I'm in the process of creating some spells similar to "Detect Key" and "Detect Enchantment" from Morrowind. If I understand correctly, the vanilla Detect Life archetype effect works only on NPCs and not inanimate objects like armor and weapons. For this reason, I have created a script that looks for items in the vicinity of the player by virtue of Game.FindRandomReferenceOfAnyTypeInListFromRef(...).

The problem at hand is creating an EffectShader that would shine through walls. From the EffectShader page on the Creation Kit wiki, one gathers that:


However, with a poor understanding of the Source and Dest Blend Modes, I am unable to create a shader that allows an item to be detected through walls. An alternative method to solving the problem would be to draw a hazard like the clairvoyance spell does. I'm hoping to avoid that because my spell is intended to detect several items at once and having a "clairvoyance star" emanating from the caster is not desirable.

Can anyone shed some light on the purpose of the different blend modes and operation options of the EffectShader form? I don't mind a baby-spoon explanation because this stuff is really new to me.