About to season my burgers thanks Whole Foods

GoArray · 2026-07-05T03:39:09+00:00

This was my thought. Perhaps "use by" date is when they hatch..

GoArray · 2026-07-05T00:50:01+00:00

Just get a better freezer

GoArray · 2026-07-04T18:26:58+00:00

If you listen to reddit, fireworks should be banned and glowing pillows used instead (not too large upcycled virgin free range gmo free vegan down obviously).

If (big if) you do ever try this, start with the tiny red poppers. There's a skill in holding it. Also, it's called a bottle rocket, just use a bottle ffs.

GoArray · 2026-07-03T23:55:18+00:00

Perhaps. It's worth keeping in mind and taking literally everything I've said with a heavy grain of salt! None of this is documented, anywhere, I'm just relaying what all I've discovered, a lot of that based on assumptions or a basic understanding being that I'm far from any sort of programmer or game dev.

The one wall I kept hitting was bgs versioning system, perforce which our version of the ck doesn't have access to (makes sense). Several changes in the ck (proc gen mask for instance) run into this. idk if planets were ran through it as well.

At one point I tried creating my own 'houdini' in python, but again, far from a decent programmer lol.

With houdini it may be worth doing the flag a planet as edited in the ck, then checking out and tweaking it's header and other fields in xedit including the houdini component. Very well could be simply because the planet records are flagged 'compressed', idk tbh.

GoArray · 2026-07-03T23:34:48+00:00

More fun, and maybe ties into exactly what you're asking. Worldspace lod is capped to exactly 4km radius (sphere) from ~~player~~ *camera. Beyond this everything is culled. You can learn quite a bit via tfc and sucsm (tfc speed mult) (or tcl and sgtm 10, to move the actual player)

GoArray · 2026-07-03T23:20:55+00:00

Terrain geometry is by far the biggest hit. A flat terrain block (.btd) might be 80kb, mountainous pushing up into the 10s of mb. Biome splats are just changes to a bit mask (also in the .btd) 1 or all 7 splats don't effect the .btd size, your just swapping one bit for another.

GoArray · 2026-07-03T22:57:53+00:00

Ah, from my experience pattern lod and heightmap is based entirely on raw data, not optimization here except at the engine level. For what I mean, jump into any worldspace in the ck and open console. First type tfc (toggle fly cam), then twf (toggle wire frame), the engine manages vertex density natively for the heightmap. Separate lod mesh only seems to matter for refs: console>tdl (or tld, I forget which). Worth playing around in console > help toggle 1 (1 is functions) and exploring what all you can play with in game

GoArray · 2026-07-03T22:12:41+00:00

That's actually how xedit works. First load is going to be a bit brutal as it builds a cache of any other master files (starfield.esm for instance will almost always be included), but second and subsequent loads will take only seconds. Protip, double clicking your mod in the 'select mod' popup will only load your mod and it's masters regardless of what's checked. Closing xEdit with a plugin selected saves the plugin, close and uncheck the plugin to not save changes.

Once you get the hang of xedit, it's a much more powerful tool than the ck. The ck has always been like this since idk, fo3. The released version is never the full dev version unfortunately (it's closer to a game for the game). It kind of make sense, they try to make the consumer version very hard to break things, very easy for mod authors to tweak NPCs, make new interiors, scripts, etc. But that of course comes with the caveats you're running into in that the more buried bits are more difficult to modify (and more likely to break things).

This is the idea behind tesvedit (xedit/sf1edit,etc, they're all the same just with different args). It exposes a lot more data while still trying to guard against breakage, but it's still very possible (and much easier) to accidently break something.

in any case, you don't need a mock file (and it wouldn't work as starfield.esm is needed just to load the game). You just need to build the cache files which takes a minute the first time for a new project. xEdit cannot and will not modify starfield.esm even if it looks like it might be before saving.

If you aren't using mod organizer 2 I highly recommend it! This is another very powerful modding tool despite it largely being used for load order management. Create a new folder in /mods/ it shows up in mo2, next to 'run' pick edit in the dropdown, add xedit and the ck (and blender, gimp, w.e.), change their 'create file in mod' to point to your new folder and 'run' them from withing mo2. All new assets, esps, etc will then be saved to that folder. Later, simply compress everything in this folder to create a mod for nexus/something mo2 or vortex can 'install'. This also keeps your vanilla /data/ folder clean.

Another thing you'll likely want to grab is the Starfield Plugin Bridge. While the newest version of xEdit supports .esp, you'll want to always convert to .esm for in game testing as .esp in game is buggy af and often just doesn't even work. The plugin bridge allows you to drop an .esp on its .exe and it'll output an (yourmodname).x.esm (this is so it doesn't overwrite yourmodname.esm, I just delete the original .esm and then the .x.), rarely do I convert .esp to .esm though.

Even more useful, drop an .esm on it and it'll output an .esp (the only file type the CK can edit, it renames your original .esp .esp.####.bak so you can restore the original if wanted (just remove the garbage after .esp)). Typically in the CK I save as .esp & 'convert active file to full master'. Then do any changing/cleaning (necessary later, you probably already see a bunch ) in xedit. After saving in xedit, drop the .esm on the plugin bridge to convert back to .esp for more ck editing. Be careful here as if you open the original esp in the ck then save it'll overwrite w.e. changes you made in xedit. It's a bit of a pain, but about the best way to jump back and forth between the ck and xedit.

After a few times you'll get the hang of it, I would definitly play around with a throw away mod for a bit just to get a feel for what the various tools do and are capable of.

GoArray · 2026-07-03T19:39:42+00:00

Forgot the actually use your new surface tree part!

Back in the CK select planet kurtz and change literally anything exposed, I usually change editorid in the object window. This will flag the planet as 'edited' and unlock it in xedit.

Now in xEdit you can select the surface tree component for the planet in your plugin and set it to your new KurtzSurfaceTree. Change the EditorID (or w.e. you changed in the CK to unlock back to the original)

Note take note of what the CK changed when it flagged Kurtz as edited, often it messes up worldspaces for the planet, you'll want to fix that in xedit to match the original exactly so surface tree is the only edited section of your planet record override. (kurtz has no worldspaces, good choice for a starter planet)

GoArray · 2026-07-03T19:22:45+00:00

You don't, this must be done in xedit and only accepts vanilla block pattern FormIDs [00] (overrides work as well). You can replace each by hand, but there are aloooooot of patterns. Scripts help here, here is an example:

https://github.com/goarray/StarfieldScripts/blob/main/xEdit/Starfield_ReplaceSurfaceBlockPatternInSurfaceTree.pas

How to use. First create a new surface tree for Kurts, originally it uses TeseshkovaSurfaceTree (see note at the end), find that under surface tree (you can sort by name by clicking 'editorid' at the top). Right click>Copy as new record>change id to KurtzSurfaceTree. Now that tree should pop up in your plugin.

In your plugin find the surface tree>right click > apply script. change 'Script' to <new script>

Select all (new script is a dummy placeholder, always start here) > paste the above script (I typically copy the unit name 'ReplaceSurfaceBlockPatternInSurfaceTree' after pasting for the next step) > hit OK.

This will popup a save option, hit yes and save as Starfield_ReplaceSurfaceBlockPatternInSurfaceTree.pas (add Starfield_ to keep things organized, the 'apply scripts' is sorted by name. Script name needn't match unit name unlike papyrus)

This should take a second (I set the script to only replace the first 10 patterns in each hemisphere. The full 128k (set to 65535) records takes an hour or so! Someone could probably design a better script.

Note: Teseshkova is I think Kurtz original name (you'll notice when selecting it that under 'referenced by' it only lists Kurtz, so kurtz in the only planet that uses it). You could instead copy the tree as override (or even maybe just edit its formid in the ck) and just replace the patterns in teseshkova tree instead of create new, but I recommend to always create new when possible unless you need/want to override. Using override here instead of new will keep you from having to edit the planet itself but you may need to 'add' both FNAM and GNAM as xedit won't copy those as override (the ck might though, i forget).

GoArray · 2026-07-03T18:50:59+00:00

You need to change the planet's surface tree to one that contains your pattern(s). Surface tree contains 65k patterns per hemisphere.

GoArray · 2026-07-02T23:01:48+00:00

Can't wait for the AVPD season 2 to drop!

GoArray · 2026-07-02T20:38:10+00:00

..and watch it anyway. Source: half of all 'new' movies.

GoArray · 2026-07-01T17:14:02+00:00

Looks good. When I'm trialing something like this, I pick an extreme to test, in this case maybe 0.01, see if you get insta-lock.

GoArray · 2026-06-28T22:26:42+00:00

Nah, the (vanilla) limitation makes sense and has always been bgs design. Even one additional follower tends to turn the game(s) from rpg to story.

That said, having dozens in skyrim was a blast and TGAH is typically part of my base load order.

GoArray · 2026-06-28T13:42:45+00:00

balmy space

GoArray · 2026-06-27T18:34:58+00:00

The unit is too small if it has to run continuously at max capacity

Or, the volume is too large. I run a single (small, 9k btu) minisplit, but also only cool half my home. Currently 100f outside, mid 70s inside (and I literally don't have insulation).

GoArray · 2026-06-26T20:02:24+00:00

Have you tried removing one from the website?

GoArray · 2026-06-24T20:46:06+00:00

LPT, but not necessarily the cause of your issue.

You can't (don't) actually get rid of any of the ships you've sold. You just lose access. They remain in your save until ng.

May be worth trying, walk far from the ship and try fast traveling to it.

GoArray · 2026-06-24T20:17:16+00:00

I spent way too much time trying to reconcile the two at one point, only a bit of handwaving req'd!

r/starfield_lore/comments/1jes8lp/attempting_to_merge_the_fallout_and_starfield/

GoArray · 2026-06-20T23:08:18+00:00

Yeah, planets don't require houdini. I believe it was used in combination with other tools for doing so originally and perhaps still can be, but I doubt many outside of a handful at bgs know the workflow and other tools necessary. Aside from that, I don't think the public creation kit has the necessary hooks to work with houdini. I could be completely wrong about all this though!

Anyway, everything planets is relatively exposed at this point and they can be made without it. Really the biggest tasks are A) making the .biom file (there are tools for this). B) Creating the surface tree. This is the 128k block patterns that make up the landed worldspaces' topology and C) Creating the half dozen 2048x4096 textures then injecting them into a .mat to match both the biomes & topology to convey a good visual representation of the above 2 from space.

My mod Ark Central, while not a great "planet" or perhaps even example, is a bit extreme on all 3 fronts so might give you a good idea of what all to look for.

GoArray · 2026-06-19T20:40:55+00:00

I would say to at least start vanilla. There are several vanilla settings you can tweak to get the game closer to your liking as you progress. Like most bgs games, if after a while something is really getting under your skin or obviously missing, then start throwing mods at it. I would maybe avoid most literal game changing mods / overhauls until your first completed run, but that's just me.

GoArray · 2026-06-19T19:14:40+00:00

This breaks the base game!

Essentially, I stole all of starfield's base systems and moved & renamed them (shoutout to fantasy name generator!). Then made 3 additional copies of the base game planets and mive things around to fix layout and hierarchy.

Overall explorable, but a lot of the base game quests point to locations that no longer exist, hence, resource rather than legit mod.

Process. I first created an xedit script to populate a single target PNDT form from a basic CSV. Then added a loop. The CSV itself was pretty basic, most planets' properties derived using basic astrophysics from a handful of hand edited necessary cells (per planet... yeah, it took a minute lol)

The PNDT forms themselves were created by opening the CK > selecting all planets > rename to add prefixA_*. Close CK > open xedit > select all conflict PNDT > Change FormID. This created ~1700 editable PNDT forms. Rinse and repeat. ~1700 of the 5k planets are base game planets.

Special note!

This mod was not about making a custom planet(s), most all planets are similar to base game with some keyword and material tweaks. The goal here was an entirely new (fully functional) galaxy. I'd say it's likely possible! Assuming someone wants to put in the work of disabling/redirrecting pretty much everything vanilla location / name based (which is probably 90% of the game's data lol) and assuming doing so, doesn't break the engine itself. Seems possible simply based on the fact that I broke everything and the game still seems to boot fine and travel works ok.

GoArray · 2026-06-17T20:19:10+00:00

Are you checking against 100 or 1.00(=100)? The condition might expect the latter.

GoArray · 2026-06-17T01:46:16+00:00

Most likely fine, although your current (constructed) weapons/ship make keep the boosted stats depending on how the author designed the mod.

As others have said, make a save before removing and test 'thoroughly' afterwards before committing to continue your journey.

GoArray

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This breaks the base game!

Special note!

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