jamochawoke Posted June 8, 2010 Share Posted June 8, 2010 This is the official thread for "Vanilla Drops", a comprehensive immersion mod with the end goal of improving the Vanilla Oblivion experience. Main Goal of this mod:Were you frustrated with some of the quests, NPCs, or encounters in Oblivion that left you hanging? The goal of this mod is to provide simple and subtle immersion additions to the main game. I realise that much of this has already been done by other modders, however in ways that are not modular or in parts of other comprehensive or just plain "not lore friendly" mods that change the Vanilla game far too much for my tastes. I am a really big fan of Bethesda's work and want to keep any changes I make subtle, but appreciable, so as not to distract from Bethesda's work. I am currently in progress of asking those modders permission to use their files and have already taken advantage of several free to use modder's resources available here on TESNexus. Sub-Goals of this mod:- give extensive credit to any modders who made resources or decided to let me use pieces of their mod in Vanilla Drops- keep extensive changelogs of what I've done and anything I've changed from the modding resources or others' mods- Make all changes to the game (including other people's mods or resources) seamless with the Vanilla game world, hence the name Vanilla Drops (like you are just "dropping in" a change)- be compatible with others' mods so that even if they change something I've done that the load order will fix it. This way even if I've included someone's mod or resources in my mod but the user wants to use an upgraded version of that person's mod for example they can simply load it after mine and not have any issues- be modular (have versions for base game, each of the DLCs, Shivering Isles, and other options) with compiled .esp's for each version that can be added or removed at will- keep .esp's as small as possible to increase loading times and decrease any gameplay lag- provide someone who "picked up Oblivion and wants to try mods" with an exceptionally easy to use and lore-friendly "firsty try" mod that can be plugged into the main game without a hitch and show what modding can do without drastically changing the game My skillset:- Excellent drawing and painting skills that I am slowly moving over to the digital world (photoshop mostly)- limited nifskope abilities- a fair knowledge of the TES Construction Set by Bethesda- limited scripting abilities (cut+paste with ability to modify existing code and small amount of troubleshooting skills) If anyone would like to help me on this mod I am in dire need of an animator right now and some people with scripting knowledge. I'll post requests as I can on the technical help board (I already have posted 2) and if you want to work more closely with me I can be reached through this forum and will check messages daily. This mod aims for these changes to Vanilla to be included in a comprehensive esp:- Make the end bosses more of a challenge (Grey Prince, Mannimarco, Mankar Camoran) with slightly better rewards to compensate for the upped difficulty- Make some of the lesser known quest encounters more interesting and the NPCs involved less puds (Pale Lady, Seridur were vampires but easily slain for example)- Make some of the non-named boss-level encounters more interesting (Dremora guarding sigil stones, Bandit Bosses et cetera)- Have unique NPCs wear unique clothes so they stand out a bit more from the crowd- Revamp the Arena armors so they don't look so hideous and strange (and possibly add a robe option)- Add a rewards system to the chapels of Tamriel for making a pilgrim/priest roleplayer more interesting- Add some "alternate options" to some quests or choices in the game for more roleplaying immersion. Try to include new voice dialogue with this using the original game voicework (much like Romancing Eyja did with their new Eyja using sampled voicework)- Retune some quest rewards but keep them balanced with the game- Rather than revamp the entire levelling system, keep it so certain monsters/npcs simply don't dissapear from the game world as you level (keeping them on the spawnlists thus making some encounters easier as you level and preventing things becoming too easy for the player as levelled npcs still spawn for the majority). This should be easily overwritten by mods that influence the levelling system.- Make some unique bandits in some of the random bandit camps to give some better bandit encounters- Revamp how bandits choose to engage you, making them a bit smarter- Empty some of the bandit camps. Honestly there are a bit too many.- Make some of the bandit camps have friendly "camper" NPCs that you can share the camp with in the wilderness instead of having to empty the camps of bandits first so you can rest.- Increase the appearance of adventurer NPCs and add in some non-orc versions- Make wildlife more natural and abundant, so you don't feel like the world is so empty.- Add some fish and scenery under the waters of Tamriel and fixing the vision issues while keeping things looking as naturalistic as possible, just slaughterfish is boring (and annoying)- Revamp how some of the clutter looks in-game and in-menu- Make the Hackdirt town even more spooky, add similar simple immersion changes to the small towns and settlements to give them a bit of local flavor while not really changing any of the landscape (subtle, remember?). Basically making them not "flyover states" as it were.- Make inns have a bit livelier of business and adding some bar-room brawl type NPCs.- Change the Vanilla animations to be more realistic (seriously? spinning and exposing your back during a sword fight? only using straight crosses in a h2h fight?) or interesting (a few flashy but realistic moves, better casting anims for staves)- Incorporating these animations into the 3rd person in 1st person mod and incorporating that seamlessly into this mod- Perhaps add an "unconscious state" to general town NPCs so if you get into a h2h fight with them (or a bar brawl) you can knock them out before killing them (and they'll stop attacking you instead of getting up and trying again once they get more fatigue). This would also wipe out assault bounty in some circumstances.- Make some of the Knights in the game ride horses around.- Make NPCs less picky about grabbing objects and giving you stealing bounty- Make guards less psychic- Fix the Bruma Mages Guild- Put out the fires of Kvatch after you complete the quest- Make Kvatch citizens a little more hopeful after you save them from annihilation- Make a higher summoning cap (around 2-3) but increasing cast cost of summons- Add ports to other cities in the Mage's guilds (for a cost) usable by anyone- Add some more unique Mage's Guild spells as you increase in the ranks and a few buyable from vendors- Change the way necromantic spells are gotten, and have some necromantic spells gotten from Necromancer caves- Fix some of the minor graphical issues with the game (levelled items not always using same model, some weapons being held oddly, etc)- Add lights to the cities of Tamriel- Make thieving a bit more of a challenge and more worthwhile (it was incredibly boring in Vanilla)- Make some of the other areas where you jump into "Oblivion realms" more unique. It annoyed me to no end that they looked exactly the same as Mehrune's Dagon's realm.- Change a few of the armors to look a little less "wonky" / fix some clipping issues in Vanilla This mod aims for these changes to Knights of the Nine to be included in a comprehensive add-on esp:- Make the encounter with Umaril the Unfeathered more difficult (he was a major pud)- Add the ability to summon the Auroran daedra-creatures for summoner type roleplayers- Add the ability to wear Auroran armor This mod aims for these changes to Frostcrag Spire to be included in a comprehensive add-on esp:- Fix the port to Bruma Mages guild- Fix the port to Kvatch's Mages guild (this one might be not doable while maintaining compatability)- Make the long term summons a bit more fiesty in battle... thus making losing those precious alchemy ingredients worth it- Add a unique spell or two in the mage's quarters to be found later- Add other unique Daedra summons to the long-term summoning chamber This mod aims for these changes to Horse Armor to be included in a comprehensive add-on esp:- Add legion horse armor to all those Imperial Legion patrols- Add a few more horse armor types to be found as loot- Add the ability to buy horse armor blueprints, but at a very very high price- Give some of the knights in the game some nice steel horse armor for their steeds This mod aims for these changes to Shivering Isles to be included in a comprehensive add-on esp:- Same levelling "anti-extinction" changes to Vanilla applied to SI npcs/monsters- Add the ability to summon Knights of Order creatures- Add the ability to wear Knights of Order armor- Add the ability to wear Dark Seducer and Golden Saint armors- Expand the powers of Sheogorath- Add lights to New Sheoth- Make Jyggalag a rougher but balanced encounter (he actually should be insanely hard lore-wise, but he did just wake up...) I may or may not release a Vanilla Drop for the Thief and Assassin based DLC, although I would like to. I will release a few of these changes that I do personally as individual mods because I know that some people would enjoy them better as such. Although, the main purpose of this mod is to be a comprehensive immersion change. Note that quite a few of these (I'm guessing a majority as I haven't searched for every single one on every single site) are already done as seperate mods by people, as I have mentioned. I will be asking all of them for use in my comprehensive mod and giving them extensive credit/praise/thanks and if I cannot I will try to emulate their effects as best I can. I will be updating this list as I work on the mod showing changes and progress. I've already completed alot of these things (about 30%) but right now just writing this has used up too much of my time and I need to get ready for work :). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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