Hey all,

I just completed all of the on-site Creation Kit tutorials and started messing around with my first actual mod. It will focus on a mysterious disease that is being spread from an underground ruin and plays along more story focused, much like a mystery novel.

My (most likely first of many in the long run) question is how do I make an actor into an activator, or at least give the activator the appearance of an actor? As an example, I'm trying to make the corpse of a Skeever only produce a message when activated, however even though my simple script enables the Message Box, the Skeever still counts as an actor with an inventory. Since it is only there to provide clues, how can I either do what I mentioned above, e.g. re-making the Skeever into an activator, or disable the inventory of the Skeever upon activation?

Thanks in advance.

What I did to make items (static) appear as an activator, for example my pile of bones is called Remains, and can be activated, is click the object in the ref window, then along the top of the CK is all these little buttons. You want the box with a T in it. Click that, make a New activator.

Now a box should appear around the object in the window. You can now attach the OnActivate script to that activator

Edit: that activator isn't attached to the object either, so you can scale it and move it somewhere else. See the Traps tutorial on the CK wiki to learn about altering its size etc.

Thanks for the tips, however it seems I can't get your method to work properly. I managed to use a BlockActivation script on the Skeever to disable its inventory, however when I try to use the activator that you propose it simply doesn't register in-game. Even if I add the script and add a name etc, the invisible activator isn't doing its job. Do I need to link it to a reference or something in that regard?

Have you done the following...

Double-click the activator (should be a red translucent box) in the window to bring up the Reference window, where you can add scripts, change LocationRef etc. Now scroll along the tabs til you get to the Primitive tab (should be between 3D Data, and Ownership) and tick the box that says Player Activation.

Should now work

EDIT: Here's a screenie incase I'm not describing it well - http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7112/7567731880_dc47e3efa3_h.jpg

I have ticked the box my process is simple: I select a static Cauldron, press the boxed T, press NEW, give it a name and ID, resize the newly appeared box a bit, tick the Player Activation box and add the script to it. Test it out in a lot of configuration yet it still doesn't work. I think I'm missing something very elementary here because it doesn't seem like a difficult operation..

Have you given your Activator a name in the Base Object details itself, not just in the world view window? Go to Edit Base, and ensure you have a name filled in there. Not sure why else it wouldn't be working, unless the script isn't right. Here is my script:

Scriptname HISActivateBones1 extends ObjectReference  Quest Property HISQuest1WRTroll  Auto   int count  ;stores the number of times this object has been activated Event OnActivate(ObjectReference akActionRef)               HISQuest1WRTroll.SetStage(20)    count = count + 1    if count == 1       Debug.MessageBox("This was definitely done at the hand of a Troll. The blood is fresh, it must be close.")           else;Do nothing    endif endEvent

You don't need props etc unless it moves the quest along. If you just want a message, use the Hello World! script example.

The script works on my Skeever corpse, using the template of the Hello World! example already. I found out what the problem was on a random site: it seemed the Triggers often don't work unless you rotate them 90 degrees for some strange reason. Tried it and it solved my problem . Guess the Creation Kit isn't without its bugs yet..

Thanks for the awesome help and quick responses, although prepare: it won't be the last time you hear from me .

Cheers

You're welcome mate any time