Something Bigger Comes Along

 

After learning a lot in my Hunters Guild MOD, I wanted to sink my teeth into something bigger. I wanted to create a separate 'World Space'.

The idea I had in mind was to create a 'Lost Valley' which was accessible via a cave through a mountainside. I wanted the 'Lost Valley' to be an Ancient Nord settlement, which has fallen mostly to ruin, which is currently inhabited by Nords who rediscovered it. However they wish to keep their piece of paradise a secret from the rest of Skyrim.

So with the basic concept I set about working on some of the details. The first was a good location to place the entrance. As before finding a 'clean' space in Skyrim is tricky especially if you have secondary requirements like mine, I need a mountain for the entrance.

Next was to think about names, of the cave, the 'Lost Valley' itself and the people living there, to suit the concept, so Nordic names for sure.

Of course what was the 'Lost Valley' going to look like.

What type of buildings were going to be found there.

Anything else that might motivate this desire by the inhabitants to keep everything a secret.

So stay tuned to see how this comes about.

Skyrim - Hunters Guild - Guild Hall Keeper

The Guild Hall Keeper is a Nord by the name of Hulgard Solding.

He takes care of the Hall as well as selling food, ale, renting rooms and providing those all important rumours to the returning hunters.

He spends all of his time in the Hall and enjoys the varied company and the 'tales of the hunt' as the members pass through.

He has an eye for Jeane the Apothecary.

I have not added much more to Hulgard than that at the moment.

Skyrim - Hunters Guild - Archery Trainer

Every Guild needs trainers right? The Hunters Guild is no exception so enter Landil the resident Archery Trainer.

He spends most of his time at the Guild Hall and I will add a 'package' to him later that will have him hunt within a reasonable radius of the Guild Hall. In the meantime though he will train you up to expert level in Archery. A note on creating 'trainers' for your own MOD is remember to use an existing trainers voice from the CK otherwise your NPC wont speak in-game. In Landil's case I used the voice and body of Faendal by simply duplicating him in the CK and then changing his appearance and clothing plus deleting all his quest related scripts etc.

Below you can see his speech and training options working correctly.

I have not set up any sleeping, eating or other daily tasks for him as he is the first 'trainer' I have created in a MOD.

Next up the Guild Hall Keeper.

Skyrim - Hunters Guild - The Blacksmith

Thonro Stard is the Guild's Blacksmith. As you would expect he is a Native of Skyrim and dislikes city life so ended up plying his trade out on the tundra plains as the Guild's Blacksmith.

Thonro will repair those damaged weapons on the Hunters return and trade metals, materials and sell new items as well.

If you ask nicely he may allow you to use his forge and you could make or upgrade your own weapons.

He currently lives alone,

 

but often enjoys the evenings drinking a mug of mead in the Guild Hall and enjoying the company of those lonely female hunters on their return from the forays into the wilderness.


Next up the local Archery Trainer.

Skyrim - Hunters Guild - The Apothecary

Jeane Arvelle is Eruki's best friend and she is the local Apothecary, taking care of all the hunters ailments on their return. She also trades for herbs and fungi and will dispense the appropriate potion or two. Jeane often sleeps over at Eruki's when there are too many robust hunters around the Guild Hall, her usual place of residence.

Jeane operates from a small setup in the main Guild Hall near the entrance. You will also find a small alchemy table nearby so you can mix your own potions if you desire.

Jeane's merchant options functioning properly.

Unlike Eruki, Jeane is a Breton traveller that just loved the tundra plains so much that she has made this her new home.

Next up, the Blacksmith.

Skyrim - Hunters Guild - The General Trader

Eruki Heddvild is the General Trader and she is the wife of a Hunter (to be decided), he is away often for long periods of time and Eruki runs their trading post in his absence.

The store is cluttered appropriately and Eruki and her husband live on the upper level. Here you can see her eating a meal at their dining area. On her personality I gave them separate beds because she does not like his smell after he returns from a hunt and wont sleep in the same bed till he bathes.

Trying to get her behaviour package to work properly was problematic and I don't know exactly why, I followed the CK tutorial and still had issues e.g. She didn't lock her doors at night, didn't start work at the correct time or eat her meals. After much fiddling I managed to get it to work the way it was designed to.

Here is a picture showing her trading options.

Next post is about Eruki's best friend.

Skyrim - Hunters Guild MOD - The Buildings

Now that I had the location I started to think about which buildings would make up the Guild. When I thought about what type of buildings to use I wanted buildings that would reflect the ideas of a Hunters Guild, that meant buildings of natural materials, relatively plain and reasonably quick to dismantle or move if the game got scarce and the Guild had to relocate to a more favourable spot. As the Guild is in Whiterun Hold I would have loved to use the buildings from Whiterun city / town but I decided that they are too fancy. I also thought that building made entirely of stone, while plentiful on the Tundra Plains would not fit in with the easy to build and easy to move ideology. On the other hand I didn't want a tented camp as it is a Guild after all. In the end I settled for the wooden buildings similar to the ones in Riverwood.

Next I had to think about what types of services would make up a Guild and would they all be in the one building. I decided the main aim of the Guild would be a place for Hunters to come together and trade, learn new skills, have weapons repaired and above all have a place to rest and tell tales of their exploits.

Now I knew which types of buildings I wanted I started with the Main Hall for the Guild, I used the same building used for many an Inn in Skyrim. I tried to position the Guild Hall so that you could see the same scene I did when I fell in love with the location namely the deer walking up to the river and drinking.

Next I added a Blacksmith that would take care of repairs and improvements to weapons as well as trade.

I then added a third and final building which would be a General Trader to take care of  anything else a Hunter would need.

I tried to position the building to take advantage of best views of the surrounding landscape and also to minimise the impact of my MOD on the original game. I only had to do some minor landscaping and moved only a few dead tree stumps and flowers etc. I also had to redo the navmesh in the cell but that was not too difficult.

 

 

 

Once I had the building placed  in the correct positions I moved on to working on the interiors, see my next post.