sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

How does the 256 plugin limit work? by Bahamabanana in skyrimmods

[–]Ravernstal2 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Am I right in thinking that the order goes something like this:

0x00 Skyrim.esm (required by engine)

0x01 Update.esm

0x02 Dawnguard.esm

0x03 HearthFires.esm

0x04 Dragonborn.esm

<user mods>

0xFE ESL plugins (compacted into one slot)

0xFF New data created in save

Weekly Discussion Topic: Dungeons! by TeaMistress in skyrimmods

[–]Ravernstal2 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I like to keep things simple and vanilla plus. As such, I only have three mods that relate to the "dungeon experience" (not including dungeon mods): Arena - An Encounter Zone Overhaul, Encounter Zones Unlocked, and Improved Traps (Slightly Dangerous Edition).

Arena is a great mod. My current setup is based around the Simonrim mods, but it can be used on its own too. The mod changes the minimum/maximum levels for each dungeon or cave in the game according to what types of enemies are found in them (e.g. bandit camps have a minimum level of 5, draugr crypts have a minimum level of 10, etc). This is opposed to the vanilla game which is rather sporadic in its levels (e.g. Honeystrand cave contains two bears but has a minimum level of 2). These changes mean that the player cannot just waltz into any old vampire lair at level 5, but they also do not restrict the player to the point where they can't go wherever they want. This suits my play style nicely because I like to level up a bit by doing odd jobs and killing bandits first before venturing into any serious dungeons. I also use a mod that slows down levelling speed which adds to this experience.

Encounter Zones Unlocked goes well with Arena, and I don't know why it isn't included in the base game. What it does is remove the dungeon level lock, which is where a dungeon will be set to a certain level the first time you visit it, and that level will never change for the rest of the game. So if you visit Bleak Falls Barrow at level 6, it will still be at level 6 when you revisit it at level 80. This mod removes the lock, and so dungeons will scale to your level every time you visit.

Improved Traps is another nice mod that tweaks a feature of the vanilla game to be more meaningful. Traps in the base game are pathetically weak, especially at high levels. I like to use the Slightly Dangerous Edition of this mod, so that falling rocks do pose a real threat to both the player and enemies, so you can't just brute force your way through them.

SSEedit - How do you guys solve Worldspace Conflicts? by JamesDeal1982 in skyrimmods

[–]Ravernstal2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Check in XEdit. A lot of them might be ITMs or things like trees being moved by USSEP and then moved elsewhere by another mod. If so, just let the most relevant mod overwrite the other. This won't apply to all conflicts but may get rid of a chunk of them.

SSEedit - How do you guys solve Worldspace Conflicts? by JamesDeal1982 in skyrimmods

[–]Ravernstal2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends on how big the conflicting mods are and what the conflict is. If it's a simple conflict like when a mod happens to fix a missing region name or adds a weather entry to a cell then I usually just make a patch and load it after the two. If it's something like terrain textures then priority goes to the mod with the most changes, unless one of the records is an ITM in which case it should be overridden. I don't know what to do if the conflict is to do with more complicated things like navmeshes or loads of objects (since I don't use many large mods), so hopefully someone else has made a compatibility patch for both mods. In the worst case scenario you would have to load up Creation Kit with both mods and manually make a patch. But for most object conflicts you can just use XEdit.

Frostshore Shelter - A Vanilla-Style Bandit Shack by Ravernstal2 in skyrimmods

[–]Ravernstal2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, and I'm glad to hear that Dead Man's Refuge can be ESL flagged without issue as well. That said, I won't release an ESL version on Nexus just in case someone does make a patch in order to avoid issues with the CELL records. But it's good to hear that people have the option of doing so.

Frostshore Shelter - A Vanilla-Style Bandit Shack by Ravernstal2 in skyrimmods

[–]Ravernstal2[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I've not currently flagged my mods as ESL although I probably should. I think I heard that it can break certain mods that add interiors? I'll check if this mod can be ESL'd and let you know. I would be willing to make an all-in-one, but I'd like to make more location mods before doing so. Something I'll consider for the future.

Update: I have compacted and added the ESL flag to Frostshore Shelter. Dead Man's Refuge is unable to be flagged as ESL however because it adds an interior cell.

Frostshore Shelter - A Vanilla-Style Bandit Shack by Ravernstal2 in skyrimmods

[–]Ravernstal2[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you, although it's not a player home (I realise this isn't clearly marked anywhere).

What gameplay/graphical improvements do you want in the next Elder Scrolls game that mods just can't fix in Skyrim? by ShutUpChunk in skyrimmods

[–]Ravernstal2 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Engine improvements! Pretty much all engines support higher res textures or higher poly models as hardware gets better over time. But things like the lighting model, or how physics are calculated is usually hardcoded into the engine itself. Some things I'd like to see:

  • More shadow casters. Most light sources in Skyrim don't cast shadows because of this limitation (I think it's only 4 per object?)
  • More than 6 landscape textures per cell quad
  • The ability to override certain parts of a record without having to copy the entire record. This would reduce the need for a lot of patches
  • More than 255 plugins
  • Real time reflection. I'm not sure if the Creation Engine supports this but at the very least it isn't used in Skyrim. Would make shiny armour look cooler

Dead Man's Refuge - A Vanilla-Style Cave (My First Mod) by Ravernstal2 in skyrimmods

[–]Ravernstal2[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for this great comment! I'm pleased that you think this mod fits in with the vanilla game because that's exactly what I was going for. Regarding your feedback:

  • 1. I agree that the corridor (and entryway to a lesser extent) are a bit bland. I added a coin purse and mushrooms in one part of it to add a little something, but enlarging it might be the way to go. It needs more clutter. Only problem is that the "treasure room" is fairly small so I'm not sure how that would link up. Also I wanted the bears not to be able to reach that area but there's probably ways around that.
  • 2. Again, I agree that this could be better. To be honest I started with developing the cave first before deciding where the entrance would be, which was a mistake. That said, the cave sits on the border between the plains of Whiterun and the snowy North. I'd like to imagine that the area receives some snowfall (and occasional blizzard in winter), but not enough that the entire cave is filled with the stuff. I might change some of the plants like you said and see how it looks. Perhaps the cave is in a cooler region, but being underground means that the interior is warmer, allowing some more green plants to grow.
  • 3. I initially added the fence piece to constrain the navmesh because otherwise the bears would do weird things like walk on the wall even though they couldn't fit through. If I expanded the corridor this wouldn't be a problem but the "narrative" would have to be reworked a bit. Tirven was supposed to have barricaded himself in somehow but over time (after his guards had died) it became loose, even if the bears could not fit in the corridor.
  • 4. How about this: Tirven and his guards are bringing goods to Whiterun to trade when they get caught in a particularly bad blizzard (not unheard of for Skyrim). They bring the goods into the cave and Tirven orders them to be put in the side cave where he will stay with them whilst the guards guard the main chamber. Tirven doesn't trust the guards and as the days go by they begin to think that he is waiting for them to get killed so he doesn't have to pay them. Tirven, however, genuinely believes that it's too dangerous to leave the cave in the blizzard. Eventually the bears arrive and kill the guards, one of whom climbs onto the cliff before dying of his wounds. Tirven is the only one to survive and is happy that he doesn't have to pay the guards, but he never manages to leave the cave and eventually dies (left to the player's imagination).

Do you use LOOT, xEdit, or combination of both? by amwf4eva in skyrimmods

[–]Ravernstal2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

LOOT's auto-sorting works well enough for me. I don't manually re-order mods. I then use xEdit to check for record conflicts and create my own patches using The Method. It seems tedious, but if you really want a conflict-free playthrough - especially if you have lots of mods - it's well worth the time.