A less extreme version of that where you just can't play any further with that character would be possible, it seems to me.

Fantastic, thank you for this information, I've had a look into these mods and it's filled me with confidence that everything I want should be possible as long as I can get good enough! :smile:

 

This summer, sureAI release a complete overhaul, and clicking new will run their game, not Skyrim!
I think they have forums as well. By the way same goes for Skywind thats in the works. So it is definitely possible.
I assume you can override most quests and stuff, Timing is Everything allows you postpone quests, I am sure you can hide them. You are not the Dragonborn is another mod that takes you out of the Mainquest.

Seriously, you guys are great. I was totally expecting to get told that it was all a pipe dream and would never happen but if these things are being done then it's achievable. I'll patiently watch and wait for these mods to arrive and see how they do things. Maybe when they drop it'll enlighten me and push me to start working on my big mod. In the mean time I better get busy learning!

 

 

I'm starting Uni in October so I've got plenty of time to learn, create and publish some mods before then! Plus I'm doing programming as one of my modules so it's like homework, right? :tongue: Thanks again all of you, I'll probably be back soon with more questions so please do check back in. :smile: