(Almost) Step-By-Step Creation of a Primitive Unique Point of Interest

Unfortunately, so far we have been deprived of documentation on Creation Kit and we are all studying the new functionality together like "blind kittens". I am the same "blind kitten" that I could only figure out how to assemble a functional "point of interest" that is displayed on the planet and on which you can both land and teleport to while on the planet itself, because for me New Features with Systems, Planets, Generated Surface and Dynamic Filling of them by Points of Interest in Starfield are the most interesting aspects. So let's get started.

(note: I am not a modding guru and there may be mistakes and inaccuracies in my guide, as well as a confusing narrative, for which I apologize in advance, but I hope that the guide will help to understand a little how unique points of interest function in the game, at least, and how to create them, for whom-then I'll be Captain Obvious, but maybe I'll help someone)

He shows in first half of video an alternative way of creating through "Location" then adding to the Planet, which I do not have in the Guide, in second half of video also shows somewhat close to what I describe further, so might be pretty helpful too. Also, he has several other videos about Creation Kit.

(note: if you are familiar with and have worked in past ModTools of Bethesda games and have already prepared everything, you can skip this point)

1. Of course, first of all you need to download the Creation Kit and Starfield in the Steam client into the same Repository
   
   (note: you can double-check the location of Starfield and Starfield: Creation Kit in Steam by using the buttons on the Top-Left “Steam” -> “Settings" –(and then going to the tab) > “Storage")
   
   
2. After launching CK*(Creation Kit), it will not contain game data and…
   
   (note: of course, the location of the windows does not matter – arrange them as you like, I found such a pattern for myself. And also in "File" -> "Theme (experimental)" you can choose the Dark Theme "Plastique Dark", so far it only works on the main window, but already something positive)
   
   
3. It is necessary to load the data "Starfield.esm" in CK by clicking "File" -> "Data..."
   
   
   
4. A similar window will open
   
   
   
5. In which you need to Double-click to activate “Starfield.esm”
   
   
   
6. It will be marked with a "Cross", after which you will need to click “OK” – a long load of game data will begin in your, according to CK, the minimum required amount of RAM of 32 GB :) (patience and good luck)
   

and now we are definitely moving on to Creating a Unique Point of Interest on the Planet:

1. After loading the data from Starfield.esm, we will need to go to "Galaxy View", this can be done through the upper panels by clicking "Galaxy" -(and clicking with the missing Cross on) > "Galaxy View"
   
   (note: if there is a Cross, the desired window is already open within CK – and you will need to find it, or you can turn it off/on so that it appears on top of other windows if they overlap it)
   
   
2. A window with a list of Starfield Systems and Planets should appear in your workspace
   
   
   
3. For example, the Solar System called “Sol” is enough for us, this system will need to be found in the left list or use the search from above
   
   
   
4. When you click on it, the star of the system will be displayed (how to work with them remains a big mystery so far – I hope the community will be able to figure it out), but we need a Planet in the System itself – because of this, we click on the "+" icon before the name of the System
   
   
   
5. We will see a list of available Planets in the System that also have Bodies in their orbits, which are also in the drop-down lists when you click "+" on the Planet, but they are not interesting to us for example. So finally let's move on to the Surface of the Planet itself, for this guide we will work in the mines of Mars
   
   
   (long note:
   
   • I do not know why Planets look like an Egg by standard – to reset such a strange camera focus, it is enough to resize the right panel
     
     
     
   • Also, even at the first opening, the Created Points of Interest on the Planet are not displayed at all, despite the fact that they are in the list of uniquely created for the surface of the Planet, in our case, of course, Mars
     
     
     
   • To fix it, it is necessary to press the Camera restart button in the Planet survey Every time CK is opened and there are no “RedDots”
     
     
     
     
   • And now, after we have turned the Planet into an Egg again, but at least with the correct display of the location of the Points of Interest, pull (slightly move) the size of the Right Panel to Reset this Camera Focus again
     
     
     
   • And now, after the educational program, we will definitely move on to the classic Cells for the engine
   
   Perhaps only I have such problems, but just in case I described them here and made a little cry of the soul)
   
   (almost a short note: there are a series of filters for displaying the planet from the top to the left of the Camera Restart button
   
   They are needed, of course, for more detailed editing of the Planet, but also as in the case of the Stars at the moment, this functionality remains mysterious
   
   
   The two filters above can of course be combined
   
   
   
   In our case, the most useful 4 and 5 buttons are 4 to turn off the Dark Side of the Planet and 5 is our familiar function for the Camera
   
   
   And the last Two Buttons are an even bigger mystery for now)
   
   
6. Now that everything is settled with the display of the planet and the functionality of Galaxy View, we can move on to choosing the place of interest to create our Point of Interest there, for example, I will choose a random position
   
   (note: To set the label, press "LMB" anywhere on the surface, to rotate the camera around the planet hold "RMB" , to shift the camera in space relative to the planet, hold "MMB" or "Shift")
   
   

   !The IMPORTANT THING begins!

   
   
7. After selecting the position of interest on the planet, we will need to press the long-ignored, but attention-grabbing, Blue Button. It will open the “Render Window” and display the in-game surface of this position on the planet
   
   
   
   The number of Cells is limited in "Planetary Point" (incorrect name, named just for text) and fly away with the camera unnecessarily far from the central Cell of the Surface, which is in the "Cell View" list, will not make sense. Because when trying to place a "Point of Interest" Far from the Central Cell Coordinates, cause a Crash to CK, at least in my case and I do not know what the working boundaries of the Cells are
   
   (Speaking of control, by the way: "Shift+ WASD" is now responsible for "Free Movement of the Camera" in space While "Shift" is clamped "The rotations of the Mouse Wheel” are responsible for the speed of movement Up – increases, Down - decreases, and the ”Q/E“ buttons for " Lift/Descent”, respectively, with the “Shift” still clamped)
   
   
   
   So double-click on the "Surface" with the Coordinates "0,0" in the "Cell View" to return to the center of the "Landing Point" (yet again named just for text)
   
   
   
   
8. And finally, Only Now can we move on to creating the Point of Interest itself! To do this, you will need to return to the "Galaxy View" window, go to the "Overlays" tab in the right panel, and only in this list click the button on the right-top with "+"
   
   
   Clicking this button will open a window with the ability to "Cut" the "Cells" from the "Viewed Surface". As it is written, it is not recommended to increase the size of the “Cutout” more than 6x6 in Size, and I will add on my own that, as mentioned above, I do not recommend moving it far to the edges of the surface, at least in the case of creating a “Unique” one, but Act at your own Risk, and also Experiment
   
   
   
   (note: I do not recommend closing the “Add Overlay” window using the “Cancel” button, as this may cause the button above the list in the "Overlays" tab to become inactive, as in my case below. To fix it, swap the selected planet with another one and return to the one you worked on.)
   
   
   This Gizmo that appeared (Three-dimensional arrows for an object in 3D, cap. obvious to ya) with a Grid, we can freely move along the Surface, but I will move it, for example, a little bit away from the point of appearance. Ideally, as I understand it, this way it is possible to choose an entertaining surface for the “Point of Interest”, but so far my attempts to create it on a complex surface, unfortunately, have been unsuccessful
   
   
   
   Having established ourselves in the position and size of our chosen territory, we click on “Lock Selection”
   
   
   Next, enter any desired “Name”, in my example it will be “NewGuide”, a green check mark will display that there is no conflict and repetition in the name with other already created “WorldSpace”
   
   We leave the mark “Mark as Unique”, then click “Save”.

Although I am describing the creation of a point of interest through Galaxy View, but people have already found an Alternative way, I will describe it in this subparagraph
(note: If you have already created what I describe above, then, of course, it's okay, just another way for the future that you can take note of. But of course you can skip what I describe in this paragraph, if you are not interested and you are completely satisfied with the first approach)

First of all, we will need to open the "Object Window" and go to "WorldData"->"Block"


There will be a list of all types of surfaces that are used to create the land of planets according to the pattern during landings
You can choose what you like in it, for example, I want to create a POI*(Point of Interest) in a crater, for this I will select the tab starting with “Crators" (additional categorization again on demand)

and I will select the appropriate one for my idea through the list, viewing them through the “Preview Block”

As in the method described above, it will also open the “Render Window” with a 3D Preview of the surface option

For example, the 5th option will suit me, because it has a crater almost in the center of the Block


After that, we press “Ctrl+H” with a Hotkey, or find “Landscape Cutting” in the upper tabs to open a similar window for creating a "WorldSpace" for our POI



I will place it so that it is “cut out” the crater itself and the “Gray Grids” covered it, as this will be our workspace in the POI cell editor

And of course I will give some simply name to it

(note: the first “Max Extent” button will simply increase the highlighted cutout, namely the “Size: X;Y” parameters to 6x6)

Click “Create Overlay” and it will create the same working "WorldSpace" for us


Which, after editing, we just need to place on the surface, in the case of a unique POI, of the desired planet
To do this, you will have to return, of course, to the “Galaxy View”, select the desired planet from the list, go to the “Overlays” tab, point to the desired position on the surface of planet and click “+” above the list

Next, of course, we “Use the Existing WorldSpace” (because we have no choice on that), select the one we created and click “Save”


It will be added to the list with the ability to Switch its Uniqueness, in our case, of course, it is worth turning it on

Well, that's the whole difference, one thing will be more practical for someone, another for someone else - everything is your choice

then you have chosen a position within the workspace, otherwise you will have to repeat everything that I described above.

But, anyways, continuing, now the “Render Window” we have changed to a workspace with “Cut out” cells and our point of interest has appeared in the planet list. But this is only the middle of our misadventure and I recommend pressing “Ctrl+S” to save the progress of our mod and name the file after the name of our “Point of Interest”.

1. Now, we will need an “Object Window” and a series of Basic Objects for Points of Interest, these are:
   
   • MapMarker – responsible for displaying on the map and compass, as well as of course on the planet in system map
     
   • ShipLandingMarker_80m_Large - responsible for a certain landing point when teleporting to the point of interest
     
   • XMarkerHeading – responsible for the location of the player character when teleporting to a point of interest while on a planet
   
   
   They can be found by selecting “*All” in the lower-left list of “Object Window” (but if the sorting is known, in our case two Objects will be in “WorldObjects”->”Static”, then you can focus the left tab on it without looking for excess), but we will go through All the Objects, and entering the names in the "Text Filter" we will be able to find them among all the game objects
   
   We will move these objects directly from the list to the window where we display the 3D surface space (if the program for some reason ignored the transfer, then double-click on the “Cell View” list on the “Surface” with coordinates “0,0” return to the center of the workspace and repeat with the camera from above, and also, while the focus is on the window with 3D space, you can press the "B" button, it will turn on the boundaries of the work cells, so it is more convenient to navigate when placing objects)
   
   
   We will need all three, so let's go through them (if you copy the names of objects, then of course double-check the spaces in the inserted text)
   
   You can move objects in 3D space by holding “LMB” on it, as well as holding “RMB” is responsible for rotation (for more details, look in the tutorial materials on ModTools of past Bethesda games)
   
   
   

   !NECESSARILY!

   Also, after placing Objects on a Cell – A cell in whose name there is a "*" sign at the end MUST BE GIVEN a UNIQUE NAME by selecting it in the "Cell View" list and pressing F2 – Rename, for example, following the name of the Point of Interest, but with a Number at the end. Because with a standard name, the Cell will, of course, have a Non–unique Name, and if you leave the standard one, then the Point of Interest WILL NOT APPEAR ON THE MAP OF THE PLANET
   
   
   
   
2. We have finally placed the Base Objects in our Point of Interest. Let's start by editing “MapMarker” - by double-clicking on an object in 3D space, we will open the Object Settings
   
   We will need to go to the second tab “Marker Data”, where information is configured to display the Point of Interest on the Map
   
   Of course, you need to Put a Label on “Marker Data” to access the settings
   
   (note: ideally, the ”WorldSpace“ we created in which we are currently working should go with a linked ”Location", we did NOT create it, since the Point of Interest will still function and to understand how WorldSpaces and Cells in Starfield work now, you can skip it for now, but keep this point in mind for the future)
   
   We uncheck the “Use Location Name”, for the reason mentioned above, and name it ourselves. We change the “Type” to the Desired one from the List, in my Case I chose just "POI", “Category” we return to None if it has changed (I may be mistaken, but as I understand it, this list is for Generated Non-Unique Points of Interest during the study of the landing point, and not for Unique Points, because the Unexplored Name Becomes typical for an Unvisited Point of Interest). For Guidance, I Will Include: Visible, Visible on Star Map, Allow Grav Jump, Can Travel To; this way we can check our point for operability faster than under other conditions, but if you want, you can change the enabled conditions of the point.
   
   (note: "Radius” is responsible for the Size of the Trigger for Studying the Point of Interest – depending on the Size of Buildings at the Point of Interest, the Radius should also be increased, it is noticeable by Yellow rounding near the Object when working in a window with 3D space)
   
   We will also need to go to the “Linked Ref” tab and double-click on the empty list to open a window in which, after clicking on the top button, return to the “Render Window” and double-click on the landing point to create a link between “MapMarker” and our landing point. This is necessary so that when moving the ship from space, it lands at our created landing point, and not on the “MapMarker” itself
   
   
   
   
   Click OK at the bottom of the “Reference” window and save the “MapMarker” settings
   
   
3. Now the binding steps must be repeated for the Landing Point, but by creating a link with XMarkerHeading
   
   Double-click on the "Reference" at the Landing Point, open the Linked Ref tab there, double-click on the empty list, open another window, click the top button and double-click on the "Red Rectangle" (bit jokin) called "XMarkerHeading" create a link, click OK to Save
   
   
   
4. In fact, That's All, a Primitive Modified Point of Interest was created as a separate mod, and when enabled in the “Load Order“ via the "Creations” Menu it will have to be displayed on the Planet where we created it in CK. Of course, Don't Forget to Save It!

the functionality of the created mod:

But let's add a series of objects so that it can be clearly understood that this is a Point of Interest created by us, let's go back to CK.

If you closed CK while checking the Mod's functioning: then during the selection of “Data”, you will need to select the Mod we created, but after selecting the mod, switch it to the “Active File” state with the button at the bottom, so it will become an Opened Project in CK again, and “Starfield.esm” will load itself, because our mod relies on it.


Now you will need to open the “Galaxy View”, find the Planet on which you worked, open the “Overlays” tab on the right, find our created Point of Interest in the list – click on it “RMB” and click “Edit”, so CK will open the 3D Space window that was while working on the mod.



If everything is dark after opening the Window with the Render, then you need to turn off the buttons in these rows, they are responsible for the visual settings of the window



Now that we've sorted out the visibility, we can go back to the initial idea of adding objects in order to make the landing point unique. Open the “Object Window”, go to the “Static” list in it

And in the sublist below “Landscape”

(note: in order to check what an object looks like, you can open a Preview of the Object, for this you need to click “RMB” on the object in the list on the right, for example, on “Arches_09")



A quite noticeable object, we will drag it from the list of objects to our point of interest, it is done the same way as with “MapMarker”


And I will add another one in order to test the functionality of "XMarkerHeading"

And the "XMarkerHeading" test itself when moving to a point while you are on the Planet itself
Positioned the character exactly where the Object stands for this

Thank you for your attention. I hope I can help someone with this guide in terms of creating “Unique Points of Interest”, I'm just poking around and studying the toolkit myself, so if there is a mistake or something needs to be corrected, write in the comments.

Luck in fillin' a universe :) There is a lot of space

So, about Non-Unique POIs - https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3269084567 an almost a continuation guide about that aspect in Starfield

• The Modified Landscape by "Landscape Editing" function is ignored in the game for some unknown reason, despite being saved and displayed correctly in the "World Space" editing of CK
  Solution by MikkoK141 - https://forums.nexusmods.com/topic/13491382-tutorial-creating-your-own-randomly-placed-pois/?do=findComment&comment=130448822
  with additional correction about .btd saving by Happy Slappy - https://forums.nexusmods.com/topic/13491382-tutorial-creating-your-own-randomly-placed-pois/?do=findComment&comment=130448846
  (copy and paste links in browser to open exact comments)

[make_me_bad_1994]

When I try to create a new worldspace using Block preview, the terrain loads textures, but the textures quickly fade to black (no texture). If anyone can provide help/direction, that would be appreciated.

[510deshawn]

Yooo thanks i just made a video and gave you a shoutout/award

[aggietallboy]

ZOMG Thank you thank you thank you!!
I had this exact problem because I was naming my worldspace with an underscore... welp... no more readable names for me I guess!!

[510deshawn]

Barely got it work, don't why it kept crashing. Then it bugged out when i went to create a new one?? tf is going on

[Elixer]

Holy fucking shit, you're a legend, that was ruining my week!

[Anig]

@Elixer As "Bloodworth" noted in the comments below, if the Worldspace name has "_" or other symbols, then this causes a problem with its creation, maybe that it?

[Elixer]

This has been really helpful, thanks. I'm having an issue when I create a new worldspace it just creates a pool of water and the terrain vanishes. Anyone seen this issue before and know how to resolve it?

[mactheron]

Easy to follow, thanks for the step by step process. Having trouble getting the game to load/see the POI that I created, but I'll figure it out. However the tutorial was great! Thanks again.

[StageGeek]

Thank you. I've been trying to find a good guide for doing exactly this. But youtube videos either skip vital steps or are just inadequate teachers. Thanks for this invaluable information.

[Mora]

@Bloodworth Thank you, it helped me.