Intro: A Beginner With No Clue How to Start

[Cannibal_Kon]

I'm completely new to modding and have some history with programming and messing with 3D models and animation but have never used them for more than things like a text adventure or animating a bear to fly through a door. I was wondering what I should download to start modding as I have the G.E.C.K. and saw "FVNSEDIT" or however it is spelled. The latter I was wondering if I could have an explanation of as I haven't been able to learn anything from the Nexus page or skimming articles here. With those things asked I was also wondering if there was anything you guys could think of that would help a fresh beginner with no experience learn how things work. By that, I mean if there was anything you guys think could help me learn with hands on experience like say making a cell that has a door and is booby trapped or whatnot to a basic point that I can learn G.E.C.K. mechanics or something. You guys understand the programs, I'm just wanting some starting tips and explaining as to where I should start. What I plan on doing could end up anywhere really so don't think you only have to talk about one section. 



I hope I explained this well. Thank you guys in advance for any help you provide!

[chucksteel]

I started with the Beth youTube Tutorials. follow them and use the GECK Guide. 

It is easier if you have a specific question for us to give you answers but these guides are a good start. 

[Cannibal_Kon]

I did spend some time watching those so it helped! I was wondering some of the things you can do with mods and what the "FSNVEdit" was exactly. If you could explain that and if I even need to use it, that'd help a ton.

 

[chucksteel]

FNVEdit is a tool you are going to want to learn and yes you will eventually need it. It is a powerful tool that will allow you to do many thing and help your gaming/modding experience. 

You can use it to clean your mod, (Remove unwanted or accidental "Dirty Edits" from your mod) (("Dirty edits" can and eventfully will cause issues with other mods.)). You can convert a .esp to a .esm, make merged patches and much much more. There is a tutorial guide for FNVedit somewhere but I don't have the link at the moment. 

Also it is needed if your going to convert FO3 mods to TTW because you have to add and sort masters in the FO3 plugins. Lastly it runs a script on the FO3 mod to fully convert it to TTW. 

FNVedit was extensively used to build TTW we did everthing from changing forms on mass to fixing Dialog and renumbering all of the FO3 form ID's. 

[Cannibal_Kon]

Thank you so much for the explanation! I couldn't entirely grasp what it was used for but that helped so much!

 

[JaxFirehart]

FNVEdit is the single most powerful tool available to a modder. It can do almost anything the GECK can do and in many cases, can do it better.

Unfortunately, there IS a learning curve. I could not imagine trying to learn FNVEdit before you are proficient with the GECK.

Make a couple mods, personal stuff, just to see if you can. Follow the tutorials Chuck mentioned. Once you start getting more specific questions, jump in and ask.

[chucksteel]

Here is the link to the Training Manual. 

[Cannibal_Kon]

Thank you guys. I'll probably attempt some basic things, I never liked how the House mods worked and things like that. I might attempt a Vault, that would give me something to test since the G.E.C.K. tutorial even helps with that!

Again, thank you!

[chucksteel]

Another good thing to do is to open your favorite mods up in the GECK and look at what they do and how they work. This is another case where FNVedit comes in handy because you can see only the changes made by the mod when using it and don't have to sift through all the vanilla forms along side of the changes the mod makes. 

[Cannibal_Kon]

Thanks for the tip! This definitely gave me some direction!