Making your own ESP / Change default armor

[Jackal2233]

This is for those who are wondering how folks are making ESP content into Skyrim despite the lack of a construction set. In this tutorial I'm sharing what I learnt from fellow modders from this thread:

http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/470256-how-the-esps/

 

Kudos to them for teaching me the dragon shouts! :biggrin:

 

And I'll be guiding you on how to make a very simple change; default armor of companions. Until we get the construction set, and even with console commands, it's still hard to be able to customise our companions unless we give them superior armor etc. So, this temporary fix is -> to change their default "armor" to clothes!

 

Here's the summary and what you need - and note, in this tutorial I am recommending the use of Skyrim Viewer by Lojack to help you learn how to mod as well.

 

1) Download two things:

- Skyrim Viewer by Lojack: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=165

- FoMM by timeslip: http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=640

2) Open up the Skyrim viewer, then load up Skyrim.esm/Update.esm and let it load

3) Type in your desired NPC you wish to change, for this tutorial, I'm going to use Lisette

HINT: You may end up with the dialogue section instead of the NPC section, so it's best to click on the NPC_ group THEN type in your search

4) Ok, you found her, now scroll down till you find a field called DOFT, this is your default clothing variable, now you know what it means. You can use Skyrim viewer for future references.

 

5) Now, you've downloaded FOMM yes? If you don't have F03 installed, no problem, create a shortcut, and add at the end of the line "fomm.exe -tessnip", now you should be able to load it with no problems.

6) Open up Skyrim.esm and Update.esm

7) Press Ctrl-F and find your NPC, lisette in this case.

8) You will find the DOFT variable in her file, but don't do anything yet. Now click on "NPC_ Lisette", copy via the edit menu or Ctrl-C. Then go to file... new... etc, to make a new plugin in. Paste your Lisette into it. But you will notice she's not in a particular group yet, so go to "spells" and click "sanitise", now she will be in a folder called "GRUP NPC_" as it is intended.

9) Now scroll down until you find the DOFT field, double click on it. See the form ID button? This is where you type in your new formIDs for whatever clothes you want to be default. In this case, let's just give her fine clothes.

10) Type in "000F8717" into the formID. Click the button next to it, now to double check, press the "look up" button. If it doesn't come up, or goes now match, then it leads to the next step.

11) Add Skyrim.esm to the plugin's master, using Edit -> Add Master File

12) Now, try again with the lookup, and it should come up with "OTFT (FineClothesOutfit02Variant)"

13) All good! Now close the masters, and save your plugin.

14) Go ingame, and you'll notice you will now be able to make her wear anything

 

OH but for those who are wondering why am I talking about Lisette when she's not supposed to be a companion...

Thanks to Mystais here: http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/471323-married-lisette/

 

I can now make Lisette a companion. Other console commands in regards to companions are here, though I think I should update the thread after this: http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/467856-companionsconsole-commands/page__p__3845070__fromsearch__1#entry3845070

 

Have fun =)

 

EDIT: Oh, almost forgot step 15...

 

15) TESSNIP is not so stable in Skyrim, there are two bugs I've confirmed, as well as Xylozi -> Changing appearance will lead to a darker skin tone then the rest of the body. The second one is encountered by me, any mod that alters NPC settings results in strange hex symbols in the place of names, the fix in this case, is to manually re-type in the NPC's name in their "FULL" section, then save and play.

Edited November 26, 2011 by Jackal2233

[shockwavegt]

Can you help me with Illia please?

 

I couldn't find her following your steps and I'm not sure where to look for the DOFT on FOMM when I opened up Lisette.

 

Thanks

[Syeeb]

Great tutorial, finally got Sylgja out of those minors cloths and into a dress!

 

One question, thanks to your tutorial, I know what the DOFT field is for (main outfit) and after her name being changed to "L" on my first run and then trial and error, I now know that FULL is for the name displayed in game. My question is, does anyone have a list of what all the other fields control and change? Thanks.

[Jackal2233]

Some NPCs are difficult to find because their description can be... for example "HousecarlWhiterun" etc. The alternate way is to go into the game, open up the console and typed "help Lydia 0" (for example) and get her form ID from there, and then search for her form ID in FOMM specifically. Also, the DOFT field is on the bottom right window of FOMM.

 

As for the other fields, only way I found what controls what and changes what is by using Skyrim Viewer. However, be careful with NPC changes, for example I tried to change Sylgja's hair and hair color and ended up messing up her face tone. Still some limitations in using TESsnip unfortunately.

 

But we do what we can with what we have... for now... though right now I'm getting impatient having to wait till next year just to get my companions to ride horses :wallbash:

Edited December 6, 2011 by Jackal2233

[Syeeb]

Some NPCs are difficult to find because their description can be... for example "HousecarlWhiterun" etc. The alternate way is to go into the game, open up the console and typed "help Lydia 0" (for example) and get her form ID from there, and then search for her form ID in FOMM specifically. Also, the DOFT field is on the bottom right window of FOMM.

 

As for the other fields, only way I found what controls what and changes what is by using Skyrim Viewer. However, be careful with NPC changes, for example I tried to change Sylgja's hair and hair color and ended up messing up her face tone. Still some limitations in using TESsnip unfortunately.

 

But we do what we can with what we have... for now... though right now I'm getting impatient having to wait till next year just to get my companions to ride horses :wallbash:

 

I had the exact same thing happen with Sylgja when I messed with her hair.

[Syeeb]

One more question, how do I add more than one item as default clothing? like adding the tavern girl boots along with the dress?

[Jackal2233]

Actually I noticed that the default clothing comes in a package it seems.

[Syeeb]

Actually I noticed that the default clothing comes in a package it seems.

 

Ahh, I didn't consider that, do you know which one it is ?

[Jackal2233]

What I meant was, the DOFT seems to hold the data for the whole package, for example, the TavernWenchOutfit is actually a package complete with boots and such, you can't modify the boots as it's the same package.

 

Hmmm... useless you edit the package itself, it does use a formID so...

 

Nevermind, just tried it, TESSNIP can't find the formID, the package is uneditable.

Edited December 6, 2011 by Jackal2233

[TehRiddles]

Can you elaborate on step 5? I downloaded FOMM, installed it and tried to create a shortcut and was prompted with a box to type the location of the item. I went to the location of FOMM. I then typed in "fomm.exe -tessnip" without the quotes and it just made a shortcut to the folder it was in.

 

Can you explain where I am going wrong here?