Changing how an existing item, surface, or character looks by editing its texture. This is where everyone should start.

1. Open FModel. Set Archive Directory to your game root (the folder containing OblivionRemastered.exe), UE Version to GAME_UE5_3, and load your .usmap mappings file.
2. Browse the Folders tab to find your texture. Right-click → Save Texture. Always use TGA format, not PNG, TGA preserves all channels including alpha, which PNG discards.
3. Edit the image in Photoshop, GIMP, or Substance. The game uses DirectX normal map format, if you’re working with normal maps, the Y channel is not inverted (unlike OpenGL).
4. Import into your UE project at the exact same folder path as the original. Check FModel to match the original’s Texture Group and Compression Settings.
5. Assign to a chunk. Package. Rename output files with _P suffix. Drop all three files (.pak/.ucas/.utoc) in ~mods.

ffmpeg -i input.png -filter_complex "[0]geq=r='r(X,Y)':g='g(X,Y)':b='b(X,Y)':a='255'" out.png

Making an NNRM in GIMP

1. Open Normal, Roughness, and Metallic maps in GIMP. Add an alpha channel to the Normal map (Layers → Transparency → Add Alpha Channel).
2. On the Normal map: Colors → Components → Decompose. Set Color Model to RGBA, click OK. A new tab opens with the channels as separate layers.
3. Set Roughness and Metallic maps to Grayscale mode (Image → Mode → Grayscale).
4. Create a new blank image the same size as your maps, using Fill: Transparency (not white or any color).
5. From the decomposed Normal layers, select the Red layer, copy (Ctrl+C), paste into the blank image (Ctrl+V), then flatten into a new layer and rename it “red”.
6. Repeat for the Green layer, place it below red. Then paste your Roughness as “blue” and Metallic as “alpha”. Do not merge these, keep them as separate layers.
7. Go to Colors → Components → Compose (NOT Re-compose). Set Color Model to RGBA: R = red layer, G = green layer, B = roughness, A = metallic. Click OK.
8. Export as .tga 32-bit. PNG will drop the alpha channel.

Making an NNRM in Photoshop

1. Open your Normal, Roughness, and Metallic maps.
2. In the Channels panel of a new document: paste Roughness → Blue · Metallic → Alpha · Normal R → Red · Normal G → Green.
3. Save as .TGA 32-bit, PNG will discard the alpha channel.

NNRM ffmpeg Split Scripts (c0bra5)

Split an NNRM into component images

# Normal XY channels (produces a blueish image - that's correct)
ffmpeg -hide_banner -v error -i "%1" -filter_complex "[0]geq=r='r(X,Y)':g='g(X,Y)':b='255':a='255'" "%~n1_n.png"
# Roughness (from B channel)
ffmpeg -hide_banner -v error -i "%1" -filter_complex "[0]geq=r='b(X,Y)':g='b(X,Y)':b='b(X,Y)':a='255'" "%~n1_r.png"
# Metallic (from Alpha channel)
ffmpeg -hide_banner -v error -i "%1" -filter_complex "[0]geq=r='255':g='255':b='255':a='p(X,Y)'" "%~n1_m.png"

For a model with no normal map detail, create a flat NNRM: set R=128, G=128 (neutral normal), fill B with your roughness value, fill Alpha with your metallic value.

Skin materials use SubsurfaceProfile (SP_SkinBase). Diffuse/BaseColor format: RGB = color, A = emissive mask. Hair textures use the _RAUD suffix multi-channel format, always export TGA from FModel, the alpha channel contains the opacity/strand mask.

The game uses Audiokinetic Wwise for all audio. Sounds are stored as .wem files (Wwise Encoded Media) inside .bnk soundbank containers.

1. Use FModel + retoc to unpack the .wem audio file you want to replace.
2. Convert your replacement audio to .wem format using sound2wem. Alternatively, use older Wwise installer tools; see the RE Modding forum guide.
3. Swap in your audio keeping the exact same filename. Repack with retoc into a _P pak. Drop in ~mods.

Finding a Specific Voice Line

1. In FModel, browse to Localization/String Tables. Find the line you want and copy its event name number (looks like 00047660).
2. Browse to WWise/Event/English. Find the .bnk bank file matching the NPC race and dialogue category.
3. Open that bank in wwiser and navigate the tree to find your number in a CAkSound node. That node’s value is the SOURCE ID, the number matching the corresponding .wem file.
4. Extract that .wem, replace with your converted audio, repack.

Dialogue Timing Without Voice

Placing .mp3 files in the legacy Sound/Voice/ folder matching the vanilla dialogue filename convention controls subtitle display duration, even though no audio plays. The mp3 file duration equals the subtitle display time, useful for localization subtitle syncing.

The game’s files are sealed in the IO Store container format. Pull one out, change it, seal it back. This underlies almost every visual mod.

Extracting with retoc

retoc.exe to-legacy --filter "OblivionRemastered/Content/YourPath/YourFile" ^
  "[GameDir]\Content\Paks" "C:\Output"

Use forward slashes in the filter path. To extract multiple files at once, add multiple --filter arguments.

Editing with UAssetGUI

UAssetGUI needs both the .uasset and .uexp files in the same folder. Set the version dropdown to 5.3. Load your .usmap mappings file via Utils → Import Mappings. If you get “Failed to Parse X Exports”, extract the referenced dependency files alongside the main asset in the same directory structure.

Repacking with retoc

retoc.exe to-zen --version=UE5_3 "OblivionRemastered" "MyMod_P.utoc"

Input directory must be the OblivionRemastered folder (not deeper). This produces all three files (.pak, .ucas, .utoc) at once.

You can combine art assets and form assets in the same retoc folder before packing to produce one single pak for your entire mod.

Making a sword hit harder, armor weigh less, or adding enchantments. Uses xEdit to edit game data records on the Gamebryo side.

Launch xEdit with the correct flags

TES4R64.exe -D:"[GameDir]\Content\Dev\ObvData\Data" -I:"[GameDir]\Content\Dev\ObvData\Oblivion.ini"

1. Let xEdit fully load Oblivion.esm and the DLC files.
2. Find your item inside AltarESPMain.esp. Right-click it → “Copy as new record into…” a new mod file. Never edit the originals directly.
3. Give it a fresh EditorID so it can’t conflict with anything, then edit the numbers in the DATA section, damage, weight, value, enchantments.
4. Add your new .esp to Plugins.txt and test.

Finding Your FormIDs In-Game

Your mod’s load order index determines the first two hex digits of all FormIDs it creates. Formula: (line number in plugins.txt minus the comment lines) → convert to hex. Example: your mod is the 23rd line → index 21 → hex 15 → your FormIDs start with 15XXXXXX. Install the Runtime EditorIDs mod (mods/1331) to surface EditorIDs directly in the console.

Game Settings (GMSTs) via GameSettings Loader

Use the Game Settings Loader (mods/833) to override game settings from a config file without touching ESPs:

[GameSettings]
fJumpHeightMin = 64
fJumpHeightMax = 128
fHealthRegenDelay = 999999

Creating a genuinely new item, your own named, custom-stat weapon or armor, while reusing a model the game already has. No Blender or UE required thanks to TesSyncMapInjector.

1. In xEdit, create your new item record (new EditorID, set your stats). In the model/mesh field, point it at an existing in-game model path you found in FModel.
2. Run the Smart Mapper xEdit script. It reads your ESP and automatically writes a .ini link file to xEdit\SyncMap\.
3. Copy that .ini file to [GameDir]\Content\Dev\ObvData\Data\SyncMap\.
4. Put your .esp in ObvData\Data and add it to Plugins.txt.
5. Critical load order rule: your plugin must appear above AltarDeluxe.esp in Plugins.txt. Below it, new items go invisible or crash on cell entry.

[Meshes]
; DecimalFormID = /Game/path/to/UEasset.UEasset
002350=/Game/Forms/items/armor/BP_DaedricCuirass.BP_DaedricCuirass

1. In the Construction Set, load MagicLoader’s example file (IntTestMod.esp) and click Set As Active File.
2. Duplicate an existing chest or container, give it a new EditorID, say “Yes” to creating a new object. Place it in the world, save, close.
3. Open the mod in xEdit (with all Altar files loaded) and run Haphestia’s Fix and Port Script (fixmod). This fixes the two missing parameters that the Remaster requires but the CS doesn’t add.
4. Run the Smart Mapper xEdit script. Copy the resulting .ini to Data\SyncMap.
5. Run MagicLoader → “Do Magic!” once to register the new cell entries.
6. Enable your esp in Plugins.txt, above AltarDeluxe.esp.

Vendors in Oblivion Remastered sell items through leveled lists, the same system as the original game. Leveled lists are records in the ESP that tell the engine “when this merchant restocks, pick from these items at these levels.”

Finding the Right Leveled List

1. In xEdit, open Oblivion.esm (or OblivionRemastered.esm) and expand Leveled Item records.
2. Merchant inventories are typically referenced by the merchant’s NPC record → Merchant Container field, which points to a chest with leveled list entries.
3. Alternatively, search for the merchant by EditorID (e.g. SheopetraTrader), open their NPC record, find Buy/Sell and Training Flags section and the Merchant Container reference. Follow that reference to find the inventory chest.
4. For generic class-based merchants (all blacksmiths carry the same list), find the LeveledItem records named something like LvlWeaponBlacksmith, these are what you want to inject into.

Adding Your Item to a Leveled List

1. Right-click the leveled list record you found → Copy as Override into → select your ESP as the destination. This creates a patched copy in your mod rather than editing the master file.
2. Expand the override. You’ll see a list of entries with Level and Count columns plus Object references.
3. Right-click an existing entry → Add to create a new slot. Set the Level (1 means it always appears), Count (how many units per restock), and Object (your new item’s FormID).
4. Save your ESP. The next time that merchant restocks (rest/wait 2 days or use pcb in console), your item should appear in their inventory.

Leveled List Flags

• Calculate from all levels ≤ PC’s level, if checked, all entries at or below player level are eligible; if unchecked, only the closest level gets picked.
• Calculate for each item in count, rolls the list separately for each unit of Count. Useful for randomized stacks.
• Use All, gives the player every item on the list instead of picking one.

Asset Structure, What You Need to Create

Each armor piece in OBR consists of 7 components. For a mesh replacer you only need to swap the skeletal mesh. For a standalone new item you need all of them:

A, Blender Setup

1. Import SK_HumanoidFull (extracted from FModel via Save Model as PSK) as your body reference mesh. Color body yellow and head red for visual clarity.
2. Import your armor mesh PSK. On PSK import in Blender: set Linear Color, scale 3m, scale factor 0.01.
3. Rename the armature object to Armature in Blender’s Outliner. PSK meshes from FModel carry an extra root bone; this naming tells UE to skip that extra bone on import. Exception: do NOT rename NBO (New Body Options) skeletons, they are already set up correctly.
4. For static meshes (SM_ prefix, like ground models): remove the armature entirely before exporting.

B, Material Slots (Control First-Person Visibility)

C, Weight Painting

1. Parent your clothing mesh to the armature: select mesh, Shift-click armature, Ctrl+P → Object. For NBO armors: first un-parent with Alt+P → Keep Transformations.
2. Transfer weights using the Data Transfer modifier: Source = Humanoid/NBO mesh, Mapping = “Nearest Face Interpolated” → click Generate Data Layers → Apply.
3. Add an Armature modifier, do NOT apply this one.
4. Delete unused vertex groups (use a Blender plugin for bulk cleanup, vanilla body meshes ship with 407 vertex groups). Hand-paint any problem areas in Pose mode.

Character Mesh Editing, Key Insight (MikhailTeslov, mods/214)

The pioneering tutorial for character body mesh editing in OBR, from the Nordic Muscles mod (mods/214) by MikhailTeslov. The critical rule that the entire mesh modding scene built on:

Blender Sculpt Mode Tips

• Use Sculpt Mode instead of Edit Mode for mesh fitting adjustments, prevents accidental backface selection.
• Grab and Smooth tools are most useful for fine-tuned fitting to the body.
• Enable Backface Culling in Viewport Shading to catch normal direction issues early.

Fixing Blade Mesh Shadow Issues

• Don’t use Merge by Distance on blade edges, it breaks the sharp normals that give blades their edge.
• Fix: in Edit Mode, select the sharp edges → Mark as Sharp (turns blue).
• Or: Mesh → Normals → Average Vectors → Face Area.
• To reset normals entirely: Mesh → Normals → Reset Vectors.

D, FBX Export Settings from Blender

Name skeletal meshes with SK_SetName_PieceName_m convention (_m for male, _f for female variants).

E, Import into UE 5.3.2

1. Replicate the game’s exact directory structure in your UE Content folder. This is non-negotiable, the game resolves paths at runtime.
2. For Skeletal Meshes: assign the correct skeleton on import:
   • Regular clothing/armor → SKEL_HumanoidSkeleton
   • NBO-specific female armor → SKEL_HumanoidFemaleAdd
   • Helmets → usually SKEL_HumanoidSkeleton or HumanoidHeadRig
3. Set Import Normals and Tangents to preserve your custom normals (not Compute Normals).
4. Enable Import Morph Targets if you’re editing head/face meshes.
5. For Static Ground Meshes: set Collision preset to Custom. Enable Allow CPU Access (required for enchantment Niagara VFX on weapons). Set Collision Complexity to “Simple As Complex” and check Customized Collision.

F, Vertex Colors & Body Part Hiding System

Vertex colors on the body mesh control which parts disappear when armor is worn, via material function MF_HideByVertexColorInt3. They must be linear, the game crashes if exported as sRGB.

G, Bitmask Calculator (BP_BDP Body Section Hidden)

1. Extract the item’s BP_BDP blueprint with retoc. Open in UAssetGUI. View → Expand All. Find MaleBodySectionHidden and FemaleBodySectionHidden. Add them if not present (add as 0 first, save, then change).
2. Copy the current number into Windows Calculator → Programmer mode → Bit Toggling Keyboard.
3. Using the body part color table above, set each bit to 1 (hidden) or 0 (visible).
4. Copy the resulting number back into UAssetGUI. Save. Repack. Test.

The Three Levels of Item Forms

Standalone armor requires understanding that Virtuos implemented a three-level hierarchy, not two. When you look for item properties in FModel, they may be at any level:

• Level 1, The base form (e.g. EbonyCuirass.uasset), EditorID, ESP-side properties
• Level 2, The BP_ form (e.g. BP_EbonyCuirass), mesh references, GND (world model), some hiding properties
• Level 3, The BP_BDP_ form (e.g. BP_BDP_EbonyCuirass), body part hiding bitmask, first-person material slots, skeletal mesh assignments

Virtuos was inconsistent about where they put things: the world model (GND) is declared in Level 1 for some armor (e.g. Ebony Cuirass) and in Level 2 for others (e.g. Monk Robe). Always check both when troubleshooting missing GND or mesh references. Most standalone workflows only require touching Levels 1 and 3, which is why Level 2 often gets skipped, but it’s there if you need it.

H, Materials in UE 5.3.2

You cannot create fully custom materials from scratch in UE, they crash on load. You can only inherit from vanilla base materials. The authoritative workflow from c0bra5:

1. Pick a MIC from the game (inspect it in FModel → Export Properties JSON to see its parent chain).
2. Create a new material in your UE project at the exact same path as the vanilla parent (e.g. /Game/Art/Character/Imperial/MIC_HumanUnderwear_M). Make it inherit from M_Base_Char.
3. Create a new MIC (the location doesn’t matter) inheriting from that stub in step 2. Set up your textures only in this new MIC.
4. Files to include in your mod pak: your own MICs + the skeletal mesh + your textures. Everything else (stubs, vanilla materials) stays out of the chunk, it’s reference-only.

I, BP_BDP Blueprint Parent Chains

Your armor blueprint must inherit from the correct parent chain. Create dummy parent blueprints in Dev/clothing/GenericChild/, they just need to exist with no content. Weapons do NOT require BDP blueprints.

J, Ground Models (GND Assets)

When armor is dropped on the ground, it uses a separate static mesh (SM_ prefix, _gnd suffix convention). Where the GND reference is declared varies, Virtuos was inconsistent. Check both the main form asset (e.g. EbonyCuirass.uasset) and the BP_ form. To add a GND reference via UAssetGUI, add a NewWorldModels ArrayProperty of SoftObjectProperty to the BP form, then View → Recalculate Nodes. GND meshes must have proper collision or they fall through the floor. Object Channels must all be set; Complex Collision set to Default.

K, Forms with C.A.F.E., ESP, SyncMap & Packaging

1. Use C.A.F.E. (mods/4891) to create armor forms. The form name must match the name in the asset path exactly.
2. Create your ESP in xEdit with item records. Run Smart Mapper to generate Data\SyncMap\YourMod.ini.
3. Place your ESP above AltarDeluxe.esp in Plugins.txt.

Additional Field Notes

• Eye color editing is possible (discovered by _trungus), method still being fully documented as of mid-2025. Check the OBR modding Discord #research-modeling for the current workflow.
• Amulet biped slot preserves hair and ears, useful for items like head accessories or circlets that shouldn’t hide hair. Note the mesh will be positioned for the neck, so clipping adjustments may be needed.
• Tail biped slot makes armor invisible regardless of BDP settings, don’t use it for regular armor.
• Weapons do NOT require BDP blueprints, they are not assigned to body parts. Only armor/clothing needs them.
• Vertex weight limits: too many bones deforming the same area produces warped/jagged edges. Delete unused vertex groups. Body meshes ship with 407 vertex groups, use a Blender plugin for bulk cleanup.

Beast Race Armor Compatibility

• Import all skeletal meshes with SKEL_HumanoidSkeleton. Never include the skeleton in your pak chunk.
• Never include physics assets, delete them from your project before packaging.
• Khajiit material slot order must be preserved, procedural overlays depend on it.
• Wrong skeleton assignment = “origami” deformed character model in-game.

Custom weapons need specific setup to get enchantment glow, blood splatter, and swing trail effects. These are driven by vertex color channels and mesh sockets.

Two Weapon Workflows

• Replacer, ship mesh + textures only. Keep the vanilla MIC name. The game loads the real MIC from Bethesda’s pak automatically.
• Standalone, ship mesh + textures + extracted MIC + extracted BP/Form. Use UAssetGUI to copy vanilla assets, rename everything (e.g. MIC_Moonveil, BP_BDP_Moonveil_1H), fix paths, pack the art chunk as *_Art_P and forms as *_Forms_P.

Enchantment Glow Mask (Vertex Colors)

The glow effect reads the Red channel of vertex colors. Red = glows, Black = no effect.

• In Blender: go into Mesh Paint mode (Shift+4), paint the blade red and the hilt black. Export using linear vertex colors (must be linear, not sRGB).
• UEModel exports vertex colors incorrectly (wrong channel mapping). Use PSK format for accurate vertex colors from FModel.
• If importing via FBX directly into UE without Blender, vertex colors from PSK are preserved as-is from FModel.

Required Sockets

Add these in UE’s Socket Manager after importing your mesh. These drive the swing trail and blood/impact VFX:

• Socket_Start, blade root (bottom of blade)
• Socket_Impact, blade tip (top)
• Socket_End, offset away from the blade (for blood spray and sparks, not on the blade surface)
• BloodEffect_Socket, on the blade surface

If parenting sockets in Blender for FBX export, prefix with Socket_ (e.g. Socket_BloodEffect_Socket) because Unreal strips one Socket_ prefix on import. When adding in UE’s socket manager directly, use the name as-is.

Full Standalone Checklist

• Import mesh with Collision ON and Allow CPU Access checked
• Duplicate vanilla MIC (or create custom). Assign to mesh. For replacer: exclude MIC from pak. For standalone: include custom MIC.
• Paint vertex color red/black mask in Blender (blade = red, hilt = black). Apply and save.
• Add 4 sockets. Save mesh.
• Test enchant glow, blood, trail in-game.
• Cook and copy pak to Content\Paks\~mods\

Weapons like flails, ball-and-chains, or any weapon where parts need to physically swing and collide are handled as skeletal meshes with their own custom armature, rather than static meshes. The physics is driven by a Physics Asset using capsule bodies and constraints, same system as cloth physics but applied to weapon bones.

Blender Setup

1. Model the weapon in parts: handle, chain links (one bone per link), and ball/head.
2. Create a custom armature with a bone for each physics-driven part. Name bones clearly (e.g. chain_01, chain_02, ball).
3. Auto-weight paint the mesh to the armature. For rigid parts (each chain link, the ball), weight all vertices 100% to their respective bone, no blending needed.
4. Export as FBX at scale 0.01 (same as all other skeletal meshes).

UE Setup

1. Import the FBX. Select skeleton = None on import (create new skeleton for the weapon, it doesn’t use SKEL_Humanoid).
2. UE auto-generates a Physics Asset. Accept it and open the Physics Asset editor.
3. The auto-generated capsule bodies and constraints often work well out of the box, each chain link gets its own capsule and the constraints allow angular movement. Adjust constraint limits as needed.
4. Create the weapon’s BP_ blueprint form (not a standard BP_ weapon, make your own custom blueprint class).
5. Add the skeletal mesh component to the blueprint.
6. The physics asset runs automatically on the weapon when equipped.

A flail mod was successfully created using this approach (September 2025). Each chain link had its own bone, auto-weighting worked correctly, and auto-generated Physics Asset bodies produced natural swinging behavior without additional configuration.

Override Material via Blueprint (No Mesh Edit)

1. Extract the item’s BP_BDP with retoc. Open in UAssetGUI → Import Data tab.
2. In the bottom empty row, add: ClassPackage = Script/CoreUObject · ClassName = Package · OuterIndex = 0 · ObjectName = full game path of your material · BImportOptional = False. Click away and back to make it stick. A new empty row appears below.
3. Fill the new row: ClassPackage = /Script/Engine · ClassName = MaterialInstanceConstant · OuterIndex = negative row number from step 2 · ObjectName = material name only.
4. Go to Export Data tab → find the ChaosClothComponent (or appropriate mesh component) → look for or add OverrideMaterials ArrayProperty of ObjectProperty. Inside it, map slot numbers to your import rows.
5. Save → repack with retoc → test.

JsonAsAsset (Import Vanilla Materials)

1. Install the JAA plugin into Plugins/JsonAsAsset in your Altar project. Enable, restart, configure the export directory and mappings file path in plugin settings. Launch j0.dev.exe.
2. In FModel, right-click a material → Export Properties (.json). Keep the export path short with no spaces, close to the root drive (e.g. C:\FModelExports).
3. In UE, click the JAA plugin button → select the JSON → wait. Enable the Stubs checkbox (new in 1.4.1) for crash-free import of any material without a pre-made material store.
4. MIC parents are not automatically assigned in 1.4.1, set the parent manually after import. If the imported material is missing layers (the MIC Layers tab), edit that material in UAssetGUI instead, JAA doesn’t import the Layers tab.
5. If JAA isn’t working: close FModel before running JAA; restart UE and re-check plugin settings.

Transparent / Masked Materials

Custom Inventory Icons

1. In UE: create folder Content/Art/UI/Icons/Dynamic_Icons/menus/Icons/armor/YourFolderName/
2. Import your 256×256 PNG. In UE, prefix it with T_ (e.g. T_MyCuirass). Without the prefix, the game won’t detect the asset.
3. In xEdit, set the Icon Image path to: Art/UI/Icons/.../YourFolderName/MyCuirass.dds, with .dds at the end even though there’s no .dds file. Do NOT include the T_ prefix in the xEdit path.

Blueprint Behavior Mods (ModActor Entry Point)

1. Create Content\Mods\YourModName_P\ in your UE project. The folder name must match your final pak filenames exactly.
2. Create a Blueprint of type Actor and name it exactly ModActor. UE4SS BPModLoaderMod auto-discovers and injects this on game load.
3. Add a Widget Blueprint (WBP_ModHud) as your mod’s UI layer. In ModActor’s Event Graph, on Event BeginPlay: Create Widget → Add to Viewport. This persists across level changes.
4. Use Event Tick + Was Input Key Just Pressed on the ModActor (not on a hidden widget, hidden widgets don’t tick) for keypress detection.
5. Save mod data using SaveGame to slot "Mods/YourModName" (not the root, to prevent crashes when the mod is removed).
6. Package and place files in Paks\LogicMods\YourModName_P\.

UE Editor Steps (Apply Cloth Physics)

1. Import your cloth mesh separately from the armor body. They’ll be re-attached via blueprints.
2. Open the skeletal mesh → right-click the section to simulate → Create Clothing Data from Section. Name the asset, leave Physics Asset as None for now.
3. Right-click again → Apply Clothing Data.
4. Click Activate Cloth Paint: white = simulated (moves freely), black = anchored (fixed to skeleton). Top edge = black, bottom hangs free.
5. Tune ClothConfigs for physics behavior: stiffness, damping, gravity scale. Reference: UE cloth painting tutorial.
6. Right-click mesh → Create Physics Asset. Name it PA_YourMod_Cloak.
7. Open the Physics Asset → replace auto-generated capsules with hand-placed ones on the bones that matter. Set all capsule Physics Type to Kinematic.
8. In the clothing config, assign your physics asset.

Physics Proxy Mesh

A low-poly duplicate mesh called “PhysicsProxy” is often included in OBR meshes. Physics is calculated on the low-poly version and then interpolated to the actual mesh. If your armor doesn’t need cloth physics: right-click the PhysicsProxy section in LOD 0 → Disable. Or delete the slot entirely. A material assigned to the proxy causes z-fighting and clipping artifacts.

Blueprint Setup for Cuirass + Cape

1. Create Content/Mods/YourName/. Folder name must match pak filenames exactly.
2. Create a blueprint named exactly ModActor (parent: Actor). UE4SS looks for this specific name.
3. Create dummy parent blueprints for your armor type (see Lesson 7 parent chain table).
4. Create your main blueprint (parent = deepest appropriate dummy). Set Male Mesh and Female Mesh to the armor body mesh (without cloth). Configure Material Slots Hidden In First Person.
5. Add two Skeletal Mesh components as children of Root (one male cape, one female cape).
6. Event graph: Event BeginPlay → Branch → Get Female Mesh → Is Valid Soft Object Reference → Set Leader Pose Component → Set Hidden In Game (male cape, check Hidden). Compile.
7. Assign blueprint + ModActor to a different chunk number from your mesh assets. Package. Drop into Paks\LogicMods\YourName\.
8. In UAssetGUI, update the BP_BDP path in your biped model form to point to your new blueprint.

Standalone Capes (Amulet Slot)

Route standalone capes through the amulet slot only, amulets are the only item type that accepts physics meshes directly without the CCA issue. Blueprint parent: VAmuletModularBodyPart. In xEdit, ensure the item uses the Amulet biped flag. Use the Hair mesh slot as an alternative if you don’t mind the workaround. Performance: cloth simulation is CPU-bound and varies significantly between systems. Use a proxy mesh (simplified low-poly version) for high-poly capes: proxy mesh guide.

Step 1, Import SKEL_HumanoidSkeleton via JsonAsAsset (Critical First Step)

Use JAA 1.3.7 or newer. This imports the skeleton with virtual bones (IK targets) intact. Virtual bones cannot be recovered from a PSK export, JAA is the only reliable method. The correct skeleton has 378-379 bones (without sockets exported as bones).

Step 2, Export SK_HumanoidFull from FModel Correctly

In FModel: Settings → Models → Socket Format → “Don’t Export Bone Sockets”. This prevents sockets from being exported as bones, which adds ~28 extra bones and breaks all IK at runtime.

Step 3, Fix the Extra Root Bone in Blender

The PSK importer adds a root bone named after the mesh file (e.g. SK_HumanoidFull). Fix: rename the armature object to Armature in Blender’s Outliner. This makes UE skip the extra root, and the bone index order matches correctly.

Retargeting Animations from Other Games

Any animation from any source (Elden Ring, The Witcher 3, Skyrim, Paragon, stock UE Mannequin, Mixamo, CMU mocap library, Fab marketplace free tier) can be retargeted to the OBR skeleton.

Recommended UE 5.4 bridge method (krasuepisac):

1. In your 5.3.2 modding project, migrate the OBR skeleton to a UE 5.4 project via Content → Migrate.
2. In 5.4: create an IK Rig and IK Retargeter for the OBR skeleton. UE 5.4’s retargeting tools are 1-3 clicks vs. building an entire IK rig manually in 5.3.2.
3. Retarget your source animations onto the OBR skeleton in 5.4. Export the retargeted animations as FBX.
4. Re-import FBX into your 5.3.2 modding project. (Assets can’t be migrated back from 5.4 to 5.3.2, but FBX as an intermediate works perfectly.)

For Skyrim animations specifically: import NIF animations into Blender using the NIF importer plugin, export as FBX, then use the retargeter method above.

Animation Notifies, Combat Combo Chaining

Simply importing notifies via JAA is often insufficient, they may need to be added manually. For combat combos to chain correctly, both of the following notifies are required:

BP_ActionNotifyState_ChainWindow
  Begin Action Event Tag: ActionEvent.Attack.ChainingWindow.Enter
  End Action Event Tag:   ActionEvent.Attack.ChainingWindow.Exit

VAnimNotify_ActionNotifyState
  Begin Action Event Tag: ActionEvent.Attack.InputWindow.Enter
  (no End tag)

Removing either one breaks chaining. Confirmed by kei7855 on their shortsword animation replacer mod (mods/2489).

For block to interrupt an attack mid-swing, the start time of this notify must fall within both VAnim_ActionMeleeHitWindow and VAnimNotifyState_ImpactSystem:

BP_ActionNotifyState_TagContainer
  Tags To Transmit: [Input.Action.Combat.Block]
  BeginActionEventTag: ActionEvent.Attack.CancelTags.Add
  EndActionEventTag:   ActionEvent.Attack.CancelTags.Remove

Replacing Locomotion Blendspaces Persistently

Injecting a blendspace via AnimSet gets reset when the player equips or unequips a weapon, because the game stores all valid blendspaces in a TMap keyed by GameplayTags. Solution (krasuepisac’s discovery):

1. Find the TMap that maps GameplayTags to blendspaces inside the AnimBP.
2. Swap the entry for the relevant tag directly. Tag the actor after modification to avoid re-applying every frame.
3. This persists through cell transitions, the player actor reference survives cell loads (unusual for UE games but intentional here).

Velocity reference values: Walk ~155 · Run (blendspace activates) ~509. Sprint uses a plain AnimSequence, not a blendspace. Root motion appears fully disabled, everything is root-locked; set root lock to zero on import.

Playing Animations at Runtime (Lua/Blueprint)

Triggering PlayAnimation from Lua works for the first play, but after the animation completes the character stops playing all normal animations permanently (frozen on last frame or T-pose). Use PlayMontage instead, montages blend in and out automatically via UE’s montage system and return the character to ABP-controlled state after finishing. The FullBody animation slot overwrites all other blending when active, use it for full-character override animations like emotes or cutscene poses.

ABP Architecture, Template & Linked Layers

The game uses a template ABP with linked layer instances. Each animation category (combat, idle, locomotion) is a separate linked layer instance within the template. Target the correct layer for the animation type you are replacing, this is why some replacements work and others break unexpectedly.

StrideWarping (standard UE plugin node) handles foot placement based on LocomotionSpeed. Foot lock positions only update when the character starts or stops moving.

Actor Persistence Across Cell Loads

• The player actor reference persists through cell transitions (unusual for UE games). GameplayTags on the player also persist.
• NPC actor references are completely destroyed on any cell load. Store persistent NPC mod data in a widget or custom UObject with a reference loop.

Mesh Merging & Morph Targets

UE’s Merge Meshes system combines all equipped armor pieces into one SkeletalMesh at runtime. This process destroys morph targets. NBO avoids this by using bone scaling instead, bone scale survives merging.

Gamebryo Animation (Legacy)

PlayGroup and PickIdle execute on the Gamebryo side but have no visual effect since rendering moved to UE5. AI Package idles still work. NPCs can get stuck in triggered idles, cast a spell on the NPC to break the animation lock.

Animation Workflow, Full Setup Path (miken1ke)

There are two approaches to setting up an animation project:

• Source build UE 5.3.2 (miken1ke's method), download from EpicGames GitHub (requires account linked to Epic). Run Setup.bat, GenerateProjectFiles.bat, open UE5.sln in VS2022, build. Takes 30min-5hrs. Then switch your OblivionRemastered.uproject to point at the compiled source engine. Community fork available: C0bra5/UnrealEngine.
• Kein/Altar project (the method documented in this wiki), pre-stubbed project, compiles in minutes. Works for most animation use cases without needing a full source build.

Which to use: For basic animation replacement, the Kein/Altar method is faster. For complex retargeting setups or advanced animation system work where you need the full editor, the source build gives you more control.

Animation File Naming and Folder Structure

From miken1ke's guide: folder structure AND filenames must match the game's exactly. Use FModel to verify the exact path. Example: replacing one-handed sprint = file must be named A_Humanoid_OneHand_Sprint.fbx placed at Content\Art\Animation\Humanoid\ThirdPerson\OneHanded\Locomotion\Normal. Wrong folder or name = animation does not load.

Packaging Settings for Animation Mods (miken1ke)

In Project Settings, ensure: Use Pak File = True, Use Io Store = True, Generate Chunk = True. Clear both "Additional Asset Directories to Cook" and "List of maps to Include in a packaged build". Build Configuration = Shipping (note: this differs from the general mod guide which uses Development, for animation replacers only, Shipping is confirmed to work by miken1ke).

Reference Mods & Resources

• miken1ke Humanoid Rig (mods/2069), standard community Blender rig built with Rigify, custom-tailored for OBR. About 400 bones with a Rig Layers panel for hiding/solo-ing bone collections. Includes a Costume system (Item tab sidebar in Blender) for body type and equipment visibility, first-person and third-person animation workspaces, and a one-click Export Animation button in the sidebar. Discord: discord.gg/E2f2umtWGd. Articles: Animating for OBR and Rig Manual.
• kei7855 shortsword animation mod (mods/2489), reference for notify setup
• Custom bow animations require two notifies: VDrawArrow (fires the arrow, C++ class from Altar) and VAnimNotify_PlayWwiseSound (plays the fire sound, from the Wwise plugin). Both must be present. Building a Wwise-only project without Altar gives you PlayWwiseSound but removes VDrawArrow, breaking arrow firing. Credit: .yeah.nah.yeah.
• Leaning disable mod (mods/2570), disables forward-lean locomotion behavior
• Alpakit for UE 5.3.2, OBR-compatible fork; enables one-click auto-deploy of BP mods
• Jake Alaimo live mocap, live mocap modded into OBR, reference implementation

Architecture

• Every voice line has its own AnimSequence stored in Content/Art/Animation/Humanoid/Facial. Warning: the sheer number of files in this folder will freeze FModel on browse, navigate by known path instead.
• Audio and face animation play independently, they start at the same time with no synchronization tracking. This means replacing either leaves the other running unchanged.
• Mouth/speech sync uses a UE function called speech2face (procedural, no per-frame data).
• TABP_FacialPose is the facial pose AnimBP.

Setup for Custom Head Facial Animation

1. Enable the RigLogic, MetaHuman, and MetaHuman Identity plugins in your Altar UE project.
2. Attach the appropriate .dna file to your face SkeletalMesh asset. DNA files are NOT standard .uasset files, they require CUE4Parse to extract from the game:

foreach (var kv in provider.Files) {
    if (kv.Key.EndsWith(".dna")) {
        var outPath = Path.Combine("extracted", Path.GetFileName(kv.Key));
        await using var stream = provider.SaveAsset(kv.Value,
            new FileStream(outPath, FileMode.Create));
    }
}

3. Create and reference a dummy ABP_HeadPostProcess blueprint. This is required for the DNA to drive the facial bones.

Community DNA Files

WSDog extracted and publicly shared DNA files for all base races and named NPCs:

• Community DNA files (mods/2592), base races and named NPCs
• Guide: Nexus mods/625

Generating New Facial Animations from Audio (Audio2Face Workflow)

1. Use NVIDIA Audio2Face to generate blendshape/shape key animation from your audio file.
2. Pipe through MetaHuman Live Link into UE 5.3.2. Record the result as a UE AnimSequence.
3. OBR face curves share the exact same names as MetaHuman curves, they map directly with no translation needed.
4. Replace the existing AnimSequence at the matching path in Content/Art/Animation/Humanoid/Facial.
5. MetaHuman plugin supports batch processing for automating generation from multiple audio files at once.

Audio-Anim Sync for Localization

Since audio and face animation play independently, to fix out-of-sync dubbed audio (where the new audio is longer than the original): replace the AnimSequence at the correct path with a new one timed to match your audio duration.

The game uses Audiokinetic Wwise 2023.1.8.8601.3258 for all audio. UE’s built-in audio system has only two dummy assets (DummySoundClass, DummySoundCue).

What Works Without Full Wwise Integration

• Sound replacement: swap existing .wem files inside a pak (see Lesson 2)
• Posting vanilla Wwise events from Blueprints: use the VAudioHandlers subsystem and BPF_PostEvent (or PostEventAtLocation for spatial audio)
• Turning vanilla audio events on/off from Blueprints using vanilla AkAudioEvent class defaults

Full Wwise Integration Setup

1. Install Wwise from the Audiokinetic Launcher, select exactly the version above.
2. In your Altar project folder, delete the existing Wwise and WwiseNiagara plugin folders.
3. Use the Launcher: Unreal Engine → Integrate Wwise into Project.
4. Fix the compile error in Source/Altar/Public/VAltarAkPortalComponent.h: update the include to "AkAcousticPortal.h" and parent class to public UAkPortalComponent (the Altar project stubs reference the outdated name AkPortalComponent).
5. Build via Visual Studio. Name the Wwise project Altar and place it at C:\Altar-main\WwiseAltar\ to match paths in the game’s DefaultEngine.ini (not strictly required but simplifies cross-referencing).

External Sources, Custom .wem Files Without Rebuilding Soundbanks

External Sources allow specifying which .wem file Wwise loads at runtime without rebuilding soundbanks. This enables one framework mod to handle the Wwise plumbing while other mods simply ship .wem files.

Enable External Sources by overriding the game’s DefaultEngine.ini from your mod pak:

[Audio]
WwiseFileHandlerModuleName=WwiseSimpleExternalSource

Required Setup for External Sources

1. Create a DataTable using the External Source cookie struct (provided by Wwise).
2. Populate with: cookie value, media ID, codec ID, media name (filename of your .wem).
3. Override DefaultEngine.ini to enable WwiseSimpleExternalSource.
4. Include your .wem file in the pak at the correct staging path.
5. Ensure your mod actor has a packaged static mesh component with a mesh assigned.

Getting a Free Non-Commercial Wwise License

Creating new Wwise audio events (new sound forms in the ESP with new UE audio) requires Wwise’s authoring tools to generate new .bnk soundbank files. Getting a free non-commercial license requires a manual review by Audiokinetic staff, fill out the form at audiokinetic.com/en/pricing honestly.

The Custom Audio Research Wall (Sep 2025 deep-dive by .yeah.nah.yeah.)

This section documents what actually happens when you push beyond sound replacement, based on months of research. Understanding these limits saves enormous time.

• What IS exposed via UAkGameplayStatics: PostEvent, PostEventAtLocation, PostEventOutdoors, SetRTPCValue, SetSwitch, SetState, LoadInitBank, StopAllSounds. These let you trigger, modify, and stop existing vanilla events.
• What is NOT exposed: LoadBankByName. The game uses auto-bank loading via UAkAudioEvent.RequiredBank + project setting “Load Banks Automatically.” You cannot load additional custom banks without C++.
• SID (ShortID) matching: The event’s Short ID and the soundbank’s Short ID must match. Set the soundbank’s hardcoded ID in UE to match the event Short ID. The long GUID strings in FModel appear to be ignored at runtime, only the SIDs matter.
• Audio routing is Wwise-only: The shipped game uses WwiseOnly audio routing set at package time. AudioMixer and AudioLink are compiled out. Changing DefaultGame.ini audio routing at runtime appears to have no effect. A dummy SoundClass and SoundCue exist in /Dev/ but are empty stubs.
• UE native audio (non-Wwise) CAN play: au.debug.generator 1 in console plays a UE native test tone (disable with au.debug.generator 0, don’t do this in any menu). This confirms UE audio is not fully stripped, just disabled for normal use.
• BNK injection via BNK Editor: You can inject new events into existing vanilla .bnk files using BNK Editor. Keeps all IDs in the vanilla Wwise project context, so GUIDs match.
• The External Sources route: Wwise events with External Sources pre-configured at project-build time accept custom .wem files at runtime without rebuilding soundbanks. Check if any vanilla events have External Sources enabled (rare but possible).
• Audiokinetic-provided UE nodes: IsGame and IsEditor nodes work correctly in shipped builds. Use these in BP to guard audio logic. Wwise nodes like Post Event and Wait for End function in editor and fire correctly in-game when triggered by Event Begin Play on a ModActor.
• ModActor Event Begin Play quirk: Event Begin Play fires on ModActor spawn (typically game load / new game only). It does NOT fire on subsequent save loads if the actor already exists. Use Event Tick with a delay gate, or trigger audio from in-game hooks instead of Begin Play for persistent behavior.

The path the community assumed: for a long time a C++ DLL hook wrapping FAkAudioDevice::LoadBank() and FAkAudioDevice::PostEvent() was thought to be the only fully general solution. See dicene/OblivionRE_CppMods for the C++ approach. That is no longer the only way, see the breakthrough below.

The Working Pipeline (condensed)

1. Wwise plugin must be exactly 2023.1.8.8601.3258, any other build produces silent bank-version mismatches (bank version X vs runtime 150).
2. Three Altar source fixes before the project compiles with Wwise: in VAltarAkPortalComponent.h include "AkAcousticPortal.h"; in VMusicPlayer.h swap "EAkCallbackType.h" → "AkGameplayTypes.h"; null-guard FAkAudioDevice::AddDefaultListener (both in_pListener and IWwiseSoundEngineAPI::Get()). Build with Build.bat AltarEditor Win64 Development, not the VS GUI.
3. Delete the Wwise Motion device from the project (Default_Motion_Device, Motion Factory Bus, the Factory Motion tree) and save, otherwise SoundBankGeneration fails entirely (MissingPlugin / WwiseConsole failed with error 1) and banks silently never update.
4. Keep media in-memory (Stream unchecked) so the audio bakes into the bank’s DATA chunk. Route to the default Master Audio Bus (FNV-1 hash 3803692087, same ID the vanilla master bus uses, so no GUID spoofing needed). Generate banks through the UE Wwise integration, and delete any stale loose banks at the GeneratedSoundBanks\ root that shadow the fresh Windows\ ones.
5. Two paks, two tools (because OBR uses IoStore): cooked uassets (AkAudioEvents, ModActor) go through retoc to-zen as a .pak+.utoc+.ucas trio into LogicMods; loose .bnk/.wem go through UnrealPak with an explicit filelist into ~mods. A lone UnrealPak pak will not mount cooked uassets. .bnk paths are flat in WwiseAudio/; .wem filenames must be the media SID.
6. NEVER ship an Init.bnk / InitBank.uasset and never call LoadInitBank() at runtime, either one silences ALL game audio by overwriting the vanilla bus routing.
7. Post the event from Lua with PostEventAtLocation, it is the one exposed post method with a signature UE4SS Lua can call (no blocking PostEventCallback delegate). The BP Post Event node crashes; PostEvent/PostOnActor/PostOnComponent all hit the delegate wall.

local AkStatics = StaticFindObject("/Script/AkAudio.Default__AkGameplayStatics")
local ev = StaticFindObject("/Game/WwiseAudio/Events/TimeStop/TimeStop.TimeStop")
if not (ev and ev:IsValid()) then LoadAsset("/Game/WwiseAudio/Events/TimeStop/TimeStop"); ev = StaticFindObject("/Game/WwiseAudio/Events/TimeStop/TimeStop.TimeStop") end
local player = UEHelpers.GetPlayer()
local loc = player:K2_GetActorLocation()
local rot = {Pitch = 0, Yaw = 0, Roll = 0}
-- Returns a valid (non-zero) playing ID and plays the custom in-memory media:
local id = AkStatics:PostEventAtLocation(ev, loc, rot, UEHelpers.GetWorld())

Current Status Table (mid-2025 community research)

Grass & Foliage

All visible grass is part of generated UE maps, painted onto landscape materials during UE map generation. TESGrass records in the CS have no in-game effect. Adding custom trees and grass:

• TESSyncMapInjector approach (most ergonomic): link a UE static mesh to a TES mesh record in the CS and place it using standard CS workflows. Demonstrated for water meshes (mods/4874) and trees (mods/4740).
• Blueprint/Lua spawn approach: a custom Blueprint spawns a mesh at dynamic coordinates from Lua. Requires manual coordinate input.
• Mad’s placement system (minuteready): spray mesh instances organically by running around in-game using Mad’s “rapid spell” + “add instance on X” system, writing positions to a text file, then importing them. Labor-intensive but gives natural placement feel.
• Removing existing UE grass: edit each .umap via UAssetGUI to remove grass foliage actors (tedious, version-sensitive), or hook the grass Blueprint creation in Lua and destroy instances on spawn (theoretical).

Heightmap

The old Gamebryo heightmap still exists in game files but does NOT drive the visible terrain. The UE side has its own heightmap. No clean extraction or re-injection workflow exists yet.

Using surf / blenderumap3: importing .umap files via surf/blenderumap3 confirms the layer-per-category structure, exporting only the umap for a specific area returns a single tree mesh, not the full scene. The layers need to be loaded together to reconstruct the full environment. Tools: search for BlenderUMap2 and surf in the UE modding community.

The “All of Tamriel” heightmap from Nexus (Skyrim mods/52675) has been discussed as a source for adding adjacent provinces. Key note from grimlock_arts: TES game heightmap data is deceptively low detail, the games rely heavily on placed rock models pushed into the ground to create the impression of complex terrain. The raw heightmap is just a flat base layer.

Heightmap tools referenced by the community:

• TESAnnwyn, CK heightmap import/export for the Gamebryo side (legacy, won’t affect UE terrain)
• Aerialod, heightmap viewer; recommended settings: scale 2.5, adjust lighting for shadow detail
• ue4parse / UnrealStuff landscape tools, for reading UE landscape data

Map Borders & Open Space

Map borders can be disabled. A large open stretch of land runs from roughly 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the main game map, fully walkable and tree-free, extending all the way to the ocean. No water in the way. This is the most viable space for exterior expansion content as of mid-2025.

Navmesh

Navmesh editing is not currently possible from the modder side. NPCs cannot be directed reliably in new areas without navmesh. Workaround: add a small gatehouse cell or confined space to prevent NPCs from wandering beyond intended areas.

Nanite & LODs

OBR uses Nanite for static mesh geometry, which handles LODs automatically. You do not need to create LOD meshes or configure LOD settings. There is no DynDOLOD equivalent. FModel exports only the fallback mesh (low-poly version for Lumen), not the full Nanite detail. For full extraction use c0bra5’s simple-nanite-parser (Python-based, exports to GLTF with vertex colors).

CK-UE Terrain Height Mismatch Workaround

When building outside the vanilla map border, CK terrain height and UE terrain height diverge. Workaround (nafnaf_95): work one cell at a time, build at CK-default height, then select all objects and shift them vertically until they sit correctly on the UE terrain surface. Tedious but workable for exterior static object placement.

Trees & SpeedTree

Trees are handled via SpeedTree assets with built-in wind animation, baked into per-cell UE umap files with foliage instancers. Map file names are hashed making systematic modification very difficult. Adding new trees as individual Blueprint actors works but incurs significant performance cost. The SpeedTree SDK (required for full authoring) has enterprise-only commercial licensing (~$100k+).

New interior cells work via MagicLoader. The tool modifies the CellsToMapPath DataTable with new entries that map Gamebryo cells to UE map files, making the game load the correct UE level when a cell is entered.

1. In the Construction Set, load MagicLoader’s example file (IntTestMod.esp) → Set As Active File.
2. In Cell view, create a new interior cell. Build the room using existing tileset pieces. Place furniture, containers, lights. Add a door and use Door Teleport to connect it to an exterior location.
3. Save the esp. Open in xEdit (all Altar files loaded) and run Haphestia’s Fix and Port Script (fixmod).
4. Run the Smart Mapper xEdit script. Copy the resulting .ini to Data\SyncMap.
5. Run MagicPatcher to build the string table patch .json for room names and door labels.
6. Run MagicLoader → “Do Magic!” once.
7. Enable your esp in Plugins.txt, above AltarDeluxe.esp.

Essential External Guides

MagicLoader Known Bug (Fixed in v1.1)

An early version of the Fix and Port Script overwrote FULL name fields on existing records, causing custom items and locations to lose their names. This was fixed in v1.1: “Fixes clearing IDs on newly added records by mistake.”

Map Marker Shows <MISSING STRING TABLE ENTRY>

If your player home map marker displays <MISSING STRING TABLE ENTRY>, a string table entry is missing from MagicLoader's configuration. Fix: in xEdit, set the map marker's FULL, Name field to the naming scheme LOC_FN_NameOfCell (e.g. LOC_FN_MyHideout). Your MagicLoader .json config file must have a matching entry:

{
    "Plugin": "MyMod.esp",
    "NewCells": ["ed3"],
    "FullNames": {
        "LOC_FN_MyHideout": "My Hideout"
    }
}

Source: Selene310187's Player Home Problem Solving Guide

Later Changes to Placed Objects Not Taking Effect

If you move an object (e.g. reposition a bed) and the change doesn't appear in-game even after reinstalling the mod: make a clean save without the plugin loaded, then reload with the plugin. This forces the cell to regenerate from the ESP rather than from cached save data. Source: Selene310187.

Missing Walls in New Cells

Statics placed in the original CS editor have no XAAG and XACN records, which the Remaster requires for geometry rendering. Haphestia's Fix and Port Script (fixmod) adds these records automatically. This is why running fixmod is a mandatory step, skipping it causes walls, floors, and other statics to be invisible or missing. Source: Selene310187.

1. In FModel, find the base creature blueprint you want to modify. Note which blueprints it references.
2. Trace references upward, those BPs reference their own parents. You’ll find a hierarchy of AI, animation, skeleton, etc.
3. Duplicate only as many levels as you need. Stop at the level where you want to diverge. To replace mesh and textures while keeping vanilla AI and animations: duplicate only 2-3 levels.
4. In your duplicated top-level blueprint, swap in your new mesh, textures, or behavior values.
5. Create the ESP form for your new creature in xEdit. SyncMap it via TesSyncMapInjector. Package blueprints and form.

Adding New NPCs

1. Create the NPC record in CS or xEdit. Use an existing vanilla race for reliable results, non-vanilla races default to Imperial appearance at runtime if the UE form can’t be found.
2. For the UE side: clone an NPC form file from FModel that matches the intended race/gender.
3. Edit the cloned form in UAssetGUI to change name references.
4. Register in TesSyncMapInjector.
5. Place the NPC in a cell via CS.

Custom Races

Custom races require:

1. An ESP with the new race record.
2. A UE race form blueprint at /Game/Forms/actors/race/CustomRace.uasset.
3. Entries in the AllRaceModifications data table (edit via JsonAsAsset or retoc + UAssetGUI).
4. Phenotype and hair tables updated to include the race.

Adding fully custom playable races with all CharGen sliders is still in research as of mid-2026. Non-playable custom races (for NPCs) work when given a vanilla voice type. The race menu UI reads from UE-side data tables.

Hair Modding

Hair phenotype files live at /Game/Dev/Phenotypes/Hair/ as data tables listing available hairstyles per race.

1. Extract the existing HP_[Race]_HR_[StyleName].uasset file using retoc.
2. Inspect with UAssetGUI or JsonAsAsset.
3. Create your new hair mesh in UE project.
4. Add an entry to the race’s phenotype hair data table.
5. Use RMU (Race Menu Utility) for runtime loading without opening ShowRaceMenu: rmu set hair /Game/Dev/Phenotypes/Hair/HP_RaceName_HR_HairName.HP_RaceName_HR_HairName

Hair texture format: use the _RAUD suffix multi-channel format. Always export as TGA from FModel, the alpha channel contains the opacity/strand mask, critical for proper hair card rendering.

Facial animation compatibility: modifying head meshes (including head-attached hair) can break facial lip-sync if the mesh topology changes significantly. Blinking and face morphs may continue to work even when lip-sync breaks.

Strand hair: true strand (groom) hair via UE5’s Groom system has been partially achieved but the full binding pipeline is not documented. Hair card replacement is the stable workflow.

Text / Subtitle Changes

ESP-side text: changing dialogue text in CS/xEdit works for most dialogue. Display names use the LOC_FN prefix system, forward AltarESPMain changes or names break. Localization files: some UI strings are in UE localization tables inside the PAK and require editing the localization .uasset files. Note: only one mod’s localization table wins in case of PAK conflict.

Reusing Existing Voice Lines for New NPCs

1. Create the dialogue topic in your ESP.
2. Use TesSyncMapInjector to map your new dialogue FormID to an existing dialogue form blueprint path. Format: TOPICTYPE_espname_FormID. Example:

   GREETING_MyMod_00000ED6=/Game/Forms/miscellaneous/dialog/GREETING_Someactor_000479e1.GREETING_Someactor_000479e1

3. The NPC’s voice type (set in the race ESP record) must match the target dialogue form’s voice set. Using a non-vanilla race? Set the race to a vanilla voice type to prevent crashes.

Subtitle Display Duration Without Voice

Placing .mp3 files in the legacy Sound/Voice/ folder matching the vanilla dialogue filename convention controls subtitle display duration, even though no actual audio plays. The mp3 file’s duration equals the subtitle display time, useful for subtitle-only localization mods.

Lip Sync

Lip sync is handled by UE animation assets linked to dialogue forms. Current workaround: use an existing dialogue form that has entries for multiple races, the game will attempt to use the matching race’s lip sync animation. The lip-sync side is now fully mapped. It is a baked facial AnimSequence referenced from the TESTopicInfo asset, not a Wwise/audio-driven system (the “speech2face” mystery is resolved). See the Dialogue, Voice & Lip Sync deep-dive for the complete pipeline. The remaining blocker is interior Wwise bank residency (custom banks post fine outdoors but return playing_id 0 indoors).

When you mount, the player mesh (BP_OblivionPlayerCharacter_C, running ABP_Reverse_ThirdPerson_Humanoid) links in the horse-riding layer, TABP_HorseRiding_Ground via the ALI_HorseRiding interface. The critical fact:

The four slots you’d normally play montages on, UpperBody, LowerBody, Sequencer, FullBody, live in TABP_ReverseCharacter (the template). And here’s the trap:

• UpperBody slot feeds the masked LowerAndUpperBodyLayer, which lives in the CombatPose branch, the branch the riding layer bypasses. So a montage on UpperBody while mounted plays successfully but is never evaluated, you see nothing. PlaySlotAnimationAsDynamicMontage returns no error, which is what makes this so confusing to debug.
• FullBody slot (bAlwaysUpdateSourcePose = true) feeds the master FullBodyPose cache and wraps the final assembled body, including the riding output. So it is visible while mounted, but a normal standing attack played here carries an absolute standing pelvis, which replaces the seated pelvis and launches the rider into a standing pose above the saddle (~66-unit pop).

The spine-mask LayeredBlendPerBone that normally keeps attacks upper-body-only is inside that bypassed CombatPose branch, so slot-based masking does not work while mounted. The only slot that’s visible mounted is full-body and unmasked.

The way out is to stop relying on the slot/mask and use additive animation math instead:

1. Strip the lower-body tracks (pelvis + legs) from your attack clips.
2. Set Additive Anim Type = AAT_RotationOffsetMeshSpace (mesh space, won’t twist when the horse turns).
3. Set Base Pose Type to a standing one-hand idle frame, not Skeleton Reference Pose. Ref pose bakes the arms-down-from-T-pose offset into the delta and distorts the swing on a seated body. A standing idle base makes the delta the actual swing motion. Clips with extreme torso lean (e.g. axe power attacks) may need the seated riding-idle sample as the base instead.
4. Play on the FullBody slot via PlaySlotAnimationAsDynamicMontage.

Why this works: an additive montage on a slot adds its per-bone delta to the source pose instead of replacing it. The riding layer seats the legs; the stripped clip has zero leg keys → zero leg delta → legs stay seated. The upper body has keys → the swing plays. The bypassed mask is irrelevant because you’re not using it. This is the same mechanism the game uses for hit-reactions and aim-offsets over locomotion.

This is where the time goes. Your custom animations live at a new path (/Game/Mods/MountedCombat_P/...) that nothing in the game references, and that breaks loading in ways specific to the Altar UE4SS build:

• LoadAsset is registry-gated. It resolves through the asset registry, so it silently does nothing for unregistered new-path mod assets, runs clean, loads nothing.
• StaticLoadObject does not exist in the Altar UE4SS build. Calling it at the main menu, before a world exists, hard-crashes with nothing logged.
• Your standalone item mods load fine because TesSyncMapInjector maps a FormID → asset and the game loads it on use. AnimSequences have no FormID, so TesSyncMap can’t load them directly.

The loader Blueprint (the fix)

Make a Blueprint that BPModLoaderMod spawns, and give it hard references to your animations. When the BP loads, the refs are in memory.

• The actor must be named ModActor, that’s what BPModLoaderMod spawns.
• Add object-reference variables (Anim1, Anim2, …), type Anim Sequence (object reference, not soft), and set each default value to one of your sequences.
• Verify with Reference Viewer that ModActor points at every clip. A BP that merely exists anchors nothing, the references are the entire point.

Build-specific quirk: read refs OFF the actor, not by path

On the Altar build, two things bit: hard-ref variable defaults did not reliably auto-pull dependencies the way standard UE cooking would, and GetName() returns blank on object references read back from BP variables. The robust pattern: don’t search for the anims by path at all, read them straight off the spawned ModActor’s variables. If ModActor holds the reference, the object is in memory by definition. Identify each clip by its full name (GetFullName), since GetName is blank, with a positional fallback.

local function HarvestFromLoader()
    local actor = FindFirstOf("ModActor_C")
    if not actor or not actor:IsValid() then return end
    for i = 1, 8 do
        local v
        pcall(function() v = actor["Anim" .. i] end)
        if v and v:IsValid() then
            local fn = v:GetFullName()            -- GetName() is blank on this build
            for role, shortName in pairs(SEQ) do
                if fn:find(shortName, 1, true) then seqCache[role] = v end
            end
        end
    end
end

• Cook with Cook Content for Windows (UE 5.3.2), not Package Project. Cooked output: Saved\Cooked\Windows\OblivionRemastered\Content\Mods\MountedCombat_P\.
• Repack with retoc from the OblivionRemastered root (not deeper) so internal paths stay intact:
  retoc.exe to-zen --version=UE5_3 "...\OblivionRemastered" "MountedCombat_P.utoc"
• Place the trio (.pak + .ucas + .utoc, all three, same base name) in ...\Content\Paks\LogicMods\, named to match the content folder.

Detect mounted state, and this is one that changed late. The obvious signal, the rider anim instance, turned out to be unusable:

The stable signal is the horse’s rider reference: if any BP_Generic_Horse_C has a rider property that IsPlayerCharacter(), you’re mounted. (Same rider-prop scan the HorseSpeedBoost mod uses.)

local function IsPlayerMounted()
    local ok, horses = pcall(function() return FindAllOf("BP_Generic_Horse_C") end)
    if not ok or not horses then return false end
    for _, h in ipairs(horses) do
        if IsValidObj(h) then
            for _, prop in ipairs({ "Rider", "RiderPawn", "RiderActor", "MountedActor", "Driver" }) do
                local rok, rider = pcall(function() return h[prop] end)
                if rok and IsValidObj(rider) then
                    local pok, isP = pcall(function() return rider:IsPlayerCharacter() end)
                    if pok and isP then return true end
                end
            end
        end
    end
    return false
end

Target the rider, not the horse. When mounted, player.Pawn is the horse. The rider is BP_OblivionPlayerCharacter_C; play montages on its mesh’s anim instance.

Weapon grip: attach with SnapToTarget, not KeepWorld. The weapon (WeaponsPairingComponent.WeaponActor) lagged/floated off the hand during swings. Cause: K2_AttachToComponent with the KeepWorld rule (2,2,2) froze whatever world offset the weapon had at attach time. Switching to SnapToTarget (0,0,0) makes it adopt the socket transform exactly and ride the hand bone every frame:

wa:K2_AttachToComponent(mesh, FName.new("Weapon_Socket"), 0, 0, 0, false)

The skeleton’s Weapon_Socket sits under a Weapon_Anchor bone under hand_r; SnapToTarget resolved the float without touching the anchor chain. Sheathe to the right socket by weapon type: one-handers to SideWeapon_Socket, two-handers to BackWeapon_Socket (detect via WeaponActor.bIsTwoHanded / WeaponType == 2, with a weapon-name keyword fallback). On dismount, stop the FullBody slot so a mounted swing can’t bleed into ground animation:

animInst:StopSlotAnimation(0.15, FName.new("FullBody"))

Because attacks are custom montages played outside the normal combat action state, the game’s own melee detection doesn’t run, so it’s done in two layers.

Layer 1, sound/impact (reuse the game). Add notify states to the attack clips at the contact frame: VAnimNotifyState_ImpactSystem (impact FX + sound) and VAnim_ActionMeleeHitWindow (the game’s damage window). These normally fire inside the combat action state; outside it they’re best-effort. Damage does not depend on them.

Layer 2, extended-range detection (Lua, full control). Mounted, the player is elevated and the game’s melee reach overshoots ground enemies. Run a proximity check at the swing’s contact moment (~260ms after the swing starts) with a radius you control. Two details that mattered:

• Measure from the rider mesh, not the rider actor. When mounted, the rider actor’s location is stale (it’s attached to the horse). Use mesh:K2_GetComponentLocation() as the sphere origin.
• The check is omnidirectional, pure distance, no facing cone. Anything within HIT_RADIUS (450u) gets hit regardless of camera direction. HIT_RADIUS is the mounted hitbox size.

Exclusion is belt-and-suspenders: skip the player, the loader, the specific horse you’re riding (cached by full name on each mount event), and any horse at all if the cache hasn’t resolved yet, so you never damage your own mount.

Damage application, the real answer

This was the single hardest part, and every standard path is a dead end in OBR. What was ruled out, so nobody repeats it:

The function that actually works, found by enumerating the pawn’s class with UE4SS reflection (ForEachFunction walking the class hierarchy), is:

Backup HP write via the actor-value component. As a fallback (and to guarantee the kill if native damage is resisted/scaled), read and reduce Health directly. Actor-value index 10 = Health on this build:

local avc = pawn.ActorValuesPairingComponent
local hp  = avc:GetFloatModifiedActorValue(10)          -- 10 = Health
avc:SetFloatModifiedActorValue(10, math.max(0, hp - DAMAGE_AMOUNT))

The shipping code probes for the correct setter once (SetFloatModifiedActorValue → ModifyActorValue → SetActorValue → ForceSetActorValue → SetBaseActorValue), caches whichever succeeds, and reuses it. SetFloatModifiedActorValue is the one that works here.

Crash hardening (learned the hard way)

SendMeleeHitOnPairedPawn runs through ProcessEvent, and pcall does not catch native SEH exceptions. An EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION writing 0x0 came from the target pawn being garbage-collected between the safety check and the actual UFunction call. The fix is a redundant IsValidObj() on both rider and target immediately before the call:

if not IsValidObj(rider) or not IsValidObj(pawn) then return end
rider:SendMeleeHitOnPairedPawn(pawn, DAMAGE_AMOUNT, false)

Also: a hitThisSwing table keyed by pawn dedupes so one swing applies damage once per target, and a separate unrelated mod (PlayerCamera) was crashing on every attack input via IsVisible on a null object, fully remove that folder, disabling it in mods.txt isn’t enough since its scripts still load and hook attack input.

Key takeaways

• The mounted graph bypasses the combat slots and the spine mask, additive-on-FullBody is the only path to seated upper-body attacks.
• New-path animations need a hard-reference anchor (a ModActor loader BP) to load at all; LoadAsset won’t and StaticLoadObject doesn’t exist here.
• BPModLoaderMod’s contract is strict: pak name = content folder name, refs on ModActor, one bundled pak.
• When the engine won’t resolve assets by path, read them off the spawned actor’s variables instead.
• Damage in OBR is SendMeleeHitOnPairedPawn on the rider, not any UE damage path, with actor-value index 10 = Health as the direct fallback. Found by reflecting over the pawn’s class, not by guessing.
• Don’t trust the rider anim instance for mount state, it flaps. Use the horse’s rider reference.
• pcall can’t catch native SEH crashes, re-validate UObjects immediately before any ProcessEvent-routed call.

Tools relied on: UE4SS + BPModLoaderMod, retoc, UAssetGUI, the Altar SDK (UE 5.3.2). Built on community research documented throughout this wiki., CosmicBoogaloo / DreamEater Studio

Lesson 7 ends on an honest admission: even after skipping dead targets and re-validating components, the native SendMeleeHitOnPairedPawn can still fault on a same-frame death race (a component reachable from the target is freed mid-call). That fault is a CPU access violation (inc dword ptr [rax] on a garbage pointer), and Lua’s pcall cannot catch it. pcall catches Lua errors; a native SEH unwinds past Lua entirely. The only complete fix is a tiny C++ UE4SS mod that wraps the call in an OS structured-exception handler.

SafeMeleeHit is that companion: a minimal C++ UE4SS mod (built from the CppUserModBase template). On Lua start it registers exactly one global Lua function, MC_SafeCall(fn), which invokes the passed Lua function inside a native __try { fn() } __except(…) { }. If fn triggers an access violation, the __except swallows it: the swing’s hit fizzles (no damage that frame) instead of taking the whole process down.

How the Lua side calls it (looked up fresh, so load order doesn’t matter)

local SafeCall = rawget(_G, "MC_SafeCall") -- nil if the C++ mod isn't installed
local function fireMelee()
 rider:SendMeleeHitOnPairedPawn(pawn, DAMAGE_AMOUNT, false)
end

local ok
if SafeCall then ok = SafeCall(fireMelee) -- SEH-protected by the C++ companion
else ok = pcall(fireMelee) -- Lua-only fallback, can still CTD on the race
end
if not ok then
 print("[MC] melee call faulted and was contained (no damage this swing)")
 return
end

It’s a separate, optional mod. If present, MC_SafeCall exists and Mounted Combat routes the dangerous call through it; if absent, it falls back to pcall and the load line prints companion: not found. That’s why it’s fetched with rawget(_G, "MC_SafeCall") on every call, neither the presence nor the load order of the two mods is ever assumed.

Three bugs surfaced once other players (not just the dev’s own test horse) ran the mod. All three trace back to the same discipline: read class names and properties (safe pointer reads) and never call GetName/GetFullName/UFunctions on world NPC pawns (those SEH-crash).

1. Mount detection that works on any horse

The old detector scanned one hard-coded BP_Generic_Horse_C class, then probed five guessed rider-reference property names (Rider, RiderPawn, RiderActor, MountedActor, Driver), none ever confirmed to exist. It worked on the dev’s test horse and failed for everyone on any other horse. The rewrite uses the method already proven in Better Horse Control: while mounted, GetPlayer() (and the controller’s Pawn) is the horse pawn, and its PairedPawnMovementComponent class name contains "HorseMovement" for any horse, vanilla, unique, reskinned, or modded. No class guessing, no property probing.

local ok2, cls = pcall(function() return mc:GetClass():GetFName():ToString() end)
if ok2 and cls and cls:find("HorseMovement") then return pawn end -- it's the ridden horse

2. Stop damaging your own horse

You sit on the horse, horses are VPairedPawn subclasses, so the ridden horse shows up in the FindAllOf("VPairedPawn") swing scan as the closest target, and was taking the hit (the infamous “damage only hit the horse” report). Fix: exclude by class name containing "horse" (safe to read; class names don’t SEH like NPC GetFullName), applied both in target selection and as a hard final guard in SafeToHit right before the native call. Identity checks via GetAddress() are kept as belt-and-suspenders. Bonus: damaging the ridden horse, whose mounted paired-pawn state is itself unstable (it flaps ~2×/sec), was also a likely crash. One fix closed two bugs.

3. Damage needs BOTH calls, together

Neither call alone lands damage. SendMeleeHitOnPairedPawn registers the hit event; the actor-value write (SetFloatModifiedActorValue(10, hp)) sets the new HP, but the write only persists because the melee call created the hit event first. A mid-cycle build (v10.10.1) dropped the AVC write on a wrong “it’s read-only” assumption and damage silently vanished; v10.10.4 restored the pairing. Health is actor value index 10 on the ActorValuesPairingComponent.

Integrate into the Altar project

1. In the Altar project, delete the existing Wwise and WwiseNiagara plugin folders.
2. Audiokinetic Launcher → Integrate Wwise into Project.
3. Fix engine source compile errors (Altar stubs reference outdated Wwise class names):
   • Source/Altar/Public/VAltarAkPortalComponent.h → change include to "AkAcousticPortal.h", parent class UAkPortalComponent.
   • Source/Altar/Public/VMusicPlayer.h → change include from "EAkCallbackType.h" to "AkGameplayTypes.h" (where enum class EAkCallbackType lives in 2023.1.8).
4. Null-guard the listener crash in Plugins/Wwise/Source/AkAudio/Private/AkAudioDevice.cpp, AddDefaultListener() crashes writing IsListener=true on a null listener. At the top of the function add:

   if (in_pListener == nullptr) return;
   auto* SoundEngineCheck = IWwiseSoundEngineAPI::Get();
   if (SoundEngineCheck == nullptr) return;

   Also guard SetSpatialAudioListener with a SpatialAudioCheck.
5. Build from the command line (the VS GUI threw “invalid pointer”):

   Build.bat AltarEditor Win64 Development -project="...\OblivionRemastered.uproject" -waitmutex

   Target name: AltarEditor; uproject: OblivionRemastered.uproject.

Project setup

• Wwise project migrated to 2023.1.8. Two SFX sources (timestart, timestop) in the Actor-Mixer Hierarchy under Default Work Unit.
• Two user-defined SoundBanks (TimeStart, TimeStop), plus the auto-defined Init bank.
• Both sounds route to the default Master Audio Bus.

Fix: delete all Motion references and save the project: Audio Devices → Default Work Unit → delete Default_Motion_Device; Master-Mixer Hierarchy → delete Motion Factory Bus; Actor-Mixer Hierarchy → delete the Factory Motion tree if present. The unsaved-changes asterisk means generation still reads the old on-disk state. After removal, generation completes: Process completed successfully.

In-memory media (self-contained banks)

Keep media in-memory (Stream unchecked). The bank then bakes the audio directly into its DATA chunk, no separate streamed .wem dependency at runtime. A correct bank parses like this:

BKHD  Bank Version: 150   Bank ID: 3886797186
DIDX  media id=32147691  size=478616
DATA  478616 bytes of embedded media
HIRC  Event -> Action -> Sound -> (media 32147691, bus 3803692087)

3803692087 is the FNV-1 hash of “Master Audio Bus”, the standard ID the vanilla game’s master bus also uses, so the sound routes correctly with no GUID spoofing needed.

Output paths (Wwise + UE must agree)

Set the Wwise Root Output Path and the UE Wwise Integration Root Output Path to the same root. Delete stale bank copies: old banks at the GeneratedSoundBanks\ root (v132) shadowed the fresh ones in GeneratedSoundBanks\Windows\ (v150), so UE read the stale copies → bank version 132 vs runtime 150 and Could not find suitable platform. Delete the loose root copies; keep the Windows\ subfolder.

OBR uses IoStore, which forces a split:

retoc for the trio (cooked uassets)

Input directory = the folder containing OblivionRemastered so the mount path keeps the OblivionRemastered/Content/... prefix. Engine version UE5_3. Produces TimeStop.pak + .utoc + .ucas. retoc packs cooked uassets only (each .uasset needs its .uexp twin).

UnrealPak for the loose audio

Use a response-file (filelist) with explicit mount targets. Folder-based -create sets the mount to the wrong common root and your files end up not under OblivionRemastered/. The filelist forces correct relative paths:

"H:\...\Content\WwiseAudio\TimeStop.bnk"          "../../../OblivionRemastered/Content/WwiseAudio/TimeStop.bnk"
"H:\...\Content\WwiseAudio\TimeStart.bnk"         "../../../OblivionRemastered/Content/WwiseAudio/TimeStart.bnk"
"H:\...\Content\WwiseAudio\Media\32147691.wem"    "../../../OblivionRemastered/Content/WwiseAudio/Media/32147691.wem"
"H:\...\Content\WwiseAudio\Media\510089961.wem"   "../../../OblivionRemastered/Content/WwiseAudio/Media/510089961.wem"

UnrealPak.exe "H:\...\TimeStopAudio_P.pak" -create="H:\...\audio_filelist.txt" -compress

Pak naming & placement

Name the trio without _P: TimeStop.pak/.utoc/.ucas. BPModLoader derives the mod folder from the pak name; TimeStop_P made it look for /Game/Mods/TimeStop_P/ModActor (wrong). Trio → LogicMods; audio pak → ~mods; no duplicate/stale paks anywhere.

Why not the Blueprint / standard posts

• The BP Post Event node crashes at runtime in the packaged build.
• UAkGameplayStatics.PostEvent, AkAudioEvent.PostOnActor/PostOnComponent, AkComponent.PostAkEvent all require a PostEventCallback DelegateProperty, which UE4SS Lua cannot pass (Parameter 'Delegate' of type 'DelegateProperty' not supported).
• There is no LoadBank/LoadBankByName in the exposed API, only LoadInitBank/UnloadInitBank/ClearSoundBanksAndMedia. The custom bank must auto-load via the event’s RequiredBank.

Discovering the working method

Dump every callable UFunction by scanning Function objects (ForEachFunction was unavailable in this build):

for _, fn in ipairs(FindAllOf("Function") or {}) do
    local full = fn:GetFullName()
    if full:find("AkGameplayStatics") then print(full) end
end

This revealed PostEventAtLocation, which takes (event, location, rotation, world) and no delegate. UE4SS can call it.

The working call

local function PlayEvent(path)
    local ev = StaticFindObject(path)
    if not (ev and ev:IsValid()) then LoadAsset(path); ev = StaticFindObject(path) end
    local player = UEHelpers.GetPlayer()
    local AkStatics = StaticFindObject("/Script/AkAudio.Default__AkGameplayStatics")
    local loc = player:K2_GetActorLocation()
    local rot = {Pitch = 0, Yaw = 0, Roll = 0}
    return AkStatics:PostEventAtLocation(ev, loc, rot, UEHelpers.GetWorld())
end

Returns a valid playing ID and plays the custom in-memory media. No BP, no ModActor needed for audio. The bank does not need an explicit load call, if the .bnk/.wem are correctly packed and the AkAudioEvent references them by SID, the Wwise runtime loads them automatically when the event is posted.

local UEHelpers = require("UEHelpers")
local Kismet = StaticFindObject('/Script/Engine.Default__KismetSystemLibrary')
local frozen = false

local EVENT_FREEZE = "/Game/WwiseAudio/Events/TimeStop/TimeStop.TimeStop"
local EVENT_RESUME = "/Game/WwiseAudio/Events/TimeStop/TimeStart.TimeStart"

local function console(cmd)
    ExecuteInGameThread(function()
        local pc = UEHelpers.GetPlayerController()
        if pc and pc:IsValid() then
            Kismet:ExecuteConsoleCommand(pc.Player, cmd, pc, true)
        end
    end)
end

local function GetEvent(path)
    local ev = StaticFindObject(path)
    if not (ev and ev:IsValid()) then LoadAsset(path); ev = StaticFindObject(path) end
    return ev
end

local function PlayEvent(path)
    local ev = GetEvent(path)
    if not (ev and ev:IsValid()) then print("[Timestop] event not found: " .. path); return false end
    local player = UEHelpers.GetPlayer()
    if not (player and player:IsValid()) then return false end
    local AkStatics = StaticFindObject("/Script/AkAudio.Default__AkGameplayStatics")
    if not (AkStatics and AkStatics:IsValid()) then return false end
    local loc = player:K2_GetActorLocation()
    local rot = {Pitch = 0, Yaw = 0, Roll = 0}
    local ok, id = pcall(function()
        return AkStatics:PostEventAtLocation(ev, loc, rot, UEHelpers.GetWorld())
    end)
    if ok then print("[Timestop] played (id=" .. tostring(id) .. ")"); return true end
    print("[Timestop] post failed: " .. tostring(id)); return false
end

ExecuteInGameThread(function()
    GetEvent(EVENT_FREEZE); GetEvent(EVENT_RESUME)
    print("[Timestop] ready - press , to ZA WARUDO")
end)

RegisterKeyBind(Key.OEM_COMMA, function()
    ExecuteInGameThread(function()
        if not frozen then
            PlayEvent(EVENT_FREEZE); console("SloMo 0"); frozen = true
        else
            PlayEvent(EVENT_RESUME); console("SloMo 1"); frozen = false
        end
    end)
end)

What ships in the final mod

LogicMods/
  TimeStop.pak / .utoc / .ucas      <- retoc trio: AkAudioEvent uassets (+ ModActor, optional)
                                       NO InitBank.uasset
~mods/
  TimeStopAudio_P.pak               <- UnrealPak: TimeStop.bnk, TimeStart.bnk (v150, flat),
                                       Media/32147691.wem, Media/510089961.wem
                                       NO Init.bnk
ue4ss/Mods/TimestopZaWarudo/
  scripts/main.lua                  <- the script above
  enabled.txt

The AkAudioEvent uassets (in the trio) + the loose banks/wems (in the audio pak) are both required: the event auto-loads its RequiredBank from the loose .bnk, and PostEventAtLocation plays it.

Key realizations (the expensive lessons)

1. The bank was correct the entire time. Parsing the raw .bnk proved valid v150 + embedded media + correct bus routing. Don’t trust FModel’s parse failure, trust SoundBanksInfo.json and a manual chunk parse.
2. The empty Media array is normal for in-memory audio, the media lives in the bank, not the event asset.
3. The real blocker was the post method, not the bank. UE4SS can’t pass delegates, the BP node crashes, and there’s no LoadBank. PostEventAtLocation is the escape hatch.
4. Never ship an Init bank and never call LoadInitBank() at runtime, both nuke all game audio.
5. Two paks, two tools: retoc trio for cooked uassets (IoStore), UnrealPak for loose banks/wems.
6. Dump the real API instead of guessing function names, scanning Function objects revealed PostEventAtLocation.

Custom standalone Wwise audio in Oblivion Remastered: solved. Press comma. ZA WARUDO., CosmicBoogaloo / DreamEater LLC

This is the discovery that later fixed Mounted Combat too. While mounted, GetPlayer() (and the controller’s Pawn) returns the horse pawn itself, whose PairedPawnMovementComponent is the VHorseMovementComponent. On foot, GetPlayer() is the human, whose movement component is a plain VPairedPawnMovementComponent, so you filter on the class name containing "HorseMovement". Works for any horse, any number loaded, with zero rider/mount guessing.

local function horseMCfromPawn(pawn)
 if not SafeIsValid(pawn) then return nil end
 local ok, mc = pcall(function() return pawn.PairedPawnMovementComponent end)
 if not ok or not SafeIsValid(mc) then return nil end
 local ok2, cls = pcall(function() return mc:GetClass():GetFName():ToString() end)
 if ok2 and cls and cls:find("HorseMovement") then return mc end -- the ridden horse's move comp
 return nil
end

Primary lookup is GetPlayer(); the fallback is the controller’s possessed Pawn (also the horse when mounted).

All confirmed by in-game probe (these are the restore-to-vanilla targets):

RotationRate is an FRotator struct. Setting mc.RotationRate.Yaw = x directly modifies a temporary copy that’s immediately discarded, the change never lands. You must read the struct, mutate it, and write the whole thing back:

local rr = mc.RotationRate
rr.Yaw = yaw
mc.RotationRate = rr -- write the whole struct back, or the change is lost

Direct steering lives on the pawn, not the movement component. bUseControllerRotationYaw is set on mc:GetOwner(). Off (default) = vanilla velocity-orient turning, where Turn Rate applies. On = the horse yaw snaps straight to the camera every frame, instant, zero drag, by setting the owner’s bUseControllerRotationYaw=true and disabling bOrientRotationToMovement.

The apply is deliberately not gated behind “is this a new horse?” anymore. Every poll it re-writes the current config to whatever horse is currently ridden. The old key-diff gate could misfire on a second horse and skip the apply, so your settings “fell off” after a swap. Change-detection is now used for one thing only: resetting the horse you just left back to vanilla, so you never leave modded values on a dismounted horse.

local function Tick()
 local mc = GetRiddenHorseMC()
 local key = MCKey(mc)
 local changed = (key ~= activeMCKey)
 if changed then
 if SafeIsValid(activeMC) then ResetControl(activeMC) end -- restore the one we left
 activeMC, activeMCKey = mc, key
 end
 if SafeIsValid(mc) then ApplyControl(mc) end -- always (re)apply to current
end

It runs on a throttled LoopAsync, plus a ClientRestart hook for an instant re-apply on the mount/dismount possession handoff.

Settings come from CosmicMCM. Because UE4SS runs every mod in its own isolated Lua state, the menu can’t call into this mod directly, it fires a console command, and Better Horse Control catches it:

RegisterConsoleCommandHandler("BetterHorseControlSetMCM", function(fullCmd, params)
 if #params < 2 then return true end
 local key, val = params[1], params[2]
 if config[key] == nil then return true end -- ignore unknown keys
 config[key] = tonumber(val) or config[key]
 if SafeIsValid(activeMC) then ApplyControl(activeMC) end -- apply live to the ridden horse
 return true
end)

CosmicMCM sends BetterHorseControlSetMCM <key> <value> each time you nudge a slider; the mod updates its live config table and immediately re-applies to the horse you’re on. See the CosmicMCM writeup below for the other half of this bridge.

So the entire menu is one multi-line TextBlock inside a Border inside a UserWidget n/a three widgets, full stop. The menu is a formatted string (rows, a >> cursor, ON/OFF, slider values); navigating just rebuilds that string and calls SetText. Nothing is constructed or destroyed as you move around, so there’s nothing left to crash.

UE4SS runs every Lua mod in its own Lua state. Mods can’t share globals or call each other’s functions. The one reliable channel between them is the console: CosmicMCM executes <cmdPrefix> <key> <value> via KismetSystemLibrary, and the target mod catches it with RegisterConsoleCommandHandler.

local function sendValue(mi, key, value)
 local mod = MODS[mi]
 local cmd = string.format("%s %s %s", mod.cmdPrefix, key, tostring(value))
 ExecuteInGameThread(function() executeConsole(cmd) end)
end

Each managed mod is just a table: a cmdPrefix (e.g. BetterHorseControlSetMCM), its settings (headers, sliders, toggles, keybinds with min/max/step), and default values. Adding a mod to the menu is adding one entry to MODS and handling its command on the mod side.

A single TextBlock can’t take keyboard focus, so CosmicMCM reads input by hooking the player controller’s AnyKey input event (BP_AltarPlayerController…InpActEvt_AnyKey) and only acting while the menu is open. UP/DOWN navigate, LEFT/RIGHT adjust sliders, ENTER toggles / opens number-entry / starts a rebind, digits type an exact value, F11 switches mod, F10 opens/closes.

Each mod gets one .ini in CosmicMCM/config/ ([settings], key=value), with the folder resolved from the running script path. UE4SS’s working directory is the game’s Binaries dir, not the mod folder, so you can’t use a relative path. Values save on every change.

The catch: at load time there’s no player yet, so ExecuteConsoleCommand has nothing to run against. CosmicMCM waits for the world via NotifyOnNewObject on the player character, then broadcasts every saved value to every managed mod, so settings (including a rebound Timestop key) apply on startup, not only when you next touch a slider.

NotifyOnNewObject("/Script/Altar.VOblivionPlayerCharacter", function()
 -- ... register the AnyKey hook ...
 ExecuteWithDelay(1500, function() broadcastAll() end) -- push saved config to all mods
end)