Difference between revisions of "A beginner's guide, lesson 1 - The Construction Set Primer"
A beginner's guide, lesson 1 - The Construction Set Primer (edit)
Revision as of 13:25, 8 January 2008
, 13:25, 8 January 2008→Files Types: Some grammar, internal links. Also some major rewrites for clarification of file types.
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imported>RedFault (→Files Types: Some grammar, internal links. Also some major rewrites for clarification of file types.) |
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For a mod to work the game needs to know 3 things. The file you plan to change. This is called | For a mod to work the game needs to know 3 things. The file you plan to change. This is called | ||
the Elder Scrolls | the Elder Scrolls ''master'' file, or '''.esm'''. For all these early files this is going to be the Oblivion master file (''oblivion.esm'' – located in the game's '''Data''' folder). The CS knows where it is. The vast majority of user-created mods can be written using the ''oblivion.esm'' master file. | ||
It also needs the name of the Elder Scrolls PLUG-IN that you are writing (this is your mod file). | It also needs the name of the Elder Scrolls PLUG-IN that you are writing (this is your mod file). These are designated as '''.esp''' files. The first time you set out to create a mod, you will not provide the CS with the name of an '''.esp''' file. If you don’t give it a name it will write a new one, prompting you to choose a name for the file the first time you save it. Any future changes you wish to make to the same mod would require you to choose this '''.esp''', making it your [[Active File|active file]]. Making a file your [[Active File|active file]] simply means that when you choose to '''Save''' your work, the CS will automatically overwrite that file with any changes you have made. | ||
These are designated as esp files. If you don’t give it a name it will write a new one. | |||
Finally it will need information about any objects you add to the world. These are image files | Finally it will need information about any objects you add to the world. These are image files | ||
called | called [[Nif|.nif's]], or NetImmerse File format. The game already knows about thousands of these objects, and we can use this library of image files to populate our world with stuff. For a beginning modder, the '''.nif''' files that are already contained in the CS will provide plenty of material to work with. For now, you should simply be aware of their existence. Later in the series we can look at changing and adding our own [[Nif|.nif]] files. | ||
The game already knows about thousands of | |||
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Open the | Open the '''File''' menu. From the options select '''Data'''. We will look at the other options in more | ||
advanced lessons. The Data dialog box should open. It looks in the oblivion/data folder for all | advanced lessons. The '''Data''' dialog box should open. It looks in the ''oblivion/data'' folder for all | ||
esm and esp files it contains. If you have no mods installed, the only file to show up will be | '''.esm''' and '''.esp''' files it contains. If you have no mods installed, the only file to show up will be | ||
oblivion.esm – if you have installed other mods these will show up as files with esm or esp file extensions depending on how their developers wrote them | ''oblivion.esm'' – if you have installed other mods these will show up as files with '''.esm''' or '''.esp''' file extensions depending on how their developers wrote them. | ||
To choose a file, double click on it. Do this to the ''oblivion.esm'' file. Leave any others | |||
unchecked - we don’t want to mess up their hard work. Select '''Done''', and a dialog warning box may pop | |||
up telling you that you haven’t selected an [[Active File|active file]]. For now, you may ignore this. Any changes that you make are stored by the CS until you save it. All changed information has an asterisk added to its name in the CS. When you save, you will need to tell the game the file to save the information to. | |||
The default setup protects the original files so you can’t overwrite them. However if you wish to amend a mod and keep the same file name you can activate that file. When you save, the CS will overwrite that file. Generally speaking you should only activate a file when you want to alter it. You can not activate the oblivion.esm file. This protection means we can’t break the game. | The default setup protects the original files so you can’t overwrite them. However if you wish to amend a mod and keep the same file name you can ''activate'' that file. When you save, the CS will overwrite that file. Generally speaking you should only activate a file when you want to alter it. You can not activate the ''oblivion.esm'' file. This protection means we can’t break the game. | ||
In this first tutorial you should only select the oblivion file and click | In this first tutorial you should only select the ''oblivion.esm'' file and click '''Done'''. At the warning, | ||
click | click '''Yes'''. We now have no [[Active File|active file]]. | ||