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[Guest]

24 minutes ago, Tirloque said:

 

Only one horse would have the privilege of Malicija accepting such request. Only one threat to her army of lovers. And it's Caramel.

 

Poor poor Stranger never have chance against horses?

 

25 minutes ago, Tirloque said:

Well your stories could get rather dark since a long time ago, so readers wouldn't be too surprised to have entries depicting rather harsh events. And so you're right, it'll basically be something spoiling the reader before even reading the entry. 

 

Arilith story kinda darker then my ususal work and Gwynolda's story is sort of darker then started, so yeah, they kinda used to that ?

[Tirloque]

11 minutes ago, Resdayn said:

Arilith story kinda darker then my ususal work and Gwynolda's story is sort of darker then started, so yeah, they kinda used to that ?

And Gwynolda's and Arilith's stories now being the spine of your blog, they are indeed used to that. But even before, the entries with Alyssa, Frea, Sydra and possibly Svenja and Nathien were already dark themed.

 

In fact, I'm afraid your whole blog is depressing Resdayn !

Spoiler

#kidding of course ^^

 

11 minutes ago, Resdayn said:

Poor poor Stranger never have chance against horses?

Malicia : « You changed Mr Tirloque words, you silly !

 

                You need to get very punished :

Spoiler

»

 

 

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Tirloque said:

And Gwynolda's and Arilith's stories now being the spine of your blog, they are indeed used to that. But even before, the entries with Alyssa, Frea, Sydra and possibly Svenja and Nathien were already dark themed.

 

In fact, I'm afraid your whole blog is depressing Resdayn !

  Reveal hidden contents

#kidding of course ^^

 

Malicia : « You changed Mr Tirloque words, you silly !

 

                You need to get very punished :

  Reveal hidden contents

»

 

 

I personally prefer darker themes and subject, and seems have effect on my stories too, I think before Gwynolda, not many tale of my ones darker themed, maybe a few one.

 

Nathien definetly, since it had subject like rape and slavery, with cannibalism, even if my skills were not equal current one.

 

Frea's one is more about slaughter, Svenja officially not started, Sydra is evil daedra, so make sense and Alyssa, gonna get retconned.

 

From main one Gwynolda's one progressively got darker, compared the general start as adventures of Dibellan sister.

 

And Arilith was rather depressive and heavy, and even still not cheery.

 

I think my readers pretty used to that,t hey would more suprised if I do a happy thing and light-hearted entry ?

[Irstina]

8 hours ago, Tirloque said:

 

You didn't see her stories ? You're in for a treat then, feast your eyes on this.

 

I'm hoping the fourth entry is still on the way.

 

 

 

125 screenshots and counting. I expect 150~.  o.o

[Guest]

10 hours ago, Resdayn said:

Poor poor Stranger never have chance against horses?

 

 

Hahahahahahahahahahahhaahhahahhaahahhahahhhhahahahahaahahhaaha

[Tirloque]

22 hours ago, Irstina said:

125 screenshots and counting. I expect 150~.  o.o

Excellent !

 

I always thought considering it's quality, your blog would make a fine addition along the others of the Small Library. So I'm glad to hear an author of your caliber is active and well.

[Irstina]

8 hours ago, Tirloque said:

Excellent !

 

I always thought considering it's quality, your blog would make a fine addition along the others of the Small Library. So I'm glad to hear an author of your caliber is active and well.

I did have a break, so there were like 2 months in which I didn't do anything at all. 1've been working on it semi infrequently since. The problem wasn'tt so much lack of enthusiasm as a rather technically complicated scene (you'll know when you see it) in the second half of the chapter. Whenever I thought about having to do THAT part, I got lazy~.  So much so that I even skipped over it and did some parts that came after first!

 

Fortunately, I'm mostly done with it now (and mostly happy with how it turned out I guess) and that just leaves me with a finale which is smaller and more personal in scope. Then it's just some editing, deciding what to cut, a little bit of photoshopping to add in some blood, and narration/dialogue for the 2nd half (I have the cliffnotes version of what would be said, but has to be fleshed out).

 

So at the risk of giving myself a deadline I might not keep, I'd suspect that by the time Sunday comes along again I'd have already posted it?   I dunnos. Will see! o/

[Tirloque]

1 hour ago, Irstina said:

I did have a break, so there were like 2 months in which I didn't do anything at all. 1've been working on it semi infrequently since. The problem wasn'tt so much lack of enthusiasm as a rather technically complicated scene (you'll know when you see it) in the second half of the chapter. Whenever I thought about having to do THAT part, I got lazy~.  So much so that I even skipped over it and did some parts that came after first!

Also happens to me when I'm doing something I see as particularly difficult or off-putting. So far I worked around by parting it so that a little could be done each day, but when it's related to complex screenshots there's only so much you can actually save before going back to it...

1 hour ago, Irstina said:

Fortunately, I'm mostly done with it now (and mostly happy with how it turned out I guess) and that just leaves me with a finale which is smaller and more personal in scope. Then it's just some editing, deciding what to cut, a little bit of photoshopping to add in some blood, and narration/dialogue for the 2nd half (I have the cliffnotes version of what would be said, but has to be fleshed out).

 

So at the risk of giving myself a deadline I might not keep, I'd suspect that by the time Sunday comes along again I'd have already posted it?   I dunnos. Will see! o/

That's good to know. I may wait for it to feature it in my Library update then, I should be able to delay it approximately one week after that Sunday.

[Agent Tex]

[Tirloque]

On 8/18/2019 at 11:51 AM, Nuka Raider69 said:

Are you referring to Irstina's fourth entry, or to another point ?

[Devianna]

On 8/16/2019 at 8:22 AM, Tirloque said:

 

— For example, some stories (such as The Misadventures of Kiki) are essentially lighthearted, an prosper mostly on humor, with some consensual sexual acts, and no violence at all. If the same author then issued an entry with a vampire sexually assaulting a victim, and then savagely tearing his/her throat to shreds with abundant visible blood, it'll be highly unusual/disturbing for the readers, and prior warning would be recommended.

 

Darn it, Tirloque! How did you get your hands on my latest story-script? Well, back to the drawing board for me, I guess. Can't have things being spoiled for the readers.  ?

 

I'm joking, of course. My vampires don't tear out people's throats. It's so unhygienic and messy. ?

 

[Tirloque]

43 minutes ago, Devianna said:

Darn it, Tirloque! How did you get your hands on my latest story-script? Well, back to the drawing board for me, I guess. Can't have things being spoiled for the readers.  ?

It's because of Alter, he told me Nora ran out of supplies for her special bathroom, and that he had to contact new subcontractors to ensure the maintenance.

43 minutes ago, Devianna said:

I'm joking, of course. My vampires don't tear out people's throats. It's so unhygienic and messy. ?

I do remember a quite gentle and polite innovation from Kiki in that domain. Hygiene sure improved by a great deal with that new protocol.

 

[Irstina]

Okay! I have a question: I am using a character from Ultimate NPC Overhaul as a protagonist for my next chapter. However, I don't like his haircut and I decided to change it. I loaded the mod in CK, found the NPC, changed his haircut - and upon checking ingame, he did indeed change to the appropriate look. However, all the other NPCs affected by that mod (some of which will be in the same scenes..) lose their haircuts and their heads become discolored.

 

I know it's my change causing this because if I reinstall the mod (so I revert my change), they look normal again.

 

My (uneducated) guess is that the game just doesn't like me directly modifying .esps like that, and I'm actually supposed to make a new esp or something, but that seems awfully inconvenient for a haircut and colour change. Is there any easier way to modify him? What am I doing wrong? \o/

[Tirloque]

24 minutes ago, Irstina said:

Okay! I have a question: I am using a character from Ultimate NPC Overhaul as a protagonist for my next chapter. However, I don't like his haircut and I decided to change it. I loaded the mod in CK, found the NPC, changed his haircut - and upon checking ingame, he did indeed change to the appropriate look. However, all the other NPCs affected by that mod (some of which will be in the same scenes..) lose their haircuts and their heads become discolored.

 

I know it's my change causing this because if I reinstall the mod (so I revert my change), they look normal again.

 

My (uneducated) guess is that the game just doesn't like me directly modifying .esps like that, and I'm actually supposed to make a new esp or something, but that seems awfully inconvenient for a haircut and colour change. Is there any easier way to modify him? What am I doing wrong? \o/

Hi Irstina,

 

I'm no CK expert, but that happened to me recently upon modifying an helmet for one of the Marsoric sisters. The problems with CK, is that you must have all the dependencies active at the moment of the editing, and that in some case every new FormID (that some objects require to be created) needs to be done in one go to be considered as valid by the game. If you're not redoing them at each esp edit, then the CK won't find the meshes/textures, and so every new/custom object introduced will be missing in the edited esp.

 

So, at my custom level, instead of recreating all formIDs, I think it's way simpler to make a new esp (with your mod loaded), and put if afterwards in the load order.

It's not a problem to add small esps for your stories, as if you use ModOrganizer, then you should already be using a different profile for your stories than your regular play (with poser mods esps activated for example), and as your saves won't be connected in time you can deactivate those small esp as soon as you don't need them onscree.

 

In case of new fail, you may have to turn the esp of the mod required as an esm, or to selectively redo some formIDs. Spy or Collygon will probably be more helpful than me in that area.

 

[Irstina]

On 10/10/2019 at 4:22 PM, Tirloque said:

Hi Irstina,

 

I'm no CK expert, but that happened to me recently upon modifying an helmet for one of the Marsoric sisters. The problems with CK, is that you must have all the dependencies active at the moment of the editing, and that in some case every new FormID (that some objects require to be created) needs to be done in one go to be considered as valid by the game. If you're not redoing them at each esp edit, then the CK won't find the meshes/textures, and so every new/custom object introduced will be missing in the edited esp.

 

So, at my custom level, instead of recreating all formIDs, I think it's way simpler to make a new esp (with your mod loaded), and put if afterwards in the load order.

It's not a problem to add small esps for your stories, as if you use ModOrganizer, then you should already be using a different profile for your stories than your regular play (with poser mods esps activated for example), and as your saves won't be connected in time you can deactivate those small esp as soon as you don't need them onscree.

 

In case of new fail, you may have to turn the esp of the mod required as an esm, or to selectively redo some formIDs. Spy or Collygon will probably be more helpful than me in that area.

 

So I actually did manage to fix it

 

After lots of messing around with CK (mind you, initially, CK didn't even want to start under MO2 >.>), I actually got it to do what I wanted!

 

Now he has a (somewhat) less modern haircut and some better eyes, cos for some reason he was stuck with vanilla ones, even though other NPCs from the Overhaul (like her) were not. I may still obsess over some other details later (like exactly what male skin mod to use, this here is Skysight), but am a lot happier now either way.

 

 

And yes, I may have intentionally swapped their poses ?

 

[Alter Native]

On 10/10/2019 at 2:58 PM, Irstina said:

Okay! I have a question: I am using a character from Ultimate NPC Overhaul as a protagonist for my next chapter. However, I don't like his haircut and I decided to change it. I loaded the mod in CK, found the NPC, changed his haircut - and upon checking ingame, he did indeed change to the appropriate look. However, all the other NPCs affected by that mod (some of which will be in the same scenes..) lose their haircuts and their heads become discolored.

 

I know it's my change causing this because if I reinstall the mod (so I revert my change), they look normal again.

 

My (uneducated) guess is that the game just doesn't like me directly modifying .esps like that, and I'm actually supposed to make a new esp or something, but that seems awfully inconvenient for a haircut and colour change. Is there any easier way to modify him? What am I doing wrong? \o/

 

On 10/10/2019 at 3:22 PM, Tirloque said:

I'm no CK expert, but that happened to me recently upon modifying an helmet for one of the Marsoric sisters

You don't need to use the CK for something like this. You have several options for changing the hair of a modded NPC.

1. Just use a wig mod, they even exist for male NPCs in Skyrim . That gives you a basic range of options without much work.

2. If you actually want to change the NPC and it's hair cut because you have a very specific idea of how he or she is supposed to look it's enough to edit the Facegen. 

For that you need to find the facegen of the NPC first (ID in the creation kit and then find the facegen nif with the id of the mod.)

This file contains all information of the NPC's face look.

There should be two TriShapes, 

 

 

Hair and Hairline. We need to replace those with the new hairs. In order to do that, we need to have an NPC with the exact same hair (a vanilla one, a follower or if not existent just create a new dummy one in the hair mod with the hair you want to use.)

Next you replace the NitriShapeData and the BSDismemberSkinInstance with the one from the NPC.

 

 

Delete the old ones, copy the new ones to the file and add them as data and skin instance by typing their number into the now empty field.

 

 

Now you have to adjust the textures BSLightingShaderProperty to the new path of the new hair. 

That's it.

In BSLightingShaderProperty you can change the hair color if need be.

I think you can also directly copy the whole NiTriShape from the dummy NPC as long as you make sure the name string is hairline and hair, instead of replacing individual properties like I just did. 

The same way you can add vampire teeth.

Also eye colors can be changed in the facegen, scars removed etc. All without touching the CK. 

 

[Tirloque]

4 hours ago, Irstina said:

So I actually did manage to fix it

 

After lots of messing around with CK (mind you, initially, CK didn't even want to start under MO2 >.>), I actually got it to do what I wanted!

 

Now he has a (somewhat) less modern haircut and some better eyes, cos for some reason he was stuck with vanilla ones, even though other NPCs from the Overhaul (like her) were not. I may still obsess over some other details later (like exactly what male skin mod to use, this here is Skysight), but am a lot happier now either way.

 

And yes, I may have intentionally swapped their poses ?

Is that me or do they look like Jon Battleborn and Olfina ? If yes Malicia is going to be shocked.

 

What method did you choose ?

53 minutes ago, Alter Native said:

 

You don't need to use the CK for something like this. You have several options for changing the hair of a modded NPC.

1. Just use a wig mod, they even exist for male NPCs in Skyrim . That gives you a basic range of options without much work.

2. If you actually want to change the NPC and it's hair cut because you have a very specific idea of how he or she is supposed to look it's enough to edit the Facegen. 

For that you need to find the facegen of the NPC first (ID in the creation kit and then find the facegen nif with the id of the mod.)

This file contains all information of the NPC's face look.

There should be two TriShapes, 

 

 

Hair and Hairline. We need to replace those with the new hairs. In order to do that, we need to have an NPC with the exact same hair (a vanilla one, a follower or if not existent just create a new dummy one in the hair mod with the hair you want to use.)

Next you replace the NitriShapeData and the BSDismemberSkinInstance with the one from the NPC.

 

 

Delete the old ones, copy the new ones to the file and add them as data and skin instance by typing their number into the now empty field.

 

 

Now you have to adjust the textures BSLightingShaderProperty to the new path of the new hair. 

That's it.

In BSLightingShaderProperty you can change the hair color if need be.

I think you can also directly copy the whole NiTriShape from the dummy NPC as long as you make sure the name string is hairline and hair, instead of replacing individual properties like I just did. 

The same way you can add vampire teeth.

Also eye colors can be changed in the facegen, scars removed etc. All without touching the CK.

And so without messing the FormIDs. Science has spoken ! Thanks for the tip !

 

 

[Irstina]

14 hours ago, Tirloque said:

Is that me or do they look like Jon Battleborn and Olfina ? If yes Malicia is going to be shocked.

 

What method did you choose ?

 

 

 

That's them! In previous chapters multiple characters emphasized the importance of Whiterun to the civil war, so naturally, we'll have to go there

 

The Battle-Born / Grey-mane feud is something Bethesda only briefly touched on and it seemed like a cool thing for me to expand on, as well as the Romeo&Juliet-esque romance Jon and Olfina have. The vanilla models for these NPCs look really dodgy and many overhauls are for female characters only (and often radically changes their look) so I was quite happy to have found this Overhaul awhile back and it changes a ton of NPCs while still keeping them very recognizable - in fact the whole the Battle-Born and Grey-Mane families get changed, so none of them will really stand out as a vanilla NPC or such.

 

I made a copy of the mod's esp and modified that one instead, it overwrites the actual mod and changes him but doesn't screw with any of the other NPCs. Not the most elegant solution, but it worked for what I wanted to do.

 

15 hours ago, Alter Native said:

 

You don't need to use the CK for something like this. You have several options for changing the hair of a modded NPC.

1. Just use a wig mod, they even exist for male NPCs in Skyrim . That gives you a basic range of options without much work.

2. If you actually want to change the NPC and it's hair cut because you have a very specific idea of how he or she is supposed to look it's enough to edit the Facegen. 

For that you need to find the facegen of the NPC first (ID in the creation kit and then find the facegen nif with the id of the mod.)

This file contains all information of the NPC's face look.

There should be two TriShapes, 

 

 

Hair and Hairline. We need to replace those with the new hairs. In order to do that, we need to have an NPC with the exact same hair (a vanilla one, a follower or if not existent just create a new dummy one in the hair mod with the hair you want to use.)

Next you replace the NitriShapeData and the BSDismemberSkinInstance with the one from the NPC.

 

 

Delete the old ones, copy the new ones to the file and add them as data and skin instance by typing their number into the now empty field.

 

 

Now you have to adjust the textures BSLightingShaderProperty to the new path of the new hair. 

That's it.

In BSLightingShaderProperty you can change the hair color if need be.

I think you can also directly copy the whole NiTriShape from the dummy NPC as long as you make sure the name string is hairline and hair, instead of replacing individual properties like I just did. 

The same way you can add vampire teeth.

Also eye colors can be changed in the facegen, scars removed etc. All without touching the CK. 

 

Thanks! I'll have to try this too sometimes, the problem I have with this though is that I'm guessing I need to know what hair/eyes/etc I want to use before I make the change, whereas in CK I get a preview of what my changes look like, for instance I wasn't sure exactly what shade of blue I wanted to give his eyes, and I looked at several choices before deciding. CK is really fickle and whenever I close it it actually crashes instead, but it behaved well enough for now \o/

 

On a related note though: I like having presets of followers whenever possible. Now I know you can take the nif files, put them in Racemenu and most of the time the head import feature works, but I have a problem here: The mod has like 150 nif files, and I don't know which correspond to which NPC.  You mentioned the CK ID ad the facegen nifs at the start, do these correspond in any way? Or is there another way I can figure out which of these 100+ nif files belong to a particular NPC?

[Tirloque]

11 hours ago, Irstina said:

I made a copy of the mod's esp and modified that one instead, it overwrites the actual mod and changes him but doesn't screw with any of the other NPCs. Not the most elegant solution, but it worked for what I wanted to do.

Ok, good to know. ?

11 hours ago, Irstina said:

That's them! In previous chapters multiple characters emphasized the importance of Whiterun to the civil war, so naturally, we'll have to go there

 

The Battle-Born / Grey-mane feud is something Bethesda only briefly touched on and it seemed like a cool thing for me to expand on, as well as the Romeo&Juliet-esque romance Jon and Olfina have. The vanilla models for these NPCs look really dodgy and many overhauls are for female characters only (and often radically changes their look) so I was quite happy to have found this Overhaul awhile back and it changes a ton of NPCs while still keeping them very recognizable - in fact the whole the Battle-Born and Grey-Mane families get changed, so none of them will really stand out as a vanilla NPC or such.

Malicia : « Well they look very dodgy and ill at ease together, uh.  »

 

[Alter Native]

On 10/12/2019 at 11:51 AM, Irstina said:

Thanks! I'll have to try this too sometimes, the problem I have with this though is that I'm guessing I need to know what hair/eyes/etc I want to use before I make the change, whereas in CK I get a preview of what my changes look like, for instance I wasn't sure exactly what shade of blue I wanted to give his eyes, and I looked at several choices before deciding. CK is really fickle and whenever I close it it actually crashes instead, but it behaved well enough for now \o/

Yes, to some extend you need to know what you want to use, but it's not that much work that you can't try 2-3 variations or so...

On 10/12/2019 at 11:51 AM, Irstina said:

On a related note though: I like having presets of followers whenever possible. Now I know you can take the nif files, put them in Racemenu and most of the time the head import feature works, but I have a problem here: The mod has like 150 nif files, and I don't know which correspond to which NPC.  You mentioned the CK ID ad the facegen nifs at the start, do these correspond in any way? Or is there another way I can figure out which of these 100+ nif files belong to a particular NPC?

Yes, the FormID of the NPC matches the ID of the facegen, so you just have to look up the ID (via CK or TES5Edit) and find the matching Facgen. 

Btw. you can also edit warpaint/face textures that way, there is a special facgen texture file for that.

 

[Sillius_Maximus]

For many reasons, some in real life (being a better communicator) and just trying to play my game differently than ive done before, to keep me interested so to speak, I am playing through the game. Not as dragon born this time, I am using skyrim unbound and all of that dragon stuff is off.

 

But I am trying to approach this as a play through.   

I did kind of my "proof of concept" or "alpha" version already,   but  I wonder about the whole "screen shot to text ratio" and so forth.

 

Id welcome any thoughts, good or bad.

also in the past, I usually play Skyrim/fallout 4 as more of a "domineering, dominatrix" type persona, prone to trying to entrap people and then punish them for being entrapped.  Now, Im attempting to swing the other way, alot more "passive, submissive, live and let live."  Where violence of all kinds can happen to me, but the aggressor is not entrapped, and is punished for the crimes against skyrim..   I guess always loving Theater/acting in real life  Im just trying to do another show, another character.
 

[Tirloque]

Text to screen ratio = choosing a format

On 10/19/2019 at 1:28 AM, Sillius_Maximus said:

I did kind of my "proof of concept" or "alpha" version already,   but  I wonder about the whole "screen shot to text ratio" and so forth.
 

Id welcome any thoughts, good or bad.

The text to screen ratio is a matter of artistic and time-commitment choices :

 

• Illustrated text usually features several lines of text per images, and can afford fewer images than the other formats. Depending on your work, it's a format who limits the amount of uploaded images and who do not limits you otherwise, so it can be one of the fastest formats to setup. The only problem being the more text there is, the less appealing/harder to read it will feel for viewers. And that part of its quality will rely on your writing skills, which will be on permanent display.

Spoiler

Proventus Avenicci: Wh-what? You're sparing me?

Malkor looks past the cowering steward and over to the fallen warriors. They put up a worthy fight, but not one Malkor couldn't handle. What was difficult, was actually making his way through the city. 

The guards had constructed a formidable barricade before the front gate. As soon as he opened it, Malkor was fired upon by a barrage of arrows and bolts. Fortunately they did little more than ring against his automatons metal hulls. No, what was truly challenging about this assault, was sparing as many lives as possible.

As they made their way through the streets of Whiterun, even some of the citizens attempted to fight back. It took more than a few bludgeoning's and slashing's of the aggressors to dissuade more from attacking him. The trail of carnage behind him was much larger than planned. Every few feet Malkor would have to stop and repeat himself, "this city is falling. I am granting an opportunity to escape with your lives. Take it now, or not at all."

Malkor expected most of the people to heed his words. He underestimated just how adamant the Nords really are. In the end though, it was little more than a small hurdle. It did not take long to arrive in Dragon's Reach and do what he came here for.

 

• Nonintegrated subtitles do typically feature one or two lines or less of text per images ; but just like in the previous format, you're not limited regarding text amount. It's still easy to setup while becoming significantly harder to upload (more images to be placed adequately), but relies heavily on images to convey the story so is generally easier to read than illustrated text.

Spoiler

Saren

Now now, I have not come for hostility. I came to tell you that I'm glad to hear your entering the Championship of Domination. I am its Champion after all

Erica

My Sister Athena was the former Champion till she... left. I will restore the title for her

Saren

Athena, oh my my Erica. Athena is long gone, a mission for our Lord too important for you

 

• Integrated subtitles do rely on images in the same way, but while adding one layer of work on the images (editing the text into it). Thus they do gain a bit in clarity (knowing if one replica goes with the image above and below will be easier) and are easier to upload/reupload if needed (you can upload all the images without having to place the text inbetween). You become more limited regarding text space though, so there is a bit more lettering work ; but the images are relatively preserved.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

• Comics do also rely on images in a similar fashion, but do place the text at relevant places of the images, making it their origin clearer, and thus being the easiest format to follow by a reader. It adds one more step compared to integrated subtitles as you have to shape the bubbles, fit the text into them, and depending on your commitment, center it. That lettering step can eat a significant amount of time, while still forcing you to be rather concise. And although the format allows you to enforce even more the immersion (including adding sound and a certain degree of movement with onomatopoeia) ; the drawbacks are that while it's extremely easy to read, you won't be able to unleash your style as much as an illustrated text author could do, and that the less concise you will be the more the image will be invaded by the text bubbles.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

[Tirloque]

Is creating playthrough stories a good idea ?

 

Quote

For many reasons, some in real life (being a better communicator) and just trying to play my game differently than ive done before, to keep me interested so to speak, I am playing through the game. Not as dragon born this time, I am using skyrim unbound and all of that dragon stuff is off.

 

But I am trying to approach this as a play through.  

(...)  I guess always loving Theater/acting in real life  Im just trying to do another show, another character.

There are so much pitfalls which make turning playthroughs into a story delicate :

• Unrealistic developments : unrealistic distances (tomb raiding at 5' walk from a city ? Easy,  just take the bus it's the first stop) ; unrealistic time scale (rookie to member of the inner circle of the companions in one hour, yep) ; unrealistic differences in power (I'm an unexperienced frail woman but ima slay hordes of opponents without a hitch, just ya wait), and just unrealistic events overall (it's not my fault about the horse *hic*, he just *hic* undressed me with his hoofs,*hic*, that's the truth officer ! *hic* ). 
• Spoilers : basically anyone having finished the quests you'll do already knows what's going to happen (= no suspense when reading), and the others will be spoiled hard (= no discovery pleasure when playing).
• Technical difficulties, as contrary to a story you will be playing on the saves you do your playthrough/story on. And so each addition will go on top of the others, and make your system more and more unstable. That's too much of a problem on stories, as you only need the saves for a short amount of time, and will be able to reset the load anytime. But getting more and more CTDs on saves you've spent dozens if not hundreds of hours into is ill advised.
• Not to mention a suboptimal screenshot setup : the interface you need to play might sometimes be apparent, as you won't always think/react in time to disable it. It can be edited/hidden, but combine that to the lasting effect of advanced console screenarchery commands (like fov), and you'll see that creating nice shots and playing without hitch are somewhat contradictory concepts.

 

Now playthroughs have the advantage to be easier to create (as your game time is your story time), and depending on how well it's staged (specially if you've set your game to be more realistic than vanilla) and presented, it can be an interesting setup for a first person experience. You can also avoid spoilers by doing radiant quests with a highly customized setup (making it unique), or lessen them by assembling quests fragments in a way of your own.

 

Yet like everything, it's a matter of quality. ?

 

 

TL;DR : play-through stories are a bad idea, as likely inferior to full fledged stories ; going for not overly unstable realistic radiant custom setups being a viable exception to it. That being said playthroughs can be pleasant and have an audience, but as intended playthroughs rather than original stories.

[Devianna]

On 10/18/2019 at 7:28 PM, Sillius_Maximus said:

Id welcome any thoughts, good or bad.

 

While Tirloque points out excellent reasons why play-through stories can be difficult to do properly, I believe there can be positive sides to them as well. ?

 

For starters, while your play-through might follow along the well-known quests, your actual story (the one that you publish) does not need to concentrate on it. You can use your play time to gain inspiration for the story that you're telling, taking into account random events, encounters, amusing and/or curious occurrences that happened during the game. Sure, you might've been walking towards Whiterun (for the 100th time), but then you saw a deer among the trees, decided to hunt yourself some dinner, followed it for a bit only to stumble upon a clearing with a dryad and then things took an unexpected turn (how 'unexpected' would depend solely on the mods that you have installed ? ).  And just like that a new chapter or a side-story is born.

 

If you're willing to put in the time and want to avoid ruining your original play-through save files, it might be better to have two separate character profiles for the main character. The one that you play and have all the play-through saves and the other that you use to recreate story scenarios and screenshoot your tales. It does require extra work, but it will prevent you the headache of having corrupted saves in the long run.

 

As for realism, I think that is entirely up to you. Skyrim is a magic-filled fantasy land.  It can be as realistic or as unrealistic as you'd like it to be. You're the author, the creator - feel free to experiment.  The main thing is for you to have fun and to enjoy writing your tale. ☺️

[Guest]

@Tirloque When will Malicia defeat Uranach? ❤️

 

? VS ?