I am replaying Oblivion now for the 3rd time for Shivering Isles, also using Unique Landscapes, Better Cities and trying out a few large mods like Ayelid Steps, Windfall and Dibella’s Watch.

I’ve been working with several editors – notably the Electron Toolset for NWN2 – but TESCS is my first one that actually implements content into a whole Vanilla world, ready to collide with lots of things in many ways, which is a little intimidating.

Therefore the top priority of my first mod is, that the content bonds clean and bugfree with Vanilla and that it is actually useful for the player.

What I dearly missed throughout the first run myself, where places to sleep (for levelling up) and store my booty (so I could go back into that Ayleid Ruin without having immersion-breaking fast-travels every 15 minutes). And now it took me a whole hour to find a player home mod, that just offers a bed and safe containers without any other (uber)features - so I decided to make a small mod for both.

After doing the “First Dungeon Tutorial” my head is already spinning and before I decide to reserve the next 10 weekends for modding, I would like to present my technical concept and ask for some feedbacks about any flaws or no-gos.

General idea:
Derelict huts, caves and other small interiors strawn across the map for the player to stumble across, which can be used as his house. The design makes it clear, that someone had been living there, but the place is long derelict. None of these places will make the player say “Wow – a free superduperhouse!!!” but rather “I’ve seen worse….but not often. Anyway, its good enough for a few days while I explore these nearby ruins”

Features:
All places have a usable bed and at least one safe container. There are only a few items to be found, which are logical and convenient. A few coins, arrows, ingredients (but no fresh food) and junk items that are either worth 0 gold (so the player is not going to burden himself with a used pickaxe) or weigh 0.0 to 0.1.

Placement:
Not in sight of any roads and not to be seen from other map markers. No old overgrown paths will be created to avoid mod conflicts. Instead “breadcrumbs” will be used to lead the player there, like harvestable plants or larger junk items (where appropriate). An occasional grave or broken wagon maybe, but no cluttering the landscape with skeletons and bodies.

Informing the player, that this actually IS a usable house with a safe container:
Keys are generally avoided, because imo there are already too many of them for the player to carry around. Also NPCs telling each the story of one of those places would clutter up the landscape (and be a lot of work if done properly). Instead instant quests are used.
Example: The player comes across a small shack. When he approaches the door he walks into a trigger that starts a quest called “The Derelict Shack” and gives a pop-up saying something like “The door is not locked and no sounds are coming from inside. Maybe I should have a look.” Inside is another trigger in a far corner of the room which solves the quest and gives a pop-up saying something like “This place has not been used for a very long time. I can claim it my own and stay here for a while (This is your house now, you can sleep here and use the containers to store items)”

After finishing this, the next step will be to create another bunch of derelict places, that are tied together by a story that creates a single quest and another bunch of slightly better-looking places that can be earned through individual quests.

Any feedback is appreciated (and thanks allready if you actually did read through the whole bunch of text)

Edith thought I should try to adapt my word.doc copy/pasted text into something more similar to the standard font & colour and that I also should tell you this->
DISCLAIMER: I posted exactly the same on another TES CS forum too, because I don't think the registered members are identical everywhere - and I need all the feedback I can get, before I decide to put every other hobby aside for a couple of months. I hope this is not frowned upon in the Oblivion community.

That sounds great, and all of it is very do-able. Well thought out plans are the first hurdle for modders and you seem to have this down very well.

One suggestion: Add more than one bed, lots of players have companions.

One warning: This applies to single home mods as well, just intensified with multiple homes. Keep in mind compatibility with all the Unique Landscapes mods. I'm not saying to worry about where to place your houses so it doesn't touch, they touch most every spot on the map so it's almost impossible but just try not to disrupt the landscape much. You might want to ask the UL team when you're finished if they can check if a patch is needed.

Thanks for the reply and especially for the tip with the additional bed!

Since I never use companion mods myself, I haven't thought about this at all. Speaking of companions, I guess I have to make the interiors a little more spacious and uncluttered than planned, so 2 people can move around easily.

Regarding the Unique Landscapes (and Ayleid Steps as the step stones are really ALL over the place) - I have all the latest versions installed recently so I should be able to work on the fully modded landscape (assuming I do everything right in the editor of course....)

Take care that you don't make your mod dependent on those others!

The other thing to watch for companion-ability is good path grids in the interiors, so they don't get stuck in corners, and can reach the beds and chairs.

Very good advice, I admit I haven't thought about the dependency from UL. Looks like I have to doublecheck in a Vanilla AND a modded version as well...

I'm not entirely sure I like the idea of every shack having two beds and being spacious and uncluttered just on the off chance I've got a companion along. I think the concept of the abandoned filthy shack is a bit hard to swallow when the thing's apparently set up just perfectly for my needs, extra beds and all. Just my opinion.

Also I don't believe companions need to sleep. From what I recall when I did have one, it was aggravating as hell trying to get her to use the bed and sleep even when I wanted her to. I'd be fine with the idea of going to bed while my companion is still eating or reading or training, then waking up to find she's risen earlier than I did. Personally I find that easier to believe than the idea that every tiny hovel I stumble across has two beds.

Maybe make some a bit larger with extra beds, and some smaller?

I think it's a bit of a slippery slope, too... gotta put two beds because someone might have a companion. What about all the people who play with multiple companions? And I should probably leave some old battered alchemy equipment laying around for people who use At Home Alchemy and might need to restock their potions before heading back into the ruin. Oh, some repair hammers too, those might easily be left behind, so it makes sense. Actually, it'd be really convenient if, say, a wandering merchant had been using the shack and ... before you know it the filthy abandoned shack with just a bed and a chest has become a full-on guild hall in the middle of nowhere.

I admit I am torn between providing convenience and being true to the intention.

The obvious path for me is to strictly follow the logic and try to create places for better accomidation rather than making compromises . I agree that a small shack should mostly have only a single bed, but a small cave p.e could have 3 bedrolls from the last residents.

The whole bed thing can even produce some roleplay opportunities (hard enough to find in a single player game). P.e. there could be a bed in the ground floor and a bedroll in the attic, will the PC take the bed himself?

Regarding the "assets" I will quote myself:
This will not be thinned down. There will be no gems, rare ingredients, skill tomes or the like, just junk.

For the companion problem, you could use an invisible bed to give the illusion that the companion is sleeping on the floor. You can use a bit of scripting to ensure the player can't use it. That way you can have a house with only one bed, but there's a second "hidden" one if it's needed.

A good hint - I am just not sure I'll be a good enough scripter - but maybe I'll find this allready done by someone else

I'd say don't worry too much about appeasing everyone. Think about each abandoned place as its own entity. There could be a large farm house with upstairs and down stairs that has four or five beds, but was burned out and abandoned, or there could be a shotgun shack with one bed inside and a bedroll on the ground outside for the dog.

What might be especially nice is to show signs as to why the abandonment - daedra / goblin attack for instance. Fire / poor crops, etc.