Vapourware Daggerfall Unity isnt Vaporware

[BruceVC]

I about 90 hours into DFU and Im having an absolute blast, its one of the best RPG I have ever played because of the vastness of the game world and the myriad of choices and things to do

I have completed about 10-12 dungeons and I now have a good strategy to complete quests in dungeons, I have created my own Dungeoneers Survival Guide which includes the following " must have " items to ensure success during long explorations underground

• recall spell cast at the entrance for quick exit and to access my wagon and go back into the dungeon
• extra oil for my lamp
• repair tools for various items like my sword and camping kit
• landmark journal so I can create specific teleport points
• healing and cure potions in case my magic runs out
• Locator Device : this can be used when you have explored a certain percentage of the dungeon and it creates a small dot on the HUD which shows you where your target is in a general direction. I have only used them twice and its handy when you very frustrated after seemingly exploring the whole dungeon but still cant find the target...and then it turns out you missed a secret door. Its a good last resort to help you without making it too easy

I have done loads of fun quests like the Wild Hunt which was about finding a werewolf in 6 hours and then another one where I was teleported into the dungeon to kill someone and had to find my way out and then a prostitute was cursed by witches and I had to break the curse. But the quests are endless and vary from simple fetch or delivery to the complex so I never get bored

I have to keep reminding myself to also go on the main quests which Im taking very slow and will focus on it once I start getting bored with the side quests

Im a battlemage and I joined the Mages Guild and I love the various services like creating spells and magic items, it lets you become strategic about what effects and magic you decide to use

But a fantastic game, further updates to follow

 

[Lemming42]

I have done loads of fun quests like the Wild Hunt which was about finding a werewolf in 6 hours and then another one where I was teleported into the dungeon to kill someone and had to find my way out and then a prostitute was cursed by witches and I had to break the curse. But the quests are endless and vary from simple fetch or delivery to the complex so I never get bored

I always really loved the "commoner" quests you get from taverns. The one about being teleported suddenly into a dungeon sounds familiar, I think it's a commoner one (though I'm not sure if it's vanilla or from Quest Pack #1).

The game really has a strong sense of shady and unpleasant stuff constantly existing just under the surface of society, which the procedural generation works so well with. Walk into a random tavern and start chatting to the first person you see, and the next thing you know, you're embroiled in some kind of amoral conspiracy or personal melodrama which has put you in a slowly-tightening net of danger.

I don't think any of the handmade quests in Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim come close to replicating the same feeling of a world where pretty much everyone you meet has something weird going on, that you could get drawn into at any moment, and the sense of never knowing what's going to happen to you next.

 

[BruceVC]

Daggerfall Unity 0.15.3 Beta​

​

Getting Started​

If this is your first time installing Daggerfall Unity, please visit Installing Daggerfall Unity and Other Information for help getting started.

​

Summary​

This release is an improvement update for Daggerfall Unity with localization enhancements and bug fixes. Version 0.15.3 is intended to be a stable beta for general play. If you experience new issues with this version, please report to Help & Support on the Workshop Forums.
For a summary other changes in 0.15 prior to now, see patch notes for pre-releases 0.15.1 and 0.15.2.

​

Mouse Smoothing Update​

An improved method of mouse smoothing was added in 0.15.1 (see that release for more details). If you previously had mouse look smoothing enabled, your mouse look sensitivity will now feel lower than before. Increase sensitivity in settings until this is back to a comfortable level. If you previously had mouse smoothing disabled, you can disable the new method by setting Mouse Smoothing to None or try one of the lower power settings.

​

Mod Compatibility​

If you find a mod not compatible or broken by this release, please notify mod author on Nexus or Released Mods on forums.
If you are a mod creator and encounter any difficulties rebuilding your mod for 0.15.x, please reach out on the forums or Discord for help.

​

Featured Changes​

Interkarma - Read localized quest sources c1e0869​

The localization system will now seek for translated quest sources in StreamingAssets/Text/Quests. The translated quest file should have the same name as parent quest with -LOC appended. For example: M0B00Y16-LOC.txt.
The translated quest file must retain the header and QRC: section of source quest, but anything after QBN: is ignored and can be removed from translated quest file. Here's an example using pseudo-localized text.





With this change, translated quest text can be maintained using a simple text editor. As the QBN: section is not used in -LOC quests, none of the programming or logic of quests will be impacted. Internally, DFU builds a database of text strings from translated quests and will preferentially use those strings at runtime.
This change also makes it possible for translators to also provide localized versions of external quests, such as those from a quest pack mod.
The article Translating Daggerfall Unity will be updated soon to reflect this change.

​

General Fixes & Improvements​

Pango

• Rewrite of CSV regex parsing to avoid exponential behavior #2513
• Fix TextManager.GetLocalizedTextList returning spurious ^M characters #2514
• Use hamburger button instead of chevron for options #2518
• Add an option to hide PersistentDataPath in launcher #2521
• Allow clicking on save thumbnail to open save directory on Linux #2522
• Localize "USE"d maps #2523
• Prevent creation of 0 gold Letters of Credit 21ea64e
• Fix biography spurious questionmarks on empty lines #2525

KABoissonneault

• Allow custom sound indices in SoundReader.GetAudioClip. #2515
• Remove ! prefix from spell bundles in Active Spells HUD tooltips #2516

Jay_H

• Spawn fix for Former Student part 2 #2527

Sappho20 + hornc

• Commit spelling errors fixes from issue #2503 #2526

Interkarma

• Fix typo in training text 4023 variant 41a6188
• Building name generation to overridable formula 5e5fc9b
• Improve handling of bad book ID 10000 71c181a
• Support conditions defined in localized books 279951b d934561
• Refine book reader page panel size 8b1eb83
• Use localized names in map_revealbuildings command 6dde1c4
• Disabled "A Mix Up" in quest lists d4f0ffc
• Restore original Deserialize() method signature 157236b

So can I ask a silly question, my current game is more or else stable and my 100 mods work fine. What would be the reason I should upgrade to this version of DFU ?

 

[index.php]

Daggerfall Unity 0.15.3 Beta​

​

Getting Started​

If this is your first time installing Daggerfall Unity, please visit Installing Daggerfall Unity and Other Information for help getting started.

​

Summary​

This release is an improvement update for Daggerfall Unity with localization enhancements and bug fixes. Version 0.15.3 is intended to be a stable beta for general play. If you experience new issues with this version, please report to Help & Support on the Workshop Forums.
For a summary other changes in 0.15 prior to now, see patch notes for pre-releases 0.15.1 and 0.15.2.

​

Mouse Smoothing Update​

An improved method of mouse smoothing was added in 0.15.1 (see that release for more details). If you previously had mouse look smoothing enabled, your mouse look sensitivity will now feel lower than before. Increase sensitivity in settings until this is back to a comfortable level. If you previously had mouse smoothing disabled, you can disable the new method by setting Mouse Smoothing to None or try one of the lower power settings.

​

Mod Compatibility​

If you find a mod not compatible or broken by this release, please notify mod author on Nexus or Released Mods on forums.
If you are a mod creator and encounter any difficulties rebuilding your mod for 0.15.x, please reach out on the forums or Discord for help.

​

Featured Changes​

Interkarma - Read localized quest sources c1e0869​

The localization system will now seek for translated quest sources in StreamingAssets/Text/Quests. The translated quest file should have the same name as parent quest with -LOC appended. For example: M0B00Y16-LOC.txt.
The translated quest file must retain the header and QRC: section of source quest, but anything after QBN: is ignored and can be removed from translated quest file. Here's an example using pseudo-localized text.





With this change, translated quest text can be maintained using a simple text editor. As the QBN: section is not used in -LOC quests, none of the programming or logic of quests will be impacted. Internally, DFU builds a database of text strings from translated quests and will preferentially use those strings at runtime.
This change also makes it possible for translators to also provide localized versions of external quests, such as those from a quest pack mod.
The article Translating Daggerfall Unity will be updated soon to reflect this change.

​

General Fixes & Improvements​

Pango

• Rewrite of CSV regex parsing to avoid exponential behavior #2513
• Fix TextManager.GetLocalizedTextList returning spurious ^M characters #2514
• Use hamburger button instead of chevron for options #2518
• Add an option to hide PersistentDataPath in launcher #2521
• Allow clicking on save thumbnail to open save directory on Linux #2522
• Localize "USE"d maps #2523
• Prevent creation of 0 gold Letters of Credit 21ea64e
• Fix biography spurious questionmarks on empty lines #2525

KABoissonneault

• Allow custom sound indices in SoundReader.GetAudioClip. #2515
• Remove ! prefix from spell bundles in Active Spells HUD tooltips #2516

Jay_H

• Spawn fix for Former Student part 2 #2527

Sappho20 + hornc

• Commit spelling errors fixes from issue #2503 #2526

Interkarma

• Fix typo in training text 4023 variant 41a6188
• Building name generation to overridable formula 5e5fc9b
• Improve handling of bad book ID 10000 71c181a
• Support conditions defined in localized books 279951b d934561
• Refine book reader page panel size 8b1eb83
• Use localized names in map_revealbuildings command 6dde1c4
• Disabled "A Mix Up" in quest lists d4f0ffc
• Restore original Deserialize() method signature 157236b

So can I ask a silly question, my current game is more or else stable and my 100 mods work fine. What would be the reason I should upgrade to this version of DFU ?

Don't update unless there's something in the new update you absolutely need.

 

[Wayward Son]

Because of DFU I finally managed to finish Daggerfall MQ like a year ago. Fun shit but definitely dragged a bit near the end. I still regularly boot it up and start a character to play for a week or two. Definitely one of my favorites

 

[BruceVC]

I completed DFU last night, it was an excellent RPG experience with the mods I used and the game scores an 80/100 on the globally respected " BruceVC game rating system". I will summarize some of the shortfalls around the game at the end. I spent about 260-280 hours to complete it

Its the largest RPG I have ever played, I must have completed about 25-30 dungeons outside the main quest dungeons. I joined various guilds that included the fighters, mages, knights of the dragon, dark brotherhood and temple of Kynareth. But I spend most my time doing quests of the Mages Guild and I got to rank 7 and even summoned a Daedra

DFU is the quintessential open world and sandbox RPG, I have never played a game quite like it and I doubt I ever will. I also enjoyed learning about the various factions and history of the Iliac Bay and I ended up deciding to align with the Empire and the Emperor and gave the totem to him (King of Worms actually wanted it, imagine giving such a powerful artifact to a stinking, foul undead ). The Empire has the best overall approach to maintaining peace and stability in Tamriel so I decided to support them

This game requires an understanding of the dungeon design and dungeon clearing strategy, I included my tips for this is a previous post but the 3D map also helps when you tracking where you have been and where you need to still go. Using the 3D map is essential actually

And then some negatives about the game which dont detract from the overall positive experience but they include

• it has some bugs like invisible walls in main mission dungeons like the Direnni Tower and your quest to find Medora. There is a lever puzzle with 4 x levers and you need to only lower the Direnni levers and then a wall opens and you can proceed but in my game there was still an invisible wall. So I just used Console and the teleport command when this happened. I had to do this maybe 6-7 times in total so its not a big problem but its real
• even with mods there are limited monsters that spawn so you end up facing the same enemies in most dungeons
• the combat becomes very easy, I got to level 11 and I had an enchanted weapon and I was able to kill most enemies in 2-3 swings or kill them with 1-3 fireball or lighting based spells. There are some mods that address this but I dont think they change the fundamental combat design

But in closing, a fantastic RPG and well worth playing. Now I have played ES 2,3 and 4 its time to play Skyrim AE. I have never played Skyrim

 

[Lemming42]

Good luck with Skyrim. People smack-talk it a lot but it's not a bad game in the end, if you liked Oblivion then you'll almost definitely like Skyrim.

 

[BruceVC]

Good luck with Skyrim. People smack-talk it a lot but it's not a bad game in the end, if you liked Oblivion then you'll almost definitely like Skyrim.

Yes I loved Oblivion but modded Oblivion so annoying mechanics like level scaling dont exist

I wont play Skyrim yet, I will wait a few months and I am going to do hours of research around mods and recommended mod collections. I used a Vortex mod collection for DFU and it really contained most of the best and recommended mods

 

[Wayward Son]

DFU is my go-to game to play at this point. Just started a hard last night with a bunch of language skills and the language overhaul mod

 

[Lemming42]

Playing as a dedicated archer for the first time ever. It's really fun! Finding an Elven Shortbow in Privateer's Hold set me up to demolish the fuck out of everyone for the next hour and a half.

There's a great mod called Skulduggery that adds a lot of tension to burgling shops at night, various skill checks once inside to make it so that you can be caught at any moment. Luckily my character rocks at the court minigame so I'm somehow able to "debate" my way into a not guilty verdict after the guards literally watch me kick down the front door to a shop and walk out with about half of its entire stock. Still "dependable" in the eyes of the law. And they let you keep the loot too! At this rate, store owners are going to be legally required to write an apology to me after I ruin their livelihoods.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

Yeah DFU really lets Daggerfall shine and makes it one of the most memorable, impressive RPG-experiences out there. I especially love how the right mods give the game real topography. While wandering through this seemingly endless world I just have to press the printscreen button again and again, it's so beautiful to gaze at now (compared to the original, flat and unimpressive landscape). I wonder about one thing: I remember that back in the days there was the opinion you couldn't just walk from one place to another as the world wasn't persistent so you had to use the quicktravel option (the map) to get to places. Otherwise you'd walk forever without ever reaching anything. Now in DFU you can wander the whole world and everything is where it can be expected from the map. Is that another innovation of DFU or was that always possible?

 

[Butter]

That was always true of Daggerfall. It's Arena where you can walk forever without getting anywhere.

 

[Ludwig von Eisenthal]

That was always true of Daggerfall. It's Arena where you can walk forever without getting anywhere.

Ah ok, didn't know that. And now with DFU and the landscape/topography modifications wandering actually becomes an experience.

 

[Modron]

Is that another innovation of DFU or was that always possible?

It was always that way, I recall once I couldn't quick travel to a quest location so I just hoofed it across the countryside. By hoofed I mean running and jumping the whole time of course to raise skills.

 

[Wayward Son]

In one of the quest packs I downloaded there’s even a quest chain that requires you to discover new locations on foot

 

[octavius]

Is that another innovation of DFU or was that always possible?

It was always that way, I recall once I couldn't quick travel to a quest location so I just hoofed it across the countryside. By hoofed I mean running and jumping the whole time of course to raise skills.

I tried doing that when I was out hiking, but people just looked at me like I was some kind of weirdo.

 

[BruceVC]

I mentioned this in my final review of the game but its a pity the combat becomes easier and easier as you progress. Because combat challenge becomes meaningless and thats one of the main reasons I stopped exploring and focused on the main quest. I wanted to meet Witches Covens and do other guild quests but if you able to kill an ancient lich with 2-3 swings of a sword it becomes a little boring around combat which is a big part of the fun of risk vs reward in an RPG

I prefer designs of games where combat is still a challenge even on higher levels with certain enemies but I am not talking about level scaling which I dislike immensely

 

[Serus]

I mentioned this in my final review of the game but its a pity the combat becomes easier and easier as you progress. Because combat challenge becomes meaningless and thats one of the main reasons I stopped exploring and focused on the main quest. I wanted to meet Witches Covens and do other guild quests but if you able to kill an ancient lich with 2-3 swings of a sword it becomes a little boring around combat which is a big part of the fun of risk vs reward in an RPG

I prefer designs of games where combat is still a challenge even on higher levels with certain enemies but I am not talking about level scaling which I dislike immensely

Unfortunately it is not as easy to do as it sounds in any non-linear CRPG. And some methods are almost as bad as pure level scaling. Also limited or hybrid level scaling* might be ok-ish if done right.

*Only some enemies scale and/or only to a certain level - like in Wizardry 8. It's not ideal but still much better than pure level scaling.
Cataclysm DDA (i know that i bring it in second thread in two days) has nice scaling mechanics. The "zombies" (not really) "evolve" so the scaling mechanisms has its in-game explanation. They also scale with TIME passed not player skill (no levels at all). Finally not all evolve and few start evolved, it is just rare to run into an "end game" zombie early on - but not impossible. In the end game they are still too easy.

When I played Daggerfall (the original one but via DosBox) i never came to the point where enemies were pushovers. But only because i quit before getting too far. This game had/has some excellent ideas that i really loved. It was one of the best CRPG/computer games games when it comes to capturing the real, living world feeling. But also has many flaws. And i don't really like the (random) dungeons in this games which is a problem because they are a major part of the game.

 

[LarryTyphoid]

I never got to the point where my character could naturally defeat Ancient Liches without any assistance, but by the time I finished the final story dungeon, I was lugging around dozens of resist magic potions (my character was incapable of magic, so I had to rely on potions to survive paralysis and other effects). Same thing happened in Arena.

 

[Funposter]

Ancient Liches aren't really a problem, since they'll just blow themselves up. Vampire Ancients are the real fuck-you.

 

[SQUIDKamer]

For an update on my previous post, I've taken a leave shortly after posting. A bunch of unappreciative people thinking I work full time for them were driving me up a fucking wall and killed my motivation to work on DF mods for now. I hurled out killable NPC's and a cut down version of Death Sentence before that. I don't know when I'll come back as motivation can randomly come back out of the blue. Thanks everyone here for your support. I hope to return soon and keep working on DF stuff.

 

[grimace]

For an update on my previous post, I've taken a leave shortly after posting. A bunch of unappreciative people thinking I work full time for them were driving me up a fucking wall and killed my motivation to work on DF mods for now. I hurled out killable NPC's and a cut down version of Death Sentence before that. I don't know when I'll come back as motivation can randomly come back out of the blue. Thanks everyone here for your support. I hope to return soon and keep working on DF stuff.

SQUIDKamer are you aware of Ted Peterson and Julian LeFay working under OnceLostGames to create a Grand RPG?

https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...rom-original-elder-scrolls-developers.129514/

Maybe you have some insight into why the Daggerfall "Sequel"/Spiritual Successor project does not seem to want to build upon the community's work with actual Daggerfall and instead asset flip into a poor man's Skyrim?

See the embarrassing Pre-Alpha-Footage of a vaporware title:
https://youtu.be/qEkRdC4_lOk?t=48

It's frustrating that the only realistic people supporting a playable Daggerfall are talented modders like you.

 

[SQUIDKamer]

Maybe you have some insight into why the Daggerfall "Sequel"/Spiritual Successor project does not seem to want to build upon the community's work with actual Daggerfall and instead asset flip into a poor man's Skyrim?

See the embarrassing Pre-Alpha-Footage of a vaporware title:
https://youtu.be/qEkRdC4_lOk?t=48

It's frustrating that the only realistic people supporting a playable Daggerfall are talented modders like you.

I'm not very involved with them besides keeping up with what they release. I'm unsure if either creator has seen any of my work either. The most that ever happened between either parties was that Zaric Zhakaron told me to pitch myself to Wayward Realms as he thought my input would be very positive and could maybe even could help with development. So I messaged them and talked about the things I had worked on and such with some ideas of my own. I never heard back. I'm not even sure they read my message. These days I just use their discord to follow the project and to get feedback for my mods.

 

[Cliffworms]

I've been working on the Famous Faces of the Iliac Bay update, which will revamp the palaces in a similar way I did to temples in Finding My Religion. Instead of a mishmash of closets and weird rooms like in vanilla, navigation will be easier in the new palace layouts. In addition, they'll feature a basement with rooms such as a kitchen and a jail. Generic palaces and capital city palaces will look different. For example, the main hall for capital palaces will have a throne room. Here are some pictures :

Maybe you have some insight into why the Daggerfall "Sequel"/Spiritual Successor project does not seem to want to build upon the community's work with actual Daggerfall and instead asset flip into a poor man's Skyrim?

See the embarrassing Pre-Alpha-Footage of a vaporware title:
https://youtu.be/qEkRdC4_lOk?t=48

It's frustrating that the only realistic people supporting a playable Daggerfall are talented modders like you.

I'm not very involved with them besides keeping up with what they release. I'm unsure if either creator has seen any of my work either. The most that ever happened between either parties was that Zaric Zhakaron told me to pitch myself to Wayward Realms as he thought my input would be very positive and could maybe even could help with development. So I messaged them and talked about the things I had worked on and such with some ideas of my own. I never heard back. I'm not even sure they read my message. These days I just use their discord to follow the project and to get feedback for my mods.

It's a shame they didn't even bother contacting you. You, Hazelnut, Uncanny Valley and King of Worms pretty much spearheaded Daggerfall Unity modding in the "early days".

 

[SQUIDKamer]

They aren't obligated to message me just cause I made a few mods. Though it makes me wonder the direction they were going with it. Zaric is in some way involved with the team and he was very adamant to have me be involved in some way. It was a good time too cause I was unemployed and was basically modding in my free time hence why World of Daggerfall made so much progress during that period. Maybe he was less involved than it seems. Maybe the message sounded amature. Maybe they'd like it to be the original creators only with a hand selection of trustworthy devs. Either way it felt embarrassing not to hear back after being pushed/influenced to reach out. I know the creator of 3D trees was hired so I was curious if something could of came out of it. At the most, their Twitter account will retweet any updates I make in Daggerfall modding. Can't say I wasn't secretly hoping of getting THE dream job. The thought of creating something with the orignal dev/writer of one of my favorite games would have definitely of been some type of milestone in my life. The only contribution I can make to the project now is inspiring those who are there to create something great if they are even aware I'm here outside of the community manager.