The Art of Modding
truancyfactory is my personal web site devoted to the art of modding. It is essentially divided into mods, projects and tutorials. Mods are my 'completed' works. Download links and forum threads can be found on the appropriate page. Projects are incomplete mods and game concepts which I am currently working on. Some of them may be a long way off from completion, but may be of interest. None of my tutorials are 'complete', per se, though there is a lot of information crammed into the pages that are available. I don't have nearly as much time to work on all of these various projects as I would like, so things are probably going to remain in a WIP state for a while. To contact me, click on my name at the bottom of any page.
Support truancyfactory If you found any of the information contained in this site helpful or informative, enjoyed one of my mods, or just want to support a fellow gamer and modder, you can show your support by visiting one of my sponsers. Every click gets me jazzed to work on the site, improve my modding skills, release more (great?) mods, and write these long, painfully detailed tutorials. :) Of course, you can also show your appreciation directly by donating via PayPal. (Linked on the side bar.) Even a 5 ¢ donation will earn you awesomesauce and good karma in mod heaven. :D
Latest News: August 9, 2010
I've begun work on another tutorial, and this one is big. It's an introduction to modding Oblivion, with the main focus on learning how to use the Construction Set effectively. It is very much a beginner tutorial, but it is crammed full of information and insights that I've gained after over two years of using the editor. It is still very much a work in progress, and changes almost daily, so it probably seems a little 'rough' right now. I still need to add a TOC and I plan on splitting it up over many pages, but right now it's just one big wall of text (with pictures!). You can check it out here: Modding Oblivion. I am planning on redesigning the site to match the new layout in the tutorial, so let me know what you think.
I also added a third lesson to my MaPZone tutorial a few weeks back. I have a lot of additional content planned for this tutorial as well, but it's sort of taken a back seat to my Oblivion tutorial at the moment.
Work on Balzu has sort of hit a lull at the moment from sheer scripting and tree-planting fatigue. I'll probably pick it up again in a little bit once I've had a bit of a break from it.
Previous News: April 18, 2010
Hard at work, as usual, on a number of projects. Most importantly, work is still progressing on my custom world mod, Balzu, although a lot of the work is still 'behind the scenes'. Part of this work involves decoding the speedtree file format (.spt) so that I can create some custom trees by hand-editing files. Progress on this front is slow, but is starting to yeild some results. I've also created a couple of additional meshes (a lamp hook and an open box for holding collections of clutter items) and expanded the worldspace by 7 additional cells (about half done).
Another major project involves reformatting the OBSE home page. I started this for my own benefit, but expect other modders will benefit from it as well. The goal is to make the homepage a usable resource instead of a wall of text. I decided to reformat the page as I was looking up functions for the Enhanced AI portion of Balzu, so this ties back into that project as well, albeit in a roundabout way.
Resolutions
Unsurprisingly, some of my New Year resolutions involve modding and game design. Here's a short list of what I want to accomplish in 2010:
- decode the speedtree file format
- figure out how to create shape keys (morph targets) in Blender and get them working in game
- learn how to use Blender's sculpting tools and bake normal maps
- learn how to create animated objects, like doors and levers
- create another custom creature (I've already got one picked out :) )
- create a custom NPC animation for Oblivion, specifically, an occupational task that a peasant might be engaged in, like a blacksmith working metal, or a farmer milking a cow
- create several more small architectural statics for around the farm
- create a custom weapon
- create a set of custom armor or clothing
In addition to this short list, I have numerous other tasks and projects I'd like to see completed, including the initial release for my new world mod, Balzu. But one thing at a time, right?
Web hosting If you're looking for a good web host, I definitely recommend HostGator. (Just click the link on the side bar.) I'm an affiliate, so if you sign up with them, I get a little somethin', somethin', but that's not why I'm recommending them. I've been signed up with them since February of 2005 and I've never experienced any down-time or any other problems with my web site. Even when there were minor issues (like twice) they notified me in advance and had them quickly resolved. And their customer service is fantastic. Honestly, I love these guys. :)
