WIP - The Companion friendly Hobbit Home

[Pellape]

BTA

Imperial Book Tracking Agency

 

What or which role and objectives does this organisation really have?

 

I was out walking the dogs, my head was spinning. What will the BTA guards do in Anvil except for guarding BTA property that I plan to add today? Will they act as Anvil guards. Well suddenly it came to me. No way. What happens if the player steal something or kill something by mistake. I did that a couple of times really.

1. Jail
2. Pay the guard
3. Get ignored by the guard (High disposition)

But we have TG that takes care of the fines. Yes we do, if we are members. TG does not have any evil NPC at all what I know off. FG, MG and DB should also take care of their members. Look after them.

 

I do have 3 NPC in the TG. To use their service still require membership. My current char did spend 1 day in jail already to trigger the initiating quest. But I want options. I want to focus at the books right now, nothing else.

 

So lets go back to what BTA really are.

 

Their main goal is to protect the books and make sure to fight anyone stealing them. It is in their interest to look after their crew, their agents and everyone that will work for them. It does not mean they will enforce stealing or killing. No way, that is not their goals at all. They will look after the member, no matter what or which position the member has in the guild. The guild has 8 stages.

1. Associate
2. Apprentice
3. Journeyman
4. Agent
5. Commissar
6. Guard
7. Head Librarian
8. Lore master

Thegoal for the player is to reach Commisar as far as I know right now. That will be enough I guess. As the player owns the biggest Library in the world, the Agents refer to it as the Librarian anyway. They really look up to the Librarian and like it no matter if the Librarian is a member or not.

 

Becoming a member is easy. It does not require anything else than the love for books and knowledge. Religion, race and all that stuff will not matter. this is not a religious order. It is only about books and knowledge. if you want Religion, join the bloody Nines for all I care. :wink: They demand the player to behave and have no infamy. But BTA is a good organisation and will give the player fame.

 

When you do the quests for our own library, you also act for everything that is good for all.

• +1 Fame per quest
• -1 Infamy per quest (If this is not poplar, one single argument about this, and I add it to the house settings to toggle it. I do not want a fight because of this really. It is a quick fix but it will prepare the player for The Nine in case the player want to play it that is.)
• +1 modav RAND skill

You work for the good cause and that will effect you as a player.

 

How to implement Bounty

 

I think i just add the BTA to the TG quest line or at least copy it. The quest needs to be started to be in any use at all. The jailing starts it I guess or set stage over 0. I do not care which. I must be sure it works to 100%

 

So you are a new player in game with a new char that makes a mistake, gets a bounty. The crew at the Hobbit Home will not help you, not if I do not fix them. I do not need to that now really as you will become a member in BTA.

 

You go to the IC Arcane university and turn right or you portal to the Lore Master immediate from the House. The house tracks every member in BTA + your crew and staff. Also even your companions. You get powers you cannot imagine.

 

Get membership, talk to anyone in BTA. They will tell the player.

 

-That does not look to good really. Let me fix this so you can continue with your daily business as an Imperial agent. Do try to avoid getting in trouble - will you? Lets forget about this and find the books.

 

BTA will also get help from unexpected sources in game. I say no more. They are no angels but not evil, nor criminal. They are just humans fighting for the knowledge and the books. If a member of TG is able to help with a simple task, well let them. I will draw the line at DB as they are religious fanatics. They will not be contacted by BTA for sure. Does BTA know that they contact members in BTA in the quest line? I doubt it. They see people as they are, nothing else. That is what a pure RP:er see when he visit the City of vesper in Ultima Online. He cannot know everything about everyone at the city square. he knows how they behave and what services some of them offers. It is like real life. Do you really know everything about everyone you deal with like when you trade, buy services like they cutting your lawn, fixing your garage or whatever. Do you? Do BTA knows? No chance. They know who is able to fix what, to make BTA reach the next level, to grow, making more progress, become more powerful and finally maybe even win the war against the Book Burglars.

 

I do think we have something here. that will make this story really good. :D

 

One step in a time. This is only the beginning of their quest line I made up. It will take me years to get a more complete story with a red line. i weight every possible aspect into this. You can also help me with suggestions and if I like them, I add them. No questions asked. i just do it. i do whatever I like really. :D that is the beauty with Oblivion. We can do it.

 

Is this corruption? yes it is. Is it evil corruption? No it is not.

I look after you, you look after me. We are all pals after all.

 

The NPC in game. Can we stop them coming to HobbitHome?

 

The agents can get annoying. The player can get tired of them and I will now add this options tonight.

 

Talk to an Agent.

-Can you stop bothering me and my House?

-Talk to the Lore Master at BTA HQ at the Arcane University. He ordered us to protect you and your estate and your Library

 

You take of to the Lore master

 

-Stop guard my estate

-I will ask the agents to stop immediately but let me remind you that you and your Library is Imperial interest but it is you that is the Lord of that estate. I will ask them all to withdraw and put their horses at the Imperial Stable.

 

Time passes.

-Start guarding my estate

-I will ask all agents to take up their business, guarding your estate as they see fit. They will go back to their daily business there as soon we ended this debate. Good choice. You finally make some sense really. Keep up the good work you really do at your library and we do the rest as usual. Protecting it.

 

So to keep this simple. I will add a package at all agents and all guards in Anvil to get home, putting them in their Sleeping quarters where they remain until the player needs them again. The player is the Lord after all. The player do not need to peek inside the sleeping room. If he do, well he see them all standing inside there, doing nothing but will have all dialogues active. :D This is controlled by one single variable and condition in that package that will be put on top. Damn... It takes so long time to move a package at every agent in CS and CSE but it has to be done, sooner or later. They are so many at the estate. The player have to accept them all or not accept them. It is his choice to make. It is about total control of your estate. You are the Lord, the Librarian... :wink: It is up to you how to run your property.

 

I can really see them taking off with this single variable and 3 packages. 1 for the agents, one for the guards and one for the horses. All will take off as individuals, as riding require a separate package and this is not about immersion at all. It is about they all are in the way of the player and have to leave, now. Walking, to 3 different cells and markers and stay there. Will anyone really use this option? I do not know. It is up to the player.

Edited April 25, 2022 by Pellape

[Pellape]

I now added the Toggle Infamy button into the house Settings. I have 9 options in that menu, I soon need more space and remake it, adding more sub-menus if i need to add a single more setting. I did add it to a sub-menu for the moment where I set Soul Gems settings. I did find a bug in that part so it was good I peeked there really. This bug made the soul gem sorting to fail. It is now corrected and I will test it with my dynamic sorter later in game. Not that it really matters to me. I get Soul Gems from my own store as soon as I need 50 or 100. Each merchant has 50 Grand Soul Gems anyway, and I transmute them into Black ones. It is all in this WIP between page 5 to 25 somewhere :D

 

I have not encountered any other bugs or odd behaviour in the House Settings. If anyone finds any, we sort it out. I do doubt it honestly but I do not know 100% for sure, just 99% and that is good enough for me. :D

 

Well the Soul gems menu should work properly and you can now toggle Infamy on and off.

 

I did write the dialogues for stopping the agents at Hobbit Home in CS right now. ;) I will order the agents to sleep at the top floor. Force the guards to go to bed in Anvil basement, and tell the horses to go wild. ;) No the horses will return to Arcane University Stable. I will now also add some more dialogues to the agents as you will be able to ask them to come back and work at the estate. They will then ask you again to bring it up with the Lore Master. The Lore master will have this option all time. Either Stop bothering me and my House or Come back to my House. It must be short. The player will test these options for sure and see the result in the answers from the Lore Master. This will be good really. Fun to test as well, seeing everyone just take off from the house. :D So cool... ;)

[Pellape]

Leave me alone. I am tired of your ugly faces around my Estate, just leave... I need some space.

 

 

What? Why do you undress? That is not proper, you can get in trouble. (Sleep package with no armor and no weapons)

 

-Where are your horses? Where did they go? Well I better go and take a peek where those war horses really went...

 

 

Here they are... But where are they going?

 

No no no, not that way, it is dangerous... Stupid horses WTH!!!!!!

 

 

The horses do not follow the roads as humans do, they take the most short route, they like to stroll around in the woods and they did not know about this dangerous area and did cross my dangerous Ore Quarry. anyone visiting this area must be cool and take it easy... So the horses attracted everyone and everything in this area. All noises they made attracted the 3 Highwayman Thieves that likes to hang in the corner a bit of my estate. Everyone within a bloody mile was fighting everyone...

 

-Ohhh nooo.... Well the Horses won. They are War Horses after all... So strong... Well I need a rest. IDK know if the horses or the BTA Agents made it... They are somewhere between my estate in Anvil and Imperial City right now. I will check them later to see how they are really doing. I did not meant to them to really get in trouble or did I?? :wink:

[Pellape]

It was very late at night when i tested this, as i also had to debug a quest that did not act as it should inside the Anvil Castle so when i got that sorted out, which seems to work as it should now, I went direct to my house.

 

What i have forgotten to mention, to see their changes in immediate action is that I also add a button in the HH settings called [Toggle Agents] so we really do not need to go to IC and talk to the Lore Master to see this. I do not know if I really need to add that option to the docs, but still... This is not me that should tell you how to play the game still... :wink: I did also add the same button in 2 different places, to make more sense. the first one is faster accessed. The second button is undet a menu called [Where are BTA Agents]

 

So back to what happen after the fight at the Ore Quarry last night. I did got a lot of LAG, which happen when my pets scans the area, even if they only do it every 3rd second. This was to much for Oblivion to handle anyway. It is not meant to happen and it will not happen if you go there in sneak mode and take it cool, do not run into that area, just stay cool and take it slowly and everything will be just fine.

 

So the fight was at the left side of this orange line I draw.

 

 

It means that they are walking cross that line, which is the shortest route from my estate to the Imeperial City bridge as that is what they WILL use. i never seen them cross the water. They always use that bridge. So later I will take a peek at and follow that line and see if i can see them again :D Why? Well Why not? This is a test, I want to see what they are doing really. :D I do have the time. I do not even know if i will ever see the horses but I can also cheat. I do have their reference numbers and can go to them whenever I want and I might do that.

 

There are 12 horses all together but only max 8 at the same time at the estate as they are in 3 groups, toggling between IC and Anvil, well my estate outside Anvil that is.

 

Oblivion broken AI is so bloody amassing and fun... Will i get bored? No way... Not yet at least...

 

Lag and the tent.

 

Let me add my best and fastest way to get rid of LAG. If lag comes, go to my tent and go out. The LAG is gone within 10s. I use a hotkey to go to the tent and the door inside the tent to get back where I was

 

What do you know?

 

I do use IDK a lot because IDK. I do know that I use MOO and WAC so anything will happen. MOO adds its own stuff but a lot of WAC stuff to the game as well, as that is how MOO is made, and WAC has its own MOO config file, added by Maskar, to make sure it works perfect. Maskar is a genius. So damn bright. So I will now see what happens outside the Ore Quarry that I did add. All that bloody mess, all those monsters I added, it is my fault the fight went that big. What is interesting is that the fight, the horses or whatever did attract the Highwayman thieves. They are far away. This makes it very very interesting. The horses can already arrived at IC, but i doubt that. I did recall to one BTA Agent, he was walking alone at Kvatch / Skingrad area somewhere, so boring... I went to bed... So I will most likely port myself now to one of the horses and to that boring agents horse as it is among this group of 8 horses. Maybe they spread out? maybe? They tend to do that. They are individuals after all. I make a report later... I can recall to at least 4 of them, in the group number 1. Trial and error... ;)

Edited April 26, 2022 by Pellape

[Pellape]

So... The end of this journey then? Did anything special happen? Not really. We where attacked by some Chickens, Ogres, a Spriggan and Spiders an Imp and a walking tree.

 

Did we learn anything at all? Yes, that the horses swims and that the Agents walks. We did met the agents close to IC and they dressed up at the bridge. Do not ask me why. But the guards where healing so there might have been involved in a fight at the inn or before the inn. There are usually a mob of big chickens there...

 

I did got a lot of nice screenies around the IC area, that I will use for paintings in a new HQ in Anvil.

 

What else? Well I learned that using this slow walking speed, it takes at least 22 in game hours for them to complete this journey. It was fun even if not much did happen, I learned some stuff during the way, and honestly, I did expect the horses to use the bridge but when I think about it. The first screenshot I made of them, published earlier, they did swim and got up west of IC.

 

Not all have arrived yet and I lost my patience to wait for them. Maybe I make one more screeny in a few days? Well this is enough really, it tells the rest of the story, one single picture, containing loads of small ones, to tell their story after I did throw them out from my Estate. I had to at least escort them home. What else do you expect of me? I am not a cruel bastard after all, am I? :wink:

 

I will check the journey back later, but it will be on their standard schedule and packages so it might not be interesting at all. This is an exception as I did made or add a new feature and I had to see what really would happen :wink: So fun... Honestly... :wink: I just did happen to hit a button a couple of times, I think it is called [PRT SC]

 

 

5 horses are missing and 3 Agents. They pop up sooner or later... :wink: I did notice that it was a big distance between 2 groups of horses, so I moved between the 2 groups until I found something interesting at all to Screenshot. The first 3 shots are from the group with 5 horses by the way, so I did follow them for a short while. The last ones is from the smaller group of 3. So long distance... That is interesting as well... We cannot for see anything in the game and I love such small tiny details... As it is those small things that makes it so much better than Morrowind. I would never test this in Morrowind honestly. It is these small things in Oblivion that gets my attention.

 

Morrowind is cool in other ways but it is extremely static and easy to predict.

 

Well the horses did not split up as I feared earlier. They stayed in 2 groups and moved together. They are not coded to do it, no following packages or anything like that. This can aslo be a coincidence but it looks cool. I like it.

 

Did they follow the orange line at the map I did show you earlier? They sure did or tried to do as best as they could. That I could predict and for see at least... Shortest route possible

Edited April 26, 2022 by Pellape

[Pellape]

Not so easy...

 

Damn... Some stuff are not as easy as i want them too. I will make a work around

 

So I want to use BTA to pay Fines to, not a big deal really but still... The fines, paying the Fines are made in the Quest TGInfo. So that quest does not start until the player gets into TG, thats okay. paying the fines will not be possible until then.

 

What is the work around? Will i break this for every player of this mod? No i will not. It is not me who decide if the player will get it easy to pay for his crimes, no matter if he put his fingers inside a red target or not.

 

Solution

 

I will make another addon now. I do not know if this work but it should. In the addon that will be put in the end of my mod-list will have membership removed. When i played the game the last time, my main trader where able to take care of the fines, so this should not be a problem. I do bot have a bounty, I did 1 day in jail... :wink: It is a 2 weeks fresh char... I test it and return... Lets fake or brake TG-Info.

 

Where?

 

I decided to put this inside the House Settings so this addon will require HobbitHome.esp as master and its masters. It has 4 masters - NM... ;) I will also rename the 4th button named Soul gem Settings to Misc Settings, that will make anyone suspicious and also nosey and even curious, WTH is that button doing? ;) Misc Settings. That sounds good and I can expand that section a lot without breaking to older or other buttons. I knew that one day, I really had to expand this now big bloody menu. So many settings, so many decisions to make... So many many many.... I lost count... Mind blowing

 

I will also add a warning. Do this only if you use this addon. It is not necessary to click this if you are a member in TG as then that quest starts as soon as you won the first quest TG01BestThief as then you can get your fine fixed for the first time, not before.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Pellape

[Pellape]

So lets now look at what info this quest is storing in case I would now try to do it any other way. What will happen if we activate the addon and later stop to use it?

 

The TGInfo store these variables. This is the complete quest script

ScriptName TGInfoScript

Short NocturnalFlag
Short GuildJobsFlag
Short InformationFlag
Short DoyenFlag
Short FencesFlag

Float TGPayFines

I tried to google TGInfo and looked at both CS Wiki and UESP - Nothing but lets assume and guess some stuff then.

• Nocturnal flag will most likely track if the player did the nocturnal quest. not that it matter much for TG what I know. Well not Immersive.
• GuildJobsFlag most likely hold the value that makes the next quest available
• InformationFlag - IDK - I di a Text Search. It will change when the player succeed in returning the diary in TG01
• A Value that holds the number of Doyens? makes no sense... We have 2, so maybe it is 0, 1 or 2
• My hold number of fences available in the order from Bruma, Leyawin, Bravil, Anvil and IC/Chorrol a value between 0-5 - It can also hold items fenced but I guess that is a Global Variable really as you can fence items before joining the TG in my fence and it counts
• TGPayFines the amount of money that is equal to the Bounty as a Bounty is possible from lvl 1 and fines not before you get membership in TG - fines and bounty goes hands in hand. The fine is the money we pay to get rid of the bounty

So far so good.

 

WARNING!!!

 

If you inactivate this addon, these values will be set to 0, every single one. Do not be alarmed nor afraid to use it - or become a TG member as fast as possible to get rid of the fines - This is also in the file description. All these values can be added back really... :wink: If needed... I could make another quest that stores them in main file, then we copy them back after membership is gained with a button. This is no issue really. It can be if you stop to use it after you became a member.

 

This will work however

 

You decided to join TG. Before you start the quest at the waterfront. Log out, inactivate the addon mod, log in, do the quest. You will still have 3 that will pay your fines adter TG01 gets completed, the first quest, Do it before you hand in the diary.

 

BTA are not members of TG and will loose the ability to pay the fine but then we can make them members with a spell? We sort that out later. I can really add them as members from House Settings, then it is a choice the player makes. BTA will not care which really, They are not FG, MG nor The Nine still. Everything to be able to provide the player and friend as much as they can to keep the quests for knowledge running and have normal progress

 

Backside is all extra dialogues. Praising the grey Fox and so on. Well it sux honestly. It does not fit. Just do it during TG01 and we be fine. Inactivate the addon. Well they will still not get the dialogues if you keep it active, only the fines. So do what you want. I will have it running all time from now on.

 

Testing

 

I went in game, tried to use the dialogues without starting the quest. i do not need to start all quests really, well IDK i usually have a stage set or start a quest at triggers and at all kind of places that makes sense and actually works.

 

Before I force started TGInfo i talked to the Lore master and my main Fence Sivia. None of them had the Dialogue option available. I then started the quest and they had it.

 

I add following topics inside the trigger inside the BTA HQ at Arcane University, close to the door, between the Lore master and the front door. If the player use the front door to enter this room. This topics will get added from the main esp for this project:

		AddTopic TGPayFines
		AddTopic TGNoPayFines
		AddTopic TGPayCrimeGold 

None of them are active until the player joins the TG or if the player activate the quest in House Settings. The player can ebter from House Settings, port to the Lore master, and if you do that, walk to the door and then go back. Look at the Console as it will say:

PrintC "Topics added DoOnce 1"

Topics added DoOnce 1

Edited April 26, 2022 by Pellape

[Pellape]

I really need to find the old manual and add the house settings, every tool available. The old tools are there + instructions about the Display Room. No info about the 2 libraries, the quests, nor BTA. Well some House Settings maybe... Bottle sorter but not the dynamic sorter, Luggage feature and other odd stuff. The work shop needs to be added as well. ore nodes and golems and giant chickens.

Edited April 27, 2022 by Pellape

[Pellape]

I went out, hit a guard with my fists, who ran away, got a bounty for 80 septims, came back in to the lore master. No available dialogue. Hmm

 

I restarted the TGInfo quest

 

Now all praise the thief and Grey fox topic is available, like they all are in TG. This is what I tried to avoid.

 

I remake it tommorow, doing it all in the new mod, delete them from TGinfo in the main mod. It is a simple condition anyway. What is needed is 2 result scripts at the topic and the first looks like this.

Set TGInfo.TGPayFines to Player.GetCrimeGold / 2
Message "Fee to get rid of bounty: %.0f gold" TGInfo.TGPayFines, 10
If Player.GetGold < TGInfo.TGPayFines
    Set TGInfo.TGPayFines to 0
EndIf

So anyone can use TGInfo. Using a variable should not add topics. I will become a member sooner or later, I will inactivate this mod at TG01 to see that my theory really works.

 

My fence lost the ability as well. Maybe I forgot to save it. I could add another button to stop and restart the quest too while testing. I can flush this addon too if it does not work as I want it too.

 

I do not want them to greet the player as fellow thief and debate Grey Fox or anything else then pay my bloody fines, half price, that's it - Pronto. 3 new Topics, for BTA only My 3 fence will become members when the player enters as they ARE fences. - Tomorrow is another day.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Pellape

[Pellape]

So as easy it is to start TGInfo, to get rid of all dialogues right now I use StopQuest TGInfo and they are all gone and the BTA crew act as they should.