The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall

Prototype Info Prerelease Info Notes Bugs Unused TextRead about the many pieces of unsaid dialogue...and lyrics to bard songs. Unused GraphicsSo much art was made for this game, yet it feels like so little was actually used. Revision DifferencesLoads of fixes, as well as some gameplay re-balances.

Debugging Features#

Debug Keys#

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).

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.

Baroness Dh'emka#

Baron Shrike#

He has a unique portrait, but no unique sprite.

Farrington#

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

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).

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.

Unused Cutscene - Sex#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: Aside from the documented strings, do any remnants of the cutscene or associated "gameplay" still exist within the game's code?

At some point in development, the player would be able to have sex with NPCs in the game, and receive a cutscene as a reward. Neither of these features made it to the final release, despite the "tasteful" artwork that was drawn for it. As documented on the Unused Text page, text strings related to this feature are still contained within the game files.

In Daggerfall, the one thing I remember was this cutscene for when you could have sex with people you met. It eventually got axed and I still have the original art for it in a cabinet here. It was tastefully done of course.

— Todd Howard

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.

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.

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.

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#

Unused Sounds#

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

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)

References#