quest The Trappings of Fate

[slayedigneel]

22 hours ago, sorrowsmith said:

 

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I dropped the dress on the floor, then picked it up in first person and and moved it to the table

 

Replying to Slayedigneel above

I tried to do that but, it's not latching at all so I'm stuck due to a bug

[sorrowsmith]

On Trial of the Prisoner:

 

Spoiler

I'm free of the pole, and have the boots, mittens, chastity belt left to go... when I hold my hands over the brazier, I hear the burning noise, and after a few moments I catch on fire... but the mittens aren't affected. Am I just not holding them there long enough, or is using the fire on the mittens completely off base?

 

[sorrowsmith]

44 minutes ago, slayedigneel said:

I tried to do that but, it's not latching at all so I'm stuck due to a bug

 

Hmmm... I'm outta ideas.  I was having issues in that quest on my first playthrough attempt, so I must have done the "strip & put your clothes on the table" thing  8 or 9 times with no issues. Maybe load an earlier save and play to that point, see if it still happens.

[crash__]

20 hours ago, UsernamesAreOverrated said:

Playing on the 2.0.1, I keep running into a CTD
 

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After Irkalla finishes masturbating while the player is tied to the X-Cross, she walks over to the chest nearby and the game consistently CTDs here for me, any ideas how I can fix this to keep progressing? I intend to try a fresh install with minimal mods and seeing if that helps currently, so I'd be open to any suggestions that can keep me from having to start fresh

 

 

I'm getting the same crash, running on legendary edition.

 

the crash log contains this:

 

Quote

Crash Log, version 4
Code: 0xc0000005.
Address: <unknown>+0x00000000.
Memory at <unknown>+0x00000000 could not be read.

 

which sounds a bit like a null pointer error (i've never made mods for skyrim so i could be wrong, but that's usually what that means)

[Allen Harris]

1 hour ago, sorrowsmith said:

On Trial of the Prisoner:

 

  Hide contents

I'm free of the pole, and have the boots, mittens, chastity belt left to go... when I hold my hands over the brazier, I hear the burning noise, and after a few moments I catch on fire... but the mittens aren't affected. Am I just not holding them there long enough, or is using the fire on the mittens completely off base?

 

You're on the right track. But there's something else you can interact with while the mittens are heated up.

[sorrowsmith]

2 hours ago, Allen Harris said:

You're on the right track. But there's something else you can interact with while the mittens are heated up.

 

Spoiler

I think I've tried every interaction combo the cell has- fire/puddle, repeated fire/puddle, fire/embalming tool/crack, fire/splinter. I even tried fire/grate.  I feel like I have to be doing something wrong or I'm just missing something. 

 

Time to drink myself into a stupor.

 

[sorrowsmith]

oh, minor issue... I've noticed that the rope harness Irkalla puts on the player appears to be two rope harnesses of same model overlaid on each other on my character... I haven't seen this before in other circumstances where my character was wearing a rope harness. Screenshot attached. 

[Allen Harris]

7 hours ago, sorrowsmith said:

 

  Hide contents

I think I've tried every interaction combo the cell has- fire/puddle, repeated fire/puddle, fire/embalming tool/crack, fire/splinter. I even tried fire/grate.  I feel like I have to be doing something wrong or I'm just missing something. 

 

Time to drink myself into a stupor.

 

Spoiler

It's fire/puddle 3 (or 4, I can't remember)times. But you shouldn't be on fire - you should get away from the fire before that happens.

When you hold your hands over the fire, after a few seconds, a magic effect notice icon should show up on the top right of your screen for about 10 seconds. You have to submerge the mittens in that brief period.

Each time you do it right, it should give you a different message 

 

Edited March 9, 2024 by Allen Harris

[MasterDemonologist]

A review: The Gordian Bind (2.0.1)
Overall, a unique experience and a welcome change of pace from normal Skyrim. Needs a bit of polish, but I think it's worth a playthrough, though you should have a walkthrough handy so it remains fun instead of frustrating.

 

Pros:

-Story embodies the daedra as incarnations of their sphere. Banter between them is extremely entertaining. Ex. Boethia calling Azura a know-it-all.

 

-Puzzles are unique and a challenge to the traditional Skyrim dungeon delve.

 

-The environment is a lot more open than in "A Snare to Loosen." While this isn't used perfectly (only one puzzle can be sequence broken and you have to backtrack to arbitrary points instead of places you spotted earlier) it makes the mod feel more open and rewarding for exploring (Bordering on punishing for a lack of exploration.)

 

 

Cons:

-A lot of puzzles have "one" solution. If you don't find that solution, you could be trying to refine a wrong solution for a long time. A walkthrough is almost necessary so you can check if what you're doing is just slightly off or the wrong thing entirely. Otherwise you spend hours on nothing. I think giving puzzles multiple solutions would be a good way to fix this.

 

-Progression is often frustrating. A lot of what made "A Snare to Loosen" and the games that inspired it fun was how you were slowly getting more and more options. When you got your hands free, you immediately wanted to explore the new options you had. In "The Gordian Bind" you often see the same road blocks have different requirements (Ex. The red wards, the first one is good, the rest are just a pain). In Metroidvania type games, you often get a new ability and see what it can solve, then you remember seeing those roadblocks on the way over. Here, you don't know if you got something that deals with the ward in the lab, or the ward in the mushroom, something else entirely or at all.

 

-Puzzles often oscillate between "Reason" and "Find the Thing." Some puzzles are solved by simply finding an item hidden in the room and have no logic whatsoever. This is not fun when the rest of the mod has established a "Out of the Box" thinking is needed to solve puzzles.

 

 

A lot of the good things are more subtle and don't show up well in a Pro/Con list, so don't take the length of the lists as an indicator of quality. This was very fun to play (When I wasn't stuck looking for what to do next) and I recommend giving it a shot.

Annotated Walkthrough:

Spoiler

To help people playing through, here is a compiled walkthrough with commentary on some of the puzzles.
 

The Cell:

Spoiler

Wait for the story to finish. Get put on the X-Cross. Give in and listen to some daedra, escape.

On the table in the corner is a Tiny Steel Key. Use it to take off the earplugs and then grab the empty bottle through the bars. Drop the bottle and use the shard to cut off the rope restraints. Talk to the dunmer and ask for food, take the fork.

Go back to the table and put on all the gear. Wearing this will let you dispell the ward and pick the lock with the fork.

It is entirely easy to softlock at this stage. If you put on the gear before cutting off the gag, you can't escape. The Iron Key for the handcuffs is located on the other side of the gate and might not be reachable depending on how it spawns.
I don't see why these keys are different honestly, they're both supposed to be accessible at the same time, and the steel key was next to the handcuffs, so why doesn't it unlock them? This would prevent the softlock issue and help people who didn't find the key after getting out of the cell.

 

The Alchemy Lab:
 

Spoiler

Look under the bucket with the broom in it. Follow the recipe on the note. That is it.

 

This puzzle is bad. While the cell used reason and logic, this one is simply find the note. The alchemy notes were supposed to be thrown around by the earthquake (According to the dunmer) so how did this one get stuck under a bucket and an upright broom?!? This would be a great place for multiple solutions.
For example: Making a 3-ingredient potion with magic resist and invisibility (Nirnroot follows the mundane rule because it is strongly tied to Nirn) would provide "lite" protection. So you could walk around as long as you didn't step into LoS of the gargoyles. Then you would pick up the bucket to try and cover the gargoyles and find the note in a reasonable fashion instead of looting the entire room out of last resort and stumbling on it.

 

Shrine of Azura/Mora:

Spoiler

Search around and find some more gear. Walker will give you access to the living quarters and wearing a hobble skirt will let you go to the second floor (Unless you're a high elf, then it's 50/50 on whether you'll need to tcl through.) Find the red catsuit and the optional notes and then head to the stones near the water on the outside. Look at the sky while standing next to the rocks until you get a notification and then crouch. There will be a warp sound and then you can walk backwards through the rocks. (It may take a few tries.)

The door is very loud and will push you away when you try to touch the ward. Wear earplugs and you can go through. There is a maze past the door full of lurkers that will send you to the start if you look at them, so wear a blindfold. The scryes didn't work when I played, but they're supposed to let you through if you're wearing the catsuit, otherwise just wait until one of the lurkers politely opens the door for you. Keep heading to the blue Azura particles until you get to a wall of tentacles. Cover yourself as thoroughly as you can and you can just walk through. Gag yourself and activate the shrine. Sit through a cutscene while Azura evicts Hermaeus Mora and then you're done. Leaving the shrine will trigger a story event, so make sure you grab all the word walls.

Overall, a good puzzle. The solutions are logically tied to the problems and there are multiple ways to solve the maze instead of brute forcing the scryes and hoping they work.

 

The Alchemy Lab II:

Spoiler

Wait through all the story until Boethia decides that she wants her shrine back as well. Grab the key, the note downstairs and pick the lock on the strongbox next to the bed. The door wants a piercing of some kind (I forget which).
Go back to the alchemy lab. Wearing the straightjacket from Walker's Hut lets you dispell the second ward and the key will unlock the door. Grab the fork and follow the instructions to tune it to Molag Bal (Put the hot fork in the blood pool and push the stabby button.) Stick the cooled fork through the bars at the back of the room and push it against the soul gems until they explode. Grab the sword (Use unrelenting pull from the maze if you can't reach it).

 

Boethia's shrine is near the top of the mushroom through a cherry blossom path. You have to swim through a tiny hole in the water with almost zero visibility. Could use some improvement there.

 

Kind of feels like a side quest and can technically be sequence broken if you're running 2.0.0. Puzzle gives no feedback, but there's a limited amount of things to try, so it's not super frustrating like the others.

 

 

The Trial of the Toy:

Spoiler

Follow instructions until you're told to put on some gear. Behind the chest in the wardrobe is a bottle of poison. Use it to poison the wine next to the pillory. Start the game (Doesn't matter your wager) and wait until she drinks it. Hit 'e' and break out of the device, then Skyrim her to death.

 

The Trial of the Slave:

Spoiler

Free your legs once. Free your torso twice. Look around and select the loose cuffs thrice. Look around and grab the splinters to use as lockpicks. Free your arms. Unrelenting pull the embalming tool and shove it in the crack in the wall. Raise your fists and hold them above the fire until you get an effect, then use the puddle. Repeat until the gloves break. Use the tool wedged in the wall to pick the three locks on the yoke (RIP if you don't have picking perks). Drop the yoke and hold it against the grate until it snaps into place. Use it and destroy the crystal. Skyrim the dremora to death.

 

The Trial of the Conqueror:

Spoiler

Skyrim. Defy "Totally Legit Boethia". Do a Mephala and lie to Molag Bal (Unless your into that kind of thing. In which case just pledge allegiance to him?)

 

Mephala's gift (AKA: The Staff Puzzle):

Spoiler

After the cutscene, hop into the water in the cave and put on training weights. Swim to the door and check the note from the desk. Inside, it has Mephala's mantra in it, representing the order you need to use the staves (You did grab the staves, right?) on the soul gem pedestals in the alcoves nearby.

The order is as follows:

Lust - non skull conjuration = Phalic staff.

Love - destruction = Firebolt staff.

Lies - illusion = Calm staff.

Truth - alteration = Magelight staff.

Death - skull conjuration = Raise Dead staff.

Life - restoration = Vigor staff.

Inside the room, you'll find all the stuff you had before you started the quest. To the right, however, is a wall made of destructible spiderwebs. In theory, you need the greatsword that Boethia gives you, but you can also use the Firebolt staff. Inside is a soul gem. Negotiate with Mephala about which betrayal is more fun.

 

This puzzle is technically non-linear as you can finish it as soon as you get the required staves. Nice reference to Mephala's mantra, though, equating destruction to love is a bit questionable.

 

The Final Barrier:

Spoiler

Pick up ALL the devices you can find. Go to the hidden alcove behind the waterfall where the lesser daedra of many names is imprisoned (There's a pair of elbow cuffs in the chest next to him.) Ask him how to get through the barrier and follow his "Constructive Feedback" until he says you can get through. Go back to the living quarters and head down into the basement. Boethia will take off your gag, but you need to take off the pet suit yourself before you can use the shout to take off all the rest.

 

You're now at the end. I only did one ending, so I can't give a comprehensive guide for how the finale goes, but it's a lot more straightforward then the rest of things, so I think you've got it.

 

 

[coffeeink]

So i think im now roughly at 50% of Quest 2.

 

Awesome mod, it is so much fun to play!

 

First of all, i love it. Difficulty seems right. Puzzles are not not hard. But i still needed roughly 5h for the first part. Sadly its because of some minor design issues which can be solved very easy:

I encountered also some bugs and potential softlocks:

 

Spoiler

Softlocks:

• Not sure what happens if you eat the brad because of a need mod or accident in the alchemy. Looks like a dead end forever.
• Same for Potions.
• You could disenchant the Tune Fork (i guess a full softlock)

 

Cheese:

• The Gargolyes are a nice idea but it is very easy to cheese. Just take a ton of Baskets in the inventory, no Restraints and done. You get forced down and disable it afterwards. No idea if that is intended.
• After Release in the sleeping chambers, i was going to the door, control takes over, but it was to slow to trigger, so the Magic Barrier faded away, after drinking the potion you can easy go thorugh, no "puzzle needed anymore" (thats my last activity, ofc i loaded an older safe cheese is boring)
• No idea why, but in the mushroom the up pushes me forward all the time, so it pushes me over the fence and ignores the upper door (so i avoided for 1h the upper area because i thought it is due iam not suppoesed to be there and its cheese (but i had already all items)

Design topics

• I had very bad luck. I entered the Living Quarter first before finding the hut of walker. and i found very fast the first riddle and by searching the hut i found the wall and solved the riddle. Thats were my issues began. i thought i miss information my char would not have. so i think i am not supposed to be here. And i found the hut afterwards and got the key for the living quarter ... And confusion was complete...
  • Potential Solutin: Dont make the front door lockpickable, only with the key, than the information are in order and is basically not possible to "accidently" solve the riddle. This makes the Pass and what to do way more clear.
• Maze: That was confusing as hell: I am still not sure what i needed to do. My char is not a dragonborn (i mainly skip the dragon stuff) and i found the walls and learned fuz ... (i thought oh fuck) =>The tantacels move you around the maze and behind the doors, due the fact that the monsters are opening the doors for you i thought you are supposed to lure them to the doors or you need luck with the tentacle moving (thats how i solved it in the end, later i found out ooohhh catsuit is the solution)
• Restraint checks/Barriers: I like the idea! But it feels like Trial and Error. Maybe some hints on what kind of "submission" you have to show would be helpful Yes the itesm are close by and some hints in Dialouge i remebered After i solved it. BUT due the other time blockings i forgot this minor details like taht the guy said, she runs around bound and yeah the device you find in her room has to be solution
  • Esp i was confused after the Daedra told me, hey there has to be a hint close by...

Bugs:

• as in Cheese, i get pushed everytime into nirvana if i go up in the living quarter
• Not sure if that is a bug. but if you do something forbidden (shouting, magic cast, entering forbidden areas) etc, you always walk back to the alchemy lab, thats kinda sad. It would be more fun if there is a furniture close by, you are forced to go to there. Usually it is anyway easy to escape on how you designed it.

 

Potential New Features for Gameplay Improvement

• Give us a lesser power, or Keybind to faster try to escape. It is kinda annoying to get rid of device to: Inventory. click on the device, try to escape, struggle/pick the lock etc.
  • A keybind to show active Devices select, lockpick, struggle, cut done with with the last option above
  • I can support you with that code if needed

 

Easter eggs (Spoiler Free for others)

• Just found it there is someone enjoying a certain YT Channel 

 

 

Second Part

Spoiler

Bugs:

• During Trial 1, the "mistress" runs away all the time back to the bed

 

 

 

Serious Issues Trial 1

Spoiler

I am supposed to strip and put my clothes on the Table. Ok gloves fine,drop it to the ground pick it up and manover it on the table, they snap on the table

Ok same with the boots... nope nothing, ok boots belong on the ground nope also not.

trying the clothes, nope also not.

All the the time the mistress is running back to the bed... HEre it seem there are some more bugs

 

Edited March 9, 2024 by coffeeink

[vuiren2]

Thank you for the mod!

Currently I am stuck after being sent to sleep, after Boethiah's monologue she gives me a lockpick and then nothing happens. She keep standing next to me, there is the Irkalla right behind her and I cant interact with a bondage chair, can interact with stuff around but no chair, any ideas how to solve this?

[DuskWanderer]

Looking forward to giving this mod a try! Unfortunately I've run into an issue immediately. After getting the Note of Thanks from the courier along with the Spiced Wine, I've gone to the Four Shields tavern innkeep and she doesn't appear to be selling any additional wine or have any dialogue options that would let me continue the quest. Are there any known solutions to this?

[Allen Harris]

Just now, DuskWanderer said:

Looking forward to giving this mod a try! Unfortunately I've run into an issue immediately. After getting the Note of Thanks from the courier along with the Spiced Wine, I've gone to the Four Shields tavern innkeep and she doesn't appear to be selling any additional wine or have any dialogue options that would let me continue the quest. Are there any known solutions to this?

She just gives you the wine, she doesn't sell it. There should be a dialog option about someone named Irkalla. If not, there's a bug.

Some mods, like DCL  and Bimbos can mess up dialog. Also, mod added dialog can sometimes take a few seconds to show up when you initiate conversation 

[DuskWanderer]

15 minutes ago, Allen Harris said:

She just gives you the wine, she doesn't sell it. There should be a dialog option about someone named Irkalla. If not, there's a bug.

Some mods, like DCL  and Bimbos can mess up dialog. Also, mod added dialog can sometimes take a few seconds to show up when you initiate conversation 

There's no additional dialogue options other than vanilla (and Become a Bard's "I'd like to perform here"). It could be a mod conflict, but it'd be strange since I've never encountered a mod with this issue before

[Allen Harris]

4 minutes ago, DuskWanderer said:

There's no additional dialogue options other than vanilla (and Become a Bard's "I'd like to perform here"). It could be a mod conflict, but it'd be strange since I've never encountered a mod with this issue before

I couldn't tell you how to fix it in ur current save; but I can tell you how I initiated the quest on my AE install.

No other mods besides the required dependencies, fresh game, before initiating any of the vanilla quests except escaping Helgen. Leveled up lockpicking, alchemy, and speechcraft to max via console. Then met courier at Whiterun stables. Everything worked fine for me, except for one bug I had to cheat to get past in the second quest.

[sorrowsmith]

8 hours ago, Allen Harris said:

  Reveal hidden contents

It's fire/puddle 3 (or 4, I can't remember)times. But you shouldn't be on fire - you should get away from the fire before that happens.

When you hold your hands over the fire, after a few seconds, a magic effect notice icon should show up on the top right of your screen for about 10 seconds. You have to submerge the mittens in that brief period.

Each time you do it right, it should give you a different message 

 

 Thank you Allen!!

[Allen Harris]

6 minutes ago, sorrowsmith said:

 Thank you Allen!!

Cheers! And please spread the word about this mod if you can - I found it to be a lot of fun and very rewarding and would like to see Frayed get the popularity he deserves for such excellent work.

[ftj]

Great mod! need some help so far for the Azura shrine

Spoiler

i find the shrine, pressed E but nothing happened....i tried almost every devices i have but still nothing happend. So did i missed some clues?

 

[ihatemykite]

On 3/8/2024 at 8:21 PM, Frayed said:

That'd be nice. Alternative or additionally, if you or @ihatemykite can inform me exactly under what conditions UD patches devices, I can maybe design around that a bit on my end as well.

Depends if you mean esp patcher (which creates patch) or in game patcher (which adjust patched devices, so they are not all same. This also adds the modifiers, which are the issue)

The esp patcher only patches devices which use DD scripts. This means that if you create new script and attach it to your devices, the patcher will skip them. The ingame patcher will patch all devices created by esp patcher (in patch). So you have basically 2 possible workarounds

1. Create new script which will extend current script
2. Patch the device manually, so the in game patcher will be skipped. As @kurotatsu said, this is probably best way forward, as you can adjust other possible settings too, so it is fully compatible without issue. If you are interested in how to do it, we can discuss it on discord (as it is little complicated)

[DuskWanderer]

4 hours ago, Allen Harris said:

I couldn't tell you how to fix it in ur current save; but I can tell you how I initiated the quest on my AE install.

No other mods besides the required dependencies, fresh game, before initiating any of the vanilla quests except escaping Helgen. Leveled up lockpicking, alchemy, and speechcraft to max via console. Then met courier at Whiterun stables. Everything worked fine for me, except for one bug I had to cheat to get past in the second quest.

I ended up using the command Setstage FrayEscapeQuest 12 after looking through the stages in XEdit and that did the trick. I'm now able to proceed!

[RadicalDentist]

This mod is great! I have gotten to all the endings of both quests, and I enjoyed it all. Most of the puzzles were well-put together, and the story is great. 

With that, I'll leave my thoughts and suggestions here (it's A LOT!).

 

Spoiler

I only had one issue with A Snare to Loosen. I don't know if anybody else in this thread had this same problem, but once I escaped all the cells and am about to confront Irkalla, if I choose the dialogue option that sends me straight to The Gordian Bind without completing the quest. In other words, I completed The Gordian Bind with A Snare to Loosen still active in my journal. 

 

I have a lot more I want to say about The Gordian Bind, however.

1. I was unable to start The Gordian Bind if I chose to start the quest later, so I had to resort to having Irkalla send me straight there after A Snare to Loosen.
2. The entire map is very dark! It was hard to see anything and to find clues, especially with a blindfold on.
3. The first puzzle involving smashing the glass bottle in order to cut the rope is unclear to the player (or at least to me). I grabbed everything in the starting cell, but I then got stuck because I didn't know that the glass bottle residing in my inventory was the solution. I suggest that instead of having to pick up the bottle and dropping it from the inventory, the bottle should be shattered by the player upon activation. That way, players won't be confused because the bottle would be tucked away in their inventory and there is no other hint that you'd use the glass shards to cut the rope.
4. The times when the player is mind-controlled and the movement is controlled by the game is oftentimes buggy. The player would wander around and keep getting stuck. In the end, I found that TCL, player.setav speedmult, and the whirlwind sprint shout were vital in getting past those moments.
5. In various areas of the cave which the player is not supposed to be at (like going into the bandit's cave or trying to go to Boethia's shrine), the mind control would activate. I assume that it's supposed to be a barrier so the player doesn't skip ahead. However, I found that after the mind control wears off, I could just continue on and go past that "barrier." Perhaps this is an issue with the player-ai's pathfinding not sending the player back to the correct spot upon hitting the barrier?
6. I had visual issues where I would place buckets on the gargoyles' heads and after a while, the buckets would be floating a few meters away.
7. The rope shortcut near Walker's hut had physics enabled. In other words, the little rope activation object was not attacked to the ground, so it could be kicked away and lost.
8. There are many holes in the terrain and areas where the player can get stuck around the entire cavern. 
9. Finding the whispering wall was wildly inconsistent. I felt as though the clues weren't clear and going into the gloomy ruin was not consistent enough. I had to TCL in.
10. The section where you are interrogated by Irkalla in her bedroom was very broken. I got weird, presumably placeholder, message boxes during it. The event would keep repeating if I didn't carefully choose the correct dialogue. 
11. Every single Molag Bal barrier was irritating to get past. It was annoying to have to guess the correct device to put on in order to get past the barrier. It is not clear which device is needed to get past. For instance, when I got to the second floor of the living quarters for the first time, I thought that I was supposed to go past the barrier to Irkalla's bedroom. I did not realize that at that stage, I was not supposed to get past that.
12. During the Trial of the Toy, I was able to leave the living quarters, which is probably unintended. It also uses the same worldspace as the actual living quarters. So, I could interact with things during that trail that I left beforehand. For instance, the chest in the fitting room contained items that I left there previously. A solution to both of those problems would be to create a separate cell that is a copy of the living quarters.
13. During the Trial of the Prisoner, I found it annoying to repeat the entire straitjacket sequence every time I had to repeat the quest. I suggest that if you fail the trail (after you know how to free yourself from the jacket) and redo it, there can be a way to fast-forward to after you freed yourself from the straitjacket. That saves a lot of time.
14. It took me a while to get past the locked door and into Mephala's secret area. It took me a while to realize that the note hint was for that puzzle since they are found at different stages (on a side note, I found it odd that love equals destruction).
15. I can foresee a pacing issue where the player can get all the prerequisite staffs and get into the vault early. 
16. When I got into the vault, I could not find my items prior to starting the quest! In fact, they are found nowhere! The player's inventory from before starting the quest gets wiped because it does not get transferred to one of the chests in the vault. 
17. The final stage of the quest is so good! It's climactic and the different endings are cool. The ending where the player is trapped in Molag Bal's realm is brutal yet cool. 
18. The fight with either Irkalla or the Dremora is overtuned. Not sure if you are supposed to lose in those instances. 
19. Every time I speak to the Molag Bal actor in the final stage, he gives no response.
20. Once the quest is done, the exit is trap-ridden and filled with bandits. I understand the many traps, but the bandits seem excessive and unthematic since they're camped essentially right outside of Irkalla's home. I suggest removing the bandits in the exit cave.

 

I sound like a broken record now, but I love this mod! Both quests are great puzzles and provide a unique twist to the DD experience. Overall, in The Gordian Bind, the main issue I and many others in this thread face is a lack of clear direction. There is no mysterious orb to guide the player this time, but I think that the various NPCs are supposed to act in place of the orb. Still, since the quest is so open and not linear, the npcs can be giving the player outdated hints or hints for a puzzle the player hasn't started yet. Aside from bug fixes and compatibility, improving NPC dialogue can enhance the storyline, give more depth to the characters, and also solve the issue of a lack of guidance if the player gets stuck. 

 

Edited March 10, 2024 by nonononomakeitstop

[Allen Harris]

49 minutes ago, nonononomakeitstop said:

This mod is great! I have gotten to all the endings of both quests, and I enjoyed it all. Most of the puzzles were well-put together, and the story is great. 

With that, I'll leave my thoughts and suggestions here (it's A LOT!).

 

  Hide contents

I only had one issue with A Snare to Loosen. I don't know if anybody else in this thread had this same problem, but once I escaped all the cells and am about to confront Irkalla, if I choose the dialogue option that sends me straight to The Gordian Bind without completing the quest. In other words, I completed The Gordian Bind with A Snare to Loosen still active in my journal. 

 

I have a lot more I want to say about The Gordian Bind, however.

1. I was unable to start The Gordian Bind if I chose to start the quest later, so I had to resort to having Irkalla send me straight there after A Snare to Loosen.
2. The entire map is very dark! It was hard to see anything and to find clues, especially with a blindfold on.
3. The first puzzle involving smashing the glass bottle in order to cut the rope is unclear to the player (or at least to me). I grabbed everything in the starting cell, but I then got stuck because I didn't know that the glass bottle residing in my inventory was the solution. I suggest that instead of having to pick up the bottle and dropping it from the inventory, the bottle should be shattered by the player upon activation. That way, players won't be confused because the bottle would be tucked away in their inventory and there is no other hint that you'd use the glass shards to cut the rope.
4. The times when the player is mind-controlled and the movement is controlled by the game is oftentimes buggy. The player would wander around and keep getting stuck. In the end, I found that TCL, player.setav speedmult, and the whirlwind sprint shout were vital in getting past those moments.
5. In various areas of the cave which the player is not supposed to be at (like going into the bandit's cave or trying to go to Boethia's shrine), the mind control would activate. I assume that it's supposed to be a barrier so the player doesn't skip ahead. However, I found that after the mind control wears off, I could just continue on and go past that "barrier." Perhaps this is an issue with the player-ai's pathfinding not sending the player back to the correct spot upon hitting the barrier?
6. I had visual issues where I would place buckets on the gargoyles' heads and after a while, the buckets would be floating a few meters away.
7. The rope shortcut near Walker's hut had physics enabled. In other words, the little rope activation object was not attacked to the ground, so it could be kicked away and lost.
8. There are many holes in the terrain and areas where the player can get stuck around the entire cavern. 
9. Finding the whispering wall was wildly inconsistent. I felt as though the clues weren't clear and going into the gloomy ruin was not consistent enough. I had to TCL in.
10. The section where you are interrogated by Irkalla in her bedroom was very broken. I got weird, presumably placeholder, message boxes during it. The event would keep repeating if I didn't carefully choose the correct dialogue. 
11. Every single Molag Bal barrier was irritating to get past. It was annoying to have to guess the correct device to put on in order to get past the barrier. It is not clear which device is needed to get past. For instance, when I got to the second floor of the living quarters for the first time, I thought that I was supposed to go past the barrier to Irkalla's bedroom. I did not realize that at that stage, I was not supposed to get past that.
12. During the Trial of the Toy, I was able to leave the living quarters, which is probably unintended. It also uses the same worldspace as the actual living quarters. So, I could interact with things during that trail that I left beforehand. For instance, the chest in the fitting room contained items that I left there previously. A solution to both of those problems would be to create a separate cell that is a copy of the living quarters.
13. During the Trial of the Prisoner, I found it annoying to repeat the entire straitjacket sequence every time I had to repeat the quest. I suggest that if you fail the trail (after you know how to free yourself from the jacket) and redo it, there can be a way to fast-forward to after you freed yourself from the straitjacket. That saves a lot of time.
14. It took me a while to get past the locked door and into Mephala's secret area. It took me a while to realize that the note hint was for that puzzle since they are found at different stages (on a side note, I found it odd that love equals destruction).
15. I can foresee a pacing issue where the player can get all the prerequisite staffs and get into the vault early. 
16. When I got into the vault, I could not find my items prior to starting the quest! In fact, they are found nowhere! The player's inventory from before starting the quest gets wiped because it does not get transferred to one of the chests in the vault. 
17. The final stage of the quest is so good! It's climactic and the different endings are cool. The ending where the player is trapped in Molag Bal's realm is brutal yet cool. 
18. The fight with either Irkalla or the Dremora is overtuned. Not sure if you are supposed to lose in those instances. 
19. Every time I speak to the Molag Bal actor in the final stage, he gives no response.
20. Once the quest is done, the exit is trap-ridden and filled with bandits. I understand the many traps, but the bandits seem excessive and unthematic since they're camped essentially right outside of Irkalla's home. I suggest removing the bandits in the exit cave.

 

I sound like a broken record now, but I love this mod! Both quests are great puzzles and provide a unique twist to the DD experience. Overall, in The Gordian Bind, the main issue I and many others in this thread face is a lack of clear direction. There is no mysterious orb to guide the player this time, but I think that the various NPCs are supposed to act in place of the orb. Still, since the quest is so open and not linear, the npcs can be giving the player outdated hints or hints for a puzzle the player hasn't started yet. Aside from bug fixes and compatibility, improving NPC dialogue can enhance the storyline, give more depth to the characters, and also solve the issue of a lack of guidance if the player gets stuck. 

 

I believe Frayed fixed the A Snare to Loosen quest not completing in the last update (on Wednesday, I think). In fact, several of your comments were addressed in it (like the rope physics). Just FYI

I had the issue with darkness too; fixed it by turning up brightness to max in game settings.

Edited March 10, 2024 by Allen Harris

[RadicalDentist]

35 minutes ago, Allen Harris said:

I believe Frayed fixed the A Snare to Loosen quest not completing in the last update (on Wednesday, I think). In fact, several of your comments were addressed in it (like the rope physics). Just FYI

I had the issue with darkness too; fixed it by turning up brightness to max in game settings.

Oh sick, they're fixed? That's great! I avoided updating the mod because I feared that it would break my save before I finished the quest. I started over a week ago and I finished it today. It's a very long quest, but I am so glad to see Frayed fixing all these issues! 

[Zaflis]

On 3/9/2024 at 4:05 AM, crash__ said:

I'm getting the same crash, running on legendary edition.

 

the crash log contains this:

...

which sounds a bit like a null pointer error (i've never made mods for skyrim so i could be wrong, but that's usually what that means)

What you quoted isn't enough information, crashlogs show normally other things that refer more directly to the issues with real words. Recent list of dll's being run etc, so we might see something if you uploaded the entire log.

 

In any case most crashes on LE are about HDT system, or it being installed somehow bad way. HDT requires specific skeleton to work for example. And the other half is from memory manager of which players have to do some "hacks" to counter them.

Edited March 10, 2024 by Zaflis

[Polonium]

Hi, I'm running into a CTD in the first part of the mod: When interacting with either the Hint Orb, Stone Mask or the Daedric Altar the game crashes/CTDs instantly. The mod has worked completely fine up until this point, the innkeeper and courier both interacted without issue.

I have the 2.01 version of the mod installed and the optional voice pack. I tried disabling the voice pack, but that did not solve the issue.

Thanks.

Edit: Found the problem: I had the wrong version of the Papyrus Extender mod installed: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/22854?tab=description
Installing the correct version fixed the bug.

 

Papyrus.0.log

skyrimse__10-03-2024_14-16-53.txt

Edited March 10, 2024 by Polonium