Post by osiris on Oct 1, 2006 14:42:52 GMT 1
GMSTs: what the hell they are?
This is a fully explanation of what the famous Morrowind GMSTs are: i hope to don't bother you with all this bunch of text, i wrote it for beginners' usage and personally i find it quite interesting.
Note that this tutorial don't pretend to be complete, and since i'm human i probably made some mistakes.
Then, for a complete explanation about what the famous GMSTs are, don't forget to point your browser to the link that i've provided below.
Like the name suggests, the famous "GMSTs" are literally game settings used by Morrowind to work. Translation, the game can't work without it.
Some base settings are already stored in the Construction Set code, and you can see them even without loading any .esm file; just launch the Construction Set, and look in the menus for a voice called "Gameplay"; select it, and then select "Settings" in the curtain window: a new window will appears, it contains all the base settings used by the game.
Those base settings are divided in various categories: Gameplay, Magic, Stats, Menus. Just select the tab you want, and have a look at at it.
Every setting has is value and is unique ID.
Let's have a short look at every category.
- Gameplay:
Those settings are referred to the general gameplay of Morrowind; they have their values expressed in numbers (except for only one case, the "Default Cell name" which is marked as "Wilderness"), and their IDs always begins with a small "f" or a small "i".
- Magic:
Those are referred to everything related to magic: bounded items, magic schools, spells, summoned creatures, and even diseases; and so on.
In the case of the bounded items, their valuess always begins with the suffix "bound"; for summoned creatures, the values are instead the name of the summoned daedra or undead; the are a pair of cases when they are instead simply numbers, something like the gameplay GMSTs. Their IDs always begins with a small "s"
- Stats:
Simply, those settings are referred to the various' PC stats: from his birthsign, bounty, reputation, school, etcetera, to other settings which allows you to know in - game where
a certain skill has been increased, when your character is ready to level up, and so on.
Values and IDs are identical for strenght, intelligence, willpower, agility, speed, endurance, personality, and luck; for combat, type of weapons, type of magic school and a few others stats, values are expressed simply with the real name of the proper stat. The IDs always begins with the same small "s" (i bet that you have understood that this "s" means "setting", right?)
- Menus:
Those global settings are the one who allows the various game menus to exist (every kind of menu, then really every kind of information that you receive via monitor while playing).
Then they are really essential! They list begins with the settings who contains the names of the seasons in Morrowind, end ends with the settings who contains informations about the classes: Acrobat, Agent, Archer, assassin, Barbarian, and so on.
They also are the GMSTs who gives you various kind of in - game informations such as "You cannot rest here" "You have been expelled from..." when you try to rest 200 feets outside Balmora and the game still don't allows you to do that (argh!), or when you have been kicked out from a guild; also, thanks to these settings you can know when your savegames are too much, etcetera.
Then, they are menus, like the name suggests. They also are the menus who allows you to generate your character at the beginning of the game, aka the famous "CharGen".
Their Values are often pretty different to their IDs (i.e., theyr values are often what you really see on the monitor); however, here IDs always begins with a small "s", even if the values not.
Morrowind is indeed a great game even in those little things; personally, i haven't seen yet a game (and a game editor) with all those informations stored so accurately: like thousands or more lego - pieces that you can often move and modify as you wish.
Err, except in one case; let's see when you risk to screw up something, of course giving you also the method to prevent a rather common issue.
When GMSTs are evil GMSTs
In reality, when you open up the "Gameplay" window you only see a sort of "mirror" of the real GMSTs; translation, they remains inactive since you start modding by loading the base .esm (Morrowind) or even the base plus the expansions .esm files (Tribunal, Bloodmoon).
The GMSTs are installed by Tribunal and Bloodmoon, since the expansion packs allows modders (but even players!) to have access at some new features, which of course requires new game settings to work properly.
Symply put, if you have one or both the expansions, you have the GMSTs.
Due to a limit of the CS engine, everytime you click on "Save" on the toolbar window during modding, the GMSTs from the expansions are automatically added and stored in your mod; We said that they are essential for the gameplay. But do have them in your .esp is a wrong thing, since they can seriously screw up something of your game!
Explaining better, here's what happens: if you have Tribunal installed, and create a mod with just Morrowind.esm, you will get the GMSTs that comes with Tribunal. If you have Tribunal (but not Bloodmoon), and make your mod dependent upon it, that’s ok. . The same goes for Bloodmoon: if you have only Bloodmoon.esm, and create a mod without it, the Construction Set will put the game settings that came with it in your mod. But if the mod is dependent upon Bloodmoon, it's ok. If you have both installed, but don’t have your mod dependent one or both of them, you will get the respective GMSTs in your plug - in.
Then, you must to rip off them with an utility such as TESAME or TEStool, or even others; fully tutorials about how to use cleaning softwares will be provided by myself very soon.
As you have imagined reading above, you can make your mod safe from evil GMSTs by simply loading one of the expansions togheter with the base Morrowind.esm when you start to modding; but in that way, your mod will get a nasty dependency on Tribunal or Bloodmoon, which you'll must to rip off with another utility after completed your mod.
I personally don't like to see mods which are dependent on Tribunal or Bloodmoon if they don't get useful stuff from the expansions: don't make a mod dependent on it if you don't really need their features!
Then, how can you prevent your only - Morrowind mod to become dirty? Simply, download GMSTs Vaccine by Wrye by pointing your browser at this link:
GMST Vaccine
And have a look at what Wrye says in its readme.
GMSTs vaccine it's just a small modder resource .esp who only contains the extra GMSTs added by Tribunal and Bloodmoon; it's identical to the previous GMSTs Fix by Argent, only the last modify date is different.
When creating your mod with only Morrowind , load GMSTs Vaccine togheter with it, without set it as active file; do the same everytime you have to modify your mod in any way.
And you'll be completely safe from every evil GMSTs contamination, and you'll mod will be clean and shiny, ready to be uploaded togheter with your readme at your favourite mods hoster.
Easy, huh?
Argent's fully explanation of GMSTs
This is a fully explanation of what the famous Morrowind GMSTs are: i hope to don't bother you with all this bunch of text, i wrote it for beginners' usage and personally i find it quite interesting.
Note that this tutorial don't pretend to be complete, and since i'm human i probably made some mistakes.
Then, for a complete explanation about what the famous GMSTs are, don't forget to point your browser to the link that i've provided below.
Like the name suggests, the famous "GMSTs" are literally game settings used by Morrowind to work. Translation, the game can't work without it.
Some base settings are already stored in the Construction Set code, and you can see them even without loading any .esm file; just launch the Construction Set, and look in the menus for a voice called "Gameplay"; select it, and then select "Settings" in the curtain window: a new window will appears, it contains all the base settings used by the game.
Those base settings are divided in various categories: Gameplay, Magic, Stats, Menus. Just select the tab you want, and have a look at at it.
Every setting has is value and is unique ID.
Let's have a short look at every category.
- Gameplay:
Those settings are referred to the general gameplay of Morrowind; they have their values expressed in numbers (except for only one case, the "Default Cell name" which is marked as "Wilderness"), and their IDs always begins with a small "f" or a small "i".
- Magic:
Those are referred to everything related to magic: bounded items, magic schools, spells, summoned creatures, and even diseases; and so on.
In the case of the bounded items, their valuess always begins with the suffix "bound"; for summoned creatures, the values are instead the name of the summoned daedra or undead; the are a pair of cases when they are instead simply numbers, something like the gameplay GMSTs. Their IDs always begins with a small "s"
- Stats:
Simply, those settings are referred to the various' PC stats: from his birthsign, bounty, reputation, school, etcetera, to other settings which allows you to know in - game where
a certain skill has been increased, when your character is ready to level up, and so on.
Values and IDs are identical for strenght, intelligence, willpower, agility, speed, endurance, personality, and luck; for combat, type of weapons, type of magic school and a few others stats, values are expressed simply with the real name of the proper stat. The IDs always begins with the same small "s" (i bet that you have understood that this "s" means "setting", right?)
- Menus:
Those global settings are the one who allows the various game menus to exist (every kind of menu, then really every kind of information that you receive via monitor while playing).
Then they are really essential! They list begins with the settings who contains the names of the seasons in Morrowind, end ends with the settings who contains informations about the classes: Acrobat, Agent, Archer, assassin, Barbarian, and so on.
They also are the GMSTs who gives you various kind of in - game informations such as "You cannot rest here" "You have been expelled from..." when you try to rest 200 feets outside Balmora and the game still don't allows you to do that (argh!), or when you have been kicked out from a guild; also, thanks to these settings you can know when your savegames are too much, etcetera.
Then, they are menus, like the name suggests. They also are the menus who allows you to generate your character at the beginning of the game, aka the famous "CharGen".
Their Values are often pretty different to their IDs (i.e., theyr values are often what you really see on the monitor); however, here IDs always begins with a small "s", even if the values not.
Morrowind is indeed a great game even in those little things; personally, i haven't seen yet a game (and a game editor) with all those informations stored so accurately: like thousands or more lego - pieces that you can often move and modify as you wish.
Err, except in one case; let's see when you risk to screw up something, of course giving you also the method to prevent a rather common issue.
When GMSTs are evil GMSTs
In reality, when you open up the "Gameplay" window you only see a sort of "mirror" of the real GMSTs; translation, they remains inactive since you start modding by loading the base .esm (Morrowind) or even the base plus the expansions .esm files (Tribunal, Bloodmoon).
The GMSTs are installed by Tribunal and Bloodmoon, since the expansion packs allows modders (but even players!) to have access at some new features, which of course requires new game settings to work properly.
Symply put, if you have one or both the expansions, you have the GMSTs.
Due to a limit of the CS engine, everytime you click on "Save" on the toolbar window during modding, the GMSTs from the expansions are automatically added and stored in your mod; We said that they are essential for the gameplay. But do have them in your .esp is a wrong thing, since they can seriously screw up something of your game!
Explaining better, here's what happens: if you have Tribunal installed, and create a mod with just Morrowind.esm, you will get the GMSTs that comes with Tribunal. If you have Tribunal (but not Bloodmoon), and make your mod dependent upon it, that’s ok. . The same goes for Bloodmoon: if you have only Bloodmoon.esm, and create a mod without it, the Construction Set will put the game settings that came with it in your mod. But if the mod is dependent upon Bloodmoon, it's ok. If you have both installed, but don’t have your mod dependent one or both of them, you will get the respective GMSTs in your plug - in.
Then, you must to rip off them with an utility such as TESAME or TEStool, or even others; fully tutorials about how to use cleaning softwares will be provided by myself very soon.
As you have imagined reading above, you can make your mod safe from evil GMSTs by simply loading one of the expansions togheter with the base Morrowind.esm when you start to modding; but in that way, your mod will get a nasty dependency on Tribunal or Bloodmoon, which you'll must to rip off with another utility after completed your mod.
I personally don't like to see mods which are dependent on Tribunal or Bloodmoon if they don't get useful stuff from the expansions: don't make a mod dependent on it if you don't really need their features!
Then, how can you prevent your only - Morrowind mod to become dirty? Simply, download GMSTs Vaccine by Wrye by pointing your browser at this link:
GMST Vaccine
And have a look at what Wrye says in its readme.
GMSTs vaccine it's just a small modder resource .esp who only contains the extra GMSTs added by Tribunal and Bloodmoon; it's identical to the previous GMSTs Fix by Argent, only the last modify date is different.
When creating your mod with only Morrowind , load GMSTs Vaccine togheter with it, without set it as active file; do the same everytime you have to modify your mod in any way.
And you'll be completely safe from every evil GMSTs contamination, and you'll mod will be clean and shiny, ready to be uploaded togheter with your readme at your favourite mods hoster.
Easy, huh?
Argent's fully explanation of GMSTs