[Ideas] Alternative Start System

[Conner]

Can you go off the existing alternate start mods as a guide to help figure out where to disable the start of the main quest?

[Arthmoor]

Going to have to. It's not so much disabling the main quest as it is short circuiting the chargen quest so that it doesn't start all sorts of things that could go very very wrong.That also means there's no way to provide for starting the game using the normal tutorial sequence, because in order to facilitate alternate starts I have to disable the chunks of the chargen quest that would allow for the emperor and the other Blades to do their thing.Further insult to injury, it seems it's possible to crash the game if you call the race menu after you've used the class and/or birthsign menus.

[Conner]

Interesting, I thought there was a console command (ShowRaceMenu) to call each of those three menus in-game, does using the console to call the race menu in-game after having chosen your class and birthsign crash it?

[Kayle]

Interesting' date=' I thought there was a console command (ShowRaceMenu) to call each of those three menus in-game, does using the console to call the race menu in-game after having chosen your class and birthsign crash it?[/quote']Nope, I've done it before.

[Arthmoor]

The console commands are essentially what alt-start mods use. You can call them up from scripts but for some reason with what I'm working on the game will crash without fail if the race menu is accessed after the birthsign and/or class menu is used. So something isn't quite right, but it's not a huge issue since I can just block using the race menu once it's been accessed.Either that or there's still something I'm missing with being able to reuse it.

[Kayle]

I would say somethings missing, since I can use it after any of them have poped up without crashing.

[Arthmoor]

Well as it turns out, the same thing happens if I use the alt start arrive by ship mod. So it isn't something I did, but rather something the game appears to have become pissed in general about. I'll just ignore it for now and hope it doesn't become a bother.

[Conner]

So, for whatever reason, if you disable the default tutorial/start-up quest it screws up the ability to call the race menu once the class/birthsign menus have been called... I suppose if you're using an alt start mod maybe it's assumed you've already played through at least once before and you probably shouldn't need to change your race after you've made your decisions about class and birth sign?

[Arthmoor]

So... this was far easier to construct than I though. I mean, literally 2 days worth of script writing and quick testing, and one can now do the following to start the game:Arrive by ShipImperial City, Anvil, Bravil, and Leyawiin. Bravil and Leyawiin requiring appropriate city mods before they will work.Own a houseBravil, Bruma, Cheydinhal, Chorrol, Leyawiin, Skingrad, Imperial City, Bartholm - All with the fully furnished house ready to go when you start.Member of a GuildFighters Guild, Mages Guild, Thieves Guild, Dark Brotherhood - With initial membership, all appropriate topics, and suitable equipment given.As a patron of an innFaregyl Inn, Roxey Inn, Gottshaw Inn, Brina Cross Inn, Olav's Tap & Tack, Drunken Dragon Inn, Five Claws Lodge - With credit for having paid rent on the room for the night. Could be somewhat difficult due to having almost nothing in equipment, but that's part of the charm of the option.Gladiator in the ArenaYou start with an appropriate battle raiment and one 2-handed enchanted weapon. Plus a free advancement to Brawler level with gold and fame to match what you should have won up to that point.As an OutlawStart as an outlaw manning a camp at Fort Ash. You'll have infamy and a 500 gold bounty which is enough to attract attention from legion and guards. The nearby highwayman will be dead to keep it from being too much of a problem so early in the game.As a NecromancerStart deep inside Fort Cuptor as a necromancer. There's some stuff on a table near you that "belongs" to you which you can keep or sell as desired. Fort Cuptor is quite a ways from the nearest civilized area.As a VampireProbably the hardest start of all. A full blown vampire deep inside Fort Hastrel, where you are hanging out with your other vampire buddies. Some random gear in a coffin near you.I also hooked the main quest in a somewhat believable manner with a dead adventurer at Fort Ash who was carrying the Amulet of Kings and a letter from Baurus. Taking the letter starts the main quest. Otherwise you can just ignore it until you're ready. It's a magic corpse, won't rot until you take the letter.There's room in the menu for 2 more start types, and room enough within the owned house menu for one more although I don't know of any that provide a proper vanilla style house. There's also plenty of room for extra port city landings, though that part of the system is already pretty complex now and there's not really any viable port locations other than the ones already supported.The opening room you do all the picking from is just a rock with a table, some crystal balls, and a trap door. Thinking of making it into a solitary confinement cell in dungeon tilesets where you've been forgotten by the guards and are more or less wishing you could have a different life.So before I do that part, anyone want to take a look at what I have and offer suggestions?

[Dwip]

No chessboard. :(Also no Wawnet Inn. Nerussa is sad.

[prettyfly]

That's all sounding pretty damn awesome, I guess I'll be getting a new alternate start mod in the near future.Also; my next UL is going to have a border checkpoint with Morrowind. With and Inn. With a free bed. Could this be a candidate for incorporation when it comes out?

[Arthmoor]

Oh yes, how does one forget Wawnet Inn? That would leave me with 2 more inn slots, I'd have uses Pell's Gate as one but it appears the room rental there is broken and can't be properly set. I suppose I should use one in the IC, leaving one for wherever. It really is terrible how few inns there are in the game out on the roads.The updated starting room is much MUCH better than a rock and some lame crystal balls. It turned into a mini-backstory of some poor forgotten soul down in some long forgotten dungeon cell who is given a second chance by the Gods. Quick and dirty but I rather like it.

[Conner]

Sadly, I don't really have time lately to play guinea pig for you this time (stupid real life obligations...), but it does sound really good so far so I too foresee changing start mods upon release of this one. Maybe if things settle a bit around here some toward the end of the week I can check it out then.So, if you start as a vampire, do you play the game trying to find the potion to cure yourself from the get-go or do you play the game basically by night? (Are there not some quests that pretty much require you to be outside during daylight hours?)

[Arthmoor]

Actually at this point I'm not sure what else would need testing, it all works, so I may as well just surprise the world with it. Fastest mod of substance I've ever done. A whole 3 days work, one of which was spent on perfectionist tweaking :PThe vampire start just makes you a vampire, with whatever benefits and consequences that carries. It does enable the cure quest but then that's expected since getting infected with naturally would do the same. Since you'll start with the full strength version of vampirism, your first priority would be finding a victim to feed on if you wanted to engage in normal activities. Which is why I set the clock to just after it gets dark, should be plenty of time to make your way to a city.And with the official release.... we close this baby out.