Jump to content
  • entries
    352
  • comments
    701
  • views
    50,332

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Troubling Thoughts (Charley's Story, Chapter 58)

"I figured it was just performance anxiety," I told Piper as we walked down the hill away from Ridge, "so I leaned in and helped him. And the thing that upsets me so much is that the person who I was before the war would never have done something like that. I mean, I wouldn't have cajoled him into a sex act he was uncomfortable with either, but especially putting my hands on him when he was so reluctant and uncomfortable."   "Did he tell you to stop?" She asked me.   I shook

gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

Performance Anxiety (Charley's Story, Chapter 57)

After spending the night at Abernathy Farm, Piper and I got ready to make the trip up to Ridge. One final detail Winter showed me, before leaving for her own journey down to Concord, was one of the improvements she'd made to the plumbing on the water tanks. There were enough farmhands at that point that Blake and Connie's bathtub really wasn't enough for everyone, and so she'd installed showerheads on the water tanks when she refitted all the plumbing lines. The shower was cold, but if nothing e

gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

Royal Progress (Charley's Story, Chapter 56)

"Nice day," Piper commented as we stepped outside the following morning. "Where are we going first?"   I chuckled at that, "same plan as yesterday. We'll start with Abernathy Farm, then on to Ridge. We'll visit the quarry on the way back if we have enough daylight. First though, let's check in on Nick and Doctor Cain."   We found the two of them taking a coffee break outside Jake's workshop. I nodded in approval, noting that Cain had obediently left her work smock back inside

gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

Mysterious Stranger (Charley's Story, Chapter 55)

"Found another one!" Piper called out from a side room as I considered the woman in the power suit.    "Can you hear me?" I asked her.   The suited woman nodded, but remained silent.   "OK, I'm going to take you down now. Try and keep still while I untie you."   Once more, she nodded, and I set about getting her off the cross.     She took a moment to recover before standing shakily and shuffling over to a nearby workbench. Looking at

gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

Radio Dispatch (Charley's Story, Chapter 54)

"Urghhh," I groaned as Winter pushed the last thick bulb of the rectal connector past my anus. While I caught my breath, she stepped past me, tossing the vaginal plug onto the bed beside me.   "Give me a second," she said, "I need to get a fresh bottle of lube."   "Fuck that hurt," I said, "did you make that this bigger?"     Winter wiggled her ass at me as she walked away. "Same 65 millimeters as before. Sounds like you haven't had enough things in your

gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

Hostage Exchange (Charley's Story, Chapter 53)

"Alright," I said, "let's go. Jake, you take Piper to the security post and draw vests and helmets. As much as I like your outfit, you need some more protection. Paul, find Preston and tell him we need backup."   "What about you?" he asked.   "I need to get into my power suit. I have it stored in my office downtown. We'll all meet up in front of the plutonium well once we've got our gear."   Jake cocked his head a little, "don't you need help to get into the power s

gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

Cultural Differences (Charley's Story, Chapter 52)

The next morning, we spent a little time at the Drumlin Diner before heading on to Concord. I introduced Piper to the regulars; first Wolfgang and then Trudy. Wolfgang obligingly retold the story of how I defused the fight between him and Trudy, and then liberally embellished it, giving me credit for turning his life around and turning him into a legitimate health care worker. Now, Wolfgang was about as legitimate - at best - as the drug pusher at Chem-i-Care, and I don't think he fooled Piper o

gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

Going Home (Charley's Story, Chapter 51)

Piper and I didn't stick around at Vault 81 for breakfast. Instead, as soon as we dragged ourselves out of bed, we headed for the surface and started making our way back towards Boston. In a vacuum, I would have liked to head back to Concord and brief Preston on the situation with Vault 81, but Nick was waiting for me and hopefully, in my absence, he'd acquired the search warrant we needed to break into Kellogg's house.   Since the route we'd taken from Diamond City to Vault 81 had pro

gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story III

Vault 81 (Charley's Story, Chapter 50)

After a nice long nap, I started getting ready for the trip to Vault 81. The vault was buried under what was once the campus of Boston College. Of course, the college had been gone for years before the war, but a lot of the excavation work for the vault happened when they tore down the last remnant of the school - the old Alumni Stadium. The original plan had been to turn the whole campus into a state park, but Vault-Tec dollars quickly drowned out the opinions of local conservationists. Apparen

gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story II

Private Eye (Charley's Story, Chapter 49)

"Nick Valentine, I presume?"   The synth grinned lopsidedly at me. "The one and only. But you didn't answer my question. What brought you all the way here - and I assume through Skinny Malone's goons - to find me?"     "Your assistant Ellie, mainly. She's worried about you."   "Christ, kid, I wouldn't be much of a private eye if I couldn't tell when someone was dodging my question. What's the real reason you came looking for me?"   "Stop teasing

gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story II

Park Street (Charley's Story, Chapter 48)

We set off for Park Street Station early the next morning. The rain seemed to have moved on, but Diamond City was wreathed in fog; I considered waiting until the sun burned it off, but after a quick discussion with Piper we decided not to wait. We figured it was better to deal with the poor visibility now than risk getting caught out after dark during our return trip. I waved to Danny Sullivan as we passed out of the park proper and into the service area facing Jersey Street.   "You tw

gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story II

Rainy Afternoon (Charley's Story, Chapter 47)

It was still raining hard outside, and we quickly scrapped the idea of making our plans at Takahashi's lunch counter. Instead, we made our way back to Piper's house where we could get under a more or less solid roof. Nat was out front, hawking papers under the awning, and she waved to us in greeting when we came close.    "Damn, Piper, you look good," she commented. "How come you get a new coat and I don't?"      I think Piper might still have been feeling a lack o

gregaaz

gregaaz in Charley's Story II

One Mod A Day: Using Bodyslide to Install a Clothing Mod

Welcome back, everyone! Yesterday we covered the basic tools for installing a mod, and talked about the layout of the Mod Organizer 2 program. Today, let's dive into a little more detail into the process of making sure a mod fits cleanly into our game.    ...   Haha, "yesterday." So just as I was starting to write this entry, the Nexus went down and stayed down for about an hour. Probably just routine maintenance, but when it was done my free time for writing had also evapora

One Mod A Day: Introduction

Hi folks, hope you all had a good holiday season and New Year. During my time off I've been thinking about my hobby plans for 2023 and how I want to incorporate blogging into it. In the days ahead I'd like to continue with my Fallout 4 story and also do some new Skyrim writing, but in the short run I'll be doing hobby blogging. After talking with a few of my readers, I've realized that the Mod Diary series started out as a somewhat advanced series and only got more esoteric as time went on. The

You're probably noticed my absence...

Hi folks, if you're a regular reader of my blog, you've probably noticed that I haven't been active for the last couple weeks. Part of that is just the normal holiday season workload, but I've also had some challenging family developments recently that have diverted a lot of my hobby time onto filial responsibilities. I'm not going to say that I won't be posting anything - writing is a good outlet for stress relief after all - but I wouldn't expect any regular tempo of content until after the ne

gregaaz

gregaaz in Miscellaneous

Interlude - A Patch On The Nexus

Hi folks, today was originally going to have a short blog post for the 1900 Mods Shakedown project (I had pretty limited time because of work commitments) but I got side tracked answering a question on one of my old blog posts which ended up sending me down a rabbit hole of the good kind. The end result was me publishing a "new" mod on the Nexus. I use quotes on 'new' because this is a cleaned up version of some of the work I did for the mod diary back in June.   Still, if you like tre

gregaaz

gregaaz in Miscellaneous


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. For more information, see our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use