Bitten off more than i can chew!

[Beccy]

Ok, so i made a post a few weeks ago which outlined the idea i had for a mod, i wanted with that post to test the waters on its possibility, and similar things, and i didn't receive any information either directly to that post or in a few messages relating to it that swayed me away from what will be a mamoth task (for me). Granted a large part of that mamoth task is the learning curve of aspects of the Creation Kit i never got familiar with in either of the previouls Construction Kits that i've used. Anyway!, after having a look at the shiney new kit today, it's left me with a few more detailed questions i would like some help with. and i figured there can't be a better community of people to ask right?.

 

Ok, here goes, in no particular order!

 

[*]I intend on re-vamping an ingame dungeon for a player home, while its a lot more work than a traditional build from scratch, its what my heart is set on, and i think it'll offer some character. What i'm worried about, is i had hoped to retexture the whole place once it becomes player owned. Now i know i can do this in itself, what i'm concerned about is how can i do it without retexturing the wall pannels used elsewhere. (For example the same wall pannels that make up this dungeon could be used in 30 other similar buildings/dungeons in skyrim. I'm not going to want them all looking like my home. Can i add my textures to the same ''frame'' of the wall, used in the building without having to replace every individual wall peice by hand?,)

 

[*]The location i've selected, being a dungeon obviously falls under the Radiant Quest location selection thingie, which means, if the location hasnt been cleared when a quest is accepted it could possibly be placed where i've made my home. Now the twist to this question is that the location already has a quest of its own, contained within the dungeon, and completing the quest ''clears'' the dungeon. Can the Radiant Quest system still choose my dungeon if its already been cleared by the player?

 

[*]Is it at all possible in anyway to ''phase'' the outside world of Skyrim, as in exterior cells, I'm imagining it maybe could be done with a duplication, but this is so far outside my knowledge base it hurts my head. I was thinking maybe a dupe cell that is scripted to become active once the player reaches x quest stage or something? i'm working this logic off the Civil War Quests in which the exterior cells are changed. (i.e. whiterun with the huge catapults and stuff.)

 

[*]I had a grand idea of making my location ying-yang friendly, as in have it optionally dark and horrid, or happy and light, fluffy pink cushions to rest your head on, or wooden stakes to rest someone else's head on. and i've decided given the nature of scripted clutter that it would be better to have two alternate interior cell dupliactes, and once you've decided (probably via text challenge) wether you want pink cushions or spiked heads, the scripted door will henceforth teleport you to which ever interior matches your decision while the other becomes null and void (maybe a change your mind later option later.) Is this the best way to go about this? or should i have one interior cell location and have the upgrades vary based on the player decision?

 

[*]The last one is rather simple, its can i, and if so how do i, set the player home to being recognized ingame as a player home so that spouses will offer to move there with you.

 

These are the most difficult questions i've had really, as you can see they are mostly based around scripting and quest linking things, the ''mechanics'' of the mod i suppose it would best be called. which is sadly, my weakest aspect in this area i think. I've already taken a look at the cells i'd like to convert to a player home and mentally mapped the locations, which rooms will serve for what and so forth, and rather sadly, begun decorating it in my mind, and in one saved ESP for an example of what i'm looking for. I know there are hours of work ahead and i really hope i can do my imagination justice with what i'm aiming for, hopefully with a little guidance here i can go and learn whats needed to get the ball rolling.

 

P.s. I'd like to point out, all i'm really looking for here are some suggestions of the possibility/correctness of the ideas above, the main issue is i'm wandering on thin ice without knowing it, and i'd sooner know now of any impossibilities in my grand plan so that i can adapt it accordingly before i get half the work done to find out that a certain aspect of it will fail.

 

Thanks in advance for any and all help i receive, it truely is appreciated!.

 

Becs

[Beccy]

Wow, this board moves fast! all this traffic and nobody has any answers? :(

[FlaviusBelisarius]

For the last one, at least, examine existing player homes and compare them to simliar unowned buildings.

[Susurruss]

As far as radiant quest locations go, I'd like to know an easy answer to that one. The best I can figure is that you'll have to remove the boss type so that game doesn't look for that location when assigning radiant quests. See: http://www.creationkit.com/Bethesda_Tutorial_Dungeon_Wrapup (esp: the section titled: It's All About Location)

 

In order to make you mod compatible with someone's existing game that already has a radiant quest assigned to that location, I think you just need to leave the boss chest in place (which can be removed at the finish of the quest).

 

These are my best guesses so far from a few hours of research, I really hope there's a quicker solution.

Edited February 8, 2012 by Susurruss

[Beccy]

For the last one, at least, examine existing player homes and compare them to simliar unowned buildings.

Actually a good idea!, I'll give that a try.

 

 

As far as radiant quest locations go, I'd like to know an easy answer to that one. The best I can figure is that you'll have to remove the boss type so that game doesn't look for that location when assigning radiant quests. See: http://www.creationkit.com/Bethesda_Tutorial_Dungeon_Wrapup (esp: the section titled: It's All About Location)

 

In order to make you mod compatible with someone's existing game that already has a radiant quest assigned to that location, I think you just need to leave the boss chest in place (which can be removed at the finish of the quest).

 

These are my best guesses so far from a few hours of research, I really hope there's a quicker solution.

Yeah i have looked at that aspect of it, but my worry is that with my unique case, if i have the door scripted to for example take the player to a completly new cell once they've completed the locations standalone quest (which clears the dungeon) if Radiant Locations still chooses my dungeon once its been cleared and the door takes the player elsewhere, that item or boss for the Radiant Quest is going to be locked away in a no longer used Cell, So what i'm really aiming to find out, is how the radiant works with cleared dungeons, and if you can exempt certain dungeons from its search paramaters?, if not seen as the radiant seems to work on a classification basis maybe it would be easier to make a brand new class of dungeon and list mine under that so no current Radiant will pick the class? i dunno. i'm getting ahead of myself.

 

 

Thank you both for your replies though!

[SallalePop]

From what I know, Radiant AI can still select dungeons that have been previously cleared, if thats what you're asking.

[grey79]

For your texture question. Apologies if you know this stuff.

You have to create a new model object.

F.ex if you expand WorldObjects>Static>Dungeons>Caves>Blackreach you will see all the objects related to that cave.

You can duplicate one of these and retexture it (or create a new one from scratch).

 

You can do a search replace on the dungeon elements you want to swap into the ones you've made. (CTRL-F)

Should be the fastest way of doing things, without having to rebuild anything by hand.

[David Brasher]

Retexturing house: I believe that you would need to copy the original mesh, and add new textures to it. This will only effect your new mesh and not mess up the rest of the world. If you are wanting it to look one way before you buy it and one way after, then you can place both objects in the same place with the second set initially disabled. You can then use scripting to disable the first set and enable the second set at the proper time.

 

"Phasing" cells: In Oblivion you could not do this unless you created a whole new worldspace. This trick is often in interior cells that are houses or dungeons. It would work okay for a small worldspace, but is very impractical for the big Tamriel worldspace. Enabling and disabling objects is a better approach in this case.

 

Yin and yang player owned home: Changing decor partway through would not be good. Lets say I stack all my loot in pink cushion house. I have a nice big treasure horde. I change to scary spike house. All my loot is now gone! (Actually it is still in pink cushion house. maybe I will change back.) So it might be better to do the enabling and disabling thing here too. Then my loot would be available no matter how I decorate. Or else just give the player a single choice of which cell to use, and that choice must be stuck with.

[Beccy]

Cheers all, all of your answers thus far have been amazing!, now i know i have to completly root out any connection to radiant quests in that cleared dungeon before i can hand it over to the player! (fun times!). I know that retexturing shouldn't be too much work!, (or not as much as initially feared!). and i've got some more ideas on how to manage the house!,

 

With regards to the great big house swap thing, i was sort of hoping that i could make the same chests available in both instances of the cells. I.e. the exact same container showing in two places. I know it was somewhat possible in Oblivion from a few mods that allowed you to have a chest one place, and another a million miles away that had the same contents because the chest was exactly the same, (not sure on the how though!)

 

The one thing i'm still a little shakey on is the Phasing. (i know this is a recent *hushed tones* wow term, but it fits what i want to do, so i'm using it!) I know in Skyrim something akin to this is done for when Whiterun is attacked when following the Stormcloak half of the Civil War, and Solitude too, which means the original devs of Skyrim have to have had a way of doing it and i want it!, in truth the changes are small, and theres probably a way around it, but in the interest of the ''cleaness'' of the Mod, i want it done properly, and if thats the case, i need to hunt down how the Beth team did it i guess.

[Susurruss]

Cheers all, all of your answers thus far have been amazing!, now i know i have to completly root out any connection to radiant quests in that cleared dungeon before i can hand it over to the player! (fun times!).

 

Can I ask specifically what you've found out about this?