Well I do have a reason as to why they are looking for you. It's a small storyline that basically just serves to start the "quest" encounters up. The main storyline will be developed later. I do look at everyone's ideas and suggestions, and although I may or may not use them, I do appreciate anything you guys come up with. That being said, I also wanted the storyline to be somewhat tied into the main storyline because I wanted the mod to be able to be used right away if wanted. Although, I would suggest not doing so, but that's another topic. :wink_smile:


On a side note, I discovered a really strange bug with one of the new features that had previously gone unnoticed before, and there is absolutely no reason why this should even be occurring in the first place. Hopefully I can iron that out because it really adds a twist to the encounters. Also, I tried a couple of other solutions to the AI problem I mentioned and it's not looking too good.

Further, I was able to figure out a way to lose one of my mod requirements. :celebration: Testing for that will ensue once I figure out some of these other bugs.

Update#14
WOOT!! Got the problem solved for the AI! Now you can sneak up on them if you happen to spot them coming. :ninja: I just need to tweak this a little and that'll be completely fixed. Big props to DaMage for that.

I have also figured out why the bug that came up on one of the other features is happening, but am a little unsure of how to fix it. I may not even correct it and include it as a "feature" anyways. Basically what was happening was if the assassin had a partner who was hiding out and one of them were to die during the battle, the other would just disappear. In a sense this created an illusion of the first assassin escaping because his partner died, which that actually happened in DAoC through an ability called vanish. If I'm going to leave it as it is, I'll have to do some more testing with this though and see if there aren't other problems associated with it that I'm just not seeing.

I still haven't tested the other feature that was going to get rid of a mod requirement yet and the other mod still may turn out to be a better solution. I'll have to test both out.

Once that is done, I'm going to need to test other mod issues and conflicts, mainly mods that overhaul stealth and hiding from NPCs.

And finally, the last testing I'll need to do is the individual NPCs and the types of encounters.

After all that is done, I should be ready to release. It seems like a lot, but it will go pretty fast. I'm not going to give a timeframe though because I seem to fail at that. :lmao: But I'm going to try to finish this within a couple weeks. There's another project I want to work on the side and I still have yet to finish the game. :huh:

:celebration:
good news here...

As for stealth mods, you should check Stealth overhaul, SM combat hide and reneers guard overhaul.... Those are the most used stealth mods I'm aware of.

keep up the great work :foodndrink:

Have you considered to post some screenshots? It would be nice :angel:

I've been on vacation these last few weeks so I have not done much as far as work on this mod goes other than more testing. Unfortunately I've found some more problems with the AI that is causing the NPCs not to look for you. I may have to revert back to an older package that will disable the ability to sneak up on them if you spot them. I'll try to fix this the best I can before giving up on this particular part.

Update#15
Afraid not much to report since this phase of the mod is testing, more testing .... and still more testing after that.
But at the same token, I'm also putting finishing touches on several things such as scripting, etc.

I've also decided to script a "return" object spell of sorts. After some of my testing and due to the nature of how the mod "stops" NPC assassins, I began to think how the player might actually forget to pick up the gem again and leave it behind. At the same time I thought it might be inconvenient to players to have to back track their steps just to find it. While all you have to do is simply restart the mod, I wanted an in game solution. Thus, a scripted spell is born. This will return the script object that activates the NPC hunting to the players feet, currently set as a gem.

On a more sadder note, the ability to see the NPC's coming and you being able to sneak up on them instead is pretty much out the door. There was a problem with the NPC's just flat out refusing to look for the player. You'll still have the chance of seeing them coming, but sneaking up on them is going to be next to impossible. I'll still work on this, but it isn't looking good so far.

Good luck, this mod seems awesome. Hope it's gonna turn out the way you want it

But remember....





their always watching... :ninja:

Update#16
Got some great news today! I've once again got it fixed to where you should be able to see them coming and turn the tables on them and sneak up on them instead. Through much pain and testing, I've finally got it to work, big props to vometia for the help on this too for the working suggestion. More testing needs to be done though as usual, but I should be able to at least place the scripts on the rest of the NPCs and not just my test subject. Poor Mantis has been beaten to death and needs a break.

Also, the mod dependency is back, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The mod that will be required works much better than I could have hoped for. I should have tested my work with that mod first before I thought, "hmm, let's try it my way."

Since I just overcame some huge mountains here, the rest of the development should be smooth sailing now. No more uphill climbs. Really all that remains is continued testing on the NPCs and tweaking of their stats.

Good to hear this new development. Keep up the good work lonewolf_kai

Thanks anithinks and dragon7ball7. I was very excited to have finally moved that mountain.

Update#17
Got a few rounds of testing and tweaking finished. I'm not very satisified with the amount of dodging they are doing so I am going to look into fixing this some.

Update#18 ..... sort of.
Sorry there hasn't been an update in a while. I've been extremely busy with RL. Hopefully I'll be able to get back on track pretty soon and finish the testing.

Before I became so busy, I did run into a problem with the "turn-off" feature in that not only would it turn off the quest scripts, it would prevent them from running again even though the stages were reset by the features. I was thinking about doing away with that anyways because even if you turned off the random encounters, the current assassin(s) that were tracking you would still be left until defeated. This would have made the feature pointless anyways. I did have an idea that would have fixed it, but if the feature isn't working, there's no point in continuing down this dead end avenue. Therefore, I will be altering a bit of altering with the "quest" and it's conditions/scripts to take those features out.

I've also ran into a very persistent snag with one of the meshes that will need to be fixed. I've attemped multiple fixes and all have failed. I have a feeling it's due to how the original mesh is made. Hopefully, I can fix this. And if not, I can get some friends to help with it.

Haven't seen any progress on this in a while - hope you get to work on this lonewolf_kai..

I'm still working on it, but to be honest, it's kind of stuck in testing limbo. I keep getting this bug that persistantly keeps coming back like a mutated cockroach. And I don't know how to fix it. It's extremely discouraging not being able to go forward from there because of it. I've asked for help on it on another forum, so hopefully I can get a modding partner in.

Hi, I posted on the "other forum"
And I think I can help just shoot me a PM with what needs doing

You want to PM here or at the other site?

Update#19
I've made quite a bit of progress from testing. I had to backtrack to an older esp version because of the issues from Update#18. Because of this, I did a complete script overhaul of the NPCs and their AI package so that they are compatible with the current changes to the system.

I've finished testing over half the NPCs for stats and combat, and should be done by at least the end of the week for the rest, pending RL of course.

I have already tested the Encounter Engine on a small scale (4 NPCs) in a localized area with success. I've also tested it a little for different cell loads: IC bridge area and IC itself and the NPCs still come into the city to look for you. Once individual NPCs are tested for stats and combat, I'll move on to testing the Encounter Engine on a larger scale (all NPCs) in a localized area to be sure all NPCs are being utlitized by the system. Pending success with that (with which I anticipate no problems judging from the earlier tests), I'll move on to a globalized test for the entire game, dungeons, wildernesses of Tamriel, Oblivion, player homes, shops, etc., etc. Again, I anticipate success with this due to early testing done. This last phase will take the longest. I may shorten it once testing a couple of areas prove successful however.

I may also have found another possible bug that deals with a timer not working correctly. I won't be sure until I get to the next testing phase.

The other bug is being looked into still and hopefully we'll get a solution for that. After that, it'll be Beta!

Edit: I've changed some of the %'s on the first post to reflect test result back-steps and corrections needed. :wacko:

Still in testing, but I've also added a poll up to find out the general consensus of resists used on armor enchantments by the player.

See http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1133294-poll-how-much-resist-do-you-have/ for details.

Please participate in the poll as this would help me tweak the damage enchantments on the NPCs.

Looking forward to this, as always.

Update#20
Slow progress once again.... As suspected, real life has a funny way to throwing monkey wrenches into a schedule; seemingly more often for me than not.

Testing ongoing, I'm in the middle of testing the entire group of NPCs with the Encounter Engine during my freetime, which of lately has been nil. I've finished individual testing to a degree and most of their tweaking should be done. I will need some feed back on release about their damage dealing though. I've based it on my recent poll of resistance used by the community. Hopefully, it will be enough of a challenge for the average player.

Upon recent releases, I've found some pretty neat weapon meshes that I will also be incorporating into the mod. This will require an "update" to one of the NPCs for idea I have for it.

I bumped this a month ago, and now I'm bumping it again. It's well worth the wait to see this in action!

Sorry about the delays with this mod. It should have been finished long ago. The process for this has been painful and I can see why there aren't a lot of player hunter mods like this out there. See, most of the other mods have set points in the worldspace or interior cells (such as in a dungeon) that trigger a spawn chance where the npc/creature then comes looking for you, but only if you come near it. In a sense, it's not a true player hunting mod. My mod does away with that concept altogether and gives the NPCs total freedom to find you throughout the entire world... in [tested] theory. This means that the NPC will actively look for you, whether or not you cross the spawn point.

However, during this work, I've discovered that the AI engine really is unstable at times, and no matter what you do, scripting or otherwise, there's just nothign that can be done to fix it. I think I've got the most of it stable, but there are instances during my testing when the mod "stalls." It might be due to my load order and other mods interfering or it maybe a flaw with the Oblivion enginee, which I suspect it is. I hadn't planned on it, but I will be releasing a Beta version of this first, mainly to see if people get this issue.

and on those notes without further ado:
Update#21
I've completed the new mesh work and new script addition/CS editing to the specific NPC because of its introduction. Specifiically tested and approved.

Most of the testing is finished. I'm still going to do a little more testing, and I hope to have that done in the next few days. I'm also going to put the meshes and textures in a BSA. I was wanting to avoid this because of the 400 limit of the data folder, but with so many popular equipment mods integrated in this, I think it would be the best to prevent possible confliction in case of an uninstall.

As mentioned above, a Beta version will be released soon, very soon. I'll probably make a last entry here about it's release for those who've got this tagged/bookmarked, and make a new [REL]ease thread as called for in the traditional gamesas forum way. I will most likely post the mod in two places: TESNexus and TES Alliance.

Aside from the release post, this will probably be my last Update post in the [WIP] thread.

C-ya on the release thread. :wink_smile:

:woot: :clap: :twirl:

Looking forward to this, as always!

Sadly, I have to report that I found a problem at the last minute and will have to delay the release yet again until I get this fixed or edit the bugged feature out, which I realllllllly hope I don't have to do. :banghead:

Okay, problem solved. A fairly simple overlooked variable fixed it easily.

Back on track and look for the [REL] thread once again.