Hello I am new to Oblivion modding and I want to know if there is a quick start on learning?
Can anyone give me a few links to tutorials?

Any information would be extremely helpful what I really want to learn is:
Scripting
Modeling
Animation
Texture/Re-Texture
Bug Fixing

So it would be really helpful if anyone can post a few tutorials or bits of information regarding those.

Thank You!

The http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Main_Page is the place to start. TheMagician has a http://www.truancyfactory.com/tutorials/oblivion01.html as well, although it's a work in progress (and hopefully this will serve as a gentle nudge ). And the http://www.invision.tesalliance.org/forums/ also has some excellent tutorials. There are also a couple of excellent articles on http://dwip.arthmoor.com/2010/08/normal-mapping-for-oblivion/ for some aspects of modelling and textures.

I think those will more than get you started :wink_smile:

Thank you very much for all of those I am going through TheMagician's website right now and this is all really great information!

I will be posting any questions I have regarding modding, animating, textures, scripting, bug fixes, and anything else that I need assistance with

I do have a quick question right now though.

I see this in TheMagician's site: "The next time you play the game, the changes you have made in your mod will begin taking effect; depending on the changes you've made, that may mean right away, or only after certain events have transpired (such as a cell refresh, which takes three full game days)."

And i am wondering is starting everything the mod does (such as the quest it adds) after a cell refresh the safest and cleanest way to do it?
It would make sense to me considering the game just reset everything so the mod won't be interfering with anything that needed to be set.

It depends on what exactly your mod does. If it adds a whole lot of NPCs or spawn points, or does anything with leveled lists, then it might be best to ask the player to wait for cell reset. For other types of mods, that's generally not something you need to worry about.

Don't worry about cell reset unless your mod specifically requires it. It's just useful to know about; mostly so you're not scratching your head trying to figure out what's 'wrong' with your mod when you don't see changes right away.

The only time it usually matters is with respawning objects, like leveled lists (containers, spell lists, creature spawns, etc.); basically what Khettienna said. There is a good http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Talk:ResetInterior that goes into more detail. It can be a little tricky, but, again, not something you need to worry about unless you're working with these kinds of objects.

After you're done perusing my site, I encourage you to sign up for the lessons at TES Alliance. (Linked by andalaybay.) And don't forget to do the http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/Category:A_beginner%27s_guide at the CS wiki. (Also linked by andalaybay.) That will get you the general workflow for mod creation. My site barely even begins to scratch the surface and is pretty scatter-shot, so it's not going to get you very far. Feel free to ask questions though.

@andalaybay: Thanks for the nudge. :tongue:

Thank you both Khettienna and TheMagician for the response!

TheMagician~ I have been going through (slowly so i learn it all) your tutorial for about 5 minutes now and I like how it teaches you the basic controls and techniques of using the Oblivion CS and explains it step by step easily and clearly for beginners so thank you it is a wonderful place to start!

Also I saw the lessons you were talking about on TES Alliance (thank you for the link andalaybay) and am excited to sign up for them so thank you for bringing them to my attention

Thank you all so far and I will continue posting questions as I have them!

Alright I came across two more questions at the end of TheMagician's tutorial on his site.

The end states "Form IDs consist of two parts: the first two digits represent the object's ModIndex, and the last six digits represent the object's ObjectIndex.

The ModIndex is the position that the mod that created the object takes in the player's load order. This index will be different for each player and often for the same player over multiple play sessions (if they have installed new mods that change the load order). Because an object's ModIndex can change every time you load the mod, it should never be used in a script. (Editor IDs are safe to use in scripts because they never change.)"
(the tutorial ends there)

And I have heard that Oblivion can handle up to 200 mods so what would happen if the load order stated it was #123 or something similar? would the Form ID be set to nine numbers to make up for this or would it simply add a specially designed symbol if the ModIndex is over 100?

And my second question is can someone explain the ObjectIndex to me?

Form ids use a hexadecimal number system, not a decimal system (very common in computer applications), so each digit can be one of 16 digits: 0-9 + a, b, c, d, e, and f. Sixteen digits times sixteen digits is 256 possible values...which is the maximum number of allowed mods. (At least, as I understand it.)

The http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Tes4Mod:Formid has a great explanation of all this stuff, but I should point out that understanding the nuances of these things is not essential at this stage in the game. I recommend you move on to the excellent beginner's tutorial I linked to earlier. The tutorial on my web site has been designed to be iterative, which means that these technical details are lightly touched on early on to make you aware of them, and then will be elaborated on in greater length further on. You are not expected to know all of the technical ins and outs just to make a simple mod, though knowing all about them will definitely make you a better modder.

In any case, I'm very glad you found the first fragment useful. Perhaps I will continue it in the near future.

The mod index number is in HEX (base16) so a 2 digit number can represent anywhere up to FF which would be 255 so a 2 digit code can be anywhere from 0 - 255 inclusive or one of 256 possible numbers (hence the reason for the 254 mod limit -- 00 is reserved for the Oblivion.esm and FF is reserved for your save game items leaving 254 remaining numbers that can be used so a limit of 254 mods !) Hex uses 0-9 and then ABCDEF so for example 14 decimal would be 0E in hex and 17 decimal would be 11 HEX (1 x16) remainder 1)

And the first 2 digits of the ID number is assigned as the mods are loaded so the first mod to load would have all items added by it numbered 01xxxxxx and then the second mods items would all be 02xxxxxx etc. -- this number can and will change as you add and remove mods from your Mod list and when you are modding in the CS they will normally always show as 01xxxxxx since when you are making a mod you only have the oblivion.esm and your mod.esp loaded in the CS so it would assign 01 to the mod added items since it was the first mod to load. The rest of the ID (the last 6 numbers) will always remain the same no matter where in the load order the mod is loaded.

First off thank you both for the fantastic very clear responses I know they aren't necessary for making a basic mod but I would like to learn all I could for any upcoming circumstances (hopefully this will all remain the same for the Skyrim CS even though it is using a new engine)

I do have another question involving the use of large mods, are there any large mods that exceed the x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x limit, there by pushing it to f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f? If not can using 254 large mods exceed that limit or is that not possible due to the continuance of changing numbers upon loading and unloading mods?

TheMagician, andalaybay~ I have joined the TESA and have started the classes and I am quite surprised about how well made these are, although lacking some details which will eventually pull up more questions I will ask here, :shifty: so thank you very much to you both for recommending them!

TheMagician~ I will look into that CSWiki tutorial you linked to after I finish the class I am currently completing at TESA Thank You again.

I'm thinking it's unlikely that you could even get the game to run with 256,000,000 records.
A really large mod like OOO may have a couple of hundred thousand records. But mods that large are few.
I don't think it's something to worry over.

in Hex the numbers can grow exponentially so for instance in the game you have id numbers that are 8 digits long the first 2 digits represent which mod the item comes from and therefore is one of 254 possible combinations of the 2 numbers (256 possible minus the 2 reserved for savegame and Oblivion.esm) --- then within that group each mod can add 6 digits worth of items into the game so any of 16,777,216 items (FFFFFF Hex = 16,777,216 Decimal) which means in total if every mod added as many items as possible you could add a total of 4,261,412,864 different items to the game !

For each digit you have 16x more possible numbers 1 digit = 16 possible numbers 2 digits = 16^2 = 16x16 = 2563 digits = 16^3 = 16x16x16 = 4,0964 digits = 16^4 = 16x16x16x16 = 65,536 5 digits = 16^5 = 16x16x16x16x16 = 1,048,5766 digits = 16^6 = 16x16x16x16x16x16 = 16,777,216

so the number of possible unique items that a single mod can add is 16,777,216 items and there can be up to 254 mods so over 4 billion items could theoritically be added to the game in addition to the ones the game starts with !

Wow. I thought my simple math was high. I completely glossed over the fact that the records are stored in Hex! :facepalm:

WOW that is a lot of items! Thank you for explaining that in detail to me! really helped me understand the concept of HEX farther.

Also I do wonder, is there any word that these methods will be preserved in the next expansion to the TES series comes out with it's CS?

Chances are the way Ids are assigned will remain the same mainly because computers work in binary numbers (0s and 1s) and the HEX format pairs up with it much better (since 1 byte of information which is how the computer would save a number is a string of 8 1s or 0s or 16 possible combinations of 1s and 0s) so you do not waste storage or memory space like you would if using a decimal based system.

This is a very small question but I am wondering is there anyway to turn off the view of the wire-frame NPCs standing next to a chair or bed marking the animation space when you place it? Because I really don't want to have to see them when I am done placing all of the chairs and beds I need.

You press 'M' to turn markers on/off. But, that turns ALL markers off. Door markers, teleport markers, north markers, xmarkers, etc..

It didn't work, The things I am talking about are these:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_MghQHWViE9w/TSfaqRsR4yI/AAAAAAAAAFI/t9hDUpq87Z8/s640/DELETE%21%21%21%21%21.JPG

I don't see an option for it in the View menu or in the shortcut keys and a quick Google search didn't reveal anything. I'm guessing you can't, since they are actually part of the nif. The editor probably only hides nifs without visible geometry, and furniture has both visible and invisible components. Maybe http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1154589-rel-construction-set-extender/ knows something about it.

Dang okay thank you for the help though
If anybody wants to look at the work I am doing so far with the Classes in TESA's CS Basics here is a link to my photo album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/tiiguar/OblivionMods#

You can click on it and press '1' to raytrace it and make it 'unselectable'. You can then press F5 to reload the cell and make them selectable again.

Well it works for me thank you very much for the info!

I now have another question.

What is raytrace and what can it be used for?

click on an object and press '1'. It should be obvious what its doing.
Its like 'wireframeing' the object so its not fully rendered. You can see through it. Its also lets you select things that one object might be hiding by making it unselectable.

Alright. :cheat:

I have a new question

What does the Hand Changed Check box do when you click it wile making an interior house?
Here is a picture:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_MghQHWViE9w/TS57wSdBePI/AAAAAAAAAI8/7JxK3GBsHmg/s640/Hand%20Changed%20question%20pic..jpg