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WIP: Vampires Guild (for Oblivion)


PrinceShroob

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So, as some of y'all may know, I tend to mention a mysterious quest mod project that I've been working on for years. This is it, the first time I've ever shown it to anyone.

 

I'm an inveterate procrastinator and prone to bouts of writer's block, so I figured that exposing the work to others, and receiving some feedback, would be very helpful, particularly given my low confidence in my own work: if I can fix what I've got, I'll have a more solid ground for future work.

 

Now, keep in mind that this is a work in progress, and most anything about it's subject to change. Also, since it's a WIP, I can't guarantee compatibility with any mod. Granted, I am interested in ensuring the utmost compatibility -- later. In my mind, there's not much sense in worrying about it when you've got bigger fish to fry -- mainly, finishing the damn thing!

 

So, bearing all that in mind:

 

What in Sam Hill is this?

 

This is a quest mod, centered around vampires (though there's also non-vampire content). It's my attempt at making a mod for "good" (or at least not "evil") vampires -- so no Harkons allowed.

 

How do I start the dern thing?

 

You'll want to find the Argonian Bright-Scales living in and around the Imperial City. Figuring out the boy's secret (gee, I wonder what it is...) will net you his trust. Follow the dialogue train to ask about a cure for vampirism to be directed to the vanilla vampire cure quest (MS40 -- with this mod, you won't need to be a vampire to complete it). Then speak to Bright again and wait a week for him to contact you.

 

In the meanwhile, you can amuse yourself with miscellaneous quests.

 

When are you planning' on gettin' off yer lazy tail and finishin' the dern thing?

 

Um, well, you see... aside from the fact that I only seem to be able to work in creative "spurts," I'm starting my sophomore year of college near the end of August, and I really ought to focus on schoolwork. But given every college students' proclivity for procrastination, it's not like I'll have no time to work on this.... I just wouldn't expect it to be done anytime soon.

 

But I will finish it... eventually.

 

Yeh dumb varmint, ya dug yerself too deep. Yer gonna need a tonna help, ain'tcha?

 

And I'd appreciate any you can offer! Just contact me.

 

Well, except voice acting. I think it's too early for that... unless you happen to like some of the characters so much that they become your *dream role*, in which case, tell me that for the ego boost, and then pinch me to make sure I'm not dreaming.

 

Dern idjit! Yer mod don't work right!

 

Obviously it's in the alpha stages, but if you see a bug with existing content, don't hesitate to tell me.

 

I hate it!

 

Fair enough. But please, tell me what you didn't like so that I can try to improve it.

 

So, yeh ain't even close ta done. Well then, at what point didja stop?

 

The cutoff point for Vampires Guild content is at the end of VGVampGuildQ11 ("Weapons of Mass Destruction").

 

***

 

Features (completed):

  • Six miscellaneous quests (four available to anyone, two that require certain actions to be completed beforehand)
  • 11 Vampires Guild quests
  • One quest to destroy the Vampires Guild a la Skyrim's "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood"
  • 45 new NPCs with [varying quantities of] unique dialogue, plus more NPCs who are too busy doing things like trying to kill you to bother talking
  • Six new locations (one as-of-yet quest locked dungeon, a small village, and four estates because Oblivion's cities are too damn crowded)
  • A new spell available to vampire players that allows you to absorb health and feed
  • A real live Argonian guard!
Features (pending):
  • Well, you know, a finished Vampires Guild questline
  • Repeatable quests for the Vampires Guild
  • Maybe more questlines?
  • Maybe even a romance?
  • Definitely more miscellaneous quests
***

 

Oblivion Script Extender (required)

 

Elys Universal Silent Voice (not strictly necessary, but you will probably want this or else dialogue will go by too quickly to read)

 

Vampire Race Disabler (recommended; Oblivion's vampirism otherwise wreaks havoc with the NPC faces I so painstakingly made)

 

Download the WIP file here!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just wanted to make it clear that I could really use help, both in directly helping with the mod, or even just providing feedback. I'd really appreciate it, and it will help it get done more quickly.

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Updated WIP file:

  • Minor dialogue alterations
  • All mod-added dialogue topics that were duplicates of existing topics (i.e., VGImperialCityTopic "Imperial City," which functioned exactly like the vanilla ImperialCityTopic) have been removed and all dialogue has been moved to the vanilla topics; this will prevent topic doubling if the user has a mod installed which would add information to the vanilla topic that Vampires Guild-added NPCs had access to
  • When Bright-Scales, J'reux, or Vance follow you, activating them while sneaking will cause them to speak to you rather than opening the pickpocketing menu
  • Corrected an error where the Construction Set ate a result script, resulting in some dialogue being unavailable during VGMiscQ06
  • Removed deprecated investment topics for Quanzus and Helene (Quanzus' class had been changed to allow him to use default investment dialogue, and Helene being a merchant was cut earlier in development); also removed extraneous voice and lip files from the archive
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I uploaded some screenshots to the WIP file, if anyone cares. I wanted to add some more quest-related ones, but Steam was refusing to launch Oblivion, so those will have to wait.

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  • 2 weeks later...

  • I was warned that NPCs with AI package lists that are too long can cause an "AI overload" that significantly taxes the system. To circumvent this, I have moved many AI packages to temporary script packages.

Deleted all the Shieldwell family content -- I have decided not to pursue the quests they would have had, particularly because I couldn't think of any ideas!

In "To Forgive is Divine", dawdling to the point that the jailor attacks you should no longer cause all the guards in the area to pursue you relentlessly.

J'reux's painting can now be given to a certain someone if you don't want it for yourself.

J'reux's reward for "Tender Resignation" no longer requires you to rent a room first.

Minor dialogue and NPC inventory alterations, as befits my whims.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Largely minor tweaks this time, but one NPC got a name change, J'reux had a Fighters Guild greeting spliced together, and I've hopefully fixed any issues with the recruits not going to the guildhall. I've also continued my work to lower AI processing stress.

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  • 2 months later...

Been awhile, hasn't it? Just some incremental stuff.

  • Xedrian has been renamed to "Estragon".
  • Adders-Fanged and Milah's generic dialogue has finally been rounded out.
  • Layouts of Raryn's and Estragon's laboratories have been changed so that pathgrid changes are no longer necessary.
  • Created new custom OBSE functions to circumvent crashes caused by using RemoveAllItems in certain situations.
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  • 6 months later...
  • Edited all dialogue added by the mod to fit within Oblivion's default 150-character limit. Consequently, the extended silence for Universal Silent Voice is no longer included.
  • Deleted the silver dagger in Estragon's laboratory, as sometimes Bright would run to pick it up in combat, even though he couldn't wield it.
  • Changed Morte to a female Argonian to correct the missing audio for a number of Cheydinhal lines. This won't cover Vance if he's reassigned to Cheydinhal, though.
  • Edited the way that the Vampires Guild headquarters' sandboxing works -- it now uses script-added packages rather than the packages being on the actors, which should cut down on AI load and also prevent multiple members trying to use the same idle spot at once.
  • Specious Veci now trains Restoration as I intended.
  • Changed all mod-added NPCs to use NPC level offsets more in line with the vanilla game, rather than the idiosyncratic minimum and maximum levels I used before.
  • You can no longer ask an NPC about themselves -- that information has been dispersed to other topics.

Please report any errors in quest-related NPC-to-NPC conversations -- cutting the length meant adding more text boxes, and it's possible that they might not link the same way.

 

In addition, I would like help splicing audio for Vance's missing vanilla Oblivion dialogue. Please contact me if you're interested.

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  • Corrected what appears to be an engine AI bug where Sir Marcus wasn't taking his weekend trip until 6 PM on Loredas because his initial travel package never ran.

Sir Marcus will no longer leave his horse outside the Imperial City's gate when he returns from his trip. Due to game engine wonkiness, S'clavo's horse was axed and he will now accompany his master on foot.

Made a small correction to VGMiscQ06: Vance should no longer get stuck performing his daily patrol instead of following you due to the way that his patrols are handled, and he should always be wearing his uniform for his greeting at the end of the quest, as his dialogue mentions it.

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  • Added some Vampires Guild-quest-specific loading screens.

Corrected a syntax error in Bright's, Vance's, and J'reux's scripts.

When I reduced text length, I accidentally forgot to edit the dialogue for VGVampGuildQ06.

Added new default packages for the recruits to make it more obvious that they are not generic vampire enemies.

Added missing scripting to reset variables for sandboxing.

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  • 1 month later...

Updated!

 

  • Two new quests (one Vampires Guild recruit quest for K'saath and Quintus Tabulus' -- formerly Quanzus -- miscellaneous quest.
  • Various changes to suit my whims, such as new dialogue and edited weapons for new NPCs -- they now use leveled weapons rather than static ones that could leave them underpowered at higher levels.
  • One new NPC: Galar Rilvayn, a dockworker involved in Quintus' quest.
     
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