[RELz] This Mortal Crag

[andersonsmith969]

FROSTCRAG REBORN 4.0

By Dr. Smith

 

Download on OblivionNexus: http://oblivion.nexusmods.com/mods/42187

 

Introduction

I am proud to announce the completion of my quest to Avalon. Finally, since starting this project in June of last year, I am done with my fully quested, fully voiced remake of Frostcrag Reborn.

 

This is not just another errand-running quest. And it’s not an exploration quest. It’s also not a combat quest. No, the point of this entire mod was to make an adventure. I wanted to tell a story, and take the player on a journey. I wanted it to be an experience, sort of a like a movie, but with the obvious immersion that video games provide.

 

This is an experience much different than the original Frostcrag Reborn, although I daresay for many people, better. It’s not just random exploration anymore, although that is still possible. This is a quest that will make you think.

 

Here’s the features, both new and old, that make This Mortal Crag unique:

• By popular demand, a brand new Frostcrag Mages Guild

• Complete architectural rework of different things throughout Avalon

• New Ayleid city to explore besides Avalon

• Addition, revision, and removal of things like massively long and boring caverns and ways to sort of skip past giant staircases (you’ll see what I mean)

• Updated and new armors and weapons, including Ayleid armors

• Updated Ayleids

• Grammar, spelling, story fixes

• New characters, updated questline that includes all previous subquests from FR, and full voice-acting (done by me)

 

This is my version of Frostcrag Reborn. This is what I wanted it to be. You don’t have to like it, but I encourage you to try it out.

 

Future plans

I plan on making future expansions that feature the Frostcrag Mages Guild’s explorations and excavations into Avalon. I have no idea when these will be done, but I can tell you that if I do ever release anything it will be substantial, and not just minor updates. This means that you can return to Avalon….

 

Readme

Frostcrag Reborn was a popular overhaul of Frostcrag Spire. It offered many new areas and some significant improvements to the Wizard’s Tower that make it the ultimate home not just for mages but for other types of players as well.

 

Later the mod received a huge update in the form of a large quest into the mysterious, ancient Ayleid city of Avalon.

 

While brilliantly made, Frostcrag Reborn had much left to be done, especially the quests, and Indefiance left his work behind for other modders to continue and perhaps even finish the mod.

 

Now, with a completely reconstructed, fully voiced, and greatly improved quest, Frostcrag Reborn is being taken to the next level in This Mortal Crag.

 

Feature list for newcomers to Frostcrag Reborn:

• Greatly expanded Frostcrag Spire tower to include many useful new features.

• Cobl integration.

• Brand-new quest to journey into Avalon and see and obtain many interesting and powerful things.

• About 5 new hours of overall gameplay.

• Feature-list for people who have already played through Frostcrag Reborn and Avalon (THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS, so do not read if you have not already finished the quest, just experience it anew in this mod)

• No more massive dungeon-crawls. Dungeons have either been replaced entirely or reworked to ensure that none of them are monotonous or uninteresting.

• Fully-voiced main character that guides you through the quest without any handholding, but without any confusion as to what to do.

• No quest markers, but character will suffice instead, so no more confusing dungeon-crawling to who-knows-where.

• No more subquests or lack of quests. Everything is laid out either in the journal or in the dialogue.

• New and improved staircase from Hell (you all know what I’m talking about), along with fixed or entirely different dungeon crawls. You’ll find things are less boring and less buggy.

 

Installation

1. Remove all previous copies of Frostcrag Reborn and its resources.

2. Install this mod either using the included wizard in BAIN (Wrye Bash) or the included OMOD-ready information for OBMM.

3. Install OBSE and Enhanced Music Control (included).

4. Disable all fog-changing features of mods (such as All Natural) and all darker dungeon mods.

5. Tweak your Oblivion.ini file with the following:

 

Low-end computers: fLightLOD1=10000.0000, fLightLOD2=10000.0000, fSpecularLOD1=10000.0000, fSpecularLOD2=10000.0000

 

Middle-end computers: fLightLOD1=15000.0000, fLightLOD2=15000.0000, fSpecularLOD1=15000.0000, fSpecularLOD2=15000.0000

 

High-end computers: fLightLOD1=20000.0000. fLightLOD2=20000.0000, fSpecularLOD1=20000.0000, fSpecularLOD2=20000.0000

 

6. All computers: bBorderRegionsEnabled=0

7. Turn up all “Fade” graphic settings to 100%.

8. If you use Darnified or DarkUI’dDarn etc., it is recommended to reinstall/reconfigure without the “No Quest Added Pop-up,” as you might miss important journal updates.

9. Play This Mortal Crag.

 

F.A.Q. (Frequently Asked Questions)

Be sure to read through all of these, as these are merely in rough order of what I think people will most likely be asking first. I felt that it was easier to do things this way than to have a massive, long description that not many people would actually bother to read. Just like this block here!

 

How do I start the quest?

Check out the waterfall (HINT: there is a switch to turn it on and off) and then explore the vault.

 

HOWEVER: You will need to be at least level 20, have completed the main quest-line, and have purchased all of the items for Frostcrag Spire in order to play this mod. You can try and play through this mod anyway, but eventually you will notice where you cannot go any further without having done so.

 

IF YOU WISH TO CHEAT: I have made it very easy for you. Just type “player.additem 0205CA5E” into the console, and the quest will work for you. But you may find yourself severely underpowered. If you’re level 20 and don’t want to waste time doing all of that stuff, then this is the option that I would take.

 

Also, you can cheat, but do so responsibly. Examples of quest-breaking console commands are: tcl, unlock, disable, tgm. Don’t use any of those, please. You WILL run into problems. This quest is built on the principle that you play through it exactly as it was intended.

 

Does this mod have any other mod requirements?

Yes, this mod requires the Shivering Isles, Knights of the Nine, and OBSE.

 

No, I will not make a version without these things. Shivering Isles is very integrated into Frostcrag Reborn, and it’s not something I’d be willing to ever change. However, those of you returning players will notice that all lore-breaking SI items have been removed from the mod, such as Eleytra and armor suits and furniture, etc. They were lore-breaking, and now you won’t even notice what the SI elements are if you’re not looking for them.

 

KOTN is required because of copyright, since there are items from the mod used in FR. Most of you have GOTY, so this shouldn’t be a problem.

 

You will also need OBSE and Enhanced Music Control for the music. If you don’t care about the music, then you don’t need EMC.

 

Is this mod incompatible with…?

No. The only thing that this mod is incompatible with is the original Frostcrag Reborn or other Frostcrag Spire mods such as Frostcrag Revisited or Frostcrag Reborn De-Isolated (for those of you who don’t want the quest or have already finished it and just want a better usable tower). You can find the links for those mods at the top.

NOTE: Do not use mods or mod features that either A) move the fog distance, such as All Natural, or remove the fog meshes, such Darker Nights, Letter There Be Darkness, and Cava Obscura. Simply reconfigure or delete these mods as you see fit until you are done playing This Mortal Crag.

 

Removing or changing the fog will absolutely ruin your experience during the quest. And you MUST be sure to use the LOD tweaks above.

 

Do I really have to start over from a previous version of Frostcrag Reborn?

Yes, unless you have not already started ANY other Frostcrag quests besides the one named “Frostcrag Spire.” Then it is possible to simply upgrade. However, I would not recommend this for people who have already started the quests, as bad things will likely happen.

 

Will I still have to wade through interminably long and tedious dungeons?

No. One of the reasons I made this mod was because most people never finished it or its quests, or else complained a lot about the huge dungeons. I know that I personally had no idea what I was doing until I read the walkthrough on the Frostcrag Reborn website. You should find the travel in this mod to be much, much more enjoyable and entertaining this time around.

 

Does this mod include voice-acting?

Yes, although it’s not professional quality because my microphone sucks. Hopefully you’ll all appreciate my actual voice acting, though, since that’s typically more important in my opinion.

 

Does this mod contain god-items?

No. Everything in the mod has been re-balanced for both Vanilla or OOO/FCOM, and the in-game scripts will automatically detect which you have and give you the items accordingly. You will also find some new and updated items since the original.

 

This mod now requires Enhanced Music Control (EMC). Why?

Because these days, with everybody having these types of mods, it’s easier to require users to install a new mod that many people already have than require users already using the mod to stop using it. It’s either EMC with music, or no custom music.

 

If you don’t care about the music, then you don’t have to install EMC. It’s that simple. But there’s really no reason not to install it, unless you dislike how it continues the music that you were playing before you entered combat.

 

It’s a really small mod, and it’s included in the package. So why not take the extra ten seconds?

 

Frostcrag Reborn…4.0?

I changed so much since the original that this is the only version number that really makes any sense.

 

This Mortal Crag is a much different experience now. Since FR was made by Indefiance, it wouldn’t make sense to continue the 3.0 line. It might make sense to start over at 1, of course, I hear you saying, but that just doesn’t sound nearly as cool.

 

Why did this mod take so long?

I started this project back in June of 2011. So now comes the obvious question:

 

Why did it take so long?

 

Well, there’s two reasons.

 

1. Tedious scripting. Not necessarily difficult, per say, but it took a lot of testing to get just right, and that’s because…

2. I’m a perfectionist. Everything in this quest had to be timed just exactly right and made to look exactly how it was in my head, and if I ran into a problem I would keep trying until I fixed it. One of these little scripts actually took over 6 hours of repeated testing until it worked correctly.

 

However, it is because of these two things that I believe This Mortal Crag is a very unique quest, one in which the character action and dialogue have a much higher importance than they do in most other quests. As far as scenes go, then, Nehrim is the only thing that can compare.

 

That’s why I’m so happy about the new Skyrim engine. It won’t take weeks anymore to finish a single subquest, because of all of the new scene and dialogue stuff that they added. God bless Bethesda.

Enjoy the mod!

 

P.S. There’s a third reason: I was lazy and had too much to do, and so I procrastinated. Shh! Don’t tell anyone!

 

Credits/Special Thanks

• Indefiance for all of his hard work in creating the original Frostcrag Reborn

• ancient_laws for totally badass Auroran Battle Steed armor

• Meo for beautiful Ayleid Clutter

• MadCat221 and RDjeke for their amazing Ayleid Meteoric Iron Weaponry

• Jgreybear (Iomir) for generous permission to include resources from Ayleidoon Karan

• Xenius for graciously allowing the use of resources from Race Compilation for Robert’s Bodies

• AlienSlof for Slof's Seamless Male Dremora 1.1 Textures

• Metz for Weapon Display Resource

• For gratuitous open release of Slayer Swords

• Ayelie on DeviantArt for big lava texture

• CptJoker for his truly spectacular lava textures that I could never replicate

• Edgen for his incredible music to complement this quest

 

Permissions

Anything from the original Frostcrag Reborn is open-source according to the author, Indefiance.

Ayleidoon Karan and Enhanced Music Control were included with permission. Contact those authors if you wish to use their content.

 

All other included mods were open-source and did not require permission, and you may see those in the credits section. Thank you all for your hard work, and thanks to Indefiance for making Frostcrag Reborn open-source so that we all may finish his work.

 

However, all new content made by me, including new quests, voice files, dialog, I consider my own original work and may not be used without permission. I put a lot of hard work into the new content, and I believe that it is my right to maintain personal control over that content.

 

If you wish to make a patch for This Mortal Crag, I simply request that you contact me so that I may put it on the main page where everyone may see it. That way everybody knows what patches exist and where to find them, and I have some say over what they include.

 

I know I personally look at these licensing sections and cringe when I see “you must ask permission,” so I’d just like to point out that I understand why mod authors do it. It’s just nerve-racking, really, to know that what you made could be stuck out there in someone else’s hands and you don’t know what they’re doing with it. If you have a good idea for my content, don’t hesitate to contact me.

 

Contact me (Dr. Smith)

You can contact Indefiance, too, but he has left this mod behind, so don’t expect any troubleshooting.

 

Bethesda Softworks Forums: Dr. Smith

Tesalliance: andersonsmith969

Tesnexus: andersonsmith969

Edited May 20, 2012 by andersonsmith969

[garmick]

When gates to avalon are opened I get a CTD. Have installed, uninstalled, and installed and it works fine to this point then CTD.

[Striker879]

@ garmick ... you may want to look at this ban notice.