[LE] Alternate start mod- progressing Main Quest and Joining a Faction (PS4)

[KhajitDave]

(posted in the wrong place, sorry, please delete)

 

Hi everyone,

 

I'm currently working on my own alternate start mod. I want to be able to release it for all platforms including the PS4, so that means I can't create new scripts.

 

What I want to know is how to make it so that when you start the game in a different location (e.g., in an inn or something), the Intro Quest has already progressed to the point where Helgen is destroyed, and you have to speak the people in Riverwood.

 

There's a PS4 mod called "Fast Alternate Start" which does this. Upon starting a new game and choosing how you want to begin (in a faction, owning a house, in an inn etc), the Main Quest is set to "Before the Storm", and instructs you to speak with Alvor in Riverwood. If you visit Helgen, it's destroyed and occupied by bandits. Ralof is still hanging around.

 

There's also the option to start as a Dark Brotherhood member, for example. You start in the Falkreath sanctuary and the quest instructs you to speak to Astrid, who's waiting for you in the sanctuary.

 

 

In my attempt to replicate this, I set a script on an activator, which sets the quest stage when you've finished making your character and are ready to begin.

However, this seems to advance the quest to a certain point, but doesn't bring everything else along with it. For example, when I tried to replicate the Dark Brotherhood start, it said to "Speak to Astrid", but she was still in the Abandoned Shack instead of the Sanctuary. With the Main Quest, it said to "Speak to [...] in Riverwood" (because the game didn't know who I sided with in the intro), and when I went to Helgen, it was un-destroyed and the characters were still there- Lokir etc.

 

So it seems like I need some way of not only advancing the Quest stage, but also making sure that everything before that has been concluded. It's essential I can do this for the Main Quest, though including faction starts and also starts where you own a house would be nice, though not essential. Unfortunately I have no way of contacting the "Fast Alternate Start" mod author, though his/her name's "Bellasarius" in case anyone knows lol.

 

 

 

I vaguely remember reading a guide on how to make Alternate Start mods, and again I have a vague recollection of having to change certain "Global Variables". Also I think I found the guide on another forum- the name I can't remember but it was some kind of "university" style group where you could take "lessons" in modding. It may have been the "Arcane University" who have perhaps moved everything on to Discord now so the forum no longer exists.

 

I hope someone can help! Thanks a lot.

Edited May 30, 2023 by KhajitDave