Hulk, A separate thread just because.. Options

[ghastley]

Since this really has nothing to do with Orc Hearthfires, I'll start a new thread for it.

Right now, I'm just exploring the option of the character being able to change into a big green muscled Hulk creature instead of into a Werewolf, or Vampire Lord. I'm still undecided whether to make it a mod that anyone can use, or just a private thing for my own use, but the discoveries I make in the process are likely to be worth sharing.

To get there, I'm playing the before and after characters as two separate games, to sort out the meshes and outfits, and check out the viability of each configuration. At some point, I'll clone the power from the base game for the transformation. I'll need a bit of back-story for how the player gets the power (probably from Malacath, since you essentially turn into a big Orc). The Orc one will also get used to test Orc Hearthfires, as that was the original intent for her!

In Oblivion, there were limits on the size range of characters beyond which they had problems. Too small, and they couldn't swim, because all characters floated at a fixed depth, and short ones had their heads under water. Too large, and they wouldn't go through doorways. You'd also see odd visual effects when sitting, as the origin of the skeleton was a point on the ground, not the seat, so short characters would sit below the seat, and tall one would hover. Skyrim seems to have fixed most of those, but I expect to find some new ones to take their place. It's not clear what side-effects size is intended to have. In OB, taller characters with longer legs ran faster, for example, and the racial bonuses for strength went along with larger size.

Although an oversized Orc could wear a variety of clothing/armor, I'd have to make that to fit, so I'm currently thinking the Hulk aspect would be a fixed outfit (like the WW and VL) with no option to change it. It would essentially be treated like a creature skin. That may be forced on me anyway when I adapt the scripts. However, I would like the base character to find herself wearing the same torn stuff when she changes back, which is different from the WW/VL scenario. She'll have everything in her inventory to change into, but the torn stuff will need special handling. It's kind of like the jail outfit in Oblivion, which is automatically equipped when the player is jailed.

The WW and VL have constraints balanced with enhancements, and it makes sense to do the same for the Hulk, probably closely matched to the werewolf ones: no spells, extra health and stamina, carrying capacity, and maybe boosted two-handed with a weapon auto-equipped to exploit it (since that is an Orc racial bonus). The weapon may be an issue, unless it's the source of the power? Like Thor's hammer in the comics - no transform unless equipped already.

I'm thinking at present that the quest that grants the power should require a character that's biased to magic, preferably with high alteration. That would make the no-magic aspect a better contrast, and add balance to the game play for a Hulker. The alteration requirement is just to help the transformation be credible.

For release as a mod, I'd need to allow both genders, and all races. Since it only requires two Hulk models, that's not a big deal, since I'm doing half of it anyway. But it would require me to put into code the restrictions that I can impose on my character without a mod.

Some questions:
Should the Hulk aspect cause an adverse reaction from the general public? Is Hulking out a crime?
What trade-offs other than spells for health/stamina should there be?
Should the transformation be controlled in both directions, or time out?

[ghastley]

Stop Press! Houston, we have green. Repeat, we have green. Thanks to SKSE.

Things I discovered: The basic skin colour is the first one stored, but my character had 34 more colours/textures recorded by the game, most of which had no effect on her appearance. Skin shade is type 6 (possibly that was an alphabetically order enumeration at one point, now it just appears arbitrary). Each colour/texture also has a value from 0 to 1 that controls how much it affects the result, most being saved as 0 (no freckles, no warpaint#1, etc.) That allows me to adjust those without adding to the array, as they're all already there. So I can change lip colour, add scars etc. if I wanted to do so.

I can create a Hulk race that has the human head with the Orc mouth, so she keeps her features while adding tusks. I haven't done this yet, as it also requires all body/head/clothing pieces to support the new race. That's just an update to the forms, but it needs thinking through for potential mod incompatibility issues, as I'd be changing existing forms, not just adding new ones.

Now the basic transform is working, I can start on the other pieces of the change, and the quest that adds the Power. The Werewolf change uses Abilities to give the player the fighting enhancements etc. but relies on disabling the menus to prevent anything being equipped. I'd like to allow the Hulk form to pick a weapon, but I need to trade the player's magicka for health and stamina while she's in Hulk form. So I'm thinking that the ability will damage magicka regen 100% and I'll ModAV her magicka down to zero. Using potions will put it back, but I'll ignore that for now, as it won't sustain magic combat unless the cost of spells is reduced a lot. If I save the magicka number before I zero it out, I can add half to each of the others.

I'm uncertain how to best apply a two-handed boost. There's a simple Fortify Two-handed, and also the perk bonuses to consider. I want to allow the player to train up Two-handed and benefit from that when in Hulk form, so it may get complex trying to ensure she doesn't already have the perks. I assume trying to fortify beyond 100 will do nothing, too. Preferably, the bonus to two-handed from hulking will be based on a magical skill, such as Alteration, rather than just her level, so it's possible to train for it.

When the hulk form times out, she'll be left with no magicka, but regen will turn back on with the removal of the Hulk ability. She'll still have the weapon equipped, but two-handed is unfortified. In most cases, that should mean retreat if she's still in combat when it happens.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Apr 2 2014, 03:01 PM