I'm really confused on how to set up the opening scene when the Dragonborn first enters the town. It will be a one-time event triggered by his entrance.

The opening scene involves the player entering the town and several bandit rabblerousers attack him.

The dragonborn can't take on all these bandits and passes out just before his health is at zero.

He awakens in a cell used by the bandits for friendly sessions of getting information out of people (torture of course)

As he comes to he can barely make out his environment as the bandits argue and fight over what to do about him. They have heard of him and know he is an important individual. Through all the fighting amongst themselves they decide the best thing would be to let the Dragonborn confront the baddest bandit of the all...Frank!

He gets svcker-punched from behind and the screen goes to black....again.

As he awakens, again, the room is almost black and he can barely make out the silhouette of someone sitting in front of him. His hands are bound and he is kneeling before this figure while in his cage.

Suddenly a mean old woman's voice crackles "Turn up the lamps, you idiots!"

And the room lights up a little you realize that Frank is actually a little old woman who holds great power over the bandits.

She determines that you would make a great bandit for the guild but you must prove yourself more and sets you on a difficult quest to prove your meddle.

Now, I'm sure I would need a form of trigger box at the entrance that triggers only once. And set it up to enable the bandits that will be attacking the dragonborn.

It's all the little details where I get lost.

Like how do you get the bandits to attack but later be friendly? By using factions and placing the DB into the bandit faction?

How do you set it up so the scene fades to black after the DB's health reaches a certain level?

To make the scene fade to black should modified imagespaces be used?

Does anyone want to help me tackle this scene with me?

Thanks for your consideration!

You should take a look at the Speaking with Silence quest (part of the Thieves Guild quest line). It contains a scene much like the one you're describing at the point where the player meets Karliah.

Factions are the way to go as far as unfriendly/friendly is concerned.

The real quick version ... And almost certainly the version with a few steps missing ...

Setup

• You need a trigger box that starts the first attack (when player steps into it) - You could use a trigger on a load door ... It depends where the attack is to take place and when (having done what?)
  
• You need to position some bandits out of player sight (using moveto) ready for the attack
  
• You need to make the Faction of these bandits (could use a temporary faction) an enemy of the player faction
  
• You need to make sure these NPCs are set to help Friends and Allies
  
• When the player gets close enough to them, they will attack.
  
• You need to start a new Sub-Quest

The Attack

• Because of potions, spells and player skill, you may want to disable player controls and just let the PC get hit ...
  
• During the attack you need to monitor the PC's health in an OnUpdate, or something (http://www.creationkit.com/GetActorValue_-_Actor) gives an example - Do this on a Player Alias in the Sub-Quest (when target reached, complete the Quest)
  
• Disable any NPCs still standing
  
• Trigger a new sub-quest (with just a scene in it, in a new location)

After The Attack

• moveto on the NPCs you need in that Scene to their start positions
  
• Then moveto the PC to the new location ... that will give you a loading screen
  
• Disable Player Controls should still be on (I THINK it persists across load ... but disable again if not)
  
• Just a few lines of dialogue
  
• The donkey-punch would need to faked, I think ... maybe the PC just passes out again?
  
• (Fade to Black could be Lighting ... though another load screen is coming)
  
• Complete the Sub-Quest
  
• Start new Sub-Quest with a Scene in it (in another new location)

Meeting Frank

• moveto on Frank to get her to the scene location
  
• moveto on PC to get it to scene location
  
• (Disable Player Controls)
  
• Some Scene dialogue ....
  
• Complete Sub-Quest and presumably start your first "Become a Guild Member" Quest

(Easy )

I'll have to go through that about a dozen times I think. And that's just to see if it's really in English

All kidding aside, I knew this part of the mod would probably be the hardest thing that I want to do.

At least I have the voice of Frank all lined up....my 84 year old Mother

Here's an image of the entrance to Lamplight showing the trigger box and the NPC is way up near the load door, but you can barely make him out.

http://lamplight.pcgamingnetwork.com/tmp/southernentrance.jpg

If there's something else you'd like to see how I have it set up let me know

When I'm attempting something this complex I tend to just have-a-go-at-it and see what my first version produces.

I then do a number of alterations passes, having seen what happens with V1 ... and keep iterating until I am happy.

You want a lot to happen, with a good number of characters ... It won't be easy, but it can be done.

Post up if you are struggling with a particular bit

Thanks for the response h4ent

I'll be working on this quest once I finish with the scene to keep people out of the town until the main mod quest has been started.