The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
Also known as: Daggerfall Developer: Bethesda Softworks Publisher: Bethesda Softworks Platform: DOS Released in US: September 21, 1996 Released in EU: 1996 This game has unused code. This game has hidden development-related text. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused models. This game has unused items. This game has unused abilities. This game has unused music. This game has unused sounds. This game has unused text. This game has debugging material. This game has revisional differences. This game has a prototype article This game has a prerelease article This game has a notes page This game has a bugs page

To do: There is a whole lot more to cover, like more unused music tracks, unused wardrobe, more unused graphics, unused models, etc. Also, more explaining.

The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall is the second entry in the Elder Scrolls series, and quite possibly one of the most ambitious RPGs of the era. Unfortunately, "ambitious" doesn't mean "not broken" and the game was almost comedically buggy. As a result of the enormous world and unorthodox development methods used to bring it to life, there's a lot of unused content to pore over. Also, VENGEAAAAAAANCE!!

It should be noted that the hex addresses mentioned here apply to version 1.07.213.

Sub-Pages

Prototype Info

Prerelease Info

Notes

Bugs

Unused Text Read about the many pieces of unsaid dialogue...and lyrics to bard songs.

Unused Graphics So much art was made for this game, yet it feels like so little was actually used.

Revision Differences Loads of fixes, as well as some gameplay re-balances.

Debugging Features

Debug Keys

Quest flag information.

Due to the massive number of bugs with wonky collision detection in the dungeons, usually resulting to the player falling into black pits, Bethesda eventually released a patch that re-enabled some debugging features to the public.

By patching the game to v. 1.07.213, one can enter cheatmode 1 into z.cfg to turn on these debugging features.

While playing the game, the player can press the following keys:

• 1 - Sets the Max Speed to 6 times the current value.
• Control + F1 - Activate all maps on the fast travel map.
• Control + F4 - Enable Invulnerability.
• Control + F9 - Get 5000 Gold.
• Alt + F11 - Teleport out of the void.
• -/_ and =/+ - Raise reputation and skills.
• [/{ and }/] - Go to various quest locations.
• ' and F9 - Display quest flag information.

Keep in mind that DosBox's mapped keys might have to be changed before booting the game up with cheatmode.

There is also the ability to put debug 1 into z.cfg. However, it does not seem to work, at all. Trying to start a new game or going to a different map causes the game to crash, due to errors in blocks.bsa. Loading a game does not seem to affect the game in any way.

To do: See if one can get this to work.

Debug Menu

To do: Better documentation.

A debug menu exists, but no key combination appears to access it without hacking. By replacing the pointer for the transport menu (at hex address 98651) with the one for the debug menu (at hex address 44E52), one can access this menu. This text for this debug menu can be found in FALL.EXE, beginning at 1AA57C and ending at 1AA642 (in version 1.07.213).

Menu Option	Effect
Get rumor	Get a random rumor.
Advance level	The game advances your character by one level.
Jump 1 month	Skip a month in the game's time.
Good merchant rep	Have a better reputation among merchants.
Become Vampire	Does exactly what it says.
Cure Vampire	The player is no longer a vampire.
Become Werething	The player turns into a werewolf or wereboar.
Cure Werething	The player is no longer either of the above.
Toggle World Position	Unknown.
Toggle Second Compass	A blue compass is drawn on the HUD.
Pick pockets	Pick random pockets and get more gold.
Generate Songs	Unknown.
Enter Tavern	Unknown.

(Source: LehaFireHead (Debug Menu activation), Divingkataetheweirdo (Text))

World Map

The overworld map has barely any fluctuation to it in the final game, being mainly flat ground with some bumps here and there. However, the game's world map data indicates that it was supposed to be much more detailed, with mountains and waterfalls being present.

Cybiades

The island of Cybiades is its own region in the game's world, but has only a single dungeon, hidden by default, on it. Since the player can only obtain the location of dungeons for the region the player is in, this dungeon is impossible to find without knowing its exact location beforehand. Just getting to the island requires unreasonable effort as the player can't fast travel to the island since it has no locations visible by default, requiring the player to water walk across the bay from Sentinel in real time. Since the island's location does not properly align to the map location (the map indicates the dungeon is actually in water), even this is impossible without out of game knowledge. Despite all the problems with the island, it boasts a full political faction associated with it that goes totally unused even if the player does manage to find the single dungeon.

Unused NPCs

While most of these NPCs have entries in the game's political factions file, they aren't placed anywhere in the game's maps and thus don't make an appearance.

Archmagister

While several references are made to this character, he does not make a proper appearance.

• 

  His portrait.

• 

  His body sprite.

Baroness Dh'emka

• 

  Her portrait.

• 

  Her body sprite.

Baron Shrike

He has a unique portrait, but no unique sprite.

• 

  His portrait.

Farrington

Farrington also has a portrait, but he uses a generic Breton sprite.

• 

  His portrait.

Skakmat

While Skakmat is referenced in the game, it's never seen at any point. Skakmat is notable for being one of the few unused characters without a sprite specified in its political factions entry. Instead, a model would have been used. Skakmat does have a portrait as well as textures for what would presumably be his model. However, the corresponding model doesn't seem to exist in the game's data. According to his website, Mark Jones was the one that modeled the dragon and he claims that it was long since lost because of a server change at Bethesda. The only thing that remains are the textures and the Daedra Seducer's wing flapping animation (as said animation was recycled for said enemy).

• 

  Oh hai there.

• 

  Seems like a lot of work here.

(Source: Mark Jones' website page for Daggerfall.)

Unused Quest - A Test of Determination

There is a quest that was accidentally dummied out. It is a quest for the Vampire Clan. The player's given objective for the quest is to confront a Daedra in the local dungeon where it lives.

The problem is that the quest files of this quest are misnamed; the binary file is named P0B1XL08.QBN and the text-file P0B10L08.QRC. As a result of this oversight, the player can never get this quest unless you change the name of one file so that it matches the name of the other.

More can be read about this quest here.

(Source: UESP Wiki)

Order of the Lamp

The Order of the Lamp has data set up, but there is no NPC in the actual game related to this. There is an interface graphic for asking and joining the Order of the Lamp. Text explaining who they were also can be found in TEXT.RSC between 22757 and ends at 2282B.

We of the Order of the Lamp are the protectors of the Mages Guild. We follow the Palantinus, under direct orders from the Archmagister.
We are given appropriate rights to certain services at the Mages Guild. One's rank within the Order approximates ones rank within the Guild, in terms of rights and priveleges.
The Order is only open to those who have already demonstrated fighting skills and are in good standing with the Mages Guild.

Notebook

In the final game, the notebook is a simple copy-and-paste log. It was initially supposed to be more like a text editor. There are some graphics remaining of this iteration of the notebook that can be found in the game's data. In addition, two text strings are present in TEXT.RSC between 1FE3E and ends at 1FE64:

This page is full. Start a new scroll.
The word you seek does not appear in your notes.

Furniture

It appears that at one point in development, furniture was planned to be in the game, which would have allowed players to customize their houses. Furniture stores are in the final game, but they serve as hideouts and they don't buy or sell anything. No artwork appears to be associated with any of the items, except the pillows, suggesting the concept might not have gone far in development or the art was deleted at some point. The data begins at 1B90DA and ends at 1B964A in fall.exe.

Item Name	Weight	Hit Points	Base Price	Enchant Points
Plain single bed	1400	100	100	200
Fancy single bed	1500	150	150	300
Plain double bed	2800	150	150	300
Fancy double bed	3000	250	200	300
Large oak table	2200	150	100	250
Large cherry table	2200	150	150	250
Large mahogany table	2200	150	200	275
Large teak table	2200	150	225	300
Small oak table	800	100	50	120
Small cherry table	800	100	75	120
Small mahogany table	800	100	100	130
Small teak table	800	100	115	150
Oak chair	40	50	35	50
Cherry chair	40	50	55	50
Mahogany chair	40	70	70	60
Teak chair	40	70	95	80
Curtains	8	30	15	120
Fancy curtains	16	30	40	200
Large pillow	4	10	3	20
Small pillow	1	7	1	10
Small plain rug	40	30	40	100
Large plain rug	160	50	70	200
Small fine rug	40	30	70	300
Large fine rug	160	50	140	500
Large tapestry	120	70	100	600
Medium tapestry	40	60	50	450
Small tapestry	16	50	10	300
Large skins	160	150	20	200
Small skins	32	100	5	100

Unused Models

Castle Llugwych has its own unique model coded in the game. However, by default, it uses Direnni Tower's model instead, leaving said unique model unused without hacking.

(Source: DelphiSnake)

Unused Areas

Unused Region Names

While there are plenty of regions in Daggerfall, there are also a number of region names mentioned in the executable without any point in the game's world that references them.

Region Number	Region Name
02	Glenpoint Foothills
03	Daggerfall Bluffs
07	Devilrock
08	Malekna Forest
10	Bantha
12	The Islands in the Western Iliac Bay
13	Tamarilyn Point
14	Lainlyn Cliffs
15	Bjoulsae River
24	Gen Tem High Rock village
25	Gen Rai Hammerfell village
27	Skeffington Wood
28	Hammerfell bay coast
29	Hammerfell sea coast
30	High Rock bay coast

(Source: UESP Wiki)

Unused City Name

At 1BD040 inside fall.exe, a city name never used in the game can be seen: Miletus. It's unknown where it would have been.

Unused Block Entry

The Knights of The Moon have a record block allocated for them under KMOO in BLOCKS.BSA. However, they aren't used for any building in the game.

Unused Music

Sound Name	Sound	Notes
09		This, as well as the following few tracks, are lumped together in one group in the .EXE These were likely used for sneaking around in locations.
16
25
30
GSNEAK2
SNEAKING
SNEAKNG2		This track was used in Arena for trespassing.
D1		An unused music track meant to be used in dungeons.
17		A rather dramatic sounding track that would have been used inside knightly orders.

Unused Sounds

The game has several duplicates of the hurt sound from Doom hidden with the other sound effects, undoubtedly used as placeholders.

Sound Number (via Daggerfall Jukebox)	Sound	Notes
34		A leftover from Arena; it was used there for gaining a level of experience.
35		Another leftover from Arena; it was used for collecting a piece of the Staff of Chaos.
40		Ghost sound from Arena.
41		Ghoul sound from Arena.
??		Fire Daemon sound from Arena.
47		A different take on the "HALT!" soundbyte used by the guards.

Screenshot Capturing

By default, this is disabled as the game's directory lacks a PICS folder. Creating one allows the player to press / (Slash) to take a BMP screenshot. The game starts overwriting screenshots after 10 have been taken.

Directory Listing

A directory listing from someone's hard drive can be found in BLOCKS.BSA. Needless to say, the game never uses any of this. Also, it seems like the hard drive is a 540 MB Quantum Fireball, judging by the drive name and the total amount of bytes it has. This listing starts at 10D49CF and ends at 10E1647.

Download Daggerfall Directory Listing File: Daggerfall-DirectoryListing.zip (info)