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The Elder Scrolls III

MORROWIND:

 

Ice's Hideaway & Buster

Created by CanadianIce

 

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REQUIRES TRIBUNAL & BLOODMOON!!!!

 

PLEASE READ THIS FIRST!!!

As with all the rest of my pluggins this latest one is something I did for my own use and decided to share it with others. I am not a programmer, any kind of artist or wiz, so do not expect anything other than what was intended. It's only a hobby and I've probably already reached beyond my knowledge. That said, except for a few minor gliches, the pluggin appears to be relatively bug free and should be enjoyable for many of you thanks to the beta testers and those who offered their help and expertise. If your expectations are beyond what I've included with the pluggin, don't install it. Although I might update some things in the future, I don't have a complaint department and don't wish to support it beyond this package (no PM's and E-mails please). Positive comments however are still welcomed.

 

Feel free to discuss issues, concerns and experiences on these forums:

http://pub9.ezboard.com/bhowndogandcanadianicesmorrowind

http://www.elderscrolls.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=UBB7&page=0&view=&sb=5&o=

 

Please do not upload this package to your site for download without asking for permission first.

 

In case you downloaded this pluggin from a site other than CanadianIce's http://canadianice.unforgottenrealms.net/Morrowind/Index.html then please visit this site to verify you have the latest version.

 

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Index:

1. Known issues

2. Installation

3. Playing the Pluggin

4. Save Games

5. Credits

6. Grumpy's readme from his companion v1.1 and wolf companion

 

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1.    Known issues

 

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I know this looks like a lot to read, but I strongly suggest you do.  These are issues that came up during testing.  If I can figure out a way to fix them, then perhaps in the future I'll provide an update.  Otherwise, it's going to be chalked up to being the fault of a buggy Morrowind game engine, and we will have to live with it if you want to play this pluggin.

 

Ø       known issues with companion mods please visit this site http://userweb.springnet1.com/dennist/ and read the excellent FAQ section about companions.  Emma and Grumpy's companion mods are the best, and these 2 people are very knowledgeable. But don't pester them about problems you have with this mod.  Instead, post a message on either of the forums I mentioned above.

Ø       If you decide to remove this pluggin, and then later on decide to re-install it, you will more than likely find that Rambo will be missing a head.  Refer to the FAQ site I posted a link to above on how to get his head back.

Ø       Please read the portion of this readme that is taken from Grumpy's companion mods.  He does an excellent job explaining the workings of his companion scripts, and the issues that may occur.

Ø       The esp for Buster MUST be loaded after the house pluggin, or you may get dialogue loading errors.

Ø       Rambo doesn't like for you to try and bribe or admire him.  His disposition is set up to go down whether you succeed or fail, and he may even get really mad and do something nasty to you.  If you want him to like you, offer him "some liquor".  If you try try to taunt him, you may find yourself sitting outside the front door of the hideaway... swimming... >;-)

Ø       If you decide to move the statues that Rambo provides you, make sure you remove everything from their inventory first. 

Ø       Rambo will only put away the alchemy ingredients found in the original Morrowind, Bloodmoon, or Tribunal.

Ø       If you are using multiple companions and decide to leave all but one, and that one is still following incorrectly, simply tell them to follow again, and they'll jump right back where they should be.

Ø       Sometimes Rambo hangs with his bow out.  Just use the dialogue option that tells him there are no enemies around, and he should put it away.

Ø       Had problems with the queen butterfly script, and the heal blight may not work as intended.

Ø       If you are using enchanted items to fortify your health to excessive levels or have set your health to excessive levels via the console, Buster may drop dead when you first meet him.  Getting rid of the enchantment seems to fix that.

Ø       Because the alchemy containers are scripted so that Rambo will put your ingredients away, you must also remove the ingredients via a script set on each container.  Vorwoda used Drake2346's script to do these where when a container is activated a message box will show up giving you several options of added or removing.  The only ones that will act as a normal container are the misc., unique, and cured jars.

 

I'll be setting up a thread in my forum so if you notice any other things not mentioned here, please post it there.

http://pub9.ezboard.com/bhowndogandcanadianicesmorrowind

 

 

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3. INSTALLING THE PLUGIN

 

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To install the plugin, unzip this package to a temporary folder, then run the installer and follow the directions.  If you prefer to extract it the old fashion way you may with either 7zip or ZipGenius.  Just extract it into your data files folder.

 

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3. PLAYING THE PLUGIN

 

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From the Morrowind Launcher, check the box alongside Ice's Hideaway.esp.

 

If you want the dog companion as well, check the box alongside of Ice's Hideaway Buster.esp

 

To find the house, you can go the hard route or the easy one.  Hard route.... go to Raven Rock, and start swimming south.  You'll find the house deep in the water in that bay.  Easy route.... some of the major towns will have a "gate stone" that looks like a recolored greater soul gem.  Click on that stone to be teleported to the hideaway's "Room of Beyond".  These stones ARE companion friendly (they act as a door).

 

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3. Save Games

 

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This plugin should not invalidate your old saved games, but you should always make a backup prior to installing any new pluggin. If you save your game while this plugin is loaded, you may encounter error messages when you reload the saved game without the plugin. But you should be able to continue on with the original game.

 

Please refer to Emma and Grumpy's FAQ section http://userweb.springnet1.com/dennist/

if you remove this pluggin, and then later on decide to re-install it.

 

 

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4. Credits

 

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The Credits... oh boy, I hope I don't forget anyone.  There are so many very talented people in this community.

 

BETA TESTERS:

Ø       Howndog, Jeremy, Monica21, Grizz, Brady228, Grumpy, MotokiMo, Sunsi, and Emma

 

SCRIPTERS:

Ø       Vorwoda_the_Black for helping me debug many of my scripts, and for doing the scripts for Rambo's alchemy sorting skills.

Ø       Grumpy for the companion scripts for both Rambo and Buster, and for helping me fix my boo-boos  (http://userweb.springnet1.com/dennist/)

Ø       Emma for the basis of a lot of the scripts and dialogue for Rambo.  Without her help and her mods for me to use as reference… Rambo would only be saying “yo” (http://userweb.springnet1.com/dennist/)

Ø       TheOtherFelix for Rambo's telepathy amulet script

Ø       Venymora for her racial detection scripts and for doing up the installer.  Every modder should start using this installer! (http://fantasyfreak.netfirms.com/)

Ø       Dopehatman for Rambo's alchemy sorting scripts that Vorwoda used as a basis

Ø       Drake2346 (drake2346@hotmail.com) for the scripts on the alchemy jars.

Ø       Jaxalot for the resizing script on for my beer bottles.

Ø       Indigo for the scripts on his display cases (http://rpgplanet.com/morrowind/vault/index.htm)

Ø       Grumblepunk for his mannequin scripts from the House of mannequins

 

TEXTURES:

Ø       SniperDaria for the beautiful cherry tree textures.

Ø       Barabus for the original textures on the fireplaces and the kettles, etc.

Ø       Andoreth for the alchemy jars

Ø       Mercury for the Mexican beer

 

MESHES:

Ø       Barabus for his beautiful fireplaces

Ø       Indigo for his display cases (http://rpgplanet.com/morrowind/vault/index.htm)

Ø       Lady E for her butterflies, flower pots and the fruit meshes. (http://www.proudfootimaging.com/ladye/)

Ø       Dongle for his musical instruments and the glass windows (http://www.deffeyes.com/morrowind/stuff.html)

Ø       Lord Yig for his tapestry mesh

Ø       The Conjurer for the picture frame mesh and wood textures

Ø       Gorg and Darksharp for Rambo's Hair

Ø       Gorg for the cape model

Ø       Rhedd for Rambo's head model

Ø       Vlix for Rambo's knives

Ø       SnakeBitten for the aqua gear and Rambo's pack (actually it's an empty quiver)

Ø       Niero for the swimsuit and belly dancer outfits.

 

ORIGNAL MESHES I IMPORTED IN OR MODIFIED:

Ø       Bethesda for the original oval rug that I resized in max so I could make doilies.

Ø       http://www.the3dstudio.com/ for the couches

Ø       http://www.3dcafe.com/ for the grand piano

Ø       http://www.planit3d.com/ for the rose

Ø       http://www.3dmodelz.com/ for the rocking chair

Ø       http://www.mr-cad.com/ for the bed

 

ARTWORK USED FOR TAPESTRIES: 

Ø       Luis Royo

Ø       Christian Lassen

Ø       Julie Bell

Ø       Lorenzo Sperlonga

Ø       Clyde Caldwell

Ø       Larry Elmore

Ø       Joseph Michael Linsner

Ø       Dorian Cleavenger

Ø       Stephen Youll

Ø       Jonathon Earl Bowser

 

OTHER:

Ø       Ghostwheel for his TES Pluggin Tool and TES Rename utilities. http://www34.brinkster.com/ghostwheel/

Ø       Dave Humphrey for his NifTexture utitility and for the nif importer. http://www.uesp.net/morrow/files/morfiles.shtml - unofficial

Ø       Shanjaq for his Overunity utility http://olek.ilovehost.com/Daduke/Programs.htm

Ø       Motoki, BigDes, and Paedric for being a big help in finding decent voice files for Rambo.

 

 

 

Special thanks to my husband, HOWNDOG, my sons COUGAR and SONIC for all their cool ideas!

 

If I have forgotten anyone, please accept my apologies and let me know so I can update this.

 

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6. Grumpy's Companion readmes:

 

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Grumpy does a great job explaining the issues of his companion scripts, I don't think I can do it any better.... so I'm just going to copy and paste what he says here. Now don't be buggin Grumpy for errors that occur with Rambo or Buster... his scripts were the basis, and isn't responsible for any of the errors I may have created by not entering something in right.  Instead, please post a message on my forum or the elders scrolls forum explaining what happened in detail.

 

Scripting for Buster:

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Caveats:

 

If you've ever used a companion that "warped" then you know that they...  well... warp.  Ran into a small problem with this guy.  On a regular NPC companion, a "GetWeaponDrawn" function is used to keep these companions from warping during combat, and as far as I know, that's the only way to shut the warping off (there's another, but I don't like it).  Surprise, surprise!  Wolves don't use weapons, so I have no way of terminating the "warping" during combat.  Upshot is that if you like to do any kind of ranged (bow, throwing stuff) "sporting", what you'll see is this critter go into attack mode, charge the target, and depending on the distance, maybe make it there and get the kill and quickly warp, or maybe not make it there at all before he warps.

 

Had to make a determination of whether or not to use warping or not at this point.  I decided to use it.  Seems to me that having the critter follow better is better than the alternative.

 

No companion sharing (only one place for him to store stuff and I doubt he'ld like you very much if

you tried that :) ).

 

If you levitate, he will be there when you get back.

 

He swims...  Sort of.  They didn't include an animation for swimming, so he "walks" when underwater.  :/

 

Others:

 

Simple commands in dialog.

 

He's got da dynamic speed boost, so he should be able to keep up with you pretty good no matter

what your speed.

 

He levels (sort of).  You ought to sleep for one hour when you get him to run that section of the script.  After that a check will be made everytime you sleep to adjust stats.  Stats that get adjusted are health, fatigue, and strength.  This happens automatically.  No message boxes.

 

Health % can be determined via dialog.

 

He's got some pretty good stats (health, etc.), so he shouldn't be dying all of the time (might be too good for some).

 

Got him set up to flee if he gets hurt bad enough (less than 20% health).  Sometimes this works, and sometimes it works and whoever he was fighting just runs him down and finishes him off (dirty batards!).

 

Credits:

 

Many thanks to many people who have helped me get some of this companion stuff off of the ground

over the last year.  Not in any particular order:

 

Emma

Devlor

Vorwoda

Reznod

 

GahnBuriGahn for his "Scripting for Dummies.

 

Ulfgier for the original Jessica mod (many of us started from this one).

 

Bunch of others on the CS forum who have answered questions, not only for me, but others as well.

 

(Apologies to anybody I missed.)

 

 

Scripting for Rambo:

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credits:

 

Anybody that's used a recent companion mod that has warping in it should be aware of the number

of people who've been involved with this stuff:

 

-Reznod who pointed me in the right direction as far as the warping itself goes.

-Devlor who's inspiration and excellent suggestions led to a much more robust Companion Project   mod which is the foundation for these mods.

-Emma who's suggestions and support not only to me, but many others, have led to the continued improvement of companions.

-The Other Felix who keeps cranking out many improvements to the script and overall performance of companions.

 

In particular, I'd like to thank Vorwoda The Black for his "warp-behind" section of this script.  Was something I was after for a long time and never could quite figure out.  Adds a very nice touch that improves the "feel" of the mod.  Something that you'll never see, but the stuff that you'll never see is what this mod is mostly about.

 

Other sections of this script were prompted by improvements made by many who have contributed

to the development of companions.

 

 

Question? "Why a new companion?"

 

Answer.  There has always been a bug in companions who use warping.  As long as you're wandering the landscape, the original warping works well to insure that you don't loose your companion.  That warping is based on a distance check which in-turn starts a timer of 6 seconds, and at the end of those 8 seconds, if the companion is not within the prescribed distance, warping occurs.  Reason it was done this way was to minimize it to some degree.  Make it more "aesthetically pleasing".  A problem ocurred during combat however.  No way to determine how long a combat sequence lasts, and you don't want them warping in the middle of combat which is what would happen if you used a set number of seconds for the warp delay.  It was Devlor who came up with the idea of using "GetWeaponDrawn" as a qualifier for warping.  In other words, if the companion has their weapon drawn, then we cease further execution of the script until they put their weapon away, and only at that point do we start the warping checks back up again.  In essence, we kill warping if the companion has a weapon drawn.

 

All fine and dandy, with one exception...

 

A game-bug sometimes makes these companions "stick" with their weapons out, even though combat is over, and at that point, if you're not paying attention, you can loose them very easily because the warping is not working.

 

I think I've beat that.  New section of script that makes checks for the "Weapon Swish" sound, and if at the end of a prescribed amount of time the sound is no longer playing (an assumption is made that combat is over), an "auto-sheathe" section of script is run.

 

We always used to use a spell cast as a means of getting a companion to sheathe a weapon if they left it out, but I've since figured out that an "equip" function (using a simple dagger in this case) accomplishes the same thing, looks better, and allows the use of this "auto-sheathe" function.

 

 

So, that's been beat.  Then what?  Next thing I went after was improving the warping.  Original warping was a distance check followed by a timer.  Stuff in this mod is broken down into two sections:

The standard warping for combat, but something different for simple following.  No more timer. They

warp instantly and at a shorter distance if just following the player around (non-combat).

 

Problem, and back to the aesthetics stuff agian:  If I'm going to do this, I have to literally glue them to the player's behind to keep them from warping constantly.

 

Two new script sections to do this:

 

ForceRun:  Normally companions begin running when they fall roughly 23 virtual feet behind the player (their normal following distance while walking is about 8 1/2 virtual feet).  I've shortened that run distance to 14 virtual feet by using "ForceRun". This is the one that does the glueing.

 

Also adjust their speed a little differently:  Ulfgier's origina "speed boost" on his "Slave Warrior Jessica" mod added 100 to the player's speed to determine the companion's speed, thus, if a player has a speed of 40, companion has a speed of 140. Ulfgier realized, just like I have that the closer you keep a companion to the player, the less they get "lost".  What I did on this one was use a multiplier for speed adjustment instead of addition.

 

Ulfgier's original looked like this:

 

 

short p_speed

 

set p_speed to ( ( Player->GetSpeed ) + 100 )

 

comp->setSpeed, p_speed

 

 

This simply gets the player's speed, adds 100 to it and assigns that resulting combination to the companion.

 

Now since then, most of the companion makers have turned it down a little, and now use something like 60 instead of 100 to keep companions from looking like they've drank too much coffee, so in this next example I'll use that number for compairison:

 

set p_speed to ( ( Player->GetSpeed ) + 60 )

 

That gives us 40 + 60, or 100 for the companion's speed.

 

Now mine:

 

set p_speed to ( ( Player->GetSpeed ) * 2.80 )

 

Now we get 40 * 2.80 for a companion speed of 112.  Not much difference...  Until you crank the player's speed up.

 

Let's say the player's speed is now 80.  Ulfgier's solution yields 140 for the companion speed (80 + 60),

but this new one yields 224 (80 * 2.80), meaning it scales a lot better as the player's speed increases during the course of the game.  Also helps these new companions keep up better (although they definately look like thy're on industrial strength caffine with a player speed of 100), and warp less (back to the aesthetics again), although they are still going to warp more using this method than they would using the older warping system.

 

This is where Vorwoda's "warp-behind" section of script comes in:  They will still warp more, but unless you're the kind of player who likes to run around the game-world backwards all day long, you'll never see it happening.

 

So what's all of this adding up to?  A companion who is going to be very difficult to loose, and a companion who is VERY fast...  At all player speeds...

 

Basically, you can turn around, play the game and not have to concern yourself with one of these companions (other than routine maintenance :D ).  I'm not going to sit here and tell you that following ability is 100%, meaning that the possibility STILL exists that you can loose them, but I've got it as close to 100% as I can reasonably take it.

 

Caveat (there's always caveats) is that you'll probably not want to use them with other companions :( .  Reason is that the ForceRun section is going to make them look like they're on a pogo-stick once they start stacking up "back there" with other companions in tow.

 

Sorry.

 

These comps are designed to follow the player well under all circumstances, and relieve the player of having to constantly turn and check companion to insure that they are still there.

 

They are not uber companions however.  They can and will die if you stick them where they don't belong.  I just fixed them to follow better.  I can't really script tactical wisdom into a level 1 player that likes to tangle with Dremora Lords all day long (next release maybe), so don't think for one minute that they are going to be your saviors 100% of the time.  They will be roughly commensurate with the player as far as stats go (see below).

 

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On to the other stuff:

 

No spells section.  Now wait a minute...  Not as bad as it sounds...

 

Water walking is included.  You water walk, so do they.  Drop your means of water walking, and so do they (with an exception explained below).

 

Water breathing is full time.

 

Levitation:  What happens here is that if you levitate, a messagebox appears:  "Shall I follow?"  Simple yes/no affair.  If yes, companion casts and follows.  If no, companion waits where they are.  If at a later time you (while levitating) decide that you want companion back in follow mode, simply tell them to follow ("-follow..." dialog/"Let's go."), and they will cast and follow.  If you tell them to wait while following, they will stop and wait exactly where they are (still levitating), so if you are using a timed method of levitating (potion, spell, etc.), and you have left them behind (while they are levitating), you better make sure you left them someplace where you can get close enough to them to tell them to rejoin, or they'll sit up there till the cows come home (console and tlc fixes this situation nicely).  Sorry, no telepathy ring.  If they are

waiting while levitating, and you can get close enough, just tell them to follow ("-follow..." dialog/"Let's go." again), and they will drop their spell and follow.  This holds true for water walking as well, but shouldn't be a concern, because you should always be able to get close enough to them in this instance to initiate dialog and tell them to follow.  If following normally while levitating, and you drop your means of levitation, so will they.

 

Might sound complicated, but you'll get the hang of it fairly quickly.

 

TOPICS:

 

combat:

 

Options for melee only, ranged only, AI controlled and "Use what I use."  "Use what I use." forces the companion to mimic the player's weapon useage (even during combat), but is only for melee and marksman weapons.  Example:  I typically start a combat with a ranged weapon. Companion will follow suit.  Critter gets closer, and I switch to melee.  Companion will too.  Companion needs to have both melee and marksman weapons in inventory for this to work.

 

 

move:

 

I first saw this in Dixon's "Hilda" mod, but apparently somebody else was the first to come up with it (a mod that allowed the player to tell any NPC in the game to "move" (sorry, don't know the name of it)). 

Kind of a variation here:

 

Two selections:  A one time move, or you can toggle (on/off) a full time option that causes companion to move anytime they get too close to you.  If you're using this, and companion is in your way, simply bump into them and they'll move.

 

IMPORTANT!!  A caveat here:  If this is enabled, what happens is that companion goes into AiWander for a short duration, and then returns to AiFollw when a specified distance is reached.  If they are in AiWander mode, THEY WILL NOT TELEPORT WITH THE PLAYER (doors, siltstrider, etc.), so just make sure that they are standing still (in follow mode) before you use any kind of a teleport device if this is enabled (on), or they'll be there when you get back...

 

follow:

 

Typical stuff...

Behind the Scenes:

 

They auto-level.  Nothing to indicate this, but they will adjust their stats automatically upon first encounter, and then again every time the player rests.  Attributes are adjusted according to the player's attributes, and skills are adjusted according to the player's level.