Thank you so much for all the kind words! I might not be responding, but I am definitely reading them (and sending them to my friends and the people who helped make this happen) <3
If you need help with a puzzle or want to see how to get certain character endings, here is the walkthrough!
I played the whole mod in VR. It is easy enough to move the cc content over to VR. You can just copy over all of the esms, esps, and bsas over letting it overwrite those in VR. You will have to delete a few things in the old bsas to fix the (...) bug with some of the dialogue in the cc content. Doing this will let you use the latest version of USSEP (and ASLAL if you use that) also.
The only issue I had in VR was when the mod gave you control of another character, I couldn't move or do anything. Had to fail that part of the quest to continue. That DOES need a patch, but that's it.
This mod actually motivated me to buy the anniversary edition(since I only played with LE) and I must say It's been a while I played a quest mod this good, I usually don't download quest mods let alone complete them since they mostly tend to feel not as good as the main game quests. But this one trully is a gem. It trully brings unic gameplay with the water dungeon. Definitly one of my top 5 quest mods of all time.
Never once bored for the main game on my 2500 hours of SKyrim. But was bored on my first try for most of the quest mods, why being sad for that? This mod here is top level but I also like the main story and think it's good writing.
Sad because I was thinking about trying to make some quests mods ages ago, and so I went looking to other mods for inspiration or see how they go about it, but most didn't seem very high quality.
Main game's quests are usually pretty bare bones, not well written. I think Skyrim has great vibes and Elder Scrolls lore is better than a lot of competing options.
hm...a creator I see? Well I don't know if you're still trying to create a mod but don't let my own personal opinion on things discourage you. I just happened to have different view and taste on things, skyrim story and other mods story. I liked the characters of Skyrim vanilla and liked how the story guides you to explore different places. There also quite a good mods that kept me into the story without getting me bored. The Dwemer themed trio that is Clockworks, Forgotten city, Project AHO are good. A little too one linear story wise but still heavily underrated mod called Dwemer colosseum with interesting characters. Not anymore in nexus but one of the best puzzle dungeon that is Maelstrom(a mod I would put as a duo with Sirenroot for being a sea, water themed dungeon mod.) Still has some mods I haven't yet to try, who knows maybe one mod would top it all. Good luck on your future projects wether it be game related or not.
Very well done mod, very unique with well crafted puzzles. I wasnt able to control one of the characters because I was using Improved Camera SE, however other than this it is one of the best quest mods available
I managed to get this working for SE 1.5.97 with the guide located here. It was absolutely worth the effort to get it set up! The dungeon environments are absolutely beautiful, and the characters are interesting and well written. My one complaint was that the basic enemies were all level 1, (even though I was at level 30-something) which looks to have been changed in the latest patch.
All told, I finished the quest in about six and a half hours, mostly without a guide. It was very stable, I had no crashes whatsoever, and I'm running 1200+ mods. I didn't run into any other conflicts, aside from a brief hiccup with the camera during
Spoiler:
Show
one of the sections controlling one of the other characters.
Possibly due to Improved Camera SE/SmoothCam/Improved Alternate Conversation Camera. Seemed to work fine so long as it was in third person rather than first.
1,000% worth a playthrough, IMO. Really well done!
Just finished this amazing quest. There were a few small bugs that hindered the experience slightly, but the fantastic gameplay, soundtrack, and story make up for it by far! My only real issue is that the ending is so bittersweet. (Spoilers ahead) I unfortunately let Peletius die, but was able to save the Cayrice and Tileal. They came to the surface with me, but after I asked them each "what are you going to do now?" I noticed that was it for the dialogue. There was nothing else to say to them even though I felt like there was a lot that could be said. It would've been nice to try and convince Tileal to become my follower perhaps. And maybe (although a long shot) have Cayrice reappear in Beyond Skyrim: Cyrodiil once that releases. Here's another longshot idea (just spit balling here), try to get patches for follower mods (Lucien, Inigo, etc.) to comment on what happened to you and what happened with them during your absence.
All in all though, this was a very fun little adventure and honestly, I'm gonna be looking into downloading more questline mod content now. Thank you for making this awesome story!
I have been waiting for this mod to just magically work with 1.5.97 someday because I have the hugest mod list on my game half of which are designed for that game version and can't possibly find the time to redo everything all over so that I can play this. Is there any way at all to get those tile sets or a replacement and play this without updating the game? :(
First off, for anyone trying to get this to work on 1.5.97 but doesn't want to use the downgrade patcher for whatever reason (such as it being seemingly non-functional at the time of this writing), here's what you need to do. First, get your hands on the necessary files however you want (the description lists which specific ones you need). For me, I had to use a second computer and a portable hard drive because I couldn't figure out how to get Steam to let me install a second copy to a different hard drive. Make sure to back up the relevant files if you're worried about it. So far, I haven't experienced any problems from replacing them, but I can't mess with anything in Creation Kit without restoring the old files.
Next, you'll need this fixed version of the patch BSA and BEES. That's right, bees! Without these two, I either couldn't get the game to successfully launch or the assets wouldn't appear. Hope this helps.
Now, on to my thoughts.
First off, this mod has a wonderful atmosphere which is accomplished largely through its original soundtrack, which I'm happy to remark was created specifically for the mod. It always takes the wind out of my sails to find out something cool was a stock element or something of the like. Even though it's been nearly a week, the ethereal wailing of the sirenroot occasionally flows into my head. I'm a huge fan of those kind of vocals, so I was almost hesitant to pluck the flowers each time I found them, and only did so in case it was important. The musical tracks themselves do a perfect job of blending into the background just enough to keep from becoming stale or distracting while simultaneously remaining pleasant to listen to. A really damn good job was done here, and I'm already sending the soundtrack to friends and keeping it in mind for potential use in D&D.
The cast is likeable and vibrant, and feature the best voice acting I've yet to hear in a Skyrim mod. I'm no authority on that subject, and it's certainly not a high bar, but this is the first time I've played a mod with voice acting and didn't have at least one criticism. Everyone sounds properly high quality in terms of both raw performance and sound quality, and this isn't just a matter of people sounding convincing in their tone—there are a few genuinely emotive performances here that demand conviction, and they completely succeed. I must shout out Ryan Smith as Yineel who does such an exceptional job of mimicking the base game argonian voice that I wasn't convinced he wasn't the original voice actor.
Branching dialogue is always nice, and I especially appreciate that optional questions you can ask that don't have an impact on the conversation choices are distinctively marked. Something that greatly annoys me in games is when I don't know which dialogue options I have will advance the conversation, causing me to miss opportunities to say or ask other things, and which won't. It would be nice if this feature was extended to all other options as well, but any effort here is welcome. The mod does suffer from a few instances where it's unclear which options will anger an NPC or otherwise lock you out of something, though, specifically, when you're trying to convince Cayrice to leave. The options presented don't have a good indication what the result will be, and all but one of them are dead ends that fail the objective.
There's also a consistent error in the dialogue text where ellipses are written with two periods instead of three, and the font size in the various journals and notes was uncomfortably small.
The gameplay is solid throughout, and despite being puzzle-focused and in a water dungeon, I felt like they were just challenging enough to require thought and never so obtuse that I was left feeling like I didn't have all the necessary information—that is aside from, ironically, the very first puzzle in the mod. It took me a couple hours to get this all up and running, as I never upgraded past 1.5.97 and didn't know it required 1.6 assets until after I started, so I was very paranoid early on that I was missing assets or that something wasn't working properly. It took me a long time to find the first button and get the ball rolling. I went back and forth several times until I finally found it tucked behind an object up against the wall, and was concerned because all it seemingly did was open a gate to a small alcove with nothing in it but an empty pedestal. Thanks to a video, I did eventually discover that I somehow missed a passageway, but it was a baffling experience because it was in a corridor I'd been down several times. I don't know if hitting that button opened it up or if I really managed to miss it every time. Regardless, I don't know if that gate I opened was missing an object thanks to the way I went about getting this mod functional, or if it's just a pointless room. I'd need the author's confirmation on that.
I actually almost wish the puzzles were more difficult, as they end up boiling down to hitting the first button you come across, which opens a path to another button, and so on until you reach the end. There are only a couple times where things are shaken up, but those are mostly time-based rather than trying to find a solution to a mechanical problem. There were a lot of moments where I worried about pressing a button because I had no way of knowing the consequences of it, but I was never in a position where it was incorrect to push it.
That said, there is one challenge that, unless I'm missing something huge, needs attention. The segment where you control Tilael and need to open the gates is way, way too strict, and I'm not convinced isn't literally impossible. I went through it at least a dozen times, optimizing every movement and cutting every corner as tightly as I could, and it just couldn't be done. Considering the punishment seemed to be the straight-up death of the character, I had no choice but to use tcl to clip through the gate.
What made this section more frustrating to me was that she blamed me for saying the undead "weren't a problem," which makes me think the scenario can be avoided altogether if you make a bigger deal out of it. Problem is, aside from the occasional ghost, all the enemies are skeletons that die in one hit, so I had no reason to take them seriously, and it created a dissonance because there's no way even the weakest creatures in the game wouldn't be able to take down a few skeletons that die instantly. I know there was an optional file that turned them all into ayleid things, but I assume that was just a reskin and without having any context I didn't deem it worth a download. Either way, it's still a problem, because it shouldn't require a separate file with more assets to make the primary enemy any measure of threat.
Fortunately, the mod isn't completely devoid of proper enemies. While the ghosts that occasionally appear, as well as the Morag Tong assassin, have more than one hit point, they have a different problem: they turtle way too hard. Every fight I had with them devolved into slowly chipping away at their health as they stood there blocking, and literally any time I tried to power attack they would frame-perfect bash me, swing once for a guaranteed hit, and then go back to blocking. I couldn't even stagger them with a bash of my own, so in every fight I had no choice but to spam attacks until they eventually died. It's a sensible tactic from the AI's point of view, but it makes for boring combat.
Speaking of said assassin, I'm surprised and disappointed that there wasn't an option to tell Yineel that you're a member of the Dark Brotherhood, and you will go and kill the assassin just for the sake of rivalry. Considering there was a flag to give you an option to tell Yilael you've been to the Soul Cairn (which was a really cool attention to detail), I thought this was odd.
I'd say the best thing about this mod for me is that it ends by giving you a useful unique item, thus encouraging repeat playthroughs on new characters. It was a shame that I preferred the look of the non-upgraded version of the crown, but it was nothing a model swap couldn't fix.
I came very close to giving up on getting this mod running numerous times, and I'm sure glad I didn't. It didn't blow my mind or anything, but it's definitely a high quality mod and is very well executed all around. Thanks to the author, cast, and all involved for their work.
Did this cause any problems with anything else in your game? When I see people who aren't on AE, didn't use the downgrade patcher and just did it all manually, I assume they had a save dedicated to this quest mod with minimal mods or nothing else. I feel like replacing the esm would cause some major issues I wouldn't even know about until I'm hours deep into a playthrough.
I think he's asking about the Ayleid tileset this mod uses in which case, if you didn't get from AE, you're just going to be seeing a whole lot of purple or nothing at all.
Anyways, taking this opportunity while this thread is gaining traction... Did the AE version you extracted the files from have a Patch.bsa? And if so, do you remember if it had any "ccbgs scripts?" The AE version I extracted the files from didn't have a Patch.bsa as far as I know. Though, I honestly don't know if it even matters if I'm going to replace it with the fixed version of Patch.bsa you linked above anyways. Just wondering as the first button you press and any other button that makes the sliding gate open doesn't work. I also assume you put all the "ccbgs scripts" just in Data>Scripts right?
It's been a while, but as far as I can tell the only things I copied from AE were Dawnguard, Dragonborn, HearthFires, and Update, and I only modified Patch with the mod I linked. I didn't investigate any of these, so I couldn't tell you what was specifically in any of them.
I don't recall what, if anything, I did with scripts, but beyond what I've listed I believe I just followed instructions from this mod's description.
Nexus' download history says that you downloaded an older version of the mod (1.10) a few days ago. If you're not on 1.2+, you'll have to follow the old puzzle routes in the walkthrough.
876 comments
If you need help with a puzzle or want to see how to get certain character endings, here is the walkthrough!
That or tell us exactly which files from AE we need as I do own both versions.
The only issue I had in VR was when the mod gave you control of another character, I couldn't move or do anything. Had to fail that part of the quest to continue. That DOES need a patch, but that's it.
It's been a while I played a quest mod this good, I usually don't download quest mods let alone complete them
since they mostly tend to feel not as good as the main game quests. But this one trully is a gem. It trully brings unic gameplay with the water dungeon.
Definitly one of my top 5 quest mods of all time.
Sad you say that about the other quest mods, because the main game quests are pretty rubbish.
But was bored on my first try for most of the quest mods, why being sad for that?
This mod here is top level but I also like the main story and think it's good writing.
Main game's quests are usually pretty bare bones, not well written. I think Skyrim has great vibes and Elder Scrolls lore is better than a lot of competing options.
Well I don't know if you're still trying to create a mod but don't let my own personal opinion on things discourage you.
I just happened to have different view and taste on things, skyrim story and other mods story.
I liked the characters of Skyrim vanilla and liked how the story guides you to explore different places.
There also quite a good mods that kept me into the story without getting me bored.
The Dwemer themed trio that is Clockworks, Forgotten city, Project AHO are good.
A little too one linear story wise but still heavily underrated mod called Dwemer colosseum with interesting characters.
Not anymore in nexus but one of the best puzzle dungeon that is Maelstrom(a mod I would put as a duo with Sirenroot for being a sea, water themed dungeon mod.)
Still has some mods I haven't yet to try, who knows maybe one mod would top it all.
Good luck on your future projects wether it be game related or not.
I wasnt able to control one of the characters because I was using Improved Camera SE, however other than this it is one of the best quest mods available
All told, I finished the quest in about six and a half hours, mostly without a guide. It was very stable, I had no crashes whatsoever, and I'm running 1200+ mods. I didn't run into any other conflicts, aside from a brief hiccup with the camera during
1,000% worth a playthrough, IMO. Really well done!
All in all though, this was a very fun little adventure and honestly, I'm gonna be looking into downloading more questline mod content now. Thank you for making this awesome story!
Next, you'll need this fixed version of the patch BSA and BEES. That's right, bees! Without these two, I either couldn't get the game to successfully launch or the assets wouldn't appear. Hope this helps.
Now, on to my thoughts.
First off, this mod has a wonderful atmosphere which is accomplished largely through its original soundtrack, which I'm happy to remark was created specifically for the mod. It always takes the wind out of my sails to find out something cool was a stock element or something of the like. Even though it's been nearly a week, the ethereal wailing of the sirenroot occasionally flows into my head. I'm a huge fan of those kind of vocals, so I was almost hesitant to pluck the flowers each time I found them, and only did so in case it was important. The musical tracks themselves do a perfect job of blending into the background just enough to keep from becoming stale or distracting while simultaneously remaining pleasant to listen to. A really damn good job was done here, and I'm already sending the soundtrack to friends and keeping it in mind for potential use in D&D.
The cast is likeable and vibrant, and feature the best voice acting I've yet to hear in a Skyrim mod. I'm no authority on that subject, and it's certainly not a high bar, but this is the first time I've played a mod with voice acting and didn't have at least one criticism. Everyone sounds properly high quality in terms of both raw performance and sound quality, and this isn't just a matter of people sounding convincing in their tone—there are a few genuinely emotive performances here that demand conviction, and they completely succeed. I must shout out Ryan Smith as Yineel who does such an exceptional job of mimicking the base game argonian voice that I wasn't convinced he wasn't the original voice actor.
Branching dialogue is always nice, and I especially appreciate that optional questions you can ask that don't have an impact on the conversation choices are distinctively marked. Something that greatly annoys me in games is when I don't know which dialogue options I have will advance the conversation, causing me to miss opportunities to say or ask other things, and which won't. It would be nice if this feature was extended to all other options as well, but any effort here is welcome. The mod does suffer from a few instances where it's unclear which options will anger an NPC or otherwise lock you out of something, though, specifically, when you're trying to convince Cayrice to leave. The options presented don't have a good indication what the result will be, and all but one of them are dead ends that fail the objective.
There's also a consistent error in the dialogue text where ellipses are written with two periods instead of three, and the font size in the various journals and notes was uncomfortably small.
The gameplay is solid throughout, and despite being puzzle-focused and in a water dungeon, I felt like they were just challenging enough to require thought and never so obtuse that I was left feeling like I didn't have all the necessary information—that is aside from, ironically, the very first puzzle in the mod. It took me a couple hours to get this all up and running, as I never upgraded past 1.5.97 and didn't know it required 1.6 assets until after I started, so I was very paranoid early on that I was missing assets or that something wasn't working properly. It took me a long time to find the first button and get the ball rolling. I went back and forth several times until I finally found it tucked behind an object up against the wall, and was concerned because all it seemingly did was open a gate to a small alcove with nothing in it but an empty pedestal. Thanks to a video, I did eventually discover that I somehow missed a passageway, but it was a baffling experience because it was in a corridor I'd been down several times. I don't know if hitting that button opened it up or if I really managed to miss it every time. Regardless, I don't know if that gate I opened was missing an object thanks to the way I went about getting this mod functional, or if it's just a pointless room. I'd need the author's confirmation on that.
I actually almost wish the puzzles were more difficult, as they end up boiling down to hitting the first button you come across, which opens a path to another button, and so on until you reach the end. There are only a couple times where things are shaken up, but those are mostly time-based rather than trying to find a solution to a mechanical problem. There were a lot of moments where I worried about pressing a button because I had no way of knowing the consequences of it, but I was never in a position where it was incorrect to push it.
That said, there is one challenge that, unless I'm missing something huge, needs attention. The segment where you control Tilael and need to open the gates is way, way too strict, and I'm not convinced isn't literally impossible. I went through it at least a dozen times, optimizing every movement and cutting every corner as tightly as I could, and it just couldn't be done. Considering the punishment seemed to be the straight-up death of the character, I had no choice but to use tcl to clip through the gate.
What made this section more frustrating to me was that she blamed me for saying the undead "weren't a problem," which makes me think the scenario can be avoided altogether if you make a bigger deal out of it. Problem is, aside from the occasional ghost, all the enemies are skeletons that die in one hit, so I had no reason to take them seriously, and it created a dissonance because there's no way even the weakest creatures in the game wouldn't be able to take down a few skeletons that die instantly. I know there was an optional file that turned them all into ayleid things, but I assume that was just a reskin and without having any context I didn't deem it worth a download. Either way, it's still a problem, because it shouldn't require a separate file with more assets to make the primary enemy any measure of threat.
Fortunately, the mod isn't completely devoid of proper enemies. While the ghosts that occasionally appear, as well as the Morag Tong assassin, have more than one hit point, they have a different problem: they turtle way too hard. Every fight I had with them devolved into slowly chipping away at their health as they stood there blocking, and literally any time I tried to power attack they would frame-perfect bash me, swing once for a guaranteed hit, and then go back to blocking. I couldn't even stagger them with a bash of my own, so in every fight I had no choice but to spam attacks until they eventually died. It's a sensible tactic from the AI's point of view, but it makes for boring combat.
Speaking of said assassin, I'm surprised and disappointed that there wasn't an option to tell Yineel that you're a member of the Dark Brotherhood, and you will go and kill the assassin just for the sake of rivalry. Considering there was a flag to give you an option to tell Yilael you've been to the Soul Cairn (which was a really cool attention to detail), I thought this was odd.
I'd say the best thing about this mod for me is that it ends by giving you a useful unique item, thus encouraging repeat playthroughs on new characters. It was a shame that I preferred the look of the non-upgraded version of the crown, but it was nothing a model swap couldn't fix.
I came very close to giving up on getting this mod running numerous times, and I'm sure glad I didn't. It didn't blow my mind or anything, but it's definitely a high quality mod and is very well executed all around. Thanks to the author, cast, and all involved for their work.
When I see people who aren't on AE, didn't use the downgrade patcher and just did it all manually, I assume they had a save dedicated to this quest mod with minimal mods or nothing else. I feel like replacing the esm would cause some major issues I wouldn't even know about until I'm hours deep into a playthrough.
Anyways, taking this opportunity while this thread is gaining traction...
Did the AE version you extracted the files from have a Patch.bsa? And if so, do you remember if it had any "ccbgs scripts?" The AE version I extracted the files from didn't have a Patch.bsa as far as I know. Though, I honestly don't know if it even matters if I'm going to replace it with the fixed version of Patch.bsa you linked above anyways. Just wondering as the first button you press and any other button that makes the sliding gate open doesn't work.
I also assume you put all the "ccbgs scripts" just in Data>Scripts right?
I don't recall what, if anything, I did with scripts, but beyond what I've listed I believe I just followed instructions from this mod's description.
Boo / Hiss