@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ It is simple. When you click either \textbf{Create new Addon} you will be asked
The last thing to do is to name your your addon and click create.
\paragraph{Selecting File for Editing}
Clicking \textbf{Edit A Content File} will show somewhat similar window. Here you should select your Game file with drop down menu. If you want to edit this game file, simply click \textbf{OK} button. If you want to alter addon depending on that file, mark it with checkbox and than click \textbf{Ok} button.
Clicking \textbf{Edit A Content File} will show somewhat similar window. Here you should select your Game file with drop down menu. If you want to edit this game file, simply click \textbf{OK} button. If you want to alter addon depending on that file, mark it with check-box and than click \textbf{Ok} button.
\subsection{Advanced}
If you are paying attention, you noticed any extra icon with wrench. This one will open small settings window. Those are general OpenCS settings. We will cover this is separate section.\\
So far you learned how to browse trough records stored inside the content files, but not how to modify them using the \OCS{} editor. Although browsing is certainly a usefull ability on it's own, You probabbly counted on doing actual editing with this editor. There are few ways user can alter records stored in the content files, each suited for certain class of a problem. In this section We will describe how to do change records using tables interface and edit panel.
So far you learned how to browse trough records stored inside the content files, but not how to modify them using the \OCS{} editor. Although browsing is certainly a useful ability on it's own, You probably counted on doing actual editing with this editor. There are few ways user can alter records stored in the content files, each suited for certain class of a problem. In this section We will describe how to do change records using tables interface and edit panel.
\subsubsection{Glossary}
\begin{description}
\item[Edit Panel] Interface element used inside the \OCS{} to present records data for editing. Unlike table it showes only one record at the time. However it also presents fields that are not visible inside the table. It is also safe to say that Edit Panel presents data in way that is easier to read thanks to it's horizontal layout.
\item[Edit Panel] Interface element used inside the \OCS{} to present records data for editing. Unlike table it shows only one record at the time. However it also presents fields that are not visible inside the table. It is also safe to say that Edit Panel presents data in way that is easier to read thanks to it's horizontal layout.
\end{description}
\subsection{Edit Panel Interface}
Edit Panel is designed to aid you with record modification tasks. As It has been said, it uses vertical layout and presents some additional fields when compared with the table -- and some fields, even if they are actually displayed in the table, clearly ill-suited for modification isnide of them (this applies to fields that holds long text strings -- like descriptions). It also displays visual difference beetween non-editable field and editable.\\
Edit Panel is designed to aid you with record modification tasks. As It has been said, it uses vertical layout and presents some additional fields when compared with the table -- and some fields, even if they are actually displayed in the table, clearly ill-suited for modification inside of them (this applies to fields that holds long text strings -- like descriptions). It also displays visual difference between non-editable field and editable.\\
To open edit panel, please open context menu on any record and choose edit action. This will open edit panel in the same window as your table and will present you the record fields. First data fields are actually not user editable and presented in the form of the text labels at the top of the edit panel. Lower data fields are presented in the form of actually user-editable widgets. Those includes spinboxes, text edits and text fields\footnote{Those are actually a valid terms used to describe classes of the user interface elements. If you don't understand those, don't worry -- those are very standard {GUI} elements present in almost every application since the rise of the desktop metaphor.}. Once you will finish editing one of those fields, data will be updated. There is no apply button of any sort -- simply use one of those widgets and be merry.\\
In addition to that you probabbly noticed some icons in the bar located at the very bottom of the edit panel. Those can be used to perform the following actions:
In addition to that you probably noticed some icons in the bar located at the very bottom of the edit panel. Those can be used to perform the following actions:
\begin{description}
\item[Preview] This will launch simple preview panel -- which will be described later.
@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ In addition to that you probabbly noticed some icons in the bar located at the v
\end{description}
\subsection{Verification tool}
As you could notice there is nothing that can stop you from breaking the game by violating record fields logic, and yet -- it is something that you are always trying to avoid. To adress this problem \OCS{} utilizes so called verification tool (or verifer as many prefer to call it) that basicly goes trough all records and checks if it contains any illogical fields. This includes for instance torch duration equal 0\footnote{Interestingly negative values are perfectly fine: they indicate that light source has no duration limit at all. There are records like this in the original game.} or characters without name, race or any other record with a mandatory field missing.\\
This tool is even more usefull than it seems. If you somehow delete race that is used by some of the characters, all those characters will be suddenly broken. As a rule of thumb it is a good idea to use verifer before saving your content file.\\
To launch this usefull tool %don't remember, todo...
Resoults are presented as a yet another table with short (and hopefully descriptive enough) description of the identified problem. It is worth noticing that some records located in the \MW{} esm files are listed by the verification tool -- it is not fault of our tool: those records are just broken. For instance, you actually may find the 0 duration torch. However, those records are usually not placed in game world itself -- and that's good since \MW{} game engine will crash if player equip light source like this!\footnote{We would like to thanks \BS{} for such a usefull testing material. It makes us feel special.}
As you could notice there is nothing that can stop you from breaking the game by violating record fields logic, and yet -- it is something that you are always trying to avoid. To address this problem \OCS{} utilizes so called verification tool (or verifer as many prefer to call it) that basically goes trough all records and checks if it contains any illogical fields. This includes for instance torch duration equal 0\footnote{Interestingly negative values are perfectly fine: they indicate that light source has no duration limit at all. There are records like this in the original game.} or characters without name, race or any other record with a mandatory field missing.\\
This tool is even more useful than it seems. If you somehow delete race that is used by some of the characters, all those characters will be suddenly broken. As a rule of thumb it is a good idea to use verifer before saving your content file.\\
To launch this useful tool %don't remember, todo...
Results are presented as a yet another table with short (and hopefully descriptive enough) description of the identified problem. It is worth noticing that some records located in the \MW{} esm files are listed by the verification tool -- it is not fault of our tool: those records are just broken. For instance, you actually may find the 0 duration torch. However, those records are usually not placed in game world itself -- and that's good since \MW{} game engine will crash if player equip light source like this!\footnote{We would like to thanks \BS{} for such a useful testing material. It makes us feel special.}
A gameworld contains many objects, such as chests, weapons and monsters. All these objects are merely instances of templates that we call Referenceables. The OpenCS Referenceables table contains information about each of these template objects, eg. its value and weight in the case of items and an aggression level in the case of NPCs.
A gameworld contains many items, such as chests, weapons and monsters. All these items are merely instances of templates that we call \textbf{Objects}. The OpenCS \textbf{Objects} table contains information about each of these template objects, eg. its value and weight in the case of items and an aggression level in the case of NPCs.
Let's go through all Record Types and discuss what you can tell OpenCS about them.
\begin{description}
\item[Activator:] When the player enters the same cell as this object, a script is started. Often it also has a \textbf{Script} attached to it, though it not mandatory. These scripts are small bits of code written in a special scripting language that OpenCS can read and interpret.
\item[Potion:] This is a potion that is not self-made. It has an \textbf{Icon} for your inventory, Aside from the self-explanatory \textbf{Weight} and \textbf{Coin Value}, it has an attribute called \textbf{Auto Calc} set to ``False''. This means that the effects of this potion are preconfigured. This does not happen when the player makes their own potion.
\item[Apparatus:] This is a tool to make potions. Again there's an icon for your inventory as well as a weight and a coin value. It also has a \textbf{Quality} value attached to it: higher the number, the better the effect on your potions will be. The \textbf{Apparatus Type} describes if the item is a Calcinator, Retort, Alembir or Mortar & Pestal. Each has a different effect on the potion the player makes. For more information on this subject, please refer to the \href{http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Alchemy#Tools}{UESP page on Alchemy Tools}.
\item[Armor:] This type of item adds \textbf{Enchantment Points} to the mix. Every piece of clothing or armor has a ''pool'' of potential magicka that gets unlocked when you enchant it. Strong enchantments consume more magicka from this pool: the stronger the enchantment, the more Enchantment Points each cast will take up. For more information on this subject, please refer to the \href{http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Enchant}{Enchant page on UESP}. \textbf{Health} means the amount of hit points this piece of armor has. If it sustains enough damage, the armor will be destroyed. Finally, \textbf{Armor Value} tells the game how much points to add to the player character's Armor Rating.
\item[Potion:] This is a potion that is not self-made. It has an \textbf{Icon} for your inventory, Aside from the self-explanatory \textbf{Weight} and \textbf{Coin Value}, it has an attribute called \textbf{Auto Calc} set to ``False''. This means that the effects of this potion are pre-configured. This does not happen when the player makes their own potion.
\item[Apparatus:] This is a tool to make potions. Again there's an icon for your inventory as well as a weight and a coin value. It also has a \textbf{Quality} value attached to it: higher the number, the better the effect on your potions will be. The \textbf{Apparatus Type} describes if the item is a Calcinator, Retort, Alembic or Mortar \& Pestle. Each has a different effect on the potion the player makes. For more information on this subject, please refer to the \href{http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Alchemy#Tools}{UESP page on Alchemy Tools}.
\item[Armor:] This type of item adds \textbf{Enchantment Points} to the mix. Every piece of clothing or armor has a ''pool'' of potential Magicka that gets unlocked when you enchant it. Strong enchantments consume more Magicka from this pool: the stronger the enchantment, the more Enchantment Points each cast will take up. For more information on this subject, please refer to the \href{http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Enchant}{Enchant page on UESP}. \textbf{Health} means the amount of hit points this piece of armor has. If it sustains enough damage, the armor will be destroyed. Finally, \textbf{Armor Value} tells the game how much points to add to the player character's Armor Rating.
\item[Book:] This includes scrolls and notes. For the game to make the distinction between books and scrolls, an extra property, \textbf{Scroll}, has been added. Under the \textbf{Skill} column a scroll or book can have an in-game skill listed. Reading this item will raise the player's level in that specific skill. For more information on this, please refer to the \href{http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Skill_Books}{Skill Books page on UESP}.
\item[Clothing:] These items work just like Armors, but confer no protective properties. Rather than ``Armor Type'', these items have a ``Clothing Type''.
\item[Container:] This is all the stuff that stores items, from chests to sacks to plants. Its \textbf{Capacity} shows how much stuff you can put in the container. You can compare it to the maximum allowed load a player character can carry (who will get over-encumbered and unable to move if he crosses this threshold). A container, however, will just refuse to take the item in question when it gets ''over-encumbered''. \textbf{Organic Container}s are containers such as plants. Containers that \textbf{Respawn} are not safe to store stuff in. After a certain amount of time they will reset to their default contents, meaning that everything in it is gone forever.
@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Let's browse through the various screens and see what all these tables show.
\begin{description}
\item[Record:] An entry in \OCS{} representing an item, location, sound, NPC or anything else.
\item[Reference, Referenceable:] When an item is placed in the world, it isn't an isolated and unique object. For example, the game world might contain a lot of exquisite belts on different NPCs and in many crates, but they all refer to one specific record in the game's library: the Exquisite Belt record. In this case, all those belts in crates and on NPCs are references. The central Exquisite Belt record is called a referenceable. This allows modders to make changes to all items of the same type. For example, if you want all exquisite belts to have 4000 enchantment points rather than 400, you will only need to change the referenceable Exquisite Belt rather than all exquisite belts references individually.
\item[Instance, Object:] When an item is placed in the world, it isn't an isolated and unique object. For example, the game world might contain a lot of exquisite belts on different NPCs and in many crates, but they all refer to one specific record in the game's library: the Exquisite Belt record. In this case, all those belts in crates and on NPCs are \textbf{instances}. The central Exquisite Belt record is called a \textbf{object}. This allows modders to make changes to all items of the same type. For example, if you want all exquisite belts to have 4000 enchantment points rather than 400, you will only need to change the \textbf{object} Exquisite Belt rather than all exquisite belts \textbf{instances} individually.
\end{description}
\subsubsection{Recurring Terms}
@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ optionally the Bloodmoon and Tribunal expansions.
\item[Modified] means that the record is part of the base game, but has been changed in some way.
\item[Deleted] means that this record used to be part of the base game, but has been removed as an entry. This does not mean, however, that the occurrences
in the game itself have been removed! For example, if you remove the CharGen\_Bed entry from morrowind.esm, it does not mean the bedroll in the basement
of the Census and Excise Office in Seyda Neen is gone. You're going to have to delete that reference yourself or make sure that that object is replaced
of the Census and Excise Office in Seyda Neen is gone. You're going to have to delete that instance yourself or make sure that that object is replaced
by something that still exists otherwise you will get crashes in the worst case scenario.
\end{description}
@ -37,12 +37,12 @@ by something that still exists otherwise you will get crashes in the worst case
The contents of the game world can be changed by choosing one of the options in the appropriate menu at the top of the screen.
\subsubsection{Regions}
This describes the general areas of Vvardenfell. Each of these areas has different rules about things such as encounters and weather.
This describes the general areas of the gameworld. Each of these areas has different rules about things such as encounters and weather.
\begin{description}
\item[Name:] This is how the game will show your location in-game.
\item[Map Colour:] This is a six-digit hexidecimal representation of the colour used to identify the region on the map available in
World > Region Map. If you do not have an application with a colour picker, you can use your favourite search engine to find a colour picker online.
\item[Map Colour:] This is a six-digit hexadecimal representation of the color used to identify the region on the map available in
World > Region Map. If you do not have an application with a color picker, you can use your favorite search engine to find a color picker on-line.
\item[Sleep Encounter:] These are the rules for what kind of enemies you might encounter when you sleep outside in the wild.
\end{description}
@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ why would the computer need to keep track the exact locations of NPCs walking th
be quite useless and bring your system to its knees! So the world has been divided up into squares we call "cells". Once your character enters a cell,
the game will load everything that is going on in that cell so you can interact with it.
In the original \MW{} this could be seen when you were travelling and you would see a small loading bar at the bottom of the screen;
In the original \MW{} this could be seen when you were traveling and you would see a small loading bar at the bottom of the screen;
you had just entered a new cell and the game would have to load all the items and NPCs. The Cells screen in \OCS{} provides you with a list of cells
in the game, both the interior cells (houses, dungeons, mines, etc.) and the exterior cells (the outside world).
@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ in the game, both the interior cells (houses, dungeons, mines, etc.) and the ext
\item[Interior Sky:] Should this interior cell have a sky? This is a rather unique case. The \TB{} expansion took place in a city on
the mainland. Normally this would require the city to be composed of exterior cells so it has a sky, weather and the like. But if the player is
in an exterior cell and looks at his in-game map, he sees Vvardenfell with an overview of all exterior cells. The player would have to see
in an exterior cell and looks at his in-game map, he sees the map of the gameworld with an overview of all exterior cells. The player would have to see
the city's very own map, as if he was walking around in an interior cell.
So the developers decided to create a workaround and take a bit of both: The whole city would technically work exactly like an interior cell,
@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ in the game, both the interior cells (houses, dungeons, mines, etc.) and the ext
\end{description}
\subsubsection{Referenceables}
\subsubsection{Objects}
This is a library of all the items, triggers, containers, NPCs, etc. in the game. There are several kinds of Record Types. Depending on which type
a record is, it will need specific information to function. For example, an NPC needs a value attached to its aggression level. A chest, of course,
does not. All Record Types contain at least a~model. How else would the player see them? Usually they also have a Name, which is what you see
@ -91,4 +91,4 @@ when you hover your reticle over the object.
This is a library of all the items, triggers, containers, NPCs, etc. in the game. There are several kinds of Record Types. Depending on which type a record is, it will need specific information to function. For example, an NPC needs a value attached to its aggression level. A chest, of course, does not. All Record Types contain at least a model. How else would the player see them? Usually they also have a Name, which is what you see when you hover your reticle over the object.
Please refer to the Record Types section for an overview of what each type of Referenceable does and what you can tell OpenCS about these objects.
Please refer to the Record Types section for an overview of what each type of object does and what you can tell OpenCS about these objects.
scrawl
10 years ago