With the release of a new Elder Scrolls game, certainly the release of any Bethesda game where mods get involved there is always an influx of new interest in the modding scene. I myself was once there as were we all at one point.

So I'm here to address and issue which I think is important. There are always a lot of request threads and certainly more at the start than any other time. Well to you people I see making all the requests I say..... have you considered doing it yourself?
The most common argument against taking up modding is I don't have the time. It's true we all have jobs, school, friends and family to deal with. But if you're a TES fan then you must be spending some hard core hours on this game. Even if its only a couple a day that time can be invested in making a mod. Sure there are cases where it won't be possible and that's cool but in others it may just be an excuse not to take on something, usually out of fear of failing. But with a can do attitude, help from the community and just a bit of motivation anyone can mod and mod well. So how to get started.

1. Know what you want to do. Modding is a big area which involves, modelling, texturing, scripting and building in the CS. Knowing what you want to create at the start is going to help you know what you do and don't need for your project. If you're thinking of building a quest which will only use resources which already exist in game then you only need to know your way around the CS and skip all the modelling and texturing lark.

2. Start small. Getting a modding team together is tough and keeping it together can be harder. Remember those jobs and lives we mentioned earlier? Well when you're working around more than one person's then it gets difficult. So think small at the start, release something, get feedback and then build on it creating updated version with your new content. Some of the biggest and best Oblivion mods were developed this way. This way you can have targets which you can attain on your own and have the satisfaction of having a product finished to show to the community.

3. Learn. There are lots of tutorials for using the various softwares out there and even though the Skyrim CS isn't out yet you can get your feet wet using the fallout 3 or fallout new Vegas tools. I imagine it will be very similar all around. Learn and practice. It'll be a long time before you likely see any of the actual mod you want to create in a file but every step along the way is a small victory.

4. With regards to making armours, textures or anything which needs to be imported know your tools. It's pretty much the same as for the CS get in there and start learning. Blender is a free program and while it has a difficult to master UI it can do some amazing things at no cost. Same goes for gimp. Blendercookie.com is a great place to start learning blender and there are plenty of max and photoshop guys here who can point in the right direction for similar sites for those respective softwares.
Try something small at the start, just play around with a texture in gimp or photoshop and re-expport them then try a weapon or an object, something which doesn't really need rigging before going the whole hog with a new armour set.

Seriously, a few years ago I looked at mods and thought "I could never do that." Now the mods I have released represent my earliest work in the area of 3d and digital art and I've come a long way since then. Anyone can do it if they really want to. Jut don't be afraid to have a go.

Yeah modding is a scary thing to start doing. I started a little bit in oblivion and I'll admit I gave up a few times out of frustration of not knowing what to do. The best thing though, is that once you do get to grips with things (even on a very basic scale like I did) you can start doing some fun thing.

If you are learning the CS/CK for the first time, the best place to start is learn what each of the tools does (Just read a tutorial explaining each tool or something) and then have a go at just rearranging a room. From the looks of things the house in whiterun will be the best to start off with. It's small, simple and there isn't much to go wrong. Just try removing some items and putting in some new ones. Once you have the basics of that, it becomes a million times easier to build your skills from there.

Don't be afraid to ask for help either. There are plenty of nice people on these forums that will give you advice, explain how to do something or find you a tutorial that will have what you need. Just ask around or use google. I'd love for more people to get into modding. The more modders there are, the more mods get made. Sometimes the simplest mods can make a massive difference to a game.

I'm wanting to start modding for the first time, as I have some ideas. I've never been quite been sure where to start. I do have Photoshop and have used it for various art over the years, but I've never done anything with 3D. Thanks for the info. Will see if I can figure out Blender and gimp. I need sub-novice level tutorials at this point.

While its not going to be identical its highly likely it will be similiar, go here and get reading http://geck.gamesas.com/index.php/Main_Page

Just to note, much of it is not going to make alot of sense, if you by chance happen to have Fallout 3, there is a 'My First Vault' tutorial which is excellent, however going by Beths past record they will probably do a 'My First Dungeon' tutorial for Skyrim or something similar, in regards to Photoshop, Blender Maya etc etc, they are not a main focus of making sucessful mods, the assets within Skyrim will already be vast and many objects and items can be used in very creative ways so personally I wouldnt be too concerned about 3rd party tools just yet, the CK will give you more than enough to play with first.

That's a good post.

What I see a lot are "how can I learn?" questions, and while they're surely sincere and enthusiastic, in my experience that's not the best way to learn, or to really get immersed in modding. When I started, I was so interested and so excited about trying things out that I was far too busy [playing with the tools and testing my work] to post on a forum about long-term aspirations. Specific questions when stuck on something, yes, but the far-reaching "how do I become an expert modder from scratch?" posts seem a bit misguided.

So I'd humbly add "have fun" and "go try things yourself" to any advice for would-be modders.

On the other hand, we all learn in slightly different ways, so a more formal and structured approach probably works better for some.

Basically, I understand there are many modders out there that want and do make mods, but trust me you will have enormous amounts of help, if you can help others get over that first cliff of startup and understanding.

Videos work best for this by far... a clear set of videos like
1) install
2) (ITEMS) simple item creation
3) (ITEMS) placing the item in the world (including how to find that location and xyz positions)
4) (ITEMS) getting the item you placed in the world with your character.
4a) (ITEMS) adding a building to the game.
5) (SCRIPTING) your first script (perhaps something like making a long casting spell into a very short casting spell, or changing the speed of the animations for a 2h weapon)
6) (ITEMS, SCRIPTING) Adding items to a npc
7) (SCRIPTING) Adding response text to a npc
7a) (SCRIPTING) hooking the response into having the npc give you an item. aka a flower or ingredient.
8) (SCRIPTING) creating a quest given by npc 1 to go talk with the NPC in tutorial 7, and when he gives you the ingredient, you complete the quest!
9) (scripting, voice acting) Adding your own voice files, and hooking it to a response by the npc in step 8.
10) (NPC Character creation) spawning character npcs within the game to do something in a quest.
11) (PATHING) giving the characters paths to follow.

If you pretty much have these, then everyone will know how to make a mod, and this should be MUCH easier from then forward.

So 13 videos and we all can go crazy!

If you want to learn, just keep an eye on http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/forum/81-the-enclave/

This is another good point. With the exception of making a completely new creature/armour/item etc you are going to have a wealth of things at your disposal within the CS and even just tweaking a few textures and setting up a new armour using a random collection of meshes from within the game is going to make something halfway new. You only need to dive into creating 3d objects if there's something your mod absolutely can't live without or if it is a specific custom armour mod (mods of armours from another game or a show or book are popular for this.)
If you are thinking of doing custom armour you will spend more time in your 3d app of choice than the CS but otherwise the CS is the tool to learn.

This is quite a useful thread, Skyrim is the first game I've felt the incentive to learn to seriously mod. So the tips and links will come in handy.

It all comes down to what you want to do. If you want to learn the CS start learning the Fallout CS for now, if you're interested in making custom meshes and textures you'll have to start by learning a 3d package. Once you know what you want to achieve and what you're going to need to use have look on mod tools forums for Oblivion and Fallout there should be some sticky threads with various links for tutorials.

i started the GECK tutorial about a month a go and have really gotten in to it, and am making quite a decent vault. I think the hardest part is starting to mod , once youve started you cant stop!

That is the truth.

You could add into this thread, dont go trying to recruit for a team until you have a proven ability to deliver something.

Well, I have a few ideas for mods that I want, and I was barely literate with the CS, so I'm going about it a different way. I just created rolling text files on my desktop - whenever I get a new idea, I just fit it in to a general outline. Heck, I've learned alot about the OpenOffice word processor and spreadsheet working on these mods (I use the spreadsheet to calculate the effects of my desired changes at different levels - to see if it makes sense). With the outlines, I'm creating step-by-step creation guides for myself so that when I open the CK, it won't be so scary!

Plus, I'm going to give myself lots of time to get these mods created. I'm not going to freak out if I don't have them ready a week after the CK comes out. Also, I'm keeping my eye on [WIP] posts to see if anyone is thinking of a similar idea. I'm not going to change my mod if someone is working on something similar, but it might be nice to get someone else's perspective on the subject. Or, for example, one mod I am creating is 'Smart Weapons' that is right now just a few individual weapons - I might fit them in with someone else's mod.

I know it might sound a bit overboard, but the outline is really going help me tackle the CK Bugbear with more confidence.