Creating a House

What you need to be able to do before you read this page

You need to be slightly comfortable with the Construction Set. Don't know what it is? You will need it for every mod you make, so if you don't know what on earth I'm talking about, stop wasting you time here and find out! I will guide you through it a bit, but you need to be able to fall back on at least mediocre CS experience, or you'll be unable to do all you need to do in this guide.

That's it, you don't need more!

Starting Steps & Exterior

Get the Oblivion Construction Set running. When it's done loading, press the little folder icon on the top left corner. Then click Oblivion.esm, make sure it has a little cross at the left and then click ok. Wait for it to load, and then go on to the next paragraph.

Now you're ready to start. It might be smart to save right away, so you can type in a name for the mod. Think along the lines of *name-of-house*-Mansion/manor/palace/house. Of course, you might also want to create some kind of old shack, and then you wouldn't be calling it mansion, would you now?

What you need to do now is simple, pick a place to put your house. A city is good, but it might not be too simple just dumping a house somewhere in a city and making it look real. It's easier to dump one in the wilderniss. And if it's house you don't plan on making a buy-quest for, it will make thinking up a reason why it's abandoned much easier.

I can't give you a good location, you'll have find a place yourself. Go in-game, take an in-game holiday and go sightseeing. Where do you want a house?

Once you've found a good, flat surface, remove any rocks, flora, and most importantly, Fauna. (In case you don't know what that means, it means live creatures). You wouldn't want to fast-travel to your house, get a drink while it's loading, and find out you've just been killed by the not-so-friendly- neighbourhood-troll, right? Just remove or replace any real-close dangers, and it should be fine.

Then it's time to pick the actual house itself. Do you want an old shack or a grand palace? It's your call. Bravil houses have a slap-together-wood look, while leyawiin has a forgone glory feel to it, and Skingrad, Cheydinhal and Chorrol each have a more majestic touch to them.

Place it appropriately, make sure all the corners are stcuk in the ground, and also make sure that when placing it next to a hill or mountain or something similar, that no windows (and of course, the door) are obscured by the hill/mountain/whatever. It just doesn't look right.(and don't work right when the door is the dupe)

Next up creating a garden. Houses simply look much more livable when there is a garden in front/back of them. And why now, and not when the interior is finished? Well, I don't know about the people who read this, but I know myself good enough to say that when the interior is finished, I'll start playing, and never finish the garden. Just don't place any valuable ingredients there. That would be kind of cheating, right? Well, the garden. I'm no real plant-lover, so I can't give much advice. But poerhaps it looks good with a statue in it. Or place a secret small chest with some savings from the previous owner. Or make it a theme with blue, or yellow or any other colour. Any way, try to also add some green to the house itslself. It will get a more 'I've been here for some time' look. More plants mean more years.