Elder Scrolls Forum: Any tips on making walls?

Tips and suggested settings for lining things up:

(This was written for creating interior cells, since many new modders start with those before tackling exteriors, but the same guidelines apply to lining statics up in exteriors.)

Angle snap:

Turn it on and set it to 90 when putting in all the large structural elements: walls, floors, and any other pieces that have to snap together precisely.

I'll use other values when I want to face non-structural objects (furniture, lights, etc.) in certain directions: for example, 45 when I want to line objects up on precise diagonals.

I turn it off for most fine positioning of non-structural objects.

Hold down the 'X', 'Y', or 'Z' key to rotate an object around a specific axis.

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Grid snap:

1. Always use exact powers of two: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512. Those are the dimensions the statics are built around, and most pieces won't snap correctly with other settings.

2. Make sure you drag the first piece a little, after you drop it into the cell, to snap it to the grid. Then other pieces should snap to it accurately when dragged into place.

3. Use a large grid setting to snap the biggest pieces into place, then work down to smaller settings for smaller pieces as needed. Once you lower the setting, going back to higher settings may put things out of whack when you add more of the bigger pieces. So I try to do all the biggest pieces first, then I lower the setting and don't increase it again.

I usually start with 256 or 512 when I'm putting in the biggest pieces: big square floor pieces, for example.

Then I drop down to 128 or 64 for smaller structural parts: walls without attached floor, narrow hallways, etc.

Then I switch to even smaller settings to roughly position NPCs, furniture, lights, etc.

Finally, I turn snap to grid off to fine position NPCs, furniture, etc. exactly where I want them. For fine positioning, I find holding down the 'X', 'Y', or 'Z' key to move along one axis at a time is very helpful when I want to position an object precisely.

Note:

Objects will snap to the grid in all three dimensions, including the Z axis, anytime they're moved. So when putting in furniture, etc. first position them where you want them horizontally, then hit the 'F' key to drop them down. Some objects won't drop to the floor when you hit the 'F' key; for those, turn off snap to gride and hold down the 'Z' key while dragging them to the correct vertical position.

(If you position objects vertically first, they'll probably jump vertically when you try to drag them horizontally to their final position. So it's usually easier to get them in the right posistion horizontally first.)

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Sensitivity setting tips...

Set these from 'File Menu | Preferences'.

I tweak the values up and down depending on what I'm doing, but the following might be a good starting point until you decide what settings work best for you:

Object Rotation: 0.50
Object Move: 1.00
Camera Rotation: 1.00
Camera Zoom: 2.00
Camera Pan: 4.00

Smaller values for finer positioning and better control, larger values for faster movement and coarser control.

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