TEARS OF THE FIEND 
================== 

Release 1.0 (Dated as of: 18 June 2007) 
By Paul 'Simyaz' Thomson 


"A Demon whose entire existence thrives on manipulation.

A General whose entire existence is dictated by the Demon that drives him.

And You, whose entire existence has somehow manipulated and dictated the existence of those around you.

You have shaped Tamriel beyond that which is justifiable by your own existence. 

Your Legacy will reveal to you why this is so, and why your past is intertwined with The Butcher of Armindale.

And only the Tears of the Fiend will bring about it’s conclusion…"


"The Legacy and The Butcher of Armindale Convergent Storylines"


TABLE OF CONTENTS:
==================

I: Features
II: Premise
III: Update Details
IV: Installation 
V: Quest Help
VI: Technical Help
VII: Editing and Distribution
VIII: Credits and Acknowledgements
IX: Additional Information


I - FEATURES: 
============= 

The complete storyline behind The Legacy and The Butcher of Armindale merged together as one complex, interchangable, multi-pathed Quest/companion MOD.

The "true" conclusion to both The Legacy and The Butcher of Armindale (which takes place AFTER the existing events in both MODs.)

Complex quest involving a number of different encounters, 4000+ lines of dialogue, and a highly complex and engaging story.

Branching quest/dialogue line, resulting in varying encounters and endings depending on HOW you choose to progress through the quest itself.

Companion NPC packaged with all the features available to NPC Companion MODs at this point in time.

Complex and highly detailed guide featuring everything necessary to get you through the MOD with all manner of path variances and solutions, as well as a related story and trivia related to the MOD.


II - PREMISE: 
============= 

Much to my surprise, the re-release of The Legacy attracted far more attention than I had expected. In fact, it attracted so much attention that a few gaming magazines featured blurbs on it, and with that my faith in Oblivion MODding was restored. I was already in the process of updating all three of the MODs to give them a more professional feel, but with this revelation that The Legacy (my personal favourite of all of my MODs) was what I would classify as a success I knew that I had to create something totally different.

A while back I had started work on a Convergent Storylines MOD entitled "A Tale of Two Worlds" which would have merged The Butcher of Armindale and Ruined-Tail's Tale. In short, the MOD was a failure due to the fact that at the time there were not the 3rd party tools necessary to complete the task to a suitable standard, and I was unable to convince Ruin's original voice actor to reprise his starring role. Now that merging .esps is a simple practice (TESGecko is a gift from the Gods) I decided that it was time to return to work on a Convergent Storylines MOD. Yet by this point Ruined-Tail's Tale was far too complex to even consider such a merging of storylines, so the solution had to come from elsewhere.

The Legacy built upon the lore I had created in The Butcher of Armindale, and more or less told the remaining 2/3rds of the story that the player gleans during his travels with Cleon. Thus, it was entirely logical for both stories to come together and create one complete tale that ultimately wrapped up both in a decisive manner. Furthermore, to add to the appeal of the project, it would be yet another "first-time" as far as Oblivion MODding was concerned, meaning that it would doubtless provide the challenge that has driven me during the creation of each of my MODs.

10 months after The Butcher of Armindale was first released (and almost a full year after Ruined-Tail’s Tale was first released) Arilita and myself released The Butcher of Armindale 1.0, the first REAL update for that MOD since it’s initial release. It was also the first of my MODs to harbour the unofficial flag “Tears of the Fiend compatible.” That is to say, that it –and The Legacy soon after- were completely ready for the merger. 

So, why did I opt to use “Tears of the Fiend” as the title? Well, for one thing I’ve always liked the sound of that as a story-title. But more important is how it applies to the MOD itself. Since I don’t want to spoil anything, I will simply say this: Regardless of whether or not you have played The Legacy and The Butcher of Armindale, the Fiend whose tears have been shed is not who you expect…


III - Update Details
====================

N/A at this point.


IV - Installation
==================

NOTE: You must not have THE BUTCHER OF ARMINDALE or THE LEGACY .esp's enabled in the Oblivion Data Files menu else this MOD will not work. TotF REPLACES both THE BUTCHER OF ARMINDALE and THE LEGACY.

NOTE: You MUST be using Oblivion version 1.1 or above for this MOD to work. If you are using 1.0 you WILL receive strange and crippling bugs that prevent quest progression.

Simply unzip TotF.zip into your Oblivion directory, being sure to maintain the "folder/directory integrity" during the unzip process. If for some reason you are unable to complete this, the relative files should be placed as follows:

TotF.esp file - Oblivion\Data\
Sound files (prefixed with LEGACY_Soundname or BUTCHER_Soundname) - Oblivion\Data\Sound\FX\
Voice files - Oblivion\Data\Sound\Voice\TotF.esp\<Race name>\<Gender>\
Texture files - Oblivion\Data\Textures\Menus\Book\TheLegacy\
Loading screen files - Oblivion\Data\Textures\Menus\Loading\
Music files - Oblivion\Data\Music\Specific\

Once the files are correctly installed, start up Oblivion, be sure to select "TotF.esp" within the "data files" section of the Oblivion splash screen.

Load up a saved game, or start a new game, and simply "rest" in an Inn or Tavern to trigger the first encounter, and start this epic tale.


V - QUEST HELP:
===============

Refer to the "Tears of the Fiend Guide" included with the TotF.zip file for a complete walkthrough of the entire quest.


VI - TECHNICAL HELP:
====================

Refer to the "Tears of the Fiend Guide" included with the TotF.zip file for a complete troubleshooting regarding this MOD.


VII - EDITING, USING, DISTRIBUTING: 
===================================

I really don't care where or how you distribute Tears of the fiend, The Legacy or The Butcher of Armindale provided that you don't change the attached ReadMe's (all 3 of them) and you don't remove this guide or take undue credit for the MOD's creation and development. Feel free to use my script and NPCs all you want, but PLEASE don't plagiarise my story/dialogue. Obviously I can't do anything to stop you, but seriously, there can be no justifiable reason to steal my writing. Basically, as long as you aren't going to publish any changes to this MOD (By posting it online or distributing it in any way) I don't care what changes you make. 

If you want to translate any of my MODs into another language with the intent on using it for something other than personal use (distributing) be sure to contact me at Simyaz@Bigpond.com first for permission, and the relative conditions associated with the translation.


VIII - CREDITS/ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
================================

Development Team:

Paul 'Simyaz' Thomson - Writer, scripter, creator, Voice Actor, MOD Leader.

Arilita - Co-Developer, Bug-Hunter, Tester. If it weren't for Arilita's persistence, this MOD and the 1.0 release of The Butcher of Armindale would never have been completed. Her dedication to perfecting this MOD is unparalleled.

Wizard of Thay - Bug-Hunter. Wizard has been working with me since the 1.0 build of Ruined-Tail's Tale (way back in the dimmest mists of Oblivion's dawn) and has always been completely reliable and tactful in his approach to MODding.

AndyW - Creator of the CompanionSHARE script used (with permission) in this MOD. 


Back-Of-House Team:

Fred 'Blue Wolf' H - Voice acting for Cleon 'The Butcher of Armindale.'

Robert Cuninghame - Creator of the "Tears of the Fiend" poster used to promote this MOD.


Miscellaneous Credits:

The TES4Gecko Team (ScripterRon, KomodoDave, dev_akm) - Without TES4Gecko, doing a mod of this level of complexity would have been near impossible.

Aubrey "dev_akm" McAuley - A good friend of mine from the Elderscrolls Forums. Despite being overcommitted to a dozen odd projects, he still always found time to answer any technical questions I had, and was always ready to help bug-hunt when necessary.


IX - ADDITIONAL:
================

MAKE USE OF THE TEARS OF THE FIEND GUIDE!

The Guide is highly complex and will provide an answer for any quest or technical question that you might have. Furthermore, if you have finished the MOD I would suggest reading the short story included in order to make the most out of the MOD.

Other MODs by SIMYAZ:

The Legacy (Multi-layered Quest MOD with COMPANION) - http://tessource.net/files/file.php?id=8356

Ruined-Tail's Tale (COMPANION MOD with story-driven Quest) - http://tessource.net/files/file.php?id=3027

The Butcher of Armindale (Malevolent COMPANION MOD with story-driven Quest) - http://tessource.net/files/file.php?id=5781


E-mail: Simyaz@Bigpond.com
MSN Messenger: Simyaz@Hotmail.com
AIM: Simyaz0


