amblingalong

Hey, I'm the author of the Windhelm portion of the mod and I can attest that the only required file is Skyrim.esm and Update.esm. This is a really odd issue and I'm sorry our mod is giving your problems; have you tried using only one or the other city? Whiterun doesn't need Windhelm to run, or vice versa, so maybe that could help you figure out where the problem was. Let me know if you figure it out, and if not, I'll try to help. Again, apologies.

I'm looking for a mod that gave you a sword, which upon striking an enemy, caused a lightning bolt to come of the sky and hit them (using the visual effect of the Storm Call shout). I'm trying to create a bow with a similar effect and I can't figure out how to do it, so I was hoping to get in touch with the mod author. Does this ring any bells for anyone? Thanks!

Nope, not true. Dreadylein got into them a few days ago and was gracious enough to point me in the right direction yesterday. The two files of interest are XComGame.upk & XComStrategyGame.upk. The former dictates the "tactical game" whereas the latter dictates the "strategic game." Use Gildor's Decompress tool to unpack the UPK. Then go find UE Explorer. You can use that to peruse the contents of the UPK. There's a LOT to dig through. Think I'll start another thread about it now... keep things tidier. Awesome, thanks! Props for Dreadylein, too, maybe I was missing something obvious but I was beating my head against the wall for a while trying to figure the scripting files out.

Yeah, what it is is the Sectopod ability that let's it directly target cover your troops are hiding behind. It seems to work once I applied it to all the player controlled weapons, though (except the Shivs, for some reason. Another small problem). re: iEnvironmentDamage, I don't think that's the issue just because the base ballistic weapons have a very low rating, but are currently destroying terrain at the same rate heavy plasma does (which has a much higher rating). I'll look into it further, though. My guess is that we're going to find the problem in the script for environment damage itself; AFAIK there's been no luck getting into the scripts yet, unfortunately, but hopefully this will change.

Hey everyone, Just wanted to give the community a heads up that I've been experimenting with adding the tag "eAbility_DestroyTerrain" to all the weapons, and despite some glitches, it lets you target terrain specifically to destroy. The main bug I'm having right now is that it seems to overpower weapons signficantly, so that assault rifles can suddenly destroy the walls to an alien ship; I think this is because the ability calls the weapon power/accuracy from the Sectapod's main weapon (where it originally appears). Anyways, I'm going to keep working on this, and if anyone else wants to give it a shot, it's not like I have dibs. I just wanted to let people know this seems like a promising approach. -amblingalong

Actually, there is no decision at all if you can handle every incursion simultanously. Soldiers aren't very expensive and you can steal the alien's weapons soon enough. Lose a rookie by running him up to the sectoid to stun it? Totally worth it if it works. The multiple choice thing is in there specifically because there was no decision involved in the original game. It was just straightforward work. You can't balance the elimination of a game mechanic with higher cost. Weapon production/selling in the OG eliminated the importance of funding... completely. So just make everything 3x as expensive, right? The typical response to people making mods you don't like is not to download them. Personally, I think it's a great idea, if you make constructing Skyrangers fairly expensive and also bump up the number of abduction sites that are simultaneously offered (from 3 to 5, perhaps). The fact is I beat the game on Classic with 6 soldiers I used for 95% of the missions. I had no depth in my lineup at all. This would force you to do that.

The way I see it, the problem is that the cutscenes communicate a lot of information that isn't otherwise conveyed. If the game was built not to need them I'd agree entirely, but just ripping them out and not adding anything in would make for a really disjointed experience, as things stands. Maybe once we get deep into the scripting files there will be a way to workaround the problem, though.

Yeah, I think we're all praying for a real set of mod tools. Even if we don't get a Creation Kit equivalent, I think Firaxis would be smart to release the map creator they used and put in place some system for accepting user-generated maps; the map repetition was one of the weakest parts of the game for me. I'm speaking in theory right now, but I'm thinking free aim should be possible by forcing weapons to use the rocket launcher script for targeting. Since LOS checks and the UI are already built, I'm hoping there's a way to shoehorn it in. As for base defense, I think this one's a tossup; if we get real mod tools and if we get a map creator, though, I bet I can do it. The tough part would be creating the new assets (the base tileset, for example). And of course as someone who cares a lot about making mods polished- that is, making it feel like they're a smoothly integrated part of the original game- I'd need to find creative ways to avoid needing new cutscenes, for all these missions.

Hey everyone, As a huge fan of the original XCOM and someone who greatly enjoyed this iteration, I'm looking forward to putting together a mod to bring back some of the aspects of the first game I thought made it stand out. In general (and I realize this may be controversial) I don't plan on drastically modifying the battles themselves; adding TUs back in, for example, would require essentially building a new game entirely, and as much as I want random maps added back in, I quite frankly wouldn't know where to start. What I do want to do is make changes to the strategic level and recreate some of the depth of the first game. Some of the things I list below will likely never be possible, but I want to brainstorm as much as I can and then get to work. A quick word about my skills- I am a solid modder, but I am not a particularly talented texture artist or modeler. If this mod catches on- and I hope it will- I would love to work with anyone who has those talents, or indeed, anyone who wants to help at all. So, without further ado, here's the first draft of the type of ideas I'm looking for. I'm looking for consensus at least among the fans of the original, though, which means if you hate an idea here, speak up, explain why, and I'll listen carefully. -Currently feasible- Allow interception of terror and abduction UFO's Make laser never have to reload (and balance by making them slightly more expensive) Require you to interrogate a psychic alien to learn psionics Denerf soldiers starting health on classic/impossible Add a couple zeros to the end of all the costs- this is silly, but the scaled-down economy irritates me. -Potentially feasible- Allow construction of multiple Skyrangers, which should allow you to respond to multiple abductions simultaneously Let you use fighters to destroy downed UFOs instead of assaulting them (makes sense from a fluff and from a gameplay perspective; basically you lose out on a ton of resources but might be a last resort if you're overwhelmed) When soldiers die, you lose their equipment (maybe Classic/Impossible only?) Add a couple weapons back in, specifically stun launchers, flares and proximity grenades (i.e. mines) Add in another step to complete the game, researching the Avenger; I thought it was weird that for me, at least, 70% of the game seems to happen before I assault the alien base, then another 20% before I get the hyperwave decoder, and then maybe 10% before I assault the temple ship. Basically, I usually max everything out very quickly, even on Impossible, and then what should be a huge chunk of the game- stopping alien ships using the hyperwave decoder- barely lasts a couple missions. Let me know if you have any other ideas to adjust pacing. Free Aim Allow you to sell weapons, items and armor (would require re-balancing time to create and costs) Enable nationality-appropriate voices (the hard part here is not adding the new voice files, but making soldiers default to the correct voice for their nationality) Allow you to directly purchase engineers and scientists Require a certain number of scientists to research certain high-level technologies -Would require creating new maps- Add more types of maps (arctic, jungle, desert, mountain) Add more maps, period; frankly this is probably the thing I want most out of everything here Alien Base Construction Ships appear occasionally in regions with high Panic levels; if they're not detected and shot down, they will build an Alien Base, which if not subsequently detected and assaulted, will increase the Panic level of the host country by one level per month until it leaves the Council Cydonia- I can't be the only one who thought the current ending was anticlimactic, right? Base defense missions; the good thing is that the top two levels of your base are essentially static, so it wouldn't be that hard (assuming mapping is feasible) to create a standard layout for it. Since this map will be the same for every base defense mission, it would just need to be huge, with multiple entry points for aliens, which would allow for a lot of tactical possibilities. Potentially, you could invest in defensive upgrades (autoturrets? healing stations?) as well. Losing, of course, would result in losing the game. And, if possible, I'd love to give you a way higher squad cap for the mission- 12? 18?- and then also throw an absurd number of baddies at you. Essentially I would like this to be the most epic, sprawling battle possible, unless I can top it with Cydonia. Let me know your thoughts, criticisms, and suggestions, and if you want to partner up to get these things done, welcome aboard!

Hey all, So I recently built three new custom-scripted bows for the game, out of frustration with the lack of artifact bows in vanilla. They all have pretty cool effects, which are working flawlessly; one has a small chance to reanimate any enemy it kills on your side, another hits any enemy it shoots with a lightning bolt from the sky (uses the storm call animation but targeted on a specific NPC- looks great) and the third- which I'm the most proud of- actually stops time, freezes everything in the game world except your aiming, and lets you shoot two arrows at two different enemies before time restarts (as soon as the second arrow leaves the bow). The problem is that while I'm a decent scripter, I have zero modelling or texturing experience, and so currently they all use the vanilla ebony bow model. Before I upload, I'd really like to change this. Does any one have suggestions that don't involve going to art school? If someone had a model they'd let me use for any of the three, in particular, that would be awesome. Thanks!

Sure! It's below. As it turns out, most of the problems had to do with the property definitions, so I had to rework the Revenant spell to run 'on contact' instead of 'aimed.' Scriptname EncEldingarEffectScript extends ActiveMagicEffect Spell Property Revenant Auto Faction Property DunPlayerAllyFaction Auto Event OnDeath (Actor akKiller) int random = Utility.RandomInt() if random >= 75 Actor TargetActor = GetTargetActor() TargetActor.RemoveFromAllFactions() TargetActor.AddToFaction (DunPlayerAllyFaction) Utility.Wait(2) Revenant.cast (TargetActor, akTarget = TargetActor) endif EndEvent

You all are wonderful! I got it working! The only problem left is that the reanimated actors are hostile to the player, because they basically reanimated themselves. Hopefully I can solve this with a faction line in the code. Anyways, thanks so much, and I hope you all have a wonderful day filled with pie and rainbows.

Hmmmm... I wonder if there is a way to do this without having the visual effect of the player casting the spell, because I really want it to look like they're rising as a result of the weapon hit. I'll give it a shot and let you know what happens.

Thanks for the suggestions! The targetactor seems to be working correctly, since the game logs are showing that the spell was cast on the correct NPC. It's very odd; basically, after they are killed, the 'raise dead' spell-casting animation plays and they shimmer purple (as undead do while you're raising them, usually) and then... nothing, they just lie there. No errors, nothing. The reason I have them casting on themselves is because I'm not sure how else to ensure that the spell won't be blocked by the level scenery, and because visually I don't want to have the player casting raise dead on them. I did; it wasn't casting because the spell was reading the NPC in the process of dying as alive, and therefore an invalid target. I'm really appreciating the help!

That's exactly what it's supposed to do, the problem is that currently, it's not working :). I'm hoping someone can explain why it isn't doing what you said.

Can someone help me make sense of this? The idea is that when a weapon kill an enemy, the enemy is resurrected as a Dead Thrall (the actual enchantment adds a 10% chance of that happening, as well as some other requirements, but that isn't relevant to the script). For some reason, however, it doesn't seem to be working. I'm hoping someone will be able to help me troubleshoot. Thanks in advance! Scriptname EncEldingarEffectScript extends ActiveMagicEffect Spell Property Revenant Auto Event OnDeath (Actor akKiller) Actor TargetActor = GetTargetActor() Utility.Wait(2) Revenant.cast (TargetActor, akTarget = TargetActor) EndEvent

I'm working on a bow that, upon firing an arrow which hits an enemy, generates the Storm Call effect, that is, a bolt of lightning comes out of the sky and hits the enemy. Right now, however, all the Storm Bolt effect does is shock damage, without the visual effect of the lightning bolt from the sky. Can someone point me in the right direction on this?

Mmm... I was thinking about leaving that part alone, just because the atmosphere is great for that quest. So if you want to do it, go ahead- it probably won't make it into my mod, but I'm not saying it's a bad idea or anything. Re: Dragonsreach, I'm assuming they didn't just keep it there permanently (or at least it's plausible there was some sort of underground facility/cave where it was imprisoned. I mean, would you want to keep an angry dragon on your back porch for however long dragons live?

Added some proposals for additions in solitude:

This. You can't really say for sure if Daedra are evil or not imo. I can see a hero justifying himself after killing someone for a extremely powerful artifact that helps him save the world. "Azura is the only daedric that is not considered inherently evil". - A loading screen tooltip (recreated from my memory), would the tool tips lie to you? Azura might be considered not so evil, but dont forget she was the reason why dunmers became black with red eyes. honestly i think she is the most evil one, which is why i avoid her quest Do her quest, you'll get a chance to screw her over (trust me).

I actually really like that idea for Riften, though it'll be an intense project! Instead of just that one curving canal with a central 'island,' it would be very cool to have a whole network of such islands, connected on multiple levels (so bridges on top of bridges. Actually, a little bit like Vivec from Morrowmind! I like that Solitude expansion too, and I think the concept art is better than what they actually built. My only concern is trying to put buildings in places where they won't get in the way of the battles from the Civil War storyline. That said, I support anything that makes the city more maze-like, with back-alleys and stairs leading down to passages below the street. In general, before we make the cities more sprawling, I hope to make them denser and more complex, if that makes sense. Here are my proposals for Windhelm: Also, I really want to add back in the frozen water mill from the concept art.

If you mean Better Dragons/Bigger battles, I thought your thread looked like an awesome mod. I didn't see a ton of stuff about city exansion, though- did I miss it? Google Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cNzQuu_McOdv4pkxaTUIHruYj8KTG4HL1x_fF6sX2qI/edit?hl=en_US

Yeah, I think the whole community is way better served by people getting together and releasing something great than everyone trying to release their own version, which will take forever and not be nearly as good. I'm good with modeling and design, though much less experienced with textures and scripting. Is Google Docs a good way to do this, or do people prefer a different set of collaboration software?

Actually, this could be really cool. Bring back memories of Battlespire!

I don't know if we're at the point where we actually want to start planning/setting up a team, but I have a good deal of experience as an architect (real world) and would love to be involved. For a project this big, we'd need a fairly large team- the definitive Better Cities mod for Oblivion took at least seven modders. Some preliminary thoughts: Making the cities interesting: It's not enough (IMO) to simply add new buildings and NPCs. The coolest spaces, in the real world and the game world, are those that are complex and play with verticality in interesting way. Interlocking bridges, underpasses, balconies overlooking a street far below- these are elements which can make small spaces feel much larger and more engaging. Some cities lend themselves more naturally to this than others- obviously, this is Markarth's whole deal- but there are a lot of opportunities for cool spaces in Solitude, Windhelm and Riften, too. Check out this piece of concept art for Windhelm; see the bridge from the tavern to an elevated door on the left-hand side? This element makes the whole area much more intricate and interesting, and it didn't make it into the final game! Similarly, check out this art from Riften; again, the layered spaces add a ton. Some cities are going to be much harder than others. From easiest to hardest: Whiterun- There's already been a lot of good ideas here on this one. Personally, I think adding a second, lower wall further out would be best, though the scripting for the Civil War battle could be tricky. Riften- There's plenty of room to expand outside the walls, though in this case, I actually think this town is basically well designed. It's not meant to be a major seat of power, and it's so nicely done I hesitate to throw anything off. Obviously YMMV. Windhelm- There's a decent amount of room to expand in the area to the bottom left, facing the city from the fron as in the picture here. I also think the docks should be expanded, since they're the only area where there are a lot of Argonians. This is an area where verticality could really come into play; if you look at the large, thick structures, you could easily imagine a whole edifice of stone stairways carved into the walls of the city, with buildings jutting out over the water. Solitude- This is where stuff starts to get hard. Personally, I think there's a ton of potential in those walkways around the walls of the city. If any place in the world is going to be two-tiered, it should be Solitude, with such limited space. How about filling in the gaps between houses, and then adding another layer of rooftops, gardens, businesses and homes on top of the existing structures? Connect them all with a network of bridges and skyways and you have the potential for something truly beautiful. Markarth- My favorite city, and the hardest to expand. It's already so complex, it will be extraordinarily difficult to alter significantly. One possibility is to build up and into the cliff face here; basically, turn that area from rocky cliffs into stonework walls, and then link it all with the rest of city with a large bridge arching over the smelter area. Aligning everything will be awfully hard, though. Planning: I propose modding each city in the order above, which will basically let us get used to the tools before the hardest and most complex work. For each city, we could start from the outside- biggest stuff first- before getting incrementally more detailed. 1. Make top-down plots of new buildings' footprints using aerial maps pulled from the game (this is what I get paid to do IRL, so not a problem). 2. Draw horizontal-perspective sketches of what each new space will look like (this is only important in cities where the buildings are layered/interconnected, like Markarth; shouldn't be an issue in Whiterun). This is also something I can do quite easily. 3. Create the new buildings, trying to stay as close to the concept art as possible 4. Fill in props, flora, lightposts, etc. 5. Create the interiors 6. Populate with NPCs 7. Do a final passover for alignment, bugs, glitches, textures, details After we do this for each city, we can go back at start thinking about sidequests, new voicework, etc. Just my two cents: I hope this happens!