Orc Hearthfire, Help me with the story part Options

[mALX]

I saw that too, ghastley! Congrats! Seems you have arrived now!

Arrived? No way, Ghastley has been an extremely highly respected modder on Nexus for a looooong time.

[ghastley]

I may have to put out an update to this, as it might conflict with the Argonian one. It appears that both mods can't make the same change to the story manager node for the Making Friends event, and I need to do it a different way. I'm not sure if I can do that only in one of the two, or if they'll both have to do it the same way.

Orc Hearthfires updates the number of quests to start on a ChangeRelationshipRank event to two, so that the quest that counts Hold favours can update, as well as the one for my Orc favours. When I did the same for the Argonian mod, I discovered that both mods set the value to two, but I'd need three! So I may have to set the Shared Event flag instead, as that doesn't imply a specific number of quests. The game will just keep going down the list until it find a non-shared one. My concern is that someone else's mod could add a non-shared node in between, and break the chain.

[mALX]

I was wondering how you avoid conflicts if you want to achieve the same results as a game quest (like developing friendship or getting a note or a random re-occurring quests like the book retrievals in the college) - and then not conflict with other mods too ... Gaaaaah!

[ghastley]

The conflict between Orc and Argonian Hearthfires may be a false one that shows in TesVEdit, but isn't a real one, but I still have a potential problem with duplicate dialog at the Lumber Mills if both are installed.

However, on the positive side, I've almost cured Uzi of taking her clothes off if you give her a dress she can't wear. All that's left to clear up is an unused pair of human shoes in her inventory, which might just get ignored.

[mALX]

The conflict between Orc and Argonian Hearthfires may be a false one that shows in TesVEdit, but isn't a real one, but I still have a potential problem with duplicate dialog at the Lumber Mills if both are installed.

However, on the positive side, I've almost cured Uzi of taking her clothes off if you give her a dress she can't wear. All that's left to clear up is an unused pair of human shoes in her inventory, which might just get ignored.

I'd have ignored the stripping issue too, how funny! (and fun!)

[Grits]

I don’t think I’d know if Uzi had unused shoes in her inventory. I’m glad she’s cooperating and keeping her orc clothes on!

Good luck with the dialog issue. As ever I’m following your reports with great interest but without a clue.

[ghastley]

The released version of Uzi is now an optional file for Orc Hearthfires on the Nexus

There's code in the script that reverts her outfit that should ensure the regular child shoes don't build up in her inventory, so I won't worry about catching each pair.

[mALX]

The released version of Uzi is now an optional file for Orc Hearthfires on the Nexus

There's code in the script that reverts her outfit that should ensure the regular child shoes don't build up in her inventory, so I won't worry about catching each pair.

Oh, she is a child! No wonder you wanted her to keep her clothes on! But that really is just like a child, if you give them some thing they don't want to wear they will refuse to wear anything,

[Grits]

Yay, thank you, ghastley!

[ghastley]

Coming back to this one to resume work on the Wise Woman.

The original location for the cave entrance to her temple ruin was not a good one, as the rocks weren't really tall enough to cover the back of the entrance mesh. I found a better one on an obscure pass NE of High Hrothgar, on the Throat of the World mountain. You can get there on a trail past the Stormcloak camp, and the other end of the trail joins the one that zig-zags up past Lost Knife Hideout towards Iverstead. There's nothing along that trail at all in the un-modded game. It's a bit hard to follow in the usual blizzard, unless you're going NE.

I'm currently expanding the interior cells to provide a bit of opposition on the way to find her. Lots of cluttering still to do, and minor loot to place. She'll still need voice acting, but I think I can keep it down to one unique voice, which may make it viable. If I add a smith later, I believe he can use existing dialog only.

This post has been edited by ghastley: Apr 6 2016, 07:48 PM

[ghastley]

I've added some more clutter to the Nordic ruin, called Hervik's Lair, where you'll find the Wise Woman. I still need a lot more.

After that, I have to wire up the traps to their triggers, add all the draugr spawns, put in the room bounds, nav-mesh the entire dungeon,and create the scene where she destroys the mask. Not much, really.

I'm having problems, too, making this esp dependent on the main one. Esmifying doesn't seem to do all I expected in the CK, and I want to determine why before I waste time building something broken. So I'm concentrating on the stand-alone stuff, and leaving the connections to last. Those include things like providing AI packages for sleeping in the hut, enabling statues of Malacath and Dibella in there, and making the quest to find her depend on the stronghold build.

[ghastley]

More clutter added, more still to go. Added a temporary auto-generated nav-mesh in case I run through with a follower. I'll replace that with a hand-generated one later. There are levelled draugr in place to obstruct you from getting the key to the final chamber.

Next job is putting the Yarob encounter part together. She needs to start hostile, and then yield and destroy the mask on bleedout. I should be able to clone a lot from the Moth Priest in Dawnguard for that (apart from the mask bit).

As usual, my test character is developing a taste for adventuring, and has already become Arch-mage.

[Grits]

Great progress, ghastley! Too funny about your ‘test’ character. I’m trying to picture a diagram of how a test character from one of your mods leads to another mod with a new test character, who decides she needs a different thing that can only come from a mod, which needs to be tested…

[ghastley]

The one who revived Orc Hearthfires was started to check out UUNP bodyslide stuff. Then she wanted to build a stronghold, and nudged me to get back to the wise woman.

Meanwhile, I have a pair of Bosmers waiting for me to be inspired for their home. I'm still looking for no-wood furnishings that they'd like.

(And I have to avoid Argonians in case they think of anything new for Illinalta Den.)

[ghastley]

Work has started on the quests for the mod add-on.

The kicker quest will be triggered by the player levelling up after building the complete WW hut, including bed, and both crafting stations, AND the double bed in the long-house. That should ensure the player doesn't need to use the bed in the hut as their own. A courier will deliver a letter from Atub at Largashbur, who will ask the player character to search for her niece Yarob, who went looking for Hervik's tomb.

Reading the letter will start the main quest to find her. The two-cell lair is just about built and cluttered, and just needs spider webs, mist effects etc. added. It has various traps, and functions as a regular dungeon before the quest is started. There's a locked door to the room containing Yarob, whose key will only exist (held by the dungeon boss) when it's running. Encounter zone, boss marker and all the required keywords are in place to make this radiant-friendly. The location will reset if you cleared it before the quest was started.

I still need to script the fight with Yarob, which is mainly just faction-switching and enable/disable player controls when needed, and the destruction of the mask. I'm looking for a good existing effect for that. She'll use flames and sparks together (one in each hand) to do so.

I'm debating whether to make her a follower who offers to become WW when taken to the Stronghold (as in the steward dialogue in Hearthfires, or to have her become WW right away. The hut gets extra clutter (statuettes, ingredients, personal items) when she moves in. Malacath statuette doubles as cure shrine. Dibella is just ornamental. Still trying to decide on an appropriate "blessing" from Malacath.

[ghastley]

More progress:

Levelling up with all required furniture in place starts the courier. Reading the letter from Atub starts the quest to find Yarob, and marks your map.

I need to build a leveled list of masks to buff Yarob appropriately so she's a challenging opponent, but not an overpowered NPC once she destroys the mask. I figure putting all the buffs on the mask will do that best.

Letting her be a follower complicates the decor changes back at the stronghold, so I'm abandoning that idea.

I've adapted the script for the Dexion fight for her, and just have to sync it up with the overall quest. Still need to create the mask-destruction scene.

[Grits]

Sounds like great progress. For the blessing, something with Stamina and/or disease resistance maybe? Or a boost to damage or magicka resistance? I think of orcs as being hardy.

[SubRosa]

For the blessing, how about something that boosts the Orc's Berserker Rage ability? Either granting an extra use for day, or extending its duration, or increasing it to doing triple damage, etc... Granted, it would be no use to non-orcs. But this is Orc Hearthfire after all.

Or grant a new version of the Rage ability, separate from the Orc Racial one. That way non-Orcs would get it too, and it would allow Orcs to use it as well as their natural Berserker Rage. That would give them two Rages in one day.

[ghastley]

SubRosa, I like that idea, but I don't think it's possible to grant a single-use ability. That's what scrolls are for.

All the other blessings increase something, typically a skill, from the moment you get it, for an extended period (mostly 8 hours, but a couple of them last for 12), so I'm really looking for an appropriate skill. Boethia's gives one-handed, so maybe Malacath's should be two-handed. That would mesh nicely with Hulking out, so I think I may go with that, and using both mods together would be enhanced.

[Grits]

If you’re thinking of a single-use blessing, the All-Maker Stones in Solstheim grant powers that can be used once and then need to be reacquired at a stone to use again. There might be a clue in the CK in their records or in the Summon Karstaag power you gain from defeating him (which could be three different single-use powers all given at the same time).

A Two-Handed boost would also be most welcome!