Tools for modding besides Creation Kit

Post » Mon May 14, 2012 5:04 pm

I'm not new to using mods, but I am a greenhorn in making mods. I would like to know what other tools might be needed to create mods. I hear "GIMP" and "Blender" tossed around when discussing the creating process. Technically what do these tools do? Are there any other programs that you would suggest be downloaded?
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Charlotte Lloyd-Jones
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 12:48 pm

Gimp is an open source editor much like Photoshop but is under the GPL. Blender is a 3D modelling program aiming to be a GPL version of stuff like Maya and 3DS Max as well as an animation creator and game engine editor.

BSA commander can deal with BSA files, TES4Edit is made for Oblivion and makes checking and changing things easy (Morrowind's got an equivalent), and there is also Gecko. I am not well versed on Gecko, so I can't give many details on it.
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Fluffer
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 12:23 pm

I'm not new to using mods, but I am a greenhorn in making mods. I would like to know what other tools might be needed to create mods. I hear "GIMP" and "Blender" tossed around when discussing the creating process. Technically what do these tools do? Are there any other programs that you would suggest be downloaded?
GIMP is a free image editing program similar to Photoshop for making textures.

Blender is a free program to make models. There are other tools that were made to help with the models as well, such as NIFscope and stuff like that.

It's all pretty advanced stuff that you shouldn't bother with if you're a beginner. If you just want to, say, make a dungeon, all you need is the Creation Kit. If you want to add a brand new sword to that dungeon, then you'd need to make a new model and texture it and add it into the game.
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Georgia Fullalove
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 9:58 pm

Thanks guy's. It does sound complicated but it won't deter me. I'm thinking my first mod will be a simple one :P
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Jeff Turner
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 2:45 pm

Thanks guy's. It does sound complicated but it won't deter me. I'm thinking my first mod will be a simple one :P
A wise choice. 3D modelling is a lot harder than it looks. After you make the model (while being conscious of the amount of polygons you use) you have to "unwrap" it so you can format the texture to fit it correctly. I was never particularly good at the 3D modelling bit, and I never even begun to understand unwrapping and texturing. :P
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Jerry Jr. Ortiz
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 8:21 pm

Paint.NET is probably also going to be of some value assuming the game is still using .dds textures. It can do 99% of what GIMP does, and has a far easier to use interface. Plus .dds is native to it so you don't need plugins like you do with GIMP in order to read and write them.
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GRAEME
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 8:28 pm

If you plan to mod the UI, you'll need Flash and Actionscript 2.,0 tools. Hopefully, someone will point out some Open Source ones that we can use because Adobe charges through the nose for theirs.
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Laura Mclean
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 12:49 pm

The tools of the trade in previous setups were...

The Construction Set/GECK (which will now be the Creation Kit) (By Bethesda Game Studios)

NIFSkope (by the Niftools Team)

NIFTools import/export scripts (by the Niftools Team)

xEdit (TES4Edit, FO3Edit, FNVEdit), by ElminsterEU


Contention creation tools include Blender and 3DS Max for model making (Maya was rather poorly supported by NifTools), GIMP or Photoshop for texture making, and whatever for sound making (since it uses generally available formats of MP3, OGG, and WAV).
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kasia
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 10:33 am

This is pretty helpful, thanks. And if I have anymore questions I can just ask you seasoned modders ;)
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Shaylee Shaw
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 2:36 am

Oh yeah... the Script Extender. Oblivion had OBSE, Fallout 3 had FOSE, New Vegas had NVSE...

It's more of an extension of the CK (and of course the game itself), but is still an important tool.
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Stephanie I
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 1:51 am

where's the SkyrimEdit? I think I used it more than the official CS since FO3
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Peter P Canning
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 9:14 pm

Gimp is an open source editor much like Photoshop but is under the GPL. Blender is a 3D modelling program aiming to be a GPL version of stuff like Maya and 3DS Max as well as an animation creator and game engine editor.

BSA commander can deal with BSA files, TES4Edit is made for Oblivion and makes checking and changing things easy (Morrowind's got an equivalent), and there is also Gecko. I am not well versed on Gecko, so I can't give many details on it.
I tried BSA commander and it does not work, however using the tools from Fallout Mod Manager you can indeed open the BSA files. FO3 Archive Utility will also open BSA files. :)
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Nicole Elocin
 
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Post » Tue May 15, 2012 2:49 am

where's the SkyrimEdit? I think I used it more than the official CS since FO3
Before the data file format is reasonably well known, SkyrimEdit will not really be possible. Figuring out the format will take time.
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Stephanie Nieves
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 11:55 pm

OBMM BSA Browser can open Skyrim Archives,

gives and error version but you can extract the bsa with it ..

have not tried to repack bsa//

but until nifskope is updated we really can't look at nif, but, we can play around with textures..

did not try any of fallout tools..
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carrie roche
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 10:35 pm

Skyrim.ESM opens in FNVEdit, but won't be editable. FOMM can successfully unpack the BSAs (7.34GB), I found.

http://i.imgur.com/Q8rhA.png
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TOYA toys
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 4:35 pm

Looking at the BSA's in a hex editor, looks like they're still using version 0x68, so it's safe to assume it's the same format as FO3/FO:NV, which was the same as Oblivion except for the version number. All the BSA tools should work fine with them, except BSA commander which is looking for the 0x67 version number in the header.
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Fam Mughal
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 9:58 pm

Skyrim.ESM opens in FNVEdit, but won't be editable. FOMM can successfully unpack the BSAs (7.34GB), I found.

http://i.imgur.com/Q8rhA.png
So those 4 letter code ones are new? I wasn't aware TES4Edit was able to process unknown types enough to even show them.
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Charleigh Anderson
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 10:33 pm

Yeah, xEdit is a pretty well designed program. This also suggests that the basic data file format used in Skyrim is (as expected) pretty similar to the Oblivion. Which is pretty nice :)
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Thomas LEON
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 2:21 pm

So those 4 letter code ones are new? I wasn't aware TES4Edit was able to process unknown types enough to even show them.
Yup. Not sure just yet what most do. I find it disconcerting that the SCPT (Script) group is entirely empty. Where the hell are the scripts? All the familiar functions work in the console and I can't see how else this thing drives, so the scripts must be somewhere else.

Edit: Aha! They're all external .pex files found in Data\Scripts after extraction.


Word wall trigger script
Spoiler
úWàT     N–- WordWallTrigger02Script.psc builds BUILDFARM05 T WordWallTrigger02Script   GetState 	GotoState onLoad 	listening onTriggerEnter onTriggerLeave hidden conditional ObjectReference E- This script keeps track of the player entering and leaving trigger. 	Listening mySelf WordWallTriggerScript None 9Function that switches this object to the specified state newState String 	::NoneVar onEndState self ::state onBeginState 'Function that returns the current state ::temp0 ::temp1 done triggerRef ::temp2 actor ::temp3 bool actorRef ::temp4 ::temp5 globalvariable ::temp6 float ::temp7 ::temp8 ::temp15 ::temp9 ::temp10 ::temp11 wordofpower ::temp12 ::temp13 ::temp14 game 	getPlayer WordLearned shoutGlobal value lookTargetWord01 lookTarget myWord01 myWord word01Sound 	wordSound wordWall01 wordWall wordWall02 disableNoWait wordWall03 word02Sound word03Sound lookTargetWord02 myWord02 lookTargetWord03 myWord03 &StartWordWall from 02 and triggered by debug trace StartWordWall ::temp16 ::temp17 ::temp18 ::temp20 ::temp19 disable enableNoWait %StopWordWall from 02 and triggered by StopWordWall    NB?=                              ]                          ! ! " " # # $ $ $ & & & & & ' ' ' ( ( ( ) ) ) * * * . . / / 0 0 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 7 : : ; ; < < = = = A A A B B E E       K K L L L N N P Q Q T T U U V V W W X X Y Y [ [ [ \ \    	     F                                                                                                              !  "   # $ % & ' & (   )  *  +  , - . -   /   0   ]   !  1 2       !     Y 3  " " "  "   T 4  # 5 # % '     ( % ' (    6  + * + 7  * 8  . , . 9  , :  + * + ;  * <  + * + =  * >  * ? *      @  + ? +      A  * ? *      B  + ? +        5 4  # 5 # ' %    / ' % /    C  + * + 7  * D  . , . 9  , A  + * + ;  * >  + * + =  * <  * ? *      @  + ? +      :  * ? *      B  + ? +         4  # 5 # % '    0 % ' 0    E  + * + 7  * F  . , . 9  , B  + * + ;  * @  + * + =  * <  * ? *      >  + ? +      :  * ? *      A  + ? +         ) ! ) G ) H I     )     J                                K  L   !  M   N    O   K  ! K 1 2 K     L ! K L    3  M M           P          <  O Q O      >  O Q O      @  O Q O      :  O Q O      A  O Q O      B  O Q O      N ! N R N H I     N     S         
Edit: Aha! They're all external .pex files in Data\Scripts.
Yeah, xEdit is a pretty well designed program. This also suggests that the basic data file format used in Skyrim is (as expected) pretty similar to the Oblivion. Which is pretty nice :)
*Edit is the bee's knees. I'm also glad that things work at least somewhat similarly to Oblivion/Fallouts. *eagerly awaiting TES5Edit*
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Greg Cavaliere
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 11:58 pm

A wise choice. 3D modelling is a lot harder than it looks. After you make the model (while being conscious of the amount of polygons you use) you have to "unwrap" it so you can format the texture to fit it correctly. I was never particularly good at the 3D modelling bit, and I never even begun to understand unwrapping and texturing. :P
There are a number of tools and add-ons that make the process a doodle, I work with Maya and they help workflow tremendously, there are also packages that allow you to paint directly onto models using traditional tools and will unwrap the textures automatically, in any format you could need.

I would also like to address the comment made earlier, that beginners should stay away from modelling. I would disagree; I am self-taught, what started as a hobby on the Amiga now supplements my income. Everyone starts as a beginner, but with the attitude you should not even try, how can you ever hope to progress and learn any new skills.

There are now any number of good online resources and whole communities built up around the different packages available including free tools like Blender. While a tool like Maya is certainly intimidating when opening it up for the first time, with the user manual in hand and the provided tutorials you can be up and running in no time. Furthermore, an entire industry has grown up around producing tutorial content for 3D packages and art packages in general, much of it free, and an excellent resource to see you on your way.
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Tikarma Vodicka-McPherson
 
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Post » Mon May 14, 2012 6:04 pm

Anyone already messed around with the textures? I repacked the textures.bsa without compression and it was around 2GB (before it was something around 1,5GB) and the textures are missing now. :facepalm:
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Sanctum
 
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