I finally got my Morrowind game setup and backed up. Now it's time for me to start getting into modding again. I have a few general questions.

1. I use a laptop. It's REALLY hard using the construction set due to lack of a mouse. I do have a game pad though..it's a rumble pad 2. It has 2 joysticks, and dpad and a total of 12 or
so buttons. I also use Pinnacle Profiler. Does anyone have a good profile (or know where I can get one) for Pinnacle Profiler that'll make working with the Construction Set a little easier?

2. So what is the easiest way to start a mod? Just start the editor, load the 3 primary game ESM's, and then save it into data files, move it into it's own folder, then load it into Wrye for installation and work?

3. Why do the expansions throw all of those conversation errors when loading them into the Construction Set. Is there anyway to get rid of them.

Thanks again.

1. You can get a decent mouse for about $15
I can't imagine that using a game pad would be easy to use with the CS... but I've been a mouse/keyboard user for a long time.

2. The CS looks for esps in the main Data Files folder. You'll need to keep the esp there while you work on it.
To use it in-game you activate it as usual.
You also only need to activate the expansions if you want to use the resources and/or script functions that they have.

3. Because they change some of the original dialog. There is no way to get rid of them, except using AllowYesToAll=1 in your ini will let you skip them. The warnings are harmless.

Would like to add for the sake of clarity, that line is not in there. You must add it yourself. I suppose it can be just about anywhere but I put it near the top just below "Max FPS=?"

Is that correct? Or am I imaging that? Is it in there by default?

Nice, thanks for all the feedback. I appreciate it.

You are correct. It is not in there by default.
I tend to put it anywhere in the [general] section.

Few more questions. I have never really done a lot with graphics. I have done programming for 7 years, but never much with graphics. However, when I really sit down and play around with photoshop I can do some pretty creative stuff, just takes me longer.

So in general..I made a few simple mods before with the TES editor..I just don't like teh controls with it. Maybe because I am on a laptop, as I mentioned earlier. However I know I could get a mouse, but I am always sitting down with it in my lap, really hard to get a good mouse usage with that angle. Are there
any alternative editors that do the same things, but perhaps even more features? What do all of you use?

Also what do I need to use/know if I wanted to started doing some other stuff....like icons, textures, meshes. Are there any other parts of modding that I might find interesting that I could try to get into?

there's only 1 editor, the TESCS, CS, construction set.

quest making looks fun, or interior making, or what i love to do; exteriors.

cant u sit on a table? so the mouse is at the side of you? i'm on a laptop.

things you might want to use for graphics:

photoshop
paint (uh-huh)
blender/max
nifskope

wolli.

I already have Photoshop. Do I need anything else to do meshes, or textures?
Also, can Photoshop make nif files and those other Morrowind file types.

What about enchanted editor and some of the other ones? There was also another one that wikipedia said had more features, but
I forgot what it was called.

blender-meshes
photoshop-textures
nifskope-mesh tweeking

EE doesnt do anything like the CS, you can just use it to tweek and clean mods, there's no world screen, no drag and drop items,.. just check it out 1st, go check everything out.

That break down you gave me was all I needed. That is going to be very helpful. I already have Photoshop, so I will hunt down nifskope and blender. Thanks again for the breakdown.
Yes, I just tried out enchanted editor, it's nowhere near the same. I am going to play around with my control settings for the Construction Set, if I can't get it the way I want it, I will just sit at a table while doing modding.
Thanks again for all the feedback.

i didn't see http://sourceforge.net/projects/mwedit/files/ mentioned....

if you get in to MWSE scripts you'll need it...

When I mod on my laptop I sit on my couch, and I have a large, hard book on the couch beside me. That's my mouse surface.
Comfy and functional.

Actually I Just tried. It's not working for me either (mouse). Here is my problem, and it's what's pissing me off about the construction set. I am hoping it's my lack of understanding.

So I can grab items and move them around. However, it's SO hard to see what your doing with it in that really high up top view. I use to be able to get it to pivot in closer...but I still can't get an easy way to move it around. So I
think about someone like Ravenloft house, or Danae's new house..I try to imagine them going through the painstaking process of making these houses...it seems that at this pace, it would take me 3 months to build a 1 bedroom house. So
is it me, or are the controls this hard.

I tried using all the mouse functions but none of them make it easier to move around, and Ican do the same stuff using my Pinnacle Profiler and my rumble pad (which is generally what I use. So can you share with me what kind of controller
scheme you use? How can you make the editor allow you to get free range motion, be able to move it around, especially moving it around the map I have seen no controls that do that but the arrow keys on the keyboard and it's really hard to get it where you want, I keep
overshooting/undershooting my target. I am going crazy.

I am pretty sure there is some technique that makes doing this a lot easier. Just not sure what it is.

Your mouse doesn't have a wheel? Normally that will let you zoom in/out with great precision. (while having an object selected)
Holding V and moving the mouse up/down will also zoom.

Holding Shift will let you pan all around with the mouse. (while having an object selected)
Pressing C will also give you a side-view of the selected object (as opposed to the top of T)

Also, turning off Snap to Grid and Snap to Angle allows you to move objects freely without them trying to lock into place. Sometimes you'll want these on, sometimes off.

It's been ages since I've messed around with the Construction Set, but I've opened it enough recently that I may be able to help a little. First off, don't rely on your mouse for everything. I can navigate the render window fairly easily on my laptop using just the keyboard and the trackpad. You need to learn what the keyboard shortcuts are. An easy way to move the view around with more control is to find an object near the center of the cell, or part of the cell you want to work with and select it in the cell view window. Now go to the render window and on the keyboard hit 't' that will give you a top down view of the item you selected ... pressing 'c' will give you a front view of the object ... holding 'shift' and moving your mouse or finger on the trackpad pans the camera around the selected object. The 'f' key will drop the selected object to the closest horizontal surface with collision (usually the floor). The snap to grid button will cause objects to jump around to the closest grid points when moving them ... with 'snap to grid' off things will move freely.

Learn what the keyboard does when manipulating objects in the toolset, it will save you many many headaches and much frustration.

edit - whoops, Pluto beat me to the punch, but yeah ... a mouse may make it easier, but learning the keyboard controls is more important ... once you know those you may decide the trackpad on your laptop is sufficient.

Nice. Yes, I can do this just fine even without my mouse. It'll take me a minute to learn some of the controls. However, it is working nicely. Thanks for those short cut commands. It's especially easy when using shift once I have
an item selected. Thanks again. I am going to go play around and make a basic house or something to start with. Then going to see what I feel like doing after that. Thanks again for the feedback. That helped a lot.

Had one more question, might as well throw it in this thread since it's active so I don't have to start another. So for some things you cannot do with the editor unless you do scripts? For example, I was trying to edit an enemy, to see if I could remove a spell. I can delete items that they are suppose to carry but I cannot delete spells. When I search it online there is a script function that removes spell called removeSpell. So if I wanted to remove a spell from a character, I would have to write a script attached to that npc/enemy/character that removes whatever spells I want? As well as do the same thing if I wanted to add more spells also?

Also, what is the best way to move around the map. I know about some of the key commands you presented. Is there one that allows you to drag around the map easier? If I use the arrow keys it jumps great distances, is there a way to make it go a little bit, or to use the mouse in order to move around the cell render view?

@2:
hold the middle-mouse-wheel and just drag to a side really quick. or... face the direction you want to go to and scroll\zoom, trust me, it takes ages to get used to, i've been making exteriors for 1 and a half years and it's easy as, it just takes a few weeks to get used to, like a guitar

OK cool, I will play around with it. I didn't think it would be an overnight thing. I am going to try to build a few simple mods and see how that goes. Something that incorporates scripting and a few other things just to see how I do with some of that before I start on something bigger.

You add/remove spells from NPCs the same way you add/remove items from their inventory. (the Spell tab is beside the Inventory tab on the NPCs personal window.)

For Exteriors, the directional arrows will go to the next cell in that direction.
To quickly move across Interiors, zoom out, highlight an object far away (adjust the camera if you can't see any objects,) then press C or T.

If you are using your laptop's trackpad you will want to press and hold the spacebar and move the camera with the trackpad. With a mouse holding the middle mouse button is easier, but with a trackpad that isn't really an option, so the spacebar will give the same results.

It should be noted, probably, that if you add or remove spells from a common creature you should save that creature under a new name, or you will be editing every instace of that creature throughout the entire game. Like removing the fire attack from all flame atronachs in the game, for example.

Strange, it wouldn't work on spells. I saw the item tab, but on the spells tab I tried to delete one off an enemy (just to test) and it did nothing. Not sure, maybe there are certain spells you can't remove. I was in the starting area near Seyda Neen and tried to take a spell off of one of the enemies to see what happened and it didn't let me.

Thanks for the description about moving around. That actually makes it a lot simpler.

Nice. Thanks Pluto your description made it easier, then Demetrius I just saw your post. That is very helpful. That's going to make building houses a LOT easier..Had no idea the spacebar would have that kind of effect. Also, I will keep that in mind about the spells. Thanks again for all the feedback.

Holding the shift key will pan the camera around the selected object (as others have said), but you can also hold the space bar while moving the mouse to move the camera to different areas. When I'm working in the CS I have my left pinkie on the shift key and my thumb on the space bar. Once you get a little practice it will become second nature. The space bar movement is especially useful in exteriors for shorter, controlled movement, but the arrow keys work better for larger movements. The arrow keys move you 1/2 a cell per press. If you're moving a few feet, use the mouse. If you're moving a couple of cells over, use the arrow keys. It can be confusing when you first start, but with a little practice, you'll be moving exactly where you want without even thinking about it. :wink_smile:


Oh, and watch out for the one bug you can never get rid of.... The Modding Bug! :rofl:

Edit: Dang! I have to learn to check that I'm reading the last post!




KF

Yes, I have the movements down pretty good. I love modding, just need to get better with it. I am messing around with the scripting right now. The language itself seems pretty simple, similar to LUA. It's just that there aren't a lot of online resources. So i am trying to figure out how to force an NPC
to talk to you. Working through some simple scripts right now. I am going to try to do some advanced scripting mods later, or write some scripts as mod resources.