Some time ago, I created a proof-of-concept for injecting smaller dungeon layouts for random dungeons. From next round of builds (0.7.3 or later), this will become available for general play-testing. To enable, open your settings.ini file and set the below option under [Experimental] section. This will remain an INI-only setting for the time being.
Code: Select all
SmallerDungeons = True
How It Works
The smallest viable dungeon size in Daggerfall consists of 1x interior block surrounded by 4x border blocks. You can read more about dungeon block layouts here.
The SmallerDungeons setting forces Daggerfall Unity's map reader to overwrite map layout as they're being read to create a randomised minimum version from the same dungeon pieces as original.
- Natively tiny dungeons (e.g. graveyards) and story dungeons (e.g. Wayrest castle, Privateer's Hold) are not subject to this setting.
- If original dungeon had water blocks then new dungeon may also have a water block.
- Smaller dungeon generation is seeded by map ID, so will be generated the same way each time.
Advantages
- Random dungeons for guild quests, etc. will be reduced to roughly the size of Privateer's Hold. This makes random questing faster and reduces chance of finding impossible block combinations.
- Some interior blocks are more complex than others so there's still lots of variability.
- New layouts are compatible with quest system as interior blocks should always have quest markers.
- The new dungeon is created from random border and interior blocks of the source dungeon so will be thematically the same style and use same texture tables as original.
Disadvantages
- If player is already inside a dungeon subject to this change, you'll probably be dropped into the void. Please ensure your character is outside before toggling this setting.
- If you have quests targeting a random location, they may no longer be functional. Best to clear your active quests before toggling this setting. Main story quests should be fine provided they aren't currently targeting a random dungeon.
- Unforeseen issues might result from this change. Please consider it experimental only. Feature may or may not become part of Daggerfall Unity 1.0. It might evolve into something else or be cut completely.