Some specific questions and ideas

[Sabat9]

Ok, nice little thing you guys got going here, what with all the hard work and dedication to modding an already cool game.

 

I just bought the GOTY edition a couple weeks ago, played for probably two or three days before i discovered the CS program, this website, Wrye Bash, etc, etc. My main dude is still level 4 because ive been spending all my time building a lair/dungeon/underground keep/. I thought i really had something going on with my little dungeon/underground keep, but the more i read about modding the deeper it gets. All you vets are probably either rolling your eyes or remembering the good ol' days when this was all brand new :blink:

 

This is not to say my dungeon isn't totally badass, because it is, but im appreciating the amount of work more and more as i come up with solutions and ideas, which cause new problems, which need new solutions......

 

 

1. (why beer and modding might not mix) I was trying to delete a CM partner NPC i put in my cave, but accidentally had a game NPC selected somehow (Contumeliorus Florius of the mage's guild) I ended up deleting him and possibly a bunch of scripts associated with him.

 

What's the process for returning Mr. Fancypants back where he belongs, so that when i release this mod, it won't break anyone's game? (how important is this guy anyway?) Also, what is the proper process for removing NPC's, whether they be CM partners or not, without screwing anything up?

 

 

2. Can someone explain the proper use of "snap to grid" so i don't have to spend so much time manually lining up the wall/floor/ceiling/combo modules. Thank you, i will have your children.

 

3. I'm almost ready to start getting into NPC AI behaviors and pathing and such, links to really good tutorials on these topics would be awesome.

 

4. Also looking for in-depth info on tweaking the behaviors of the CM partners scripts, moar links please.

 

Those are some questions that will take care of a couple things i'm working on.

 

as this is my first post, i don't wanna come off as too needy, but i can tell you this CS stuff really holds my interest, as does the bigger world of modding for Oblivion. It seems that two years after the game came out, the community is going strong, and that's a whole lot more than you can say for alot of games i've played.

[Vagrant0]

First, when you go to load up a mod, there's a nifty "details" button. You can use this to get a listing of everything that the selected mod adds to the game. Within that listing, you can press the delete key to remove any change related to a cell, reference, npc, or whatever. Chances are that the NPC in question, along with other cells you accidentally altered are listed there.

 

Second, when working with anything that is part of another mod, keep in mind that only one .esp should be loaded in the CS at any time. Essentially, this means that if you want to include any scripts, or anything from another mod, that mod needs to either have been released as a .esm, or you will need to rebuild those aspects in full (changing what you name them) within your mod. You may also need to get permission from whoever released that mod to share that content before you upload.

 

Third, Grid snaps are not the same for everything. Generally, almost everything is built around a base of 8 (multiples of 8.... 8, 16, 24, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 are the main ones), although you may occasionally need to drop it to 1 or 2 when it comes to placing things like furniture and clutter. The easiest way to figure this out is to start with 32, or 64 unit spacing, find a static from that set which is just a straight passage, and see if it lines up when you try putting two together. If not, go smaller. Some statics, like those for caves don't actually line up perfectly, no matter what, and require some covering with rocks, or other dungeon pieces or implementation of fog (Black, 3000-5000 distance) to reduce visible gaps.

[Sabat9]

point taken as to changing other ppl .esp's and such, i'm still at the stage where i'm really just making stuff for myself, with the idea of cleaning it all up and putting it out thereat some point. In realistic terms, I probably wouldn't have the cahones to put anything out there for at least a couple more months, if not more...but i get the message for sure.

 

not sure i understand the base 8 stuff completely...are most architechural modules scaled this way? (this wall section is 256 units long, that one is 64) How would i apply the base 8 system in practice?

 

some good stuff in your response, thanks.

[Vagrant0]

point taken as to changing other ppl .esp's and such, i'm still at the stage where i'm really just making stuff for myself, with the idea of cleaning it all up and putting it out thereat some point. In realistic terms, I probably wouldn't have the cahones to put anything out there for at least a couple more months, if not more...but i get the message for sure.

 

not sure i understand the base 8 stuff completely...are most architechural modules scaled this way? (this wall section is 256 units long, that one is 64) How would i apply the base 8 system in practice?

 

some good stuff in your response, thanks.

both 256 and 64 are divisable by 8. This sort of standard applies mostly to repetitious things, like walls, fences, cave interiors. With exterior pieces, like buildings, you can still often get general positioning down with a gridsnap, but may have to turn it off to place doors or other things around that building. Additionally, 128 units is the average height of an imperial, just so you can get some scale to things.

 

The issue with loading up more than one .esp at a time has just as much to do with making it so that others can use your mod as it does with you being able to use your mod later. This is because each .esp has its IDs changed based on load order, and by default load orders are setup based on the last modified mod.

[Sabat9]

Ok, rather than start a new thread, i'll recycle my old one, with updates and progress made...who knows, it might answer someone else's questions...

 

 

1. (why beer and modding might not mix) I was trying to delete a CM partner NPC i put in my cave, but accidentally had a game NPC selected somehow (Contumeliorus Florius of the mage's guild) I ended up deleting him and possibly a bunch of scripts associated with him.

 

What's the process for returning Mr. Fancypants back where he belongs, so that when i release this mod, it won't break anyone's game? (how important is this guy anyway?) Also, what is the proper process for removing NPC's, whether they be CM partners or not, without screwing anything up?

ANSWER: used TESGecko to remove what i needed to remove from the mod, after checking the "details" button to get an idea of what exactly needed to be removed. Its not that i needed to "put him back" i just needed to remove him from my mod.

 

2. Can someone explain the proper use of "snap to grid" so i don't have to spend so much time manually lining up the wall/floor/ceiling/combo modules. Thank you, i will have your children.

 

ANSWER: alot of cutting and pasting of the XYZ values has been the easiest way for me to quickly arrange architechtural modules. still have alot of seams to clean up tho...any other tricks out there?

 

 

3. I'm almost ready to start getting into NPC AI behaviors and pathing and such, links to really good tutorials on these topics would be awesome.

 

ANSWER: CSWiki FTW

 

4. Also looking for in-depth info on tweaking the behaviors of the CM partners scripts, moar links please.

 

ANSWER: Still none really, haven't delved into this much yet, but i'd like to make it so my pardners aren't constantly staring at me with adoration and stupid grins on. Need more idle animations or more frequent idles or something.....

 

 

 

im beginning to grasp the concepts of AI patrol scrips, leveled creatures, and creature templates for leveled creature lists, seems pretty straightforward, and i've got a nice little community of nasty goblins walkin around. I'd still like advice on making the patrols, wanderings etc, etc, a little less robotic, if anyone has any tips in that area....haven't done any multiple point patrols yet, just ping-ponging ones.

 

i have a request idea for something that would fit my theme: a sack/barrel/crate that's actually visibly held by the mob, and gets dropped much like a torch does when combat starts. of course the container would have loot in it, so that's another wrinkle...but i'll post about that in the request forum.

 

happy modding!