Help Needed

[Nemesite]

I'm currently working on a mod that will add a new land that is only accessible on death as well as a cave leading to the landmass hidden somewhere in the world. It's a representation of Dantes version of hell (Modernized to suit the ES series similar to how Niven and Pournelle did in Inferno) . The landmass itself is pretty simple but i would like to know how to make it so that when you die you go there and death there means restarting in the Vestibule.

 

Ideally I would like to populate the area with NPCs killed by the player but I think that's a pipe dream. I will, however, attempt to populate it with characters from previous ES games as well as those found in the books in game.

At the moment the mod itself is is planning and development stage so any help/ideas will be welcomed.

[David Brasher]

What Oblivion mods like this did was detect when the player was almost dead using a constantly running Begin GameMode block, and then teleport the player to the afterlife world. This approach did not always work, because a player could be sent to the afterlife world when he or she still had things under control and was not really going to lose the battle, or a else a player could get hit by a very mighty spell or blow and completely die without the script being able to send the player to the afterlife world.

 

But the Skyrim game engine is structured differently. There are no constantly running Begin Gamemode blocks. I am not sure what scripting trigger you could use to activate code to detect very low health points, or whether there is a way to highjack the hardcoding and make death send you to your worldspace rather that the main menu.

[gasti89]

I'll give you my idea, you may find it stupid, but i think it would be much immersive than the death thing.

 

Why don't you write an introduction quest that will make you "die" and teleport to the place you want?

 

Here's my idea about the quest:

 

You find a ancient book that tells you about the Dante's Hell (it could be the "Divina Commedia" itself, i don't know the English name).

 

The book tells you about a special way to get to the hell without dying.

 

You find a poison that will make you "die". Drinking it will trigger a death animation and teleports you (to the Dark Forest, like the original book)

 

When in hell, you can return back to the world by speaking with Caronte (the souls' ferryman).

 

I think scripting this is definitely doable!

Edited May 2, 2012 by gasti89

[Nemesite]

Not a bad idea that one. I was thinking of a cave entrance in a forest somewhere that leads to a grove similar to the dark forest anyway (once i figure it all out!) But putting in a copy of the Divine Comedy to reveal the location of the cave is a very sound idea.

[jet4571]

@gasti89, The book is "Divine Comedy" and really close in spelling to "Divina Commedia".

[gasti89]

Yes you can do it that way if you want!

 

I thought about a poison to make the player fell like Dante's dream ;)

 

This way your mod will be less intrusive than teleporting everytime you die (if it's possible, i don't know).

 

Personally i won't download a mod that teleports me to an area everytime i die :) I'd prefer going there only if i want. More lore friendly imho!

 

EDIT: @Jet: i'm Italian and from what i know book translation don't always match the original name, so i preferred not making terrible mistakes! ;)

Edited May 2, 2012 by gasti89

[steve40]

Well, for starters, I don't think you would want to teleport the player every time he got killed. That would be simply irritating, imho.

 

Anyhow, you would need to attach a script to the player. The script will need an OnDeath() event block to detect the player's death. This block would use the MoveTo() function to move the player to the required location in the new land, then it would call the Resurrect() function on the player (I'm assuming this function will work on the player and not just actors). The script could be attached to the player in a number of ways, eg. as a spell or ability that has a "blank" MagicEffect that holds the script; as a worn or wielded item that carries the script; as a potion that is drunk, etc. If you want to force the script onto the player silently when the game starts, you would make a simple Quest which would run when the game starts. In the quest setup in the CK, there are options to automatically give the player a selected spell or ability while the quest is running. The quest can be set up to be "silent" if you like (just don't give it an objective), and it doesn't ever have to end (don't tick the "complete" box).

 

You *might* be able to keep track of NPC's killed by the player once you've attached your script. You would have an OnCombatStateChanged() block in the script that would use a variable (akTarget) to keep track of the combat target. When the Combat State changes to zero (combat has stopped), you would query the combat target to see if he's dead "akTarget.IsDead()" if he is then query who the killer is "akTarget.Getkiller()". If the player is the killer, then it might be possible (I haven't tried doing this) to add the dead NPC to a custom LevelledList using a command like "MyDeadNPCs.AddForm(akTarget)". For this to work you would first have to create a new LeveledList called "MyDeadNPCs" in the Creation Kit, and you would have to pass the new form into the script via a Property. So now you have a list of killed NPC's. To use the Leveled List, you create a new (blank) Actor that inherits the "MyDeadNPC" LeveledList. You can then drag this new Actor using the mouse into any cell in your new land (in the render window in the Creation Kit) and it will place a marker that will spawn a random NPC from the MyDeadNPC list (assuming the list isn't empty)! Well, it should work in theory, with a bit of experimentation :biggrin:

Edited May 2, 2012 by steve40

[jet4571]

EDIT: @Jet: i'm Italian and from what i know book translation don't always match the original name, so i preferred not making terrible mistakes! ;)

 

I didn't think anything of it. I was just stating the name in english and commenting on the comparison between the languages being so similar. Funny most english speakers would think it was called Dante's Inferno and not the Divine Comedy. Is it the same issue for italians?

[gasti89]

I don't know what other Italians think about the English translation for "Divina Commedia". But personally i thought "Divine Comedy" sounds bad and there could be a better translation :P

 

Anyway, not Dante's Inferno at all! lol

[Nemesite]

It was a good idea but i've scrapped this mod but if anyone wants to take the idea on I'd love to see it done.