Jump to content
  • entries
    368
  • comments
    756
  • views
    74838

About this blog

Greetings everyone! This page contains my various Bethesda blogs. At the time of this update, it contains my troubleshooting playthrough series, my Skyrim modding diary, my mod cleanup case study series, and my Shout Like a Virgin beta test blog. You can access all the entries from the sidebar on the right side of your screen.

 

Playthroughs

I've recently exceeded the 1000 mod threshold, and it's time to start periodically doing brief playthroughs to ferret out hidden conflicts and other bugs. In this series, we'll do shorter, more focused adventures where we try to tell an interesting story and also talk about what problems we ran into them and how we addressed them.

 

  • Charley's Story: Charlotte Ellison survived a nuclear war by spending more than two hundred years in stasis. Now she has to survive in a very new world, facing very new threats. A Fallout 4 playthrough.
  • The Spider's Web: Kirstia's search for answers has taken her to the island of Solstheim. Now she must uncover the secret of The Teacher - also known as Mephala - and continue the journey to master her powerful magical heritage. But can she survive as her enemies, new and old, close in? 
  • The Curious Case of Forrien Hlaalu: A year after she returned to Northpoint, Kirstia is back in Skyrim and looking for answers. The strange events that occured during her search for Sybil Fjotra continue to trouble her, as does the ongoing influence of the strange gods of the Forsworn. After a chance encounter over drinks, a wizard from the College of Winterhold sets her on the trail of a scholar who may have the answers she needs...
  • The Search for the Sybil: Exiled from Skyrim to the remote land of Northpoint, Kirstia Bjissen has fallen on hard times. Just as she hits rock bottom, a voice speaks to her and charges her with a sacred quest that will take her back to her native land - and likely into danger. Can Kirstia find the new Sybil of Dibella before her past catches up with her?
  • Shout Like a Virgin: Miraculously saved from death, Monilee of High Rock finds herself in Skyrim, a land riven by civil war and harboring dark secrets. While she tries to build a new life in this foreign land, she's haunted by half-remembered dreams, and in chasing them she discovers her role in the turning of the ages. However, Monilee has not gone unnoticed by powers outside the mortal realm. Used as a pawn in the struggle between Nocturnal and Dibella, it will take all her wits, endurance, bravery, and stubbornness to reclaim sovereignty over her body and her soul.

 

Modding Diary

This series tracks my modding projects in-between playthroughs and case studies. The main focus will be on the technical processes of cleaning, editing, and integrating mods into a large load order configuration, including managing emergent multi-mod interactions. 

 

Modding Case Studies

This blog reviews the tools and techniques that authors and end users can apply to make their mods as stable and compatible as possible, as well as how end users can integrate complicated mods into a large load order setup. In addition to coverage of well known techniques such as automatic mod cleaning, this blog delves into more complicated issues such as navmesh repair. 

 

Entries in this blog

Charley's Story IV

The Young Elder (Charley's Story, Chapter 79)

"I'm sorry, Ms. Ellsion. I didn't recognize you outside your armor. Have you been monitoring frequency AF95? We've been trying to contact you."   It seemed that things had gotten a bit better for Haylen since I last saw her. Back at the Cambridge Police Station, after we'd fought off that ghoul attack, she'd looked tired and haggard. Now? Well, she still looked a little worn down and she obviously needed a shower, but there was more light in her eyes and she was walking with more confi
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story IV

4
Charley's Story IV

Medical Tourism (Charley's Story, Chapter 78)

I wasn't sure what to make of Heather Casdin at first. She had a pleasant, even bubbly personality, but beneath the surface I could sense some tension. It was like she was putting on a practiced, public face and hiding what she really felt. Regardless of what she was hiding though, she hadn't been lying about knowing her way around the Commonwealth. Casdin guided us around a few different hot spots and we made good progress towards the Mystic River.      We did stop at one p
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story IV

3
Charley's Story IV

Native Guide (Charley's Story, Chapter 77)

I needed a nap after my therapy session with Doctor Cain, but I only rested for maybe an hour before rousing for a snack and to continue the conversation about my health.   "How did you feel after talking about your experience with the cabinet?" Cain asked.    "Honestly? Too early to say. But in any event it's probably healthy to talk about my feelings."   "That's true," she agreed, "and since I'll be traveling with you I'd like to continue having these talks regula
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story IV

1
Charley's Story IV

Cabinet Meeting (Charley's Story, Chapter 76)

I woke up the morning of June 10th, 2288, and I felt empty. Almost eight months had passed since I emerged from the vault, and Shaun felt further away than ever. And in the meantime, what had I accomplished? In theory, I'd become the ruler of a 20 mile strip running from Concord to Natick; a respectable little fiefdom by medieval standards. But I didn't want to lead a fiefdom. I wanted to rebuild what we'd lost, and make it better. And I wasn't sure how much progress I'd made on that account. 
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story IV

1
Miscellaneous

Charley's Story Book 4 Preview Pictures (Updated March 9th)

Hi folks, I'm going to try and consolidate all the previews and spoilers for book 4 as I prep for it into a single thread, and just manage the publication date to manage visibility. Hopefully this will avoid proliferating too many blog posts and make it easy to look over everything as it becomes develops.   March 9th - The Custom Magazines Are A Fun Diversion   March 7th - Red's Rangers & Minutemen Leveled Lists (Phase 1)   March 6th - Museum of Freedom Prog
gregaaz

gregaaz in Miscellaneous

6
Charley's Story III

Past Lives (Charley's Story, Chapter 75)

I arrived back at Abernathy Farm just before dusk on May 30th, and quickly found my self being hugged on both sides by Winter and Piper.    "Welcome back," said Piper.   "I'm glad you're safe," said Winter.   I returned the embrace, though the nature of my position ended up with Piper being on most of the receiving end. "I missed you both," I said.     They hustled me into the homestead and didn't waste any time getting me out of my suit - and n
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

5
Charley's Story III

The Confrontation (Charley's Story, Chapter 74)

It was just my three companions that penetrated into the headquarters building. While the Minutemen had been invaluable in seizing the base, too many people in the tight confines of the central building would just invite heavier casualties. With the boosted strength and resilience of the powersuit, along with Nick and Curies' natural toughness (owing to their metal bodies), I decided that we were the closest thing there to a breach team anyway.   I thought it was inconceivable that Kel
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

4
Charley's Story III

Operation Anthony (Charley's Story, Chapter 73)

"I'd hate to see you put yourself in danger for us, Cosmos, but if you really think it could help... I'm willing to give it a chance."   I had deep misgivings about Cosmos' idea that we could parlay with the mercenaries. At the same time, a lot of lives were on the line, and if there was any chance of settling things without a fight, I had to give it a try. And so, I stood by while Starchild - one of his followers - walked a brahmin loaded with purified water up to the base, promising
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

3
Miscellaneous

Building the Fort Hagen mercenary camp for Charley's Story

If you've been following Charley's Story, then you know that Book 3 is building up to an assault on Fort Hagen by the Minutemen to take out Kellogg's mercenaries. In the vanilla game, Kellogg doesn't have this entourage, and so we'll need to build the mercenary camp ourselves and then turn it hostile using Hostile Workshops. Let's take a look at what we have in terms of terrain.   Here's the north part of the base:      I've already done a little bit of ground work
gregaaz

gregaaz in Miscellaneous

0
Charley's Story

Once Upon a Time... (Charley's Story, Chapter 1)

Once upon a time, there was a place called America. It was a bastion of freedom in a world that was slowly sliding into tyranny, a testament to the idea that a man or a woman could make their own decisions and steer the ship of their own life. But I never really lived there, not that America. When I was one year old, the first lockdown happened. I don't really remember it, but I remember the second wave. I was ten years old. It was strange seeing my parents, my friends' parents, my teachers, all
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story

6
Charley's Story III

Diplomatic Opportunity (Charley's Story, Chapter 72)

While Red's rangers started the process of cleaning out and fortifying the motel - and more importantly, building a checkpoint on Speen Street to control any northbound traffic coming out of town - Red followed me into Natick. Nick and Curie followed as well, albeit at a little bit of distance. There was an uncomfortable quiet about, and I wondered if this meant the locals were hiding from me, or if it meant they were getting ready for an ambush.     Ultimately, finding some
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

1
Charley's Story III

Swift Strike (Charley's Story, Chapter 71)

"For fuck's sake, Charley, it's me, Red. Don't you recognize me?"   There's no way she grew all that hair on her own since the last time we crossed paths. So yes, in fact I had not recognized her. And I had so many questions about what I was seeing.    "Sorry, Red," I said, "I didn't. It's the hair, I think. I like the color coordination though - carpet, drapes, and upholstery."   She scowled a little more. "Now you're just trying to embarrass me. But yeah, it's a w
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

5
Charley's Story III

Experimental Vault (Charley's Story, Chapter 70)

"Tell me, Overseer," I asked, "what does the name 'Brotherhood of Steel' mean to you?"   Gwen MacNamara seemed to chew on that question for a while before answering. "Probably not as much as it should. We briefly had contact with them seven years ago, but since then it's all been rumors and second-hand reports. They're based in C.C.," she explained, referring to Columbia Commonwealth, "but they started out further west. They'd have you believe that they're a military order dedicated to
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

2
Miscellaneous

The Road to Chapter 70 - Building up the background of the Eastern Commonwealth

Hi folks, as I mentioned in the comments for Chapter 69, today is going to be an in-service day where my gaming time gets used to work on some aspects of the Fallout campaign that are happening off camera: notably, building up several sites on the Vault 81 side of the Charles River so they not only look right in the story but also behave properly in terms of game mechanics.    Before we head down that way, let's take a quick look at our current settlements and how they're doing. I'll f
gregaaz

gregaaz in Miscellaneous

3
Monywyr's Adventure

Red Alert (Charley's Story, Chapter 69)

Before I tell you what happened next, I should mention a little detail that I learned when I visited Red Tourette's bunker. Remember the church near Sunshine Tidings where Luna had been cleaning up? Concealed under all the rubble was a trap door connecting to a long tunnel - and that tunnel led to the basement of the Federal Ration Stockpile. Consequently, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that the three of us - Piper, Noelle, and me - were woken up in the middle of of the night when o
gregaaz

gregaaz in Monywyr's Adventure

4
Charley's Story III

Doctor's Orders (Charley's Story, Chapter 68)

Back at Sunshine Tidings, I was struggling a little with the whole Red Tourette situation. The woman had a bizarre, childlike naivete that I caught myself allowing to color my interpretation of her actions. On the other hand, she also had a childlike viciousness to her, like a kid who pulls the wings off of flies and has trouble understanding why it's bad. Talking to some of the members of her gang while I helped them dig new wells, I learned that the reason for the gruesome execution of the mut
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

3
Charley's Story III

Tourette Syndrome (Charley's Story, Chapter 67)

"Charley," Jake's crackling voice said through my Pip-Boy speaker, "you will not believe what we found!"   "Susie and I just go back from Boston," he continued, "and no, don't worry, we changed our of our vault suits. This was a completely unofficial tourist visit. But anyway, my friend The Ron..."   Nick groaned, "why am I not surprised he's involved?"   "...found me a lead on another comm hub. Get this, it was in the basement of Vault-Tec HQ, of all places. Now, I
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

3
Charley's Story III

Difficult Inheritance (Charley's Story, Chapter 66)

It rained overnight, but by morning the precipitation had tapered off, leaving behind a wall of fog that started right at the tree line. I took a walk around the camp, examining the buildings and also checking out the trail that Dirk had mentioned the day before. It was overgrown and pretty easy to miss, so I had to give Dirk some credit on that score. One branch looped back to the east and eventually ended at the shore of the reservoir, while other branches went west and north, the latter being
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

4
Charley's Story III

Camping Trip (Charley's Story, Chapter 65)

I realize that I've been glossing over a lot of my travel time, so let me anchor you on the calendar. Operation Anthony started the morning of May 8th, 2288. Why Anthony? Before the war, the name Kellogg was most associated with a food company - Kellogg's. And one of that company's marketing mascots was a cartoon animal named Tony the Tiger. I couldn't resist being a little referential in the name, but I thought it was sufficiently obscure two hundred years after the war.    That morni
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

0
Charley's Story III

War Council (Charley's Story, Chapter 64)

When I got back to Concord, Preston, Connie Abernathy, Stef Ainsleigh, and Trudy had already gathered there to discuss my plans. I could tell that some of them weren't very enthusiastic about starting a war with Kellogg's mercenary outfit, and I'd have to do some convincing to get this plan rolling. Before that part of 'the talk' started, however, they took some time to fill me in on developments during my absence.   The hacked ASAM units had worked well, and all of our settlements had
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

3
Charley's Story III

Dog Walk (Charley's Story, Chapter 63)

Almost as soon as we crossed the Boston city limits, it became clear that things hadn't changed for the better. Hearing gunfire, I unslung my shotgun and moved forward, carefully, to investigate. What I found was a fight between raiders and robots, with a caravan caught in the middle. Piper and I tried to take some of the pressure off the caravan, and we succeeded in pushing the raiders back into a cluster of houses. That, in turn, gave the caravan the breathing room they needed to urge on their
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

5
Charley's Story III

Fugue State (Charley's Story, Chapter 62)

As Piper tells it, I kept my cool as I left the greenhouse, but as I stalked towards the boundaries of Graygarden I got tenser and tenser in the shoulders, until I was practically hunched over. Around the time I crossed the rail tracks, I'd stared muttering to myself, and once the farm fell out of view being the rise of a hill, I stopped, balled my fists, and screamed at the top of my lungs.     "I AM NOT VALERY GRAY!" and variations on that theme formed the core of an exten
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

3
Charley's Story III

Gray's Garden (Charley's Story, Chapter 61)

Mama Murphy was taking care of Dogmeat up at Sanctuary, but before we could go collect him I needed to take care of a few administrative matters at home. I had a stroke of luck in learning that both Winter and Trashcan Carla were in town that morning, so I gave each of them a few ASAM sensors to bring to the Diner and the Farm. Jake had loaded them up with the hacked firmware, and they would allow those settlements to run up some additional defenses under the supervision of the ASAM sensor.
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

6
Charley's Story III

Hidden Depths (Charley's Story, Chapter 60)

We set off first thing in the morning, aiming to get to Concord with plenty of time left in the day. I wasn't sure what Jake had meant when he referred to a well, but I had a hunch it involved the municipal plutonium well. I could imagine a lot of dangerous scenarios involving that facility, and I didn't want to drag my heels about getting to the site, especially if it was something important enough for Jake to try and contact me on the radio.     Most of the run up the road
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

0
Charley's Story III

Inspection Tour (Charley's Story, Chapter 59)

The next morning was had clear skies and bright sun - perfect for inspecting the base. However, both of us had gotten dirty from the road, and I asked Dean what the options were for washing up. She tossed her head towards the little pond that housed the base's crab farm enclosure and then reached up to the top of her desk to retrieve a bar of soap.    "It's not much, but the water's clean and as long as you stay outside the fenced in part there's no critters in the pond."   I
gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

0
×
×
  • Create New...