#modtips

Most mod authors probably know how to view collision in the CK by pressing F4 (or if yours is like mine the keyboard shortcut doesn’t work and you have to toggle it in the View menu a few times). But you may not know what all the colors are about! This list is courtesy of Robboten, author of Snappy Housekit.

blue - clutter (+no navcut) 

red - static 

black - navcut 

pink/magenta - prop, animated static 

light blue - water 

light yellow - terrain 

light brown - tree, weapon 

light pink - transparent 

white - stair helper, small/large debris, stair helper, acoustic space, invisible wall, transparent small 

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Some notes on the blue clutter: 

The collision type in 3ds Max 2013 official Bethesda plugin is called clutter and it allows an object to be moveable or be picked up. If the object has a low mass assigned in 3ds Max then you can kick the object around, the blue plastic bins are an example of this. A higher mass may be assigned and the object is less likely to be kicked around but can still be picked up. 

In the CK objects which have a blue clutter collision may be labeled as miscellaneous objects (junk you pick up like tin cans, bottlecaps, empty bottles) or it may be labeled as a moveable static (blue plastic bins, small wood crates, traffic cones). 

When making static collections (SCOL) an object which has a blue clutter collision can usually be included in a SCOL however you must first create it as a static object record first. Typically the act of including these pseudo statics into a SCOL changes their collision sufficiently that once kickable items actually do become static. 

Did you know you could include ini files for Xbox mods? I had no idea before today. I had a request to port a pipboy map mod from Nexus to Bethnet and I thought sure, why not. Problem is it needs some ini tweaks to turnoff Pipboy FX and adjust brightness. So I asked around and got this useful information from Arthmoor and Oddlittleturtle. 

Arthmoor confirmed it could be done, you just create an ini file with only the settings you want to change in your Data directory and name it the same as the esp file. So basically modname.ini.

There are two main reasons why you might not be able to build on the floors in workshop mode for Fallout 4. The first is that the floors in question may not have the WorkshopStackableItem Actor Value (AV).  The second is that you may have broken precombines affecting your vanilla settlements. 

This method is from Kinggath, author of Sim Settlements. He calls it the half split method. I’ve also used this or similar methods to find asset files (such as meshes or textures) causing crashes. The half split method involves splitting the list of items you’re checking in half. Test half A in game. If it crashes you know the problem is in half A. If there are no crashes you know the source of your problem is in half B. Split the bad half of the list into two new halves, C & D and continue testing. Continue splitting your “bad half” into new halves and testing until you’ve found the culprit. At most you’ll take 8 splits to find the source. 

Once you know what mod is causing errors, first check the file in xEdit or the CK (see editorwarnings.txt file [CURRENT] errors list) and see if obvious errors are spotted. If there are none and the mod consists primarily of external assets such as mesh or texture files then you’ll need to test the asset files to narrow down which one is causing problems. 

For this you’ll need to unpack the mod’s archives (ba2 files) and install the mod as loose files in your data directory. You can quickly narrow down what file type has an issue simply by changing the mod’s folder name under each major asset category. So for example if you have Materials/ModFolder, change ModFolder to _ModFolder. Adding an underscore in front changes the folder name so that other assets and the esp file can’t find those files to reference anymore. Do this one asset type at a time (i.e. Materials, Meshes, Scripts, Textures, etc).  

The easiest way to create transforms for your clutter objects is to first “Set Transform to Default For Object” and then make minor adjustments as desired.  Without that first step of setting it to default it can take considerably more effort to find a set of values that you like. I also like to set positions as whole numbers (no 0.1488 for example).  Angling the object isn’t always necessary, particularly as it will rotate in the workshop menu anyway.

I was chatting with another mod author yesterday sharing some quality of life tips for improving your level design experiences and thought I’d share them here as well. 

Hiding Objects

Most people know to press 11 to hide selected objects such as those ever present 654545155 invisible misters preventing you from clicking on the piece you aimed for. If you check the Layers window you can often find a layer just for the misters and other invisible clicking hazards and click on the eye icon to hide them all. You may find other useful layers to hide as well such as second floor layers.  The M key can also toggle markers off hiding even more objects that may get in your way. Alt+1 will unhide everything you’ve hidden using 11.

Removing Objects

The person I was chatting with was doing some area cleanup but didn’t want to break precombines. He was trying to be good about not deleting objects and setting things he wanted to get rid of as Initially Disabled by checking the box in the object’s edit window. However this approach was causing unintended errors as objects which had linked references were being disabled.  One of the most basic rules that mod authors learn early on is to NEVER DELETE objects for good reason. 

However in this case the safest and easiest way to remove vanilla objects you want to clean out of an area is to sort the Cell View window by either type or name on the right side and outright delete the objects you want to get rid of in bulk. Any object with a linked reference that you attempt to delete will give you an error message so you can then choose not to delete that object. Then open your mod in xEdit and use the cleaning procedures to convert deleted objects to disabled objects. This approach also reduces the likelihood of stray edits made by clicking things in the Render window that must be manually cleaned from your esp file in xEdit.  Search for videos from GamerPoets or many others to learn how to clean your mods in xEdit.

If you also don’t want to break precombines you can then manually go through all of your edits in xEdit and remove any items that say [Placed Object] with the brackets included. The brackets indicate those are objects in precombines which become broken when changed.  

Finding Error Messages

Being organized can be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful group. Here are a few quick organization tips EVERY group should utilize:

Keep close track of your active members with an official 'Activity Check' page on the group's blog

Have an 'All Characters' list on your group blog that shows whose available and whose not to potential audition-ees

If you have multiple mods, keep a running 'Draft' where you can all communicate and keep each other updated 

Keep the format of the group blog neat and easy to read with clearly marked pages and submit buttons

These are just a few of the many, many tips related to being organized.