Tutorial compilation - Learn to mod in an afternoon

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Jani's picture
Jani
Interior DeveloperQuest Developer
Joined:
2017-10-08 01:57
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1 week 2 days ago

Tamriel Rebuilt is proud to announce that the release of Old Ebonheart, our new landmass on the mainland of Morrowind, is very close! Of course, this was only made possible by the hard work of modders, who have been making landscapes, houses, dungeons, and quests for the past couple of years. You might have noticed that the release was delayed from March to July. One of the reasons behind this is that we've added more than 60 new quests and hundreds of lines of new dialogue, which took a bit long to write, test, and review.

We're always looking for new modders to help us move forward, and despite many new writers and questers joining us in the past couple of months, we could always use more manpower. More people means more work getting done, which means new releases coming faster than ever! Thing is, quest work seems daunting at first. I had tried to get a hang of it unsuccessfully for a few months before looking up the necessary guides and seeking help from the right people to get me started. Then, magically, scripts and the mysteries of the Construction Set started to clear up. Before I knew it, I was already working on my showcase.

The reason why I've put this compilation of links together is to help others make this leap from not knowing where to start, to doing quests. If you aren't familiar with dialogue, scripting, or haven't worked with the Construction Set before, these tutorials will help you get started:

A quick, 12 minute video by Mort, showing ways to add NPCs and dialogue:
https://www.tamrielrebuilt.org/content/dialogue-tutorial-video

A tutorial series by Kevaar, that leads you through everything necessary to make a quest:
https://www.tamrielrebuilt.org/content/tutorial-questing-and-dialogue-tutorials

If you want to quickly look up the description of a script, use UESP's categorical function list:
http://en.uesp.net/wiki/Tes3Mod:Categorical_Function_List

If you're looking for more tutorials, or need an advanced guide to scripting, take a look at "Morrowind Scripting for Dummies". Please note that there are some minor errors in the book, which are discussed in detail here:
https://www.tamrielrebuilt.org/content/tutorial-morrowind-scripting-dummies

After you've worked your way through Mort's and Kevaar's tutorials on our site, you're going to have a pretty good, albeit basic understanding of quests. Modding Morrowind is easy to learn, but a bit hard to master. It takes practice. Fortunately, we have many quests that you can start developing as your showcase to practice your new skills! Check the claims browser for Unclaimed and Design claims, and leave a comment under any one of them. We'll get back to you as soon as we can to verify if your chosen claim can be developed.

Of course, you can also work on any other claims (just ask), or one of your own quest ideas - if your showcase is accepted, your work isn't lost, as these often get into our releases. These few claims are only here to make it easier to get into questing for those who don't necessarily have the time or experience to flesh out their ideas.

If you want to start work on your showcase, make sure to read these guidelines, as they reflect our standards when it comes to quests and dialogue:
https://www.tamrielrebuilt.org/content/guidelines-quests-and-dialogue
https://www.tamrielrebuilt.org/content/guidelines-quester-showcases

Last, but not least, you'll need to clean your files before you upload them. "Dirty" entries make it harder for us to merge your finished quests, and can cause compatibility issues with other mods. For this, you'll have to download TESAME ( http://mw.modhistory.com/download-95-5289 ) and read our tutorial to learn how to use it:
https://www.tamrielrebuilt.org/content/tutorial-tesame-tutorial

Remember: never be afraid to ask for help. We were all beginners once. If you want to, you can reach us our our forum ( https://www.tamrielrebuilt.org/forum ) and our Discord ( https://discordapp.com/invite/9T6TtNU ), which is a lot more active. 

Good luck!

Further reading:
Script templates: https://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/forum/script-templates
CS pitfalls and tips: https://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/forum/cs-pitfalls-and-tips
More CS tips: https://www.tamriel-rebuilt.org/forum/cs-pitfalls-and-tips

P.S. As it's been brought up on Discord, here are two tutorials if you're interested in doing interiors:
https://www.tamrielrebuilt.org/content/tutorial-interior-modding-tutorial
https://www.tamrielrebuilt.org/content/tutorial-item-placement-tutorial
Don't forget to read our guidelines before making your showcase: https://www.tamrielrebuilt.org/content/guidelines-interior-showcases

Zedelghem's picture
Zedelghem
Joined:
2018-09-25 11:56
Last seen:
5 years 5 months ago

This is fantastic, thank you!