So I finally figured out how to start a game where NOTHING i : V - Skyrim

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 1:09 pm

I've never had to use the console. I just go back to the Jarl with the method I posted above and he asks me to go talk to Farengar and then once I proceed through the quest dragons appear as "scripted" from then on; easy no fuss no mess with no glitches this way. :smile:

Starting with an "altstart" game as I posted for the person who asked, you don't have that option available - which is why I replied as I did.

Play however you want, just stop saying toon

No. It's a viable word for a pretend person in a FCRPG. If you don't like it, don't read posts. What a SILLY thing to get upset over.

I have to agree with a few others here. "Toon" seems like a silly way to reference a person's character. In all my years and in the time I've spent reading this board, this is the first post I've come across that used the term "toon". Admittedly I've never played WOW and in fact stayed away from it like it was the plague. :tongue:

It's no silier (less in fact) than "paper doll" - and no I don't remember what game that was....

And as far as not playing WoW.... it's probably the single best solo game I've ever played (and since I started playing computer games in 1985, that covers a fair amount of years, games, and ground). If you don't want to do "social" you dont have to - though of course, if you don't you don't get "uber gear".... about which I personally care nothing but many others do to the extent of nerd raging constantly over something they feel they should have had but it got "ninja'd".... *sigh* I avoid "social" in WoW like I would a plague-ridden rat, because I have ZERO interest in other "real" people interfering with my fun.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:51 pm

post deleted by Bram

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:52 pm

Hey Bram.... it's on page one, in post number 9.... if you're not seeing it I could repost the whole thing here. Let me know.

[I should point out that I have discovered a possible reason people would NOT want to do this: on the two toons I have currently who used the "bat altstart" method, neither is able to buy a house in cities - or obtain thaneship. This doesn't matter to me, but it may to others.]

» Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:10 am

Thx Sere, I missed your previous post while using my mousewheel to scroll :rolleyes:

hehe Anywho I think i'll stick with the simple method I use as I enjoy getting at least one house as a home base. Once the CK is out I'll be making my own house mod. :tes:

Cheers!

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 1:57 pm

Thx Sere, I missed your previous post while using my mousewheel to scroll :rolleyes:

hehe Anywho I think i'll stick with the simple method I use as I enjoy getting at least one house as a home base. Once the CK is out I'll be making my own house mod. :tes:

Cheers!

Yah, that's why it doesn't matter to me. I park stuff in the Alchemist's Shack for now, grab what I need for smithing/enchanting when ready to do that, put the leftovers back.... once the CK lands, there will likely be a bunch of cool player homes available.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 7:46 pm

Hmm, when I did this it did let me buy a house, I'm pretty sure... in Markarth, though, and I know you hate Markarth, sooo...

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:56 am

It's been a revelation to me, going clear back to Arena. First there's how MUCH of each of the older games I remember. In fact.... that's a shocker - since I played each of them (as this one) at release.... My GODDESS - I guess I don't have to worry about memory issues.... even at my age! Second, I expected to be turned off by the lack of graphic "excellence". That isn't the issue at all - the main issue with Arena and Daggerfall (and to some extent Morrowind) is that the controls aren't the way I want to "move" etc. - and there's not a whole lot I can do about that.

But the games themselves are FRESH and fun today, all these years later - which makes me a very very happy Beth fan. Again! I can envision playing all these games forever (well.... as long as I have a couple of antique laptops with equally antique versions of Windows so that dosbox is a happier camper....)

Oh sure! Actually, I did just for a bit "ignore" the stuff. But then you have to be rather careful just what you do where so you don't trip something.... And I hate to have to say this, but this is only for PC users, I have no idea how you would be able to do this on console, or IF you could.... Sorry!

I have a file saved as altstart (do NOT save it as .txt or any other extension). Here's the contents:

player.removeallitems

;Armor
player.additem 0010594d 1
player.equipitem 0010594d
player.additem 00013920 1
player.equipitem 00013920
player.additem 00013921 1
player.equipitem 00013921

;Weapon
player.additem 00013790 1
player.equipitem 00013790

;Spellbooks
player.additem 0009cd53 1

;Gold and Lockpicks
player.additem f 35
player.additem a 15

;Create Character
showracemenu

[This file goes in the Skyrim main folder inside the Steam folder. NOT in Data.]

Open the folder where your save games are stored. Copy skyrim.ini somewhere else for safety. Then open skyrim.ini, and add this line in the General section under anything else:

SStartingCell=GuardianStones (or use any other cell you like - you can get a list at http://www.skyrimsearch.com/cells.php)

Start a new game. You'll wind up in the starting cell you specified, in first person view. Open the console, and type "bat altstart" (without the double quotes.

Select your race etc., make your changes, save your character, and go on from there. FIRST THING YOU DO ONCE YOU ARE HAPPY WITH YOUR CHARACTER!!!:

Save the game, then exit to desktop. Pull up skyrim.ini, and delete the SStartingCell entry. Otherwise every time you try to load the game, you'll start over (bad thing....!)

Enjoy.... Oh! You can change anything in the altstart file to make your starting stuff what you want. What mine has is fur armor, leather boots/bracers, an iron war axe, a little gold, some lockpicks, and the Sparks spellbook.

Oh! #2 - if you're changing to female from male, you'll see that your toon still appears to be "bound". Not to worry. Just equip weapon, fixes it....

Wow, this sounds like a lot of fun. So what, do I copy the original .ini file then add all that stuff? I'm going to try this my next play through.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 3:16 pm

@The Tallest: yes, copy the ini file to desktop or wherever you store stuff. Then copy all that from the post into a file, name that file altstart but do not save it with any extensions - not .txt, not .bat etc. Make any changes to starting gold, items, lockpicks, spellbooks before starting the game. UESP wiki has the item IDs you need.

And do remember that you need to take the SStartingCell line OUT of the ini file after you save the first time. Also, remember that it appears you won't be able to buy a house in any of the cities, or become Thane.

Hmm, when I did this it did let me buy a house, I'm pretty sure... in Markarth, though, and I know you hate Markarth, sooo... :wink:

ROFL! Yeah, definitely NOT my fav place in Skyrim's world. I'm good with waiting for the CK and the modders.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:35 pm

After you get out of "baby's first dungeon" with Ralof, go get your starting money by looting Riverwood. You'll get the prompt to go and talk to the Jarl of Whiterun. Then you just don't do it. That's how you avoid doing anything in the Main Quest.

You can still visit Riverwood to sell loot, etc. but don't talk to the Jarl. Just wander around and take other quests, and the Main Quest will never advance, and Dragons will never spawn if you skip talking to the Jarl.

It's better than that. At least it is on XBox, not sure if there are any kind of weird PS3 specific bugs that make ignoring it bug it later. As I posted above, you can actually go as far as talking to the wizard who sends you for the dragonstone and giving it to him. Listening to the soldier report the dragon at the tower does not cause them to start appearing. Only actually going to fight and kill that first one does that. What it will do after you've retrieved the dragonstone and finished that one by turning it into the wizard is get the Jarl to grant you the ability to buy the house in Whiterun.

I can go back to to the town and listen to his housecarl give the soldiers her speech later or just head to the watchtower myself if I want to resume the main quest. Or not, but either way, it's simple to both own a house and not have dragons attacking.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:42 pm

it's like looney toons.

what?

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:40 pm

My current "toon" (ain't I a stinkah?) didn't touch the MQ in terms of meeting Greybeards and such until recently at level 46. He is an assassin and head of the DB after restoring it to its glory. He had picked up some shouts and a couple dragon souls, including the one where he discovered he must be the rumored Dragonborn. I mean, he's no idiot - why else would dragons disintegrate in his presence while mystical energy flows from them into him? Therefore, his reactions at High Hrothgar are more of the "Yeah, I'm the Dragonborn, so what? Just tell me what you called me here about and let's get on with it already." :devil:

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 11:50 pm

I avoided the main quest on my last character until I had nothing left to do, it was the most fun I'd had so far.

» Mon Jun 04, 2012 1:31 am

Oh sure! Actually, I did just for a bit "ignore" the stuff. But then you have to be rather careful just what you do where so you don't trip something.... And I hate to have to say this, but this is only for PC users, I have no idea how you would be able to do this on console, or IF you could.... Sorry!

I have a file saved as altstart (do NOT save it as .txt or any other extension). Here's the contents:

***snip****

This is really good thx. Wondering if there is a way to do all of this without having to do the MQ Dragon Rising quest in order to have dragons in the game?

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:41 pm

It's better than that. At least it is on XBox, not sure if there are any kind of weird PS3 specific bugs that make ignoring it bug it later. As I posted above, you can actually go as far as talking to the wizard who sends you for the dragonstone and giving it to him. Listening to the soldier report the dragon at the tower does not cause them to start appearing. Only actually going to fight and kill that first one does that. What it will do after you've retrieved the dragonstone and finished that one by turning it into the wizard is get the Jarl to grant you the ability to buy the house in Whiterun.

I can go back to to the town and listen to his housecarl give the soldiers her speech later or just head to the watchtower myself if I want to resume the main quest. Or not, but either way, it's simple to both own a house and not have dragons attacking.

I see where you are coming from, but I just never did anything regarding that. I still have the Dragonstone in my Inventory, and even though it says it weighs 25lbs., since it's a Quest Item it actually weighs nothing, so I don't mind it being there. The only problem that I have with your method is that it makes it more difficult when walking West from Whiterun. After the Jarl charges you to kill the Dragon at the Watchtower, if you go really anywhere near it, it seems to kick off the attack.

Besides, I just went and got the Thane of Riften Quests done and now my Dunmer Assassin has a great home that is also strategically placed near the Morrowind/Skyrim border. This way I can (in RP only...) be very close and help my people to retake their rightful Homeland again, Boethiah willing.

So yeah, I'm loving this, and when I get bored/ready is when I'll advance the Main Quest line. We are on the same page, just two different methods.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 11:08 pm

Well, I finally created Toon # 4 last night and she will be living off the land, will avoid cities, avoid MQ all together. She will only use what she finds. No worries about quests or quest chains.

I went to Riverwood to make some Leather Armor and sell some loot, but if I play it right, I shouldn't even need any gold. No fast traveling to cities, no worries about having too much loot to sell and have to go around each merchant to reduce the weight she carries. Besides Riverwood, I will only use forges, alchemy and enchanting tables I find in the wild (bandit camps etc).

Right now I have only 2 quests in my log (I tried to avoid the 2nd one by running away from Ralof lol)

Talk to Gerdur (Ralof's Sister) (which I am not going to do LOL)
Join the Stormcloaks

Oh and by running away from Ralof, I actually stumbled over a small bandit camp I've NEVER seen before LOLOL it's west of the guardian stones and I've only ever been to the stones and then headed east. I actually found Treasure map 1 in that little camp. :smile:

Edit: I tried to do this with Toon # 3, just be DB and TG, but man I missed the dragons LOL Let's see how long I can keep this up, without at least doing the Whiterun thing.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 12:02 pm

I may have to take my Dunmer Assassin on a little romp to the West of the stones then... lol

I love slaughtering Bandits!

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:51 pm

So I finally figured out how to start a game where NOTHING involving the MQ happens

Impossible, "Unbound" and "Escape from Helgon" are part of the MQ.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:00 pm

I may have to take my Dunmer Assassin on a little romp to the West of the stones then... lol

I love slaughtering Bandits!

LOL oh yea, I enjoy kicking Bandit butt hahahahaha The camp is really close to the stones. When you head west, the river will be on your right and the bandit camp with 2 or 3 tents is on your left, just a few paces off the road.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:17 pm

the memories of AD&D computer games.

pool of radiance
secret of the silver blades
pool of darkness

all characters looked like toons.

Curse of the Azure Bonds!

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 11:00 am

Impossible, "Unbound" and "Escape from Helgon" are part of the MQ.

See post #9.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:25 am

Impossible, "Unbound" and "Escape from Helgon" are part of the MQ. :wink:

Try actually reading the post. This method allows you to start the game from any location you want, without doing Unbound or Escape from Helgen.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 10:54 am

Of my four characters, only two have done the MQ. One did the MQ long enough to get the last stone of Berenziah (sp?), the last hasn't done it beyond getting, but not handing over, the Dragonstone. Not giving that up is how I usually halt the MQ: the option to resume is easy, but there are no dragon attacks. The issue of a house is the main drawback: I now have to earn a lot more money, and do more quests, to get a house. Which is why I'm waiting for the CK. With both Morrowind and Oblivion I seldom did the MQ> Usually for RP reasons, but often because it bored me. My next character will do part of it, because I want to do the Civil war for the Imperials, and the one after that won't do it.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 9:50 am

I still only have 1 character in skyrim, a level 81 battlemage. I did the MQ and now Im just exploring.. I still feel like I have a lot to do. Times like this I wish there was a hardcoe mode though, I bought fallout nv a few weeks ago and wish I was forced to eat drink and sleep in this game. Now I am pretending that I have to, so my character has a reason to go hunt deer when he is not questing.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 1:35 pm

Playing an RPG and avoiding the main questline is like trying to drive a Corolla in the Baja 1000... If you want a game where you can run around and do whatever, there are sandbox games for that. Sure it's fun to pick what quests you want to do when, but purposefully avoiding the main questline just doesn't make a whole lot of sense, IMO. That's the whole point of the game.. to be Dovakiin.. and take on Skyrim from Dovakiin's shoes.

Dragons=annoying. I'd rather just ignore 'em.

» Sun Jun 03, 2012 5:15 pm

I may have to take my Dunmer Assassin on a little romp to the West of the stones then... lol

I love slaughtering Bandits!

And if you go a bit farther on from the bandit camp, there's a Talos shrine with some dead worshippers - AND a dead Thalmor complete with Hooded Thalmor Robes and generally a decent enchanted weapon.