[WIP] Atvir Dres: The Last Prince of Tear

[JanusForbeare]

Hi all!

 

Real life has been keeping me busy for recently, so I've only been stopping in at the Nexus for five minutes here and there. I apologize for any inconvenience my absence might have caused. Odds are that I'll still be fairly busy over the next few days, but I wanted to take a moment to respond to some of the questions and comments that have been posted.

 

@Rastafariel: (I like that name of yours by the way... sounds like a Jamaican archangel. :tongue: ) I noticed the Morrowind armor mod when it made the front page. Atvir currently has a custom suit of armor which has been modelled and partially textured, so we'll probably stick with that for now. However, the artist who was designing it had to leave the project due to new professional responsibilities. Hopefully I'll be able to find a replacement, but if not, I may have to look into using some designs already available, including the contents of the Morrowind Armor mod.

 

@Cyrkon: As SongbirdLorelei says, only so much dialogue made it into the alpha release. The Content Update will add hundreds of new lines of dialogue, and while I can't guarantee that there will be Argonian jokes, there will certainly be no end of commentary on the "baby eaters". Also, give a close listen to some of the lines already available; Atvir does make a few amusing jabs at the Argonians (ie. "muck-guzzling egg-straddlers", "scaled fetchers stick together", etc.)

 

@AmadanBezerk: Funny you should mention that - there are plans to expand the line of Dres beyond Atvir, and I do have a voice actress lined up for the role. However, at this time, I don't want to give out any more information than that. Such an addition won't make it into the first Content Update, but is slated to be included in a future release.

 

@wiggs: Oh, Atvir has some friends in low places, alright, which will become much more obvious after the next update. The quest "A Friend of a Friend" will centre around Atvir's attempts to make good on his promise to help the Dragonborn get rid of stolen goods. Soon, you'll have more reason than ever to do your shopping in the Grey Quarter!

 

@Beatjp: I haven't heard of that issue before. It sounds like AndrewOverlord has the solution - hopefully that solved the problem. Provided that you haven't played with the quest stages of Atvir's intro quest in the console, there aren't any conditions on his initial dialogue to prevent you from speaking with him. It sort of sounds as if you were missing a script - if you're still having trouble after trying AndrewOverlord's solution, I suggest re-downloading the mod and using NMM to re-install it, then placing it last in your load order.

 

@Calfurius: The mod hasn't been abandoned... in fact, in the weeks and months before AD's initial release, I was silent for much, much longer. I try to stay active on the forums, but every once in a while I get a little overwhelmed with all the PR work, and decide to dedicate the majority of my free time to modding, rather than chatting. That's been the case recently. Regarding integration between Atvir and Gabby, that's possible, but unlikely. Gabby is a great companion with a very cute voice (and a hilarious dance), but my understanding is that squ1g9y is no longer working on her. Also, I'm hesitant to delve into writing scenes between Atvir and any half-voiced companions... any inter-party dynamics will probably be between Atvir and the most developed, interesting personalities on the Nexus.

 

@nakatika: You make a number of points I'd like to comment on. You mention commenting on Atvir's banter... I know exactly what you mean; in fact, much of it was written to provoke a response from the player. Obviously, you can't have a conversation with him about his one-liners, but I often picture players responding out loud to lines like, "Have I ever told you I don't like Argonians?" or "Do you ever stop and ask yourself, 'Is this really the best idea?'".

Many of the issues you mention will (fingers crossed) be fixed by the Content Update. I appear to have solved the armor duplication, weird horse-mounting behaviour, and "go home" issues, and I'm keeping my eyes open for any more bugs I can swat. That being said, Atvir has a far more complex "brain" than any other Skyrim NPC I've encountered, vanilla or modded, and as it continues to expand, new issues are likely to crop up on occasion. I'll just have to ask you all to bear with me as I attempt to correct them.

Regarding Serana interactions, I think they're both possible and likely. However, I still haven't purchased DG (at this rate I might as well wait for Steam to package it with HF) so they won't be included in the next update.

 

@everyone: The update is continuing to move forwards, though of course, there's still a long way to go. Most recently, I've been focusing on "A Friend of a Friend", since I've now received all required voice files and assets from other authors to finish building that quest. It's not a particularly long or epic quest, but it is dialogue-heavy, and can play out slightly differently depending on the character's race, abilities, and choices. It also begins to shed more light on Atvir's past (particularly for Dunmer characters), and hints at the direction of the main plotline.

 

I've also been spending a fair amount of energy on the new feature I mentioned in an earlier post: the inclusion of "scenes" in Atvir's AI. This is a feature which I haven't seen used before in TES companion mods - RTT being the exception, and Ruin's scenes were parts of his linear main plotline, not non-linear character events like Atvir's. So far, I have a single, daily scene programmed in, which will trigger at 11:45 pm every night if Atvir is left to his own devices (I'm not going to spoil the surprise, though!) (EDIT: No, it's not that. :laugh: ). I have plans to include several more in the first Content Update. The purpose of these scenes is to add additional flavour and variation to Atvir's behaviour, making him seem more willful and lifelike.

 

I'm still hoping to release the Content Update sometime this autumn, but I may be forced to postpone the release, depending on my professional workload. However, I do expect to release it before the end of the year. I'll keep you all posted.

Edited September 7, 2012 by JanusForbeare

[TheSnarkyShaman]

"EDIT: No, it's not that."

 

LMAO! -hangs head in shame-

[SirArindel]

I have to say, it looks really interesting and I hope you can get most of it done. So far it's great, I hope you don't abandon it ever. :wub: Edited September 7, 2012 by omega2008

[calfurius]

Ah man thanks! i understand that you can't answer us and focusing on the modding, So I won't bother you anymore with all my poking :P Just focus on what you think it's best.

 

Also I can't wait for the more dialogue options. That is going to be cool.

[aluckymuse]

Ok, love this mod- can't wait to see more! Atvir, Feres and Cerwiden are like a holy trinity for me XD all followers pale in comparison.

Now, after using Atvir for a while I've noticed a bug...I'm not sure how it happens but it's happened twice so far and my assumption is that it has something to do with me telling him what to wear...one if not all of the clothing/armor items that he equips will not be able to be taken away. When I try to upgrade his gear or change his outfit he will accept the new stuff but then passing the next load screen he will be wearing his old gear again and if I had removed his old gear from his inventory he will have just duplicated new gear, over and over again.

Right now he just has a persistent ring that I can't get off of him, I'm gunna cut my losses with that since I don't want to uninstall and reinstall him again :x

[JanusForbeare]

@Mysticentity: Glad to hear that you're enjoying the mod!

 

Regarding the problems you're encountering changing Atvir's outfit, I don't think it's so much a bug as a quirk of the script. For some reason that I haven't yet been able to identify, Atvir can only assign one new piece of armour to his outfit at once. In other words, after saying, "Here, put this on", you can give Atvir a single piece of armour, be it a ring, a necklace, boots, etc., which he will then assign as part of his outfit. However, if you wanted to completely re-do his entire outfit, you'd have to open up the inventory window four or five times, each time assigning one new piece of armour. I know that it's kind of a pain... I'm still working on polishing that function.

 

If you just want to get the damned ring off of him, and the aforementioned advice isn't helping, I'd suggest that you use the console commands

 

help "(name of ring)" 4

and

 

removeitem (ring ID #) 1

You'll still need to replace it with something, though, otherwise he'll spawn a new copy of it next time you change cells (a bug which has already been corrected in the next update).

 

I hope to have the outfit swap function more streamlined and intuitive when the next update is released. In the meantime, please just bear with me, and remember that AD is still in alpha.

 

*sigh* We hateses the outfit system, we does. I have no idea why the devs thought it would be an improvement over the old mechanic - it's cumbersome and extremely restrictive, even with SKSE.

Edited September 10, 2012 by JanusForbeare

[SongbirdLorelei]

Oh fun, lookie what exists.

 

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/18832

 

I haven't had Atvir back long enough (fresh installs are suffering) to play with his brawl script, but I think I'll install this mod and go camp over there.

 

I know there's already so much under your belt Janus but if you're still composing a list of interactions - here's one presented for your consideration. :teehee:

[JanusForbeare]

Thanks Lorelei! I've noticed that mod before while perusing the Nexus, but never really read the description.

 

It's possible that the mod would conflict slightly with the lore I'm working with (The "Return to Morrowind" project's lore, to be specific), which establishes that Argonian forces eventually withdrew to Southern Morrowind, and that their only permanent territorial gains were on Dres territory. However, it's certainly up to the player to interpret the lore, and it's easy enough to make up reasons for the An-Xileel to have a presence on the border.

 

Also, I've significantly increased the chances of brawls occurring between Atvir and Argonians in preparation for the next update (from 15% to 50%), because I feel that they're currently far too infrequent. With so few baby-eaters in vanilla Skyrim, Atvir rarely has a chance to use that mechanic as it is, so increasing the odds seems to make sense.

 

What kind of interactions did you have in mind? I've only been considering integration with other follower mods so far, so I haven't given much thought to what could be done with "Morrowind Border Guards".

[SongbirdLorelei]

It's possible that the mod would conflict slightly with the lore I'm working with (The "Return to Morrowind" project's lore, to be specific), which establishes that Argonian forces eventually withdrew to Southern Morrowind, and that their only permanent territorial gains were on Dres territory. However, it's certainly up to the player to interpret the lore, and it's easy enough to make up reasons for the An-Xileel to have a presence on the border.

 

Ah I see. I'm still a little muddy on the lore/canon being used. The entry you linked me to was quite a bit to chew for me.

 

Also, I've significantly increased the chances of brawls occurring between Atvir and Argonians in preparation for the next update (from 15% to 50%), because I feel that they're currently far too infrequent. With so few baby-eaters in vanilla Skyrim, Atvir rarely has a chance to use that mechanic as it is, so increasing the odds seems to make sense.

 

Oh goodie! Even during my stint of adventuring before I had to reinstall I actually didn't have a single brawl trigger.

 

What kind of interactions did you have in mind? I've only been considering integration with other follower mods so far, so I haven't given much thought to what could be done with "Morrowind Border Guards".

 

Now that I'm actually thinking on it and not simply having a fan-girl impulse, I suppose "interaction" wasn't the best word for it. I think the guards being a "trigger" for dialogue from Atvir to the PC or some such was more my thinking (along with a potential good row depending how the conversation went).

Now a touching moment is playing in my head. Atvir and the PC having beaten down the pesky border guards, brush themselves off in satisfaction. There's a silence as the Prince gazes thoughtfully through the gate.

 

"Say the word Atvir, I'll stick right at your side."

 

Where are my tissues.

[JanusForbeare]

I still need to wrap my head around the GetFormFromFile function that DreamKingMods mentioned earlier in the thread before I'll be able to look into integrating AD with other mods. I suspect that the second Content Update will focus on building up Atvir's questline and integrating with other companion mods (other types of mods, like the Border Guard one, are a possibility as well).

 

Lorelei, you certainly painted quite a picture at the end of your last post! I always love to hear about the emotional bonds that form between players and Atvir. :)

Edited September 11, 2012 by JanusForbeare