[How to eliminate travel delays with NPC packages?]

I posted a lengthy reply to your original question in the other thread.

As for that bit of code freezing, you can't use "if/then" statements in topic results.

[How to eliminate travel delays with NPC packages?]

I take it you're using MoveTo to teleport the NPCs? With MoveTo, the leader "magically" ends up in a different cell or area, and the followers have to then figure a way to get to there via the regular pathgrid system and hence they get confused.

Instead of MoveTo, try using doors instead. The doors can be hidden or invisible, and by placing the door marker where you want, they can simulate teleportation. They have the advantage that the AI knows how to use them. There's two methods that I successfully used in KOTNR:

• 
  
  
• A tiny 1 pixel high door with an invisible mesh, no name, no open/close sound and set to "hidden" in the CS. Keep in mind that you'll need to View Collision Geometry if you ever want to find the door in the render window. The NPCs will find these invisible doors on their own. A minor drawback is that there is a slight possibility that the player might accidentally find it and click on it, though you can script it to not activate if the player uses it.
  
• Using a script to force the NPC to activate a certain door. Again, it's best if the door has no sound. This has the advantage that you can more easily find the door in the CS, but you'll need a separate script to force the NPCs action.
  

[LOD updating in existing worldspace]

I'm of the opposite camp - given the number of users who don't read installation instructions, I think requiring that they use TES4LodGen would result in PEBKAC tech support bombardment.

If it's a new worldspace, I'd supply all the DistantLOD files. If the mod take place in Tamriel, I'd supply DistantLOD files only for the cells that really need it. In either case, I'd still direct the user to run TES4LODGen anyway.

To generate DistantLOD object data for particular cells, the only way I know of is to use TES4LODGen and then delete the unneeded stuff.

[Are crashing scripts necessarily bad?]

Let's say I'm building an ingredient sorter and I want to include the ingredients from Shivering Isles and Vile Lair without creating a dependency on them.

Ref Ingredient

-----

Begin OnLoad


set Ingredient to LairVileSalts

My understanding is that if there is no such EditorID as LairVileSalts, the script will simply crash as soon as it's encountered. Assuming that I don't want the script to run if Vile Lair is not installed, are there any negative consequences in doing this? I'm not intending to use any Gamemode blocks in this way.

[(Oblivion) Turning a mesh into trigger zone]

Yes! Thank you for checking the nif and advising on changing the BSX flag. The mesh is triggering nicely now.

I'll be creating a couple more of these, so I'll report back if I encounter further problems.

[(Oblivion) Turning a mesh into trigger zone]

Hello

I'm trying to turn a particular vanilla mesh (meshes\oblivion\sigil\sigillighttower.nif) into a trigger zone by pasting in a collision block but I must be missing something as it won't trigger in-game.

Any ideas on how I could make it work? I've uploaded the nif here.

Thanks in advance!

[Building a computer: I need some serious help]

I'm no expert on hardware either, but here's my thoughts:

Processor - I agree with the others that 6 core isn't required. At the top end, the performance gain/cost added ratio is quite terrible, so a more affordable 4 core might be a better idea.

SSD - Mine is 90GB... I wish I had bought a bigger one. Once you have the OS, Skyrim, Oblivion and Morrowind and all your saves and modding files, you'll have filled most of it up already. I'd say go for at least 120 GB.

Blue-Ray burner - I asked myself... how often do I watch DVD's on my computer? How often do I burn DVD's? After realising the answer was something like "once a year", I got the cheapest bargain basement model I could find.

I tend do check out the system builder marathons at Tom's Hardware ($600, $1200, $2400(!)) to get a good starting point for my desired bang/buck level.

For us gamers, their articles on Best Gaming CPU For The Money and Best Graphics Card For The Money are incredibly helpful.

[Icons: Sketched or Realistic?]

Icons in Oblivion have a "sketched" quality to them, which is rather noticeable. Users would be able to very easily pick out modded icons that did not do something similar. For seamless integration of items into the game, this should probably be imitated as best as possible.

They also have a soft, yellowish (239 231 173 RGB or #EFE7AD) glow around the image.

Would you prefer the above, or a nice, colourful screenshot of the item (cleaned up with transparency of course)? Or something else altogether like a symbol?

[Scripting Help: Opening a chest only if you have joined a faction]

Just another idea - why not set the lock level to "Requires a key", and upon joining the faction, either give the player the key or unlock the chest?

[Getting rid of "Your horse is stabled outside the city gate."]

Thanks for the suggestion!

I ended up using the OBSE command con_SetGameSetting sFastTravelHorseatGate " " to turn it on and off. I was worried that the little Oblivion symbol would still show up, but it didn't.

[Getting rid of "Your horse is stabled outside the city gate."]

When fast traveling around a new worldspace (Cyrod of course), I keep getting the message "Your horse is stabled outside the city gate." What is the most elegant way to get rid of this?

[Templar and Paladin Armours]

As someone who likes knights and"good" fighters, I can't help but heartily approve.

[Polygon viewable only from certain angles?]

Improving framerates while still producing a spectacular visual effect is my primary goal here and I'm brainstorming various solutions. One thing about me is that even though I'm okay with scripts and quests, I'm an ignoramus when it comes to Blender and have to rely on others to help out when creating custom models.

Flat 2D meshes will obviously have the lowest poly count which is why I'm analysing it as a possible solution. I was hoping someone knew of tricks with normal maps or similar. The idea might turn out to be unfeasible, but I won't know if I don't ask. As for a flat plane that always faces the player, it would be very easy to create but it wouldn't be realistic if the soldiers were always facing the player.

My second choice would be to use static statues. Preliminary tests show that framerates will be acceptable (proving that most of the lag is CPU related even though the AI is disabled). The only problem is that my current statue maker is kinda busy with other stuff.

The IC Arena uses very low-poly animated meshes to simulate the audience - probably too low-poly for my needs. In concept, this is very similar to the static statues that I mentioned above though.

[Custom Worldspace Map Not Shown Ingame]

Not sure if this will help, but I suppose it's worth a shot.

There's two places where you can add the map data: in the esm and in the esp. Try alternatively adding it to one or to both.

If you make any changes to the esm, use TES4Edit to make sure all references to the map data are deleted to the esp.

Just for the record, in my mod, the map only seemed to appear if I added the data to *both*.

[Polygon viewable only from certain angles?]

Is it possible to make a polygon only viewable from certain angles?

Or alternatively, can a polygon show a different texture depending on what angle it is viewed from?

Background of the problem:

Some of you will remember the above pic. There are close to a hundred soldiers standing around onboard the ships to show the buildup of an army. In its current form using real NPCs, framerates drop to unplayable levels.

One solution I thought of was to replace them all with simple 2D images on a flat surface. I hope to have eight or sixteen different images, possibly animated, that are displayed depending on the angle of the player relative to the mesh. I know this will look unrealistic up close, but the main idea is to have them look believable from a distance.

Any bright ideas?

[The dreaded 1.2 patch]

Since this forum is 1.2 patch whinge-free, I'll post some hopefully useful info on the Skyrim 1.2 patch.

What is it?

The official word is that it fixes certain bugs. Conspiracy theorists no doubt will have other ideas come to mind.

What's wrong with it?

Many have reported that it introduces game-breaking bugs:

• 
  
  
• Resistances no longer work.
  
• Dragons fly backwards and don't land, making them much harder to kill.
  
• Fast travel no longer works.
  
• Probably some others that I forgot.
  

How can I tell what patch I've got?

Press the ESC key in-game. The version number should appear at the bottom left hand corner as 1.2.xxxx or similar.

Can update be disabled?

Since hearing about the patch, I had Auto-updates switched off and played only in Offline Mode. Unless I made a mistake somewhere, Steam must have overridden my settings and forced the update.

How to rollback?

• 
  
  
• Basically, you need to replace TESV.exe and Data\Skyrim - Interface.bsa with the old version.
  
• I was using Windows 7 which allowed me to use the "Restore previous versions" function to restore these two files.
  
• [Link Removed] at the Steam Forums also provides a link to download the said files. I wasn't able to test it out as I'm unable to access Megaupload from my country.
  

If you've successfully rolled back to 1.1 using a different method, feel free to share!

[Skyrim & Steam]

The "Preparing to launch" thingy is usually Steam Cloud trying to sync... basically Steam keeps a copy of all your saves so that you can play the same character on multiple computers.

[The Nine... er Eight Divines]

Talos was actually a mortal who founded the first empire some 600 years before the events of Skyrim. According to Knights of the Nine, he ascended to Godhood after her died.

It seems that "gods" in the Elder Scrolls universe are defined mainly by who or what is being worshipped (much like in real life). The original eight were Aedra whom Queen Alessia decided would be the "official" gods of the Empire. Had someone else led the slave rebellion, the official religion could have been something else entirely.

So my take is that Talos gained god-like power after he died, but what makes him a "god" is defined by what the worshippers/government says - and certain people in Skyrim don't want to recognise Talos as a god.

[[RELz] Ayleid Resources [was: Ayleid Spiral Stairs]]

Great stuff! I'm glad that you used the vanilla textures as converting it to use Ceano's Ayleid Ruin textures simply requires changing the texture path.

Looks like Vanua in Cyrod will have a spiral staircase.

[[REQz] Dismembered body parts]

For the arms, legs and hands, probably a relaxed position - I'm no expert on anatomy, but I would imagine all the muscles would relax as soon as the arm or leg was lopped off. But basically any normal looking position would do as I doubt more than a handful of players would know how a dismembered body should be positioned.

For the head... I''ll be burying an NPC up to his neck in the ground to simulate a talking head.

[[REQz] Dismembered body parts]

Lore aficionado's will probably figure out precisely what I'm up to here.

I'm hoping to get meshes for dismembered body parts (fresh, not rotting). Basically, what I want is...

meshes\characters\_male\upperbody.nif

meshes\characters\_male\lowerbody.nif

meshes\characters\_male\hand.nif

meshes\characters\_male\foot.nif

...broken up and rejoined to create...

Left and right hands

Left and right arms

Left and right legs (with the foot attached to the leg)

A limbless torso

• 
  
  
• Collision is just a basic, low-poly static collision (which I can do in NifSkope if it will help).
  
• The texture is the standard textures\characters\imperial\male\UpperBodyMale.dds (no change)
  
• The holes where the meshes were broken up need to be closed off and a different texture applied. I'll be creating a custom texture once the meshes are complete, but in the meantime textures\dungeons\misc\bloodpool02.dds can be used.
  

These parts will be used to recreate a rather famous event in 1st era history.

Thanks in advance to anyone who decides to take this up!

[light source script on/off at certain times...]

One little bit needs fixing and it should work.

	if gamehour >= 7 && gamehour < 18

[Skyrim & Steam]

I've used Steam for years and purchased quite a few games through them.

My one and only complaint: sometimes when launching a game, the internet connection can be slow, causing a long delay while it checks for the latest version. Switching to offline mode solves this.

To date, I have not experienced any privacy issues, nor has the email address that I supplied to Steam received any spam.

A bonus for Morrowind, Oblivion and presumably Skyrim players: it backs up all your save files, and you can load your saves from anywhere you log in.

[[REQz]A simple, high-poly sphere [Complete]]

That was quick - thanks!

[[REQz]A simple, high-poly sphere [Complete]]

I scaled up the glass section of a crystal ball by 10,000 times and found that it makes quite a nifty force field. The problem is that it's a bit too low poly for such a large mesh - it definitely looks more like a d20 than a sphere.

So what I was hoping someone could do for me is to make a high poly sphere with collision and UV map. The texture is textures\clutter\upperclass\GlassPain.dds.

In case you want to check out the mesh I used for the above screenshot for comparison or mesh data (or in your own mod ), I've uploaded it here.

Thanks in advance!