grmblf

I can't be of much help as I'm an absolute newbie at modding but you might find this resource interesting: http://cs.bethsoft.com/constwiki/index.php...inner%27s_guide I supose what you ask could be done with a loop that constantly checks if the player has been detected using the GetDetected command and outputting some visual if ==1. For the GFX part I really can't help you but with that manual you should be able to make it prompts a message when you're spotted, so you get the alert. Anyway, double-clicking on the sneak button every two seconds or so is kinda having a perfect radar. Good luck with your modding experience!

yeah I know it, and also one mod called 'More Realistic Merchant Money' or so does the thing that merchants start with more gold and reset it periodically instead of at the end of each bargain (or is it OOO?), but I fear it works by reseting the values when the NPC is buffered with the cell instead of doing so regularly. Anyway, the big question was about the UI display as it's what I think it may be the most difficult thing to do, you know, removing a part from such an important feature like the inventory, sounds hardcoded, although I'm aware there's a few mods changing the UI appearance, that's why I'm asking. Maybe it's possible to make the cost column too slim so the number isn't seen or removing it entirely? I've been thinking about the writing part and it seems easy to deal with a messageBox and getting the value number by number, so I'm gonna start working on that (it will be my first script for oblivion!). If anyone cares and wants to help with the UI matter it will be really nice. Otherwise, feedback and criticism is always welcome.

Hi there. I've came up with an idea to make a Real Haggling mod. Some of it's features are already present in others merchant mods, and some others are new I guess. This mod would revamp the whole merchant system in the game by just adding a few tweaks. The point is to make it all more real and interesting, forcing you to check out different buyers for one sole item, knowing them, so only wise merchant players could make big bargains. In other words, it's meant to add a bit of roleplaying and less statistics-based game. A personal note before the details, I'm new to oblivion modding and therefore to this community, so I'll be happy to hear your comments both on technical handicaps or issues and about your feeling for that kind of playstyle. Features: - All merchants start with about 20 times it's current gold but they only reset it once a week, sunday or monday. - the Cost/Value column isn't displayed, neither on the inventory, loot window, buying/selling, etc, so you don't know the cost of each item. You must learn it. - the Haggle bar is always maxed, although the Haggle button isn't present or working. The player should never know the percentage, cause he should never know the real cost of items. - When the player attempts to sell an item, he's required to type in the desired amount of gold he wants in exchange for the item. After typing a box prompts asking you if you want to sell that item for that price, as normal, and then the normal engine should apply, checking if the price is under the NPC price treeshold, and finally accepting or rejecting. - The same for buying. You don't see the real price neither how good a merchant is in Merchantile neither the price he has in mind for that item, so you have to think what's a fair deal for you and type that amount, and maybe assume that you really need that item and are gonna offer a big amount of gold for it or simply leave the store thinking that's impossible for you to make a good deal there. And guess, you may be wrong. - To add a bit more of complexity some merchants value higher some kind of items and lower some others. Notice that you, as the player, don't know the price of things, but NPCs do. If the 'haggle bar' is maxed (eventhough if you don't see it), and you have played a bit the game, it shoudn't be very difficult to find out fine prices according to your level and skills, simply you have to find it out, that's the point. I know there are a lot of merchant mods out there and I haven't had time to test them all, but I didn't see any of them that fits entirely this concept, so if you think I've missed some similar mod please let me know. Otherwise and if you like this idea and you got plenty of time and want to spend it making this mod, go ahead, I think it will take me so much time until I'm able of doing so. That's all folks, hope you like it.

hi ppl. This mode idea looks pretty good, but as someone said, more than 50 pages are hard to read so it will be very nice a little update on the first post. I'm gonna throw in some ideas, plz forgive me if someone else has already posted them, and please forgive my bad english: First, vanilla oblivion provides a enought 'good guy' and 'bad guy' quests, so I'll find more interesting something in wich you have to consider yourself what is good and what is not. I don't think having a low infamy has to be a prequisite to join that special forces, that even could be considered as a good thing, a proof of your cold blood. Having high infamy is as bad as having high fame or glory: people know you, and that's a bad thing for one that tries to move undetected. Another general consideration: I think a bit of roleplaying it's a must for any quest mod. In oblivion we already have a lot of quests you go throught in the only way they can be played. I'm with Kamoba, add missions where you can fail, multiple choices for important decisions, secretism, deceit, ... all this make quests far more interesting. Now to some specific ideas for your mod: As an oposite faction to the Blades, who serve the Emperor and are well known among the people, the 'Elder Guard' serves directly the Elder Council, and not the Emperor, just like the Blades doesn't accept orders from the council or chancellors. Their creation could have happened so long ago, in a time in wich another emperor was murdered (civilians say that happened), and still working in secret. They are only a few members trained to deal with every kind of situation, they should be able to kill someone and remove any evidence and go out unseen, but they also should be able to appear a rich nobleman to have a private talk to some very important guy to gather some information, steal a document or a treasure, or kill him with poision or by leaving a poisonous snake in his bedroom, using the blade only to deal with minor threats. Working for the Council doesnt' differ so much than working for the Empire. The Council needs the Emperor to keep the Empire and thus their place as advisors of the Emperor, but many daily task are handled by the Council without disturbing the Emperor with minor issues. And some of that minor issues grow in importance, and then is when the council calls their Elder Guard. Of course you act for the good of the empire, but just without letting your emperor knows it. This background story allows for a bit of political trickery quests, diplomacy, spionage and so on, but it could serve also to fit the 'pure guy' role by beign able to end the conflict by progressing in the ranks of both the Blades and the Elder Guard until you're the chief of they both and then you can unify them under a single command. And here you have to choose, will they forever serve ONLY the Emperor, or will they serve ONLY the Council? :biggrin: well, it's only an idea, just to offer something different from what vanilla game uses to. If you still need help on writting and like the idea I can expand it quite a lot. :thanks: for reading!

Hi there! I really like the idea of this mod, it opens a lot of possibilities. I'm quite new here but I want to contribute to this project with the best I can do by now related to oblivion modding: giving ideas for storyline, quests and dialogs. So here it goes: General Gameplay: First off, by creating a new world you're given the chance to choose how do you want your world's gonna look like, what's going to happen in there, and what kind of actions and decisions should the player take or perform to inffluence that world. Quests from vanilla game are quite simple IMO, most of them are linear, out of context and they appear to you regardless who you are or what you've done. I'm def in favor of a RPG style of quests with multiple dialogs and choices, where the decisions and actions you've made directly or indirectly inffluence on the course of events. If you want to make it a bit more complex and immersive I can help you making algorithms and tree maps for complex dialogs and quests structures and also help with ideas for some quests to roleplay. I know that's a huge challenge, but an empty and closed world is the place to do so as you have the freedom to place everyone and everything where you need them without risk of interfering with other mods or quests. The price to pay is high (high amount of time) but the reward is a new world with reallistic NPC and immersive stories, all fully re-playable several times on several different ways. Maybe you should think about that kind of matters before ending the technical stuff, as it will probably have a bigger effect on the way your mod is played rather than how the scripts place the buildings. Anyway it's just an opinion and I'm aware you're checking out technical matters and haven't started yet writing the story and that, it's just a suggestion for when you start the 'writing' work. Storyline: I like the idea of a classic middle-age new land conquer by steps. The first one could be to recon the land, resources, inhabitants, etc. Second, send a few men to build a settlement: a chappel, a quarter and a house for few farmers and workers. Third sending more men to finally build up a proper city, and fourth, from there starting the conquest of the whole island to turn it into another province of the Empire. That's the way it was done from centuries before the christian era until the modern era and it seems to fit well wnough the lore by giving the imperials a new land to expand their empire. Also making it an imperial mission makes easier to justify the huge amount of people and resources flowing from cities to the colony if things are properly done. My suggestion is to start once step 2 is finished, so it allows for some characters to be already established in the island to give a little background story but all stills quite disordered and undone so the player may take part in the development of the city, county and finally the province. Beginning: joining the mission Emperor Uriel Septim would have orderer some years ago an expeditionary force to recon the island, settle a camp and return with news and goods, but they never came back, so on the last days of the Emperor he ordered to send more men to check out what happened and help them, and then is when the player may join the expedition. It would be very nice to have some different options to join the mission, for example, being recruited on Anvil docks as a militia soldier, as an imperial soldier (comanding the militia) only if the player is a mid/high rank in the fighters guild or imperial legion, as a healer or battlemage sent by the mages guild, as advisor of a nobleman if you have completed a quest for a count, etc. A simple check may change the disposition of NPCs and unlock topics that lead to unique quests or the same quests with different approaches. Beginning: once there Once there the player could find that these people had to fight fiercy against some kind of beast or thing to establish themselves there, and that in fact they did send back their own ship to tell the news and ask for help but they had no answer in all this years (who knows what happened to that ship), so now they are reluctant to cooperate with you as they feel they've been abandoned and they no longer support the imperial cause. This may lead to conflict with some fanatic worshipper of the Nine travelling with the player or some Legion soldier very proud to serve the Empire. At this point, either if you opt for a RPG style or the standard quest system, it would be nice to have the chance -and even the obligation- to choose wich side are you on, if you're there for the glory of the Empire regardless the necessary sacrifices or maybe you would try first and foremost to survive in that strange land, and then, if possible, honor the Empire, or even if you take a neutral role and mix up with the workers and soldiers and let the leaders fight each others, or if you plan to slowly grow in reputation so one day you could claim that land for yourself. By forcing the player to stay in a divided and wary community it creates the necessary tension to make him fear for his live without having to put in there tons of beasts and monsters, it's just a matter of who you trust and who you betray, and who trusts you and who betrays you. That's why IMO 'neutral' paths should be carefully selected and avoided when possible, otherwise it may give the feeling of impunity one has when playing vanilla oblivion. Another great point of this strategy of confrontation is that is not as easy as killing monsters, because if you kill'em all you may find that you lack of workers or soldiers and so the building process is being delayed to a point that you'd probably be dismissed by the Council and employed as militia or given some other 'punishment', so you have to use diplomacy and try to keep things quiet. That's also a perfect excuse to gain reputation both in the island and in the metropolis, so even if you started as a militia soldier you may end being the highest authority. Leading the Community: After a few days, once the people of the island has reconciled with the newcomers, or whatever kind of peace they achieve, it may start the work to build a city. Depending on how well ended the matter for the player he may be given some role or some other. To make it simple I'd make player being the advisor of the chief in command (only if the player has taken part in favor of the winner side), or making the dirty jobs (if he positioned himself against thoose who won), or making the job he was called for (if the neutral solution succeed). Evolving Society: resources I'd be logical the first thing they'd do is to settle the necessary things to start gathering resources. It means at least wood, stone and iron. Making it 3 diferent places means 3 differents quests where you have to go and clear up the area as soldier or go to work there. To collect metal and stone you could add a rock or metal vein with a script attached to it, executed onActivation, wich waits 2 seconds while performing an animation and then adds a brick to the player's inventory. When the player cannot carry more bricks he has to make his way to the next place they're gonna build up something and leave the bricks into a crater and back to the mine, and when he has carried 1.000 bricks in a day or more he's free to go for the rest of the day. The same for metal and wood. Evolving Society: buildings At this stage the workers may start building the city. Depending on who's leading the process their priority may change, so maybe the newcomers will try to build up first the chappel on top of a hill while the others, knowing the dangers of the island would prefear to build first a defensive position, while the rich 'neutral' nobleman will try to make they build a big manor for him first. To avoid having multiple AI tasks packages for each NPC depending on who's leading, an easy solution would be to make they build the buildings in a pre-set positions in strict order, so let's say the first building would be on top of a nearby hill, the second down near the forest, etc, and make it so the first one is the better placement and the last the less good one, so it could reflect the priority of the one in charge. This way, regardless of who's the boss, the workers will go to the same place in order, the only thing that would change would be the resulting building. If OBSE fully supports lists, tracking wich ones has already been build shouldn't be a problem so no building is made twice if the leader changes during the process. Well, that's all for today. I hope I've given you a glimpse of what I have in mind for this mod. Let me know if you share a bit this point of view and want to start the writting work, I'll be happy to contribute.

it looks good man. Maybe you could escort Imperial taxes from cities to the capital instead of nobles. I think there's a quest where a thieve tells they assaulted some imperial legion escorting the taxes, two sides of the coin I think. Oh, the Emperor or the Council should be able to order the arrest even of the highest rank in the Imperial Watch if it's proven he's unloyal to the purpouse he serves (corrupt, murderer, has stolen really much, etc). Also would be nice some roleplaying and random mini-quest like a soldier getting jealous of your progress, an inn-keeper offering you some drink for free too much often, etc.

I really like the idea of a working backpack, it'd be much more realistic. Is it possible to attach a script to a single key press? If so it'd be very nice that when you press TAB your character would start the animation for the backpack, and once the script check it's done, then, and only then, the inventory would be displayed. For me the perfect one would be a backpack that acts as item in your inventory (with it's own price) that allows you carring more items (assuming that without it you're only capable of a 25% of normal encumbrance or so), that drops automatically once you've played the backpack anim and that once it's dropped it turns into a non-respawnable container (looking like a backpack) with all your stuff inside except the things you have equiped. Of course you should be able to pick it back, let's say, by activating it in sneak mode. It'd be amazing finding yourself forced to leave your bag full of valuable stuff just to save your life and run away from an unexpected threat. Anyway, I'm not sure if Oblivion engine support in-game object creation (other than respawnable stuff), so maybe it cant' be done, and maybe it doesn't need to be done, a simple 2-seconds-long anim would be more than enough to make you think twice before trying to grab an item in you inventory while in combat. great idea, I'll look closely to it's (possible) development.

Hi there! I'm quite a newbie at modding for oblivion but I've been playing a little bit with skills and attributes. As far as I know the only three changes you can apply to default skills are: 1 - specialisation (either Magic, Combat or Stealth); 2 - the ratio at wich certain actions increase the skill they're dependant on; and 3 - image file and description text for that skill. The most common workaround for this engine limitations is, as have been said above, creating new vars to store the result of whatever you want, although they won't be displayed among default skills. Therefore, you should create some kind of menu to acces them via messageBox, and probably add a lesser power or some stuff to open the menu. If the changes you're planning only affect magic you could simply replace the default spells for thoose you want to be in the game, so when you read 'Mysticism' you know that means whatever-school-of-magic you have choosen it will be. This may be a not pretty elegant solution, but if you already have the spells it might be easier than making all the scripts and stuff, although I'm not pretty sure how would this affect NPC behaviour. good luck.