Come to think of it, none of that is using anything specific to Lena's Companions... it could be used with any companions, any NPCs even! For the ally assistance system, they only need to be in the PlayerFaction, which is what all companions should be in order to work properly, and for summoning to the Rift, it could be any NPC what so ever... Hmm...

I feel the Adoring Fan is going to get a workout...

Progress with companions! It is all working with any companions, any NPCs even. They are running around helping each other out of the knockouts, and helping the player. If they can be bothered, that is. Calls for help are not always honoured - we can only ask, but Oblivion decides what to do, as always...

Now suddenly it becomes very useful to have mages or archers in the party. Since they are not involved in close quarters melee combat, they are much more likely to come and help. The final solution is not to "activate" a knocked out NPC, but to cast a special spell. It is a touch spell, so they know to run over to the person on the ground before casting it. I had a party of 8 companions fighting 6 monsters with summons, and, well, it was getting rather hectic... But working!

Sounds fun!

Still stuck working on the companions here - this release turns out to be really big under the hood. Besides the Ally Assist, Wakestones, Disposition system, Rift access, Rift faction and the Everfall, I also found it necessary to move all my custom magic from individual companions into the master file, so as to make it available to any companion by simply assigning them to a faction... Healers, Blood Mages, Breath Sorcerers, Necromancers - here we come! But no Witchers, I left Geralt out of it for now, may be next time. Of course for it to work properly, the NPC in question must also possess the relevant skills and attributes, or he/she won't be able to cast any of those special spells.

Release 2 is thus nearing release time! I am going to call it "Beta" because I didn't put in hundreds of hours of play time into testing of it as I did with the previous release. I've tested all new features but not in all possible situations. I haven't seen any crashes at all, and each new feature can be disabled in the INI file, so I figured that's good enough.

Like with previous releases, the master files alone are nothing without the companions. Well, not exactly nothing now, since the initial introduction to the Rift is there, and Ally Assist works for any companions, not just the ones that are made with this system... But nothing else! The Disposition system has an effect on the behaviour of the companions - how frequently they cast their special spells and whether they cast the more costly ones at all, etc., and by that I mean their opinions of all members of the party counts, not just of the player. But this only applies to Lena's Companions, and only those ones that have those special spells to cast. The rest is all bound to the companions too - your progress with the Rift faction, your access to the Everfall, the extent of the Everfall even...

So, the initial release will also have two new companions (Rook and Scorpio) and one existing upgraded companion (Hauk) to get you started. Two more companions will be upgraded after that (Yennefer and Jowan) and another new one added (Scarlet), and with that you should be able to reach the rank of Arisen in the Rift faction which is the top rank. More companions will come along later that will also have access to the Rift, and eventually you will have a choice of companions that will get you to Arisen. I've got clear plans for three more and vague plans for another two or three. They are people who appear in Lena's story, or in the stories of Lena's friends. Hauk might bring someone over from Antaloor if you play his quest right... But I leave that as a surprise.

Just to be clear - upgraded companions keep all their existing abilities and attributes, but get quests that they may ask your help with later on, if they like you enough. Oh yes, disposition is the key! Did someone mention that Vilja was high maintenance? Wait till you meet Scarlet...

Upgraded companions also have different programming under the hood. It makes their behaviour more nuanced, even if the Disposition system is switched off. Now that I've figured out how to use xVAsynth, I no longer shy away from dialogue, so there's a bit more of that too. Still not excessive I think, but there's some. Easter eggs are found throughout the year, they mostly have to do with Lena's stories or perhaps some goings on in Chorrol or affiliated sites. I suppose they will say nothing to the outsiders, so be it. Not every egg hatches, some make an omelette.

It was a beautiful day and Lena Wolf was walking aimlessly through a big meadow of wild flowers. She started picking some, and soon had two bunches in her hands: daisies and poppies.

"Why, these would make a beautiful bouquet together!" She thought, mixing them up.

"You can't just do that, you know," a voice said from the grass.

"What? Who said that?" Lena spun around. A small yellow-green grass snake was sitting in a hollowed out stone like in a cup. "Oh, hello," Lena smiled.

"You can't just mix two bunches of flowers like that," the snake repeated. "Or the Gecko will get you."

"What are you talking about?" Lena was confused, but the name "Gecko" did ring a bell somehow...

"It's awfully warm and I'm parched," the snake complained. "Pour some water into this stone cup, will you?"

The snake did look rather flat, and Lena took out her water skein and poured some into the stone cup. The snake drank it, which made it inflate like a balloon until it turned into a huge gecko. Then it swallowed Lena whole.

...

"Phew, what a nightmare!" Lena woke up in a bit of cold sweat. "Do snakes even drink water? What nonsense!"

She turned over and went back to sleep.

...

She was back on the meadow, a bunch of daisies in one hand, a bunch of poppies in the other. A small gecko was sitting in the stone cup.

"You can't just mix those two, you know," it said. "There are rules." The gecko handed Lena a heavy scroll with a big "Read Me" label dangling off it.

Lena started reading the scroll. "Don't mix talking daisies with silent poppies, don't mix white flowers with red, don't mix flowers from the same meadow..."

"This makes no sense!" She exclaimed. "It's like I can't mix anything with anything! Well, watch me!"

She tossed the scroll aside and put her daisies together with her poppies. The gecko ballooned in size until it was blotting out the sun, then it swallowed Lena whole.

...

"Wow! That's just ridiculous!" Lena sat up in bed, clammy with cold sweat. "What a nightmare!"

But seeing that it was still dark outside and the frogs in Bravil's canals were still singing their mating songs, she turned over in her bed and went back to sleep.

...

Again she found herself on the meadow, daisies in one hand, poppies in the other.

"Don't even think about it," a voice said from tall grass.

"But I want to make a bouquet!" Lena objected, looking around and seeing the gecko still sitting in the stone cup.

"All right, here's how you do it," the gecko handed her another scroll with a "Read Me" label. "This one even has pictures."

Lena started to read. A long list of warnings and dos and don'ts followed. She tried to navigate it, tried to follow the rules... But either the sun was too hot, or the warnings were true, but when she finally came to mixing her daisies with her poppies, the gecko ballooned in size blotting out the entire sky, then again swallowed Lena whole.

...

"This has got to stop!" Lena sat up in bed, seriously annoyed. "I won't get any sleep this way."

She got up to get a drink of water. A heavy scroll with a "Read Me" label was lying on the table, she was sure there was no scroll there before. She unrolled it. "The Gecko rules for Mod Merging" was the title. It had all those rules that she read before, and all the instructions with pictures from her dream. But there was something else: on the very bottom a paragraph in blood red Daedric script was added.

When the Blood Moon rises, bring your virgin flying chickens and your virgin long-tooth hens to the Bald Mountain for the sacrifice to the Gecko. Only then may you succeed.

Lena snorted and threw the scroll into the fire. The fire flared briefly, engulfing it, then all that was left was ash.

"Perhaps I'll try this instead," she took a calling card from the table, she remembered a fellow in a cowboy hat promoting their venture. "Leave it to Mator", it read.




~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a true story. I woke up four times last night, and I should know better, because I'm all out of flying chickens and long-tooth hens, virgin or not. Mussorgsky's music was playing in my head and the Blood Moon was rising.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Jun 5 2023, 12:33 PM

I have written my own Skyrim Main Quest. It isn't TES5 - it is my own story for Skyrim. Now that the world of Skyrim is reasonably well filled in, I can go beyond simple notice board quests.

The story is based on many events from the "official" Elder Scrolls lore, whatever that might be. In my opinion, it has nothing outlandish in it, not any more than the other Main Quest stories. It is also not strictly time-bound, other that some characters have familiar names. Are they the characters that you know from other stories? May be they are, and may be they aren't, after all unrelated people with the same names do exist. It's up to you to put it into your own context and resolve any time-space inconsistencies.

Obviously, I'm not telling you how the story goes, and I don't think you'd want me to. But I can say that it consists of six interrelated quest lines. Everything starts with you receiving a letter... not awfully original, I know, but such is life. You receive a letter, and it doesn't even trigger any quests. You are free to go off doing whatever else you're doing, and in the process you might run into the beginnings of some of the other quest lines. You start on them, then get stuck... Well, perhaps you should read your letter?

There will be people in the world offering you advice and hints, should you wish it. Because quest lines depend on each other, it is unavoidable that sometimes you won't see what to do next. Then try a different line of inquiry, that might offer new insights and show a way forward. Or talk to someone who can help.

The approach I've taken here is more like in Morrowind: you deliver a certain package to a certain person, and he tells you to get out of his sight because he has no use for such a wet-behind-the-ears newbie like yourself... Go do stuff! Come back when you get bored. It isn't the same here, but no one will hold your hand either.

The end of the main quest is not the end of the story. It will be for this release, but it actually opens up to two further "main quest" type of stories to come later. Life doesn't stop, and neither should adventure.

At the moment I'm doing preparatory work and cleaning up of what I built so far. A new alternative start mod that allows you to start in several provinces and realms. Currently it just supports Cyrodiil and Shivering Isles, but it will soon also support Morrowind (Morroblivion), Skyrim (TWMP Skyrim Alive), Hammerfell (TWMP Hammerfell), Elsweyr (Elsweyr Anequina), Valenwood (TWMP Valenwood Improved) and Summerset Isle (TWMP Summerset Isle). Black Marsh is also planned, but I haven't examined TWMP Black Marsh and other Black Marsh mods enough to use it.

The idea is that you don't have to have all of those mods loaded to use the alternative start! Instead it checks to see what you've got installed and shows only relevant doors. Cyrodiil and Shivering Isles are always available, the rest depends on your load order.

Summer is not my favourite time of year - not enough snow. It hasn't been hot here yet, but give it time, and I want to be in Skyrim when that happens. Then perhaps some time in autumn there will be a new Skyrim Main Quest to play.

Summer is here and I am back in Skyrim, right on schedule. The new main quest that I am aim to implement, has seven somewhat interdependent story lines, yet most of each of them can be developed individually. The first story takes place on a whole new island! I am using parts of Bleak Isle which is an abandoned project that the author released for anyone to use as a resource. It is a lovely setting!



The original island group was set in its own worldspace, but I am only recreating one island and putting it in the Tamriel worldspace - it's in the Ghost Sea off the coast of Skyrim. You will be able to see it in the distance from the shore from anywhere between Solitude and Dawnstar, and I think this is nice.

It is quite a large town, but the original only has a handful of interiors - but what interiors! Very nice indeed. I am very excited to continue building it.

And of course it is covered in snow.

It might not be quite all that idyllic after all, once you look closer... But I'm not telling you how the story goes!

~~~~~~~~~

In other news: I am now ready to play the Blood Moon in Morroblivion with Geralt of Rivia as my protagonist. He is going to join Hircine's Hunt... Can you guess which side he will choose?

To be able to start this game just as I wanted, I made a new Alternate Start mod: the Wolf Alternate Start. Version 1 allowed you to start in Tamriel or Shivering Isles (and handled both main quests), but version 2 that I just released, also allows you to start in any province of Tamriel, depending on which mods you have loaded. Start in Skyrim. Start in Elsweyr. Start on Solstheim, in Morroblivion... Which is what I shall do. All without having those mods as masters. Choose your level, too. Because Blood Moon is a DLC meant for high level characters. Get outfitted accordingly. (Other goodies too, read mod description.)

Solstheim is also covered in ice, you will notice. I do choose my summer destinations with care!

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Jun 19 2023, 02:21 AM

That is a really neat looking island mod. Do you plan to release it soon? I have been thinking of a Ryo playthrough of Skyrim soon, and it looks like a fun place to explore.

It is going to be a part of TWMP Skyrim Alive, yes. I am using the main island only, with changes, of course. I've only just started this release, it will probably take a few months to do.

The Bleak Isle for Skyrim is getting under way!

In the original mod it is in its own worldspace, but I wanted to bring it into Tamriel so that you could see it in the distance and also swim or water-walk to it. There are a number of scripts in xEdit that are supposed to make it a snap... And none of them work!!! And I was not able to debug them or write my own because for some reason it just ain't working!!

So I had to manually recreate the island in Tamriel, then copy and paste the objects... So of course it isn't the same as the original. But in fact I took advantage of that and made some changes... So it's for the better, it seems.

I wasn't going to make any new cities for this release, but lo and behold, this is a new city. It's got around 40 houses and will have some 60 people... That's not counting the guards! Oh, hang on, there won't be any guards. Why? It's a smugglers' island, they guard themselves, it seems. That is not to say that you will be able to go looting there. They have other ways to protect their property.

For comparison, this is a city the size of Skingrad! And I'm not counting any of the caves and dungeons with the "additional population" inside.

I'll post some WIP screenshots next time. I prepared and linked interiors for all the houses and started on the people. A smith and a fishmonger we've got, the rest of the town is still to follow.

This post has been edited by Lena Wolf: Jun 22 2023, 09:43 AM

Pictures!

These are just the first previews, still from the Construction Set, but they give you an idea of the town on Bleak Isle. It's not done yet, some areas are still rather sketchy.

Click on the images twice to see them full size rather than in that silly WordPress frame.

The Bridge

The Bridge seen from the Street

The Street up close

The Free Port

The Docks End (can you tell how it differs from the Free Port?)

The Bloated Float... err... Karlson's Bride

Beginnings of the market in the Free Port

The view from a fish stall

Very nice! And very chilly looking.

Fish on a stick!

I love the fishy stick reference!

Fish on a Stick . All that's needed is Sven and Olie telling jokes, as customers.

Thank you all! In my defence, there is a giant fish on a spit being roasted there...

But who are Sven and Olie?

If you stand on the shore of the Sea of Ghosts near Solitude, Morthal or Dawnstar, you can see an island out at see. This is the Bleak Isle - home to pirates and smugglers. This is an island that defies the High King.

If you have even the slightest desire to explore it, squash that desire in the bud - there is nothing to see there for decent law-abiding folk! For pirates and smugglers are a law onto themselves.

But if you find yourself on the Bleak Isle anyway, be it by choice or by circumstance, then read this guide to find your way around.

The Bleak Isle is a rocky piece of land sticking ouf the Sea of Ghosts as a sore thumb. Rocks are almost as numerous as ship wrecks here. Fish is the main food staple, although the Free Port does attract a lot of trade, mostly illicit, and the market buzzes with foreign voices. The city is laid out on the rocks as the land allows, with higher areas occupied by better houses and more affluent citizens, and the lower areas occupied by everyone else.

The first thing you notice is a very high bridge connecting a rocky plateau to a huge lighthouse tower. The fire is said to be magical because there is no lighthouse keeper feeding it logs, and it would be quite impossible to get the logs to that height anyway. A question arises what good is a lighthouse positioned that far inland, other than to lure ships to their death, but then again, purhaps that is its purpose. The high plateau at the other end of the bridge houses the Rosoric Estate.

The Rosoric Manor and estate are of note for several reasons, but mainly for their Rosoric Ice Wine. Yes, they grow grapes in this frozen climate! How they do it, is a mystery, but clearly magic is involved. The mages living on the island mostly specialise in alchemy, unsurprisingly so. Rumour has it that it was the Rosoric family who established grape growing on the Bleak Isle, having brought the vines from their native High Rock. They still produce the best vintage, althogh there is also another plot cultivated by simple folk, that produces the bulk of the Bleak Isle Red. Although it is a passable red wine, it has nothing special, other than that the grapes were grown in the cold. But try one of the Rosoric vintages, and you'll know the difference!

One level below the Rosoric estate is the Upper Town with the Chapel of Kynareth, the Mages Guild, the Wine House and a few other houses and barns. The Street runs across it. This is by far the safest area on the isle, with guards patrolling the streets at night. You would be ill advised to attempt breaking into any of the houses, for people are known to take safety seriously, with guards and guard dogs greeting the intruders. And yes, there is in fact a jail on this island! Or rather, you can get arrested, and if you do, your belongings are confiscated and you are thrown into a cave labyrinth under the city. Nobody cares whether you come out or not.

The Western end of The Street leads to the next level down known as the Half-Way level. It has a small food market on one end and a good inn on the other.

Another set of stairs from the inn lead into the Lower Town which is a small square next to the Eastern Pier. It leads to the Free Port to the West over the water, and to the Docks End towards the South-East.

Let me make it very clear: absolutely avoid the Docks End. A squalid area built on wooden platoons sitting on natural rock formations, it has all the usual rubbish with the usual smells, sounds and goings on. Officially this is the cargo dock of the island, and indeed we're led to believe that even the Rosorics' own cargo ship docks here. And while the most people living here are really just dock workers and fishermen, other, much more sinister characters walk here as well, the kind of characters you definitely want to avoid. Rumour has it that prisoners' confiscated possessions have a way of turning up here in some crate or barrel, ready to be shipped elsewhere and sold.

So, quickly retracting your steps to the Lower Town, you will be much better off to cross the water to the Western Pier and the Free Port.

The Free Port is called this way because the Bleak Isle does not pay any taxes to the High King of Skyrim. Any trade in its port, as well as anywhere else on the island, is completely unregulated, and therefore illegal by Skyrim laws. That doesn't stop anyone trading, however. This part of town has a large market as well as shops and taverns with a middle class feel to them.

The town with its cascading levels is of course the main attraction of the Bleak Isle, but to some it is not the only attraction. The rock formation on which the Docks End is built, has entrances into underwater caverns leading into a large natural labyrinth under the island. Of course, you have to be an Argonian or a mage to be able to dive in those waters and not drown, as you will have to swim long stretches without coming up for air. The undead that plague those caverns make it very clear what happens to those who overestimate their diving skills.

Why would you even delve into those caverns? Challenge, riches, curiosity, accident - there may be any number of reasons. Some say that certain passages were used by pirates and smugglers to store their treasure, and that the treasure is still there, unclaimed. While this is most likely a lie, there are indeed unusual plants and alchemical ingredients to be found in some of the tunnels. Beware that many connections are only one way - you fall through a hole and you cannot climb back up, you have to find another way. Is there always a way out? We would not know, and we suspect that the answer is no. Stories tell however of a section of the labyrinth that leads to an exit through a trapdoor of the Witch's Tower - an old tower ruin atop its own pile of rock to the North East of the main island. It seems almost impossible to climb up to that tower from below, as the rocks are covered in snow and ice and very slippery, but it is perfectly possible to climb down. The land below is partially flooded but the water is not high, and with wading, climbing and clambering, you can reach the main island from there. Be careful on that flooded ground - there are sinkholes that will deliver you straight back into the tunnels of the labyrinth!

The final question is how to get to the Bleak Isle. As you can probably surmise, the answer is: don't. But if you really must, you could likely find a fishing boat in Dawnstar that you could use, or perhaps you could convince some troubled ship captain in Solitude to take you to the island. Don't expect him to wait around for you though, as few ever return from their foolish journey to the Bleak Isle.

I have released a preview of the Bleak Isle module for TWMP Skyrim Alive on Nexus. I call it version 3.0.1. It will be eventually integrated into the main ESP and removed, but it's easier for me to work on a separate ESP because the main one is getting rather big already.

This version has the land with LOD, all exteriors and interiors, 99 new NPCs with schedules, two markets, shops, inns, a chapel, a pigsty, two vineyards... what more could one want? Well, how about some dialogue, or quests, or, I dunno, dungeons? Not yet. There is no jail yet either, but you can get arrested... I think they'll take you to Dawnstar or Solitude to serve your time.

So this release is purely for those who would like to look around and get first impressions. All shops and inns work, people go about their business, it is quite a busy place, I might have to reduce the amount of loitering there - I noticed a bit of an FPS drop, but not too dramatic. After all, with a HUNDRED characters walking about, that's not surprising. This is why the majority of vanilla NPCs spend a considerable amount of time at home.

To get to the island, either do it the proper way and find a boat along the shore near Morthal or a small ship in the docks of Solitude, or otherwise cheat and use "coc BleakIsleTown". It's your choice.

Note that the map is not yet updated, so the new map markers will appear in the sea.

The status of this release is early Beta, meaning that I tested it a bit, but not very extensively, mostly paying attention to stability. Seems to be stable and can be visited. Please report any bugs if you find them (I did try to hide them well).

Next steps will include quests, rumours, chatter, dialogue, dungeons, bandits and a jail. Stay tuned!

And now for some pictures!

Bleak Isle town

View of Castle Volkihar and the College of Magic in Winterhold in the distance

The Half-Way market (yes, that's what it's called)

View of the port from the Half-Way bridge

The main pier at the Free Port of Bleak Isle

An alchemy (?) stall

Sorry, couldn't resist

I am done with the Bleak Isle! I published a preview on Nexus. This is a complete module, with all the quests too. My strategy is to develop each module individually in its own ESP mastered on TWMP Skyrim Alive, and then to merge them all into TWMP Skyrim Alive and call that Release 3.1. All the previews are releases 3.0.x something. The reason for doing it this way is that the main ESP is getting too big and unwieldy to work with. It is "only" 37MB, that's way smaller than, say, TWMP Skyrim Improved which is its base, but it's already too big for my taste. So I am starting with a multitude of small ESPs and BSAs which will then be all "rolled up" for the main release.

I also hope this approach will help maintain stability. I have no wish to go on another corruption chase as I did with release 2. That took me weeks and weeks to clear.

But back to Bleak Isle. It is I think the largest module of them all, in terms of amount of work - this is why I tackled it first. Here is Bleak Isle on a map - it is quite a large island! My next release will be a map update with Bleak Isle on it and also some additional roads in Valenwood which I recently discovered. Maps are separate mods - static and dynamic. Updates will appear over the weekend.

The next module to develop will be Whiterun Citizens. It is a separate module from the Jarl of Whiterun - what happened to him is a quest line in its own right. Whiterun Citizens fills in all the remaining houses that don't have interiors yet and adds the missing citizens. That is, it adds quests that allow you to rescue them from whatever predicament took them away from Whiterun. A bit like what I did with Elden Root in Valenwood, but here the story of each missing citizen is different. Fortunately, it isn't the whole town that's missing!

The third quest line covering Whiterun is that of Ysgramor's Companions. They too are missing, and that too is a quest line in itself. So I'll be working on these three quest lines next, starting with the citizens as this one is the most self-contained one, while the Jarl and Companions quest lines will be linked to others within the Main Quest - stuff that isn't developed yet.

Wow, you've been a busy wolf!

This year I decided not to repeat the error of last year - not to put too much stuff into one release. Great idea! And then I decided to implement a Main Quest.

Ok, so I already got a whole new island out of the way, and now I figured I'd do all those "few" new settings that would be required for the various subquests of the Main Quest. Riiiight... The "Castles" module as I dubbed it, has:

- 1 new special cave system
- 1 dynamic labyrinth with moving walls
- 9 brand new castles to be used in quests, complete with NPCs, factions, etc.
- 3 interiors of castles that previously existed as shells only (Sky Haven Temple, High Hrothgar, Dragonsreach) - all with special purposes, new NPCs, etc.
- 3 new manor houses (coach inns)
- 2 very large bridges (everything is large in Tex... Skyrim)
- 6 new coach houses
- 14 house interiors for Whiterun (and NPCs to live there)
- 4 major new roads, several smaller new roads to connect to new places and connect in general
- coach travel throughout Skyrim
- an updated map
- smaller things like Dragon Word Walls and Dragon Burial Sites, possibly even with dragons, but that would be telling

Plus, I also decided that now is the time to decouple Hammerfell, High Rock and Skyrim from each other, which means nothing to the player, but is a big deal for someone like me who is building Skyrim. At present it is mastered on those three province mods (TWMP Skyrim Improved is the basis on which my mod stands), but there is no good reason to have Hammerfell and High Rock as masters as well, other than it is really difficult to separate them at this point... Which is why I obviously had to do it. Well. Not quite like that, but it was driving me nuts and driving my PC out of memory.

So I've done it. Split them up. Whether or not it trickles down to Nexus I don't know, since those mods are not mine, but I've done it in such a way that my mod is not mastered on them, yet can be used with them without issues. Makes it easier for me to develop, but makes little difference in game, unless those other mods are updated as well. It should help with performance if that happens, although by how much I am not sure. It is all the same content, but we will be able to share resources which hopefully will use less memory. May be.

Of course if the other mods are in fact updated, you will be able to have Skyrim without Hammerfell and High Rock, and there you'd save a few GB in memory resources. There's that.

So this module takes some time to build, and I have no screenshots yet, but will post some over the weekend.