Having a problem with something

[scottym23]

I am trying to add some guards to the game around certain locations in my house and am having trouble with a couple things. I don't know how to place them in the exact direction and facing the way I want them to. I can get the npcs with the placeatme command, but they begin to move and I don't know how to place them perfectly where I want them. The second thing is how do I get an npc to not move and stay in place? An example of this is in galaxy news radio when you walk in the people stationed in the entrance with flamethrowers don't move. If someone could tell me how to do these things, it would be greatly appreciated!

[prensa]

scottym23 - Hello!

 

"I am trying to add some guards to the game around certain locations in my house and am having trouble with a couple things. I don't know how to place them in the exact direction and facing the way I want them to. I can get the npcs with the placeatme command, but they begin to move and I don't know how to place them perfectly where I want them. The second thing is how do I get an npc to not move and stay in place? "

 

You need to add the NPC's in GECK.

 

The most basic way to get them to stand on spot as if guarding is to place an XMarkerHeading (found in the Object Window under Static) on the spot you want guarded, place your NPC, click on the NPC & select the Linked Ref tab, in that click on "Select Reference in window" & select the XMarkerHeading.

 

Now in game they will stand at the XMarkerHeading unless attacked or sensing danger.

 

You use the XMarkerHeading insted of an XMarker because the XMarkerHeading has a pointer on it that allows you to tell the NPC which way to face.

 

For a slightly more advanced option you can also use this method but without linking the NPC to the XMarkerHeading directly. In this case you'd create a travel AI package that sends them to the XMarkerHeading. Other packages can then be added to set the guard to go & eat or sleep at certain times (this helps to add a touch of reality to the guard as no one would stand in place forever :) ).

 

For a good simple example of this check out the MegatonSettlerMercCraterside who is inside Craterside Supply.

 

He's got 3 AI packages, One tells him to sleep, another tells him to eat & the last sends him to guard on the spot for the rest of the time.

 

Note his guard location is not an XMarkerHeading, instead they've used an idle so that he leans against the wall in that smug way "I got my eye on you.....". Again, using an idle adds a bit of character rather than standing bolt upright at an XMarkerHeading. Depends on what kind of feel you want your guards to have.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Prensa

[scottym23]

scottym23 - Hello!

 

"I am trying to add some guards to the game around certain locations in my house and am having trouble with a couple things. I don't know how to place them in the exact direction and facing the way I want them to. I can get the npcs with the placeatme command, but they begin to move and I don't know how to place them perfectly where I want them. The second thing is how do I get an npc to not move and stay in place? "

 

You need to add the NPC's in GECK.

 

The most basic way to get them to stand on spot as if guarding is to place an XMarkerHeading (found in the Object Window under Static) on the spot you want guarded, place your NPC, click on the NPC & select the Linked Ref tab, in that click on "Select Reference in window" & select the XMarkerHeading.

 

Now in game they will stand at the XMarkerHeading unless attacked or sensing danger.

 

You use the XMarkerHeading insted of an XMarker because the XMarkerHeading has a pointer on it that allows you to tell the NPC which way to face.

 

For a slightly more advanced option you can also use this method but without linking the NPC to the XMarkerHeading directly. In this case you'd create a travel AI package that sends them to the XMarkerHeading. Other packages can then be added to set the guard to go & eat or sleep at certain times (this helps to add a touch of reality to the guard as no one would stand in place forever :) ).

 

For a good simple example of this check out the MegatonSettlerMercCraterside who is inside Craterside Supply.

 

He's got 3 AI packages, One tells him to sleep, another tells him to eat & the last sends him to guard on the spot for the rest of the time.

 

Note his guard location is not an XMarkerHeading, instead they've used an idle so that he leans against the wall in that smug way "I got my eye on you.....". Again, using an idle adds a bit of character rather than standing bolt upright at an XMarkerHeading. Depends on what kind of feel you want your guards to have.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Prensa

 

Prensa, thank you so much! I almost knew after asking this question the solution would involve the G.E.C.K in some way :). Unfortunately though I just downloaded it a couple days ago and haven't even begun to look up tutorials, but i'm going to start that right now! For now though once I get a general feel for the G.E.C.K i'm going to have them just standing in positions, but my end goal is to have an even number of guards and have half of them guard for half of the day, and the other half would be sleeping or eating while they stand guard. Then after a set point like night, the guards on duty would leave their posts and the guards that were relaxing would take their positions. But that is going to be if I ever get really good with it haha, for now i'm just content with the simple guards who have no social life :P. Come to think of it maybe i'll have ghouls be the guards instead of humans so it adds a bit more realism (as far as fallout lore is concerned) since i'd assume they can go longer without sleeping or eating. Again thanks for your help!

 

Edit: Okay now i'm having a different problem involving the G.E.C.K. The place I want to add the guards to is the "my mansion player home" mod. However when I load the G.E.C.K and try to find the location in the cell view box, it doesn't show up (or i'm not looking hard enough, but I scanned over them all about 3 times to make sure I wasn't just missing it). Is there a different way i'm suppose to edit game material that isn't part of the original game?

Edited August 17, 2012 by scottym23

[prensa]

scottym23 - Hello!

 

"But that is going to be if I ever get really good with it "

 

GECK is surprisingly user friendly & quite easy to work with. Stick at it & you'll be amazed at how quickly you can pick it up, I did. :)

 

"haven't even begun to look up tutorials"

 

There are tons of guides, videos etc. but the official Bethsoft GECK site is great & contains stacks of info & help:

 

http://geck.bethsoft.com/index.php/Main_Page

 

There you can follow the "My First Vault Tutorial Series" which even have example plugins to demonstrate what they are talking about.

 

Very well written too.

 

"Okay now i'm having a different problem involving the G.E.C.K. The place I want to add the guards to is the "my mansion player home" mod. However when I load the G.E.C.K and try to find the location in the cell view box, it doesn't show up (or i'm not looking hard enough, but I scanned over them all about 3 times to make sure I wasn't just missing it). Is there a different way i'm suppose to edit game material that isn't part of the original game?"

 

MyMansion.esp is an .esp that has been flagged as a .esm, probably by FO3Edit in Masterupdate mode.

 

Because of that GECK will treat it as a master & won't allow it to be modified directly, you can't set it as the Active file & save changes to it.

 

You can still make changes but you'll have to save them as a seperate .esp to load after the MyMansion.esp.

 

Or, if you want to add your changes directly to the mod using it as the Active file, you could use FO3Edit MasterRestore on just MyMansion.esp (untick all your other .esp's except MyMansion.esp then run FO3MasterRestore) to turn it back to a modifiable .esp.

 

As it is now, In Geck make sure you've gone to File - Date & ticked the MyMansion.esp & OK.

 

Or, if you do convert it back to a proper .esp to modify in GECK, you'd go to File - Data & set it as "Active File", OK.

 

Once that loads you'll find the mod's cells listed at the bottom with the prefix:

 

zzEz0n3MyMansion

 

Hope this helps!

 

Prensa

[scottym23]

scottym23 - Hello!

 

"But that is going to be if I ever get really good with it "

 

GECK is surprisingly user friendly & quite easy to work with. Stick at it & you'll be amazed at how quickly you can pick it up, I did. :)

 

"haven't even begun to look up tutorials"

 

There are tons of guides, videos etc. but the official Bethsoft GECK site is great & contains stacks of info & help:

 

http://geck.bethsoft.com/index.php/Main_Page

 

There you can follow the "My First Vault Tutorial Series" which even have example plugins to demonstrate what they are talking about.

 

Very well written too.

 

"Okay now i'm having a different problem involving the G.E.C.K. The place I want to add the guards to is the "my mansion player home" mod. However when I load the G.E.C.K and try to find the location in the cell view box, it doesn't show up (or i'm not looking hard enough, but I scanned over them all about 3 times to make sure I wasn't just missing it). Is there a different way i'm suppose to edit game material that isn't part of the original game?"

 

MyMansion.esp is an .esp that has been flagged as a .esm, probably by FO3Edit in Masterupdate mode.

 

Because of that GECK will treat it as a master & won't allow it to be modified directly, you can't set it as the Active file & save changes to it.

 

You can still make changes but you'll have to save them as a seperate .esp to load after the MyMansion.esp.

 

Or, if you want to add your changes directly to the mod using it as the Active file, you could use FO3Edit MasterRestore on just MyMansion.esp (untick all your other .esp's except MyMansion.esp then run FO3MasterRestore) to turn it back to a modifiable .esp.

 

As it is now, In Geck make sure you've gone to File - Date & ticked the MyMansion.esp & OK.

 

Or, if you do convert it back to a proper .esp to modify in GECK, you'd go to File - Data & set it as "Active File", OK.

 

Once that loads you'll find the mod's cells listed at the bottom with the prefix:

 

zzEz0n3MyMansion

 

Hope this helps!

 

Prensa

 

Hello Prensa :) Thanks again for your help, but again I stumble upon a different problem while trying to follow your directions :/.

 

I downloaded fo3edit and made the mansion esp a non esm file and it seemed to work, but then after I closed out of the fo3edit I loaded back up the GECK and clicked the file - data and tried to look for the mansion esp but it wasn't there. I don't know how to find it or make it show up. I apologize for being so inexperienced at all of this, but i'm just starting to learn and it seems like for some reason i'm having a tough time getting it to work.

[prensa]

scottym23 - Hello!

 

You set it manually with FO3Edit as an .esp? That's quicker than using MasterRestore. :)

 

As long as you clicked OK when you closed FO3Edit after making the changes, the modified MyMansion.esp should be saved over the original.

 

Make sure you've closed FO3Edit as it won't have saved the changes until closed, plus having it open in FO3Edit at the same time in GECK prevents GECK saving changes.

 

Also make sure not to have GECK or FOMM/NMM open when using FO3Edit because of a simillar saving issue.

 

Since it will be the last modified it should show up at the bottom of GECK's data list.

 

If you are still not seeing it, go to your:

 

Fallout 3\Data

 

& make sure the MyMansion.esp is there. If you're on Win7 or Vista it could be being redirected to another folder.

 

Did FO3Edit give you any error messages upon exiting & saving changes?

 

Prensa

[scottym23]

scottym23 - Hello!

 

You set it manually with FO3Edit as an .esp? That's quicker than using MasterRestore. :)

 

As long as you clicked OK when you closed FO3Edit after making the changes, the modified MyMansion.esp should be saved over the original.

 

Make sure you've closed FO3Edit as it won't have saved the changes until closed, plus having it open in FO3Edit at the same time in GECK prevents GECK saving changes.

 

Also make sure not to have GECK or FOMM/NMM open when using FO3Edit because of a simillar saving issue.

 

Since it will be the last modified it should show up at the bottom of GECK's data list.

 

If you are still not seeing it, go to your:

 

Fallout 3\Data

 

& make sure the MyMansion.esp is there. If you're on Win7 or Vista it could be being redirected to another folder.

 

Did FO3Edit give you any error messages upon exiting & saving changes?

 

Prensa

 

Hello Prensa!

 

I had closed fo3edit after using it, and no other programs were running related to fallout.

 

I checked to make sure my fallout 3 goty/Data folder had the MyMansion.esp, and it did.

 

And I did not get any error messages when exiting & saving changes.

 

I don't know what the problem could be. All of my other mod plugins and master files show in the GECK data part, just not the MyMansion.esp. I know I properly turned the MyMansion from a master esm to an esp because the red warning message when clicking on it in fomm saying that it's an esp but is considered an esm is no longer there and the load order is below the esms. I can't think of anything that would be causing this issue.

[prensa]

scottym23 - Hello!

 

Okay this is odd. :)

 

I've even opened the mod in FO3Edit myself & unchecked the .esm flag, saved on exit & then opened it in GECK just to make sure nothing odd happens, it showed up in my GECK's data list as it should.

 

Let's check a few things, in GECK's data list you are aware that it can be scrolled down to see more mods in the list? I know this may be obvious but you'd be surprised how many people miss it. :)

 

Since the mod is recently modified it will be near the bottom.

 

Another thing, if you are on Vista or Win7, check the MyMansion.esp in your data folder does not have a little padlock on it.

 

If it does have a little padlock on it, move it out onto the Desktop & then back again. That will remove the padlock & allow it to be used as normal.

 

If still no joy, does the original version MyMansion.esp show up in GECK? You can place a copy in there from the original download.

 

Prensa

[scottym23]

scottym23 - Hello!

 

Okay this is odd. :)

 

I've even opened the mod in FO3Edit myself & unchecked the .esm flag, saved on exit & then opened it in GECK just to make sure nothing odd happens, it showed up in my GECK's data list as it should.

 

Let's check a few things, in GECK's data list you are aware that it can be scrolled down to see more mods in the list? I know this may be obvious but you'd be surprised how many people miss it. :)

 

Since the mod is recently modified it will be near the bottom.

 

Another thing, if you are on Vista or Win7, check the MyMansion.esp in your data folder does not have a little padlock on it.

 

If it does have a little padlock on it, move it out onto the Desktop & then back again. That will remove the padlock & allow it to be used as normal.

 

If still no joy, does the original version MyMansion.esp show up in GECK? You can place a copy in there from the original download.

 

Prensa

 

Hello Prensa!

 

I am aware of scrolling down and it's not at the bottom or anywhere in the list :/.

 

I checked to make sure and there was no padlock on it (and I know what you're talking about because a couple different files had the padlock on them, just not the mansion file)

 

I don't quite understand what you mean by your last statement, "You can place a copy in there from the original download". How would I go about placing a copy of MyMansion into GECK?

Edited August 18, 2012 by scottym23

[prensa]

scottym23 - Hello!

 

"I am aware of scrolling down and it's not at the bottom or anywhere in the list"

 

I figured as much, just thought I'd cover all the bases. ;)

 

" don't quite understand what you mean by your last statement, "You can place a copy in there from the original download". How would I go about placing a copy of MyMansion into GECK? "

 

No I mean place an original MyMansion.esp (before you modified it in FO3Edit) from the original download into your Fallout 3\Data folder instead of the modified one (move that onto the desktop for the time being).

 

I'm just curious to see if the original is showing up in your GECK. If it does show up at least we will know it's something to do with it being modified.

 

I'm quite perplexed by this as the only thing I know of that could cause "phantom" files is Vista/Win 7's UAC but you can see the file in your Data folder when you actually go there.

 

Try right clicking on GECK & "Run as adnministrator" then go to GECK's data files & see if it shows up then.

 

You don't have more than one installation of Fallout 3 do you?

 

Prensa