Skyrim Main Quest Overhaul [WIP]

[behughes]

It's good to see this mod is still ongoing ! :smile:

 

Slowly, but surely!

[rurik11]

Sound awsome, but its gonna take at least a year, take a look at the mod Warzones

[BloodrendX001]

I have to wonder... will there be any references to some Michael Kirkbride stuff in this mod? I'm reffering to concepts such as CHIM, the Walking Ways but specifically, some references to this piece of his: http://www.imperial-library.info/content/seven-fights-aldudagga, http://www.imperial-library.info/content/shor-son-shor-full

 

If you don't know, Michael Kirkbride is the guy who developed a lot of the TES lore, especially the obscure, esoteric stuff. Still posts some stuff every now and then, but whether they can be considered canon is debatable. Nonetheless, many people, especially very lore-knowledgeable folk treat his stuff as cannon.

 

Also, seeing as we'll be getting into some politics, how morally ambiguous will the politically themed parts be? I'd prefer it if we didn't have clear cut good/evil sides.

[behughes]

I'm familiar with some of Kirkbride's writings. Jibstaman and I have had some pretty extensive discussions about Kirkbride actually. There was a major plot thread that delved quite deeply into some of the crazier TES metaphysics, but it was cut from the Main Quest Overhaul because A.) we didn't want to do anything that could be seen as lore-unfriendly, or might break the intended canon of the series [assuming Bethesda is planning a TES6] and B.) is was kind of a big, ugly tangent, and detracted from the Main Quest's focus on the dragon crisis.

Generally speaking, we do keep that stuff in mind when we write. However, we've tried to keep the focus on Alduin, the Dragonborn, and the Blades -- complementing Bethesda's original story by adding depth to existing plot points, rather than inserting too much of our own stuff. We didn't cut everything though; there will be new towns, new factions, new allies, new villains, new dragons, and all the horker loaf you can eat... ok, no promises on the horker loaf.

As for the aftermath story I'm cooking up, it will probably be a lot more fragmented, and include some of the speculative and non-dragon related content that didn't really fit in the Main Quest. I might resurrect the crazy plot, with dealt mostly with the implications of the player character being the last Dragonborn, what happens now that Alduin is supposedly dead, and how that all fits into the big picture of the Dragonborn Prophecy and the Thalmor's plans (which come straight from Kirkbride) . I'm also going to pick up a copy Infernal City and Lord of Souls, as I'm interested in exploring the current situation with the An-Xileel controlled Blackmarsh/Morrowind. Shamefully, I've yet to play thru the Dragonborn DLC (though I've owned it for months), so I have to see where that leaves us as well. Ultimately, with the aftermath, I'm willing to get a little crazy. Expect Dragonbreaks :geek:

That said, for now, we just have our sights on the Main Quest. The writing for Act 1 is done, so Jibs and I currently working on two separate world-spaces -- new towns -- that will be integral to the plot. MatorTheEternal has also [somewhat] recently joined our team. Once we have these towns built, we can put the quests together. I think Act 1 will be released before the years end, hopefully this Fall. Of course, if there are any level designers out there looking to help accelerate that time table, you know where to find me :D

[yic17]

 

I think Act 1 will be released before the years end, hopefully this Fall.

 

Guess that's when I'll start my new playthrough. =P

 

Do you imagine it will be voice acted by then? A stable release or more of an alpha release to test things out?

 

I read an earlier post where you said that you want to keep it compatible with other major mods such as the Civil War Overhaul. I hope it will be compatible with the awesome Interesting NPCs as well. And since this is a major overhaul project that touches the entire world, it will be great if you guys could come up with a list of compatible & incompatible mods and release patches for incompatible ones later on. Personally I am pushing the 255 mod limits so yeah ..... guess I'll have to disable some of those to play this. =\

 

Anyway, the project sounds awesome. Keep it up and looking forward to its release! =D

[behughes]

 

I think Act 1 will be released before the years end, hopefully this Fall.

Guess that's when I'll start my new playthrough. =P

 

Do you imagine it will be voice acted by then? A stable release or more of an alpha release to test things out?

 

I read an earlier post where you said that you want to keep it compatible with other major mods such as the Civil War Overhaul. I hope it will be compatible with the awesome Interesting NPCs as well. And since this is a major overhaul project that touches the entire world, it will be great if you guys could come up with a list of compatible & incompatible mods and release patches for incompatible ones later on. Personally I am pushing the 255 mod limits so yeah ..... guess I'll have to disable some of those to play this. =\

 

Anyway, the project sounds awesome. Keep it up and looking forward to its release! =D

 

 

Thanks for you kind words and vote of confidence. Admitted, a Fall release is pretty optimistic, and it would definitely be an unvoiced alpha release.

 

As far as compatibility goes, I am trying to make everything work with mods like CWO (that particular one I can't guarantee because:

one of the new towns we're adding is Greymoor, which as one might infer from the name, is an expansion of Fort Greymoor into a sort of garrison town, similar to Helgen. Originally, vanilla Skyrim had a battle to capture Fort Greymoor but the devs scrapped it. CWO restores that battle, which might cause conflicts with our plans. I'm currently trying to make things work by disabling, rather than deleting, all of the vanilla CW stuff in the fort, and creating backdoors so that it can be re-enabled. I have no idea if it'll work.

 

I think SMQO should work with Interesting NPCs. I played with that mod prior to clean-installing Skyrim, and I've yet to run into anything that conflicts with our plans. Well, there was this one Khajiit gal, but she's well hidden :tongue: I love Interesting NPCs, so I'd go out of my way to make SMQO work with that mod.

 

Beyond that, I can't say anything official. We're trying to keep our hands out of the business of altering things like textures, meshes, perks, and gameplay mechanics. Anything that effects the Main Quest or it's characters, on the other hand, will probably be incompatible.

One prominent example is Lydia; if you use a mod that makes her look different, it won't work because we're removing vanilla Lydia entirely and replacing her with our own version, which will be a much more dynamic and important character.

 

 

We'll try to put something up ASAP regarding specific mods that will conflict, but it will hopefully be a small and predictable list. Feel free to post lists your favorite mods here. I'm in the middle of a "no mods" phase right now, so I can objectively test my work, but JibstaMan is testing a lot of mods now, and if I see something interesting I might recommend that he check it out.

[yic17]

Ah, I see. So you guys have your plans for the CW? I thought I read something along the lines of how your team is trying not to touch anything CW related and instead let CWO take care of the CW related stuff. Is that not the case?

 

About Lydia ... *shocked* ... O___O ... Haha, anyway, yeah I am using a Lydia makeover mod right now - the Beans Badass Women mod. Well hopefully you guys will give her a looks revamp so a makeover mod won't be necessary. =\

 

As for the major mods I am using, I would say the essential ones are: AFT (Amazing Follower Tweaks), Interesting NPCs, Inconsequential NPCs, Vilja, Sounds of Skyrim, Frostfall, Dragon Combat Overhaul, Immersive Creatures, Monster Mod, Immersive Armors, Immersive Weapons.

 

I am also using all the city/town improvement mods. Which I have a feeling those will likely conflict as you guys will be adding new quests in existing cities and towns?

 

Finally, there are the major quest mods which I haven't played most of them yet but would like to know if they will conflict or not. Such as Moonpath to Elsweyr, Helgen Reborn, Fight Against the Thalmor series, Wyrmstooth, Pit Fighter guild, etc. Well, you guys probably will test those anyway since they are the most popular ones out there. =\

Edited August 12, 2013 by yic17

[RolandSmoke]

Good luck! I love that you're modding the main quest; I was really disappointed by the illusion of choice that the main quest left me feeling. I have experience as a 3D model/texture creator in Maya and while this would be a re-entry for me, I'd love to take a crack at any of the assets you might have listed that require these fields. Just PM me if you have an interest!

 

Again GL and thank you for starting this project.

[OdahKing]

I can't wait to see this mod up and running it sounds really awesome, I was sorely disappointed in the main quest I was hoping it was more like oblivion.

[WotansGlory]

If you're still working on this, I would like to make a request.

I'd love the option to turn the blades in to the thalmor after the main quest is finished.