What do I need to learn?

[ThaiDai]

I have a vision for two mods and I'd love to learn how to make them myself or collaborate with others to make them. My problem is twofold: a) I don't know if my vision is even possible and b) I don't know what I need to learn in order to make them. Do I need to learn scripting, or can what I want be done without scripting? Will the engine even allow for what I want? I'm hoping one of the experienced modders on here can tell me if what I'm picturing is possible and, if so, what general things I'll need to learn to accomplish them. I'm willing to do the leg-work, I just need to know what I need to learn :)

 

Here they are:

 

A new "Growing Up in Skyrim" (current seems unsupported and not quite what I'm picturing):

A mod that allows the character to age and grow based on time rather than level. Create a custom body in Bodyslide (with male bodies too!) with lowest weight being young teenager and highest weight being adult. MCM menu allowing player to choose min and max heights and reduce timescale to closer to normal. As time passes, player gains "weight" and height until they reach maturity. MCM allowing character to influence how fast they gain weight/height and what age - with a randomizer to allow more realism. Level-ups dramatically reduced at younger ages (or other way around, since we learn better at younger ages? just with strength reduced until adulthood?). Main quests locked until player reaches certain age (no 13 year-old assassins/Archmages/Harbingers/soldiers, though with different age requirements for each). Compatible with Alternate Start-Live Another Life so player can start as anything else (like a young orphan in Riften picked up by Brynjolf to do small jobs, or a mead-fetcher for the Companions, or an errand runner for the palace - hell, maybe even a courier or young bard or acolyte or apprentice).

 

Unnamed Quest:

A quest mod in which the player discovers a tome describing the life of a prior Dragonborn - the first in a long series. Each new tome increases a skill point while telling more of the story and pointing the player to where they would find the next tome (no quest markers, only textual clues). The player comes to learn that this prior Dragonborn died while subduing a great enemy, and must retrace their steps as the great enemy is rising again (no, not a dragon, something else). Ghostly visions of the prior Dragonborn reveal more of the story and their motivations, the tragic tale of their life. Completing the full quest unlocks a fourth-level shout for Unrelenting Force (is that even possible?), an ability previously obtained only by the prior Dragonborn. Many minor bosses to be defeated along the way, all at set levels (early ones maybe level 10, final boss around level 85 or 90). A quest you can start early in the game but have no hope of finishing until very late in the game.

 

Can anyone tell me if these things are possible?

[WastelandAssassin]

for the first one, maybe you should look at http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/29476/? Pumping Iron

it doesn't do what you are looking for precisely, but you can try to look at the scripts behind it, and see if you can change the activations of growth to work like time stamps, instead of skill ups

or you could look at the mod you've mentioned, and see how it's made, and see about changing those scripts

 

as for the second one, adding new books in more then possible

setting them as skill books shouldn't be hard, as well as adding them to the game

creating the enemies you want, adding them to existing locations, or making new locations for them are all very much possible (though making new things in much harder then using existing data)

making a quest for this is also very much possible, and not adding quest markers should save you a bit of work

 

basically, while the first might be more difficult them the second, i do believe both can be made

it may not be easy, and you should start looking into modding tutorials to try and get a grip on how to approach this concept

 

do note that if you want to add new items, you may need to create meshes and textures, which would require 3 softwares you will need to learn how to use

if you want to add new enemies, or more complex items, you may need to also learn how to animate, which is another thing altogether

 

so what i would really recommend is starting with tutorials, getting a hang on the Creation Kit and it's functions, then using existing mods as a mold for your own designs, just so you'll have a base to work with

 

hope this helps, and good luck :)

[NexusComa]

yes you will need to learn to script to do them mods ...

[ThaiDai]

Thank you very much for your replies! The Pumping Iron mod looks a lot like what I was thinking of - and I like that the growth is based on skill training. There must be a way to add another element of increasing height over time - and, for the "growing up" mod I'm picturing, to slow down the muscle growth even more. Guess I'm going to have to learn scripting!

[ThaiDai]

So, making great strides in the realm of scripting, but I can't find the answer to this question:

 

How do I get my mod to adjust the RaceMenu sliders?

 

Maybe that's the wrong way to ask the question. Essentially, my script allows the character to grow taller over time, but it does so using "SetScale." However, it seems that using the RaceMenuPlugin height slider to adjust your PC height still leaves the scale at base (for nord, 1.03). So with my mod (which is designed to allow your character to grow up to the max height (for Nord, 1.03)), nothing happens because you're already at "full height" even if the the PC is actually shorter than everyone else via RaceMenu.

 

The only way I can think of to get around this is to have a setscale on initialization that reduces PC height to something lower (.86 or so). But obviously that will conflict with anyone using RaceMenu to set the height (suddenly their character will be shorter than a bed).

 

So what I want to have happen is for my script to read the RaceMenu height, then adjust the RaceMenu height. And I'm not skilled enough yet to understand what's going on in expired's scripts to make that happen.

 

Any pointers, tutorials, etc I can use?