pgir001

I think the CW arc is so broken that completing it is more immersion breaking than never touching it. So that's what I do.....or don't do. I leave the CW alone and never play the story through. As for my opinion on the best faction? Neither. Ulfric is right about The Empire, and the Empire is right about Ulfric. Both are terrible for Skyrim. Best faction? Have the LDB Swoop down on Dragonback during the moot and throw his own hat in the ring. (Bend Will helps here) Then as High King of Skyrim, take that new army complete with dragons and all, and fly south. Establish a new empire and don't stop until you raze the Aldmeri Dominion. Oh wait!, That option doesn't exist?.........Which way to the mod request threads?

Is it possible to set up a follower to respond to certain random dialog? I know that scenes can be set up where NPCs can speak to each other. But I am wondering if it's possible to have a follower respond to random dialog events like when a guard says "Let me guess, someone stole your sweetroll"? I know that Sofia has something like this, but her dialog are scripted, so I think that her dialog isn't actually random. It's hard to tell because they are scripted and lack the source files to see how it was done. Especially since I am trying to learn as I go. My gut is telling me, I'll still need a scene for it which means it will have to be forced and I won't be able to just wait for it to just happen naturally.

Similar thing happened to me too. I was low level and doing the radiant quests for the BOS out of the Cambridge PD and they sent me to Far Harbor to collect a piece of technology for the scribe. Except I wasn't really ready for Far Harbor.

The newly established local militia are starting to get a handle on the Commonwealth and the BOS shows up on their front doorstep in full force ready to impose their military might to force their values (right or wrong) on the citizens of the Commonwealth, as well as exploiting the land any technology they find, keeping it for themselves. BOS has no interest in attempting to ally with what should be the closest thing to the local military or sharing their stolen technology with anyone else. The word I use is "Invasion". BOS is KOS in my game. But this is typical of Bethesda's factions. I had this same conversation about Skyrim's Empire vs Stormcloaks. Bethesda creates factions. And the same arguments were made there. All factions are always seriously flawed. This is by design. They all tend to use the right words, but their actions do not line up with the words they use. In Skyrim, both factions were terribly bad for the future of Skyrim. It's the same in The Commonwealth. I mentioned my issue with BOS. The Institute is only interested in the advancement of science, not humanity. You can't advance or preserve humanity by committing atrocities against it. And as for "Father", At some point he should have gained enough influence to at least check on his mother and father in the Vault. She was shot and immediately frozen......was she really dead? Could she be saved from her injuries? Not like he ever bothered to find out. Plus he left both for dead in the Vault. As far as I am concerned, "My son" died with his mother. It's because he's "Institute" through and through. RR is helping Synths secretly integrate into the population. Not sure I see that as harmless. The MM probably have the most legit claim to the Commonwealth, but as the Sole Survivor, I do find it irritating that I was given the title of "General" without knowing that it really meant "General Errand Boy" "Go clear out a settlement while I sit here in this already heavily fortified, well defended, fully established, comfortable settlement and listen for word of your deeds." (Now I see why you went from 20 to 5) At the end of the day, the player must choose the faction that he or she sees as the lesser of evils.

Yeah, I see that. It looks like she has links to things elsewhere and I can't find them. I hate the idea of giving up on Lydia's intro. I'll spend a little more time digging in CK for her references, but I've been at this a week already and have zero to show for it.

1st off, I have to admit, I've never done anything like this before. I didn't really think this was that ambitious, but I am really struggling to get this to work. I've been following as many tutorials on force greets, packages and alias references as I can find,but what I am trying to do, looks really messed up by Bethesda. Meaning, it's very clear, how they implemented it was not their original intent. The mod I want to create is intended to change how the player 1st encounters Lydia. I wanted to have a sort of progression. My thought was to drop her in Dragonsreach in MQ102 with a hold marker similar to Irileth's having her actually there participating in the discussion about Helgen. As a housecarl, she should be there. When the player hit's the trigger at the base of the stairs, I would have her move to the player at the same time irileth does and she'd say "You're not supposed to be here!" when Irileth says What's the meaning of this" Let the scene play out normally from there. And then when the player is sent to the Barrow, I was going to have Balgruuf say something like "And take Lydia" and she'd be a temp follower like the way the companions do it. And once the dragon was killed at the tower, I could have her say something like "Head up, I'm right behind you" and then disable her there, and let MQ104 just pick up normally from there as if she'd just getting back at that point. However, Looking at her vanilla spawn, she's in a function in the script attached to MQ104. Where she is enabled there and moves to her marker which is also enabled in that same function. So I thought that by assigning her at a different marker for MQ102, it shouldn't be a problem, and yet, the second she's enabled, she heads right to that marker and then turns to force greet the player with her housecarl dialog. But the player isn't a thane yet. I found that dialog isn't even tied to MQ104, but the house Purchase quest. I guess Bethesda initially planned to have her waiting in Breezehome. I put a condition on her force greet package requiring MQ104:160 to be completed. Now she won't even appear in Dragon's reach where I dropped her. So, clearly, her markers and packages are all active before the function in MQ104 triggers them. What's worse, and I have no clue about this, When I went back to test her, I did it from my discussion with Alvor in Riverwood, and I saw Whiterun guards all patrolling Riverwood. I didn't touch their markers or packages, but somehow they must be tied to Lydia. Does anyone have any familiarity with this?

I had issues with her like this in Oldrim It was due to using - My Home is Your Home by Allie1718 (It's ok to have it, just don't use it on her)

I saw the video on the Arcane Archery bug. But you know......I wasn't all that upset about it. Assuming the issue is addressed and corrected. As I said above, I think Bethesda want's to find the balance and they will work to that end. Many modders want to be able to make money from their work and Bethesda want's to support this. So Who are we to stand in that way? But (.......HUGE "BUT" here.) I, most likely will never pay for a mod. I just don't think they are worth it. Most aren't worth money. in fact looking at Nexus, over 50K mods in Skyrim, how many of those are garbage? The vast majority are crap. Or were created for "another" purpose associated with that "other" mod site. Not to mention the frustration of buying them only to find some don't play well with others.

A believable start would have been something like a force greet. Like You touch (Activate) Serana's body in the monolith and she comes alive. She wakes up and and I would think she'd be in a frenzy to feed. Anyway, the 1st meeting between the 2 should have been hostile, but Lokil and more Vampires should not have been encountered yet and are still lurking around, Serana senses this and breaks off the fight and suggests a truce to get out of this.............. Or something along those lines.

I don't know why it's now bugging me now, I've played Oldrim so many times I can't even count anymore. But in my last SSE play-through, I have been paying more attention to immersion and quest dialog more than i did in the past. And this opening quest is truly unbelievable...if not unacceptable. I am sent into Dimhollow Crypt to stop the vampires from getting an "Ancient Vampire Artifact". Ive just fought my way through the cave killing vampire after vampire to get to this artifact. So what do I find? An ancient vampire with an artifact. Welp, let's just throw the whole vampire hunter on a mission thing out the window. "Hi , I'm a vampire with an Elder Scroll, Take me home and help me give this to my family so they can conquer Skyrim. BTW my name is Serana, nice to meecha." "uhhh-........OK" HUH??????????

This is my opinion and entirely subjective so take it for what it's worth. Look at what happened when Steam tried to implement paid for mods. Valve mishandled the entire implementation and execution and Bethesda stepped in and stopped it. Modding is very important to Bethesda, it's added a life to their games that isn't seen elsewhere. Much of the success of SSE alone is due in no small part to the modding of Skyrim over the years. Bethesda wants to capitalize on an untapped potential source of revenue. But they also know they need to be very careful and not muck it all up. Will they make mistakes? Sure, but I think they will correct them. As I said, they don't want to ruin what has made this very successful. I also believe that modders have the right to earn money on their work. With one major caveat. The mods need to be worthy of my money. Don't flip crap at me and think I'm gonna pony up for it. The vast majority of mods on Nexus and in Steam's Workshop aren't worth a dime. That said, I would like to express my biggest concern for the future of modding. Bethesda is not know for fixing their broken games. They have left this to the modders, who have stepped up and take on this responsibility. So, should Arthmoor be paid for his unofficial mod series? Absolutely! He's put a tremendous amount of effort into making the games playable. And these mods take a broken game and make them work. But, they aren't exactly "optional". So here is the dilemma. He's due money, I won't deny that. But not by me. I've paid for Skyrim and I expect it to work. I think it's wrong of Bethesda to shirk their responsibility to provide a working game onto the community and then allow that community to charge even more money after purchasing the title just to be able to actually play it. If they want Arthmoor to fix their game, then Bethesda needs to pay Arthmoor for this type of mod. Which I don't even really consider it a mod since it's not modding the game, but making it function at a basic level.

I loved that mod. One of the best Skyrim mods out there. But the problem with Rigmor, is that once her (massive) quest is done, and we get on to deal Alduin and the factions, she's just like every other Vanilla follower. Repeated canned dialog that has zero immersion.

I love the concept. I hate the execution. I like playing with multiple actors. When I play MMOs, I genreally go for pet based characters. In Skyrim, I love to us conjuration mods and play the "mastermind" type. So, The following wall of text is just my own opinion. Vanilla followers are terrible. Their dialog is poorly lacking, they have no immersion and very very little to reflect where you are and what you are doing. I generally, tab out of Lydia's force greet and never look back at her again. Same with the rest of Vanilla followers. Even with RDO. Serana is tolerable during DG content, but outside that, she's the same as all the other Vanilla followers. Sooooooo much wasted potential. Here you have the potential for a back story that paints with a Daughter of Coldharbor, a Vampire of Royal blood who shares blood with the Daedric Prince of Domination. Paired off with The Dragonborn, who is of Dovah Sos. Which, according to Paarthunax also brings with it, the nature to Dominate. So where is the domination with these two? By domination, I mean conquering Skyrim. There's a war going on. Why can't we set up our own faction? OK OK, different mod concept there. LOL. But Instead we get to play family counselor to a neglected little girl. Really? She has the blood of Molag Bal and we are worried about lonely little vampire girls scaring off rats? Her story should have been about her personal struggle between the nature of what she is, vs. not wanting to lose herself to it. Bah. One of the greatest features in custom voiced followers are the ones that are "Quest Aware". Take Arissa, If you pick her up prior to being identified as The Dragonborn and she's present with you at the Western Watchtower, she comments on your reveal. But that's it for her. This is what custom followers should be focusing on.They can at least respond and comment on where you are what you are doing. There are several custom voiced followers who have this dialog. but it's never really a big focus. Instead, they put these big quests in the game where I am the side kick in their story. (**looks at Aurlyn's mod**). It's great during their quest, but after that, they are no better than Vanilla Dialog. I don't need Vilja nagging me about her stupid Alchemy Ingredients and let's go here, and lets go there. As soon as she started up with that, I uninstalled. If I need a little middle-schooler's sexual tension/humor in my game, I can install Sophia.......Really? How old are we again? While Inigo is hilarious, it's not really what I am looking for. I want a Dark and Gritty character. I guess, the follower that's right for me, hasn't been made yet. Although, I've been using Acalypha recently. As is the case with most Custom Voiced Mods, her dialog isn't very large, but I am finding it interesting. I love the personality given by the VA. I also like the voice acting in Viconia, It's a good mod, if you can tolerate a little AD&D crossover in your Elder Scrolls.

There are some mods that will let you transform her into VL Form, but they are quite buggy. Especailly if you try to use them in conjunction with other appearance altering mods for her. Serana's Sercret and Amazing Follower Tweaks are 2 such mods. I don't use them though. Not for this function anyway. There is a mod that I would recommend if you don't mind Serana getting a large power up. It's a Mod called Queen of the Damned http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/49465/? It basically allows her to fight with the VL Lord powers but without actually changing her appearance into a VL Lord Form. So she continues to look like she always does, but she uses the more powerful spells, like the AOE Drain instead of the usual vampire tickle drain. Also, instead of resurrecting the nearest dead skeever or deer, she will summon a gargoyle.

The problem I see with this is that the civil war is a battle of ideologies. I´d see them joining with the Legion if Tullius tells them they would be fighting the Thalmor right the next moment, but not really otherwise. Also first the cloaks would all need to be captured and transported to place where Tullius would show up, remember that Tullius isn´t much of a frontline guy even the in the cut content where at least Ulfric was more of a presence on the battlefield. The LDB could probably do it, but then again I don´t understand how the LDB couldn´t just end the whole conflict by his decree, I mean every side that he´s the enemy off would normaly just surrender if he is as powerful as lore states. If that doesn't work, there is always.... GOL HAH DOV

This issue is still a current topic, I see. I had weighed in with my opinion in the past that I just could not support Ulfric because, of how I viewed his attack on Whiterun, I could see no justification for it under the banner of his cause. I am not going back into that argument again, however, I will say, I still cannot see Ulfric as honorable. I do believe he is bloodthirsty and has much of his own personal agenda fronted by his "righteous cause". But in a recent play-though, I had spent more time in The Blue Palace than I had previously. I had an opportunity to overhear dialog between Eliisif and her court. After listening to Elisif speak, I can say that I have done a one eighty on my stance. I cannot support the Imperials any longer. Elisif is an idiot who is incompetent and justifies Ulfric's claim that she would indeed hand Skyrim over to the Thalmor. As much as I feel that The Empire / Elisif has the righteous cause over the Stormcloaks, I cannot help but look upon Elisif as the cause for the inevitable destruction of Skyrim. Right or wrong becomes irrelevant under Thalmor rule.

Unfortunately, there are so many of these same break points all over. For example, after returning to Fort Dawnguard upon escorting Serana Home (remaining human) you run past Vori patrolling just outside the fort, literally right past where she is walking, you come around the corner, going up the hill, just behind the fence and BANG! 3 vampires attack you............They literally spawn RIGHT THERE AND THEN as you round the turn. I'm like How did you get there? Lorewise, it's obviously broken. It's just the wrong location for a Vampire ambush. We won't even bring up that it doesn't matter if it's midday or not.

He's cool.....until he tries to kill you. Which is inevitable I am sorry to say. So, yes, you have to kill him. However as a Vampire Lord, you get to succeed him as Lord of the Court.

I recall a similar issue with one of the mods that improves the Eagle Eye perk. Every time I'd load the mod and perk the skill the next time I'd go to use the ability, my stamina would immediately fall to zero and never recharge.......ever. Even the save tool did not fix the problem. Even removing the mod from a save before I perked the point didn't fix the issue. It was in the save. Unfortunately for me, that meant I had to delete my game and start fresh.

I have posted before (In this thread I believe) where I had always felt the Dragonborn is to play a pivotal role in the future of Skyrim beyond the game. One of the main reasons I would personally decide to join the Stomcloaks, is to gain independence from the Empire. However, in my personal vision of Skyrim's future, Ulfric is not the High King. I've heard some of the replies about TES history showing the players as heroes who simply disappear. But that is history as told from the subsequent installments. Meaning the disappearance of the LDB will be told in TES VI, not TES V. But also from TES VI, other TES V history cannot be told either. Such as who became High King. Whether or not Titus Mede II survives, whether or not the Dark Brotherhood survives (Though a new Listener can appear at any time and give rebirth to the guild) etc etc. So it could be LDB as much as it is Elesif or Ulfric as High King, but it will not be told in TES VI. I don't think any Jarl would object to the LDB's claim to the title of High King at the Moot, since the LDB's bloodline could be traced either back to the same origin's as Talos' himself. Not to mention LDB's accomplishments. Singlehandedly putting an end to the war. Having united all factions in Skyrim under one banner, The LDB has the potential to assemble the greatest military force in the history of Tamriel. On the surface, LDB leads the Companions, The College, is a Thane in each hold, has achieved serious influence with the Dawnguard, The Blades (Once Delphine is put in her place) THen below the surface, having access to The Dark Brotherhood, Strong ties to Volkihar, The TG etc. Of course Bend Will with an army of Dragons doesn't hurt either.......Probably be a nice touch to "drop in" at the moot on Odahviing (Or any dragon really) with a number of dragons circling overhead as a nice show of force.

OK, so in my last post, I said I'd never support Ulfirc Stormcloak......But I am actually going to try something different. I am going t ojoin the stormcloaks in a new game. My issue with the civil war has always been a decision between Ulfric as a man worthy to lead Skyrim vs. the weak Empire betraying its own people to the Thalmor. And which was the overall worse situation for Skyrim. But looking at the mod "Become High King of Skyrim" I might actually try a game and fight for the Stormcloaks but replace Ulfiric. So like at the end of the Civil War when Ulfric turns to the Dragonborn, I can say......."Umm......Yeah, about that "

Even though I believe in Ulfric's stated cause, I do not agree with Ulfric himself. 2 things that leave a really bad taste in my mouth with joining the SCs. 1. Ulfric's attack on Whiterun cannot be justified under his stated cause. Whiterun is not an enemy to Ulfric, nor is Whiterun an ally to the Empire at the start of the game. But what's more, Whiterun is the only city in Skyrim to openly allow Talos Worship out in the streets. 2. After Ulfric's victory speech in Solitude, he turns to Galmar who says "Nice touch about the High King, It's a foregone conclusion you know" (Referring to saying he won't take the position until the Moot) Then Ulfric replies with "Oh, I know." Meaning Ulfric wasn't being sincere about taking the position as High King but just going through the motions to make it look good for the Jarls. That really pissed me off. After All I did and all I betrayed for him to say something like that? If the game let me, I'd have killed him on the spot for that. So from that day forward, I will never join the Stormcloaks. EVER!

Another thing I do is I try to choose non traditional themes and handpick my mods accordingly. For example. I've made an Arcane Assassin using bound weapon mods using a combo of Sneak, Conj, Illusion, and Archery to make a sniper mage. That was fun. Another time, I used mods that focused on Shouting. With Thunderchild as the centerpiece. Using shouts in a much more powerful way. I gained a new appreciation for Elemental Fury......AKA dragon-in-a-blender One I found real fun was increasing the number of conjuration souls so you can maintain more conjured beings at once time. (A little over powered, but there are mods for that) and play like a mastermind commanding multiple minions.

For example, I like to go into Nexus and find a number of standalone followers I haven't used yet and install them. I don't read up on them and then I play the game and see how many I discover naturally.

My whole issue with being a Vampire is that if feels tacked on. An after thought. As I mentioned in the OP. You have on one hand, the Nature of the Dov. In your conversation with Parturnaax, you discuss that nature which is domination. Alduin took domination as his birthright and all Dov have this and the Dovahkiin is no exception. Now combine this with the blood from the Daedric Lord of Domination, and you get what should be the ultimate creature for domination in all of Tamriel. Yet, you run around doing everyone else's bidding, hiding the fact that you are a Vampire because someone might see it. Where's the domination? And I don't mean racking up bounties. I would think someone of that kind of nature would want to establish his/her own Empire.