My efforts to port the Skyrim Platform to SkyrimVR have been on hold because their lead programmer is busy with real-life stuff. But I believe I've completed 99% of the required work to make it happen, so I'm already writing my mod in TypeScript, assuming it'll run on a Node.js environment.

I don't have much to say this time because I've spent most of the time building the foundation APIs for the project. In fact, I have started two open-source projects that can be used to create TypeScript-based Skyrim mods and those using LLM to drive actors, respectively.

I created them using a GitHub account that I use for non-kink-related works, so I won't post the links here until I find a way to do that without compromising my privacy.

My initial prototype allowed me to chat with an NPC using my voice. At the moment, I'm rewriting it using the frameworks I mentioned, focusing on finding ways to control the flow of the conversation using concepts like "objectives" or "actions". We already have LLM-based mods that allow free conversations. My goal is to create something more structured and controllable so that I can build a quest and events upon it.

Hope I'll be able to talk about something more concrete next time.

Porting the proof-of-concept code I wrote for SkyrimSE using Skyrim Platform back to Papyrus reminded me of how painful it is to code anything serious without a good modern language like TypeScript.

So, I decided to take a shot at porting Skyrim Platform to Skyrim VR myself. It wasn't easy since I'm not a C++ programmer, but I think I managed to get pretty close to achieving the goal.

This means I'll have to spend more time on the base work than on the actual mod, and I also need to port my current codebase to the Skyrim Platform.

However, with the looming arrival of Node.js support for the Skyrim Platform, I no longer have to split my project into client and server parts.

I believe the ability to use TypeScript and Node.js to mod Skyrim will begin a new era for the community, in which we'll see more complex and better-quality mods in future.

So, please bear with me if the project seems to be moving slowly. I'm still working hard to build a foundation that will benefit my mod in the long run.

After migrating to SkyrimVR, I realised it's based on an outdated version of SE that Skyrim Platform doesn't support. As such, I had to abandon the idea and rewrite the client code in Papyrus.

At least the devs of the Skyrim Platform are interested in making it compatible with SkyrimVR, so I'll probably rewrite it again when it happens. But until then, I have no choice but to stick with the old, clunky Papyrus, which was one of the reasons that I lost my motivation during the development of Slaves of Tamriel.

Still, it's by no means all doom and gloom. I was very impressed by the level of immersion SkyrimVR can bring, which helped me maintain my motivation despite the setback.

Currently, I'm testing out a proof-of-concept animation system that allows the player to assume various positions expected of a slave by simply moving their body.

For example, if you kneel in real life, your character will play a kneeling animation (i.e. `ZaZAPC017`). And you can also spread your legs by putting your hands farther apart on your thighs while kneeling. I plan to add more gesture-based animations in future.

It was not pretty to deal with vectors and matrices in Papyrus, but I think it was worth it. In addition to the gesture system, it can also detect the player's pose, position, and rotation relative to another character. It means I can make a slaver character "see" if you're kneeling in front of him with your head bowed, as expected of a slave. It opens up many interesting possibilities, like commanding you to fetch something and expect you to give it to your owner with two hands raised above your head, for example.

And, of course, if you fail to follow such a protocol, the owner character will notice it and reprimand or punish you. It won't feel too repetitive since the dialogue lines are dynamically generated, and they will remember how obedient you've been and treat you accordingly.

It'll be a long journey, but I'm excited about the prospect, which will hopefully keep me motivated until then.

From the technical side, the most notable change was that I managed to incorporate Effect-TS into the project. Skyrim Platform is based on the old Chakra Core engine, so it involved many ugly hacks. But it was totally worth the effort since now I can create a Skyrim mod in a far more sensible manner.

I'll soon release the common part as an open-source library so that others can also use Effect-TS in modding Skyrim.

As for the actual content, now I can talk with a character more or less reliably. The character I chose plays the role of the owner of my slave character pretty convincingly.

The overhead is pretty bad, however. I managed to optimise the process, but it still takes about 10 seconds from the moment I stop talking on the mic before I can hear the response. I'm not sure if there's much room for improvement, but it's something I'll need to deal with in the future.

I have more immediate problems to solve, anyway, like finding a way to prevent the character from initiating an idle chat while it's controlled by my mod. Since I can now have simple conversations, I should start adding more complex interactions, like giving commands to the player or punishing them, for example.

Hopefully, I'll have more things to talk about the content in the next update.

Until then.

EDIT: If you know any animations suitable for a slavery scenario, like slapping, licking the feet, and so on, please let me know. It looks like there are a ton of sex animations but few regarding non-sexual D/s interactions.

But I hesitated to start modding again because I remembered how painful the development experience with Creator Kit and Papyrus was. I've been coding for a long time, which gave me strong preferences and opinions about programming. If I'm to spend what little leisure I have, as well as my working hours on coding stuff, it has to be for something I can enjoy.

Then I discovered that there's a tool that allows one to code in TypeScript to create Skyrim mods. It felt perfect since TypeScript is one of the languages I enjoy coding in.

So, I've spent a few days building a proof-of-concept mod with it, which allows me to talk with a character using my voice. (The character replies in her own voice after a few seconds of delay.)

It's rudimentary compared to mods like Mantella or AI Follower Framework, but it worked decent enough to convince me that I could create something more serious on top of it.

But I've been experiencing a lot of personal troubles lately, and it doesn't look like things will get better anytime soon, which means I only have extremely limited free time to work on this project.

In fact, this was the main reason I started this blog instead of creating a thread in the regular Skyrim modding forum. I want a place to share the news about the development without raising the expectations of others too much before I can release something playable, which won't likely happen soon. On the other hand, I wanted it as a means to motivate myself to keep working on the project by showing to what little audience this blog may attract the progress I make.

So, here we are. Let's just hope that this won't end up like my previous mods, which I abandoned without making them playable.