Renee's Modding Thread Options

[Renee]

How change an .esm to an .esp (or vice versa), Games: Oblivion, Fallout, or Skyrim

Open TES4Edit for Oblivion, FO3Edit for Fallout 3, FNVEdit for Fallout New Vegas, or TES5Edit for Skyrim. These utility programs can all be found at THE Nexus.

I am going to change an .esp to an .esm first, as I want to make it so I can give my Af. American Fallout 3 antagonist a cool hairdo which is not vanilla, straight from the GECK.

1). Load whichever editor program is relevant, right-click on any of the Filenames and choose Select None.

2). Pick any .esp and press OK. Or... if changing an Elder Scrolls Master select this, and click OK.

3). Double left-click on the .esp or .esm as it appears in the left window, so the file becomes uncollapsed. Now look at the right window. If the right window appears empty, single left-click on File Header in the left window. Six 'panes' should show up in the right window.

4). Note the area next to where it says Record Flags. If the file being worked on is an .esm the flag will be listed as ESM in this area. If it's an .esp the area next to Record Flags will be blank.

5). So, since I'm changing an .esp to an .esm I am right-clicking the blank area next to Record Flags, and then selecting Edit. "Warning!" the program warns. We'd better know what the heck we are doing!!!

[AHEM] Click "Yes, I'm absolutely sure", only IF you are absolutely sure.

6). The Edit Value panel POPS up, which includes a toggle box. Select ESM and press OK, closing the Edit Value panel.

7). Click the X (in the upper right corner of the program) and click OK to confirm this change.

-------------

To change an .esm to an .esp, the process is the same, except the file will already be listed as ESM next to Record Flags. Follow steps 5 and 6. Voila.

NOTE: I have noticed that the .esm I created from an .esp in Fallout 3, Dreadlocks.esp, is still listed as Dreadlocks.esp in Fallout Mod Manager. It behaves like a master, though.

This post has been edited by Renee: Sep 9 2024, 04:14 PM

[Renee]

1). What you'll need to do is manually download this one, and again, it's an easy DL. There are actually TWO archive files to DL. Go to the Files tab and select the 2nd and 3rd files on that page.



> OBMM Extended 10-12-24 Manual

> OBMM Extended 10-12-24 Setup.



2). After these 2 files download, copy or move the archives to your Modded Oblivion folder. Right click on each and choose Extract Here. Already you can see the beginning of the sprawl that's to come. heh heh.



3). Right click on the Application file called OBMMSetup, and Open it. If you get a weird message that says something about an administrator, just start over again: right-click but this time choose Run as Administrator. It should now ask you where you want to place a shortcut icon. I put my icon on the desktop for easy access.



4). Pick both options (Desktop Shortcut and Start Menu Shortcut) and press Install. :user: There should now be a new icon on your Desktop.



5). Double Click the OBMM icon (on your desktop). It will open up a menu. Choose the second choice (Oblivion Mod Manager).



6). A program should open with several boxes and choices. Right now this is all empty, but pretty soon you'll be able to actually view your mods in the two large windows, and you'll also be able to see if they are active, or inactive, and sometimes whether or not there are any conflicts going on. As you'll see, everything is color-coded.

1). Open up OBMM (this is the part up above where you double-click on the desktop icon, assuming you installed it this way). Click on Oblivion Mod Manager (the second choice). Once the program opens, notice the two large 'windows': there's one on the left, and one in the center. Both are empty, except you should be seeing Oblivion.esm in the left window. Oblivion.esm is the vanilla OB game.



2). On the bottom of the program are several choices. Click Create.



3). This will take you to a new platform with several choices on it. You only need one of these: click Add Archive.



4). You might have to manually find the area of your computer where the UOP Archive was downloaded from Nexus. Let's say the Archive is in your downloads folder. Go there. Or if it's in the Modded Oblivion folder, go there. Once you do, double-click on this Archive.



5). Sometimes it seems at first as if nothing is happening, but just be patient. OBMM will sometimes unzip the archive in a split second, other times it'll take a few seconds or minutes. Smaller files unzip faster than larger ones, see? UOP takes about a minute on my comp.



6). Eventually the archive will be unzipped, if everything goes right. Sometimes it will now ask you if you want to Import info from TES Nexus? Choose Yes. The 'info' it imports can vary. Sometimes it will fill up all the blank areas, but a lot of times it doesn't. These blank areas include Name, Author, Version, the author's E-mail, and website.



7). IF it doesn't fill in these areas, this is okay. I'm an organizational freak, and I like having at least the name, author, and version filled in. I actually will go back to Nexus (or wherever the mod's from) and type this stuff in. You don't have to do this, but if you don't it might make finding the mod more difficult later on. OBMM will name a mod called 'Companion Share & Recruit' to "CSR" for instance, and in my case, I won't be able to locate it as easily.



It's up to you, though. :shrug:



Note: You don't need to know this right now, but it's interesting anyways. Notice towards the bottom of the OBMM creation platform that there is a button called Plugins, and one called Data File. Plug-ins basically are mods. The two terms are interchangable. Not all archives will contain Plugins or Data Files, but you can view these areas to see if anything has been unzipped, at least. Some Archives don't contain the stuff you need (they're basically incomplete or something), but this you won't have to worry about this with UOP.



8). Click Create OMod, which is the rectangular button on the very bottom-right. If it asks if you want to add a description, you can just choose "No" if you want to skip this, or Yes if you wnat to fill this in. Personally I always skip it. I know what the mod's going to do just by its name. If you choose to fill this in, you'll be able to see your mod's description later on when you highlight it, but this is completely optional.



....OBMM will now compress and create the mod itself. This can take several seconds, or it can take several minutes. You'll be able to watch OBMM creating your mod, which is kinda neat. When it's done, it'll say "OMod created." Press Okay.



9). The OMod creation window will close, and you'll now see the original program. In the center window, you should now be seeing the Unofficial Oblivion Patch. Notice the color next to it, which should be green.



Green means the mod is inactive



Blue means the mod is active



Black means it's got some small conflicts, but the mod itself will run okay once these are taken care of.



Red means there are more serious conflicts. We can discuss this later down the road because you shouldn't be seeing red at all.



There are other colors (I think) but I don't know their meanings, nor have I encountered them.



10. Hi-light the Unofficial Patch Omod and click Activate on the bottom of the page. After a minute or so, the Omod's color should turn from green to blue (inactive to active).



11). Now look at the left window. This is showing the guts of your Modded Oblivion folder, and the UOP should now be there. Actually there should be several UOP choices, four of them. If you go to your C > Modded Oblivion folder, you'll also see that OBMM has automatically added some more stuff in the Data folder. It does all this automatically somehow, placing stuff in just the right places. Kinda neat.



12). Now go back to OBMM's left window, and hi-light each of the UOP choices. It'll tell you at the bottom left of the page what each of these choices does. There's the UOP itself, UOPS Additional Changes, the Vampire Face Fix, and Oblivion Citidel Doors. Personally I don't mind the vampire aging, and don't care about the door issue, so I only pick the first two choices, but you can choose all four if you like.



13). Go to your desktop and double-click on the OBMM icon again. Pick the fourth choice down (Oblivion Launcher). This will bring up several options, but for now we're only going to be choosing one.



14) Click on Data Files. You'll see the game itself (Oblivion.esm) along with the UOP files. If the choices you made in OBMM aren't shown here, go ahead and click on these. What you're doing is turning them "ON" basically.



15). You are done. :dance: :celebrate: The unofficial patch should now be working in the game.

[Renee]

Speech Challenges. Game: Fallout 3

This is going to teach how to make one of those speech challenge moments, when we need to influence somebody and there's a chance of success or failure. I learned once again from Seddon. I am assuming a quest has already been started, okay? And anyone reading this already knows a lot of dialog-making stuff in the G.E.C.K.

Topics tab
1). Start a new topic, or build on an existing one. In this instance, we'll discuss what happens when we're successful. "You saved my life, I'll do whatever you say!" the NPC says. Prompt may or may not be needed.

2). Toggle the Speech Challenge flag ON. And use the Difficulty bar to zero in on how difficult the person is to influence. I just chose Average(55).

3a). Conditions can be set as per whatever NPC we're speaking to, whether there's a QuestStage or whatever.

3b). Right-click > Copy All those conditions.

4). Now, right-click > Add Topic into the leftmost window. I'm calling this new bit of dialog aaaSpeechChallengeFAIL.

5). Right-click > New into the Info window. "Hell no, I will not come with you!"

Note: Prompt is not used for this info.

6). Right-click > Add Topic into the Link From window, and select the topic where the original Speech Challenge resides.

7). Make sure to Paste the conditions Copy All'd from step 3b.

This post has been edited by Renee: Oct 8 2024, 06:19 PM

[Renee]

Getting an Xbox Wireless Controller to work on PC.


So I bought this official Microsoft controller from Newegg, like this one, and was surprised at how difficult it was to get the darn thing operating thru my gaming PC.

When I shopped for an Xbox 360 controller (for PC) ten years ago I bought a black Microsoft device from Best Buy. It came with a receiver, which plugged into a USB port, and was easy to set up. Got Xpadder, configured the device, was gaming within a couple hours.

I still have that controller, it still works! 🎮 But it's getting old & creaky, so I got the new one pictured in the first paragraph above. The box was shipped in two days. I opened it, saw the controller but there was no receiver; nothing physical to plug into my PC! Turns out, everything is apparently done through software nowadays (or hardware which is buried within the computer, such as Bluetooth), at least for the product I bought.

....Getting my PC to recognize the new controller was incredibly frustrating. The controller came with some half-baked "instructions" which were useless, as well as a vague Microsoft website link. I only found out how to get the thing working after coming online, and then going on a mad search of a half-dozen or so websites (official Microsoft sites and random tutorials). Was quite frustrating and ridiculous, to have spent all this money on something which seems not to work.

But I did get it working. So I'll try to save some others out there the frustration that I experienced, assuming they find this page. What I'm about to describe is Windows 10.

----------------------------------------

1a). If you haven't done so yet, go into the Microsoft Store (your gaming PC must be online) and select Gaming. Type or search for Xbox Accessories and click on Apps. Download the Xbox Accessories Installer and install its contents.

1b). Connect the controller to the PC via a USB to USB-C cable.

There are several ways to get a controller working described on this page, and I tried a couple of them to no avail. Simply connecting the device to the cable did absolutely nothing.

...If your Windows device doesn’t detect your controller after waking up from sleep, press the Xbox button  on your controller to turn it back on, or unplug it from your device then plug it back in

Nope, didn't work. What worked for me was the "Bluetooth" section.


2). Turn on the Xbox Wireless Controller by pressing the Xbox button .

3). Press and hold the Pair button for 3 seconds. This is the button with the three parenthesis next to it, like ...

)))

...which is on the front of the device, next to the left bumper. The Xbox button should start flashing rapidly.


4). With the light still flashing, press the PC's Start button. Click Settings.

5). Click on Devices, then select Bluetooth & other devices. Make sure Bluetooth is toggled ON. (For Windows 11 the path is supposed to be a little different: Settings > Bluetooth & devices.)

6). Select [+] Add Bluetooth or other device > Bluetooth (on Windows 11 we're supposed to select Add device). The PC should begin searching for your controller.

7). Assuming the device is found, click Xbox Wireless Controller or Xbox Elite Wireless Controller > Done.

8). Try using the left analog stick while the Bluetooth menu is still open. The stick should move the menu up and down. 🎮 If this happens, great.

And of course, next step is to fire up a game which has modern controller support, which (in other words) does not require Xpadder or Joy to Keys to operate. Fallout 3 or New Vegas are the earliest Bethesda games which don't absolutely require one of those programs.

For anyone who's used Xpadder or Joy 2 Keys in the past, a new profile or layout may be needed. But I was able to use the same Xpadder profiles & layouts just fine. I only needed to plug in the receiver which came with my old 360 controller.

This post has been edited by Renee: Oct 14 2024, 04:26 PM

[Renee]

Fitting the hair from one mod onto the NPC of another.

A rather unique situation here. I've got an NPC which I made myself, but want him to have hair from another author's mod: Dreadlocks Hairstlyle. This worked with an earlier NPC I created (who is Af. American, not sure if that makes a difference), but with this new white guy it's no longer working.

I am describing how to fix this in Fallout 3 but I assume the process below might work with other game editors. It'll just have a different path. Firstly, I made Dreadlocks.esp into an .esm as per this post. This way, dreadlocks can be shared in the .esp I'm working with.


1). Go into Object Window > Actor Data > Race.

2). Click on a race. The idea is we're going to make a "NEW" race. So I'm clicking on Caucasian and selecting Edit. The Race panel pops open.

3). Single-left-click on Caucasian and selecte Duplicate. This causes a "new" race to called CaucasianCOPY0000 to appear. Open/edit the new race.

4). Select the Face Data tab. There's a drop-down called Default Hair Style. Change whatever default hairstyle to whatever mod hairstyle. So I changed from HairDefaultA to NoukDreadlocks.

5). Click OK. Find the NPC in the Object window, and and change his or her Race from whatever was previous to whatever is new. So I went from Caucasian to CaucasianCOPY0000. Click Ok, save.

Go into the game. Voila. My G Zuss NPC now looks like a cheap imitation of the real guy. ✝

This post has been edited by Renee: Nov 4 2024, 05:04 PM

[Renee]

placeholder

This post has been edited by Renee: Nov 1 2024, 10:41 PM