This is basically a copy paste of the readme.txt included in the kit.
Congratulations on choosing to add a slick new ladder to your mod! Woohoo!
Great for questing, level design and even... uhh setdressing!? Sure why not.
I haven't really written one of these readme's before so bear with me.
In this readme we go over things and you learn how to implement them into your mod, let's gooooo.
What's included
- Materials for the ladders
- Meshes for said ladders, 3 sizes
- Subgraph Data import, more on that later lol
- Animations to go up and down them in 3rd person
- AnimTextData, more on that later again
- One whole entire script (This script is for NPCs basically, source script included)
- Sound effects, the climbing ladder sounds
- Textures for them ladders
- LadderTemplate.esp Merge plugin... for merging
- This readme :)
How to get ready to Use
In this readme we are going to go over how to use them, not necessarily how to Merge them. There are other articles for merging mods into each other. I will go over a few reminders or notes though.
Do not Master to this template plugin.
- This isn't a required mod that users will need to download. The purpose of this template is that it is to be merged into your existing plugin.
Change the editor ID's! Every Editor ID in the template has "KLSF" in there, you can change this and be fine. You can search in the CK for KLSF as well.
- Other mods may use these ladders too, keep your mod compatible with these mods by having unique editor IDs for the ladders.
You are of course welcome to change the file paths to better match your mod.
- I don't recommend changing the animation file paths or else you will have to reflect these changes in the subgraph data and need new AnimTextData. While not hard, it is annoying and not really necessary.
This template includes subgraph data on its own HumanRace form.
- If your mod already includes new subgraph data, you can also have this second set of data or merge the data into a single RACE form. You decide.
- A subgraph data import is supplied under Data\Meshes\Actor should you need it. If your mod does not add new subgraph data then you won't need it.
- If you're adding new subgraph data you'll need to regenerate AnimTextData for the ladders to function.
AnimTextData is included in this template.
- If you have no existing subgraph data, you should be able to use this and be good.
- If adding on to existing subgraph data, this is worthless and you'll want to generate fresh new AnimTextData. There are tutorials online for this.
How to Actually Use
So all that above is done, it's all merged in and you want to place ladders around. I made this as easy as possible. Simply drag and drop the Pack In (PKIN) forms (not the Furniture forms) into the render window and bam that's it. If your AnimTextData is functioning properly, you will see the yellow and blue thin Marker cylinders showing where the ladder animations start and where it ends. These are basically the drop off points, you want them to be visible so you can see where the NPC or player will end up. Just like normal furniture.
The Pack Ins were pre-setup for you so it's as simple as dropping a static item into the render window.
Finalizing Your Mod
Obviously, make sure everything works. And when you pack your mod into an archive, the CK will grab the AnimTextData automatically. But it won't grab the animation files, you will need to add those in there manually.
FAQ
Can I stack ladders?
No.
Can you make me a custom ladder size?
No. Lol, that's a lot of work.
Can I make new ladders?
You can make new ladder models no problem, just be sure the rails and rungs match up to the existing ones so that the animations line up. The ladders are cut into 2 obvious sections, model with this in mind. Also the collision needs to be separate in the same way. But you're fine to reuse the collision on my ladders if you want. Just look at how I made my ladders for reference.
I go in game and try to climb the ladder and it says I can't use this right now, huhh??
This is a clear sign of two possible solutions. Either the animation file paths do not match the subgraph data, or the animtextdata has been messed up somewhere, wrong file path or is missing entirely. If you have Markers enabled in your render window, check to see if the blue and yellow (sometimes orange) cylinder markers are there on your ladders. If not then yes, this is the answer. Regen that AnimTextData.
So NPC's can use these ladders?
Yes. They won't use them to path to a higher position but they may use them if they are bored lol. You can allow or disallow them from using ladders freely by checking the Ignored by Sandbox flag on the furniture forms. They can also be told to via AI package.
What about in combat?
That is iffy, you can allow for combat by adding the CanUseFurnitureForCombat keyword to the ladder's Furniture forms but I've seen some wonkiness like actors teleporting to the top or bottom of the ladder haha. You can have an AI package ignore combat though I imagine.
I think that's everything I could think of, now get out there and start climbing!
glhf
-Neeher
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