Modding Skyrim: Modder's Resources

This tutorial is a continuation of Modding Skyrim: Simple House. In this tutorial, modder's resources will be covered. First off what is a modder's resource? It is either an asset or assets, either modified from vanilla (original game) assets or created from scratch, that are shared for modder's to use in their mods. There are numerous sites to find them, nexusmods and tesalliance are two options, for example. After downloading your resources, you install them to the Data folder like with other mods, but unlike other mods, they will usually consist of meshes and/or textures, and not an esp.

Adding Resources

After downloading and installing some resources (I will be using some of Blary's resources for my shack, and some others), open up the shack made from the previous tutorial. In order to use resources, they need to be manually added into the Creation Kit for the mod. The first resources I'm going to add and use are statics. I will be using the Ingredients in a Jar Resource first. Right click in the Object Window and click New under Static. Click edit, next to model on the new form and find your first mesh (model) to add. I will be using the mountainflowerinjar.nif. After the model is selected, give the form a name and hit okay. You can open models with either the Creation Kit, or with Nifskope, mentioned in my first post, if you'd like to preview them first before adding them.

Add the new jar to the bottom shelf next to the butterfly in the jar. Use Shift-Q to line it up with the shelf. If a big red exclamation point shows up, it means it can't find the model. Don't worry, just hit F5 on the Render Window to refresh it. This will happen if resources are added after the CK is already open. After adding the first jar, add a few more. There should be a total of four jars on the shelf, including the original butterfly jar. Add some more statics to decorate the shelf above the jars. I will be using resources from the Alchemy Clutter Resource to decorate that shelf.

The next resource that will be added will serve as a container. I will be using the BookSets Resource, to add a container to store books on the top shelf, above the alchemy clutter and jars. Right click New under Container, and put in a name for ID and Name. Add it to the Render Window and use Shift-Q to line up the mesh with the shelf. Add another mesh as a static from the BookSets Resource to fill up the remaining space. For the remaining shelf and any other touches, use any resource to fill it up with containers or statics, or vanilla clutter.

Finishing the Shack

Double check each new container, make sure if there's any typos to correct them. Add sounds to any of the remaining containers as well. The end table, satchel, and urns from the prior tutorial should all have the appropriate sounds. Make sure none of them are set to respawn either, and their Ownership is set to Player. Another final step is to finish up making the bed grant the player the Well Rested bonus. The bed at this point should already have the ownership set to PlayerBedOwnership. The next step is to add the appropriate keywords to the Location form. Under WorldData, select Location and click on AlchemistsShackLocation. Under Keywords, add LocTypeDwelling, LocTypeHouse, and LocTypePlayerHouse. Then click Okay. Next, still under WorldData, select Encounter Zone and click on AlchemistsShackZone. For Ownership select Player and then click Okay. When its finished, save it and clean it with TES5Edit, and then play test it, to make sure everything is as it should be, and that there are no issues. When satisfied with the result, its time to move onto the next step.

Creating the BSA

A BSA is an archive used by Skyrim and other Bethesda games that contains their assets for the game (such as meshes, textures, sounds, etc). Keeping the mod's files in a BSA, helps to keep the Data folder nice and tidy, and provides easy installation and uninstallation as well (if manually installing and uninstalling at least). It also makes packing a mod together simpler.

Before the BSA can be created, I would recommend deleting or removing any unused resources from the Data folder, since only the resources used will be packed up into a BSA for the mod. After doing so, open up Archive.exe in the Skyrim directory. The first step is to check off what assets the BSA will contain. For mine, it will have meshes and textures. I would recommend checking Compress Archive (though do not do so if the mod contains any voices, or other assets that cannot be compressed), Retain Directory Names, and Retain File Names at least. At the bottom, make sure Recurse Directories is selected. Drag the meshes (and textures folder if there is any in use), and then go up to Edit, and select Check All Items. Then go up to file and select Save As and name the BSA the same name as your mod.

By following this tutorial and the tutorial prior, you should now have a simple player home created from the Alchemist's Shack, and knowledge on using modder's resources. Below are some images to give an idea of how to use modder's resources in a player home. My finished version is here, and feel free to use it as a reference for following this tutorial if needed.