[WIP] My Rival

[DarkRider]

Nice!  

[WindmillTilter]

Bloody Hell Grond,

That landscaping is Awesome!!

I'll cast my vote for a staff as the "Stone". I think it would be cool and would work nicelly for a snazzy activation scene.

Hmm if you're doing a custom model for the exterior of your tower, have you considerd having it rise out of a lake. Would look bloody cool and wouldn't be that hard to pull off.

Alternatively if you know how to create a large gyser of water (I don't) you could have it appear in the middle of a gyser.

Having it underwater would be cool too. You could have nearly transparent "windows" tinted to fake water, and fill your inerior worldspace around the tower with underwater fauna.

WT

[grond]

Thanks for the ideas, WT - and welcome to the Alliance!

In a thread about Towers at the Official Forums someone suggested having an upside-down Tower - its top would be miles below the surface.  I want to make something along those lines, but use water ( column or geyser or falls ) and stone/earth.  And somehow incorporate an actual tower into the whole thing.  I do want it in the middle of a lake, probably an underground lake.  I have another worldspace made for that.  

[Guest]

An underwater tower (or... an upside-down, whichever you prefer) would be awesome!

Gotta put in a lot of fishies so that the dive down to the entrance wouldn't be a summer vacation either, looots of fishies!

[grond]

Wow - I changed hard drives and bought SI, patched the game to the most current build, and finally got the ( 4 enormous and 1 lil ) scripts to work nicely together.

I have to clean it and upload it, but then My Rival will be ready for testing.

 finally  

PM ME OR POST HERE IF YOU'D LIKE TO TEST THIS LITTLE MOD OF MINE.

[grond]

Or - CLICK THIS:

link now dead, sorry, will update someday soon.

First you MUST have OBSE and PLUGGY!

OBSE: http://obse.silverlock.org/ <--Click the latest stable version link in HERE

PLUGGY: http://karamail.nerim.net/elys/Pluggy/ <--CLICK THE LINK WITH THE ? HEADER IN HERE...

And share all criticisms here!

[Ysne58]

I have two different characters trying this out.  One is attempting to keep up with the rival, sheesh she runs fast.

The other has the mod activated and just playing the game as normal.

I have not noticed any problems in either game yet.  I do believe no news is good news.

[grond]

Indeed!  

What level is your testing character?  Maybe I should lower her level...or announce that it's for chars of level 10+.

[Jheuloh]

How 'bout give the Rival the PC level offset tag, with an offset of 0?

Or have you already done that? >_<

[grond]

Yep, the NPC's offset is 2 > PC, but her minimum level is...30.

[OldBook]

Brilliant idea, hope it works out. Kudos.  

Still, a minimum level of 30 sounds off for a rival, at least for me; when I'm running a new bunch of mods, I start the game over from scratch. I'd want a rival (or companion) that wasn't much tougher than my character, aside from the Essential tag (which is needed, due to AI limitations). I'm sure other people do things differently; this is just a comment on my play style.

[Ysne58]

One is level 12 and the other level 7.  Both are climbing rather quickly.  You might want to add what the character's minimum level is in your readme.  Since the rival does not start out the way other companions do, I see no problem with letting the plot just develop.  The Rival can always start interacting as the main character levels up.

[grond]

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Brilliant idea, hope it works out. Kudos.   Still, a minimum level of 30 sounds off for a rival, at least for me; when I'm running a new bunch of mods, I start the game over from scratch. I'd want a rival (or companion) that wasn't much tougher than my character, aside from the Essential tag (which is needed, due to AI limitations). I'm sure other people do things differently; this is just a comment on my play style.

Thanks for your comments, OldBook!  
My new char can follow the rival around without ever drawing a weapon.  I find that awesome!  I've never played TES for the combat, but I know others will be terribly bothered by her prowess, so I'll do some thinking about who should play this mod, and adjust the rival accordingly.  

Quote

One is level 12 and the other level 7.  Both are climbing rather quickly.  You might want to add what the character's minimum level is in your readme.  Since the rival does not start out the way other companions do, I see no problem with letting the plot just develop.  The Rival can always start interacting as the main character levels up.

I'm so happy that the rival travels correctly, that I haven't been thinking of how to interrupt that script, to start the mod's main quest.  I'm gonna have to start thinking about that now...

The rival in your game right now, Ysne, is the NPC the player will see 1) before and after the mod's quest is done, 2) whenever you say 'get lost' to her, and 3) between other quests I haven't even begun to think about yet.  That's what the rival's going to do, besides doing more within each place she travels to.  Right now she just finds the location and heads for the next one.  That will change.  

But now I need to 'kill' that travelling NPC, and find the right way to start the quest.  You've just given me an idea.  Thanks!  Keep the comments coming!

[Ysne58]

I will keep you posted.  I am alternating between the two and working on different aspects of the vanilla game in the character I set up for testing.

I also have a plan vanilla ob character for when the mods I consider esential for may game might possibly conflict.  I will be adding the rival to that one as well.

I must say, as far as sentient companions go, this comes closest to what I would consider an ideal companion.  The ones that follow around like slaves just drive me nuts.

[grond]

 I know - and I want to preserve that  independance during the quests, too, so that the rival almost never haunts your steps.  It'll probably require some fancy-pants scripting, or half a dozen copies of the rival...probably both.

[Ysne58]

So far, I have no problems in any save game I have tried this out with.  I think your concept is awe inspiring.

It also inspired me to try Kyoma's journal mod so I can take some notes in game..  I managed to get that working properly.

[grond]

Holy crud - thanks for that, Ysne!  And it's great that you've managed to add the journal mod.  

[DarkRider]

Really great to see you working on Rival again, Grond! This is a truly unique project!!!  

[grond]

Thanks sir!  In an effort to keep those types of comments coming ( very inspiring for me! ),  I intend on making this as free-form as I can.  One example is that there will be no clear beginning to the first quest.  That's what I'm trying to do today.

[Ysne58]

I have noticed that when the Rival gets to Sancre Tor, she tends to stay there and not move again.  Although, I stil do not have a char that has gotten over level 15.  I'm working on it.

[Sylla]

Looks outstanding, downloading the test now!   A truly "interactive" companion that isn't an Argonian would be a godsend  

[Ysne58]

Following the rival can be a challenge.  Moves really really fast between caves.  At one point I found her in the midst of at least 25 opponents.  I went up a whole level in armor and blade helping her out of that one.

[Sylla]

I was in a similar spot, almost died   I don't seem to have a trouble keeping up, but my speed is pretty high I suppose...

[grond]

Hey Sylla, thank you for trying my Rival.  Anything peculiar to note?

[Vereta]

Yay, Rival. The challenge only make a mod funner. :3