FAQ

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

• For questions with answers that are already present on the Wiki, link to the existing page. Do not answer it again here.
• Only questions with short answers should be here on this page.
• Questions with new in-depth answers should have their own page created, and then the question on this page should link to the answer page (see examples below).

General Modding Questions

Why are there no modding tools for consoles?

• This has to do with licenses and restrictions by the makers of the consoles, later games such as Fallout 4 and Skyrim: Special Edition officially received modding support through their own platform (with limits such as no xSE support and no external assets on PlayStation).

Where do I find Modeling or Texturing tutorials?

• Many general, though some Oblivion specific, tutorials for modeling can be found here, including links to the tools themselves.
• Here are the Oblivion CS Wiki Portal and Texturing Tutorials.

GECK Questions

How do I name my mod?

• See How_to_name_your_Mod.

How do I run the GECK if I have the Steam version of Fallout 3?

• The GECK must be installed in the correct Fallout 3 directory, see the GECK Setup Tutorial for details.

How do I load multiple masters in the GECK?

• To load multiple .esms in the GECK, you need to change this setting in the GECKCustom.ini file:

bAllowMultipleMasterLoads=1 See the Data Files page for details.

How do I save my plugin as ESM?

• When saving a brand new plugin you can name your file and at the end add .esm. eg: "Test.esm". This will create an ESM instead of an ESP with the proper extension and flag applied on the file header.

Interiors are mostly invisible, what is causing this?

• This is an issue with multibounds, to fix this, change the bUseMultibounds variable in the GECKCustom.ini file to 0.

Keep in mind if you plan on using worldspace multibounds you will need to reenable this to prevent crashing when accessing menus.

Why can't I find the cells in the Cell window for the tutorial?

• When the GECK first starts, it doesn't load any information. You need to load Fallout3.esm from the main menu to access those cells. See Creating Your Plugin.

How do I access the mesh, texture & icon files referenced in items?

• These files are packed in BSA archives. See BSA Files for how to extract and use them.

How do I make a copy of an item in the Object window?

• Changing the EditorID of an item will usually prompt you to ask if you want to create a new form. See the Object Window page for details.

How do I add a custom effect to an armor or weapon piece?

• First, create a new Object Effect by copying an existing one under Game Effects -> Object Effects
• Set the Type to either Weapon or Armor, and add the Base Effects you want.
• Double click the Weapon or Armor you want to change, and select the Object Effect from the Object Effect dropdown menu.

How do I add an effect to a perk if there's no entry point for it?

• "Game Effects > Actor Effect > Ability." Name Ability. Add effects. Magnitude only.
• "Actor Data > Perk" Perk will be auto-sorted depending on the icon it uses. Name Perk. Add custom SPEL effect to perk entries.

Why is there nothing in the "Conditions" menu?

• This is an issue with the column width in Windows 8.1/10. Put your mouse at the far left of the gray row, and will you get a resize cursor. Click, hold, and drag until you can read all the text. The columns are, from left to right; Target, Function Name, Function Info, Comp(arison Operator), Value, and an unlabeled column where the AND/OR operator appears.
• For a permanent solution, see GECK Extender. Make sure it is properly installed, and that the geckextender.ini associated with the GECKextender plugin has 'bListEditFix=1'.

Where can I edit exterior cells like Megaton or Canterbury Commons?

• These cells are in categories beneath the Interiors category in the Cell View World Space dropdown menu.
• Megaton has it's own world space called MegatonWorld, while Canterbury Commons is located in the Wasteland world space.
• Many nondescript wasteland cells do not have specific names, and can only be found using a grid (reference?).

How do I lock items in place, or toggle their visibility in the Render Window?

• You can't lock them in place, but you can select certain object types to be not visible/selectable in the View > Show/Hide Window.
• You can also toggle whether items are selectable or visible: select the items either in the Render Window or in the Cell View Window (you can also use the Filter for this), then with the Render Window active, click "1" once to make your selection not selectable and twice for not visible. You can revert this by selecting the items in light blue in the Cell View window.

How do I connect a door to a control panel?

• Make sure the placed door is a persistent reference, and giving it an identifiable Reference ID can make this easier.
• In the Linked Ref tab of the control panel, you can select the door via dropdown menus (first the cell, then the door), or by clicking the Select Reference in Render Window button and then double clicking on the door with the red cross hair.

How do I add items to an existing vendor's inventory without conflicts?

• See the Adding items to vendors page under Solutions

How do I add a new topic for a dialog?

• After performing a right click on a list of topics and choosing the "Add Topic" option, the Select Topic window will open. Now, right click in the list that appears, choose New and enter unique Editor ID of your new topic.

How do I stop my GECK from crashing so much

• Install GECK Extender.

How do I get rid of the body/head wrong tints and colors?

• Using CTRL+F4 on the NPC record will generate body/face mod textures for that NPC. ESMs also have less problems dealing with NPCs with different body and head colors.