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Reginald's PreFab ShackFest! - Dev Diary (Daily Alpha Release)


Reginald_001

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So I've cooked up a little side project for myself called 'Reginald's PreFab ShackFest!'.

 

RegLogo.jpg.77918ffc6281c2dd52f8a42c71eb87c6.jpg

 

 

With a bit of help from @Flashy (JoeR) in another topic that I've hijacked (and will stop hijacking now..) I've managed to get through the kinks of making prefabs.

 

Update: Ok, so I think I'm pretty much done with this mod:

  • 22 Buildable Shack Prefabs:
    • 10 Wooden Living Shacks
    • 9 Metal Living Shacks
    • 2 Security Shacks (1 Wood and 1 Metal)
  • 1 Dog House Shack 
  • 1 Craftable Security Marker (6 Defense) to be placed on the balcony of a SecuriShack.

 

It was about 5 days of work in total and I'm very happy with the results!

This is the FINAL alpha that I'm releasing and if no one find any major bugs, I will release this soon here and on the Nexus.

You are pretty 'safe' to use this in your regular game. It's stable, and I won't likely be replacing anything that can break your savegames.

 

Getting vendor and resource objects to work without scripting proved to be nearly impossible, or a pain in the ass for users, so I stuck with just a lot of prefab shacks that you can use to quickly build a settlement around.

 

(ALPHA release 5.0 with 22 navmeshed SHACKS available on second page of the thread!)

The goal was to create a kind of Sim Settlements 'ultra light' completely script free thing going on, furniture, activators and static items that will function as both bed and housing, and for productive means (e.g. agricultural shacks, security shacks, vendor shacks). For now though, I've started light, just plain old pre-fabs. I've decided to show you guys/gals what I've got so far. And if you have any ideas that are not too technically challenging, I can work them into the mod.

 

The biggest challenge I've had so far was to make the foundation of my shacks spill/clip into the ground, and have it so that the player can add their own doors. I solved both issues  by adding snap-markers to the NIF file. I will write a full tutorial on this soon.

 

Here's some in game screenshots of the earlier shacks so far, later shacks are more detailed:

 

 

ScreenShot29.jpg
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ScreenShot27.jpg

 

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Yup! I'm starting work on churning out prefabs. I'll beautify these as well, some metal framework in the foundation, some clip models to help the AI navigate it, etc.. The idea is to make at least 10 wooden prefab shacks, 10 metal ones and 10 cement ones, then perhaps some 'specials'. If all of that works well (making 1 prefab takes about 30 minutes of time once you get into the flow) then I'll look into Vendor-, agricultural- & security shacks. Once done, you should be able to churn out the basics of an entire settlement/city for 30 odd people within minutes.

 

Just made the 'Two Shack':

 

image.png.47675738dc555fc185b8a59814f229fa.png

 

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If anyone wants to try this out in game, you are welcome to try this release at your own risk.

I will try to upload a new release every time I hit a major milestone (e.g. 5 new shacks built).

 

DOWNLOAD IT HERE: RegsPrefabShackFest_alpha_0_1.7z

 

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS + REMEMBER when you're testing:

1) SAVE YOUR CURRENT SAVE UNDER A NEW NAME with the mod still disabled(!)

2) Enable the MOD through your mod manager (Drag and drop into your mod manager, I suppose.. Or manually extract into your fallout 4 folder then enable through the main menu in the game.)

3) Test the mod and shacks to your hearts content.. DO NOT OVERWRITE YOUR ORIGINAL SAVE GAME WHILE TESTING ACCIDENTALLY.

4) exit the game.

5) Disable the mod, remove the files as listed in the zip (the 'RegsPrefabs folder under 'meshes' and the 'RegsPrefab.esp' file).

6) Load up your original save game, no warnings should be there about missing mods or anything, yay! :)

 

Feedback or bug reports are welcome! (If you're not a jerk about it! :P)

 

Contents of 7z:

image.png.139588d530289de24933dff755af19c2.png

 

 

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Question: How do I Navmesh these statics?

I know how to Navmesh a normal level. I do that normally by hand so there are few challenges for me there. I know how to 'finalize'.

Well scrap that, even! When I go into NavMesh mode after dragging the Nif into the editor I can't even select vertices (or anything else) to create the Navmesh surfaces.. I also have no idea on how to 'bake' the navmesh INTO the Static nif file.

 

Any clues?

 

(Edit: Found some clues. Navmeshed my shack. Tried to combine it into a new static item, poof.. CK crashed.. :P)

Added 'Maximum Shackage!'.. the first two-story shack.. (Solved Navmesh stuff.. see below).

 

image.png.c8cc1f1115a9b93dbf136baffcf2159e.png

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Ok I got the Navmeshing to work by following this tutorial to the letter: https://simsettlements.com/web/wiki/index.php?title=Toolkit_Chapter_06_Settler_Navigation

 

Now finished navmeshing the first shack, will go through the rest as well. That should make settlers navigate it better.

Next step is to add NavBlocks, invisible geometry that blocks settlers from getting stuck underneath the ramps and stairs.

 

(Edit: Finished all Navmeshing on all shacks. Tested it in game and Ivy navigates the shacks like a champ!)

Now to continue building new shacks and prefabs!

 

(Edit 2: I just had the idea for some 'mini shacks', roughly half the size of this shack (e.g. 1 unit of 256x256 size) shack that you can stack next to each other to make apartment buildings, also handy for small settlements like Hangman's Alley)

 

IMAGES IN SPOILER OF IVY DOING SEXY THINGS AND GOING TO BED.

 

 

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59 minutes ago, DRKronk said:

You sir are a Genius! Love where this is headed, since I totally suck at building anything not already pre-fabbed(? is that a word?) Plus I can avoid Garvey easier - yay!

Thanks. I'm sure many will enjoy it when it's finished. It takes minutes to build an entire town like this.

 

Just finished the 'mini shack' (the one on the left with the red cloth above the door).

 

image.png.22defe62f7d65046ec8235cbec8fffd4.png

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Adding and grinding on more content. Just added the EIGHTH shack building, another small 1 unit shack, no cloth needed, just wood & metal. And I finished the Ninth Shack, almost done with the wooden shacks, after that the metal shacks. :)

 

Introducing 'The ShackMeister(tm)":

 

image.png.08871a1d098a2f83b4f73d304016442f.png

 

 

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I have the process pretty much down now, each one takes around 45 minutes to make:

 

- Drag & Drop statics into an empty cell

- Combine them into a collection, edit the 'base' of that collection, collapse it into a static NIF.

- Copy NIF from SCOL folder into my own meshes folder.

- Add Static definition in CK

- Right Click on Static in CK > Edit Object Navmesh and create Navmesh, Finalize.

- Add Constructible Object definition in CK

- Through Nfiskope, Add Origin, P-WS_SinkMax Snap points to allow for the construction to sink into the ground (all shacks have their own foundation).

- Open up NIF in CK, empty cell, add Static Nif of the shack, then add a 'helmet-GO' model where the door snap should be (so I can check what the precise coordinates should be). Write coords down, empty the testcell by removing all objects.

- Through Nfiskope, Add P-Door-Dif2 (on the same coordinates as the 'helmet-Go' model)

Start Loop:

- Test in game.

- Tweak Door Snap point in NifSkope

End loop:

- Make screenshot for Dev Diary

- Done!

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Ok, you can download the LATEST BUILD (0.2) here.

 

Fixes / Additions:

- Fixed all Navmeshes for the shacks.

- 10 Prefabs in total now added to the 'wood' section.

- See spoilers for all different prefabs and their names.

 

RegsPrefabShackFest_alpha_0_2.7z

 

This is still alpha.

 

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS + REMEMBER when you're testing:

1) SAVE YOUR CURRENT SAVE UNDER A NEW NAME with the mod still disabled(!)

2) Enable the MOD through your mod manager (Drag and drop into your mod manager, I suppose.. Or manually extract into your fallout 4 folder then enable through the main menu in the game.)

3) Test the mod and shacks to your hearts content.. DO NOT OVERWRITE YOUR ORIGINAL SAVE GAME WHILE TESTING ACCIDENTALLY.

4) exit the game.

5) Disable the mod, remove the files as listed in the zip (the 'RegsPrefabs folder under 'meshes' and the 'RegsPrefab.esp' file).

6) Load up your original save game, no warnings should be there about missing mods or anything, yay! :)

 

Feedback or bug reports are welcome! (If you're not a jerk about it! :P)

 

Screenshots:

 

 

Contents of 7zip file:

image.png.6b16154cf7891dd692cad33c0d7df41e.png


ScreenShot91.jpg.711c6719c7aadbc065535fb3019236d7.jpg
ScreenShot92.jpg.766dededd093db733eb9e9605fb03bbe.jpg
ScreenShot93.jpg.b8646e711bec64acc92415ebc04ed2a9.jpg
ScreenShot94.jpg.d098b565cd22affc6c6c1cbd2407bbcb.jpg
ScreenShot95.jpg.acce9f6fec0a5ef2b4c4df05152d647d.jpg
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ScreenShot99.jpg.7b36567d6101f51104e2a53128d93b73.jpg
ScreenShot100.jpg.618dad52144840b8f1f357da074553a8.jpg

 

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These look absolutely perfect.  I also liked the idea behind Sim Settlements but was never crazy about the little sort of terrarium set pieces you end up with.  These little shacks of yours look like exactly what I want to build villages out of.  Really nice work, and thank you for explaining the process so clearly.

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10 minutes ago, EgoBallistic said:

These look absolutely perfect.  I also liked the idea behind Sim Settlements but was never crazy about the little sort of terrarium set pieces you end up with.  These little shacks of yours look like exactly what I want to build villages out of.  Really nice work, and thank you for explaining the process so clearly.

Thanks! Yes I really liked Sim Settlements, but wasn't too fond of the way it all eventually worked out, especially because it's so heavy on scripting that it was crashing many of my games. As these are just basic prefabs and no scripting is involved, it's all version independent and stable as fuck. :)

Players can decorate the shacks as they see fit with beds or other furniture.

 

And it's all lore friendly, using mostly workshop elements and some minor additions. I want it to look like players built it with basic workshop stuff, so they can still build their own things without them standing out too much.

 

You can use this perfectly next to Sim Settlements, by the way. :)

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Just finished the first Metal Shack. Introducing '  The DraftMeister'

A wooden balcony attached to a metal shack.

 

Ran into some challenges as with all my other models '0.0' was at the center of the model, at the height of the floor of the shack (above the foundation).

For this the CK decided to suddenly place it 220 units higher, so that the foundation is also above 0. This caused me to have to tweak a whole lot of things before the snaps were working well for this model. Currently navmeshing it and it should be done in a few minutes so I can churn out some other metal shacks as well.

 

image.png.19bf4124c811d090859f3f540f928011.png

 

On the left this metal shack (above the ground line) on the right the normal/regular shacks (half sunk into the ground).

There's no real way to control this from within the CK, or I haven't found it yet.

 

image.png.7b4363b97652f2964ae9f2136aba4a5f.png

 

But it's easy to work around by adjusting the P-WS-Origin and P-WS-SinkMax snaps:

 

image.png.4632296334b05823d34b21f0792376fd.png

 

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I've managed to perfect the process of door-snap placement in the Nif's by the following method:

 

- Add a 'HelmetGo.nif' static (from the armors folder) exactly where the doorsnap should be.

- In Nifskope, copy it's x-y-z coordinates into your snappoint with name 'P-Door-Dif2', the snappoint will now line up 100% with the helmet model.

- Select the helmet branch inside Nifskope and delete that branch (effectively deleting the helmet from the model so it doesn't show up in game).

- No more looping between Nifskop and restarting Fallout4 to get the coordinates for the door snap 'just right'!

- Navmeshing is a breeze now that I know what to look out for.

- Finished the FOURTH metal shack just now:

 

Introducing 'ElektraShack'

 

image.png.f11acce53c2cca27d05c5bdfa8aa97aa.png

 

The Navmeshes all work perfectly, settlers can navigate the shacks immediately after placing them!



image.png.99a542f1746155154a51bb205f80f191.png

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And I'm really on a roll today, just finishing up the final touches on the metal version of the 'SecuriShack(tm)'

A 'rug' will be added that you can place on the balcony, and assign a Settler to for security (12).

Place your turrets on the platform above the settler.

 

image.png.8127d8630380d44c26cd3f61f5679fad.png

 

Some 'beauty' shots:



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On 2/20/2019 at 10:01 AM, DRKronk said:

You sir are a Genius! Love where this is headed, since I totally suck at building anything not already pre-fabbed(? is that a word?) Plus I can avoid Garvey easier - yay!

 Garvey is so pushy isn't he?  Always accosting your Survivor.    I wonder if a Devious Device gag would work on him? I really HATE being force greeted by that bastard. 

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