2 questions for a personal mod (music, "dual wielding" shields)

[HaleophantGreen]

Hey everyone,

 

Over the last couple of months, I've been working on a personal mod, as well as tweaking a few that I've downloaded, in order to personalize the game to my tastes as much as possible. Stuff like adding NPCs to areas that feel barren, re-balancing armor and weaponry to be consistent with equipment added by other mods; nothing too crazy that I couldn't figure out on my own.

 

Now I've run into a bit of a rut.

 

There are two remaining features that I want to implement into my mod(s), but for the life of me, I can't find out how to do them. These are features I've seen other mods implement, and yet I can't find any info on how to do it myself, despite my searching and my attempts to "reverse-engineer" the effects by looking at them in the CS.

 

1) "Dual wielding"Parrying Weapons

I've seen a couple of mods that add shields to the game that use the mesh and textures of a weapon in order to create the illusion of a character dual wielding. I liked this idea, and wanted to implement "parrying daggers" into my game.

Taking inspiration from DurendalMartyr's Dualfire mod (https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/43334/) and Markelius' Shield Sunder and Keening mod (https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/42752/), I also wanted to implement a method that would allow one to change the grip of a legendary or unique weapon and make it into a off-hand shield, and vice-versa.

While I know how to do the latter, I simply cannot make a shield that resembles a weapon. When looking through the list of texture options while making a shield in the construction set, I only see the default "shield" options, unless I have another mod open that implements this feature.

How does one go about adding the mesh/texture of a weapon into the shield slot? Both of the mods I mentioned previously use vanilla assets for these effects, and both Dualfire and Keening/Sunder mods come with unique meshes for the "a" folder, I can't seem to select them using my personal mod even though the meshes are in the folder.

 

2) Unique music

I really loved using the Morrowind Acoustic Overhaul, or MAO (http://download.fliggerty.com/download-76-1045), particularly because of the unique music that it added to the game for different locations as well as boss fights. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to always play nice with some of the larger mods I use that introduce huge dungeons or new locations, like Sotha Sil Expanded (https://www.nexusmods.com/morrowind/mods/42347) or Tamriel Rebuilt.

While I am still testing MAO out to see if I can get it to work better, I also want to be prepared in case I can't. To that end, I'd like to know exactly how to implement specific songs or tracks to play in certain cells or locations. While MAO does a lot more than just that, that is the main feature I use it for, and if I need to make a lighter version that's compatible with my load order, I don't terribly mind.

To that end, I'd just like to know what kind of scripts I'd have to write up in order to make specific songs, or a selection of songs, play in locations. Not just to differentiate between dungeons and towns, but also to give bosses and the like proper, unique themes. It feels wrong fighting Dagoth Ur while the same music that can que while fighting a scrib plays in the background.

 

If anyone has the time and patience to help me with these issues, that would be wonderful! I know it's advice for a personal mod I likely won't (or can even) distribute, but if I can get a better hang of this stuff, I might be able to contribute something more substantive later down the line.

 

Thanks!

[Dragon32]

First off, no idea if any of this will help.

 

#1

Looking at Leia's Dual Wield Mod, on Morrowind Modding History, that assigns one mesh (e.g. "MJ_Runic_Axe_PH.NIF") as an ARMO object. It also creates a new body part, BODY, with another mesh (e.g. "MJ_Runic_Axe_OH.NIF"). The CRCs of the two meshes are different. What's actually added into the game world is a reference to the ARMO object.

 

#2

Xiran's Better Music System does just that and maybe a better thing to look at. As you say MAO makes a lot of other changes. IIRC you can configure Xiran's mod so you maybe able to make use of that instead.

[abot]

I like this one for dual weapons, you may have to tweak armor stats if you want medium armor but most of work should be done Edited June 7, 2018 by abot

[HaleophantGreen]

Alright, thanks guys! These links and suggestions definitely put me on the right path. Hopefully I'll be done with this mod in the next century or two.