<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Things you can do with this FAQ: -Read it. -Show it to your friends. -Stare in awe at it. Things you can NOT do with this FAQ: -Sell it. -Reprint it. -Distribute it. -Put it on your site. This FAQ was written by me, and cannot be referenced or altered at all without the express written consent of Jeremy Baumann . This FAQ can be found at: GameFAQ's [http:\\www.gamefaqs.com\] DLH [http://www.dlh.net] Morrowind: Summit [http://www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/] All copyrights and trademarks are acknowledged and respected that are not specifically mentioned. ============================================= Last Edited On: May 19 2002 This FAQ will probably not be updated, but as new things are found, I might decide to update. This FAQ is for the people, like me, who couldn't understand the help file that came with the editor. This FAQ will describe in detail: -Basic use of the editor -How to create houses -How to create warp points -How to place items fast & easy -How to create your first mod. ============================================= ********** *CONTENTS* ********** [1] Starting Out [2] Creating Areas [3] Placing Objects [4] Linking Areas [1]===Starting Out==================== By now you have probably had a few ideas on how to create a really cool house, or something else. With this FAQ you should be able to create your own houses and dungeons in a snap. First, you want to load the basics. The question is do you want to edit an existing mod? ...or make your own mod? What do you want to load as a base? First install the editor (obvious). If you did a full installation, you can leave the game CD in, otherwise, put the Construction Set CD in. Start up the editor. Go to File>Data Files. This will bring up a window. In this window, you can choose files by double-clicking. If you want to edit/create a mod you'll need to base it on your main game world. Double-click on Morrowind.esm. An X will appear next to it. This means you have selected your game world to edit. Then if you would like to use a race or class that you've downloaded as an NPC, double-click on that file so that an X pops up next to it as well. Now...are you going to edit a mod or make your own? -To Edit: Double-click on the mod you want to edit, so that it has a X next to it. Then click the Set as Active File button. Setting a file as an active file means that is the file you will edit. Be careful as to not set morrowind.esm to the active file. Once you save, the only way to undo your changes is by manually deleting stuff through the editor. Then click OK. Have patience, it loads alot of the game world into memory. -To Make Your Own: Click OK. Have patience, it loads alot of the game world into memory. If a popup asks you if you are sure you dont want to set an active file, click YES or OK. Once it says "Loading Files ... Done!" at the bottom of the screen, you will want to explore your windows. You must be familiar with all of these windows to effectivly build anything. Cell View Window: Every area in the game, even indoors, has been divided into different cells. You can jump to any one of them here. Assuming you have played the game, you have seen much of Seyda Neen. Lets see it from above. Click on the title bar of the window. Scroll down in the cell view window list until you see Seyda Neen with a grid number next to it. Double-Click on the Seyda Neen that has -2,-9 next to it. (BTW those numbers specify the cell of Seyda Neen that we are going to.) Be patient, the loading times are unavoidable. Viola! You should now see Seyda Neen in the Render Window which just happens to be next... The Render Window: This is where you will spend most of your time (by far). First you want to know how to navigate the window. Placing a key on the ground in Seyda Neen would be horrible if you had to do it from a mile above. Click on the title bar of the window. Hold down the V key and move your mouse forward. Let go of V. Move the mouse to the bottom of the screen. Hold down the V key and move your mouse forward. Rinse and repeat until you are close to a building. You should be very close to the roof of a building. "But even so, how do I look at other buildings?" you ask. Hold down the space bar and move your mouse to see that you can change views. Use the spacebar & the V key to move your view around so you have a zoomed in picture of one of the pink/purple arrows. Then hold Shift and move the mouse so that you can see the house's door. Use these three keys to navigate. The only thing is...if you clicked on an NPC/arrow/house/door/anything and a wireframe came up around it. You will have selected it. Using the Shift & mouse combe while something is selected just rotates you around that object. To unselect that object, get a view of the gray sky, and click once. This gets hairy in places with many objects, but it seems to be the best way. Now for....The Object Window! The Object Window: Click on the title bar of the window to select that window. You'll notice that it has tabs for everything. The ones you will be using the most is Static, Light and Door for building. For now, i'll give you a list of the tabs and what is under each: Static: (indoor)pieces of houses, (outdoor)houses, tables, chairs, plants (not alchemy) Door: loading doors(dont open) & normal doors(do open) Ingredient: alchemy ingredients (not plants/shells/etc just raw materials like ash yams, pearls, etc) Spellmaking: the different effects that can be combined to make a spell , and spells. Activator: anything you can interact with...beds, boats that float, shrines, waving banners, etc. Light: based lights (such as a candlestick), and non-based lights (eerie glows) Lockpick: obvious Misc Item: forks, knives, glasses, plates, things that can be taken but serve no purpose. Probe: obvious Repair Item: obvious Weapon: obvious NPC: obvious Creature: obvious Leveled Creature: creatures based on your level. At level 1-- a mudcrab, at level 25--a daedra lord. Enchanting: enchanted items Alchemy: potions. Leveled Item: items that an NPC would carry on them that is based on your level. Apparatus: alchemy equipment. Armor: obvious Book: obvious Clothing: obvious Container: chests, plants (that you get alchemy ingrediants from), desks, etc. Body Parts: yes...body parts...to create new races from Aha! It is now time to move on to..... [2]====Creating Areas========================== Now lets create an area called test. Click on World>Interior Cell. Click on new. Name it "A_TEST". Now click ok. Click on has water, and set a height of 25. Click ok. You should be back at the three windows. Go to the Cell View window and scroll down till you see A_TEST (should be near top) and double-click on it. The Render window should be gray. Click on the Static tab on the Object window. Find "in_c_stone_room_entry". Drag and drop the icon from the object window into the render window. Viola! You will see a floor with some beams. Use your Shift button to get a good look at all sides. When building, this step is crucial. Make sure that the top two buttons on the buttonbar are toggled (pressed down). The one button looks like a grid on a button, and the one next to it too that looks like an angle filled in with red coloring. This allows for easier house construction, but makes it harder to place items "exact". It snaps house pieces together, letting you quickly build a house. To show you the effects of water in a house we are going to make a flooded house. Click on the object while holding Z down and try to move the object. You will notice that it only goes up and down. If you attempt to drag the object without holding Z it will move side-to-side and far-to-near. Right-click and hold on the object, and moving from side-to-side will rotate the object. If you hold Z while rotating the object it will move it upside down and such. Holding X while rotating affects it as well. Now use the Z key to place the object half in the water, half out. The water is seen as a darker "blanket" under the object, while the void is a lighter gray. To help, use these coordinated for the object (8384, 4224, -64). The coordinates of your object is shown in the lower bar. The three values in parenthesis have to do with rotating. The first three numbers should be 8384, 4224, -64. The -64 is the most important. That tells you how far down to place the object, and will end up landing part of it in the water, as you will see soon. Zoom in on it once you have it placed correctly. Rotate and find the two "beams" on the object. That will be our next focus. We are going to put a door jam there. Find "in_c_djamb_plain_arched" and place that into the window by drag and dropping the icon from the Object window to the Render window. Using the right-mouse button, rotate it so it is parallel with the beams and use the mouse (z to move down) to place it right. You know you'll have done it correctly when you see from one angle of view, a floor with a doorway & beams behind it. (It looks good) Its starting to look lik something now. Drag an "in_c_stone_room_corner" into the mix and rotate it first to see where you could put it. Put in on one side of the doorway. Then put one on the other side of the doorway. It is starting to look like a stage set. You should have something that looks like this soon: _ _ _ | | > overhead [][A][] > front view (A being a door) You'll have to excuse my rudimentry drawings. Now place a "in_c_stone_room_side" so that the floor of the room looks like a T. Make sure that the wall of the piece you just placed, is on the outside of the room. _ _ _ | | _ >overhead view- walls should look like this from above. Now place two more "in_c_stone_room_corner"'s one at a time, so that overhead, the walls look like this. _ _ _ | | |_ _ _| >Congrats! You just built a room. Took me a few hours to figure this out on my own. If you look carefully now, you can see the water level on the walls. Now go to the doors tab. Find "in_hlaalu_door" drag it in and place it in the door jam. File>Save. Don't want to lose your work now. Name it test. Put an "in_c_stone_endcap" (static tab) at the opposite end of the doorway, to give you a closet. Now you ask....yeah thats all fine and good, but can I decorate? That's next, but first a few tips: (1) Plan out your house first. No blueprints, just a basic idea and where everything will be. (2) Dont place tables and such until the ENTIRE house is done. It s*cks when you have to move a portion of your house to accomidate something as well as your collection of 140 forks on your bookshelf. (3) Always use different views to see if a thing in your house has been placed correctly. (4) If you accidently overlap two floors from two different parts, it'll look like cr*p when you play. [3]====Placing Objects============= Very similar to placing house pieces, but this part will save you a year-and-a-day, if you don't use some of these quick tips. First drag "furn_com_rm_table_03" to your house. Unclick the two snap to grid options on the buttonbar. (Y'know the one that had a grid on it and the one next to it with a red angle) Then just for kicks, try to rotate the object. Smoother now huh? Try building a house without those two options and i'll see ya when the next TES game comes out. Get the table into the room you want it to (the big room, not the closet). When you think its placed roughly in the room. Click and hold on it and hit F. This will drop the object "tetris-style" to the floor or the first surface below it. You can use this to place stuff on bookshelves, tables, floors, dressers, etc. ^>From there just drag it to where ever you want it. Change your view to make sure it isn't clipping (going through) anything. Fairly easy right? Try doing the same with "light_sconce00_128". The best way to decorate your house is to play with some of the other objects. Remember, if you place an object and dont want it, hit Delete if it is selected. If it is hard to select, go into the cell view window, and double-click the item you want deleted. This will select the item. Then just hit delete. Another thing to remember is, the larger an object is, the further away it will appear. If you place an object and don't see it, chances are it is behind the house or room you tried to place it in. This process will work with NPC's and enemys too. Want a tip? Seen somehing in the game you want here? Load that section via the Cell View window, click on the object and take note (in the lower left corner) of the objects catagory (tab) and the name (catalogue name under the tab). Go back to your house and place it. See the other guides on GameFAQ's to find the NPC guide and other such guides. Or better yet...play around with this test.esp and check it out on your own. Once you know how to navigate the editor...playing around is the only way to learn new things. "But you said test it. How do I get here, to my house?" [4]=======Linking Areas============== Now that you have learned the nuts and bolts of the editor, this should be a snap. Go to doors and find "in_hlaalu_loaddoor_01". Place it and hit F to make it drop to the floor. Switch on the "red angle" button on the buttonbar up top. Place the door so that it is against the back of the closet, but not clipping the wall. Double-click on the door. Using the options here, you can even set ownership to a door (i.e if someone sees you open it and you don't own it, you could be attacked). You can set lock level and trap as well as a key which you can create in the object window under Misc Items. For now just click the teleport check box. Select Seyda Neen (-2,-9) from the box. Click the "Select Marker" button. Now don't touch anything yet. Use shift & the mouse to get an overhead view. Keep in mind that the button you clicked to get here will select the object automaticaly. This way when you look for it, you can rotate around it. When it is in view, zoom far back while still keeping it in view. Move the pink arrow, which is the location where the door will put you, to the center of Seyda Neen. You may need to bring it up with the mouse & Z, and then drop it with F. Zoom in on the arrow then. From the door section of the Object menu, bring in "In_De_Shack_Trapdoor". Drop it behind the arrow as shown... []=> Use Z and the mouse to lower it just a bit more so the bottom sinks just a bit into the ground. Double-Click on it. Click Teleport. Select A_TEST. Get the idea? Click Select Marker. Bring the marker up with Z. Since there is not much room in the closet, put the arrow facing away from the closet into the room like so... _ _ _ | |_ | <=|_| |_ _ _| Did you find it a little annoying to find the arrow in Seyda Neen? Get used to it. When linking to towns, the arrows tend to place themselves clipping buildings, so it might take a while to move or find. Need some hints? 1) Large rooms = more space to put arrows. 2) When building start from the lowest level. 3) To rearrange the angles of trapdoors and such, use right-click-hold and X or Z. 4) You'll never find anything out if you don't experiment. Create a ESP file for that purpose. 5) Never save a game that you used to test a mod. It may result in wierd errors. 6) You can add a mod when playing through the game, just be careful when omitting a mod from a saved game. You may encounter duplicate NPC's or worse...monsters. ============================================================ Did you find this FAQ helpful? Anything you were confused on? Should I add something that you found? Comments & suggestions go to deww@optonline.net ============================================================= Thanks to: -Darketernal78@hotmail.com For giving me some ideas on future mods. ============================================================= Shameless Plugs: Check out my first released mod "Home" on Morrowind Summit http:\\www.rpgplanet.com\morrowind\ =============================================================