Background Question and History Fixes

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harbinger451
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Background Question and History Fixes

Post by harbinger451 »

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Corrects mistakes and omissions in the Background Questions during Character Creation and in the Character Histories that are accessible from your Character Sheet in game.

DETAILS:

During Character setup there are three potential background questions (you might get depending on your chosen class or custom class) that do nothing. The answers have coded consequences similar to all the other questions and answers but the code is useless for they appear to be for mechanics that didn't end up in game. Its a matter of debate what these original coded mechanics would have ended up doing if implemented... see the discussion on the dfworkshop forum, here viewtopic.php?t=965.

The non-functioning questions are variations on the following:

#1 You preferred criminal method is ___.
a. catburglary, b. mugging, c. pickpocketing, d. swindling, e. smuggling, f. bankrobbing.

#2 You are intimate friends with ___.
a. a Monk, b. a Mage, c. a Rogue, d. a Warrior, e. an Assassin.

#3 Of all disagreeable types, you have the most personal hatred for ___.
a. Sanctimonious priests, b. Diabolic wizards, c. Stupid peasants, d. Power-mad robber barons, e. Immoral assassins.

There is also a glaring omission in the following question (Orcs are missed out for some reason):

#4 You are friendlier than most with ___.
a. the savage Harpies, b. the simple Giants, c. the glorious Dragons, d. the immodest Nymphs, e. the infernal Daedra, f. the bucolic Spriggans, g. the primitive Centaurs, h. the mischievous Imps.

I have changed the first three to have functional answers that have actual consequences in the game. These answers and their relevant History strings have been added to and edited (where applicable). Also, Orcish has been added to the "friendlier than most" question with a similar consequence to the other answers. In an effort to keep it balanced, the items gained by answering #2 are all worth around 120 gold and have roughly similar potential for damage when used. I tried to make sure all the new consequences of these modified answers are roughly equivalent to those in the already functioning Questions and answers. Changes are as follows:

#1 Your preferred criminal method is ___. [CORRECTED TYPO]
a. catburglary (+3 climbing, +3 lockpicking) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (18 +3) & (13 +3)]
b. mugging (+6 hand-to-hand) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (30 +6)]
c. pickpocketing (+6 pickpocket) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (15 +6)]
d. swindling (+6 mercantile) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (14 +6)]
e. smuggling (+3 mercantile, +3 dodging) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (14 +3) & (20 +3)]
f. bankrobbing (+3 lockpicking, +3 stealth) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (13 +3) & (16 +3)]
(affects Acrobat, Assassin, Burglar, Rogue)

#2 You are intimate friends with a very generous ___. [EDITED QUESTION]
a. Monk (get item Silver Mace or Steel Katana) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (IT 3 11 2) or (IT 3 8 1)]
b. Mage (get item Elven Staff or Mithril Dagger) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (IT 3 2 3) or (IT 3 0 5)]
c. Rogue (get item Dwarven Tanto) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (IT 3 1 4)]
d. Warrior (get item Silver Broadsword or Elven Shortwsord) [ADDED ANSWER and CONSEQUENCE (IT 3 5 2) or (IT 3 3 3)]
e. Assassin (get item Silver Short Bow + 5 Arrows or Silver Wakazashi) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (IT 3 16 2) & 5x(IT 3 18 0), or (IT 3 4 2)]
f. Knight (get item Steel Battle Axe or Steel Flail) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (IT 3 14 1) or (IT 3 12 1)]
(affects Archer, Barbarian, Bard, Battlemage, Healer, Knight, Mage, Monk, Ranger, Sorcerer, Spellsword, Warrior)

#3 Of all disagreeable types, you have the most personal hatred for ___.
a. condescending scholars (-5 reputation with Scholars) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (r2 -5), EDITED ANSWER & REFERENCED STRING #4227 (learned scholar) & #4212 (conniving scholars)]
b. greedy merchants (-5 reputation with Merchants) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (r1 -5), EDITED ANSWER and STRINGs #4443 (wealthy merchant) & #4213 (unscrupulous marketeers)]
c. stupid peasants (-5 reputation with Commoners) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (r0 -5)]
d. power-mad robber barons (-5 reputation with Nobility) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (r3 -5)]
e. immoral assassins (-5 reputation with Underworld) [ADDED CONSEQUENCE (r4 -5)]
(affects Archer, Battlemage, Healer, Mage, Nightblade, Sorcerer, Spellsword, Thief)

A variation on this question in the Thief Background required changing the words "wizard" and "mage" to "scholar" and "intellectual" in the answers and in STRINGs #4652 and #4653; also changing "priest" and "cleric" to "rebel" and "dissident" in the answers and STRINGs #4650 and #4651.

#4 You are friendlier than most with the ___. & You have an unusually high affinity with the ___. [EDITED QUESTIONS - added "the"]
[I've boosted all these from 6 to 12 skill points because 6 is next to useless with language skills and they are often difficult to level up - also added some soft integration for Macadaynu's Language Skills Overhaul* mod which is highly recommended - but not required]
a. savage Harpies (Harpy Skill +12) [INCREASED skill reward]
b. simple Giants (Giantish Skill +12) [INCREASED skill reward]
c. glorious Dragons (Dragonish Skill +12) [INCREASED skill reward]
d. immodest Nymphs / eldritch Undead* (Nymph/Necromancy* Skill +12) [EDITED ALT ANSWER & INCREASED skill reward]
e. infernal Daedra (Daedric Skill +12) [INCREASED skill reward]
f. bucolic Spriggans / wild Animals* (Spriggan/AnimalTraining* Skill +12) [EDITED ALT ANSWER & INCREASED skill reward]
g. primitive Centaurs / archaic Silvans* (Centaurian/SilvanToungue* Skill +12) [EDITED ALT ANSWER & INCREASED skill reward]
h. the mischievous Imps (Impish Skill +12) [TYPO CORRECTED in ANSWER & STRING #4435 ("mischievous") & INCREASED skill reward]
i. the barbarous Orcs (Orcish Skill +12) [ADDED ANSWER, CONSEQUENCE (4 +12) & a REFERENCE to the edited and previously unused STRING #4177 (to "the Orcs from a nearby stronghold")]
(affects Archer, Barbarian, Bard, Battlemage, Healer, Knight, Mage, Monk, Nightblade, Ranger, Sorcerer, Spellsword, Thief, Warrior)

A version of this question in the Monk Background also required referencing and changing the previously unused STRING #4230 to "converse with the Orcs".
The Thief's history mentions spending time with Orcs, so I've added a boost to Orcish (+6) to all these answers in the Thief Background (on top of those already listed above).

In the Assassin BIOG I added Mephala to the list of answers in the "What god, if any, do you worship?".

Other text strings edited include:
#4116, corrected Mage History, (added a missing full-stop and a missing "the").
#4117, corrected Spellsword History, (added a missing "the", removed second "you" from "... then you were sent you on your way to the Imperial City ...").
#4118, corrected Battlemage History, (added a missing "the", removed second "you" from "... then you were sent you on your way to the Imperial City ..." and added a missing full-stop).
#4119, typos corrected in Sorcerer History (added a missing "the", changed "complimented" to "complemented" & "sorcerors" to "sorcerers").
#4120, corrected Healer History (added a missing "the").
#4122, typo corrected in Bard History ("travelled" changed to "traveled").
#4124, two typos corrected in Rogue History ("dissendants" changed to "dissidents" & "hesistantly" to "hesitantly"); corrected two omissions (added an "a" in "... granted full pardon ..." & a "to" in "... inviting you the Imperial City ...").
#4125, two typos corrected in Acrobat History ("dissendants" changed to "dissidents" & "hesistantly" changed to "hesitantly"); corrected two omissions (added an "a" in "... granted full pardon ..." & a "to" in "... inviting you the Imperial City ...").
#4126, four typos corrected in Thief History ("travelling" to "traveling", "a" to "an", "suprisingly" to "surprisingly" and "travelled" to "traveled").
#4127, two typos corrected in Assassin History ("dissendants" changed to "dissidents" & "hesistantly" changed to "hesitantly"); corrected two omissions (added an "a" in "... granted full pardon ..." & a "to" in "... inviting you the Imperial City ...").
#4164, two typos corrected (removed a fullstop and corrected a misspelling in "You marveled at the knowledge Tharn must have accrued").
#4215, changed this answer STRING referenced in Archer Background and potentially appearing in the Archer History ("corrupt knights" now only answer, getting rid of incorrectly spelled "beserker soldiers").
#4409, deleted one word ("practicing") in this answer String to parse with the Nightblade History better.

This mod involved changing all the BIOG files in StreamingAssets/BIOGs and creating a dfmod for the text edits to the in game Histories and their relevant text strings (previously present in the TEXT.RSC file from original Daggerfall game, but now a part of the Daggerfall Unity install itself).

VERSIONS:

Version 1.0: Initial Release. NB: TEXT.RSC edits do not work (DFU doesn't use that file anymore)!

Version 1.1: Corrected an item code which gave you a 2-handed War-Axe instead of a 1-handed Battle-Axe (my mistake). Added an Orcish boost to the Thief (to reflect their History). Changed "bookman" to "intellectual" in #4652 (more appropriate). NB: TEXT.RSC edits do not work (DFU doesn't use that file anymore)!

Version 1.2: Previous edits to the text strings now in a dfmod with a few more corrections to three of the History texts, and I also swapped some words for more appropriate ones. Both Background Questions AND HISTORY EDITS now working as intended!

Version 1.3: Had to get rid of those "sanctimonious priests" (the rep change was causing problems). Includes a few more History corrections and introduces some more appropriate wording to parse with the History texts better. Refined the script somewhat.

Version 1.4: Removed/changed some answers giving items that are forbidden to the Class concerned (why would the Emperor or your mother gift you stuff you can't use). Each class has the potential to now claim the Ebony Dagger (after-all, Short Blades aren't forbidden to any Class) and the Archer gets to start with as many arrows as the Ranger did.

Version 1.5: Redone the changes from v1.4 (the BIOG files weren't working, but are fixed now) and made a small corrective edit to text string 4164 (removed an unnecessary full-stop).

Version 1.6: Added some alternate consequences to the "You are intimate friends with..." question, relaxed (somewhat) the notion of not giving items that are forbidden to a class (should any Custom Classes without the same disadvantages use those BIOG files), added a bit more choice to some answers and improved some consequences for balance. Made a few more corrections in the History texts.

Version 1.7: Corrected a minor discrepancy in the Healer BIOG. Corrected a spelling mistake in text string 4164. Removed extraneous references in the Mage, Healer, Acrobat, Monk, Ranger, and Barbarian BIOGs that aren't used in the histories (these were in the default BIOGs - probable left-overs from development that didn't end up being used).

Version 1.8: Removed the references to the Language Skills Overhaul mod from the standard BIOGs and instead provided an alternate set of BIOGs for use with that mod that changes the text in the relevant answers to match the new skills. DFmod is the same as v1.7.

Hopefully the FINAL version (barring any unforeseen fixes).

DOWNLOAD:

From NEXUS, click on FILES and download the latest version here: https://www.nexusmods.com/daggerfallunity/mods/436.

HOW TO INSTALL:

The latest versions can be installed using VORTEX, or can be installed manually by pasting all the folders of this mod into your Daggerfall Unity's StreamingAssets folder. Overwrite as required. Make sure the dfmod is enabled and play. Obviously, because this mod affects character creation, it requires a new character in a new game.

If you are using the Language Skills Overhaul mod, use the alternate BIOGs provided in a separate folder within the main BIOGs folder of the download (as of v1.8) - just paste them directly into the main BIOGs folder and overwrite, then paste them all into StreamingAssets/BIOGs and again overwrite (if prompted).

If installing this over an older version (1.0 or 1.1) that changed the TEXT.RSC file in the original Daggerfall/arena2 folder, you may want to replace that TEXT file with the Backup that was/is supplied with those versions.

HOW TO UNINSTALL:

Delete the dfmod and paste the Backup BIOGs files provided with this mod into the StreamingAssets/BIOGs folder and over-write. This will return the Background Questions and Character Histories to their original flawed form.

PROBLEMS AND CONFLICTS:

This will conflict with any mod that also changes the BIOG files like JayH2971's Better Background Questions and ACNAero's Better Default Classes. It is fully compatible with my Classes Redone mod (which fixes and buffs the default classes among other things), in fact, I recommend that you use both these mods together, though this is not required and each work just as well by themselves.

Comments on the above changes are appreciated. ALSO, are there any other corrections/changes that people know of or would like to see in the character backgrounds and histories?
Last edited by harbinger451 on Mon Jun 05, 2023 7:44 pm, edited 13 times in total.
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harbinger451
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Re: Character Background and History Fixes

Post by harbinger451 »

Have updated the OP with the details of changes this mod will make.

I'm also going to use this as a base for another mod that overhauls and improves the default classes ... but wanted to keep this aspect separate as well for those wanting these changes but not those that change the classes. More on this soon.
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harbinger451
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Re: Background Question and History Fixes

Post by harbinger451 »

Now available on NEXUS ... see updated OP for download link.
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Jay_H
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Re: Background Question and History Fixes

Post by Jay_H »

I have moved this topic into Released Mods!

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harbinger451
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Re: Background Question and History Fixes

Post by harbinger451 »

I have moved this topic into Released Mods!
Thank you ... you couldn't look at moving my Games And Gambling quest pack too, that's been released a while now. Cheers.
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harbinger451
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Re: Background Question and History Fixes

Post by harbinger451 »

UPDATED to Version 1.1!
Corrected an item code which gave you a 2-handed War-Axe instead of a 1-handed Battle-Axe (my mistake). Added an Orcish boost to the Thief (to reflect their History). Changed "bookman" to "intellectual" in #4652 (more appropriate).

OP has been changed to reflect this.
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harbinger451
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Re: Background Question and History Fixes

Post by harbinger451 »

I'm aware that the History Fixes side of this mod (i.e. those edits done to the TEXT.RSC file) are not appearing in game. Obviously the changes made to this file in the vanilla Daggerfall install don't translate over to DaggerfallUnity like I thought they would. I'm working on a C# script that will make the changes, but have no way to make a dfmod at the moment. I'm having trouble getting UNITY running - won't give me a free license for some reason.

The background question fixes (i.e the edits done to the BIOGs files) are working fine though ... they appear in game and the consequences to your chosen answers all happen ... except that the text changes don't pass over to the History texts. Obviously DaggerfallUnity doesn't use the TEXT.RSC file from the original Daggerfall like I thought it did. I'm guessing it must have its own version in the code somewhere
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harbinger451
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Re: Background Question and History Fixes

Post by harbinger451 »

Finally got Unity working after much toing and froing with the Unity help people to get the personal license. Just have to finish the script for the text changes now, and then I'll release it as a dfmod component along with the BIOGs changes in the next update.
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harbinger451
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Re: Background Question and History Fixes

Post by harbinger451 »

Mod updated to Version 1.2. Previous edits to the text strings now in a dfmod with a few more corrections to three of the History texts, and I also swapped some words for more appropriate ones. Both Background Questions AND HISTORY EDITS now working as intended!

OP updated to reflect changes.
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harbinger451
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Re: Background Question and History Fixes

Post by harbinger451 »

Okay ... someone posted in the NEXUS comments for this mod:
keep getting this error when trying to finish the questionnaire

Exception Report [323438A2] Daggerfall Unity beta 0.14.5 Windows

An unhandled exception was thrown.

[Description]
IndexOutOfRangeException: Index was outside the bounds of the array.

[Stack Trace]
DaggerfallConnect.Arena2.BiogFile.DigestRepChanges () (at <173b5088bd2041d4b028be1f9578885c>:0)
DaggerfallWorkshop.Game.UserInterfaceWindows.CreateCharBiography.AnswerButton_OnMouseClick (DaggerfallWorkshop.Game.UserInterface.BaseScreenComponent sender, UnityEngine.Vector2 pos) (at <173b5088bd2041d4b028be1f9578885c>:0)
DaggerfallWorkshop.Game.UserInterface.BaseScreenComponent.MouseClick (UnityEngine.Vector2 clickPosition) (at <173b5088bd2041d4b028be1f9578885c>:0)
DaggerfallWorkshop.Game.UserInterface.BaseScreenComponent.Update () (at <173b5088bd2041d4b028be1f9578885c>:0)
DaggerfallWorkshop.Game.UserInterface.Panel.Update () (at <173b5088bd2041d4b028be1f9578885c>:0)
DaggerfallWorkshop.Game.UserInterface.Button.Update () (at <173b5088bd2041d4b028be1f9578885c>:0)
DaggerfallWorkshop.Game.UserInterface.Panel.Update () (at <173b5088bd2041d4b028be1f9578885c>:0)
DaggerfallWorkshop.Game.UserInterface.Panel.Update () (at <173b5088bd2041d4b028be1f9578885c>:0)
DaggerfallWorkshop.Game.UserInterface.UserInterfaceWindow.Update () (at <173b5088bd2041d4b028be1f9578885c>:0)
DaggerfallWorkshop.Game.UserInterfaceWindows.DaggerfallBaseWindow.Update () (at <173b5088bd2041d4b028be1f9578885c>:0)
DaggerfallWorkshop.Game.UserInterfaceWindows.DaggerfallPopupWindow.Update () (at <173b5088bd2041d4b028be1f9578885c>:0)
DaggerfallWorkshop.Game.UserInterfaceWindows.CreateCharBiography.Update () (at <173b5088bd2041d4b028be1f9578885c>:0)
DaggerfallWorkshop.Game.DaggerfallUI.Update () (at <173b5088bd2041d4b028be1f9578885c>:0)
I think I've found the problem. Answering "sanctimonious priests" in the "of all disagreeable types" question decreases your rep with generic temple NPCs due to a new consequence I added. Unlike with the rest of the answers, this one was not used in any other question/answer combo that the BIOGs had. It seems you can only change the rep for Commoner, Noble, Scholar, Merchant and Underworld NPCs ... they, and only they, appear in the little rep change chart at the end of the Background Questions during Character Creation. I will have to remove that answer and consequence (unless I can think of another consequence that doesn't involve rep) from the "disagreeable types" Question. This will be in the next update, 1.3, coming soon.
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