One day I hope to expand on Balathustrius' awesome mod "class abilities" to a kind of "power-tree" system somewhat vaguely similar to Diablo's "skill-trees." ;^) It seems that there is a lot to be inspired by in Diablo!

Anyway, you are doing something truly awesome with this mod, Midg. Here's hoping you find some time to work on it soon. :^)

Hehe thanks

Oh that would be cool. I'd have no idea where to start with a mod like that lol. The other thing i am working on along with a very Aladin inspired forum go'er (;)) is something from Diablo I. Nothing too fancy, but something i have wanted in the game for a while.

Something from Diablo I, eh? I'm hoping it's that super-cool "identify monster" system that would reveal more information about the creatures as you encountered more of them. What else could it be? Hmm...

O_o - that sir is a great idea!!! hmmmmmm.......but how would one implement that into the game. Perhaps a varible counting how many you have killed. Then every so many "variable points" you get a "scroll" - detailing more about the creature? I.e strength, weaknesses, spells ect....

Nah my idea isnt as awsome as that. Its simply having the spell book system from Diablo I to morrowind. the more books you find and read the stronger the spell. There will be 10 books in game per spell. SO you can have only a level 10 spell.....however there is potential to increase it above level 10..... a very sneaky and hidden way

Oooh, I think I like your idea. :^) That would add another good reason to explore and enjoy all that Morrowind has to offer and it would just make magicka more fun, which is always a good thing (I've only played pure mages in Morrowind for the past couple years ;^).

Yeah, it seems to me that a monster identification system would indeed be awkward to implement in Morrowind. A text overlay on the screen near the creature (as in Diablo) wouldn't work at all in Morrowind so it would probably have to be done somewhat awkwardly like you've suggested. I don't think the system would work nearly as well as it did in Diablo if we have to pause combat and scroll through a page of information every time we want to know about the critter we're fighting, it would be less hassle to just keep blasting it with fire balls until it keels over. ;^) Oh well, I guess you can't have everything.

edit - On second thought, maybe a text overlay wouldn't be too much of a stretch. What if it was an overlay like you see when you look at an alchemical ingredient? You look at the creature and a box appears above it (or maybe in an out-of-the-way corner of the screen?) with its name at the top and a list of strengths, weaknesses, and ???s for those items your character doesn't know about. Hmm, this is something interesting to dream about. :^)

oh if thats possible that would be awsome. Hmmmmm it might need MWSE, i hope it wont need MGE as i cant use that lol. Perhaps Fliggerty or Yacoby could shed some light on it?

actually maybe a paper version wouldnt be so bad. It would mean that the player would have to do their "home work" before tackling strong foes again. A good thing would be to have the mod also add stronger varients, like captians and what not to provide more of a challenge.
o
Also perhaps a new "type of mage service" could be added to the mages guild, where the player can by pre-written scrollls, and ask the mages for information nad tips about certian foes? Oh that could add a new class a hunter type mage. A Tracker or something like that. possiblities are endless...

Yeah, it could certainly be done, and I don't think would be too difficult. It would need MGE to display the box though. I actually really like this idea.

There is a function that returns the number of a specific creature that you have killed. So we define what information will be available will each number of each creature killed. You would have to make an image to display for each level of data for each creature, which would be the brunt of the work. But the actual scripting would be fairly simple.

Then we use MWSE's xGetCombat function to find the player's combat target, determine if it's a creature, then draw the info box as a hud element.

Wow, I'm so glad I decided to daydream out loud yesterday! :^)

Now I'll just shoot some more ideas out there for you to play with, Fliggerty. Do with them what you will. In the game Might & Magic VII there is a skill called "identify monster" which reveals more information about the creatures you're fighting based on your level in this skill, instead of the number of those creatures you've encountered. If you ask me, this is more in keeping with a skill-based character system like Morrowind uses so it *may* be a preferable way to implement it into the game.

How you actually used the skill in MM7 (IIRC) is by right-clicking on an enemy - by doing this, the game would pause and a stat sheet for that enemy would appear with an animated picture and its name on it, then a long list of things like its HP, damage range, resistances, and immunities - if your skill level was too low to know a specific item, it would be marked with "???." I always loved the pause feature in the Might and Magic games, you only had to hold the right mouse button (or map it to another key) and the game would instantly pause until you released the button. No menu would open or anything like that, everything on the screen just froze, allowing you to plot your next moves more thoughtfully. Maybe this is an idea for another mod all together, but I would absolutely love to see this implemented in Morrowind as well. :^)

Hopefully this evening I'll find out if my little brother can help me make suitable images for this mod using the GIMP. What format will the images have to be in?

Midg, I'm sorry if I just totally derailed your thread. Would you like me to take this discussion somewhere else?

Not at all, feel free

In the mean time, i have to re-start the axe's from scratch as my stupid laptop packed up on me and the only solution was a hard drive wipe. As i had no method of backing anything up due to me being at home and all my stuff at uni. I am completly stressed out at the moment. The ammount of information that i lost due to this stupid error is beyond belief. This moment in time modding is at a stop while i consider how the hell i am going to re-write my two essays again in a week. Both of which are 5000 words each

ok i am will be releasing a little update at somepoint in the next day or two. Basically the update increases the chances of the swords appearing in levelled lists and i will be placing some in game, possibly a merchant might have one or two to get the character started. Plus i will be adding a handful of new possible swords

sweet, glad to hear this...perhaps I will pick the game back up again to test it

the spellbooks would be a cool addition. always thought there should be some sort of magic you had to study.

:P - testing is always good lol

Well i am just working on it now, added 7 new swords so far.

Should i add the items to creature levelled lists? I.e - Skeletons could have a chance of wielding them?

Ok planned update:

15 new shortswords with enchantments will be added to the identify list.
Increased chances of finding the swords, adding them to more levelled lists
5 shortswords can be found without the levelled lists: Meldor in Balmora will sell 2 unidentified shortswords, 1 can be found in the vivec mages guild, another in Ald Rhun guild of fighters and one more is in Mournhold.

that sounds good MA. So what is planned for after the swords?

Axes or rings,havnt decided yet.

Oh also, should i make the scrolls better? I.e should they work just as well as paying for the service of identifying the item? At the moment scrolls arent as good.

well imo if you plan on making the scrolls into a service, who better to go to than deckard cain? but you must alsop provide the side quest to be able to get free ID's too


you should go for rings next too. I always love those...

~Edit~

it seems I misunderstood your question. lewmme rephrase my above answer...

If you want to have to different levels of quality I.E. scrools and servicemen, then make it so that higher level unid things should be required for the servicemen and leave the scrolls for the lower-mid level items.

well the way it works at the moment:

scrolls only give the player access to a limited number of possiblities - most of them bad
Servicemen cost 300gold and have access to the full (now 75) possibilities.

Ok version 1.1 of the shortswords is now out!

http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=7307

well the next addon is going great, already done 30 rings and counting! I am going to try to bring it up to 75 possiblity's like the swords. Most of the Rings are CE thought theres a few cast when used. Also, like the short swords there are bad effects too

Anyone tried this out yet?? I havnt had a lot of feedback, wanted to know if there are an probelms/issuies with the mod?

actaully saying that, i was just checking out one of the enchantments i made in the CS and realsied that it was put on a sword. So i just checked some of the others and 10 swords do not have there enchanments asigned. Also the 15 new swords havnt had their stats changed respectivly, so expect a version 1.2 out in the next 10mins.

Ok the file has been updated, version 1.2 is now up and running:

http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=7307

very nice MA, I'll test these out ASAP though that won't be for another 3 weeks or so because I leave for Michigan for 3 weeks on Sunday and don't have time right now to do anything else...

:D - thanks hope you enjoy the updates! Should have the rings out by then - Just doing 64 enchantments for them now, then i have to make the rings, do their values then write the 120 lines of script and the lines of dialogue. After that the rings are good