Lithian here, I just ran into this and just wanted to say that shape shifting npc's can be done. Now yes it would be some what tricky but it can be done for sure, all you would have to do is have something to trigger the transformation, say though how many hit points are left or something. Than just disable the npc after playing a magic effect and make a copy of a wolf or bat and move them to where the npc transformed at. Thin after the wolf or bat dies play another magic effect and disable the wolf/bat and move the vampire npc to the wolf's place than just, enable and kill.

Hey Madmole! Great work so far. I'm really loving the visuals. Very realistic. And the features . . . wow. Seriously. But I just stopped by to give you a little ego boost and a tad of encouragement. Keep up the good work! I can't wait to see what comes of this. Well, I can wait. Don't rush or anything. That's not what I . . . uh. You know what I mean.
:mohawk:

just some more inspiration, plus bumping the thread. Keep up the good work. I've been holding off on playing oblivion till this comes out so I can finally play as a bad a$$ vampire. :bowdown:

Still holding out playing as a vampire for this mod.

Mmm... yay.

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow........
Halloween can't come fast enough!

Exactly, no pressure

---

I've been watching this mod for a while now and I really like it. I also admire your mode of work - you set yourself a reasonable amount of work and date for the release and seem determined to reach your goals in time. Better yet, you do actually make fast and visible progress, which is quite a feat for most solitary modders (and, sadly, a lot of teams as well). I hope you don't lose your focus. You have my spiritual support, for what it's worth.
This mod is one of the few which can make me re-install Oblivion - I don't actually like the game itself, but every time there is some good-quality project going on, it brings me hope that I can still enjoy it. So I just thought that perhaps I could throw a little question and suggestion once in a while, since I'm already invading your thread and there's really little that even the Powers That Be can do about it anyway

First thing, a question: Earlier you mentioned that there will be some optional morph settings (or perhaps it's just my memory lying to me) including the Buffy-esque 'game face' - because http://downloads.4drulers.com/Oblivion_Mods/unholydarkness/LlordrilAndrethi.jpg one looks bloody awesome*. Is this the morph you were talking about or is that NPC's face just unique?

And I'd also like to suggest something, unless it's already been implemented: What about the claws? They are included in the 'vamp out' toggleable power, if I'm right? Are they just cosmetic or do they have some use besides 'looking cool'? I thought that perhaps you could make them a low-level shapeshifting power (My guess is, since you already have the giant bat transformation for ancients, you could as well allow the mid-agers to turn into mist or 'get batty', and the bottom feeders to at least scratch other animals with their shiny, sharp claws). You could make the claws increase your hand-to-hand damage (I believe, there are some magic-imbued-fists spells in Midas Magic), while slowly draining your blood (also adjustable with +/- keys, just like other abilities).

It's just my suggestion on expanding your vampires' shapeshifting - I always liked that 'showy Gypsy' Dracula-esque stuff.

* - I never really imagined that these Oblivion potato-head-models can be, uh... less potatoic.

Madmole,
Huge fan of your previous quest mod!
And I still stand by what I said a few posts up!
Halloween can't come fast enough!
But the thought recently struck me:
This looks like it is going to have a ton of content! So I'm guessing the file will be quite large. (notice the word "Guessing")
And Halloween is the 31st this year!
Will you consider uploading this mod to the beta at http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1040373&st=0 along with any other sites you wish to upload to?
The beta for the website comes out the 28th (Great timing eh?)
As the first release, I'm guessing you will be updating it often, which would be quite easy.
And the bug tracker would be great!
And If the motto turns you away, don't worry, were working on that!
If you don't want to, thats completely understandable also.

Thanks!

Dudish

Hi all,
I just wanted to say that I'm still thinking of the mod, and all you fans who have been waiting. I've been taking a nice break from the PC in general. I will finish off a few more games and get back to modding when it feels right. Sorry, but 3-4 months or whatever I put in on this every night til 5 am kind of burnt me out. Here's what I'm thinking of doing for Halloween. I will wrap up and polish anything that is already started but wait to do the covenant/rogue stuff until later. I am pretty sure I'd be able to wrap up some loose ends and get you guys a pretty solid playable 1.0 version by Halloween. Then I can fix any glaring issues and work on the custom force feeding anims and rogue/covenant quests this fall and early winter.

But there is no way to put together the rogues and covenant by Halloween and have it be what you guys would like and what I'd be proud to release. But I am sure you guys will like what I've done and I can polish it up really nice by Halloween I'm sure, or good enough for a beta.

MM, I'd say take all the time you need Beleive me, my biggest problem is trying to do too much when I just don't have the sort of time needed to do it all-- and we've seen where that goes Take your time with your Mod, and try and finish everything you add in, rather than flooding yourself with a range of parts-- it'll be better for it in the end, and no-one is going to mind waiting for an update with all the stuff you already have in here. Good luck.

Outstanding work here madmole! As always I might add.

As others have said, take the time you need to do things properly. The good thing about being a modder is that you don't have to stick to release dates fixed by a publisher .

If you happen to need more people for VO work for the quests, I will gladly help you on that. I've done a bit of acting and I'm currently studying professional dubbing, so it's something that falls into my 'area of expertise' .

It will be done when its done, I will happily wait and in the mean greadily test out anything that you give us to play with or just drool and dream over all that juicy eyecandy your tempting us with. Either way I will be content in waiting for this mod.

sounds good madmole, it would be awesome to become a vampire and see all the different morphs and powers you get. Keep up the good work

Cool, hey don't feel compelled by us to have something out by Halloween. If that's what YOU want, then by all means do it, but if not, then I'm plenty happy waiting many more months until something gets released.

madmole, I echo what others have said. Release your mod when you are ready to release your mod. If you want to release the part you have complete by Halloween, then do so but only if you want to. I like your idea of considering releasing the mod in parts. Getting constructive feedback on how the vampire powers, hideouts and basic stuff from players to take and make fixes on and do that while thinking up and working on your vision for quests to release at a point in the future when you are ready.

Personally I recommend, if you want to do quests, then do just enough quests to let the player be either a rogue, covenant or choose neither path, go their own way as an individual. Now their path is made and they can go adventure in the world. Quests to do are nice, and as you have pointed out they take alot of time to do correctly, but why not leverage the fact there is alot of content and places in game to explore with just the new skills and powers you provide in your mod as a vampire. Bethseda spent years with a whole team to create the game and you and other modders work mostly alone and do this for the love of the game. Hang in there and keep your focus!

I thank you for the time and effort you have poured into your vision of a vampire mod and I will be patient and wait for you to release what you want to, when you want to.

Having just found out about this mod today, and reading through some 300 posts or so to catch up, I just want to say "thank you," for all the time and effort you have already put into this beauty of a mod. It really does look like the Vampire mod I've been searching for all my life. :bowdown:

Also, I'm not sure how many NPCs you were planning on adding for the initial release, but I've been curious as to what weapons you were thinking of adding to them, as I'm thinking of creating a potential MOBS patch. Not a huge contribution, I know, but I'm just not good at modding much else.

(Just an opinion, Nicoroshi's and Kit Rae's sword designs seem right up your alley. Gotta love Wyrmfang.)

Hi Madmole

Hows the mod progressing ? I cant sleep eat or drink while this mod isnt released, Not trying to put you under pressure or anything like that

he has been taking a break as of late, so I don't think much is happening at the moment although I share your enthusiasm for the mod haha. But, I believe there is still a release of some sort coming up for halloween, not the full mod but some of the completed parts such as powers and upgrades.

Thanks for the support and patience everyone. I'm still in hiatus mode, but I'm starting to get excited about working on the mod again. I have a big RL real estate project I'm trying to complete by nov 15th and I've been stuck working some nights (when I do my modding), and after that I'm fried and its tiresome to sit and play some games on the 360, lol. But fear not, I will resume working on this soon enough. I do plan on polishing up what I have right now and releasing it for play, then figure out how to do the covenant rogue stuff after I get some feedback on what I have done ATM.

It all looks good, and I doubt anyone minds the Release Date being pushed back a few months

Good look on your (real ) Real Estate project

It's coming close to Halloween...Does that mean we can expect a beta soon?

A few months ? A few hours you mean ? yeah i could live with that.. ughh still starving

A few minutes...



The beta is on Halloween (kind of).

Closed or open beta testing?

What he means is that what is done so far, which is the majority of the mod, will be uploaded then, and the public will report bugs and other things. The rest (most likely quests or additional features) will be uploaded (?shortly?) afterwards.

i meant will everyone have access to the files or will only a small amount of people be able to get them?