How do I make a mod?

[KeeLx]

Hello nexus,

I was planning on making a mod or mods for skyrim.

One thing, How do I make a mod?

What do I use, How do I use it, ect ect.

Thanks.

[PowderdToastMan]

Learning from scratch can be quite difficult.

 

If you know how to use gimp and blender, you can create new armors and weapons and such.

 

If your looking to learn how to do basic construction set modding, i'd go to these two locations and start reading.

 

http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Main_Page

 

http://geck.bethsoft.com/index.php/Main_Page

 

 

The construction set for skyrim has not been released yet

[KeeLx]

Learning from scratch can be quite difficult.

 

If you know how to use gimp and blender, you can create new armors and weapons and such.

 

If your looking to learn how to do basic construction set modding, i'd go to these two locations and start reading.

 

http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Main_Page

 

http://geck.bethsoft.com/index.php/Main_Page

 

 

The construction set for skyrim has not been released yet

 

I'm planning on doing small texture modifications. I have seen a few mods already release doing the thing I'm planning, How did they do that?

[PowderdToastMan]

If your doing default textures, you must extract them from the bsa, then edit and save them in gimp, then re-create the file path for archive invalidation, or use the construction set to place custom named versions of it in the world.

[KeeLx]

If your doing default textures, you must extract them from the bsa, then edit and save them in gimp, then re-create the file path for archive invalidation, or use the construction set to place custom named versions of it in the world.

 

How do I extract them from the bsa and load them into gimp?

[PowderdToastMan]

I havent used the new one yet but most mod managers have a too that allows you to crack open the bsa to get the file your looking for.

 

Finding the file you want in the bsa is almost impossible since the CS is not out yet. Once the CS comes out, you can easily determine the name and file path of the file you want to extract and duplicate.

[DavidD]

To get a texture into the image editing software of your choice you can do this (at least it's what I did):

 

First get a .dds plugin for the program you want to use (so you can open .DDS files which Bethesda use) OR get a .dds viewer/exporter to re-save it as a .png and then convert it back to a .dds when you're done.

 

Now, to extract the textures from the textures.bsa, download FOMM (Fallout Mod Manager). If you do not own Fallout you're going to need to get a hold of the game somehow or get a hold of the .exe files (I downloaded a crack for FO:NV and used that to get it running) and point FOMM to the folder where it's located.

 

With FOMM you can extract the textures, you'll have to do a bit of research on how since I removed the .exe files and I don't remember what I did, just google it and you'll probably find it fairly quick.

 

Once exported, open the texture you want to edit, edit it, save it and remember the structure. If you opened "textures\dungeons\candles01.dds", make a folder in your "Skyrim\data" folder named "textures", inside that put another folder named "dungeons" and in the "dungeons" folder, put the file under the exact same name as the one you openened in GIMP (or whatever), in this case "candles01.dds". You'll also want to update the _n files which are the normals. There are usually plugins for creating normal maps.

 

Quick recap:

1. FOMM
   
2. Extract with FOMM
   
3. Open in image-editor or .dds viewer
   
4. Save changes
   
5. Create normal maps (optional)
   
6. Save into Skyrim\Data carefully, maintaining the folder structure
   

[KeeLx]

To get a texture into the image editing software of your choice you can do this (at least it's what I did):

 

First get a .dds plugin for the program you want to use (so you can open .DDS files which Bethesda use) OR get a .dds viewer/exporter to re-save it as a .png and then convert it back to a .dds when you're done.

 

Now, to extract the textures from the textures.bsa, download FOMM (Fallout Mod Manager). If you do not own Fallout you're going to need to get a hold of the game somehow or get a hold of the .exe files (I downloaded a crack for FO:NV and used that to get it running) and point FOMM to the folder where it's located.

 

With FOMM you can extract the textures, you'll have to do a bit of research on how since I removed the .exe files and I don't remember what I did, just google it and you'll probably find it fairly quick.

 

Once exported, open the texture you want to edit, edit it, save it and remember the structure. If you opened "textures\dungeons\candles01.dds", make a folder in your "Skyrim\data" folder named "textures", inside that put another folder named "dungeons" and in the "dungeons" folder, put the file under the exact same name as the one you openened in GIMP (or whatever), in this case "candles01.dds". You'll also want to update the _n files which are the normals. There are usually plugins for creating normal maps.

 

Quick recap:

1. FOMM
   
2. Extract with FOMM
   
3. Open in image-editor or .dds viewer
   
4. Save changes
   
5. Create normal maps (optional)
   
6. Save into Skyrim\Data carefully, maintaining the folder structure
   

Well s***, I uninstalled Fallout the other day. Looks like I'm gonna have to download again! anyway once its downloaded, I shall do what you said. Thanks for the help!