Q: Can you teach me how to mod?
A:
I've had a lot of people asking me for modding help over the years, how do you do this/that, etc., even asking me to make mods for them, or make tutorials. Some people who ask me have never even opened the Creation Kit and tried anything. There are already a TON of tutorials out there, on a variety of subjects, so why should I re-invent the wheel? If you still just want simple tutorials, I can point you to some good ones in particular that helped me when I was starting out.
Some Good Tutorials for Starting Out:
Creation Kit Tutorials -- WOOH! All the basics, right there.
Quest Basics - How to make an NPC with dialogue and a simple quest.
Youtube Tutorials - 7 officials ones by Bethesda, and constantly added to by the community
Doug Hamil's Basic Scripting - very newbie friendly
Balok's Oil Paintings with GIMP - how to make screenshots into paintings.
- I use Photoshop myself, which is very similar, with a free downloadable dds plugin.
Deck16 -- Creating a custom-voiced follower (by "piggy-backing" off the vanilla scripts) -- I used this making the very FIRST version of Anduniel, before I figured out how to make my own unique follower scripts.
Natilde -- Creating a stand-alone NPC (all resources are contained within the mod so it doesn't require users to have any other mods)
My own tutorial on adding custom voice files to an NPC: How to add your or someone else's voice
Jac's Tutorial on creating a Custom Follower - I just found this through someone else who asked a question, read it, and it seems accurate.
Some general good advice:
1) Watch tutorials, lots of them. Figure out what kinds of mods you're interested in making. Figure out what you're good at.
2) Just open up the CK and mess around, explore how things are linked together, don't be afraid, change shit up. Test it out in game. Adjust, repeat. Learn how to USE the Creation Kit, not just how to "make mods with the Creation Kit." There's a difference.
3) There is often more than one way to "skin a skeever," to do what you want in a mod. My ways aren't be-all-end-all. You might find a better way to do something.
4) VERY IMPORTANT: learn how to keep your mods CLEAN, no dirty edits, no wild edits, nothing you didn't INTEND to change/add.
5) If you decide to publish your mods, be accepting of feedback. There will always be a few negative comments. Deal with them (or don't) as you see fit, but DON'T let them get you down! There will be plenty of people who will love your mods and leave positive comments.
That should be more than enough to get you started. If you have specific questions, certainly you can message me. I WILL NOT hold your hand. I WILL assume you have at least opened CK and explored a bit. There's a lot of satisfaction in figuring things out for yourself. Then you know that you really KNOW it.
Example of a specific question:
Q: When I use the house kits, sometimes the pieces don't click together. What's up?
A: Easy fix. Make sure you Grid Snap key is ON. Hold Shift and hit Q. Then click the piece you want the OTHER piece to click to. Then drag that piece over, and it will attach properly. Sometimes even this won't work, but the CK just needs to "shake it's head." Simply Save, Close, Reopen. It should be fixed.
But if you ask me something broad like this:
Q: How do you make a follower?
A: Look at tutorials! Then ask me if you have a specific question.
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Review: N00bie’s Guide to Modding Skyrim: Tips & Tricks for the Creation Kit.
Excellent for beginners and advanced Creation Kit users! N00bie’s Guide to Modding Skyrim by Anna Castiglioni is one of the simplest books you could find on this very complex subject. The book can be considered a general guide to all forms of modding, from when you start your mod to publishing it.
N00bie’s Guide to Modding Skyrim is a comprehensive guide book on the creation of mods. The author - Anna Castiglioni, a professional voice actress and a Skyrim modder, introduces the reader to a concept of modding through her own experience. In the opening of the book Anna demystifies the myths about Creation Kit and modding Skyrim and presents it all from a modder’s perspective with easy to follow guidelines and simple steps to help achieve impressive results.
She explains almost all of the skills and tools that modders might need in order to create mods with Ck, she also makes sure to cover some obscure and innovative features of Skyrim modding.
I find that many of the alternative CK tutorials and modding guides available on the web mostly concentrate on achieving certain functions, acting more like cooking recipe books. Many of them presume that the users already have some familiarity with the Creation Kit and are giving tips and techniques, including very specific instructions in order to achieve a given result. N00bie’s Guide to Modding Skyrim though is more expansive, it is meant to be not merely a recipe book, but to teach the reader 'how to cook', and put everything in order to succeed in doing it, providing theoretical grounds, explanations and, above all, encouragement.
The book feels well designed, and easy to follow, written in clear and practical language. I find it is excellent for beginners and intermediate modders. It is entertaining and informative and I would recommend it for anyone who wants to learn how to mod Skyrim. In particular I loved the extensive and clear explanations on creating a custom NPC follower – the subject Anna Castiglioni feels proficient in.
I only have one word of caution for the future readers of this guide: beginners should be able to understand it, but despite its simplicity and variability they will need to tackle it in sequence, because they are likely to be quite lost if they randomly open a later chapter. That said, with some prior knowledge, intermediate and advanced modders could easily take a 'flip to the chapter they’d wish to move to because the book is well-indexed.
Ultimately, whether you're a beginner or a seasoned modder, if you want a thorough and up-to-date understanding of Skyrim modding and CK, I recommend giving this guide a closer look.
~Urshi.