New Vegas Modding Toolkit

[genolune]

This shows how out of the loop I am. What is needed to start modding New Vegas? Is it the same as Fallout 4 (ie base game, creation kit, xEdit for deleting the stray references)? Or is more needed because of how New Vegas needs to be modded, patched, etc. to work in comparison to the more recent Fallout 4?

 

I already have New Vegas plus all DLCs, and the GECK through Steam, plus Mod Organizer & LOOT, and I'll get FNVEdit just in case to delete stray references.

 

Any other tools, etc. that I need? I know New Vegas is hackneyed together with NVAC, NVSE, JIP, etc, so I'm wondering what I'm getting myself into and how it's different from FO4.

[Deleted1205226User]

NifsKope for sure. Everybody is on V2 which was developed with Skyrim and FO4 in mind. I still use the good old 1.1.3. which have all the functionalities needed while the V2 have some things "broken" for older games.

 

Good to know that both version can be installed simultaneously.

 

And I would recommend Geck PowerUp to balance the instability of the Original one.

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/55102/?

https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/41642/?

 

The script systems are completely different. You might have to learn things from scratch.

 

And welcome to the NV side!

[genolune]

Thanks. I'll be starting out slow and simple again. Mostly GECK work, I don't know if I'll get into scripting or anything, it's mostly going to be learning my way around the GECK's interface, packaging the files correctly, etc.

 

So GECK PowerUp for sure. Thanks!

[dubiousintent]

Recently (April 2017) started building a list of resources and tutorials to help people get started. Please see the wiki "Getting started creating mods using GECK" article. Suggestions and links are always welcome.

 

-Dubious-

[madmongo]

The main thing of course is the GECK. I also personally recommend the GECK Powerup as that will give you much more informative error messages and allows you to turn off the non-functional spell checker so that it's not constantly getting in your way. Then again, the GECK Powerup also annoys the heck out of you with dozens of error messages that you don't care about, but you take the good with the bad I guess.

 

If you want to edit dialog, the GECK as it ships is missing its lip generator. If you have Oblivion or Skyrim, you can copy the lip generator from there. Just copy everything from data\sound\processing. There is also a 3rd party lip generator available, but I haven't ever used it so I can't say how well it works. There's a link for it in Dubious's guide.

 

You'll probably want FNVEdit as well, as you already said. I don't use it much personally, but I do use it some.

 

Note - Unlike in Skyrim or FO4, if you are going to make NPCs, you need to define the NPC in an esm (master file) instead of an esp (normal mod). If you don't, you'll end up with the head texture not matching the body texture. It's a bug in FO3/FNV. There are some ini file tweaks you can do to try to fix this, but they don't fix everything and don't work on all systems. The only way to avoid the head/body mismatch bug for everyone that uses your mod is to use an esm to define the NPC. You can create an esp with the NPs first and then convert it to esm if you want. Note that the GECK without the Powerup cannot edit esm files, but with the Powerup it can, so that's another reason to get the Powerup.

 

For texture editing, GIMP and Paint.Net (not the paint that comes with Windows, but it's a free download) can both handle dds files. With GIMP and older versions of Paint.Net you'll need to install a dds plugin. Newer versions of Paint.Net have the dds plugin built-in. Of the two, GIMP is the more popular and is a bit more powerful, but Paint.Net is a bit more intuitive and easier to use. You can edit normal maps in both, but again, plugins are required.

 

You can do simple retextures to create new objects with one of the above dds editors and NifSkope.

 

If you want to create new meshes though, you'll need a 3-D modeling tool like Blender or 3dsMax. Note that only very specific versions of these work with nifs. For Blender, it's version 2.49b. Doubious has a link to Blender 2.49b with all of the appropriate plugins for nif importing and exporting to make it work. Don't try to download these separately from somewhere else as you'll just get frustrated trying (most likely in vain) to make them all work together. 3dsMax has similar issues where the import/export tools only work with a specific version, but since I don't use 3dsMax I can't give you details. Blender is free. The version of 3dsMax that works with Fallout isn't free.

 

Audacity is very useful for editing sound files. You can use it to correct the volume of NPCs in any voice files you may have recorded or had recorded for you. You can also use it to chop up existing voice files from the game to create dialog for existing characters (or new characters using those same voices).

 

FOMM comes with a bsa extractor that you can use to pull resources out of the game's bsa files. You can create new bsa files as well if you want. Many FNV mods just use loose files. It's not as standard to package everything into a bsa like it is with Skyrim.

[YanL]

Then again, the GECK Powerup also annoys the heck out of you with dozens of error messages

That's why I almost don't use it.

 

Good tool however.

[genolune]

Does the GECK come with a .bsa tool or do I need to download another tool to crack those open and take a peek inside?

[dubiousintent]

Separate tool. You can use either FOMM or BSAOpt. However, only FOMM is recommended for re-packing a BSA for use with FO3 or FNV.

 

-Dubious-