LE Realistic Modification Ideas

[Halendia]

"Realistic Modification Ideas"

 

Hello everyone, I'm Halendia and these are my ideas... Just for everybody's knowledge: I am no modder. I can manipulate textures and work with .dds files, but that's about how far I've gotten. I am, however generally interested in modding and the community, because I'm obsessed with (game)perfection, the only thing is that I really have no spare time to do it since I currently study, work a part time job and take care of a horse 2-5 days/week. We'll see how much time I'll have during the summer break, but there's still a long way there.

 

I also do not grant permission for any of my ideas; they're free for anyone to use and develop, should they find it interesting enough. It's my tiny tiny contribution to the community... All I ask is to be informed if they're made, so I can use them!

 

Further down in this post you'll find the "doodle" section, which basically contains all my smaller ideas that I either haven't given much time or that are to small for their own post.

 

• Smaller ideas and doodles
  
• Realistic Horses and Breeders
  
• Oblivion character voice/quest import
  ^{TESIV: Oblivion spoiler alert}
  
• NPC Depth
  ^{TESV: Skyrim spoiler alert}
  
• More Waterdwelling Creatures
  
• Local Transport
  
• Master of the Guild
  ^{TESV: Skyrim and TESIV: Oblivion spoiler alert}
  

[/line]

Smaller ideas and doodles...

 

• Temporary mud and snow-footprints
  ^{Characters and animals now leave footprints on the ground as they walk by}
   
  
• More options in the Character Creation menu
  ^{Adding sliders to increase/decrease sizes of mouths/eyes, also include more colours and allow player to choose from different hair textures (like "messy" or "brushed" hair)}
   
  
• Add a mirror type of object as furniture and from there allow player to change hair and make-up
   
  
• Smoother item handling by NPCs
  ^{Force NPCs to place brooms by walls or alike when they're done; bards place their lutes properly as well; drunkards place their mugs down carefully at the bar, etc.}
   
  
• Surely something someone else's already thought of but: Make it possible to equip 2 or 4 rings at once
   
  
• Make the treasury in the Ragged Flagon Cistern into a player room. Add a trap-door of sorts, mannequinns and a bed
   
  
• Mount guards! Also add proper patrols around cities and villages, perhaps something triggered by finishing the Stormcloak/Imperial quesline, ie. settling the conflict allows the guards to "go back to normal"
  

 

Edited March 15, 2012 by Halendia

[Halendia]

 

"Realistic Horses and Breeders"

• Make all horses differ from eachother. Randomize stats like Speed (running), Strength (damage) and Endurance (stamina).

  ^{Randomizing stats, if possible, would make all horses unique. Each type of horse would be given restrictions to minimum and maximum values of stats, and from there it'd be random. See restrictions in various horse description.}

• Vary prices based on stats. The better the horse, the higher the price.

  ^{The attributes will be given in points from 45 to 100, depending on type of horse and speciality, each point will cost 20 gold.}

  Let's say you buy a Cyrodiilic Combathorse, the average one, and yours has the numbers 80 speed, 85 strength and 75 endurance generated to it, then the cost would be 80*20+85*20+75*20=4800 gold.

  Another example: buy a Northsky Packhorse with 48 speed, 92 strength and 89 endurance, the cost would be 48*20+92*20+89*20=4580 gold.

  A third example: buy a Summerset Sprinter with 99 speed, 56 strength and 95 endurance, the cost would be 99*20+56*20+95*20=5000 gold.

• Vary colours. Force breeders to have a wider collection of colours, not just one colour in that stable and another one in the other.
• Create foals, mares and stallions and give them individual behaviours, i.e. foals follow mothers, wild mares are more aggressive if they have a child, wild stallions may attack other creatures if they get too close.

  ^{Also force breeders to have at least one mare and one stallion.}

• New meshes to match the genders. Foals also get their own mesh to add realism.
• Vary sizes. Stallions randomize size between 85 and 100%, mares between 75 and 90%.
• Enable Naming and Renaming horses (!).
• Add trot.
• More wild horses that are in herds, led by a stallion and an alpha female. Also make them more aware and scared of surroundings.
• Make it possible to saddle and unsaddle horses and set them free. Add reins and saddles as items separately into the game.

  ^{Can be crafted from Blacksmithing in the "Leather" section.}

• With the previous suggestion; enable the player to capture wild horses.
• Upgradeable horse: Buy bags, each adds ~10 points of capacity. Stronger horses can carry more bags. Add horseshoes to Smithing.

  ^{Putting shoes on a horse will increase its speed and endurance by 10%.}

• Add NPC Farrier that will put shoes on your horse for a price. He also sells random accessories (like reins, saddles, shoes, tools, carrots and apples).

  ^{Prices will vary depending on type of horse. The Sprinter finds it uncomfortable so he will be messy and annoying, increasing the price by 10%. The Combathorse will be calm and will have no additional cost while the Packhorse will be calm but put physical stress on the Farrier, therefore increasing the price by 10%. Base cost for hiring the Farrier will be 500 gold. Effect will remain active on horse for 30 days, then all its shoes have fallen off and it needs new ones. If your character is a level 80+ blacksmith he/she will be able to put shoes on the horse by themselves, however the necessary tools needs to be acquired from the Farrier first. Equipping the horse with shoes will be done via dialogue option or by simply putting the shoes in the horse's inventory. 2 or 4 shoes needs to be added for effect.}

• Add more textures to choose from.
• Dividing horses into races that look different. For example; convert real life breeds into Skyrim (but rename them).

  ^{Also make these types of horses only available for purchase in certain parts of Skyrim. For example: Summerset Sprinters can be found in and around Markarth and Riften, wild and domesticated. Cyrodiilic Combathorses are found around Whiterun and Solitude while Northsky Packhorses can be found in and around Windhelm.}

 

 

http://picz.dk/img/1penamds-1970-01-01-01ae33ae32.png

Summerset Sprinter

 

 

"Lighter Mesh" - Fragile and fast

 

Can be compared to real races such as Arabian Horse and Thoroughbred. Is a fast type of horse that can run long distances without getting tired. Is, however, more cautious than most horses and will flee when scared. This is a travelling horse that runs at a fast pace, is easily scared and will flee combat but will run long distances. This is the smallest horse of the common breeds.

 

85-100 speed, 45-60 strength, 75-95 endurance - Carries 2 bags - 250 health

 

 

http://picz.dk/img/nfnkexwm-2012-02-27-21ae42ae11.png

Cyrodiilic Combathorse

 

 

"Normalized Mesh" - Average endurance and speed

 

Can be compared to real races such as Swedish Warmblood, Hanoverian and Holsteiner. Is an enduring type of horse from Cyrodiil. Prefers its homeland's varied temperatures; from the sunny weather in Anvil to the mild snow in Bruma, has a thicker coat than the Summerset Sprinter. This is an allround horse that runs at average speed, isn't easily scared, stays aggressive in combat and can run average distances. This is the biggest horse of the common breeds.

 

75-95 speed, 75-95 strength, 75-95 endurance - Carries 4 bags - 350 health

 

 

http://picz.dk/img/01mehkpg-1970-01-01-01ae32ae50.png

Northsky Packhorse

 

 

"Heavier Mesh" - Strong and slow

 

Can be compared to real races such as North Swedish Horse, Shire Horse and Tinker. Is a heavy type of horse that originates from Skyrim. It has a thick coat and a covering mane and a thick tail. It's known for its incredible strength and endurance, and has over the years adopted its name as a packhorse, since its carrying capacity goes way beyond any other horse's. This is a pack and combathorse, it runs at a slow speed, isn't scared at all, stays aggressive in combat and will run long distances. This is the average sized horse of the common breeds.

 

45-60 speed, 85-100 strength, 85-100 endurance - Carries 6 bags - 450 health

 

[/line]

Bottom line is: I love horses and I love realism. I know this isn't an easy project, and most of the stuff described is probably not doable anyway, but these are my ideas, and I'd love for them to come true.

Edited April 18, 2013 by Halendia

[Halendia]

"Oblivion character voice/quest import"

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion spoiler alert

 

Basically what I would like something like this to do is to take unrelated sidequests from Oblivion, and add them into Skyrim, while also grabbing NPCs and their voices. Adding some merchants and townsfolk from Oblivion would create a more colourful world with additional VAs and quests. Of course leave the character's faces behind, and Skyriminize them! I know there are a lot of people like myself out there, who's been playing Oblivion since dawn of time and grown... maybe a little tired of it. But despite that, honestly, I still miss it a bit, and I think importing quests/NPCs from that game into Skyrim would be an interesting project, for newbies as well as oldies. I also doubt this is the hardest project possible, and I honestly consider it to be a good one. Although on the other hand; I don't know anything about the ToolKit, I might be very wrong.

 

Another thing that could be done, and is probably something that a lot of people have suggested already, would be to add custom NPCs, that are voiced by the community. All it takes is a studio! Kind of...

 

Suggested quests (I need to research these to see if there may be dialogue that'll prevent them from being used in Skyrim (locationgiving etc.)):

 

• 
   
  
• (Anvil) The Ghost Ship of Anvil: Varulae needs you to recover her crystal ball from the haunted ship.
  
• (Anvil) The Siren's Deception: An all-female gang of thieves is preying on married men in the town.
  
• (Bravil) The Forlorn Watchman: Lay to rest the spirit of a former sailor.
  ^{If imported, maybe obtained from imported Oblivion innkeeper?}
  
• (Cheydinhal) A Brush with Death: Rythe Lythandas, the best painter in all the land, has gone missing! His wife Tivela is distraught and requests your help in finding him.
  
• (Chorrol) The Killing Field: Valus Odiil in The Grey Mare in Chorrol needs you to help his sons reclaim his besieged farm.
  
• (Chorrol) A Shadow Over Hackdirt: Seed-Neeus's daughter Dar-Ma has gone missing.
  
• (Chorrol) Legacy Lost: Help long-lost twins recover their childhood home.
  ^{Might be doable without doing the first quest, as they mention specific locations in dialogue. Depends on how they approach the player.}
  
• (Chorrol) Sins of the Father: A thief wants you to recover an item stolen by the Jemane brothers' father.
  
• (Chorrol) Bittneld and Emfrid: Help to bring two lonely hearts together.
  ^{If quest dialogue is appropriate. Other dialogue can be skipped if it doesn't work with Skyrim.}
  
• (Imperial City) The Order of the Virtuous Blood: You are asked to help kill a Vampire.
  
• (Imperial City) An Unexpected Voyage: The Bloated Float Inn has been hijacked by brigands while you slept!
  
• (Leyawiin) Raid on Greyland: Help the Leyawiin Guard get rid of a drug trafficker.
  
• (Leyawiin) Whom Gods Annoy: Rosentia Gallenus has been plagued by a foul smelling odor and some unusual house guests.
  
• (Skingrad) Paranoia: Help a paranoid wood elf with his conspiracy woes.
   
  
• (Aleswell) Zero Visibility: Help the citizens of Aleswell become visible again.
  
• (Faregyl Inn) The Potato Snatcher: S'jirra has had her potatoes stolen!
  
• (Harm's Folly) Revenge Served Cold: Help a farmer seek revenge on the goblins who killed his wife.
  ^{Depends if he actually mentions goblins.}
  
• (Imperial Bridge Inn) No Stone Unturned: Help an Altmer Sorcerer at the Imperial Bridge Inn recover his research notes.
  
• (Roxey Inn) The Gravefinder's Repose: Help the innkeeper deal with a local Necromancer.
  
• (Shardrock) Bear Season: A farmer needs you to kill some bears to protect his flock of sheep.
  
• (Shetcombe Farm) The Sunken One: Find the owner of an abandoned farmhouse.
  
• (Whitmond Farm) When the Vow Breaks: Recover the family heirloom for an abandoned wife.
  

 

Also; Importing the Oblivion Guard's voices into Skyrim! I miss "Stop right there, criminal scum!"

Edited March 6, 2012 by Halendia

[SinderionsBones]

If I was into horses I think the first mod would be fun to do. Between Skyrim and oblivion horse models, and anything else you could find on the internet, I bet you could get a lot done. I don't think I saw anything that couldn't be done with a little creativity.

 

The oblivion character importer thing is just a lot of work. You would basically be making custom quests yourself, but instead of using original ideas, you would be copying ones from a game you already played. People that program the .esp and .esm file (plugin files) editing tools may have more to say on the subject for any quests that don't need much translated scripting. An actual conversion maybe doable with a lot of work.

Where I hear you completely is the NPC Depth idea. If you could find someone to impersonate voices (My faith in this has been vastly increased in the past few days) this would be really nice. Virtually every time I'm playing there are things that just *feel* like the developers were leaving an in for the modding community to flesh out the story. Unfortunately since Voice acting is all but mandatory for a mod anyone will pay attention to, you do have to find someone that can do the NPC's voice.

 

[Edit: mentioned it but forgot to add link, look at the bottom of the page after the link for voice acting sources, the list seems to be growing on it's own :D http://www.creationkit.com/Adding_Voice_Intermediate_Tutorial]

 

If I were to try and tackle this myself it should probably start as small individual quest additions released individually. IF you complete quite a few, they could be packaged for one-stop awesomeness.

- Rune could be as simple as a new or altered dungeon and with a few clues sufficient to explain his origins. Tie this into some random person as a family member/family friend and it could end up a feel good story too.

 

- Ysolda in Whiterun. She has everything basically just waiting to be put together. If you kill the innkeeper, from what I understand, she takes over the bar by standing there only, nothing is *really* finished up for her. She has some other dealings that could be fleshed out as well.

 

- A heavily armored fellow in the Bannered Mare trash talks the guard captain of whiterun and the guards. This could be built on. To my knowledge, nothing comes of this beyond the condition of the city walls affecting certain things.

 

- The argonian trying to tempt you into joining him in Solitude could be a great template for ways to expand some npc stories.

 

- Clans in some cities have maybe a misc quest or two but are largely untapped despite no doubt being centers of great drama and intrigue. Introducing new NPCs, and thus fully custom voice acting opportunities, would not be given a second thought (I have a Gray-Mane in a mod I'm working on). This could, or could not involve the existing actors.

 

- The guy that 'rents' dogs in Markarth needs to stop doing whatever it is he does that makes dogs go there instead of to your home. I'd bet it's a doggy drug conspiracy the player has to uncover.

I expect these, provided the voice acting could be located, would be EXCELLENT entry level quest moding practice quests. (Hint-hint to any starting modders looking for something to do) The start/end is there, all the settings necessary are in place. Adding more is just a matter of how creative you want to get.

Edited February 29, 2012 by SinderionsBones

[Halendia]

Hi SinderionsBones!

 

Thank you so much for your input, it's good to know someone actually paid attention to this. Personally, at the moment, I have less than no time to spend on learning how to use the CK and modding, even though I'd love to do it... I've plenty ideas in store and if I could, I would create them. Developing the ideas, as I did with the horses, is, I guess, my contribution to the community (although I'd love to do so much more).

 

Regardless; the main purpose of this thread is just to shake everything off me. If anyone finds my ideas interesting, I wouldn't mind. I gladly help in any way I can!

[Halendia]

"NPC Depth"

Spoiler Alert

 

A mod to add plot and quest to Skyrim. Thing is: there are a lot of interesting characters out there, and many of them deserve more than what Bethesda has given them. When I was doing the Thieves Guild questline, I chatted with the other guildmembers and a lot of them really caught my attention, especially Sapphire and Rune. They both have some very interesting things to say, and honestly I was hoping to get to know them better; Helping Rune find out his real name and more about his background and perhaps reuniting Sapphire with a long lost friend... There are so many things that are "implied" about these characters, but nothing is ever confirmed. Personally, I ache to do the little personal quests, find things out about people, especially the ones you find interesting. Now the guilds do contain loads of interesting people, and I think it's really a shame that we don't get to know them very well.

 

Since I am as experienced with the ToolSet as my grandmother, I can't really say what it is that would actually be required to make a project like this, but I could imagine the list wouldn't be longer than this:

 

• Author of the characters.
  ^{Somebody who's willing to develop these characters a little little bit more.}
  
• Voice actors.
  ^{To make this into something successfull, there'd have to be VAs. People enjoy that about these kind of games, and personally I think it's vital. The only thing about continuing an already existing character's story is that you'd have to replace the original VAs work. Which is something I don't think is impossible, however it may be something some people will be upset about. However I think it's more important to have 1 VA per character instead of 2. That'd just be strange.}
  
• A programmer.
  ^{Someone to do the dirty work.}
  

I honestly can't tell if this is mission impossible or not. Authoring and recording new voices are the easy parts here.

 

Edited March 6, 2012 by Halendia

[Yickfou]

Holy god these are excellent ideas. MAKE THEM

[Halendia]

"More Waterdwelling Creatures"

That aren't fish...

 

A mod to add animals like swans, ducks and beavers in different varieties. Down below are some examples of what would be required to make the mod. Basic to-do list really, including behaviours, locations and functions.

 

Swans would live close to a nest, feed on herbs (weeds, flowers etc) since they're mainly vegetarian but also on various fish.

 

• Add an entirely new model
  
• Add texture for adult and young swan
  
• Add model and texture for a nest
  
• Add swan eggs in the nests, to be harvested (like other nests in Skyrim)
  
• Add animations that differ whether the swan is on land or in water (eating/hunting/resting animations, mainly)
  
• Behaviour: Swans are rather defensive towards other creatures, and will warn but without doubt attack if provoked
  
• Not as social as other birds; will often live by themselves with their partner
  
• Found in bigger ponds, on land and around shores
  

Ducks are peaceful and vegetarian

 

• Add an entirely new model
  
• Add texture for male, female and young duck
  
• Add model and texture for a nest
  
• Add duck eggs in the nests, to be harvested (like other nests in Skyrim)
  
• Add animations that differ whether the duck is on land or in water (eating/hunting/resting animations, mainly)
  
• Behaviour: Ducks are peaceful and wary, and will flee if alarmed
  
• A social type of bird, will gather in flocks
  
• Found in ponds, on land and around shores
  

Beavers are peaceful and vegetarian

 

• Add an entirely new model
  
• Add new texture
  
• Add model and texture for dams
  
• Make the dams harvestable; gather fish and random items from the dams
  
• Behaviour: They will flee if alarmed, will only be out working during the night
  
• Add several cut-down trees around the beaver's nesting area
  
• Found in rivers, where they build their dams
  

Edited March 6, 2012 by Halendia

[Halendia]

"Local Transport"

A mod to increase realism to the carriages throughout Skyrim. Currently the travelling system is quite boring, and I have some ideas I think might make it a bit more interesting. The idea is to make the NPCs more familiar with the local area, allowing them to travel to certain major places within their hold; explanation, features and examples below.

 

• Each major city carriage have local destinations such as villages, forts and remote inns
  ^{For example: Windhelm carriage have options like Fort Amol and Kynesgrove (and other major locations within the Eastmarch hold), while Solitude carriage might agree to take you to Dragon Bridge and Fort Hraggstad}
   
  
• Jumping into a carriage will trigger the dialogue with the NPC
  ^{I can't be the only one who jumps into the carriage first and then needs to exit to talk to the NPC}
   
  
• Make it possible to meet carriages on the road carrying other people who might be going your way (join up with them and pay half)
   
  
• Make it possible to remain in the carriage while you're travelling (like in the intro of the game) and also allow the player to jump off along the road
  ^{Perhaps allow Thief classes to "sneak" off the carriage to avoid the fee?}
   
  
• Make sure the speed of the carriage is high, since waiting will get extremely boring if player chooses to stay real-time
   
  
• Allow the coachman to move outside the carriage and groom the horse
   
  
• Pimp the carriages a bit (no prisoners off to decapitation here, amirite?)
  ^{Add various models, richer cities like Solitude, Whiterun, Riften and Markarth recieve roofs on their carriages, others may just have proper seats, at least}
  

 

[Halendia]

"Master of the Guild"

Contains TESV: Skyrim and TESVI: Oblivion spoilers

 

The idea would be to make the grand finales of the Thieves Guild and The Dark Brotherhood more interesting. Rising up to leadership is fun, indeed and all, but the end of it all is a bit dull. An idea to make it more interesting would be to implement something that's more alike the Oblivion Dark Brotherhood end, when you, as the listener, get the quests and deliver them to your speaker. I wasn't thinking about a simple copy though, that's far too dull. I'll list what I have in mind...

 

• Allowing the player to pick up quests from random locations. A completely new questline could be made for this. Quests could be given by NPCs or found in letters.
  ^{NPCs may approach you and ask for your service, or you retrieve letters from around the world that reveal all the necessary information (could also come with "Shady Messenger" (Thief) or "Hooded Courier" (Assassin) - a more suitable replacer for the normal courier or the Nightmother herself).}
   
  
• Player can now relieve quests unto other guild members! Adding a conversation option like "Would you have time to take care of this... contract?" to faction-NPC dialogue would be interesting.
   
  
• Handing out rewards; Since the gold system at high-level is very unbalanced, rewarding Septims or items of equal value could be a proper way to pay the guild-member.
  ^{Or a character with high level Speechcraft could persuade/intimidate NPC into doing the job for free. Dark Brotherhood example: "The mere satisfaction granted to you from killing should be enough. Now get out of here.", Thieves Guild example: "I'm sure you've taken some of the loot yourself anyway. You're a thief, after all."}
   
  
• Restoring Nightingale Hall
  

 

Edited March 9, 2012 by Halendia