Changing Placeable Appearances

[Legacy_3RavensMore]

               Question of the night...
In CEP there are a ton of plc appearances without blueprints, and being mindful of the 16k limit, is possible to change the appearance of an existing placeable via scripting?  Or is it possible to spawn a placeable with a appearance different than what the blueprint has?

(Guessing these are no and no, but it never hurts to ask.)
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_SHOVA]

               you can script an appearance change, but you need to know what 2da # to change to. Its far easier to place a blueprint item, and edit it to the new appearance. That does not add to the 16k limit.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Quillmaster]

               Yep, editing the appearance at the building stage would seem the most simple thing to do.  It can be a little annoying scrolling through the list though, particularly when a lot of the models don't preview well without scrolling away with the mouse.  With that in mind, I wondered if there was an online document with visuals of all the placeables available along with their titles?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_3RavensMore]

               What I'm trying to do, is have access to all the CEP placeables (and some new ones), without creating a ton of new blueprints.  Some of those placeables will be used to create modestly dynamic areas, as in, drop bunch of waypoints and define the "type" of object.  Then have a script select from a group of appearance types for that object - then have that change over time.  I've already a growing 2da that defines the particulars for my types and when/where they should be used, but I'm still stumped on how to change appearances of a placeable via scripting.  I've searches the Lexicon and I've not found a function that seems to apply.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_SHOVA]

               the thing is, when you make a script, it counts towards the 16k limit. So if you want to use a bunch of placeable appearances that don't have blueprints, your better off, making a placeable blueprint, as it counts as 1. A script blueprint counts as 2, because there are 2 files made.

Now there are work a rounds, you can make the placeable blueprints, export them as an erf, and put them into a hak, (that's how CEP added their blueprints) those I believe do not count in the 16k. limit.

Changing the appearance, is tricky, and most tend not to do it, instead they destroy the current, and spawn in the new. Even when just moving a placeable, most destroy and spawn in new. The reason, if the placeable is usable, it can become unusable.(broken)

To do what your talking about, changing the look of something over time, I would probably use a NESS system, where it spawns in on day 1, is removed on day 4, and a new object is spawned on day 4 in the same place, and destroyed on day 9, and so on. Since NESS does not have a spawn during certain months (like it should '> ) it takes a bit of work to make it happen. For certain month spawns, (like snow covered trees in winter) I use a get month function in on mod load, and spawn at waypoints if month is 11, 12, - 3 spawn at waypoint tag ((very basic overview)).

hope this helps.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_3RavensMore]

               That does helps.  Thanks.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Pstemarie]

               

Quillmaster wrote...

...particularly when a lot of the models don't preview well without scrolling away with the mouse.

That's why you should always center your models over the aurora base when making them...
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_kalbaern]

               One trick I use is to create builder haks for my projects. Anything not created by a script, encounter or on my DMs lists of wanting/needing to create on the fly goes into a Build Hak. I also encourage them to create pre-staged "event" areas in advance for their plots that I can import into updates and then remove and replace or recycle for other uses later on. My own current Builder Module that I'm working in has around 22k resources in fact. I can't even therefor launch it to test (runs fine in the toolset). So I save it as an alternate name and then just zap my build haks. Voila! Its then at roughly 11k resources and ready for use.

Making haks can seem abit daunting to many, but a blueprint only hak for mainly placeables (mine includes custom waypoints, triggers, encounters, doors, merchant templates and custom loot for my treasure system) is realitively easy to create and keep updated. Just export blueprints from time to time into an erf or two. Then copy those erf's into your hak folder and rename them so the suffix is ".hak" instead of ".erf" and Whammo! You can now add them as a builder hak to your dedicated building copy. My IG placeable selection comprises around 600 blueprints. So far, this has been more than enough for my DMs needs. I'm also flxible and have no qualms about adding stuff they request.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_3RavensMore]

               Now that really helps, kalbaern.  Our food/forage/water was starting to take up a lot of resources - nice to know that I can put it in a hak