GetTheJojDone

I'm making a mod that focuses on changing hold guards and civil war soldiers, and part of what I'm trying to do is make neutral guards for Whiterun Hold that will replace the normal guards before Balgruuf takes a side. I know how to do most of it (after all I made this mod (but didn't publish most of my later work on it) before SE came out), all I haven't done before is have them disabled and enable normal CW garrison scripting without directly altering Message To Whiterun (for the sake of not disrupting other mods so I can publish when I'm done this time). What I need to do is disable them either just after you deliver Balgruuf's axe to Ulfric, or after your report back to Ulfric after Balgruuf refuses his axe, depending on which side you take. Since I haven't dabbled in Papyrus scripting recently, or extensively for that matter, I'd like advice on how to go about making sure all this is done at the right time during Message to Whiterun without altering the quest itself, and also how to disable them automatically if the player has already completed Message to Whiterun before installing. EDIT - Almost forgot, when you try to enter Whiterun for the first time and the guard stops you, I'll need to make it possible for the neutral guard to do that, and when the guards in Riverwood are enabled for the first time after you go to see Jarl Balgruuf I'll need to make sure it's the neutral guards that are enabled instead of the normal ones. I'll need to do both of these things without changing the original quests. Would that be possible?

I'd like to know if anyone could give me a few pointers about modding the civil war. I've been using the CK on and off for years but I've never tried editing quests as complex as the CW, there seem to be many layers to it and I want to know what I'm dealing with before I end up botching it. What I want to do is edit back in all the quests Bethesda omitted, like the capital sieges for every hold, and more missions before taking a hold (yes, I know about the CWO, I don't want to use it because of the animal-whispering, magic-wielding Stormcloaks, which would at any rate be incompatible with my own edits to soldiers).

Basically what I said in the title, how can I mark something as initially disabled in the CS, like how you can in Skyrim's CK? I'm looking to make a few new Mouths for potential Telvanni councillors, and that's all that's stopping me, really.

Do they work together? Do you even need both?

But if you're just following what you did in Oblivion, then it begs the question if different dynasties mean different empires. Ancient Chinese people would say yes. This is not like modern western countries where the country is the same despite having completely different leaders. In most empires, when the bloodline of the Emperor (Septim) is dead, the Empire is dead. If someone else resurrects the Empire under a different family/dynasty name, then that is a different Empire altogether. The Medes are not the Septims. I'd argue the Medes have direct continuity from the Septims, through Ocato and Thules. Sure, said empire is much weaker, and it's character has become more Greco-Roman, but it's essentially just the same empire, albeit one that has changed significantly since Martin's death.

The priestess is Crescius' wife, Aphia, and IIRC, she's not a priestess anymore because Elder Othreloth kicked her out.

I'd love to see whales in Skyrim, I think it'd be a good idea to have right whales, humpback whales and maybe even Basilosaurus. Other good ideas would be seals, basking sharks and whale sharks, maybe others as well, and maybe plesiosaurs/mosasaurs?

As a "radical leftie", I'm pretty tired of people comparing my ideology to Mao, Stalin, <insert stock commie boogeyman here>, and acting as if there's nothing beyond the centre-left except communism, as highlighted. Anyway let's leave the whole left/right wing binary out of this (because the CW is much more nuanced than that) and get back on topic, your arguments seem to be based more on how you think the Civil War should be, rather than how it is. The Empire's corruption, all the Stormcloak jarls being douchebags, that's all subjective. And I'd say the portrayal of the Empire and Stormcloaks is pretty balanced. The Stormcloaks have Skald, Korir and Thongvor, the Empire has Maven and Siddgeir (the main problem with the Imperial jarls doesn't seem to be their intentions as much as their incompetence, or perceived incompetence, see Elisif, Idgrod and Igmund). The Stormcloaks are pretty racist, the Empire are pretty ignorant of Nordic culture (especially Tullius and the Legates). And of course the Empire tries to have you executed, which is what pushes most people to side with the Stormcloaks anyway. Both sides have books in-game supporting their side of the argument (the Stormcloaks have the Scourge of the Gray Quarter and Dunmer of Skyrim, the Empire has that summary of the Great War and the Bear of Markarth). It all seems to indicate no-one is ultimately "the good guy", everyone has some blood on their hands. Really, I don't think it's as black and white as you're making it out to be.

I'm pretty sure Ulfric and/or Galmar explicitly say they plan to cleave through Cyrodiil to fight the Dominion.

Yes, I'd say the Medes aren't bad for a non-Dragonborn dynasty. They certainly don't lack political or military skill, so it kinda strikes me as unfair that Ulfric and other detractors label them incompetent and/or weak.

You know the ones, the ones where you click on the flags and they add the location to your map? I've tried adding a few settlements to the map (Heljarchen, Granite Hill, Darkwater Crossing, Kynesgrove, Old H'roldan and Stonehills). I've managed to get them to appear on the maps, but they just spawn in one big cluster in the center, and I can't find any way to position them, the script for the maps doesn't have any answers. Does anyone know more?

But...Ulfric's clothes/Tullius' armour. Tullius can't even decide on his armor style. His armor has both clothing and heavy armor properties, but the color scheme is clearly something to be worn with light armor. Yeah, I have no idea what Bethesda were doing. And it's improved with steel ingots for some reason.

But...Ulfric's clothes/Tullius' armour.

Ah, but you have to realise that very few in the Jarls' courts (Imperial or Stormcloak) even care about the war. I'd say neither Teeba-Ei, nor anyone else in Sorli the Builder's court really count as Stormcloaks, they never even mention the war, the Imperials, or the Stormcloaks, not even Sorli herself. Hell, Sorli doesn't even believe in the Nine. As far as I can tell, Sorli was chosen by Ulfric because she was pretty much the only person left in Hjaalmarch who had any experience of leadership, not because she had any Stormcloak loyalties. And I'd presume that Sorli chose her court herself, so Pactur and Teeba-Ei probably don't care about the Stormcloaks any more than she does.

Technically, no they don't. Sylvian is only a prospective Stormcloak, who never reaches Windhelm if I have anything to do with it. And Reburrus Quintilius isn't a Stormcloak, he's just a steward with a money fetish in a city that he's free to tax into Oblivion thanks to the Stormcloaks. The only non-Nord who is definitely a Stormcloak is Cade, the son Endon and Kerah (in Markarth) sometimes talk about. And even then, he's never seen, and it's possible he's not a Redguard like them (given how common adoption is in Skyrim).