Archived: General Questions

[DarkRider]

If the NavMesh goes below the ground due to a small rise in the terrain that's okay. You don't want it to go too far below the terrain mesh though, otherwise your NPCs might sink trying to walk the NavMesh, but slight raises of the terrain over the NavMesh shouldn't interrupt anything as long as the bulk of the mesh is above ground.

[gahnzz]

Thanks for the reply. I was wondering if the NavMesh affected the Z-axis for NPC's... looks like it does but only in extreme circumstances. As long as the NavMesh is close to the terrain mesh, should be fine.

[Arion]

In our tutorial house and in the house I'm doing for my final I have a problem with my follower not going inside the house. Is there something special we have to do to get a follower or NPC to go inside when we enter ? My navimesh is correct on the porches and inside the house...

nvm.... found the answer. Have to finalize the navimesh in each cell and make sure there's a green triangle in front of the door or the NPC can't use the door. Wiki to the rescue

There's a very good tutorial on navimesh Bethesda's Tutorial that goes into a lot more detail on fixing and finalizing navimesh.

Edited February 23, 2012 by Arion

[DarkRider]

Yes there's a lot more to NavMesh than I had time to cover in this course with the CK's sudden release. I have always intended to expand on it more in the reserved section in Lesson #2 when time allows. But in the meantime, I provided wiki links including that tutorial link in Leason #2 for additional info worth reading on the subject. You should have read them in Lesson #2

[DangerManzo]

I have a question now that I have completed the course. Is it ok to start playing around with my building that I made for lessons 1-4? I was wondering if we were going to use it for any future lessons or courses. I would like to start playing around with adding some NPC's to make it more alive when I visit in game.

[DarkRider]

You can do what you like with it, as long as you don't release it. You might save a backup version for future classes in case you need it later.

[DarkRider]

Supplemental Studies on NavMeshing are now available at the end of Lesson #2, for those who have gone passed that point, please go back and have a read HERE to complete your skill set.

[aurora]

Light mapping help please!!! I'm working on Lesson 4 and have gone into Preferences->Shaders tab and clicked on '# of lights' the end result is always a perfectly solid green house. Yes I have lights in there. I have even tried adding in MANY lights and if anything it will turn to a solid slightly turquoise-ish color. Any clues, tips, hints, hammers?

Note I see this on at least 2 different machines, one an old WinXP 32 bit machine and the other an ultra souped up Win7 64 bit machine.

[DarkRider]

That's strange, can you PM your .esp file to me?

[aurora]

DarkRider,

Don't waste to much time with my .esp. I simply can not see lights at all, not just the spectral light mapping but lighting effects period. As in I add a light and I see no lighting effects and its not just this mod but any location in skyrim.esp. See screenshot. I have been hunting the various forums but have not found any clue as to why I can not see lights and I have now tried it on three different machines with totally different architectures and graphics cards including my workstation with 2 NVidia Fermi 2090c's,

Edited March 1, 2012 by aurora

[aurora]

Just as an FYI for anyone else that may run into this in the future, I went in and backed up my Steam directory. Then I uninstalled the CK and reinstalled it. However it did not work the first time. There was at least 1 file that was not removed on the uninstall so I went in and uninstalled again and then went into the directories to make sure all files for CK, and my mods, were removed. I then installed the CK again and finally I have lights and fog that works in the CK for me. In other words I somehow managed to corrupt one or more env/param file for the CK.

Now back to Lesson 4 with a happy smile on my face!

[lilith]

I fixed a similar problem by removing the SkyrimEditorPrefs.ini and forcing the CK to generate a new one. If it happens again try that first as a full re-install might not be necessary.

[aurora]

I fixed a similar problem by removing the SkyrimEditorPrefs.ini and forcing the CK to generate a new one. If it happens again try that first as a full re-install might not be necessary.

Yeah sadly I did not learn about SkyrimEditorPrefs.ini till after the uninstall(s). But that was one of the files I deleted afterwards and am assume one if not 'the' file killing me. Thanks for the heads up though, 1 file is a lot better then a a full uninstall/reinstall.

[ell46]

It's been a long time, so I hope I'm posting this in the right place.

Just started basic on Skyrim had to end session while working on Class 1, opened today and continued following the tut, clicked save and I'm asked to name the Plug-in, as I'm using the Plug-in I created in the last session, what am I doing wrong.

Sort this problem, it's all slowly coming back, but the question below still stands.

Second question, when opening the .esm I get a window saying something about the Masterfile, I just said yes to all, is this normal?

Edited March 4, 2012 by ell46

[aurora]

It's been a long time, so I hope I'm posting this in the right place.

Just started basic on Skyrim had to end session while working on Class 1, opened today and continued following the tut, clicked save and I'm asked to name the Plug-in, as I'm using the Plug-in I created in the last session, what am I doing wrong.

Sort this problem, it's all slowly coming back, but the question below still stands.

Second question, when opening the .esm I get a window saying something about the Masterfile, I just said yes to all, is this normal?

When you select your mod (and the Skyrim.esp) make sure you set your mod to the 'Active File' by clicking on the 'Set as Active File' button. You should then see the 'Active File' Status for your mod.

As for the Masterfile warnings, yes that is common, as in everyone will see this. Just hit 'Yes to All', and you will not see 'that' particular warning again. ALthough other warnings my popup as you work. Again just ignore them as well.

[ell46]

When you select your mod (and the Skyrim.esp) make sure you set your mod to the 'Active File' by clicking on the 'Set as Active File' button. You should then see the 'Active File' Status for your mod.

As for the Masterfile warnings, yes that is common, as in everyone will see this. Just hit 'Yes to All', and you will not see 'that' particular warning again. ALthough other warnings my popup as you work. Again just ignore them as well.

Excellent, thank you for the help.

[ell46]

Sorry me again. I've just finished part 1, started the game, but when I type "coc title of my plug-in" nothing happens. It is activated in the Data files I can see it there on the list, checked all the spelling and tried typing it in different ways eg. with spacing and without still nothing.

[DarkRider]

You need to type coc IDofyourinteriorcell

[ell46]

Where do I look for that information? I tried the Form ID in CK window but that didn't work.

[lilith]

You'll want the EditorID instead of the FormID, it's the 1st column on the left in the Cell View Window.

[Locksley]

I've been looking around for any Creation Kit PDF's but I can only find online documentation

Any thought of converting these lessons into a PDF document so one can either print it out or read on an e-book at the side?

Even though most lessons need you to interact with the subject I still would find it both nice to be able to read it in bed but also keeping a copy by the side to make it easier whilst working in the CK (not having to flip between screens).

This site has turned out to become the most significant Elder Scrolls All in All site I know of.

Cheers!

[DarkRider]

I'll see what I can do about a PDF. In the meantime. there is a print button at the end of every topic that will allow you to print off pages of the thread or download an HTML copy of it, that might be useful for now.

[Locksley]

Great!

Maybe I'll get around actually finish something now that I am on sick-leave for a broken disc (fishing for compassionate ooh's and aah's )

Well, for now I'll try to watch the Beth's videos on Youtube; somehow my concentration always wanders, it is much easier reading something in comfort.

Cheers!

[zaxon]

Having a bit of a CK issue here with part 4 of the tutorial >.>

So, for this part...

To make shadow lights render in the CK, click on preferences>shaders and check the flag next to Shadows to include shadow lights in the rendering.

I tried doing that and nothing seemed to happen, so I clicked "Reload Shaders" to see what that would do. What it did was make the render window go blank, and cause the kit to crash when I tried to close it. Now, every single light object I try to place is always red, like this:

and the debug mode looks like this:

The lights still seem to work in game, but those red lights are screwing with my head, and making it impossible to use the debug tool to optimize lighting. Any idea what caused this, or how to fix it? The CK wiki states that "Reload Shaders" has no function, so I'm baffled as to what happened here.

[DarkRider]

The CK Wiki is not "quote for truth" etched in stone as anyone can add to it regardless of skill or knowledge. Only place I see "Reload Shaders" described as non functional is on a page marked as inaccurate and incomplete, so don't hold too much stock in that

It looks like you are experiencing an elusive lighting bug, the source of which seems to be a corrupt ini file. Backup and delete the skyrimeditorprefs.ini from your Skyrim folder, then relaunch the CK to generate a fresh one, that should help. Report back if your issue persists.