Poking around with a mod for the 1st time

[Headerman]

Hi guys,

 

I am interested in looking into a mod to see what data is there and how it works... i am very new to modding, and this is a quest based mod rather than anything soley object related (the mod is Sacrificial Spriggan)

 

I go to open the file with the CK and i can't find any data in it, and i also get a load of errors when trying to load it.

 

I open the BSA with notepad though and i get a lot of lines of code.

 

So whats the go? Can i mod that mod with CK? I am concerned my CK is erroring out majorly when opening it though

[BruceWayne]

Moved to Skyrim tech support.

[Headerman]

Whoops thanks dood.

 

I think i may have it...

 

I think the BSA and ESm are just lines of data and to view it properly in the CK i have to load up the main Skyrim file, which on a search, shows the spriggan related quests.

 

 

[Mord Sif]

Whoops thanks dood.

 

I think i may have it...

 

I think the BSA and ESm are just lines of data and to view it properly in the CK i have to load up the main Skyrim file, which on a search, shows the spriggan related quests.

 

Yes, when you're loading any mod up in the Creation Kit you also need to load all the mod's requirements. So if a mod needs Skyrim and Update in order to run in your game, you need to load Skyrim, Update and the mod itself in the CK to have a look at it.

 

By the way, Creation Kit will always give at least one error when you load anything into it. If you can, just click "Yes To All" every time a window pops up until everything loads.

[Headerman]

Awesome thanks

 

 

[Headerman]

Where would i find one-time dialogue description boxes that appear on a quest and you have to hit OK on?

[Veladarius]

It depends on how they did it, it can either be in a script using debug.messagebox or in the Message section in the CK (under Miscellaneous).

[Headerman]

ok cool

[Headerman]

I am attempting to load a script file for a quest item but i keep getting a "Errors encountered while attempting to reload the script" error?

 

Edit: I think i have the answer... scripts are stored in the script folder, so will attempt to copy/paste them some

[Headerman]

I have located something i am thinking of changing, it is a dialogue box that opens only initially.

 

How can i change that dialogue box to open every time the event occurs?

 

i have located the quest item in the CK that references the script, and have located the actual dialogue box contents but on how the quest handles the dialogue box. It's in the BSA file.

 

I can open the bsa file and look at the lines of code with notepad easy enough but i think i need to unpack the bsa file, change it, then repack it?

[Headerman]

Os is it all a case of me being unable to mod someone elses mod?

 

Hmm i just downloaded and opened Tes5Edit...

 

I am such a n00p

[Headerman]

Guys what would i use to decompile scrips and then recompile them?

[Veladarius]

You need a BSA unpacker, there are a number of them around.

 

Decompiling the papyrus scripts doesn't give you anything you can really work with, the output is not the same as the original source. If the mod includes the source scripts you can see them in the CK, edit them and recompile them there, if not you can't really make any changes to them.

[Headerman]

I can see the object for the scrips there but it errors out whenever i try to open them/it.

 

I can also open the bsa and see exactly what i need to change, but i dont know what to do that with?

[Veladarius]

If you are going to try editing the mod you should at last extract the scripts from the bsa, the CK can't see anything in them. Hopefully the bsa contains the source scripts in it.

[Headerman]

I do need a tool to extract it, modify it, then re-package it though.

 

Is there a 'best' tool to use or does CK do it, or are there others that work well?

[Nergui]

Best to let the CK pack .BSA files as it will tell you if you're missing any files. Supposedly Mod Organizer has a tool for unpacking .BSA files. I prefer BSAOpt for unpacking since.

[Headerman]

How do i do it though CK? I think i need to find a tutorial.

[Veladarius]

http://www.creationkit.com

[Headerman]

Thanks Veladarius

[Headerman]

Quick question... do you use CK to decompile scripts, and Notepad++ to recompile them?

 

Edit: I should say i am totally new to ANY language writing, i never got into anything past HTML.... Pearl, Python, PHP and the more popular ones like C++, C# etc are way beyond me lol

[Headerman]

....

 

Data\Scripts\Source

 

hmmm...

 

I will be checking THIS out tonight!

[Headerman]

Ok i need a way to edit the BSA.

 

So i need to unpack it, change it and recompile it? Or can i just use notepad to open and change a few lines?

 

What tools do i need to alter some lines of code within a BSA?

 

Edit: i just used this: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/4804/?and it unpacked everything ok and i can change what i need to.

 

Now to repack/compile it.

[Headerman]

And i did that with BSAOpt.

 

Tried BSAOpt to unpack the bsa and it didnt work too well. Anyway. Mission acomplished

[Veladarius]

You don't need to recompile the bsa, just put the files in their proper place and they will be used instead of what is in the bsa. If you are going to make changes to the mod I recommend unpacking the entire bsa and use it that way.