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[RELz] Castle Volkihar Rebuilt


Arthmoor

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A mod to allow the player to clean up the debris and rebuild Castle Volkihar to its former glory. The North Tower is also converted into a player home with safe storage.

After the Dawnguard quest line is over, have you ever wondered why nobody bothers to rebuild Castle Volkihar? Harkon may have been an obsessive lazy vampire, but that doesn't mean you need to be! Now you can rebuild the castle as you see fit, whether you're a vampire lord yourself and just want the stinking mess cleaned up, or a member of the Dawnguard seeking to expand into a new base and occupy some new territory.

At several locations throughout the Main Hall, Volkihar Ruins, Volkihar Courtyard, the Undercroft, and the docks behind the castle will be rubble piles or debris columns you can use to clean up the area around them. You'll need a pickaxe to do so, but that's it. After that all you need is the patience to see things through.

If you are playing as a vampire, your existing vampire minions will continue to provide their normal functions, just in a much cleaner environment. After all, what are we? Vampires or slovenly trolls? To clear the path to the Courtyard, speak to Garen Marethi as usual.

If you're playing as the Dawnguard, cleaning up rooms in the main guildhall area will bring in new Dawnguard members to man the stations that the vampires used to. The blacksmith, apothecary, and vendor will offer services appropriate to Dawnguard members. Ownership of the various castle cells will also be marked properly so you won't get accused of stealing the stuff you fought so hard to take. As a small added bonus, Fort Dawnguard will get cleaned up properly too. No more cobwebs lurking about!

If playing as the Dawnguard, Serana can now be directed to move into the castle and use her cleaned up room by lighting the candle on the corner of her nightstand (the one with the cloth mat). When the flames are lit, she will stay at the castle when dismissed. If they are out, she will stay at Fort Dawnguard. This candle will be lit permanently if playing for the vampires to indicate she stays there when dismissed. As an added bonus, she will make full use of the entire cell in either location, instead of just being narrowly restricted to the main hall areas.

Valerica's Study and the hallway outside that leads down to the secret fireplace passage will clean up when you go to the Soul Cairn to tell her Harkon is dead. Best to let the senior vampire handle her own affairs :)

Clearing the North Tower attached to the Courtyard provides a player home with safe storage, 3 mannequins, some weapon racks, 3 bookshelves, and a place to sleep too. Be aware though that the North Tower is the ONLY room you can clear out where storage is safe.

Download Locations

AFK Mods

Installation Requirements

Official Skyrim patch 1.9.32.0.8 or greater.
Official Dawnguard DLC.

Installation - Wrye Bash BAIN

Drop the archive into your Skyrim Mods\Bash Installers folder, then install as usual.
Make sure the mod is active in the Wrye Bash mods tab.

Installation - Nexus Mod Manager

Use the "Download with Manager" button on the  page at Skyrim Nexus. The installer should take care of things from there.
Then simply make sure NMM has the mod activated.

Installation - Manual

Drop the .esp and .bsa files into your Data folder.
Activate the mod using whatever management tool suits you.

Uninstalling

Due to the nature of Skyrim mods, especially those adding scripts, it is strongly discouraged to attempt uninstalling a mod from your active game. Any mod that is more than pure mesh or texture replacements has the possibility to leave behind permanent changes to your save that you may not want. This is not something modders can correct for. It is how the game was designed by Bethesda. No support will be provided for anyone who uninstalls this mod from an active game and continues on with that save.

To remove the mod: Delete the .esp and .bsa from your Data folder. Then reload your game as usual. Don't expect the castle to be in any different condition than what you left it in though.

Load Order

LOOT (https://loot.github.io/) should be used for optimal placement.

Compatibility

Will not likely be compatible with other mods that make changes to the rooms in Castle Volkihar.

Known Issues

Certain doorways in the castle ruins may not be passable if you enter from Valerica's Study and proceed downward from there. This is due to bugs in the DLC itself which have been addressed in the Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.

Credits

Hana - For the flameless static candle used for Serana's AI toggle.

Disclaimer

This mod is not made, guaranteed, or supported by Microsoft, Zenimax, Bethesda Game Studios, or any of their affiliates.

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thanks for the release!

one idea, that this mod gave me: would a resurrection of the Hall of the Vigilantes be something that fits as an expansion to this project?

 

btw: i have a round of donations planned, once my credit card gets replaced, but i'll withhold until the nexus get's the issue resolved, that lets any donated author have my private address: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/tracker/issue-36809-donations-are-handled-as-merchant-payments/

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btw: i have a round of donations planned, once my credit card gets replaced, but i'll withhold until the nexus get's the issue resolved, that lets any donated author have my private address: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/tracker/issue-36809-donations-are-handled-as-merchant-payments/

 

I can confirm that. You also get the real name and the mail address of the donated author.

 

I thought it was a Paypal thing.

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Apparently paypal has different transaction potion. One of them is for donations, where no contact imformation is exchanged. This is something the nexus needs to change.

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May I suggest this discussion about how Nexus donations work get moved to Nexus where it'll get seen by the right people? :P

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It got 3 more confirmations since i posted it here... ;)

Anyway, what is your thought on the halls of the vigilante, is this something that could be rebuild as well or would this interfere too much with things/script and/or be just a hazzle to set up?

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It could be done, but taken over as a base for the faction you played for. They seem to have made it pretty clear in the DLC that the Vigilants are all dead so restoring it for them would be a bit of a stretch.

 

I'm just not sure if it would be a good idea since there's probably other mods out there (CRF being one) that will be checking the state of things there and making adjustments.

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Taken over as a base sounds great to me. But on the other hand, maybe i need to check out crf again, then, since the lod pop-ups should now be solved thanks to dyndolod (that's one of that things that kept me from using it)

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Version 1.0.1

The North Tower cell needed to be switched to the "NoReset" encounter zone. Nothing should have been lost since the container objects don't respawn anyway, this just sets it up to be just like other player owned cells.
A cobweb on the main castle level was still left uncleaned in the main dining area.
Rugs in front of Harkon's sleeping area were assigned to the wrong marker and not being toggled properly.

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An idea i threw around for post quest dawnguard victory but didnt have the abiility to do in such a quest ridden muck

 

Dawnguard sets up a fort in the old stone tower and the rear port of the castle
Serena and her mother live in the castle proper even if the dawnguard win
possibly Vampire refugees or POW's or some kind are confined to the castle.
 

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Really loving this mod, I'm spending a lot more time in the castle now post-quest.

 

Any chance of having a few of the broken railings repaired when the associated area is cleaned up? Places I noticed the busted railings were the Volkihar cathedral and several spots in the ruins. For at least one region of the ruins, there's an intact railing on the opposite side of a dining room you could mirror over to the broken side.

 

If you're interested I can grab RefIDs for the broken pillars in each cell.

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Ah, yeah. Railings. I probably missed a few of those since they weren't that obvious. If you could get those ref IDs that would be great.

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  • 4 months later...

Finally installed and got around to re-visiting the Castle post-DG MQ (I played the DG side).

I think I found all the clean up spots, but a few things I noticed...

 

- On first visit, there's 2 Dawnguard's already taken up residence, but they have no beds/cots to sleep in until you clean up. Probably not a big deal but just seems kind of odd.

- In the clean East Tower, there's one little scrap of an urn left on the floor - id 1561e

- Can the torture rack and the cage be removed from Harkon's old room as well?

- From the Courtyard, I went into the Undercroft door with my follower, changed my mind and went back out, but now my follower won't come out.

- Are we able to clean up the Courtyard? I haven't found any "spots".

- Is there supposed to be a couple of "surprises" in the North Tower?

 

Otherwise, this is awesome, looks great and alive with all the residents. Thanks for this. :)

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Just went through the Ruins part of the Castle and found more stuff.

 

- Candlestick lying in the middle of the floor, couldn't grab it's id but it's near a chair with id xx02fac9

- There's an iron on the staircase, 18f36

- Still broken railing between 161c4 and ad18

- There's severe z-fighting in one of the rooms, couldn't get any nearby id's because of stupid ambient effects in the way. Will post a screenshot later.

- Misplaced firewood pile in the last room before the staircase that leads up to Valerica's study, sitting in the doorway

 

Also, back in the main hall, there's a potion of blood on the table - 11d6c

I was also attacked by respawning skeletons out at the side docks, and I could not find the clean up spot

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Gonna leave the two initial DG members without bed space until the room is cleared. It's just easier than trying to mess with the flow of things as they stand now.

Torture room cage + rack will be gone now if not playing for the vampires.

Hmm. Navmesh issue I guess with the follower thing, will need to check on that more closely. I don't recall there being a problem, but hey.

When you clear the path to the Courtyard from inside the castle, go out that door. There should be a rubble pile on that balcony to the left. That will clear up PART of the debris. The rest is hooked up to when Valerica is brought back from the Soul Cairn.

North Tower has some skeletons and a gargoyle in it, always has, but I doubt many people ever go there normally. Once you've dealt with them they don't respawn. Once the cleanup is done, they're also disabled so they won't ever come back.

The candlestick next to xx02fac9 has bad collision on it. Just noticed that in the CK, so it's a bug to file for a fix in USLEEP. It's misaligned and poking into the shelf on the desk, which likely caused it to get thrown clear.

Pretty sure I know which room you're talking about with the z-fighting. Unfortunately it can't be addressed because deleting the overlapping piece results in a giant hole in the ceiling in another part of the same room. The UDGP already tried to fix it but got bit by it and we had to revert.

The misplaced firewood pile, 02018add, is a bug in the DLC and should be fixed in USLEEP. It's clipping the fireplace. If you're talking about the individual cut logs in the fireplace itself, theyre intentional, but can be taken or moved as needed by the player.

The respawning skeletons on the north dock aren't disabled until the cleanup marker is used. Said marker is a column leaning against the sewer outlet next to the water where a ship can go.

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Pretty sure I know which room you're talking about with the z-fighting. Unfortunately it can't be addressed because deleting the overlapping piece results in a giant hole in the ceiling in another part of the same room. The UDGP already tried to fix it but got bit by it and we had to revert.

Can you point me to the associated entry in the bugtracker, please ? I think I can help. :)

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Bug #18979

 

It looked like it was a duplicate floor piece, but it's not. It's a much larger castle piece. It's pretty well obscured in the unmodified DLC but with CVR it gets really bad. So if some kind of replacement is what you had in mind, it would be best suited to be used in CVR rather than in the UDGP.

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Uh, I think I'm missing something... Here's a save at the exact spot. The only z-fighting I saw is at this tiny area :

 

Volkihar%20Ruins%200200ACE1.jpg

 

:huh: ?

 

Edit :

 

- There's severe z-fighting in one of the rooms, couldn't get any nearby id's because of stupid ambient effects in the way. Will post a screenshot later.

 

You can 'scroll' through the ref IDs from 'piled' statics/fx using the mouse wheel. You can then try to disable/enable them one by one, and finally find the one you're looking for.

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The z-fighting piece is a huge floor slab in a completely different room. I've never noticed one on a ceiling light fixture.

 

I wasn't aware the console would let you do that. Interesting.

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I wasn't aware either :o Good to know.

But Arth is correct, the floor spot is what I was refering to. Not a big deal really, it basically falls in a seldom used part of the castle.

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Another navmesh issue, I guess? If you fast travel with a follower to the castle Balcony, they will not enter Valerica's study. They can go through the other doors to the keep just fine.

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Strange, cause I just took my main guy, who has Serana and the Dark Brotherhood initiate with him, who did the DG quest ages ago. They both entered the study from the balcony just fine.

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Version 1.1

Set the LocTypePlayerHouse keyword for the North Tower. Mods which read this for follower interaction should now treat it properly.
Enabled 6 more weapon racks in the back hallway toward the bed that were previously blocked by bad collision on the hallway walls. Update your copy of the Unofficial Dawnguard Patch to use these.
Cleaned up some bits of debris that should have been removed but got missed.
The torture rack and cage will be removed from Harkon's old room if playing for the Dawnguard.
If playing as the Dawnguard, Serana can now be toggled to stay in the fort, or move back to the castle once her room is set up. A candle on her nightstand in Castle Volkihar will toggle this.
Additional lighting has been added to the main room in the North Tower. Sorry, due to engine limitations, none of the new ones cast shadows.

 

(Would like to be sure this is all good before going ahead with a full update everywhere)

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  • 1 month later...

Just went through and grabbed the IDs of any railing fragments that didn't get repaired in addition to a a few stray pieces of rubble that didn't get cleaned up and a missing sound effect on a fountain.

02 is my Dawnguard load order (thanks USLEEP!), XX refers to CVR's load order.

 

Volkihar Ruins

  • 2011715 is a broken rail stub
  • 2011712 is a broken rail stub
  • 2011713 is a broken rail stub
  • 2011710 is a broken rail stub
  • XX02ab0d (Molag Bal fountain) is silent, one in Cathedral has sound effect

Volkihar Cathedral

  • 2019e3b is a broken rail stub
  • 2019efe is a broken rail stub
  • 2019e57 is a broken rail stub
  • 2019e58 is a broken rail stub
  • 2919e53 is a broken rail stub
  • 2019e54 is a broken rail stub
  • 2019e56 is a broken rail stub
  • 2019e55 is a broken rail stub

Volkihar North Tower

  • Missing balcony between 200c9e1 and XX041235

Volkihar Courtyard

  • 20145ba is a random piece of rubble
  • 200c545 is a random piece of rubble
  • 200c547 is a random piece of rubble
  • 200c565 is a random piece of rubble
  • 2017e72 is a random piece of rubble
  • 2017e74 is a random piece of rubble
  • 2017e84 is a random piece of rubble
  • 2017e71 is a random piece of rubble
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Also found a random stairway to nowhere near the docks (Cell DLC1VampireCastleExterior06) RefID 02000810. Normally covered in rubble, it becomes an entrance too small to walk into with a staircase that ends in a wall after cleanup.

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