Frostcrag Reborn Facelift and General Fixes.

[indefiance]

Hello All,


I recently decided to start playing Oblivion again after a nearly 15 year hiatus. I modded a bit of Skyrim so my coding and modding skills had a bit of practice over the years, and Oddly enough I still remember quite a bit of the Oblivion construction set. I suppose that's to be expected after spending some 5000+ hours building Frostcrag Reborn.

I started to Mod a few fixes I noticed while playing through my own Mod Frostcrag Reborn, little things that bothered me. It was like playing someone else's Mod TBH, it has been so long, and so I think i had a fresh perspective and enough creative distance that things that never bothered me before or I just didn't notice now stuck out and irritated me. Cosmetic things, and the flow of the Quests.

Long Story Short, I started to try to fix a lot of those cosmetic and other things.

Some Things I'm working on:

 

I'll be releasing a new version based on the de-isolated version that AliTheLord created all those years ago.

I've already given Avalon a massive facelift based on some nice modder's resources now available that wasn't around in 2009. It looks 10x better already and I'm pretty happy with the results.

Some of my scripted animations were optimized for hardware from 2009, and on new hardware with 200-300 fps were completely ridiculous so I fixed those to run correctly at faster framerates.

I played through the biggest Gripe people have had over the years myself, the Long Long Long Staircase. Honestly I had fun. I couldn't remember where the keys were, or what I was going to find except in a general sense, and exploring the dungeons and getting mogged was a pretty good time. I did get extremely lost in a few spots, but overall I was able to figure it out. I'm trying to think of ways to improve this, but the stuff that bothered me the most was mostly cosmetic. I might shorten the stairs by a little, or make some sort of return to the top script... but since I use Mark and Recall and I assume most people do as well, I wasn't really that bothered. Suggestions here?

 

Things I'm planning:

Fix the storyline to be a bit more explicit and explain things in greater detail. I was pretty vague in a few spots I realize. This includes the quest for the tower additions as well as the Avalon storyline. I'll try to add a few more quest markers and stages, but also a few more notes and such.

Fix the the traps in both the deepness and in Avalon that are impossible to escape. I was more of a Realist back in the day, and while there are situations in real life where unavoidable pain is the hallmark of existence itself, in a game this is just annoying. I'll either remove them entirely, or make them deadlier with the possibility of finding away around them or with some 'key' or artefact or spell that enables you to disable them, this being acquired through exploring and reading etc..., Suggestions Here?


IN GENERAL, This is just an announcement, but also a request for feedback from those who played the mod, however long ago that might have been, and if you have some reasonable suggestions to include I would love to hear it. Keep in mind my scripting skillz are nothing like they were, and I'm not about to pour another 5000+ hours into this, but I have some time, and I'm enjoying the game while modding a few things, so I consider this a Facelift/GripeFix/Bugfix release. I've also never been that great at quests, or quest scripting, but simple additions may be possible If I can figure it out. If the request is reasonable and I can add it in I will.

 

Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Indefiance

[BlueSteelRanger]

Are you the one who did Frostcrag Reborn De-Isolated? If so, I'm more than willing to volunteer testing. I've got the thing now, having only recently acquired all the other DLC's (I know, I'm old LOL!).

I can also help with proofreading texts, books, dialogue, etc. if so desired.

 

My one suggestion/s would be a couple of quest markers. Perhaps an option for them, for those who might think markers are a bit too hand-holdy. I myself have disability-adaptive requirements to consider/consolidate, so markers are a huge help. :)

 

And, as silly as it may sound, perhaps a basic Walkthrough in the readme. Or a hint-sheet, something like how Integration: The Stranded Light creators did.

 

And finally, I LOVE the fact that it's COBL-friendly. COBL is one of those "Backbone must-have" mods for me, and likely others.

[indefiance]

Are you the one who did Frostcrag Reborn De-Isolated? If so, I'm more than willing to volunteer testing. I've got the thing now, having only recently acquired all the other DLC's (I know, I'm old LOL!).

I can also help with proofreading texts, books, dialogue, etc. if so desired.

 

My one suggestion/s would be a couple of quest markers. Perhaps an option for them, for those who might think markers are a bit too hand-holdy. I myself have disability-adaptive requirements to consider/consolidate, so markers are a huge help. :smile:

 

And, as silly as it may sound, perhaps a basic Walkthrough in the readme. Or a hint-sheet, something like how Integration: The Stranded Light creators did.

 

And finally, I LOVE the fact that it's COBL-friendly. COBL is one of those "Backbone must-have" mods for me, and likely others.

I'm the one who Did the ORIGINAL Frostcrag Reborn. AliTheLord De-isolated it for me a couple years after I released it. I'm basing this upcoming release on the De-isolated version for increased compatibility.

Edited March 17, 2023 by indefiance

[indefiance]

Are you the one who did Frostcrag Reborn De-Isolated? If so, I'm more than willing to volunteer testing. I've got the thing now, having only recently acquired all the other DLC's (I know, I'm old LOL!).

I can also help with proofreading texts, books, dialogue, etc. if so desired.

 

My one suggestion/s would be a couple of quest markers. Perhaps an option for them, for those who might think markers are a bit too hand-holdy. I myself have disability-adaptive requirements to consider/consolidate, so markers are a huge help. :smile:

 

And, as silly as it may sound, perhaps a basic Walkthrough in the readme. Or a hint-sheet, something like how Integration: The Stranded Light creators did.

 

And finally, I LOVE the fact that it's COBL-friendly. COBL is one of those "Backbone must-have" mods for me, and likely others.

I wouldn't mind a play-tester for some of the changes to the main quests I'm trying to integrate. A few more quest markers, a few more hints in journals or books or notes etc... Fixing the basic directions of the Maps to help with being less lost as well. I can also work on a hint-sheet.

[BlueSteelRanger]

HOLY WOW! Well, you've definitely got a volunteer in me if you want one. I absolutely adore what I've played of the mod so far and the community at large has been just amazing.

 

And I'm going to scoot over and endorse both versions because, well, it's essentially the same mod with different installation methods.