» Fri Aug 13, 2010 5:33 am BladeSong
BladeSong
Version 1.3
Website Location : http://bladesong.homestead.com/
*note : In game pics and a trailer video are included on the website*
Download Location : http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=32426
Author : Sornan
Description :
A romance/adventure quest mod.
Meet the owner of a small general goods store in the town of Aleswell... Tess, a simple commoner with a mysterious past. Discover what destiny may hold in store for the two of you...
Take part in an epic adventure that slowly unfolds over time and journey across the lands of Cyrodiil to discover new locations and entirely new distant lands. Meet new characters along the journey, join with other allies in the struggle to stop a menace which threatens the entire northern regions of Cyrodiil.
Features Included :
An evolving romance story intertwined within a slowly growing epic scale adventure holding many surprises, dangers, and leading to new unexplored places along the way..
Detailed and constantly changing quest lines, numerous new npc's added.
New locations, points of interest, and dungeons added into Cyrodiil.
An entirely new worldspace.
Various immersive and unique 'scenes'.. involving a wide variety of content.. action, mystery, mysticism, drama, romance, exploration.. and more.
High quality voice acting for all of the characters.
Two new custom races (npc's)
A large scale war.
And much more..
Version 1.3 :
Fixed : Random mod incompatibility issues when player sleeps at the camp.
Version 1.2 :
Added : Summon spell for companion.
Added : Significantly improved companion reliability when following the player through various load doors.
Updated : Minor improvements/changes to various scripts.
Version 1.1 :
Fixed : Rare random issue with getting stuck while sleeping at the camp.
Fixed : Many major issues with companion for Non Shivering Isles users.
Fixed : Removed chance of player being killed during a certain scene due to mods used.
Added : BladeSong will now notify the player if they are not running Obse, or not running version 0018 or higher.
Updated : Readme And Description updated to include the need for having Screen Effects version 1.0 .
Updated : After the main quest line is completed in BladeSong, if one desires to keep BladeSong active and runs into another quest mod that also uses of the town of Aleswell, you can use the following console command to reverse changes made to the town : SetStage RestoreChangesDl 10
This console command can also be used in V1.0 for the same purpose as well.
Version 1.0 :
Release
Requirements :
Oblivion updated to the latest official patch. - v1.2.0416 .
Screen Effects V1.0 : http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=16323
**Important** Screen Effects Version 0.90 will cause major problems, please update to 1.0 .
OBSE Version 0018 or greater : http://obse.silverlock.org/
Oblivion Mod Manager : http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2097
*note : If you are not running any mods other than BladeSong, then you do not need Oblivion Mod Manager*
Recommended level of player character :
Level 15 or higher, and well geared. Levels between 10 to 15 may be possible, but will be very difficult. Expect greater difficulty in wilderness areas if Fcom is used.
*Note* The quest line was not designed for companion usage during it, and most will find things to be far too easy with a companion. Also one may experience potential bugs along the way with a companion during the quest line as well, again, the quest line is not designed for this.
Optional .Esp's :
BladeSong - Darker Dungeons Version :
If you are running Darker Nights/Darker Dungeons mod, there is an .esp version provided which will set the lighting to be correct for the dungeons in BladeSong.
BladeSong In Game Credits Video :
A credits video was created during the development of BladeSong, which contains a large volume of cut-scenes from the main quest line. This video was intended to be a part of the main BladeSong mod and was designed to play in game directly after the final quest line was completed... but due to the massive file size of the video, it has been put into a separate mod, more as 'bonus' content, for those willing and able to download the additional files. This small mod, when activated, will add to the players inventory a new book. Reading the book will start the video. *It is strongly recommended that one completes the main quest line first before viewing the video, as it was designed to do originally in BladeSong.*
Just copy the provided Data folder to your Oblivion folder. When your ready, activate the CreditsVideoBladeSong.esp . You can even wait to activate the .esp until you have finished the main quest line in BladeSong.
**IMPORTANT** Be sure to follow the simple and quick step by step installation instructions! If one does not follow the instructions and instead simply 'throws' in BladeSong and runs it, chances are something will go wrong! The installation time is like 5 to 10 minutes long max, and will set things up for a problem free first time experience.
Installation :
**If you already have an older version of BladeSong installed and are updating to V1.3, please go down to the "UPDATING AN OLDER VERSION TO V1.3 INSTRUCTIONS" area for extremely important update information.**
**FULL INSTALLATION V1.3**
*These instructions are for those that do not have a version of BladeSong installed at all. This will install BladeSong to version 1.3 as well.*
1 : Download the BladeSong Main Content file, Extract the contents of the .Rar file to a safe location on your computer. Open the BladeSongMainContent folder, and inside copy the folder named Data. Then Paste to your Oblivion folder (normally located in Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion).
2 : Download either the BladeSongEsp V1_3 or the DarkerDungeonsVersionEsp V1_3, Extract the contents of the .Rar file to a safe location on your computer. Open the new folder created, and inside copy the folder named Data. Then Paste to your Oblivion folder (normally located in Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion). If prompted to overwrite, check 'Yes". Be sure to copy the entire contents of the Data folder provided, the new DistantLod files must be installed along with the .esp.
3 : One of the new races used by BladeSong requires you to select a particular texture provided if you are running a body replacer which has a match in the selection.
If you are not running a body replacer mod, then there is nothing you need do here at all, and you can skip down to the next step (4 : Load Order and Mod Conflicts)
If you are using a body replacer, within the BladeSongMainContent folder select the folder named 'extra' and see if you can find a folder that matches the name of your body replacer. If you find a match, just copy the folder "Textures" from within the correct body replacer folder provided, and paste to you Oblivion Data folder. Done.
If you cannot find a match from the provided textures, then you do not have to do anything at all. (the default textures for the new race were installed when you copied the Data folder, so your all set) Proceed to the next step.
4 : Load Order
While running the main quest line in BladeSong, you should set the BladeSong.esp to the last load order position. The only currently known exception to this is MergedMaps.esp, which can be loaded after BladeSong.
BladeSong Must be in a load position *after* Fcom and Martigens Monster Mode during the main quest line.
Once you have completed the main quest line, if you desire to continue to have BladeSong active, you may set the BladeSong.esp to any load order position you like, even to the top of the load order list. It is advised that after the quest line is complete that BladeSong is loaded *before* Personality Idles mod.
5 : Mod Conflicts
There are a few mod's which **MUST** be turned off *only* during the main quest line. Once you have finished the main quest line for BladeSong, you can re-enable all of these if you desire to still have BladeSong active.
Here is the listing of mods which again, MUST be turned OFF during the main quest line :
Duke Patricks - Near Miss Magic And Arrows Alert The Target.esp
Duke Patricks - Actors Can Miss Now.esp
*Any* mod which modifies the exterior areas of the town of Aleswell.
*Any* mod which modifies the exterior areas of the Ancestor Moths Temple.
It has been reported that Reaper's Coldstone is suggested to be turned off.
Eagles Nest
Campfire Behavior - This mod will cause a particular large campfire to be extinguished, which in turn damages a major scene.
-Elys- Universal Silent Voice - *Important* - This Obse plugin MUST be temporarily un-installed during the quest line. This is due to the fact this plugin causes an important npc to regularly execute silent lip movement during a major scene in BladeSong, when she is not supposed to be saying anything at all at those points.
If you are running Personality Idles it is Strongly suggested that during the main quest line you only run the 'No Npc' .Esp version. The npc idles added by Personality Idles will affect an important character during a major scene in an undesirable way.
6 : Make a clean save game in a safe area before activating BladeSong... BladeSong modifies a number of wilderness areas in the North East area of Cyrodiil. Basically anywhere south of the Imperial City would be safe. Just go in game, before you activate BladeSong, and travel to anywhere south of the Imperial City, and make a new save game. Exit Oblivion, and proceed to step 7.
**Important : For those few of you that may have your 'Grab' command bound to your activate or select button through a custom setup, during the quest line please bind grab to a separate key or button, or else you will get stuck at a certain point. Once the quest line is finished you can re-bind again.**
7 : Activate the mod's.. In order to play BladeSong, you must have the following checked as active in Oblivions active mod listing : BladeSong.Esp and ScreenEffects.Esm.
8 : You are ready to start Oblivion and play BladeSong. Important - Once you are in game please find a location to sleep for 24 hours. This is to ensure all Ai will process correctly. This is purely for your sake, as the user, to have the most bug free experience possible while playing BladeSong.
9 : Important note before you play : Once you have slept for the 24 hours, if you have not yet completed the quest to remove the invisibility spell effect from the town of Aleswell, you will need to complete it before you can proceed into the main quest line. You *can* do this safely with BladeSong active, it will be fine.
Find Diram, if you can't locate him, search around the tavern where he is usually at almost all the time (he will be invisible, but a close look reveals a blurry pattern of his body if he is nearby). More then likely he will find you first though..
10 : Full installation of BladeSong V1.3 Complete.
**UPDATING AN OLDER VERSION TO V1.3 INSTRUCTIONS**
**These instructions are ONLY for those that already have an older version of BladeSong installed, and are now updating to BladeSong V1.3 . All others go to the Full Installation area above.**
1 : Download either the BladeSongEsp V1_3 or the DarkerDungeonsVersionEsp V1_3, Extract the contents of the .Rar file to a safe location on your computer. Open the new folder created, and inside copy the folder named Data. Then Paste to your Oblivion folder (normally located in Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion). If prompted to overwrite, check 'Yes". Be sure to copy the entire contents of the Data folder provided, the new DistantLod files must be installed along with the .esp.
2 : When using save games from an older version, there are a few places and scenes where the old version saved games *cannot* have been made at, as they may cause significant visual anomalies and bugs. These areas include the following : Inside any of the new interiors added by BladeSong - most significantly Tess's shop, any time during the 'campfire' scene - after that scene is completely finished it is then safe to use an old saved game. Suggested not to use old saves made on the day of the battle.
3 : This last step is Only for those few that are updating V1.0 to V1.3 - if you are running the Shivering Isles expansion, *ONLY* if you are using a save game from **v1.0** that was made while Tess is a companion - you must type the following line in console mode once the save game is loaded : StartQuest AAZShivIsleFixskg Again, only do this if you are running Shivering Isles and made the V1.0 save game while Tess is a companion, if this console command is inputted at any point before Tess was a companion, it will cause harm rather than good.
**Important : For those few of you that may have your 'Grab' command bound to your activate or select button through a custom setup, during the quest line please bind grab to a separate key or button, or else you will get stuck at a certain point. Once the quest line is finished you can re-bind again.**
4 : Installation Complete.
**End Of Installation Instructions**
Uninstalling BladeSong :
1 : While BladeSong is still active, go in game and load your last saved game. Once in game, press the ~ (title) key. Then type : SetStage RestoreChangesDl 10 and then hit enter, then hit the ~ (title) key again. Now you must wait about 5 to 10 seconds for the confirmation message to come up that indicates changes to Oblivion due to BladeSong have been reversed. Once the message has come up, and you have exited the message box, you must make a new save game. This save game will be safe to continue to play from once BladeSong is completely removed now. Then exit the game and proceed to the next step of uninstalling BladeSong.
2 : Start Oblivion Launcher, click Data Files, uncheck BladeSong.esp.
3 : Navigate to your Oblivion Data folder (normally located in Program Files\Bethesda Softworks\Oblivion).
4 : Delete the following files and folders from the given locations :
BladeSong.esp located in Oblivion\Data
BladeSong.bsa located in Oblivion\Data
All files that contain the following text "aanorrianplains" located within Oblivion\Data\DistantLOD
BladeSongMusic Folder located in Oblivion\Data\Music
BladeSongRaces Folder located in Oblivion\Data\Textures\Characters
5 : Uninstall Complete
Troubleshooting :
**For quest related problems please refer to the BladeSong website - http://bladesong.homestead.com/ . Navigate to the Support page.**
The quest line was not designed for companion usage during it, and one may experience potential bugs along the way with a companion.
There are two fairly lengthy fade out/fade in sequences, which will result in the screen fading to black for up to 15 seconds, please just be patient and wait for the loading process to complete. During these two fade out sequences, there is a very *minor* chance a random crash may occur. In both situations, a save game is created just before the the fade out starts, so in the event of a crash you can come back to where you left off and proceed forward from that point.
There is a particular instance involving a large scale battle. During this instance, a save game is created just before and also after the battle is finished. Save games that are made during the battle itself may prove to be unstable and cause crashes. A text prompt comes up in game before the battle starts which reveals this identical information.
Depending on the users system specs and/or video card, a small percentage of users may experience a random crash while fast traveling to Aleswell. As far as I can tell this not due to the mod itself, but due to the vast exterior area and it's impact on computer performance during the loading process. I have confirmed on my end that even with BladeSong de-activated rare random crashes do happen when fast traveling to exterior areas around and at Aleswell at times.
In the event of such an occurrence, a second try will likely work fine. If a constant crash issue persists, please be sure that BladeSong is set to the last load order position, beyond this, try waiting a few moments once in game again to allow everything to load properly before trying again. In the worst case scenario one may need to use an earlier save, or may even need to re-boot to reset the video cards memory. It is unknown at this time if Screen Effects may increase the chance of in game crashes.
In Game Problems And Solutions :
Please visit the main website for BladeSong, and navigate to the 'Support' area to find potential solutions to your issue :
http://bladesong.homestead.com/
Contact :
You can find me on the official Elder Scrolls forums as Sornan.
Credits :
Christian Arnold (aka Sornan)
BladeSong Author, Producer, Developer, Scripter
Debbie Foster
Voice Of Tess Rysan
Steven Frost
Voice Of Captain Grenaw
Bart Flynn
Voice Of Thomak
Torry Clark
Voice Of Halgrad
Anthony Lettl
Voice Of General Damascus
Sean Cooper
Voice Of Fergon
The BladeSong Beta Testing Team :
AliTheLord
Phoenix7
nottlong
Malonn
InsanitySorrow
Huge credit to him for jumping in and saving the day by creating the normal map file needed for Tess's shop sign to appear properly.
worm82075
Creation of multiple videos for voice actors to see their work installed in game during development.
Rsdnt-Evle
Huge credit goes to him for companion follow scripts (that actually work always), script that always works reliably to force an equipment change, player-to npc item sharing, and scripts that fix the double face issue, along with a few other details that cause problems with companions. His excellent script work in these areas from his Companion Neeshka mod saved tons of time in testing and work to fix these issues, and therefore the credit is due him direct for such applications in this mod.
Phitt
Testing in various complex script areas. Creation of a bug free version of the 'barricade walls'.
Pronam
Testing and discovering the fix to keeping dialog topics 'gold forever' for a companion.
ShadeMe, QQuix and Vagrant0
For helping many times with questions and some major issues in the Bethesda Construction Set Forums.
Hickory
Many thanks to him for constantly coming in and helping out players with questions in the main release thread for BladeSong. His assistance was an epic scale help as well during the time V1.1 was being developed after the initial release of BladeSong.
Miss Onatopp
Elves of Lineage II Mod
The new 'Saiphar' race in this mod uses the identical meshes and textures (included), except for a few facial modifications. Hence credit is due directly to Miss Onatopp for this new race.
Danis13
Meshes and textures for the new Dagrukhai race use his updated Orc textures. Also full credit to him for the new textures used in the Vibrant Npc's mod, the only thing Vibrant Npc's does is modify the age slider settings for the default races while using his textures.
Jojjo and Petrovich
UFF & RM Morrigan Armor
Jojjo : creator of the original Morrigan Armor
Petrovich : Alterations to the armor's appearance
The Bloke
Creator of the Uruk-hai scimitar and shield which are used by a number of the Dagrukhai warriors.
The entire Oblivion Script Extender Team
Huge thanks to the entire team of developers of Obse, many scenarios in this mod may never have been possible without Obse.
quetzilla
Screen Effects Mod
Various areas in BladeSong that have fade in's and fade out's are only possible because this mod.
The entire TES4Gecko Team
Huge thanks to the entire team of developers of TES4Gecko, an essential tool for anyone creating new vast world spaces properly.
Lightwave
Tes4QLOD
Proper generation of distant Lod landscape in the Norrian Plains.
Bioxx
Tes4QLOD GUI
A very useful button style interface for Tes4QLOD.
Final Huge Thanks and Credit to :
Debbie Foster for her high quality voice overs. To find out more about Debbie, please visit her site http://www.voiceadvertising.com or her page at http://debbie.voices.com
