Creating Bookshelves

I will try to make this a simple tutorial on making bookshelves.

The bookshelf I used was: NobleShelf04 (WorldObjects/Static/Furniture/Noble)

First, place your bookshelf. Now go in Items/Books/Clutter/Dummyitems, then look for DefaultBookShelfBookMarker. Drag it into the render window, and place it on your bookshelf. Rotate it however you want, then duplicate it as much as you want by pressing Ctrl+D then dragging the duplicated book where you want it on the shelf. To make the book stand up straight, rotate it vertically. Now go to WorldObjects/Container/Markers/Misc then find PlayerBookShelfContainer. Place it next to your bookshelf, where you can see it for now. It’s invisible in game but there is collision. Okay, next you start linking the books to the container from the container. Double click on the placed container. It should come up with a reference window. Now click on the tab called “Linked Ref”, right click in the white area and click “New”. Now you get to choose a reference, but right now you are going to be selecting one of the placed books. If you have the placed books in view than click “Select Reference in Render Window”, otherwise you can fill out the Cell and Ref fields. We’ll be selecting the book via the render window. Click “Select Reference in Render Window” then have the books in view and select the first book. Now the Cell and Ref fields should be filled out accordingly. You should see a dropdown called “Keyword”, click and type b to skip to what we’re looking for. If you just typed ‘b’ scroll down a little until you come to BookShelfBook01. Select and then do the same with the other books adjusting the keyword accordingly. Example: We just selected BookShelfBook01, and there are 17 more like it, so change it to BookShelfBook02 for the next book, BookShelfBook03 for the next, BookShelfBook04 for the next and then on and on like that.

You’ve linked you’re books to your container but it’s not going to do anything yet. You need to add two triggers. I had a lot of trouble with triggers, hopefully you won’t. The first trigger you need to place is a PlayerBookShelfClickTrigger. To ‘place’ it click on the T in a dynamic cube at the top of the screen. A window should open, click on anything in the window once then type p to skip to what you’re looking for. PlayerBookShelfClickTrigger, that’s what you’re looking for. Once you found it click it and press OK or just double click it. Now put it where your books are and stretch it to the length of the shelf. Use the arrows to size it. It doesn’t need to cover all the books, just make it go out a bit in front. Double click it to bring up the reference window, when inside click on the “Primitive” tab, check the box called “Player Activation”, now go over to the “Linked Ref” tab and link it to the container. Set the keyword to BookShelfContainer. Now we get to do the other trigger. “PlayerBookShelfTrigger”, so to place it we do the same thing we did with the other trigger; click the T in a dynamic cube in the tollbox at the top of the screen, select “PlayerBookShelfTrigger” from the list and click OK. Next use the arrows to size it around your books. Once you’re done with that were going to link it to the container, and link the container to the trigger. But first double click the trigger and click the “Primitive” tab, set the collision layer to L_TRIGGER. Now you’re ready to link it to the container and back again. Click the “Linked Ref” tab, right click in the white field and select “New”. If you have the container in view then click “Select Reference in Render Window” hover the pointer over the container then double click. Now you have the container selected. Just hit OK, no keyword here. Next you need to link the container to the trigger. Double click the container to bring up the reference window. Now click “Linked Ref”. Link the container to the trigger and set the keyword to “BookShelfTrigger01”. Next thing we need is collision markers. At the top of the screen in the toolbox there should be a C in a dynamic cube. Click that and it should appear in the render window. Now use the arrows to size and Ctrl+D to duplicate. Make sure it covers your books. When you’re done with that set the collision layer to L_UNIDENTIFIED by double clicking each one and bringing up the reference window, under the “Primitive” tab.

That should be it! If you’re bookshelf doesn’t work then try leaving and reentering the cell. Or you could load one of the purchasable houses in the editor, find a bookshelf and see how it was made.

- alcron