Fallout 4 Creation Kit - Team Mod Project
Fallout Mod (Level Design)
Team-built Fallout 4 level expansion centered on the Floating Institute concept. I joined later in development and focused on interior production, merge stability, and optimization so the final combined build remained playable and visually coherent.
Scope Split
Major Team Build
Floating Institute (FII)
Larger, late-semester combined project. I was not project lead there, but handled third-floor level design, optimization, and technical support during merge stabilization.
Earlier Project (Lead)
GAME 370 Milestone One - Ashen Vale
Smaller first project where I led delivery and learned core Creation Kit workflow before the larger FII production cycle.
Project Context
The team goal was to create a multi-area Fallout 4 experience that felt native to the existing world while introducing a new location hub with connected interior cells and combat spaces. Work had to fit Creation Kit constraints and merge cleanly into a shared ESP.
At one point during the semester, I merged my level ESP into the main team level. Because of that, my original personal ESP became outdated and no longer represents the final integrated build state.
My Role
- - Joined mid-project and onboarded quickly to an active production pipeline.
- - Built the third-floor interior and multiple room variants.
- - Led level-design polish, optimization, and technical support for integrated team cells.
- - Fixed first-merge technical issues: door links, room bounds, portals, and lighting.
- - Future-proofed the level to run better and avoid visual breakage after full-team merge.
Technical Workflow
I used Blender, NifSkope, and B.A.E. (Bethesda Archive Extractor) to understand mesh and collision edits, then implemented and tested the level in Creation Kit with load doors and XMarkerHeading markers for reliable inter-cell traversal.
For testing and iteration, I used in-engine commands like coc and tgm to quickly jump through cells and isolate visual and runtime issues.
- - Fallout 4 Creation Kit
- - Blender
- - NifSkope
- - B.A.E. (Bethesda Archive Extractor)
- - Load doors + XMarkerHeading for cell continuity
- - Room bounds and portals for render scope control
Challenges Resolved
- Merge Instability:Worked through duplicate FormID warnings and conflicts introduced when combining multiple team cells into the shared file.
- Visual Corruption (Abyss Bug):Traced a major broken-color and stretch artifact to conflicts around room bounds and portals, then rebuilt setup until visuals stabilized.
- Heavy Interior Performance:Reduced performance pressure from dense NPC, light, and model setups while preserving readability and atmosphere.
Optimization Strategy
- - Avoided oversized enemy rooms and over-dense encounters where they hurt framerate most.
- - Used teleport and load-door routing to keep traversal broad without rendering everything continuously.
- - Used room bounds and portals so only relevant geometry was processed each frame.
- - Kept scene readability first: stable navigation and clear combat spaces over visual excess.
Milestone One (Project Lead)
This was my first Fallout Creation Kit project and intentionally much smaller in scale than FII. It helped me learn puzzle spaces, traversal setup, encounter pacing, and editor-side debugging fundamentals before working inside the larger merged build.
Revised Design: Hall of Idols
In the revised final design document, I narrowed scope to one fully defined puzzle module to show exact implementation detail. Hall of Idols functioned as the tutorial gate: the player rotates idol statues, reveals a hidden stairway, and transitions to the Sun Chamber phase.
- - World function: a ritual checkpoint that filters progression through correct idol orientation.
- - Gameplay loop: entry -> dead-end read -> interact/rotate idols -> unlock hidden stairs -> descend.
- - Technical focus: scripted statue placeholders, spotlight guidance, and modular handoff to Area 2.
- - Integration strategy: authored as a standalone module to reduce team conflict during active development.
Milestone Evidence
Excerpts from the FII final milestone submission documenting role ownership, technical decisions, and runtime-control strategy.
Outcome
The final level shipped as a stable merged team build with connected spaces, clearer flow, and reduced visual and runtime failures. My contribution was less about claiming a full level solo and more about making the integrated project hold together technically under real constraints.