CS Basics: General Questions

[Cheeka]

Just been into my house in game the one I made for Class 1 well I have a "PCCuboardClutterMiddle" in the CS but its not showing up in game,

What have I done wrong?

Mishaxhi told me what was wrong so tis ok now

Edited August 21, 2010 by Cheeka

[ZuTheSkunk]

I have a question about some very odd problem that I rarely encounter. It was about two times, when I've found a big, square-shaped hole in worldspace's landscape, with objects floating in the air and water visible in the bottom. It's like the entire cell have lost its landscape. What causes this problem and how to fix it?

[DarkRider]

This problem can be caused a number of things. It could be a mod conflict where two mods are editing the missing cell in such a way that it's causing a cell wide tear. Another possibility is that in cleaning or merging a mod you deleted the cell information.

Unfortunately without more information I can't say exactly what has caused this for you. You will have to do a bit of investigating in your load order to see if this is a mod conflict or something with a mod you are making. Does this happen when a certain mod is loaded?

[ZuTheSkunk]

Unfortunately without more information I can't say exactly what has caused this for you. You will have to do a bit of investigating in your load order to see if this is a mod conflict or something with a mod you are making. Does this happen when a certain mod is loaded?

Well, at the first time, it was possible that this error may be caused by some accidental change in this particular cell (I never did anything there, and yet it had the asterisk), and to avoid problems, I've deleted the changes from this cell by TES4EDIT - the landscape was working again.

At the second time, I thought at first that it might be the same thing as previously, but when I've saved the game standing in front to the missing cell and loaded this save without doing anything, then surprisingly, the landscape was working again...

Well, I guess it's too complex to know for certain what was causing the problem, but fortunately, the errors were not permanent. Thank you for help.

[Nevyngreat]

OK, quick history. This is a conversion of the Maria Elena to be a dorm for 5 companions. 1st try, unchecked respawn every container, deleted many things = Wrong!

In Gecko - toggled ignore to everything, remade every container custom - no yellow in Gecko. Everything deleted came back. Re-deleted things I didn't want. No conflicts in OBMM, mod in-game has 5 cute elves aboard, no fps lag, all 5 running idle animations, say hello, etc. But in Gecko, 3 or 4 pages of yellow! Don't know what to do at this point to get rid of it. Tried to clean, got exception twice. Btw - DB quest is unaffected and secret way in works. Know for a fact. All u have to do to take over ship is walk aboard and kill 3 pirates outside. Before or after DB mision. And I know ur partial to pirates, DR, so........sorry !

Gecko shot

Edited September 6, 2010 by Nevyngreat

[DarkRider]

Please post some images of the yellow you are seeing. Or you can attach the .ESP to a PM and send it to me so I can see what you've done first hand. Seeing yellow is still too vague a description for me to help you.

[Nevyngreat]

One gecko pic there now, was doing it when u visited

[DarkRider]

The thing that concerns me is that you seem to have deleted some persistent references that are important to the ship and crew functions before the player comes in and hacks the pirates to store their companions there. For example, deleting a chair that an NPC is assigned to sit in will void his AI and cause him to stand around blankly. Might not matter to you, but it will matter to the players who don't want things in their game broken by a mod. While yellow means change and you intended that change, it's generally considered bad modding to delete persistent references the game is already using.

When you mod in general you should aim to add to the game or improve the game experience, not bang around like a bull in a china shop decimating the original game in your wake. What I mean is, instead of touching the Marie Elena at all why not just make a copy of it, rename the copy, and do what you like to the copy? Add a new ship to the Imperial harbor designed specifically for housing companions, spruce it up like a floating brothel. That way, the original ship is untouched, you have no crazy deleted records and references, and you add something unique to and improve the game rather than just punching holes in some existing element; albeit a small element. You understand what I'm getting at?

[Nevyngreat]

Yes, I do understand. I did not intentionally delete anything persistant. There is always a warning that an item has a function when u try to delete it, and I always said no. The only item I recall it happening was a chair in the captain cabin, and when I saw it in Gecko, I told it to ignore. I had only clicked on it to move it over a little. Did u actually see I had wrecked something, or just think I have? ( Not trying to be a smart-aleck) I really wonder. By the way, when it happened I was surprised, because it was not the chair the Captain is sitting in when u come in to kill him - it was the next one over. 1st time I made the mod with the non-custom containers, I joined DB, came to ship - took smuggled crate aboard (still worked) and went up to captains cabin. He was there, killed him, 2 more pirates showed up - Companion in Cap Cabin and I killed them. Went to mid-deck, 2 more pirates showed up - 4 companions there killed them for me.

Next - didn't know and don't have a clue how to copy ship. Cool idea, though. Would have done it.

Next - why are you eating a cookie while posting ? lol

One more thing I want you to know - I understand you are very busy here and can't hand-carry people or jam knowledge into their brains. I don't want to model, or texture. I am interested in making small mods and the lore of Nirn, and have the time and inclination to learn. I wish I had started 3 - 4 years ago, but didn't because I didn't know modding existed. Since joining this wonderful place, my learning curve has been very steep and I crave understanding of what I'm learning.

Gonna make a brand - new char and check this over again.

Edited September 6, 2010 by Nevyngreat

[DarkRider]

I did say I was merely concerned it seemed that way based on the image you shared which showed a persistent ref had been altered. I wasn't accusing you, so please don't feel like you have to defend yourself.

I did not say you broke the quest, I understood you had already reported it worked fine. I said deleting persistent refs (and this was IF you had) disrupted AI.

We did cover copying statics in class a ship is just a big static object and making a new ship interior is the same as making any other interior.

I like cookies...especially for breakfast.

I understand you are eager to learn and I take my teaching very seriously and am committed to helping a student learn whatever it takes. I think I have demostrated that in class and have never begrudged hand holding if that's what it takes, as you well know by the multiple pms we exchanged on linking.

I think you have misinterpreted my last post on this subject. You seem to have taken some offense, if that's the case, please feel free to PM me to discuss it further.

If the mod has been cleaned to your satisfaction and you didn't delete any persistent objects then I think you are set.

[Nevyngreat]

Appreciate your time and concern. Am in no way offended, quite the opposite - grateful for help. I am a loner/perfectionist and was taught if it is worth doing it is worth doing well! Marie Elena is empty and useless for the entire game if u never join the DB. Captain and 4 pirates only spawn when DB contract one is accepted. Gonna try to copy the ship on down the road someday.

You and your site have enhanced my OB experience. Many thanks!

[DarkRider]

I'm glad, look forward to seeing what you come up with next.

[Hawke5781]

DR

I am still working on my final exam house, and I have run into a little snag so to speak. I am building a dungeon (Prison cells and Stuff) off of my players Living area. (ie Player is a vampire needs food) I planned on putting a few NPCs in there and making one of them be asleep at all times like another mod I once used. My snag is I would like to make the Prison Cell area a secret area. I found a Secret Door in doors but it doesn't do what I expected it to do in game. Any idea's how I can make a secret door using Underground/Basement Meshes.

Thanks for your help.

[DarkRider]

That secret door doesn't function as it's not animated properly, Beth left it open wherever they used it. Try this one on for size instead. (courtesy of RST)

[Hawke5781]

DR

What wall piece should I be using with this Door

[DarkRider]

The wall piece is called Ungrdltrapdoor

[Hawke5781]

DR

Alrighty then... Look like we have a working Hidden door. Thanks for your help DarkRider

[Hanaisse]

Ok, I think I know the answer but I've been staring at the CS all day and my mind went blank.

Making PC containers: Can I make just one chest (for example) and use it several times without changing the EditorID each time?

[DarkRider]

If it's just empty, then yes, each will have a different ref ID in the game when placed. If you put contents in then every copy of the chest you use will have the same starter contents, so if you want different each will need a new Editor ID.

[ub3rman123]

To make it a bit more random, you can use the same EditorID and include items in it if you include leveled items instead of just placed items.

[ZuTheSkunk]

I have a creature spawned by placeatme. Its script causes it to be disabled after death. Will this creature be removed at the reset of the cell?

@EDITDOWN: Ah, okay, that's what I thought. Thank you, Willie.

Edited February 2, 2011 by ZuTheSkunk

[WillieSea]

Dead creatures spawned with PlaceAtMe will be cleaned up by the game engine in the normal way.

Unless they are marked as 'Persistant References' or 'Quest' items.

[Game3nder]

I'm working on my final exam home, and want to go in game to check and see if the basic landscaping adjustments and house furniture layout look good. Trouble is, when I load the mod, nothing actually shows up in the game. I also can't coc myself to the interior cell, so it seems like the whole thing is just not there.

I haven't done anything differently from the classes thus far (saving, naming, claiming, linking, etc.), any ideas on what I've done wrong?

[DarkRider]

Sounds obvious but in haste we can easily forget, did you activate the mod in your load order before playtesting? Is your game patched to 1.2? If not some content made with v1.2 of the CS won't show up in game.

[Game3nder]

OK this is weird.

I reinstalled Oblivion last night because all of my .esp saves and screenshots were getting redirected by Windows to some obsure folder (I had installed to Program Files (x86)). Following advice of others I installed it to C:/Games/. This then created C:/Games/Bethesda Softworks/Oblivion/(stuff). Somehow, I also ended up with C:/Games/(stuff) directly. So there are two locations from which I can launch Oblivion.

Now, if I use the launcher in either location, I get no mods (not even the ones from earlier lessons). Same deal if I launch oblivion directly (no launcher) from C:/Games/(stuff). But if I launch directly from C:/Games/Bethesda Softworks/Oblivion/(stuff), the mod shows up!

So, is the patch only applied to this location? If so, why does the launcher still let me down? I can control the mods through OBMM, or use the launcher to choose mods then launch directly. So I guess this isn't much of a problem after all, but man is it ever strange.