Argonian Hearthfires, because I might do it again. Options

[ghastley]

Darkwater Den is a great home, but it's too complete. My character Hot-Lips doesn't want to be reminded that she hasn't collected any of the Dragon masks, or claws, or paragons, or...

So she found the ruin at the bottom of the Eastern end of Lake Ilinata, and after clearing a bit of rubble, opened the door beneath it. There was a small ruin that just needed a bit more rubble moved out, and would be quite inhabitable.

I'll be stealing ideas from Arthmoor's Volkihar Castle cleanup, and using rubble piles as activators to clear rooms, except that I'll take it a bit further with the way they block the room, and there will be Hearthfire workbenches in the resulting empty rooms. You'll make the furniture in the same way, but you won't build the house, you'll just dig it out.

So far I have:
Underwater entrance to suit an Argonian.
Nice damp ambience, with roots and moss in the main living areas - greenish lighting.
Kitchen and Armory/Forge are clear of roots and moss and have regular yellow candlelight / orange forge glow.

Rooms are:

• Partially flooded passage with stairs up to entrance hall
• Entrance hall/dining room which connects to
  • Armory/forge
  • Kitchen
  • Bedroom (large enough for parents and kids)
• Bedroom connects to
  • Enchanting lab
  • Alchemy lab (with secret door to shore exit)
• Secret passage to shore exit.

The exit on shore is undecided - I'd like to use a large hollow tree to hide it.

I've connected to rubble and clutter in front of the underwater door to a parent marker which will all be disabled by the quest that gets you the ownership. I want to do something similar to the Orc one, where you do a number of "favor" quests for Argonians to deserve the home, as well as doing all the building, but I'm not sure there are enough of those. Rescuing Derkeethus, of course, but what else?

I haven't yet Nav-meshed the interior, or placed the log for the shore entrance. I still need to add a lot more clutter, including the bookshelves, weapon racks etc. that take so long to connect up. And I can't show you any screenshots until I get the new server built.

It turns out that there are only six available quests that will count. Three in Riften (not including From-Deepest-Fathoms!) and three in Windhelm docks. They include some theft, but no murders. I'm thinking only two needed this time, instead of the five for the Orc Stronghold, where a lot more were available, especially mining.

This post has been edited by ghastley: May 31 2015, 02:03 AM

[mALX]

I love the idea of the hollow tree exit a lot! It is unique, I haven't seen that in Skyrim. Also love the idea of questing and favors to earn the right to live there, so much more fun than an outright purchase.

When I first saw Arthmoor's idea of being able to pick up the rubble with Player activation - to me that was the greatest thing imaginable for roleplay! I was really excited about downloading that mod, but didn't do it after reading the comments page.

For some reason it was very buggy in his mod, I don't remember why (only that there were a lot of complaints on his comment page).

That really surprised me because Arthmoor most def beta tests his mods. (so not sure what the issue turned out to be).

But I have loved that idea since I heard it. This mod sounds Awesome!

[ghastley]

For some reason it was very buggy in his mod, I don't remember why (only that there were a lot of complaints on his comment page).

That really surprised me because Arthmoor most def beta tests his mods. (so not sure what the issue turned out to be).

I've used it, and it's not buggy. It can, and probably does, conflict with some other mods, but probably more relevant is that this is the mod he offered to Steam for the paid mods trial. He got a lot of bogus reports because of that.

Plus the rubble piles don't have flashing signs over them, so a lot of players had issues determining where to dig, and moaned about that. Some were the other side of a door from the rubble they cleared, although in the same cell, and there were two that were pillars, not piles. The only issue I had was that the floor piles used the wrong animation, due to a keyword error on the furniture.

There are weapon plaques that are too high for a short character to use, but that's because I went below the standard height using the RaceMenu mod. I'd have liked a few other things to be different, but they weren't wrong.

[mALX]

For some reason it was very buggy in his mod, I don't remember why (only that there were a lot of complaints on his comment page).

That really surprised me because Arthmoor most def beta tests his mods. (so not sure what the issue turned out to be).

I've used it, and it's not buggy. It can, and probably does, conflict with some other mods, but probably more relevant is that this is the mod he offered to Steam for the paid mods trial. He got a lot of bogus reports because of that.

Plus the rubble piles don't have flashing signs over them, so a lot of players had issues determining where to dig, and moaned about that. Some were the other side of a door from the rubble they cleared, although in the same cell, and there were two that were pillars, not piles. The only issue I had was that the floor piles used the wrong animation, due to a keyword error on the furniture.

There are weapon plaques that are too high for a short character to use, but that's because I went below the standard height using the RaceMenu mod. I'd have liked a few other things to be different, but they weren't wrong.

Aha, now that explains a lot! Thank you for explaining that, because those complaints are the whole reason I didn't download that mod - I wanted it, and loved the idea of cleaning up the house like that.

Thanks Ghastley!

Back to my own mod: I nav-meshed the area yesterday, and now Derkeethus follows.

I still need to add the complex items, like mannequins, bookshelves, weapon racks/plaques, that need a lot of pieces linked together. Then I have to make a list of items that can be constructed, and add keywords, inventory items, recipes for each of them, and finally adapt the scripts and fill in their properties. Since I've done all that once for the Orc version, I at least know how this time round. If I can remember the details, that is. I placed the log pile on the shore, and it has the same issue I started with on the Orc mod. It won't show the current log count, until I hook it up to a quest alias somehow.

There will be a few significant differences. Goat horns aren't needed at all, as the wall sconces and chandeliers are all nordic ruin style, and don't use them. The interior doors are all iron ones, that will need extra ingots instead of logs. You'll need a lot less clay, too, as there aren't any exterior walls to build, and only a few interior items (smelter, planters, oven) need it.

Still undecided is whether to allow furnishing to start before the whole space is cleared. There are six rooms and two entry/exit passages, and only the rooms will have rubble. I could allow furnishing a room to start after its own rubble is cleared, and all doors in place, or I could just enable the workbench for everything only after it's all clear. Keeping it simple is appealing, but letting the player choose not to have an enchanting lab by simply leaving the rubble is too. Of course, they can clear it, and just not furnish it, so it's not a strong argument that way.

I want the shore exit to be an entrance, too, so I have to experiment with a trigger to activate the door at that end. It will probably work like the rowboats, where there's a relay to the actual door which is hidden (below the ground right now). The door marker, which is where you arrive when you use the door, gets placed where it's needed, and isn't a constraint.

The idea of building your own home with raw materials is one I have been very excited about doing since I got Hearthfire, (but haven't gotten to try it out yet). I really love that you are putting so much for the Player to do in this mod, that makes it so much more fun for me.

I love all your plans for this mod, can't wait till you start showing screens of it!