SSE [Guide] Skyrim Opening Sequence

[Laubl]

We all know it, we all love it, and we are all happy that Alternative start - Live another life exists so we don't have to see it all the time. It has even become a meme. The Skyrim opening sequence. The fading of the title and the following cart ride. But how do we edit those fading lines, "Bethesda game studios" "presents" "The elder scrolls V" "Skyrim"? This guide is about it.

 

I know, nothing in this guide is new or a big revelation, Im mostly writing this because I couldnt find any documentation and it took me some time to find it out.

 

So, how do we achieve this?:

 

 

 

1 Tools we require

 

BSA Unpacker

 

JPEXS Free Flash Decompiler

 

Inkscape

 

Mod Organizer

 

Skyrim

 

 

2 Finding your file

 

Open the skyrim Data folder with the BSA unpacker. If you want to edit the intro file I edited, you will have to open "Skyrim - Interface.bsa" and search for the titles.swf file. A big thanks to the lovely people that saved me from having to dig through everything myself. Extract the file. Open it with JPEXS Free Flash Decompiler.

 

 

3 The editing process

 

 

Once it opens, you will see this. Expand the shapes folder and select the images you want to replace, like here. I suggest to extract them all. Now open the exported images in Inkscape. you can now edit them or import a new image, just drag and drop your svg into the open file (inkscape is rather intuitive if you have worked with image editors before. There are also enough guides online, I wont explain the basics).

Here is our image with the imported replacement.

You now have to choose whether you want to keep the image that will show up in the game the size it originally has, or whether you want to edit that. First you obviously delete the old image but the box behind our replacement image indicates that it isnt in the canvas, only the parts in the canvas will show up in-game. So you either resize the image or the canvas, which you do by navigating to file (in the upper left corner) > document settings and then expanding the little "+" to find the "resize to image" button and click it. Remember that we used the original image as a guide on how big your image will appear in game. So dont make it to big or to small in reference to the original image!

 

Also: Remember to convert text you might have added to a path. Otherwise it might not show up in the JPEXS preview or in-game.

 

You can now save the file and proceed to edit the other images you might want to edit.

Now open the titles.swf file again. First left click to select and then right click the image you want to replace and choose "Replace - Update bounds" if you changed the canvas size. If not, you can just replace it.

 

Thats more or less it. You can use an empty .svg file if you want to stop a certain image from showing up (i for example didnt want 2 images that showed the evangelion logo and didnt need a glow animation or the "th elder scrolls V" image).

 

If you extend the "sprites" folder (in JPEXS decompiler) you can also see the results of your edit. The "basic tag info" tab that opens if you click a shape or sprite is also helpful to determine which sprite requires which shape and so on.

 

You now only have to save the file and put it in a "data > interface" folder, zip it and install it like any other mod to see the results.

 

 

I hope this helps anyone that ever had this question in mind or needed a guide!

 

Also: if anyone knows or finds out how to re-center the images we put in, that would be nice. Havent found anything so far.