VGUNetwork - Tutorials: G.E.C.K Tutorials

Generating LOD terrain meshes for large worldspaces

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 01:55:02 +0000

Alright, here we go. This process took me about two days worth of work, so get comfortable.

For this, you'll obviously need your .esp or .esm, the GECK, and FO3Edit. Before anything, back up your .esp. I mean it. FO3Edit can be risky, so back it up and keep it safe.

1) In FO3Edit, load your .esp and whatever dependencies it has.

2) When it's finished loading, find your .esp, navigate to World Spaces, your worldspace (AltonDowntownWorld, in my case), then Blocks. I had 12 blocks in mine, which added up to 439 total terrain chunks.

3) This is where it gets tedious. What you need to do is deep copy as override the blocks individually into a new .esp. You can do this by right clicking the block and selecting the option. Each block needs to be a seperate, new .esp, otherwise the GECK likes to lock up.
I ended up having 12 new .esp's alongside my 'Alton, IL.esp'. I had AltonLOD1 all the way to AltonLOD12.

Diverging from the steps here, the reason that the GECK locks up during LOD generation is the border blocks. These blocks, even though they are usually a flat nif or a cube, give the GECK a really tough time. This is why the seperate .esp's are important.

When using deep copy override, make sure to make a new .esp for each. It might take a little while to copy it over, but before you save and close, navigate to your NEW .esp's World Spaces record and make sure that it has the new worldspace AND the block that you copied over. If it only has the worldspace, but no block records under it, simply click deep copy override again on the same block as before.

When I was going through and doing this, I closed FO3Edit every time after creating a new .esp. This seemed to minimize crashes, but you might not have to. Again, the important part is to have a seperate .esp for every single block.

4) Next, open up the GECK. Load up the first of the .esp's that you created, and generate terrain meshes. Most of the time, the blocks you generate should have either 80 chunks, or 12. The 80 chunk ones, surprisingly, will generate MUCH faster than the 12's, as the 12 are the border blocks. The 80's took around 15 minutes for me, and the 12's took 30-40.

5) When this is done, generate terrain textures, grab them from the Source/Textures TGA/Landscape/LOD/Worldspace Name, rename the DiffuseGenerated folder to Diffuse, and move them into your standard Data/Textures/Landscape/LOD folder.
Do steps 4 and 5 for every .esp you created. When you're done, you should have a full set of LOD meshes and textures.

6) Finally, extract Wasteland.dlodsettings from Fallout-Misc.bsa and rename it to fit your worldspace.

There is a tradeoff, however- you will not be able to generate objects. This is due to the fact that LOD relies on the .DLODSettings file in Data/LODSettings for displaying LOD. I've basically figured it out through a weeks worth of hex editing, and with this method, objects will not show up. I don't know why, but they won't.

The problem is that the GECK, since we're using an extreme workaround, has no idea that you're generating LOD for your original .esp. The game is simply reading the .nifs we created using the workaround and saying, "Oh hey, I guess I'll show these, they have the right name!"

But there was also a major coincidence that happened after going through this whole process. As I handed the files off to a friend of mine who wanted to mess with them (we've tried LOD on his computer dozens of times previously), LOD magically worked... on the main .esp. All 439 chunks of it. It took a week or so, but it worked, and now LOD objects work to. So hey, maybe this does something that I can't figure out. But think of it this way- land meshes/textures only is better than no LOD at all.

Anyways, good luck, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Adding custom music to interiors and locations

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 06:06:44 +0000

DISCLAIMER: I made the tutorial using the G.E.C.K. (New Vegas Edition) Version 1.1.0.262. Everything described in the tutorial worked for me. I cannot guarantee that this will work for you as well. If you find any errors in the tutorial, please comment or write a PM. Feel free to ask questions or add something useful.
Thanks!

OK let's get started.

Choose some songs you want to play in your interior/exterior cells. You could rename them for easier reference (whether it's a song for inside or outside, day or night, peace or war, etc)
Convert your songs to Mp3. Vanilla music is 48000 kHz / 192 kbps, but you can use a lower quality setting to save space. I used 44100 kHz / 64 kbps. The files should be Stereo, sounds better. I use CDex to convert sound files, its a free tool.
In your game folder, locate the Data/Music folder. Create a new directory, call it whatever you like, and copy all your mp3 files into this folder.
Start the GECK and load the mod with your cell. In the Object Window, go to the Audio category, and select Media Set.
Right-click into the list and click New. Enter a unique ID (e.g. myMediaSetVault01) and a name. From the drop-down menu, choose the type of set you want to create. For the first Media Set, choose Dungeon Set.
- Click on Explore. In the pop-up window, open the folder with your Mp3 files, select a song that should play during the peaceful exploration of the interior, and click OK.
- Repeat for the Suspense (enemies are aware of your presence) and Battle (combat has begun) buttons. You can choose other songs if you like, or if you don't want the music to change, choose the same song.
- You can change the values for Looping/Random Crossfade Overlap etc. if you like experimenting. I didn't change these settings. Anyway, click OK to save the Media Set.
Now, for the second Media Set, create a new one (right-click/new) and choose Location Set.
- Notice there are two sections, one for Day and one for Night. You can't click any buttons here yet, so set a checkmark right next to Outer, in both sections. Now you can click both Outer buttons and choose your song(s)
- Leave the % Boundary value at 100 for now. Click OK to save the Media Set.
Now you have created two Media Sets, one for interiors and one for exteriors. Repeat the steps above until you have created enough Media Sets for the variety.
Next up are Location Controllers, these define which songs (Media Sets) are played in a location:
- In the Object Window, go to the Audio category, and select Media Location Controller.
- Right-click into the list and click New. Enter a unique ID (e.g. myMediaLocVault) and a name.
- There are six categories, for now we will only use Location Sets. Right-click into the field and click Add.
- A list with all Media Sets will pop-up. Choose one of the Media Sets you just created. If you want more songs to play in the location, repeat adding Media Sets, and then select Random. If you have only one Media set, leave it to Loop. Leave the rest of the settings as they are. You can mix the different Media Set types as you like, but i havent really tried all combinations yet. Anyway, click OK to save Media Location Controller.
Now it's time to add the music to your cell. In the Cell View window, locate your cell and doubleclick something from the list to let your cell appear in the Render Window.
- In the Object Window, go to the World Objects category, and select Static. Locate AudioMarker (type audio in the filter to get it quickly).
- Drag and Drop AudioMarker into the Render Window. Place it right in the middle of your location, but above all the walls and stuff so you find and click it easier. (You may skip this step if you copied an existing Cell to create yours. In the Cell View window, set a check at Filter and type audio, now you see if there's already an AudioMarker in your Cell)
- Doubleclick the AudioMarker in the Render Window, or right-click/edit it in the Cell View list. The Reference window will appear.
- Select the AudioMarker tab, and click the big AudioMarker Dialog button.
  
  From the drop-down-menu, choose the appropriate Media Location Controller. You may adjust the radius to the size of your cell, but 5000 should be fine. Click OK to confirm your changes. To see the actual radius, zoom out in the Render Window.
The AudioMarker example above is in a interior cell, but it works exactly the same in an exterior cell. That's it, save your file, and enjoy your custom music in-game!

You will have noticed that there are far more possibilities to add music to a Media Set, and to add Media Sets to a Media Location Controller than described in this tutorial. It doesnt cover all the battle and faction specific stuff. Take a look at existing Media Sets and Media Location Controllers, and try to adapt their settings.

FO3 Mods to NV

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 15:05:18 +0000

Well I guess a lot of people have been asking... how do I get my FO3 mods into NV? Well... this tutorial answers all your questions.
(This was originally written for this thread by me...)

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1.) Open FONV GECK
2.) Click File -> Data... Once that window is open, click "FalloutNV.esm" and NOTHING ELSE. Mark those words. Afterwards, wait till it loads.
3.) After it loads, in the "Cell View" window, choose a cell you want to put the footlocker/crate/whatever. (For me, I started putting everything in the "GSSchoolHouse" cell, for easy use).
4.) Once you've done that, in the "Object Window" Click Items -> Armor. Once your that far, look in the right of the Object Window. There is a HUGE list of all armors and stuff. Simply right-click the "ArmorCombat" armor -> Edit. You should get a menu.

5.) There's a LOT we must edit for this to work. I'll simply guide you through. (please, for the love of God, make sure this armor was rigged for FO3...)
ID: Type whatever you want, as long as you'll remember it. (ex: F3UArmorHarness)
Name: Type whatever you want. (ex: Harness)
Script: Don't worry bout this.
Weight: Whatever you want, really. It doesn't matter. (Make it reasonable). To the right of it, just click "Light" for this, it's a harness.
Health: Well, if this is more like a "bulletproof-harness/vest" then I'd make it high. If not, make it whatever. (all your decision). To the right is AR, which I think means "Armor Reduction" which I have NO CLUE what it does. (sorry, hah. never bothered with it ^^).

Object Effect: Leave that how it is.
Add Destruction Data: Don't even worry bout this.
Repair Item List: Well, whatever you want to use to repair this. Set it to what you want.
Equip Type: Well, leave this how it is. Because this IS indeed a "BodyWear" type of thing.
Biped Model List: Don't worry bout it.

DT(more in the middle): is the "Damage Threshold" put this to whatever you want.
Anything else right in that section, don't worry bout it.

Now there is a section called "Biped Object". And since this is a harness, you might as well put as a "BodyAddon" to see if that works ( not completely sure. Also make sure that is the ONLY thing that is clicked).

More towards the right is the "Biped Model(s)/World Models". For THIS, you must locate the files. Simply click the "Biped Model" for male first. Now, locate the mesh. Once found, click okay. Do the same for the Female as well. For world models, set up the same thing (unless there actually is a world model... so ex: harness_go -- is a world model...).

PipBoy Image: Set to tastes.
Bottom Right Area: Well, this area is pretty self-explanatory. Just make sure "Playable" is clicked. (And if you want it to be Power Armor, then simply click "Power Armor".
Everything Else: Don't worry bout anything else.

Now that your done with that whole thing... click "OK".

6.) Well, 5 was a long one, sure. But 6 is a whole lot easier. For this, we'll be setting up the footlocker. (Well, that's what I'm using...)
SO, since you SHOULD be in the cell you would like to place your object, click the "Object Window". Click All -> and in the top left should be a search button. Type: footlocker01empty
Right-click it -> Edit
GREAT, a whole new menu! But guess what? This one's a LOT easier than the last menu.

ID: Set to whatever you want. (ex: F3UHarnessFootlocker001)
Name: Whatever you want. (ex: Harness Footlocker)

Now, forget everything else except the white-box to the right of the menu. Seriously.
Right-Click -> New
Once you have that, right below that box is... a drop-down menu named; Object... of every item in the game. Click it, and type the first like, let's say 5 letters of your Harness' ID. (ex: F3UAr -- for F3UArmorHarness)
Well, now you have your item set up. To the right of it, there is a couple things as well. Set to tastes...
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Well, I hope I helped you through that!
Happy Modding!
Enjoy
- Reasoning

Making a Fallout3 .esp mod into a .esm master file and setting the heading.

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 09:05:11 +0000

Making a Fallout3 .esp mod into a .esm master file and setting the heading.

This may seem like beginners stuff but when I went to look up how to convert an .esp to an .esm I found no tutorials, only bits of information here and there. This is what I came up with and it’s seemed to work for me so far.I welcome suggestions and constructive criticism.

This is put together for a windows XP system. (Adjust according to your specs)

Programs Needed:
Fallout3 ;updated to 1.7
GECK ;updated to 1.5
Fomm ; 0.12.6 and up
FO3Edit ; 2.5.3 or above
7z ; not necessary but you should have it for up loads

Install all programs.
I suggest adding fose as it enhances fomm.

----------------------------------- FO3Edit & Playing F03 Mods -----------------------------------
(this section isn’t absolutely necessary for this tutorial but I highly recommend it)

Setting up Fo3edit:
Make sure FO3Edit is installed according to its directions ( in the fallout folder not the data and has the hardcoded file with it)
Copy Fo3edit and past it next to FO3edit.
Rename it to FO3MasterUpdated.
Paste it again and rename it to FO3MasterRestore.
Now you should have FO3Edit files in your fallout folder. FO3Edit.FO3MasterUpdate.Fo3MasterRestore.
I like to keep these 3 together at the top for ease of use.

Gaming With FO3Edit
Easiest
Using Fo3Edit when/before/after playing: (so easy there is no excuse not to)
1. Open your Fallout3 folder and click on Master Update. Close it when it’s done. Play. 2. When you’re done playing click on master restore. (this saves noobs from messing up)

Modding up
The process of Modding-Up is seven steps long and very simple.
See Section 3.4 in the Fallout 3 Training Manuel for Fo3Edit
http://www.fallout3n...ile.php?id=8629

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Make your mod in Geck and save it. Normal save is in the Fallout Data Folder, or use a mod you have installed already.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Back up Folders
(Recommend)
Starting folder structure

1. A1) Make a folder on your desktop and name it ( My Mod Folder or something ), this is where you will keep your mod and it’s files.
2. B1) In side this folder make a new folder and name it according to your mod. (Name it as simple and direct as possible as this is what people will see should you choose to upload it).
3. B2) Inside you’re My Mod Folder Make a new folder and name it backup.
4. Now you have 2 folders inside of A1) 1 you’ll work on and a back up one just incase you mess up.
5. If you have meshes and textures you’ll need to make folders for them in both of your main folders also.

Getting your file/folder ready

1. Go into your fallout/data folder and copy your mods .esp
2. Paste it in both folders B1 & B2
3. Add you mesh and texture folders/files if you have any to B1 & B2

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Converting your .esp to a .esm

1. Open Fomm ( uncheck all mods to make it easier)
2. Select TOOLS from the top tab
3. Select TESsnip from the tools drop down menu
4. Select File then open
5. Locate your mod in the fallout/data folder and select it. Then click open
6. Click on your mod in the left window to highlight it
7. Click on the Spells tab with you mod highlighted then Make ESM
8. Select path to save to fallout/data (same as before) ***** make sure to change SAVE TYPE AS: MASTER FILE
9. Close TESsnip
10. You should see a new file (your file as an ESM)
11. Put a check by your new file (the ESM) (all other should be unchecked)
12. Close Fomm
13. In your Fallout folder Select FO3Edit (open it)
14. You will see 2 of your mod…. 1 esp and 1 esm
15. Make sure your new ESM file is the only one selected
16. Click ok to start FO3Edit
17. Open your file on the left with the + and select FileHeader
18. Right click on ESM (to the right of the Record Flag) on the right window under Tes4
19. Select Edit then yes to the pop up window
20. Uncheck ESM at the top and hit ok
21. Close FO3edit and select ok to save the changes
22. Open Fo3edit selecting only your esm file
23. steps 17,18, & 19 again
24. Check ESM at the top the hit ok
25. You should see some forms under ONAM-overriden forms on the right side if you’ve made any edits to a vanilla cell
26. Close FO3Edit and SAVE
27. Go back into your fallout data folder and Delete the .esp copy you started with
28. Copy the new .ESM File and Save it to you’re my mod folder B1) and over write if needed
29. Test out your mod in game with the new ESM.
30. If all is well 7z your mod folder B1) Then re test it.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Want to make changes to your ESM?

Direct Edit:
Use steps 13 and 15-21. Then you should be able to Mod it again in geck.
Use steps 22-26 when done editing it.

Add on or patch:
Open geck and select you esm masterfile.
Make your changes or add things or whatever you want
Save new .esp
Open fomm and make sure both the new .esp and the .esm are selected
Test in game

Create and add custom poses (Blender)

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 19:02:29 +0000

Create and add custom poses
Tutorial for Blender

Requirements:
The latest versions, and some basic knowledge (camera movement, etc), of these tools:
Blender (+NifScripts)
NifSkope
tazpn's kfupdater
GECK

_______________
Introduction
----------------------
Players who enjoy taking screenshots in Fallout3 make use of them all the time and the imageshare wouldn't be as nice as it is without them.
Basically, custom poses are essential for "presenting" Fallout in a different way than what everyone can see ingame. I've been wondering why there are many modders out there who are proficient with 3D-software but only a few (but excellent) pose mods.
So I started looking into that "process" of creating a pose myself and decided to write a little tutorial if I'm successful.

_________________
Main
-------------------------
My base was Backsteppo's tutorial and his FO3-ready skeleton in .blend-format.
You might want to grab that file since the example in this tutorial will be made using this.

Outline
1. Creating the pose [Step 1 - Step 5]
2. Exporting, finalizing and adjusting [Step 6 - Step 8]
3. Getting it ingame [Step 9 - Step 10]
4. Result
5. Additional random stuff

-------------------------
Step 1
-----------
Open the skeleton file and adjust the workspace to your liking.
I tend to work most of the time with one panel only, without checking the others very much, so I made it bigger and changed the perspective mode (NUM 5).

Step 2
-----------
For the tutorial I decided to make a rather easy pose, no highly complicated finger positions, straight spine, etc.
The "Objection!"-pose from Phoenix Wright seems to be perfect.

So now that we got an idea or "concept", it's best to get some reference pictures, obvious choice: Google.

source: http://www.creativeu...ix-wright3.html

Step 3
-----------

The posing itself is done only via rotating, you don't want to grab and move bones, that deforms the mesh.
Rotating on the local axis makes it look more natural, so the keyboard shortcuts we'll be using most of the time are:

R -> X -> X (X-Axis)
R -> Y -> Y (Y-Axis)
R -> Z -> Z (Z-Axis)

Let's start with the right arm, select the UpperArm.R bone (RMB) and rotate it on the local X-axis. Apply the changes (LMB). (By clicking the RMB you can cancel the action)

It looks a bit too stiff, so I bend the arm a bit. (Forearm.R, Z)

After some more tweaking via trial&error (upperarm Z,X, forearm X, ...) and altering the hand the arm looks more loose. (might wanna take your own arm as a reference, too.)

Now the stretched left arm.
Judging from the reference picture the arm is on line with the shoulders, so we raise it.
But not fully horizontal because, as you will notice, this looks pretty awkward. Try it with your own arm and you'll know why.
So instead we also lift the shoulder until it looks good.

The next pictures should be self-explanatory:

Step 4
-----------

The basic pose is somewhat finished, let's touch it up.
I bent the spine slightly backwards (Spine and Spine2 Z), straightened the legs (calf Z, thigh Z), raised the shoulder a little more (clavicle X), and gave the clavicle some Z-rotation.

So that's my take on that reference.

Step 5
-----------

In order to make (fast) changes to the pose later on it's easiest to save it in .blend format.
To do so it's not sufficient to simply save the file now, the skeleton would be in T-Pose again.
Hit A to select all bones and then either use I or Space -> Object -> Insert Keyframe. Choose LocRot

Now you can save your pose as .blend.

Step 6
-----------
[If you skipped step 5, you have to insert a keyframe now.]

Export the file with settings like this:

by Backsteppo

Step 7
-----------

Now you have to use tazpn's kfupdater to "finalize" the .kf.
Unzip the archive to a folder and move your exported pose-.kf to the same folder.
It's a command line app, so open your cmd.exe and navigate to your folder. (cd plus the path, e.g. cd C:\Users\Chris\Desktop\kfupdater_2_2-496)
All those options and modifiers seem to be a bit complicated at first (at least for me...) but the values for the example do the job as well.
So copy and paste the FO3 example from the ReadMe (kfupdater -p 50 -v 20.2.0.7 -u 11 -u2 34 -i blockidle.kf -o blockidle-out.kf) and replace the input file with your pose and the output with the filename you want the final pose to have. (e.g. a prefix for all your poses + a descriptive name.)

There should be two .kf-files now in the folder, the new and the old one.

Step 8
-----------

Next step is tweaking the almost final file with NifSkope:
Making it a SpecialIdle and, because it's a pose, loop it.

SpecialIdle or SpecialIdle_XXX + CYCLE LOOP

The .kf is done, let's get it ingame.

Step 9
-----------

Move your file to your Data\Meshes\characters\_male\IdleAnims\... directory, the GECK needs to find it.

Open the GECK, load the Fallout3.esm and select Gameplay → Idle Animations... at the top.
Either select Insert Child for the top-entry or Insert Sibling for one of the others.

This is the branch where you can organize all your custom animations/poses. So let's add the first child for that entry, our "Objection!".
But bear in mind that the ID you choose will be the ID you will use ingame to call the animation. If you can remember each and every name then that's no problem, however I recommend using the prefix you chose and simple numbering.
(Like that it will also be easier for others to use the poses in case you want to release them)

Step 10
-----------

We could save our .esp now and the pose would be ingame. But there's a catch, each and every NPC would use that pose as an idle.
Since we don't want that we have to add a condition which allows the player to trigger the animation when he wants to.

Because it's a pose which shouldn't affect gameplay at all, we create a condition that will never be true, we add a new, empty faction and the corresponding condition.
http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/2613/factionth.jpg
The playidle command ignores conditions and always triggers the called animation.

Save your new .esp!

Congrats, now you should have a working pose ingame, ready to be triggered =)

Result & Additional random stuff:

Coming soon

|

by

Adding Models and Textures to the GECK - Part Four

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 10:17:31 +0000

Adding Objects to the Fallout3 World

The final section in our GECK tutorial is the basic instructions for adding objects into the Fallout3 world. It is a short 5-step process.

Step 1. In the lower Cell View (bottom left), Left-Click the World Space drop-down menu, then Left-Click to select, "MegatonWorld". You can select any of the world spaces to do this.

Quote

Note: All Inside-cells are located in the, "Interiors" world space. If looking for one of these cells, select, "Interiors" to render the list of those cells.

Next we select one of the cells in Megaton and render it.

Step 2. Right-Click the, "MegatonPlaza" entry in the Cell View, then Left-Click, "View" to render the cell.

Step 3. You will get Warning messages with many Fallout3 cells. Unless the warnings refer to something You added, simply Click, "Yes" or "Yes to All".

Quote

Note: For Fallout3-created cells, you can ignore all warnings that are listed by simply selecting, "Yes to All". If however you see a Warning relating to something you added, you should explore the warning and correct it.

Lastly, we drag our new model into the Fallout3 Megaton cell and Save!

Step 4. Left-Click And Hold the, 'MrBlockHead01 model' (or your model), then Drag the mouse pointer into the Render Window. This will place Mr. Block Head
in Megaton!

Step 5. Finally, Save your Mod! This makes it ready for Fallout3.

You can drag any object into the world as we have with Mr. Block Head. There are many commands you can use to manipulate and position the model (such as, "F" to drop the object to the floor). You should study the Video Tutorials found in the post below to learn more: h**p://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=952768

Results and Credits

And Last but Never Least - Load up Fallout3 and shoot-up Mr. Block Head!

cr: for many of the tuts hear on fallout3underground.

Artisten - Creator of the Blender to Fallout3 Video Tutorial and long-time modder in the community.

Echonite - Creator of the Blender and GIMP Video Tutorials and long-time modder in the community.

<-- Part Three

Adding Models and Textures to the GECK - Part Three

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 10:16:17 +0000

Adding Texture Sets to Models

The final section on Texture Sets will guide you through the process of adding a Texture Set into a model/object/NIF in Fallout3 - effectively replacing the original textures with your own. This assumes you have completed the last section on creating Texture Sets.

To add/edit/view the Texture Sets, focus on the Object Window in the GECK first:

Step 8. Isolate the MrBlockHead references by Left-Clicking into the Filter window, Type, "mrblock" in the filter and then Click, "All".

Step 9. Now Double-Click on, 'MrBlockHead01' to pop-up the Misc Item window
below. Then Click, "Edit" below the Model entry.

Here we make use of the Filter window again to isolate the list of references down to just what we need. Notice above the effect of isolating the entire reference list to just our MrBlockHead01 object and the MrBlockHead02 texture set.

Step 9 will pop-up the, "Model Data" window that we will use to assign Texture Sets to the model.

Now we assign a Texture Set to the model.

Step 10. Double-Click the first texture entry to open the selection window.

This will pop-up the Texture-Set selection window as shown below.

Step 11. Now you can find and Double-Click the new texture set you just added, 'MrBlockHead02' to select it.

Notice how your new Texture Set now covers the model! You're ready to save the model.

Step 12. Note the new texture entry shown in the render window! Click, "Ok" to accept the change as shown below.

Step 13. Click into the ID text field and add a Unique ID, then Click, "Ok".

Step 14. Click, "Yes" to create the new form! (Very Important).

The final result is shown below, along with preview advice:

Step 15. Right-Click the new model, then select, "Preview" to render the preview window, showing you the new model! (Click-Off the, "Ground plane")

Congratulations! You have completed the Texture Set and overall model addition section of the tutorial. ☺ At this point you have successfully created models and textures, converted them for Fallout3 and added them into the GECK. The final stage will be to actually place the model somewhere in the world so that you can see Mr. Block Head in the flesh, and empty a few hundreds rounds of ammo into his face!

<-- Part Two | Part Four -->

Adding Models and Textures to the GECK - Part Two

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 10:14:34 +0000

Adding Texture Sets into the GECK

Texture Sets are the GECK's simple and elegant method of allowing objects to be, "reskinned" with a new texture(s). By adding a new Texture Set to the game, the GECK gives you the ability to put this texture on any object you choose, without changing the NIF object itself.

Using Texture Sets is such an important aspect to modeling that I felt it had to be included in this tutorial. My knowledge of Texture Sets for this tutorial comes from Echonite7, who has created many a fine video tutorial on this very subject (in the footnote). I have since used texture sets extensively in my own work, and have documented the process below to help you learn about Texture Sets too.

To add/edit/view the Texture Sets, focus on the Object Window in the GECK first:

Step 1. Left-Click on, "Texture Set" from the Object Window on the left-side. Right-Click on any current texture-set, then Left-Click on, "Edit".

There are many Texture Sets that come with the game, providing examples that you can explore and use.

The Texture Set window shown below will pop-up, showing you all aspects of the
texture:

Step 2. Left-Click on the, "Diffuse" Map setting, then Left-Click the, "Edit" button. This will pull up the file selection menu.

Note the many different options that you can change with a Texture Set, as well as the 6 different kinds of Textures that are supported. We only cover 3 of the 6 to any depth in this tutorial, as there is only sparse information available on how to create effective Environment/Mask or Height textures at the time of this document's creation. For this tutorial we focus on adding a Diffuse/UV texture and Normal Map texture - the two most common textures in Fallout3 objects.

Next we select the Diffuse/UV map texture.

Step 3. Left-Click the new texture, then Left-Click the, "Open" button.

This will load the texture into the Texture Set's Diffuse map, and present it to you in the Render window as shown below:

Next we select the Normal Map texture

Step 4. Left-Click the new texture, then Left-Click the, "Open" button.

As before this will pop-up a file selection window:

Step 5. Left-Click the new Normal Map texture, then Left-Click the, "Open" button.

This will open up the Texture Set window again, with both our Diffuse/UV and Normal Map textures loaded. We simply have to give our Texture Set a unique FromID:

Step 6. Left-Click into the top text-window, and enter a unique FormID for the new Texture Set, Then Click, "Ok".

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Glow Maps: If you want to add a Glow Map or Environment Map to your Texture Set, simply repeat Steps #4-6, but select the, "Glow/Skin/Hair" entry for the Glow map and, "Environment" for the Environment Map.

Clicking, "Ok" will bring up the New FormID confirmation window:

Step 7. Left-Click, "Yes" to create the new Texture Set!

Notice our new Texture Set as shown in the screenshot below!

We are now ready to apply our Texture Set to the our model we created (or any object) in Fallout3. Without any doubt, using Texture Sets is far simpler way of re-texturing an object than it is to edit the NIF file in NifSkope!

<-- Part One | Part Three -->

Adding Models and Textures to the GECK - Part One

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 10:12:56 +0000

GECK Setup and Installation

The main webpage for the GECK contains links to everything you will need to acquire and operate the GECK: h**p://geck.bethsoft.com/index.php/Main_Page

Once you have the GECK installed, we'll get down to business and start by adding
models into the GECK and fallout 3.

Creating a Mod File

First launch the GECK and follow the process below, which will get you, started in your own mod file.

Step 1. Left-Click the Open icon to pop-up the Data window. Double-Click the, "Fallout3.esm" to X-check the Master File, then Click, "Ok".

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Note: You'll notice the list of ESM and ESP files in the load-list; these are form various mods I have loaded along with the default Fallout3 files. The next time you load the GECK, you'll want to double-click on your own mod file (not Fallout3.esm).

its also good to have a backup file so that you can fall back on incase anything wrong happens.

Once you click, "Ok", the GECK will pause while loading the Fallout3 content. Depending on the speed of your computer, this can take anywhere from 10 seconds to 5 minutes.

Now the very first thing we want to do after loading the GECK is to create our own Mod file, which you do by Saving. Follow the process below:

Step 2. To create your own Mod file, Left-Click the, "File" menu, then Click "Save". Select a filename for the Mod (for example MrBlockHead.esp), and Click "Save".

Once you Click on, "Save", you will notice that your Mod's name is listed at the top of the GECK. We can now change and modify Fallout3 by adding new objects and texture sets, that we can then load into the game using the Fallout Mod Manager (FOMM). More
on this can be found in the fomm tut.

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Note: The next time you load the GECK, you will want to double-click your own mod file (such as, MrBlockHead.esp) instead of "Fallout3.esm" as we did in Step 1

Adding 3D Models into the GECK

Adding models to the GECK is far simpler than the mine fields you have thus-far traversed in previous tuts. However it is still a process that has some difficult points, we document it here for completeness and to achieve our overall goal - to provide an end-to-end process for Fallout3 object creation.

To kick things off, we need to navigate the Object Window and pop-up a Miscellaneous Item window for our object.

Step 3. Click, "Open", and then Click into the Filter window. Type, "ashtray", then Click on the, "All" listing at the bottom of the object window.

Step 4. The list of references that match, "ashtray" in some respect will show in the Editor ID window. Double-Click the, "Ashtray" reference to open the Misc Item window below.

The Filter window is an important tool in the GECK, as it allows you to narrow-in on the references you're looking for quickly, and without much difficulty. Given that the GECK has thousands of references/objects; the Filter window and the All category are Your Friend!

Next we start converting the ashtray into our own object - which is similar in concept to what we did in NifSkope. We don't have to create objects this way in Fallout3, but duplicating an existing object and changing it is far simpler for most of our object needs.

Step 5. Change the, "ID" column to a unique identifier, then change the, "Name" column to what you want your object's name to be in Fallout3.

Step 6. Left-Click the, "Edit" button under Model to open the, "Model Data" window below.

Step 7. Click the, "Edit" button in the Model Data window to select your custom model.

The, "Model Data" window above is where you can choose not only a new model NIF file to represent the object, but you can also change Textures Sets to put on the object
(listed under, "Alternate Textures". We discuss this in the next section.

Now follow the process below to analyze and preview the model:

Step 8. Navigate the Fallout3\Data\meshes\ directory to find your custom model, Left-Click to select it, and then Click, "Open".

And the acceptance step below:

Step 9. Once opening the model, you will see it replacing the Ashtray in your render window. Left-Click, "Ok" to finish the selection process.

Now back in the main item window for your new model, check over the data and make sure it is to your liking. Then follow the process below:

Step 10. Left-Click the, "Ok" button to save the new object, which will pop-up a confirmation window.

Step 11. Left-Click, "Yes" to create the new object.

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Note: It is Very Important that you Click, "Yes" in the Create New Object window! Failure to do so will change the entire Ashtray's in the game into your new model, and that would be a very bad thing.

Now let's preview our new model. Notice that, 'MrBlockHead01' is listed in the Object Window now. Follow the procedure below to preview it:

Step 12. Right-Click the, 'MrBlockHead01 object', then Left-Click on, "Preview".

Which will pop-up the preview window, revealing our abomination? (Don't you feel just a Little like Dr. Frankenstein?) haha.

Step 13. Left-Click on the, "Close" button to exit the preview window.

Part Two -->

Custom Sounds Galore!

Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:14:05 +0000

I remember helping Slam53 awhile back when he was trying to add custom sounds to his weapons mod, and i figured i'd post that process here for those who want to add their own custom sounds to their weapons

basic run through:
in GECK, in the Object Window, under miscellaneous, there is a sound option(shown in object 1.) there you'll find where you can add your sounds. right click in there and hit 'new' and object 2 will show up, this is the menu for adding your sound, and giving it a refrence ID. then in the arts and sound tab of your weapon edit(obj. 3) click where it says select sounds, and you should be able to find your sound using the refrence ID you used to name your sound.

hopes this helps
thing is though, Fallout 3 is like, real specific about file types and compression, so don't freak out if your gun dosen't make any noise when you shoot. you can find the types of file types used in the modding section of the fallout wikia. and after that, just mess around with whatever sound audio editors you work with. If you don't much about editing sound files and want to keep the process as simple as possible, i suggest Audacity(google it), though there are some extra plugins you'll have to download to save the files into the right file type. but it is all free good luck! if you have more question about this, just post on the thread and i'll try to reply as quickly as possible.

Also, one thing i forgot to mention, is that you can actually lay sounds into parts of your level, just drag and drop into the render window, and it will appear as a green volume model, this will be the 'center' of your sound source, and just place it where you want it to be heard from (like behind a radio, so you sort of 'fake' the radio playing the song' or as repeated announcements over a loud speaker, and more. you'll have to mess with the sound setting inside GECK to get it just right though(you'll have to mess around with the range settings, as they decide how far away a sound is heard)

from Deepside: This pic shows proper sound settings for dialog and weapons.
Sound Settings
thanks Deepside!

Also check out Darkghost's NPC voice dialouge tutorial:
Link

Suggested Sound Editing Programs:
1.) Audacity (Free) - for those who want to keep it simple
2.) Acoustica Mixcraft (30 day trial, after that ads) - For those who are willing to dish out 70 bucks for a program that might as well be over 500. If you want to experiment with going 'all out' on you sounds, this is a great program to do so.
3.) Music Maker 2007 (Price Unknown)- I personally have no experience with this program, but deepside used this to edit the sound files for his Predator Mod, which are confirmed to be in working condition.

Note from BigBossMan while trying this out:

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Yes, right im sort of new sort of not. Anyway, for the past few days I've been talking with Mr. J-Dawg here and hes been helping me with a sound problem with a current mod from Nexus. I followed his tutorial step by step and still kept getting silence from the weapons I was tweaking with, I bout nearly gave up as it seemed like a futile thing to do, but I kept scowring the forums everywhere o_O till I found a tip.

Tweak with the "Attenuation" on the "Main" tab in the Sounds section when youre adding your custom sound (for weapons).

The Default Attenuation settings for example, The Chinese Assault rifle that I used for a test is

Minimum Attenuation Distance (units) 190

Maximum Attenuation Distance (units) 2800

This is for the 2D sound package for the Chinese Rifle...Of course you can always play with it and set it to a point at which you like, But I used it as a template test for my assault rifle...If that makes any sense? This is for anyone else who's had the same problem as me, following the tutorial word for word step by step and still getting silence. It worked for me and hopefully it'll for someone else...If its common knowledge just ignore what I say :3, if not im glad to be of some help for once