Oblivion

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Themage

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themage_obl

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About this mod

Adds a medium-sized, buyable Castle in various locations across Tamriel, depending on which package is installed and used.

Requirements
Permissions and credits
Changelogs
STONEHILL CASTLE, by Themage
- PACKAGE VERSION 1.8
- BASED ON MODDERS' RESOURCE VERSION 1.8

LOCATION VERSIONS:
- STONEHILL CASTLE - CHORROL, by Themage
- STONEHILL CASTLE - KVATCH, by Themage

GENERAL INFORMATION
- This mod was built using the latest Oblivion patch, Shivering Isles, and Knights of the Nine DLCs (Game of the Year Edition), with TESIV Construction Set, Version 1.2.404.
- The mod was built using only standard Oblivion meshes, without any custom-made files.
- Adds a medium-sized, buyable Castle in various locations across Tamriel, depending on which package is installed and used.
- In order to buy it, talk to Eonar, the Steward of the Castle. He will be available between 8:00 and 20:00 in the Main Hall - First Floor.

FEATURES
- The dining hall, kitchen, and hunter's quarters are located on the first floor of the Main Hall.
- The baths and servants' quarters are located on the second floor of the Main Hall.
- Access to the Lord's Manor is gained through a corridor located on the third Floor of the Main Hall.
- The Lord's Manor features a private living area, guest quarters, and Lord's quarters.
- An Underground Passage connects the keep with the chapel, smithy, wine cellar, and storerooms.
- The Sewers are located below the Underground Passage.
- The 9 towers provide breathtaking views of the surroundings and serve as living quarters for all 18 Guards.
- The gate, Main Hall - First Floor, and Chapel are unlocked by default.
- The containers located inside the Lords Quarters and Treasury do not respawn, therefore it is safe to have your items stored in there. All other containers respawn, so don't use them to store items.
- Eighteen guards patrol the Castle during two different shifts and 8 of them offer training in Block, Blunt, Blade, Heavy Armor, Light Armor, Sneak, Hand to Hand, and Security and they can also act as followers once you've purchased Stonehill Castle.
- There are seven servants who offer various services around the Castle, some of them require you to have bought the Castle, others are accessible even wthout becoming Lord: Eonar the steward - Speechcraft training, drinks; Alva the Huntress - Marksman training and sells/offers primarily meat; Brook the Cook - sells/offers food; Malvin the mage - Destruction training, sells various spells and alchemy supplies (also offered for free if you become Lord of the Castle); Antus the priest - Restoration training and sells Restoration spells; Serena the smith - Armorer training and sells/offers armor and weapons; Remalus is the farmer who also tends the stables, offers free harvested crops.

PACKAGE CONTENTS
- Modders' Resource - Contains two folders: signed and unsigned. The files contained within each folder are identical, with the exception that the signed files contain the author's signature and mod description. This was done due to a bug in which TESIV Construction Set crashes when you try to modify the mod information (author and description), which would render the file corrupt beyond repair. In this instance, the information was edited with third party software (Wrye Bash 3.05). The unsigned files should be used only in case of crashes or corrupt files. The "1.Stonehill Castle - Base" file contains the Castle located in its own interior worldspace, without any NPCs, scripts, or objects added. The "2.Stonehill Castle - Final" file contains the fully featured Castle, located in its own worldspace. This approach enables players to create their own versions, should the locations supplied prove to be unsatisfactory.
- Stonehill Castle - Chorrol - Contains two folders: signed and unsigned (see above). The Castle is located in County Chorrol, just north of the town of Chorrol and east of Hrotanda Vale.
- Stonehill Castle - Kvatch - Contains two folders: signed and unsigned (see above). The Castle is located in County Kvatch, just north of the town of Kvatch.
- Additional locations may be added over time.
- Screenshots located in the Screenshots folder.
- Readme located in the Readme folder.

INSTALLATION
- Make a backup of your saved game.
- Make sure that your character is not located in any of the modified regions prior to installation.
- Download the archive.
- Extract the contents of the archive in any location.
- Decide in which location you would like to have the Castle and then enter the corresponding folder.
- If no issue ensues (I have tested the files on my PC and there were no errors, however, I uploaded the unsigned just in case), you should use the files contained inside the "Signed" folder.
- Copy the contents of the desired Stonehill Castle location into the Data folder of Oblivion.
- Example: if you want to install the Castle located in County Chorrol, copy the contents of Stonehill Castle - Chorrol\Signed or Unsigned to Oblivion\Data.
- Run the Oblivion Launcher and tick Stonehill Castle from Data Files.
- Enjoy!

UNINSTALLATION
- Disable the mod from Data Files.
- Delete the .esp file.
- If you generated DistantLODs, please make sure you delete the corresponding files, otherwise the Castle will still appear in the distance, despite no longer being actually present.

KNOWN ISSUES
- There are no voice acted conversations. I have been unable to generate silent mp3s, since TES4Gecko, for some reason, won't work on my Windows 8 based PC. As a result, subtitles may fade away too quickly, but this won't affect the main functionalities of the mod. You can, however, use Elys Universal Silent Voice to prevent subtitles from disappearing too quickly.
- This mod does not come with DistantLODs. If you want, you can use the TESIV Construction Set or third party software to generate DistantLODs which will enable the Castle to be visibile in the distance.
- The Castle will conflict with any other mods that modify the location of choice.
- The Modders' Resource Files should not conflict with any other mod, as the entire Castle was built in its own worldspace, with no modification performed on standard scripts, variable, NPCs, or objects.
- Multiple versions of this Castle located in different locations can be used.
- Please report any additional incompatibilities.
- I have tested the mod thoroughly and I have not encountered any issues in the final release, sudden crashes or any problem, other than the above mentioned. So, prior to submitting bug reports, please make sure that it is not your other mods that are causing the issue(s).

INFORMATION FOR MODDERS
- If you wish to contribute and create additional locations for this Castle, a few things will have to be taken consideration (see below).
- In the Modders' Resource folder you can choose between the base version (the Castle without NPCs, factions or scripts, just the environment) or the fully featured Castle.
- Due to the Construction Set's bug (mentioned above) regarding editing mod author and description, it is recommended that you use the unsigned files and then use Wrye Bash to change mod information.
- All cells, objects, NPCs, Scripts have "aaTM" prefix in their Editor ID, to facilitate immediate identification.
- aaTMStonehillCastleExteriorTestCell contains the exterior of the Castle, with path grids drawn.
- In order to port the Castle into the world, copy the contents (excluding the North Marker) of aaTMStonehillCastleExteriorTestCell in the area of your choice.
- You will have to remap all exterior doors to connect their interior counterparts (previously connected to aaTMStonehillCastleExteriorTestCell).
- The Sewer was designed to also act as an escape route. Make necessary adjustments according to the area you placed the Castle in and connect it to the exterior.
- Check to make sure that North Markers correspond to the actual North of Tamriel. If you change the orientation, you will have to adjust North Markers in all cells and rename the towers accordingly (it is not necessary to change the towers' IDs).
- Re-connect all NPCs to their corresponding exterior markers (from their AI packages).
- Adjust the path grid in the area of the Castle.
- Look for the object called aaTMStonehillCastleDeed (Books category) and modify the text contained therein to reflect the actual County it is located in. For example, County Chorrol in the case of Stonehill Castle - Chorrol.
- Add a Map Marker to allow fast travel.
- Perform any cosmetic modifications you see fit so the Castle blends nicely into the surrounding area.
- Possible future quests related to the Castle, again if any skilled scripter would like to help, please contact me.

VERSION HISTORY
- Version 1.0 - Initial Release.
- Version 1.1 - Fixed a bug in Stonehill Castle - Chorrol version in which a tree was growing through the north-western tower. New services are now being offered by Alva the Huntress (free meat supplies), Brook (free food), Eonar (free drinks), Malvin (free alchemy supplies), Remalus (free harvested ingredients) and Serena (free armor and weapons) upon becoming Lord of the Castle. Removed compatibility warning with Castle Domrose by Centurion (tested by Selzhanik and found to be safe).
- Version 1.2 - Fixed a bug in which one of the guards would only sleep for two hours. Added the possibility to have the guards as followers. New chimneys added to correspond to the fireplaces found inside.
- Version 1.3 - Fixed a bug in which if you were using guards as followers from 8 AM till 12 PM and you asked them to return to their posts, and then ask them to follow you again immediately, they would be unable to do so until they reached their default location. This was caused by the fact that their patrol AI packages had "Must Reach Location" ticked. To correct any possible issues caused by this change a new Travel AI package, which lasts 1 in-game hour, was added for each guard to ensure they would reach their designated locations. Similar changes were applied to Alva, Antus, and Remalus. As a result, these NPCs will now offer their services from 9 AM till 8 PM, instead of 8 AM till 8 PM.
- Version 1.4 - Added Treasury Room with containers set to non-respawnable. Added four new guards that will guard the Castle at night. Some minor cosmetic fixes across all files. Due to the relatively extensive changes, I have completely rebuilt Stonehill Castle - Chorrol, using the updated modders' resource.
- Version 1.5 - Fixed a small bug in Eonar's dialogue when he offers you to buy the Castle. He will now correctly say that there are 8 Guards serving the Castle, instead of 4 (as it was prior to version 1.4). If you have already bought the Castle, this version brings nothing new.
- Version 1.6 - Set all NPCs to respawn. This occurs every 72 in-game hours, according to game mechanics, as long as you are away from any of the cells used by the NPCs (you can just go into any of the towns and wait or sleep 72 in-game hours). This was done to correct an issue in which if you extensively used guards as followers they would eventually end up with broken armor or weapons, rendering them useless in fights, since they can't have their items repaired or replaced.
- Version 1.6.1 - No changes made to the Modders' Resource files compared to version 1.6. Added a new location option in county Kvatch, based on Modders' Resource Version 1.6. Some minor cosmetic changes made outside Stonehill Castle - Chorrol, which should help the Castle blend better into the surrounding area. Since no changes on the functionality or interior of Stonehill Castle - Chorrol have been made, upgrading from version 1.6 does not normally require you to start over with Stonehill Castle. This means that, as long as your last save before applying this version is done in the interior cells of the Castle, you should be safe. However, as always, make sure you have backups before making any such changes to avoid bugs.
- Version 1.7 - Fixed a series of glitches regarding Guards' AI, in which they would not move to their designated location as planned, by adding 4 new beds. Consequently, now each guard has their own bed and chest with armor (previously they were shared). As a result, some changes have been made to the Main Tower. Fixed a series of glitches in which NPCs would not properly eat or drink, because cupboards would quickly run out of supplies, by changing or adding respawnable cupboards with large amounts of supplies. Changed the design of the back door from the Lord's Manor so that it corresponds to its counterpart in the Main Tower. Both kitchens now feature upper class (instead of middle class) furniture. Covered the exterior window below the balcony of Lord's Manor with a Fighters' Guild Shield. This was done because the original Bethesda Chorrol-based mesh of the Lord's Manor had a window below the balcony which does not exist inside.
- Version 1.8 - Moved all existing guards' quarters from the Main Tower to the other 9 towers (2 guards per Tower). Added 10 new Guards, bringing the number of Guards to a total of 18, working in 2 shifts of 9 each. Due to various malfunctions associated with towers being divided by subspaces, each tower has been split in 2 or 3 cells, corresponding to the number of floors. The old part of the Main Tower corresponding to the Guards' quarters has been converted to a hallway, leading to the Lord's Manor and outside. This has also corrected a design flaw, in which the Main Tower was vastly oversized compared to its exterior counterparts. Fixed a small positioning error of the subspace located above the gatehouse.

PERMISSIONS
- If you wish to use parts or the entire mod in your work, or want to translate the mod in a different language, no special permissions are required, as long as you give proper credit. In the case you create new location versions, you can request me to repack the entire mod to contain your work and you will be credited, or, you can upload it individually without any special permission, as long as you quote me as the original creator of the Castle.

CREDITS
- Bethesda Softworks, for providing the game and TESIV Construction Set.
- Wrye Bash Team for providing the utility called Wrye Bash.