ahondara Posted April 3, 2012 Posted April 3, 2012 Been working like a man-possessed on my first dungeon mod but when a friend tried to run my .esm file in his game, it crashes to the desktop. He tried 3 times and gave up. Yes, he did de-select all other mods before starting his game, so there is no conflict there. I don't know his video card info, however I can say that I don't have any more than the tiny video card that came with my motherboard, and I can still run the game and my mods on "medium". He has a "pretty good" vid card so plays on "high". Seems I did something wrong, but unsure what it could be. Where do I start in figuring out what went wrong? Your help will be greatly appreciated.
gregathit Posted April 3, 2012 Posted April 3, 2012 Did you use any custom textures, sounds, or meshes? This could include items/clothes/armor/weapons or the like. If you have anything "custom" then that would explain why you can run without crashing and he can't.
astymma Posted April 3, 2012 Posted April 3, 2012 Another common crash is that skyrim is the first system they've made that requires distributing scripts... not all mind you but many will generate an external papyrus file that needs to be distributed.
ahondara Posted April 3, 2012 Author Posted April 3, 2012 Thanks for responding. So yes, I did "attempt" to create an amulet by modifying 1, I renamed a throne. Now that you mention it, the amulet did not show up in-game and I got an error message about it from CK. I'll make sure it's deleted. (Can't believe I didn't consider that). The amulet isn't important right now, but the throne is integral to the whole place. Is there something I need to DO to rename things and make sure they don't crash people's game? Astymma, I have used other people's mods (I think "civil unrest" is one) that came with script files. I didn't consciously create any scripts, but I should ask "How do I know if I need to include scripts with my mod?" If it helps, basically I built a dungeon using lots of traps (I know these have script in them, but I didn't "create" it per se) and many Dwemer robot type NPC. There is 1 other thing that MIGHT be a problem, and that is since I am unable to create custom NPC (another thread I started) I have used ghost NPC that exist in the usual game as filler until I can get the true NPC I need. They are not named, essential characters, but they only exist in 1 dungeon in the regular game. I suppose I need to eliminate things and have a "tester" try the mod out until it works, but I don't have such a pal. But I digress. I'll remove the custom item first and beg my mate to try it again.
gregathit Posted April 3, 2012 Posted April 3, 2012 Try to stick with vanilla only items in your mod and you will be fine. If you do need to have custom items then you will need to include the meshes/textures/sounds/scripts that they use via loose files.
astymma Posted April 3, 2012 Posted April 3, 2012 One thing you can do is have the CK prepare a file for upload but don't upload it to SW. The prepared package can then be inspected to see what the CK packaged for distribution.
ahondara Posted April 3, 2012 Author Posted April 3, 2012 Interesting idea...prepare for upload? I'll give it a try! Is renaming things going to be a problem? In order to create a door to the place, I used a hatch from The Midden, but couldn't have it say "Open hatch to the Midden", so I changed the name.
gregathit Posted April 3, 2012 Posted April 3, 2012 Renaming things should not be any problem, since that will be saved in the esm file that you will be giving to your buddy.
ahondara Posted April 4, 2012 Author Posted April 4, 2012 Hello again. I tried "upload Plugin and Archive to Steam" and C.K. gave me a message about a mannequin script. I gave my okay, and a .bsa file and a .bsl file were made. I use some mods that gave me a .bsa file to add, but .bsl?? Since none of the mods I use have such a file, it makes me curious.
astymma Posted April 4, 2012 Posted April 4, 2012 Hello again. I tried "upload Plugin and Archive to Steam" and C.K. gave me a message about a mannequin script. I gave my okay' date=' and a .bsa file and a .bsl file were made. I use some mods that gave me a .bsa file to add, but .bsl?? Since none of the mods I use have such a file, it makes me curious. [/quote'] I wouldn't worry about the bsl file, it's just an information file about the bsa archive. I think only SW uses it, it isn't part of the mod itself. Basically what you want to do is browse the bsa file created... it will contain all the loose files for your mod and let you know what's required for your mod's installation. It's a good single file reference for your mod's required files. Makes it easier to see just a directory structure of your mod's files in one place.
ahondara Posted April 4, 2012 Author Posted April 4, 2012 I'm back. Okay, so I tried 2 things. I opened the .bsa file and the only script listed is "scripts/source/MannequinActivatorscript.psc". My buddy tried installing my mod with the accompanying .bsa file and it crashed immediately after reaching the Bethesda screen. I thought, well if it doesn't like my mannequins, I'll delete them. I deleted both mannequins and saved and tried the upload plugin route again and the same message about scripts/source/MannequinActivatorscript.psc comes up. Personally, I think it's something more than this 1 thing. It's easy to mess things up the first time round, even after watching a dozen tutorial vids. Any further advice or directions I can take?
astymma Posted April 4, 2012 Posted April 4, 2012 I'm back. Okay' date=' so I tried 2 things. I opened the .bsa file and the only script listed is "scripts/source/MannequinActivatorscript.psc". My buddy tried installing my mod with the accompanying .bsa file and it crashed immediately after reaching the Bethesda screen. I thought, well if it doesn't like my mannequins, I'll delete them. I deleted both mannequins and saved and tried the upload plugin route again and the same message about scripts/source/MannequinActivatorscript.psc comes up. Personally, I think it's something more than this 1 thing. It's easy to mess things up the first time round, even after watching a dozen tutorial vids. Any further advice or directions I can take? [/quote'] No don't distribute the bsa, that will crash people. use it only as a guide to what loose files you should put in a zip file to distribute.
ahondara Posted April 4, 2012 Author Posted April 4, 2012 Gotcha about the .esp file. I did a small test. I made a very simple vanilla "box" room, 4 walls and a light source, named it and sent the file to my mate and it worked. Next I ctrl+c ctrl+v the contents of the errant dungeon into the cell of "version2" sent it, and of course it crashed. That was just me making make sure it was content causing the crash, and not the way I started the whole dungeon. I hate to start over since the place is already rather big as far as dungeons go, but I'm not sure where to go from here. Ultimate goal is to make it available to other people, so need to figure out what's going on. ...I need a second testing PC...(sigh)
ahondara Posted April 5, 2012 Author Posted April 5, 2012 I'm back and have tried a couple tests with a friend and his PC. 1st, I made a backup copy of my mod and opened it in CK. I proceeded to remove all NPC, traps, FX, loot and left basically just architecture, furniture and lighting. The mod still crashes his game. Somewhere in there I did something wrong that creates a problem for another's PC (but not mine). I started a new location and just put a simple room with a light source and he tried it and it worked fine, so I am at least starting the process correctly. The gutting part is that I was very close to completion of a rather large place that had about a dozen finished rooms full of traps, enemies, etc. I'm sure you can understand why I'd rather avoid starting from scratch, and I would like your opinion(s) about whether I should start over or if there is something I can do to resolve the situation. Furthermore, is there a way to copy certain complex sections of the dungeon and paste them into a new mod file? As far as I can tell, if I have my dungeon "active" so I can see it, any saves I make will be saved to that file and not the new one. Hope I'm wrong on that point. Sorry for the long-winded reply but trying to cover several things. Thanks for your continued support with my problem.
astymma Posted April 5, 2012 Posted April 5, 2012 I'm back and have tried a couple tests with a friend and his PC. 1st' date=' I made a backup copy of my mod and opened it in CK. I proceeded to remove all NPC, traps, FX, loot and left basically just architecture, furniture and lighting. The mod still crashes his game. Somewhere in there I did something wrong that creates a problem for another's PC (but not mine). I started a new location and just put a simple room with a light source and he tried it and it worked fine, so I am at least starting the process correctly. The gutting part is that I was very close to completion of a rather large place that had about a dozen finished rooms full of traps, enemies, etc. I'm sure you can understand why I'd rather avoid starting from scratch, and I would like your opinion(s) about whether I should start over or if there is something I can do to resolve the situation. Furthermore, is there a way to copy certain complex sections of the dungeon and paste them into a new mod file? As far as I can tell, if I have my dungeon "active" so I can see it, any saves I make will be saved to that file and not the new one. Hope I'm wrong on that point. Sorry for the long-winded reply but trying to cover several things. Thanks for your continued support with my problem. [/quote'] ALL changes made during an editing session will be saved to the active file if there is one or to a new file if there isn't. You can copy cells to a new plugin quite easily but not with the CK. Your best tool for things like that is skyedit or tessnip. Some tasks will always be easier using a tree view of your plugin in tools like those rather than the view afforded you in the CK. In those you can right click a record and copy it and all its children to a new plugin file making copying entire cells a snap. It also makes it very easy to see exactly what changes your esp/esm is making and to clean your file of extraneous dirty edits to things you didn't intend to change. As far as whether you should start over, I would say no. You will learn a lot more about modding if you actually spend the time to trace *why* you're crashing your friend's PC but not your own. now if you need this mod out and want it out sooner, starting over may be better but you'll learn more if you don't.
ahondara Posted April 5, 2012 Author Posted April 5, 2012 Yes, learning is the whole reason I started messing with CK in the first place. It was just so much easier to make a faulty mod that it is to figure out why it's broken. Heh heh heh. Thanks for the head's up on Skyedit and Tessnip. Certainly copying a record is more what I had in mind than using the mouse to select all and copy that, since there is something in there that other people's games don't like. Thanks again. I'll give these a try.
ahondara Posted April 6, 2012 Author Posted April 6, 2012 My ignorance is making me crazy. I dislike not knowing how to fix something broken, but even more maddening is not knowing the right questions to ask the people who have the knowledge.
ahondara Posted April 6, 2012 Author Posted April 6, 2012 Astymma, I got Skyedit up and running. Now I need to find the manual.
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