(Original creator on a different account) Appreciate all the kind posts! This was my first ever mod and I apologize that it's a bit buggy. I made this during college and haven't had time to revisit it since I graduated shortly after. When I first made it, I swear it was bug-free as I ran it multiple times- something must have happened along the way during one of my edits. I've completely forgotten how to code since this, as it was my first attempt ever at it, so unlikely to ever make another but appreciate all the support behind the "idea" of the mod.
This might make everyone more sad: I was actually working on another mod where you start as a Stormcloak from humble beginnings. This one involved many more steps and was MUCH more advanced. For example, the main mission of this mod was to save your brother from being executed in Solitude (Yes, the person who is executed the first time you enter. I had managed to somehow work it so you SAVED him!) I was working on the finishing touches and poof... something broke, I couldn't fix it, didn't want to start over and "hung up the cleats"
Shortly after, this mod took off and I regretted abandoning it. But now I'm too far removed to ever get back into modding as I wouldn't even know where to start / how to fix this one. I hope some advanced modders take note of the intention with this mod and make their own. Thanks again for the kind words everyone!
I'm with LuDux, I want more variety in starts, that do NOT shoehorn me into factions I hate, in fact, I want a start that explains HOW I got into the cart to Helgen.
I don't see a problem either way as It's all part of them trying to be authentic to the time and period the game is inspired by and it not only adds immersion but helps add more challenge with regards to the narrative too anyways . The fact is you'll quickly find out that all races are in one form or another racist or bigoted in skyrim by today's standards and that's ok as elder scrolls is inspired by medieval times and its many folk tales and fantasies after all not modern times. Let's face it majority of cultures around medieval times weren't pro multi cultural, very welcoming of outsiders, and would prefer to be segregated even when allowing outsiders in just as shown within skyrim whether its imperials or stormcloaks and their many cities like solitude or windhelm, You'll quickly notice within most cities that outsiders either are segregated or live as second class citizens and that's all part of the immersion. In fact you spend part of the game trying to get through and overcoming some those cultural differences and challenges and i find it great. Majority of people weren't politically correct or very progressive in medieval times and part of the challenge is you trying to correct or change some of that or not it's your choice and I love it.
The Stormcloaks are the racists, have you been to Windhelm, the Dark Elves live in slums having to endure racial slurs hell the first Dark Elf you meet asks if you hate Dark Elves, and the Argonians can't even come into the city they are forced to live on the Docks. By contrast, the Empire's legions are composed of people from all over Tamriel: Imperials, Orcs, Dark Elves, High Elves, Wood Elves, Khajiits, Argonians, Redguards, Bretons and even Nords, hell the Empire even outlawed slavery when it was founded by Saint Alessia the Imperials are the most inclusive indiscriminate faction in the game like the various guilds you can join, the Stormcloaks are the only ones that will treat you like s#*! if you are anything but a Nord and even then they'll still treat you badly also Ulfric is an asshole
The majority of Elder Scrolls racists are based on actual racial groups that existed in actual human history, and the general attitudes reflect the racial beliefs around the time in human history that Skyrim approximates. Both sides are incredibly racist, but the Stormcloaks are more openly racist whereas the Imperials are better at hiding it.
Right damn shame this mod's Abandonware, because this actually has really solid legs.
I actually came looking to see if the bugs were load order-related, but it seems that these are pretty consistent bugs.
-I had the opposite problem from most people, in that the courier found me immediately, which meant I had to basically pretend the letter didn't exist until I finished the first quest. ...The letter's also hard-coded to "brother", but that's not a hard fix.
-Both quests also have some scripting issues that take you out of the immersion immediately. I wouldn't describe them as deal-breaking? As near as I can tell, the quests fail to complete their final objectives (sleep in a bed for an hour, and perform an interaction with a collected object I won't spoil here.) However, that was a problem I was able to circumvent with a little bit of google-fu, and prodigious use of console commands to manually run the broken scripts.
However, I actually ADORE the concepts behind this mod. AS-LAL and AltPer are both very good mods (though if you're still using Campfire, AltPer does take some fiddling to actually get running properly. Papyrus is a beast most eldritch.), but pretty much every single start offered by those mods are so flimsy as to be forgettable.
Sure, you can be a Dungeon-Diver specializing in Dwemeri research, a Necromancer down in the depths of Blackreach, a prospect for any of Skyrim's factions, etc, etc. But it all ends the same; AS-LAL has the generic "Hey, I heard some weird Civil War Stuff is happening around Helgen, you should check it out." or AltPer goes "Hey, go sleep at the inn in Helgen, then OH BOY HERE COMES THE END TIMES!".
(Perhaps the AltPer team should start talking with the folks behind Helgen Reborn, that could only go swimmingly.)
But the idea of having some lightweight quests attached to kinda "set the scene" and really give you some story hooks for the MSQ is a great idea. Especially when, narratively, all the Alternate Starts have to, ultimately, compete with the actual Vanilla Start (or Opening Scene Overhaul). And, presently... ...In my opinion the major ones don't. AltPer tries, by adding you to the vanilla start as an observer, but, that's still just Vanilla With Extra Steps. And AS-LAL simply does not have the hooks to really invest a character in the MSQ.
Now, as implemented here, it's not perfect. While the mod author insists you need to be an Imperial? As written, you could play as a Nord or Redguard just as easily, and even the Dark/Wood/High Elves work with some mental gymnastics. Khajiit, Argonians, and Orcs are morphologically different enough that a certain part wouldn't make much of any sense. (It also assumes a male pc, but that's either easily ignored or fixed by like maybe ten minutes of code.)
But this concept has some potential. The original author's probably long gone, but I hope other modders see what this mod tried to do and take notice.
This is probably the most nifty alternate start I've played in some time. Even in spite of the bugs.
So exactly what happens when you start the game this way, do you get a quest chain in Rorikstead and then you get arrested at a border? Or does it just skip prisoner section entirely?
So far as I can tell you have to choose the option of the Inn in Rorikstead as your starting place at the Mara statue. I had this as an option and chose another start and the quest read that it wanted me to choose the inn and get my father's bow. I eventually got the bow and the quest progressed normally. Until the bug of not being able to bury the remains. Now it's kinda stuck and my dynDOLOD won't load without it so there's no removing it until it is patched. It seems like a great starting mod just as soon as the few issues it has are ironed out.
It's the class high-fantasy-humble-beginning. You're just living your life in a small farming town, then something goes wrong, and you find out your family's been keeping secrets around you, and then you're sent to Helgen for the normal Live Another Life "whoops, just stumbled on the main quest" and to the Imperial Legion to [spoilers]. I really like the idea, but the quests don't always work super well.
The backstory is well thought out and makes sense but the entire questline is a buggy mess. Quests not completing/moving past stages, the quest beginning before it should etc., To everyone wanting to download, DON'T. At least until the bugs are sorted out.
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This might make everyone more sad: I was actually working on another mod where you start as a Stormcloak from humble beginnings. This one involved many more steps and was MUCH more advanced. For example, the main mission of this mod was to save your brother from being executed in Solitude (Yes, the person who is executed the first time you enter. I had managed to somehow work it so you SAVED him!) I was working on the finishing touches and poof... something broke, I couldn't fix it, didn't want to start over and "hung up the cleats"
Shortly after, this mod took off and I regretted abandoning it. But now I'm too far removed to ever get back into modding as I wouldn't even know where to start / how to fix this one. I hope some advanced modders take note of the intention with this mod and make their own. Thanks again for the kind words everyone!
With that being said, LuDux, the Imperials definitely aren't quite that racist.
>racist
?????????????
I actually came looking to see if the bugs were load order-related, but it seems that these are pretty consistent bugs.
-I had the opposite problem from most people, in that the courier found me immediately, which meant I had to basically pretend the letter didn't exist until I finished the first quest. ...The letter's also hard-coded to "brother", but that's not a hard fix.
-Both quests also have some scripting issues that take you out of the immersion immediately. I wouldn't describe them as deal-breaking? As near as I can tell, the quests fail to complete their final objectives (sleep in a bed for an hour, and perform an interaction with a collected object I won't spoil here.) However, that was a problem I was able to circumvent with a little bit of google-fu, and prodigious use of console commands to manually run the broken scripts.
However, I actually ADORE the concepts behind this mod. AS-LAL and AltPer are both very good mods (though if you're still using Campfire, AltPer does take some fiddling to actually get running properly. Papyrus is a beast most eldritch.), but pretty much every single start offered by those mods are so flimsy as to be forgettable.
Sure, you can be a Dungeon-Diver specializing in Dwemeri research, a Necromancer down in the depths of Blackreach, a prospect for any of Skyrim's factions, etc, etc. But it all ends the same; AS-LAL has the generic "Hey, I heard some weird Civil War Stuff is happening around Helgen, you should check it out." or AltPer goes "Hey, go sleep at the inn in Helgen, then OH BOY HERE COMES THE END TIMES!".
(Perhaps the AltPer team should start talking with the folks behind Helgen Reborn, that could only go swimmingly.)
But the idea of having some lightweight quests attached to kinda "set the scene" and really give you some story hooks for the MSQ is a great idea. Especially when, narratively, all the Alternate Starts have to, ultimately, compete with the actual Vanilla Start (or Opening Scene Overhaul). And, presently... ...In my opinion the major ones don't. AltPer tries, by adding you to the vanilla start as an observer, but, that's still just Vanilla With Extra Steps. And AS-LAL simply does not have the hooks to really invest a character in the MSQ.
Now, as implemented here, it's not perfect. While the mod author insists you need to be an Imperial? As written, you could play as a Nord or Redguard just as easily, and even the Dark/Wood/High Elves work with some mental gymnastics. Khajiit, Argonians, and Orcs are morphologically different enough that a certain part wouldn't make much of any sense. (It also assumes a male pc, but that's either easily ignored or fixed by like maybe ten minutes of code.)
But this concept has some potential. The original author's probably long gone, but I hope other modders see what this mod tried to do and take notice.
This is probably the most nifty alternate start I've played in some time. Even in spite of the bugs.