SSE New Player Home Mod, Looking for Feedback

[Anixa]

Hi everyone,

 

I've been working on a player home set in a pocket of Oblivion for some time now and am at the stage where it's just minor things missing before it could be considered complete.
This would be my first release of a mod, despite having made a lot over the past couple of years, none of them have ever felt quite as polished as this one.

However, there are still a few things I have been struggling with;

1) Hearthfire Support
2) Getting a Teleport script linked to an activator to work
3) Navmesh seems... wonky
4) How to package it, without risking overwriting other modded textures etc.
5) Contribute with a custom sky

6) Remodel/Retexture of the Blacksmith's Hammer, separating the shaft texture from the head.

7) Remodel/Retexture of the Anvil making the anvil a bit more otherworldly (?)

Apart from those rather specific things, I'd also appreciate general feedback on the aesthetics of the mod. i.e. how does it look and feel.

Please help? :D

//Matt

 

Edit:

 

Thanks for all the help so far, the mod is looking pretty nice now in my humble opinion - for now, the help I will need is mostly around getting some minor issues that the esteemed Cumbrianlad has pointed out, cleaned up - i.e. unintentional edits to other cells.

I expect I will have a beta ready for release in a weeks time or so, at which point I will probably reach out again asking for some help with the process of uploading.

Edited May 21, 2020 by Anixa

[cumbrianlad]

Hi.

 

1) If you've got 'Hearthfires Multiple adoptions', then in your data folder will be: HFMK_Modders.txt. open this and it guides you through the whole process very well. I attached a copy for ease.

 

2) Someone better than me with papyrus will need to look at this one!

 

3) Navmesh seems 'wonky'? I had to laugh! Is it auto-generated or manual? And what exactly is 'wonky', in this context? is it in a big worldspace or just interiors? I like to navmesh by hand. It's a pain but gets best results. Once you use ctrl-t to stop points attaching to trees, grass and bushes it gets faster. Also I navmesh to the edge of water and then temporarilly drag the water down and work around the edge of the 'underwater' bit, changing all these to water. I then fill in the rest of the underwater stuff, flag it as water and drag the water back up after I've checked, found cover edges and finalized.

 

The best test of navmesh is game testing. See how NPCs cope with it. If you put a screenshot of an example of the bits you think are wonky, I'll have a look. Incorrect navmesh is now always going to be 'wonky navmesh' for me, now! I love it. (The expression, not wonky navmesh: I hate that!)

 

4) I've just waded through the upload process for the first time and it isn't the easiest. I could certainly have a go at explaining BSAs and formats for the upload file, but I'd need to know what sort of stuff you have in the mod. In short, any vanilla texture you alter will stand a chance of over-writing the same texture in another mod, if your mod loads later and vice-versa. Same goes for vanilla meshes. Textures that are your own and added to your own meshes won't be an issue. Have you altered vanilla textures?

 

There are some good tutorials about BSA files. Darkfox127 does a neat one.

[Anixa]

Hi Cumbriandlad,

 

Thanks for your reply - cheers, I actually have the mod, I just never found the text guide. That should help! However, I hope it comes with a no-adoption space option as this place isn't exactly a home in the traditional sense?

 

Haha, yep - the NPCs seem to use about ... 30% of it, which to me just makes no sense.. It's especially in the areas where the mesh has large triangles.. never did get very good at navmeshing sadly.

I can make a BSA just fine, problem is, I have retextured every single object I am using, almost which makes it ridiculously large. Some of which I am sure doesn't have to be included as people will have the textures already, they have simply been repurposed.

It also seems to be packing all of the "optional" textures I use in-game, such as Mari's magnificent Moss, Mountain Flowers and Thistles (cannot understate how s#*! the vanilla version is compared to the Mari's art).

[cumbrianlad]

Hmm... I'm not familiar with 'No adoption space'. HMA will assess your home and try to find all of the vital idle markers, bed markers etc. It will definitely look for all child beds, 'ChildPlayDoll' markers and check that they are tagged with the right location reference types. If you don't want kids (and that's entirely understandable: I've got one and in real life... wouldn't want to suffer that while I'm relaxing, playing a game), you could have problems. Try getting in touch with the mod author. My gut-feeling is that you have to provide for them, or it cannot be compatible, but I've been known to be wrong before now.

 

Large triangles shouldn't be a problem. In fact, the larger you can make them, the better. Where you will have an issue is if somewhere in the middle of any triangle, the triangle shape is either way above the ground (worse, I think) or way below. A good screenshot will definitely help me here. All I can say is that my navmesh always works, but I spend ages on it.

 

I wondered about 'Custom Family Home', which I use but I think that you can't skip the child steps. I only think that because, as you may have gathered from my previous comments, I never marry or adopt when I play. I've only used the mod to test that mine work with it! if you can skip the brats stage... sorry, the 'dear and beloved children stage' (Don't know what happened there), then recommend 'Custom Family Home' for players who want a spouse/housecarl but not any kids.

[cumbrianlad]

Just a note.

 

I'm considering the PM.

 

I missed the bit about Mari's textures. tbh, This is something I'm struggling with, so may not be able to help. For instance in the mod I finally uploaded I couldn't stand the horrible vanilla 'smelter'. I was that used to playing with SMIM (Static Mesh Improvement Mod by Brumbek), that I'd forgotten how ugly it was. I needed a version of the smelter that didn't work, had no fire and glow effects, etc. Normally I'd use vanilla meshes for things but OMG, no! I ended up using the SMIM meshes and textures, editing the meshes to get the effect I wanted and including them all in my mod with thanks (though no credit or thanks are required by Brumbek).

 

This, though, was a choice I made. I'm wondering how you made the BSA files? If you made them in CK, it tries to include all sorts that you haven't touched. You are much better off constructing the BSA folders and files manually. I just used the Archive.exe tool that comes with SSe. It worked fine for my mod. People have downloaded and played, so that's proof enough for me.

 

The thing is, and I seem awful for this but I'd like to refuse the PM, because I've got to sort my own mod out, but, but... 'A pocket of Oblivion'...? Ahh! that's so tempting. I like different.

[IsharaMeradin]

2) Getting a Teleport script linked to an activator to work

I dabbled with the idea of a player home being in some remote location, perhaps even in some location where the contents of a storage container would be shown on display. I never completed it and only have some of the scripts lying about in a "concepts" folder. At any rate, I utilized an object that when grabbed (as in able to move around without going into inventory) would initiate a quest that obtained the current follower. On release it moved the player to a specific marker in the 'home'. This marker was also wrapped in a trigger volume box. When the player left the box, the follower was moved to the marker. Whenever the player walked into the trigger volume box, they and the follower would be moved to a marker that had been dropped at the initial location before being moved.

 

Not exactly what you want, but perhaps the code can be helpful in figuring things out...

 

trigger volume box script

Scriptname abimTriggerScript extends ObjectReference  



ObjectReference Property abimInternalLocMarker Auto

ObjectReference Property abimExternalLocMarker Auto

GlobalVariable Property abimTeleportStatus Auto

Actor Property PlayerRef Auto

ReferenceAlias Property Follower Auto



Event OnTriggerEnter(ObjectReference akActionRef)

    If akActionRef == PlayerRef

        If abimTeleportStatus.GetValueInt() == 0

            Utility.Wait(1.0)

            PlayerRef.MoveTo(abimExternalLocMarker)

            Follower.GetReference().MoveTo(abimExternalLocMarker)

        EndIf

    EndIf

EndEvent



Event OnTriggerLeave(ObjectReference akActionRef)

    If akActionRef == PlayerRef

        If abimTeleportStatus.GetValueInt() == 1

            abimTeleportStatus.SetValueInt(0)

            Follower.GetReference().MoveTo(abimInternalLocMarker)

        EndIf

    EndIf

EndEvent

The satchel script that doubled as container access when equipped and teleportation when grabbed / released

Scriptname abimSatchelScript extends ObjectReference  



ObjectReference Property abimContainerREF Auto

Armor Property abimSatchel Auto

Actor Property PlayerRef Auto

bool MU = false

Int Property InvKey Auto

ObjectReference Property abimInternalLocMarker Auto

ObjectReference Property abimExternalLocMarker Auto

GlobalVariable Property abimTeleportStatus Auto

bool OnPC = false

FormList Property abimItems Auto

Quest Property abimGetFollowerQuest Auto

GlobalVariable Property abimQuestStatus Auto



Event OnContainerChanged(ObjectReference akNewContainer, ObjectReference akOldContainer)

    If akOldContainer == PlayerRef && akNewContainer == abimContainerREF

        abimContainerREF.RemoveItem(abimSatchel,1,true,PlayerRef)

        Debug.Notification("Cannot store within self")

    ElseIf akOldContainer == PlayerRef && akNewContainer != abimContainerREF

        MU = true

    ElseIf akNewContainer == PlayerRef

        MU = false

    EndIf

EndEvent



Event OnUnequipped(Actor akActor)

    If (akActor == PlayerRef) && (MU == false) && (PlayerRef.GetItemCount(abimSatchel) > 0)

        Game.DisablePlayerControls(False, False, False, False, False, True)    ; Exit menu

        Utility.Wait(0.01)

        abimContainerREF.Activate(PlayerRef)                                ; activate container interface

        Utility.Wait(0.01)

        Game.EnablePlayerControls(False, False, False, False, False, True)    ; Reenable menu

        PlayerRef.EquipItem(abimSatchel,false,true)                            ; Re-equips the satchel

;        Input.TapKey(InvKey)                                                ; SKSE command to reopen the inventory

    EndIf

EndEvent



Event OnEquipped(Actor akActor)

    If akActor == PlayerRef && OnPC == false

        OnPC = true

        Int index = 0

        Int Total = abimItems.GetSize()

        While index < Total

            Form Entry = abimItems.GetAt(index)

            Int Num = PlayerRef.GetItemCount(Entry)

            If Num > 0

                PlayerRef.RemoveItem(Entry,Num,true,abimContainerREF)

            EndIf

            index += 1

        EndWhile

    EndIf

EndEvent



Event OnGrab()

    abimGetFollowerQuest.Start()

    abimQuestStatus.SetValueInt(1)

EndEvent



Event OnRelease()

    OnPC = false

    abimTeleportStatus.SetValueInt(1)

    abimExternalLocMarker.MoveTo(PlayerRef)

    Utility.Wait(1.0)

    PlayerRef.MoveTo(abimInternalLocMarker)

EndEvent

Note that this teleportation was the only way in and out of the home. Thus it couldn't really break quests as it would always put the player right back to where they were before entering.

 

 

 

Feel free to rip it apart and utilize whatever you need from it. I gave up on the idea a long time ago. Didn't have the patience to fiddle with the render window

[cumbrianlad]

Ah!

 

I said you should wait for someone better than me at papyrus on question 2)... and here they are!

 

You're in good hands on that point, I think.

[thumbincubation]

With reference to the teleport, I'm not sure what kind of activator you're planning to use. If it's some object that's going to remain in the same location, could you just paste its mesh filepath into a duplicated door, so it's a door that appears to be a bucket, or whatever, and set it up like any normal door?

[Anixa]

I would very much prefer the teleport activator to be not a door as that makes it a two-way street, but I suppose I could disable the exterior door - I am also now realizing the impact it must have on hearthfire features as they need an exterior area, front door and such to actually function. But then again, who wants to raise kids in a pocket realm of oblivion anyway :P

 

I suppose I might add hearthfire for those that do want Ysolda to move in..

[Anixa]

@isharameradin

Thanks for the script! The teleport script I have is working just fine though, it’s getting the activator to execute it that is proving to be a hassle :(

I’d want the player to always return to the same spot when exiting the world (principle of an oblivion anchor more or less).

 

Once I wrap up the last bit of the interior today I will put aside more time to look at the script and activator, if you don’t mind I might reach out with a question or two in that process.

 

If anyone stumbles across this thread, who happens to have experience creating sky objects and would like to contribute that could be absolutely amazing - I have myself somewhat given up on that and currently the sky is just an endless vacuum.