THE BUTCHER OF ARMINDALE 
========================

Version 1.0 (Dated as of: 1 April 07) 

By Paul 'Simyaz' Thomson 


"I believe the Ruins of Armindale are the Gods' way if reminding us of the depravity of the primal psyche. For they stand as a testament to the epitome of mortal evil..." 

-Archaeologist Bsarnn, spoken to the Society for History Preservation, 200 years after the BUTCHER OF ARMINDALE last stalked the lands...


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

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


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

The Companion:

*NPC Companion "Cleon, the Butcher of Armindale" (Imperial Warrior) who will follow you, fight, sneak, loot corpses and everything else you have come to expect from your Oblivion MOD companions. 

The Story:

*Detailed character conversations/storyline. What the player says will directly affect Cleon's development as a character and an NPC, and determine the eventual outcome of his quest. 

*Quest relating to the NPC - From the onset of the MOD, the player is required to begin a quest to acquire Cleon. He will not simply walk out of nowhere and offer you his services, he needs to be found and in your debt before he will side with you. Additionally, as the story progresses Cleon's quest becomes more involved, eventually leading to a final showdown of suitably epic proportions. The player can choose to take part in this (and develop the character further) or disregard it and use him as a "meatshield" NPC. 

*New encounters/fights - Using some "different" encounter techniques that I've always wanted to try in Oblivion I've incorporated several new fights that add to the immersion of the story.

*Alternate endings - There are 3 possible endings which stem from 2 different final encounters, both of which are dependent on your ability to succeed or fail at the final fight, and more importantly the story path that the player chooses.

*Voice Acting - Voice acting for most of the new NPCs added by "The Butcher of Armindale" as MOD, as well as MOST of the conversations with Cleon.


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

To me Ruined-Tail's Tale was a success for numerous reasons. In one respect it demonstrated that there is a traditional RPG community within Oblivion, the likes of which can appreciate a story-driven companion who harbours a realistic personality. It also revealed to me that despite this dedicated community, it was greatly outnumbered by the masses who simply could not understand the appeal of a flawed a companion (in terms of personality). They wanted eye candy and a meatshield, and hence they looked elsewhere.

Armed now with a greater understanding of the Oblivion community, and more importantly being recognised amongst the RPG enthusiast community playing Oblivion as being one of their number (and perhaps as a producer of MODs that still maintained the spirit of games like Baldur's Gate and PlaneScape Torment) I began my new project. But rather that doing what had already been done over again and creating a character along the same lines of Ruined-Tail, this time I turned the story on its side and created a companion so completely different that he would stand out as being a unique individual when compared to Ruin. This companion would be malevolent, cold-hearted, and haunted by a metaphorical beast that spurred his every actions towards dire consequences. This companion would become the Butcher of Armindale.

The majority of the dialogue was written while at work (instead of working), and as a result of this I found that I had a complete project sooner than anticipated. With my new script in hand, and the knowledge earned from the whole Ruined-Tail's Tale debacle (or success, if you prefer), I began to plot out Cleon's MOD. I decided that I would start from a position in which voice acting was being developed in tandem with the main part of the MOD, and after a great deal of hunting (and trips to the Oblivion Voice-Actor's Guild - Thanks guys!) I came across BlueWolf, who seemed to be of a similar state of mind as myself, yet with the talent for voice acting. Between the two of us we came up with the personality of Cleon -which we designed to be eerily reminiscent of Serevok from Throne of Bhaal-, and knuckled down to the task of completing The Butcher of Armindale.


III - UPDATE DETAILS:
=====================

UPDATE 1.0 CHANGES:

*Completely rewrote a large number of the core BUTCHER scripts, and reorganised all of the BUTCHER files (within the .esp) so that it has a more "professional" feel.

*Reworked a number of the sound files attached to the MOD. Created some new sound files. Deleted a few. Edited others. All for the sake of immersion.

*Updated The CompanionShare so that I'm using an "in-house" version developed and tested by AndyW (a very talented Modder) and myself. Also changed the way that Cleon's AI is handled within the MOD itself. 

*Completely redesigned the "a glimpse of the Abyss" section of the MOD.

*Completely redesigned the "Nightmares of Armindale" section of the MOD.

*Completely redesigned the "Dream of Armindale" section of the MOD.

*Completely redesigned the "Dream of Cleon's Burial" section of the MOD.

*Completely redesigned "Cleon's Abyss" section of the MOD.

*Merged the book "The Butcher of Armindale" once the player has completed the task of piecing together the fragments.

*Removed the "Quest flag" on numerous items to stop players being lumped with unwanted items (after the quest is completed.)

*Added the ability to summon Cleon (in case he gets stuck.)

*Corrected a number of mistakes in the journal updates.

*Allowed the player to return to where he left off after each dream segment.

*Allowed the player to clear "Cleon's criminal record" when the player clears his own record.

*Made some changes to the Trigger that opens Cleon's grave.

*Changed the final "encounter" section of the MOD (in preparation for merging this MOD with The Legacy) and making it less ludicrously difficult.

*Corrected numerous spelling errors.

*Changes to the consistency of the 3 possible endings -to avoid certain bugs, and inconsistencies.

*Numerous other changes that don't necessarily warrant mentioning.


UPDATE 0.51 CHANGES:

*Fixed a bug where Shann the Bandit was spawned prematurely. (He was actually already triggered to be enabled only after the player experienced the second dream sequence. But unfortunately he wasn't flagged for "initially disabled" so it was kind of pointless.)

*Changed the "abnormally loud" sound at the end of Dream Sequence 1. It should now match the rest of the sounds.

*Stopped Cleon's "Wait" function from trying to path him back to his original grave site. 

*Changed the "Passive" conversations (as in, conversations that take place in which the PC is not on the receiving end) so that players with "Show passive subtitles" turned on no longer see the Dialogue notes I left there...

*Resolved the "Cleon's Armour is stolen" bug, and the "Cleon not equipping anything except his original items" bug. You can thank AndyW for that one entirely, I was too hung over to even ATTEMPT to fix it =P


IV - BUGS:
==========

MOD-specific bugs:

*OTHER COMPANION MODS - This one is a BIG issue, if you try and E-mail me regarding this issue I will delete it immediately. IF you are using other companion MODS (Ariana, Garbrielle, Vir, Ruined-Tail) etc, you MUST have the NPCs stop following you (As in, make them WAIT) BEFORE you talk to Phintias to begin the quest, and up until you have Cleon in your party. The reason for this is because other Companions WILL interrupt several early quest-related sequences and will render the MOD unusable.


OBLIVION-specific bugs:

*Pathing - There are some weird pathing bugs that occur occasionally (especially if you are running along with high SPEED over a long distance. If Cleon runs too slow and gets left behind, when you zone-into another area or quicktravel he should come back.

*Saved-Game Bug - It would appear that the infamous save game bug from Morrowind is back, where saves performed at certain crucial parts of the game will bug out the rest of it (Making a relative quest impossible to complete.) My chief beta tester had only one instance of this happening (where he quicksaved in the middle of the final "showdown" in the MOD) and this resulted in an NPC who was alive when the game was saved, playing dead every time it was loaded. Extensive testing of this has revealed that it is NOT a bug induced my the MOD itself, but rather it seems to be a random "chance to happen" bug that could affect any and all MODs (and indeed the original game itself) regardless of whether or not your have The Butcher of Armindale installed.


V - INSTALLATION: 
================ 

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

TheButcher.esp file - Oblivion\Data\
Sound files (prefixed with BUTCHER_Soundname) - Oblivion\Data\Sound\FX\
Voice files - Oblivion\Data\Sound\Voice\TheButcher.esp\
Texture 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 "TheButcher.esp" within the "data files" section of the Oblivion splash screen.

Load up a saved game, or start a new game, and speak to Phinteas in First Edition (in Imperial City) to start the MOD..


VI - QUEST FAQ: (POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!)
==============

Q: I don't know what I'm supposed to do now, and I don't want to read the walkthrough. Any hints?

A: Well, if you can't figure out what you are supposed to do from the Quest Guide (in your journal) and the mapmarkers aren't helping (sometimes you need to use your own initiative and not rely on mapmarkers to guide your path) the thing I would suggest is that you talk to Cleon about it. If you don't know what to do, it's a good bet that he does.


Q: How do I trigger the dream sequences in the MOD?

A: Provided that the conditions have been met -specifically, you have acquired yourself the next page in The Butcher of Armindale book- all you have to do is WAIT in order to trigger the dream sequence.


Q: After the third dream (with the Conspirators) I need to use the information learned from the dream to find Cleon's grave. But I still can't find it. What do I need to do?

A: There were two pieces of information provided in the dream sequence. The first -and most obvious- is that The Blacksmith is the one guarding the Grave. The other is that the Conspirator's were wearing Anvil guardsmen uniforms. Thus, the grave is somewhere near the Anvil Blacksmith. Remember, there are two blacksmiths in Anvil, the one that you are after is the one in the Castle.


Q: I'm at the Anvil Blacksmith, but I still can't find the entrance to Cleon's tomb. Where is it?

A: Go into the room with all the barrels. Have a look at the edge of the carpet that isn't in-line with the rest of the carpet. You will notice a small hatch hidden beneath it. That's the entrance to the Tomb.


Q: How do I know when Cleon wants to talk to me?

A: In previous versions a messagebox appeared that advised the player when Cleon wanted to speak to them. Now instead a "spell icon" will appear on your HUD with the title "Cleon wants to talk" whenever Cleon is ready for a chat.


Q: I've got Cleon in my party, but our conversations don't seem to be ending well. How do I change that, and what will I miss out on if I don't get on Cleon's good side?

A: The Butcher of Armindale is an opinionated companion to say the least. To get on his good side you need to share his opinions (such as his opinions regarding regarding religion and morals), you need to ensure that you don't bend under his pressure (do not defer your leadership to him, yet to the same extent do not flat out rebuff him), and you need to ensure that you're answers aren't stupid (there are a few conversations where he is deliberately leading you into "saying what you think he wants to hear" when it is blatantly obvious that it is the wrong answer.)

You can tell if you are on Cleon's "good side" because you will receive an additional conversation regarding strategy in battle. If you do NOT receive this conversation, then you CANNOT get the "Good ending" and can in turn only get the "Sad" and the "Evil" endings.


Q: All right, Cleon respects me and I have begun the "strategic" final encounter. What options do I have to choose to win it?

A: The different endings for the "strategic" final encounter (Cleon respects you) are as follows:

GOOD ENDING:: Archers on the high ground, one on either side -> Fight as a group of four -> split into groups of two and flank attack.

EVIL ENDING: Anything -> Anything -> Split into groups of two and flank attack.

SAD ENDING: -> Anything else.


Q: I've got the "Combat" final encounter. What do I have to do to win it?

A: To win the "Combat" final encounter, all you have to do is kill the Demon Inside (who bares a remarkable resemblance to your character, wouldn't you agree?) and also Allecia Ehothorn.

EVIL ENDING: Keep Cleon alive and kill The Demon Inside and Allecia Ehothorn.

SAD ENDING: Cleon dies and kill The Demon Inside and Allecia Ehothorn.


Q: Alright, I've come across a "duplicate" of myself at two separate times in the MOD. One -in the Abyss of the Faithless- shared my characters name, and another -in Cleon's Dreamscape- was entitled "The Demon Inside." I don't get it, what does that have to do with the Butcher of Armindale?

A: There are two ways you can glean the answer to that. You can either play through The Legacy (which is about 2/3rds of the Tears of the Fiend story, with The Butcher of Armindale being the remaining 1/3rd), or you can wait until Tears of the Fiend is released. Tears of the Fiend is The Butcher of Armindale + The Legacy convergent storylines, and also features a "continuation" of both MODs once the storylines from the original two MODs have merged, and essentially come to an end. Either way, you will learn more about the Fall of Armindale, and why it is you who haunts Cleon's dreams.


VII - TECHNICAL FAQ:
===================

Q: I don't hear any sounds in the game, what is going on?

A: If you are actually talking about SOUNDS, then it is because the sound files (all of which are labled "BUTCHER_<soundname>.wav") have been installed to the wrong location. The CORRECT location is: Oblivion/Data/Sound/FX.

It is also a known issue that foreign language versions of Oblivion need to have the dialogue files renamed due to the fact that the directory structure is different to the English version of the game.

For instance, these applies to spanish Oblivion needs:

Argonian->Argoniano
Breton->Bretón
Imperial->Imperial (no change)
High Elf->Alto Elfo
Redguard-> Guarda rojo
Nord->Nórdico

If you are referring to not hearing any DIALOGUE, that is because there IS no spoken dialogue. The sound files you see are "silent.mp3s" and are used to force the text to stay on screen for a specific amount of time. 


Q: What is with the voice files that don't have any sound?

A: They are "silent.mp3s" and are used to force the dialogue text to stay on screen for a specific amount of time, in the case of THE BUTCHER OF ARMINDALE it is for approximately 8 seconds.


Q: Oblivion crashes to the desktop in either the Abyss of the Faithless, or Cleon's Dreamscape. What is happening?

A: Both situations place a lot of stress on your PC as the Oblivion Engine performs some rather complex calculations. The trick: if you identify a "crash point" (such as first entering the Abyss of the Faithless) simply switch to First Person view, stand still and don't move your view around at all until a "trigger" event occurs. (For example, in the Abyss of the Faithless the trigger event is a "messagebox" that updates the story somewhat.) After that you can move again as normal. Also remember to save often, and don't abuse the Quicksave key over conventional saves.


Q: Cleon's Pathing is kind of buggy. How can this be fixed?

A: As NPC pathing relies on the pathnodes within Oblivion to move, it can't really be fixed. For the most part Allecia SHOULD "warp" behind you when you get too far away from her, and she will warp to the player when you trigger certain key events, or reach certain key locations (to avoid you having to wait for her to catch up.)


Q: Whenever I enable the TheButcher.esp file, Oblivion crashes at the main title screen. Is the MOD bugged?

A: No, it's not bugged, this problem happens when you have Knights of the Nine installed. The solution is to change the load order of the MODs, placing KotN either before or after Ruin.esp (the opposite to however you had it set up before.)


Q: I'm having a strange bug that hasn't been covered in the README so far. What should I do?

A: First of all, DISABLE any MODs you are running and load up a save BEFORE the bug occurs. Try running THE BUTCHER OF ARMINDALE from there and see if the bug repeats itself. If it DOES, then I suggest you send me an E-mail at Simyaz@bigpond.com OR drop by THE BUTCHER OF ARMINDALE forums on elderscrolls.com/forums (just do a search for Simyaz to find my threads) so that myself, Arilita, Wizard of Thay, or AndyW can try and resolve the problem.


VIII - EDITING, USING, DISTRIBUTING: 
============================= 

I really don't care where or how you distribute this MOD provided that you don't change this ReadME or take credit for it. 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. 


IX - CREDITS/ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
=========================

Current Development Team:

Paul 'Simyaz' Thomson - Developer, Writer, Scripter, Creator, Voice actor - Cleon's 2IC, The Conspirator, and the Lord of Armindale

Arilita - Co-Developer, Playtester, Source of motivation.

AndyW - Designer of the CompanionShare format used in this MOD, scripting assistant, playtester.


Former Development Team:

Wizard Of Thay - Original designer of the 0.51 to 1.0 update (retired from the project quite some time ago.) Playetester.


Voice Acting Team:

Fred 'Blue Wolf' H - Cleon 'The Butcher.'

ThomsonGG/PersianPaladin - The Conspirator and Kashaan the Book Dealer

Maja Bodenstein - Alleria (Cleon's Wife) and The Narrator


Additional Playtester:

Greyfox4000


Music/Compositions:

Frank Klepacki - An excerpt from "Harkonnen Battle" was used in this MOD.


X - ADDITIONAL:
===============

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

