Learning to mod

[Calista]

Hi all,

 

   I've using LL for quite awhile now. A lot of great mods by very talented authors. While downloading and using various mods, I've learned a fair bit, and acquired a desire to contribute. I've downloaded Creation Kit, but have yet to figure out how to use it. Please, if anyone has ideas on how I might learn to mod, I would greatly appreciate it.

[Bazinga]

Well, I guess the first thing you should decide is what aspect of the game you want to mod.

Do you want to add better quests? Then you should learn Papyrus, the scripting language used for Skyrim.

Wanna convert armors? Learn how to use Outfit Studio and all its nifty little tools.

Model new armors? Well ... Blender or 3ds Max and ... that's all I know. There are tutorials for that though.

Texture replacers? Better have a knack for photography and be a bit artistically inclined. We don't need another shitty HiRes retexture mod, we need new texture sources.

Create animations? Beats me, that stuff is the most arcane thing in my book. Skeleton rigs and 3ds max something something.

Level design? A bit of Papyrus to set up events, stories, quests (you want to fill the new space you create with something interesting, right?) and a lot of tinkering around in the Creation Kit.

I think adding new rooms/houses/dungeons/worldspaces or changing the existing ones is the only reason why you would try to master the Creation Kit. For everything else there are either better tools or superficial CK knowledge is good enough. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Oh and for many of the things the CK does there is also TES5Edit, more lightweight and often better presented/arranged too.

 

Or ask any of the modders with ongoing projects if they need help.

 

And of course there is always a demand for people with special talents, from artists who can draw more than a stickman and voice actors with pleasant voices to someone capable of writing interesting prosa. Or someone who can sing and play an instrument or two. Why not add better bard songs?

The modding community changed this game to hell and back by now so anything goes (okay, nearly anything). The sky's the limit! 

[Calista]

Well, I guess the first thing you should decide is what aspect of the game you want to mod.

Do you want to add better quests? Then you should learn Papyrus, the scripting language used for Skyrim.

Wanna convert armors? Learn how to use Outfit Studio and all its nifty little tools.

Model new armors? Well ... Blender or 3ds Max and ... that's all I know. There are tutorials for that though.

Texture replacers? Better have a knack for photography and be a bit artistically inclined. We don't need another shitty HiRes retexture mod, we need new texture sources.

Create animations? Beats me, that stuff is the most arcane thing in my book. Skeleton rigs and 3ds max something something.

Level design? A bit of Papyrus to set up events, stories, quests (you want to fill the new space you create with something interesting, right?) and a lot of tinkering around in the Creation Kit.

I think adding new rooms/houses/dungeons/worldspaces or changing the existing ones is the only reason why you would try to master the Creation Kit. For everything else there are either better tools or superficial CK knowledge is good enough. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Oh and for many of the things the CK does there is also TES5Edit, more lightweight and often better presented/arranged too.

 

Or ask any of the modders with ongoing projects if they need help.

 

And of course there is always a demand for people with special talents, from artists who can draw more than a stickman and voice actors with pleasant voices to someone capable of writing interesting prosa. Or someone who can sing and play an instrument or two. Why not add better bard songs?

The modding community changed this game to hell and back by now so anything goes (okay, nearly anything). The sky's the limit! 

 

[Calista]

Thank you. I guess to go along with a topic I posted the other day about a "Jealousy Mod", I think I need to learn Papyrus. I'll start searching for a tutorial.

[Veladarius]

Good place to start and a great reference for scripting: http://www.creationkit.com/index.php?title=Landing_page

 

I would focus on dialogue, scenes and scripting for the most part. If you plan on adding new locations (house etc...) you will need to learn how to navmesh. The CK can be a real pain to work with as there are a lot of features in it from previous versions that no longer work and do nothing, they never took them out.

 

Feel free to ask questions as there are a lot of us willing to help out with advice.

[Kendo 2]

Hi all,

 

   I've using LL for quite awhile now. A lot of great mods by very talented authors. While downloading and using various mods, I've learned a fair bit, and acquired a desire to contribute. I've downloaded Creation Kit, but have yet to figure out how to use it. Please, if anyone has ideas on how I might learn to mod, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

This is a good Skyrim tutorial for beginners.

http://www.creationkit.com/index.php?title=Bethesda_Tutorial_Planning_the_Quest

 

If you treat like a class lesson and do all of the exercises it will work.  I know because that's one of the tutorials I used to teach myself Skyrim scripting and quest modding.

 

Once you get some base knowledge start PMing mod authors and attempt to get them to answer questions you might have about more advanced ideas.  If you show initiative and demonstrate that you WANT to mod then most of the more popular Skyrim modders here will help you...somewhat.  If you are easily frustrated then Skyrim modding might not be your thing.  It's maddening at times.

[DocClox]

My best advice is work through the tutorials on the creation kit wiki.DO 'em all, even the ones that don't seem particularly relevant, since a lot of the incidentals will be useful. (You don't need to know how to build a dungeon, perhaps, but you'll probably need markers and the basics of that are covered in the dungeon building exercises, for instance).

[Calista]

Thank you very much! I'm jumping on the CK page now. My only frustration is a lack of knowledge, but I'm quite excited to learn.

 

 

[nosdregamon]

The Wiki-Lessons are pretty good. CPU's guide is also extremly helpful:

http://www.loverslab.com/files/file/3038-papyrus-for-skyrim-guide/

 

Still, Papyrus might be hard, if it's your first script language (or quite frustrating if you already know a bunch of computer languages), but it's quite powerful.

 

The Wiki-Lessons are a very good/important way to learn the "frame" wherein everything runs.

[Calista]

The Wiki-Lessons are pretty good. CPU's guide is also extremly helpful:

http://www.loverslab.com/files/file/3038-papyrus-for-skyrim-guide/

 

Still, Papyrus might be hard, if it's your first script language (or quite frustrating if you already know a bunch of computer languages), but it's quite powerful.

 

The Wiki-Lessons are a very good/important way to learn the "frame" wherein everything runs.

 

Just downloaded. Thank you