flailingorc

[flailingorc]

New follower idea? (also new tumblr)

Heya!

It's been like 2.5 yrs I think since the last time I posted here - I very much burned out, left Skyrim alone for a while, got very heavily into recording music/VGM stuff as well as working on my professional career (which is honestly for the best) - but I recently came back to playing Skyrim, saw all the updates and new followers, and decided...

1 - the type of character I wanted to make Yazh into... has been made! Honestly, it makes me really happy because at the time, there were like no custom-voice acted female orc followers, we need more orcs. Unfortunately, this kind of made Yazh redundant XD Her bad music jokes and love of mushrooms will remain frozen in time for now (and tbf, at the time I had just graduated from music school so that's all I could really think of. I still think Jonathas Cagus and Shun-burr's 12-tone serialist theory could be pretty funny though)

2 - I have a new mod idea. I can use most of what I set up for Yazh, but this is a very different character with a completely different theme, which I think will be fun :)

Before retiring Yazh though, I will say - it was fantastic to work on her, as I was honestly very depressed that year with COVID and me being burnt out from school and the lack of live performance opportunities. Working on Yazh really helped me move through that time period and into doing more and more recording work - she was a bit of a commentary on both the immigrant experience (I'm 2nd gen) and reaching for a dream, and there was a lot of me in her character as she was written. But I'm also really excited to move forward.

So! Here's a link to the new blog that'll have updates going forward (it's also a proper mainblog, so I can actually reply properly to people and have messages). Here's to the future :)

[flailingorc]

I feel mildly bad about dropping off the face of the earth XD

Truth is, I burned myself out working on this mod and things music-wise started getting going again, so most of my creative energy has been put towards that.  Still hoping to get back to this though (This month of April has been just a month of so much instrumental recording).  My yearly desire to binge-play Skyrim is returning, but now whenever I play Skyrim I just go “Yazh!  You should be part of this game!”  And then I think of the personal quests/book quests/wanting to see if I can get a first build out/etc.

So, once music recording has simmered down a bit, I’ll be hopping back over here, I think :)

[flailingorc]

Saturday Update!

I figure I should provide something of an update despite having not done much (hence why I didn’t make a post last week); I spent a lot of time on a completely different music-related project and despite having the mod in mind, didn’t really work on it.  But!  I can say that I’ve gone back to working on the raw audio (currently doing a conversation related to the Thalmor Embassy) and am working on the MQ related conversations.  Also wrote up a silly one involving snow (I live in a place where it snows a lot... I can definitely provide such commentary) My recording setup is currently set for instrumental stuff so I haven’t done any new voice recording either.

(Though I have such a huge backlog of raw files to get through, haha...)

Should be more next week! 

[flailingorc]

Saturday (?) Update

So recording instrumental stuff took quite literally all my time and energy this week XD And the reason for the lack of an update yesterday?  A certain MMO expansion may have launched and I played it all day... o.O;;; (I am a very, very avid fan of this game and have been since its 2013 re-release...)

But I did get a bit done!

Recorded MQ audio up through the 2nd act (beating Alduin the first time)

First round of editing done on MQ audio through Thalmor Embassy (there’s a couple convos

Since I’m still going to be recording instrumental stuff as soon as I fix the harp (squeaky pedal and a broken disc), as well as playing this new expac (cough cough), I probably still won’t get a lot done on the mod this week.  But I do have a goal that I think is attainable :D

Finish recording all MQ audio and extra convos if possible

Keep doing first round editing on audio

Thanks for your patience on this!  And I hope that the final month of the year treats you as well as it can.  :)

[flailingorc]

The Cliff Racer song as few have heard it.

I have no idea what I’m doooiiiiing

[flailingorc]

Friday Update

This was... a week.  Some more personal life stuff and much sleep deprivation, haha.  But still got audio stuff done!  And more development on the writing side of this character, so that was pretty cool.  :D

Recorded more MQ audio (up through meeting Paarthurnax)

Recorded some more idles/greetings/a book quest line

First round of editing done on MQ audio up to Thalmor Embassy

Developed more of the personal quest (gives a good reason to get involved with the orc strongholds, hopefully?)

That was... really it, though it was a lot of audio to go through.  I like to do things in batches, so once I get all the MQ audio recorded and the first round of editing done, it’ll probably go a lot quicker.

I should probably explain my editing process - the “first round” is going through the raw audio, clipping/editing takes, and then also applying normalizing, compressing, and cleaning (clicking, mouth sounds at starts/ends of lines, and checking that really egregious clicks can be cleaned later; if not, I use a different take :/ ).  It’s also, imo, the longest process because I usually do 1-2 mins of takes for a single line, so multiply that by however hundreds of lines I have now... takes a bit of time to edit, haha.  The “second round” is just some final normalizing and more meticulous cleaning (clicking, background sound, pops, since my mic picks up literally everything), and tends to go way faster.

(Dunno if I have to be that picky about sound quality but as an audio person I personally care!  ehe)

Goals for next week:

Keep recording MQ audio (see if can finish the 2nd act at least)

Keep doing first round editing on MQ audio

Write up the rest of the MQ conversations

I’m expecting next week to be a bit meh on the mod working side because I’m trying to get a solo instrumental recording done and keep taking care of life.  But at least I can keep chugging away on MQ stuff!  I’m hoping to see if I can get all MQ stuff done and implemented by the end of December, and maybe I’ll make another video at that point to show how it works.

[flailingorc]

I keep putting off actually working with the CK by continuing to record voice lines and edit them XD

To be fair... I now have 17.7 Gb of raw audio files (I haven’t deleted any since starting this project) so uh... yeah.  Lots of audio.  And 20 pages of written dialogue to record (although that covers 3 full guild questlines so...)

My partner (who cooks a lot) described this as mise en place - or having all your ingredients prepared, chopped, measured out, and placed so as to make the actual process of cooking super streamlined.  That’s... legit kind of what I’ve been doing.  Except with audio.  And audio editing is... pretty time consuming.  XD

When will I be back to actually working with the CK?  Probably when I finish recording and editing all the dialogue for the MQ.  I’m done recording 2/3 of it... (just finished meeting Paarthurnax)  On the plus side, I probably won’t be leaving the CK for several days once all the audio is prepped.

[flailingorc]

Current audio hardware

Heya @mixnotec​!  This is technically a sideblog so I can’t reply properly (sorry!), but I can answer with my mic setup at least!  And hopefully this is helpful for anyone else looking into this.  (Specific equipment is bolded)

I'm using an AKG C214 mic combined with a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 interface (which is necessary to provide the mic with power and connect to things, though you don’t need the 2i2 if you only have one mic).  It is unfortunately a bit on the expensive side (like $500-600 USD total), because the C214 is like an entry-level studio mic, but it’s a great investment for any long-term audio work.  The mic comes with both a shock mount and a windscreen, and I’m also using a boom stand and a pop filter with it.

I already owned the mic/interface for instrumental recording prior to mod work, and that’s honestly one of the few reasons why I felt comfortable hopping into recording voice for this so quickly.  A nice podcast mic will probably also do nicely (I started out recording/streaming on a Blue Yeti before upgrading to the AKG; Joseph Russell, creator of Lucien, recommends a Focusrite Scarlett solo pack in one of his videos which seems to have everything included.  Also I highly recommend watching his videos!).

I’m also using Reaper as the software for both recording/editing (It has an endless free trial which... I’m technically still using after 4 years... I should really pay for the license, sorry Reaper devs...), and Izotope RX 8 Elements, a plugin, that cleans up the voice files (removes background noise and mouth clicking, and basically my lifesaver).

Hope this helps!

[flailingorc]

I just wanted to add an extra note since I think the state of Skyrim modding is uh... on fire right now.  Y is being made for SSE, with no reliance on anything extra, and currently only uses vanilla assets (minus the audio and scripts, of course).  Also, considering how long this all takes, I don’t really expect to have Y ready for any release until early next year.  Here’s hoping that Skyrim modding has uh... settled a bit by then?

My hopes in having her complete (by my standards) means that she uh... will take quite a while to work on.  I’m not really sure what the standard is for a first release, but I’d like Y to be both working and reasonably substantial for her first one.  What I’d like to have done for her first release is:

All follower functions, including resting, different combat styles, and horse riding (Done but buggy)

Location, event, and idle dialogue (Always in progress but she already has like 400+ lines dedicated this)

Full MQ Dialogue (Recording in progress)

Full Personal quest (outlined and still writing)

Quest-aware dialogue for holds and minor quests (she has a few)

Some book quest dialogue (Many written, only a few recorded)

Bard system

Considering that I recorded all the Daedric quest dialogue already, that will probably also be implemented too.

I have hopes to have full dialogue commentary on all the major questlines in the game (the 4 guild questlines, both DLCs, and major Hold quests), but this really may take a while.  When I talked about being ambitious... this is pretty ambitious.  Also I have 400+ ingame books to read.  But hey, I’m learning a lot, getting better at voice acting, and so much audio.

(Also, and I apologize for this ahead of time; I’m not actually a very good guitarist, so the bard songs will be recorded on a harp.  Which is my primary instrument.  I’ll still try to make it sound like a nylon-string guitar, albeit a boomy one.  Hope that’s okay?)

[flailingorc]

Friday Update

This was kind of a weird week!  (Lots of personal life things, not a lot of sleep, most of it involving my dog XD He’s fine and doing really well considering!).  Regardless, it was really nice to dive back into mod stuff once some of that settled.  What I got done was... mostly recording! :D  I’m actually very excited about it.

Finished editing (but not normalizing) 3 conversations of audio

Recorded MQ dialogue up through the Thalmor Embassy mission (about 85 lines of dialogue, not including separate conversations of which one has been implemented into the mod already)

Recorded two very different versions of the Cliff Racer song (I am so sorry)

Edited through many lines.  I’m sitting on 73 lines of clipped, but not cleaned dialogue, and 49 lines of ready to go dialogue.  Um... yay audio?

The reason why I pivoted so hard to MQ dialogue work is because first of all, I wrote it all the way back in August (and edited it last week).  Secondly, MQ commentary is a huge part of why I wanted to make this companion mod; when I RP my way through the MQ (which is literally every time), my DB is usually quite stressed about the whole situation.  So, having follower commentary as well as conversations and the follower checking in on how the DB is doing?  Definitely something I wanted.  I hope I haven’t overdone it. 

(As Y puts it herself, she has confidence in the DB and their abilities, but that doesn’t stop her from worrying about them.)

(I’ll get back to working on many other parts of the mod.  Probably after I get all the MQ dialogue audio prepared, haha...)

Goals for next week:

Edit through/Normalize all the MQ audio that’s been recorded so far

Keep recording MQ audio

Finish writing the extra conversations related to the MQ

Actually put stuff into the CK and bugfix?

Edit through one raw audio file in the backlog

[flailingorc]

So I have a really ridiculous scene idea involving the Cliff Racer song.  Not sure if I’ll put it in but I recorded all the audio for it soooo

[flailingorc]

Ragnar the Red is the Canon in D of Skyrim.

[flailingorc]

Friday Update

I will be completely honest... I kind of took a break this week.  I think I needed it!  Not to mention that going through audio constantly does kind of take a toll on you (I can only stand the sound of my own voice for so long, haha...)  There was also the unfortunate aspect of maintenance work being done in my neighborhood and on the complex, so not much recording happened this week either.  I ended up working on other (non-Skyrim related) projects, plus personal life things, which is good since I needed to buckle down on those a bit.  I do have... a very large backlog of recordings to work on though, haha.

Edited through last week’s recording session

Wrote up some new idle dialogue, three more conversations, and edited Main Quest dialogue

So, now that I got that out of the way, haha... probably going to hop back into things more this week!  It was really good to take a break.  This is a project that I don’t want to burn out on!

Goals for next week:

Normalize currently outstanding dialogue (about 20 ish lines)

Record some Main Quest dialogue

Implement alternative recruitment option

Add conditions for certain conversations

Fully edit and normalize at least 1 backlog file of raw audio

[flailingorc]

The Modpocalypse is upon us.

Woe betide the entire Skyrim modding community.

(I backed up my entire SSE folder yesterday and haven’t launched Skyrim or the CK since and I’m very nervous because I do still have a long-running game that I’d like to keep playing!  Have a lvl 91 character sitting in the Forgotten City right now...)

(Also considering that I started working on Y on SSE and AE changes the base bsas for the game, not quite sure how that’ll affect things?  I assume it’s completely fine and I haven’t updated Skyrim to the AE version.  I suppose I’ll find out haha)

[flailingorc]

Yazh comments on the Dragonborn carrying many poisons on them.

[flailingorc]

Small things that give me joy while writing random dialogue:

Lines about mushrooms

The general soundscape of Skyrim

Commentary on the random stuff the player carries (she has lines regarding potion hoarding, too many spoons, and Dwemer kitchenware)

Terrible music school and theory jokes (Jonathas Cagus heehee)

[flailingorc]

Friday Update

Lots of audio work this week!  I ended up redoing a ton of lines, including rewriting some or removing those that I felt like didn’t really fit Y’s character any more (she’s way more manic and high-pitched in a lot of earlier lines), but trying to keep the inherent goofiness.  Balancing a fun-loving nature with being serious in more dangerous situations is an interesting job.  Y currently has 480 lines of dialogue (yes, exactly 480 XD)

Recorded (and re-recorded) many new situational idles, as well as some quest-aware idle dialogue

Edited, normalized, and implemented all 60-some re-recorded lines

Edited, normalized, and implemented 7 conversations (including 2 Dark Brotherhood-based ones), though without conditions yet

Recorded and edited alternate recruitment dialogue

Edited written dialogue of Main Quest in preparation to start recording it

That last one is actually one I’m very excited about, since Main Quest commentary is something I’ve really wanted to get to for a while!  Re-recording and editing lines really took quite a while as well, but it makes Y’s character more consistent.  It was really interesting to hear the earlier lines vs. the re-records, and... wow.  It was like hearing me, and then hearing Yazh.  Huge difference.  I also have so much audio to edit through.  So much.

Goals for next week:

Continue editing audio of conversations, Daedric quest dialogue, and idles/re-records

Implement both the Summon Y and alternate recruitment quests (audio is done for these)

Actually put in conditions for the conversations so Y doesn’t talk about the Dark Brotherhood before you interact with them

Start properly implementing the friendship/disapproval system

Start recording Main Quest dialogue

Fix book quest jankiness

Maybe make a quick demo video showing what conversations are like?