[LE] Thane weapon random generation adjustment

[Sostratus]

The weapons given to you when you become thane (e.g. Blade of <hold>) often are pretty bad. It would be nice to just reload and see if you get a better one. But this is usually not practical because this random determination is made when the quest starts, which may be a long time before you finish it. This also means it may have generated for a much lower level than you are now.

 

I have what I think/hope is a very simple mod idea: a script modification to regenerate this item right before it is given to you. I'd like to make it myself even, but I'm new to this and don't understand scripting very well yet.

 

For example lets look at the Haafingar thane quest, which is internally called "favor252". The thane weapon is created immediately when the quest begins by the non-optional quest alias "JarlWeapon". The weapon is then enabled and given to the player with a papyrus fragment attached to quest stage 25.

 

Is there few lines of script that could be inserted before the item is given to the player to regenerate it?

 

If I understand it correctly, I could use Alias_JarlWeapon.ForceRefTo(new weapon reference) to change the alias to the new weapon. But I'm not sure how to generate that new weapon without another quest alias (which leads us back to where we started). Also I don't know if the original disabled weapon needs to be deleted somehow.

 

Also I'm not sure if there are any best practices to be aware of here when modifying a base game quest script so as to minimize conflicts. Most tutorials assume you are making something new and independent.

 

Thank you for any help!

 

Edit: I've tried to do some very small scale testing with scripting around leveled items and it's not going well. I can't seem to figure out functioning syntax for a script handling leveled items. The documentation says it should work, the script compiles, but then it doesn't work. However in the meantime I figured out that restarting the quest through the console and deleting the still disabled reward weapon will cause the quest to restart without issue and generate a new weapon. That's not nearly as elegant as a mod that makes the desired behavior seamless, but it's enough to sap my motivation to investigate further. I might return to it if I get any tips that help me move the project forward.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Sostratus

[InDarkestNight]

Your creation kit may not be actually compiling your scripts (it doesn't tell you if it fails, garbage program). There's these two files hidden in a zip in the skyrim folder you have to extract to get it to work. It may not help though; I've done that and I still can't get things to compile, or half the functions of the CK to work at all. I tried an external compiler, but that didn't work other, but at least it threw me an error message and told me the files I was missing. I have no idea why I would be missing those files, but completely re-installing the CK doesn't fix the problem. Fml.

 

That said, if you really wanted decent thane weapons, there are two mods out there that have the thane quests give you a guaranteed item. One is Thane Weapons Reborn, which was made by the same MO that made the famous Legacy of the Dragonborn. There's also Zim's Immersive Artifacts, which improves ALL the artifacts in the game, but you can install just the thane weapons alone if you want that. I actually much prefer that over TWR. Far better models, and I like their effects more. Besides, its what I used in SE because LotD SE apparently has you collecting those items while the LE version instead has you collect the ones from TWR. Wtf?

 

Relating to modifying the thane quests, you actually can't disable the item the quest gives you by default. It used to be the two mods I mentioned just renamed the mod to 'thane status', and gave you the named item alongside it. The version of ZIA I'm running now though seems to have somehow fixed this problem. I still get the notification that the default reward was added to my inventory, but its not there when I look for it.

 

Also, it IS possible to modify the game's scripts; Xtudo for a while now has been releasing script replacers that help optimize the game's less efficient scripts. So yes, it can be done. You may want to consult with him if you're looking to do something similar yourself.