CS Basics: Tutorial #1

By DarkRider

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Description
After you've finished the Intro You're Ready for Lesson #1

CS Basics Tutorial #1: Rendering Oblivion

Part I: Creating an Interior

Before we dive in, if you are a beginner, make sure you have read the Introduction to the tutorial series before
proceeding. This lesson covers the very basics of working in the Render Window of the Construction Set. Begin
by familiarizing yourself with the list of controls provided here.

Controls to Know:
Camera

Centre Wheel Scroll - Zoom

Centre Wheel Hold - Move

Shift + LMB - Rotate

C - Centre On selected

T - Top View selected

Object

D - De-select

LMB - move: x, y

Z + LMB move: z only

X + LMB move: x only

Y + LMB move: y only

F - Fall

CTRL x - cut

CTRL c - copy

CTRL v - paste

CTRL d - copy and paste in present position (duplicate)

LMB (with nothing selected) select multi-objects

S - "Scale": drag mouse to edit size

RMB - rotate about z

RMB + y rotate about y

RMB + x rotate about x

Misc

A - Toggle Bright Light

M - Toggle Markers On/Off

B - In Exterior Toggles Cell Grid Borders On/Off

H - Opens the landscape editor

L - Toggle the Light Object Radius On/Off

Let's get started!

Now that you've gotten familiar with where your tools are and what they're for let's start making our first mod.
If you are starting this class right from the Introduction you already have the Oblivion.esm loaded in the CS, if
not, go ahead and load the Oblivion.esm now.

Smarty Says: When you load a mod you will see all the mods in your data folder in the list. Beginners are
sometimes tempted to load their favorite mods as well and add things they like from them to their own mods,
this is called mod sniping. The trouble is the new mod will only work if you have both mods installed and this is
not a technique you want to use when creating mods for release. So, resist temptation!

With the Oblivion.esm loaded in the CS, we need a cell to work in. You'll note that the default worldspace is
Interiors, that's exactly what we want. Left Click on the first cell in the list of interiors (Abandoned Mine) and
select Edit.

The Cell Window will open. Left Click on the first cell again and this time choose New
A smaller window will open asking you to assign an ID name to the new cell. Type in a name for your cell, for
this tutorial I have called mine aaDRTutorialHouseInt. In modding there are naming conventions when creating
new IDs and they are as varied as the modders who use them. Sometimes beginners think these names need to
be uber technical, "Cause if it's not hard it's not modding" This is false. Your naming convention should have
a purpose, be simple, and whatever you start with you should maintain for the entire mod. This makes it easier
to track parts of your mod when they are mixed in a load order with dozens of others.

In this case I chose "aa" to take my custom adds to the top of every list. You NEVER want to start an ID with
a number like 1 or 0 as it confuses scripts and can cause issues later. "DR" are my initials, but you might
also use the initials for your project, that way all your mods will be compatible with one another.
"TutorialHouse" is the name of the house we are building and "Int" stands for interior.

Once the cell has been named it should be first in the list. Click on our new cell in the list, then to the right,
click on the Lighting tab. On the lighting tab we want to add a bit of ambient light to reduce the number of light
objects we'll need later. For houses I like to use a nice matte gray which doesn't alter colors in the room, but you
may choose whatever color you'd like by selecting the number values for your Red Green and Blue hues. For
matte gray choose 70 R 70 G 70 B as seen in this image then click "Apply".
Then click on the Interior Data Tab. On this tab we can set the name of the interior and the ownership of the
house interior. Select a name for the interior that will appear in game, and then set the owner as Player. Click
Apply, then Okay to close the cell window.
 Smarty Says: If you like to use companions, don't set the Owner as Player, instead, set the Owner Faction
as Player Faction so your companions can live with you!

You will see you new cell has appeared in the cell view window at the top of the list if you started your name
with "aa" as recommended. Double click on it in the cell window to load your cell in the Render Window!

Part II: Working in the Render Window

Now because this is a new cell what you will see is a sad empty grey void. We're going to change that right
now! On the Object window, you will see a category called World Objects. Click the + sign next to it to expand
the tree. You'll see a new list of category branches under World Objects. Click the + sign next to Static to
expand the most commonly used tree in Oblivion Modding!

Static consists of all objects that are static in the game world, meaning players can't move them.

Click on Static to load all statics in the object window list

The objects in the Static window are listed in alphabetical order. Scroll down to FarmHouseInterior02 click on
it with your mouse, and drag it to the Render Window and let go to drop it into our interior cell. Now, even
though we can't see it, there is an invisible grid in every cell even interiors. When you set your first piece you
want to set it to the 0,0,0 point on the grid so that everything else will be built to grid. This is especially
important when building dungeons and caves, but it's a good habit to get into for any interior. To set our interior
to the 0 point, double click on it to open the Reference Window.

Smarty Says: The reference window can change an object's position, rotation, disable/enable quality, scale,
or persistent status, and can access an object's Base Edit box! You can double click on any object, NPC or
creature to find its reference window.

In the reference window for our farm house interior, set all the position values to 0 and click ok.

When the interior static moves to the 0 point you might not be able to see it in the render window anymore.
Double click on the cell view window content list to move your render camera back to your house interior.
Now before we go any further let's click the SAVE icon on the toolbar to save our mod. Name your mod then
click save. It's best to save early in a mod's development the first time because the CS has a reputation for
crashing on the first save. You want to make your first save before you do too much work.

Smarty Says: Save! Save! Save! The CS is a crashy beast and can crash at any time for any reason.
Because that is its nature, you want to save often so that when it does crash, you don't lose too much work.
Rarer, the CS occasionally corrupts a .esp mod file when it crashes, so at the end of the day, backup your day's
work and maintain a backup copy of your .esp just in case.

Click on your house interior and tap A to turn on the work light and you'll be looking at something like this:
The rainbow colored cube around the house interior is the active highlight. Whatever object has that highlight
around it is the object you can actively move. Because we set the house to the 0 point, we do not want to move
it anymore. But, by holding shift and moving your mouse, you can practice moving your camera.

Learning the camera and getting used to the depth perception in a 3D drawing space are the two trickiest parts
about learning how to mod. Once you get comfortable with moving the camera and using the keys, this sort of
building will be something you can - and likely will - do in your sleep!

If you do accidentally move your house, you can always tap ctrl+z to undo your last movement. Just be mindful
of what you have highlighted and those accidents will be minimal. To reduce the number of accidents, let's get
something else in the render window that we can move around so we can leave the house alone. Go the object
window again and find Firewoodgrate and drag it into the render window. Once it's there, use your mouse and
key controls listed at the start of this lesson to move your firewood grate into the fireplace.

Tips:

1. Hold z to move things up or down on the grid.

2. Hold Shift and Rotate your mouse to rotate your camera around the active object.
3. When you are sure your object is barely above the floor /or surface tap F to drop it down level (dropping
with F from too high can result in a crash so only do this when you are sure the object is close to its final
resting place.
4. Rotate your camera a lot to get a true perspective of where your object is in render space.
Save!

When done you should have this:

Now let's add a chair beside the fireplace. Go to World Objects>Furniture in the Object Window and
click on Furniture to load the furniture in the Object Window list. Be careful not to mistake this for
Static>furniture which is furniture that can't be used. We want a chair we can sit on. Find MCChair01L
and drag it into the Render Window. You'll see the blue and green marker on the chair. This marker is a
place holder for people in game, so you don't want that marker to be in the floor or any other furniture;
leave space for your character animation when placing furniture.
Position the chair in front of the fireplace.
Time to light the fire!
In the Object Window go to World Objects>Light, and click Light to load all the lights in the object
window list - seeing a pattern here? In the list find FireOpenSmall256 and drag it into the Render
Window.
Now fires always render on their sides in the render window so we need to rotate it. You can use mouse
and keys to rotate manually but I like the efficiency of the reference window for this. Double click on
your fire to open its reference window. Under Rotation, change the X value to -90.000 then click ok to
set your fire upright properly. Then move it onto the fire logs in the fire place.
 Save!

Congratulations, you have made a mod!

This concludes lesson #1, you should now know how to create new interior cells, add statics, furniture
and lights to the render window, how to move the render camera and how to manipulate objects in the
render window! Well done!
To see your mod in game, activate your mod before going in game. Then use the console command coc
aaDRTutorialHouseInt to teleport to your cell.

Practice:
Practice before moving on to lesson #2, continue adding furniture and statics to the interior we have
begun to create the basis for your house. Do not skip ahead, and do not confuse yourself by
experimenting with objects we haven't covered. You may add additional light objects, but I recommend
using static candles like CandleFat01Fake and adding a light object over the candle like
CommonLightOrange128.

You may add any statics you'd like to practice, your house should have at least these items when your
practice is done, not including what we've added in class.

Assignment:

1. A Bed
2. 4 Middle Class Tapestries
3. 2 Middle Class Paintings
 4. 2 Middle Class Rugs
5. A Middle Class Dinner Table
6. Seating for 4 at the Table
7. A small bedside table

Extra Credit

2 Dressers
A Bookshelf
2 Middle Class Cupboards

For Extra Credit:

For extra credit, dressers and cupboards can be found under WorldObjects>Containers. Because this is a player
home, you want containers that start with PC so they will be safe for player storage. Drag and drop containers
just like statics. Good Luck!
In Lesson #2 we will cover cluttering with Misc Items like dishes and food, adding doors, and pathgrids. Make
sure you take time to practice what you have learned, especially your camera and render controls. Practice
makes perfect!

If you are ready to move on:

Go to the CS Basics Classroom Lesson #2: Refining Interiors
Or Proceed to CS Basics Tutorial #2