Vacant Houses

[LongDukDong]

Vacant Houses

View File

---

 

INTRODUCTION:

This plugin allows the player to acquire any residence within the walled cities of the Cyrodiil Province.  If all the owners of a house had died, it may now be acquired for an appropriate fee. However, you MUST have purchased a vanilla/default house first.  Just see the same individual you purchased your original dwelling to continue.

  * For addiitonal properties within Anvil, you will need to see Countess Millona Umbranox instead.

 

Purchasing a house gives you the key to the house (if such a key exists), and a deed to the property. And the house is subsequently renamed to reflect ownership. Not all houses have keys with Inns being the most obvious.
 

The houses available are only those within the city walls, and cover neither the Castles nor Chapels.  Stables exist outside the city walls and are not available, nor is Anvil Lighthouse or any other such dwelling.  It should be easy to understand that the Castles would not be available, those being under the direct province of the County itself. Further, the Office of Imperial Commerce within the Market District is also not available as it and its manager are specifically tied to the Empire. And of the Chapels, those would obviously be tied to the Empire, the Elder Council and the Imperial Cult.

 

Further, this system works with LoversSlaveTrader, allowing you to squat in a house if all the residents have been enslaved. If a house still has a living owner that is not enslaved, you can't squat there.  You won't be the owner, so you do not receive a deed nor key. But access is granted.

 

 

HOUSES PER COUNTY/DISTRICT:

  County/Disrict   Qty   Property values available

  Anvil             14        107,000 Septims/Gold
  Bravil            17         95,800 Septims/Gold
  Bruma             17        180,000 Septims/Gold
  Cheydinhal        16        280,000 Septims/Gold
  Chorrol           16        194,000 Septims/Gold
  Imperial City     87      1,940,000 Septims/Gold
  Leyawiin          17        309,000 Septims/Gold
  Skingrad          19        348,000 Septims/Gold

  --------------   ---   -------------------------

  Total            203      3,453,800 Septims/Gold

 

 

 

HOW IT WORKS:

 

Actual vacancies:

The system operates with a collection of individual 'Quest' pages, most of these quests operating not unlike the default/vanilla quest pages which lets the player purchase the default houses in-game.

Within these basic quests are topics such as "I don't think I'm ready to buy", "That much gold? I don't have it" and "Buy a vacant place in town". And along with each quest, there are numeros other topics, one for each individual house that becomes available within the city or district. However, the "Buy a vacant place in town" topic only appears if a house is indeed available.

Further, each basic quest has attached a script which executes every two seconds, and only within the presence of the Count/ess selliing the property and only within the great hall of their related castle halls. On execution, each script examines if 'all' owners of a house have passed away, flagging the house as available. And if there is at least one house available, then the "Buy a vacant place in town" topic becomes available.

For the Imperial City itself, there is a single quest to handle the sales to the player, and five individual quests for each house-bearing district for house availability.


LoversSlaveTrader squatting:

There is a single quest which operates if LoversSlaveTrader is running. This quest, and the varied scripts attached to it, checks to see if all 'surviving' members that rule a house are enslaved. If that is the case, the system will then let the player stay at the resident with no problem.

I use the phrase 'surviving' members deliberately. For this separates a house that the player may squat and one which he may purchase.

The most recent version of LoversSlaveTrader, version 3.3d, executes a special command built into VacantHouses if an enslaved NPC has been freed.. This test scours through the NPCs defined within the mod for a match with the now-freed slave. And upon finding, the house owned by the former slave will then be returned.


The scripts in general:

HouseLDD{ location }
This script performs the test to see if the residents of a house have died, and then activates a flag to let the player purchase the house.

HouseLDD{ location }Return01-99
Each one of these scripts, one for each house, removes from the player access to the house. It returns the original resident's ownership, locks the doors back up, and returns the original 'owned' beds for the NPCs that originally own the property. This script is currently executed by tne LoversSlaveTrader Squatting system when the player releases a slave from servitude.

HouseLDD{ location }Sale
This script is executed once the player agrees to the purchase of a house. It branches to one of the various sale# scripts (below), and not much else.

HouseLDD{ location }Sale01-99
Each one of these scripts, one for each house, is executed if a house has been properly purchased. Each script takes the player's gold, gives the player the key and deed to the house, changes the name of the property, and executes the house's individual 'transfer' script.

HouseLDD{ location }Transfer01-99
Each one of these scripts, one for each house, grants the player access to the house. It removes the original resident's ownership so trespassing is no longer an issue, unlocks all doors and containers, and replaces the 'owned' beds so both player and any NPCs may sleep.  These scripts are called by both the VacantHouses Sales system and by the LoversSlaveTrader Squatting system

HouseLDDVacantMasterMarker
This and related scripts are meant to apply static markers. Currently not used, the concept was to have markers placed and matching 'packages' for married NPC control.  An idea I have, you could marry someone and the spouse moves into the house and follows a dictated household pattern.

HouseLDDVacantSlaveryMaster
This and related scripts check to see if the NPCs for any individual house has been enslaved. The related scripts only perform tests upon a house if the house hadn't been purchased by the player, and only flags and converts a house as squattable if all surviving members were enslaved.

HouseLDDVacantThrallRelease
This script is triggered by the LoversSlaveTrader system when a slave has been released from servitude. It then branches out to the numerous scripts in search of the formerly enslaved NPC. Upon detection, the ownership of the house and its permissions are reverted back to the NPC. The permissions reverted back by way of the HouseLDD{location}Return# scripts.

 

NPC Testing:

Under most circumstances, the mod will perform a test to see if an NPC has died or been enslaved by its 'reference'.  However, the system which is called by LoversSlaveTrader to return ownership back to the NPC is actually different.  Rather than comparing the NPC's references, the system looks at the actual Database "Base" object.   This, in the instance that an NPC's reference is changed upon being enslaved.
 

 

 

IMPORTANT:

In order to change ownership of possessions and other such features, many household items have been altered. In order to permit the scripts within to remove the 'ownership' of an item or to unlock doors or the like, these in-game items must already be known as Persistent References. Attempting to change the ownership of a door that isn't a persistent reference would result in that script freezing. So there are a LOT of items in most of all the defined houses that have been changed.

 

 

OBSE REQUIREMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

This script requires the use of OBSE version 16 at the very least, this as the mod uses IsPersistent and IsFormValid checks, and more.  But for the music fix option built into the plug-in, you will need OBSE version 21 with its SetCellMusicType command.  The plug-in will close down unless OBSE version 16 is not found.

 

 

REQUIREMENT AND MOD ORDER:

This script requires the Shivering Isle and Knights of the Nine DLC, and  'does' require the Unofficial Oblivion Patch. Because it must account for changes made by Knights of the Nine, it needs to be placed below/after the Knights.esp file in mod order.  The plug-in will close down if the UOP is not found.

 

 

---

• Submitter
  LongDukDong
• Submitted
  12/16/2023
• Category
  Other
• Requires
  Oblivion, OBSE v 16+, Shivering Isles, Knights of the Nine, Unofficial Oblivion Patch

 

Edited February 21, 2024 by LongDukDong

[Pinute]

Liked for two reasons - First, I'm was idly thinking of rebuilding an Oblivion playthrough but seeing how active this forum has been was interesting. Second, I've never seen a mod description that even approaches this clarity, which gives me hope that I can "climb that long hill" to a stable build.

[LongDukDong]

Almost....  There are some issues I need to address within this, the base mod.  And then there are possible add-ons for the future.

 

SALESMANSHIP BUG FIX

VERSION 1.1

 

 

Each house within the quests offers the player three choices: To purchase for the agreed-upon price, to admit that they haven't enough to purchase the property, and to just give it a big NOPE. Unfortunately, there were three houses within the walled city of Leyawiin that did not properly function.  One of these was J'Bari's house, the other two... I admit I cannot remember.  There was no loss of gold resulting in the glitch with these houses, but you were not able to purchase them either.

 

This issue has obviously been repaired, so they may be readily acquired without need for any game restart.

 

♦       ♦       ♦

 

NOW... to cover an issue with the mod.

 

Houses previously owned obviously have cabinets, closets and the like.  Unfortunately, these cabinets respawn the goods within.  This could be benefit to players whom wish to have an ever growing inventory of produce. But this comes at a severe cost.  Respawning cabinets 'erase' any goods previously placed within. So a well-armed adventurer may not wish to place their hard earned Ebony armor inside a closet in any previously owned domicile.

 

Much like the bedding within VacantHouses, duplicates for all cabinetry needs to be created.  One may think that the OBSE command "SetContainersRespawn" would permit the system to remove a 'respawn' state from a now-owned container. But no.  The effect of the OBSE command does not persist within your savegame files, and reloaded games revert the containers back to their original condition.  

 

So a long and tedious process needs to be undertaken to alter every single container for every floor of every house where a container indeed respawns.
 

EDIT:  How long will it take to handle code to deal with respawning containers?  The house of the "Rat Lady" in Anvil has over twenty respawning crates, containers and barrels.  I watched the entire run of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (c) 1982 by the time I got done with hers.  And some 'barrels/crates' do not have 'no-respawning' counterparts.

 

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by LongDukDong

[mma75online]

Its Good U back to modding.

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

[mma75online]

nice work, even I can't get the point why U buy other vanilla house. Normally Player use custom house mod to get a lot of boxes to sort his stuff or more beds for companions or even for beauty & high texture. This maybe be reasonable to me if house owner get dead a new NPC with city wonder, eat, sleep .... AI get his place. 

[espguy]

I wonder if the script would allow for it to work with city overhauls. Not wanting to sound demanding but could you make so its possible to buy extra houses and get paid rent for it? Always wanted to make a trade prince character and this would be perfeect since there arent many ways to invest or play the economic game in oblivion.

[LongDukDong]

CURRENT PROGRESS HERE:

 

I had just finished... TWO... test runs of Oblivion.  The first a playthrough while KILLIN' everyone as a Brotherhood member, doing all the jobs in the Fighters Guild and taking over a guildhall, being a sneaky sneak... and so one.   The second playthrough, I made a script that basically killed EVERYONE who had a purchasable house (even those initially disabled and/or protected).  And likewise, fixed about 2 or 3 container references that needed swapping because of their 'respawning goods' nature.

 

I found a couple things out. 

 

Well, I didn't rename ALL the houses properly in the Imperial City.  That's just touch-up.

 

The OTHER... is interesting.

 

What happens when you unlock a door in the game?  The status of that door is generally saved within the savefile, this to keep track of the door's status.  So indeed, a pre-made character found in Nexus (if you went that route) would have the starting locked/unlocked states of all the doors from that point on. That would obviously make sense.  Save a game after going through a few doors, those door states are then saved too.  What I did not realize is that the information about the door states also included the lock-level of the doors and the key used for the doors. 

 

Indeed, anyone using a pre-made character, even if just starting off in ImperialDungeon01 just before you meet the Emperor, that character has the states of the doors including assigned keys and lock levels at game start.  The lock-levels and assigned keys will not be changed by any mod performing direct edits within their reference editor.  It's too laaaaate!  I tested this between using a pre-made character (no LAPF or etc.), and a 'New Game' character, testing the same door where I used a cheap mod just changing a door's lock level.  *Yeah, I made a mod that just sets a lock level from hard to easy level... that's all.

 

HOWEVER, I found I can re-assign keys to doors (or whatever has a lock) by way of an OBSE 17 level command, a setup I can run when the mod starts.  I cannot alter/update the lock level as there is no OBSE or CS command for such a feat.  But I can add or change a key to any door which is surely beneficial...

 

TWO DOORS of interest within Vacant Houses (and whoever needs to know) :

1. Lyra Rosentia's Front Door:
   This door, within Vanilla Oblivion, had no assigned key.
   When using the Unofficial Oblivion Patch, the door has a LyraRosentia key assigned.
   ISSUE:  If you are using a character made before the inclusion of the UOP, the door is assumed not to have a key. And if locked, you're screwed, even if given a Rosentia Key after the fact. The key will not work because your pre-UOP file says the key does not match.
    
2. The Blackwood Company Door:
   This door is set to "Needs a Key" but has no assigned key.
   This door will always lock at night, and open during the day as a result. So entry/exit at night is moot. And any changes to add a key to the door will be ignored by pre-made characters.

 

  Um...

 

I will need to look through and compare any changes between the UOP and Vanilla doors regarding newly-assigned keys, and see what doors need keys where none previously existed.  Well, I know that Blackwood's front door had none, and that the inclusion of a 'script' to assign the key at mod load works.

 

Edited February 16, 2024 by LongDukDong

[LongDukDong]

A PRACTICALLY

COMPLETE RE-DO TO

VERSION 2.0

 

 

If you had the previous version of Vacant Houses, you will need a fresh game.  This version has a configuration system and totally new collection of quest variables. So updating from Version 1+ to Version 2 will not be possible.

 

Version 2 now includes a BSA file that holds custom graphics for the property deeds for each house and custom graphics for one house in particular.  It also now includes an INI file to activate certain features you may find of interest.  One such feature updates older save-game files made before the installation/use of the Unofficial Patch.  Another corrects the ambient music in a Chorrol Tavern after the developers decided to cancel the development of a quest.

 

While it is solely an option can can be disabled within the new INI file, this plug-in can now replace all the 'respawning' containers with duplicates when the player takes over a house.  This ensuring that no goods placed in a closet or drawer are lost.  For the unaware, placing anything in an NPCs closet may vanish because the closet may respawn or re-generate the goods within. This feature is able to replace these closets and ensure that player goods can remain in place.

 

There are a whole host of other features, completely controlled by the INI file. And the INI file has plenty of instructions.

 

As some DLCs and related mods change the placement of certain objects (beds, barrels, doors), this mod now has certain requirements.  It is developed with the Unofficial Oblivion Patch in mind as it changes the placement of many objects within Cyrodiil. And due to some references being changed, it requires that the Knights of the Nine DLC itself be in use.  For that, Vacant Houses must be installed below/after the Knights.esp file.

 

And if you downloaded or created a character before the use of the Unofficial Oblivion Patch, the plug-in has a feature to update your savegame files to recognize changes made by the UOP.  Keys previously not applied but later applied by the UOP and character or faction ownerships are recorded by your saves, and this update will fix any inconsistent and altered data.  For any individual savegame made before the UOP's use, it need only run once.

 

And while it is a requirement to have OBSE v 16 installed, it is recommended to use OBSE v 21 to permit the music changing fixes added to the mod.  It can function without version 21 or higher, but no lower than version 16 will work and will force the mod to exit.

 

And yes, it still works with LoversSlaveTrader.

 

 

MORE TO COME?

 

This mod deals with the housing within the walled cities of Cyrodiil, but does not account for the smaller settlements or individual inns found along the side of the road.  So a  Settlements add-on to Vacant Houses is being considered.  However, I indeed believe that castles, fighters and mage guild halls, and stables are off-limits.

 

Within the BSA, I had already crafted deed graphics for County Kvatch, despite the walled city's state of destruction at game start. So indeed, I have been thinking of an add-on for Kvatch Rebuilt.   And also within the BSA, I have prototype sample deeds for both the lands of Bliss and Dementia within the Shivering Isles DLC itself.

 

Currently, the package contains no audio files for vocal dialogue. However, audio collections are traditionally larger than the graphics supplied.  Expect a separate BSA for character dialogue in the future.  Obviously, they take a while to record.

 

[Melamkish]

Great work!! 😀

 

Just did a quick play to get an idea of what you accomplished. I used my PC that has done all major quests, many side quests that I use for testing. The only thing I saw to comment on were the dead bodies in some locations, like Summitmist Manor. (I know that they are set and can't be changed.) Although, in a previous play through of that quest, I used the resurrect spell, and enslaved the whole bunch, so no bodies.

 

It did take a couple buys to figure out the remodeling part, but when I realized, after visiting, go back to who it was bought from and then remodeling was offered. What a difference!!!

 

I'm just glad my PC had enough coin to try at least one in each city.

[LongDukDong]

2 hours ago, Melamkish said:

Although, in a previous play through of that quest, I used the resurrect spell, and enslaved the whole bunch, so no bodies.

Yeah, I do that too.  Seriously, the dunmeri girl is too cute to stay dead.

 

I may make a 'separate' add-on for corpse disposal.  MIND you, 'disabled' references are still there... just disabled and hidden.  So I am thinking that they need to move into an empty disposal cell.  A pit of death as it were.  Out of sight.  Out of mind.

 

 

Mebby not THIS pit of death...

 

And when you do finish remodeling a place, you should find an envelope somewhere with regards from the construction crew for that locale.

 

And yeah, there are no 'For Sale' signs appearing on the doors or outside the houses. It only appears in the title post to help inform members what the plugin entails.

Edited February 21, 2024 by LongDukDong

[LongDukDong]

A CORRECTIVE UPDATE TO

VERSION 2.2

 

 

This update corrects minor issues that exist within version 2.0.  Nothing changes within the INI file, nor quest values. No restart is necessary and no change would be visible except for ONE circumstance.

 

Between the initial release of Vacant Houses and version 2, there are a ton of houses available.  And with that, there is a ton of flavour-text dialogue relayed by the 'real estate sellers' where they describe the houses and something about the previous owners.  For the most part, this update merely corrects the dialogue where errors appeared.  In some cases, the dialogue was too long and was cut off by Oblivion.  And in other cases, the houses the NPC described the wrong house or may have relayed the wrong district a house existed within the Imperial City itself.  Needless to say, this was an extensively long case of proofreading.

 

One additional change involves city guards.  There are some NPCs that watch over some houses because of so-suggested criminal actions performed by the owner of the house.  One house was already correct in evicting the Guard NPC and placing him into the regular city guard package when the house becomes available.  But this release corrects another NPC guard by adding a similarly fashioned city guard package.  Nothing visible would change, no underlying script code altered. The only thing that may change would be if the guard walks away and begins walking the beat if the house ends up acquired by the player.

[LongDukDong]

A LORE CHECKER'S UPDATE TO

VERSION 2.3

 

This update corrects minor issues that exist within version 2.0 or 2.2.  Nothing changes within the INI file, nor quest values. No restart is necessary and no change would be visible except for grammatical or lore-driven issues.

 

Indeed, this update merely corrects minor issues with flavor-text that the house sales-person relays to the player when the player asks about a vacant house which they may wish to purchase.  In some cases, the flavor-text was cut off due to unforeseen size limits. And in others, accidental instances of the wrong pronoun given.

The one that needed the most correction involved the Khajiits of the Black Horse Courier.  Very little insight was given about Ra'jiradh, and only by checking ESO wiki sites did I find that he was the father of the two others. Indeed, not three btothers as I had thought, but father and sons. So some dialogue was expanded upon to note this family dynamic.

 

And as stated in the yellow above, no restart wold need be necessary with any modern 'Houses' plug-in.

 

 

♦       ♦       ♦

 

 

ADDITIONAL:

New DUKKY VOCAL PACKS (non-Adult) available for the additional lines of dialogue available here:

 

[Squishydick]

Love the idea behind this. I would like this to work with Better Cities. I have no idea about making patches though.

[Macbebeth]

Is the file now uploaded to Nexus, https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/55966 , the same as this?