Frequently Asked Questions: Dawnguard - Omni-guides/Tuxborn GitHub Wiki

"What changes does Tuxborn make to Dawnguard?"

The overall plot is still fundamentally the same. However, there are still some notable changes.

Serana

We are running Anima Nera, a visual overhaul for Serana, by the same modder who did the visual overhaul we're using for Lydia.

You will also see Serana casting some of the custom spells included in our load order, such as Cold Flames or Shadow Atronach. So she'll have a wider variety of spells she can use in combat. Of course, she will still reanimate dead corpses all over the place!

Overhauled NPC appearances

Tuxborn in general overhauls NPC appearances all over the place, so just about every Dawnguard NPC will have a slightly different appearance than they do in vanilla.

Adjusted Ancient Technology side quests from Sorine Jurard

Running all six of Sorine Jurard's side quests to learn how to make crossbows and exploding crossbow bolts is still required if you want to be able to do that. However, the sixth and final quest now ties into the "Night Hunter" quest in the AE, where you can acquire Elven and Ebony crossbows. So there's a better connection in our load order for the various crossbow types.

See the Crossbows section of the Armor and weapons available in Tuxborn page for more details.

Additional content in the Soul Cairn

We're running a mod that does pretty much what it says on the tin: More to do in the Soul Cairn. This content involves three additional NPCs who you can help in the Soul Cairn while you're there.

The custom maps we're running include one for the Soul Cairn, so hopefully you'll find it easier to navigate than in vanilla Skyrim.

If you pick up the quest to bring Jiub the pages of his book, you should get quest markers for any of the ones you haven't collected yet.

And last but not least, our load order includes the mod Belethor's Sister, which will eventually lead you to the Soul Cairn. Because of this, we strongly recommend having that plot moved far enough along that you're ready to rescue Belethor's sister when you get there.

"Does Dawnguard have displayable relics for the LOTD museum?"

Yes. Many. You will encounter displayable artifacts in just about all stages of Dawnguard's quest, no matter which side you're playing on. Consult the following LOTD wiki pages for further details on artifacts to look for and where they are displayed in the museum:

General armor and weapons

Vampire items

Soul Cairn items

Ancestor Glade items

  • Magebane, if you didn't receive it as a reward for running Moon and Star
  • Angelfish, Pygmy Sunfish, and Spadefish can all be found in this location, if you haven't already caught these fish to display in the museum, or turned them in for the Fishing content in the AE. They should be swimming around in the various pools and can be caught by hand, no fishing required
  • Draw Knife

Forgotten Vale items

Other items

"What recommendations are there in Tuxborn for running Dawnguard?"

Displayable artifacts for LOTD

Note the links provided above for items displayable in the museum. If you're playing on the side of the Dawnguard in particular, be prepared to run the LOTD-provided Dawnguard version to get the artifacts from that.

Also, loot all dead vampires after you run Kindred Judgment for the Dawnguard side, to get the jewelry items.

Even if you don't normally run the Dawnguard side quests offered by Sorine, Gunmar, and Florentius, these will get you additional items to display. So consider doing those side quests, if you want the displayable items.

You will have multiple opportunities to get a standard steel crossbow as you play through Dawnguard: getting one from Isran or Durak, asking Sorine how to make them, or looting one as you run Ruunvald to rescue Florentius. You will also learn how to make the enhanced version of those when you talk to Sorine. However, only the standard version is displayable.

After you kill Arch-Curate Vyrthur, the ancient Falmer armor he's wearing should include a crown, for a total of four pieces. LOTD's wiki refers to these pieces as Ancient Falmer Boots, Crown, Cuirass, and Gauntlets. However, since our load order includes Carved Brink, these items have been renamed. All of them should still be displayable in the museum, if you have not already run Carved Brink.

Excavation sites in the Forgotten Vale

The Forgotten Vale is a splendid place to find Falmer excavation sites for Legacy of the Dragonborn. There are bunches of them all over the Vale, so be on the lookout for them. In particular, several of them can be found circling the lake where you must fight Voslaarum and Naaslaarum.

Followers

In vanilla Skyrim, once you reach the point of the Dawnguard plot where you need to go with Serana to Castle Volkihar to look for her mother, Serana will object to your having any other followers with her.

In Tuxborn, however, this will apply if and only if you're running vanilla followers, or Interesting NPC followers that run the vanilla code. She will not object to your having any of the custom followers. Including Lydia, since Lydia is a modded follower in our load order.

While this may make running that part of the Dawnguard plot easier, especially once you get into the Soul Cairn, it will cause a plot hole. Normally you can't enter the Soul Cairn unless Serana either makes you a vampire, or partially soultraps you. If you have custom followers with you at this point, though, they will be able to enter the Soul Cairn without any problems.

So depending on your personal preferences for narrative cohesion, you may or may not want to dismiss any followers anyway, before you take Serana to go find her mother.

If you're running a large follower squad, this raises the chances that one or more of them may wind up getting into a fight with Serana. Serana is very prone to hitting other followers with her magical attacks, so if she gets into a spat with one or more of your followers, you may need to throw high-level calming spells around, or the StopCombatAlarmOnActor command in the console.

And lastly, some custom followers may have unpredictable behavior when you need to enter Castle Volkihar. They may or may not follow you in, depending on whether they've been set up to respect standard game behavior re: which locations won't let you bring in followers, and whether they have code to let them catch up with you if you get ahead of them. So don't be surprised if your custom follower seems to get lost as long as you're taking Serana home at the start of the plot, or later when you take her to find her mother.

"Are there any potential breaking issues to watch out for while running Dawnguard?"

Taking the Dev Aveza to Fort Dawnguard

Due to the map mods we're running in the Tuxborn load order, Dayspring Canyon now has its own custom map, and a fast travel marker similar to the ones for Wyrmstooth, Midwood Isle, Solstheim, etc. If you try to fast travel into Dayspring Canyon, it will land you at the entrance of the canyon, rather than directly at Fort Dawnguard.

And trying to take the Dev Aveza into the canyon is problematic. It won't drop its ladder low enough that you can get back to it from the ground. Also, it does not even render properly inside Dayspring Canyon, so you can't fast travel right back onto it as you normally can anywhere else in the main worldspace.

Because of this, we advise that if you want to travel to Fort Dawnguard via the Dev Aveza, park it somewhere near Dayspring Canyon. Any nearby discovered fast travel marker should do, such as Stendarr's Beacon, Heroes Rest Crypt, etc. At the very least, you can take the airship to Riften and go overland from there.

This issue is so far confirmed to reproduce in the following Tuxborn versions: 0.5.2.