Non-Obivious things in DFU (beginner's guide)

Discuss Daggerfall Unity and Daggerfall Tools for Unity.
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hannafamilycomputer
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Non-Obivious things in DFU (beginner's guide)

Post by hannafamilycomputer »

This is to help explain things that aren't obviously stated in-game. Things that took me a while of browsing these forums to figure out (Or things I already knew, but would be helpful if you are playing daggerfall for the first time.)

I have omitted general exploits from the list, as this list is things the game should tell you, but dosen't.

Controls

- F9 - Quicksave

- F10 - Quickload

- Shift + F10 : toggle hud on/ off

- Alt (right) : toggle sneak mode. You can also crouch or swim to decrease your speed. Your stealth check will always fail if you are moving at over 50% of your max speed. (So I guess standing still would work as well.

- Clicking on shirts / cloaks while the USE button in your inventory changes the way you wear things.

- If you access your inventory, you can left/right click on the "dirt" image to change how the loot pile looks. Use mouse wheel to change loot pile catergories. Useful for organizing homes.

- You can ctrl + click on a stack of items in your inventory to split it up.

- If you own a ship, changing transportation modes will take you to the ship, or if you are on the ship, selecting 'ship' will take you back to where you were.

- Clicking on buildings while in "info" mode will reveal the building's name without having to enter it. (As long as you don't click on the door). If a building is locked, using "info" mode tells you what time it will open.

- Walking into a wall activates climbing mode. Walking backwards off a ledge activates rappel mode. (isn't really stated anywhere in game)

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS (new in .18, use the link!)
pango wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 5:49 pm
Menus, inventory screen, character screen, etc. all have shortcuts to speed up common operations, the full list is in an external configuration file: https://github.com/Interkarma/daggerfal ... rtcuts.txt Feel free to comment (pango)

QOL

- The counter next to your compass (if you have one) shows how many arrows you have left.

- You can see what mode you are in by looking at the symbol next to your health bars.

- I recommend rebinding the mode hotkeys to 1, 2 ,3. (Don't bother rebinding dialogue mode, it does nothing.)

- Clicking on a journal entry will (most of the time) open the fast travel map to show you where the location is.

- Right clicking the regional map will enlarge it.

What certain skills actually do

All skills are increased by practicing them. You only get skill increases on resting/fast travel after using it a certain number of times.

- Dragonish, spriggan, giantish, nymph, daedaric, orcish, harpy, centaurian
Higher skill = higher chance of pacifiying those enemies, which makes them not attack you
Practiced by: going near enemies

Also: Impish pacifies dreueghs as well as imps.

- Streetwise, Etiquette
Higher skill = higher chance of pacifing certain humaniods (also, clicking lie/ persaude when pleading not guilty?)
Practiced by: going near enemies, using polite/ blunt modes in conversation

- Climbing
Higher skill = less chance of falling off walls while climbing
Practiced by: climbing walls

- Medical
Higher skill = healing faster when you rest
Practiced by: sleeping


- Critical strike
Higher Skill = bonus to hit enemies
Practiced by: hitting enemies with weapons

- Dodging
Higher skill = bonus to not get hit by enemies
Practiced by: getting hit by enemies

- Stealth
Higher skill = more chance creatures won't notice you
Practiced by: being near enemies (which happening 80% of the time in dugeons)

Also, since this magic school is only in daggerfall:

-Thaumaturgy spells
spells that defy the laws of physics (like levitate)

- Magic schools:
Higher skill = less spell points required to cast that type of spell.

Guilds / Reputation

- You can only get promoted in a guild once a month. There are 9 ranks in every guild (10 if you count not being in the guild)

- Every month, your reputation will get 1 point closer to zero. Negitive rep means they hate you, positive rep means they love you. The only reps you can see (without console commands) are how guilds you are in think of you, and the legal rep of the region you are in.

- Every Npc is related to multiple factions. Failing (or in cases completing) a quest will change your reputation with multiple factions.

- Steal things / kill wandering npcs to get into the thevies guild / dark brotherhood

- Potion makers are services only offered by dark brotherhood and a few temples.

- You can pay back bank loans in any amount, it'll subtract the amount you paid from the amount due. (Though bank in daggerfall are scams. Don't deposit 1,000+ gold, or you'll lose a lot of money when taking it out as a letter of credit. You can take it out normally, but gold's weight adds up!)

- Each guild has certain skills they require you to have. To rank up, you must have 3 things:
1. A certain rep level.
2. Your highest of the required skills at a certain level.
3. The lowest of the required skills at a certain level.

-Going with that, to level up, only certain skills count:
Your highest 3 primary skills
Your highest 2 major skills
Your highest minor skill


Questing / Dungeon diving

- A lot of quests don't give you the exact location. Ask wandering npc's for the location's name or person you are looking for. You may have to ask multiple npc's to get anything useful. If you find someone who points you toward your destination, you may be able to interrogate them further so the location is marked on your map.

-Use blunt/ normal mode for wandering npcs and polite for royality, and you'll be less likely to offend them.

- When you reach a dead end click on torches, skulls, boxes , statues, banners. (Actually, if something looks interesting click on it. Quick save first.)

- Red brick doors do many things. They can kill you, teleport you, make noises, or do nothing. Save then click/ walk into them.

-That yellow blob on the dungeon map shows you the layout of the dungeon. See this link for more details: https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:D ... f_Dungeons
This will also help you learn how to solve dungeons more effiently, telling you where you do not need to search.

- If you fail a lockpicking attempt, you can whack the door with your sword to break the lock. However, you cannot break "magically locked" locks this way. You have to find a trigger in the dungeon or use an open spell.


Other

- Dungeon lights all give out white lights, even torches. You can change this with the improved interior lighting mod.

- Going along with that, you can go into the advanced settings to make the dungeons darker.

-You can take screenshots by creating a save game and opening the save folder. There will be an image in the folder. (Overwriting previous savegames does Not overwrite the image.) There's proboly an easier way to do it, but this is how I do it.
Ralzar wrote: Sun Dec 22, 2019 12:31 pm
If you rent a room in a tavern, you "own" that room the same way you do a ship or house.
Which means, you can rent a room for years and drop all your loot there and it will still be there when you return to your room a year later.

This is super handy for making a temporary base in a city where you are doing quests.


Also see : https://en.m.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:U ... Newbie_FAQ


Please correct anything that's wrong or add any useful information.
Last edited by hannafamilycomputer on Thu Mar 05, 2020 3:20 pm, edited 16 times in total.

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pango
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Re: Non-Obivious things in DFU (beginner's guide)

Post by pango »

Really nice list, I keep helping streamers play Daggerfall (classic, and now Unity) but never wrote down such list, good job.
I think technically guilds have 10 ranks, given you start at rank 0.

I guess another list could be just dedicated to character creation, because it has its share of pitfalls too (say, prefer custom class over predefined ones, don't forget to pick some Increased Magery if you plan to cast spells any seriously,...)

"The (In)Famous Beginner's Guide to Daggerfall" by Mark Stinson is also a very good read for getting into the game. Obviously it has no Daggerfall Unity specific hints, like your list does.
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Jay_H
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Re: Non-Obivious things in DFU (beginner's guide)

Post by Jay_H »

I'll send this over to General. Help & Support is more for asking questions and getting answers, often technical ones :)

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Seferoth
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Re: Non-Obivious things in DFU (beginner's guide)

Post by Seferoth »

That loot pile change was something i did not know! Thanks for the info! :)

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Dubiousintent
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Re: Non-Obivious things in DFU (beginner's guide)

Post by Dubiousintent »

Likewise didn't know. This "guide" needs to be added to the DFU wiki.

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Ralzar
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Re: Non-Obivious things in DFU (beginner's guide)

Post by Ralzar »

Seferoth wrote: Wed Dec 18, 2019 10:34 pm That loot pile change was something i did not know! Thanks for the info! :)
Trick: While in a dungeon, you can drop 1 gold and change the lootpile to something really distinct. Now you have an easy marker to show you've been here before. Can be used as breadcrumbs.

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mikeprichard
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Re: Non-Obivious things in DFU (beginner's guide)

Post by mikeprichard »

Some of these things are already in the wiki (e.g. the loot pile icon switching - see https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Tes2Mod:Dagger ... tomization), but I agree a new dedicated "helpful tips/getting started"-type page there in the DFU "Gameplay Information" section might be useful, if someone has the time and inclination to write it up and post it with correct formatting.

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Dubiousintent
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Re: Non-Obivious things in DFU (beginner's guide)

Post by Dubiousintent »

I've been pulling together something similar (though I'm only really just getting started), so I'll see what I can do.

Ommamar
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Re: Non-Obivious things in DFU (beginner's guide)

Post by Ommamar »

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Last edited by Ommamar on Sat Apr 18, 2020 12:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

hannafamilycomputer
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Re: Non-Obivious things in DFU (beginner's guide)

Post by hannafamilycomputer »

pango wrote: Wed Dec 18, 2019 10:06 pm Really nice list, I keep helping streamers play Daggerfall (classic, and now Unity) but never wrote down such list, good job.
I think technically guilds have 10 ranks, given you start at rank 0.

I guess another list could be just dedicated to character creation, because it has its share of pitfalls too (say, prefer custom class over predefined ones, don't forget to pick some Increased Magery if you plan to cast spells any seriously,...)
First paragraph: I made a note, but to the player there are 9 that they increase and get services.

Second paragraph: That was why I included the "what certain skills actually do" section, hopefully inform players what the skills they are choosing to create a charecter with actually do.
Jay_H wrote: Wed Dec 18, 2019 10:29 pm I'll send this over to General. Help & Support is more for asking questions and getting answers, often technical ones :)
I wasn't sure where to post this, but I figured that help and support would be the best, since it proboly the first forum that players who are confused with this stuff would look.
mikeprichard wrote: Wed Dec 18, 2019 11:33 pm Some of these things are already in the wiki (e.g. the loot pile icon switching - see https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Tes2Mod:Dagger ... tomization), but I agree a new dedicated "helpful tips/getting started"-type page there in the DFU "Gameplay Information" section might be useful, if someone has the time and inclination to write it up and post it with correct formatting.
Yes, I know. The purpose of this was just to keep a bunch of information that wasn't all in one place and put it into an easy guide.
Ommamar wrote: Thu Dec 19, 2019 4:46 pm Maybe you should use the term practiced by to indicate how to raise a skill as you can pay to train in all the skills if you find the right person.
Alright, I changed it.

Also, explaining leveling, and you can bash open doors

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