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About this mod
Adds two ferry lines South of Solitude, to cross the bay without getting soaking wet.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
- Donations
---- What's new in version1.1.00 ----
- The new raft mesh, hopefully without the rare but annoying visual glitch.
- The raft now includes the pay-mug and a lantern (with animated flame and light and all :D)
- You can now climb on the raft and the docks straight from the water, (same like the icefloes). Your follower can do this too, but only if the water is shallow enough for them to stand instead of swimming – that's the core game issue, nothing I can do about it.
- There's a new variant (No-man's Ferry), suited for people who want to make the game a little bit more spooky.
- All three variants of the mod have a version compatible with The People of Skyrim.
- In Ferryman Family variant, mother and daughter are merchants – Beth mostly sells sea food, Flavia has sea food and some bugs.
- In No-man's Ferry variant there's an old man wandering the marshes; if you're lucky enough tomeet him, you may buy some fish and bugs from him.
- New requirement: all DLCs and USLEP
For more info check the logs; if you're curious about technicalities, check out the article.
---- Why a ferry mod ----
If you've ever found yourself traveling north from Morthal or Whiterun in hopes of reaching Solitude, but instead of following the road signs or tracking spells you followed the tempting sight of the city sitting right there, you might have found yourself in a bit of a fix: the city is indeed right there, but between you and your destination lay the frigid waters of the bay. If you're running Frostfall and it happens to be middle of the night, that might pose a problem - swimming across can cause you to freeze to death before reaching shelter.
(And also your brain might do a Blue Screen of Death at the though of swimming in full plate armor. I know that mine tries ;).
One might wonder why the only way to reach Solitude is through the Dragon Bridge. Strategically, this is ideal for defense, of course.
Plus, there's nothing to the south of the city but hostile marshes full of poisonous plants and venomous spiders. There's no reason for the city to expend considerable resources to build a bridge that:
a) very few citizens would use,
b) would limit access to the docks
c) would pose security risk if any invader decided to schlep through the swamp on their way to the battle.
But there are always few people who need to cross the bay semi-frequently - like hunters, fishermen, alchemists in search of rare ingredients, and occasional lost traveler or adventurer fleeing a vampire pack; for them taking the trek viaDragon Bridge would make no sense. And those industrial souls arranged for their own means of transportation - a ferry; it's cheap,meets the traffic demand, and is easily disposable - in case of an attack, just cut the rope! ;)
----tldr;----
This mods adds ferries you can use to reach Solitude from the south, or travel south from Solitude. It comes in three variants, described below. What they all share, is this:
There are two lines - one right at the Solitude docks, the other is just east of the rock outcrop that Solitude sits on. Each line is made up of two rafts, one at each shore, and a rope they travel along.
----tldr;end----
Some technicalities
With some coaxing you can get your follower to hop on too. It might take some song and dance – I find that the best way is to lure them onto the dock first, as far as they'd go, and then run to the corner of the raft that's furthest away from them. What I noticed during testing is that if it's the first time you approach any given dock, the follower will often throw a fit about stepping on the raft – but if it's you second+ visit, they're suddenly cool with it.
Once the ferry is moving, everyone and everything standing/lying on it will be taken along. (Note: sometimes, it's smooth sailing all the way, and sometimes there's some turbulence and you'll need to move not to be thrown overboard. I'm not sure what's causing it; accidental reality bonus, I guess).
While the raft you're on sails across the bay, the one on the other shore will sail in the opposite direction, to make sure there's always a ferry waiting for you, no matter what. If midway you realize you'd forgotten something, or you just feel like recreating the cable car scene from “Where eagles dare”, you can easily jump from one raft to the other as they pass by each other in the middle of the line. Your follower will most likely fall in the water, though. :)
The mod comes in three flavors:
---- Basic ferry ----
The people of Solitude maintain the ferry for their own convenience, and its upkeep is a shared responsibility, usually done by whoever has some time to spare.
To use the ferry, get on the raft and look at the oar closer to the rope. If you're on the south shore, you'll see a 'sail north' command. If you're at the north shore, the command reads 'sail south'. Click it. The ferry will take you tothe other shore. That's it for this variant. :)
---- Ferryman Family ----
Sometime ago a Breton family was making their way to Solitude, towards better future. Unfortunately, their hopes and dreams sunk together with the ship and all their possessions. Ever since they'd been barely staying afloat with their ferry service. Additionally, the mother works the field at Katla's Farm once a week, the daughter fishes and the son catches pretty bugs for his mom.
Here, you need to pay to use the ferry (5 gold on line 1, 20 gold on line 2). There are two ways to do that:
1) go directly to the ferry and look for a clickable mug. As soon as you click it, the money will be taken off you and the ferry will start moving. If you don't have enough money, you'll get a message about it instead.
This will be convenient if you use the service a lot and aren't always in the mood for a chat, or if you can't find a ferryman. This can occasionally happen - if it's Tuesday (or rather, Tirdas), Flavia will be at Katla's most of the day. If it's the kids, it is most likely they felt like misbehaving and went for a swim. Wait for one hour, and they are likely to appear, dripping water and pretending like they'd been there the whole time. ;)
2) There's someone at every dock, minding the raft and minding their own business. Talk to them, asking to use the raft.
If your request had a price shown in brackets, the money will be taken off you, the mug will become unclickable, and the the 'Sail North/South' trigger will appear in its place.
(NOTE: when you're done talking, the game needs to check where the rafts are, and it can take a second or two, so don't rush to the raft straight away – take amoment and look around, until the money is taken off you. Then it'ssafe to look at the oar)
(NOTE2: if you tried paying through dialogue after already setting ferry in motion – unlikely but possible – you'll get a message that ferry is currently out ofservice. Don't worry, no money will be taken off you).
Due to some hiccups in development, there's a 50/50 chance that instead of taking money off you directly, the ferryman will tell you to drop the payment into a mug and sail away. If that happens, you can either talk to the ferryman again or follow the instruction for point 1).
(Esda is the exception – he's too young to handle money, and he never asks for it).
If for whatever reason you find yourself with no cash whatsoever and still need to use the raft, tell the ferryman - they will take pity on you and give you a ride for free.
Bonus feature – you can sit in most places where ferrymen sit.
---- No-man's Ferry ----
There is a ferry line at the Solitude docks, and another one just east of Solitude itself. The locals rarely use them; you'll never see anyone fixing the frayed ropes or replacing rotten planks – and yet it remains functional. Sometimes in the dead of night there's a light traveling over the bay – if they spot it, the locals will look away with a shudder and never mention it outside of whispered rumors over a mug of ale.
There is a ferry line at the Solitude docks, and another one just east of Solitude itself. The locals rarely use them; you'll never see anyone fixing the frayed ropes or replacing rotten planks – and yet it remains functional. Sometimes in the dead of night there's a light traveling over the bay – if they spot it, the locals will look away with a shudder and never mention it outside of whispered rumors over a mug of ale.
If you drop a bit of coin into a mug sitting on the raft, it'll take you to the other shore all by itself. When questioned about it, the locals will say it's magic and cut the conversation short. Sometimes they might warn you never to try to sail at night, and when asked to elaborate they might say it's common sense, or bad luck, or your own business what you do with your life. Which is very true, of course. (HINT: if you decide to beadventurous and go rafting between, say, 19:30 and 4:30, don't try totalk to your companion, and never ever try to jump to the other raftmidway, no matter how warm and safe it might seem).
If you have been robbed blind and left for dead in the marshes somewhere (there are mods for that) ;), or went on a shopping spree, or managed to loose all your coin in some other way, you can still try to use the ferry – you'll be warned off at first, but if you persist, you'll be given a chance to pay for the ride in a different way. (NOTE: this is, ironically, the only way to have the ferry lit and safe regardless of time of the day).
---- TPOS ----
Version compatible with The People of Skyrim mod is now available for each variant.
The docks were moved to fit the greatly changedlandscape, but everything else stays the same. (But don't ask me about navmesh. One second it's perfect, the next it's all scrambled. At some point I just gave up). :/
---- About SE version ----
There won't be one. Sorry guys, but I don't have SE, nor do I plan on buying it. If anyone knows how and wants to convert ferry for SE, go right ahead. You can publish it on nexus, just please link to the original in description. :)