Resource Query, part 2

[Striker879]

Of course thanks will be appreciated, but in no way required.

 

I'm like you as far as the aversion to spaces in file/folder names goes (if you look at my downloads folder you'll see plenty of top level folders with names like Joes_Really_Cool_Mod where I've put an underscore in place of spaces ... usually I just drop the apostrophes so Joe's becomes Joes). Old habits born back when certain characters were not allowed in file or folder names.

 

Once a dinsoaur always a dinosaur, in my book at least.

 

Now if you look at the extracted download folder names we're talking a different story all together. Even a dinosaur isn't going to go into NifSkope and change all the folder paths to match. Too much like work.

[BlueSteelRanger]

Ha, so true! All right, I'm on this. I'm going to revert all the folder names and then bring up the CS for testing. And then I have some lore to work on. Lore isn't likely "necessary" but I like to have a story behind things I make. And besides, it'd be a little more immersive than just "Oh cool, I found a tower/palace floating in the freaking sky a la Umbriel from 'The Infernal City'/'Lord of Souls'!"

[BlueSteelRanger]

Update: I did a reinstall and kept the names completely as-is. Now none of the bloody things will load at all. Honestly, this is starting to tick me off.

 

Second update: I'm back to square one with this. Weapons? Now flawless. Crowns? Those I still have to figure out.

What I did for the weapons: I removed what seemed like an "extra" folder between "Oblivion/Data/Meshes" and the resource files themselves.

 

Third update: Wow, sorry for the massive editing thing here but wow, real-time. Progress! I have textures now! WOOOT! :dance: :dance: :dance:

Edited February 1, 2021 by BlueSteelRanger

[Striker879]

The "extra folder" is often a result of copy/paste errors while transfering from the extracted download resource and your game folders.

 

The rule of thumb I always use is ... for folders you paste one level higher (so if you copy a folder named Meshes from the source you paste into Data in your game). You'll know you've got it right when Windows warns that there is already a folder with that name (and the correct answer in that case is always Yes as what you are doing is merging the contents of Meshes in this example and all of the subfolders below Meshes in the source).

 

The only time you will have file level overwrites is if you have previously installed a mod that uses exactly the same folder path and file names (a common thing when you are dealing with "replacer" mods that replace vanilla assets with their own version ... an example being armor replacers for different mod added body types).

 

Of course when copy/pasting files the rule is paste into the folder with the same name as the source (so if you copy from the Meshes\armor\iron\f folder you will paste into the game's Meshes\armor\iron\f folder (and if that folder does not exist already you need to create that folder path).

 

Keep in mind ... the "mistakes" made, found and corrected are the ones that will spring to mind most easily down the road. I prefer the word "lessons" for that reason.

[Pellape]

When you move stuff, specially textures you MUST use Nifskope to edit the Mesh and set the new texture path. All texture modders uses it, exception is when or if you do a pure texture exchanger, and it is the most awesome tool we have. We have mentioned Nifskope earlier and I do not mind to mention it 134 more times... ;) Maybe even 134.3 times.

 

Look it this way as well, if you would for some odd reason do mess up a mesh with Nifskope, you can always overwrite it the edited mesh again with the original... Do test it.

[DrakeTheDragon]

Yes, NifSkope is invaluable. I need it every time after exporting some new NIF from Blender. It will almost never work just as is after export. Some things will always have to be done post export.

Additionally it's my #1 debugging tool when it comes to mesh or texture errors in game. The 1st thing I always do is take a look at the NIF in NifSkope.

 

I'm really sad the tool is considered of use for mod authors only. If just every user who reports a problem to me could take a look into the NIF with NifSkope under my guidance, we could diagnose most issues in less than a minute every time.

[BlueSteelRanger]

Thanks, y'all. I'll be doing some further testing this evening to ensure that first test of last night took firm hold. You've all been a real help and yes, I do have NifSkope. I believe I'll be keeping that program.

 

If all goes well and I'm able to finish the lore bits, it should be fully ready for upload in the next couple of days. I know, sounds like a long time (to me at least). I started on this house mod of mine some two weeks ago, roughly three or four days before my first thread "Resource Query".

 

Once I'm sure all my meshes and textures add up and the lore's done, well, "Lesson Two: Quest Building" begins. I'm not going to lie, I have run across some seriously f***ing amazing work here and I thought "Maybe even I could learn to do something like that". This place is a serious inspiration booster.

[Pellape]

There's is no reason to stress it. This game have been out for 14 years now... :wink: So if you release it tomorrow or next month, does not matter much, not if you have stuff still you wanna edit. :wink:

 

Take good time and make sure every detail is as you want it to be. How do I do? Well I build slowly, one piece in a time and I make sure I enjoy it and I take a break at the same hour every day to play the game and continue a bit more the next day and when the clock say -> game time, I stop modding and play the game. I blog all ideas here at the forum in case I will forget them so I can go back later and read all crazy stuff I wrote here.

 

I am not making a fancy home with containers only as I am making a complete fancy center for everything you can imagine you will ever need in game, like spells, portals, loads of tools, containers and I guess I made 50-100 scripts or something like that so far and 50-243.7 more scripts will be made as well but the limit is 243.7, not 0.3 more for sure. I lost count.

 

It also has its own store called "The Fence"... It is made for companions and also to control their daily life, over riding their AI, which will be toggle able. And the goal is also to make it into a complete museum where the player will be able to get quests for every single item that museum requires and I will do that in the way Maskar do it, without touching a single cell, scripted. So therefor I take one step in a time as it will take years to complete it. I am building my staffs area right now and will soon start to build the library and later I will add more display rooms as the one I now have is not enough. There will be a button here and there and everywhere for the player to push... :wink:

 

I got the inspiration for this from a mod in Skyrim called The Legacy of the Dragonborn and no other mod have ever impressed me so much as that one. It will not look a bit like it as I do it my way and I might not even complete it - I do not know... :wink: It is an inspiration and I have searched, but never found anything like it for Oblivion.

 

I uploaded the base first a couple on months back and then I made 4 more updates, after some other stages where made and more will come later on. Doing it this way has some backsides and it is that a majority of players do not update nor follow it but it is also up to each and everyone if they wanna do that. Maybe my home is not for them at all as I build it for myself firstly but the final release will include many hours or days of game play and hopefully someone else will appreciate it but that is not the most important thing as it is that I appreciate it and I do that a lot. Things turns out better than I have imagine it would be really so far. :wink:

 

What I mean with all this no sense I wrote is: Enjoy building and keep building - Make it as perfect as you want it to be and do it slowly, one step in a time and do not forget to play and enjoy this fun game. :)

Edited February 2, 2021 by Pellape

[BlueSteelRanger]

@Pellape: I LOVED Legacy of the Dragonborn! Sadly my former machine was already ageing so it crashed about halfway through.

 

As for textures: I now have a new issue. The textures now work flawlessly (except the icons. I think I have to use BSA Unpacker to get those right).

My three swords? Flawless.

Two of my crowns: Flawless.

 

But one of my crowns behaved oddly. The ground model came through beautifully. I could pick it up and carry it, no problem. BUT! When attemptin to put the thing on and wear it, the game literally CTD'ed. I've never heard of clothing, armour, jewellery or the like making your game *crash*.

[Pellape]

It might be that it try to use a slot that is already taken. That is what did happen when I tried a crown on a Khajiit in CS that used a robe. It crashed CS. I am not 100% sure that was the reason but do load it in Nifskope and resave it in case something is corrupt with it. Nifskope might be able to make it better, who knows? I do as Drake do with my meshes I make in Blender as the Blender Nifexporters are not as good as Nifskope is to make the mesh correct, even if it is from the same team but that does not mean it is the exact same developers. Nifskope can do wonders really. :)

 

I have managed to get a mesh to work imidiate without Nifskope with the latest Blender version, but that weapon got 10 times bigger than normal and took up the entire display room :) I flushed it as it couldn't import any meshes though and I did report it to Niftools.

 

Do unpack the icons as I am not sure you can use that bsa package later together with your mod really.