The Forbidden Tome

[Mister X]

The Forbidden Tome

View File

---

BETA release

This is my re-interpretation of a funny little quest that once was included in the Devious Devices framework as introduction to those new devices.

As a member/visitor of the College Of Winterhold you should be careful when taking a glimpse in Forbidden Bookcases...

 

How to start

look for a letter and a key on the lowest shelf of Urag gro-Shubs counter. Read the letter to get an idea where to start...

Or, since v0.5, simply search for the case itself and try to pick it. If you can't see it, the letter gives a hint why not.

 

The difference to Devious Deviants

@naaitsab tried to re-create the original Forbidden Tome quest as close as possible, based on the latest DD framework. It also includes several more things that were part of the original Devious Deviants.

My version is a re-interpretation: I created Forbidden Tome from scratch only using the base idea. It has new approaches to certain things as well as new dialogues. And no Message Boxes.

 

Great thing: as I knew naaitsab also did work on this task, as we helped each other, I created my mod to be as compatible as possible. You should be able to install and play both versions, depending on which key and case you choose! I only would suggest that you merely tackle one Forbidden Tome quest at a time, so they don't directly interfere!

 

Why still beta?

I tested the mod and was able to play through it, but I may have forgotten or missed some bugs. As it's my first mod that heavily depends on CK methods and less on Papyrus, I'm not entirely sure that everything works as wanted.

It still misses some features, too. Those I want to add later, when the base story works reliably. They mainly include a way to get hands on the book aswell as a reference to the original character Zed Curio.

 

Requirements

A working mod setup that includes

• Skyrim SE or AE or AE DLC
• Devious Devices SE

 

For LE users

I don't officially support LE. I don't have it installed anymore and all my latest releases are created with SE v1.6.x and the SE CK.

However, as I suppose the quest design itself SHOULD work, it's only the bsa archive which is the problem. You can use tools like the Cathedral Assets Optimizer to un-/repack the archive, then the mod should work for you. Tutorials for that can be found by web searching  

 

Features

A small quest story with different outcomes, depending on your behaviour during the task. I was hoping to catch the "quirkiness" of the original writings, but with entirely new dialogues.

 

FAQ and Help

Spoiler

Why can't I see the Forbidden Bookcase?

Most probably you already have a devious quest running and you wear a devious quest item. Then the case is hidden.

 

I can't find Zenidius, he's nowhere near the position the marker shows!

If you just found an item, try to get closer to the marker.

If you are searching for Zenidius, for some reason he sometimes might wait outside together with the bandits. I don't know, why.

If you find that there are too many markers, send set tftEasyZen to 1 in the console, that eliminates some (not all) of them

 

I can't find the item Zenidius wants!

It's named exactly the same as it's shown in the objective. It's alway called "Special [Object]" with [Object] being a placeholder for the normal name

If you don't want to search each and every possible chest, send set tftEasyObjects to 1 in the console, then a marker shows the object

 

Credits

@naaitsab - for helping me by debugging and providing ideas

@Min - created the original Forbidden Tomes quest that got eliminated from the Devious Devices framework a few versions ago

---

• Submitter
  Mister X
• Submitted
  06/18/2023
• Category
  Quests
• Requires
  Devious Devices SE
• Regular Edition Compatible
  No

 

[ChandraArgentis]

Never played the original Forbidden Tome quest.  How does it differ from DD?

[Mister X]

5 minutes ago, ChandraArgentis said:

Never played the original Forbidden Tome quest.  How does it differ from DD?

 

You mean Deviants? As stated in the description, naaitsabs Deviants tries to recreate the og quest as close as possible. That means, og dialogue, og scenes, og tasks.

This also includes Message Boxes, which pop up at certain stages to explain some story background.

 

I took the base idea and re-imagined it. So, new dialogue and different scenes to eliminate the message boxes and some other tasks. The thing is, I don't want to spoil too much, as it definitely is not a big story. So all I say is, my mod might have less delving and more searching than Deviants. And it ONLY includes Forbidden Tome, naaitsab tries to recreate all small mods that were part of the framework. Eg only Deviants includes Sergius' Experiment.

[ChandraArgentis]

47 minutes ago, Mister X said:

 

You mean Deviants? As stated in the description, naaitsabs Deviants tries to recreate the og quest as close as possible. That means, og dialogue, og scenes, og tasks.

This also includes Message Boxes, which pop up at certain stages to explain some story background.

 

I took the base idea and re-imagined it. So, new dialogue and different scenes to eliminate the message boxes and some other tasks. The thing is, I don't want to spoil too much, as it definitely is not a big story. So all I say is, my mod might have less delving and more searching than Deviants. And it ONLY includes Forbidden Tome, naaitsab tries to recreate all small mods that were part of the framework. Eg only Deviants includes Sergius' Experiment.

For someone who has played none of the three, that is decidedly unhelpful at choosing which mod (if any) to use.

Edited June 18, 2023 by ChandraArgentis

[Allen Harris]

I don't recall their being a quest in the original Devious Devices.

Spoiler

I remember having to get a key that unlocked a bookshelf, which had a book that made u able to craft devious devices - but that's it.

 

Is there something more?

[lktforever]

39 minutes ago, Allen Harris said:

I don't recall their being a quest in the original Devious Devices.

  Reveal hidden contents

I remember having to get a key that unlocked a bookshelf, which had a book that made u able to craft devious devices - but that's it.

 

Is there something more?

There was a first DD quest ever made. Like small introduction into DD framework. For some reason the author (Min) dropped continuation of this quest many years ago and these two quests were deleted from next DD releases

Edited June 18, 2023 by lktforever

[Allen Harris]

17 minutes ago, lktforever said:

There was a first DD quest ever made. Like small introduction into DD framework. For some reason the author (Min) dropped continuation of this quest many years ago and these two quests were deleted from next DD releases

I see

[Allen Harris]

I'm confused:

Spoiler

I took the forbidden key and read the accompanying note. But nothing seems to happen. Ulrag turns aggro if I'm not invisible, but no bookshelf appeared. I even tried wearing a chastity belt in case that was the "proper attire".

What am I missing?

[Yanme]

3 hours ago, Allen Harris said:

I'm confused:

  Hide contents

I took the forbidden key and read the accompanying note. But nothing seems to happen. Ulrag turns aggro if I'm not invisible, but no bookshelf appeared. I even tried wearing a chastity belt in case that was the "proper attire".

What am I missing?

 

Spoiler

One of the bookcases that already exist in the library will turn into the forbidden bookcase. Wearing devious devices is not required (but might in fact block the quest - I don't know).

 

[Yanme]

Yay, some new DD quest content!

Currently. the quest CTDs/crashes for me the moment:

 

Spoiler

I close the forbidden bookshelf.

 

The last line in the papyrus log reads: "bookcase menu closed, attempting to start quest."

 

While I am not really experienced in debugging CTDs, I noticed that one of the main Quest's aliases points to a tftBookContainerReference. The base object of that reference (0x01003165) does not exist in my game/Update.esm on Skyrim SE 1.5.97), so the reference is unresolvable. Sounds suspicious. but could also be unrelated to the CTD after all.

[Min]

Hey! Glad to see my quest from so long ago getting some love between you and @naaitsab these days. . Congrats on the release!

[krzp]

3 hours ago, Yanme said:

Currently. the quest CTDs/crashes for me the moment:

Can confirm, got the CTD on my first try, in the same place.

 

My crash logger shows me this:

Spoiler

    [RSP+258] 0x21383B13100      (TESQuest*)
        Active Quest: false
        Current Stage: 0
        Type: kSideQuest
        File: "TheForbiddenTome.esp"
        Flags: 0x00400008 kInitialized | kFormRetainsID
        Name: "The Forbidden Tome"
        EditorID: "tftForbiddenTomeQuest"
        FormID: 0x59000D67
        FormType: Quest (77)
        GetFullName: "The Forbidden Tome"

 

 

NiNode (count: 3)
 

RTTIName: "NiNode"
Name: "Portal Shared Geometry"
RTTIName: "BSPortalSharedNode"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RTTIName: "NiNode"
Checking Parent: 1
Name: "Shared Portal Geometry"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 RTTIName: "NiNode"
Checking Parent: 6
 RTTIName: "BSMultiBoundNode"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Edited June 19, 2023 by krzp

[krzp]

SSEdit has an error in the esp:

 

Quote

tftBookContainer [REFR:0900C48A] (places [01003165] < Error: Could not be resolved > in GRUP Cell Persistent Children of WinterholdCollegeArcanaeum "The Arcanaeum" [CELL:00013810])

 

[Mister X]

6 hours ago, Yanme said:

Yay, some new DD quest content!

Currently. the quest CTDs/crashes for me the moment:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I close the forbidden bookshelf.

 

The last line in the papyrus log reads: "bookcase menu closed, attempting to start quest."

 

While I am not really experienced in debugging CTDs, I noticed that one of the main Quest's aliases points to a tftBookContainerReference. The base object of that reference (0x01003165) does not exist in my game/Update.esm on Skyrim SE 1.5.97), so the reference is unresolvable. Sounds suspicious. but could also be unrelated to the CTD after all.

 

2 hours ago, krzp said:

Can confirm, got the CTD on my first try, in the same place.

 

My crash logger shows me this:

  Reveal hidden contents

    [RSP+258] 0x21383B13100      (TESQuest*)
        Active Quest: false
        Current Stage: 0
        Type: kSideQuest
        File: "TheForbiddenTome.esp"
        Flags: 0x00400008 kInitialized | kFormRetainsID
        Name: "The Forbidden Tome"
        EditorID: "tftForbiddenTomeQuest"
        FormID: 0x59000D67
        FormType: Quest (77)
        GetFullName: "The Forbidden Tome"

 

 

NiNode (count: 3)
 

RTTIName: "NiNode"
Name: "Portal Shared Geometry"
RTTIName: "BSPortalSharedNode"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RTTIName: "NiNode"
Checking Parent: 1
Name: "Shared Portal Geometry"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 RTTIName: "NiNode"
Checking Parent: 6
 RTTIName: "BSMultiBoundNode"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

1 hour ago, krzp said:

SSEdit has an error in the esp:

 

 

 

 

For some reason the mod wasn't able to place a chest from this mod into the Arcaneum cell. That's the tftBookContainer, everything with "tft" in front probably belongs to and is created by this mod. You'll never see it, it's hidden behind the walls, but it's necessary as that's the fixed place important items should spawn into when the quest starts.

 

Have you already been in the Arcaneum when installing this mod? I can only assume that's the reason. Try to leave the College before installing the mod, so the Arcaneum cell can be properly (re-)loaded and hopefully that will allow the chest to spawn, too.

[Mister X]

3 hours ago, Min said:

Hey! Glad to see my quest from so long ago getting some love between you and @naaitsab these days. . Congrats on the release!

 

Thanks for that! I always wanted to recreate the quest, as I really liked the overall quirky tone by Zed ^^ I just never dared to really touch CK mechanics instead of mainly Papyrus, eg. this was my first approach with dialogues whatsoever ^^

[krzp]

18 minutes ago, Mister X said:

Have you already been in the Arcaneum when installing this mod? I can only assume that's the reason. Try to leave the College before installing the mod, so the Arcaneum cell can be properly (re-)loaded and hopefully that will allow the chest to spawn, too.

Nope, tested it on a semi-new save, where I haven't been there at all. I do have JK's College of Winterhaul and it's lite version on top, maybe they are conflicting with something?

 

I'm on 1.5.97, if that's of any help.

 

Ran through Devious Deviants with the same setup on another save, had no problems.

Edited June 19, 2023 by krzp

[Mister X]

1 hour ago, krzp said:

SSEdit has an error in the esp:

 

 

 

Double checked and that is veeery weird, as here's my SSEEdit output:

[00:00] Start: Checking for Errors
[00:00] Checking for Errors in [08] TheForbiddenTome.esp
[00:00] Done: Checking for Errors, Processed Records: 186, Errors found: 0, Elapsed Time: 00:00

 

So I really have no idea what's happening there. It uses a base object from the Update.esm, an empty Barrel with "No Respawn" flag. That gets placed behind the walls of the Arcaneum permanently (BTW, this shouldn't be an issue with JK's Skyrim or anything, except when they REALLY expand the circumfence/width of the Arcaneum).

 

For some reason, on your end, the game isn't able to find that base object from the Update.esm. And that's for me a way bigger issue as it could be a hint that something else is severely damaged with your installation. Normally, the Update.esm should be able to provide this without any problems, so I absolutely have no clue why it isn't able to find it.

 

Can you check if there's an object with FormID 01003165 when loading the mod's esp into xEdit? If not, it's not the issue with my mod but something else is severely broken on your end, as that's the FormID of the container base object.

[krzp]

28 minutes ago, Mister X said:

Can you check if there's an object with FormID 01003165 when loading the mod's esp into xEdit? If not, it's not the issue with my mod but something else is severely broken on your end, as that's the FormID of the container base object.

Welp.

 

Nope, this is what SSEdit show me.
 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

However, quick googling showed me this:

 

Quote

Yeah, there's something that was used in here which is one of the Ayleid resources which is included in Update.esm in Skyrim 1.6, so it won't work for folks who are still on 1.5 (Best of Both Worlds will work fine). The next update will resolve this, but in the meantime I'll make sure the description notes that.

here

 

So, maybe the broken thing was me using an older version. ?

Perhaps you could change the container for something more SE-friendly?

Or I can just return to this quest when I finally bite the bullet and upgrade to AE.

 

Edited June 19, 2023 by krzp

[Mister X]

13 minutes ago, krzp said:

So, maybe the broken thing was me using an older version. ?

Perhaps you could change the container for something more SE-friendly?

Or I can just return to this quest when I finally bite the bullet and upgrade to AE.

 

I see. TBH, I don't really like to support outdated versions. Additionally, it's not done with deleting the current barrel and placing another container, I'll have to re-link everything, too.

So maybe you just should bite the bullet and switch to the current version. IMHO there's no real reason anymore anyways to stick to the older one...

 

I can make you an offer: if you find any container where the base object is empty and the No Respawn flag is set, I'll see what I can do  

[Mister X]

 

Spoiler

15 hours ago, ChandraArgentis said:

 

 

• Devious Devices: doesn't include anything like that anymore at least since v5.0 (I think it got thrown out even at some v4.x)
• Devious Deviants by naaitsab: recreates the original quests by Min as close as possible, only with bugfixes and adaptions to the new framework functions.
  It also includes another smaller quest, that's not part of this Forbidden Tome mod
• Forbidden Tome (this mod): re-imagined this quest, and only this one. Tried to recreate the overall style of dialogue writing, but everything's written from scratch.
  Additionally, the quest flow did slightly change, it's similar but not totally equal.

If you really can't decide, just install both mods and play one Forbidden Tome quest after another. Like this, you can get both, the og feeling of naaitsabs version and the feeling of my dialogue driven version.

[kurotatsu]

Looks like some ideas just float in the air!

Looking good so far, gave it a run on LE on save directly in Arcanaeum - worked just fine.

Went without a hitch through the quest until

Got Centurion Dynamo Core and has to talk to Urag. Urag is not starting any conversations, replies with his standard greetings and no dialogue starts. Looks like there's empty override dialogue. I've went the most disobedient path, Urag's var at -2 and Zedicus one is at -6.

 

Could be LE-specific thing despite all other parts working perfectly fine.

[Mister X]

11 minutes ago, kurotatsu said:

Looks like some ideas just float in the air!

Looking good so far, gave it a run on LE on save directly in Arcanaeum - worked just fine.

Went without a hitch through the quest until

 

  Hide contents

Got Centurion Dynamo Core and has to talk to Urag. Urag is not starting any conversations, replies with his standard greetings and no dialogue starts. Looks like there's empty override dialogue. I've went the most disobedient path, Urag's var at -2 and Zedicus one is at -6.

 

 

Could be LE-specific thing despite all other parts working perfectly fine.

 

 

 

There's no override for that, just a topic that reads something "I'm back" alongside the rest. If you don't even have the possibility to say something, then something's wrong ?

Edited June 19, 2023 by Mister X

[kimchow]

I have the same problem with no way to talk to Urag.

[blahity]

Any plans to include quests that feature newer devices like the pet suit?

[Yanme]

11 hours ago, Mister X said:

I can make you an offer: if you find any container where the base object is empty and the No Respawn flag is set, I'll see what I can do  

 

Maybe "Evidence Chest" (Skyrim.esm ID 267e7)?. I believe it is empty and does not respawn.

 

 

I replaced the base object with an empty barrel (does respawn though) in SSEEdit and was able to play through the quest just fine, very fun!. It is always exciting to see when DD quest mods take the players responses/behaviour into account and react respectively. Thank you for sharing the mod.

 

I believe I did find two bugs at the end of the questline (spoilers end of quest):

 

Spoiler

Urag will always give me the neutral result, not matter the value of UragMood. UragMood gets set correctly, but the dialog for the neutral option gets chosen anyways. No idea why, might be weirdness due to the property being flagged conditional, but the containing script being not flagged conditional.

 

 

When forcing the bad ending, Urag hides the key in a random container in the hall of elements. However, the hall of elements contains some unreachable vendor chests for college merchants below the floor. In my case, the key was "hidden" inside Tolfdir's(?) vendor chest. Even though the key was in the vendor chest, it was not up for sale at Tolfdir's, so without cheating, the poor player character would remain locked up forever. Which certainly is a punishment for bad behaviour, but probably not as harsh as Urag intended. ? The vendor chests should probably be excluded via conditions.