[LE] What do you do to keep a nice workflow and stay organized and focused?

[genolune]

Originally posted at the Fallout 4 Creation Kit and Modders' forum, I'm bringing this over here to help others get ideas. Maybe a moderator will sticky this even. Anything that says Fallout 4, just replace with Skyrim. The ideas contained within can also be used to set yourself up for modding Fallout 3, New Vegas, 4 and Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, Skyrim Special Edition. Hopefully these ideas help everyone else out.

 

As the title says, what do you do to keep a nice workflow and stay organized and focused?

I say this because the amount of information and tutorials and files we work with when modding is quite a lot.

a) What tools do you use to do your modding? How do you keep your shortcuts organized and easily accessible (put them in a folder on the desktop, taskbar, etc.)?
b) What tools, documents, notes, etc. do you use to maintain an organized and streamlined concept to finished product?
c) How do you categorize your bookmarks?
d) How do you categorize your files?

 

 

My setup

Desk setup

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/genolune/Desktop_1.jpg

 

Desktop Setup

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/genolune/Desktop.jpg

 

How to create the gaming folder shortcut

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/genolune/Creating%20Gaming%20Shortcut%20Toolbar.jpg

 

Actual Folder

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/genolune/Games%20Shortcut%20Folder.jpg

 

I added BodySlide and FO4Edit since I use them so much and rearranged the icons to:
Nexus Mod Manager
DDS Converter
Blender
BodySlide x64
NifSkope
Gimp
Audacity
Creation Kit
FO4Edit

That more accurately describes my workflow and makes it easier than so many things on my toolbar.

C:/Games folder (residing on the faster M2 SSD, just in case it makes a difference for the program)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/genolune/Games%20Folder.jpg

 

On the storage drive

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/genolune/Shortcut.jpg

 

Go to Fallout 4 (Mod folders are where I keep everything for the mods I am working on)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/genolune/Fallout%204%20Folder.jpg

 

Meshes & Textures Folder (yes, eventually I want a Dungeons & Dragons Beholder in Fallout/Elder Scrolls games)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/genolune/Meshes%20%20Textures.jpg

 

Female Sub-Folder (I sort by mod and mostly keep the same file structure, trying to delete everything I don't need)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/genolune/Sample%20Texture%20Sub-Folder.jpg

 

DDS Converter View (I use this to quickly view and compare all the textures easily to see what's the same, what isn't and what's on it)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/genolune/DDS%20Converter%20View.jpg

DDS Converter on Nexus

My Creation Kit setup

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/genolune/Creation%20Kit%20View.jpg

 

How I organize my bookmarks and I have Chrome set-up to start with the bookmark manager and Google page

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v724/genolune/Chrome%20Setup.jpg

My bookmark structure

Fallout 4
inside of that I have the following:
1 Audio
2 Meshing & Texturing
3 Animation
4 Creation Kit
Mods - 1 Using
Mods - 2 Not Using
Mods - 3 Reference (Textures Mostly)
Reference Miscellaneous
SORT
Random bookmarks I have yet to decide what to do with

Sort is where I throw all the bookmarks of a like type (ie discussions, mod pages, etc.), rename them with "Category - Name of Link" and then move them to where they belong.

 

[NexusComa]

As far as creating shortcuts that's up to you.

 

While in the editor however one trick that works well is to name everything you create or change to a custom name ...

Like this ... say your mod is named " Cool New Stuff " ... I myself like to use an abbreviation with an underscore.

So, everything I added in the mod would look like this: _CNS_Weapon_01 or _CNS_Armor_01 and so on.

Edited November 25, 2016 by NexusComa

[genolune]

I just figured with all the modders who are professionals or students in some type of coding or 3D modelling or something positions maybe they have a "system" of how they organize information and their tools to get things done. Or maybe the majority of the community works in complete chaos. I don't know.

 

I like the idea you have there for your naming convention.

 

I also use a bullet journal type format for a notebook to put my ideas into.

 

That way in my index I can put my general ideas such as "Beholder for Skyrim" and then in the pages dedicated to detail I can put general notes, write down file or part names, and tasks related. I used it for creating the Crater of Atom settlement to write down my location marker names and other variable names so if I take some time away from a project and forget about the details I can come back to my notes and see what I was doing and thinking.

[NexusComa]

I'm sure most don't sit down and write pseudo code ... I'm also sure many mods never get completed.

 

The thing with Skyrim is the editor can have many things stored in it that you're not using as a library type set up.

The whole Skyrim package come preset with a very nice folder system, the editor and the game both utilize.

It's easy to add a folder to Meshes that has all your stored meshes, then just place the textures where they would normally be.

As the meshes are the only ones with a path (to the textures). Then at a glance you can see all your resources from your custom

folder in meshes. It don't even matter if you're using them or not as they are always there for you when you want them.

 

When you create your mod just use the Create Archive option and create a mod .bsa file for the .esp

Then everything you are using is in that .bsa file and can be uploaded without any hassle at all.

 

With a .bsa unpacker program you could then create (in a work area) the loose file set up, if that's what you intend to upload.

This also creates a way to override the .bsa file by actually having the meshes and textures in the folders.

Good for quick edits before going ahead and add them to the .bsa permanently.

It depends on what you wish to keep in your resources folder, or if you just want to test the .bsa on it's own.

Very flexible kit style setup.

 

Myself I also add a folder next to textures called tools and drop in all my "tools" with

 

BodySlide

CalientesTools

GenerateFNIS_for_users

LOOT9

Merge Plugins

NifSkope

SaveCleaner

TES5Edit

TexBlendLite

TextureBlender

 

All seem to work well from that spot and NifSkope can even show the textures while editing.

They are also Syrim only type tools ... Things like Gimp can be called from a right click on the file.

 

I also use Notepad++ to edit scripts. Way better then the notepad.

 

Then it's just a matter of running to the spot in game where your mod is before you actually add the mod and saving.

That save then becomes your loading point for your game/mod until you are done with it. Never saving while in mod

(unless you go back and delete the saves - like for a test) I've had spots in game where I sat for months modding

until it was done then moved on playing the game. The main reason I've never made it over level 30, always stopping to mod.

I also have everything backed up a few times. :smile:

Truth is the Skyrim Editor is a dream to work with once you understand how it's all set up.

About the only thing I've ever had problems with is setup the blender program.

I hope that answered some of your questions ...

Edited November 27, 2016 by NexusComa

[rivergenesis]

I'm a modder mess. I try to only work on 1 mod but I have ideas for another 10 and keep getting distracted.

However, I do have 2 basic esps - one for clothes and one for items - where I add everything I make for testing purposes. I also mark every single item I make with ASC_ or AS_ so I can find them easily in the ck. On my start menu (win10) I have a separate tab with links to all Programs I use and shortcuts to relevant texture folders in my Base data folder. There is no need to add links to mesh folders as I just change the word textures for meshes in the file path when I need it.

I also have a notebook where I collect ideas, two pages per mod. It helps keeping me on track.

No idea how helpful this was...

 

Best,

AdiaStar

[genolune]

This was all good stuff.

 

@NexusComa ... I've written pseudocode for mods before. Is that the point of no return?

[NexusComa]

This was all good stuff.

 

@NexusComa ... I've written pseudocode for mods before. Is that the point of no return?

 

pseudocode ...

 

I use that in the form of rem ; ... Might as well keep it