Hi guys, new to modding here. I'm trying to create a spell that detects certain objects, not actor types.

I've forked the DetectLife spell, and also forked the DetectLifeEnemyExteriorConcSelf magic effect. However the magic effect remains, basically, "Detect Life." How do I designate the effect to apply to, say, gold coins or something else?

Spells only affect actors AFAIK. Could be wrong...

yep, you're wrong. spells can now affect various things. though the detect life functions are hardcoded to only detect actors. there may be a way by heavy scripting. there are some new neat functions like http://FindClosestReferenceofAnyTypeInList and similar stuff which basically provide you with a way of scanning your environment for certain objects. then, you only have to apply the right effect (similar to the detect life stuff) to these objects.

rlilewi is correct that spells only directly affect actors, although MrMuh is also right that they can be used to look for other things if you add a script to them.

The available functions allow you to find the closest reference of a certain type (or, as in the function mentioned by MrMuh, any type in a list) or a random reference of a certain type (or any type in a list) within a certain radius.

The function names might be a little misleading in that "type" refers to a specific base object, so you can't just look for, say, Activators. It's also currently impossible to reliably cycle through nearby references, as we can only find the closest one to a point or a random one within a radius.

A very useful thing you can do with a spell is add an explosion with a "Placed Object" that has a script attached to it, which will let you do stuff with/from the location that was hit by the spell.

Cipscis