Extensible Alternate Start

[MorePrinniesDood]

Extensible Alternate Start

View File

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Extensible Alternate Start - Public Beta for Skyrim LE

Alternate Start?

 

Yes, another contender in alternate start mods has arrived. Start out naked and customize your character in the Dream of Signs.

Pick up some starting equipment, standing stone and shrine blessings there, then follow your quest marker to the Dream of Doors to pick a starting location.

 

Extensible?

 

Yes, using SKSE mod event hooks, you can hook in your mod's rooms between the Dream of Signs and the Dream of Doors.

See "XAS for Modders" in the archive or the forum post for details.

 

Load order?

 

Load at bottom of load order. Override any other mod's edits to MQ101.

 

Main quest?

 

Visit Dragonsreach and talk to Jarl Balgruuf to start it. 

 

Civil war?

 

Should work normally. The Dream of Doors includes two special doors that will skip you to just before taking the Imperial or Stormcloak oaths.

 

Lore notes?

 

This mods assumes the vanilla intro happens up until Alduin hits you with unrelenting force. Where, when and why you wake up from that is up to you.

 

Pre-requisites?

 

Latest Skyrim LE and SKSE are required. No official DLCs are needed.

 

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• Submitter
  MorePrinniesDood
• Submitted
  08/14/2021
• Category
  Quest
• Requires
  SKSE
• Special Edition Compatible
  No

 

[MorePrinniesDood]

So drama happened on nexus and Live Another Life LE left it for new hosting. Rather than continue developing "Books of Dibella" as a plugin for it, I give you an alternative, more freeform option.

 

SSE port will come once public beta testing confirms civil war and main quests are working 100%.

 

If you want to hook your own mod in, see below the spoiler:

 

Spoiler

How to add support for Extensible Alternate Start (XAS) to your mod:

 

1) In your mod, create a cell.
2) Populate it with actors or objects relevant to your mod's content.
3) Add a XMarkerHeading where the player will spawn into this room.
4) Add a nice, obvious door that will lead to the next step of character creation.
5) Leave 'teleport' on the above door disabled. 
6) Unpack the XASAdvance script from the Extensible Alternate Start BSA and attach it to the door.
7) Still in your mod, create a Quest, leave "Start game enabled" checked.
? Save the quest, then edit it and attach the following script:

ScriptName <YourMod>XAS extends Quest

ObjectReference property MyMarker auto

Event OnInit()

    utility.wait(2.0)

    int handle = ModEvent.Create("XAS_Register")
    if (handle)
            modevent.pushform(handle, MyMarker)
            ModEvent.send(handle)
    endif

EndEvent

 

9) Set the marker from step 3 as the quest's only property in the Properties window.
10) Save your mod, and test in game on a completely new file.

 

XAS will insert any registered extension mods between the Dream of Signs and the Dream of Doors, in the order they are registered.

 

If you want to adjust the order your mod is registered in, adjust how long your mod waits with the Utility.Wait() call before registering itself.

 

[Bugg]

I've jut downloaded and installed this to see what's what, but there is an issue. I selected new game, the normal sound bite played, then got distracted and walked away for about 5 minutes, but when I came back the game was still on the main menu screen with the standard billowing smoke. Several more test and the same result each time.

Edited August 15, 2021 by Bugg

[TheBitchOfSkyrim]

2 hours ago, Bugg said:

I've jut downloaded and installed this to see what's what, but there is an issue. I selected new game, the normal sound bite played, then got distracted and walked away for about 5 minutes, but when I came back the game was still on the main menu screen with the standard billowing smoke. Several more test and the same result each time.

Same problem here

[MorePrinniesDood]

2 hours ago, Bugg said:

I've jut downloaded and installed this to see what's what, but there is an issue. I selected new game, the normal sound bite played, then got distracted and walked away for about 5 minutes, but when I came back the game was still on the main menu screen with the standard billowing smoke. Several more test and the same result each time.

 

37 minutes ago, TheBitchOfSkyrim said:

Same problem here

 

Bugthesda's archive tool skipped a file in the BSA. I've re-uploaded with this included.

[Bugg]

Redownloaded and retested the mod and I am happy to report that it now works perfectly.

Minor side issue, on a character that was already in progress when this was installed I now have the "Real or a Dream" quest stuck in the journal. Is there a command I can use to remove it or should I just learn to ignore it?

[MorePrinniesDood]

6 hours ago, Bugg said:

Redownloaded and retested the mod and I am happy to report that it now works perfectly.

Minor side issue, on a character that was already in progress when this was installed I now have the "Real or a Dream" quest stuck in the journal. Is there a command I can use to remove it or should I just learn to ignore it?

Try 'setstage XASAltStart 101'

 

And I should have that fixed in a new release later today.

[KuteKatty]

downloaded the mod to see if it would be better than alternate start but, the mod dosent even start, i updated it and it just leaves me on the main menu with no options

[MorePrinniesDood]

3 hours ago, KuteKatty said:

downloaded the mod to see if it would be better than alternate start but, the mod dosent even start, i updated it and it just leaves me on the main menu with no options

 

Check your load order. You probably have something else editing MQ101 active. Alt start mods need to be at the very bottom.

 

And failing that, check your data/scripts/ folder for any loose files starting with "qf_mq101_" and remove them.

Edited August 16, 2021 by MorePrinniesDood

[MorePrinniesDood]

On 8/15/2021 at 7:56 AM, MorePrinniesDood said:

Try 'setstage XASAltStart 101'

 

And I should have that fixed in a new release later today.

 

I blame work for the delay, but the new release is out now. This will keep the quest from showing up in a newly loaded game. If you've already got it in journal, use the console command above to clear it.

[MorePrinniesDood]

Looking into issues with civil war stalling after "The Jagged Crown".

 

Ok, problem with my local install, loose files from an old version of LAL.

 

Do let me know if you hit that issue.

Edited August 18, 2021 by MorePrinniesDood

[MorePrinniesDood]

Another update is out with numerous fixes and tweaks, and another way for add-ons to add stuff to the mod.

 

Spoiler

TYPE 2: ADDING A SINGLE CHEST
--------------------------------------------------------------------
1) In your mod, create a container.
2) Fill it with objects relevant to your mod.
3) Create a quest in your mod, leave 'Start game enabled' checked.
4) Save the quest, then edit it and attach the following script:

ScriptName <YourMod>XASSpawner extends quest

container property MyBox auto
int property LocationNo auto

Event OnInit()

    utility.wait(2.0)

    int handle = ModEvent.Create("XAS_SpawnItem")
    if (handle)
            ModEvent.PushForm(handle, MyBox)
            ModEvent.PushInt(handle, LocationNo)
            ModEvent.send(handle)
    endif

EndEvent

5) Fill in your container as a property.
6) Choose the location to spawn it as the LocationNo property.
    1-4 Warrior area
    5-8 Mage Area
    9-12 Thief area
    0 Random location
7) Save your mod.

 

[TheBitchOfSkyrim]

On 8/15/2021 at 8:15 AM, Bugg said:

Redownloaded and retested the mod and I am happy to report that it now works perfectly.

Minor side issue, on a character that was already in progress when this was installed I now have the "Real or a Dream" quest stuck in the journal. Is there a command I can use to remove it or should I just learn to ignore it?

Ditto  Looks nice so far

[Bugg]

I'm not sure this is supposed to happen...

For reference. I'm standing on the Falkreath shield in the screenshot below.

Spoiler

 

[MorePrinniesDood]

52 minutes ago, Bugg said:

I'm not sure this is supposed to happen...

For reference. I'm standing on the Falkreath shield in the screenshot below.

  Hide contents

 

 

I might have left some open doorways by accident, will check. Thank you for report.

[worik]

Is it possible to have a the main quest starting with the cart ride ? ?

Edited August 25, 2021 by worik

[MorePrinniesDood]

9 hours ago, worik said:

Is it possible to have a the main quest starting with the cart ride ? ?

 

I'm not clever enough to leave that as an option, I'm afraid. The closest this mod gives is that ability to wake up in Helgen's ruins once it's all over.

[Bugg]

On 8/18/2021 at 3:27 AM, MorePrinniesDood said:

Looking into issues with civil war stalling after "The Jagged Crown".

-Snip-

Do let me know if you hit that issue.

I've hit this issue. Joined the Imperials, retrieved the Jagged Crown and defended Whiterun with no issues (as far as I can tell). Went to the Pale Imperial camp to continue, but Lt. Rikke only has her base dialogue, "Why do you fight for the Empire?" and "What will it take to end this war?".

Game is on a clean install with no files from LAL or any other alternate start mods.

Edited September 8, 2021 by Bugg

[MorePrinniesDood]

8 hours ago, Bugg said:

I've hit this issue. Joined the Imperials, retrieved the Jagged Crown and defended Whiterun with no issues (as far as I can tell). Went to the Pale Imperial camp to continue, but Lt. Rikke only has her base dialogue, "Why do you fight for the Empire?" and "What will it take to end this war?".

Game is on a clean install with no files from LAL or any other alternate start mods.

Thanks for reporting, will check it out.

[Ronin79]

On 9/7/2021 at 11:26 PM, Bugg said:

I've hit this issue. Joined the Imperials, retrieved the Jagged Crown and defended Whiterun with no issues (as far as I can tell). Went to the Pale Imperial camp to continue, but Lt. Rikke only has her base dialogue, "Why do you fight for the Empire?" and "What will it take to end this war?".

Game is on a clean install with no files from LAL or any other alternate start mods.

 

That's a vanilla/USLEP bug that happens on both sides of the civil war quest. The workaround is to fast travel to a nearby location, then run back to the camp and talk to Rikke/Galmar depending on what side you picked. It sucks, but it's the only way to actually complete the civil war without installing a mod that completely overhauls how the civil war works, and most of them are even more broken.

Edited September 18, 2021 by R0nin78

[Ronin79]

This looks like it has potential, and I've been looking for something that offers an alternative to LAL, so I'll be keeping an eye on it.

[Bugg]

12 hours ago, R0nin78 said:

 

That's a vanilla/USLEP bug that happens on both sides of the civil war quest. The workaround is to fast travel to a nearby location, then run back to the camp and talk to Rikke/Galmar depending on what side you picked. It sucks, but it's the only way to actually complete the civil war without installing a mod that completely overhauls how the civil war works, and most of them are even more broken.

I had tried this with nearby locations and had no success, but this time using the 'coc' command and traveling to Windstad Manor's exterior marker then running straight to the camp seems to have worked. Weird though that it didn't work when I just fast travel normally there... Oh well, that's just Skyrim I suppose.

[Azurashi]

What about performance? Is it more demanding than for example Skyrim Unbound Reborn?

[Bugg]

1 hour ago, Azurashi said:

What about performance? Is it more demanding than for example Skyrim Unbound Reborn?

I have no issues running this with my potato of a laptop, so I'd say it's very undemanding.

[MorePrinniesDood]

19 hours ago, Azurashi said:

What about performance? Is it more demanding than for example Skyrim Unbound Reborn?

 

It's fairly script-light, and the areas it adds are deliberately minimalist, so performance should be on par with vanilla.