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Ta\'lar the Shadow Dancer - A Companion Mod - Beta 4 By Reinhart Menken -------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Credits 2. About 3. Feature 3. Version History 4. Installation 5. Known Bugs/Confliction 6. Permissions 7. Disclaimer 8. Contact -------------------------------------------------------------- 1
- Permissions and credits
Ta'lar the Shadow Dancer - A Companion Mod - Beta 4
By Reinhart Menken
--------------------------------------------------------------
1. Credits
2. About
3. Feature
3. Version History
4. Installation
5. Known Bugs/Confliction
6. Permissions
7. Disclaimer
8. Contact
--------------------------------------------------------------
1. Credits
Reason I put the credits in the first part is because...- frankly I don't read all the way to the bottom to see the credit list of any mods. Plus, I don't see why people who contributed should be left at the last part of a document.
Big thanks to:
MentalElf - for his specialized script that differeniates between enemies and bystanders.
Aridale - For his very thought out and excellent script handling leveling of a companion, of which I extracted the part that was needed for my "mod".
and NorrabMaster - for his very excellent and cool shadow-themed armor set.
Bethesda for creating a great and moddable game and their also very wonderful CS Toolset.
Troy Denning who wrote his trilogy which contained one small aspect of shadow walking that I ripped off (or intend to).
My mom, my dad, my aunt, uncle, future baby-to-be-born, my future-grandson, blablabla.
--------------------------------------------------------------
2. Brief About
This is a companion mod still in its beta phase. It provides the player with a blade-and-shield-wielding Argonian shadow dancer companion - Ta'lar, along with some added new features, and also removed some very common features, on the basis that it doesn't seem fit to his would-be personality. See more in the next segment - Features.
--------------------------------------------------------------
3. Features
*Basic Follow and Stay*
**Distinguish Friend or Foe**
Ta'lar will attack anyone that might or is attacking the player, and nothing else. Currently he won't attack the player, since the player can't loot him of his equipments anyways.
**Hide in Shadow**
Ta'lar will sneak when he's following the player and the player sneaks, however, when he sneaks he will be almost completely unseen
**Shadow Dancing**
The most important aspect is Ta'lar's shadow dancing. When he engages an opponent, he will constantly and gradually shift out of reality and then reappear at another random spot near his opponent, thus creating a dance of death. It's quite fun to watch at times.
**Enemy-Searching**
I would like to say that it introduces the function of enemy-finding. The player is given the option to tell Ta'lar to "look for" enemies and engage. In my opinion this would be pretty useful in a dungeon and whatnot, as originally I started out with the idea that I wished I could go into a dungeon and split up with my companion and let him take care of his business (enemies) while I take care of mine.
It is, however, very much useless in the wilderness, as usually your enemies are thousands of units away, unlike inside a cramp dungeon; unless, of course, you're using a mob spawning mod that spawns mass mobs in the wilderness, like MMM and whatnot. However, I've provided a one time enemy-seeking option that you can use to the tell Ta'lar to seek out enemy once, and then stop.
**Shadow Walking**
Very basically it's just a mark-the-spot and warp-to-it-later ability, however a little bit more than that (just a little bit). The player can tell Ta'lar to remember a spot, and later on to shadow walk back to it (both of you). When he takes you to the Shadow Realm you will have to follow him to the exit (the only light there), and there you will emerge out into wherever he last remembered a spot.
It's planned for the future that there be more danger inside the shadow realm, such as death if falling into the shadows, or random chance of encountering shadows that hates anything with life and will attempt to convert you into them, killing you in the process.
**Player Finding**
When Ta'lar is done exploring or looking for enemies, he will try to find the player. There is also an option to tell him not to, although I don't see why one would want that; but it's for the benefit of the players just in case they do.
**Warping**
If Ta'lar is told to follow the player and the player gets too far from him, he will automatically be warped to the player, in case the player and him gets seperated. When the player fast-travels, he will be warped to the player as well.
**Self Improving**
Ta'lar's skills will improve gradually, as will his levels.
*Companion Share*
...is removed, because Ta'lar is not a pack maul and he doesn't care for carrying any equipment other than his.
*Horse Riding*
...is non-existant because he doesn't ride horses, due to his shadowy nature. Ta'lar prefers to prow in the shadow, and to come up to his opponent slowly and silently; then to announce his presense by horse hooves. I may implement a way for him to meet up with the player at the destination should the player still wishes to ride a horse.
--------------------------------------------------------------
3. Version History
Build 1 - Incarnation of the first shadow dancer, only capable of shadow dancing
Build 2 - Second incarnation, now capable of recognizing friend or foe, and levling
Build 3 - Third incarnation, now has dialogue with "come" and "stay" option
Build 4 - Fourth incarnation, now capable of enemy-finding, sneak, player finding, shadow walk, warping, and extended dialogue options
--------------------------------------------------------------
4. Installation
Extract all the files into your "...Oblivion\Data folder" and select "Yes to All" when prompt. Check the Shadow Dancer.esp in the Oblivion launcher, you're good to go.
When your game start you'll have a spell that allows you to summon Ta'lar, just to save time from travelling to any city and look for him. The spell will be removed in the final version.
--------------------------------------------------------------
5. Known Bugs/Confliction
Somehow the script for exiting the Shadow Realm isn't working properly on my machine, but since my script was based exactly on Bethesda's trigger scripts I'm assuming that it's just because of my own rig. Should the problem arise that Ta'lar enters the light he is not transported, simply open and close your menu. Somehow this enables the script to run for him and you. If you know how to fix this, please let me know, and I will add you to the credits on the next update, should it work. Much appreciated.
There should be no conflict with any other mods, since all the references are created with their own prefix, and the other references used are minor statics.
--------------------------------------------------------------
6. Permissions
First edition of the "permission segment" was too complicated so I just simply abandoned it. After I thought about it, I had to explain what I didn't care (like stealing my script) and what I would care (repackaging my mod). So, here's the deal. Just don't take anything in the mod and claim it yours (because I am too lazy to explain or think about whether it's okay for me or not). Especially do not take my contributor's creations and claim it yours, I am not responsible if they start a crusade on you.
Give credit where it's due, and ask for permission if possible.
--------------------------------------------------------------
7. Disclaimer
As always, the rule of thumb for playing Oblivion mods is to prepare your own save before trying out a new mod.
I'm not responsible for crashing your game (it hasn't crashed mine) or anything that hasn't to do with your enjoyment. If something goes wrong - Reinhart works in a mysterious way.
Anyhow, any corrupt games should be clean-able just by unplugging Shadow Dancer.esp.
--------------------------------------------------------------
8. Contact
Please, do tell me if you've come across any bugs (except one mentioned in section 5), I would prefer a mod that produces as little bug as possible.
You can reach me in the official Elder Scrolls Forum:
http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showforum=25
...under the name Reinhart Menken.
The mod's thread is as follows:
http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=625929
Please try to leave your messages in my mod's thread, and keep the PMs to a minimum.
By Reinhart Menken
--------------------------------------------------------------
1. Credits
2. About
3. Feature
3. Version History
4. Installation
5. Known Bugs/Confliction
6. Permissions
7. Disclaimer
8. Contact
--------------------------------------------------------------
1. Credits
Reason I put the credits in the first part is because...- frankly I don't read all the way to the bottom to see the credit list of any mods. Plus, I don't see why people who contributed should be left at the last part of a document.
Big thanks to:
MentalElf - for his specialized script that differeniates between enemies and bystanders.
Aridale - For his very thought out and excellent script handling leveling of a companion, of which I extracted the part that was needed for my "mod".
and NorrabMaster - for his very excellent and cool shadow-themed armor set.
Bethesda for creating a great and moddable game and their also very wonderful CS Toolset.
Troy Denning who wrote his trilogy which contained one small aspect of shadow walking that I ripped off (or intend to).
My mom, my dad, my aunt, uncle, future baby-to-be-born, my future-grandson, blablabla.
--------------------------------------------------------------
2. Brief About
This is a companion mod still in its beta phase. It provides the player with a blade-and-shield-wielding Argonian shadow dancer companion - Ta'lar, along with some added new features, and also removed some very common features, on the basis that it doesn't seem fit to his would-be personality. See more in the next segment - Features.
--------------------------------------------------------------
3. Features
*Basic Follow and Stay*
**Distinguish Friend or Foe**
Ta'lar will attack anyone that might or is attacking the player, and nothing else. Currently he won't attack the player, since the player can't loot him of his equipments anyways.
**Hide in Shadow**
Ta'lar will sneak when he's following the player and the player sneaks, however, when he sneaks he will be almost completely unseen
**Shadow Dancing**
The most important aspect is Ta'lar's shadow dancing. When he engages an opponent, he will constantly and gradually shift out of reality and then reappear at another random spot near his opponent, thus creating a dance of death. It's quite fun to watch at times.
**Enemy-Searching**
I would like to say that it introduces the function of enemy-finding. The player is given the option to tell Ta'lar to "look for" enemies and engage. In my opinion this would be pretty useful in a dungeon and whatnot, as originally I started out with the idea that I wished I could go into a dungeon and split up with my companion and let him take care of his business (enemies) while I take care of mine.
It is, however, very much useless in the wilderness, as usually your enemies are thousands of units away, unlike inside a cramp dungeon; unless, of course, you're using a mob spawning mod that spawns mass mobs in the wilderness, like MMM and whatnot. However, I've provided a one time enemy-seeking option that you can use to the tell Ta'lar to seek out enemy once, and then stop.
**Shadow Walking**
Very basically it's just a mark-the-spot and warp-to-it-later ability, however a little bit more than that (just a little bit). The player can tell Ta'lar to remember a spot, and later on to shadow walk back to it (both of you). When he takes you to the Shadow Realm you will have to follow him to the exit (the only light there), and there you will emerge out into wherever he last remembered a spot.
It's planned for the future that there be more danger inside the shadow realm, such as death if falling into the shadows, or random chance of encountering shadows that hates anything with life and will attempt to convert you into them, killing you in the process.
**Player Finding**
When Ta'lar is done exploring or looking for enemies, he will try to find the player. There is also an option to tell him not to, although I don't see why one would want that; but it's for the benefit of the players just in case they do.
**Warping**
If Ta'lar is told to follow the player and the player gets too far from him, he will automatically be warped to the player, in case the player and him gets seperated. When the player fast-travels, he will be warped to the player as well.
**Self Improving**
Ta'lar's skills will improve gradually, as will his levels.
*Companion Share*
...is removed, because Ta'lar is not a pack maul and he doesn't care for carrying any equipment other than his.
*Horse Riding*
...is non-existant because he doesn't ride horses, due to his shadowy nature. Ta'lar prefers to prow in the shadow, and to come up to his opponent slowly and silently; then to announce his presense by horse hooves. I may implement a way for him to meet up with the player at the destination should the player still wishes to ride a horse.
--------------------------------------------------------------
3. Version History
Build 1 - Incarnation of the first shadow dancer, only capable of shadow dancing
Build 2 - Second incarnation, now capable of recognizing friend or foe, and levling
Build 3 - Third incarnation, now has dialogue with "come" and "stay" option
Build 4 - Fourth incarnation, now capable of enemy-finding, sneak, player finding, shadow walk, warping, and extended dialogue options
--------------------------------------------------------------
4. Installation
Extract all the files into your "...Oblivion\Data folder" and select "Yes to All" when prompt. Check the Shadow Dancer.esp in the Oblivion launcher, you're good to go.
When your game start you'll have a spell that allows you to summon Ta'lar, just to save time from travelling to any city and look for him. The spell will be removed in the final version.
--------------------------------------------------------------
5. Known Bugs/Confliction
Somehow the script for exiting the Shadow Realm isn't working properly on my machine, but since my script was based exactly on Bethesda's trigger scripts I'm assuming that it's just because of my own rig. Should the problem arise that Ta'lar enters the light he is not transported, simply open and close your menu. Somehow this enables the script to run for him and you. If you know how to fix this, please let me know, and I will add you to the credits on the next update, should it work. Much appreciated.
There should be no conflict with any other mods, since all the references are created with their own prefix, and the other references used are minor statics.
--------------------------------------------------------------
6. Permissions
First edition of the "permission segment" was too complicated so I just simply abandoned it. After I thought about it, I had to explain what I didn't care (like stealing my script) and what I would care (repackaging my mod). So, here's the deal. Just don't take anything in the mod and claim it yours (because I am too lazy to explain or think about whether it's okay for me or not). Especially do not take my contributor's creations and claim it yours, I am not responsible if they start a crusade on you.
Give credit where it's due, and ask for permission if possible.
--------------------------------------------------------------
7. Disclaimer
As always, the rule of thumb for playing Oblivion mods is to prepare your own save before trying out a new mod.
I'm not responsible for crashing your game (it hasn't crashed mine) or anything that hasn't to do with your enjoyment. If something goes wrong - Reinhart works in a mysterious way.
Anyhow, any corrupt games should be clean-able just by unplugging Shadow Dancer.esp.
--------------------------------------------------------------
8. Contact
Please, do tell me if you've come across any bugs (except one mentioned in section 5), I would prefer a mod that produces as little bug as possible.
You can reach me in the official Elder Scrolls Forum:
http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showforum=25
...under the name Reinhart Menken.
The mod's thread is as follows:
http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=625929
Please try to leave your messages in my mod's thread, and keep the PMs to a minimum.