kryptopyr

Are articles really viewed that often? I know that there's a tab on the individual mod pages where you can see the articles associated with the mod, but where else can they be found?

I'm working on a fairly substantial update for TCIY-Dawnguard. I've always felt that the start of the Dawnguard quest is too linear. The entire DLC is centered around giving your character the choice between two factions, but in order to start the quest you're forced to join the Dawnguard first, regardless of what your character's preferences might be. This places an unnecessary limitation on the roleplaying options for this quest. What I've done is opened up the start of the quest so that vampirically-inclined characters can complete Dimhollow Crypt, find Serana, and received Harkon's offer without ever having to pretend to care about Dawnguard's anti-vampire cause. Of course joining the Dawnguard is still a viable option at any point up to where you've accepted Harkon's offer. I'm currently polishing up the dialogue and running through the various new completion routes that are now available to make sure I haven't missed anything, but it's fairly close to being finished and ready for release. My question, though, is what do I do with this file? Do I simply update the TCIY-Dawnguard file on the existing page? Or do you guys think that it would be better to give this it's own mod page? A new page would probably increase the visibility of the mod, particularly since this change might appeal to some people who wouldn't otherwise use The Choice Is Yours. On the other hand, it's nice having all TCIY files on a single page (there should be a preliminary Dragonborn file soon too), and it bolsters the existing mod to have it listed there. Any thoughts?

Thanks for all the information! That helps clarify some of the high points for the various mods. Kelmych, your page is a very nice summary of the different options. Thank you for providing a link to it.

For those who have tried different magic mods, what is it in particular about a certain magic mod that you feel makes it better than the others? These are a few that have been recommended here and in other topics: Balanced Magic, Better Magic, Mighty Magic, Empowered Magic, TTRSO and SPERG. But the recommendations are generally made without providing any specific reasons. I've always used Balanced Magic and have been happy with it, but I also don't tend to play magic-centered characters. However, I'd like to try playing a pure mage character and have been looking at some of the other magic mods that have been recommended. For those who have a particular magic mod that they really like, I'm curious what features from that mod are the determining factors in your choice? For example, the reason that I've always been satisfied with Balanced Magic are that I feel it does a good job scaling the spells and the dual casting cost seems much better balanced than vanilla. I also like that it still feels very much like a simple improvement to the vanilla magic system rather than a complete replacement of the vanilla structure. Unfortunately, it's no longer getting updated and doesn't have support for Dragonborn, which as far as I'm aware are the two major points against it.

Fair enough. You're right, there's nothing that claims this armor is made from leather (and even if it were, it probably is some type of daedric leather). Honestly, I like your description of "pure shadow manifest of Nocturnals will." :) However, I still don't think it would look quite like this. Regardless of what material it's made from, I just don't like the way this looks in the game. The texture just doesn't fit well and doesn't look appropriate for the armor.

The Nightingale Hi-Res is far superior to me (honestly, though I think vanilla is the true winner here). This mod does not look like leather. It looks like rubber or neoprene. The seems and edges look too modern, and the dark color actually makes the material look less detailed than vanilla in most areas. Where the design is more detailed (edges, hood, and bird designs), it strays from the vanilla design and doesn't look nearly as good. The Nightingale armor is typically one of the primary armors for my character, so when I play I spend a lot of time looking at it. I would choose the vanilla textures over these any day. I'm looking forward to Cabal's version, but this isn't a suitable compromise unless you want a modern high-tech look.

Wait, you mean it's next to the dead mage who is locked inside a cage? I suppose he must have been a pretty bad mage.

I use this one: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/13186/? (the alteration only version) I like the visual implementation much better than other unlock spells that I've tried, as well as the fact that the spell scales with your skill. It looks like it's based on the same original script as Knock, so I assume they're probably very similar (I don't think I've compared them directly though). I can't remember if I've tried Leazers or not.

Try searching the forum. There are already existing discussions regarding these mods.

Endorsements aren't a very reliable way to pick good mods to begin with. There are a number of older mods that are incredibly outdated and likely to be unstable if they were to be used now that have thousands of endorsements because they were popular when they were released. There are also some really excellent mods that I consider essential and that I've recently gone back to update and/or endorse, and I was astonished that they didn't have more than a few hundred endorsements. Endorsements are, and always have been, highly variable on Nexus. Though I believe that you can make one relatively consistent generalization, which is that larger breast size and/or skimpier armor tends to equal more endorsements.

Thank you for the responses. I guess I'll probably revert to a pre-.5 save just to be safe, but from what you're saying I don't know that I'd have any problems. I unpack most of my mods (since I mod more than I play, having things unpacked is a lot more convenient for me), so if the critical issues involve scripts in BSAs vs loose scripts it sounds like I would probably be okay.

Does anyone know if any of the changes that occurred from 1.2.5 - 1.2.8 will affect saves made with those versions? I apologize if this should be obvious; I've been busy updating/testing my mods and haven't had time to fully read up on what the issues were between the various recent updates to MO. I have a couple of saves made when using 1.2.5 and at least one after updating to 1.2.7. Can I update to 1.2.9 and continue using these saves, or do I need to go back to something earlier?

I could see where this might be useful for some people to pick up a few extra frames. Particularly if using Frostfall, in which case you're probably not going to be spending much time underwater.

Hm, I also have a personal mod I made with adjustments to the phial's effects, however the mod that Kelmych linked to that allows any potion to be used to fill the phial looks pretty interesting. It actually makes the phial conform much more closely to the lore that surrounds it. Thanks for the links. :)

This mod has been updated since the previous comments. It looks like there are now more versions (CoT Weather Patch and ETaC have patches). So I'm curious, has anyone been using the latest version, and have most of the remaining issues been resolved at this point? How obvious are the transitions when using CoT and CoT Weather Patch?

Nightcaller Temple would be another good location to place some new books. While it's only accessible if you do the Vaermina quest, it contains one of the largest libraries in Skyrim so it would be a great place to add some interesting books.

I don't understand. There is no new plugin for Traps Make Noise. Maybe you're referring to the fact that Traps are Dangerous no longer requires installing Traps Make Noise separately for the script files? However, Traps Are Dangerous.esp has always contained the changes from Traps Make Noise.esp. The AOS patch may need to have a few values updated, but there are no new records getting merged so the required master files should be the same.

I agree. It looks very nice.

Fortunately Saerileth wasn't discouraged. Have you seen her Stone of Barenziah; it's gorgeous! I do like the texture of the box from Skyrim Redesigned, but the stone looks awful. If vanilla retextures don't work with Saerileth's new mesh, and I'm forced to choose between them, then Saerileth's meshes are going to win hands-down. EDIT: Just read some of the more recent comments, and it sounds like vanilla retextures for the box will work fine with her stone.

If this works as advertised, then it'll be a great improvement. I especially like the idea of being able to grab soul gems with telekinesis. I always felt that these traps were the most obvious use for telekinesis, and it's annoyed me to no end that telekinesis couldn't be used to disable them.

@DocClox Try this. It should stop the child comments when the player is undetected, trespassing, or in combat. Edit: This fix is now included in Timing is Everything.

Great! Thank you! I'm glad to hear that it's a known issue and that there's already a solution in the works.

So I am using the priorities correctly then? Files with low priority numbers should be getting overwritten by files with higher priority numbers?

I'm working on a FOMOD installer for Weapons & Armor Fixes, and I've run into a question that I've not been able to find an answer for. Depending on certain flags, I would like the installer to overwrite a file installed in a previous step with a different file (the two files have identical file names). Basically, I have it set up so that in the first step, the user chooses which DLCs they have. If they select both Dawnguard and Dragonborn, then the "WAF Complete" file is installed instead of the individual files. The second installation step asks the user to choose which options they would like. If they select all three options that are included in the "WAF Complete Plus" file, then this file version needs to be installed instead of the first one. However, I just can't get this to work. I've tried using the 'priority' tags, but either I don't understand how they work (a very real possibility) or else they're simply not doing anything. I attached the installer script if anyone cares to look at it. This is my first time attempting to make an installer, and I've been slowly working through it and figuring things out. I think I have everything else working properly, but this one issue has me stumped. I've tried searching online, but I've not been able to find the right information. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Here's the file for anyone who wants to try it out. There shouldn't be any issues with uninstalling it after start. There are no scripts. All this file does is edit the player record to change the default outfit from FullIronSet to a customized PrisonerOutfit. It also removes the iron weapons from the player's default inventory items. You may want to double-check in TES5Edit that you don't have any other mods that edit the player record. I know that Balanced Magic does, but it's the only mod in my load order that alters this record directly.