Hearthfire Modding

[slainia]

Was just thinking - I really like some of the elements hearthfire introduced, but I don't like the lack of choice. and (possibly because of the furniture choices i made) it's kind of crowded. Or at least lakeview is.

Has anyone fiddled with replicating some of the features in their own mods, without having to script everything themselves? I haven't tried, not sure how to go about it. (only ever used skyrim as the base master file, now it's giving me an error if i try with dawnguard/hearthfire.) I am really curious about what options it owuld give me, though.

 

Anyway, thoughts? What dyou like about hearthfire housing options? Don't like?

[KingsGambit]

You can fix the creation kit issue with trying to open dawnguard/hearthfire with a few simple additions to an ini file. Start here.

 

As for Hearthfire, I don't know what to say. I liked the idea of a custom home, particularly as it added homes for all the remaining Reaches (excepting Winterhold). But there's a lot to dislike. I hated the unscripted display cases, don't understand why the mannequins had to be different than vanilla ones and thereby incompatible with mods for them. Why couldn't I adopt more kids to live at a dfferent home? And the matierls to make everything? Holy crap, even with using the console to player.additem everything I found it tedious and laborious. I cannot even imagine an XBox player doing it the hard(er) way, running around to quarries and lumber mills and such like. I also don't understand why all three houses are identical and why the wings are done as they are, being set to east, north or west, mutually exclusive and terrible combinations.

 

Anyway, that's enough grumbles. You haven't explained what you mean by "lack of choice", the elements you liked or what mod ideas you have. It didn't really do anything that didn't already exist. The five vanilla houses are redecorated in an identical way to the way in which the hearthfire homes are furnished. The only difference is the interface (workbench/steward) and the materials (pain in the arse/gold coins). You can observe the phenomena plainly by opening the in-game console, clicking any world object and entering "Disable" and "Enable". The mod just enables disabled statics that are already there when the option is selected.

 

In my humble opinion, you'd get a lot more enjoyment, customisation and options from using this mod.

[slainia]

Actually you just answered my question. That was exactly what l meant - the one OR the other concept.

I actually have PA installed atm. Haven't fiddled with it, but Will be.

 

Just finished reading a thread on fixing the ck to allow hearthfire, so going to fiddle around some.

 

What I really want is a simple but spacious house with lots of open floor space, all the crafting areas, organized storage and some elements that make it feel pretty. Ie a garden, things like that. Don't particularly want fancy solitude-style housing though - think i actually like the farmhouse kit better tbh.

I also like collecting npcs, so i'd liek bedrooms for them etc. lol. (Tempted to go back to my refurbished inn idea actually.)

 

I kind of like the materials aspect to it,b ut i'm weird like that. I really find some of the restrictions they made ridiculous though on wing choice. /:

[KingsGambit]

Yeah, wing choices sucked. Armoury and Library were mutually exclusive and in my opinion far and away the most useful. I like the trophy room for its customisability but then you can't get the flat exterior.

 

There are plenty of player home mods, including many you may well like from the description. I've sadly found Functional Homes and I don't know if I could go back to playing without it. That mod, with lots of mannequins and weapon plaques would suit me perfectly. The only other thing I could ask for is to have that without a load screen, though I imagine it's not easy else it would have been done.

 

As for Heathfire homes, you don't need to add everything if you want more space. I resolutely refused to create a single barrel or any mounted animal heads. Why I couldn't have weapon plaques instead of the animal heads is beyond me.

 

One of my favourite mods from FO3 was a player hideout that gave us a weapon "trophy wall" of a sort. It had one spot for every weapon in the game and displayed them all around the place. I enjoyed picking which weapon I'd take for my next foray into the Wasteland, taking it out with me then returning it to its spot later. Completing that collection and watching it fill was brilliant. With poseable mannequins outside and a simple layout it was a great player home. Only downside was an extra loading screen.

 

What would be nice would be a more dynamic system, along the lines of Fable 2. If I murdered an NPC accidentally "died", their property became available to buy and use as either a marital home or rental property. More than once, after emptying a tower, fort or such like I thought it would be great to make it a player home, kinda like Volikhar Castle if one chose Vamps over Dawnguard (I didn't :unsure: ). A mod that perhaps adds another layer to some of those places in Skyrim with two parts...one that tidies the dungeon parts, bodies, clutter away when it's cleared, and another of statics to make it a home. Like Hjerim.

[slainia]

I'd like to see more modders, and even bethesda, go this route when creating house mods.

IT's clutter, useful clutter, w/o the havoc bs.

 

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/26016

 

basically what the author did (she ? added a kitchen to lakeview so you can avoid that choice) is take a base crate, add a vegetable or whatever each container is supposed to hold so it looks full, then turn it into a static container. I have no idea how, but l could see houses being sooo much more fun & interesting if they were organized like that. on the surface it takes away choice, but if it worked and a modder left space here and there for the player to add their own decoration, l could see things being a lot less chaotic.

Always so annoying when my stuff rolls around on the floor...

 

Another thing l liked about hearthfire was the planters - the idea that i could chose *and change* my garden really caught my eye.

I really do wish someone would do what you're talking about with the dungeons - so many times, especially with ustengrav, i've wished l could use it as a player home somehow. l'd do it myself, but l'm not very skilled with this stuff. lol. Am teaching myself bits n pieces here and there, but it's slow.

 

as for the functional mod, l'm not really fond of any of the vanilla houses that i've tried so far. they're ok, but l feel cramped in them. Would really prefer something larger, but not rich..