Difference between revisions of "A beginner's guide, lesson 1 - The Construction Set Primer"

==MiscItem==

We are going to use the MiscItem menu for now, which can be found under the "Items" group. This contains all the no value and low value

clutter that you can pick up but not do anything useful with. Plates, Cups, Bowls and so on.

Again there is a bewildering list of bits and pieces. Practice will teach you what most of these are. Objects with names that begin with MQ are quest based items and are best avoided.  

Concentrate for now on the stuff related to a class (economic).

These usually begin with the prefix LowerClass, MiddleClass, UpperClass, Lower, Middle, or Upper. Let’s find a lower class plate and drop it on the bar (LowerClassPlate01).

After a few seconds you can look under the object tab. Look for references that have the MiscItem description. You can click at the top to sort by description.  

Anyway, once you have located a plate that you want (any will do). We will set about putting it  

on the bar.  

If you drag this onto the render screen it will appear. You may have to zoom out a bit to see it clearly. There is very little subtlety here. Trying to put this item on the bar using left click and drag, is a leftclicking drag. There is an easier way, thanks to those shortcut keys.  

Now drag and drop the plate into the render window. You should now be able to move the object so it is directly above the bar. But it’s probably sitting in mid air a good few feet above the bar.

1.

The first is the mouse method. Hold the Z key and click/drag with the left mouse button to move the object. The coloured box around the object is a useful guide to when it is in position. If any part of the coloured border sinks into the bar, you have gone too far. This is a fairly slow technique and uses a lot of camera changes. Be patient. You will normally use this technique to position objects on vertical surfaces like walls rather than horizontal surfaces like the bar.  

 

2.

The second technique uses references from other similar objects, in this case the plate we have  

just placed. Double Click on the plate. Remember those x,y,z co-ordinate information we mentioned before. Look at the info giving the plates positions. Write down the z co-ordinate.

(handy hint, when decorating an empty room try to work from the floor up. Start with carpets,  

then furniture that stands on the floor. Then objects which stand on the furniture. This way the F key can be really powerful).

The last technique is to use the CTRL + D function. This makes a duplicate of an object in

exactly the same position. It’s brilliant for stacking and repeat tasking. Select one of the

plates on the bar and then press CTRL + D. The object may change appearance. This is a side

effect of the doubling. Now select and drag one of these plates across the bar. You will see the new plate appear. Position it so it does not collide with any other objects.

We now have 4 plates on the bar. Practice if you like dropping other objects using the F key and the CTRL + D to duplicate them.

 

 

[To rotate in the x axis use X + RMB]

{To rotate in the y axis use Z + RMB}

 

You can also use the right hand rotation boxes in the objects pop up dialog box. This is best if you want precise angles like 90, 180 and 270 etc.

Finally a couple of extra bits  

 

Now all we have to do is save our handy work. Select File/Save. Call it something useful like  

Test-1. Close the CS.  

Load the game and if you want to see the damage you did, activate your mod by checking the box in Data Files in the window that opens when you start Oblivion. Don’t save your game or you may make your damage permanent.