I am currently exploring the Molag Amur region. I ran through one of the numerous steam vents....but it did not scald my character. That would be cool if somebody made a mod that could make the vents damage maybe 1 to 3 points for every second standing in the steam.

You'd probably have to script it to where if you got within 1 foot of the object, that the character would take continuous damage within that range. Probably wouldn't be too difficult to accomplish. That's a good idea and it never crossed my mind but I'd like to see that implemented.

Probably not, especially if one used NoM (Necessities of Morrowind) as an example-- it includes a (scripted, optional) function that causes (camp) fires to burn actors (either the PC or the PC and NPCs) who stand on them. It sounds to me like that script would be "easily" adaptable to the steam vents (assuming that the steam vents are a unique object that can be modified/scripted) -- or at least it would be a good starting point if one hadn't a clue where to begin (as I wouldn't, honestly ). It is a good idea, and I'm also surprised that no one has done it before now.

I've been thinking of making a mod that means you take damage from going in the water on Solthsiem. Always struck me as odd that you can jump into a lake with a thick layer of ice on top and be fine. Same principal with fire an steam really. A mod that added damage for these things would be great. I might do it myself if I get a spare bit of time.

Steam vent damage, good idea.

FYI, it already exists. http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=442978&id=8068

Oh that's cool. And it even comes with effects of the cold! Downloaded.

A fire damage mod should be very simple. Do a find/replace to turn all vents and campfires and whatever into activators and stick a script on them that damages a colliding actor.

Most are activators already to be able to emit sound, I think just adding a on activate with cast or explode spell to the Sound_Steam script would work, something like this

if ( OnActivate )	cast "fire bite" playerendif

It just seemed so weird that I would run through the SUPPOSEDLY SCALDING STEAM VENTS and nothing happened! Good Luck on creating this!

OnActivate probably won't do it. Only a knuckle-bob would click on a steam line, even if you could. The lack of collision is going to make that difficult.

Also since steam doesn't have collision, you can't use hurtcollidingactor either, but you could create an invisible activator (something simple, like a long column) that does have collision and is placed in the steam field. This would harm the colliding actor, and then disable itself. If done in a frame or two, no one would even notice - even if you were running. Then, after a second or so, have the activator re-enable itself, and repeat. It's not entirely fool-proof, but it would probably work - and better yet, you couldn't escape the damage by levitating.

A more foolproof method would be to have the column rapidly change direction away from the player (such as change Z by 100 points in one frame for a vertical steam vent). Then, after a few seconds, raise the column. This is better because it has less risk of trapping the player (by enabling it while the player is still standing where the column was). It will still retrigger once it rises high enough to hit the player again. (I believe - I haven't tried it yet)

Also, you can simply hurt the actor directly. You don't have to add a spell unless you want the damage to linger. Look at the lava scripts for an example.

I am more curious than a child in game, especially after level 10, I would certainly click
I was thinking more about vents, I think any of activate/getcollidingpc would do with them.
For pure steam with no lava underneath (I think most are in Molag Amur Region exterior), your ideas seems good, or maybe some getdistance/getpos would work detecting player without adding extra activators.
I suppose it is a matter of preference, I like the fire spell damage effect more than the hit hit hit damage sound

Hmm, I hadn't considered getdistance. The trick there is that it would only seem to work with specific NPC's or the player. I like collidingactor because it will hit anything.

I have a few geologically active areas in my mod, I may have to experiment a bit...

Nice! in the meantime I've tested the vents, it works well enough, maybe both hurtcolliding/cast effects are worth

begin Sound_Steamif ( CellChanged )	returnendif;global short hurtOnlyPCif ( OnActivate )	cast "fire bite" playerelseif ( hurtOnlyPC )	if ( GetCollidingPC )		HurtCollidingActor 10	endifelseif ( GetCollidingActor )	HurtCollidingActor 10endifif ( GetSoundPlaying "Steam" )	returnendifPlayLoopSound3DVP "Steam" 0.5 1.0end

I just thought...maybe you could jack up the damage, so it is more of a danger...maybe 2 to 5 per second.

That's fairly easy, you just change "fire bite" in the code to some other more powerful fire damage spell ^^

When you think of it...hot steam reaches out a ways from the place it shoots out from, so even if you are not directly on the steam vent, but right next to it, you would get at least some damage. Plus I noticed there were some areas in the game where there were 2 or 3 vents fairly close by each other. That could create a fairly large area of heat.

There's also http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=797 that adds optional damage from going in cold water around solstheim and fire damage from campfires / fire pits. Might be worth a look at the scripting there. I don't believe B&G adds damage from steam vents tho.

BUMP for creationism

Scripts should not be a problem. The only real problem seems to be replacing in_lav_24.nif, In_Lava_1024_01.nif, In_Lava_256.nif, in_lava_256a.nif, in_lava_512.nif, in_lava_oval.nif with something having collision working reliably (it often does not seem to work for me).
Any NIFskope expert? I'm trying but no success so far.

[EDIT]Ok, I give up trying to make collision work, a script distance check will do with player.
Anybody willing to test, here is a http://abot.silgrad.com/guppy/file/abotLavaSteam.7z