I am trying to make my own sword mod in the Construction Set that does fire damage and magicka damage BUT I just can't figure out how to get my enemies to look as if they are on fire! All that happens is a black/red mist covers them (probably from the damage magicka effect) but I need to have them on fire. I set the fire duration for 5 secs also yet this doesn't seem to have any effect.

I know the Sword of the Crusader (which I can't seem to find in the CS for some reason) has fire damage and magicka damage, AND it sets enemies on fire when they are struck, but how can this be so when my custom sword doesn't work? I'm stuck.

What order are the effects on the sword?

If fire is first, then magicka, try reversing them. Oblivion prefers to play a single shader at a time, I think.

Hi and thanks for the reply I need all the help I can get!

I'll try what you suggested, though I'm sure the Sword of the Crusader adds fire first like I did, yet it still managed to show the fire effect.

Is there a way to choose which effect I want displayed??

I'd hate to have to delete my damage magicka effect as I am battling other battlemages and necromancers and really need it. Thanks again for your reply and look forward to all suggestions.

Out of curiousity, do you have the same exact enchantment stats as the Crusader?

I had this same issue when I was making my modded sword's enchantments. It seemed if one of the magics had a greater potency over the other magic effects, it would override any other shader effect that the sword could produce on enemies.

IE: Fire damage 1 over 2 seconds would be overridden by damage magicka 50 over 2 seconds.

In my case all I had to do was increase my fire damage over the amount of the other effect.

IE: Fire damage 100 over 2 seconds would NOT be overriden by damage magicka 50 over 2 seconds and the enemy would be put on fire.

I don't know the exact figures though and the above is just for an example. You'd have to playtest it with different #'s until you find that fire damage shader is no longer being overidden.

I looked in the CS, and the Crusader Sword enchantment lists Damage Magicka first and Fire Damage second.

Good advice and it worked. But, it is annoying, as I needed the magicka damage HIGHER than the fire damage. I don't want to beat them too easily!

And in regards to actual stats:

I set a custom Madness Sword (base value 30) with Damage Magicka 45 for 5 sec, Fire Damage 3 for 5 secs.

I wanted to get a real good battle going and it works BUT the effect showed no fire!

By switching the numbers around (with fire damaged increased to 30) I ended up defeating them a bit too easily, which ruined the battle as I like a challenge. I did get the fire damage to show with that method, but beating them too easily spoiled it tbh.

It's a shame, but I am certain there must be a way to make the effect fire even though it is a lesser effect. Surely? Anyone??

Thanks my man, I couldn't find it though, can you show me the path you took? Thanks.

Also, I think it's more to do with the damage amounts (as Kai said) than the order they are listed. I think that's right anyhow, I just wish I had more modding experience as this is driving me crazy!

It's not the order of the effects but the magnitude that determines which shader is applied. You can have the shader you want applied through a scripted effect though and have it override the default one. If you ask in the CS section hopefully someone will write the script for you. I don't have a clue about scripting or I'd do it myself.

The fire damage has a lower magnitude than the Damage Magicka effect on every version of the Crusader sword (Enchantments NDEnchWeaponSword2 through NDEnchWeaponSword8), so it can't be just the magnitude. However, the magic cost of the fire effect is higher on every version, so it may be the cost, not the magnitude that determines the shader that plays.

Sword is listed under: NDWeaponSword2 through NDWeaponSword8

One thing you can try to do is add a script effect enchantment (with a blank script), set it's magnitude really high (with the same duration as your fire enchantment) and set the visual to Fire Damage. With the high magnitude from the script effect, the Fire shader should override the Damage Magicka shader, without unbalancing your battles.

Thanks but is that under the Weapons tab? I couldn't find it.

Also, yeah you got a good point about the cost, but man, I couldn't figure out how to change the cost. It won't let me edit it! Have you any luck?? Do you think cost has a significant bearing??

Hi Vyper I've read some other posts of yours and you are an expert imo. Can you give me an example of such a script and where to place it? Thank you (and everyone else) for their help in this thread.

Wow, that's a pretty cool finding showler. I might have to revisit my sword's enchantments then.

Dudfud, you'll probably want to find the enchantment in the magic list and edit it through that way.

You are loading Knights.esp when you search for the Crusader Sword, right?

Hi Showler, I tried to but it said there was some sort of error, and should I press Yes or No to continue, I said No as I didn't want to mess anything up. I tried looking through the master esm thinking it'd be there but it wasn't.

Thanks for the high praise. :foodndrink: I just tested it and, as it turns out, you'll need to use an actual script to force the Fire Damage shader to play. First, you need to make this script:

scn FiveSecondBurnScriptBegin ScriptEffectStartpms effectFireDamageendBegin ScriptEffectFinishsms effectFireDamageend

IMPORTANT: Make sure the script is set as a Magic Effect (the default setting is Object).

Now, you just need to add this script effect to your existing enchantment. Open your custom enchantment and select "add". Instead of selecting a normal effect (like Fire Damage), select Script Effect. Set the duration to 5 (or whatever the duration of your Fire Damage enchantment is set to). Now select your script from the Script Effect Info section (which is usually dark). Give your script effect a name (I named mine Burn). You can also choose what school of magic this effect belongs to, but that is only truly useful for script effect spells. You can also choose a visual effect, but that isn't necessary here because the script itself plays the effect. Click OK and you're done. The Fire Damage effect shader will now play for whatever duration you set it to, regardless of how strong any other enchantments are. Interestingly enough, the Damage Magicka effect shader also plays, but is hard to notice.

Vyper, thanks man, what an excellent script, it worked PERFECTLY. I also found that when my enchanted sword had used all 15 uses, that the script recognised this and the fire effect ceased to work (just like it KNEW when it needed to be recharged).

How did you accomplish all this my man? This script is fantastic!

Thank you so much again, I have also repeated my thanks over at the alliance forum where you also posted this.

Glad I could help. That script is actually a modified version of one from an old test mod of mine. I'd never tried to put that in an enchantment with other spell effects before today, though. Playing around with effect shaders is pretty fun (I once made a dagger that added the Ghost effect to whoever was stabbed with it). One of the cool things about script effect enchantments is that the enchantment charge actually controls weather or not the script effect plays. It makes things so much easier since you don't have to figure out how to script it to stop working when the charge runs out.

Good info man, and putting a dagger with the ghost effect sounds fun, I'll have to try that sometime and again, your help was invaluable, thanks.

what does pms and sms mean? play magic shader and stop magic shader?

Oh, and did the change of cost not change which shader is played?

That is indeed what they mean. Good guess. :goodjob:


No, the Damage Magicka shader still played because it was the strongest effect. The script just forces the Fire Damage shader to play as well. There was no actual change to the enchantment cost (or, at least, none that I noticed) or any magic effect magnitudes.

So, did anyone confirm that the Crusader Sword did play the Fire Damage shader? If it does, it seems contrary to what has been said in this thread.

I'm still trying to get into the CS with KoTN but I still get an error/warning message. Do you get this message also?

I haven't been able to check the sword of the crusader stats as of yet because of this, so I might have to re-install to find out. Have you checked the CS to see if this is the case?

As far as I have checked, Vyper's script DOES work by letting the shader effect mix with the existing one. However, I just need to know (hopefully Vyper is reading) if there is a way to get rid of the existing effect, i.e. damage magicka, and JUST ALLOW the fire damage script effect.

Sorry I can't be more help, I am still learning this stuff as I go along, I'm sure one of the experts (like Vyper) will come up with answers in regards to these issues.

Yeah, there's five or six error messages from Knights.esp where it changes things from Oblivion.esm. If you are only going in to check some things out, then they aren't a problem. Just click "Yes" or "Yes to All" to get past them and you'll be able to see anything from Knights.

Just don't try to edit another mod with Knights.esp loaded at the same time.

Right, thanks man I'll take your advice. Incidentally, did you check the shaders yourself? Does Sword of the Crusader contain a script similar to the one Vyper posted, or does it use something else to get it's effect??