Boyos's Interior and Quest Showcase

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Boyos's picture
Boyos
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1 day 16 hours ago

Interior showcase for Hlaalu shell 14, cell is named "TR_showcase_boyos"

edit: realized I forgot to add a northmarker

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Binary Data boyos_showcase_hlaalu.ESP10.52 KB2022-07-14 00:16
Boyos's picture
Boyos
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I recently put together a simple quest for a showcase as well.

General quest outline:
Nathala Randaro (new NPC) in Dondril asks the player to take a delivery of Mazte to Ilvi mine, directing the player the mine foreman (new NPC)
Arriving at the mine the foreman doesn't know anything about the delivery, says to ask the miners
The miners say it's probably Goval Thadus (new NPC miner), who was looking for glass in the flooded tunnel of the mine
Upon finding Goval he was injured trying to climb up the rocks in the mine and will ask for assistance before taking the Mazte
The player can either heal him with a spell, or give him a standard potion of healing.
After being healed he takes the Mazte and pays with 2 pieces of glass, I tried to script it so that he'll move around again afterwards, but the terrain does not seem to agree with his pathfinding.

or you could kill him and take the glass and keep the Mazte if you really want to.

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Binary Data boyos_quest_showcase.ESP13.29 KB2022-09-25 18:49
Boyos's picture
Boyos
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Updated quest showcase based on some initial feedback

Updated outline:
Nathala Randaro (new NPC) in Dondril asks the player to take a delivery of Mazte to Ilvi mine, directing the player the mine foreman (new NPC)
Arriving at the mine the foreman is occupied trying to find a missing miner
The miners say Goval Thadus (new NPC miner), was looking for glass in the flooded tunnel of the mine
Upon finding Goval he was injured trying to climb up the rocks in the mine and will ask for assistance
The player can either heal him with a spell, or give him a standard potion of healing.
After reporting Goval's location to the foreman he will take the delivery, if the player healed Goval he'll pay an extra 25 gold

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Binary Data boyos_quest_showcase_v2.ESP15.17 KB2022-09-25 21:20
Denis418's picture
Denis418
ModeratorSenior DeveloperExterior DeveloperInterior ReviewerQuest Developer
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2020-12-31 14:03
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1 hour 10 min ago

Greetings! I playtested your quest using 3 characters and both vanilla and OpenMW engine. The quest is quite entertaining. I tried hard to search for bugs and I'd like to mention the following things (I'm not a reviewer):

  1. It's not very clear that the questgiver is just a courier who wants to delegate her task. Especially for the PC who doesn't yet know the Dondril tavern keeper by name. She could use some more introduction about how she got to deliver this mazte. Ideally, it would be better if Bols himself gives this quest.
  2. In the questgiver's response to your refusal there is a missing period in the end of the phrase.
  3. Directions to the mine have an unclear point with the tomb (both the journal and the dialogue directions): there will be (a) tomb on the right, the next time the road forks the mine will be on my right. -> should probably mention, that the PC should not take the turn to the tomb. But maybe it's only me who misunderstands this.
  4. Ilvy Mine foreman topic gives confusing directions: just inside the entrance to the mine makes me think he stands near the load door (interior's entrance). But I understand that it's hard to give directions in the mane since it's quite uniform in its design. Maybe the miners could simply give the PC the name of their foreman and the player would simply find him by looking for Enar Salavel.
  5. When you meet the foreman, he makes you solve his problem with a missing miner. But it doesn't sound natural -- a courier should not be pressed into solving such problems. Instead, there could be an option to refuse to help him. In which he simply gives a smaller reward for the delivery.
  6. On OpenMW when you give Goval a health potion, he speaks as if he was a receiver of the mazte delivery. I believe, it's an artefact of the previous iteration of the quest.
  7. Goval's initial greeting sounds wordy. Consider rephrasing the second sentence or dividing it into smaller ones. Aim to keep sentences less than 20 words long.
  8. On vanilla engine Goval doesn't recognize a Standard Health Potion in my inventory (ignore the bottom line, it's from a mod) when I press the spare potion topic. Also, having him accept only the Standard Health Potions is a bit contrived (I didn't check the others though). I suggest adding him responses for other types of healing potions as well: bargain, cheap, quality, and exclusive. Feature creep suggestion: make him praise the taste of the expensive variants and complain about the cheap ones. An option of healing by a spell works great, and I consider borrowing this cool script for my personal mod smiley:D
  9. When I find Goval and inform the foreman without healing him, the quest ends (he takes the mazte from me). But when I go back to Goval, he acts as if I've helped him.
  10. Goval Thadus topic remains outdated after I heal Goval and inform the foreman. Add him a new comment, like: I am impressed, that you went so far as to not only find Goval but also help him. Good job.
  11. Nathala Randaro has no new comments about the job. While it's totally ok, there are two ways how to make it even better: 1. (The easiest) Disable her when the quest is finished. Implying that she's a freelance courier who moved on with her work. 2. Add her new comments under the quest topics. Like: So, you're done with the delivery? Good. I hope they payed you well. And: The foreman's name is Enar Salavel? I should probably note that for future work.

Feature creep suggestion: Help Goval to finish his initial expedition -- if the player kills the kwama forager behind the waterfall, Goval can have a new greeting or topic, saying: You cleared that alcove? Very brave of you, thanks. We can work with the glass deposits there now. Accept this [minor trinket/dagger/jewelry]. I found it underwater while exploring these passages.

General feedback: I like how this quest adds content to both Dondril and Ilvi Mine. These locations lacked misc adventures before. And you incorporated the layout of the Ilvi Mine very well in your story (with the hidden path behind the waterfall and so on). I wish you well in your future creations, and I hope you'll work with TR.

P.S. I'm not a native speaker, so disregard my dialogue suggestions when there's wording or grammar issues.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,
because fear has to do with punishment. 
The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18

Mortimer's picture
Mortimer
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6 hours 7 min ago

Hello! Apologies for the late response, it's been busy irl for me but I greatly appreciate your submission.

Denis has some good advice and here are some specific changes I'd like to see

-Just remove the potion check entirely. Have the NPC say they swallowed too much water and can't keep potions down without getting sick. Spells/scrolls only. Is it contrived? Yes, but so is 'I can only accept store-bought potions' like you normally see.

-Need post-quest dialogue for nathala
-The nathala rumor should use her full name

-I don't know why the foreman won't accept a delivery even though he has a missing miner. Just have him accept the delivery, then offer another reward if you help him with his next problem. you could either split this into two mini quests that fulfill the showcase or think of a way to segue gracefully. Denis' suggestion about this makes sense.

-Your generic dialogue lines need additional variables in their conditions
1. the generic lines in ilvi mine foreman and goval thadus need "Local TR_map >= 0"

2. the generic lines in ilvi mine foreman, goval thadus, and latest rumors need "Not Local T_Local_NoLore = 0"

Boyos's picture
Boyos
Quest Developer
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1 day 16 hours ago

Updated based on review feedback.
 

General summary of changes:
- Potion check removed entirely
- Added TR_map filter to dialogue topics that needed it (I think)
- Added Not NoLore filter to generic dialogue
  - Note: I did not add the filter to the Goval Thadus topic at all since all entries are filtered to miners in ilvi mine, and all the miners have the NoLore script. Though I may be misunderstanding how this works
- Added post-quest dialogue for Nathala (Delivery to ilvi mine topic), miners (Goval Thadus topic), and greeting for Goval Thadus
- Adjusted dialogue & quest structure so the foreman takes the delivery and offers a "bonus" for helping find the missing miner. Might still make more sense to split into two mini-quests but I left it as one quest that will close if you refuse the second part.
- Cleaned up old dialogue
- Clarified directions to both the mine foreman and the mine itself
- Goval Thadus greeting is still a bit wordy but I don't know a better way to handle it other than making a whole new topic, which felt like it'd be a bit overkill
- Added a mention in Nathala's initial dialogue about occasionally doing jobs for the proprietor of The Nest.

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Binary Data boyos_quest_showcase_v3.ESP17.47 KB2022-10-09 21:11
Mortimer's picture
Mortimer
Senior DeveloperQuest Reviewer
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6 hours 7 min ago

1. missing period in journal index 20

2. Need addtopic "Goval Thadus" in the mazte response topic otherwise it never appears

3. there's a superfluous entry in the delivery topic, the bottommost entry seems like it could be deleted

4. journal index 60 is too wordy, end the entry after foreman, don't capitalize "The" in it either

5. the generic entries in Ilvi Mine foreman (1) and Goval Thadus (2) need "Not Local T_Local_NoLore == 0" conditions added

6. replace the comma with a period in goval's greeting about "if you don't know a spell of healing", replace the comma with a period in "if you know any spells of healing" in goval's first greeting. overall the punctuation needs a bit of attention, you can reduce the wordiness just by reducing the size of the sentences.

fix those and you should be good

 

Boyos's picture
Boyos
Quest Developer
Joined:
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Last seen:
1 day 16 hours ago

Fixed those except 5 (did punctuation passes on some other dialogue entries not mentioned following the feedback from 6). The miners in Ilvi mine all have the map3nolore script so adding "Not Local T_Local_NoLore == 0" to those two topics removes them from the miners. While you could still ask the guards about the foreman that leaves no one the player can ask about Goval.

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Binary Data boyos_quest_showcase_v4.ESP16.96 KB2022-10-16 02:53
Mortimer's picture
Mortimer
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Looks good, promoted. The nolore on the miners is definitely a mainland oversight

Denis418's picture
Denis418
ModeratorSenior DeveloperExterior DeveloperInterior ReviewerQuest Developer
Joined:
2020-12-31 14:03
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1 hour 10 min ago

Hello Boyos! I reviewed your interior showcase:

Name: TR_boyos_showcase
Clean: Yes.
Fits exterior: The interior is one tile bigger than ex_hlaalu_b_14 shell. Incorrect. Top floor should be 2x2. And bottom 2x3. It’s easier to find another shell that fits better. But for the sake of showcase and your trainging, it’s best if you refit your interior.
Northmarker: Present, correct.
Lighting: Sunlight is too high. The values should be around 20. Vanilla makes it big and produces undesirable effect.
Pathgrid: Ok.
Gridsnap: Good.
Illegal to sleep here: Yes, correct.
Floaters (objects that violate gravity rules):

  • light_de_lantern_03_128 – the loop doesn’t touch the rope correctly. Needs lowering and centering.
  • bk_AncestorsAndTheDunmer – with its far side.
  • furn_de_rug_big_04 & furn_de_rug_big_04  – with their tassels. You already bled the rugs into the ground which I give you credit for. But you need to sink it a bit more, so tassels touch the floor.
  • misc_com_wood_fork – floats above the plate.
  • misc_com_wood_knife – should be rotated so its metal tip touches the table. Cutlery is a challenge to rotate, yeah.
  • misc_de_foldedcloth00 (the one that leans on another one) – I personally think that these folded napkins are soft objects, so they can’t be stacked like this without breaking their form. But other reviewers disagree with me, so you can leave it as is.

Bleeders (objects merged with another object):

  • furn_de_p_chair_02 is sunk into the floor.
  • Misc_Inkwell – with the desk’s surface. You have to rotate items on uneven surfaces until they are parallel to each other: 1. Incorrect. 2. Correct.
  • Light_Com_Candle_01 - into the desk. Same as above. But judging by your other clutter, you already know how to rotate items on uneven surfaces.

Other:

  • furn_de_r_wallscreen_02 – this is a rich furniture piece (_r_ in its name means Rich). Should be removed and replaced with a poor variant (guar skin wallscreen).
  • T_MwDe_Furn_ChS2Ing3 – I suggest locking this chest with a lock of at least 20 (double click on it for locking). Ingredient chests tend to spawn expensive ingredients like gems and pearls.
  • You can reduce the size of the bed to 0.9 to make more room between it and the wall for walking (adjust your pathgrid if you do).
  • Please, use more Tamriel Data items (ideas: a coiled rope, a smoking pipe, scrib pie, etc). It'll get you acquainted with Data items.

Good clutter skills. You know how to make things look tidy. It’s good that you figured out that clothes should be bled into the surface a bit so to not float. You also understood that misc_de_bowl_redware_01 should be bled into the surface because of its pointy bottom. All of your items on furn_de_p_bookshelf_01 seem to be positioned good. Well done. Fix the above issues (including the shell) and the showcase will be complete!
 

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,
because fear has to do with punishment. 
The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:18