FAQ

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, many coming from the Official Bethesda GECK Forums.

This page is under construction as it gets added to following the release of the GECK on 2008-12-12.

Short FAQs should be answered here on this page, while more lengthy tutorial-type FAQs should get their own page.

General Modding Frequently Asked Questions

Why are there no Modding Tools for consoles?

• This has to do with licenses and restrictions by the makers of the consoles.

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 Texturing Portal and Texturing Tutorials.
• A texturing tutorial of paticular interest to Fallout is this Hard Surface Texture Painting tutorial which essentially explains how to give your textures that old, weathered and beat up look.

GECK Frequently Asked Questions

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 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/edit a custom effect to an armor/weapon piece?

• Effects like "+10 to Sneak" on armor are called Object Effects and are located under Game Effects. Notice many have the prefix Ench meaning Enchantment.
• You can create a new Effect, giving it an identifiable Editor ID and name. Then select the type: either Apparel for armor or Weapon. Right-click in the Effects list on the right which will bring up a dialog box with a list of available effects. Range is either Self for Apparel or Touch for Weapon. Area is self evident. Duration 0 is used for apparel for a constant effect.
• To apply the effect to the armor/weapon, double click on the item and select the effect's Editor ID from the Object Effect dropdown menu.

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