Very basic quest to replace Frostcrag Spire intro

[Dahveed]

Hello, and thanks for taking the time to read this thread.

 

What bugs me about many of Oblivion's DLCs is how they are just shoved onto you without any real explanation or backstory, and no quest whatsoever... just "here, have a Wizard's Tower! Why? Because you're cool and you paid us money!"

 

I was thinking it would be nice to make a mod which removes the automatic start from Frostcrag DLC (and perhaps others like it if I can get this to work) and basically turns it into a short quest instead.

 

In the DLC as it is now, the quest just pops up and you obtain the key because of some inheritance or some other such nonsense. I would like to make it a bit different, so that perhaps you have to go to one of Oblivion's unused dungeons or ruins or something to find the key.

 

I thought a simple way to do this would be to replace the quest with some sort of note you'd find in-game which then leads you to this side-quest... like "I have found a note" or "I heard a rumor" or something which would tell me that the magic key or whatever is in such-and-such a dungeon, forcing me to work for the key to then gain access to the spire in a much more interesting and lore-friendly way.

 

Would this be a pain in the butt for someone with no scripting skill? I'd be willing to perhaps try, but I wouldn't want to embark upon a huge undertaking if I'll just hit a roadblock and get frustrated because I have no idea how to script.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Surilindur]

Making modifications to the quest is relatively easy. You will probably only need to:

- Add and/or edit quest stages

- Edit the vanilla quest script

- Make some item scripts (for the key and the note, probably)

- Place a chest or a body to a dungeon with the key on it

 

And voilà, there you have it. The scripts will be simple to make. They will probably only need some AddItem, GetStage and SetStage commands to work. For the note to, when equipped, for example, set the stage to something that reveals a journal entry, and for the key to set a stage when it is picked up from the body or container.

 

The note script might look a bit like this:

ScriptName DLCFrostcragModNoteScript

Begin OnEquip Player

    If ( GetStage EditorIDOfTheFrostcragQuest < NumberOfTheStageWithYourCustomJournalEntry )
        SetStage EditorIDOfTheFrostcragQuest NumberOfTheStageWithYourCustomJournalEntry
    EndIf

End

It will be an item script. The same would probably work with the key to be retrieved, but with OnAdd instead of OnEquip, and a different quest stage, of course.

 

The original quest script will probably have some comments in it, so that you can easily see what it does. At least the script for Battlehorn DLC did. The Oblivion functions are also rather self-explanatory. Like AddItem and such.

 

My first mod was one that changed Battlehorn Castle, and I started out with no scripting skills, too. But Oblivion scripting is easy to learn. You will most likely find everything you need - including scripting tutorials - on the Construction Set Wiki.

 

I would recommend using the Construction Set Extender by shadeMe. It makes using the CS much easier and more enjoyable, and it also highlights script errors, as well as hints what is wrong with the syntax when an error occurs.

Edited April 20, 2015 by PhilippePetain

[Dahveed]

Thank you very much Philippe for your detailed reply. Unfortunately even that one small scripting example you gave looks like total gibberish, lol.... And this coming from someone who used to dabble in programming in Basic and Visual Basic when I was younger...

 

I might check this out when I'm more awake, because you do make it seem like it's doable.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

[Surilindur]

Oh... umm... thank you, I suppose. :smile: The example looks like that because I do not know the Editor ID of the quest and the custom stage. If the quest were, for example, DLCFrostcrag, and the stage 15, the example would look like this:

ScriptName DLCFrostcragModNoteScript

Begin OnEquip Player

    If ( GetStage DLCFrostcrag < 15 )
        SetStage DLCFrostcrag 15
    EndIf

End

And I, too, made some (extremely) basic things with Visual Basic a few years ago. Oblivion scripting is not something overly complicated. The best way to begin would be to try to remember what the Frostcrag quest involves and how it progresses while reading the quest script. The commands are self-explanatory and all the quest stages can be found in the same place the quest is edited, so it should be easy to see what everything does.

 

But remember that editing the quest might cause issues with other mods modifying Frostcrag Spire if they, too, edit the quest or need things from it those are modified by your mod. But such mods can be listed as incompatible on the mod page when the mod is done.

 

I could also help you with the scripts if you do not manage to make them work, but only if I have the chance to get my hands on the mod and edit it on my own computer. Helping on the forums has proven difficult. :D Simple mistakes can be easily corrected on the forums, though, as long as they are clear enough. And others will probably be able to help you, too.

Edited April 20, 2015 by PhilippePetain

[Grogrokl]

You can also try out the mods that already does this like SM Plugin Refurbish http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/11474/?

[Dahveed]

You can also try out the mods that already does this like SM Plugin Refurbish http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/11474/?

 

Well then. Lol.

 

Thanks Grogrokl for pointing me in this direction :D Wow I was literally just about to spend my evening trying to get this to work. You have saved me hours of frustration! :)

[Striker879]

For the Shivering Isles there is an alternative ... VCI Shivering Start (which is just an edit of the SM Plugin Refurbish - SI.esp with different options for what triggers the SI start). One downside for using VCI is that then you need to use the individual ESPs from SM Plugin Refurbish, so you're using up nine ESP slots instead of only one if you use the SM merged ESP.

 

VCI does offer a nice selection of start options though.

[Surilindur]

If I may practice some shameless self-promotion (if it is not against rules), there is also A Strange Door for Shivering Isles questline starting conditions. It has even more options for requirements. It does not have any visions or such, though. And it will probably still be incompatible with the merged SM plugin. And it might contain bugs (although I did not find any when testing).

 

Edit: Hey, there is a LOD file included in VCI. Yes! Thank you, Striker. I tried to create an empty file to remove the island, but it did not work. Or - more precisely - I did not know how to do it. Now I can prevent the island also from showing at a distance before I start the questline. For me, that is, I will not be adding it to the mod. That would be a theft.

Edited April 21, 2015 by PhilippePetain

[Striker879]

There's no reason why anybody else couldn't download both your mod and VCI and use the parts from each they desired. If I recall correctly you need to manually delete the LOD file when you start the SI questline when using VCI.

 

- Edit - Had a look through your INI Philippe ... your mod is like VCI on stroids! Guess you know which one I'll be switching to on my next playthrough.

Edited April 21, 2015 by Striker879