Hi. Sorry it's taken me so long to reply. I've recently bought Skyrim and have become somewhat, er, addicted to it!
Just to confirm, OBSE is an absolute requirement as the mod uses mostly OBSE script functions to implement the short cascade of tests it performs to recognise a valid harvestable plant so it can automatically Activate it for you.
All of the tests use OBSE functions, and at least one of those was introduced by v0016, so the mod requires at LEAST OBSE v0016 to work correctly.
Open the console immediately after starting a new game or loading any savegame file. If you see the message "H8Harvester: Initialised OK..." (it may take up to 5 seconds to appear), the mod has done its OBSE version check and is waiting for you to hold down Block. If the message doesn't appear within 5 seconds or so, the mod has stopped itself running because the version check has failed. This is to avoid unknown script functions crashing the game.
I thought about adding a message box that tells you OBSE isn't installed, but I don't know how to detect whether it IS installed or not. Most modders don't know either, which is why they always specify "Requires OBSE" in the mod description and Readme.
Glad you got it worked out, and I hope you enjoy the ease of use. I use it ALL the time and can't do without it now!
Oh, quick caveat. If you have a shield equipped, you block with it regardless of whether your weapon is out or not. You'll move very slowly with shield raised. This also affects any other item you hold in your left hand and can block with (such as a Torch or certain items introduced by Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul). I couldn't figure out a way to detect this, so the easiest cure is to unequip whatever's in your left hand to run at normal speed while holding down Block to harvest.
I like this restriction, as it introduces a few gameplay elements like only harvesting during daylight hours, using Light or Night-Eye to explore caves instead of a Torch, and leave the Alchemist a bit vulnerable without a shield. Think of it as needing both hands free, one to use the knife, the other to transfer the cuttings into your pockets.
Hi I have installed this mod with OBMM but nothing happens. I know how to use the obmm but I am no professional with this program (although I run a lot of mods with it). But I got no error message. Did I understand right, I have to use the right mouse button (for blocking) to use this mod to harvest? I really would like to get it running but I don't know what went wrong.
Edit: got it running, didn't know obse is that necessary.
The yellow star-shaped object with "I'm a missing mesh" on it is the game's default error mesh. It means the game can't find or load a mesh (3D model) file, and is showing you which one it is. It's like holding a big yellow easy-to-see flag up and shouting "Here I am!" so you can do something about it.
I suggest downloading and installing the tiny ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated mod. I'll call it AII (that's Ay-Eye-Eye) from now on because the name is SO long to type. It "fools" the game into behaving correctly, with meshes and textures in external folders (installed by mods) always being used in place of the ones in its BSA (Bethesda Scrolls Archive) files. And when external files are removed, the game reverts BACK to using the versions in the BSA files again. Means there's no hassle with installing or uninstalling mods that come with meshes or textures. You'll never see that error mesh again unless a mod uses a NEW mesh the game doesn't know about and THAT file goes missing (i.e. not installed, or accidentally deleted)!
Don't forget to edit Oblivion.ini to add ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated!.bsa to the start of the SArchiveList entry, so the game looks in the new BSA first. Unless that edit is done, AII won't work, as it's vital to how it "fools" the game. Full instructions on how to do the edit are in the AII Readme.
Once you've installed AII, you'll be able to reinstall Harvest Flora and have NO "missing mesh" problems with it. I've been using AII for years and I can tell you it works perfectly and saves a LOT of hassle!
Anyway, to answer your other questions...
1a. You only need to be close enough to a plant for its name to pop up when you aim at it.
1b. You don't have to release Block. The mod will auto-harvest that plant and wait for the crosshair to move onto the next harvestable one you aim at. Once a plant is harvested, it's no longer harvestable so the crosshair can remain on it and the mod does nothing further BECAUSE it's not harvestable. I love the simple logic of programming.
2. Answered above. AII will solve the missing mesh problems.
3. In a way, it DOES click FOR you. Block is just used as a switch to tell it to do exactly that as soon as the crosshair touches a plant. If you want a mod that auto-harvests everything around you, try one of the other auto-harvest mods. Mine is designed to give you control over which plants to harvest, but make aiming at them a bit easier by allowing you to "catch them on the run" rather than stopping for each one.
Best thing to do is practice with it and see how it works. You'll soon get the hang of it. Me? I'm not going back to the old clunky way, because MY method is fun, like running with an intelligent electric carving knife that won't cut anything but plants, and Block switches it on. I deliberately chose a "dead man's switch" style of on/off. If you release Block, it automatically switches off. I think that's better than a toggle switch because if it's permanently on or off, you'll end up either not harvesting plants because you forgot to switch on, or harvest plants you don't want because you forgot to switch off. Annoying.
**faints** ) thank you for replying so fast!!! ))) ok, let me scrol ya message so I can answer the right spots in turn ) I'm an easily confused Kitty lol )
1) ahhh ok question, when the plants are "seen" by the water pistol, how close do I have to be to click them to harvest? and **ashamed face** do I have to release the block button? lol I feel so noobish at the moment lol )
2) I have the Harvest Flora one too )) Had to disable though, for some insane reason it didnt like some plants. I remember Motherwart I think is called. I would clock to harvest and poof the yellow box of death surrounds it. the one with the !!! point in front. Made no sense to me cause I can harvest that plant just fine. But given my high level of anal retentivness the little yellow boxes scattered throughout the fields was upsetting me too much lol ))))
3) I loooooove it when the plant are either gone or snipped a bit Makes reharvesting the same ones over and over a Godsend lol ) But I have to ask, why cant you make one that will click for us. Auto harvest it? Oh no, my lazy side is comingout lol . Must say I do love to wander the fields and forests collecting goodies.
Once again, I thank you for not only the mod but also for your fast reply )))) **another ashamed face** I have a mod addiction I cant write them, but boy can I use them lol ))) Take care and thank you again )
Kitty
p.s. Just endorsed ) Just call me EndorcerKitty lmao I need a nap !! )
It doesn't auto-harvest like other mods do. It gives YOU control over which plants you want to harvest. You have to hold the Block control DOWN while sweeping, though, to tell it to harvest only WHEN you want it to. That way, you can avoid the plants you don't want and target the plants you DO want.
Think of it like an intelligent water pistol. You pull the trigger and keep it depressed, but it will only squirt when you aim at a target that isn't already wet! So instead of aiming THEN pulling the trigger to fire, you pull the trigger THEN aim and it automatically fires FOR you the instant your aim is on a target! Likewise, with my mod, you keep Block depressed and it will only harvest a plant that hasn't already been harvested, as soon as you aim at it.
If you don't have Harvest Flora installed (so plants change appearance when you pick them), you may be trying to harvest plants which are already harvested, i.e. haven't "grown back" yet (it takes 3 days). Easy enough to do when you can't see any difference and have to rely on the sound, "snap" for success, "rustle" for failure. In the vanilla game, there's no visual difference between a harvested plant and an unharvested one, which is confusing.
I definitely recommend Harvest Flora because it does away with that confusion and improves the realism immensely. You harvest Aloe Vera, the leaves will disappear because the ingredient is Aloe Vera LEAVES. With Flax, Sacred Lotus, Peony, etc, the flowers will disappear. With mushrooms, the caps disappear leaving just the stalks. And so on. Makes it VERY easy to SEE the plants you've already harvested and, when you can SEE which ones to avoid, it's easy to SEE which ones to target.
I've been using Harvest Flora for so long now I can't remember HOW the vanilla game behaves. Do plant names show in red when already harvested, or disappear (non-targetable)? I can't remember.
just grabbed it now !! back in a little bit to comment , thank you either way for sharing this with us )))) excellent mod
Kitty
----> ok Im back!! I loaded it just fine, click on option in first screen thingy. Was ready to go. Dropped my weapon, so only fists, and no shield. didnt want people to think I was walking around all paranoid lol Loaded a telek file too, didnt use it, but had it in background like you said. And thats as far as it got. When I sweep, I see the names of the plants in red, I thought cool it is grabbing for me!!! But checked and nothing was added to inventory. So I thought ok, maybe need to click left button anyway. So swept and clicked, on and on, nothing. I then tried to click the plants normal fashion in case they werent pickable at that time. They wer lol arrgggg. Is there something I am doing wrong? I love the idea of this file and really want it to work for you after all you put into this. Please let me know at your convenience? ) thank you agan !!!
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Just to confirm, OBSE is an absolute requirement as the mod uses mostly OBSE script functions to implement the short cascade of tests it performs to recognise a valid harvestable plant so it can automatically Activate it for you.
All of the tests use OBSE functions, and at least one of those was introduced by v0016, so the mod requires at LEAST OBSE v0016 to work correctly.
Open the console immediately after starting a new game or loading any savegame file. If you see the message "H8Harvester: Initialised OK..." (it may take up to 5 seconds to appear), the mod has done its OBSE version check and is waiting for you to hold down Block. If the message doesn't appear within 5 seconds or so, the mod has stopped itself running because the version check has failed. This is to avoid unknown script functions crashing the game.
I thought about adding a message box that tells you OBSE isn't installed, but I don't know how to detect whether it IS installed or not. Most modders don't know either, which is why they always specify "Requires OBSE" in the mod description and Readme.
Glad you got it worked out, and I hope you enjoy the ease of use. I use it ALL the time and can't do without it now!
Oh, quick caveat. If you have a shield equipped, you block with it regardless of whether your weapon is out or not. You'll move very slowly with shield raised. This also affects any other item you hold in your left hand and can block with (such as a Torch or certain items introduced by Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul). I couldn't figure out a way to detect this, so the easiest cure is to unequip whatever's in your left hand to run at normal speed while holding down Block to harvest.
I like this restriction, as it introduces a few gameplay elements like only harvesting during daylight hours, using Light or Night-Eye to explore caves instead of a Torch, and leave the Alchemist a bit vulnerable without a shield. Think of it as needing both hands free, one to use the knife, the other to transfer the cuttings into your pockets.
Edit: got it running, didn't know obse is that necessary.
I suggest downloading and installing the tiny ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated mod. I'll call it AII (that's Ay-Eye-Eye) from now on because the name is SO long to type. It "fools" the game into behaving correctly, with meshes and textures in external folders (installed by mods) always being used in place of the ones in its BSA (Bethesda Scrolls Archive) files. And when external files are removed, the game reverts BACK to using the versions in the BSA files again. Means there's no hassle with installing or uninstalling mods that come with meshes or textures. You'll never see that error mesh again unless a mod uses a NEW mesh the game doesn't know about and THAT file goes missing (i.e. not installed, or accidentally deleted)!
Don't forget to edit Oblivion.ini to add ArchiveInvalidation Invalidated!.bsa to the start of the SArchiveList entry, so the game looks in the new BSA first. Unless that edit is done, AII won't work, as it's vital to how it "fools" the game. Full instructions on how to do the edit are in the AII Readme.
Once you've installed AII, you'll be able to reinstall Harvest Flora and have NO "missing mesh" problems with it. I've been using AII for years and I can tell you it works perfectly and saves a LOT of hassle!
Anyway, to answer your other questions...
1a. You only need to be close enough to a plant for its name to pop up when you aim at it.
1b. You don't have to release Block. The mod will auto-harvest that plant and wait for the crosshair to move onto the next harvestable one you aim at. Once a plant is harvested, it's no longer harvestable so the crosshair can remain on it and the mod does nothing further BECAUSE it's not harvestable. I love the simple logic of programming.
2. Answered above. AII will solve the missing mesh problems.
3. In a way, it DOES click FOR you. Block is just used as a switch to tell it to do exactly that as soon as the crosshair touches a plant. If you want a mod that auto-harvests everything around you, try one of the other auto-harvest mods. Mine is designed to give you control over which plants to harvest, but make aiming at them a bit easier by allowing you to "catch them on the run" rather than stopping for each one.
Best thing to do is practice with it and see how it works. You'll soon get the hang of it. Me? I'm not going back to the old clunky way, because MY method is fun, like running with an intelligent electric carving knife that won't cut anything but plants, and Block switches it on. I deliberately chose a "dead man's switch" style of on/off. If you release Block, it automatically switches off. I think that's better than a toggle switch because if it's permanently on or off, you'll end up either not harvesting plants because you forgot to switch on, or harvest plants you don't want because you forgot to switch off. Annoying.
Take care!
1) ahhh ok question, when the plants are "seen" by the water pistol, how close do I have to be to click them to harvest? and **ashamed face** do I have to release the block button? lol I feel so noobish at the moment lol
2) I have the Harvest Flora one too
3) I loooooove it when the plant are either gone or snipped a bit Makes reharvesting the same ones over and over a Godsend lol
Once again, I thank you for not only the mod but also for your fast reply
Kitty
p.s. Just endorsed
It doesn't auto-harvest like other mods do. It gives YOU control over which plants you want to harvest. You have to hold the Block control DOWN while sweeping, though, to tell it to harvest only WHEN you want it to. That way, you can avoid the plants you don't want and target the plants you DO want.
Think of it like an intelligent water pistol. You pull the trigger and keep it depressed, but it will only squirt when you aim at a target that isn't already wet! So instead of aiming THEN pulling the trigger to fire, you pull the trigger THEN aim and it automatically fires FOR you the instant your aim is on a target! Likewise, with my mod, you keep Block depressed and it will only harvest a plant that hasn't already been harvested, as soon as you aim at it.
If you don't have Harvest Flora installed (so plants change appearance when you pick them), you may be trying to harvest plants which are already harvested, i.e. haven't "grown back" yet (it takes 3 days). Easy enough to do when you can't see any difference and have to rely on the sound, "snap" for success, "rustle" for failure. In the vanilla game, there's no visual difference between a harvested plant and an unharvested one, which is confusing.
I definitely recommend Harvest Flora because it does away with that confusion and improves the realism immensely. You harvest Aloe Vera, the leaves will disappear because the ingredient is Aloe Vera LEAVES. With Flax, Sacred Lotus, Peony, etc, the flowers will disappear. With mushrooms, the caps disappear leaving just the stalks. And so on. Makes it VERY easy to SEE the plants you've already harvested and, when you can SEE which ones to avoid, it's easy to SEE which ones to target.
I've been using Harvest Flora for so long now I can't remember HOW the vanilla game behaves. Do plant names show in red when already harvested, or disappear (non-targetable)? I can't remember.
Hope this helps.
Kitty
----> ok Im back!!
Kitty