NellSpeed

It's insanely frustrating at times, but it's worth it. :) And making companions is going to be much, much easier than before, since a lot of the things we had to fake are now features-- like inventory control, for example, and location-based random comments.

Modding motto: If it doesn't work, we break it until it does! Getting a creature to follow seems to be pretty easy; it's implementing follower options that seems to be the problem. I'm thinking it might just be a matter of scripting-- there's anAllowPCDialogue flag-- but haven't had time to experiment with it yet. The example in the wiki is promising: ; Tell the pigeon not to talk to the player Pigeon.AllowPCDialogue(false) so it might be as simple as attaching a script to the creature in question-- so long as actor == any non-player creature.

I'm experimenting with this, myself; so far, no luck except with dogs-- that being said, I've only had an hour or two to poke around. I ran fast tests with a fox, sabrecat, and a Dwemer spider. Could not get dialogue to fire on any of them. Yet. :)

It's definitely going to be a bit hard to get used to, but that's only because I'm fairly familiar with the old CS. In some ways, this new version is going to be easier, if only because it has an interesting conversation editor-- the Dialogue View tab, which gives you sort of a flowchart / graph view. People who are more visual in their approach to quest design may appreciate it most: http://nellspeed.finalgirl.us/scene.png I'm still flailing around at the moment, trying to sort out what things go where. Very little productivity at the moment. PC: ...either I had too much to drink, or not enough. I have the feeling Brynjolf is relentlessly cheerful in the morning, if only to aggravate everyone around him.

Confirmed! It's the lack of dialogue that makes it impossible to console-add Brynjolf as a marriage partner! That's the good news. The bad news is, it looks to me like it's going to be incredibly complicated to use the existing dialogue; I'm betting it'll be twice as easy to just go ahead and write a mini-quest just for his character. Something like, If condition X is true, then marriage is an option If condition X is false, then marriage is not an option. The catch is, what is X? The completion of the Thieves' Guild quest? That seems to be logical, and god knows it'd be easiest. In theory, anyway. In practice, probably not so much. But what about players who don't intend to join the TG? Maybe X is a fetch quest of some kind...? (I'm pleased to note that it was easy to follower-ize one of my own favorites, Brunwulf. I'm not a huge fan of Skyrim marriage as it stands, so having him run around with me is just fine!)

Okay, I'll take a shot at it over the next day or so; although I suspect someone else will beat me to it! I sketched out the general outline, and one thing I could use is a suggestion-- what kind of gift do you guys think Brynjolf would find appealing? Tracy - The CK isn't as awful as it looks-- I've done some minor tinkering with it already, and to me, it feels a bit easier to use than the CS was! Nivea - I'm a bit sorry that the beast races are so neglected (although I get the lore-friendly reasons why). I'm just not sure if I should cobble together an entirely new one, or focus on doing more with the existing ones. Once again, while I love voice acting, it makes the companion creation a bit rough. (Also, good to see you! :) )

From the TESNex post: To download it, go to "View" -> "Tools", and look for "Creation Kit". It took a bit of time for me to download it, but I had to make dinner, anyway. :D It's looking pretty good at first glance-- and much to my unholy glee, I see they have an interesting new condition: LocationHasKeyword! That's going to make setting up random comments based on location 100% easier. <3 u Bethesda! The question is, do I edit Brynjolf in as a follower / marriage prospect first? Or start with some of our neglected Khajiit?

CK is here! Well, I know where MY free time will be going for the next week. Can't wait to make a few necessary changes-- like making the NPCs' random responses actually random, so you don't hear the same line every single time you pass them; making certain NPCs marriageable and follower-capable; and many, many more!

If you don't mind doing a bit of the work without the CK (hopefully out tomorrow!), you can use the NPC editor to tweak character appearances. The catch is that you can't see the changes in the editor-- but what you can do is copy things from characters you already like the looks of! When the CK arrives (tomorrow? Please, Bethesda?) it should be pretty easy to not only change appearances, but also add marriage options to just about anyone; I believe that the most common assumption is that the current limitations are due to lack of voiced lines. That is, if it hasn't been recorded, even if you use the console to add the appropriate factions, it doesn't matter-- no voiced lines == no options. The obvious workaround is adding the appropriate silent line, something like: [NPC sees the Amulet of Mara, and smiles at you hopefully.] Or if, like me, you're okay with silent dialogue, write up something that sounds true to the character you're editing. Of course, this is still all theory for at least another day. :)

If you're going pure mage, with minimal weapon use, you may want to get a follower to take some of the damage for you. I've heard good things about Marcurio, who's a Destruction mage-- and I've used Stenvar and Belrand quite a bit. Stenvar tanks better, but Belrand seems to be faster. Kharjo is hard to get, but also very much worth it-- he's a lot of fun, and a great archer. You should be able to snag some decent robes early on, just by looting your enemies. There are only a few different looks so far, but that'll change reallllllly fast this week, I'd bet. All you're really looking for is the right kind of enchantment. Speaking of which, you might also consider putting just enough time into enchantments to make yourself some items-- regenerate magicka is handy for every mage, for instance. Have fun-- mages are awesome in Skyrim!

The Alternate Start mod may work for you. You begin outside of Riverwood, although I COC'd myself over to Winterhold for my latest playthrough.

When the CK comes out, it should be incredibly easy for anyone who wants to take the time to do it, to learn how-- basically, it'll be a matter of looking at an existing follower and seeing what options they have, then doing the same thing with a new character. You'll have the additional benefit of being able to add your own dialogue, custom appearance and gear and so on, instead of relying on someone else to do it. Of course, I don't have proof yet, but I'm betting that custom followers will be one of the absolute easiest things to do in Skyrim, simply because they already exist in-game.

Strange...? Not really. Mods == moderators here. Dark0ne, as far as I know, is the only one with an Admin title. Edit: Of course, now that I write that, I'm sure to be wrong!

Just thought I'd weigh in on this as someone who's been down this road. First of all, good on those of you who are going to work on this mod! Ideas are great, but without people willing to put in time and effort, they don't count for much. Thank you for stepping up and taking the challenge! Second of all-- and I mean this sincerely-- don't be afraid to fail. Because modding is nothing if not incredibly frustrating at times. You'll make mistakes, you'll goof things up, you'll go nuts with frustration sometimes, and that's okay! The important thing is, you're trying. (Also, don't freak out when you feel like everything you've written is awful. Only 50% of it is, and some of that is redeemable-- that's what editing is for, after all.) Finally, and I learned this the hard way, an hour of planning beforehand will save you 10 hours of fixing mistakes later. What naming conventions will you use, so everyone knows what components belong where? (I'd suggest using a prefix of modders' initials + the NPC's initials. That is, if your name is Jane Doe, and your character is Rob Rowe, you get jdrr-- this almost guarantees your elements will never clash with other mods' additions. I also like to preface all quests with a Q, for easier sorting. Of course, I haven't seen the CK yet, so god knows how this is all going to turn out.) Consider using some kind of chart to keep track of quest elements. The more options you include, this more complicated this gets. (For example, does the NPC respond the same way to a "good" character as an "evil" character? What about an Imperial as opposed to a Stormcloak? And what if the player is an evil Imperial? What if the player isn't playing the main quest? And that's not even looking at things like possible PC personality traits or individual playing styles-- you'll never, ever be able to allow for everything, so don't worry about it.) No matter what, some people will think you did everything wrong. Don't lose any sleep over that. Learn from the people who honestly feel you could have done better; ignore the trolls (who rarely contribute anything to the community anyway). Oh, and stock up on the headache remedies of your choice. And possibly lots of caffeine. And get some of your gaming friends to help with editing and proofreading and so on. And don't be afraid to turn to senior modders for help, once you have a ready-to-test version! People will bend over backwards to help you out once they see your project is more than "I have this idea, all I need is a scripter and a modeler and someone to do textures and a writer and and and"-- and this project is already off to an interesting start. And again... thank you. Communities like this don't exist without people who give to it, after all!

From the TOS all modders to when we upload anything: This also goes for other Bethesda games-- you can't just grab stuff from Morrowind or Oblivion or the Fallouts, for example. There have been a very few exceptions as noted above-- but when in doubt, don't upload until AFTER you have talked with one of the mods. EDIT: Basically, your mod looks great-- but as Skree000 said, uploading them will almost certainly get you banned, unless you did the entire thing from scratch (and can prove it if asked).

Creating custom companions should be a LOT easier, since Bethesda's already got them in-game. If it works anything like Oblivion, it'll be a matter of adding the right dialogue options. Animals in Oblivion didn't have dialogue capability, so making companions of them was a huge pain, although some people managed it. I'm guessing the problem with trying to make a companion of an existing dragon is probably that they're part of a hostile faction, the way that draugr, bandits, and other attack-on-sight NPCs are.. Creating a dragon follower from scratch will fix that problem; alternately, you could try to use the NPC editor to make dragons non-hostile... but unless you know exactly which dragon you're working with, it probably won't work correctly. Ah, the joys of modding without a CK. :D

My best guess is that the animations will really, really not work with a dragon. If you watch them move, it's closer to the way a bat moves than how a canine moves. And no, you can start posting away without an intro. :) Although as always, it's not unwise to lurk awhile first.

Kharjo is pretty awesome, and he seems to be good at evading friendly fire (although I have a feeling I may just be imagining that). He's not really meant for tanking, but he's good at drawing friendly fire, and he's great with a bow. Headshots never get old, do they? Stenvar is my hands-down favorite-- I usually play mages, and he makes a great tank. He likes to run right into every single trap, which is both frustrating and incredibly funny. Erik the Slayer is a lot of fun, but kind of sad, too. His joining quest is great, though.

Markarth! I'd purge it of all the horrible, horrible people there currently, let the decent people be in charge, move the Left-Hand Mine folks in to handle the silver mining, and make it the first city to openly welcome Khajiit and Argonians. Seriously, I think Markarth is the creepiest place to live in Skyrim, and god knows it's got some stiff competition.

You're probably going to need to do what the rest of us are doing-- wait for the CK to come out! :) But for now, you might want to start planning-- how will you get the dragon? Is there a quest attached? If yes, get it written now so you'll be ready. Welcome to modding!

Oh, I totally agree with you! And I have a feeling that (after the CK is released) being able to catch-not-kill bugs will be a mod before too long. ...and custom spells like "death by bees". EDIT: http://finalgirl.us/NellSpeedFG/firefly.jpg

Good on you for giving it another chance-- I really do think you'll like it! If you tell innkeepers you're looking for work, they'll give you quests-- things like "go to this location and kill this bandit chief". You could build a great storyline out of that-- for example, give your PC a woodcutter's axe to start with, and basic clothes and supplies. She/he isn't a great adventurer (yet), just a normal person. But maybe his home village was attacked by bandits; maybe she hates the idea of being stuck in a city slum forever; maybe she dreams of being a hero; maybe he's just tired of having to live hand-to-mouth. And this is how the real story begins-- with your PC doing low-level mercenary work. See also the Alternate Start Mod for a much more fun way of doing this-- not only can you set everything up from the beginning, but you can edit the file in Notepad to give yourself specific gear, and then COC yourself to the location of your choosing! It lets you skip the main quest, which I always do at this point. I'd rather explore and craft, etc. (If you want to just go on a rampage, look for Dwemer dungeons. Pretty much constant combat, plus the design is amazing!)

If someone did, they wouldn't be able to put it on the Nexus unless they own the rights or get permission from the creator (as was done for Witcher material). From the TOS: Absolutely no copyrighted work is to be used without permission of the original creator. This includes content from other games, from DLCs, music creators or from other file authors. This also includes members from countries that do not recognise copyright laws (such as Russia). All files uploaded must have been created by the uploader or used with permission from the original author of the content. If you cannot provide proof of consent when asked then your file will be removed and your account is likely to be banned.