This article will walk you through creating a new structural ship part for Starfield.
You are expected to have a vague understanding of Starfield modding.
What this article won't teach you:
3d modelling
Nif creation beyond simple editing
xEdit
Tools to download, these may need setup steps which I won't cover:
Blender for 3d modelling
https://www.blender.org/
Geo bridge for exporting from blender into starfield format
https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/4360
Nifskope for making/editing Nif models (make sure to setup assets as described)
https://github.com/hexabits/nifskope/releases/tag/v2.0.dev9
Optionally FrankyCLI, a tool I wrote to streamline the creation
https://github.com/kaosnyrb/FrankyCLI/releases/tag/v0.0.2
xEdit for ESM editing
https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/239
Template files from Github
https://github.com/kaosnyrb/FrankyCLI/releases/download/v0.0.2/tutorial_resources.zip
Steps
Blender -> Nif
Extract the template files into your Data folder.
Open example.nif in nifskope. You should see the model in the window.
Open start_template.blend in blender.
Export part01_pri, part01_sec and part01_tri using the Starfield Geometry Bridge addon (In the settings panel on the right side of blender). These should appear as mesh files in the geometries folder in your data folder.
In Nifskope select the primary BSGeometry node and find the meshes section. Update the mesh name to part01_pri.
You should see the new mesh load in Nifscope. Repeat for the sec and tri nodes.
There are a few important things setup in the template:
1. Three meshes with colorable ship textures
2. A collison mesh for a 1x1x1 hab
3. Bounding boxes on the geometries to stop culling
For building none spaceship parts I suggest checking out how other nifs are put together.
Save your Nif as "example.nif" in the Data/meshes folder.
At this point you should have a working Nif file.
Nif -> Ship part
Now that we have a working Nif the next step is to create the required mod records in our new ESM.
ESM Entries:
CO (Constructable object) - The workshop listing such as price, description and menu positions
GBFM (Generic Base Form) - The parts stats and PKIN links
PKIN - The packin that points to the CELL
CELL - The cell that contains the layout of the parts of the ship
MSTT (Moveable Static) - The mesh, material and snapping information
Optionally a Form list for variations.
You can see how these entries link together by checking out Derretech or Avontech, however I have built FrankyCLI to create these new entries.
Run FrankyCLI with the following command:
FrankyCLI.exe FrankyTest struct ft example example.nif
FrankyCLI expects the Steam version of Starfield.
This should create a ESM in your data folder called FrankyTest. Add it to your load order and load Starfield. Your part should now be added to all ship techs.
Where to go from here:
I suggest using xEdit to view the new ESM. Edit the Generic Base Form field Full Name to change how the part appears.
For other parts such as Reactors you can copy them from Starfield.esm and point to the Packin created by FrankyCLI.
6 comments
The 3 meshes are easy not the bleow
2. A collison mesh for a 1x1x1 hab
3. Bounding boxes on the geometries to stop culling
It feels like I am missing a step
The example you gave had the parts already seperated into the pri, sec and tri files
once again thank you for your time
adds a section to the panel shown above
Its a very very basic model and I am just seeing how it all works.
The bit I am unsure about is the step where you setup the mounting points where the modules connect together.
I know something is wrong but I am new to modding and don’t have the experience to see where.
What I find odd is that in nifskope it has a scale of 4, should it be 1? For some strange reason I can also not save my changes.
Could this be the reason why I cannot get my model to load in game.
EDIT: Now that I look at your images I also notice that I don't see the original model in the example NIF like in your screenshot either. I'm new to Bethesda modding so maybe I missed some important step with NIFSkope itself
EDIT 2: Ok I understand it was meant to be in the actual Starfield/Data game folders, and not my extracted BAE Data folder in order to properly read the models apparently. Maybe this will help another newbie like myself if they run into the same thing. Thanks!