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

the Elder Scrolls ''master'' file, or [[ESM file|.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). These are designated as [[ESP file|.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.

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.