Idea/WiP - Starting a new game with the main quest line disposed of - COMPLETELY

[Justoutthere]

Having played through the main quest of Skyrim a few times I am moving away from that and exploring the many mods that can be found here and elsewhere that have little if anything to do with the main quest and as such thought it would be neat to be able to just start with that out of the way. 

 

Initially I thought that clearing all the quests in the main questline via a batchfile and adding in a couple of simple tweaks would suffice but this leaves certain questline scraps hanging around making life awkward.

 

Rather than just give up or make do with a working but sloppy batchfile I am now considering reworking this idea as a full blown modified start in a similar sense to Live another life (which I use and is the original inspiration for this idea).

 

Now comes the hard part, I have never had any experience of modding any game and have little if not no idea about what I m getting into. Advice about where best to start would be welcome. I am planning on utilizing vanilla in-game assets wherever possible as learning one new thing at a time is enough for me .

 

For those who need it a backstory

 

The Dragonborn whilst being a good and kindhearted hero wasnt the most stable of individuals and after the horrors that were faced in ridding Tamriel of Alduin decided to remain in Sovenguard. Also knowing that there was still much to be done to make Tamriel a better place for all requested that a message be sent to someone he met early on in their travels who they felt a kinship of spirit with. This person (you guessed it the player) was perhaps another dragonborn yet to be revealed.

 

The message would be a simple request to find the wordwall near Meridia's Shrine not far from Solitude and discover if you have the potential

(I am going for this wall as it is easy to get to and requires no major dungeon diving or battle to find).

 

On finding the wall and discovering your ability you no find that the responsability of the work left undone by The Dragonborn has now fallen to you.

 

 

On hold whilst investigating how effective Skyrim Unbound is. Initial view seems to be very promising and appears to cover much of what I wanted to achieve ina very polished and well executed manner. 

 

 

[Guest Ragna_Rok]

i really dont get that request. the only thing youd have to do is simply ignore the main quest once you entered whiterun. once you did this, simply drop all your gear on the ground, keep one basic sword and maybe a regular leather or iron armor, go to a town of your choice and continue the game as you wish.

 

no main quest = no dragon shouts, and lore also kinda assumes that only dragonborns can slay dragons (which you shouldnt do in that way of gaming)

[Justoutthere]

That was exactly the point, No shouts and also it was an issue if you had Dawnguard where you needed the Elder Scroll.

 

Didnt say what I wanted was law friendly but I supose I could have made that clearer although why "no dragonborn no shouts" the ingame dialogue makes it clear the dragonborn isn't unique.

 

What I was trying to achieve was an optional enviroment, one where dragons were free to roam and pillage, one where a hero can emerge to do all the little crappy side jobs that were left undone without fear of triggering some main quest conflict,. Yes I know you can just ignore it but what I was trying to achieve was disposal but the world left intact.

[Guest Ragna_Rok]

oh, okay, the elder scroll for dawnguard. now, if i remember right, the scroll you obtain in blackreach is also needed for the mages-guild. in case you have problems with obtaining the scrolls, simply look up their id, console "player.additem xxx 1" (xxx = id of scroll you need), and when you advanced, "player.removeitem xxx 1".

 

scroll problem solved

 

edit: the shouting ability you get either by advancing to the point of reaching high hrothgar, or, theres also a console command to enable you to learn shouts without anything else. the console is skyrim-gamers best friend

[Justoutthere]

I understand the use of console for adding items and learning shouts and other things I was however trying to leave as much doable ingame as possible so you could either do it or not as you choose.

 

The reason for this is so that a heavily modded game with quest laden mods like Sanguines Debauchery would be played as an SD in Skyrim game rather than a Skyrim with SD if you get my meaning. This idea wasnt an end in itself but a way to make, for me and others who chose to use it some quest laden mods more playable with the mod as the total focus as opposed to an addon.

 

In searching for info on how to achieve this I did however as mentioned at the bottom of he first post come across Skyrim Unbound (availiable on Steam) which does most of what I was trying to achieve, for this reason I have placed this on hold whilst I tru it out a fully explore its features

[Guest Ragna_Rok]

well, then i got you wrong .... *back to beer and mudcrab armor and skull bow*

[Justoutthere]

well, then i got you wrong .... *back to beer and mudcrab armor and skull bow*

 

Not a problem, thats why we have this place, to discus ideas and come to an understanding. That said this will not be pursued unless there is specific interest in the setup I suggested

 

Skyrim Unbound does seem to have the flexibility and Main Quest avoidance I was looking to create, seems pointless to duplicate his/her fine work with such a minor difference as to initial start conditions.

[Ashra XIII]

Do a Google search for 'Skyrim Unbound'. It's an atlernate start mod that allows you to disable the main quest, and if you do, actually removes references to it. It's not on Nexus, but is on the Steam Workshop, and the author provides a link for those who want to install manually or through a mod manager.