The Vyper

Just saw Top Gun in IMAX 3D. The conversion was good and the film looked great, but that wasn't my primary reason for going. My father took me to see Top Gun when it first hit theaters 27 years ago. Granted, the film is a bit mature for a 9-year-old, but I've been fascinated with military aircraft since I was...ummm...born, I think? I greatly enjoyed the film at the time, even though I saw a lot of (technical) flaws in it. Seeing it in theaters again was a wonderful trip down memory lane, even though dad's not here to share it. Anyone else get to see it, then or now?

A lot of things, some small, some not. The Hobbits originally got their weapons (except for Sting) in the Barrowdowns, not from Aragorn. The giant eagles actually talk. Gwaihir (the one that rescued Gandalf from Isengard) was originally sent by Radagast the Brown. Aragorn originally received Anduril, Flame of the West, from the sons of Elrond (not Elrond himself) before he met Theodin King in Rohan. The Ents originally voted in favor of war before Treebeard saw the devastation of Fangorn wrought by Saruman's Uruk-Hai. The Dunedain (long-lived humans like Aragorn) originally helped win the Battle for Gondor. The army of the dead merely helped to take the black ships. These are just a few of the changes PJ made. I still think he did a decent job, though.

Hmm...favorite movies...this could take a while. Top Gun - Probably my favorite film of all time (and one of the best soundtracks ever). I've been studying military planes since before I could read. I can tell you that the final dogfight scene would never have happened (and why), but I'm glad they put it in. It's the best fictional aerial combat I've ever seen on film. Tron - I got a huge kick out of that film. End of line. The Dark Crystal - I still enjoy this one. It's also a hit with my nephews. The Never Ending Story - It was fun watching Boxey ride a luckdaggit while D.A.R.Y.L. read all about it. Original Star Wars trilogy - These were awesome. I remember seeing Empire Strikes Back in theaters with my dad when I was just 3. That was fun. A bit confusing for a 3-year-old, but still fun. Rumble in the Bronx - Jacki Chan. What more need be said? Back to the Future trilogy - These are fun films to watch. The Bourne Trilogy - Even though these films aren't even remotely close to the books they're "based" on, they're still really good. Mission Impossible I & III - I didn't like the second one and I haven't seen Ghost Protocol, but the first and third are great. The Protector - Tony Jaa goes on an epic journey to rescue his pet elephant. Oh, and there's some Muy Thai action here and there. And a few other places. Ong-Bak 1, 2, & 3 - More Tony Jaa and some of the best stunts ever performed on screen. No stunt doubles were used for anything or anyone. Godzilla 2000 - I'm a big Godzilla fan, so being able to see this in theaters was a real treat. That's all I can think of for now.

That's what I was afraid of. Oh well, it never hurts to ask. Looks like I'll have to make a single color for all levels or use the SetTexturePath command in OBSE.

Yeah, I was in a rush and wasn't sure if I was explaining things right. Yes, but only if it hasn't been enabled and activated within the last seven days. That's easy enough, but doesn't quite solve the potential problem I foresee: A level 4 Player character enters Cell01 on day 1. The level 1 stone is enabled and taken by the character. On day 2, character levels up (character is now level 5; level 2 stones will now be enabled onload). On day 2 (or any day before day 7), Character enters Cell01 again. At this point, less than seven days have passed since the Player grabbed the level 1 stone in Cell01. However, since the Player's level has now increased to the point where level 2 stones will be enabled, I need to find some way to keep the level 2 stone from being enabled in Cell01 until day 7. What makes this harder is that I need it to be generic. By that, I mean a single setup that can be used across multiple cells without requiring unique scripts for each cell. Is there any way to set things up so that the setup & scripts used in Cell01 can also be used (without modification) in multiple other cells? If needed, I could resort to placing a single activator and use the SetTexturePath OBSE function to change its color depending on Player level, but I don't like making OBSE dependent mods.

I'm working on an update for my Ayleid Power Stones mod that I hope to release sometime next month. In the current version of APS, there are five levels of power stones that all use the same mesh (the same way sigil stones do). The Player activates an activator (that also uses the power stone mesh) and a leveled list is added to the Player's inventory. Here's the script: I want to change things up a bit. For this version, I want to include 5 different colored stones; one color for each level of stone (5 in all). For this to work, I'll need to place all five power stone activators in the exact same spot in each cell they're in, set them to "initially disabled", and script each one with an onload block that checks the Player's level to ensure only the level appropriate activator gets enabled. That, I can do. Here's an example of what I want to happen: Player enters Vilverin01 on Sundas and grabs a level 3 stone, then leaves Vilverin entirely. It will be seven days until the stone "regenerates" and can be taken again. Player levels up on Morndas, enabling him/her to get level 4 stones. Player returns to Vilverin01 right after leveling up and finds no power stone. Player proceeds to Vilverin02 (previously unvisited) and finds a second power stone, this one level 4. Player finds another power stone (also level 4) in Vilverin03. No. 3 is where I run into a problem. How can I script the stones so that a level appropriate activator will be enabled in a particular cell onload only if the previous level activator was not activated/enabled within the past seven days? I need to script this as generically as possible (like the script above) so that what happens with the power stones in one Ayleid ruin would not keep the power stones in any other Ayleid ruin from spawning. Is that even possible without A} using persistent references and B} making ruin-specific activators?

Thanks again! Modifying the Center setting was exactly what I needed. The mesh rolls a bit too much when on its side, so there's still some minor tweaking to do (I think increasing the inertia along the X axis should do it). But at least it doesn't try to "stand up" any more. I love learning new tricks! For some reason, this method had no visible effect in game. Still something to remember for future reference, though.

Thanks Don! I never even knew that site existed. I think it'll come in pretty handy. Thanks! That solved the rotation problem nicely, but it revealed another one; apparently the "center of gravity" on the modified .nif is very near the bottom. I can send it spinning all over the place, but when it stops all directional movement, it rotates to stand almost vertical rather than resting on its side like it should (a lot like those fun "Bop Bags"). The mesh contains four closely linked components: the great welkynd stone itself, the flare (glowing aura) surrounding it, and two "cloud emitters" (for particle effects). How can I alter the center of gravity so that 1) the mesh stays on whatever side it lands on and 2) the four components stay properly aligned with one another?

I'm trying to add some Havok behavior to a modified version of the Great welkynd Stone (ARGreatWelkyndStoneItem01). I have it working almost right; the new stone moves around when hit, grabbed, etc. The problem is that its axial orientation doesn't change. It will move through space, but will not rotate on any axis. I've used NifSkope to match every havok-related setting I can find with those of a regular welkynd stone, but I still can't get the rotation effect. Here are some more pertinent details: What else do I need to change to make this work?

As gamers, I think we can all relate to this:

Good idea. Unfortunately, I got the same result: no gate activation. I give up. I'm going to have to find some other way of making this light world/dark world setup work. Luckily, I have some ideas on that front.

My understanding of the OpenState functions is that they only work on doors, but ARGate01 is an activator. Even so, I tried using SetOpenState anyway and got the same result: nothing. I re-checked the wiki to make sure I was using it right and noticed this part: My understanding of GameMode blocks is that they run every frame until told to stop. I thought setting references and shorts in onactivate blocks would cause subsequent blocks to use those settings. If that's true, then the 'activate' command wouldn't occur until both Blarney and GetInCell Player equal 1, which should only happen if the Player enters Cell01b after activating the switch. In that case, the gate in question would be loaded when the 'activate' call is made by the GameMode block. I know one switch (activator) can be set to activate an activator in another cell because at least two Oblivion realms do this. Random World 2 has four small towers, each with a switch inside it that activates a war gate outside. Random World 4 has two small towers; one has a switch that extends a bridge (activator) linking the two, the other has a switch that extends two bridges linking to the sigil tower. The scripts on the associated switches use the same variables and generic language as ARSwitch01Script and it works fine. There has to be some way of making this work, but I just can't figure it out. Should I just scrap the mod and move on?

Got a bit of a problem; I have an Ayleid switch (ARSwitch01) in one cell that's supposed to open a linked gate (ARGate01) in another cell, but it's not doing it. The gate is set as a persistent ref, so that isn't the issue. For some reason, the switch's script isn't acting on the linked gate. The dungeon I'm working on has a light world/dark world theme using the Ayleid ruins tileset and King Dutka's Drow ruins tileset. Cell01a (Ayleid) has a gate that is activated by a switch in Cell01b (Drow). Likewise, there is another gate in Cell01b that has a corresponding switch in Cell01a. The idea is to have the Player teleport between the two cells in order to fully advance through either one. All subsequent levels are intended to have this setup, so a generic, non-dedicated script is needed. Is there a way I can modify the vanilla ARSwitch01Script to use the following setup: 1. Player presses switch. 2. Switch fires a script containing a GameMode block with an "Activate" command that won't run until GetInSameCell returns a value of 1. 3. When the Player teleports into the cell with the linked gate, the GetInSameCell function now returns a value of 1 and the gate is activated. 4. Another flag is now also set to 1 so the script will stop running. Update: I re-scripted the switch to run as described above, but it's still not working completely right. What's happening now is this: 1. Player presses switch in Cell01a. 2. Linked gate does nothing when player teleports into Cell01b. 3. Player teleports back to Cell01a and presses the switch again. 4. Linked gate opens when Player enters Cell01b. 5. From this point on, the gate in Cell01b will work normally every time the Player pushes the switch in Cell01a. This is almost right, but not quite. I need the gate to start working without the player having to press the switch twice. My current script is: scn ARSwitch01BlarneyGateScript short Blarney ref target ref mySelf begin onactivate if busy == 0 set target to getParentRef set mySelf to getSelf playgroup forward 0 set Blarney to 1 endif end begin gameMode if isAnimPlaying == 0 && Blarney == 1 if (GetInSameCell player) target.activate mySelf 1 set Blarney to 0 Endif endif end What do I need to change here to get this thing working? Help me Batmer, you're my only hope!