[WIP] The Abysmer Empire Needs You!

[IkeCoast]

Dear water-breathing, ocean-dwelling, trenches-crawling, seafood creatures wholesale:

 

THE ABYSMER EMPIRE NEEDS YOUR ASSISTANCE! HEAR THE CALL! SO SPEAKS YOUR EMPRESS, QUEEN DORMA!

You don't want to piss her off, do you?

 

Well, the story is:

 

I was working on an update for my Abysmer Playable Race mod, at first to create compatibility patches for HGEC and UFF bodies (the mod as is uses Roberts Female) before I fell ill and later my modding computer died. I had back-ups of my works, so not all was lost.

 

Right now I have a laptop that is incapable of playing Oblivion, so I cannot play. But I have managed to install it and my modding tools, and while modding with this laptop is a pain in the *beep*, I at least can do things.

 

I can't Blender (3D models, I can blender milkshakes just fine, thanks for asking) but I can use the CSE, GIMP and NIfSkope, so I took all the files I had from the WIP on the Abysmer and continued work. So, I have an Alpha version to test, but... I can't test it.

 

This is why I asked lovely Queen Dorma to sharpen her weapons and gently ask for your assistance. Do you volunteer to take this Alpha, install and test it for me, so I can find out if it works or not, and what needs to be tuned?

 

I assume you already know what the hell I am talking about with "Abysmer". If not, then have a look at it.

 

The update is more a makeover than a proper update. The changes made so far are:

 

NEW UNDIES!

NEW CLOTHES!

 

These clothes are courtesy of Little Baron, who gently gave me permission to take some assets from his Exotic Ayleid Armors to put here.

 

The armor has the same stats as Leather armor, but the cuirass possess a Resist Fire enchantment, and the gauntles give Resist Poison. Logically, since the Wounds of the Surface race ability gives you Weakness to Fire and Weakness to Poison.

 

REVAMPED POWERS!

 

The original Eel Kiss was a ranged Shock Damage spell. But it was useless underwater, and an aquatic creature unable to zap its enemyes to roasted death underwater is ridiculous. So I have changed it to an on touch spell, and added a Paralyze effect for your convenience. Nothing is now safe from you, neither on land or on water.

 

Eye of the Abyss and Eye of the Shark were, respectively, Nighteye and Detect Life spells with a fixed duration. Now, both have been merged in one single, constant and toggleable Eye of the Abyss. You can see in the dark and see what's going on behind doors, walls and under beds with just one finger snap.

 

Nature of the Abyss and Wounds of the Surface have been left untouched. Well, no, the original Nature of the Abyss had a Resist Water Damage I put without knowing what it was, and later discovered it actually was Resist Lava. I removed it, now mind the lava, my children. But, to compensate the loss, now the Abysmer Swift Swim has been added: when in water, you will find your speed boosted to +500! Almost warp speed! Only when in water, on land your speed will return to normal. Warning: at first, you will constantly bonk your head against everything when underwater, with such a speed. But don't worry, eventually you will get used to it.

 

NEW WEAPONS!

 

I'm madly in love with Evandar and gdarknight's Prince Nuada's Weapons Modders Resource and, since they made it public for free use, I have decided to include them. The sword has a Shock Damage enchantment, and the spear a Frost Damage one. Hence, they're called the Eel Sword and the Spear of Frost.

 

Are you interested enough yet?

 

But, before I publish the Beta, I would like to discuss some other possible additions and changes to add or substract.

 

First of all, the HGEC and UFF compatibility. While the meshes and textures are ready to implement, the female armor is another thing. I'm not sure if I will be able to adapt the armor to these bodies. NifSkope is not enough. Worst case scenario, I will leave the armor out of these patches.

 

Secondly, right now the armor and weapons are scripted to be automatically added in your inventory. I have the idea of putting a little Abysmer Scouting Outpost somewhere in Cyrodiil for you to find and use as shelter, and put the equipment there. The screencaps in this post are taken in the "rough sketch" of said outpost. It's just Telepe retextured with Jgreybear's textures. Since this tileset is also marked as free modders resource, we can use it.

 

I do not want to overbloat the mod, keep it as simple as possible, but I'm open to suggestions.

 

Which of you, brave adventurers, offers as Alpha and Beta tester, to give me feedback, tell me where I did everything wrong and what is missing here?

 

Anyone?

 

Thank you in advance!

 

Cheers!

[Striker879]

Hey Ike, good thing you gave me the heads up on the HGEC situation. Turns out I already have HGEC versions in a few different bust sizes courtesy of Nephenee13's KotN conversion for Lanceor. It's only the light cuirass but better than nothing (all though partially scaled torsos could possibly grow on a guy ... who knows).

 

Where do I sign up?

[IkeCoast]

Hey, Striker!

 

If you look closely at Dorma's pics, you will notice that the version of Little Baron's Ayleid Armor I put on her is custom-made. A mash-up actually. The default HGEC installation will be C cup (or B cup, I don't remember, the one in the pictures is Robert Female C cup, but I think HGEC C cup is bigger than Robert's). So if you need more endowment, just ask, But bear in mind that from C cup up, they act like floating devices. A Queen of the Ocean Depths unable to submerge, cursed to always float, would be something... non lore-friendly.

 

Anyhow, there's something I would like to ask you: the feet. HGEC feet are horrible, I have several versions of this body (Exnem's original, HGEC, EVE, and Growlfs Hotbody) but all share the same, ugly feet. Do you know any version with decent feet? I have put on my version the Robert Female feet converted to HGEC I found at the Nexus, but there's a visible sean at the ankle. I will post pictures soon.

 

I have found that the EBE version is my favourite HGEC one, but unfortunately it is not compatible with these Robert Feet. And only has one cup size (the Fighter version has all the cups, but the arms and shoulders from EBE match more closely my vision of a swimmer).

 

Any suggestion and recommendation about HGEC will be really welcome. But have pity on me and don't ask me for this PLZ (sad kitty face).

 

On a side note: If you don't plan playing as a female Abysmer, then you don't have to worry about the default body being Robert. My mod is not a body replacer, and will not affect your installed bodies. Only the Abysmer female. Blockhead Taumaturgy, ya know.

 

Now, please sign here, on the dotted line. With blood, please. Yours. Take this curs... er, I mean... little dagger. If you don't know how to write your name, a big "X" will suffice. Quotation marks not mandatory.

 

Cheers!

[Striker879]

X

 

Alright now ... I'm feeling a little light headed, perhaps a bit faint. Not used to blood loss.

 

The only HGEC/Roberts feet mod I have is this one by electrro. The foot seam is another one of those spots I utilize my "selective vision" ability (fortunately a lesser power, so when needed I can spam it to my heart's content).

 

I've outgrown my H-cup-a-mania. Much rather have variety than one size fits all (so yes, where would we be without Blockhead ... back to the old BBB Designer Body Spell). EBE works for me ... will you be needing webbed fingers and toes with that order sir?

Edited February 8, 2015 by Striker879

[IkeCoast]

ABYSMER LADIES!

 

Are you having troubles to stay afloat when swimming?

 

Congratulate! We have the solution!

 

With the NEW HGEC Buoyancy System, swimming will be a piece of cod cake for you! Have a look!

 

 

And if you're wondering how in the hell will you put your armor on with this improved fo'c's'le, worry not, because we provide you with appropriate prow-enhanced combat armor:

 

 

If the standard floating apparatus suits not your needs, under request we can manufacture tailored ones.

 

Cheers!

[Striker879]

Concerning your "where" query on Blade's thread I tend to the school of thought that the more remote locations are more lore friendly than "this weird thing just suddenly appeared right next to the IC" where nobody has to go look for it camp. Being underwater makes your options a bit more liberal though (plus easier to avoid conflicts).

 

With Leyawiin being closer to Black Marsh and the traditional haunts of the Argonians (who would have easily run into Abysmer as they too are semi-aquatic) my vote goes for the sunny shores of the Gold Coast, maybe offshore of the mouth of the Brena River, NW of Garlas Malatar.

[IkeCoast]

ALPHA VERSION UPLOADED.

 

Go HERE to grab it. Please read the readme with important instructions for alpha-testers.

 

Come back here, this thread, to tell me anything you need to tell me about this version: bugs, broken things, suggestions, whatever.

 

SMOOCH!

[Striker879]

Downloaded last night ... will try to get it installed and tested over the next couple of days (why does stuff always come in bunches??).

[IkeCoast]

Yep, matey, I knew you downloaded it already, I recalled the trick you teached me about the download story.

 

In fact, someone else downloaded it, but I don't know who. It's none of the regular posters there. I assume it was someone from the staff to check my file and ensure it contained nothing... strange.

 

Cheers!

[Lylium]

Hello, I found this topic by chance and was delighted at the work you put into your race. So I decided to give it a go. I haven't gotten very far in the game with my lady Abysmer, Attina, but I do say it's going swimmingly (haha, get it? swimming -- Abysmer -- lol I'm sorry for my bad puns). I have to ask though, is Eel Kiss supposed to cost no magicka? I do daresay it's OP if it isn't supposed to. Love the armor and race though. Eye of the Abyss worked as intended and the swimming, though very fast, is good as well.