ODOS Update

In light of making ODOS a standalone modders resource, enabling everyone to put displays in their own mods, I had to make a few modifications to the scripts. 

One of the main issues with the current system was that you could only have one display "network" (can't think of a better word) for the entire game, which meant that if, for example, you had displays in the house in Chorrol, and then went to your house in Skingrad, those displays would be showing too, even though your items were all the way in Chorrol!

But I've done some rewriting, and here are the changes:

- You can now make as many networks as you want, each house can now be independent.
- Much more modular. For example, in your mod, you just want to have displays where you can pick up and drop items on the shelves? Just put the display activators and parent them to a storage chest, and you're done! Your house has purchaseable upgrades? Just parent that chest to whichever reference is the enable/disable trigger for said purchase. Want to have the whole deal, with the auto drop to displays? You can do that too!
- You can now split display storage into smaller sections, like rooms, for example. This will lead to better performance, since updating the displays for that one room won't trigger a massive check of everything in the system.

One last thing I wanted to do with the rewrite was to remove steps needed for modders to make display systems work. So as a result, my beautiful 'one script to rule them all' had to go. Now, each display has its own unique script. Basically, they are the same script, save for a few lines regarding which items they are supposed to display. 

I know it sounds like more steps now, having to make a unique script per item, but the result is that when making your own mod, it will take fewer steps to get things working. I'll be putting detailed instructions with the mod files when I release the mod.

That is basically it for the display part of ODOS, but I still need to finish up the storage system part of the mod. Will be updating once that has made progress!

Introducing ODOS

ODOS, the Oblivion Display & Organization System, is the display system I've developped for SoCV. It is still in developement, and I want to add more features to it, but once I feel it is complete, and very stable, I will be releasing it on Nexus for people to use in their own mods!

It will be a modder's resource, just load the ODOS-Core.esm and get access to the necessary objects and scripts.

The system is farily simple to set up, and just needs a few steps in the CS and Nifskope to add any new number of displays!

Fresh Start

  After a very long hiatus where I was stuck on a Linux computer (I love linux, but couldn't get the Construction Set Extender to work), I am back on Windows, so I can work on the project again, now titled "Secrets of Castle Velorum"

This long period of 9 months gave me time to think about the mod, what I want it to be, what the story should be, how it is connected to TES lore, and I've made some major changes to my original ideas, the biggest one being that the house itself has changed from a large estate (retrextured and modified Leyawiin) to a larger castle using the castle tileset (which will also be modified). There are just too many items to fit in just a house, and it fits better with the new story.

New Display Script!

 

    With all the changes I want to make, and also because of some lost progress between computers, I decided to kick off this new start for the project by remaking the project from the ground up, using the knowledge I got from my first attempt. 

    I started with the display system scripts. After completely rewriting the script using a new approach, it is now infinitely better! What used to be a script with over 400 lines of code just for vanilla books is now a script just a little over 100 lines, and, alongside a few other short scripts, can be reused for any and all items! This will make addons and patches for SoCV a piece of cake!

    With brand new features, the display system feels as close to Skyrim's LOTD system as I can make it. Now the features are:

-  Static items for performance (as before)
- Ability to place and pick up items directly from their display positions (new)
- Appropriate sounds when placing or taking different items types (new)
- Automatically deposit items to be displayed from a central location (new)
- Leveled items are now treated properly (new)|
- Can be grouped by room, so they can appear with house purchases (new)

    The displays are going to be separate from the general castle storage, but the main storage will still have some visual representation. For example, I don't need to check for every type of potions and display each individually. Instead, it will check how many total potions are in the potion storage container, and depending on the volume, will display a certain amount of static bottles. Simpler and less demanding on the engine.

Mod Requirements

    Originally, I wanted SoCV to only need OBSE to work. But after thinking about it, I feel like I should make COBL a requirement. Not only does it add tons of new items (like lore books, foods, ingredients), but it has some nice features I was going to try and do myself. Plus, COBL is already widely compatible with many other mods. My sorting system will direct ingredients to the COBL alchemy storage, and the Luggage will be available in the entrance hall.

But I think that I will limit myself to these two requirements. I want this to be clean and simple to install. I also want it to be as lightweight and as compatible as possible. For example when I make new models or modify existing ones (which I need to do for the display system), I only use textures from the base game, not only to make the mod feel like the original game, but any texture replacer mods should affect my models too.

 

Thats about it for now, but I'll be posting more updates as I make progress!