Feedback on slower leveling/balancing using Community Uncapper

[dreadflopp]

I'd like some feedback and suggestion for my Skyrim Community Uncapper settings. What I want from these settings is slowing down leveling and fix some issues with the game.

* I have uncapped all skill and set the level limit to 250. I have set Skill Formula Cap to 100 to avoid unbalancing and overpowered skills.

* I didn't change Enchanter Caps since I've never really used enchanting in game. Suggestions for this setting is appreiated.

* SkillExpGainMults have been set to slow down leveling a lot in the beginning and gradually spped up and reach vanilla experience gain at level 50. Exceptions to these are smithing, enchanting and alchemy. Of these three I have only leveled smithing and it is annoying to say the least. You really have to gring to level smithing which is way I choose to speed it up a little instead. I'm just assuming it is the same for alchemy and enchanting? I have also chosen to speed up speech and pickpocket a little since I'm thinking they are harder to level up.

* In my experience you gain to many levels from leveling smithing which makes the leveled enemies to hard. I have therefore set the PCLevelSkillMults to 0.5 for smithing, enchanting and alchemy (again assumed that what is true for smithing is true for alchemy and enchanting)

My .ini:
Edit: I'm keeping this INI updated and make changes to it with values discussed in the posts below.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW WORKS AND HOW TO MODIFY AN INI FILE PLEASE READ:
; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INI_file
;
; Anything behind a semicolon is considered a comment and has no effect
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

[General]

;DO NOT MODIFY THIS VALUE
;INI file version
iINIFileVersion = 3

;Enable(1) or Disable(0) the plugin
;Default value = 0
bEnabled=1

;Enable(1) or Disable(0) the AutoUpdate functionality. IT MIGHT NOT WORK WITH CERTAIN SKYRIM VERSION! ENABLE AT YOUR OWN RISK!
;Default value = 0
bAutoUpdate=0

;Enable(1) or Disable(0) the Uncapper Skill Level Caps;
;Default value = 0
bUseSkillCaps=1

;Enable(1) or Disable(0) the Uncapper Skill caps inside formulas governed by skills.
;Default value = 0
bUseSkillFormulaCaps=1

;Enable(1) or Disable(0) the ingame Enchanter Uncapper skill caps
;Default value = 0
bUseEnchanterCaps=1

;Enable(1) or Disable(0) the Uncapper Skill Experience Gained Multipliers;
;Default value = 0
bUseSkillExpGainMults=1

;Enable(1) or Disable(0) the Uncapper Skill Experience to Player's Character Experience Multipliers;
;Default value = 0
bUsePCLevelSkillExpMults=1

;Enable(1) or Disable(0) the number of perks gained, set by the Uncapper, at each level up
;Default value = 0
bUsePerksAtLevelUp=0

;Enable(1) or Disable(0) the number of health points, set by the Uncapper, gained at each level up when Health is selected during the Level Up screen
;Default value = 0
bUseHealthAtLevelUp=0

;Enable(1) or Disable(0) the number of magicka points, set by the Uncapper, gained at each level up when Magicka is selected during the Level Up screen
;Default value = 0
bUseMagickaAtLevelUp=0

;Enable(1) or Disable(0) the number of stamina points, set by the Uncapper, gained at each level up when Stamina is selected during the Level Up screen
;Default value = 0
bUseStaminaAtLevelUp=0

;Enable(1) or Disable(0) the number of "Carry Weight" points, set by the Uncapper, gained at each level up when Health is selected during the Level Up screen
;Default value = 0
bUseCarryWeightAtHealthLevelUp=0

;Enable(1) or Disable(0) the number of "Carry Weight" points, set by the Uncapper, gained at each level up when Magicka is selected during the Level Up screen
;Default value = 0
bUseCarryWeightAtMagickaLevelUp=0

;Enable(1) or Disable(0) the number of "Carry Weight" points, set by the Uncapper, gained at each level up when Stamina is selected during the Level Up screen
;Default value = 0
bUseCarryWeightAtStaminaLevelUp=0


[skillCaps]
; Set the Skill Level Cap to
; Between 0 and 10000;
; Using too low or too high values may crash the game. Handle them with caution.
; Default game value = 100

iAlchemy=250
iAlteration=250
iArchery=250
iBlock=250
iConjuration=250
iDestruction=250
iEnchanting=250
iHeavyArmor=250
iIllusion=250
iLightArmor=250
iLockpicking=250
iOneHanded=250
iPickpocket=250
iRestoration=250
iSmithing=250
iSneak=250
iSpeech=250
iTwoHanded=250


[skillFormulaCaps]
; Set the Skill Formula Cap to
; If your skill level is higher than the cap set below, then the skill level showing in game will be capped and displayed in red color (like if it was affected by a negative enchantment)
; Between 0 and 10000;
; Using too low or too high values may crash the game. Handle them with caution.
; Default game value = 100

iAlchemy=100
iAlteration=100
iArchery=100
iBlock=100
iConjuration=100
iDestruction=100
iEnchanting=100
iHeavyArmor=100
iIllusion=100
iLightArmor=100
iLockpicking=100
iOneHanded=100
iPickpocket=100
iRestoration=100
iSmithing=100
iSneak=100
iSpeech=100
iTwoHanded=100


[EnchanterCaps]
;However high the Enchanting skill is, the following values set an Enchanting skill level cap when using the ingame Enchanter.
;If bSkillFormulaCaps is enabled, then the following values are also capped by iEnchanting inside [skillFormulaCaps], if iEnchanting is lower.
; Between 0 and 10000;

;Max Enchanting skill level for enchantment magnitude.
iMaxEnchantingLevelForMagnitude=199

;Max Enchanting skill level for enchantment charges
;A value higher than 199 will cause inconsistencies in vanilla Skyrim.
iMaxEnchantingLevelForCharges=199


[skillExpGainMults]
; Set the Skill Experience Gained Multiplier to
; betwen 0.0 and 10000.0
; Using too low or too high values may crash the game. Handle them with caution.
; Default game value = 1.0
;(Setting bUsePCLevelNotBaseSkillLevel to 1, will use Character Level instead of Base Skill Level for the subsections)

fAlchemy=1.0
fAlteration=0.8
fArchery=0.67
fBlock=1.0
fConjuration=0.8
fDestruction=0.8
fEnchanting=0.67
fHeavyArmor=0.8
fLightArmor=0.8
fLockpicking=0.8
fOneHanded=0.67
fPickpocket=0.8
fRestoration=0.8
fSmithing=1.0
fSneak=0.67
fSpeech=0.8
fTwoHanded=0.67

bUsePCLevelNotBaseSkillLevel=0


; All the subsections of SkillExpGainMults below allow to set an additional multiplier depending on the base skill level, independantly for each skill.
; The format is PlayerLevel = Multiplier. You can specify many different levels.
; If a specific level is not specified then the closest lower level setting is used.
; Default value: 1=1.0

[skillExpGainMults\Alchemy]
20=1.1
30=1.2
40=1.3
50=1.4
60=1.5
[skillExpGainMults\Alteration]
1=0.2
10=0.25
20=0.3
30=0.4
35=0.5
40=0.75
50=1.0
[skillExpGainMults\Archery]
1=0.2
10=0.25
20=0.3
30=0.4
35=0.5
40=0.75
50=1.0
[skillExpGainMults\Block]
1=0.2
10=0.25
20=0.3
30=0.4
35=0.5
40=0.75
50=1.0
[skillExpGainMults\Conjuration]
1=0.2
10=0.25
20=0.3
30=0.4
35=0.5
40=0.75
50=1.0
[skillExpGainMults\Destruction]
1=0.2
10=0.25
20=0.3
30=0.4
35=0.5
40=0.75
50=1.0
[skillExpGainMults\Enchanting]
1=0.2
10=0.25
20=0.3
30=0.4
35=0.5
40=0.75
50=1.0
[skillExpGainMults\HeavyArmor]
1=0.2
10=0.25
20=0.3
30=0.4
35=0.5
40=0.75
50=1.0
[skillExpGainMults\Illusion]
1=0.2
10=0.25
20=0.3
30=0.4
35=0.5
40=0.75
50=1.0
[skillExpGainMults\LightArmor]
1=0.2
10=0.25
20=0.3
30=0.4
35=0.5
40=0.75
50=1.0
[skillExpGainMults\Lockpicking]
1=0.2
10=0.25
20=0.3
30=0.4
35=0.5
40=0.75
50=1.0
[skillExpGainMults\OneHanded]
1=0.2
10=0.25
20=0.3
30=0.4
35=0.5
40=0.75
50=1.0
[skillExpGainMults\Pickpocket]
20=1.1
30=1.2
40=1.3
50=1.4
60=1.5
[skillExpGainMults\Restoration]
1=0.2
10=0.25
20=0.3
30=0.4
35=0.5
40=0.75
50=1.0
[skillExpGainMults\Smithing]
20=1.1
30=1.2
40=1.3
50=1.4
60=1.5
[skillExpGainMults\Sneak]
1=1.3
20=1.2
30=1.0
35=0.75
50=1.0
[skillExpGainMults\Speech]
20=1.1
30=1.2
40=1.3
50=1.4
60=1.5
[skillExpGainMults\TwoHanded]
1=0.2
10=0.25
20=0.3
30=0.4
35=0.5
40=0.75
50=1.0
[PCLevelSkillExpMults]
; Set the Skill Experience to Player's Character Experience Multipliers to
; betwen 0.0 and 10000.0
; Using too low or too high values may crash the game. Handle them with caution.
; Default game value = 1.0
; (Setting bUsePCLevelNotBaseSkillLevel to 1, will use Character Level instead of Base Skill Level for the subsections)

fAlchemy=0.5
fAlteration=1.0
fArchery=1.0
fBlock=1.0
fConjuration=1.0
fDestruction=1.0
fEnchanting=1.0
fHeavyArmor=1.0
fIllusion=1.0
fLightArmor=1.0
fLockpicking=1.0
fOneHanded=1.0
fPickpocket=1.0
fRestoration=1.0
fSmithing=0.5
fSneak=1.0
fSpeech=1.0
fTwoHanded=1.0

bUsePCLevelNotBaseSkillLevel=0

; All the subsections of PCLevelSkillExpMults below allow to set an additional multipliers depending on the base skill level, independantly for each skill.
; The format is PlayerLevel = Multiplier. You can specify many different levels.
; If a specific level is not specified then the closest lower level setting is used.
; Default value: 1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\Alchemy]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\Alteration]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\Archery]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\Block]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\Conjuration]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\Destruction]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\Enchanting]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\HeavyArmor]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\Illusion]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\LightArmor]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\Lockpicking]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\OneHanded]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\Pickpocket]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\Restoration]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\Smithing]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\Sneak]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\Speech]
1=1.0

[PCLevelSkillExpMults\TwoHanded]
1=1.0


[PerksAtLevelUp]
;Set the number of perks gained at each level up. If a specific level is not specified then the closest lower level setting is used.
;Default game value is one perk per level (you can also use float as value, for example 1.25 per points per level)
; Level (2..10000) = Perks (0..255)
;
;In the following inactive commented example the player will gain 1 perk per level at and from level 2 to 9, then 2 perks per level at and from level 10 to 29,
; then 4 perks per level at and from level 30 to 94, then no perk at all per level for level 95 and above
;
;2=1
;10=2
;30=4
;95=0
2=1


[HealthAtLevelUp]
;Set the number of health points gained at each level up when Health is selected during the Level Up screen. If a specific level is not specified then the closest lower level setting is used.
;Default game value is 10 points per level
; Level (2..10000) = Points (0..10000)
;
;In the following inactive commented example the player will gain 10 points per level at and from level 2 to 9, then 20 points per level at and from level 10 to 29,
; then 40 points per level at and from level 30 to 94, then no points at all per level for level 95 and above
;
;2=10
;10=20
;30=40
;95=0
2=10


[MagickaAtLevelUp]
;Set the number of magicka points gained at each level up when Magicka is selected during the Level Up screen. If a specific level is not specified then the closest lower level setting is used.
;Default game value is 10 points per level
; Level (2..10000) = Points (0..10000)
;
;In the following inactive commented example the player will gain 10 points per level at and from level 2 to 9, then 20 points per level at and from level 10 to 29,
; then 40 points per level at and from level 30 to 94, then no points at all per level for level 95 and above
;
;2=10
;10=20
;30=40
;95=0
2=10


[staminaAtLevelUp]
;Set the number of stamina points gained at each level up when Stamina is selected during the Level Up screen. If a specific level is not specified then the closest lower level setting is used.
;Default game value is 10 points per level
; Level (2..10000) = Points (0..10000)
;
;In the following inactive commented example the player will gain 10 points per level at and from level 2 to 9, then 20 points per level at and from level 10 to 29,
; then 40 points per level at and from level 30 to 94, then no points at all per level for level 95 and above
;
;2=10
;10=20
;30=40
;95=0
2=10


[CarryWeightAtHealthLevelUp]
;Set the number of "Carry Weight" points gained at each level up when Health is selected during the Level Up screen. If a specific level is not specified then the closest lower level setting is used.
;Default game value is 0 points per level
; Level (2..10000) = Points (0..10000)
;
;In the following inactive commented example the player will gain 10 points per level at and from level 2 to 9, then 20 points per level at and from level 10 to 29,
; then 40 points per level at and from level 30 to 94, then no points at all per level for level 95 and above
;
;2=10
;10=20
;30=40
;95=0
2=0


[CarryWeightAtMagickaLevelUp]
;Set the number of "Carry Weight" points gained at each level up when Magicka is selected during the Level Up screen. If a specific level is not specified then the closest lower level setting is used.
;Default game value is 0 points per level
; Level (2..10000) = Points (0..10000)
;
;In the following inactive commented example the player will gain 10 points per level at and from level 2 to 9, then 20 points per level at and from level 10 to 29,
; then 40 points per level at and from level 30 to 94, then no points at all per level for level 95 and above
;
;2=10
;10=20
;30=40
;95=0
2=0


[CarryWeightAtStaminaLevelUp]
;Set the number of "Carry Weight" points gained at each level up when Stamina is selected during the Level Up screen. If a specific level is not specified then the closest lower level setting is used.
;Default game value is 5 points per level
; Level (2..10000) = Points (0..10000)
;
;In the following inactive commented example the player will gain 10 points per level at and from level 2 to 9, then 20 points per level at and from level 10 to 29,
; then 40 points per level at and from level 30 to 94, then no points at all per level for level 95 and above
;
;2=10
;10=20
;30=40
;95=0
2=5

 

Edited August 16, 2015 by dreadflopp

[Kesta]

No actual values to give you, haven't modified my own for a while now. Some of the important change I made sure to be active :

 

Reduce the speed at which you level enchanting by ~30% . Because un-enchanting is overpowered, in vanilla you can almost reach 50 in enchanting without even enchanting anything, only disenchanting. Even worst with mods that increase the number of enchantments available (e.g. : wintermyst).

 

Reduce the speed at which you level sneaking by ~20%. Because even with sneak overhaul, once you reached a certain level, it's just wayy to easy to level it just by staying in the dark in dungeons. And since sometimes you're forced to wait in the dark for a while... you gain level without doing anything :/ Actually making this malus bigger as you levelup sounds like a good idea imo.

 

Increase the speed at which you level up blocking by ~20/25%, otherwise you reach 100 in one-handed while barely at 40 in block, because you don't need to block that often in skyrim... (and bashing just cost wayy to much stamina ^^)

 

 

Never tinkered PCLevelSkillMults myself, but your changes seems kinda cool.

 

 

Also, about forging : remember that the amount of xp you get from crafting an item is linked to the cost of the item... example : if you have CCF+CCOR enabled, and use the "smelters give experience", you levelup your smithing skill super-fast by crafting gold ingots.

 

 

I also remove every carry weight gains on level-up, but this is just a personnal choice, not really about balancing your levelling.

[Greg]

I agree that leveling smithing is a grind, but I think the experience rate is split into two realms in a manner of speaking. If you are smithing weapons and armor exclusively, it takes forever to level up smithing because you can't carry enough of these heavy materials to grind through the experience (unless the player is just trying to game the smithing tree) and some of the materials aren't just laying on the side of the road for easy pickings. This may just be my perspective because I don't tend to carry around a lot of cheap weapons and armors since the value/weight is extremely low.

 

Building a house is a grind as well and requires traveling all over Tamriel to collect the materials, but this requires mostly common materials and levels up smithing very quickly. Overall I agree that leveling smithing too fast just games the system. It doesn't do a lot of good to walk into a bandit camp at Level 50 if you're weapon skills are 25 and your armor skills are 22.

 

I think sneak is difficult to level up initially because the player can't really hide in the shadows sufficiently. (It is possible to "cheat" by running back and forth behind the guard in the Whiterun market but it takes forever to do so.) Once the player gets a few sneak perks, I think sneak levels up a bit too quickly (especially if the player has the Thief or Lover stone). Perhaps sneak should be on an exponential curve of sorts... meaning I think it should level up at about the same rate (or perhaps slightly faster) in the beginning and taper off.

 

I think archery should perhaps be tapered off a bit since I don't even need armor or block skills once I get a few archery and sneak perks. I tend to come at forts from down the mountain in the back, pop a few cheap iron arrows into the stone wall to attract some attention, and clear out the bandits sniper style. In the beginning, bandits come outside actively looking for me and I usually have to retreat to avoid getting killed. With a few sneak/archery perks up my sleeve, even the indoor areas aren't much of a challenge with the good bows with enchantments and the Power Shot, Quick Shot, and Bullseye perks.

 

Of course, Skyrim's AI system leaves a lot to be desired. I mean I've had Draugr bump into me and I should've been dead on the spot with very low armor/block skills, but they don't even see me or they just stand there like deer in the headlights trying to figure out what to do.

 

I can't speak for any of the other skills since I don't use them. I pretty much stick with Archery, Sneak, and Smithing. My light armor rating is a dismal 25 or 26. I wear light armor, but it doesn't get used much.

[FuzzRocket9]

You can edit it based on level instead of skill. You would want to give bonuses to Smithing/Enchanting at higher levels where you'll be strong enough to hold your own. I'd go with level 35 when I give smithing a boost. You can go with increments too. So lvl 10=0.5, lvl 20=0.7, lvl 30=0.9. This hasn't been tested yet. Just an idea.

[dreadflopp]

@kesta

Good advice, I'll change enchanting to the same PCLevelSkillMults as I use for the other skills and change the overall multiplier for enchanting, blocking and sneaking as you suggested.

 

Actually making this malus bigger as you levelup sounds like a good idea imo.

 

It should say multiplier I guess...

Why would it be a good idea? To flaten out the leveling curve?

Edited August 16, 2015 by dreadflopp

[Kesta]

 

It should say multiplier I guess...

Why would it be a good idea? To flaten out the leveling curve?

I meant exactly what Greg explained : Leveling your sneak is "normal" (or hard, it's just a matter of point of view) at the beginning of the game. But once you grab some perks (or just the vanilla muffled spell...), you're almost always undected and your sneak skill start to increase at high rate. 

[dreadflopp]

@Greg

If iIunderstand you correctly you verified my thoughts about smithing. Regarding sneak you make a good point. I'll slow down sneak to by changing leveling speed to vanilla which uses a negative curve (if I remember correctly).

I'll slow down archery leveling speed to as you sugested

You can edit it based on level instead of skill. You would want to give bonuses to Smithing/Enchanting at higher levels where you'll be strong enough to hold your own. I'd go with level 35 when I give smithing a boost. You can go with increments too. So lvl 10=0.5, lvl 20=0.7, lvl 30=0.9. This hasn't been tested yet. Just an idea.

That might actually be a good idea. A bonus to leveling speed for smithing/enchanting after a certain level.

I meant exactly what Greg explained : Leveling your sneak is "normal" (or hard, it's just a matter of point of view) at the beginning of the game. But once you grab some perks (or just the vanilla muffled spell...), you're almost always undected and your sneak skill start to increase at high rate.

Ok I see what you mean and it is a good point. I'll update my ini settings in the op tomorrow when I wake up :)

[FuzzRocket9]

I did read the above posts, but you know, sometimes you miss something or don't understand. I'll suggest this anyway: You could edit the time it takes for specific skills to level you up overall. So say you edit Smithing so it will fill your level up bar much less than one-handed skill would. The uncapper guide mentions this I tihnk, but I've yet to try it. It should be very helpful.

 

After everything is said about this topic. Post some finalized inis for us to take note of.

Edited August 16, 2015 by FuzzRocket9

[Greg]

@Greg

If iIunderstand you correctly you verified my thoughts about smithing. Regarding sneak you make a good point. I'll slow down sneak to by changing leveling speed to vanilla which uses a negative curve (if I remember correctly).

I'll slow down archery leveling speed to as you sugested

That might actually be a good idea. A bonus to leveling speed for smithing/enchanting after a certain level.

Ok I see what you mean and it is a good point. I'll update my ini settings in the op tomorrow when I wake up :)

I apologize because I didn't state that very well. I think my point should be that it's all to easy to game the smithing tree without some tweaks in effect, so it's probably a good idea to tone it down a bit so leveling smithing doesn't affect the player's level as much.

[dreadflopp]

The smithing tree is a problem for me and the problem is that the only way to level up in smithing to craft lots of lots of stuff. More than you can use. Why would you do that if not only to level up smithing. The other problem is that you will gain to many levels if you level up smithing. The enemies will be harder to kill with your tempered ebony sword than they were with your iron sword, at least in my experience. The solution for me was to speed up the smithing tree leveling and cut the pc experience gain in half. Setting bUsePCLevelNotBaseSkillLevel=1 could work, as FuzzRocket9 suggested. Leveling up smithing will be faster after a certain PC level when it's not a problem anymore that enemies gets harder. This will also mean that the SkillExpGainMults will all use PC level instead of skill level when determining how fast the skill will level. This means that if you are at level 50 all skills will start to level up faster, even those you haven't gained any level in. I think that the vanilla game way is better, bUsePCLevelNotBaseSkillLevel=0.

 

Edit: modified the INI in the first post.

Edited August 16, 2015 by dreadflopp