I've started building a mod for Daggerfall, to create a series of quests on behalf of the Guild of prosttutes (since it already exists as a Faction, and taverns make a good "clubhouse") and I'm using Tipton's TEMPLATE.exe to build the QRC/QBN files. So far, I have a couple of new quests for Merchants and Temples to bootstrap the process and start a controller quest that will drive the others. The driver quest is built, too, plus a sample sub-quest.

The idea is to have a random set of quests offered via letter at regular intervals, where the player goes to a Guild member in a tavern for details, and then off to a dungeon-dive, fed-ex, or whatever type quest it will be. The subordinate quest's ending will then signal back to the main one that it's done, and another can be started. And there's where i have my problem.

A critical component of this is the ability to get a fresh timer for the delay between quests. I'm trying to do this by each sub-quest termination start a delay quest that just consists of a timer that turns on a global variable, which the main quest turns off each time it starts a new one. That delay quest just won't compile. It's just rejecting perfectly good statements on a whim. The delay quest started off with no QRC content (as there are no messages to produce) and I thought that might be a problem, so I added a rumor mill message to avoid that, but it made no difference.

Does anyone here have experience of using the "compiler" and can offer insights?

Have you taken a look at the scheduler quest in the Werefall package?

Yes, this is a variation on that method. I may need to go back closer to the Werefall method of restarting the scheduler, as "clear task" may not be reliable. Tipton rants about reuse being flaky in a few places, and he's right about that.

The problem I'm having is that a simple "start timer x" is getting the "can't find a matching template" error in task startup. Usually I've been able to get that particular error to go away by re-arranging the task sequence a bit, but you can't move the startup code anywhere else. It's presumably a residual state left from parsing the Clock definitions, but I've tried inserting a random Item, Person, Place or whatever in between within curing it. Adding a harmless rumor mill command before it didn't do anything either. I'll just keep trying things until I find an incantation that works.

I wonder whether you're going to upload your final product anywhere.

If it ever works... maybe. (And I may just make available from my own site.)

I've also been looking at the required packaging for a Daggerfall mod, and how to achieve compatibility with other mods. There are issues like replacing/updating existing files to contend with and FallHack doesn't provide any way to check what's already there. Another issue is that it's harder to add something new (an additional race, a new piece of armor) then to replace something existing, and my choices of what to remove won't agree with other people's. Tipton's ROCHAY may be able to completely replace FallHack, but I haven't investigated fully yet. That does have conditional change capability.

Bottom line is that it may prove easier to create a mod than to make it available for others. A mod that will only apply over a vanilla Daggerfall is one option, but it's not one I like.

And back to the original purpose of the thread. I pulled over the corresponding quests from Werefall and replaced the content with my own, and they mysteriously compiled correctly, with the same statements now being accepted that failed before. I don't understand why, but I'm just taking the progress and moving on.

The basic outline of Merchant/Temple quest starts Initial quest, which starts scheduler quest, which starts random sub-quest, which starts delay quest to restart scheduler seems to work. The initial quest, like S0000999, never ends, keeping its log entries in place, but the others get restarted as many times as needed. As Tipton noted in a comment is his code, that makes it easier to rework those restarting quests, as they get reloaded more often.

If you want to create a sort of plot (as in quests which are the consequence of how the player finished some previous quests, instead of isolated and unrelated random quests) check the list of global variables that are not use by the main quest. This is the only direct way i know for quests to share information between each other.

I do intend that some of the quests will reflect progress, but not the degree of some quests being only available if you've done others. I'm thinking more along the lines of different dialog, different enemies, maybe different contact NPC's. Some of that will relate to the main quest, too, (e.g. whether you've encountered Cyndassa) so I'll be testing its globals as well as my own. I know WereFall uses 5 and 10, so I'm looking at 19,20 for my own, although I'm not doing so yet. I don't think any of the quest packs in the "easy-install" bundle uses any, but I haven't decompiled them to check yet.

I've started a http://ghastley.org/daggerfall to track progress on the mods I'm working on. The site is read-only, so any feedback should be here, I guess.

Right, quests. "2 x One Thief every 12 in-game minutes"... for a bag of condems? *chuckle* prosttute's life in Daggerfall must be dangerous beyond belief. No wonder that streetwalkers there are so tough that they go to loot a dungeon for ingredients on par with seasoned adventurers.

Thief is the enemy class, rather than an indication of their intent. They're religious fanatics, probably followers of Dibella, for whom six is a sacrement.

And with all the diseases in Daggerfall being potentially lethal, it IS dangerous. You'd go dungeon diving for a cure if you caught one, and the shops were out of a vital ingredient. One could also ask why the other people you go rescue from dungeons are down there in the first place. The standard answer would be that they didn't know it was dangerous until they got there. Those quests are essentially cloned from equally unlikely scenarios of scholars and merchants wandering in for archeology or similar reasons.

Temples is Daggerfall are the equivalent to hospitals, farmacies and churches all put together. Some temples have specific roles like Julianos who deals with logic and commerce i believe and Dibela which deals with art and prostitution which in Daggerfall is just another form of art. So all temples automatically share a set of generic quests including fetching ingrideants or put a dead soul to rest. You could also see a quest to go fecth an ingrideant as a way for temples to test newbes.

House of Dibela has only one specific quest to deliver a prized artwork.

Quoting from the source:
"One of the more important functions of the House of Dibella is the preservation of great works of art. We have scouts all over Tamriel who look for rare and beautiful pieces. Are you available to retrieve one such masterpiece? It is not far from here, and we will gladly pay you (random gold) gold pieces for it."
"Oh marvelous. Now, the procurer of this particular work is a rather funny little (contact's description) named (contact's name). What (he/she) has found is apparently so rare and wondrous, (He/She) fears bandits will rob (him/her) before (he/she) gets to our House. I do not know how dangerous it is, but if you would go to (building) in (town) and get the artifact from (him/her), I would be most appreciative. Time is of the essense, for (he/she) says that (he/she) will abandon the artifact if someone is not there to take it in (time limit) days. Meanwhilst, I will expect you back here in (time limit) days. Fare thee well and may Dibella lighten thy load."

Dont know what specific quests would apply to House Dibella and prostituion but it would be interesting to explore more of this side. Say a quest to help a prosttute who is being harassed by a Noble or to defend a prosttute from the malicious rumors of a rival.