Bismarck

Adding greetings is possible and if the dialogue system can check your rank to spit out the appropriate greeting, it is most likely possible to check other flags. NPCs in Morrowind could react to your clothings' value (funny if it was 0), rank in several guilds, race and so on. Therefore, it should be possible to make a proper mod for Skyrim which checks your status with several guilds and suggests a proper greeting. One problem remains though: where to get the voice files from? We need different speakers for all the races and genders. If it's not done by Skyrim's speakers, it will sound a bit awkward when an NPC greets you with a new greeting and then starts speaking with another voice. That's why I'm not a fan of voiced dialogue -> trouble for modders.

A good idea. A little bit of variety never hurts and creating new armours is something lots of modders can do. Suitable armour types for Skyrim's climate might be cuir bouillie, chainmal, plate, studded leather. If possible, add a hide cloak or cape to protect the wearer from the low temperatures.

Worth a try. It won't look too pretty, but it should be possible to add a bow which looks like a glove and arrows looking like throwing weapons.

I'm curious if Skyrim is actually able to level up NPC companions and to influence their perks/stats. Probably not. I bet the only one able to level up NPCs is that damn level scaling function. Hopefully, a modder might be able to turn Skyrim into a proper RPG so that you can hire several companions and choose their equipment, stats and perks. A child apprentice is an interesting idea. A mage/alchemist could teach his apprentice and in return, the apprentice collects herbs, creates some potions, goes shopping for you and so on. A knight could hire a squire. If children can't fight in Skyrim, maybe they will at least be able to hold some equipment, so the knight can carry around more loot. Again, shopping and polishing his master's equipment might be possible. A thief could turn a child into a little swindler. The child goes into a town, cuts some purses and when it is finished, you get some money.

I'd love to see a more realistic armor and weapon damage system. Mount & Blade had a Realistic Combat Mod made by a guy called Ron Losey who changed the values of all weapons and armours to be more realistic. Afterwards, plate armour offered excellent protection (there is a reason why knights ran around with plate armour, but many games tend to ignore this fact) and in order to quickly kill a guy in plate armour, you had to use proper weapons like crossbows, maces, picks, axes, morningstars etc. Skyrim needs an improved, more tactical armour and weapon damage system. Light armour should allow you to be quick and evasive while heavy armour offers excellent protection but decreased movement/evasion/sneaking. Maybe some perks need to be adjusted. The material of weapons/armours also has to be taken into consideration. An iron shortsword should not be able to penetrate plate armour, but a daedric shortsword might be able to do so. Of course, balance needs to be maintained so that non-melee characters (mages, thieves) can still be deadly, but that should be possible. Spells probably ignore armour, summons can distract the enemy and poisonous weapons in combination with distraction spells (paralyze, charm) allow thieves to kill heavy armoured opponents.

How does woodcutting work? You need a woodcutter axe, you go to the tree stump and extract resources 3 times. What happens then? Can you reuse the stump after several days have passed? If not, then we have to think about a way to change that. Maybe there is a respawn flag for the tree stump and if not, we might be able to add a respawn script. Should be possible.

No problem. I too am no expert, but I have toyed around with previous versions of the Construction set and I guess I know some of the additions that might be possible. I would try a lore-friendly approach. Floating magical islands are an interesting idea for a total conversion (complete with magical airships and flying carpets), but I would suggest to look for a nice spot in Skyrim where a settlement can be added. It should not be located to close to other cities as this would conflict with several mods that are going to increase the size of Skyrim's "cities" by adding more farms and houses to the outskirts. A spot near the ocean or a river would be advisable. Alternatively, a small island could be created. Unfortunately, the Elder Scrolls AI is very primitive, which leads to a lot of trouble. I remember that my guards in Oblivion where too stupid to go to bed. Instead, they slept while standing guard!I think the Skyrim AI is only capable of moving NPCs around the world and setting their animations (idle animations, mining, woodcutting etc.) exactly like in Oblivion. You can also define their combat behaviour (block percentage etc.). However, advanced features like in X will most likely be not possible. It's possible to send an NPC to a location. He will go there independent of the player's whereabouts. NPCs can also follow another NPC or the player. It is also possible to move them around via a number of waypoints. You can also order them to wait at a specific location, so you can do something else without an NPC following you. For escorting missions, "follow player" is sufficient. Hopefully, the NPCs won't magically disappear like in Oblivion where I have "lost" my two warrior monk companions. It should be checked if it is possible to fast travel with NPCs and to use transportation and teleportation with followers (someone will eventually make a mark and recall spell). A very good question. Oblivion had some issues with updating the behaviour of NPCs. After having slept/waited several hours of ingame time, NPCs moved later as defined to a specific location or locked/unlocked the stores too late. Let's see if they fixed the Skyrim AI to respect their daily schedule. I too am curious about the new Creation Kit. Hopefully, it will be not as restricted as the Construction Set, but Bethesda is not known to be as cooperative as Taleworlds. The latter company has added possibilities simply to make the modders happy (like firearms, firearms animations and an inactivated firearms skill). Bethesda usually restricts the addition of new animations, magic effects and so on. Let's just wait for the CK. Ever played the Morrowind mod Erengard Mine? It allows you to run a mine. Several workers can be hired: Miners need a pick and create daily profit. The money is added into a small money chest which you can plunder. The foreman handles buying food and drinks. You can also do that yourself by adding edible items and booze into the appropriate storage crates. Guards prevent miners from stealing some of your profit. For this Skyrim mod, resources should be created instead of money. The resources can then be sold/exported or refined. For example, iron ore can be turned into an iron ingot thus allowing a smith to produce weapons and armours. Let's hope it's possible to move resources from one container into another to simulate the transportation of resources. I'm already thinking about the mod. It is quite easy to create upgradeable stores/mines/houses. Enable/Disable flags in combination with quest progress IDs will take care of that. Updating AI packages is possible and the features of the Erengard Mine (and the Balmora clothier + the Caldera smithy which allowed you to sell items that you have put into a container) can most likely be added to Skyrim.

I'm sure that when the Creation Kit is finally released, ideas like floating airships and a castle in the sky (reminds me of Zenithia from Dragon Quest and a Miyazaki anime movie) will be possible. Morrowind had the private mobile base, a floating base that could be moved around the world by going to the control room and pressing a button. I'm thinking about a magical kingdom in the sky, living on a set of floating islands (Zeal Kingdom from Chrono Trigger) which can be accessed via teleporters or maybe with the help of an airship. That's not very lore-friendly, but it would be interesting to play such a mod.

In Oblivion, it was possible to resurrect people via console, but this lead to an AI problem. Perhaps the AI package was deactivated and needs to be updated again? Respawning people via their ID might be a good way to take care of that problem. Did someone test it?

In Elder Scrolls games, containers usually belong to a person (if it's not you, then using the container is illegal) and there is a flag that allows the chest to respawn after a while thus overwriting the stuff you have put into it. Player houses use special containers that belong to the player and which do not respawn. Also, most dungeon cells reset after a certain time meaning that the enemies respawn. If you really want a cave as hideout, use the Creation Kit to alter an existing cave or to create a new one. That shouldn't be too difficult and can be quickly learned if you've never modded before.

I guess increasing the limit can be changed with the help of the Creation Kit. At least 6 per stump (Harvest Moon standard) should be possible.

I'd rather fear the chicken going for my blood:

What about this: you stumble upon a badly guarded caravan of the East Empire Trading Company which wants to establish a trading outpost. When you meet them, they are being ambushed by an enemy (hostile nords, monsters or even a dragon?) and you decide to help them (you join the East Empire Trading Company and you will rise in rank). After killing the enemies, the company begs you to help them and offer you money and economical privileges for your services. You accompany them to a perfect spot for the creation of the outpost (the location should be appropriate: access to sea and the street network). The settlement starts with a fire, several tents, materials, people and carriages. You need to locate some resources to build the first stage of the headquarters: wood should suffice for the first phase. Therefore, you're sent out to accompany some woodcutters which are looking for suitable trees in the nearby forest. They will start cutting trees and transporting the lumber to the headquarters. The spot in the woods will develop to a woodcutter camp. Afterwards, the settlement needs some housing for the people, a stable, a simple dock and perhaps some other stuff. You are sent out to find some locations for basic resources (wood, stone, metal, food) and after having located them, people start building camps, farms and so on. There is a lot to do and the player could help in many ways like escorting, scouting, negotiating with lords and towns etc. The trading outpost will grow into a small settlement with sturdier buildings and several people. Guards will be hired to protect the companies' property and patrols will patrol the nearby outskirts. When the headquarters and the first resource locations are up and running, the company wishes to expand. This should allow you to open facilities all over Skyrim. In the end, you will have a high rank in the company with several privileges, the headquarters will be a thriving and well protected settlement with housing and service buildings, a harbor, stables and more. The camps will be filled with workers and administrative personal. All of this should be doable with the Creation Kit. Placing buildings into the world and connecting them with enable/disable flags is quite easy. Creating the interiors is also easy work every amateur modder can perform. Fleshing out the story, writing the dialogs, recording voices and scripting is more challenging. I don't know if it is possible to implement an advanced trading system with resource production, transportatin, several costs, wages and income from export and sales, but brilliant modders have achieved a lot which was supposed to be impossible in the past. Indeed, this is very useful and decreases pain for the average user, but something like that needs good coordination between the modders. There needs to be a proper platform for communication between modders, mod requests, mods in progress and maintaining as much compatibility as possible. Forums are good for discussion, but the more stuff is added, the more difficult it is to find something. Also, bigger mod packages (one mod to fix game errors and grammar, one mod pack with appropriate textures for the landscape, one mod with appropriate textures for weapons/armours, one mod taking care of crafting etc.) are very convenient for users. It's painful to look for thousands of mods that should have been combined in the first place. Hopefully, the modders will cooperate and communicate as much as possible to improve the game and the usability.

A modder managed to add mounted combat to Oblivion. It was not as convenient and good-looking as the combat system from Mount&Blade, but it did work. Maybe that guy will remake his mod for Skyrim.

Putting the shield onto the back is a standard feature in Mount&Blade, but not in Skyrim. Only the release of the Creation Kit will show us if it is possible, but I doubt it.

Most likely illegal. However, I bet the modders can create new and better looking throwing weapons. Morrowind is a little bit outdated in terms of graphics. Making them workable is a bit tricky. Usually, everything is hardcoded by Bethesda, so it is impossible to add new weapon types, but maybe the Creation Kit will have some nice surprises?

It should be possible to add polearms (spears, pikes, halberds, bills, glaives). However, I don't know if it is possible to add them as seperate weapons with unique animations and perks. Due to the fact that Bethesda has made this game, it won't be possible. There is another option which has worked in Oblivion: just add them and use the in-game animations that look best. The add the reach bonus to polearms is definitely possible.

Rebuilding Helgen should be possible, but transforming it into a city might be a bit inappropriate for such a small village. That's better left for Winterhold Rebuilt.

A brilliant idea. I really love economical mods and in my oppinion, more complexity is better. Give us guards, staff, thugs and greedy jarls. What about the East Empire Trading Company? Are they active in Skyrim and if yes, do they like competition? Or should you be able to join them and they allow you to build certain ressource gathering camps and workshops in the name of the company? Resources can be gathered, imported and exported. There was a mod in Morrowind which allowed people to buy/sell resources by interacting with a book. Resources not available in Skyrim have to be imported. For example, Skyrim doesn't look like it would be able to grow grapes which are needed to press wine. Workshops sell the finished products to the townfolk (if it is located near a settlement) or you have to transport it to the market or you can export it to other provinces. Resource gathering buildings: mining camps (metals and gems, depending on the unclaimed mines that are available) wood cutter camps and foresters (depending on the trees that grow nearby) farms (all kind of crops) ranches (domestic animals) hunters and rangers (hunting non-domestic animals) tanner (creates leather from hides) salt refinery (produces salt from sea water) pearl farm (produces pearls - if it still exists in Skyrim) fish farm (produces fish - if that type of food exists in Skyrim) apiary (produces honey) brewery (mead, ale, wine) bakery (bread, sweetrolls etc.) furniture workshop (produces and sells furniture) etc.

I really like this idea. Here are some ideas of my own: The order consists of warriors (paladins) and mages (clerics). Paladins focus on combat with a little bit of restoration magic while clerics specialize on restorating, protection and "smite evil" magic if that's possible. AI packages should reflect that. There could be even more diversty by creating a heavily armored paladin with mace and shield to hold the line, a shock palading with armour and warhammer to kill the enemy as fast as possible. One type of cleric should specialize in healing and protection while the other one attacks the enemy with holy magic (which unfortunately doesn't exist in the TES magic system. Maybe with the help of the Creation Kit?). Possible ranks for paladins: squire, knight, paladin, paladin captain, grand paladin Possible ranks for clerics: layman, brother, cleric, priest, bishop Paladins should get more aggressive, combat-oriented quests while clerics specialize in more supportive quests. The order should have a nice headquarter and maybe 1 or 2 chapters. Would be great if they get updated as the story progresses. Those chapters need rooms for the staff, a stable, some laymen gathering resources and some craftsmen offering services. Maybe building one of the chapters from scratch would be an interesting questline. You need money, recruits, craftsmen, staff, materials and so on. As a higher ranking member, you should be able to recruit followers to help you in your quests. The order of Stendarr needs some appropriate armour. There used to be a mod with knight order armours made be Jeremy McGuinn, but he only completed 6 out off 9 orders. A possible source of inspiration? Idea for architecture: http://www.counterfrag.com/screenshots/warlords%20battlecry%20III/02.jpg That's the knight order from Warlords: Battlecry 3. I love that round architecture. Not only is it attractive, but it could also be associated with the round table philosophy.

That's what OpenMW has to say: Do I need Morrowind? Yes… You must legally own and install Morrowind before you can use OpenMW as it is intended – to play Morrowind. OpenMW is a reimplementation of the technical aspects of the game only. It does not come with any “content” – namely the art, game data, and other copyrighted material that you need to play the game as designed by Bethesda Softworks. You have to provide this content yourself by installing Morrowind and then configuring OpenMW to use the existing installation. If you don’t own currently Morrowind, seriously consider buying it. It’s worth every penny even if it’s no longer a “new” game. At the time of the last update of this FAQ, Morrowind was available from Steam for a mere $5. I don't know if that is illegal or not and frankly, I don't care. I want to have a modern Morrowind with advanced modding capabilities, because Oblivion sucks big time, Skyrim too has a dumbed down RPG system and I don't know of any other good open world RPGs. If Bethesda is unable to make a proper RPG game, then it's up to the modders to create alternatives. They can and they have already have done so in the case of Cyrodiil in TES IV. They dropped the lore in favor of a more mainstream world. TES IV looks like a LotR rip-off. Hopefully, at least Tamriel Rebuilt will stay true to the lore when they create the province of Cyrodiil.

I guess a good transportation network consisting of carriages and boats would also make live easier for adventurers. If a modder manages to implement dragon riding, then I would favor this option.

In Oblivion, there were AI packages dealing with combat behavior. They allowed you to define blocking percentage, movement, use of magic etc. So we have to wait for the Creation Kit to create clerics and the like to aid us in battle. Hopefully, this will also allow us to increase the number of companions and summons that can follow us.

Morrowind does have Mark & Recall, Divine Intervention and Almsivi Intervention. Good old times.

That's Bethesda. I bet the next TES game will only have 2 weapon types (sticks and stones) and 1 kind of armor (hide)... Crossbows are a must. They are way stronger and more precise than shabby bows. I'd also would like to get back the throwing weapons which existed in Morrowind. How are you supposed to play a ninja without shuriken? Now that sounds cool. 2 small pistol-crossbows to quickly kill some evil guys.