Pack guar mod

fable · Post by **fable** » Thu May 16, 2002 10:36 am

I just discovered a pack guar mod over at http://www.morrowind-mods.com/ It basically creates a merchant who sells you a guar for 1000 drakes that follows you around, carrying your supplies. You can command it to stay, or keep with you. Sounds like a nice, in-game way of handling extra goods, thus I wish the price had been put at 3000-to-5000 drakes; still, that can be changed. Can't say I've tried it, but I thought I'd put the link up.

fishhead · Post by **fishhead** » Thu May 16, 2002 10:47 am

Sounds like a cool and legitimate mod, excellent for true roleplaying, my questions are will it keep up with my running? Cant stand escorting quests cuz they cant keep up with me. Also I hope the Guar isnt stooopid enough to fight Mobs on my behalf. I know, I know if I dont like it MOD it or leave it.........just my do that. Anyways, I'll try it tonite.

Loredweller · Post by **Loredweller** » Sun May 26, 2002 9:56 am

a couple of questions

Tree, in fact

How fast a pack guar can move - would it keep along if one's running?
Is it possible add it into existing game?
Is it possible to remove it afterwards at will?
TIA,
L.

cjdevito · Post by **cjdevito** » Sun May 26, 2002 11:42 am

I don't know why anyone worries about carrying capacity. No matter how weak a character you create, once you're a few missions into the main quest you'll have the carrying capacity of a god.

When you kill Dagoth Gares, your strength gets boosted two ways. First, the fist of randagulf gauntlets are nearby loot.... one raises your strength by 20. Second, you get corpus.

Corpus is great fun, regardless of what the game wants you to think. Each day you have it, your strength and endurance raise by one, and four other stats drop by one. Once you have it, kill some time. Say five months worth

You can keep your dropping stats from falling too far by using restore atrribute spells/potions. The kicker is, when you take your 200 strength/200 endurance corpus inflicted character to get cured at Tel Fyr, you don't loose the extra strength and endurance points you've gotten.

They stay. Forever. And it's entirely legitimate, as you keep all the benefits of corpus (like complete immunity to disease).

Loredweller · Post by **Loredweller** » Sun May 26, 2002 12:06 pm

In fact

it's just cool to have a pack animal if it does not reduce your performance too much. If we might even ride it ....

cjdevito · Post by **cjdevito** » Sun May 26, 2002 1:53 pm

If you say so. Me, I'd absolutely hate trying to escort the thing around everywhere. Can it swim? How long can it hold it's breath? Can it jump over hills, or will I have to detour around them instead of leaping/flying over in order to have the guar keep up? What about combat, is the first area effect spell that get's thrown at it going to leave it a corpse? Will it just stand there and take it, run away, or fight back?

Nope, -definitely- not for me. More power to you if that's your idea of fun, though

Sirius_Sam · Post by **Sirius_Sam** » Sun May 26, 2002 4:09 pm

I haven't tried the 'PackGuar' mod, but I too thought it would be cool to have a 'walking warehouse' following me around so I downloaded the "Beasts of Burden" mod.

I have to say that it's a neat concept, but in practice, is actually quite a pain in the a$$. IMO, the biggest technical flaws with the packguar are:

1) Speed and Pathfinding - slooooow and stupid.
2) Collision - There are a lot of places the packguar can't navigate (ie. sticks in doorways).
3) Trading - Seems to have a bug with resetting money (becomes infinite amount. *note: This IS a problem). PG's $ becomes an issue (not enough to trade after awhile).
4) Micro-management - TOO MUCH ! I hate waiting on him every 20 feet and babysitting him against the uber-deadly scribs

.

If you REALLY need a packmule-companion then there is a mod called "Patsy" (and a couple of others) out there that creates a 'merchant-like' character that will follow you around and hold your stuff (whom you can enhance with the editor to improve speed, encumbrance, etc.). I however, enjoy carrying relatively realistic, limited amounts of gear so I am forced to resupply after a time as well as 'going-it-alone'. I like the idea of going back to civilization (read: my house or stronghold) and carefully stocking-up for my next excursion into the wilds

.

Interested parties can click on the following link for mods (mule and otherwise).

http://www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/goods/plugins2.asp

S_S

Bitex · Post by **Bitex** » Sun May 26, 2002 6:45 pm

I'm running the Pack Guar mod, it just places a salesman in Balmora that sells different kinds of guars. Not just one for 1000.
There's the inexperienced one (carries little, slow) for 1000, more experienced one (3000), and very experienced for 5000. something like that.

Btw, you should all try out the weatherman mod. It's pretty cool, get a mage that stands near the bridges in Balmora whom you can talk to and ask him to change the weather (all weather types in game) for no charge..then just look to the sky and see the weather shifting..really cool

Ruins nothing in the game.

Loredweller · Post by **Loredweller** » Thu May 30, 2002 5:53 am

Can it

follow you anywhere? I suppose if it can folow you if you're going by strider, guide, ship etc. (it's obvious it shouldn't fly

)
TIA,
L.

Bitex · Post by **Bitex** » Thu May 30, 2002 5:59 am

The Pack Guar mod seems critically flawed..I don't think there is a thing called pack guar in the "real" game, it's a standard Guar (they attack you every now and then) with a backpack painted on his back.

The only thing is, I finally got the cash to get one (3000), he followed me around balmora alright. Then I checked the commands to control him.."wait here, follow me, feed, barter"..
I wanted to see what happened if I chose Feed. He stopped dead, and started to pick at the ground...but now I can't get him to STOP eating!!!!! No matter what commands I try to give him, he won't stop eating. Can't get him to follow me at all anymore.. 3000 gold right out the window.

He works basically like a walking merchant with infinite gold. you "sell" your items to him via the standard Bartering screen..though you don't actually get money for things of course..and "buy" them back for 0 gold when you want them in your inventory.. Very clever idea, but seemingly flawed...hope they release a Pack Guar v2.0 soon.

Loredweller · Post by **Loredweller** » Thu May 30, 2002 6:41 am

The last version

is without that feeding thing, AFIK.
There are pack guars, at least in talk. For example, the merchant you have to rescue for Redoran House (if you join it) complains he's losed his pack guars etc.
What i'd like to know is if they can follow by ship or other transport.
TIA,
L.

Sirius_Sam · Post by **Sirius_Sam** » Thu May 30, 2002 11:49 am

I d/l'd the current Packguar mod just to see if it was substantially different than the BeastsofBurden mod...it is, by lightyears.

I can only speak for the most expensive (10k?) Packguar the trader sells since that's the one I had to buy in order to avoid the "babysitting" problems of the crappy pathfinding AI. The packguar works well. The most experienced packguar can keep up with you relatively easily, fits through doors, provides easy equipment management (no bugs I found anyway)...I don't know about feeding him since I have, so far, managed to keep him out of combat. The packguar is a pretty nice RP feature provided you can afford a good one.

Using the packguar is kinda cool for a while, but having to park him and then go fetch him slows me down a little too much. If it's your thing though, it's not a bad mod at all

@Loredweller: I took the Packguar on ships, striders and inside houses/dungeons just to see if he could follow...the answer is "YES", the packguar can follow you anywhere you go unless you teleport (recall/intervention)

S_S

Loredweller · Post by **Loredweller** » Thu May 30, 2002 1:40 pm

Thanks!

Loredweller · Post by **Loredweller** » Fri May 31, 2002 12:22 am

Oh, just wondering

if one is limited to one or it's possible to make a caravan traveling from town to town.

TIA,
L.

Sirius_Sam · Post by **Sirius_Sam** » Fri May 31, 2002 1:39 am

Sorry, Loredweller...looks like you can only have one-at-a-time

S_S

Chanak · Post by **Chanak** » Fri May 31, 2002 8:45 pm

The concept of a pack animal is interesting, but to have them follow you indoors - into a home, or a legion fort, for example - stretches RP for me quite a bit. After all, there might be the issue of smell to others in the building, or things the animal might leave behind besides your sold equipment...

I've tried using a pack animal in a different game that's still pretty new on the market, and I found tending to it to be quite frustrating, at times - it would run whenever attacked, often with disastrous results. The thing always seemed to draw more enemies out of the woodwork, just when that was the last thing I needed to happen. Later in the game, I began to find that my once tender thoughts concerning this animal slowly started to transform into more sinister ones, ones in which I envisaged leading it to some horrible fate, stranded in a dismal dungeon far below the surface.

At that point, I decided to simply get rid of it.

Chanak · Post by **Chanak** » Fri May 31, 2002 8:55 pm

A Mod Idea, Perhaps...

What I would find more interesting than a pack animal - and certainly more palatable in a RP sense, at least for me - would be a hireling of some sort that would bear burdens for you. Rather than being readily available on the market for your purchase, perhaps a quest of sorts could lead you to the aquisition of this hireling. It's possible that the Emperor could send this valet after you at some point, and you would need to find him in Vivec, for example...or maybe you'd chance by him in your travels, just as he was about to be skewered by some angry kagoutis. In gratitude, this rather simple person - who also happens to be strong as an ox (ok, a guar) - feels he owes a life debt to you, and so makes serving you his only goal in life. Granted, he's simple-minded, isn't really that skilled in combat, and possesses enough magicka to perhaps blow a candle-wick out - but he sure comes in handy hauling your gear for you. I could see some interesting dialogue in this...