The elder scrolls construction set

The world in TES3 / TES4 games is implemented as a set of cells ( English cell ) in which objects are located. There is also a magic system, a scripting system and game settings.

Cells

A cell (also sometimes called a 'cell') is a square area of ​​space with a side of 116.3 meters (8192 game units). The maximum height is also limited by this number (the water level is usually zero, which determines the depth). Cells are divided into internal and external.

Internal cells

Inside cells describe enclosed areas of space, such as rooms in houses or dungeons.

On the territory of these cells, weather conditions do not apply, the sky is not drawn and there is no natural light. Since the orientation of such cells is not initially set, they must contain a special marker indicating the direction to the north.

Each inner cell, in addition to the name displayed in the game, must have its own unique identification code ( ID ).

External cells

External cells represent most of the space, it is from them that simulate the surface of the game world.

Several cells can be combined into a region, thereby emphasizing their similarity (this also affects some parameters). When a player is in the territory of an external cell, the sky is drawn, lighting, weather, wind, precipitation, etc. are calculated.

The identifier of the external cell consists of the name of the region to which it belongs, as well as its coordinates. The coordinates determine the displacement of the cell relative to the "conditional center" (in TES3 this place is located somewhat south of Red Mountain ).

Objects

Cells can be filled with various buildings, objects, NPCs and creatures ( English creatures , creations ), they are also “monsters”. Technically, a player is an NPC with the identifier “Player” (according to TES CS for TES3). Some objects (objects of the Lights category (lighting: candles, lanterns, torches), Miscellanious, Armor, Cloths, Weapons, Alchemy, Ingredients) can be dragged into a special window, symbolizing the so-called. “Inventory” (only objects of the NPC class (non-player characters, actors) and Container (containers: objects containing various objects inside themselves) have inventory). Objects from the Body Parts category are used to create graphics for other objects (for example, for armor or for textures of game characters).

Magic

The game engine contains an extensive set of magic effects, but you cannot change this set.

You can create a variety of spells from them, which can then be used by both the NPC and the player. It is also possible to enchant objects and set traps. An NPC that has an enchanted item can use its spells. If a trap is set, the spell fires once when an NPC tries to interact with an object.

In TES CS for the game Morrowind it is also possible to change the icon of the spell, and its loop remaining when casting the spell.

Scripts, global variables and dialogs

The script language interpreter is built into the engine. This allows you to dynamically have some effect on the world, although the possibilities are limited.

In games, a sufficiently large set of global variables is defined that store various parameters. You can create your own and / or modify current global variables.

Dialogs allow you to define the communication of the NPC with the player. Together with scripts, they are the main means of creating various quests . Technically, they are a set of topics with descriptions of phrases and answers to them.

Game Settings

There are both lowercase and numerical values.

Line game settings determine the names of the months, the contents of various menus (trade menu, inventory menu, for example), the contents of various in-game messages.

Settings with a numerical value affect such parameters as, for example, the speed of arrows, spells, the influence of skills on certain actions, the range of attacks by melee weapons, etc.

The PC version of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind included an additional disk with a set of tools for modifying the game. On this disc, in addition to TES3 CS itself (it was also on the game disc), there were partially unpacked resources of the Morrowind.bsa file - textures , polygonal models and icons .

The official Russian version did not contain this additional information, but CS was still located on the game disc (although he himself, including the help file, was in English ). If you install it yourself, you must install it in the same directory as the game.

Versions

The versions of the developer toolkit correspond directly to the versions of the game.

• 1.0 - shipped initially
• 1.1.0605 ( 2002 ) - became when updating the game to version 1.1
• 1.2.0722 (July 2002 ) - it was supplied initially with the Russian version of the game or became after updating the game to version 1.2
• 1.2.0813 (February 2003 ) - became when updating the French version of the game to 1.2
• 1.3.1029 - became after installing the official addon The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal
• 1.4.1313 (February 2003 ) - it became after installing the official The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal add-on and updating it to version 1.4
• 1.6.1820 (July 2003 ) - it became after installing the Russian version of the official add-on The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon or after installing its English version and updating to version 1.6.1820

Russian version

The official Russian edition of TES3 contained an error, as a result of which CS spoiled dialogs in plugins. A solution to the problem was soon found by third-party developers.

TES3: Tribunal

Installing this add-on fixes some bugs in the original game, updating its version to 1.3. There is also a patch to version 1.4.

Of the innovations (mainly scripted), it can be noted:

• the ability to create companions to the player. The companion will follow the player and help him in every possible way (transfer of things, battle);
• the ability to determine in a script whether a player is running, jumping or hiding;
• scaling objects from scripts;
• obtaining the current water level and its change (only in internal cells);
• enable / disable the ability to levitate;
• the ability to dynamically add objects to the world;
• the ability to receive information about NPC equipment;
• You can make NPCs always run, jump or hide;
• determine the contact of the NPC (and not just the player) with the object;
• changing “level lists” - the dependence of some objects / creatures on the current level of the player.

TES3: BloodMoon

Installing the second official add-on updates the game to version 1.6. It includes all Tribunal changes, in addition to adding several new features (mainly in scripts):

• it can be determined that the player is traveling or in prison;
• You can place objects next to the object (before that - only next to the player);
• color change Seconds (the smaller of the moons of Nirn ) from white to red and vice versa;
• functions and parameters associated with werewolves.

MSFD

Included with the TES3 CS is a user manual. It describes a couple of examples - creating a dungeon, editing external cells and some information on scripts .

But, since this information is very scarce, one of the fans of the game - 'GhanBuriGhan' began to collect the missing information to release a full description of the TES3 scripting system. This document is called Morrowind Scripting for Dummies (MSFD ). The latest version released by 'GhanBuriGhan' was the eighth edition, with a volume of about two hundred pages, but with the permission of the author, other fans, Yacoby and Melian, picked up the baton. Through their efforts, the ninth edition appeared, which is available on the Tamriel Rebuilt website. Nothing is known about the Russian version of this document.

Along with the release of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion , the Construction Set for him was also released. Unlike the previous version, it was not distributed with the game, but was offered for free download to everyone.

The changes that the game engine has undergone have affected CS. There is also support for third-party technologies used by the game, such as the Havok physics engine , the FaceGen face system, and SpeedTree technology.

Versions

• 1.0.303 - the initial version available at the time of the release of the game
• 1.2 - version released for The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles and Oblivion , updated to 1.2

In the fifth part, Skyrim also has a game editor (also fans of the Fallout series have found a way to edit Fallout 4 from this editor), called the Creation Kit, in honor of the new Creation Engine. Released on February 8, 2012. CK uses a new system for initializing new objects and scripts, and also has a new interface that is different from the other two editors. Especially for the balance of the scripting system, Bethesda built into scripting the ability of one script to use the parameters of another, however, given the general non-optimization of all scripts, the speed in the game fell when using a weak or single-core processor. But experienced fans already understood the essence and rewrote all the functions, forcing the processor to spend less of its resources on the game.

• LCI article on TESCS4
• Tiarum (Formerly RUMOR Wiki) - Extensive TES Game Plug-In Guides Database
• Creation Kit Russian Wiki - tutorials, manual, scripting, translation of official lessons, creating plugins