Skyrim V: Skyrim

[Calemyr]

The trick with armor is that you have to first make an ArmorAddon entry in the Items category, then select that ArmorAddon when creating the armor itself.

Here's the easy way.

Spoiler

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Preliminaries:
* Install Creation Kit
* Copy over any meshes and textures from the mod you want, but don't worry about the esp file. It's a good idea to make a note of what folders the files are in, as that makes things easier later.
* Open Creation Kit (do this AFTER copying files over or you might not see the new textures).

The work:
1) Pick a piece of armor similar to what you want to make like, say, steel armor if you want to make heavy armor or something. Doesn't have to the identical, just close enough that you won't have to change a lot. Double click on the armor to open it.

2) Change the values you want, such as weight, armor rating, value, and enchanting. Now change the ID of the armor to something unique and that you can remember. It's a popular convention to put an 'a' or two at the front so they appear at the top of the list. For instance: aaAwesomeArmor.

3) If your armor has ground models (usually meshes with GO or _GND or something at the end of the file name) put select in the world model category. This is what they will look like if you drop them or if you look at them in the items menu.

4) Under the world model category is a white box that looks kinda like a lined notebook, there should be a word in there, such as SteelCuirassAA. Jot that down somewhere, so you'll know where to look next.

5) Click okay, and it should ask you if you wish to make a new form. Say yes, otherwise you'll just be editing the one you're looking at and that can cause all sorts of trouble.

6) Go to the ArmorAddon section of items and find the EditorID you just jotted down somewhere in step 4. Double click on it to open it.

7) This is the ArmorAddon, the actual information on the models and textures the armor uses. Change the ID like you did in step 2, putting an AA at the end of it (aaAwesomeArmorAA). This isn't completely necessary, but it helps when keeping everything straight.

8) All the biped object and race information you could want should already be here. What you need to do is change the Biped Model and First Person meshes for males and females. Click select and find the right *.NIF folder for the mesh you want. First Person meshes generally have only the arms/gloves of the armor, which is what you'll see in first person.

9) Close the ArmorAddon, creating the form when it asks you about it, and return to the armor you were working on. If you used aa at the beginning of the id, it should be right up at the top and easy to find.

10) Right click on the name in the models section (SteelCuirassAA) and select delete. Click the box again and select new to open a list of ArmorAddons. Find the one you named in step 7, highlight it, and click okay. Click okay on the armor description, and save the mod.

To see it in game without jumping through any other hoops, hit the ~ key in game to open the console menu.

* To find the code for your item, enter the command help with the name of your armor in double quotes, like help "Awesome Armor". It will list everything in the game with that in the name, along with their code.

* Once you have your code enter the code like this: player.additem 000F6F22 1. This would give you 1 of the item 000F6F22, which is the steel armor. Codes from mods will be different depending on what mods you have active and in what order, so this is the easiest way to find them.

That's the basic stuff in a nut shell. You still don't have it set up to be craftable, it isn't available in shops, you can't temper it, and if you could, it doesn't know what perk would give you double the smithing bonus. I can help with that as well, if you need it, but this post is getting too long as it is.

Hope that helps you get a running start at modding.

[Partof1]

Is it just me, or is the latest update fo xbox miserably buggy?

The issue with my mannequins is back, where it doesn't properly load what I had eqipped them with, and my gear gets duplicated.

Also, I keep getting messages that guards are pursuing me, when i went to whiterun, even though my bounty is paid off, which is a little bothersome, but manageable.

The worst though, are Farkas and Vilkas. They keep running up to me and engaging me in conversation when I'm remotely in the area, like they're messengers. It was terrible, considering Farkas recruited me to clear him of his wolfism, and even in combat, if he got near me, a dialogue box would open.

I also may have kill the skyforge blacksmith at some point, which is a shame, because I had been wanting some skyforge steel things for their aesthetics. Oh well, spiky daedric stuff it is

[AstralFire]

Why would you have to kill Eorlund?

[Partof1]

No, not have to, have, as in, I did already. I wanted my bounty in all the holds, and I ran into the town square and stabbed a guy. I think it was him.

[The_Jackal]

Whoa, bad mistake. Still, you don't need to resort to Daedric, though. Elven and Nord Hero weapons are just as good as Skyforged, and Glass and Ebony are better, if not quite as good as cartoon death-metal weapons.

[Tergon]

It always vaguely infuriates me just how lousy the Light Armour weapons are. Okay, I'm fine with Daedric being the best weapons, but Ebony being better than Glass? One whole smithing perk going toward Advanced Armours that gives no weapons? No dragon weapons at all?
And yes, I know there's mods that can fix all this irritation, but that's not the point. There shouldn't need to be mods. This is basic stuff. It's like the genius who decided that Dragonbone Armour should be harder to make than Daedric, but that Daedric should be better armour. Oh, and those hundreds of bones and scales littering your inventory should have no use beyond the fifteen or so you need to craft a full suit.

Also, unrelated: Squeeee! Probably this is old news to most folks here, but I'm in love with it.

[MachineWraith]

It always vaguely infuriates me just how lousy the Light Armour weapons are. Okay, I'm fine with Daedric being the best weapons, but Ebony being better than Glass? One whole smithing perk going toward Advanced Armours that gives no weapons? No dragon weapons at all?
And yes, I know there's mods that can fix all this irritation, but that's not the point. There shouldn't need to be mods. This is basic stuff. It's like the genius who decided that Dragonbone Armour should be harder to make than Daedric, but that Daedric should be better armour. Oh, and those hundreds of bones and scales littering your inventory should have no use beyond the fifteen or so you need to craft a full suit.

I feel the same way. It frustrates the heck out of me that in order to get the hands-down best weapons in the game, as a light armored character, I have to take a smithing path that doesn't help me at all until rank 100. It makes no sense.

[Tergon]

Exactly. Give light armour weapons a bit of a boost, or give them special perks that combine with the light armour skilltree. Make it possible to loop back from Dragon Smithing to Daedric Smithing on the tree. Hell, how about something that legitimately makes sense - branch the Smithing skill tree not into Light and Heavy armours, but into Weapons and Armour. It lets you focus on what you need more while you find in-game drops to complement the other tree.

All valid ideas, all right now off the top of my head. And yet Bethesda settled on the, "Nah, let's piss off the Light Armour users for no apparent reason" option. :(

[nhbdy]

well for those of us getting dawnguard (me for example) the weapons issue will be fixed, at least mechanically with dragonbone weapons, but I have a hard time imagining they will satisfy those worried about the "cartoonishness" of the endgame weapons.... granted one can make darn near any weapon viable through the crafting insanity (I don't mention mods because I'm on xbox) but it does feel wrong to use an exploit to justify a character...

[AstralFire]

If nothing else, you can take heart in the fact that light armor is significantly better than heavy armor once high level is reached with smithing?

[t209]

Whoa, bad mistake. Still, you don't need to resort to Daedric, though. Elven and Nord Hero weapons are just as good as Skyforged, and Glass and Ebony are better, if not quite as good as cartoon death-metal weapons.

What is this Nord Hero weapons?

[Calemyr]

What is this Nord Hero weapons?

Nord Hero weapons are reforged versions of the Ancient Draugr weapons that the draugr and skeletons use. They're quite powerful, fairly light, and use the steel perk for tempering. All told, they're pretty awesome if you like the draugr weapons, but wish they weren't so corroded and weak.

You can forge these weapons on the Skyforge in Whiterun, but only after collecting all the pieces of Wuuthrad for the Companions. They require the original draugr weapon, some steel and some leather strips.

The Nord Hero Bow has a bug on it that makes it untemperable without mods. This is a bummer.

There is also a retex for certain nord hero weapons that gives them glowing textures and dragon words along the blade called "Runed Nord Hero Weapons". I mention this because the mod author made one of them at my request - the greatsword, which has "Bah Zuul Zahkrii" (Lighting, Voice, Sword) inscribed on it and thus I want him to get the attention he deserves.

[AstralFire]

And yay, I made a second video!

This concludes my trips into Adobe Premiere for at least a few days.

[The_Jackal]

I wouldn't call crafting in Skyrim an 'exploit', after all, the mods are all there, and you don't even have to use any boostrapping to make really awesome weapons out of steel. My second character just had max enchanting/max smithing and drank one store bought fortify smithing potions to make her end-game weapons, and they were more than adequate to get her through the game.

[Calemyr]

Agreed. The only thing that really should count as an "exploit" on that topic is the Restoration bug.

The Alchemy/Enchanting loop has diminishing returns (can't get a fortify enchantment potion over 29 without exploiting a bug, either the falmer mask bug or the Restoration bug), so "godsmithing" (what I have call crafting with all three skills maxed and perked) is powerful but not unreasonably so.

Even using the falmer mask bug doesn't break the diminishing returns, it just ups the maximum you can reach.

[Tergon]

I know of four things that I'd consider exploits: First, the Oghma Infinium bookshelf cheat to use it more than once. Second, the infamous Khajiit merchant's chest outside Dawnstar. Third, using the conversation loop with the salesman of the Black-Briar Meadery to level Speech with zero effort. And fourth, upping your sneak by stealth-attacking the Greybeards while they pray, using their massively high level to boost your experience gains through the roof.

To me they count as exploits because they're a way to get a leg up on the game that the creators clearly never intended for you to do. And while yes, I've goofed around with them once or twice, on my "serious" characters I don't use any of them. It's just not fun if you cheat your way to the finish line.

[Triaxx]

On weapons: Frankly, Daedric is supposed to be, within the Elder Scrolls Lore both simply more powerful than anything else around.

And I recall reading that there's no more than a 10% damage difference between Glass and Ebony.

[Avilan the Grey]

Damn it... I will have to start over again. I knew I shouldn't have picked an elf, I lost interest in her 30 minutes into the game because, well, she's an elf.

But what to play...!

[t209]

Damn it... I will have to start over again. I knew I shouldn't have picked an elf, I lost interest in her 30 minutes into the game because, well, she's an elf.

But what to play...!

For Fighter, Heavy armor ORc or Barbarian Nord (Light armor with giant sword).
How about Khajiit or Argonian, if you want rogue?
Or Breton, the half elf that don't suck like the one in D&D (Based on opinion).

[Avilan the Grey]

For Fighter, Heavy armor ORc or Barbarian Nord (Light armor with giant sword).
How about Khajiit or Argonian, if you want rogue?
Or Breton, the half elf that don't suck like the one in D&D (Based on opinion).

I only play Khajit or Argonian if I play a male character.
Admittedly part of my dislike, I think, in this particular case is that she ended up looking virtually identical to the person on my left, my female orc Rogue. Almost the same hair, almost the same warpaint, almost the same skin tone.

On the other hand elves have never interested me. Neither have dwarves (and i know, in this world they are the same thing...). When I play pnp fantasy games I tend to play human 80% of the time and orc or half orc the other times.

If it wasn't for the mod I installed what makes racial benefits matter more (by changing them from being a mere +5 / +10 points ahead on a skill to an active effect, so Wood Elves for example will eventually reach 110 in Archery without gear) I would just pick anything, since in vanilla the benefits really are ignorable.

[t209]

I only play Khajit or Argonian if I play a male character.
Admittedly part of my dislike, I think, in this particular case is that she ended up looking virtually identical to the person on my left, my female orc Rogue. Almost the same hair, almost the same warpaint, almost the same skin tone.

On the other hand elves have never interested me. Neither have dwarves (and i know, in this world they are the same thing...). When I play pnp fantasy games I tend to play human 80% of the time and orc or half orc the other times.

If it wasn't for the mod I installed what makes racial benefits matter more (by changing them from being a mere +5 / +10 points ahead on a skill to an active effect, so Wood Elves for example will eventually reach 110 in Archery without gear) I would just pick anything, since in vanilla the benefits really are ignorable.

How about Imperial Thief or trying other hairstyles for your wood elf?

[Avilan the Grey]

How about Imperial Thief or trying other hairstyles for your wood elf?

I think I am going imperial.

Edit: Names names...

Acantha (meaning "Thorn") - Sounds like a good name for a thief but is a little unwieldy

Aquilina (meaning "Eagle")

Aemelia (meaning "Rival")

Alecto (meaning "Unceasing")

Alexia / Alexandra (meaning "Defender / Of Mankind")

Botilda (Romanised form of Scandinavian Bodil, meaning "Battle Of Revenge")

Calista (meaning "Most Beautiful")

Calypso (meaning "She who Conseals")

Dea (meaning "Goddess")

Dianna (variant spelling of Diana, meaning "Divine", "Beauty")

Io (meaning "Moon")

Laverna (meaning of the name is unknown, but was the name of a Goddess of thievery and illegally obtained money)

Leta (meaning The Hidden One)

Nox (meaning "Night")

[Calemyr]

Edit: Names names...

My vote is for Leta - beautiful, simple, and fitting for someone who only found out they were dragonborn when a black dragon tried to roast her during her execution.

[t209]

Edit: Names names...

Laverna- Sounds kinda cool

[Tergon]

I currently have three Dovahkiin going. Unfortunately I can't claim that my names are as awesome and meaningful as that, because I make them up on the spot. I tend to come up with different names for all my characters, but I delete them after I've taken them as far as I can, or when I simply get bored with that style. My current ones are:

Jacobim- male Redguard warrior with light armour, archery, smithing, axe-and-shield.
Tarnee-Ja - female Argonian thief with Speech, Sneak, Lockpicking and Pickpocket.
Tol'Rath - male Altmer mage with Conjuration, Illusion and Restoration.

I like to think they're thematically appropriate names, but I cannot claim to have given them as much awesome thought as Avilan clearly has! Still, for your character, my vote goes to Leta. Good name for a thief without being too pretentious.

[Calemyr]

I've tried several characters, but I always find myself coming back to two particular Dovahkiin:

Calemyr (Natch) - A redguard scholar slash tomb raider with a penchant for katana.

Basil Zachary - A nord blacksmith slash wannabe barbarian hero whose embarrassing name turns out to mean "Thunderblade" in draconic.

[Avilan the Grey]

i think I go with Laverna.

Well... Here we go. Let's Suboptimize!

[Ogremindes]

Basil Zachary - A nord blacksmith slash wannabe barbarian hero whose embarrassing name turns out to mean "Thunderblade" in draconic.

I decided to check that, just 'cause I could. Wrath (Bah) Voice (Zul) Sword (Zahkrii) does kinda make Thunderblade, doesn't it?

[Calemyr]

I decided to check that, just 'cause I could. Wrath (Bah) Voice (Zul) Sword (Zahkrii) does kinda make Thunderblade, doesn't it?

Kinda cool, eh? This nord grows up with a milk drinker name (life ain't easy for a nord named Basil), only to find out that it's in fact draconic and pretty badass...

Of course, it was a little cooler when I was first looking into it, because UESP incorrectly had Bah listed as "Lightning" rather than "Wrath".

[Avilan the Grey]

Okay, I am officially pathetic.
I wasn't happy with the first 5 Imperials i made, and now i have spent 9 hours of my game time today just downloading body and face mods and starting over new characters.

Edit: Is there an equivalent of XSE character enhancement that actually works, without neck seams and don't look like pinup barbie?

His skin colors are slightly too dark, you can't choose NOT to incorporate the things he has made look worse, like the scars and the warpaint (unless you download all mods included separately, but then you get a color seam for the feet).

Also, today the Nexus is completely borked. As usual.