[WIP] Forbidden Legend + more without joining College

[RuinsFate]

So I'm beginning work on a mod to allow completion of Forbidden Legend, No Stone Unturned, and the collection of Shout Words and Dragon Priest masks without ever having to join the College. I'm trying to do so with minimal disruption of the College questline itself, so rather than alter it or the locations directly, I'm moving the rewards it locks away into more accessible locations.

 

This is the inital list of things I need to move, and where I plan to put them. If anyone can think of better ideas, or possible problems with these plans, I'd like to hear them - best to know about them in advance before they become a problem.

 

From Saarthal:

Jyrik Gauldursun + Staff + Writ (I actually plan to do this by moving them to a different NPC, and a bit of renaming, to reduce the impact on the college quest and its scripting): To either Silverdrift Lair or Shriekwind Bastion (Has no existing unique boss)

Word Wall for Ice Form, probably as an external wall in either Hag Rock Redoubt or Silver Moons Camp. (Nordic Ruins with no Word Wall)

 

From Labyrinthian:

Morokei + Mask (Again, by new NPC and some renaming): To Ancient's Ascent (Similar to Shearpoint, Dragon + Priest, why not?)

Word Wall for Slow Time, to Anvilsund (Has no Word Wall)

Ancient Helmet of the Unburned, to Sunderstone Gorge (Place is full of fire traps, seems thematic enough)

I don't plan to move the spellbook for Equilibrium, since it's a Mage-y reward, seems more logical for it to stay, especially since its internal name is dunLabyrinthianSpellReward.

 

From the Arch-Mage's Quarters:

1x Stone of Barenziah - since I plan to provide a way into the college that doesn't involve joining, I think I'll move this down into the college library, on Urag gro-Shub's desk.

Edited August 29, 2013 by Sophisa

[RuinsFate]

Progress so far:

 

-Solved the "enter the college" problem, probably in the least subtle way possible - removing the lock on the door. I tried tinkering with Faralda to make her open the door, but doing so without triggering latter stages of MG01 First Lessons proved to be a royal headache. Sadly, it seems this hackjob method of entry only works on new games that haven't been to Winterhold yet. If anyone knows a way to improve this I'll be glad to hear it.

 

-Successfully moved the Stone of Barenziah. Also works fine with bruce142's altered Thieves Guild questline, as far as I can tell :smile:

 

-Moved the Helmet

Edited August 30, 2013 by Sophisa

[RuinsFate]

Could do without the CK's insistence that my refs are not unique when they are. Something about removing vanilla refs makes it throw a wobbly. I dunno. Seems to work in game though?

 

(That or I've done something amateurish and overlooked something. Possible.)

Edited August 30, 2013 by Sophisa

[RuinsFate]

BTW, I would *love* a volunteer or few to test this when I'm done. :D

[RuinsFate]

Okay, started reading over Jyrik. Looks like it shouldn't be too hard to replace a levelled draugr boss with a clone of him, minus the barrier effects.

 

If a more experienced quest modder than I reads this, please double check my thought process:

 

Rename existing Jyrik and leave him otherwise intact, so the mage guild quest does not need to be altered

Create new Jyrik, with copies of his abilities so he fights similarly, but minus the super barrier he gets (Without being in saarthal, there's no way to remove it)

It looks like the writ and the amulet fragment are added to him by the quest script, not his own inventory, so I need to alter those references to point to my new clone Jyrik

Alter the Forbidden Legend quest markers to point to him and his new location, instead of the old Jyrik.

By rights, this should unhook Forbidden Legend from Saarthal without disrupting the college quest.

 

Trying to reverse engineer quests for the first time is really making me feel like an amateurish hack. Good challenge tho. :confused:

Edited August 30, 2013 by Sophisa

[RuinsFate]

Bloody hell does doing this make me appreciate modders more. I'm just re-engineering stuff that's already there and it's complicated enough for me. Really gives me a lot more respect for people who can actually fully build something from new. :thumbsup:

[Sheenus]

Perchance, are you still working on this? I had an inkling to see how difficult it would be to move Jyrik Gauldurson elsewhere than Saarthal (So as to be able to complete Forgotten Legend on my warrior w/o having to do the guild questline), but this is a far more complete and, I would guess, far more needed mod idea; I'd like to at least pick up where you left off if you've discontinued this, or assist however i can if you're still working on it.

I hear PC users complain about the forced nature of some questlines for access to other quests, and if someone could do a good job of liberating the player from some of those restrictions, I know I would consider it a godsend, and I'd guess I'd not be the only one.

 

I might get started on my own fesability analysis of moving Jyrik out of saarthal until I get a reply.

[JonSnowXXI]

Was this mod ever finished? Would love to use it, I wanna try a character who will kill all the Dragon Priests, but having to complete the College quest just to do that (the Gauldur quest too) would destroy that character's story.