User talk:TheImperialDragon

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Mod Discussion

Thanks for the suggestion. I have one more thing to do on my mod. I'll send you the link when its done (hopefully tonight). Maybe you could do a 5-10 minute beta test if it isn't too much a hassle.

Sure, no problem. I've finished practically every quest in the game, and so I'm dying for something new to try. I should be able to beta test it today or tomorrow sometime. The Imperial Dragon 21:40, 8 June 2006 (EDT)

Omzy The mod is done and on my talk page. It might take a day for them to upload the files. (update) Download works now.

Yah, I forgot to put the normal maps in the first download so I had to take it down and redo it. It was a pretty careless mistake. Tell me how it works out for you.

I think I got it to work just as they finished posting it on the website, as there's nothing wrong with the armor for me. Just a sec... I'll tell you about the first session in a minute. The Imperial Dragon 23:27, 9 June 2006 (EDT)

I will expand on the good vs. suggestions, you can remove them after you've read them if you want. Overall, I found the general plot very good, but maybe some room for improvement.

GOOD

Great idea to have Vodunius Nuccius (or whatever his name is) back. His name sounded so familiar, but I couldn't quite remember from where in Morrowind, so it is good you gave the player a refresher.

Good idea on the worthy thing. Just so you know, Daedric and Dwemer are two entirely different civilizations, so I'm a little confused as to why the armor is daedric of dwemer design?

I got two of the armor sets, the judge one and the light one, but not the other two. I'm guessing the dark armor is for an infamy value, and the warlord is if you complete every faction quest?

SUGGESTIONS

Maybe you could lower the well entrance a little? I couldn't really tell how to get inside until I got up close.

Have someone direct you to the Underground Smithy?

I've noticed that Vodunius uses doors a lot, meaning he travels between his different rooms a fair bit... Like every 5 seconds he dissapears to another area.

How about some cool perks on the armor? Scripted or Enchanted?

Getting the ring wasn't too hard to do...

Maybe the paralysis shouldn't last as long? Maybe 5 seconds or something around that?

Dialogue-> I think I could click on the End Conversation button while he awaited the answer "Not Really".

It is kind of greenish inside the smithy, maybe you could make it a little darker?

Hope it helps...

--The Imperial Dragon 23:53, 9 June 2006 (EDT)

Thanks for testing it! You are correct on the ways to earn the other two suits. I know the daedric and dwemer are much different, but the Dwemer are the only ones I knew to have built many things and leave around lots of plans and diagrams. I felt a bit wierd about the idea too. Basically, I tried to make the assumption that just since they were daedric models they aren't necessarily related to the daedric people. I probably should spend a bit more time working the story out as far as that tidbit goes. His pathing, I couldn't get him to act like a normal person with all the wandering. I could lower his energy-that might make him stop changing packages so often. I didn't add enchantments to the armor because I wanted them to act as base suits for whatever enchantments the player wants to put on them. Adding some script effects could definitely be cool. For the ring part, picking up the ring sets off a trap that does about 400 damage that can be mitigated with preventative magic. It doesnt work with God mode, and Im not really sure at what point player's reach the 400 health mark. I was trying to restrict lower level characters from picking it up. The paralysis accompanies the damage, but I could lower it to 10-15 seconds. I didn't mess with lighting too much- I could improve that, and I'll take a look at the "Not really" option again. Thanks again for your comments!

--Omzy 00:18, 10 June 2006 (EDT)

My character's a level 29 Custom class with 409 health total, perhaps you should lower the damage a bit? Well, actually, while I was testing it, I didn't notice any change in health, probably because of the reflect-damage enchantments which I found in enchanted items mainly in Oblivion Planes. You could also consider making a unique texture icon for the armor, so it easier to tell which is which in menu mode. The Imperial Dragon 13:00, 10 June 2006 (EDT)

I'm currently in the process of revamping the mod that you tested for me. I've pretty much followed all the advice you gave me, and I'm giving the armors shader effects that can be toggled on and off by wearing a ring. The only problem is making the shader effects look good. When I finish, I'll upload it back to Oblivion Source if you want to take a look. --Omzy 20:43, 15 June 2006 (EDT)

The only problem with using vodunius as a common ground is that i am horrified by the tediousness of doing voices anymore. I do have a good idea so that I can avoid more voices but make the entire thing fit together and make it more robust. If you are able to make a dungeon, that would add an aspect to my side of the mod that was previously absent. You could place your armor on a corpse at the end of your dungeon and make it difficult to attain, and I could leave an entry in vodunius' journal (new addition) that describes an incident he had while he was a member of the imperial guard. It would talk about your dungeon and about how he lost a comrade there. Since I had already set it up so that he was the top imperial city blacksmith, and since they were both guards, and since your armor is a variation of the imperial armor, we could say in the journal entry that his friend perished in the depths of your dungeon wearing the first suit of armor vodunius had ever crafted for a friend. That, I think, would make for an AWESOME merged mod! --Omzy 21:15, 15 June 2006 (EDT)

Sure, my dungeon is an Imperial Sewer type, and maybe Imperial Ruin (ID prefix) for the second part, so maybe we could say he was trying to kill vampires or bandits or something underneath the Imperial City. I'll see what I can do for the glowing effect of the armor. Or better yet, we could have a Very Hard level lock in the new basement of the Legion offices and place the ring behind it. The alternative could be to have a secret entrance into the office itself from the end of my dungeon. This would mean that Vodunius would mention it, then we might as well create voices for Bartering, so we could have dozens of sets of armor.The Imperial Dragon 21:24, 15 June 2006 (EDT)

I've added a bit of story to the ring in my new release. It is what actually makes the shader effects work, and you have to kill vodunius to get it (for the second time, that is). --Omzy 21:31, 15 June 2006 (EDT)

Do you know how to make Glow Maps? --The Imperial Dragon

I don't know how to "make them", but I know how to get them if you are using a pre-existing mesh. Just copy the old glow map from the texture you're modifying (the _g.dds original file with the texture you modified). Its done the same way as normal maps (_n.dds). Just change the filename to (whatever your filename is )_g.dds. If you're making your own 3d models, i'm not sure. I've finished my plugin, anyhow. I'm going to upload it to the site and update my user page with the link if you wanna try it out. Any idea when you will finish your mod so we can look at how the merging process works? --Omzy 01:53, 16 June 2006 (EDT)

I'll probably be done sometime over the weekend. I'm going to be finished my exams by the 26th (I think), so I'm going to have a lot of time after that in case I don't get my mod finished by this weekend. As for the glow maps, I was going to put a glow map on dwarven "Ice" armor, but maybe glass "Ice" armor will do. The Imperial Dragon 02:08, 16 June 2006 (EDT)

The glow map matches the contours and shape of the .nif mesh. Glow maps are all about the shape rather than the texture. If you are modifying a dwarven armor I suggest using the default dwarven glow maps; if modifying glass armor, use the glass glow maps. If you use the wrong glow maps, bad things can happen. For example, if it is supposed to glow on the shoulders of the armor, it might glow on the neck instead, or weird stuff like that. Oh, and when you said you were going to add glow to the armor, did you mean effect shaders or glow maps? --Omzy 02:23, 16 June 2006 (EDT)

I meant a shiny effect, like glass armor shines against a light source, a spit polished surface. I figured that's the glow map because Glass and Daedric are the only armor types I know of that have this effect and they both have glow maps.The Imperial Dragon 02:30, 16 June 2006 (EDT)

Maybe theres a thread somewhere about making glow maps. You might try the plastic wrap filter effect in Photoshop. I always remember that produced an effect that looked like glowmaps. Then when you save, look at other glowmap settings and use the same ones.

My mod is up at http://www.oblivionsource.com/?page=modforge&op=viewproject&project_id=509

Check out the shader effects, if you get that far lol. Its kinda tricky. Also, search his room. There are 2 new books that explain some things about the lore. --Omzy 02:35, 16 June 2006 (EDT)

Well, like I said, I've done practically every quest in the game, and I already got offered the glow dust for the Warlord's armor. I'll have a look at it sometime later today or tomorrow (depending on your time zone. Right now it's almost 2:30 in the morning, so I'm a little bit tired.) Thanks for the link and the advice.The Imperial Dragon 02:42, 16 June 2006 (EDT)

Sure thing, look forward to seeing your mod. --Omzy 02:46, 16 June 2006 (EDT)

And before I forget again, I'm not sure you're aware of this, as I forgot to mention it (sorry about that) but the Daedric helms can have certain objects equipped over them (like hoods, gray cowl, etc...). Make sure that they are biped for both the face and the hair maybe? I just looked at one of the comments on the mod, and that reminded me.The Imperial Dragon 02:49, 16 June 2006 (EDT)

Ok, thanks for letting me know. I fixed it. --Omzy 18:09, 16 June 2006 (EDT)

I've had an idea, the sewers can connect to a burial underneath the legion compound, where Vodunius' friend is buried (in a coffin so that I can have the armor leveled). Coincidentially, there's a secret passage in the burial that leads to the basement of the Armory, or Legion Offices, or wherever the ring is. For now, I'll try your updated version of the plug-in. The Imperial Dragon 19:49, 16 June 2006 (EDT)

I'm not sure if it was something I did or not, but Vodunius doesn't have topics anymore. I wanted to ask about the Glow Dust, but I can't for some reason. The Imperial Dragon 20:11, 16 June 2006 (EDT)

Some people were saying they couldn't talk to him at all. I hope I can find the source of this error. If you are trying to load a save from before, it might be screwing up because some things were changed. Id suggest restarting the quest on an old save and see if that works. For shortcuts use MoveToQT. The idea about the connecting sewers sounds cool to me. --Omzy 20:57, 16 June 2006 (EDT)

You were asking about glow maps earlier. See the tutorial\page(?) called NifSkope Alchemy and look at the section on Glow Maps. That might be what you were looking for. As for the leveled lists, I'm not sure I'm clear on what you mean. Do you mean have different sets of armor depending on the level of the player? For your effect shaders, I've been messing with those a lot. Why don't you give me a link to the file and I'll see what kind of settings should achieve the 'glowing hot' effect. --Omzy 22:26, 17 June 2006 (EDT)

I've got it on the Fire Shield shader right now, and it looks alright (in my opinion), but it could be better. I'll try and get the thing ready for downloading and then we'll see what you can do about the armor. I've gone through about four different textures, and now I'm satisfied with the base texture. Messed around a lot with the colours too. Anyway, it is WarmArmor you want in the Armor subheading, when I get the download working that is. The Imperial Dragon 22:35, 17 June 2006 (EDT)

I'll try to make a new effect shader based on the fire shield then. I'll just make it pulse a bit. --Omzy 22:51, 17 June 2006 (EDT)

That was exactly what I wanted to do, but didn't know how. That'd be great, thanks! The Imperial Dragon 22:53, 17 June 2006 (EDT)

Right, I think I got this right, it is the first time I've actually done this myself. It is a ZIP file, just so you know.

Let me know if you manage to get the file, so I can congratulate myself on figuring it out so fast.

Also, if you wanted to see the sewer part of the dungeon, it is ImperialSewerSystemImpHQ01, and the second part which I just started is ImperialSewerSystemImpHQ02. The Imperial Dragon 23:06, 17 June 2006 (EDT)

Congratulations on getting the file uploaded correctly. I'm gonna take a look. --Omzy 23:09, 17 June 2006 (EDT)

The boots already have the script I was testing on them, and there's a pair of these boots in the Market District of the Imperial City, where I usually test new stuff. The Imperial Dragon 23:13, 17 June 2006 (EDT)

The only problem about effect shaders is that the membrane shaders affect the entire body, even your face. --Omzy 23:38, 17 June 2006 (EDT)

Well, there's no problem with having the effect shader when the armor is not in the player's inventory (on the ground I mean). It looks alright like that, but there's still the issue about when it is equiped. The Imperial Dragon 23:41, 17 June 2006 (EDT)

Here'sthe link to the esp file with the new effect shader. Did my best and I think it achieves the effect you were looking for, for the most part. If you only want the pulsating red, just turn off the particle shader. If you know how to make the effect shaders only affect the piece of armor, that would make it better, because otherwise when you equip the boots, your whole body glows. The way I did it in my mod was when the player had the full suit equipped, the effect shader started. If you can do each piece of armor somehow, that would be much better. The effect shader is called WarmEffect and i updated the script on the boots for it, though I think i deleted the "on the ground" part 8X. --Omzy 01:13, 18 June 2006 (EDT)

Thanks, I've got the crypt layout almost finished, so then I'll have to put in the doors and a lot of other stuff. It might be finished tomorrow or Monday if things go really well, but don't count on it. The Imperial Dragon 01:27, 18 June 2006 (EDT)

You could make the fire flicker slower by raising both the particle lifetime and the full particle birth time from .3 to about .5 to .9. Just make sure not to change the ramp up and ramp down time from 0 and to keep the particle lifetime and full birth time equal to each other. To make it pulse slower, which might be difficult, you should change the alpha pulse frequency on the membrane shader, perhaps lower it. I haven't tested this part enough to understand it, because sometimes i lower it and it goes faster and sometimes i raise it and it goes faster, but that should control the speed, nevertheless. --Omzy 16:22, 18 June 2006 (EDT)

Hmm..difficult question. You could have it lead to both of them, so instead of a key to the armory, they get a key to the secret cellar of the offices, so they have to go through the basement and through your dungeon and on a sidepath they can get to the armory to get the ring, and then the main path of the dungeon leads to your armor. That would make the ring quest pose more of a challenge and also give the inquisitive traveler a much greater reward. -I'll be back later, gonna hit up the ymca. --Omzy 16:41, 18 June 2006 (EDT)

Haha, you've got two OnEquip blocks instead of one OnEquip block and one OnUnequip block. Also, doesn't it work if you just play the shader OnEquip and stop it OnUnequip without the BootsE variable? And, on the GameMode block, you should probly put a doOnce on the PlayMagicShaderVisuals and reset it in MenuMode to save memory so it doesnt try to play the shader every frame: So, basically this:

scn WarmBoot05script

short doOnce

Begin Gamemode
    if doOnce == 0
        PlayMagicShaderVisuals WarmEffect
        Set doOnce to 1
    endif
End

Begin MenuMode
    if doOnce == 1
        StopMagicShaderVisuals WarmEffect
        Set doOnce to 0
    endif
End

Begin OnEquip
	player.PlayMagicShaderVisuals WarmEffect
	player.addspell WarmBoot05
End

Begin OnUnequip
	player.StopMagicShaderVisuals WarmEffect
	player.removespell WarmBoot05
End

--Omzy 20:48, 18 June 2006 (EDT)

Wait, did you say you merged both the mods together already? First of all, how fast are you working. Second of all, how did you merge them? I thought it required a 3rd party program. --Omzy 20:51, 18 June 2006 (EDT)

Thanks for fixing the script.

Obviously, I was a little unclear the first time. I only copied (pen, paper and keyboard) the effect shader to my plug in, and that's it (what I meant by manually merging). For the first question, I'm probably working way too fast. The Imperial Dragon 20:56, 18 June 2006 (EDT)

Maybe tomorrow or the next day I'm gonna release a new spell pack with some more spells I thought up. I bet you'll like 'em. I also figured out that my frame rate got cut in half because I doubled the game resolution. I learn something every day. --Omzy 21:14, 18 June 2006 (EDT)

Sounds good to me man. About the framerate with the armor during gameplay, I was sure that the doOnce thing would fix it. That is wierd. I did hear about a program that could merge the mods, though. Its called TES4Plugin Utility. Since I need to do some work on my end to make the two stories work, I can merge 'em when all is finished. --Omzy 02:51, 19 June 2006 (EDT)

Don't work too fast now. I've been testing my hand at the 3d modeling game today. Takes loads of time. Thank god I'm done with this piece. Wonder if i'll ever get it imported into the game correctly. --Omzy 03:31, 20 June 2006 (EDT)

Did you see that site for the Silgrad Tower stuff? They claim cells and build the interiors to contribute. I think i'm gonna jump on the bandwagon once I finish my current stuff. You should too. --Omzy 15:52, 20 June 2006 (EDT)

I made a model of a missile and it looks pretty good (im new to 3ds max). The problem is that I can't get the whole "bake the texture into the nif" thing working so that NifSkope shows the model with the texture. I just don't know anything about channels and alpha and diffuse and all that mumbo jumbo. If I could figure this out, I would start modeling for them. I posted my error at Talk:Custom Weapons with Nifskope.

Thanks for rearranging my talk page. God knows how unkempt it could have become. For making the boss' fade effect, doesn't the SetActorAlpha function work? If you are talking about making him slowly fade in instead of all at once, just use a framerate animation. Here's the code:

---------------------------
ScriptName ActivatorScript

Begin (Condition)

    if (Player performs condition)
        Set BossQuest.activateBoss to 1
    endif

End

---------------------------
ScriptName BossQuestScript

short activateBoss
float fQuestDelayTime

Begin GameMode

   Set fQuestDelayTime to .001

End

---------------------------
ScriptName BossScript

float alphaValue

Begin OnLoad

   SetActorAlpha 1.0
   Set alphaValue to 1.0

Begin GameMode

   if BossQuest.activateBoss == 1
       Set alphaValue to alphaValue - ( GetSecondsPassed / 100 )   
                                    ;Lowering the 100 value increases fade speed
                                    ;Increasing the 100 value decreases fade speed
       if alphaValue < 0
           Set BossQuest.activateBoss to 0
       endif
       SetActorAlpha alphaValue
   endif

End

Doing it this way assures the animation stays at relatively the same rate between computers of differing graphic speeds. --Omzy 20:53, 22 June 2006 (EDT)

Oh man, i've been beating my brains out so much with this angle script problem been working on that i forgot to test your mod. Now sounds like a good time for that. I'll give you feedback as soon as i test it. --Omzy 20:40, 23 June 2006 (EDT)

Too late. Just kidding. I was just going to test it out and give feedback. Have you figured out the icons yet? I got it to work with my photo editor. --Omzy 21:53, 23 June 2006 (EDT)

Here are the icons. They look a tad bit different than yours, but have the same premise. I just modified the original imperialwatch dds files since they already had the correct alpha channels. (as if i know what an alpha channel really does) --Omzy 22:17, 23 June 2006 (EDT)

You know what, I'm gonna make some icons for my armors too. Someone did suggest that, to differentiate them. --Omzy 22:21, 23 June 2006 (EDT)

Well, now I know how to do it, lol. --Omzy 22:25, 23 June 2006 (EDT)

Alright, I've taken a good thorough look at the dungeons and their contents.

GOOD

I'm amazed at the size of the catacombs and the sewer

I'm also amazed at their professional look and feel

I felt like I was really playing something that was included in the original version

---

SUGGESTIONS

The trapdoor to the armory inside the basement needs its angle adjusted (the one in the ceiling DONE Alpha Version

Inside the catacombs, particularly when I'm near the coffin lids, I keep hearing weird sounds. If it is the sound of me stepping on the lids, it is distracting and the sound doesn't seem to fit the location from left to right speakers TO DO - I'll look into it.

The cheese in the basement is very large. Not a problem, but it is on the ground. I don't know what it is about me and cheese on the ground, but maybe you could put it on a shelf at least =P DONE - Just something unique for fun. Icons aren't unique, so delete them if you want.

In one of the hallways that has stairs going down inside of the catacombs, there is no ceiling. You can tell as you walk through it. DONE Can't believe I missed that, major thank you.

One of the doors in the catacombs that leads to a single room with a zombie doesn't work DONE - Treasure now more noticeable.

Where does the door next to the special coffin lead? I opened it and there is blank space DONE Alpha Version

The boss was too easy, in my opinion. I think the boss should be spawned on top of the coffin with a slower fade in so I can see it, and also it needs a creepy sound effect to seem like a trap. I had chameleon on while i was looting the chest and i didnt even see him until i returned later. He didn't attract my attention because he didn't attack me because he couldnt see me. If there is some way you could force it to fight the player, that would be better. Perhaps drop walls around the coffin or something until he is dead. DONE Alpha Version - I'll also put him on top of the coffin for next version.

The name of the catacombs should be changed to Legion Catacombs. Imperial catacombs suggest they might have the royal family inside or something

When I turn around to go back outside from the sewer entrance, the gate says "To Waterfront". I don't know if the area outside the prison is also called the waterfront, just something i noticed DONE

The name of the sewer gate door in the outside world should say To Sewers. The map marker shouldn't have a "-" in it because that is nonstandard. I would change the name of the sewer to Prison Sewers Annex because if you look on your map, there is another sewer called Prison Sewers (the one from the beginning of the game). Making the annex suggests that it runs parallel to that one. Even if it isnt connected by doors, that doesn't imply that it can't be connected by water channels. DONE Alpha Version

I think you should make the membrane shader for the armor a bit more red, but I definitely agree with the pulse rate and amplitude TO DO for some reason, it doesn't work in Alpha, I'll look at your suggestion.

You should make the pulsing effect only begin with the full suit equipped (minus the shield) because when I put only the boots on, it makes my other armor pulse and it doesn't look right. TO DO - Good idea.

---

Well, that about sums it up. Just a bunch of little knicks here and there, but overall, I found it to be a superb experience and am already thinking of ways to link the two mods together. --Omzy 23:39, 23 June 2006 (EDT)

I didn't find the entrance in the offices. --Omzy 23:39, 23 June 2006 (EDT)

That wasn't done yet, and it will require the key. It is in version alpha, here:

[1]

I'll get to work on the suggestions, and this is a more recent edition, so it needs testing too, if you want to. You tested Beta while I was working on Alpha, to clear any confusion. The Imperial Dragon 23:50, 23 June 2006 (EDT)

Forgot to mention, I also reccommend you make a female version of the armor (requires a different cuirass and 2 additional icons i believe) because I know that there will be some female flamers on the download page. --Omzy 00:46, 24 June 2006 (EDT)

That's right, I forgot there are no female guards. I'm surprised at that. Why don't you find a similar looking female set for the cuirass, like legion armor. Come to think of it, isnt the armor you modified legion armor? I don't remembering it looking like the Imperial Watch armor. --Omzy 01:34, 24 June 2006 (EDT)

I had zero experience 3 days ago but i could do a lot more after going through this tutorial. --Omzy 13:59, 24 June 2006 (EDT)

You would need to modify it so that every "type" of armor runs on different scripts. Then, you change a global variable when one "type" of armor is equipped. So if I had level 5, 10, and 15 greaves, all of them could run on the same script or their own scripts, but they all must have the statement "Set WarmArmorQuest.greaves to 1" when they are equipped, and "Set WarmArmorQuest.greaves to 0" when they are unequipped. So, after putting that code in every script, you can make a conditional statement in the global script that says "if greaves && boots && helm && cuirass && gauntlets" then apply the effect shader. This way, even if the player has different levels of the armor on, a complete suit will register the shader no matter what. --Omzy 14:22, 24 June 2006 (EDT)

I haven't tested it yet, but I do remember that the icons i gave you might have slightly different names from the ones you sent to me. I named them after the imperial watch set. For example, i remember that Gauntlets was changed to gauntlet i believe. That might be the reason for the broken gauntlets, you probably need to re-import the new dds's in the CS. --Omzy 20:50, 24 June 2006 (EDT)

Sorry, I've been busy planning. I'm going to Boston on Tuesday for my college orientation. Sorry for the short notice. I have a lot of ideas on how to get the mod put together and make it as wholesome as possible. However, I'm not going to be able to work on it until I come back on the 30th. I'll plan on having the entire thing done by maybe july 2nd hopefully so we can release. I think it will be killer. Until then, you could start at Silgrad Tower. I'm gonna begin doing that after this mod is done. I also am about finished with my spell pack. You can test it if you like. I still need to get a mechanism for putting the spells in game. For now, they are automatically added when you load the game. --Omzy 03:59, 26 June 2006 (EDT)

Yes, I got back from Boston the other day. I've been looking for a job and tying up loose ends. I'll try to start working on it in the next few days. --Omzy 16:49, 3 July 2006 (EDT)

ShadowDancer 12:06, 10 July 2006 (EDT): I wanted to let you know that I finished the Talking Creature script. It works both ways. I moderately altered the way it worked.