Morrowind > Oblivion > Skyrim

[Lanceor]

With Skyrim due to be released in a couple of weeks, a lot of us are wondering how easy/hard it will be to mod Skyrim.

 

So for us newer modders out there, what was the transition from Morrowind to Oblivion like? How many of your skills were transferable? How long did it take you and/or the community to get "up to speed" with modding Oblivion?

 

Tell us your experiences!

[jhardingame]

With Skyrim due to be released in a couple of weeks, a lot of us are wondering how easy/hard it will be to mod Skyrim.

 

So for us newer modders out there, what was the transition from Morrowind to Oblivion like? How many of your skills were transferrable? How long did it take you and/or the community to get "up to speed" with modding Oblivion?

 

Tell us you experiences!

 

I didn't start modding until after Oblivion, but in retrospect, coming from Oblivion to Fallout 3, it didn't take that long to figure out. Bethesda seems to like to keep things that same if possible when it comes to interfaces, and seeing how Bethesda has said that those familiar with the TESCS or GECK would quickly become familiar with the creation kit. I just hope that's true though, as that means that will be a quicker head start we can all get on our various projects.

Edited October 25, 2011 by jhardingame

[Pronam]

My experiences:

 

Morrowind to Oblivion

Where is the moveworld function? Why is everything moved to those complex animations outside CS!

Parent refs? What is this magic![time passes]Ohh sweet and useful!

Parented worlds? Cut off cities? Weird!

Climates, Heightmaps, Packages, havok sim?

Voiced dialogue? All the NPC I make are boringly num compared to the vanilla game!

Quests? What is this, I don't even!

Quest scripts? Quest markers? Extra filters?

 

I was persistently not using parent refs for a while as it all seemed unnecessary an difficult, afterwards I regretted that as it was awesome easily to use. In fallout it became even more expanded and I like it a lot now.

I started off with creating quests and that gets you through most essential things used. Lke with morrowind I learned a lot from the vanilla game first before even using the Wiki. (I just got the CS and run off) haha, then when I went scripting more often end the CS referred me back to the site I found the awesomeness of the wiki.

 

I think I will use the same approach, especially because of the new scripting language. For those that haven't used the GECK might have a bit more difficulty adjusting to Skyrim as indeed CK be build upon those types of features. Navmeshing, form lists, message/terminals, retexture options without having to create a new nif and the different smaller tweaks is what made the difference for me between oblivion and fallout. Those changes will be bigger if you never have used the GECK. Like the completely overhauled path system, a different quest system, lots of changes on what to find where, new scripting methods and loads of buttons/tweaking options added

[AurianaValoria1]

Morrowind was easier to mod to me, especially for a beginner. :blush: It really helped me get my feet wet in the modding world. The CS was easy to understand, especially when making new NPCs.

 

When I first tried Oblivion modding, I had to use the CS wiki. I got confused a lot. My minimal experience making new characters in Morrowind was not transferable to Oblivion, as I could no longer simply type up any dialogue I wanted and leave it at that. On top of that, my Oblivion CS crashes any time I try to make a new character - without fail. So, all of my modded characters have to be copies of preexisting ones.

 

In fact, my Oblivion CS crashes so frequently, it's hard to even attempt medium to large projects. :confused: I have no doubt I'll try to dabble in Skyrim modding, too, but I sincerely hope that the CK doesn't cripple me by crashing all the time.

 

I don't have the GECK, but if the CK uses some of those changes from the Oblivion CS (namely, the retexture options :P) I think I'll like it a lot. :D

[HeyYou]

I liked the way the Morrowind CS was laid out better... Things were easier to find. (at least, for me....)

[Argomirr]

Transitioning from Morrowind to Oblivion:

OH MY GAWD! There's a wiki!

 

As for the transition to Skyrim, I have a feeling the changes will be more dramatic then they were when transitioning to Oblivion - which is good. I like having new toys to play with. The new scripting language is something I'm looking forward to in particular.

Edited October 25, 2011 by Argomirr

[Arthmoor]

I only did two small mods for Morrowind, but I remember early on with Oblivion that the new CS was overwhelming because it had so much new stuff. It didn't take long to figure things out though and come to the conclusion that the OB CS was way better.

 

I imagine the GECK was even better still, but I was never able to wrap my brain around the navmesh system so I never did anything more than the one FO3 mod.

 

I'm hoping that the CK will be an even bigger improvement and if they insist on keeping navmeshes that they make working with them easier to figure out.

[ub3rman123]

How about a backwards perspective: I started with Oblivion and went to Morrowind modding. It was similar, but there were a few things I never grasped, like the dialogue tree methods and the way that objects are sorted (By type, with no subcategories). That object menu was infuriating to find things.

[Oldwolf58]

I don't think anyone can weigh in on whether it's going to be harder or easier because that's a subjective analysis. Some people will find it easier others harder. No one has been able to see/work with the new "Creation Kit" so until then all we can do is make guesses. I think we all HOPE it will be similar enough to what we're used to or simple enough to understand that we can all "hit the ground running" , with it and get some good quality mods out in short order. ( Can anyone say Nude body meshes?) But again we may just find that the thing is so unweildy that most of us not-so-experienced modders are completely befuddled by it. I truely hope that isn't the case but I suppose we'll all just have to wait and see.

[Hayk94]

The more new content in skyrim more in Creation KIt , I guess. There are a lot of new in skyrim so there will be a lot of new in creation kit , but I think it will be easy to manage, especially if official wiki comes out with it.