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Ash's Odd JobsAshven21-2-10v2.0DESCRIPTION	Need work? Well, you have options! Bounce around town anywhere from six in the morning to about noon, and you're sure to find some work. Can't promise the pay is the best, but it'll put bread on your table for as lond as you're in town and got arms and legs to work with. Just check around, work's sure to come your way!	In the first update, some jobs had skill and attribute requirements. I've included a separate text pad that lists all the jobs, and the skills they require.	In the latest update, skill requirements were assigned (not attribute requirements) and risks and rewards are greater. Risk and pay variance help to flesh out the jobs a bit more.INSTALLING	Simply drop the ESP into your data folder, check the mod using either OBMM, Wrye Bash, or the Oblivion launcher. This mod would do best loaded before mods such as BETTER CITIES.UNINSTALLING	To uninstall (sniff, why would you want to do that?) you simply uncheck the mod and delete it from your data files.PLAYING THE MOD	This mod adds a handfull of jobs to each town in the game, and the stables outside them. To take a job, simply walk up and activate the token object associated with the job (a large pitcher, for instance, for a bartender). Time will then fly by, and you will be compensated for your work that day. Jobs are only available at certain hours of the day! And some dirtier jobs, like rat catcher, are only available late at night.	I'm sure any good roleplayer can find a job suited to them, and integrate it into their schedule. AND! Something nifty I found about my mod - I use MISC items that you can't pick up as my token objects. This means they still have havok - and you can move them. The nifty thing is with a mod like Redecoration or Decorator Assistant, you can move my tokens to anywhere you want, and lock them in place! I think it's cool, anyways. It helps with compatibility with some mods, anyways.	With the new version, some minor script changes have made major gameplay impacts. It's now possible to catch diseases, and have variances in pay. Some days are better than others on certain jobs. Stabler jobs like mucker or stablehand are steady well paying jobs that you can count on, while others like Jester are more chance based (you can make 15 to 40 gold with Jester). you are warned.VERSION HISTORY1.0 - Original Release1.2 - Skill requirements and Rat catcher now has a 10% chance of catching Helljoint.2.0 - Revamped the original jobs with better scripts, and added jester. Probably my last update.COMPATIBILITY	Thus far, I'm pretty sure it doesn't conflict with much. It simply adds a few token objects to cells, in places I don't remember seeing much - and I run quite a lot of city changing mods. If it does conflict with something (in an inconvenient place) simply move it - almost all my objects have havok! Once they are moved, after your shift is over and they disappear, they will come back in the place they were before. Handy!		Something I forgot to take into account, is that this mod will never completely be compatible with Open Cities. This is because my jobs are found around towns, not only inside buildings. Some jobs are outside city walls, though, and still accessible, as are ones in interiors. All jobs unavailable because of the OC issue should be available in the Imperial City.	I have also noticed that with Skingrad, Better Cities adds a line of rockes where the Caretaker job is started. I don't plan to do anything about it, as TCL and a couple seconds can fix this issue for that savegame. Five seconds of real life for hours of gameplay immersion? Your call.NOTICE TO MODDERS	If anyone wants to take this mod and add to it or rewrite it, feel free. I'll probably end up using the new version, myself! No credits needed, though a mention is always nice.CREDITS~CS Wiki~gamesas for making a game we have to mod to enjoy (I mean that in a good way!)~ALL THE FEEDBACK I GOT IN MY IDEA THREAD. I probably wouldn't have even tried to make it if it weren't for some really inspiring comments. Thanks, guys!~The Wormhole Forums - I probably should be more active there, but I still thank them for giving my my modding home. Thanks, Worm!

Hope everyone enjoys!

:EDIT: Latest update now up, with enhanced code and the Jester job added.

Bump for later crowds.


I was thinking (to make this post more legitimate) that I could come up with a small list of possible jobs, just to give an idea of how this might expand the player's roleplaying.

*Gutter Mucker
*Sewer Sweeper (I would guess cleans blockages and such)
*Smith Apprentice
*Alchemist Apprentice
*Shopkeepers' Aid/stock boy
*Bartender
*Dancer
*Trainer (a special sword on a rack, near a dummy or somelike)
*Scribe apprentice
*Stablehand
*Farmhand
*Courier (delivers BHC around the city, supposedly. Maybe get a random spare flyer at the end of the day)
*Gardener (Arboretum, would go nicely with BC's purdy little peice o' Eden)
*Rat Catcher (Pretty much, goes into sewers to catch rats, and sells them for rat fights)
*Servant (could be a castle oriented deal, especially. Adds the player to the castle faction as long as he shows up for at least three days a week. Good recon for thieves.)
*Shoe shiner (self explanatory)
*Barber
*Candlemaker
*Clothier (would be neat to be Divine Elegance's assistant seamster/seamstress)
*Cook
*Jester/fool/entertainer
*Potter
*Deckhand


Short enough list for you?

I want. Honest.
I don't have a steady income in Oblivion. Sure, I can go raid a couple necromancer lairs, take some potions, maybe even some magic items if I'm lucky, sell them at the closest shop that has enough cash(and buys what I'm selling), but I yearn for the simple things in life from time to time.
I'd even consider trying a female if that was my only way to score a dancer job(which sounds like a great job for my lonely kitty, what with his bushy tail, and smooth moves...), and who wouldn't want to play the fool?
I think my friend might have said it wrong when he told me this line, but I like it this way: I am the king of kings, and the king of fools. I, am the jester.

He later correct himself saying it's King of Fools, and Fool of Kings, but it sounds better the first way IMO.

I suppose a setting one can toggle would suffice for those who use EE and those who don't(or use a lighter version, I guess. I personally like to EARN my stolen cash), and I would go for adding a system where you have to take a check to a NPC who gives you your pay.

Might want to add Deckhand to that list, for those of us hanging in Anvil.

I'm almost positive that the work will be easy once I have a generic script. I'd be willing to work on this, except for that I have no scripting skill. (more of an interior guy, meself)

If someone can give me a generic script that allows the player to activate it, pass eight hours, and then gives him a token item, I'd be set. This ain't going to be the CraftyBits Job Addon, it's just a roleplay way for cash. It would also be nice it would disable itself except at six in the morning. (I can change that for different jobs.) Once I get this script, I can really get a groove on, because I learn better by example. Patching stuff together never really worked so well.

YX33A, I think I've got a good solution for pay - those check things. I can come up with five or six ESPs that simply change the value that they're worth to the turn in guy. With the "Extra Hard" version, you'd get 15 or 20 septims. Then normal, 75 septims. "Really Easy" would probably give out in the area of 150.

A'course, I'd use the Extra Hard version regardless of my EE settings, because if this was as profitable as dungeon looting, why bother? I want to give docile characters/city dwellers oppotunities for some legitimate cash. At the cost of daytime, of course.

If you want to do this without going through the whole scripting process and don't mind it being slightly more 'clunky'. Just go to the place where you'd do your job, use the wait key for 8 hours, open the console and type "player.additem f x".

The idea is more to integrate the concept in to the world, rather than pretend you pretended to work.

That's pretty much how it would work, regardless, though.

Hm, I could see how that'd ruin immersion even more. This reminds me, slightly, of a mod called "NPCs with Jobs" or something similiar. It seemed rather ambitious and I'm not sure how it's doing now, but I really, really liked the idea of it. I hope you can get this mod up and running and maybe, eventually, develop it even further. If I could script, I'd lend you a hand, but I can't, and I don't think you'll need a writer for this sort of project. Good luck nevertheless.

Okay! I think I may have broken what's holding me back from doing this! And it appears to be simpler than I thought. If anyone with a lick of scripting sense could drop a line, please tell me if this would work:

scn ashSimpleJobsGenericBegin OnActivate	set GameHour to 6	SetPCSleepHours 8;player.additem gold001 20; Just until I get a voucher set upend

:EDIT: And something that has occurred to me - if I make jobs time sensitive (a Mucker works from six till four or whatever) just about every player would have a unique experience. A mucker that gets off at four, works at a bar from five till eight, and goes to bed and repeats. Or a tailor who works from eight till six, goes to the bar and dances from seven to nine/midnight. This is a very interesting side effect. Players who develop job habits. And, the coolest thing is you won't neccessarily lose your job if you don't show up. I should replace the title of this "Odd Jobs" so that it's more about when you can take them, not what you can take.

If you can get any inspiration from it, there does exist a mod that gives you odd jobs. It contains a notice board in the Market District. You click on a note to read the job, and pick which ever you want to do. Usualy it has to do with collecting a particular amount of harvests, books or clutter. When you have what you need, you give it to the man standing next to the notice board, and he gives you the money for the job done.

My concept is a bit different. Instead of actually having the player perform a menial task (aside form collection, which seems to be way overused in quests) the player activates a token object, time passes, and he gets a work voucher/check/whatever. He would then take that voucher to a person (I'm actually considering a vending machine, because I could kind of slide those into places with a bit less of a conflict) and collect his due pay.

It'd also be a nice way of storing value for those who don't wish to use gold mods - you could simply keep the vouchers locked away until you need cash.

I'm all for this!

I did something very similar back in Morrowind, called Role-Playing Jobs.

Morrowind's scripting allowed the screen to fade out and skip time. But I know that Oblivion does not, at least not in regular Oblivion scripting.
Though by looking at your script, I just noticed "SetPCSLeepHour", so I believe this function forces the player to sleep for X number of hours?

If so, you get your FadeIn and FadeOut.
The script you wrote is when you activate something.

Should you want the dialogue to initialize it, you'd need a quest script which holds every mechanic for each of your jobs.
You'd also need shorts (variables) for each job.

For instance, the start of your questscript can look like this:



In the script result box, in the quest dialogue window, you'll need to "call a variable" that is associated to a specific job.
For example, if the player is talking to the stablemaster, and he accepts to lend a hand for the day, you will need to enter this in the script result box of the associated dialogue:



Now, for the rest of your QuestScript, this is the rest of it, along with what I wrote earlier:




This seems to be it. Don't forget to check the "Goodbye" option on the dialogue that lets the player work, so that the conversation ends as soon as the player accepts the job, and the script can go on.

I recommend you to try everything you want to with only one job at first. Making it start at different hours, etc.
Then when you think you have it, it's a matter of copy pasting the mechanics.

To be honest, if this mod is made for roleplaying/immersion, I find actually doing tasks more immersive than a fadein/out-screen.

Cliff, that's a bit beyond what I can understand in a script. My plan was to have static tokens (like shovels stuck in earth) that each have an individual script that fires when the player activates it.

I understand some basic scriptings, but some of the more complex "happen only when X is present or Y variable is set" stuff really confuses me. I was hoping to KISS (keep it simple, stupid). I was able to do basic dialogue in Morrowind, but since Oblivion, I just can't wrap my head around some of this stuff.

Fading-In and Out is the simplest way to do it.

It can be scripted to work in real-time, with the player activating his work-related objects.
For example, making the player work on Anvil's Deck as a Warehouse caretaker.

When you "punch in"/start your shift, your job is to unload cargo from a ship. Each time the player picks up a crate (A heavy, misc item) and drops it where it is needed in the warehouse, you advance time. And so on. It gives the impression that the player has unloaded crates all day long.

A similar script can be attached to the work-related objects so that each time the player activates them, the time goes up by an X number. Makes the time pass faster.



That's an excellent idea as well! As I thought in the upper part of my post.

What made me understand the "happen only when X is present or Y variable is set" stuff is this:

Replace the "1" value with "On" and 0 to "Off" on a lightswitch.

If I turn the lightswitch to "On", it emits lighting. If I turn it to "Off", it does not.
It's the same thing with values.

If I agree to help a stablemaster for a day, my StableHand job is set to "On". 1
When the day is over, I'm not a StableHand anymore and thus my job is to "Off" 0

I started learning basic scripting a year ago. I've been modding for ES Games since Morrowind, and during all that time I never understood the whole concept of scripting and "1" and "0". Until I thought of the lightswitch example, which made it more simple for me.

As I said, a lot of that is really beyond my scope. I would actually welcome you to work on something yourself. (I'm almost sure there were minor jobs back in Daggerfall, but I'm probably wrong) I'll just go with a simple time passer.

Other types of job that can, more or less easily, be done in real-time is:

- Collecting harvests for taverns or mages
- Repairing a shelf full of armor for an armorsmith/armorshop
- Courier-work (picking up wine bottles and deliver them to a tavern, delivering Black Horse Courier news to taverns etc)
- Horse-boy (taking horses out and riding them to keep them active, riding one to another town for selling)
- Hunter (Hunt wolf pelts, lion pelts or deer meat for armorsmiths or taverns)
- Mining. (Collecting nuggets)
- Farming (harvest from a farm)

No problem Ashven! :goodjob:
A simple time passer attached to an object is perfect.
Should you need help with the script, let me know. I'm a very basic scripter, but I can read them with ease.

Daggerfall's only "minor job" was to go clean a house/shop infested with the usual giant bats/rats/bears/spiders.

Delivery type stuff is pretty much handled by the Delivery Job mod. Farming can be handled by oh-so-many gardening mods/CraftyBits. Repairing stuff and selling it is something I've seen Xbox players do for cash, and mining is again handled by CraftyBits. Hunting...I used to do that with MMM/loot mods on.

My idea focuses around jobs that can't be roleplayed in the vanilla game. Like dancing or bartending. Mining, though, I would consider if there was a non hostile mine already in the world.

Okay, here's my script, and I just want an OK before I start burning up time making the jobs available to the player.

scn ashSimpleJobsGenericbegin gamemodeif gamehour >= 6 || gamehour < 8	enable	else		disableendifendBegin OnActivate	set GameHour to 6	SetPCSleepHours 8;player.additem gold001 20; Just until I get a voucher set upend

Oh, and for some jobs, I'm going to add perks for some jobs. What I mean is, a smith's apprentice might get to take home a few extra hammers, or a bartender might get a crate of cheap beer to enjoy. Rat Catchers might wrap up some rat meat for later. You get my drift, I hope.


:EDIT: Thanks for the offer, Cliff! I'm probably going to end up taking you up on that a bit later on, depending.

I like the idea of adding legitimate jobs but these minor jobs should pretty boring and grindy to me. Wouldn't it be more fun to open and run your own armorer's shop for example? You can make that a lot more involved and interesting, like having to turn a profit to pay the rent and finding an apprentice, hiring staff and filling special orders. I guess what I'm saying is I want Oblivion tycoon!

Then you clearly don't see the point of what my jobs are for - they're not real life simulators, they're time burners. I play a thief in a world where a loaf of bread is around 6 septims, and it takes me a week to get 400 drakes and I steal that. What this idea is about is a legitimate way to get some "free" cash. Pretty much, get up in the morning, activate the shovel, and BAM - it's four in the afternoon and you have a pay voucher. I find that I don't really have a major time burner. I can burglarize an entire town in around two game hours - with a timescale of 5.

That aside, what about thieves? And city dwellers? I don't buy every shiny sword I see and go flailing inside a dark ruin. I burglarize. And, sometimes, it's time to let the city cool down (respawn). So, I need something to waste time on. This mod will eventually realize that goal.

And the idea of having a real time smithing store is much beyond me. If you want a shop simulator, there's a mod on TESNexus that allows you to own a general store in Chorral.

Sounds like a nice idea, I tend to avoid dungeon delving for money gain cause I svck at it... plus I rarely focus on strength with some of the characters I play.

On a sidenote where is that general store one for Chorrol? I support "Free Money" even if it's a low amount.

Okay I missed the part where you don't do anything but activate a shovel and collect your earnings. I still don't see the point, but to each his own.

The smithing store was just an example but if I were to implement something like what I suggested you'd mostly make some choices up front and come back a few game days later to see the result of those choices. It wouldn't be real time. Kind of like running the thieves guild in Baldur's Gate 2, if you've ever played that.

Fantastic idea. Sure, the dungeon crawling business is lucrative, but all that loot gets heavy. And some ligitimate work may throw the legion off my trail so I can do some mercenary work on the side

As for payment, I'd suggest something moderate depending on which job you take. I imagine a smith apprentice or tailor would get paid a lot more than a gutter mucker. A shame this game doesn't use perks like Fallout 3 does, you could've had a lot of fun with that, adding something like "Experienced Gutter Mucker" after you've done that job a number of times.

But still, working a lot as a smith apprentice could improve your armorer skill, giving you another reason to take the job beyond the gold. The dancer job could give you a bit of athletics or acrobatics skill after a while and the bartender job could have varying payments based on tips. The possibilities for variation here are almost endless.

Well, the best advice I can give you then, is to see if you can make it. It's sure to be popular, as people love mercantile style mods.


On a good note, I've proven my script works. There is no fade in/out effect like was theorized using the sleep method, but it still works and that's what's key. I thought it was kind of cool to watch the daylight pass by fast, though.

After some more tweaking and setting up the vouchers to be dealt with, I'll proceed to fill towns with jobs and diversify them.


:EDIT: URGE! YOU'RE BRILLIANT! Instead of giving random odds and ends related to the job, I can allow the player to slowly level up skills using the work! That's a damn good idea! I'm going to edit back in my list of jobs I'll include, and I could use some help attaching skills to them.

:EDIT2: This is my list thus far of jobs I'm sure to put in. I've got some of them labelled, and I need help with the rest. Feel free to offer a different skill for one that's already labelled.

*Gutter Mucker -
*Sewer Sweeper -
*Smith Apprentice - Repair
*Alchemist Apprentice - Alchemy
*Shopkeepers' Aid - Mercantile
*Bartender - Mercantile
*Dancer - Acrobatics
*Stablehand -
*Farmhand -
*Courier - Athletics
*Gardener - Alchemy
*Rat Catcher - Sneak
*Shoe shiner - Speechcraft
*Clothier -
*Jester - Speechcraft
*Deckhand -

Maybe you could include some kind of fatigue effect to simulate being tired after work?