JanusForbeare

The original role playing video games were text-based, and many of them didn't have stats at all. I remember playing the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy RPG on my old Commodore 64 as a kid. Like many games of that era, it wasn't about getting into fights, or powerlevelling, or any of the stale, two-dimensional conventions of the genre as it is today. It was about being immersed in a fictional world, and taking on the role of a character within that world. It was about solving problems through dialogue and figuring out the solutions to puzzles by observation of the world around you. There are plenty of other role-playing games that took a similar approach. Don't get me wrong, I think that stats and combat have their place in the genre, especially these days (and I definitely think that it's something lacking in Skyrim). However, they are very mechanical, mathematical systems that are easily exploited, which often changes the point of the game from, "How can I solve this problem using the tools available to me?" to "How can I become ridiculously powerful in the shortest amount of time?". They're also not unique to RPGs. Sports games have stats (FIFA, for example). Racing games have stats. Many first-person shooters have stats. They define the genre about as much as swords do - in other words, they're a common element, but they don't make a game into a RPG on their own. Ultimately, an RPG is what its name implies: a role-playing game. As in, a game where you take on another persona. It's a very loose definition, and one that is by its very nature open to interpretation. It's really not worth debating too heavily, because people are going to have had different experiences with the genre, and their expectations are going to be based on those experiences. Anyways, what I miss about Morrowind is the size of the world, the fact that different paths were mutually exclusive (ie. Great House Membership), the feeling of actually being part of organizations (I'm sure I'm not the only one nostalgic about their legion days in Gnisis, or taking a pilgrimage across Vvardenfell), the deep and varied dialogue, and the bizarre setting. While I'm on the subject, while I'm as excited as the next person about seeing the Dunmer in their own lands again, I can't help but feel that that "exotic" atmosphere is going to be lost a bit. After all, we've already seen Dunmer architecture, and we've already been to Solstheim. Sure, they may have changed a little, but wouldn't exploring Dominion territory have been even more alien, novel, and exciting? Besides, there's already a plotline with a whole bunch of loose ends there... why start up a new one? Hell, we're not even travelling in the right direction! EDIT: Just realized that the title of this thread only mentions Oblivion, not Morrowind. Whoops. Well, I miss more from TES III than I do from TES IV, so... sorry. I stand by what I said, though. Really, Morrowind was the high point for the series.

It's theoretically possible to do something close to what is being requested, through a combination of the Say and Wait Papyrus functions. However: 1) I'm not sure that there's an effective way to trigger player dialogue to play when a dialogue option is chosen. Scripts can be attached to NPC responses, but as far as I know, there's no way to attach them to player dialogue options. The consequence of this would be: 2) It would be next to impossible to get the timing right. Since the script wouldn't fire until the NPC begins their response, the player and the NPC would be effectively speaking at the same time. This is why I brought up the wait function - the only way I can see to circumvent this problem would be to have ALL dialogue in the game triggered by say functions. In other words, you click on a dialogue option, which triggers an NPC response with a blank audio file. Attached to the NPC response is a script. The say function in that script plays the player's line, while the wait function pauses the script for a certain amount of time (ie. until the player finishes speaking). When the player finishes speaking and the wait time elapses, another say command is triggered (ie. the NPC response). Coordinating every possible interaction would be a monumental undertaking... virtually impossible. 3) Modded interactions would, of course, remain unvoiced, at least as far as the player is concerned. 4) There's no SetVoiceType function in Papyrus, so I don't think it would be possible to have more than one potential voicetype for the player (ie. women might have male voice, orcs might sound like elves, etc.). You might be able to get around this by releasing each voicetype as a separate mod. Again, requiring a massive amount of work. 5) I'm not totally sure that the player can use .lip files, which could rule out lipsync for player dialogue. There are probably other obstacles as well, these are just the most obvious ones. In other words, it might be possible, but it would take years to complete and might never reach a finished state. If you really want this, I'd recommend that you start on it yourself (and now), because the odds of an experienced mod author taking on a project like this are minimal. If you manage to make some headway and can demonstrate a proof-of-concept video to the community, however, you might be able to bring some additional help on board.

There is such a utility. You can find details on it here. Seriously though, it's simply not possible to build a program to do what you're asking for. There are way too many variables to take into account. Rig specs, load order, script details, CPU temperature... these are just a few of the factors that can lead to crashes. Even if they could all be accounted for, they aren't static. Your rig temperature will increase over time, especially if you're pushing your graphics card especially hard. New mods are being released every day, and even BOSS can't keep up with them all, so there's no way to know what the scripts might do. Similarly, mod conflicts abound, and without a comprehensive list of what every mod available modifies (and how), there's no definitive way to sort them all. The best way to avoid crashes is to simply do your research, use utilities like BOSS and Wrye Bash (or is it Smash now? I still use Bash), and be cautious when installing mods.

It's never confirmed nor denied in TES lore, however, seeing as how they remain living beings (unlike vampires), I don't see why they would.

@jore666: Then you haven't spent enough time on the forums (I see that you joined in 2007, but with 144 posts I have to assume you've mainly used the Nexus for the mod database). That's not a critique or a jab at your expense, just a suggestion that you might not have seen how strong the appeal of mods can be. I can't count how many people have posted questions about modding preceded by something along the lines of, "I played Skyrim on the X-Box/PS3, but decided to get the PC version so that I could use mods". Granted, Skyrim is okay unmodded (at least for one or two playthroughs), but the appeal of modding has encouraged a sizable number of gamers to choose the PC version over the console version, even when it means paying for a game they already own.

Great article. I especially appreciate the first half, where you discuss how out of touch many of the big players in the gaming industry are with the needs and desires of their fan base. You single out EA quite a bit, and that's fair, they've trashed some great titles in their time (the Ultima series, for instance, went down the drain pretty much the second EA acquired Origin), though they managed to redeem themselves somewhat with DA. Similarly, I feel that Bethesda has really dropped the ball with TES in recent years, pandering to a larger and larger demographic at the expense of the dedication to, and innovation of, the RPG genre that attracted their core fanbase in the first place. Kickstarter is a great idea which has begun to revolutionize the video game industry... it's the gunpowder or printing press of the industry, so to speak - it's taken away the big corporations' monopoly on the means of production, and put it more directly in the hands of the people (I didn't mean for that to sound as politically-charged as it did, it just kind of happened :P).Hero-U, an old-school style RPG from Corey and Lori Cole, the makers of the Quest for Glory titles, recently achieved its KS goal and has entered production, which I'm hoping will help demonstrate to the big companies (and the little ones!) that there is still a market for story-driven role playing games. I strongly recommend any fans of the old Sierra games to check this beauty out... though the KS campaign may be over, they still have stretch goals they'd like to meet, which you can help with through Paypal donations (there's some decent rewards to be earned by donating). Anyways, glad to see that the Nexus has so much support for the little guys! Keep it coming!

TES V Acceleration Layer n'existe plus sur le Nexus. Je ne sais pas pourquoi il a été retiré, mais tu peut essayer HiAlgoBoost FPS Performance Accelerator. Il m'a beaucoup aidé.

I'm not totally sure, but I think the game may have been updated since you wrote the guide. The reason I say this is because: A) I was playing as a thief, and had been avoiding fights until the end of the game, when all that was left to do was killing the ghost girl's murderer and taking back the castle. Your walkthrough stated that it's virtually impossible for thieves/mages to increase their health or stamina, but mine increased by 10 after every fight, once I set my mind to levelling them. Once I had 160 of both, the fight with the murderer was winnable. B) When considered alongside point A, the fact that I ended up with a score of 504/500 suggests to me that someone realized the murderer was too tough for squishy thieves and mages, and made it possible to get a perfect score without killing him. The fact that my fighting stats weren't that hard to level seems to indicate that they also altered the rate at which they increase, to help in that fight. I may be wrong... perhaps the extra four points just came from some thief job. I didn't really pay attention to where they were coming from. Also, I've been doing some reading, and it's been suggested that if there is a QFG6, the protagonist will be the child of the original hero and his wife from QFG5. Considering that there are several potential wives available (though I can't see why anyone would choose to marry anybody but Katrina), importing our saves would make sense in that scenario. Anyways, thanks for bringing news of Hero-U to the Nexus... I'll be following it closely. Looks great so far - after spending so long modding and (occasionally) playing the buggy, action-oriented, mass-appealing "RPG" that is Skyrim (note the quotes), I'll be very happy to sink my teeth into a real role-playing game.

Hide and seek! The price is right, I never had any technical issues, there's TONS of replay value... Huh? What? Oh, video games... Ultima 7. Hands down. I already raved about it on another thread somewhere, but it was the first open-world RPG I ever played. It was light years ahead of its time, and while the storyline was somewhat linear, the sandbox quality kept things fresh. I remember playing a mad, power-hungry mage who slaughtered the entire population of Moonshade (the city of wizards), and re-animated their army of automatons to be his personal servants. I had another character who conquered a Fellowship (evil cult masquerading as a legitimate religion) monastery on a secluded island, completely redecorated it - since in U7 you could pick up pretty much anything - and turned it into his headquarters. The magic system was also pretty cool... eight or nine circles of magic, with spells ranging from Circle of Swords, to Conjure Food, to Create Ice, to Fire Blast, to Armageddon (which killed everything in the world, except you and the king... boy, did that piss off the king). Each spell used a unique combination of spell components, which you could buy, steal, or find growing around the world. Some spells could be learned from other mages - most of whom had a speciality, like ice or death magic - while others had been all but lost to time, and had to be dug up. And then there's the endless supply of things you could do to pass the time. You could gamble. You could bake bread (usually using flour, a rolling pin, an oven, and water - but you could substitute the water for blood). You could fight in the arena. You could change children's diapers and throw the dirty ones at your enemies. You could rob museums. You could have affairs. You could visit libraries and read books. The possibilities were pretty much endless. If U7 had been made in the last decade, I can't even begin to fathom what the modding community would do with it. In some ways, it's almost too bad that it came out so long ago. That said, it has a timeless quality, and I highly recommend it to any and all RPG buffs.

I got on sale (which, I assume, is what you're considering doing as well) and at 33% off, it was worth the price I paid. The perks come down to interesting new locations, a nifty-looking new mount, and, of course, crossbows. The downsides are mostly the bugs. I needed to make two mods for personal use to simply complete the questline, and those were just for the game-breaking bugs. There were plenty of (relatively) minor technical glitches that were the cause of much frustration, without necessarily stopping my progress altogether. I'd say go for it, but make sure to download and install the Unofficial Dawnguard Patch as well.

Woot! I've been pining for that for a while... I think I even made the request a couple of times! Glad to see it's happening!

Yeah, it's true what you say about importing characters... a lot of elements of QFG were ahead of its time. Speaking of which, I've read that you can save your game after beating QFG5, which suggests that we may be able to import our old saves if the Coles do decide to start up the series again. By the way, I downloaded (and beat, with a score of 504/500 :P) QFG4.5 last night... then I noticed that the strategy guide I had referenced once or twice was written by YOU. So, thanks for that! And, oh my god... the date with Hilde... that was wrong on so many levels. :D

Nice! I'll definitely buy it when it comes out (hopefully I'll have another contract before then), if only in the hopes that it will lead to more QFG games. I bought the anthology yesterday after reading this thread, looking forwards to sinking my teeth into some old-school RPGs.

I only played QFG: Shadows of Darkness, but it was an awesome RPG, and I'd love to see more games in that vein. Since I'm off-contract at the moment, I don't expect to be able to contribute to the project, but I'll keep my fingers crossed for them!

That's disturbing. I'm running on Chrome, but I think I'll set Steam to offline mode until I hear about a fix. Thanks for the heads-up.

It sounds like a font problem more than a script problem. However, apart from validating your cache through Steam, I don't know what to recommend.

The title pretty much says it all. I'm about to institute the beginning stages of Atvir's Relationship and Empathy variables, and I need to know if globals can be negative before I set their initial values. The CK wiki doesn't have an answer for me... do any of you?

Personally, beyond the expense needed to institute and maintain a system like this, I wouldn't have a huge problem with it. The amount of personal information that is already available to the public is mind-boggling - you just need to know where to look. There will always be corrupt individuals in power who will take advantage of their access to personal information, and giving them one more potential database to search isn't going to make one heck of a difference. Similarly, there will always be social leeches who try to take advantage of the system, as Vagrant0 pointed out, and centralizing their records will make their schemes considerably more difficult to realize.

Well, based on what you've said, I'd suggest: No Fast Travel (might as well remove the temptation altogether) Hardcore Compass (be prepared to get lost) Imps More Complex Needs (There are several needs mods out there, and just as many different schools of thought on which is the best. This is my favourite, but other users might make different suggestions.) Frostfall (cold weather is cold) Fishing in Skyrim (not everyone is a hero) Jobs of Skyrim (similar to the last suggestion, this gives you other ways to spend your time besides fighting) Winter is Coming (cloaks!) Dice Games in Taverns (one of my favourite minor mods) Fighting Words (okay, shameless self-promotion, but some people enjoy unrestricted brawls) Alcohol Drunk Effect (always fun) Footprints (pretty much what it sounds like) Hunting in Skyrim (one of the few new guilds that has been added so far) There are a bunch more, but that's all I can think of at the moment. You should also take a look at Skyrim Gems... it's a one-page list of some of the mods that are noted for dramatically enhancing the immersion of your gameplay.

If you don't mind playing something a little bit dated (2001), Clive Barker's Undying was one of the scariest games I played growing up. Lots of fun, atmospheric horror staples in that game: sexy, blood-crazed vampire brides, hellhounds that you can hear coming long before you see them, victorian ghosts that stalk you incessantly, psychotic torture victims, ancient curses, and a deep and twisted storyline. Definitely worth a shot. If you're on the fence, read some of the reviews online... even the rare ones that don't score it in the 85+ range tend to have some very good things to say about it.

:D Happens all the time on these forums. Well, now MikeMoss can be totally sure he's getting the right thing.

Sounds like the NPC Editor.

1. I mod for several reasons. First, I've been using mods (and the Nexus) since Morrowind came out, and I got tired of simply consuming - I wanted to produce, to give something back. Secondly, I work in the television production industry, and mods are a great way to showcase certain talents which could be applied to that medium (scriptwriting, voice acting, project management, etc.). Third, it's rewarding to know that the fruits of your labour are being enjoyed by thousands of players. And lastly... it's just plain fun. 2. Again, there are multiple answers to this question. As great as many games are straight out of the box, there are always shortcomings that need to be addressed, and mod authors can often do this more quickly and more fully than a corporate entity. They also allow us to build upon mechanics which already exist in-game, but haven't been fully realized. An example is the work that some of us are doing to expand the follower system in Skyrim... the vanilla system is admirable, but the available followers lack character depth, and are subject to certain unnecessary restrictions, such as pre-determined armour sets and inflexible AI. As a result, a handful of more complex follower mods have begun to emerge, each of which expands upon the vanilla system in distinct ways. We've even begun to collaborate on a "follower interactivity framework" which, we hope, will someday allow these complex companions to interact with each other, bringing the depth and sense of party dynamics that makes games like Baldur's Gate and Dragon Age so enjoyable to Skyrim. It's also worth stating that mods help spur innovation in the game makers. A fair amount of the content found in Skyrim and its DLCs was originally found in mods. Examples include the Blackreach region, which is a fair approximation of The Underdark, and the constructable home and adoption mechanics found in Hearthfire. Mods help show the developers where the players' interests lie, and encourage them to expand official content in directions they may or may not have previously considered. 3. Man, that's a very difficult question to answer. Everyone has their own unique tastes, of course, and even a single person's opinions will change from day to day. If I had to limit myself to a single answer, I'd say that the best kind of mod is a quest or storyline with a strong emotional component. Skyrim is a decent game, but it lacks the emotional appeal that makes a storyline truly memorable, so if mods can give me that experience, their appeal is exponentially greater than that of the original game. In Oblivion, Ruined Tail's Tale was a prime example of this. Without giving away too much of the storyline, I'd like to say that the ending brought a tear to my eye. Part of the reason Companion Vilja was so popular was also because of the emotional appeal... she almost felt human, and the player truly felt that he or she was forming a friendship with this sweet-natured young woman. So I'd have to say that, while there are many mods that I now consider essential to my gameplay, emotional attachment ultimately trumps everything else. 4. I have a very love-hate relationship with Bethesda. On the one hand, I've been a fan of their games since Daggerfall was released in the '90s, and I think that they've done a wonderful job of building a deep, multi-faceted fantasy world with some strong storylines and a rich history. On top of that, I have to give them credit for avoiding the traditional good versus evil fantasy dichotomy - even the most distasteful characters tend to have very relatable, human motivations. However, I've become increasingly disillusioned with the company in recent years. They've begun to emphasize flash and mass appeal over substance and innovation, and have made a habit of neglecting the concerns of existing fans in their never-ending search for untapped markets and maximized profits. They have also been slow and inefficient when it comes to addressing the technical shortcomings of their games, and it often falls to the modders to correct Bethesda's mistakes. As to where I see myself in the development process... I don't really see myself as part of that process, but that could have to do with the type of modding that I pursue. My main project adds a new companion to the game, with a rich backstory and a distinctive personality. Apart from expanding the capabilities of the follower system, I don't spend much time correcting the technical flaws in the game; I simply build on the existing lore and try to make it more accessible to the player. It's worth noting, however, that the companion I add makes a number of "meta-comments" which are intended as subtle jabs at some of the more glaring omissions on Bethesda's part. In some ways, he is a bit of an antithesis of M'aiq the Liar, who is a recurring character in The Elder Scrolls. M'aiq is designed to subtly respond to the complaints and criticisms of fans on Bethesda's behalf; Atvir simply returns the favour. 5. What are the rules of art? Modding is essentially painting on a digital canvas. I don't feel that there are really any hard and fast rules, though it's always worth considering that in releasing a mod, you are making a public statement. That statement may be controversial or it may be benign, but if you are going to be provocative, it's always wise to think your position through before you release anything. For every action, there is a reaction, and if you're not sufficiently prepared for the response you may generate, you'll only be hurting yourself (or, at the very least, your reputation). As for staying true to the original author's vision, I don't think that it's really possible - after all, you're adding your own voice to a project that was developed by someone else. Many of us do prefer to keep our work within the bounds of reason, but there is a sizable majority of players and modders out there who want to use the medium to create a different game entirely. I don't think that either approach is right or wrong, they're just two different perspectives on how people want to enjoy the game. * * * Good luck with your paper! I hope that I gave you something useful. And thank you for giving us a chance to have our voices heard in an academic setting - I'm interested to hear how this information will be interpreted and received. :) Put me down for a copy of the finished product... I'll send you a private message with my email address.

EDIT: Disregard, I misread your question. I thought you were making an actor script.

Looking good so far! I like the way you've categorized it. I have one more to add: -The CK wiki is your friend. Among its useful features are lists of the events, functions and conditions available to you in the CK. You can also get them sorted by script type.