Difference between revisions of "Creating Large Worldspaces"

The purpose of this warning is not to discourage you. Creativity is what the modding community is all about. What is being suggested here is that before you start your project and as you work on it try to do two things: 1 - Keep it practical. If it's not practical it probably won't get finished. 2 - Know what you're doing. If you know how to use the tools you're using your work will go much more efficiently. When your project is moving forward it will help motivate you to continue. If your project keeps running into delays because you skipped a step, or didn't read a useful tip and have to go back and start from an earlier point - this is what kills a project.

The purpose of this warning is not to discourage you. Creativity is what the modding community is all about. What is being suggested here is that before you start your project and as you work on it try to do two things: 1 - Keep it practical. If it's not practical it probably won't get finished. 2 - Know what you're doing. If you know how to use the tools you're using your work will go much more efficiently. When your project is moving forward it will help motivate you to continue. If your project keeps running into delays because you skipped a step, or didn't read a useful tip and have to go back and start from an earlier point - this is what kills a project.

*A quad equals 32 x 32 cells. 4 quads would be 64x64 cells. See [[Oblivion Units]] for more on what is meant by a quad.  

*A quad equals 32 x 32 cells. 4 quads would be 64x64 cells. See [[Oblivion Units]] for more on what is meant by a quad.  

*This article is written with the assumption you are creating a worldspace larger than a single quad.  

*This article is written with the assumption you are creating a worldspace larger than a single quad.  

This article assumes you have considerable experience working with worldspaces and the CS. This article contains some very useful pointers in these areas, but if you've never used the CS before, or you've never worked within a worldspace you should attempt some of the tutorials listed before getting started on this project.  

This article assumes you have considerable experience working with worldspaces and the CS. This article contains some very useful pointers in these areas, but if you've never used the CS before, or you've never worked within a worldspace you should attempt some of the tutorials listed before getting started on this project.  

*When navigating with the landscape editor set your keyboard over to your left(if you're right handed) so that your left hand can easily work the arrow keys while your right hand works the mouse. Left handed folks won't need to do this.  

*When navigating with the landscape editor set your keyboard over to your left(if you're right handed) so that your left hand can easily work the arrow keys while your right hand works the mouse. Left handed folks won't need to do this.  

You should ensure you have the following 3rd party programs installed and working as you will need to make use of each of them at some point.

You should ensure you have the following 3rd party programs installed and working as you will need to make use of each of them at some point.

*The readme file included with TES4Gecko contains additional instructions. Also, if you have trouble you can always search the internet.

*The readme file included with TES4Gecko contains additional instructions. Also, if you have trouble you can always search the internet.

Once you have a handle of the related tools and basic methods you should begin. You should always start a new worldspace with a new [[Glossary#E|.esp]]. This is true even if you already have significant aspects of your mod completed. The reason for this is simple. More RAM available for the CS means crashes will be less frequent.  

Once you have a handle of the related tools and basic methods you should begin. You should always start a new worldspace with a new [[Glossary#E|.esp]]. This is true even if you already have significant aspects of your mod completed. The reason for this is simple. More RAM available for the CS means crashes will be less frequent.  

* An added benefit of starting a new .esp is that it decreases the chance of corrupting your other mods and vice versa.  

* An added benefit of starting a new .esp is that it decreases the chance of corrupting your other mods and vice versa.  

Start a new .esp. '''You do not need to load Oblivion.esm at this time.''' You are creating a new worldspace. You will not need Oblivion.esm until you get to region generation. Not loading Oblivion.esm here at the beginning will save you time by not having to process it. It will also lower demands on RAM.

Start a new .esp. '''You do not need to load Oblivion.esm at this time.''' You are creating a new worldspace. You will not need Oblivion.esm until you get to region generation. Not loading Oblivion.esm here at the beginning will save you time by not having to process it. It will also lower demands on RAM.

Save this .esp. You will probably want to name this .esp something similar to the name of the new worldspace. Now define your worldspace in the CS (World > World Spaces > New, give it a name and adjust the settings as desired within that window (you can change climate and water settings later, map will come last (none of these are covered in this primer))). Don't create any terrain for this worldspace quite yet, just have it defined. Save the mod again. Although this may seem a bit redundant, some aspects of the heightmap editor (notorious for being problematic as you probably know) don't work particularly well when working on a worldspace which has not been saved (it's a memory thing); saving the mod records the definition of the worldspace within the .esp, so it is more stable (or something). Now you can begin within the heightmap editor.

Save this .esp. You will probably want to name this .esp something similar to the name of the new worldspace. Now define your worldspace in the CS (World > World Spaces > New, give it a name and adjust the settings as desired within that window (you can change climate and water settings later, map will come last (none of these are covered in this primer))). Don't create any terrain for this worldspace quite yet, just have it defined. Save the mod again. Although this may seem a bit redundant, some aspects of the heightmap editor (notorious for being problematic as you probably know) don't work particularly well when working on a worldspace which has not been saved (it's a memory thing); saving the mod records the definition of the worldspace within the .esp, so it is more stable (or something). Now you can begin within the heightmap editor.

Below are some notes and methods to help make your new worldspace creation happen as efficiently as possible. The following took several weeks of testing and trials to discover and was written here to save you a lot of time. Keeping these points in mind will help get your mod finished with the least amount of time and frustration.   

Below are some notes and methods to help make your new worldspace creation happen as efficiently as possible. The following took several weeks of testing and trials to discover and was written here to save you a lot of time. Keeping these points in mind will help get your mod finished with the least amount of time and frustration.   

  1 - Design and finish the layout of 4 quads <br /><br />2 - Save in the heightmap editor <br /><br />3 - Make error corrections in the landscape editor, save in the CS, and create .esm with TES4Gecko<br /><br />4 - Start new .esp and design/finish the layout of the next 4 quads <br /><br />5 - Save in the heightmap editor <br /><br />6 - Make error corrections in the landscape editor, save, and merge with the .esm <br /><br />7 - Repeat above steps designing additional quads following this pattern and merge <br /><br />8 - After all heightmaps are created and merged start a new esp <br /><br />9 - Edit the borders in the heightmap. Multiple esps will be required for large worlds. Merge each "border-edit" esp with the esm as they are created. Also as you edit the borders scan the heightmap you're working on for errors and fix them as you go. These will appear as sharply contrasted squares/rectangles. <br /><br />10 - After all borders are edited use the landscape editor to correct errors in conjunction with the heightmap editor. DO NOT make corrections with the heightmap editor at this time, and DO NOT save any more textures in the heightmap editor. At this time you will only use the heightmap editor for finding errors in your textures. Make the actual corrections using the landscape editor. Merge with the esm.

  1 - Design and finish the layout of 4 quads <br /><br />2 - Save in the heightmap editor <br /><br />3 - Make error corrections in the landscape editor, save in the CS, and create .esm with TES4Gecko<br /><br />4 - Start new .esp and design/finish the layout of the next 4 quads <br /><br />5 - Save in the heightmap editor <br /><br />6 - Make error corrections in the landscape editor, save, and merge with the .esm <br /><br />7 - Repeat above steps designing additional quads following this pattern and merge <br /><br />8 - After all heightmaps are created and merged start a new esp <br /><br />9 - Edit the borders in the heightmap. Multiple esps will be required for large worlds. Merge each "border-edit" esp with the esm as they are created. Also as you edit the borders scan the heightmap you're working on for errors and fix them as you go. These will appear as sharply contrasted squares/rectangles. <br /><br />10 - After all borders are edited use the landscape editor to correct errors in conjunction with the heightmap editor. DO NOT make corrections with the heightmap editor at this time, and DO NOT save any more textures in the heightmap editor. At this time you will only use the heightmap editor for finding errors in your textures. Make the actual corrections using the landscape editor. Merge with the esm.

When testing your .esm, always have it loaded in the 01 index so that extra steps (in particular moving worldspaces and removing vwd references from trees) aren't needed in order to get an idea of what the terrain really looks like. If you don't know how to do this, you may wish to take a few moments with [Oblivion Mod Manager] or Wrye Bash to learn how to manage your load order. If placing your .esm in the 01 index interferes with other mods, you may just want to create a new character with only your worldspace active and just cheat your way to this space.

When testing your .esm, always have it loaded in the 01 index so that extra steps (in particular moving worldspaces and removing vwd references from trees) aren't needed in order to get an idea of what the terrain really looks like. If you don't know how to do this, you may wish to take a few moments with [Oblivion Mod Manager] or Wrye Bash to learn how to manage your load order. If placing your .esm in the 01 index interferes with other mods, you may just want to create a new character with only your worldspace active and just cheat your way to this space.

*For a particularly large worldspace, you have no option other than using .esm format for release, and will need to make adjustments related to this as far as connections, quests, and LOD data is concerned.  

*For a particularly large worldspace, you have no option other than using .esm format for release, and will need to make adjustments related to this as far as connections, quests, and LOD data is concerned.  

*Once you have trees and other content, you will also need to clear out all the VWD flags for your worldspace using TES4Edit in order for your worldspace to show correctly when loaded anywhere other than the 01 index. You would need to do this cleaning after every change which adds more trees, but thankfully, you only need to clean out those things which were added/moved.

*Once you have trees and other content, you will also need to clear out all the VWD flags for your worldspace using TES4Edit in order for your worldspace to show correctly when loaded anywhere other than the 01 index. You would need to do this cleaning after every change which adds more trees, but thankfully, you only need to clean out those things which were added/moved.

Before doing region generation make a backup of your new worldspace .esm file. Before starting you should have all the terrain you planned to use merged with the newworld.esm. To create regions you're going to need data from from Oblivion.esm. So from this point on you will need to have Oblivion.esm loaded as well as your new worldspace .esm file.   

Before doing region generation make a backup of your new worldspace .esm file. Before starting you should have all the terrain you planned to use merged with the newworld.esm. To create regions you're going to need data from from Oblivion.esm. So from this point on you will need to have Oblivion.esm loaded as well as your new worldspace .esm file.   

There are at least two methods for creating regions. One is to start from scratch. The other is to use existing regions from Oblivion and edit them to your liking. In fact, some regions in the Oblivion worldspace may be exactly what you're looking for and require no editing at all. Keep this in mind since using existing region content can save you a '''lot''' of time.

There are at least two methods for creating regions. One is to start from scratch. The other is to use existing regions from Oblivion and edit them to your liking. In fact, some regions in the Oblivion worldspace may be exactly what you're looking for and require no editing at all. Keep this in mind since using existing region content can save you a '''lot''' of time.

  1 - Open the Region Editor<br /><br />2 - Below the words Region Editor you'll see a select box for the current world spaces. <br /><br />3 - Select Tamriel. The fastest way to get to Tamriel is to click on the selection box and press 'T'. This will show you a list of Regions used in the Tamriel world space. <br /><br />4 - Click on a region name in the list and find it on the region map. You may need to navigate around the map to find where the corresponding region was used. Just hover your cursor over the map and press and hold the space bar while using the mouse to move the map around. Also use the mouse wheel to zoom out. The corresponding region will have a region border around it - a dark red line outlining where the region data has been applied. <br /><br />5 - Right-click on the region map within the region border and click on 'View World Here' in the pop-up. This will show you what effect the Region Data had on Tamriel in the Render Window. <br /><br />6 - If you like the region right-click on it in the list on the left and select 'Create Data Copy'. The copy is created at the bottom of the list and given a generic name that includes a number. Select this Region in the list and give it a new name on the right under the 'General' tab. <br /><br />7 - Now find your world space in the select list. You will see your copied regions there. Once you apply a region to a worldspace it will no longer appear under all worldspace region lists - just the worldspace where you used it. You may repeat these steps above as many times as you need to borrow region data from Tamriel and other world spaces.

  1 - Open the Region Editor<br /><br />2 - Below the words Region Editor you'll see a select box for the current world spaces. <br /><br />3 - Select Tamriel. The fastest way to get to Tamriel is to click on the selection box and press 'T'. This will show you a list of Regions used in the Tamriel world space. <br /><br />4 - Click on a region name in the list and find it on the region map. You may need to navigate around the map to find where the corresponding region was used. Just hover your cursor over the map and press and hold the space bar while using the mouse to move the map around. Also use the mouse wheel to zoom out. The corresponding region will have a region border around it - a dark red line outlining where the region data has been applied. <br /><br />5 - Right-click on the region map within the region border and click on 'View World Here' in the pop-up. This will show you what effect the Region Data had on Tamriel in the Render Window. <br /><br />6 - If you like the region right-click on it in the list on the left and select 'Create Data Copy'. The copy is created at the bottom of the list and given a generic name that includes a number. Select this Region in the list and give it a new name on the right under the 'General' tab. <br /><br />7 - Now find your world space in the select list. You will see your copied regions there. Once you apply a region to a worldspace it will no longer appear under all worldspace region lists - just the worldspace where you used it. You may repeat these steps above as many times as you need to borrow region data from Tamriel and other world spaces.