Hi Adouard EDIT: Edouard, of course, sorry for the typo! ,

thanks for reporting this in so much details, that helps me a lot!
I hope I'll find the time by tonight (CET) to look closer into the most prominent problem (the last one with the essences).
But here are some quick answers at first to your other questions:


The map is generated automatically, not by the mod. AFAIK, there's no way to provide a custom detail map for a cell (though I might be wrong).
This means, it's the complexity of the maze itself that makes the map complex. I am having similar problems whenever I am inside an Oblivion cave (somethimes they're weirdly twisted in all three dimensions, which makes their maps nearly unreadable sometimes).


That confuses me: You shouldn't be able to cast any spells while inside the dream, except ....
If you are able to do so (and the above spoiler doesn't explain it), then we probably have some other problem. Can you check this?


Be aware that taking companions into the dream world can be dangerous (as mentioned in the readme). During testing, I managed to have a companion completely get lost by that! That's the reason why I added that warning.


The journal entry is missing intentionally: The message telling you that you produced a "real" essence is just a message, not a journal/quest stage.
However, this thing looks indeed like being caused by a naming problem.
Some questions:
- What do you mean by "XA Dream Essence" (I guess this is not the name displayed for it on screen)
- Which naming tweaks exactly are you using?

Later,
jaime

@Edouard:
Here I'm back once more.

In additon to my post above, here's some more help (hopefully):

Apart from that approach, I still suspect that there's something going wrong with naming tweaks in your game.
So if the above won't help, you should think about following the "troubleshooting" section of my readme and try to create the two log files (as described there) and then post them here or send them by PM.

Good success!

And thank you for such detailed and helpful responses.

Understood. I tried using obvious clues like

Spoiler

twisted stairs and arches and spider webs. Also the fact that you restart from a well instead of where you left off.

Two sections of stairs seemed to be going down and not up; but they were at the beginning of the last leg and there were no intersections.

That surprised me as well. I figured if you were removing my inventory, why not the spells... but they are still there. if I use an offensive spell against the ghost I'm immediately transported out of the dream. The healing spell is a Lesser Power granted by the mod Verona House: Bloodlines.

Yes, I have all my spells. I also have any ability granted by an object—even if that object is no longer in inventory. I do not have any stat increases from clothing or items. Just abilities.

I'm well aware of that and I have learned companion management (e.g. wait/summon when appropriate.) One of my companions has a glitched summon spell so I have to use the console to summon him.
I did get that.

It is, actually.

I do not use a Magica mod, per se, but I believe COBL renames all items—giving them a prefix so that they order properly in inventory. It gave your item the prefix XA (if I remember correctly) as it was a poison. I'm not sure if it renamed the Dried Essence because that is a Miscellaneous Item.

I will do that and let you know.

I did as you suggested. I added the Essence of Dreaming via the console. I checked my inventory. Aside from UI devices added by mods it was the only thing in my inventory—"XA Essence of Dreaming.".

I jumped off the edge and when I reappeared standing next to my bed it was no longer in my inventory.

I'll now try re-adding it, poisoning the blade and resuming the dream. I'll let you know.

Well, I tried poisoning the blade, equipping it and entering the dream. The sword did not accompany me back.

I tried disabling the COBLize items menu but that didn't change anything. I'll look into the COBL docs.

Alright, now I see it clearly: It's definitely the renaming of the potion that causes the issue.


There's one common cause for this problem (also mentioned in the readme): Are you using a Bashed Batch, 0.esp created by Wrye Bash?
If so, you should right-click the Bashed Patch, choose "Rebuild Patch...", and in the opening wizard check the "Tweak Names" section: Is anything checked there, especially the "Potions" option?

Check this screenshot, if you are uncertain what I mean:
[img]http://chatbreak.de/oblivion/WB_Tweak_Names.jpg[/img]

Alright, here's another one that might help.

Although I think that you should still try to check for naming tweaks as described in my last post, there might also be a very simple "quick&dirty" solution



Hope this helps!

I am definite Edouard renamed the potion via the Wrye Bash tweak. It even has the same style as in the screenshot. Rebuilding the bashed patch without that tweak should do the trick.

As you're interested in feedback, I'd like to ask for a version with quest items.

Why? Simply, to protect the quest from being broken and still remaining forever in your journal.

I quite like the idea of quests that don't show you everything with quest markers, but quest items are a different story in my opinion, as long as they lose their status after the quest is done.

Thanks for that suggestion. It's not a bad idea.
One question right ahead, however: Do you have a problem with a specific item from my quest mod, or is this just a general remark?
If you are referring to the issue with the potion discussed above, please note that this can NOT be solved by changing that potion into a quest item, because you still need to be able to grab/drop it from the inventory (it's part of the puzzle).

But there are several others that might well be turned into quest items without problems. It will only require some more programming and testing, because it needs to be ensured that the flags are removed properly after quest completion.
I just haven't much time at the moment for creating a new version. As I haven't received reports about people having such problems with my quest, I'd like to think about it first, and maybe bundle it with a future version (if there will be one at all...).

In general, to go without quest items does not only provide more fun for "pure immersionalists", but it also avoids the "You can't remove/drop quest items..." message (yes, I think it can be annoying even while a quest isn't completed yet).
But I can see your point, of course: Having quests "stuck" in your journal without being able to complete them simply because of some missing items can become a nuisance!

Thank you both. I am sure that that is the problem. i will look into the bash rebuild. I do use it religiously and will check the naming tweaks.

If that fails I will try your console solution.

I really want to get this right. I don't use an inordinate number of mods and I want to let you know of any incompatibilities that others may run into—if they are really incompatibilities and not user error. :facepalm:

Okay...

The problem was as you had thought: Name tweaking in Wrye Bash. Rebashing without that allowed the Essence to poison the blade and I completed the quest. Yay! :icecream:

I am embarrassed to say that this situation is covered succinctly in the readme :blush: In my defense I am used to readme files to be just a rehash of the description. When I couldn't find anything in the HTML Walkthrough (which appeared much more comprehensive) I never thought to look at the readme—I just came here.

Maybe a line in the Description and Walkthrough files to point bozos like me to the ReadMe for troubleshooting. (please don't tell me it's already there, I've suffered enough humiliation. :blink:

BTW I really liked the set design for the finale. You could use that for a whole quest.

All-in-all a Chinese take-out mod—an hour later and I want more :clap:

No need for further humiliation, because you're right: There should well be another hint! Simply because both my readme and the walkthrough are very long, and I shouldn't rely on everybody reading everything without missing anything.
So I have already added a note to the tesnesxus description and to the walkthrough, and also prepared one for the readme (though the latter is not online yet, because I'll bundle it with future updates, just to avoid confusion).

Thanks for the flowers, BTW, and for anolyzing this problem!