According to my recent investigation, this is not a conflict, but a mere load order thing! Both mods edit the path grid in Skingrad, and as long as my mod loads last, both mods should work fine. Note that the recommeded version of VHB to use is not the original version, but the FIX version by Arthmoor: Verona House Bloodline SI Fixed.? As long as you are running with this version, Vortex should automatically sort it correctly. If not, simply flag my mod as later in Vortex, and you should be fine. In parallel, I am trying to sort this out further. If you want to stay tuned, you may want to follow this post at VHB.
Yet another update! And yet another OPEN Better Cities compatibility warning
Seconds ago, I have provided a new patch version 1.2.2 of this mod. It increases the follow distance of your new animal companion a bit. It has always been way too close, probably leading many players (like myself) to be annoyed by the companion over time. The new version will make the wolf keep some distance, leaving you air to breath ;-)
Yes, I know - I've officially ended maintenance for this mod last year (see below). This is still true (theoretically). But there are exceptions to theory. And sometimes nostalgy just beats reason by a length. :-D
And here's the annual reminder for the OPEN Better Cities incompatibility note: Please be aware that this quest is NOT compatible with OPEN Better Cities Skingrad! With "Open" I mean exactly that - the OPEN option of BETTER Cities causes issues, and only for SKINGRAD.
In other words:
Better Cities per se (in "Closed" mode) ist absolutely safe!
OPEN Better Cities for any other city than Skingrad is absolutely safe.
If you still want to play with OPEN BC Skingrad, bear in mind ...
You need to switch Skingrad to "Closed" before starting the quest, otherwise you will get stuck.
If you switch back to "Open" AFTER finishing the quest, this will make your new player home disappear!
So if you WANT to use the player home, do NOT switch back to "Open" mode. If you don't care about the home, switching back is safe!
it's nice to know that people out there are still playing some of my mods :)
However, I am afraid that I can't support them any longer. Unfortunately, I am far away from oblivion today, and I don't even have a proper installation of the game anymore to reproduce new issues, incompatibilities etc. Even less will I be able to implement new features.
All of my mods (see list further below) haven't been updated for years now, and I've obviously missed multiple important updates to related mods, OBSE etc. So it's very likely that incompatibilities have accumulated to a pile which I cannot address any longer - at least not without giving up other things in my life.
This all means that I'll have to make that long-feared hard and sad step after all.
Creating all of this stuff and supporting an evolving it over years has been a fascinating, thrilling part of my (at least virtual) life, but I just have to move on nowadays.
I am very sorry about this - it took me a long thought to make that decision. :(
I encourage everyone to take the sources from my mods to try to adapt them to more recent developments! I am sure that there are hundreds of gifted modders out there who can do it in an instant or two ;-)
Thanks to everyone who has contributed in any form to this!! Take a look at the long list of credits!
I'll still try to keep in touch here the best I can. Maybe I'll even have my own "nostalgic Oblivion playthrough" from time to time. I'll always be glad about mor "Oblivion talk", but only as a player. I won't be able to be an active modder for TES IV any longer.
1. How to post a problem with this mod? Please send me a PM in a first place! Why? Mail notifications on new posts have never really worked reliably for me. So sending a PM is always better! I am not very frequently present here anymore, since the attention for this mod has significantly fallen with the release of Skyrim. But I am still here, generally, and I will reply, even if it should take me a couple of days.
2. I've managed to get past an issue using console commands, but now I am stuck! Yes, now you are stuck. Indeed. Never use console commands on your own. "Wild guessing" console tweaks without understanding a scripted quest is most likely to break the quest. It makes it impossible for me to help, so I'll simply refuse to do so. Go back to your latest savegame before the "tweaking", then properly reproduce the issue, then send me your report.
Your mod seems to have a non-game breaking incompatibility with Vampire Hunting - Order of the Virtuos Blood compatibility patch for Verona House Bloodlines, where Vampire Hunting - Order of the Virtuos Blood well is cut in half by your mod, its not game breaking, but its not very inmersive.
At least I haven't, and I don't know of anyone else. I'll try to give it a shot (it's now on my list). But I can't promise anything (officially), because (officially) I am not supporting this mod any longer.
@marob307, @radioduck, @AllisterHenderson (or anyone else?) Seems now that I'll find some time to look into this VHB conflict (hopefully to create a patch).
As VHB seems to be a quite complex quest mod (which I've never played myself), I'll need some kick-offdirections: How exactly does the conflict show itself?
I can only assume that it's something "static" about a house in Skingrad missing (just a guess)? Or is it something quest-breaking, concerning the plot?
If you give me some details, I'll have a better chance to reproduce the issue (without having to delve too deep into VHB itself). Thanks!
jaime74> Hey, unfortunately I don't even have a working install of Oblivion at the moment to test.... I didn't see the conflict myself because I never installed Unexpected Company (UC). I previously had VHB installed and was hesitant to install UC because of this reported conflict, that's why I was wondering whether there was a patch or not... I guess the only information you have to go with is the 1st post, a house ?above? a well near or in Skingrad.
Could you use TES4Edit to determine where the conflict is.... For example I know in TES4Edit, if you use the short-cut 'Ctrl + Shift + f', a window comes up where you enter a cell's (x, y) coordinates and TES4Edit lists all of the ESP's that modify that cell.... Is there some other shortcut you could use where you can input (select) 2 or more ESP's and then get a list of any cells that fit the criteria of being modified by the 2 or more selected ESP's?...
Thanks for your hints, @AllisterHenderson, I appreciate this a lot. Yes, I guess, I'll just install VHB and check in TES4Edit for easy-to-grasp "static" interference with my UC house. You may have noticed that I've also posted my question in the VHB forum? - maybe some VHB expert will give me additional information. Anyway, I'll get started and come back here once a patch is available.
@AlisterHenderson I've posted my findings over at the VHB discussions: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/47022-verona-house-bloodlines/page-81#entry95579738 I.e. I can't identify a conflict here and haven't received any other lead that would contradict my assumption. Would you mind giving a try? Can you confirm this?
@marob307, thanks for the hint. But I am wondering: My mod does not add any well, and I couldn't identify any house added by VHB in the same place. Maybe you mean it vice versa ("my" house vs. a well from VHB)? Any chance perhaps to add a screenshot showing the overlap?
That's a thrilling idea. Still a thing to bear in mind. Though I imagine it a tricky piece of work - taking into account all the complex creature and factions overhaul mods out there...
Spoiler comment! Please do not go further if you never played this mod. In any case, I do recommend playing it once
Spoiler:
Show
Hi, I wish to thank you for this mod.
I've played it and I admit that I was surprised by his quality. The part where you have to write the notes in the book left me amazed, especially by knowing that you could fail (!) the quest.
I also liked that you gave players choices, but I feel like you didn't push it enough. I'm referring to the dog: wasn't there a chance you could give players to just free him? I admit I'm not fond of followers, and to 'free' him, especially when you met the other dog, would have been cool.
Said this, I've found two typos:
- There is no space between the name of the robe. - Inside the book that you are supposed to use to get in touch with the ghost, around page 7-8 (can't remember) there is a mispelled word: barabaric, instead of barbaric.
In retrospect, playing this mod made me think that maybe a 7 for blade of the haunted is a too little rating.
So I will be as just as possible and rate this a 6.5.
I came here after searching for Nerastarel mods and I loved what I saw of An Unexpected Company. The detail and dedication in the description, the history, photos, a link to a walkthrough and why not to say it? The tenderness of the dog... . It makes me really want to save him and earn his friendship!
But that's not all. For a long time I wanted to make a comeback to Oblivion, because I only played the game without mods, it's really a new game so I downloaded some, but you know, in installing and testing you never get to play! This mod (now a must in my future list) made me return to the game, thank you. Also, I want to say that it's not neccesary to make a long, flashy or bloody mod to success. Such a underrated mod... Sad. This mod DESERVE more endorsements, as well as more diffusion. Most players are missing the beauty of this mod and I like to encourage Jaime to make more quests involving Pyp.
Konephoros, here's a late-arriving THANK YOU for your great comment! It's always nice to know that some people appreciate my mod exactly for what it is meant to be!
I am a bit confused. You say that when using Better Cities, I should use only one of the eps, namely the "An Unexpected Company - Better Cities.esp". But that esp has a master dependency with the non-better cities version. The Better Cities version loads as far after the Better Cities mod as possible.
Also, the begger right at the start disappears once we get to the backyard just to the left of having crossed the bridge. We never even get to the house. I see that this has happened before to someone else's game, but I couldn't fix it in the way described earlier.
I am using the "Open Better Cities" option. Could that be the problem?
I'll try to reproduce your issue using Open BC. Maybe there's been a recent update to BC which I have missed, so there's possibly a new incompatibility? I'll see what I can find and let you know asap.
Anyone else having the problem described by Jazhara7
Jazhara7, here I am back. First of all: The BC version does have the master dependency to the non-better cities version for good reasons: It is only a patch, not the mod itself. If you've installed everything correctly, there must be TWO esps from my mod in your data folder (the core esp and the BC patch). So the dependency is as intended and absolutely correct.
Second: I can confirm your finding. With the Open Better Cities option toggled on for Skingrad, Jarilov the beggar disappears on the way to his house. Even more, his house is completely missing. I assume that you've detected a hithertho unknown incompatibility, i.e. with the Open BC option. I wasn't aware of that, because I never thought of testing it with OBC (my fault).
Conclusion: I'd like to create a patch for it. However, I am afraid that OBC does some weird things like moving tons of objects between worldspaces. So enforcing compatibility may become a hard task. I am not sure whether I'll find the time to dig into it. However, I consider the OBC option something less vital, i.e. I assume that players can live without it for a certain time without loss of fun. So my suggestion is: I will add a note to my incompatibilities section and encourage people for now to toggle OBC Skingrad off. Once the quest is complete, it can be toggled on again, but only with the drawback that this will make the player home, which you can get as one of the rewards), unavailable. Unfortunately! I think this is the most realistic solution for it, for now. I hope to be able to understand OBC and create a patch in the future (I suppose that I'll have to contact the BC team for it). But I cannot promise this right away.
I hope this is acceptable for you and others. Anyway, I'll give you kudos and some credits for detecting and reporting this!
Awesome mod, fun quest, and a unique insight into non-hostile hauntings, which are unfortunately practically non-existent in Vanilla. The story is believable and rather fun, and a great way to explain why I have a dog without breaking immersion. And of course, it actually makes you feel like you earned your furry "little" friend. Finally, to make things even better, so far at least in my case, I've encountered no bugs to speak of. You've earned yourself an endorsement. Thanks for this great addition to the game.
Great thanks for this encouraging comment und the nice characterization of my quest. I've noticed that the mod has always gone quite unnoticed, definitely because of its rather "unspectacular" concept. It's nice to know that some people like it exactly for what it is!
Aug 19, 2013 - NMM installer is now available I've uploaded a new version which contains an automated installer for Nexus Mod Manager (NMM). The version for Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM) has been uploaded separately. Both files are also valid for installation with Wrye Bash's BAIN wizard.
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According to my recent investigation, this is not a conflict, but a mere load order thing!
Both mods edit the path grid in Skingrad, and as long as my mod loads last, both mods should work fine.
Note that the recommeded version of VHB to use is not the original version, but the FIX version by Arthmoor: Verona House Bloodline SI Fixed.?
As long as you are running with this version, Vortex should automatically sort it correctly. If not, simply flag my mod as later in Vortex, and you should be fine.
In parallel, I am trying to sort this out further. If you want to stay tuned, you may want to follow this post at VHB.
Seconds ago, I have provided a new patch version 1.2.2 of this mod. It increases the follow distance of your new animal companion a bit. It has always been way too close, probably leading many players (like myself) to be annoyed by the companion over time. The new version will make the wolf keep some distance, leaving you air to breath ;-)
Yes, I know - I've officially ended maintenance for this mod last year (see below). This is still true (theoretically). But there are exceptions to theory. And sometimes nostalgy just beats reason by a length. :-D
And here's the annual reminder for the OPEN Better Cities incompatibility note:
Please be aware that this quest is NOT compatible with OPEN Better Cities Skingrad!
With "Open" I mean exactly that - the OPEN option of BETTER Cities causes issues, and only for SKINGRAD.
In other words:
If you still want to play with OPEN BC Skingrad, bear in mind ...
Dear all,
it's nice to know that people out there are still playing some of my mods :)
However, I am afraid that I can't support them any longer. Unfortunately, I am far away from oblivion today, and I don't even have a proper installation of the game anymore to reproduce new issues, incompatibilities etc. Even less will I be able to implement new features.
All of my mods (see list further below) haven't been updated for years now, and I've obviously missed multiple important updates to related mods, OBSE etc. So it's very likely that incompatibilities have accumulated to a pile which I cannot address any longer - at least not without giving up other things in my life.
This all means that I'll have to make that long-feared hard and sad step after all.
Creating all of this stuff and supporting an evolving it over years has been a fascinating, thrilling part of my (at least virtual) life, but I just have to move on nowadays.
I am very sorry about this - it took me a long thought to make that decision. :(
I encourage everyone to take the sources from my mods to try to adapt them to more recent developments! I am sure that there are hundreds of gifted modders out there who can do it in an instant or two ;-)
Thanks to everyone who has contributed in any form to this!! Take a look at the long list of credits!
I'll still try to keep in touch here the best I can. Maybe I'll even have my own "nostalgic Oblivion playthrough" from time to time. I'll always be glad about mor "Oblivion talk", but only as a player. I won't be able to be an active modder for TES IV any longer.
Kind regards (with a bit of crying),
jaime74
1. How to post a problem with this mod?
Please send me a PM in a first place!
Why? Mail notifications on new posts have never really worked reliably for me. So sending a PM is always better! I am not very frequently present here anymore, since the attention for this mod has significantly fallen with the release of Skyrim. But I am still here, generally, and I will reply, even if it should take me a couple of days.
2. I've managed to get past an issue using console commands, but now I am stuck!
Yes, now you are stuck. Indeed. Never use console commands on your own. "Wild guessing" console tweaks without understanding a scripted quest is most likely to break the quest. It makes it impossible for me to help, so I'll simply refuse to do so. Go back to your latest savegame before the "tweaking", then properly reproduce the issue, then send me your report.
Seems to be a fine mod.
I'll try to give it a shot (it's now on my list). But I can't promise anything (officially), because (officially) I am not supporting this mod any longer.
Seems now that I'll find some time to look into this VHB conflict (hopefully to create a patch).
As VHB seems to be a quite complex quest mod (which I've never played myself), I'll need some kick-offdirections: How exactly does the conflict show itself?
I can only assume that it's something "static" about a house in Skingrad missing (just a guess)?
Or is it something quest-breaking, concerning the plot?
If you give me some details, I'll have a better chance to reproduce the issue (without having to delve too deep into VHB itself).
Thanks!
Could you use TES4Edit to determine where the conflict is.... For example I know in TES4Edit, if you use the short-cut 'Ctrl + Shift + f', a window comes up where you enter a cell's (x, y) coordinates and TES4Edit lists all of the ESP's that modify that cell.... Is there some other shortcut you could use where you can input (select) 2 or more ESP's and then get a list of any cells that fit the criteria of being modified by the 2 or more selected
ESP's?...
Yes, I guess, I'll just install VHB and check in TES4Edit for easy-to-grasp "static" interference with my UC house.
You may have noticed that I've also posted my question in the VHB forum? - maybe some VHB expert will give me additional information.
Anyway, I'll get started and come back here once a patch is available.
I've posted my findings over at the VHB discussions: https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/47022-verona-house-bloodlines/page-81#entry95579738
I.e. I can't identify a conflict here and haven't received any other lead that would contradict my assumption.
Would you mind giving a try? Can you confirm this?
But I am wondering: My mod does not add any well, and I couldn't identify any house added by VHB in the same place. Maybe you mean it vice versa ("my" house vs. a well from VHB)?
Any chance perhaps to add a screenshot showing the overlap?
Hi,
I wish to thank you for this mod.
I've played it and I admit that I was surprised by his quality. The part where you have to write the notes in the book left me amazed, especially by knowing that you could fail (!) the quest.
I also liked that you gave players choices, but I feel like you didn't push it enough.
I'm referring to the dog: wasn't there a chance you could give players to just free him? I admit I'm not fond of followers, and to 'free' him, especially when you met the other dog, would have been cool.
Said this, I've found two typos:
- There is no space between the name of the robe.
- Inside the book that you are supposed to use to get in touch with the ghost, around page 7-8 (can't remember) there is a mispelled word: barabaric, instead of barbaric.
In retrospect, playing this mod made me think that maybe a 7 for blade of the haunted is a too little rating.
So I will be as just as possible and rate this a 6.5.
Well done, I didn't regret this.
Such feedback is very welcome!
But that's not all. For a long time I wanted to make a comeback to Oblivion, because I only played the game without mods, it's really a new game so I downloaded some, but you know, in installing and testing you never get to play! This mod (now a must in my future list) made me return to the game, thank you. Also, I want to say that it's not neccesary to make a long, flashy or bloody mod to success. Such a underrated mod... Sad. This mod DESERVE more endorsements, as well as more diffusion. Most players are missing the beauty of this mod and I like to encourage Jaime to make more quests involving Pyp.
Thank you again for your work!
Also, the begger right at the start disappears once we get to the backyard just to the left of having crossed the bridge. We never even get to the house. I see that this has happened before to someone else's game, but I couldn't fix it in the way described earlier.
I am using the "Open Better Cities" option. Could that be the problem?
Any suggestions?
Maybe there's been a recent update to BC which I have missed, so there's possibly a new incompatibility?
I'll see what I can find and let you know asap.
Anyone else having the problem described by Jazhara7
First of all: The BC version does have the master dependency to the non-better cities version for good reasons: It is only a patch, not the mod itself. If you've installed everything correctly, there must be TWO esps from my mod in your data folder (the core esp and the BC patch). So the dependency is as intended and absolutely correct.
Second: I can confirm your finding. With the Open Better Cities option toggled on for Skingrad, Jarilov the beggar disappears on the way to his house. Even more, his house is completely missing.
I assume that you've detected a hithertho unknown incompatibility, i.e. with the Open BC option. I wasn't aware of that, because I never thought of testing it with OBC (my fault).
Conclusion:
I'd like to create a patch for it. However, I am afraid that OBC does some weird things like moving tons of objects between worldspaces. So enforcing compatibility may become a hard task. I am not sure whether I'll find the time to dig into it.
However, I consider the OBC option something less vital, i.e. I assume that players can live without it for a certain time without loss of fun.
So my suggestion is: I will add a note to my incompatibilities section and encourage people for now to toggle OBC Skingrad off. Once the quest is complete, it can be toggled on again, but only with the drawback that this will make the player home, which you can get as one of the rewards), unavailable. Unfortunately!
I think this is the most realistic solution for it, for now. I hope to be able to understand OBC and create a patch in the future (I suppose that I'll have to contact the BC team for it). But I cannot promise this right away.
I hope this is acceptable for you and others.
Anyway, I'll give you kudos and some credits for detecting and reporting this!
I've noticed that the mod has always gone quite unnoticed, definitely because of its rather "unspectacular" concept. It's nice to know that some people like it exactly for what it is!
I've uploaded a new version which contains an automated installer for Nexus Mod Manager (NMM). The version for Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM) has been uploaded separately. Both files are also valid for installation with Wrye Bash's BAIN wizard.