Creation kit

[Gundam5th]

I recently started using the creation kit to make my own NPC's. Can any who is more experienced with Creation Kit how to make these NPCs followers and how to use custom mods like apachii skyhair, and armor and race mods in the creation of my NPCs? I would appreciate the help.

[KingsGambit]

There are two ways of making NPCs which themselves use other player-made mods. You can create them where they are dependant on the other content, or you can include the custom content in your own mod. Which method you prefer will dictate initial steps.

 

Making them such that they remain dependant on players of your mod also having the other custom content installed is easier. In game, bring up "showracemenu" using the console. Create the character you want, including using custom hair, race, eyes, etc. Finish character creation, name them and bring up the console again. This time, type: spf <NPCNAME>. You will have their morph saved to your /Skyrim folder.

 

Making your mod so it requires no other mods requires a little groundwork. You will need to copy any custom assets and put them into your own folders for meshes, textures, etc. eg. /Data/Meshes/actors/YourModHere. You will need to create new hairstyles, races yourself in the CK. Usually, you can open other mods alongside your own in the CK by ticking both yours and theirs to load, but ensuring that your mod is set to active, not the other (very important). Then duplicate the custom content, texturesets, etc. Ensure that any duplicated statics, armours, texturesets, etc use the duplicated meshes/textures/etc in YOUR folders, not the original ones. Ensure everything is marked as playable where appropriate, and/or added to the correct formlists for your custom race. Now, you create your character the same way described above, using in-game showracemenu, but this time ensure you use your assets. You may need to load the game without the original mods active to avoid confusion. As a last and important note, you should ensure you seek mod authors permission for any of their content you use where their mod permissions require it.

 

Whichever approach you chose, you now have your NPC morph. In the CK again create a new NPC, or duplicate an existing one. Open their properties and set them how you wish. Important things to note are their voices (must be one of the vanilla ones which already has follower/marriage options if you wish to create a follower/marriage partner), factions (copy from an existing follower, to note are CurrentFollower, PotentialFollower, PotentialMarriage), AI Data, copy from an existing follower and AI Package (shouldn't need changing unless you want custom behaviours). It is a little more complicated if you wish them to have a particular skillset/combat style, but there are many already available. You can make them a fixed level, or they level with the player and pick a combat style (or create your own) if you wish them to be an archer, mage, 1H or 2H specialist, etc. Give them any perks/spells/spell lists you wish. They also have their inventory. You can choose a default outfit (what they wear as standard) or create your own (for example, custom armour) and give them weapons. Lastly, ensure you import their FaceGen data you exported earlier.

 

A further point on voices as it is quite important. Available dialogue choices and responses are decided by this. Unless you want to voice, script and lip-synch all the new lines yourself, you should choose the same voice as an existing potential follower. For females there's Aela, Brelyna, Nadja, Lydia, Iona, Jordis, Mjoll I can think of. For males there's the Markarth housecarl whose name I forget, Vilkas, Farkas, the Dunmer mage in Winterhold and others I can't think of just now. You need to obviously put them in the world somewhere for the player to find and lastly testing and polishing however you choose. When satisfied, create an archive with all your custom content (meshes, textures, scripts, etc) and your esp file.

 

There will obviously be some tweaking I haven't described but you can ask again if you are stumped, though I think it's reasonably straightforward. As a personal note, I really suggest taking the more complicated, standalone route. You can't predict errors that may arise from other players' installs of other mods, conflicts, load orders and so on; standalone it will work the same each time for everyone. I personally don't download any mods that themselves require other mods. Frankly it's just lazy and if I wanted the other mods theirs requires I would already have them (obviously this doesn't include derivative things such as fixes, retextures, etc). As a side effect, you'll also get a very good experience of using many aspects of the CK. Good luck to you, all the best.

 

KingsGambit