Strange CS issue I wanted to add to the general community kn : IV

» Mon Dec 05, 2011 4:02 pm

I made a custom light

ID: aadpRedLight
fov: 90
script: none
fall off: 1
radius: 180
color r 225
fade: 1
No carry no sound
dynamic flicker type

But with the vanilla NullNif from the magic folder of the meshs.
I am using this as an activator to create a flash of red light as it cast a spell (enable then disable for the flash of red light!)

When I try to drag this to a hidden cell to make a persistent reference it will crash the CS.

But if instead I use placeatme (to put it in the game in game mode) it all works fine.
I have tried this with other custom nifs and the same thing happens sometimes.
But I also did this with candles nifs and it did not crash the CS.

So it must be the type of nif that is causing this when used to make a light.

Note: Maybe I will try using a no nif, I just assumed I would need the nif to act as an activator. But maybe no nif light will work as well.

Edit: yes, a "no nif" light still works as a magic casting activator! :hubbahubba: So this is cool new "easy way" trick to add visual effects in the game! :woot:

» Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:13 pm

One thing worth mentioning regarding lights with custom meshes is that you always need to duplicate a light that already has a nif file attached (and exchange the existing nif with your custom one), otherwise it will crash the CS. If you create a new light (right-click, new) and then add a nif to the light entry or duplicate a light with no nif attached and add a nif it will cause a crash. If you duplicate an existing light with a mesh (candle for example) and replace the mesh with your own one it will work. This behavior of the CS was giving me a big headache until I found out what to do. There is no apparent reason why it happens, the light properties and the nif setup don't matter.

» Mon Dec 05, 2011 12:05 pm

Huh?...more wired stuff. Thanks for letting me know the work around. The CS is a fickle mistress! (oh but I can stop loving her!).
The strange thing for me was that I could still use it in the game by adding it to the game dynamically (instead of dragging it to a hidden cell and making it persistent ).

So this is a bug in the CS not necessarily a game issue.

One thing worth mentioning regarding lights with custom meshes is that you always need to duplicate a light that already has a nif file attached (and exchange the existing nif with your custom one), otherwise it will crash the CS. If you create a new light (right-click, new) and then add a nif to the light entry or duplicate a light with no nif attached and add a nif it will cause a crash. If you duplicate an existing light with a mesh (candle for example) and replace the mesh with your own one it will work. This behavior of the CS was giving me a big headache until I found out what to do. There is no apparent reason why it happens, the light properties and the nif setup don't matter.