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After many days of work I'm proud to bring you all the evolution of my Dawnguard Sentries mod from Steam. This mod adds Dawnguard vampire hunters as extra guards to all the hold capitals in Skyrim, as well as some towns. In those towns, you'll see Vigilants of Stendarr working with the Sentries. That's done for immersion and variety in NPCs. The Dawnguard are supposed to be reforming after centuries and the Vigilants need a way to regroup after their HQ was burned

 


First, Dawnguard is required, as are

SKSE and SkyUI to support the MCM Menu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Version 1.1 is now Open Cities and Interesting NPCs Compatible.

 


411276773.jpg

 

So What Features Does the Mod Have?

 

1) TWO DAWNGUARD SENTRY GUARDS AT EVERY VAMPIRE SPAWN POINT IN HOLD CAPITALS
All of them are unique NPCs with distinct faces and a full range of Dawnguard gear. Some even have unique weapons. Some villages are also patrolled by teams of Dawnguard and Vigilants of Stendarr. VIllages covered are Dragon Bridge, Ivarstead, Riverwood, Rorikstead and Shor's Stone.

 

All Sentries are set up as members of guard factions to make this mod more compatible with When Vampires Attack and Run For Your Lives. This also means they'll assist guards, make arrests AND FIGHT DRAGONS. Sentries are set to react neutrally to player and follower vampires however, meaning player vampires can go into town to sell and do quests, so long as they don't attack anybody or have a bounty. Other NPC vampires will be attacked mercilessly on sight however.

 

Depending on your personal playing style and which side you're playing on the Dawnguard DLC, the Sentries can be set to Essential, making them unkillable, or to respawn only, meaning if they're lost in a vampire attack they'll re-appear after 10 game days.

 

A note on Riften: I also took into account the Thieves Guild quest in the market and positioned the Dawnguard patrols wide enough from that spot to not impact the quest significantly. All Sentries also should disable during Civil War sieges (vanilla game script) so the fight doesn't become unbalanced

 

2) EXTERIOR SENTRIES OUTSIDE THE CITIES OF RIFTEN AND SOLITUDE
Riften's North gate seems a spot of constant attack spawns for me. Now that spot, and the docks are watched by the Dawnguard, as is the Road just above the Solitude harbor. Mostly for immerison bu they will help with the occasional dragon attack at the Solitude stables. These particular Sentries can be toggled to Essential or completely disabled in the MCM

 

3) A DAWNGUARD PATROL BETWEEN RIFTEN'S NORTH GATE AND THE ENTRANCE TO DAYSPRING CANYON
Mostly for immersion. After all, the Dwnguard has to keep it's supply lines open. This patrol does a great job of clearing bandits and wolves from the road. Again they can be set to Essential, Respawn OR toggled completely off if they're too much for you or you're already using Immersive Patrols.

 

4) VAMPIRE GUARDS OUTSIDE CASTLE VOLKIHAR
A handful of unique Vampire guards now protect the outside of the Castle. Since the mod has all NPCs walking 24/7, these Vampires have a modified version of the Vampire sunlight weakness magic effect. They will be significantly weaker in sunlight, but won't take actual damage from it. Ergo, you have an advantage attacking during the day. These guards are respawn only but can be toggled off via the MCM

 

5) DAWNGUARD RECRUITS IN DAYSPRING CANYON
Similar to Castle Volkihar, Fort Dawnguard has it's own security. 10 unique NPC Dawnguard recruits are positioned along Dayspring Canyon standing guard. They're respawn only but can be disabled via the MCM.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


411276768.jpg

 


So there you have it; a lore friendly, non-cheating and extremely customizable way to protect your favorite NPCs from Vampires and Dragons. The 'When Vampires Attack' and 'Run For Your Lives' mods are also recommended and compatible if you want maximum lore friendly protection for your NPCs. The mod was built with the MCM Menu being the only script added to the game also, so it should be very uninstall and compatibility friendly.

 

The best part is that thanks to the new MCM Menu, you have multiple options on how to configure the number of Dawnguard Sentries running about, and if you want them to be killable or not (via essential state toggle options). Basic protection for the capitals and bigger towns, or max it out, it's all up to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


c60076cf8619f051f507e74f330264e0.gif

 


TRANSLATIONS:
Dawnguard Sentries Plus - Traduzione ITA by logan1710

 

MOD COMPATIBILITIES:
Dawnguard Sentries is very light on scripts and designed to be compatible with most other mods. Ver 1.1 greatly simplifies the Sentry AI, and short of dirty edits or mods that change guard factions and AI, the mod should work with most anything. The only mods that have tested incompatible so far are Journal for the Absent-Minded Dovahkin (it breaks Dawnguard and Dragonborn quests), Guild Starter, (Third party report without details), and Skyrim Fearless Encounter (badly breaks the AI system for the game). I also had some issues that I thought tied back to Extended UI, but they may have been caused by the Journal mod.

 

RECOMMENDED:
FUZ RO D-OH for silent dialog. VERY few voices work with the Dawnguard dialog factions, so this will let you "hear" more than a huh? from some Dawnguard Sentries.

 

Likewise any mod that improves the Textures on the Dawnguard & Vampire equipment. I personally like EcthelionOTW and MissLexi's (absolutely amaziing EotW DAWNGUARD DLC TEXTURES REMASTERED.

 

If you use a Sevenbase or UNPB body replacer, I also recommend FastestDogInTheDistrict's SEVENBASE ARMOR CONVERSIONS for the Dawnguard & Vampire Armors. Both look similar to the originals, just better textures and they don't make 7B characters look flat chested. Yes, UNPB bodies are so similar that Fastest Dog's mods have worked fine for me as a replacer.

 

With all that said, I'd also like to give huge THANK YOUs to everybody who's given me an endorsement here (oh wait, nobody has :P lol) or the Nexus, or a thumbs up at Steam. I do this for fun and as a learning experience, but the ratings do help give me the motivation to continue.

 

Likewise huge thanks go out to Crimson Blade, CPU, CDCooley, DarkFox127, lofgren, pevey, EnaiSiaion, Aqqh, FastestDogInTheDistrict, and several others who have all contributed directly or indirectly to my being able to make this mod work. Crimson Blade, mentioned above, was the author of the original Dawnguard Sentries mod. I took over the mod with his permission after he took a break from the game. While the mod has evolved a good deal since then, ALL credit for the original idea and initial work go to him.

 

ARMOR IN THE FIRST SCREENSHOT:
Since I've been asked in the past, my character is wearing the Midnight Breed armor. Formerly on the Nexus, it's now found here


  • Submitter
  • Submitted
    05/21/2015
  • Category
  • Requires
    Dawnguard, SKSE, SkyUI
  • Special Edition Compatible

 

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As promised in my VICTORY! thread, it's here first, even before the Nexus. :)   That in appreciation of the help CPU, Aqqh and others here have given me trying to bettle through various minor glitches.

 

There are only two minor glitches I've found thus far and I'm working on fixes.  One Sentry in Rorikstead (the Argonian) will not toggle as Esssential, and one vampire outside Catle Volkihar has a gray face bug despite repeatedly exporting her facegen data. 

 

 

OH and since I didn't mention it specifically in the description, the mod seems fully compatible with just about everything sexlab related too. :)

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one vampire outside Catle Volkihar has a gray face bug despite repeatedly exporting her facegen data. 

I had a similar problem... I finally (accidentally) fixed it by changing the actor's race to something else, then changing it back, then re-exporting facegen. Dunno if that'll help...

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Another heads up...  Since the Sentries are placed in the individual worldspaces for each of the Walled Cities, if you use Open Cities, the Sentries won't be there in Whiterun, Riften, Windhelm or Markarth.   I've already emailed Arthmoor about what would be involved in making an Open Cities compatible version.  He's good about answering, so I expect to have some options in the next few days.

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It's a great mod. I was always upset about some folks getting killed after I installed DG.

Now it seems at least there is some protection. :)

 

Use Arthmoor's "Run for Your Life" and "When Vampires Attack" and you'll have real good protection.  Sentries will fight dragons too. :)

 

OK folks, I blew it on the initial upload.  I forgot to upload the seq file, which as I understand it helps run the quests that toggle half the MCM Menu options.  Since we're only adding a seq file to the 1.0b version, it should be an easy install.

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It's a great mod. I was always upset about some folks getting killed after I installed DG.

Now it seems at least there is some protection. :)

 

Use Arthmoor's "Run for Your Life" and "When Vampires Attack" and you'll have real good protection.  Sentries will fight dragons too. :)

 

OK folks, I blew it on the initial upload.  I forgot to upload the seq file, which as I understand it helps run the quests that toggle half the MCM Menu options.  Since we're only adding a seq file to the 1.0b version, it should be an easy install.

 

 

Or 'Random Vampire Attacks In Towns Disabled' (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31088/?). Then the new Dawnguard guards &, (their new best chums), the VoS can sit back and chill 60's style, (

)

 

(I might just remove TVAITD and put this in in it's place - I did like a good vampire attack, but the blood bath of useful NPC's was extremely annoying, but the new extra protection might help - erm...).

 

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Will this work with the Expanded Towns and Cities mod?  I almost always use that mod on any set up.

 

I haven't used that mod before.  Looking at the pictures though, it doesn't look like it changes the walkways and such, only makes the towns bigger and add a second story to some buildings, etc...  So my best guess is that that should work together.   Let me know if not.  This looks like one that could be an easy fix for compatibility if there are issues.

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Roger that, will try your mod while I have the other one installed. 

 

 

 

So far so good, your mod and Expanded Cities and Towns seem to be working fine for now.

 

Awesome!  :)

 

 

 

Just to let everybody know, when I release the next update, I'm going to be changing the name to Dawnguard Sentries Plus.  The original name was Dawnguard Sentries, and after a discussion on the Nexus, it was sort of agreed that name better reflected the main purpose of the mod AND had the added benefit of being easier to find in our load lists.  There's 241 mods with Immersive in the title at the Nexus alone.  The mod list sorting part is probably even more true or needed here, where we're more inclined to play with a huge number of mods.  Adding the "Plus" to the end of it is my way of still letting people know there's more to the mod than just Sentries.

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A little bit of a more detailed update here on version 1.0c

 

First, the name change will be the only one. The esp now matches the Nexus & Steam file page names   More importantly the name reflects what the mod does and will be easier to find ina  load list than if it was buried in 50 immersive whatever mods.

 

As for actual bug fixes, The Rorikstead sentry that wouldn't toggle was deleted and remade from scratch, this time as a Vigilant, in keeping with my theme for villages.

 

Vampires: I had a huge issue with gray face bugs with them. Common issue with vampires apparently (per some google research). My way around that was to convert them to Dhamphirs so I could justify using normal race face textures. They have the same weakness in sunlight without being outright damaged by it as before, same powers too, just no ugly gray faces anymore. I did change one power. They had the Vampire lord energy drain blast before and I switched it to the standard vampire beam effect spell. I also fixed their docile AI. All except the one near the dock have aggro radius behavior and will act like guards dealing with a trespass. The closer you get to the Undercroft entrance, the greater their aggro range and the more likely they are to attack. Vampire characters are considered allies so they don't have to worry here.

 

Those were the only bugs I found in some fairly extensive play testing.  Dealing with them should let me move on to expanding the mod.

 

 

My next project will be an *attempt* at an Open Cities compatible version. No word back from Arthmoor so I'll be attempting this on my own. *crosses fingers*

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I removed "Random Vampire Attacks In Towns Disabled" and installed this. Had first attack in Whiterun at level 10 with a Revenge of the enemies/ASIS setup. The senteries did sterling work. Lots of fireworks from the vamps up until the point they all went down and only one death on the side of the good guys, (whiterun guard). So yeh! good going.

 

ps I didn't have 'When Vampires Attack' installed, so it might of been luck - but they did seem to have been quarintened by the forces arrayed against them at the gate and didn't get a chance to wander into the town proper.

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Awesome, Spoonsinger.  Glad it's working well for you.  There have been a couple of minor bug reports on the Nexus that I'm working on addressing.

 

When Vampires Attack comes in more handy when you and the vampires get higher level.  The town NPCs never do level with you, so it's easier for them to become accidental casualties.

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Interesting mod, but the problem is that named sentries are essentials ... I play a vampire, and my companion is Serana. When I meet named sentries, Serana attack them and as they are un-killable, it's game over.

 

I tried the console : setessential ID 0, but it doesn't work, they stay essential.

 

 

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Interesting mod, but the problem is that named sentries are essentials ... I play a vampire, and my companion is Serana. When I meet named sentries, Serana attack them and as they are un-killable, it's game over.

 

I tried the console : setessential ID 0, but it doesn't work, they stay essential.

 

There's an MCM setting for that, to turn off their essential flag.

 

When you say that Serana attacks them, does she strike the first blow? I mean, is she attacking them or is it the other way around?

I haven't played Dawnguard in a while (not that far, anyway), if they're attacking Serana it's probably because they're set to attack all vampires (excluding the player), and in that case I'd request her to be excluded from their hostility. And, just to be on the safe side, why not exclude everyone in the currentfollower faction (that'll take care of mod-added vampire followers). Just a thought.

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Content Consumer is right.  There's an MCM menu to toggle the Sentries between respawn and essential.  That should fix part of your problem.  If you don't have SKSE and SkyUI installed (which I doubt, every mod here requires them lol), I've seen that cause A.I. problems like the one you described.  Default for that toggle is Respawn only BTW, but it does seem to default to essential if you're not using SkyUI & SKSE.

 

Again, anybody here at this site, i'm giving the benefit of the doubt to already have those installed, BUT maybe one or both of them need to be updated?

 

The Sentries are set to treat a Player Character vampire and any followers as Neutral.  That means they're supposed to leave you and any followers in your current group alone unless you attack them, commit a crime (including biting or draining people), or have a crime bounty high enough that the guards would attack you.

 

I'll experiment around with dragging Serana to different spots so I can bug chase.  Chances are if it's not the SkyUI issue it's a mod conflict however.  We'll just have to figure out which one and if there's a fix.

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I have both SKSE 1.7.2 rel 47 and SKyUI 4.1 installed.

 

I have seen the MCM toggles, but as I translate it, it's only for dawnguard recruits (those wih no names).

 

Anyway they should not be essentials, because if you commit a crime or have a high bounty (which is my case) they become hostile. I suggest to make them high (or very high) level, but non-essentials.

 

Perhaps it's the high bounty which makes them hostile and Serana notices it before my PC and enter attack mode ?

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It sounds like you're dealing with an old version...  From back when it was still on Steam only.  The recruits all have names and unique appearances (but the same gear):

 

411276750.jpg

 

 

The MCM Menu should look like this also:

 

411301258.jpg

 

The top toggle is for the main group of Sentries in all the cities.   The recruits can be disabled but not set to essential because they're supposed to be cannon fodder if a vampire player wants to attack the fort.

 

 

But yes, the high crime bounty is what's doing it and Serana's AI does sometimes act to a threat before the threat even attacks.  That's one of the reasons I hate her as a follower.  One of the most interesting characters in the game in terms of dialogue, but she's almost as bad as Farkas in terms of being kill happy.

 

Since it sounds like it may just be an issue of the crime bounty, your best bet would be to go sell in another city or go to the thieves guild and pay off the bounty.  Or just cheat and use the console to clear the crime bounty, lol.

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A handful of bug fixes this time around (verion 1.0d)

 

.
    1) Alva in Morthal no longer attacked by Sentries

 

    2) Fixed misadjusted idle marker making Sentry outside Warmaiden's float
 

    3) Ajdjusted one idle marker to make the mod completely compatible with JK's Whiterun
 

    4) Minor tweak to the guards at Castle Volkihar
 

    5) Fixed the enchantment on Viconia's unique crossbow so it displays properly.
 

    6) Added a pic to the MCM menu title screen
   

    7) Cleaned the hell out of it with TES5edit

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