Dont they test this stuff.
So far I find that the following dont work - and I'm ********

1. Debug.trace (debug.messagebox does thank oblivion )
2. IsRunning ( IsSlageDone does work thank oblivion )
3. The whole damm alias system as far as I can see (I wanted to make items essential).
4. Facial texture mapping regarding NPC tatooes is ignored in the game - they knew about this it seems
5. All of the additional 50 odd body attachment slots - I need some extra ones (like those I used in Fallout3).
6. The Subtitile option in dialogue does not work - and I am not into sound recordng.
7. Only ground model meshes can be imported and shown in the CS and used ingame. Non static models cannot be imported - so as a modder I'm shafted. This may not be afftecting all moders - far there are few of us working on Skyrim because customized tools arent available yet unless you own 3dsmax.

Whoever said that they did not use this CS to make the game is rigkt (obviously he was right, they used a distributed user version).

I have also found a lot of stuff that "doesn't work", however I think that's because of me - I don't know how the stuff is supposed to work or the steps required to make them work so I'm not really blaming the editor.

1. I believe that Debug.trace writes the message in some sort of log file that is saved somewhere. I thought it would print out a nice little text on screen while playing, but it doesn't. -Maybe you thought the same?

check on the wiki, I believe you have to change an ini setting to get debug.Trace to work

^^ This. If you want an onscreen message, use Debug.Notification("Text Here") - Keep in mind though that it's not good for a "running commentarty" because it's a queue and only 3 can be displayed at a time, and new ones are not displayed until old ones fade out.

I believe that all you need to do to make Debug.Trace to work is to use

import Debug

in your script.

1. http://www.creationkit.com/Trace_-_Debug prints to a log. http://www.creationkit.com/Notification_-_Debug is probably what you're looking for.
2. I don't think there's an IsQuestRunning() function. I think what you want is http://www.creationkit.com/IsRunning_-_Quest
3. It works fine, reading the wiki pages on it really helps.
4 & 5. No clue.

No, "Debug.Trace" will work. If you use "import Debug" that would let you call it just as "Trace":

import Debug; Later, inside a function:Trace("Error: Stuff happened")

Cipscis

EDIT:

I talk about this a bit more in detail in my tutorial, http://www.cipscis.com/skyrim/tutorials/externalaccess.aspx, if anyone's interested.

Cipscis

4. It's a bug that's been confirmed by Bethesda.
5. How's that a bad thing?

And of course the CK we have is going to be slightly different, but it's essentially the same thing. Most bugs are ones related to ESP files, something that wouldn't have affected Bethesda in the long run.

1. Works for me, and I prefer messagebox anyways.
2. IsQuestRunning works for me. Make sure you use Utility.wait(2) if you're checking if the quest is running immediately after starting it. I think of it as having a bit of a lag to start the quest. Checking if it's running before it has a chance to start will not give you accurate results.
3. Alias work fine, and are a godsend! Make sure you're using "UniqueActor" references for actors. I'm not sure what problems you're having with alias.
4. 5. Haven't experimented.

Before you go off the rails complaining about stuff, you should take a step back and see what's causing the issue. You must realize that if it's done in the game, than it is possible - this goes for scenes, quests, scripts that are obviously editable. Reverse engineering (finding an example of Bethesda doing it) is a very useful skill.
I udnerstand the CK is limited, but the trick is to work with what you have and find ways to accomplish what you want, and testing testing testing!

I have checked 10 piercing in an mod on and off depending on body slot assignments.
One nif, 10 objects each with it's slots worked perfectly.
Yes it was an test but each of the elements could be trigged on an off.

Actually I meant that. It dosent work.

I am a model maker.
I need the extra body slots - Fallout3 had slots that were perfect for me.

I also appear sthat there is a major bug in the entire model import system
Only static models can be used in the CS and the game - at least in the system I have downloaded. This is reminisant of what hapens with Fallout3/NV - one has to use the Archive Invalidate program to overide Bethesdas anti modder settings. FalloutNV was worse; new hair styles had to be put in BSA archives and ALL ini files altered, and a special tool had to be used to update the facegen flags..

You mean that you used unassigned slots to create a werable item?
Did it atually work in game - so far it appears that my instalation cannot import / use anything but static models.

ThrottlyKitty has told me that the slot numbers are bound to a value inside the nif. I will check this out.

I found that the Bethesda hair meshes can be retextured, at least in the CS cell render window of an NPC.

I can verify 100% that this does indeed work. Please post the script as to how you're using it and we can help.

If you use Blender, can you recommend a good tutorial site for someone who used 3DS Max about 8 years ago, but hasn't done any modelling since then and wants to get back into it?

http://www.blender.org/education-help/tutorials/

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro <--- This is the one I used from long long ago.

Try the niftools site.
So far Skyrim is "unsupported" and Collision meshes (YOU WILL NEED THEIR OBLIVION TUTORIAL FOR THIS) cannot be made for anything exept Morrowind (actually not needed) and Oblivion - but some people are able to work with some Fallout3 colission meshes somehow. I used scalable meshes with can also be used in extendable arrays of collision meshes (you find them in Oblivion furnature nifs).

Frankly Blender is a real problem to get to grips with cause much of the functionality is obscure (and Materias are worse than 3dsmax) and the nif mesh conventions system are not easy to encorporate within Blender . You need a proper textbook like Blender for Dummies, or the Official Blender 2.3 guide (stear away from the earlier offiicial guide like the plague)

I think I remember seeing somewhere that what you would do is take an existing item of about the same size, copy that, then delete the mesh and import the blender version in order to keep the collision information?

I was pretty good with the old 3DS Max (They were just introducing NURBS curves, if I recall correctly) and I'm hoping blender will have some of the same fuctinoality as far as adding modifiers to an initial object (like, for example, a modifier that can take a closed spline and extrude it along an axis or spline with a checkbox to cap the ends)

Blender is the only really free program that can do this...

Yes, I used existing Bethesda files as Trogen horses in Oblivion - where they now have C mesh support. Did not work in Fallout3 -very difficult / impossible to create any new static stuff.

Blender - you need to get the 2ndry window system woking (I think I use the arrow keys to change window modes), and set it up for UV editing. Then you have 1 window with model in, and 2nd window with UV layout in. UV work is easier than in 3dsmax.
Vertex painting is difficult. Can also modify/create a new texture via model painting (only didi it once).

Andysaurus, Do you not need a hand with the IsRunning function? Does it still not work for you? I'm thinking that if your implementation of this isn't working it might cause frustration down the road for similar problems. Additionally, for 6. the Subtitle option - if you're referring to the "Force Subtitle" flag not working, than you must be doing something differently because it works for me. In fact, it's the only way I can ensure the scenes I make are working.

remember, even if you're "not into voice acting" you still must create blank sound clips to slow the dialogue. And the force subtitle flag is necessary in order to see the scene progress.

Thanks, but,
I KNOW that (and this is the case with Fallout3/NV) diffeent peoples instalations work differently with the CS/GECK, hence the need for the Archive Invalidation program.
IsRunning does not work - but IsStagedone does work.
The subtiles flag does not work PERIOD; I know about the blank recording delay
My nif problems where due to a complex set of problems caused by Bethesda's changes to the skeleton and nif data types; I was lucky and cured the problem(s) by tampering with the bone sets and reexporting, though I dont know the full reason for the problem.

That's very odd because I can verify 100% that IsRunning works and the Subtitles flag works. In both cases I have had no issues with it. So I'm asking if you can post the code you used for the IsRunning function so that perhaps I can see why it isn't working for you, and maybe if someone else as the same problem I can help them with it. If you prefer I can dig up the instance I used it in. I can guarantee it works because I used it to display a debug message to make sure my quest was starting properly. I also used it for the scene and there was no issues. Perhaps someone else can chime in.

As for the subtitles flag, are you using it in dialogue branches or in a scene? I found that in the scene, even if you by default allow conversation dialogue (as I do, since I'm hearing impaired), it still doesn't appear unless its checked.

conversation dialogue ?? I'll check it out

Scene ??? In the main I only have top level dialogues, no braches. The problem is actually much worse - and affects Bethesdas own code. I am realy realy fed up. My Player has found that all the Bards Coillege quests are bugged - and the problem is with the alias system. I found finns lute - so now the quest wont statr - yet they allowed for this contingency !!!!!!! with code that dont work. In the other quests, they start and end - leaving quest junk trapped in my inventary - its supposed to be cleaned out at end of quest.

I have sucessfully done a companion quest which involves some new dialogue lines (minus subtitles) and tapping into their follower quest dialogues so that I can track Giles on the map and know what he's realy doing. I also bought horses for me and for him from the Riverwood Trader. And he can ride - though he's ot good at mounting enthusiastically, The game AI also has dificulty coping with a follower on horse back during fast travel. Anyway - dont say I dont know what I'm doing.

Yet the next quest I started is a dialogue failure - the quest dialogues dont appear, the npcs are not tracked on the map, and much of the Quest info is missing. GRRRR.

The only thing that does work is the quests script which can be set to tigger the stages and players inventary content without dialogue (i.e. by mimeing)

Seems that there is an AddTopic function after all. Maybe this will fill in the dialogue hole.

I've checked your posting history and you seem to post a lot of complaints. Especially about certain problems that aren't necessarily shared by everyone. Yes, you may experience a bug or two, but you must realize there's a workaround in nearly every case. If this sort of thing frustrates you that much maybe you should think about putting down modding and taking up another hobby.

The alias system is a godsend in my opinion. It works wonderfully and is quite easy to use. just because the quest object isn't removed from your inventory after isn't enough of a reason to attack Bethesda's code.

Honestly, I think a lot of it is user error mixed with a little misunderstanding. I've built about 4 or 5 quests now, each using the dialogue branches, player dialogue and scene editor. I think you're trying to do things differently than the ideal method and it's causing issues for you.

FYI by conversation dialogue I actually meant conversation subtitles - it's an ingame option to check the general subtitles flag and direct conversation subtitles flag.

Firstly, I made some of the bigest new content mods ever released for Morrowind, Oblivion, and Fallout3. I didnt release anything for falloutNV because it required altering the INI files to work correctly (because the FeNV construction set is set up differently regarding new content pickup to the FE3 one), and I lost interest.
I will repeat that it appears to be due to problems with the alias system that my inventary is full of junk that should have been removed at the end of the Bethesda Bards Quests, while another of my quests will not activate correcly; I can only access the dialogues by calling them directly from quests that do work. That looks like a bug in the system to me..