Making Items Static

[vonBennett]

Working an my vault mod in the Creation Kit. Is there way (via the Creation Kit) to turn normal items that you can interact with in the game (weapons, magazines, junk, etc) in static items? Basically I want to be able to turn those item (or make into custom items) into just decoration items and remove the ability of them to be interacted with in the game. I know it is possible as I have seen others do it in their mods, just can't see where when I open up and try to edit items. Thank you.

[digitalpartisan]

There are multiple ways of going about this.

 

The most basic is to place the object you want in the editor and then add to it the scripts DefaultBlockActivationOnLoad and defaultdisablehavokonload. On the scripts tab of that object reference, check the "Don't Havok Settle" checkbox. If you have your own object specific to your mod, you could add these scripts to its base form so that you don't have to add them on every single specific form you place.

 

If the object is being placed by a script (or is otherwise available to be an ObjectReference in a script somewhere,) you could call BlockActivation() and SetMotionType() on that object with the appropriate parameters. If you're unsure how or why to do that, get a look at the scripts in the first method and see how they do it. The note on the first method about adding the script(s) involved on a base form applies here as well.

 

Lastly, though quite possibly the least convenient unless you want to build complicated sets of static objects to be placed in the editor or as workshop objects, you could use the Creation Kit's static collection tools to combine objects placed in the editor into a single nif file and create a new static object in the editor which uses the new nif. This requires the objects assembled into the static collection must be static objects themselves. You may or may not need to create those static objects in the Creation Kit and point them at the models you want to use in the collection.

[MissingMeshTV]

Personally, I just duplicate an already static object then replace the file path to its mesh with the path to the mesh I want to use. So if you want a static box of Abraxo for example, find the Abraxo box under Misc Items in the Object Window. Open the base object to get the path to the mesh. Copy it. Then go to the Static items. Find a static object to duplicate...like the plastic cat bowl. Duplicate it, open the new base object you just made (you'll likely want to rename it) then paste the file path of the Abraxo mesh in to replace the patch of the cat bowl mesh. Close all the windows and you're done. Now you can just drag your new static Abraxo box into your cell.

 

I did a video on the process a while back, but honestly the video is probably ten times longer than what it will take you to actually do it.

[vonBennett]

Thank you both for your help. I ended up placing an 'office papers' trash object on a table; then edited it (created a new form with a new name) and then copy and paste the nif file for the comic book into the new office paper form that I created. It worked. Thanks again.

[MissingMeshTV]

Now that I've had some sleep and coffee, it just clicked that your initial post mentioned wanting to make static magazines/comics.

 

All the magazines in the game already have a static form that you can just drag into your cell and use. Just filter “highpoly” under Static in the Object Window. Sorry I didn’t think of that earlier...didn’t click you wanted to make a static magazine. It’s MUCH easier to use one of the pre-existing objects than having to do the duplicate/past file path dance.

 

Also, many items (like some weapons and magazines for example) also have a static load screen art version you can use. If you look at Static>LoadScreenArt there are all sorts of static goodies you can use. I tend to use lots of the weapons that are load screen art forms but there is some other cool stuff there too.

 

One thing to note on the static magazine meshes I mentioned above. All of those that filter out using “highpoly” are what you see when inspecting the item in your inventory, or “reading” it from a magazine shelf. They all have a custom material swap applied on the Model Data screen of the form.

 

Be aware that if you use these items in a cell where you plan to generate precombined/previs optimization data you will need to apply the material swaps in another manner. The precombine/previs process will break all custom material swaps applied this way and the mesh will revert to using the default texture defined in its default material file.

 

If you don’t plan on regenerating the optimization data, you have nothing to worry about. I just thought it worth mentioning on the chance it was something you were planning to do for your mod.

[chucksteel]

You could also just not include them in your new pre-combined meshes by hiding them with the “1” key. Hidden objects get excluded when generating new pre-combined meshes.

[vonBennett]

Thank you both for your help. I ended up placing an 'office papers' trash object on a table; then edited it (created a new form with a new name) and then copy and paste the nif file for the comic book into the new office paper form that I created. It worked. Thanks again.

Thank you. I did find the static magazines and are using them. I also used your technique to stock some shelves, tables, etc with my newly created static items (food items, junk items, etc). I also wadded some static objects like brooms, mops and bucket so they won't get knocked over in the game. I don't plan on doing any optimization...well at least not yet. I am still learning things as I renovate and expand my Vault 75. Once again, thank you very much for your help. I am sure I will ask more questions later as I will be trying to edit vault signs (different model types) to change the text on them (trying to add "Barber Shop" to the smaller lighted vault signs; need to manipulate the BGSM text file or something??).

[vonBennett]

You could also just not include them in your new pre-combined meshes by hiding them with the “1” key. Hidden objects get excluded when generating new pre-combined meshes.

Thank you Mr. Steel, you are always very helpful.