0 of 0
About this mod
Discover the ancient Ayleid teleporting network of Step stones, find out how to activate it, and then use the Steps to discover a new way of traveling around Cyrodiil, and search for new unknown Ayleid sites.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
-
Translations
- Japanese
THE AYLEID STEPS
================
Version 3.8.4, Oct 2023 - Updated by WalkerInShadows & Ervvin
INTRODUCTION:
--------------------
As long as anyone can remember, hundreds of ancient Ayleid stones sit in Cyrodill's wilderness and in Ayleid structures such as ruins and wells. What almost nobody knows however, is what these so-called Steps are supposed to do. Doing the intro Quest, you find out that this network of stones is in fact a teleporting system. Each time you want to teleport, you have to energize the Step with a Welkynd stone.
You can teleport directly into Ayleid ruins, to Ayleid wells, and to lots of locations that the Ayleids once considered important. But you have to prepare yourself: many Steps are defective and will refuse to work, or beam you to random locations. You can land in someone's basement, in government buildings, in caves in the middle of a bunch of goblins, and in very remote and unusual places. Or you can discover over 50 new dungeons, hitherto unknown to man, where lots of treasure and enemies await you. There are two new homes to be found, too - a small one on completing the introduction quest (not very pretty, but it has a bedroll, a private Stepstone (no doors) and many safe containers), and a large one at the end of the final quest, situated in an Ayleid ruin in a private domain.
To start the intro quest you have to try to activate one Stepstone and read a book on the topic. There are no quest markers in your compass during the intro quest - you have to examine, read and think a bit, and search a lot. When you can actually use the Steps, the quest is not over before you find a certain location mentioned in the clues. But after that, you can imagine your own neverending quest: try to map the Network, search for those VERY hard to find lost ruins, and of course hunt for Welkynd stones.
After you have used a certain amount of Steps you will notice that many vanilla NPCs start to teleport through Cyrodiil, and then an epic storyline unfolds in 9 quests. You will learn why the Ayleids built the Steps, where they went after doing so, and what the hero of the opening quest really went through before he died.
To have them blend into the vanilla game these quests are time-driven. To start them, you cannot do much else than explore the Steps and pay attention. Certain events have to develop in faraway locations, dictating the progress of the quest line. Between two quests you often have to wait 4 days. Some of the quests themselves can take a week to complete, so that completion of the entire questline may take 6 to 10 (game)weeks.
The purpose of the quests is to tell the Stepstones story. Part of it is developing while you play but somewhere far away, another part is history. You'll often find yourself involved as an onlooker who performs tasks without fully comprehending what is going on. The NPCs have their own agendas. Although there is plenty to do for you the story is not player-centered, so there are very few alternatives, choices or multiple questlines.
(Please refer to the paragraphs at the bottom of this file for more info on how to start the quests.)
This plugin intends to offer a reason to keep on exploring and adventuring for experienced characters, i.e. those that have completed all default game quests and have attained a level over 20. However, it can be played well by low level characters, except for the final quests in which you face some powerful enemies. Playing the Ayleid Steps with FCOM, or OOO and MMM or other overhaul mods is highly recommended!
REQUIREMENTS:
-------------------
* Vanilla Oblivion with official patch 1.2.0416.
* OBSE (Oblivion Script Extender) version 21 or newer
* Cobl (Common Oblivion library) version 1.74 or newer (1.72 may work OK, not sure about this). For use with this mod, you merely have to install "Cobl Main.esm" and the Meshes, Sound and Textures folders in the "Cobl Core" folder, and activate "Cobl Main.esm").
* Elys Universal Silent Voice v0.93. Unless you can super-speedread - this mod has no voice files.
UPGRADING AN OLDER VERSION:
Don't uninstall the old version and clean-save, unless you want to redo all quests. Just unpack and move the files into your \Oblivion\Data folder, making sure you replace the old files by overwriting them. If you use OBMM or BOSS, you should move the mod back up to its former load order position.
COMPATIBILITY:
-------------------------------
UNIQUE LANDSCAPES & BETTER CITIES:
The mod detects which (if any) Unique-Landscape-mods or Better Cities IC mods are activated, and adjusts certain Stepstone positions accordingly. It does this once after each savegame loading (and at the start of a new game). Note that this will ONLY work if you have not altered the original .esp filenames! If the mod cannot find a plugin, the Steps in the area will be reset to their default position. So no more displacements after you change your plugin load order. How Oblivion stores the Steps positions in its savegames is of no importance at all, since adjusting is repeated with every game loading.
Better Cities, Open Cities and Open Better Cities (non-IC modules): compatible in so far that there are no Steps in exterior town cells, so no conflicts.
OTHER MODS:
Tested with Bartholm 6.0, Frostcrag Reborn 3.0.6, New Roads and Bridges 4.6.3, Talos Bridge Gatehouse 1.1, West Roads 1.1, Valeria and Vilja companions, all Unofficial Patches, Arthmoor's villages, FCOM (OOO, MMM, Francesco's, WarCry) and Maskar's Overhaul. No issues were found to date (feb 2018).
This mod may conflict with other plugins that:
- alter vanilla landscape (House and village mods for example)
- alter vanilla interiors, change architectural layout, move furniture, etc.
- alter availability and/or prices of Welkyndstones. (To be sure, load after such mods).
If you teleport somewhere and don't see a Stepstone where there should be one, an other mod may have buried it. As a consequence you can't use it. This is not necessarily a problem - there are so many Steps in the world that you can easily do without some.
ISSUES & KNOWN CONFLICTS:
---------------------------------------------
* Some users reported getting stuck when trying to reach a particular Stepstone near the invisible borders of the game. The scripts were corrected for this one. In case you find another problem Step, you can correct it by editing this line in your Oblivion.ini file: "bBorderRegionsEnabled=1". Change the 1 to a 0, and save the file.
* Playing with MMM, you may encounter bands of adventurers in the Lost Dungeons. If you find this immersion-breaking, use the MMM-provided "Mart's Monster Mod - No Adventurers.esp" to prevent them spawning in dungeons.
* Should stepping activity of NPCs cause problems, it can be changed with the (Cobl) Options menu in your inventory. Look for the "Ayleid Steps - NPCs behavior" option. Default setting is NPCs teleporting & set to essential. They will not invade player homes.
* The dialogues in version 3 are mostly performed by custom NPCs, but several vanilla NPCs are involved with a few lines, and they must be alive in your game to ensure quest progress. These are Angalmo, Aryarie, Calindil, Carahil, Gundalas, Hlidara Mothril, Mog-gra-Mogakh, Orintur, Suurotan, Tumindil and Ungarion.
* There are a few landscape edits far northeast of Cheydinhal (pathgrid edits) and south-southeast of Skingrad/West of Silorn (a small building, pathgrids & slight height changes). These areas are not affected by currently finalized UL-landscaping mods as far as I know.
CHANGELOG, release 3.8.4
-------------------------------------------------
* Updated the patch script for new versions of Better Cities Cheydinhal, Anvil, and the IC, as well as UL Corbolo River (thanks to Slowpard for this).
* Updated the patch script for UL Cheydinhal Falls.
* Fixed the teleport marker for the door inside Selatus Farm.
CHANGELOG, release 3.8.3
-------------------------------------------------
* Various minor fixes.
CHANGELOG, release 3.8.2
-------------------------------------------------
* Various minor fixes.
CHANGELOG, release 3.8.1
-------------------------------------------------
* Grounded/adjusted various containers on the Able Annika.
* Various minor fixes.
CHANGELOG, release 3.8
-------------------------------------------------
* Corrected map markers for several Lost Dungeon Stepstones.
* Adjusted several containers in Lost Berevacht, Ontobel, nand Rantul Vale.
* Replaced all the mythical creature spawns in Lost Morra with undead.
* Fixed script glitch causing delay of teleport sound.
* Tweaked containers' contents to reduce amount of Ayleid weapons in loot.
* Cosmetic changes in Lost Sutch Arena.
* Added an Ayleid level to Lost Sutch Arena.
* Renovated & extended Lost Ontobel dungeon.
* Renovated & extended Lost Heorcinde dungeon.
CHANGELOG, release 3.7
-------------------------------------------------
* Patch-script revisions, a.o. for UL-Jerall Glacier and for new UL v.2 files structure.
* Fixed a problem with leveled loot lists on some boss creatures in 2 lost dungeons.
* Fixed architectural issue in Lost Tocrec dungeon.
* The Murder Masquerade quest should work with Open Cities Classic & Reborn mods.
* Replaced the custom waste bins in the player homes with Cobl's Trashcan.
* Corrected a confusing topic text about an entrance Step for the Guardian's hub.
* Reworked Stepstone scripts, random teleports should be less repetitive.
* Added 2 new lost Ayleid dungeons: Feen and Abasel.
CHANGELOG, release 3.5
-------------------------------------------------
* Grounded/adjusted/unburied numerous objects as appropriate.
* Adjusted rugs in the Depot Room so they don't clip, and made all the chests non-respawning for the sake of conformity (most were, but a few weren't).
* Moved the entrance to Fanacasecul Erfinsel to avoid a conflict with Hentai Mania/CDEP Fanaceya.
* Added a rock to mask a floor gap in Lost Doriun and adjusted two overlapping tunnel pieces in Doriun Silante.
* Raised the benches/added an altar for the coffer in Lost Fafette (if you sat on the benches, your legs would be in the floor).
* Lowered a floor piece on the tower in Lost Fort Hardaxe Cavern.
* Lowered the flame in Lost Ganaz so it's enveloping the large crystal, and moved the runes in the same room so they're on the pillars.
* Fixed the door in Lost Gutmess Dungeon (it was originally a prison door that belonged to the Bruma Guard faction).
* Added welkynd stones to Lost Sutch Sewers and one of the Unknown Caves.
* Added a crystal/light to a welkynd chain that was missing them in Megund Rael and Ontobel.
* Lowered a stairway that was a bit too high in Lost Merglynn Nonacsel.
* Replaced the missing ceiling piece in Lost Nemice and covered up the gap in the buttress and fixed up the ceiling a bit in Nemice Cinsel.
* Adjusted a misaligned corner piece in Lost Vanuasecul.
* Fixed incorrect music type in several dungeons and Erfinsels.
* Fixed an error in one of Norb gro-Rukhol's wander packages that made him constantly run into Shelley in Cheydinhal.
* Moved a step below the Talos Bridge to avoid a conflict with Talos Bridge Gatehouse.
* Updated the scripts for compatibility with UL Eastern Peaks, Silverfish River Valley, and Cliffs of Anvil.
* Fixed errors in the reference spreadsheet and updated it with new mod conflict information.
* Optimized meshes and textures with PyFFI 2.1.11 and DDSOpt 0.7.3.
* Cleaned esp with TES4Edit.
CHANGELOG, release 3.4.1
-------------------------------------------------
* Edited version of 3.4 for compatibility with "Oblivion XP Update 4.7" mod by SirFrederik and Andalaybay.
***
THANKS:
-----------
* to the OBSE programmers for their nifty script extender.
* to MadCat221 ([email protected]), RDjeke ([email protected]) and Sotobrastos for the Ayleid Meteoric Iron Weapons.
* to Meo, Cryptic_Rain and Vacuity for the Ayleid Clutter objects.
* to Wrye and anyone who contributed, for Common Oblivion Library (Cobl).
* to several people in the Bethsoft and TesNexus forum threads or sending e-mails, for suggestions that helped improve the mod - notably Skyranger for the Hubs concept, WalkerInShadows, Khettienna, Jack Whitehead and Dazu for bughunting, Chaky for general helpfulness, Shadowborn for pointing out conflicts and script bugs, and Wrye for constructive criticisms.
* to PresetM (up to 2.3.1) and SuzieQ (from 2.6.1 on) for the German versions.
* to Sifka (v. 3.4) for the Japanese version.
* to Bleral for designing and producing the custom meshes and textures.
* to Qbit for correcting and editing all texts of the first 5 quests.
* to Ed Waldorph for correcting and editing all texts of the remaining 8 quests.
* to WalkerInShadows for updating & editing this final version.
LEGAL:
--------
Do not alter the mod in any way and then release it without my permission. This mod is never to be used in any mod compilation without permission. It is freeware, i.e. not to be sold by anyone. Do not upload it anywhere.
***
================
Version 3.8.4, Oct 2023 - Updated by WalkerInShadows & Ervvin
INTRODUCTION:
--------------------
As long as anyone can remember, hundreds of ancient Ayleid stones sit in Cyrodill's wilderness and in Ayleid structures such as ruins and wells. What almost nobody knows however, is what these so-called Steps are supposed to do. Doing the intro Quest, you find out that this network of stones is in fact a teleporting system. Each time you want to teleport, you have to energize the Step with a Welkynd stone.
You can teleport directly into Ayleid ruins, to Ayleid wells, and to lots of locations that the Ayleids once considered important. But you have to prepare yourself: many Steps are defective and will refuse to work, or beam you to random locations. You can land in someone's basement, in government buildings, in caves in the middle of a bunch of goblins, and in very remote and unusual places. Or you can discover over 50 new dungeons, hitherto unknown to man, where lots of treasure and enemies await you. There are two new homes to be found, too - a small one on completing the introduction quest (not very pretty, but it has a bedroll, a private Stepstone (no doors) and many safe containers), and a large one at the end of the final quest, situated in an Ayleid ruin in a private domain.
To start the intro quest you have to try to activate one Stepstone and read a book on the topic. There are no quest markers in your compass during the intro quest - you have to examine, read and think a bit, and search a lot. When you can actually use the Steps, the quest is not over before you find a certain location mentioned in the clues. But after that, you can imagine your own neverending quest: try to map the Network, search for those VERY hard to find lost ruins, and of course hunt for Welkynd stones.
After you have used a certain amount of Steps you will notice that many vanilla NPCs start to teleport through Cyrodiil, and then an epic storyline unfolds in 9 quests. You will learn why the Ayleids built the Steps, where they went after doing so, and what the hero of the opening quest really went through before he died.
To have them blend into the vanilla game these quests are time-driven. To start them, you cannot do much else than explore the Steps and pay attention. Certain events have to develop in faraway locations, dictating the progress of the quest line. Between two quests you often have to wait 4 days. Some of the quests themselves can take a week to complete, so that completion of the entire questline may take 6 to 10 (game)weeks.
The purpose of the quests is to tell the Stepstones story. Part of it is developing while you play but somewhere far away, another part is history. You'll often find yourself involved as an onlooker who performs tasks without fully comprehending what is going on. The NPCs have their own agendas. Although there is plenty to do for you the story is not player-centered, so there are very few alternatives, choices or multiple questlines.
(Please refer to the paragraphs at the bottom of this file for more info on how to start the quests.)
This plugin intends to offer a reason to keep on exploring and adventuring for experienced characters, i.e. those that have completed all default game quests and have attained a level over 20. However, it can be played well by low level characters, except for the final quests in which you face some powerful enemies. Playing the Ayleid Steps with FCOM, or OOO and MMM or other overhaul mods is highly recommended!
REQUIREMENTS:
-------------------
* Vanilla Oblivion with official patch 1.2.0416.
* OBSE (Oblivion Script Extender) version 21 or newer
* Cobl (Common Oblivion library) version 1.74 or newer (1.72 may work OK, not sure about this). For use with this mod, you merely have to install "Cobl Main.esm" and the Meshes, Sound and Textures folders in the "Cobl Core" folder, and activate "Cobl Main.esm").
* Elys Universal Silent Voice v0.93. Unless you can super-speedread - this mod has no voice files.
UPGRADING AN OLDER VERSION:
Don't uninstall the old version and clean-save, unless you want to redo all quests. Just unpack and move the files into your \Oblivion\Data folder, making sure you replace the old files by overwriting them. If you use OBMM or BOSS, you should move the mod back up to its former load order position.
COMPATIBILITY:
-------------------------------
UNIQUE LANDSCAPES & BETTER CITIES:
The mod detects which (if any) Unique-Landscape-mods or Better Cities IC mods are activated, and adjusts certain Stepstone positions accordingly. It does this once after each savegame loading (and at the start of a new game). Note that this will ONLY work if you have not altered the original .esp filenames! If the mod cannot find a plugin, the Steps in the area will be reset to their default position. So no more displacements after you change your plugin load order. How Oblivion stores the Steps positions in its savegames is of no importance at all, since adjusting is repeated with every game loading.
Better Cities, Open Cities and Open Better Cities (non-IC modules): compatible in so far that there are no Steps in exterior town cells, so no conflicts.
OTHER MODS:
Tested with Bartholm 6.0, Frostcrag Reborn 3.0.6, New Roads and Bridges 4.6.3, Talos Bridge Gatehouse 1.1, West Roads 1.1, Valeria and Vilja companions, all Unofficial Patches, Arthmoor's villages, FCOM (OOO, MMM, Francesco's, WarCry) and Maskar's Overhaul. No issues were found to date (feb 2018).
This mod may conflict with other plugins that:
- alter vanilla landscape (House and village mods for example)
- alter vanilla interiors, change architectural layout, move furniture, etc.
- alter availability and/or prices of Welkyndstones. (To be sure, load after such mods).
If you teleport somewhere and don't see a Stepstone where there should be one, an other mod may have buried it. As a consequence you can't use it. This is not necessarily a problem - there are so many Steps in the world that you can easily do without some.
ISSUES & KNOWN CONFLICTS:
---------------------------------------------
* Some users reported getting stuck when trying to reach a particular Stepstone near the invisible borders of the game. The scripts were corrected for this one. In case you find another problem Step, you can correct it by editing this line in your Oblivion.ini file: "bBorderRegionsEnabled=1". Change the 1 to a 0, and save the file.
* Playing with MMM, you may encounter bands of adventurers in the Lost Dungeons. If you find this immersion-breaking, use the MMM-provided "Mart's Monster Mod - No Adventurers.esp" to prevent them spawning in dungeons.
* Should stepping activity of NPCs cause problems, it can be changed with the (Cobl) Options menu in your inventory. Look for the "Ayleid Steps - NPCs behavior" option. Default setting is NPCs teleporting & set to essential. They will not invade player homes.
* The dialogues in version 3 are mostly performed by custom NPCs, but several vanilla NPCs are involved with a few lines, and they must be alive in your game to ensure quest progress. These are Angalmo, Aryarie, Calindil, Carahil, Gundalas, Hlidara Mothril, Mog-gra-Mogakh, Orintur, Suurotan, Tumindil and Ungarion.
* There are a few landscape edits far northeast of Cheydinhal (pathgrid edits) and south-southeast of Skingrad/West of Silorn (a small building, pathgrids & slight height changes). These areas are not affected by currently finalized UL-landscaping mods as far as I know.
CHANGELOG, release 3.8.4
-------------------------------------------------
* Updated the patch script for new versions of Better Cities Cheydinhal, Anvil, and the IC, as well as UL Corbolo River (thanks to Slowpard for this).
* Updated the patch script for UL Cheydinhal Falls.
* Fixed the teleport marker for the door inside Selatus Farm.
CHANGELOG, release 3.8.3
-------------------------------------------------
* Various minor fixes.
CHANGELOG, release 3.8.2
-------------------------------------------------
* Various minor fixes.
CHANGELOG, release 3.8.1
-------------------------------------------------
* Grounded/adjusted various containers on the Able Annika.
* Various minor fixes.
CHANGELOG, release 3.8
-------------------------------------------------
* Corrected map markers for several Lost Dungeon Stepstones.
* Adjusted several containers in Lost Berevacht, Ontobel, nand Rantul Vale.
* Replaced all the mythical creature spawns in Lost Morra with undead.
* Fixed script glitch causing delay of teleport sound.
* Tweaked containers' contents to reduce amount of Ayleid weapons in loot.
* Cosmetic changes in Lost Sutch Arena.
* Added an Ayleid level to Lost Sutch Arena.
* Renovated & extended Lost Ontobel dungeon.
* Renovated & extended Lost Heorcinde dungeon.
CHANGELOG, release 3.7
-------------------------------------------------
* Patch-script revisions, a.o. for UL-Jerall Glacier and for new UL v.2 files structure.
* Fixed a problem with leveled loot lists on some boss creatures in 2 lost dungeons.
* Fixed architectural issue in Lost Tocrec dungeon.
* The Murder Masquerade quest should work with Open Cities Classic & Reborn mods.
* Replaced the custom waste bins in the player homes with Cobl's Trashcan.
* Corrected a confusing topic text about an entrance Step for the Guardian's hub.
* Reworked Stepstone scripts, random teleports should be less repetitive.
* Added 2 new lost Ayleid dungeons: Feen and Abasel.
CHANGELOG, release 3.5
-------------------------------------------------
* Grounded/adjusted/unburied numerous objects as appropriate.
* Adjusted rugs in the Depot Room so they don't clip, and made all the chests non-respawning for the sake of conformity (most were, but a few weren't).
* Moved the entrance to Fanacasecul Erfinsel to avoid a conflict with Hentai Mania/CDEP Fanaceya.
* Added a rock to mask a floor gap in Lost Doriun and adjusted two overlapping tunnel pieces in Doriun Silante.
* Raised the benches/added an altar for the coffer in Lost Fafette (if you sat on the benches, your legs would be in the floor).
* Lowered a floor piece on the tower in Lost Fort Hardaxe Cavern.
* Lowered the flame in Lost Ganaz so it's enveloping the large crystal, and moved the runes in the same room so they're on the pillars.
* Fixed the door in Lost Gutmess Dungeon (it was originally a prison door that belonged to the Bruma Guard faction).
* Added welkynd stones to Lost Sutch Sewers and one of the Unknown Caves.
* Added a crystal/light to a welkynd chain that was missing them in Megund Rael and Ontobel.
* Lowered a stairway that was a bit too high in Lost Merglynn Nonacsel.
* Replaced the missing ceiling piece in Lost Nemice and covered up the gap in the buttress and fixed up the ceiling a bit in Nemice Cinsel.
* Adjusted a misaligned corner piece in Lost Vanuasecul.
* Fixed incorrect music type in several dungeons and Erfinsels.
* Fixed an error in one of Norb gro-Rukhol's wander packages that made him constantly run into Shelley in Cheydinhal.
* Moved a step below the Talos Bridge to avoid a conflict with Talos Bridge Gatehouse.
* Updated the scripts for compatibility with UL Eastern Peaks, Silverfish River Valley, and Cliffs of Anvil.
* Fixed errors in the reference spreadsheet and updated it with new mod conflict information.
* Optimized meshes and textures with PyFFI 2.1.11 and DDSOpt 0.7.3.
* Cleaned esp with TES4Edit.
CHANGELOG, release 3.4.1
-------------------------------------------------
* Edited version of 3.4 for compatibility with "Oblivion XP Update 4.7" mod by SirFrederik and Andalaybay.
***
THANKS:
-----------
* to the OBSE programmers for their nifty script extender.
* to MadCat221 ([email protected]), RDjeke ([email protected]) and Sotobrastos for the Ayleid Meteoric Iron Weapons.
* to Meo, Cryptic_Rain and Vacuity for the Ayleid Clutter objects.
* to Wrye and anyone who contributed, for Common Oblivion Library (Cobl).
* to several people in the Bethsoft and TesNexus forum threads or sending e-mails, for suggestions that helped improve the mod - notably Skyranger for the Hubs concept, WalkerInShadows, Khettienna, Jack Whitehead and Dazu for bughunting, Chaky for general helpfulness, Shadowborn for pointing out conflicts and script bugs, and Wrye for constructive criticisms.
* to PresetM (up to 2.3.1) and SuzieQ (from 2.6.1 on) for the German versions.
* to Sifka (v. 3.4) for the Japanese version.
* to Bleral for designing and producing the custom meshes and textures.
* to Qbit for correcting and editing all texts of the first 5 quests.
* to Ed Waldorph for correcting and editing all texts of the remaining 8 quests.
* to WalkerInShadows for updating & editing this final version.
LEGAL:
--------
Do not alter the mod in any way and then release it without my permission. This mod is never to be used in any mod compilation without permission. It is freeware, i.e. not to be sold by anyone. Do not upload it anywhere.
***