Oblivion Prelude: Kvatch is an alternate start mod that aims to modify certain parts of vanilla Oblivion. Instead of starting as a prisoner in the Imperial dungeon, the player will be able to choose from 22 starting locations. The Emperor is still alive and the Dragonfires remain active. The main focus of this mod however, is the re-created city of Kvatch. The player will be able to experience a living, breathing Kvatch, inhabited by newly created NPCs as well as those from the vanilla game.

This mod draws its inspiration from various mods: The living Kvatch concept is made possible by thePOSTALdude's M.O.E. Main Quest Delayer; the alternate start scenario gathers elements from
Alternative Start Arrive by Ship, Alternate Start Revamped, A New Beginning, Who Am I, and Starting Options.

PLANNED FEATURES:

Experience the city of Kvatch, fully re-created with NPCs, shops, guilds, an inn, an arena, and homes.

Purchase a house in Kvatch just like in every other city.

Take part in new quests that revolve around Kvatch and its inhabitants.

Start the game from one of 22 different locations.

Choose a character background that gives the player attribute/skill bonuses and equipment.

Delays the Main Quest and provides new methods to begin the Main Quest.

Witness the Daedric invasion of Kvatch firsthand.

PLOT
====

"The countship of Kvatch is held by Ormellius Goldwine. He was once viewed by many as a just and efficient ruler, able to maintain peace within the walls of Kvatch and provide its citizens a standard of living rivaled only by the city of Skingrad. He was stripped of such honor after the loss of his sons drove him to despair, greatly affecting his ability to rule. Currently no heir has been designated and power-hungry factions attempt to seize power at every turn. The most recent uprising successfully breached the castle walls and left the great halls damaged."

Excerpt from Guide to Kvatch by Alessia Ottus

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/Oblivion%20Prelude%20-%20Kvatch%20WIP/Oblivion2008-07-0220-05-28-90.jpg, http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/Oblivion%20Prelude%20-%20Kvatch%20WIP/Oblivion2008-07-0220-06-15-46.jpg

Progress and Release Date:
Orignally I had planned to release OPK in March. Unfortunately, it will be delayed since the mod is nowhere close to completion. I do not have an estimated date of when this will be released.
I've decided to do a milestone system to monitor the mod's progress. The more milestones I complete, the closer OPK gets to release.

MILESTONES
=========
Alternate start scenario - COMPLETE

City:
Kvatch structures (outside city walls)- COMPLETE
Kvatch structures (inside city walls) - COMPLETE

NPCs:
Vanilla NPCs - COMPLETE
OPK NPCs - In Progress

Dungeons:
Mega-dungeon(under Kvatch)
First level North Tunnels - COMPLETE
First level South Tunnels - COMPLETE
Second level East Caverns - COMPLETE
Second level West Caverns -
Third level East Caverns -
Third level West Caverns -

Quests:
Main Quest(order) -
Main Quest(chaos) -
Fighter's Guild -
Mages Guild -
Arena -
Side Quests - In Progress

Kvatch Invasion scenario:
City - In Progress
NPCs -
Creatures- In Progress

Dialogue:
Tweak vanilla dialogue - In Progress
OPK dialogue - In Progress
Voice acting - In Progress

Note: In order for me to even consider releasing the mod at its minimum, the following milestones have to be considered COMPLETE: City(both), Vanilla NPCs, the Mega-dungeon,
Main Quest (order and chaos), Alternate start scenario, and Kvatch invasion scenario. Dialogue and voice acting related to the list above would also be required for release.


VIDEO

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jd5cM1DPxM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhB2dss4MX8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eCOSS97SJY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrCisna5nwk

SCREENSHOTS

Chorrol architecture with Skingrad textures:
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Album%202/Oblivion2010-02-1323-45-39-09.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Album%202/Oblivion2010-02-1323-45-54-96.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Album%202/Oblivion2010-02-1323-46-20-76.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Album%202/Oblivion2010-02-1323-46-42-03.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Album%202/Oblivion2010-02-1323-46-51-23.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Album%202/Oblivion2010-02-1323-47-46-68.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Album%202/Oblivion2010-02-1323-47-21-46.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Album%202/Oblivion2010-02-1323-47-27-84.jpg

Interiors:
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Album%202/Oblivion2010-02-1410-10-18-90.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Album%202/Oblivion2010-02-1410-13-30-92.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Album%202/Oblivion2010-02-1410-13-45-03.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Album%202/Oblivion2010-02-1410-14-46-81.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Album%202/Oblivion2010-02-1410-14-37-03.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Album%202/Oblivion2010-02-1410-15-57-32.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Album%202/Oblivion2010-02-1410-16-08-12.jpg

Kvatch Invasion:
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/Oblivion2010-03-3022-30-41-17.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/Oblivion2010-03-3022-31-06-12.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/Oblivion2010-03-3022-31-06-12.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/Oblivion2010-03-3022-31-06-12.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/Oblivion2010-03-3022-33-57-04.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/Oblivion2010-03-3022-34-05-68.jpg
http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/Oblivion2010-03-3022-34-14-06.jpg

OPK WIP Albums:

http://s311.photobucket.com/albums/kk447/xcentric_14/OPK%20Mega-dungeon%20WIP/

So far so good, nice to see mod who adds Kvatch BEFORE it was destroyed. There's many Kvatch mods, but they all add it after it was raided by Daedra. Good luck with this mod (:

I love Kvatch mods! This is one with a twist. It looks awesome. The Grove of Akatosh looks stunning. But out of all the kvatch mods that I've seen - none have made an exterior as good as yours. Its awesome.

Good luck with this mod. I'll be watching this one.



Thats too COOL!

I use kvatch aftermath. Nice mod indeed
Although I know that there are a lot more.

This is AMAZING! I've always wanted an alternative start mod that allowed you to start the game before the Emperor's death! My only gripe deals with the way you'll handle the death of the Emperor. For example, it's known that he died on the 27th of Last Seed, year of Akatosh 433... Perhaps you should allow the player to choose on what day he arrives to Cyrodiil and then if the player goes to jail somewhere between 21st through 27th of Last Seed, the regular tutorial will begin. Otherwise, the Emperor will just die and you'll need to stumble upon the Amulet of Kings somehow.

Really though, this mod would have a likely place in my load order if you could just keep the lore intact (Emperor dying when he's supposed to) and give options for characters who don't want to start in jail. Nonetheless, this sounds like my dream mod come true.

By the way, how will this mod affect Kvatch revival mods? Perhaps you could make this mod one of those as well, though it does seem a tad bit unrealistic to have a city built exactly the same way it was before its destruction.

Very nice idea. I never start the MQ straight away as I like exploring and getting used to the world itself so when the gates appear you actually feel like something different and terrible has happened- and you are actually experienced and strong enough to help in the crisis.

But it has always bugged me how I can never go and visit Kvatch before these events. It would be great to just wonder around and even see Martin working in the Temple, unaware of his destiny. Add a few local quests and it would make the world of Cyrodil much more enjoyable to explore.

Good luck with it, will be watching.

Brilliant idea. I heard about this project before, but I thought it was forever abandoned.
A bit of a question here, though: Will you make it compatible with Kvatch Rebuilt? It would add so much to the immersiveness to see the city before it's burned, be there in the invasion, save the city, and then finally rebuild it.

ZenshinZenrei:

An amazing idea and great effort. I'm using an alternative start mod in combination with another mod (unfortunately, I'm at the library and can't tell you which) that does delay the start of the main quest until I'm put in jail and also offers an undestroyed Kvatch. Your mod, however, looks a lot better and much more thorough. I think it's great because I have a level 42 assassin who STILL has not started the main quest.

Looking forward to seeing the release. Thanks for sharing your talents.

Thank you for the kind responses.

Ok, to answer some questions and comment on stuff:



It shouldn't affect the inside of the city. On the outside however, it is possible. I modified land right outside the gates so I could place farms and the stables. If any of the revival mods place objects outside the gates (and I believe they do) there may be floating or sunken objects (or both). Oh and land textures too may be affected as well.



If you heard about this project before, chances are it was the same one. As for KR compatibility, I would love to have that since it would resolve the same issue I stated above. I will definitely deal with that issue when the project nears completion.



I'm guessing you are using M.O.E. Quest Delayer. It's my favorite alternative start mod just for that reason. And it's the reason why this mod came to be.



All the NPCs that survive the invasion in the MQ will definitely be in OPK. They will have their own schedules. There will be local quests but some of them will be of an epic scale (well ok, not epic but will be pretty grand). The grand quests will revolve around Kvatch's political crisis.

Can we have a sneak-peak as to main quest starting options? As I asked beforehand, will you be taking into account the actual death of the Emperor, or will his death happen once the player 'wants' it to happen?

Seeing your openness for Kvatch Rebuilt computability is quite reassuring. To the point where I will postpone my KR playthrough until this is finishedc, as I'm sure having a beautiful living, breathing Kvatch before the Oblivion crisis even began and seeing how the proud citizens of Kvatch rebuild and re-prosper themselves will be a pleasurable sight indeed.

I would love to use a this mod, experience Kvatch, watch it be destroyed, the use a mod like kvatch rebuilt to rebuilt it and see the new kvatch.

Really looking forward to the release of this, I'm another one that doesn't start the main quest for quite a while

If you can pull this off and make the mod as intended, then it will be an instant download. I really hope you can make it Kvatch Rebuilt compatible though - but I think the compatibility is good enough if it works to play with your mod up intil the battle of Kvatch, and then uninstall it and install Kvatch Rebuilt instead.

I was packing up to leave from work so i didn't have a chance to comment on this earlier, sorry.

I have a few issues with having the Emperor die on the date that he's supposed to. One issue is this pretty much gives a time limit for the player to manage. The second issue is taking away player choice. Once the Emperor dies, Kvatch shortly becomes a smoking ruin, so I don't want to force that on unsuspecting players, especially those that do not want to start/do the main quest and want to keep the city intact. For those that want to do the main quest, players should do it when they're ready I believe.

Also there was mention of choosing what day/date the player arrives in Cyrodiil. I haven't tinkered with the CS for a while so I have to check if there is a script function for that. That could work to solve the issue I mentioned above. But how much time to go back is too much or too little? More feedback would be welcome regarding this issue.

(and I hope my explanation makes sense)


I will as soon as I get home from work


I hope you have lots of patience. Don't worry, though. I also promised myself I won't play through Oblivion again until I have his mod finished, as I also want a living, breathing Kvatch to explore. Imagine, a living Kvatch, and add on the mod that rebuilds Sutch. I think Cyrodiil will be finally complete (city-wise).

Hmmm, I see. You do hold valid points in letting the player choose when to begin the main quest and have the Emperor's death occur. I'm not sure if script-wise, there is such a function to change the date of the original game, so we'll have to stick to this. It'll be a minor inconvenience of course, notable only when the game mentions the Emperor's real death, which isn't very often. Then again, seeing Assassination! articles everywhere is going to really make my character wonder, "Hey, what the heck is going on here? The Emperor is still alive and well!" and have himself either scratching himself on the head or angrily blaming those rat-chasing buffoons on their strange errors. Changing vanilla instances where the Emperor's death is mentioned seems like a viable option, but then you'll have to deal with all that compatibility madness and certain mods being inconsistent with your changes.

Another idea is to simply remove all of that Emperor-living business altogether and just have the guy die when you arrive. Here's how something like that can work: once you choose your race and such, you'll begin in the cabin of a ship, similar to the Alternative Start mod, and it happens to be late at night. You can exit the cabin and go on deck, but you'll be surrounded by the sea and need to get some rest as the ship will be docking tomorrow morning. Upon activating your cabin bed to rest, you wake up to sounds of people speaking. You wake up and exit the the ship (in Kvatch I assume?--wait a second, Kvatch isn't a port city! ) to find a couple of Imperial Legion soldiers interrogating the crew. They tell you that the Emperor and his three sons were murdered the day before (you and the crew were, of course, in the ocean with no way of learning of these news) and that security has become much more prevalent because of it. They ask you for your papers to make sure your reasons for being here are legit, in which case you'll be able to choose your class, birthsign, and maybe a couple of other interesting facts about yourself (such as your profession, your reasons for coming to Cyrodiil , etc.) upon which they tell you that your records match up and that your luggage is waiting for you in the city (or wherever you want). Your luggage can contain items based on the choices you picked in the interrogation.

So what then? Well, basically, you can let the player live their life until they stumble upon the amulet of kings through different methods or give them 'hints' through the way, such as having a rumor-loving innkeeper who states that he heard some Imperial guards claim that they heard some strange sounds coming from the Imperial sewers patrolling near the area but that the member who was patrolling was nothing more than a rookie and too afraid to check it out. And there are a multitude of different ways you can do it. Perhaps you can have a Bauraus hanging around the Imperial Palace and upon talking to him he tells you that the Emperor, with his last breath told him that one day he would be approached by a person bearing the resemblance that you have on this same day and that he was to give you the Amulet of Kings along with this sealed note that no one was to open but you crafted through magical means which would incinerate itself if someone other than you would open it. The note then tells you all about the missing heir and to take the amulet to Jauffre.

So what about Kvatch then? Shouldn't it have become a pile of ruins by now? Well, yes... but you can weasel some lore into it that says otherwise. Perhaps Dagon was first more interested in locating the actual amulet since by destroying the amulet, it wouldn't matter whether Martin was of the Septim Bloodline or not. So once you turn in the amulet to Jauffre (or once you recieve it from Bauraus or the like), that's when Dagon will become impatient and make Kvatch burn.

Of course, doing this has its own share of problems, but no problem would be greater than your mod not living up to your wants, so you're free to do it however you like. I apologize if it seemed like I was trying to change your mod's ideas, as this wasn't in my closest intentions. All I wanted was to give you a way in which a mod like this can be done differently, while still keeping most of the lore intact. But again, your mod, your rules. After all, pretty much any alternative start mod would be breaking lore in this case because some don't even have you being any special person the Emperor saw before his death. So check and mate for that argument.

Yep, don't worry; I'm a very patient person. I've plenty of time to wait for this mod to finish since school's here and I have like 1% of my original time during the summer to play or even mod this game. Yeah, seeing your mod, plus Dragon Caption's Sutch rebuilt one, all the Unique Landscapes, and a couple of other mods will make Oblivion a very beautiful and ponderous game indeed.

In any case, best of luck with the mod! Keep up the good work! :goodjob:

You are quite correct. But I think that will be an issue only if I made custom quest rewards and items, then OPK must remain installed.

BTW I'm so looking forward to using your Enhanced Economy mod when I start playing Oblivion again


@ GangstaWolf: You were in no way changing any ideas I had for the mod. You simply pointed out something out that I completely overlooked. Here's another one you just made me remember:

I totally forgot the Emperor's dialogue ("You...I've seen you.... You're the one from my dreams....").

So I greatly appreciate your feedback, as well as everyone's.

Very nice! If I ever get around to modding I was thinking to expand the MQ and do it allot more multi threaded and more important to get it done - always wanted to test how far I could take sound editing of the original soundfiles of Martin and Uriel S.

Anyhow - In Povuholo & Malchik's mod Kragnirs Deathquest and the accompanying esp Kdr (that adds allot of extra dialog, rumors etc) they always go on about the best inn in Cyrodiil being the Tipsy Minotaur at Kvatch and the Landlady's shifty Son Jack; would be fun with a cross mod reference there if you haven't' got other plans for the Inn?

Cheers!

Taking away the freedom of having unlimited playtime in the "prelude" stage strikes me as a very big concern. One has to be concerned as well, though, about unintended issues/references to changing the date of the Emperor's death. One could also argue that forcing the Emperor's death on the intended date does provide an interesting degree of lack of control / realism. One solution, if you can in fact change the start date, is to set the new start date a year or two before the normal start date.

You do then have the very small oddity, though, that once the player is arrested for the MQ to be kicked off there's a big date jump (maybe onArrest dialogue indicating you're mistakenly suspected of being a notorious criminal and being transferred to a special cell for a life sentence in the IC).

There's also the question of how to deal with players who are actually in Kvatch when the MQ start date arrives- though I think there's probably some interesting ways to resolve that.

The more you can err on player freedom + consistency the better. The best solution might be to give the player the option of choosing an start date up to 10 years prior to the MQ. That provides more than enough time for anyone to play with effectively no limit. It also provides the option for the player to start just a few months before the MQ which presents any interesting challenge to build up your character in a limited time. Or even start after the MQ date and stumble upon the AoK.

What ever you decide, I'm really looking forward to this mod being an integral part of my next Oblivion play through. Thank you.

If im honest, i think it would be really cool if you could somehow end this mod with the main char being framed for something to do with kvatch and then getting carted off to the imperial prison, to where the start of vanilla is

As I stated, I can't find any function in the CSWiki, OBSE or otherwise, dealing with changing the (starting) month or day. Hence my overly long post dealing with ways to remedy that odd tidbit. My suggestion for dealing with Kvatch was: have the Daedra attack Kvatch only once the player either receives the Amulet of Kings or once he gives it to Jauffre. I see it as Dagon being overconfident in getting his lackeys to kill Uriel Septim. After killing Uriel, the main item of interest would be to get rid of the Amulet of Kings, as if the amulet is destroyed, it doesn't matter whether Martin lives or dies , so why would Dagon use up special resources to kill someone who might not even matter? Remember, for most gods, especially the evil ones, it is their overconfidence that becomes their undoing.

Once the player recovers the amulet through whatever means possible, (and gives it to Jauffre) the Mythic Dawn report this to Dagon, at which point he curses his confidence and vows to never make the same mistake again, so he launches a full-scale attack on Kvatch once he learns that there is still an heir left.

I don't know, it all makes sense to me, and while it still might not be completely lore-correct, there is much less room for incorrectness than having the Emperor die on a different date.

A good idea on how to do this is have your character come to Anvil on a merchant ship a couple of years before the game starts. You would at some point in your adventures get the option of retiring from adventuring due to a quest. I was thinking that since Ormellius Goldwine has been removed from being the Count of Kvatch that would be your reward for saving Kvatch. There would then be a time skip while you were retired as Count of Kvatch. There will be a scandal where you are framed for illegally procuring imperial taxes for your own benefit. You are then sent to prison where the main quest starts. Besides the main quest you will have to find who framed you.

PS. This will also give more reason for you to rebuild Kvatch.

PPS. This idea would eliminate the problem with when the emperor dies and also leaves the player the freedom of when to choose to start the main quest.

Yet again, I'm not sure it's possible to allow the player to start before 27, Last Seed 3E433. I could, of course be mistaken, however, I don't very much like your idea for the reason that it makes me play my characters a certain way. What if I don't want to be the count of Kvatch? What if I don't even want to start the Main Quest at all and just let some other hero do the work for me? I should be able to play as some normal, everyday adventurer simply looking for a bit of coin to fill their purse if I want to. I'd like this mod to be as ambiguous as possible when it comes to reasons for coming/being in Cyrodiil, as well as ways in which the Main Quest is begun. I don't want to meet the Emperor in prison if I'm a noble paladin who has never committed any wrong, and I don't want to end up becoming the Count of Kvatch if I'm some distraught assassin looking for my next mark. Nothing is really being 'said' about your character if you arrive to a port town via ship and suddenly stumble upon a dead Mythic Dawn member holding the Amulet of Kings along my travels and being caught with the responsibility of giving the amulet to someone who knows what to do with it or just keeping it as a souvenir. Since I usually play different characters (with very different ethical and moral values), I'd like for my mods to allow me to give my own character his story, with them enhancing their tale, rather than the other way around.

So... How's it going...?

Im sure this may have been brought up before, but have you ever though about integrating, or at least making compatable, Kvatch Rebuilt. This way the player can see the city before its destroyed and then rebuild it. It would really make for an exciting experience overall. Something I wish Bethesda would have done in the first place. If anything it would have made a great DLC.

This looks really good, would love to see it finished.

And it's cool that there's a place called "Lupine's Den Inn", as Lupine is the name of my character What a wonderful coincidence.