Skyrim Monk Let's Play #1 - Intro

I have uploaded a new video for the Way of the Monk mod to Youtube. This video describes how the mod works, and introduces my upcoming Let's Play series for it.

If you'd like to be notified when I post more videos, then feel free to subscribe to the channel.

Way of the Monk: Mod Diary #3

Work has been a bit slow recently because of end-of-semester school, but I have been able to put in a fair amount of modding hours on the weekends. Last weekend I added a whole ton of new craftable weapons, as well as some enchantments.

You can take a look at the Screenshots page for pics of my progress.

Weapons:


The new weapons are from tom349's mod Fist Weapons. I was given permission from him to use his models, as well as from BloodySunday's to use his retexture of tom249's mod.

They are all lore-friendly, craftable, and enchantable. The animations and killcams on them are a bit weird, but that is not my fault. For some reason, any weapon that uses the default Hand-To-Hand attack animation neither appears on the right hand when it is equipped, or is on the body when sheathed. This is not my fault, but the Creation Kit's. The way they designed the animation, it's not built to have models that use it. I am going to try my best to find a way to get the weapons to use the default animation, but I may not be successful. If you think you can help, feel free to contact me.

Robes:


As you can probably tell from the screenshot, there will also be some new robes. There was actually an entire set of hooded and non-hooded monk robes in the Creation Kit that were never used in the game. Fortunately for me, this means that they wont conflict with current items and will be new to players. Since they were all monk robes, they will also fit well with my mod.

Perks:


There were two perks which were not working properly. One of them suddenly decided to start working, though. I could not find any reason why it was not working in the first place, and since it is working now, I won't complain. The other one is still not working, but it should be fixable with some more coding.

Nearly done!


I'm mostly done! I just need to finish adding enchantments, fix that one perk, add some new characters, and write some backstory before sending the first version off to beta testers. Compared to the total amount of work that I have done, what is left is not very much. I have yet to decide whether I will add a follower for the first version. I'm not entirely sure how to do that, so I don't want to begin working on something that will extend the release too far. It may still be a few weeks because of beta testing and my own busy life, but it the first version should be complete soon.

By the way, if you want to beta test Way of the Monk for me, contact Woverdude and you will be added to the list. I ask only that you not distribute the files before I release the mod, and that you promote the release when you get the chance.

I will post more information on the release soon, including a detailed brief of all the new features and a plan for the release and second version.

Way of the Monk Update: 4-4-12

First off, let me state that I've been taking a bit of a break from modding. I have two tests that I must take tomorrow and have been preparing for them. I have, however, managed to accomplish quite a bit since me last update.

Pillars:

The script that manages all of the power-giving Pillars has been completed, the Pillars are planned and organized, and several of them have been added to the game. You can find the script for them here. It's based off of the powerShrineScript from the vanilla game that manages the Standing Stones.

I've written a list of all of the Pillars that I plan on adding to the first edition. Some of them are proving to be troublesome to code and figure out, but I am confident that I can complete them with enough work. The Pillar that I've added and am currently working on is the Pillar of the Elements.

Here's a screenshot:

I'm having some trouble getting the effect to be applied. I've found that for some strange reason, all weapons that use the HandToHand attack animation have trouble with perk effects and are not considered Weapons of the normal sort. I'm not sure what's going on, but it has somewhat crippled my perk and item designing. I hope to find a workaround or fix soon, though.

Items:


I've gained permission from tom348 at the Nexus Forums to use his mod Fist Weapons, as well as Bloodsunday's permission to use his retextures of tom349's weapons. I'm not sure that I'll use all of the models in my mod, but a good number of them will be going into the game. I'm having some trouble with the weapons being mysteriously invisible when equipped in the right hand, but other than that it's all going well.

Unarmored Skill:


I have also added in a separate Unarmored skill in addition to the Unarmed skill. Along with this skill are a number of Unarmored perks and enchantments that will be added. The perks will be chosen independently from each other and will level with use.

Plans:


The next few weeks are going to be pretty hectic and busy for me. I have two tests tomorrow, am moving in a week, and have finals later this month. So, I wont be able to do nearly as much modding. :-( I will, however, be writing tutorials. Also, keep watch, because I'm soon going to announce a great new opportunity/project for all of you modders and players. I will post the news soon. :-)

Way of the Monk WIP Discussion

WIP Thread on Nexus Forums

I have started a WIP (Work in Progress) thread on the Nexus forums. More details about the progress and components of the mod has been included in this thread, along with some of the issues that I am currently facing. Feel free to come join the discussion!

Way of the Monk: Unarmed Overhaul, Mod Diary #1

Mod Diary #1

If you haven't heard about my new mod project Way of the Monk: Unarmed Overhaul, check it out, because that's what I'm going to be talking about. :-)

So, one thing I decided about making this mod was that I was going to use the opportunity to help other modders improve their mod. As I make the mod I am going to be writing a Mod Diary of what, how, and why I add or take away features from my mod. I hope that you enjoy my diary and learn from it as much as I had to learn to write it. :-D

Please keep in mind that this all takes a lot more time than it seems from reading it. For those of you trying to decide whether to get into modding, realize that it will take up a huge amount of your time. While it only takes a few minutes to write a paragraph about a step in the process, that step could have taken hours or even days to complete. Consider this both a warning to new modders, and a request to please understand why I take days to do what may it may appear should take minutes or hours. :-)

Note: This is going to be a pretty long and detailed post. Just giving you fair warning...

First steps:

The first step in any process is always the inception of the project, and the planning. I started having an idea that I wanted to make a new Unarmed mod over several weeks. During those weeks I saw that, while my Unarmed Warfare mod did improve the Unarmed gameplay, it was extremely buggy and felt too much like a workaround. So, I decided to build a new mod from scratch, following a different concept and process from the first one. 

Scripts:

One of the main desires I had was to have a scaling system for Unarmed damage, as well as having a "skill" and perks for Unarmed combat. Now, the CK does not allow the creation of new Actor Values, which is the class of object that skills are. So, that meant I was going to write a script that ran in the background as the user plays the game. Here is the basic concept of the script:

There are three main variables that the leveling-system/skill runs off of:

1. Use

2. Mod

3. Level

Use is the progress towards the next skill. Mod is the amount of XP that is gained each time the player makes a successful Unarmed attack. Level is the level of the skill. These three variables are stored as global variables.

(The entire script can be found here. The font might not be acceptable to the CK, though.) The equation :

when the player makes a hit

then Use = Use + Mod

if Use >= 100

then Use = Use -100

        Level = Level + 1

        Mod = Mod - .01

endif

So, every time you hit an enemy, your Use (level progress) increases by Mod. When this has occured enough times so that Use equal to or greater than 100, then your level increases by one. When your level increases, Mod goes down by .01 so that the speed of leveling decreases over time.

Practical application:

At Unarmed level one: It will take 100 hits to advance to level 2

At Unarmed level ten: it will take approximately 110 hits to advance to level 11

At Unarmed level 50: It will take approximately 200 hits to advance to level 51

And so on...

Now, the number of hits would get unmanageably high at higher levels, but only if you did not have any perks or items that sped up the process. If you are playing an Unarmed character, though, I expect that you would, since they are available.

The Unarmed Damage scaling is rather simple. It is multiplied by (1 + Level/20). Thus: At level 20, you would do twice Unarmed Damage, at level 40 you would do 3 times, etc. To get the script, click here.

Now this all might sound relatively simple. But it took me a lot of time to plan, balance, and translate into Papyrus syntax. I started out knowing very little about Papyrus. I still do not know a lot, but I have certainly improved my knowledge.

Perks:

Overall, I want to have 20+ new perks/enchantments. That may sound kind of bold, and maybe a bit imbalanced, but the whole goal is to build an entirely new combat style within the game. To do that, I'm going to have to add a lot of new options. As far as perks go, you will be able to choose a new perk every 5 levels. There will be both an "Unarmed" and an "Unarmored" branch that crossover on occasion. 

There will also be a number of more significant perks that you get from special Pillars. Across the landscape of Skyrim there will be a number of Pillars that are similar to the Standing Stones. You will only be able to have one active at a time, but each one can significantly change your gameplay. So far, I have ideas for several pillars, which you can read about here. Each pillar will have a perk that modifies Unarmed gameplay and a perk that modifies Unarmored gameplay.

So far I've only copied the perks from my Unarmed Warfare mod, but I will work on adding new ones as soon as I have them planned out.

Managing your stats:


Now, you might be wondering how you will be able to manage your stats. Across the road from the Guardian Stones will be a set of Pillars that perform that function. One pillar will add the perks start the scaling scripts, and will allow you to view your level, level progress, and amount of perk points.

Another Pillar will allow you to choose new Perks, and a third will let you reset your perks. If you're worried about managing your stats on the go, don't fret! You'll also get several Balls that let you do the same thing as the Pillars. Between the Pillars will be a table with a book on it that shows a tree of perks and explains the mod and its concept.

Making this and the perks functional is what I am currently working on.

Enchantments:

I will create a series of new enchantments that can be used for Unarmed combat. They can be added to any piece of armor, jewelry, or clothing. Now, I know the objection that the player will be losing an Equip Slot by doing that. Since you won't be using any weapons, you won't be able to enchant them. I am going to work around that by making new items called Focus Crystals. They will be equipable and enchantable. In the world they will look like crystals, but when you equip them they will not appear on your body.

The work on Enchantments will begin once I have finished all of the perks, scripts, and managing work.

Items:


Along with the new perks and enchantments will come Items to implement them. There will be a number of new gloves, clothing, and Focus crystals that you can find or purchase. They will not use new textures or models, but will have unique enchantments.

Items will be added once I have created the Enchantments for them.

Enemies:

Don't be surprised if you encounter enemies with the same abilities as you! I am going to create a new Combat Style for enemies that focuses entirely on Unarmed combat. I will also create varieties of the standard enemies that are Unarmored and fight with their hands. These enemies will provide a way of finding new items, as well as providing an interesting challenge and aspect to the game. Around the

The enemies will be added once all other work is completed.

Feedback is appreciated!


What I need the most is feedback. I can only come up with so many ideas for perks and enchantments. Please share with me your ideas!

Keep in mind that I won't be adding new animations (at least for the first version). So, please don't ask me to create an entirely new, awesome ninja attack. :-)

If you have any questions about the technicalities of how I am adding certain features, feel free to ask. I will answer them to the best of my abilities.

For the next Diary I am only going to share what is new since the last update. This one is only really long because I wanted to let people know my plans for the mod.

Way of the Monk: Unarmed Overhaul

Way of the Monk: Unarmed Overhaul

I am currently working on a new Unarmed mod. My Unarmed Warfare mod was mostly a workaround and was pretty buggy, as you probably found out if you played it. The one I'm creating will add a skill. It won't be visible in the levelup screen, but will scale your unarmed damage and add many new perks that you can get. It will run in the background, but will notify you when you level up. As you level up you can gain perks by visiting various 'pillars' (kind of like the Standing Stones), reading books, or gaining items. I will also add a number of new gloves that add unique effects for your unarmed. In addition to Unarmed-related perks, I am also going to add a series of Unarmored (not wearing armor) perks.

As it relates to differences with my Unarmed Warfare mod, there will be no 'Unarmed Weapon' that you have to use to raise your OneHanded; you will merely use your fists. If you want an 'enchantemt', there will be a number of new unarmed-related affects that you can add to your gloves or other armor.

The mod will be called Way of the Monk (in reference to the classic Monk-class in standard rpg's), and will be built entirely from scratch to avoid bugs. Unlike in my Unarmed Warfare mod, I am also going to take care to make sure that it has as little conflicts as possible, by not changing a great deal of content, only adding new content.

If you can think of any enchantments or perks related to Unarmed or Unarmored, please share them. I can only think of so many by myself, but the more input I get, the more that I can add to the mod. :-)

Details:

The Skill: The skill will consist of a series of scripts that scale the damage and keep track of a "level". The scaling and leveling will work approximately the same way that the normal skills do, but will work in the background. You will be notified whenever you levelup, and you will be able to choose a new perk immediately, or delay choosing a new perk until later. 

Perks: You will be given a spell that lets you choose new perks (it will use the same perk points that the other skill use), check your level and leveling progress, and reset your perks if want to (I will limit the amount of times that you can reset them). These perks will be basic perks that give you bonuses and neat features as you level up. To get the best perks, however, you are going to have to travel around Skyrim and find a series of Pillars. Each pillar will have a unique, powerful perk, and will work like Standing Stones in the way that you can only have one active at a time. There will be perks related both to Unarmed and Unarmored that you can choose from.

Enchantments: I will add a number of new enchantments to the game. These enchantments will have effects that change the way your Unarmed combat works, the amount of damage you do, add magical damage when you hit an enemy, etc. You won't be able to enchant your fists, but you can enchant gloves, other armor, rings, circlets, and other wearable items. And that brings me to items:

Items: Along with these enchantments will come items that have have them. Because I don't want to add conflicts with other mods, I will simply add these items to leveled lists to be found as loot. I may leave one or two of them around particularly hard-to-get-to Pillars, as well. For the most part, these items will use vanilla models and textures, but will have new enchantments. I am not a 3d artwork guy, so I don't have the ability to make new models. If someone wants to volunteer some, I'd be happy to add them to the mod. 

Enemies: Just as you are going to start using Unarmed attacks, so might your enemies. So don't be surprised if you run into a character with some of the same abilities and items as you!

Animations? I am not an animator, so I won't be able to add new animations. I may try to find some way to  make the right and left hand attacks somewhat different (to let you have your own playing style), but other than that I cannot add new anims. If anyone wants to make some for me, I would GREATLY appreciate it! :-D

Schedule:

Since the work on Skyrim Books is not totally complete, it may be a while before the first version of Way of the Monk is complete. I've got Spring Break this week, though, so I'm going to be doing a lot of work on my mods. Hopefully I can get a fair amount of work done on WoM (Way of the Monk).

Tutorials:

As I work on WoM, I will write tutorials on various aspects of what I do in the mod. I may even write a sort of Modding Diary that details the whole process that I took to make the mod. If I do, then I hope you will enjoy them and learn from them. :-)

Bethesda Releases New Kill Cams

Today Bethesda posted a new video on their channel and blog that reveals tons of entirely new kill cams, including magic and ranged combat cams! Check out their blog post here: http://www.bethblog.com/2012/03/15/new-features-highlight-1-5-update/

What this means for Unarmed Warfare:

Some of the kill cams that Bethesda is releasing are unarmed kill cams! Which means you will finally have more than the two standard ones! I plan on redoing my Unarmed Warfare mod from scratch (once I have the time), and building it in a more efficient, less buggy, and more useful manner. As a part of this, I will make sure that these new kill cams are added to the mod. They should be added by default, but if not than I will make sure and manually add them to the game.

Are you excited about these new kill cams? Post in the comments below what your favorite one was!

News Update: 3-10-12

News Update:

3-10-12

Skyrim Books:

New team member:

We are lucky to have been joined by John Allan, a writer and level-builder. He is building the bookstore for us, along with a printing press that will allow you to make copies of books if you have the proper materials. His contact info will be added to the Contact soon. Welcome to the team, John! :-)

New authors/books:

Due to a few threads that John posted around the Elder scrolls forums, we have gathered quite a number of new stories and authors. They are quality stories that will fit into the Skyrim world well, and will excite you as you explore the wonderful world that Bethesda has created. Once we receive as many as we want for the first edition of Skyrim Publishing, then we will publish a list of the stories for your perusal.

SP Bookstore:

The development of the Skyrim Publishing bookstore is in progress. The structure has been made, and the printing press designed. Screenshots will be posted soon.

Voice Acting:

I am in the process of writing the lines for the bookstore owner. With the help of Giskard and the Engineering Guild, I hope to find a good Voice Actor for the character.

Timeline:

In order to aid you by letting you know our plans and when they should be completed, a timeline has been created. The ultimate goal of this schedule is to finish the entirety of the first edition by the end of the month. I expect that we will actually finish quite a bit before then, but since we are real people with busy lives, stuff occasionally gets in the way. This schedule is subject to change.

1. March 17th: All books for 1st edition will be written, gathered, and added to the game.
2. March 24th: Voice acting is totally complete and added to the game.
3. March 31st: Bookstore, NPC's, will be complete, and the first edition of Skyrim Books will be released.

Unarmed Warfare:

While I have not actually completed any more development, I have finally found a way to create an Unarmed skill! It will not show up in the image of the 'heavens' along with the other skills, but will rather be upgraded through a system of 'milestones'. These milestones could be in the form of quests, achievements, reading books, or more. This would allow me to totally get rid of the 'Unarmed Weapon', and not have to make any edits to the perk trees at all. I'm looking forward to making the next version!

News Update: 2-28-12

News Update:

2-28-12

Skyrim Books: The project has been planned and organized. There will be two main parts of the mod called Extended Book Mod and Skyrim Publishing, as well as two optional sub-parts. EBM will primarily be managed by nox.fox, while Skyrim Publishing will primarily be managed by Woverdude.

• The Extended Books Mod will extend the amount of stories, poems, background data, and lore within the game by adding original books. 

1. Readable Spell tomes is an optional add-on to EBM that will make Spell Tomes readable and add actual information to them

• Skyrim Publishing will function as a magazine, accepting fanfic submissions to be added to the game on a regular basis. 

1. Skyrim Publishing Bookstore will add a bookstore to the game world that will contain the latest and previous issues of Skyrim Publishing. It will also feature a unique character with an interesting background and (hopefully) original voice acting.

Better Books will also be available for download, but as a separate mod. It will add new and improved textures to books within the game.

Progress:

• The Readable Spell Tomes script has been made and is available for download at the Nexus as a modder's resource. As a part of Skyrim Books, information will be added to the Spell Tomes that players can read ingame when they learn the spell.
• A number of original books have been collected for EBM, and several submissions for SP have been received.
• Woverdude has begun building the level for the Skyrim Publishing Bookstore.

Unarmed Warfare:

Unarmed Warfare IS still in progress, but is a bit delayed. I reached the end of my familiarity with the Elder Scrolls system during my work on Unarmed Warfare, and even delved far deeper into the code of the construction set than I ever have before. Even then, though, there were so many features that an unarmed mod needs that are either impossible to do, I do not know how to do, or the CK is too buggy to do. I will pick the work back up at some point, but it will probably be a while. I am also much busier now than I was when I began Unarmed Warfare. The work on Skyrim Books meets my time constraints and experience far more than my coding and modding for UW.

When I DO manage to pick it back up, however, expect some brand-new features, such as new fist weapons, along with original models.