Q: The CSE fails to load or initialize. A: Fully uninstall the plugin and its components and reinstall while following the installation instructions in the readMe. There's more to installing the CSE than just extracting the contents of the package.
If the problem persists, look into the plugin's log file (found in the game's root directory) - It may contain troubleshooting suggestions. If you're playing the Steam version of the game, make sure that you also installed the OBSE loader (the 'obse_loader.exe' file found in the OBSE archive).
Q: The CSE shows a message about missing DLL files during launch. A: Ensure that you've installed all the prerequisites linked in the readMe file, particularly the Visual C++ redistributables (download the x86 version).
Q: The CSE crashes on opening the script editor. A: Uninstall any ENB Series mod you may have installed (remove the d3d9.dll file from the game's root directory). Make sure you followed the installation instructions to the letter, particularly the one about unblocking the archive/package.
Q: Why doesn't the CSE work when... a) ...the game is installed to the Program Files directory? b) ...the OBSE loader/the editor executable do not have elevated (admin) privileges? c) ...a DirectX wrapper-based mod such as ENBSeries, ReShade is installed? A: Put simply, those checks are there to prevent potentially undefined behaviour. That being said, every one of those checks can be overridden if need be. To do so, simply follow the instructions in the Installation/Compatibility sections of the readMe.
Q: The script editor window doesn't appear. A: Sometimes, the script editor window can spawn outside the monitor's viewport (especially in multi-monitor setups). Close the editor, go to `Documents\My Games\Oblivion` and open the `ConstructionSet.ini` file. Look for entries that begin with `Script Edit` and set the X, Y, W, H entries to sane values, save and restart the editor.
Q: Antivirus applications flag the package as potential malware. A: It's a false positive and can be safely ignored. VirusTotal report of the v11.0 build - Link.
The false-positives are due to over-protective heuristics used by certain antivirus and exclusively limited to the DLL files in the Dialog Templates folder. These DLLs actually have no executable code and only serve to encapsulate dialog resources (these are the enhancements made by the CSE to the interface of the vanilla CS). The antivirus apps then misidentify the payload in the resources section of these DLLs as something obfuscated/malicious.
Please report issues in the Bugs section. And provide as much information as you can. Look into the Reporting Bugs section of the readMe to find out what I expect to see in a bug report.
Idk why but Data window (where plugins should be loaded) is not sizeable and I cannot even see a buttons down on it because this window is larger than my laptop screen, it even sounds like a joke.
Worked here using CapsLock key on windows neither maximised or minimised. The script was run as Administrator with latest AHK V1 1.1.37.01 on W10 22H2. Tested window moves for the following window: object, render, cell view window, console, auxiliary viewport.
The eventual goal is to implement a "Remastered" mode that lets folks create plugins for the remaster without requiring extra "post-processing" steps with xEdit and the like (or a way to convert an existing mod to support the remaster).
But it's still very early days - there will be some fundamental differences in how modding works in the remaster due to the interop b'ween two game engines (the original Oblivion engine and UE5). It'll take a while before the community lands on a standardized spec, so no ETA atm.
This sounds like a dumb question but is the way to replace references with other references? Like replacing a bandit npc with a marauder npc without deleting the bandit and then add the marauder?
for anyone having issues getting this to open/work with the remaster:
1. install the original construction set to your obvdata folder (game installation\OblivionRemastered\Content\Dev\ObvData). some will tell you a different path but this is the only way i could get the construction set to actually save plugins with the remaster. do whatever works though 2. install the construction set extender to the same folder, overwrite when asked 3. install OLDBLIVION obse to the same folder 4. make a shortcut of obse_loader.exe 5. right click shortcut, add the argument -editor to the end of the target line (after the quotation mark) 6. the shortcut should work and now the extender will open. YOU MUST RUN IT AS AN ADMINISTRATOR.
Now that I have this working the annoying part that remains is every time I open this and I open and close a lot it is completely random how big or small or even being there where all the windows are. And even if I get everything the text is kind of tiny on a 4k screen I find myself leaning forward. Don't see text size settings and I guess window positions are mentioned in ini file in documents but not sure if I can get it to stop acting silly.
Ok this extender has me happy right now. i had a problem in cs where it would crash when i tried to open a new topic in the quest part of it. it doesnt do that anymore so now i can create the quest i have been wanting to for a long time. thanks man
I'm guessing there's currently no way to use CSE (until an update, that is - no hurry!) to edit plugins that depend on AltarESPMain? Altar itself will load in just fine, but trying to load a plugin that has Altar as a master results in a crash, or infinite loading.
Make sure your base game plugins.txt load in the order for the remaster. If Shivering Isles is right after Oblivion.esm you're using the Oldblivion load order. I have no idea why it matters, but it does for some reason.
If you want to not get all the errors on new subrecords, I have an xEdit script that will remove all of them from a plugin. I do my editing in an Oldblivion install with a stripped copy of AltarESPMain.
Thanks for the script! I'll try a stripped-down Altar in Oldblivion for making mods. As for the official plugins load order, they *should* be right, but here's the load order just in case;
Only difference is I removed AltarESPLocal.esp because the file didn't exist in my install, and I haven't been able to discover why, and a verify didn't put the file in.
That looks correct. AltarESPLocal.esp doesn't exist in anyone's install that I've seen. Probably a dev file.
Edit: The issue here was that the load order was being set in plugins.txt. CS uses file dates to set load order. Edit 2: I have a script here that will set file dates based on plugins.txt.
If updating this for the remaster, I believe the syntax for the message functions has changed to support the new way of using variables in strings. CSE is unable to compile the Topic Result Scripts for the TGExpelled quest, for example.
To anyone trying to use the Construction Set on the Oblivion remaster, of course you will want the extender. This issue took me embarrassingly long to figure out, so let me share what it was for me.
I kept having the .bat not work for me and I had no idea why. Finally I decided to try and run the contents one command at a time and that's where I found the issue. The .bat file is basically just cd .\ and then the osbe_loader.exe with some parameters added. However, I am working with files on a seperate drive as to not mess with my main files just in case, and cd only allows you to change to a directory on the drive the command prompt is currently working in. Thus, the solution was to add the following to the .bat file before the cd.\ part.F: No, I did not forget to paste anything. That's it. Literally just that. My files are on my F drive, so switching to the F drive does the trick. Obviously if your files are on your D drive you will want to put D: and so on.
setting obse loader to run as admin fixed it for me, it spat out a log saying that it couldn't make the exe large address aware. launching editor clearing large-address-aware flag (flags offset = 0000012E checksum offset = 00000170) recorrecting exe checksum (00727F2F -> 0072C9F0) crc = 5BF7D114 dll = E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Oblivion Remastered\OblivionRemastered\Content\Dev\ObvData\obse_editor_1_2.dll using new editor injection method remote memory = 001D0000 old winmain = 0041C500
Is there a guide anywhere for getting a dev environment set up for the source code? I was getting errors for a missing project file for xSE Common and undefined types. I assume I'd need an older IDE than VS 2022 as well?
Some things aren't working properly, so I'm trying to make sure I have all the requirements installed. I can't find MicrosoftVisual C++ 2019 Redist (x86) - the only one availabe is 2022. Will that still work?
(Oh, and the readme link to Directx 9.0c is no longer valid.)
working fine for me with DirectX 12 and Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x86) and Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64) installed
Yeah. I reinstalled the base CS, and that helped a bit. I also found Visual 2015-2022 and got both of those, but I'm still having issues. Specifically, when I click on a container, it doesn't show the NPC and Faction dropdowns under the Ownership tab. I also can't see the conditions for AI packages. There's probably some other stuff... that's just what I can see now. All this works in the base CS, so I know it's not that.
Figured it out. I thought it might be a registry issue, so I ran a check and found some unused keys related to the CS. Deleted those, and now it works perfectly. Yay.
You can open a .doc or a .docx with almost any free writer program, like libreoffice, freeoffice, openoffice. Definitely go the readme route rather than someone posting a summary. There are several specific requirements to install first.
Is there a way I can edit this and make it so that if I hover over a model for a second or two, it will show a 360 zoomed in preview of the model?
And is there already a way to make a shortcut to the most used (or generally useful) models? It may seem intimidating for a newcomer to know which are useful meshes to use in the beginning.
Great work nonetheless... 10/10 work, and you have encouraged an untold amount of people to get in there and start making new things to explore for us all here!
1476 comments
Q: The CSE fails to load or initialize.
A: Fully uninstall the plugin and its components and reinstall while following the installation instructions in the readMe. There's more to installing the CSE than just extracting the contents of the package.
If the problem persists, look into the plugin's log file (found in the game's root directory) - It may contain troubleshooting suggestions. If you're playing the Steam version of the game, make sure that you also installed the OBSE loader (the 'obse_loader.exe' file found in the OBSE archive).
Q: The CSE shows a message about missing DLL files during launch.
A: Ensure that you've installed all the prerequisites linked in the readMe file, particularly the Visual C++ redistributables (download the x86 version).
Q: The CSE crashes on opening the script editor.
A: Uninstall any ENB Series mod you may have installed (remove the d3d9.dll file from the game's root directory). Make sure you followed the installation instructions to the letter, particularly the one about unblocking the archive/package.
Q: Why doesn't the CSE work when...
a) ...the game is installed to the Program Files directory?
b) ...the OBSE loader/the editor executable do not have elevated (admin) privileges?
c) ...a DirectX wrapper-based mod such as ENBSeries, ReShade is installed?
A: Put simply, those checks are there to prevent potentially undefined behaviour. That being said, every one of those checks can be overridden if need be. To do so, simply follow the instructions in the Installation/Compatibility sections of the readMe.
Q: The script editor window doesn't appear.
A: Sometimes, the script editor window can spawn outside the monitor's viewport (especially in multi-monitor setups). Close the editor, go to `Documents\My Games\Oblivion` and open the `ConstructionSet.ini` file. Look for entries that begin with `Script Edit` and set the X, Y, W, H entries to sane values, save and restart the editor.
Q: Antivirus applications flag the package as potential malware.
A: It's a false positive and can be safely ignored. VirusTotal report of the v11.0 build - Link.
The false-positives are due to over-protective heuristics used by certain antivirus and exclusively limited to the DLL files in the Dialog Templates folder. These DLLs actually have no executable code and only serve to encapsulate dialog resources (these are the enhancements made by the CSE to the interface of the vanilla CS). The antivirus apps then misidentify the payload in the resources section of these DLLs as something obfuscated/malicious.
But it's still very early days - there will be some fundamental differences in how modding works in the remaster due to the interop b'ween two game engines (the original Oblivion engine and UE5). It'll take a while before the community lands on a standardized spec, so no ETA atm.
1. install the original construction set to your obvdata folder (game installation\OblivionRemastered\Content\Dev\ObvData). some will tell you a different path but this is the only way i could get the construction set to actually save plugins with the remaster. do whatever works though
2. install the construction set extender to the same folder, overwrite when asked
3. install OLDBLIVION obse to the same folder
4. make a shortcut of obse_loader.exe
5. right click shortcut, add the argument -editor to the end of the target line (after the quotation mark)
6. the shortcut should work and now the extender will open. YOU MUST RUN IT AS AN ADMINISTRATOR.
Now that I have this working the annoying part that remains is every time I open this and I open and close a lot it is completely random how big or small or even being there where all the windows are. And even if I get everything the text is kind of tiny on a 4k screen I find myself leaning forward. Don't see text size settings and I guess window positions are mentioned in ini file in documents but not sure if I can get it to stop acting silly.
If Shivering Isles is right after Oblivion.esm you're using the Oldblivion load order.
I have no idea why it matters, but it does for some reason.
If you want to not get all the errors on new subrecords, I have an xEdit script that will remove all of them from a plugin.
I do my editing in an Oldblivion install with a stripped copy of AltarESPMain.
Oblivion.esm
DLCBattlehornCastle.esp
DLCFrostcrag.esp
DLCHorseArmor.esp
DLCMehrunesRazor.esp
DLCOrrery.esp
DLCShiveringIsles.esp
DLCSpellTomes.esp
DLCThievesDen.esp
DLCVileLair.esp
Knights.esp
AltarESPMain.esp
AltarDeluxe.esp
Only difference is I removed AltarESPLocal.esp because the file didn't exist in my install, and I haven't been able to discover why, and a verify didn't put the file in.
Edit: The issue here was that the load order was being set in plugins.txt. CS uses file dates to set load order.
Edit 2: I have a script here that will set file dates based on plugins.txt.
CSE is unable to compile the Topic Result Scripts for the TGExpelled quest, for example.
I kept having the .bat not work for me and I had no idea why. Finally I decided to try and run the contents one command at a time and that's where I found the issue. The .bat file is basically just cd .\ and then the osbe_loader.exe with some parameters added. However, I am working with files on a seperate drive as to not mess with my main files just in case, and cd only allows you to change to a directory on the drive the command prompt is currently working in.
Thus, the solution was to add the following to the .bat file before the cd.\ part.
F:No, I did not forget to paste anything. That's it. Literally just that. My files are on my F drive, so switching to the F drive does the trick. Obviously if your files are on your D drive you will want to put D: and so on.
launching editor
clearing large-address-aware flag (flags offset = 0000012E checksum offset = 00000170)
recorrecting exe checksum (00727F2F -> 0072C9F0)
crc = 5BF7D114
dll = E:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Oblivion Remastered\OblivionRemastered\Content\Dev\ObvData\obse_editor_1_2.dll
using new editor injection method
remote memory = 001D0000
old winmain = 0041C500
I was getting errors for a missing project file for xSE Common and undefined types.
I assume I'd need an older IDE than VS 2022 as well?
(Oh, and the readme link to Directx 9.0c is no longer valid.)
DirectX 12
and
Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x86)
and
Microsoft Visual C++ 2015-2022 Redistributable (x64)
installed
have you got an 64 bit installation?
I dont have a copy of microsoft word in order to open the readme and the wiki for the construction set has been down for over a year.
Is there a way I can edit this and make it so that if I hover over a model for a second or two, it will show a 360 zoomed in preview of the model?
And is there already a way to make a shortcut to the most used (or generally useful) models? It may seem intimidating for a newcomer to know which are useful meshes to use in the beginning.
Great work nonetheless... 10/10 work, and you have encouraged an untold amount of people to get in there and start making new things to explore for us all here!