as amazing a tool the creation kit is & as much i love using it all in all, there's still some little usability issues about it that i really hate (and every one of them was in the geck too already) - here's my little list (and, going with it, of course my request for according changes

.) clicking / activating objects in the render window: when clicking an object in the object window, it counts as clicked not when lmb is pressed, but when it's released.
so if you want to click & drag an object, you can't just click/hold/drag like you'd expect, but have to click, release, wait so windows don't take it as a double click and opens the reference tab (BIG pain in the...) and then click it again so you can drag it. this enervating behaviour could completely wiped out by just making the object activated when lmb clicked instead of when released.

.) preview window: i really apreciate the reset-camera-button that's been added since the geck. what i don't appreciate at all though is how camera angles are reset with every new object you click in the object palette. so if you like want to get an overview of 20 wall pieces in a non-prev-win-friendly angle, you'll have to rotate every single one into view first, what a waste of time and nerves. could be easily wiped out by resetting angles ONLY when reset-button is hit and not on selection of a new piece.

.) still preview window and windows in general: could someone PLEASE teach this program the difference between f...ront and back window? i HATE how the preview window always pops in front, no matter how behind it currently is, whenever your pointer hovers over it, could it please just STAY where it is???
and quite the same for lots of other windows/panels - like you batch select 100 objects in the batch-window, try to press one of it's buttons and, if you miss the button a bit and the render window is under where that button is, it won't click the button but select the object in the render window below - WHY??? same effect with the replace dialogue etc.
and awright, i get it i can't save (unless i .ini unsafe saves anyhow) with a reference panel open. but why not mark those panels "always in front" so you see it before you save and spare yourself clicking away the dialogue?
and another thing about reference tabs, wouldn't it be possible to like reactivate the previously activated window after you close one? now, if you want to edit in a bunch of tabs, you'd have to double click object, use panel, close panel, then re-click render window (at a moment you most likely have both hands on your keyboard from typing in your values), this would be a lot more comfortable if you hadn't to always reactivate the render window

so much for now & thx 4 attention, if i come across anything else, i'll add it. ~ s7o

If you had it your way, it would be really easy to accidentally move objects when trying to double-click on them.

As for your other problems, I've not really encountered them so I can't really comment...

Anyway, happy editing

This would be a terrible idea there is not even a number high enough to count the volumn of dirt that this would add into people mods -> its a TERRIBLE IDEA in its entirity !!!


I kinda like this idea but then I've been using the editors going all the way back to Morrowind and have no real issues with render window navigation -> what I would like is the ability for the objects bounding volumn to be the cameras pivot point.

uhm, how would making objects easier to activate in any way "add dirt" to a mod? the worst thing that could happen as i see it, is accidentially moving things like danj stated - but drag sensitivity (how many pixels you'll actually have to move for win to consider it "dragging" and not "clicking") is a WINDOWS-setting, not a ck-setting. just putting drag sensitivity to a higher value (4px work fine for me when using wacom-tablet, for mouse-only, 2-3 px should do already) solves that.

And moving something you did not intent to move is called dirt as it add an unintentional edit into the mod file -> and its the number 1 reason mods become unstable and conflict for unknown reasons -> its a TERRIBLE idea to allow onbuttondown selection...

well ok, and what's wrong with setting drag sensitivity to a higher level like i said to prevent this? (apart from none of my fnv-mods ever having become unstable because of moved items of whatever kind, i mean if moving an item would make the game unstable, it'd be hard to mod at all........)

Take Saiden's word on this. He knows more about this kind of thing then most people.

But basically, when you move something accidentally, like a tree out in the world, then press Ctrl Z to undo it, it records that change. Now say some mod does and deleted that tree to make room for something. Now you have a mod trying to reference the movement of an object that is no longer there, creating instability. One such instance isnt going to really cause many problems, but more and the odds increase.

The main issues I have been having are meshes turning invisible when working in exterior cells (which apparently can only be resolved by relaunching the CK), and Argonian faces disappearing when you switch to the head view.

I wish there was some way around this. Maybe baking coordinates on all the objects in an esm so that they can't be automatically moved without flipping a switch to unbake them before modding, either per cell or per object. That would avoid a lot of dirty edits and maybe make cluttering cells a little less aggravating.

It seems nit-picky, but when working on a custom worldspace, I'm literally adding and manipulating hundreds (sometimes thousands) of objects per day and having to wait an extra half-second to move something seriously impacts my work-flow. I could probably clutter and tweak a cell in about half the time if I didn't have to wait and/or close ref windows every two seconds. I must have to close accidentally opened ref windows about 2-3 times a minute. Times that by 6 hours of work and you'll see how quickly that impacts my productivity. It is incredibly annoying. I feel like I'm moving through molasses.

Also, for some reason rotating around objects is wonky. If I move an object and then rotate, it seems to rotate around the object's original location (or something), so I have to re-select the object (ie. select a second object, then re-select the first object, or just use the second object as a pivot if it's nearby). I'm constantly getting thrown off by these random pivot points. I like a lot of things about the CK, but I feel like I'm spending way too much time dealing with the editor's limitations and not enough time working. I know it's a 'freebie', but still; I'm sure their own level designers must have felt the same way.

Also, they need to add more texture slots to cell quads. I'm constantly hitting that limit. Overall, though, I'm liking it better than the GECK.

well ok, that's problems i never had because i delete those out in (xyz)edit anyway, there's so much weirdnesses gathering up while making a mod i don't see a real way around this anyhow

ooh yes, this is SO the word for it )

I hate how your camera continues to rotate around the last selected object once it's been deselected...I've been using Bethesda editors for a while and am completely used to rotating camera around a selected object (I've even come to depend on it), but I can't stand that I'm stuck rotating around it after it's been deselected....is this a glitch? Does anyone know a fix? It's keeping me from creating new areas and that's driving me insane

I hate when it crashes :X

Now I'm saving every 5 minutes.

Well, at least I learned.

Well i have to click through feeled 200000 error messages before i can do anything. So i though start with something easy, create a new race. So i started searching for the "Race" option, didn't found it. Then after some time i found it created a race but....why doens't it have my textures? How do i apply them?? Its not that easy like it was in the CS. You now have to make seperat files for every texture, then apply it to your race. And now the REALLY funny thing. You have to apply every single body part to the (in my example beast race) NakedBeast thingy. So i finaly had done that went ingame and.....what the??? Why is he naked? He is supposed to wear armor. So you have to click through EVERY single armor and check your race there, that it can wear the armor......it is so annyoing, and was way better in the CS.

This annoys me to no end.

The only way to reset the rotation I have found is hit SHIFT-F when you select a new object but that also zooms you right in which is a pain in the ass too.

i ended up using some kind of tarzan-strategy on this, i click any object i hope will rotate me in a way that won't drive me insane and mouse-wheel like crazy (bigger zoom multiplicator / pan speed settings help a bit) until i get where i wanted but a pain in you-know-where it still is anyhow.

This is driving me crazy already, was wondering where the hell the 'normal' camera controls were, it appears hitting D to deselect doesn't work but shift+F or whatever finally deselects it (sometimes) and you can use a free camera view to look around without being centered on something. Is there really no camera options on little buttons? I can't find anything, it seems insane they'd leave something so important out. Am I just being blind here?

I'm annoyed by this as well and it's greatly hindering my efforts to make some cool landscapes.

I was just trying, as a quick first thing, to go look at the 'morrowind' landmass over to the east - managed to find some LOD settings that slightly increased the view distance of the landscape (but not really by enough to view any large land masses from afar as there wasn't a slider for it, just a tick box), unfortunately once you get out of the bulk of Skyrim I now can't for the life of me deselect the camera focus on some ****ing tree about 8 miles behind me, even testing this and slightly moving the mouse now throws me several cells in one direction. Seriously I can't believe the camera controls aren't there, or are this hard to find. There should be just buttons for this in that massive empty space at the top of the screen. As it currently stands, pending someone directing me towards the correct settings, I get a better framerate and view distance de-clipping and going there in-game than I do trying to find it in the construction kit.

I HATE, the camera rotation >.> It shouldn't rotate around the mouse. It should rotate on itself to avoid moving the camera away from the area that needs to be looked at. In tiny spots this get super frustrating.

In giant spots it's frustrating too. I'd say it's just plain frustrating in general. I shouldn't have to rage-quit an editor because I can't look around properly haha.


EDIT - Found it. In preferences under Camera Controls deselect the "focus on last selected object" or whatever it says to that effect, you can then use D to deselect and the camera doesn't behave like a dike anymore.

Thanks for the camera control tip, it makes it a bit less frustrating. Now if it would only stop crashing when i try to use and Object palette life would be good.

For the love of Talos THANK YOU!!

My Object palette is working fine, thank the divines. I loves it. Only problem is I switch back and forth between the palette and object window so often I get confused about how they work: I try to drag stuff from my palette and Alt-Ctrl things from the Object window. [Edit: Is there any way to have more than one palette open at the same time?]

Ooh. Good find.