Content Consumer's Alternate Starts

[Content Consumer]

 

I might remember wrong, but placing you and animals I think is what it did.  Not sure now if you could be placed at it, or just had to find the object, similar to finding the altar for the Molag Bal vampire/succubus option.

 

I have used COC to enter both the beastess lairs and the HHoS locations, though I'm not sure what options there are for spawning in animals. Bedrolls might work, though a LOT of the HHoS locations are fairly small and would be quite cramped with 2-3 wolves.

 

Yep, Divines Guide You places the animals at the altar, and then depends on the player to add them to the pack manually.

 

Re using center-on-cell: You can COC to all cells in the game, whether they have a "COC marker" or not. This is how you'd COC to most exterior or wilderness cells, for example. IIRC It'll just put you in the exact center of the cell you're moving to. A "COC marker" is a specific thing a developer places in a cell so that when you COC to it that cell, you end up in that exact spot instead of in the dead center. It can be anywhere in a cell - in the middle, on the edge, way up in midair. I put COC markers in all of my cells because it makes testing and debugging a lot easier, but I don't know if many others do that.

[karlpaws]

 

 

I might remember wrong, but placing you and animals I think is what it did.  Not sure now if you could be placed at it, or just had to find the object, similar to finding the altar for the Molag Bal vampire/succubus option.

 

I have used COC to enter both the beastess lairs and the HHoS locations, though I'm not sure what options there are for spawning in animals. Bedrolls might work, though a LOT of the HHoS locations are fairly small and would be quite cramped with 2-3 wolves.

 

Yep, Divines Guide You places the animals at the altar, and then depends on the player to add them to the pack manually.

 

Re using center-on-cell: You can COC to all cells in the game, whether they have a "COC marker" or not. This is how you'd COC to most exterior or wilderness cells, for example. IIRC It'll just put you in the exact center of the cell you're moving to. A "COC marker" is a specific thing a developer places in a cell so that when you COC to it that cell, you end up in that exact spot instead of in the dead center. It can be anywhere in a cell - in the middle, on the edge, way up in midair. I put COC markers in all of my cells because it makes testing and debugging a lot easier, but I don't know if many others do that.

 

 

is "same place you enter the cell when using the door" considered the coc marker in any cases? Cause that's where I end up both in the Lairs and Hidden Hideouts

 

[karlpaws]

 

 

I am just wondering. Is it possible to make a start for a wild beastest that supports the mod Untamed or something? Like a women that have rejected society and rather wants to create a pack of animals and live with them instead of in cities and normal homes? I can't find any kind of alt start that suit this kind of roleplay. I have no idea how to create myself so that is why I am wondering.

 

Technically, it would be possible... but it would be hacky and prone to potential problems to do it from the start. Your best bet is to just use the creature start and then manually add the creature to your pack with Untamed instead.

 

Wait which creature start? You mean enslaved by a creature or something completely separate?

Edit: However I do think just a plain "Fuck you society. I will live in this cave (maybe one of the Beastess Lairs caves, as those are honestly the best immersive homes I have been able to find) naked now" is enough to be honest. I haven't seen any kind of start like this.

 

 

Hopefully our other slightly tangential discussion has given you some ideas, but just in case you haven't found the New Beginings LAL addon mod, check that as well. While not strictly animal based, there are a couple that deal with living like a hermit or out of lawful society. Couple alchemist starts, the dragon attack from the base LAL could also work (leaving they city to live on the mountain, and then taking up a nomadic existance after the house is burned down. Usually a wolfpack farther up the mountain toward Helgen when I'm there). NB adds a witch/warlock start that puts female PCs in Snapleg cave (hagraven cave) and your journal says you are bored, never get to go outside, and decide to leave.  Just need to exit the cave and you're done.  Bonus is a troll and several spiders to start a pack with, if you wanted.

 

[Content Consumer]

is "same place you enter the cell when using the door" considered the coc marker in any cases? Cause that's where I end up both in the Lairs and Hidden Hideouts

 

Not necessarily, but it's possible to use the same basic position. I've seen many vanilla cells that have the COC marker right inside the door. Very slightly offset from the actual door entry marker usually (in the vanilla game). To test, enter the door normally and then COC to the same cell - I'd be willing to bet your position moves slightly.

 

However, with modified or mod-added cells, who knows?

 

 

EDIT: Just checked Beastess Lairs, and that's what it appears to do. For example, this is what the snow cave (beastess cave 2) entrance looks like in the CK:

 

 

The yellow box is the door marker, which is where you end up when you use the door normally. The blue box is the COC marker, pretty much occupying the same space.

[vorongren]

Hi, just a question: I don't remember if you wrote it around, but if you start as a captive of thief and you have wolfclub installed, you'll start in the same location... So I've killed everyone only to discover this later...XD

[bicobus]

So... How big is your changelog now? Have you worked on any additional scenarios while waiting for that mod to get an update?

[Content Consumer]

Hi, just a question: I don't remember if you wrote it around, but if you start as a captive of thief and you have wolfclub installed, you'll start in the same location... So I've killed everyone only to discover this later...XD

I don't remember integrating with Wolf Club or having anything to do with Cragslane caverns, and there is no "Captive of a thief" scenario in CCAS. Are you thinking of a different mod?

 

So... How big is your changelog now? Have you worked on any additional scenarios while waiting for that mod to get an update?

I haven't actually done anything on it recently (well, not much anyway). I have been working on making the Bandit Honeypot scenario into a completely separate mod though, just having a bit of trouble coming up with repeatable quests for it.

Here's the current changelog, basically unchanged from the last one with only one or two things added/fixed:

• Reorganized the mara statue dialogue menus. Hopefully this is a little better...
• Added a "back to previous menu" option in all submenus
• Moved the Red Wave dialogue option under the Prostitute submenu.
• Added Family Ties scenarios (currently Altmer, Breton, Imperial, Nord, and generic Orphan)
• Enabled the Trapped In Rubber scenario
• Removed SD+ requirement for Alicia and Dibellan Sisterhood.
• Added a "must be Nord race" requirement to the Ancient Nord Queen scenario (must be female, nord, and have sexlab stories installed).
• Changed the Spriggan Wood Bow in the Witch of the Wilds scenario, and added another one.
• Set Anise's Cabin Cellar ownership to NONE.
• Changed some furniture and placement of items in the Witch of the Wilds starting cell.
• Added some Hello lines to Anise if you use the Witch of the Wilds start
• Fixed a bug where the quest would not complete properly in the Soulgem Incubator scenario.
• Moved the "wrong way" trigger box in the Soulgem Incubator scenario closer to the starting area.
• Prevented Necromancers and some undead from being permanently friendly if taking the "bad" ending route in Soulgem Incubator.
• Added patrol markers to the Dark Counselor so he wouldn't get too busy playing with alchemy to stop the player in the Soulgem Incubator scenario
• Updated Egg Factory scenario for version 1.7
• Fixed bad faction properties in the Egg Factory scenario
• Fixed bad faction properties in the Beeing Female scenario, as well as a problem with the player/pregnancy faction.
• Updated Parasites volume 1 with new parasite
• Fixed yet another problem with Gaev not speaking to the player in the Expectant Mother scenario.
• Fixed a typo in Gaev's dialogue.
• Added patrol markers to the Whiterun guard in the XPO scenario so he doesn't just sit in one place all day doing nothing. Users might not ever notice this unless they specifically use that scenario and even then only after getting out of prison.
• Moved starting location for Prison Overhaul closer to Whiterun
• Added a small item to the Inn Prostitute scenarios
• Fixed a typo in one of the Inn Prostitute scenarios
• Moved starting location for the Alicia scenario out of the prison (currently uses a forsworn camp).
• Changed SD+ parasite events to Kyne's Blessing events
• Added Kyne's Blessing parasites events (optional as always) to some scenarios where appropriate
• Fixed the Skooma Whore cleanup script from triggering a debug trace whenever you'd enter the area around the worker's house in Mixwater Mill regardless of whether or not you're using that scenario.
• Fixed a partially broken script in the Aspiring Mage scenario when talking to Urulaaska-Shun.
• Messed with the lighting in the creature start cell. Should be a bit better now, I hope.
• Fixed the Forsworn scenario actor forcegreeting the player during the game if you didn't select that scenario to start.
• Cleaned up .esp of unused items, spells, packages, globals, NPCs, etc. Players hopefully won't notice any difference, but it makes me happier.
• Deleted some unused meshes from the archive. Players hopefully won't notice any difference, but the archive should be a tad smaller now.
• Fixed numerous USLEEP overwrites... except the damnable Moldering Ruins issues. End users probably won't really notice anything, but take pleasure in the knowledge that CCAS is now (mostly) USLEEP-compatible.
• Renamed a lot of the topic information form scripts. Players won't notice any difference, but my sanity does.
• Changed how sexlab stats are seeded. Now 33% more better goodness!
• Added Apropos wear and tear seeding to all scenarios, if your apropos settings allow for W&T and after effects textures.

[karlpaws]

 

So... How big is your changelog now? Have you worked on any additional scenarios while waiting for that mod to get an update?

I haven't actually done anything on it recently (well, not much anyway). I have been working on making the Bandit Honeypot scenario into a completely separate mod though, just having a bit of trouble coming up with repeatable quests for it.

 

I did have a thought as I was playing with the LAL "I am an outlaw in the wilds" starts when it dropped me in Lost Knife and Broken Oar Grotto that being large caves with a named boss there might be enough slavey kinds of things to do there.  Fetch food, cook, serve, "relieve stress" etc.

 

I decided to go with the Broken Oar option to see what might happen with the Lights Out quest. LAL takes you out of the friendly status when you get close to the door and it looked like none of the bandits in the cave were in any "make friendly" faction, so I guessed they were friendly by virtue (hah, virtue) of just not being enemies. 

 

My internal story was that my PC was either a star crossed ditz with a crush on a bad boy or spell-geased to the Captain. He was worried enough about Jaree-ra being gone for so long to Solitude he sent one of crew and my PC to see what was going on. Supposedly it was an R&R (at least for the crewman) trip and she was along for the R but really to keep an eye on him and make sure he wasn't part of a coup Jaree was setting up. 

 

I think Lost Knife is used by one of the Devious mods as a place the PC is sent if you're caught by certain NPCs with DD gear on. You end up having to do cooking tasks and such, but that is a means of escape as you can find poisons and make everyone sick with doctored stew.

 

Did we discuss Mistwatch Keep as well for something like this?

[Content Consumer]

 

 

So... How big is your changelog now? Have you worked on any additional scenarios while waiting for that mod to get an update?

I haven't actually done anything on it recently (well, not much anyway). I have been working on making the Bandit Honeypot scenario into a completely separate mod though, just having a bit of trouble coming up with repeatable quests for it.

 

I did have a thought as I was playing with the LAL "I am an outlaw in the wilds" starts when it dropped me in Lost Knife and Broken Oar Grotto that being large caves with a named boss there might be enough slavey kinds of things to do there.  Fetch food, cook, serve, "relieve stress" etc.

 

I decided to go with the Broken Oar option to see what might happen with the Lights Out quest. LAL takes you out of the friendly status when you get close to the door and it looked like none of the bandits in the cave were in any "make friendly" faction, so I guessed they were friendly by virtue (hah, virtue) of just not being enemies. 

 

My internal story was that my PC was either a star crossed ditz with a crush on a bad boy or spell-geased to the Captain. He was worried enough about Jaree-ra being gone for so long to Solitude he sent one of crew and my PC to see what was going on. Supposedly it was an R&R (at least for the crewman) trip and she was along for the R but really to keep an eye on him and make sure he wasn't part of a coup Jaree was setting up. 

 

I think Lost Knife is used by one of the Devious mods as a place the PC is sent if you're caught by certain NPCs with DD gear on. You end up having to do cooking tasks and such, but that is a means of escape as you can find poisons and make everyone sick with doctored stew.

 

Did we discuss Mistwatch Keep as well for something like this?

 

Actually, I'm making a separate place for this, northeast of Ivarstead, grid cell 21, -13, the closest cell you can coc to is poifallforest11.

 

Exterior:

Interior: 

 

The scenario will be pretty much like it is now for CCAS, with the exception of Gerast - I'm not sure if I'll end up including a must-have-sex-to-leave thing or not. Since it's a separate mod, there will be multiple ways of joining these bandits, and CCAS will treat it just like any other mod. It will be primarily set up for people joining bandits, not being sold as slaves, but I'll include that possibility too.

 

The problem I'm having with coming up with repeatable - or at least several unique - quests is that... what the hell do bandits do all day? These ones, like most, just sit around and wait for people to walk past they can rob. So either I use the radiant system to periodically put merchants, mercenaries, adventurers, etc. walking along the road(s), or I make a whole crap-ton load of NPCs and go through them one at a time.

 

I'm not really happy about using the radiant system. It looks to be difficult, and prone to bugs. On the other hand, I don't want to create literally hundreds of unique NPCs for the player to interact with - tedious to do, and eventually you'll run out.

 

I might split the difference and just make a dozen NPCs, widely spaced in time and triggers, and hope the player doesn't notice that they already robbed this poor sap last week. 

 

There will be other, non-repeatable quests too, of course. It's not all about robbing folks, just mostly. 

[bicobus]

Why, bandits do bantitry of course! Robbing the poors, killing the rich (then robbing their corpses), getting killed by the dragonborn, etc, etc. Sometimes, they even try to raid one giant camp, then run away because it's a terrible idea. If all that energy was spent farming the land instead, we wouldn't have a civil war on our hands!

[karlpaws]

 

The scenario will be pretty much like it is now for CCAS, with the exception of Gerast - I'm not sure if I'll end up including a must-have-sex-to-leave thing or not. Since it's a separate mod, there will be multiple ways of joining these bandits, and CCAS will treat it just like any other mod. It will be primarily set up for people joining bandits, not being sold as slaves, but I'll include that possibility too.

 

The problem I'm having with coming up with repeatable - or at least several unique - quests is that... what the hell do bandits do all day? These ones, like most, just sit around and wait for people to walk past they can rob. So either I use the radiant system to periodically put merchants, mercenaries, adventurers, etc. walking along the road(s), or I make a whole crap-ton load of NPCs and go through them one at a time.

 

I'm not really happy about using the radiant system. It looks to be difficult, and prone to bugs. On the other hand, I don't want to create literally hundreds of unique NPCs for the player to interact with - tedious to do, and eventually you'll run out.

 

I might split the difference and just make a dozen NPCs, widely spaced in time and triggers, and hope the player doesn't notice that they already robbed this poor sap last week. 

 

There will be other, non-repeatable quests too, of course. It's not all about robbing folks, just mostly. 

 

 

Ever since I found a few spell books for "Conjure Imperal Encounter" and "Conjure Dragonborn encounter" and so on through the Add Item Menu mod I've wondered if there was a way to spawn a specific wilderness encounter through script or console. Seems like that would have been useful for testing, and that would work really nice for what you just described (unless that's what you mean by radiant).

 

To the part about killing the poor sap last week, the guy? working on the Prettier Bandits mod mentioned that some of them just respawn the same guy, like Faldrus, even if you kill him. Others do have different looks and can randomly change, and others do not show up a second time if they die, IIRC. I have also planted stolen items in a chest with 2-3 other stolen items during the Thieves Guild radiant quests, and robbed the same pauper's house of 3 expensive golden knicknacks time after time that it just is part of the game.

 

A few suggestions... give the player a knapsack/satchel of loot to take to one of the fence type characters to trade for other goods your group needs, or repairs of one thing or another, or raid a nearby farm or garden for food. Might toss in an alert watchdog that needs to be snuck past or bribed/drugged with some doctored meat. That might get tricky though. Then you've got the "I'm here to deliver a message" kind of quests for nearby farms that don't want their fields pilfered, overly effective guard captains to murder and others to frame for it.  Not sure a solo not-exactly-dragonborn should be able to clear a rival bandit fort, but if the Imperials think you can as proof you're a good candidate, maybe your own group of bandits will not consider the fact that you could wipe them out and just take all of their loot.  Maybe they think you'd get lonely and bored or something.

[Content Consumer]

 

Ever since I found a few spell books for "Conjure Imperal Encounter" and "Conjure Dragonborn encounter" and so on through the Add Item Menu mod I've wondered if there was a way to spawn a specific wilderness encounter through script or console. Seems like that would have been useful for testing, and that would work really nice for what you just described (unless that's what you mean by radiant).

 

To the part about killing the poor sap last week, the guy? working on the Prettier Bandits mod mentioned that some of them just respawn the same guy, like Faldrus, even if you kill him. Others do have different looks and can randomly change, and others do not show up a second time if they die, IIRC. I have also planted stolen items in a chest with 2-3 other stolen items during the Thieves Guild radiant quests, and robbed the same pauper's house of 3 expensive golden knicknacks time after time that it just is part of the game.

 

A few suggestions... give the player a knapsack/satchel of loot to take to one of the fence type characters to trade for other goods your group needs, or repairs of one thing or another, or raid a nearby farm or garden for food. Might toss in an alert watchdog that needs to be snuck past or bribed/drugged with some doctored meat. That might get tricky though. Then you've got the "I'm here to deliver a message" kind of quests for nearby farms that don't want their fields pilfered, overly effective guard captains to murder and others to frame for it.  Not sure a solo not-exactly-dragonborn should be able to clear a rival bandit fort, but if the Imperials think you can as proof you're a good candidate, maybe your own group of bandits will not consider the fact that you could wipe them out and just take all of their loot.  Maybe they think you'd get lonely and bored or something.

 

 

What mod is it that adds those spellbooks? And do they trigger vanilla game encounters or is it something like it summons an enemy?

 

Triggering world encounters through script is certainly possible - it's how the game does it. I'm not sure about the console though. Probably not, unless it's some global that can be set or something. My guess is, no.

 

The respawning familiar faces bit is what I'm not liking. I'm fine with generic names ("Merchant" or "Adventurer" etc) but if you've seen one merchant, you've seen them all. But yeah, I guess you're right - generic repeatables are to be expected. More's the pity.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I've got a list of stuff to do, and most of those are already on it in some form or another.

[Nazzzgul666]

 

I might split the difference and just make a dozen NPCs, widely spaced in time and triggers, and hope the player doesn't notice that they already robbed this poor sap last week. 

 

There will be other, non-repeatable quests too, of course. It's not all about robbing folks, just mostly. 

 

To add another suggestion: The player could be used as a trap for those travelers, either just lying naked and bound around the way (maybe as some kind of punishment for not getting enough gold/"bad" behaviour), or maybe wearing expensive clothes and luring travelers from an area around into an ambush by the bandits. The last version might help with getting work.

[Content Consumer]

 

 

I might split the difference and just make a dozen NPCs, widely spaced in time and triggers, and hope the player doesn't notice that they already robbed this poor sap last week. 

 

There will be other, non-repeatable quests too, of course. It's not all about robbing folks, just mostly. 

 

To add another suggestion: The player could be used as a trap for those travelers, either just lying naked and bound around the way (maybe as some kind of punishment for not getting enough gold/"bad" behaviour), or maybe wearing expensive clothes and luring travelers from an area around into an ambush by the bandits. The last version might help with getting work.

 

 

Well, yeah, that's the whole point behind the bandit honeypot. The current CCAS scenario doesn't have anything like that, because like most of the ones I made it's very bare-bones, but the original concept called for basically just what you said. The journal entry backs this up.

 

Whether robbing someone consists of lying nude in the middle of the road and encouraging an ambush, or swarming out with a group and murdering everyone, or "escorting" someone to their destination and pickpocketing them along the way, or whatever other thing - it all depends on people walking down the road to where you are. The Thieves Guild sends its members out to steal stuff, while the bandits basically just stand there, a spider waiting for a fly. There's some crossover, to be sure, but that's generally how it works.

 

So my problem is how to make those people walking down the road different enough to appeal, but not so unique I get burned out trying to make hundreds of them. karlpaws suggested that that's what Skyrim basically is, though, and good or bad, he's right. So I'm just going to make ten or twelve "honeypot" bits and maybe half a dozen other kinds and call it good.

 

I'm not intending this separate modlet to be any huge overarching thing. The only reason I'm splitting it off from CCAS at all is because the current scenario is prone to problems and conflicts.

[karlpaws]

 

So my problem is how to make those people walking down the road different enough to appeal, but not so unique I get burned out trying to make hundreds of them. karlpaws suggested that that's what Skyrim basically is, though, and good or bad, he's right. So I'm just going to make ten or twelve "honeypot" bits and maybe half a dozen other kinds and call it good.

 

I'm not intending this separate modlet to be any huge overarching thing. The only reason I'm splitting it off from CCAS at all is because the current scenario is prone to problems and conflicts.

 

 

Maybe save yourself the visual work and check with the PB author.

 

http://www.loverslab.com/topic/61801-prettier-bandits/

 

Repeatable content is somewhat unusual in a single player game, but that is what gives it a sandbox nature. Usually you play through the game, sometimes play through a second time with a different type of character, but not spend days or weeks repeating the same thing. Usually that behavior is reserved for MMO type games, and killing the same thing week after week is sold as a benefit.

 

--

 

I will have to double check what exactly lets me summon the encounters but they are random. It can be fun to summon 2-3 at the same time and watch them all general brawl (imperials and thalmor against stormcloaks and bandits and animals and necromancers or conjurers).

 

What I'd really wonder though is whether the game can call individual encounters via script or just if you enter the right area and it says "Ok, plop a random encounter here, from this list".

 

[EDIT]

 

The spell books are from Extra Encounters Reborn, apparently. I like using the High chance spawn version so I have a really good chance of running across events out in the wild.

 

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/58613/?

[Content Consumer]

 

Maybe save yourself the visual work and check with the PB author.

 

--

 

What I'd really wonder though is whether the game can call individual encounters via script or just if you enter the right area and it says "Ok, plop a random encounter here, from this list".

 

 

Maybe... but I'd rather not add any dependencies. Duplicating existing characters and tweaking them has worked well enough so far.

--

Ah, I see. Another good question - I think the vanilla game searches for a valid encounter whenever you enter the cell... but I'm not sure if it's based on cell border or if it's a trigger box though, because I see a lot of trigger boxes linked to various kinds of markers in the world.

 

EDIT: A bit of testing with the "tb" console command and the "bshowmarkers" INI setting, it appears that it's tied to crossing cell borders.

Whether they can be called by script or not I don't know though - I haven't tried Extra Encounters Reborn, and I don't know if it somehow triggers a world encounter, or if it just spawns actors nearby.

If it triggers a world encounter via spell, then it's definitely possible to do it with any other script. If it just spawns actors near the player and calls it a world encounter, then probably not.

[karlpaws]

 

 

Maybe save yourself the visual work and check with the PB author.

 

--

 

What I'd really wonder though is whether the game can call individual encounters via script or just if you enter the right area and it says "Ok, plop a random encounter here, from this list".

 

 

Maybe... but I'd rather not add any dependencies. Duplicating existing characters and tweaking them has worked well enough so far.

--

Ah, I see. Another good question - I think the vanilla game searches for a valid encounter whenever you enter the cell... but I'm not sure if it's based on cell border or if it's a trigger box though, because I see a lot of trigger boxes linked to various kinds of markers in the world.

 

EDIT: A bit of testing with the "tb" console command and the "bshowmarkers" INI setting, it appears that it's tied to crossing cell borders.

Whether they can be called by script or not I don't know though - I haven't tried Extra Encounters Reborn, and I don't know if it somehow triggers a world encounter, or if it just spawns actors nearby.

If it triggers a world encounter via spell, then it's definitely possible to do it with any other script. If it just spawns actors near the player and calls it a world encounter, then probably not.

 

 

While I can't answer your second question now... and might not even be equipped to find the answer later, I thought that you could possibly use some of the looks from the PB mod for your merchants and passing nobles (could just use the face files from bandits or thalmor or whatnot, only the race of the face is important, the names are just in hex... change the hex to whatever Merchant uses, and poof). There's a better, more complicated method he mentions about 2 pages back I think on that thread on how to import the look and swap the voice files and all that if you want to use a generic bandit look for a named, unique NPC.

 

On the first... on the nexus mod page he lists leveled lists he's edited and mentions a number of them are not used in the base game. Can you place NPCs off a leveled list? He also mentions placing a number of custom spawn points that act like the animal encounters.  Random thought, can you put a trigger box just outside the bandit lair, and enable it when a quest is active so that when the PC exits the lair to "apprehend the approaching merchant" it spawns the merchant a little up the path? Or is that what you're doing right now? (something it seems like game quests do already as I've run into or saw new NPCs spawn in as a quest started).

 

[EDIT]

Later thoughts/questions... will you use a custom faction for the joinable bandits or just use the base banditfaction? Would it make sense/be possible to use the script from the "giant offering" start to mark the player as bandit-friendly while wearing a slavetat tattoo?

[Content Consumer]

 

While I can't answer your second question now... and might not even be equipped to find the answer later, I thought that you could possibly use some of the looks from the PB mod for your merchants and passing nobles (could just use the face files from bandits or thalmor or whatnot, only the race of the face is important, the names are just in hex... change the hex to whatever Merchant uses, and poof). There's a better, more complicated method he mentions about 2 pages back I think on that thread on how to import the look and swap the voice files and all that if you want to use a generic bandit look for a named, unique NPC.

 

On the first... on the nexus mod page he lists leveled lists he's edited and mentions a number of them are not used in the base game. Can you place NPCs off a leveled list? He also mentions placing a number of custom spawn points that act like the animal encounters.  Random thought, can you put a trigger box just outside the bandit lair, and enable it when a quest is active so that when the PC exits the lair to "apprehend the approaching merchant" it spawns the merchant a little up the path? Or is that what you're doing right now? (something it seems like game quests do already as I've run into or saw new NPCs spawn in as a quest started).

 

[EDIT]

Later thoughts/questions... will you use a custom faction for the joinable bandits or just use the base banditfaction? Would it make sense/be possible to use the script from the "giant offering" start to mark the player as bandit-friendly while wearing a slavetat tattoo?

 

 

Sorry for the late reply.

 

I don't think I'll use another mod for anything, just make a couple of new NPCs specifically for this.

 

I didn't know there were vanilla leveled lists that weren't being used, but I'm not particularly surprised... Bethesda, after all. I'd be willing to bet that the skyrim.esm file could be cut down by a bit (probably a very small amount, but still...) if they just got rid of all of the unused stuff. Good for me that they didn't, though - for example, most of the Aspiring Mage scenario is built up of unused test cells.

Anyway, you can indeed spawn NPCs from a leveled list. I hadn't thought about that, but I guess it's not a bad idea, considering that the player isn't always going to be level 1.

Re the trigger box placement - something like that. Either that or just by quest stage, which would help keep things tidy. There are several different ways to do something like this.

 

I'll be using a custom faction. I'm not sure if it's a good or bad idea (thematically) to make it bandit-friendly though, but the tattoo is a good suggestion if I go that route. The Black Blood Marauders mark themselves up like that, so why not other gangs? I'd need to find a good tattoo texture for that.

[karlpaws]

I think I was thinking something else when asking about spawning NPCs from lists, as it seems that's how a dungeon gets filled with different leveled enemies at different times in the game.. but oh well.

 

Bandit-friendly status could also be controlled by quest/stages I guess. While on a quest to talk to another bandit boss you're friendly to them. Might not have a whole lot of gameplay without OBIS or something, but I keep thinking that the few named bosses with stories should be useful some how (if not this mod than in one way or another).  Hajvarr at White River Watch, Fjola at Mistwatch, the guy in the cave with the Pale Blade if he wasn't dying (and the connection between him, Eisa, Kyr and Hajvarr would make an interesting mini quest) the boss gal in Pinewatch, and others I'm forgetting now.

 

There are some other bandits with stories added by the "More Bandit Camps" mod as well. Not much usually you can do with them, and not all of the bandit bosses are actually named (or present) but the books, notes and journals left behind are really nice touches. They are part of the radiant system so if you use any radiant quests to bandit bosses they'll provide a lot of diversity if anyone else is using the mod.

 

Some of the already available Racemenu overlays and slavetats could be gang symbols, the devil, vampire and hand and dragon warpaints especially.

[Kitsudragon]

Frustrating... I can't get the Oblivion start to work. For some reason, it's just not in the CCAS list.

[bicobus]

Maybe if CC would release his update already

 

I don't think the oblivion start has any pre requisite, so it should be there.

[Kitsudragon]

That's what I thought. But while a lot of CCAS starts are there, the Oblivion event is not one of them.

[Content Consumer]

I think I was thinking something else when asking about spawning NPCs from lists, as it seems that's how a dungeon gets filled with different leveled enemies at different times in the game.. but oh well.

 

Bandit-friendly status could also be controlled by quest/stages I guess. While on a quest to talk to another bandit boss you're friendly to them. Might not have a whole lot of gameplay without OBIS or something, but I keep thinking that the few named bosses with stories should be useful some how (if not this mod than in one way or another).  Hajvarr at White River Watch, Fjola at Mistwatch, the guy in the cave with the Pale Blade if he wasn't dying (and the connection between him, Eisa, Kyr and Hajvarr would make an interesting mini quest) the boss gal in Pinewatch, and others I'm forgetting now.

 

There are some other bandits with stories added by the "More Bandit Camps" mod as well. Not much usually you can do with them, and not all of the bandit bosses are actually named (or present) but the books, notes and journals left behind are really nice touches. They are part of the radiant system so if you use any radiant quests to bandit bosses they'll provide a lot of diversity if anyone else is using the mod.

 

Some of the already available Racemenu overlays and slavetats could be gang symbols, the devil, vampire and hand and dragon warpaints especially.

Integration with other parts of the world, even if only flavor, is already on the table. I'm going to try to detect whether certain other quests have been done, items looted, NPCs killed, etc. and alter some dialogue or quests based on this. Not too far away, though - I'm thinking quests or interactions that involve NPCs at Nilheim, Ivarstead, Lost Knife Hideout, Darkwater Crossing (& darkwater pass), the main quest, the Civil War.

Possibly also things farther away like Treva's Watch, Sarethi Farm, Valtheim Towers, Mixwater Mill, Angarvunde, Shor's Stone, and possibly others.

Integration with other mods will include a CCAS modevent, and a Simple Slavery modevent.

This is (so far at least) only requiring Skyrim, no DLC, so no integration with any of that.

Like most of my mods, there's a long list of things to do that'll take me quite a while to get to.

 

Re tattoos: if I'm going that route, I'd rather find (or make) something unique.

 

Frustrating... I can't get the Oblivion start to work. For some reason, it's just not in the CCAS list.

Did you go through all of the Troubleshooting Tips on the download page? Particularly the one talking about EZ2C or Better Dialogue Controls.

 

Maybe if CC would release his update already

 

I don't think the oblivion start has any pre requisite, so it should be there.

I did think about starting a beta thread for CCAS for anyone who's interested at one point.

[Iyeru]

Is the soulgem incubator / azura's star offering start disabled currently? I can't seem to find it in the list of options.

 

Edit: Looks like SGO is actually required now to see it.

 

A shame that the dark Counselor becomes hostile / kills me hen I say "Let's do this" and he says "Let's take a little walk..."

[Content Consumer]

Is the soulgem incubator / azura's star offering start disabled currently? I can't seem to find it in the list of options.

 

Edit: Looks like SGO is actually required now to see it.

 

A shame that the dark Counselor becomes hostile / kills me hen I say "Let's do this" and he says "Let's take a little walk..."

 

He goes hostile there? Damn, I can't keep the different versions straight any more... I think I know why he would become hostile, but I could have sworn that wouldn't take effect until the next version.

 

EDIT: I guess you're right, that's the current one. Yeah, he'll go hostile there, that's an accident on my part because of where I removed the player from the necromancer faction. It should actually be a very quick thing though, like "let's take a walk" -> hostile -> teleport out of the cell all within a second or two. But I well know even a second or two can lead to character death.

 

Anyway, it's fixed in the next version.