QQuix - Construction Suite
Build anything from a cute little fence to a whole new megalopolis.
Jun/2010 - Beta 0.3

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=32257

Do you want to add a cute little fence to your cozy home in the woods?
Or, maybe, you want to create a whole new megalopolis in Cyrodiil?
This is your tool for doing either (or anything in between)

This mod in intended to allow you to add new buildings to the game world and, of course, position them wherever you want.
But not only buildings. You can add pretty much anything you have seen and liked in the game world.

You can choose from more than two hundred large statics in a (kind of) menu (including buildings, castles and walls).
But you can also 'copy-paste' anything you want, from anywhere in the world.


This mod is a step toward my The Evolving Society mod and the main reason for releasing it as a separate mod is to see how the players like the interface and, being the case, improve it while the main mod is still under construction.

In The Evolving Society, the player starts with an empty island and has to 'raise' it to a thriving community with a large city and a several villages. The player will start the process by building a few small, cheap buildings close together. As the mod progresses, the population grows, and bigger, fancier buildings become available.

This means that the player will be constantly using the interface to add new buildings and replace and reposition the existing ones.

Therefore any suggestion on improving the interface is welcome
As the title says, this is a Beta release and bug reports are also welcome.

The full ReadMe follows in the second post.


Jun/2010 - Beta 0.3 release

==============================================
QQuix - Construction Suite
Feb/2010 - Version 0.3 Beta
==============================================

1 SHORT DESCRIPTION
===============
Do you want to add a cute little fence to your cozy home in the woods?
Or, maybe, you want to create a whole new megalopolis in Cyrodiil?
This is your tool for doing either (or anything in between)


2 DESCRIPTION
===============
This mod in intended to allow you to add new buildings to the game world and, of course, position them wherever you want.
But not only buildings. You can add pretty much anything you have seen and liked in the game world.

You can choose from more than two hundred large statics in a (kind of) menu (including buildings, castles and walls).
But you can also 'copy-paste' anything you want, from anywhere in the world.

But keep in mind that whatever you add, it is just for aesthetics, as the buildings are not fully functional: their doors are not functional and they have no interiors.

Please, read the instructions carefully, so you may enjoy it the most and don't break anything in your game.

3 IMPORTANT
===============
The most important thing to keep in mind is that this mod is a tool. What you do with it is your business. Use with care or pay the price.

The second most important thing to keep in mind is that the game engine is not prepared for handling obstacles you may create in the path of the NPCs and creatures. They will just keep bumping into the obstacle. Not good. It may even break some quest.
Therefore place your buildings somewhere it does not block traffic in any way.


4 USER MANUAL
===============

The mod works in one of seven Modes:
Off
Select&Deploy
Position
Adjust
Grab
Copy
Delete.

The first three are used to create new buildings and work together sequentially: Select&Deploy >> Position >> Adjust.
Grab, Copy and Delete are independent Modes.

Your actions are entered using the mouse and the configurable keyboard keys.
Keys default to the keypad. You can change any or all in the provided INI file. This document refers to the keys by their name and default key within brackets. E.g. [ModeSelection-Num5]

4.1 OFF MODE
In Off mode nothing happens.
It is as if the mod were not installed.
4.2 SELECT&DEPLOY >> POSITION >> ADJUST MODES
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
These modes are used together, one after the other, to select the building, choose the general area you want it, position it and make the final, finer adjustments to its position and angle.
You switch from Mode to Mode by pressing [ModeSelection-Num5]

4.2.1 SELECT AND DEPLOY
Select and deploy mode is used to select the building you want to deploy and move it to the general area of your choice. You enter Select&Deploy Mode by first pressing [ModeSelection-Num5].

When you first enter this mode, an Anvil Lighthouse will be placed at your cursor, about 2000 units in the direction you are facing (so, make sure you have plenty of room ahead of you before pressing [ModeSelection-Num5]).
A blue sphere will be at your 'handle' of the building.
In this mode, you move the building up, down, left and right with the mouse. Bring it closer and move it away with the mouse wheel. Rotate it with [RotateCW-NumDel] and [RotateCCW-NumIns]

In short: use the menu to select the building, use the mouse to roughly place it where you want it and press [ModeSelection-Num5] to go to the next Mode.

MENU
Think of the buildings menu as a table with rows and columns.
The Anvil architecture is in the first row with the Anvil Lighthouse as the first column.
By pressing [MenuNext-Num6] and [MenuPrev-Num4], you go sideways on the row, cycling thru all buildings available in that set.
By pressing [MenuUp-Num8] and [MenuDown-Num2], you go up and down the table, cycling thru all architectures, row by row.

The architectures (rows) are in this order:
? Anvil
? Bravil
? Bruma
? Cheydinhal
? Chorrol
? Leyawiin
? Skingrad
? Miscelaneous - like Cathedrals, Church, the Priory, Farmhouses, Sheep Fold
? Castles
? Gates
? Towers
? Large wall pieces
? Medium wall pieces
? Small wall pieces
? Kvatch
? User objects

If you are not familiar with the Construction Set, you may be surprised that many objects do not have all the sides (and may be almost invisible from some angles). These objects are meant to be used together with other similar objects, like wall pieces that have only front, top and back (no sides) and are used side by side with other wall pieces so the final result is a solid object.

4.3 POSITION MODE
This mode has two objectives: positioning the building from a medium distance and getting rid of nearby rubble that may be in the way (like rocks and trees)
This mode is indicated by a yellow sphere as your 'handle' of the building.

In this mode you use the keypad to move the building:
Move left and right with [Left-Num 4] and [Right-Num 6]
Move up and down with [Up-Num 9] and [Down-Num 3]
Move closer of farther with [Near-Num 2] and [Far-Num 8]
Rotate it with [RotateCW-NumPeriod] and [RotateCCW-Num0]

Movement is relative to your position relative to the building, so 'move left' means moving to your left, when you are facing the building from whatever angle.

As you move the building, most things in the area will temporarily disappear.
'The area', meaning the building footprint plus an additional clearance distance at each side. Removed objects include Statics, Activators, Containers, Doors, Lights, Flora and Furniture.
'Building footprint' is a rectangular area (lot?) the building occupies, not the actual, visual building. Therefore, a rock at the center of a U-shaped building will still be removed even if it s not actually occupying the same space as the building itself.

When you enter this mode from the previous mode, the mod runs a heavy process to detect the objects nearby and you may experience a lag for a second. From this process the mod will 'remember' objects up to about 1000 units/15 meters/50 feet from initial position of the building, so if you move the building too far from its initial locations, trees and rocks will not disappear anymore.

Note that large objects may be actually positioned far from the area, although they visually occupy that space. These will not be detected. Grass is part of the terrain, not a separated object, and cannot be removed. Choose preferably non-grass areas for you buildings. With use, you will get a feeling of how it works.

When you have the building where you want it, press [ModeSelection-Num5] to go to:

4.4 ADJUST MODE
This mode is pretty much as the previous one, but with much slower movements for finer adjustments.
Use it to align pieces that go together, like sidewalks and walls or to make final adjustments to your building.
This mode is indicated by a green sphere as your 'handle' of the building.

When you have the building where you want it, press [ModeSelection-Num5] to finish the positioning and 'solidify' your building.

Note that during the Position and Adjust modes, your building is not solid. It is like a holographic projection and you can walk right thru it. Of course, make sure you are not inside the building when you finish the mode and solidify it.


4.5 GRAB MODE
The grab mode turns immediately to the Position Mode, but acting on the object at the cursor, instead of an object selected from a menu.
You 'grab' an object by positioning your cursor on it and holding [Grab-Num*] while pressing [ModeSelection-Num5].
Use it to reposition something you have already placed in the world.
Only objects added dynamically to the game can be grabbed and repositioned.

Press [ModeSelection-Num5] to go to the Adjust Mode and again to finish and return to Off Mode.

4.6 COPY MODE
Did you notice the 'User objects' line in the menu?
The copy mode is the way to add your own objects to the menu.
You enter Copy Mode holding [Copy-NumIns] while pressing [ModeSelection-Num5].

When you are in this mode, a white sphere remains just above the crosshair to remind you of the mode you are in.

Point the crosshair to any object and the object will blink. Press [Copy-Num0] to add a copy of the blinking object to your User Objects menu. You can copy as many objects as you want. The menu will hold the last 30 objects added.

Press [ModeSelection-Num5] finish copying and return to Off Mode.


4.7 DELETE MODE
The Delete mode has the same mechanics as the copy mode with a few differences.
You enter Delete Mode by holding [Delete-NumDel] while pressing [ModeSelection-Num5].

When you are in this mode, a red sphere remains just above the crosshair to remind you of the mode you are in.

Point the crosshair to any object and, if the object can be deleted, it will blink. Press [Delete-NumDel] to delete the blinking object. As in the Grab Mode, only objects added dynamically to the game can be deleted. You cannot delete the Imperial City. If the object removed is one of the predefined menu items and removed rocks and trees when you added it to the game, those rocks and trees will show up again.

Press [ModeSelection-Num5] finish deleting and return to Off Mode.

4.8 GENERAL COMMENTS AND WARNINGS

Make sure the mod is in OFF MODE before fast travelling or activating doors. Unpredictable results if you don't. Like if you leave the area while an object is blinking in the off phase, it will never be back again.

Changes make using this mod are permanent, so you may install and remove this mod as you like. The only thing you will lose is your User Menu.

Of course, everything you add will be saved in the savegame and add to its size (something around 100 bytes per object, as far as I know).


5 TECHNICAL COMMENTS AND ISSUES
=========================
None


6 COMPATIBILITY
================
The only potential incompatibility is with the keyboard usage. If you have mods that use the same keys as this mod, use the INI file to assign available keys to the functions described earlier.

Please let me know of any incompatibilities so I can either add a workaround or mention it here.


7 REQUIREMENTS
=================
OBSE 0018 or above - (http://obse.silverlock.org)

8 INSTALL
==========
Standard: move the esp and the "QQuixConstructionSuit.ini" file to your ../Oblivion/Data folder and activate the mod

9 UNINSTALL
=============
Deactivate the mod and remove the esp and ini from your ../Oblivion/Data folder

10 CREDITS
==========
Testers at TES Alliance BTA Guild for Beta testing
The OBSE team for the invaluable functions that make this kind of mod possible

11 TOOLS USED TO CREATE THE MOD
===============================
Construction Set version 1.2.404
OBSE 0018 Beta 6


12 LICENSING/LEGAL
==================
All my scripts and concepts are resources available to modders to copy, adapt and use as they need them. No additional permissions needed.
But I would appreciate any feedback mentioning what you are doing with it.


13 VERSION HISTORY
====================
Version Beta 0.1 - Feb 2010 - Initial Beta release


14 SOURCE FOR DOWNLOAD
==========================


15 CONTACT
=============
Author’s home page: http://thewormhole.nfshost.com/forum/index.php/board,227.0.html




Please note that the current version is a BETA VERSION, therefore it still may have bugs and glitches
Feedback is welcome.

Wouldn't this be better posted in the mods section?? Either way it's an awesome idea

Now it is in the right forum . . . thanks summer.

would the exterior buildings be for show only ? I.e. possible to link them to an interior ....or create a new interior ? either nice mod

Oh cool, you got it to work! Good show! I see that you haven't yet managed to solve the pathgrid issue though. Glad to hear work is going well on the Evolving Society :goodjob:

Adding building interiors and linking the doors is technically possible and I may add this feature to an eventual version 2.

Although dynamically adding interior cells is not possible, I've been thinking about creating a pool of interior cells within the mod and dynamically adding the rooms with their contents to those cells. Provided those rooms are far enough apart within the cell, they will not interfere with each other.

The way the engine handles things, all interiors are stored in their respective esps (vanilla or mod). "Dynamic interiors" would be saved in the savegame.

The main, bad side effect would be the bloat on the savegame size, as each filled interior contains dozens/hundreds of objects. And we would need one for each exterior building.

Also, the more 'interiors' go to each interior cell, the longer the load time to enter those rooms.

To partially counter these effects, I could use the same trick the engine does: cell reset (delete the interior objects if the player does not visit it within a few days and creating a fresh new one when the player decides to go back there.)

Well . . . have to think about it . . . I will need it for the Evolving Society.


Yeap! A step at a time.
The pathgrid issue will be a pain. I will leave it for last. Maybe OBSE will have some functions to handle it by the time I get there.

That's cool . I think the best way would be definately to have "pre-made" non furnished rooms to use , then decorate with other mods ( i.e. imperial furniture ( which I wish some one would do a revamped version of ) . I'll book mark this and wait for V2

Wow. This sounds really cool! I've always wanted to build my own castle/manor in game. Now if only the pathgrid issues can be worked out and a way to add servants and workers to a home, this will be perfect. :goodjob:

Is there any way (using OBSE, of course) to do landscaping and change ground textures, and stuff like that? For example, if you wanted that "tilled ground" look to create an area for a garden (for which there are mods to make the plants actually grow already) or farmland you could plant near your house.

I wonder if it will one day be possible to integrate this into a mod where you can talk to the Office of Imperial Commerce or some such place to commission a house or castle construction, then go to the location where you want it, create the layout in game somehow (blue prints? special place marker pieces?) then the mod would calculate the cost of the construction based on the number of pieces, you'd pay the amount and then a construction crew would be sent to the site to do the work (which would take x number of in-game days/weeks) which could also be calculated by the size of the job and the type of pieces used.

Just thought I'd share a few thoughts on the ideas this mod has given me. It would already be possible to create a mod which would do much of what I just described, but this Construction mod could make it possible to build whereever and whatever type of building the player wanted to create as opposed to one set location and design (designed by the modder).

Anyway, it's a great start and shows more of what is possible with OBSE (and future versions, perhaps) which I have stubbornly avoided using so far, though I did just finally DL it yesterday! :blush:

PS - btw I can't help it... but maybe this should be called Construction Suite? The spelling just makes me think of some kind of weird Dwemer power armor similar to Ripley's suit in Aliens. I know I have a strange imagination, but you might want to change the spelling on that if you can.

I think some pictures here or at nexus would be nice.

No and I don't think it is that easy (or possible) to do it. The landscape texture is 'painted' on the ground, including the grass. I think it would require a Photoshop-like OBSE plugin to repaint the landscape dynamically.



My http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=915021 mod will have it all. For example: the player decides that the village needs a Sawmill, chooses a spot and the building style and, in a few days, the sawmill will be ready. Then, the player hires a skilled NPC to run it. Later on, with the profits, the sawmill may be upgraded and the original, small building will be replaced by a larger one, and so forth. This Construction Suite mod is a side product of this main project of mine.



@#&#$ !!!
You are right!! I will rename it.
If I had any modeling skills, I would create a Dwemer Construction Suit, instead of renaming the mod. lol



Pictures won't give an understanding of the mod. I think I could create a meaningful video. I will do it (can't promise soon, thou). Thanks for the suggestion.

Wow, your still at it with another amazing mod for evolving society!

A quick progress report and a question:

Everything is going well. I've just created the first dynamic interior.
The interiors will be fully furnished, based on one of the similar vanilla interiors.

A question to players interested in this mod:

As each interior will have hundreds of objects, I will [most likely] have to make a decision which way to go:
1. Remove the least used interiors from the game, therefore reducing savegame size over time, in which case anything the player leaves inside will certainly be lost. The interior will be recreated anew when the player goes there again.
2. Keep all interiors (= larger save game size and longer load time transitions). Objects dropped by the player will remain, or not, based on normal cell reset rules (which, I think, does not remove objects dropped by the player).

Any feedback on the matter is appreciated.

A quick report on my plans for this mod:

Next version will have:
(1) Dynamic created interiors - the proof of concept is working fine, but it needs a lot of time to apply it to a release version.
(2) Removal of the path grid under the buildings - using newly added OBSE functions.
(3) Rotating placed objects on the X and Y angles - as asked by a player, in order to better adjust interior decoration.

But my highest priority, at the moment, is http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=915021 mod, so the work on this mod will have to wait. The above features will be, first, implemented in The Evolving Society and, then, I will come back and apply them here.

Great to see that you have managed to crack those walnuts!
I'll admit that I have doubted that it will be possible to solve that pathgrid issues.

man you're doing an amazing work! I remember when you started with this long time ago, it quite sounded like an utopia and now it's far more close to be real, I wonder how do you do to not loose your patience I understand this is a key piece to The Evolving Society mod so cheers man, hope we all could see a nearly-final version out soon (and if it doesn't come out soon then no worries, as it sure will mean it'll be improved). Keep it up!

Regarding the savegame bloating with interiors, if you foresee it could become a potential issue then I wouldn't left it unattended. I'd suggest using a mix of both procedures you mention, 1-storing a limited amount of interior cells (may it be an amount set by the player, so people could adjust that to their machine and setup?) and 2- apply normal time-based cell resetting, even if the stored cells queue/stack isn't full, and always apply the most strict rule of both, so 1st would act as a cap/max for those whose setup can't handle all the extra data in the savegames. Maybe give the player the option to set one cell at a time as non-respawnable, as to mark it as his/her current home, so one could visit all the buildings in a row and then go back home without loosing all his/her items.

great that you could solve that with pathgrids, it's really ugly when npcs stubbornly try to walk through a wall

Thanks for solving the path grid problem should go to scruggsy, for adding the proper node handling functions to OBSE v20. I tested them and they look good. There are a few that could not be implemented in v20, but if they prove essential for the development, I will ask scruggsy again.
- - - - - - - - -
I do this as a hobby: something to do, and enjoy doing, on my free time. Although, being a hobby, motivation is never in short supply, support and encouragement from the community is always welcome and appreciated. Thanks for your support.
- - - - - - - - -
The Evolving Society is going fine: I released a teaser version for the team members last month and I am trying hard to release a second one soon. Still very initial, dry versions, no storyline or quests. Just something for the team to get the feeling of the mod before starting developing quests and other stuff.
- - - - - - - - -
Good suggestions for handling the interiors, thanks.
I will have number of interior cells defined in the CS (about 10), but each may hold several building interiors. I can easily add an ini parameter so the player may set a maximum. Good suggestion.
Setting a player home cell as non-respawnable is just a matter of recording everything that is in the cell in order to make sure everything is still there when the player returns. Even if the engine resets the cell. I will have to do some research in order to determine WHEN to do it.

Amazing... I can be the mayor of Cyrodiil. Does The Evolving Society have scripts and AI and all that other crap?

Hi,
worked a little on a similar mod for Fallout 3 called RTS.
so I do have a little guestion.

Navmesh's
when you place a new object is a navmesh generated or is there oddd behaviour with NPCS/Companions walking round and getting caught.

Well . . . not Cyrodiil, but you certainly may become the King of Aledra.
At the moment, I have 200+ scripts. Still have to add several dozen NPC ACE scripts to handle my own NPC AI. So the answer is yes.
Check the http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=915021 and http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1060697 topics for more details



Hi, there.

I am not familiar with Fallout, but I've read a post about navimeshes some time ago.
Oblivion does not have navimeshes. NPC navigation is based on a grid of path nodes that is preset at world building time. NPC AI will not be aware of, and NPCs will bump into, any in-game, dynamically added building or obstacle.
OBSE v20 (soon to be released) adds script functions do detect, enable and disable those nodes. Now, it is just a matter of a little math to determine which nodes are under the added building and disabling them. NPC AI will be aware of the disabling and actors will walk around the obstacle. Problem solved.