The Elder Scrolls III MORROWIND: Guars
Tribunal AND Bloodmoon required


VERSION HISTORY:

1.17
- fixed maximum fatigue display
- reduced clicking delay in the adjust mounting position menu
- fixed reset NPC mounting position dialog
- added code to remove/restore some player greaves when mounting/dismounting
- fixed 2 dialog typos
- fixed possibility of mounting a not mountable guar with jump+activate
- fixed potentially crashing meshes
- reduced size of guar burden mesh a little
- added ab01guRunFactor float global variable, set to 2.5 by default.
It controls the guar running speed relative to guar walking speed, so if
you want a guar running faster/slower than 2.5x walk speed you can just
change the variable value in the game console, typing for instance
set ab01guRunFactor to 3


1.16
- guar tamers with nothing more to sell or teach should disappear
- changed the way you can slow down when mounting: it was sneak key
alone, it is activate+sneak now for compatibility with Morrowind Code Patch
sneak toggle option
- fixed a possible glitch due to Morrowind engine allowing death with GetHealth
still returning a value near 0.
- sneak+menumode for "stay here" and jump+menumode for "follow me"
shortcuts when dismounted should work as intended now
- a little reformat of position settings menu
- readme updated

1.15
- better dialogue window auto-close
- added guar scale adjustment (accessible from NPC mounting position
adjustment menu)

1.14
- added option to enable/disable dialog window autoclose
- better dialogue window auto-close
- now real intelligence guar stat is not increased over standard 50
- guars run speed lowered a little bit

1.13
- fixed a teleportation bug (thanks to LadyDeadlock for the bug report!)
- better dialogue window auto-close

1.12
- fixed crash with "stay here" dialog option
- fixed wrong "You are too close to another creature..." message
- fixed a missing dialog topic
- better dialog auto exit

1.11
- better AI management when teleporting
- guar levelup only when player is near
- companion guar dialog options visible only when guars are around
- fixed riding legs glitch
- mod is now distributed as a single .esp requiring both Tribunal and Bloodmoon

1.10
- fixed unnecessary "looking around", "looking forward" messages when remounting
- better stay/follow shortcuts messages timing
- fixed some guar taming glitches
- fixed some animation glitches when exhausted
- level up needs being near sleeping player no more

1.09
- increased max. distance to be able to swap position with guar
- fixed delay with stay/follow shortcuts
- no more teleporting in generic interiors with no CDC teleportation mode

1.08
- fixed possible stuck guar combat sound, just mount/dismount/ask to follow/ask to stay
- fixed some dialog mounting code
- improved NPC facing when riding with player
- improved player/NPC feet handling when dismounting (now some kind of
boots/shoes will be autoequipped when dismounting if present)
- fixed a missing groin assignment
- guars speed lowered a little bit

1.07
- dismounting scripts revision, should be safer
- guar magicka reset to 0 by default to avoid the possibility of guars
casting dangerous area spells.
- better waterbreathing
- fixed some repeating messages

1.06
- spelling and dialogue revision (many thanks to Gluby, great work!)

1.05
- fixed a missing topic (again, thanks to LadyDeadlock for finding the
problem)

1.04
- spelling corrections (many thanks to LadyDeadlock)
- companion riding compatibility tweak
- better standing guar animation when carrying a companion
- better guar/riding companion npc facing synchronization
- changed companion NPC topics "mount" and "dismount" to ("guar mount"
and "guar dismount")

note: due to the companion NPC topic changes, if you have upgraded from
a previous version and you are using TESTool Merged Dialogs.esp,
probably it should be better to regenerate Merged Dialogs.esp

1.03
- replaced the problematic temporary waterwalking + levitating ability
(thanks to LadyDeadlock for the debugging reports)

1.02
- fixed a long range teleporting bug

1.01
- guars should follow better after long range teleporting
- fixed an unfiltered greeting for test companion
- someone reported the temporary waterwalking + levitating ability added
when mounting sometimes was not removed after a few frames as intended.
This should now be fixed

1.0
- first release


INFO:

You can find ashlander guar tamers in Ald-ruhn, Gnisis, Khuul,
Ahemmusa Camp, Zainab Camp; talk with/bribe the ashlander guar tamers
about smart mountable guars...

This mod does not require, but is fully compatible with CDCooley's
Companion Teleportation/Improved Teleportation.

If you have CDC teleportation loaded, this mod will use CDC's
teleportation system, otherwise it will use a limited to 5 guars
teleportation.

Only pack guars with enhanced intelligence are allowed to teleport, you
should try and find how to make your guar companion more intelligent...

As possible combinations are too many, you can/should adjust your
mounting position and companion mounting position accordingly to
character race/clothing/mounted fighting style.

If you think you have the right coordinates for a player/npc companion
race and want them to be incorporated in a possible next version of the
mod, feel free to mail or PM me at Bethesda Game Studios Forums.


USAGE:

COMMANDS:

WHEN DISMOUNTED:

activate the guar when sneaking = bump/let me pass/exchange player
position: if you activate the guar while sneaking near(bumping) the guar
will exchange position with the player, the most effective way I found
so far to solve interior/narrow places problems, it's better than
standard "move aside" dialog command.
Equivalent dialog option: "take my place".

Right click + sneak, in sight = stay here: if you right click while
sneaking, the guar will stand still.
Equivalent dialog option: "stay here".

Right click + jump, in sight = follow me: if you activate the guar while
jumping, the guar will follow.
Equivalent dialog option: "follow me".

Activate + jump, distance <= 170 = mount: if you activate the guar while
jumping near to the guar, you will mount it.
Equivalent dialog option: "mount".

WHEN MOUNTED:
activate = speed up
activate when galloping = jump
sneak+activate = slow down, go backward
sneak+activate, backward = dismount

In practice, while riding the guar, activate is the accelerator and
sneak+activate (s+a) is the brake.
[mounted]-activate->[walk]-activate->[gallop]-activate->(jump)
[gallop]-(s+a)->[walk]-(s+a)->[mounted]-(s+a)->[backward]-(s+a)->(dismount)

right click in 1st person view = toggle free view.

In free view you can rotate (even backward) and more easily try to
hack/hit your enemies with a weapon/spell while riding (hint: running
helps when attacking with a spear).

Double right click in 3rd person view = adjust mounting position: you
can/should adjust the mounting position for player and companion npc
accordingly to character race/clothing/mounted fighting style.

You can/should adjust and memorize various settings for
standing/walking/galloping positions of player and companion, the
settings are saved and effective with every mounted guar.

3dperson view = no free view: going to 3rd person view from 1st person
free view mode automatically disables free view mode.
A collateral effect is that your mount turns in the direction you are
currently facing, so with a little practice you can turn around very
quickly and surprise the enemy during mounted combat.



KNOWN GLITCHES:

Companion placed by script tend to loose their targeted scripts on game
reloading. If you are using such a (rare) companion and you find him
still using the riding pants animation when walking, give him a guar
dismount command to force dismounting and eventually a guar mount
command.
The same problem may happen with standard (not placed by script)
companions after the 72 hours game cleanup; remedy is also the same.


In 3d view mode it seems the camera tries to automatically "move around"
perceived obstacles; you can see the effect clearly when some walking
character approach you from behind. This is hard coded and to my
knowledge there are no game settings available to change this behavior.
When riding the guar, the relative movement of the guar and player
objects tends to cause the glitch.

IMPORTANT: this is solved 100% if you enable the Morrowind Code Patch
(MCP) "Reduce camera clipping" option (thanks Hrnchamd!).
http://www.google.it/search?q=morrowind+code+patch

Another great tool to enhance the mod experience is enabling the
last Morrowind Graphich Enhancement (MGE) beta macros
to move the 3d person view camera, so you can change the camera position
in game as you like.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/morrgraphext/files/

A short digression: differently to other mounting control system in
other mods, I preferred to avoid using the run mode toggle to control
the guar speed. This way I still have player constant running mode
available when mounting. This is handy to make mounted melee combat more
effective, because weapon range in thrust mode is maximized.

The engine behavior in third person view is the main reason why a fine
tune of the mounting position is often needed. The trick to minimize the
glitch is to find a proper player distance from the guar center/height,
allowing still to "activate" the guar, minimize the clipping and
minimize the 3d view camera auto bouncing. This is needed even more when
you want to ride with a companion.

So, what is the suggested procedure? Assuming we are trying to optimize
for solo riding a mountable pack guar:

1. go to an open place where you have enough space to walk/run around
when mounting
2. be sure to have no weapon and no spell readied
3. mount the guar
4. activate the guar, the guar should start moving
5. go in 3rd person view mode,
6. keep the tab key pressed (in next steps also) to enter in "camera
pan" view mode, this is very handy to optimize clipping and 3dview
glitch (notice how moving the camera a little away the glitch
disappears).

7. double right click (right click, like when you want to open the
inventory, then give another right click in about a second). With the
second right click, the inventory should close, and the positioning menu
should open.
8. walk around, trying to position the player up/down/forward/backward
until you are able to minimize the camera glitch while being able to
still activate the guar (I.E. you have to be able to see "Pack Guar"
when you look at the guar). Notice how the positioning menu lets you see
the animation between each button click, so you are able to better
adjust the mounting position to try and minimize the clipping and the
3rd view glitch when looking from behind

You should repeat the process explained above with the guar running and
still (the mounting position is saved separately for still/walk/gallop
position, for the player and for one companion).

Try to become confident with the above process. Optimize your position
practicing spear mounted combat.

When you feel confident with the process, try optimizing the mounting
position for companion mounting. As a general rule (remember,
race/gender combinations are many, so mounting with a companion requires
position fine tuning even more), move the player position ahead, and the
companion behind and up, until the companion nearly sits on the big jar,
and the player is a little ahead of the striped tent cloth. The goal is,
when looking in "camera pan" view from behind the companion shoulders,
to see the "Pack Guar" words when looking at the guar, not the companion
name. It is all a delicate compromise between clipping, camera glitch,
possibility of still thrust a weapon. Keep in mind that completely
avoiding the 3rd view camera glitch is nearly impossible though, but
with a little effort the result should be satisfactory enough.

Sometimes, after teleporting, a guar can try continuing the previous following
package, trying to reach the pre-teleporting location. Usually trying a few
times to talk to the guar, switching between stay/follow commands will solve
this.


NOTES:

When given a combat spell and enough magicka to cast it, a creature will usually
cast it. For example, a high level guar with 120 magicka should be able to cast
the Brittlewind spell...

This mod does not add any attack spell to the guar, still some user reported the
guar casting a powerful area attack spell. I suspect it may be that some spell
with autocalc set (like the famous Brittlewind spell from Bloodmoon) may be
automatically added by the game engine not only to NPCs but also to creatures.

To avoid the problem, from version 1.07 the guar magicka is reset to 0 by
default.

If, for some reason, you want your guar able to cast some spells (which you can
add by console), you can disable automatic magicka resetting with the console
command

set ab01guNoMagicka to 0


F.A.Q.:

Q: Can I tame/burden standard game guars/wild guars?
A: Nope, just the new guars added by the mod; a way to make the mod as
clean (and easy to manage/remove) as possible.
Also, unlike NPCs, the way creatures dialog works, you have to
duplicate/filter all dialog lines for each different creature, so I have
chosen to have only one creature id/mesh because scripts and dialog are
complicated enough .

You can buy the guar saddles from many ashlander tamers, and there is
also a couple of orphan pack guars in the wilderness waiting for the
player to tame them, consider finding them part of the quest.

To tame a guar, you need to (literally) knock it out (no hurting
needed), using fatigue draining spells or bare hands (hard), its health
does not have to go beyond 10%.
When it is knocked out, cast a command creature spell.
If you see "You have successfully tamed it!" message, the guar should be
tamed and ready to serve.

Q: How can I make NPC x, who is following me, mount the guar? A: Currently,
only companion NPCs can mount the guar (technically speaking, they must have the
short companion variable set to 1 in their local script; in game, you must be
able to access the NPCs inventory with the share command). Besides, allowing
generic NPCs following the player to mount the guar would be technically
difficult to do and probably considered cheating with some escorting quests.


CREDITS:

This mod would like to be an evolution/mix of great existing mods, and
is heavily based on:

- Companion Teleportation & Companion Base by CDCooley
- Intelligent Pack Guar v1.1 By Charles Nadolski aka PierreBeauregard
- Guar Tamer by Kirel
- Guar Tamers V0.1 by Cryo
- Packguar Lulu by Grumpy
- Pegas Horse Ranch by MadMax

I have stripped the riding pants from the saddles/pants by Razhkul,
AcidBasick and MagicNakor.

Kudos to all those great modders!

Also, a particular thank you to LadyDeadlock and Gluby for the bug reports and
spelling/dialogue revisions, JAC for the tip about setting wander mode
before teleporting, Hrnchamd for the Morrowind Code Patch, all MGE crew,
Mordicus for bug reports and French translation.


PERMISSIONS:

If you want to include parts of this mod in another public mod, you should
give credit when credit is due (the aforementioned mods/modders, and
myself) and use different object ids to avoid conflicts with this mod.


SPOILER/BETA TESTING ONLY:

To have plenty of debug items, type: startscript ab01guDebugScript in
the game console. This will spoil/give you all items you should discover
by interaction (hint: bribe/ask for little secrets the ashlanders
tamers), but will allow
for faster testing (you will have the guar at 100% intelligence sooner).

When playing your beta version of this, I made an .esp for myself to raise the guar's speed. Can I still do this without messing it up?

Once you tame a guar, does it have Grumpy's teleporting script?

OH MY GUAR!!!!!
THIS IS AWSOME!

Killer mod! Just what an adventurer needs.
I have one problem though. Whenever I switch to third person view while riding my guar the camera gets all glitchy. I used FRAPS and put a http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mZBhqfUnsE I didn't see the camera doing the same thing in Abot's videos so I was wondering if there was anything I could do to fix this. I thought it was a common thing for morrowind but after searching youtube I couldn't find a single video that had the same behavior.
I can get it to stop glitching out if I keep the view high but then I can't see where I'm going. You can see it in the middle of my video.