Adventures with Balazar (Balazar's Bitch) - Beta

[Gristle]

3 hours ago, MereFJ said:

when I pick the dialogue option to tell Balazar to leave me alone dirty beast (or something like that), I get a message that it angers him and he tears some of my clothing off. And then one or two pieces of armor, like a cuirass and tasset, will be unequipped.  It doesn't touch accessories. So I'm guessing that it isn't working in your case because your PC isn't wearing suitable clothing to begin with?  The message does not repeat with my character, it's a one off response to that dialogue choice, but if it is unable to work because your character lacks clothing, maybe it keeps trying?  Is there an animation listed in sexlab that you can stop?

Because he is using the SexLab strip function, what Balazar strips when angered can be set in the SexLab MCM.

 

If the problem is that he does not stop attacking, the solution is to talk to him and apologize.

[Seeker999]

I played through the entire quest line. Except for the Dravynea issue mentioned already, it worked. The second part Balazar was always in his native form. I heard a lot of comments, though no one attacked him - including guards. It was a bit too creature-centric for my tastes, but I wanted to let you know that I thought it was well thought out and well done overall. I use your SLSFF-C mod and am looking forward to your future projects. ?

[Gristle]

2 hours ago, Seeker999 said:

I played through the entire quest line. Except for the Dravynea issue mentioned already, it worked. The second part Balazar was always in his native form. I heard a lot of comments, though no one attacked him - including guards. It was a bit too creature-centric for my tastes, but I wanted to let you know that I thought it was well thought out and well done overall. I use your SLSFF-C mod and am looking forward to your future projects. ?

Thanks for the note. I'm adding a quest marker for Dravynea's destination as a workaround until I can figure out what's keeping her from moving. In the second part, Balazar should turn into a dog in cities and towns. Sometimes it takes a bit of time, however. (This will be immediate in the next version.) Did he never turn into a dog in cities and towns? The guard attack thing is something I'm adding in the next version. It's not there yet.

 

Going forward, I plan to try to have a better mix of creature and non-creature scenes. There will be additional flexibility now that the curse is lifted. Balazar will prefer his humanoid form in the future (and will seek the PC's help in gaining favor with the Jarls so he does not have to hide it = future quests), but players will be able to request the dog form. Also, I plan to add switches to the MCM to skip scenes with certain creatures (e.g., skeever, chaurus, spider). And, of course, you can skip all creature scenes by disabling or removing creature animations.

[Alturistix]

6 hours ago, Gristle said:

I don't know the cause of this. It works perfectly on my game. I am adding a quest marker to her destination in the next version to help out, but hope to figure out why she's not moving for some players eventually. Based on your test, it sounds like the AI package is trying to work, but she's just not pathing out of the inn for some reason. Do you have any modifications to Kynesgrove?

It didn't work for me even if I moved her to the mine. I simply explored the mine and the quest progressed to the next stage somehow. Maybe there's a condition tripping that checks for player presence and that's causing her to not move as long as player is in the cell?

[Onomatophobia]

7 hours ago, Gristle said:

The story of the mod is that Balazar prefers his natural form, but I am planning to add dialogue where you can ask him to turn into his dog form (even in places where he would prefer his natural form). But not until the next stage of the mod, when you will have earned the right to ask such a favor of him. But, I will likely limit this to when you are just using him as a follower. During his actual quests, I need to be able to control his form to make the quests make sense and work right.

 

The next phase of the mod will actually be to assist Balazar in gaining favor with each of the nine Jarls so that they allow him in the cities and towns in his natural form without being attacked by the guards (which scenarios I'm also adding).  

 

As for more events for his dog form, any suggestions? It's hard to come up with a variety of dog events, which is one reason the mod is moving Balazar towards his natural form more. I can think of a lot more events in that form. In any case, the plan is to keep a mix of creature and non-creature events.

 

As for DD, curious about the objection. Is it the dependency? The fact that locked devices can interfere with gameplay? I'm trying to avoid dependencies with this mod, but having access to some DD or ZaZ assets would allow me to create more scenarios.

 

Well, guess all I have to do is wait for the third part then =D

As for the suggestions, I would personally start with the classics - Balazar picks where he wants it, one of the orifices. Then there could be a force strip event, Balazar simply wants to assert his dominance (maybe even confiscating the armor for the time being?). And maybe an event where some random dog(s) join in on the action, maybe even forming a line? There could also be an event where Balazar "attracts"(mind controls?) hold-appropriate creatures using his daedric magic to have fun with the protag for his amusement (could be done in both forms actually)? I bet its possible to make it a gradual thing, to have Balazar unlock the scenes depending on the quest progression.

 

Yeah, the dependancy is huge for a small mod like this - you can simply make your own unique equipment if its only one item. Also, not to be rude or anything, but

Spoiler

frankly I think there are way too many mods featuring DDs, you dont have to put them in just because your character is supposed to be in the submissive role, its getting silly even. Might just as well merge the base SexLab framework together with DD.

 

Edited November 14, 2023 by Onomatophobia

[killer905]

Perhaps you would be interested in such a solution?
On approach to the gate in the floor, the "PC" slips and falls lower into a room much larger than it is now and is attacked there by a seeker?

[Seeker999]

4 hours ago, Gristle said:

Balazar should turn into a dog in cities and towns. Sometimes it takes a bit of time, however. (This will be immediate in the next version.) Did he never turn into a dog in cities and towns?

No. There was dialog, but I never asked him and he never turned on his own.

[Gristle]

13 hours ago, Alturistix said:

It didn't work for me even if I moved her to the mine. I simply explored the mine and the quest progressed to the next stage somehow. Maybe there's a condition tripping that checks for player presence and that's causing her to not move as long as player is in the cell?

The only condition to her moving is the quest stage, which is set when her last dialogue line ends. (In my game she immediately turns and heads out as soon as the last dialogue line disappears, which is making this hard for me to troubleshoot.) My initial thought was that her path was being blocked, especially if she's in one of the bedrooms when you speak with her. The PC or Balazar or an NPC could block. Another possibility is that someone is blocking the exit door. But, I'm sure people would have figured this out already if it was something so simple.

 

I guess the good news is that the next quest stage advancement is done not by any interaction with her, but with a later (and unavoidable) trigger box, so there's no need to interact with her further. The only purpose of the "follow" phase was just to learn her destination. So, I'm just going to add a quest marker to her destination.

[Gristle]

16 hours ago, killer905 said:

Perhaps you would be interested in such a solution?
On approach to the gate in the floor, the "PC" slips and falls lower into a room much larger than it is now and is attacked there by a seeker?

But then what if the PC never approaches the gate? Actually, a bigger issue is the pit is prefabricated and I don't know enough about dungeon building to redo it.

[Gristle]

18 hours ago, Onomatophobia said:

As for the suggestions, I would personally start with the classics - Balazar picks where he wants it, one of the orifices. Then there could be a force strip event, Balazar simply wants to assert his dominance (maybe even confiscating the armor for the time being?).

That is my general plan. Balazar is already requiring nudity in cities and towns. Taking away armor in wilderness/dungeons seems too harsh.

 

18 hours ago, Onomatophobia said:

And maybe an event where some random dog(s) join in on the action, maybe even forming a line? There could also be an event where Balazar "attracts"(mind controls?) hold-appropriate creatures using his daedric magic to have fun with the protag for his amusement (could be done in both forms actually)? I bet its possible to make it a gradual thing, to have Balazar unlock the scenes depending on the quest progression.

That's also the general plan. 

 

As for DD, making unique equipment involves a lot of knowledge of 3D modeling that I unfortunately don't have. My thinking on DD/ZaZ is not to add wearable items (beyond a collar, which would fit the theme of the mod well), but rather to include "furniture" type items (like the restraints used in part 2 of the mod, which are from the vanilla game).

 

[blahity]

 

27 minutes ago, Gristle said:

That is my general plan. Balazar is already requiring nudity in cities and towns. Taking away armor in wilderness/dungeons seems too harsh.

 

That's also the general plan. 

 

As for DD, making unique equipment involves a lot of knowledge of 3D modeling that I unfortunately don't have. My thinking on DD/ZaZ is not to add wearable items (beyond a collar, which would fit the theme of the mod well), but rather to include "furniture" type items (like the restraints used in part 2 of the mod, which are from the vanilla game).

 

Hopefully we can find a way to get Balazar back after the PC has dismissed him. I can imagine some fun scenarios that can take place in front of the Jarls. As for DD/ZaZ, it would be an interesting reversal if when in towns or castles an event would trigger requiring the PC to be in a DD Pet Suit for X game hours. Maybe Balazar claiming that the suit enchants NPCs and Dogs to see her as just an ordinary dog (in heat which earns her the attention of many of the cities dogs). After completing the "earning the jarls' favor" quest for a city maybe there could be a chance that Balazar doesn't even activate the enchantment, much to the PC's humiliation.

You are Balazar's Bitch after all, makes sense he would want to take you out for a walk or force you to breed.

Edited November 15, 2023 by blahity

[killer905]

3 hours ago, Gristle said:

But then what if the PC never approaches the gate? Actually, a bigger issue is the pit is prefabricated and I don't know enough about dungeon building to redo it.

The answer is "curiosity" - how many people out of curiosity approach something to see what it is or what happened.

 

Okay, I see.

[Onomatophobia]

14 hours ago, Gristle said:

That is my general plan. Balazar is already requiring nudity in cities and towns. Taking away armor in wilderness/dungeons seems too harsh.

 

But thats only after the first part, no? You can have it trigger very rarely while we are on the first part of the quest, and then turn it off afterwards. Or just reduce the chance even more aftr we start the second part.

 

14 hours ago, Gristle said:

As for DD, making unique equipment involves a lot of knowledge of 3D modeling that I unfortunately don't have. My thinking on DD/ZaZ is not to add wearable items (beyond a collar, which would fit the theme of the mod well), but rather to include "furniture" type items (like the restraints used in part 2 of the mod, which are from the vanilla game).

 

Well if it wont require a DD framework install, that would be fine by me ?

 

Very late edit: just got an idea about having Balazar "stay" after finishing all quests. He could give you a collar, that, when equipped, would summon him to you and unsummon him when you take it off.

Edited November 15, 2023 by Onomatophobia

[MereFJ]

Sorry, came across another problem.  I was at Kynesgrove doing the Delphine quest. Alduin had just started his dialogue to raise the other dragon to attack me, and Balazar jumped me (no dialogue for it either, so no chance to resist!).  I got stuck in that sex scene and got killed by the dragon.  It took 4 tries before I was able to react early enough to Alduin raising the other dragon and start that fight before Balazar could jump me.   Would be nice if Balazar wouldn't start sex scene if another NPC is talking to the DB.

[MereFJ]

okay, I've run into a roadblock.  I'm doing the skeever quest in the second part.  Main attack happened in the marketplace by the blacksmith, now I get a message in the journal to go someplace else with nords to have them see the skeevers. But I can't find any place that works. Except for the market there aren't hardly any nords about in Windhelm except guards (and the witnesses for blood on the ice) and the skeevers aren't triggering a second attack??

[dechurch]

On 11/13/2023 at 6:14 PM, Gristle said:

I don't know the cause of this. It works perfectly on my game. I am adding a quest marker to her destination in the next version to help out, but hope to figure out why she's not moving for some players eventually. Based on your test, it sounds like the AI package is trying to work, but she's just not pathing out of the inn for some reason. Do you have any modifications to Kynesgrove?

 

 

Not that I know of. Other than Troubles of Heroine and Immersive Wenches. The inn is pretty crowded. But even a moveto.player didn't seem to want to get her moving. I disabled and enabled, advanced time, ran into her and even did a recycleactor.

[dechurch]

On 11/17/2023 at 1:57 AM, MereFJ said:

okay, I've run into a roadblock.  I'm doing the skeever quest in the second part.  Main attack happened in the marketplace by the blacksmith, now I get a message in the journal to go someplace else with nords to have them see the skeevers. But I can't find any place that works. Except for the market there aren't hardly any nords about in Windhelm except guards (and the witnesses for blood on the ice) and the skeevers aren't triggering a second attack??

 

I was kind of at a loss on this one, too. Just find a nord and talk to them.

[zhuguannan]

where have you been i my life!

[Gristle]

On 11/16/2023 at 10:57 PM, MereFJ said:

okay, I've run into a roadblock.  I'm doing the skeever quest in the second part.  Main attack happened in the marketplace by the blacksmith, now I get a message in the journal to go someplace else with nords to have them see the skeevers. But I can't find any place that works. Except for the market there aren't hardly any nords about in Windhelm except guards (and the witnesses for blood on the ice) and the skeevers aren't triggering a second attack??

The stage will advance based on receiving certain "Hello" type comments from NPCs about the skeevers. The comments can be triggered anywhere, but the marketplace is a good location as it is usually well populated. The quest says they have to be Nords but actually anyone but a Dark Elf will trigger the right comments. It's random so you may have to run past a few to trigger.  I'll take a look at the objective description for the quest stage. It shouldn't say "someplace else" as a different location is not required.

 

EDIT: I'll replace the bad description with "I should continue to lead the skeevers around the Stone Quarter." in the next version.

Edited November 19, 2023 by Gristle

[Gristle]

On 11/15/2023 at 1:48 AM, MereFJ said:

Sorry, came across another problem.  I was at Kynesgrove doing the Delphine quest. Alduin had just started his dialogue to raise the other dragon to attack me, and Balazar jumped me (no dialogue for it either, so no chance to resist!).  I got stuck in that sex scene and got killed by the dragon.  It took 4 tries before I was able to react early enough to Alduin raising the other dragon and start that fight before Balazar could jump me.   Would be nice if Balazar wouldn't start sex scene if another NPC is talking to the DB.

If Balazar jumps you with no dialogue and no chance to resist then that attack is not coming from this mod. If you are running Aroused Creatures, you may want to disable it during this stage of the mod. With a dog next to you constantly, Aroused Creatures is going to make him attack a PC a lot. Also, turning off creature followers in the Aroused Creatures MCM won't help, as it won't see Balazar as a follower.

 

That said, I take your point about how Balazar shouldn't assault when the PC is talking to an NPC. Unfortunately, there's no such condition in the Creation Kit. There is a condition for when a PC is talking to a *particular* NPC, and I do use that to protect the conversations with the quest actors, but there's no script-free way to cover all NPC conversations.

[keitolainen]

I just finished playing through this mod and love it. Really fun, thanks for making it. I logged in to ask if you planned on adding something post-quest, to use Balazar as a follower without still being cursed, or to opt for a temporary curse, etc, but it looks like you plan to expand the mod more. Looking forward to it.

 

I played the mod with a dremora replacer, so Balazar was female in my game, and it worked great. I didn't realize he was meant to be male. For people that don't use a replacer mod like that, would you consider adding an option to gender-swap? The dialogue already fits a futa demon perfectly. Just an idea, I'm cool with my setup as is.

 

One thing though: after completing the quest I still get the "I'm freezing my ass off!" messages when the pc is naked. Could we have an option to disable those notifications? I'd prefer not to uninstall the mod just because I've finished the quest. Thanks!

 

Edit: Actually, nevermind. I used my powerful brain and figured out I can just use the "stopquest" console command. No more notifications. Looking forward to more content!

Edited November 20, 2023 by keitolainen

[MereFJ]

I just finished this quest mod, very clever!  I did have a bit of trouble in Windhelm, but a kind visitor gave me the hint I needed. I did decide to proceed without Balazar, as he was causing comments from npcs, stood too close in combat and blocked me a lot, and then the stripping function got annoying after a bit. Gosh, Balazar would make a fun and funky follower companion IMO.  I just wish you would tweak the stripping function; instead of doing it in the city (doesn't make much sense if he's hiding as a dog to then strip the PC and draw unwanted attention), Balazar should demand that the PC be naked whenever they are in the player's home or camping. The rest of the time he should dress the PC in special armor to denote she's his servant.  After all, Balazar is using the PC as a go between or proxy because his appearance scares most people, right?

 

BTW, I would be opposed to including anything from DD. That mod has always caused problems in my game. zaz is a possible alternative, but I personally would prefer staying away from the bondage stuff because there always seems to be problems that crop up after playing awhile. There are enough assets (clothing, jewelry, armor, piercings, tattoos) around from other mods that you could find something suitable and ask the mod author for permission to use it.  A mod like slavetats works pretty easily and you could use a collar tattoo or something similar.

[MereFJ]

15 hours ago, Gristle said:

If Balazar jumps you with no dialogue and no chance to resist then that attack is not coming from this mod. If you are running Aroused Creatures, you may want to disable it during this stage of the mod. With a dog next to you constantly, Aroused Creatures is going to make him attack a PC a lot. Also, turning off creature followers in the Aroused Creatures MCM won't help, as it won't see Balazar as a follower.

 

That said, I take your point about how Balazar shouldn't assault when the PC is talking to an NPC. Unfortunately, there's no such condition in the Creation Kit. There is a condition for when a PC is talking to a *particular* NPC, and I do use that to protect the conversations with the quest actors, but there's no script-free way to cover all NPC conversations.

thanks, but I'm not running Aroused Creatures.

[monty359]

16 hours ago, Gristle said:

The stage will advance based on receiving certain "Hello" type comments from NPCs about the skeevers. The comments can be triggered anywhere, but the marketplace is a good location as it is usually well populated. The quest says they have to be Nords but actually anyone but a Dark Elf will trigger the right comments. It's random so you may have to run past a few to trigger.  I'll take a look at the objective description for the quest stage. It shouldn't say "someplace else" as a different location is not required.

 

EDIT: I'll replace the bad description with "I should continue to lead the skeevers around the Stone Quarter." in the next version.

That explain the behavior i experienced. I too run to the marketplace and the first animation started there. Then i run around and nothing happened (i ws evening and no NPCs were around). then i visited the local inn. It was full with NPCs. The second animation started quite fast after entering. I use scrapies matchmaker, so NPCs gathered around. During the animation i got the second message. If memory serves, the third animation did not start and quest was done. Can anyone confirm/deny?

[Gristle]

9 hours ago, monty359 said:

That explain the behavior i experienced. I too run to the marketplace and the first animation started there. Then i run around and nothing happened (i ws evening and no NPCs were around). then i visited the local inn. It was full with NPCs. The second animation started quite fast after entering. I use scrapies matchmaker, so NPCs gathered around. During the animation i got the second message. If memory serves, the third animation did not start and quest was done. Can anyone confirm/deny?

I ran into this too. The next version (coming soon) will include a fix so that the quest-advancing comments can't come during the skeever sex animation. That can happen now, and it causes the quest to advance prior to the intended three skeever sex scenes. No real quest issue, but it could cause two skeever sex scenes to be skipped.