Renee's Modding Thread Options

[Renee]

Mod-making thread basically, which focuses heavily on quest-making. The first two tutorials (How to make a fetch quest and how to make a kill quest) are very hand-holdy. They are designed for those who are just starting to learn the art of quest-making. Other tutorials get more advanced, as my wacky ideas have pushed their boundaries.

Just click on any of the links below.

Tip: For Oblivion, Always use Ely's Silent Voice when making silent-text dialog. Without this utility, dialog will stay on-screen for just a fraction of a second. Of course, if recording actual voice, this utility is not needed.

For Skyrim, I use Silent Voice Generator, though somebody who records actual voice won't need this utility.

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BEGINNER SECTION

1). How to make a Fetch Quest. Game: TES IV: Oblivion. *Hand-Holdy*

2). How to make a Kill Quest, Map Markers, and X Markers. Game: TES IV: Oblivion. *Hand-Holdy*

3). Making an NPC Vendor / Repair-person. Game: Fallout 3. *Hand-Holdy*

4). Making our character's birthday show in game. Game: TES IV: Oblivion, Fallout 3 & New Vegas, TES V: Skyrim. *Hand-Holdy*

5). Making a book bump a Quest Stage

6). Light Switches and Triggers (Oblivion, Fallout 3/NV, or Skyrim)

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TES II: DAGGERFALL

1). Daggerfall Tutorial (by Boxx Mann)

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TES III: MORROWIND

1). Getting an Xbox controller to work on PC. Game: TES III: Morrowind *Adept*

2). More Dynamic NPCs. Game: TES III: Morrowind. *Easy*

3). (Re)installing Morrowind from Scratch *Advanced*

4). Breton Magic Resistance Tweak, Game: TES III: Morrowind *Easy* (Cheaty!)

5). How to fix "failed snowflake: Meshes\BM_Snow.01.nif" error *Adept*

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TES IV: OBLIVION

1). Construction Set Extended Primer, and some advice (by Turija). Game: TES IV: Oblivion

2). Repairing Bad Hair! Game: TES IV: Oblivion. *Easy*

3). Making a weather-changing item. Game: TES IV: Oblivion. *Easy*

4). Making a home rentable, or salable. Game: TES IV: Oblivion *Adept*

5). Repeatable Bounty Quests. Game: TES IV: Oblivion *Adept*

6). Adding additional Bounty Quest Locations *Adept*

7). Lizard Men! Game: TES IV: Oblivion *Easy*

8). Making an NPC Vendor Game: TES IV: Oblivion *Easy*

9). Repeatable Bounty Quests (Innkeeper involvement) Game: TES IV: Oblivion *Advanced*

10). Horse Rentals. Game: TES IV: Oblivion *Adept*

11). Getting the Take All button to work (by Lena Wolf). Game: TES IV: Oblivion

12). Skooma Dealer Game: TES IV: Oblivion *Adept*

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Fallout 3 and New Vegas

1). How to make a Fetch Quest (with multiple items). Game: Fallout 3 (should also work for Oblivion and New Vegas). *Easy*

2). Faction-changing outfits Game: Fallout 3 *Easy*

3). Making an NPC Follower. Game: Fallout 3 *Adept* (Method 1) *Easy* (Method 2)

4). Adding Songs to Radio Stations Game: Fallout 3 *Adept* (possibly breaks Lore)

5). Gun Tutorial. Game: Fallout 3 *Easy*

6). Making FOMODs through Fallout Mod Manager, Game: Fallout 3 *Adept*

7). Trigger Zones Game: Fallout 3 *Adept*

8). Adding a Jail and enhancing Fallout 3's Crime System. Game: Fallout 3 *Advanced* (heavily lore-breaking!)

9). Patrol AI Package Game: Fallout 3. *Adept*

10). Map Marker Tutorial, Game: Fallout 3 *Easy*

11). Repeatable Enemy Raids, Game: Fallout 3 *Adept*

12). Repeatable Enemy Raids; Additional Locations, Game: Fallout 3 *Adept*

13). Fixing the Sideways Glasses Bug. Game: Fallout 3 and New Vegas *Easy*

14). . CTD while saving after Startup Fix (sort of). Game: Fallout 3 *Easy*

15). Fallout 3 GECK issues with Windows 10

16). Making an NPC Vendor/Repair Person

17). Speech Challenges *Easy*

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TES V: SKYRIM

1). Making an NPC Follower, Game: TES: V Skyrim *Easy*

2). Making an NPC Vendor, Game: TES V Skyrim *Adept*

3a). Making a generic enemy. Game: TES V: Skyrim *Easy*

3b). How to add Generic NPCs via Leveled Lists Game: TES V: Skyrim *Adept*

4). Making a book bump a quest stage, Game TES V Skyrim *Hand-Holdy*

5). Skyrim Quest Tutorial (which gives the PC a horse) WIP at the moment.. do NOT follow this lesson.

6). Respawning Bounty Quests (Randomly given by Riverwood shopkeeper) Game: TES V: Skyrim *Advanced* (if entire lesson is followed. Adept, otherwise).

7). How to fix "missing flowchartx32.dll" errors. Game: TES V: Skyrim. *Advanced*

8). SEQ Files, Game: TES V: Skyrim *Easy*

9). Repeatable Bounty Quests. Game: TES V: Skyrim *Adept*

10). Adding new locations to repeatable bounty quests. Game: TES V: Skyrim. *Adept*

11). Random Console Commands. Game: TES V: Skyrim *Easy*

12). How to use ForceGreet. Game: TES V: Skyrim *Adept*

13). Using the Player-Character's face for an NPC. Game: TES V: Skyrim *Easy*

14). How to add a bounty to the PC via script. Game: TES V: Skyrim *Easy*

15). How to add the PC or NPC into a Faction via script. Game: TES V: Skyrim *Easy*

16). Get a Job! (Skyrim) *Adept*

17). Travelling with an NPC (Skyrim) *Advanced*

18). Traveling with an NPC, Additional Locations *Advanced*

19). Travelling with an NPC, Additional Followers (Skyrim) *Advanced*

20). Dialog Speech Checks, Game: TES V: Skyrim *Adept*

21). Fixing the Gray Face Bug, Game: TES V: Skyrim (lesson by SubRosa) *Easy*

22). Script Fragments. Game: TES V: Skyrim *Adept*

23). Fixing the ;CODE NOT LOADED message. Game: TES V: Skyrim *Advanced*

24). Timer Scripts, Game, TES V: Skyrim *Adept*

25). Making a Book Shelf, Game: TES V: Skyrim. *Adept*

26). Adding an AI Package to an NPC (Aliases also discussed a bit), Game: TES V: Skyrim *Adept*

27). Follower Ring Script Game: TES V: Skyrim *Adept*

28). Installing Skyrim from Scratch *Adept*

29). Removing delinquent scripts from the Creation Kit *Adept*

30). Items which bump Quest Stages (or other factors such as variables) *Easy*

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ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE

1). Setting up a gamepad controller. Game: Elder Scrolls Online *Adept*

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MULTIPLE BETHESDA GAMES, WEBSITES, and UTILITIES SECTION

1). How to transfer games from Xbox to PC Games: any Bethesda game after Morrowind.

2). Nexus Mod Manager Tips *Easy*

3). Manipulating Leveled Lists -- This works for any Bethesda game with Leveled Lists *Easy*

4). Timer Scripts Game: TES IV Oblivion or Fallout 3 *Adept*

5). Fixing the Imgur "Zoinks" error *Easy* (Doesn't always work, though you can try...)

6). Light Switches and Triggers. Games: Oblivion, Fallout 3 & NV, Skyrim *Easy*

7). Disabling Windows 10 Updates for GOOD

8). Graphics card troubleshooting (Windows 8.1)

9). Change an .esp to an .esm (or vice versa)

10). Getting an Xbox controller to work on PC

11). Getting the hair from one mod to work on an NPC from another *Easy*

12). How to fix "Netapi32.dll is missing" errors (Windows 10)

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> Some tutorials are Hand-Holdy and have been marked so, next to the links below. These tutorials include instructions for near-absolute beginners, and have steps which can be skipped by those with more experience. I've included these super-novice lessons because I remember what it was like when I was new, and needed help with some of the most basic concepts! ... Too embarrassed to bother the pros with question after question and so on. Hopefully some beginners can learn a few things here, at the safety of their own desktops. In some cases I've included video links (or written-text links from other sites) which lead to the lessons which I, myself was able to learn from.

>> Easy tutorials are short in length (typically less than an hour) or involve minimal brain-power. I may skip a few things compared to Hand-Holdy (such as how to set up an NPC) because it's assumed the reader already knows them. Any script examples are going to be minimal, and not so difficult.

>>> Adept tutorials are somewhere between Easy and Advanced. More steps are utilized during these, not everything is explained 100%, and/or just a higher level of resources and knowledge are necessary. There's more to keep track of, etc. It's recommended to keep a Notepad or some other Text-based program going for these lessons, or hand-write into an actual notebook.

>>>> Advanced tutorials may skip even more things, because it's assumed the modder already has knowledge of these things. To an extent, some experimentation is involved. New processes are being tried, by me at least, sometimes these processes have nothing to do with what's been used by Bethesda themselves. So be prepared to maybe try additional ideas, tweaks, or methods of your own if things don't work as described.

Continuing Advanced: It's recommended to keep a Notepad or some other Text-based program going for these lessons, or hand-write into an actual notebook. The ideas themselves may not always work correctly (although they do work in my game, otherwise I wouldn't post them). Conflicts may happen with other mods which go into the same territories as what's being worked on, especially overhauls. If another mod in your list makes changes to Megaton's worldspace for instance, my Megaton Jail idea might conflict. These lessons also involve many more steps, resources, utilities, and factors than Easy or Adept lessons. Hours and hours of work and/or tweaks! In some cases (when working with a utility or software issue), rare or esoteric issues may occur with the utilities themselves. Extended moments of testing and/or aggravation may occur!

>>>>> *Expert* tutorials require the very topmost skills and knowledge. So far I haven't got anything I consider difficult enough to go into this category, since I, myself, have never gone this far with quest/script studies. Even after 8 years I'm still learning, and do not consider myself an expert scripter!


For anyone who's new to using a controller for PC, rather than mouse + keyboard, here's the Xpadder Walkthrough page. Xpadder is a site which allows gaming controllers to mimic the key & mouse functions. Xpadder, or similar programs such as Joy to Keys, are absolutely crucial to get the most out of older games such as Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, and Oblivion, for those who prefer controllers. They can also be used for newer games (Fallout 3/NV or Skyrim) to provide alternate controlling scenarios during times when a game's native D-pad arrangement needs to be shut off.



Bethesda Units. (How distance compares in-game to real-life).

This post has been edited by Renee: May 14 2025, 03:27 PM

[Renee]

https://web.archive.org/web/20130429160307/...ObjectReference -- has an example of locking a door via script. Just follow links in the wiki to also get it to Unlock.

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To add a spell effect to somebody in Skyrim just by putting something on...

https://web.archive.org/web/20200213110353/...xample-i-think/

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If you want a script to run on a piece of equipment when it is equipped, and affect the actor that has it equipped, you'll want to use a structure like this:int bEquipped
ref rContainer

Begin OnEquip
set bEquipped to 1
set rContainer to GetContainer
End

Begin GameMode
if bEquipped
; Do stuff using rContainer
endif
End

Begin OnUnequip
set bEquipped to 0
End

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Disable referenced NPC 10 seconds after pwning

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Activate Parent and Enable Parent tabs, yes? The Activate Parent tab is used when you want an activator (like a door) to be activated by something else (like when opening a vault gear door by flipping a switch as opposed to just "activating" the door itself). If you set up an activate parent, the activator object will then be activated by the object itself and the parent object. If you check the "Parent Activate Only" flag on the tab, then only the parent will activate it.

The Enable Parent is more or less the same thing except instead of Activating, it enables/disables an object based of the parent's enable state. One way to use this is to set a bunch of lights that have their enable parent set to an Xmarker. Then when you enable the Xmarker, all the lights will be enabled as well (turn on). When you disable the Xmarker, all the lights will be disabled (turn off).

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Change Creation Kit page size?

Did a quick test and by changing the value of

Creation Kit X=
Creation Kit Y=
Creation Kit W=
Creation Kit H=

I was able to play with the startposition and size of the windows. Use at you own discretion as I am a total noob regarding inifiles.

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Papyrus is very “type-oriented”. In programmer terms, it is “strongly-typed”. The best way I can think of to explain it would be that the compiler has a very narrow view of what you can and cannot do with various kinds of objects in the game (also known as “types”).

As an example, think of a car. The “Car” is our “type”. You can tell a “Car” to drive by writing: “Car.Drive()”. But you cannot tell a car to fly, because a car is not an airplane. So “Car.Fly()” doesn’t work. (And would give you the “function doesn’t exist error”)

One thing that can be incredibly useful if you are having trouble with a specific function is to search the other scripts included with the game for the name of the function. So, if you can’t seem to get SetEssential to work, search all the files in “Skyrim/Data/Scripts/Source” for “SetEssential” with your favorite text editor, or even Windows (they’re just text files), which should help you in figuring out what to do differently. Simply extending a different script will most likely make your script not run at all on the object you attached it to (because the game won’t let you run a quest script on an actor, for example), and importing another script is simply shorthand that is mostly useful for global functions.

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First you need to extract voice files from Oblivion BSA files. I found BSA Unpacker on Nexus and it did the trick, although some voices are missing - I see no Khajiit voices, for example. May be it didn't work right, but I got what I was looking for, so stopped looking. Now you can start the actual work. (Hmmm... This got me thinking. I could hijack Skyrim conversation as well! It's the same format. Oh!!!)

You start by locating the quest from the Companion Share mod - it's called aaaGeneric. Click on Topics and see all the various lines of conversation that you get (these are not all of the lines, there are more in the other quests, but these are the ones you start with). For example, start with GREETING. It has four different lines, I suppose you know this stuff as you do quests. Click one of the lines, then double click the line under Response. It opens a window to edit the response and this is where all the sound files go.

Firstly, there are no recorded lines of dialogue that say exactly what is written under Response, so I changed it. The tedious bit is to know what to change it to. You need to find a line somewhere else that you can copy from. I guess you know how to search - filter dialogue by NPC to see only lines of the same voice, etc. Or use "find text" from the Edit menu. Let me know if you have questions here. The bottom line is, once you find the line you want to copy from, you need to make note of three things: race, sex and audio ID. Race and sex is needed to make sure that you don't suddenly have your hulk of a Nord talking with the voice of a female Bosmer. wink.gif But you can do it if you really want to - there is no limitation where the audio comes from. Audio ID is a string in a box just above the list of voice files in the window. You cannot edit it but you can copy it, so do it.

Now go back to the line in the Companions quest that you want to paste this audio into. I edited the subtitle text so that it matches the spoken phrase, but you don't have to, especially if you pick different phrases for different races. So in this window there's a list of voice files. Find one with the correct race and sex and click it so it's highlighted. Then click "Copy audio file" button. It shows you a file selection window. Navigate to the correct folder where you want to copy the file from, for example Voices\Oblivion.esm\Nord\m and behold loads and loads of voice files. Paste the audio ID into the File box and it should come up with two files - an MP3 and a LIP file. Select the MP3. If it doesn't come up with anything useful, scroll through the long list and find the correct file manually. Did I mention it was tedious?

So, this copied the audio file. Now click "Generate Lips file". Also don't forget to check Emotion and its percentage. Done! Click Ok.

Repeat this for every single response that you want modified. wacko.gif

This is how to reuse lines that are already in the game. If you have new audio files from somewhere else, like from Skyrim for example, you can use them as well. You just need to know which MP3 file you want to use, then when you click "Copy audio file", you just navigate to whatever folder you want and select the correct file. The system copies it into the correct location and changes the file name to the correct one so that it can be found. This is why you cannot just copy files by hand - they have to be renamed. Well, you can rename them by hand but that's even more tedious! tongue.gif

It takes a long time, but it is so much better to have talking companions! biggrin.gif

This post has been edited by Renee: Aug 14 2021, 01:09 AM