THE AYLEID STEPS
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Version 2.6, august, 2009

Discover the ancient Ayleid teleporting network of Step stones, find out how to activate it, and then use the Steps to discover a new way of traveling around Cyrodiil, and search for new unknown Ayleid sites.

INTRODUCTION:
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As long as anyone can remember, hundreds of ancient Ayleid stones sit in Cyrodill's wilderness and in Ayleid structures such as ruins and wells. What almost nobody knows however, is what these so-called Steps are supposed to do. Doing the intro Quest, you find out that this network of stones is in fact a teleporting system. Each time you want to teleport, you have to energize the Step with a Welkynd stone.
You can teleport directly into Ayleid ruins, to Ayleid wells, and to lots of locations that the Ayleids once considered important. But you have to prepare yourself: many Steps are defective and will refuse to work, or beam you to random locations. You can land in someone's basement, in government buildings, in caves in the middle of a bunch of goblins, and in very remote and unusual places. Or you can discover sunken ruins, hitherto unknown to man, where lots of treasure and enemies await you. There's a new home to be found, too - it's not pretty, but it has a bedroll, a private Stepstone (no doors) and many safe containers (and a waste bin).

This mod adds many circular/cilindrical stones to the landscape and to s lot of indoor cells. Many are well hidden, or partly buried or overgrown. 
To start the intro quest you have to try to activate one Stepstone, and read a book on the topic. During the quest you have to visit a rather hairy location, so OOO-players can hardly do this before level 12-18. There are no quest markers in your compass - you have to examine, read and think a bit, and search a lot. When you can actually use the Steps, the quest is not over before you find a certain location mentioned in the clues. But after that, you can imagine your own neverending quest: try to map the Network, search for those VERY hard to find lost ruins, and of course hunt for Welkynd stones. (Please refer to the paragraphs at the bottom of this file for more info on the quests.)
The mod aims to be lore- and immersiveness-friendly. There's no new spoken dialogue, just 4 books, a letter, a few new interior locations, a vast network of Steps - and over 40 new dungeons. 

This plugin intends to offer a reason to keep on exploring and adventuring for experienced characters, i.e. those that have completed all default game quests and have attained a level over 20-30. Playing the Ayleid Steps with FCOM, or OOO and MMM, or other overhaul mods is highly recommended!  

INSTALLATION:
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FIRST TIME:
* The Ayleid Steps NEEDS the Common Oblivion Library (Cobl 1.71 or newer).
* The Ayleid Steps NEEDS the Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE 16 or newer).
Please refer to the Requirements section for download links and installation instructions.
* Backup your savegames before trying them with the mod. As you should do with any mod. Not that this one is in any way dangerous, though. Just in case something goes wrong.
* Unzip the archive to your \Oblivion\Data folder, say Yes to overwrite files & merge folders requests. (Or unzip everything in a folder of your choice, and move the folders & files to your \Oblivion\Data directory). 
* Start the game launcher and activate the The Ayleid Steps.esp. It should run with any existing savegame.

UPGRADING AN OLDER VERSION:
Same procedure. Be sure to replace the old .esp file. If you use OBMM, you should move the mod back up to its former load order position.
Only if you started the Intro Quest with a previous version of this mod and have not yet activated the Steps Network, you should make a clean save and start the Intro Quest from scratch. (Clean Save: de-activate The Ayleid Steps in your game launcher, start Oblivion, load your last Savegame ignoring the complaints about missing content, save to a new Savegame and exit Oblivion; then activate The Ayleid Steps, start Oblivion, load your last Savegame.) 

DE-INSTALLATION:
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Start the game launcher, untick The Ayleid Steps.esp in your plugins load list. 
Load a savegame, save as new savegame, exit the game.
Then delete these folders or files, and in this order: 
1. ...\Oblivion\Data\The Ayleid Steps.esp. 
2. ...\Oblivion\Data\The Ayleid Steps 2.x ReadMe files 
3. Use Windows search function on your ...\Oblivion\Data folder to find and delete all subfolders named SSotA and their contents.	
4. Use Windows search function on your ...\Oblivion\Data folder to find and delete all files having SSotA as a name prefix. (SSotA means 'StepStones of the Ayleids', wich was the working title for the mod.)

REQUIREMENTS:
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* Vanilla Oblivion with the latest official patch 1.2.416.
* OBSE (Oblivion Script Extender) version 16 or newer, get the latest version here: http://obse.silverlock.org/. 
* Cobl (Common Oblivion Library) version 1.71 or newer, find it here: http://wrye.ufrealms.net/Cobl.html. For use with this mod, you merely have to install "Cobl Main.esm" and the Meshes, Sound and Textures folders from "Cobl Core", and activate "Cobl Main.esm").

COMPATIBILITY:
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UNIQUE LANDSCAPES & BETTER CITIES:
The mod detects which (if any) Unique-Landscape-mods or Better Cities IC mods are activated, and adjusts certain Stepstone positions accordingly. It does this once after each savegame loading (and at the start of a new game). Note that this will ONLY work if you have not altered the original .esp filenames! If the mod cannot find a plugin, the Steps in the area will be reset to their default position. So no more displacements after you change your plugin load order. How Oblivion stores the Steps positions in its savegames is of no importance at all, since the adjusting is repeated with every game loading.
If you have all UL-mods merged into one .esp file, then rename that file to "xulAll.esp" to make the adjustment script recognize it.
Better Cities, Open Cities and Open Better Cities (non-IC modules): compatible in so far that there are no Steps in exterior town cells, so no conflicts. 
Other mods that The Ayleid Steps can adjust to, are listed under "Reference".

OTHER PLUGINS:
The mod is built with only Vanilla Oblivion, aforementioned official patch, OBSE 16 and Cobl 1.71. It is playtested with UOP, FCOM (OOO, MMM, Francesco's, WarCry), the UL and BC mods and many smaller mods activated; so far no severe conflicts were found. 
This mod may conflict with other plugins that:
- alter the vanilla landscape (House and village mods for example)
- alter vanilla interiors, change architectural layout, move furniture, etc.
- alter availability and/or prices of Welkyndstones. (To be sure, load after such mods).
If you teleport somewhere and don't see a Stepstone where there should be one, an other mod may have buried it. As a consequence you can't use it. This is not necessarily a problem - there are so many Steps in the world that you can easily do without some.
The mod is tested with the Valeria Caresse companion; there were no issues so far. Every companion that can teleport to the player should work. 

REFERENCE: 
Overview of mod versions used for compatibility testing:
* UL-Ancient Yews 1.4.1 ("xulAncientYews.esp")
* UL-Beaches/Lost Coast 1.6.2 ("xulBeachesOfCyrodiilLostCoast.esp")
* UL-Chorrol Hinterland 1.2.2 ("xulChorrolHinterland.esp")
* UL-Colovian Highlands 1.0 ("xulColovianHighlands_EV.esp" as well as _DV)
* UL-Entius Gorge 1.1 ("xulEntiusGorge.esp")
* UL-Fallenleaf Everglade 1.3 ("xulFallenLeafEverglade.esp")
* UL-Imperial Isle 1.6.2 ("xulImperialIsle.esp")
* UL-Rolling Hills 1.3.2 ("xulRollingHills_EV.esp" as well as _DV)
* UL-Stendarr Valley 1.2.1 ("xulStendarrValley.esp")
* UL-Ancient Redwoods 1.6 ("xulAncientRedwoods.esp")
* UL-Lush Woodlands 1.3 ("xulLushWoodlands.esp")
* UL-The Heath 1.1.1 ("xulTheHeath.esp")
* UL-The Dark Forest 1.0.3 ("xuldarkforest.esp")
* UL-Cloudtop Mountains 1.0.1 ("xulCloudtopMountains.esp")
* UL-Arrius Creek 1.1.2 ("xulArriusCreek.esp")
* UL-River Ethe 1.0.1 ("xulRiverEthe.esp")
* UL-Panther River 1.0 ("xulPantherRiver.esp")
* UL-Bravil Barrowfields 1.3.2 ("xulBravilBarrowfields.esp")
* UL-Brena River Ravine 1.0.2 ("xulBrenaRiverRavine.esp")
* UL-Blackwood Forest 1.0 ("xulBlackwoodForest.esp")
* BC-Better Cities 4.3.5 as translated & packaged by Ismelda ("Better Cities Full.esp", "Better Imperial City.esp" or any combination of the single IC .esp files in the package. Exceptions: 'BC Extras' and Blood & Mud variants.)
* Open Cities: not tested since there are no Steps in the towns' exterior cells. Except the Leyawiin Reborn 3.1.1 variant: no conflicts found although it expands to 4 wilderness cells that contain Steps.
* DLC Frostcrag official plugin ("DLCFrostcrag.esp").
* Frostcrag Reborn 3.0.6 ("DLCFrostcrag.esp")
Note: The Frostcrag and Frostcrag Reborn plugins both use the "DLCFrostcrag.esp" filename, so the adjustment script cannot determine which of the two is in use. Since it checks and adjusts for "DLCFrostcrag.esp" first, and THEN for "DLCFrostcragReborn.esp", you have to put an empty .esp with the latter name in your Data folder and activate it. (Use the CS to create an empty .esp, or (Wrye Bash users) copy ..\Oblivion\Mopy\Extras\Blank.esp to your Data folder and rename it.) The patch script should then move the 5 affected Steps as needed.
* Bartholm 6.0 ("bartholm.esp")
* New Roads and Bridges 4.4.4 ("road+bridges.esp")

--- Compatibility with newer or older versions of the mods listed here is not guaranteed. ---

ISSUES & KNOWN CONFLICTS:
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* Some users reported getting stuck when trying to reach a particular Stepstone near the invisible borders of the game. The scripts were corrected for this one. In case you find another problem Step, you can correct it by editing this line in your Oblivion.ini file: "bBorderRegionsEnabled=1". Change the 1 to a 0, and save the file.
* Playing with MMM, you may encounter bands of adventurers in the Lost Dungeons. If you find this immersion-breaking, use the MMM-provided "Mart's Monster Mod - No Adventurers.esp" to prevent them spawning in dungeons.
* Should stepping activity of NPCs cause problems, it can be terminated by this console command: "Set SSotA03b.Mode to 3". 

CHANGELOG release 2.6
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* Checked compatibility with the new UL-Blackwood Forest mod; two conflicts resolved.
* Rechecked compatibility with all other UL modules and latest versions of several other landscape-altering mods. No problems found.
* Altered script on book The Ayleid Steps to avoid glitch maybe caused by Cobl: the book must be found and read on picking it up, before you can buy it anywhere. 
* Tweaked the Intro quest: the 'Vahtacen questline' is abandoned; Player is not forced to pickpocket to get the key; the Key will not be marked as stolen.
* Edited text in a certain message to provide player with clearer clues to the location of the Network activator room.
* Vacuity's beautiful Ayleid Clutter, incorporated in Cobl 1.71 and up, can now be found in the Lost (Ayleid) Dungeons. Distribution is roughly in accordance with Vac's mod Ayleid Loot Extension (ALEX 2.0) for the vanilla ruins.
* Added 1 Lost Dungeon with 2 levels. There are now 42 Dungeons.

CHANGELOG, cumulative, since release 2.5
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* Checked compatibility with the new UL-Brena River Ravine mod; no conflicts found. 
* Scripted a Step adjustment for (Better Cities) Cheydinhal.
* Scripted Step adjustments for (Open Cities) Bartholm.
* More fixes for the scripts controlling NPC stepping activity. 
* Changed some scripts to avoid possible conflicts with Knights of the Nine plugin.
* NPCs will not be stepping during the final Main Quest chapters (Camoran and Temple episodes).

CHANGELOG release 2.5
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* Updated adjustment script for Frostcrag Reborn 3.0.6. (Please follow guidelines in the Reference chapter.)
* Updated adjustment script for Better Cities 3.1.4 (the Step in IC Market District will be moved to street level in the SE corner).
* Moved the Step from IC Prison district exterior to the Bastion interior, to avoid conflict with Open Cities. 
* Adjustment script now checks for Roads+Bridges mod. Version 4.3 shows no severe conflicts.
* The Ayleid Meteoric Weapons are now provided by Cobl.
* OBSE 16 (or newer version) is now required to run the mod.
* Rephrased 3 of the Notebook riddles as they were somewhat confusing.
* If you teleport often, several vanilla NPC's will start to explore the Steps too. 
* Added 1 Lost Dungeon with 3 levels. There are now 41 new dungeons to find. (In a very remote room in the bottom level is a little tribute to Wrye, the first player who solved all 12 riddles of the Notebook Quest).  

	***

THANKS:
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* to the OBSE programmers for their nifty script extender.
* to MadCat221 (madcat221@gmail.com), RDjeke (rdjeke@gmail.com) and Sotobrastos for the Ayleid Meteoric Iron Weapons.
* to Vacuity for the Ayleid Clutter objects.
* to Wrye and anyone who contributed, for Common Oblivion Library (Cobl).
* to several people in the Bethsoft and TesNexus forum threads or sending e-mails, for suggestions that helped improve the mod - notably Skyranger for the Hubs concept, Shadowborn for pointing out conflicts and script bugs, WalkerInShadows for bughunting and Wrye for several constructive criticisms.

LEGAL:
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Do not alter the mod in any way and then release it without my permission. This mod is never to be used in any mod compilation without permission. It is freeware, i.e. not to be sold by anyone. Do not upload it anywhere.

	***

I'd like to receive any constructive criticism, error and glitch reports and any other feedback. Please visit the official Forum thread at http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/ in the Oblivion Mods subforum.
Thank you, and happy Stepping :-). 

Ervvin

e-mail: Ervvin: wepwr@home.nl

	***

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How to start the Intro Quest (SPOILERS!):
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First, try to activate a (any) Stepstone and find (and read!) the book "The Ayleid Steps" in a Mages Guild Library. There's one lying around in the Foaming Flask too. While you await further developments, store all the Welkynd Stones you can find. The more the better.
In the vicinity of the Wellspring Cave entrance you can stumble into a dead Mages Guild Messenger. She has a letter, which mentions an important key. Find out where that key is, and take it. 
Overall, be sure to close-read the various books and letters. All the clues are there, carefully worded, and some have to be pieced together from various text snippets. 

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The second Quest (MORE SPOILERS!)
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The second quest is more of a lengthy side quest than a traditional story-driven quest. It is started after you have completed the intro quest, AND you have taken at least 20 Steps, AND when you have a sleep. The hero of the intro quest appears in your dream and urges you to go find something he lost. Re-read the diaries! Should you not find the lost item, then the quest gives you an extra clue after you have used 20 more Stepstones, again while you sleep: hidden in an inn in the Elven Gardens District is a long lost secret notebook.
In the book are 12 clues to the locations of Steps, that can take you to 12 of the Lost Ruins, often via a series of intermediate Steps. The clues come encrypted in codes or riddles. The quest keeps track of the number of dungeons you have found, and is completed once you discovered all 12 lost Ayleid ruins, and (in the last dungeon) a special artifact - which could come in handy when you run out of welkynd stones. 
If you found some of the Lost Dungeons already with a previous version of this mod, you will have to visit them again for this quest.

Want even more spoilers? Then read the accompanying SPOILERS textfile in this package.

