Fallout 4 Open House Project (help required)

[Grine]

So I see a lot of people, especially new comers, coming up with ideas or wanting to help/participate.

This thread is for you people and others interested in helping me in this project.


So what is this project? Exactly as it sounds. I am going to make the vast majority of houses in the game that are currently closed off into explorable houses. This sounds like something that I would need 30 people for but not really.
Its actually quite doable. IF I know where these houses are and what type of Static Mesh (ver. A, B, C, ect.)

Bethesda is ussually very lazy and probably has around a dozen or so building models that they painstakingly put together to make them appear unique.
What I need to do is simply make the template for these buildings' interiors and then copy pasting them with each building having random stuff in them.
By the time I am done I should have enough practice with GECK and all the tools/frameworks should be ready.
Thats where the fun stuff begins...anyway.


So What do I need and where do you come in?
First we need to identify how many and what types of buildings there are in the game. So your first task is to explore the FO4 map and find the building types (generic).
Then take a screenshots of both the buildings and your pipboy map to remember where it is located.
And finally use the map I provided below to dot out every location you came across that exact building.

Once you are done (at least one building type) post a picture of the building in question as we dont know their official names yet so I know which building you are talking about and then the map where all the locations are displayed.

Once all of this is done I will open the thread to suggestions and ideas what I could put inside each random building.
And perhaps even pointing out some unique looking buildings that are also blocked off. But that is low priority for now.

[LeFlemard]

that.... will be painstakingly long to do... Well, I'll try to do it when I play....

[Grine]

that.... will be painstakingly long to do... Well, I'll try to do it when I play....

 

Thats exactly the long part about it.

And we have the time now.

 

If I know where all these buildings are exactly it would be much easier to do this.

And whats more there is no 'talent for modding' needed.

[Guest]

Do you have in mind, @Grine, to have the buildings set as new cells, so with a "teleport door" or to have them "Open spaced"?

In the first case it is just a matter of time to do it.

in the latter case then you will require really powerful machines to run the game. And way more time to create the interiors because the actual interior does not exist, and it will be hard to actually fit the available space.

[Grine]

Do you have in mind, @Grine, to have the buildings set as new cells, so with a "teleport door" or to have them "Open spaced"?

In the first case it is just a matter of time to do it.

in the latter case then you will require really powerful machines to run the game. And way more time to create the interiors because the actual interior does not exist, and it will be hard to actually fit the available space.

 

First I need to see how many buildings of each building type there are to decide how I am going to divide them.

However the basic idea is there will be a dozen or so buildings in each cell, all these buildings look really small from the outside so I just need to make a few building interiors for each cell and just copy paste the template for each new building. (thankfully in skyrim even the navmesh is copied across)

 

I will duplicate cells if necessary and put a simple portal box around each building interior so less powerful systems can run them (try loading 18-20 house interiors at the same time could be tough).

What would take time is customizing each one of these houses. If everyday I do 3 or 4 then I should be done in a month or 2. Hopefully anyway.

 

I will link each house to the outside by simply putting a door_portal outside. I could update the navmesh of that area as I do this but I am kind of afraid I would break something. The only downside to not updating the navmesh in the outside is that if you go inside the monsters/followers outside cant follow you (worst case scenario).

[Guest]

OK. This approach will not require to overload the mashes on the exterior cell rendering.

And, yes, probably a dozen of "building types" will be enough.

If the "containers" will be done with the correct leveled lists then they will have also a little bit of variety on the contents inside the containers.

(Of course you still need to duplicate the cells, one for each building.)

And you can add a little bit of variety by doing the "basic cell templates" very light, and every time you duplicate one to then attach it to a "door", you can add a little bit of variety inside. (An extra chair, a different radio, ...)

 

[Grine]

I dont think I need to duplicate cells for each building though. I simply need each building interior to have its own door leading somewhere else. Like one of those skyrim inns that had two entrances. Except each door here only leads to one room.

 

Technically if the rooms were linked someone could go from one end of the map in fallout to the other end by using a different door but off course I wont allow that.

It would look like this:

 

The blue box will only render whats inside, theoretically, so your pc will not be trying to load all of these rooms at the same time. I think I will only have a dozen per cell. I think most big interiors would be about that big (if you are worried about loading times).

 

[Guest]

In your example you are not "duplicating the cells". But you are "duplicating the cells contents".

It is more complex, and increases the number of items inside the cell without giving any real benefit (and it will be a pain to do updates, and it will make impossible to do correct checking of "NPC in cells" stuff, making followers to pain to follow.)

[Grine]

I meant duplicating cells as in if I needed more extra rooms. Honestly I can do it both ways, It makes no difference to me (probably faster anyway) unless I am reaching some interior cell limit I am unaware about. And totally forgot about the Cell checking, you are right. Damn. Well I guess just making cells as I go on about this then.

 

Will probably need to label them properly so I know where each one is.

[Guest]

Yep.

 

My small advice is to have a master cell for each "building type".

And then duplicate it, give to it a proper name, and then attach it to the actual building with a "teleporting door".

By creating the "master templates" you will save a huge amount of time for upgrades.

[Grine]

Neat and tidy. Yep I like it. Will name them in such a way so they are all in the same range.

Now... Just wait for the good folks here to give me a reference and info to work with while Bethesda waits for god knows what.

[Guest]

You can try to start with the CK.

 

Edit with FO4Edit the file fallout4.esm

Copy the IDs of the Statics (only hte names can give you an idea of what they are, right now)

Create a new, empty, mod for Skyrim.

Edit ti with TES5Edit.

Create a bunch of new statics

Set their IDs to the FO4 ones.

Put a NIF inside that MAY looks like the one for FO4.

Save and start building the items in CK.

 

If we will be lucky enough, then we may be able to "port" your basic cells to FO4.

 

[Grine]

You can try to start with the CK.

 

Edit with FO4Edit the file fallout4.esm

Copy the IDs of the Statics (only hte names can give you an idea of what they are, right now)

Create a new, empty, mod for Skyrim.

Edit ti with TES5Edit.

Create a bunch of new statics

Set their IDs to the FO4 ones.

Put a NIF inside that MAY looks like the one for FO4.

Save and start building the items in CK.

 

If we will be lucky enough, then we may be able to "port" your basic cells to FO4.

 

I think I will explore this, try it as an option though I have to see if the amount of time spent is really worth the time I will be 'saving' for the future. Well I need to know where these damn buildings are right now anyway for now but I will play around in FO4Edit just to see if there is anything useful I can learn so I can plan for later.

[Guest]

The main problem, is that the "placement of items" inside the "Cells" is not visible in xxxEdit.

So we cannot be 100% sure that the previous approach will work.

 

[junty]

This seems like it will be such a cool mod, I'd be glad to help just to be a part of it. Would be cool to add random npc's like raiders or whatever into some of those buildings too. Just for even more variation. 

Anyway, I'll do as many as I can. 

[tonicmole]

Most curious.  Are the houses modular or a single mesh?  If the house aren't actually modular, you could simply replace the mesh of a closed house with an open one and cross your fingers it has the same neutral xyz.  Placing stuff in them would probably be impossible before GECK, but you'd have empty houses to hide in until Geck comes out.

[Guest]

Most curious.  Are the houses modular or a single mesh?  If the house aren't actually modular, you could simply replace the mesh of a closed house with an open one and cross your fingers it has the same neutral xyz.  Placing stuff in them would probably be impossible before GECK, but you'd have empty houses to hide in until Geck comes out.

 

The "external houses" are just statics. In some cases they are a single static, but more often they are created with a small set of statics.

Many of them are unique statics.

And the statics will just show the exterior of the building (if you disable the collision in the console, and you walk in these buildings you will see that there is nothing inside (maybe some ground items, but no more than this.)

 

The "open houses" are composed by a multiple set of statics.

[ttpt]

A modder named chucksteel did this sort of thing for FO3 and NV, even a combined one for TTW, you could take a look at his mods and see if he hand placed everything or if he used leveled lists. It's definitely doable if time consuming but it's the kind of mod I'll install right away as soon as it's available. But the best and most compatible approach is to just use the door as a portal to a different cell like you have planned.

[Idanis]

A fascinating and clever Idea to involve the community and have fun! for those worried about taking screen shots using the steam system, theres a program called Gyazo that lets you take pictures of what your currently looking at on your monitor and turns it into a jpeg with a HTML link, not just games

 

just click and drag and TADA!

 

 

heres a link to this handy website, makes gifs too

 

https://gyazo.com

 

that should speed up the process

[junty]

I'm finding it hard to come across two identical derelict buildings. I mean there are I'm sure, but if I come across two derelicts that are the same how would I remember where I came across one before? There are so many. 

I'd like to help and have been taking screens of derelict buildings and map screenshots of where they are. So at very least I can give you points on the map where there are derelict buildings, but liek I said the ones I've come across are mostly all different. Or at least look to be. Tedious work. 

[Grine]

Ok.

So take 3 screenshots for each different building to show what you mean. I kind of know already what you are saying but it would be a good example for the future.

I will showcase how you guys can differentiate between the different types of buildings.