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About this mod
Vanilla Extract is designed with an emphasis on rebalancing gameplay through several factors to make the game more enjoyable. It is not meant to make the game easier or harder, nor is it meant to be more realistic. It is simply a collection of modifications to core game settings with the intent of diversifying character development.
- Permissions and credits
First off let me start by saying I am not a modder by any means. My knowledge of the TES:CS is limited only to my own exploration and there is still much that I have to learn as a novice. I prefer to think of myself as an editor rather than a creator. I have no talent for creating weapons and armors or even for writing effective scripts. I have simply taken what already existed in the Oblivion.esm and altered it to my tastes.
That being said, if you find any bugs of any kind or can offer any suggestions or help in the development of this mod, feel free to contact me at [email protected]. I always welcome constructive criticism and feedback.
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_/OVERVIEW\_
Vanilla Extract is designed with an emphasis on rebalancing gameplay through several factors to make the game more enjoyable. It is not meant to make the game easier or harder, nor is it meant to be more realistic. It is simply a collection of modifications to core game settings with the intent of diversifying character development.
This mod does not add anything to the game whatsoever. Vanilla Extract specifically does NOT touch levelled lists of any kind. This should be compatable with many other mods, including most of the Overhaul mods. The changes Vanilla Extract makes are extremely precise and focused with the hopes of providing maximum gameplay effect with minimal CS editing and maximum mod compatability. Obviously not everything is going to be compatable, but with a little manipulation of the load order most mods should work hand in hand with Vanilla Extract. In fact, Vanilla Extract can act as a good companion mod for most of the overhaul mods.
Let me restate this, Vanilla Extract is not intended to be an overhual type mod. It's assortment of tweaks work discreetly behind the scenes and easily allow the real overhaul mods to do what they do best. It is designed to be either a stand-alone mod or as a companion to already popular overhaul mods. I personally prefer Francesco's and MMM, which VE works seamlessly with.
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_/CHANGES TO MAGICKA\_
Vanilla Extract attempts to rebalance the use of Magicka in several ways. First and foremost, it adds a slight increase of Magicka to the player. In Vanilla Oblivion, Magicka is determined by a formula that comes out as two times your intelligence. Vanilla Extract increases that ratio to 2.5 to provide a slight increase at all levels. This provides a slightly higher buffer for magicka regeneration in longer sessions of combat while still not overpowering the stat.
Vanilla Oblivion attempts to control Magicka regeneration through the use of the Willpower attribute. In reality, Willpower governs the percentage rate of Magicka that increases, not exact point values. This creates the reality of maximum Magicka, and thus Intelligence, having a higher impact on Magicka regeneration than Willpower. Vanilla Extract fixes this by altering the base values of the formula used to define that regeneration to more dynamic settings. The result is Willpower that works.
At lower levels of Willpower, Magicka will regenerate much slower than in Vanilla Oblivion and at higher levels it will begin to regenerate much faster. Mage type characters who start out with naturally decent scores in Willpower will notice little to no difference until later levels where they will begin to reap the benefits. Non-mage types, however, will inevitably suffer a shortage of magicka in longer standoffs.
Vanilla Extract also alters the use of Magicka through Armor Penalties, which are much higher than Vanilla Oblivion. Lower skill levels in worn armor will not only provide a much lower spell efficiency for mages, but the minimum armor penalty has also been increased from 2% to 25%. Masters of Heavy or Light Armor will still be able to use Magicka at a moderate spell effeciency level, but Novices and Apprentices(especially with low Willpower) will find Magicka almost useless.
The final adjustment that Vanilla Extract makes toward the use of Magicka is the speed at which targeted spells travel, which is a bit faster than Vanilla Oblivion. All of the changes to Magicka are born from the intent of redefining and empowering mage types and at the same time providing hurdles for cross-class characters. It is incredibly possible for cross-classes to exist and even thrive in Vanilla Extract, but no longer will they be superior at lower levels to pure mages.
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_/CHANGES TO ENCUMBRANCE\_
Just as Vanilla Extract provides a small boost to Magicka, it also provides a small boost to maximum Encumbrance as well. This is nothing drastic enough to be unbalancing, but rather a small boost to characters with low strength and a slightly higher perk for those with high strength. The actual Encumbrance limit for characters with an attribute value of 100 for Strength is 600 over the Vanilla Oblivion limit of 500. This is, of course, ratio'd so lower levels will not receive a 100 limit bonus or anything.
Vanilla Extract also seeks to alter the effects of Encumbrance as well as the limit. The effects of worn equipment on the character are moderately increased. This should be most noticable on characters wearing Heavy Armor. Classes that wear clothing will notice little to no effect at all and characters in Light Armor will notice a slight decrease in mobility. The same effects are noticable on armored enemies as well.
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_/CHANGES TO ALCHEMY AND POTIONS\_
Alchemy was originally designed to be a survival type skill allowing players to brew powerful potions to help themselves and deadly poisons to use on their enemies. With the default settings provided by Vanilla Oblivion though the use of potions or poisons in most situations is all but unnecessary. Vanilla Extract seeks to redefine Alchemy and increase its usefullness and at the same time decrease the effectiveness of its abuse.
While the changes Vanilla Extract makes generally promote the need for either more effective potion and/or spell use, it also alters the way in which potions are used. In Vanilla Oblivion a character with any skill level of Alchemy may ingest up to four potions at once. Vanilla Extract makes this more skill based by setting potion drinking limits as additional skill perks. Novices in Alchemy may now drink only one potion at a time. This limit will raise as additional levels are reached in Alchemy and Masters may consume up to 5 potions over the Vanilla Oblivion default of 4.
Promoting the use of the Alchemy skill is all well and good but the common abuse of Alchemy as a means of profit must also be addressed. To this extent, Vanilla Extract reduces the value of all Alchemy produced potions and poisons to zero. Alchemy is a skill that should be revered as a boon in combat to those who master it's ways; not a source of income for those who prefer flower picking over dungeon diving.
As a final change to Alchemy-related endeavors, Vanilla Extract alters the way in which Nirnroot behaves. Rather than disappearing permanently upon harvest, Nirnroot will now behave as any other flora in Tamriel and reswpawn its ingredients. The successful harvest rate of Nirnroot has also been lowered from its default value of 100% to a mere 33%. This should make Nirnroot collecting even more challenging to the honest adventurer(those that choose not to abuse the "Wait" command) while at the same time not removing this beautiful flora from the world.
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_/CHANGES TO ARMORER AND REPAIRING\_
Vanilla Extract makes several alterations to the effects of damaging and repairing armor with the intent of promoting Armorer as a skill. First of all, the rate at which Armor is damaged has been slightly decreased to provide further resilience to the player in tougher combat situations that Vanilla Extract may produce. This should prove beneficial to all character types regardless of their preference of Armorer as a major skill.
In order to help promote Armorer as a skill, Vanilla Extract increases the cost of repairing armor at the smith. It also alters Repair Hammers to be weightless. In Vanilla Oblivion certain items such as Lockpicks and Torches were already weightless. Vanilla Extract simply seeks to add this same unlimited carrying capacity of a necessary dungeon tool to the Repair Hammer as well.
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_/CHANGES TO ATHLETICS AND ACROBATICS\_
Acrobatics in Vanilla Extract is mostly left as is with one minor exception: the maximum jump height has been raised slightly. Athletics, on the other hand, has been rebalanced quite a bit to provide further Fatigue penalties on the player at lower levels. This is designed to create a very slight penalization towards players who abuse Athletics as a minor skill and at the same time reward those that Master it without allowing Superman type running.
Novices and Apprentices of Athletics will now generate Fatigue loss while running. At Journeyman level in Athletics there will be neither Fatigue loss or gain while running, but rather it will hold a constant value while running. At Expert and Master, Fatigue regeneration will be present but at much slower rates than when standing or walking. I believe this strikes a fine balance between Vanilla Oblivion's broken Athletics perks and the realism mods that make Fatigue management tedious.
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_/CHANGES TO LIGHT ARMOR\_
In order to preserve Vanilla Extract's alterations to both Athletics and Encumbrance, the expert perk of Light Armor has been reduced from a 100% decrease in worn encumbrance to a 50% decrease. This modification should be more than a well-earned reward for advancing in the skill while still not giving the character the effective benefit of weightless armor.
Vanilla Extract also alters the Master level skill perk in Light Armor, reducing it from a 50% increase in defense to a 15% increase. This is to differientiate Light Armor and Heavy Armor further when both become Mastered.
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_/CHANGES TO COMBAT\_
Vanilla Extract attempts to make Hand to Hand a more viable option in combat. It does this by increasing the maximum damage output of the skill and by increasing the Fatigue loss affect that Hand to Hand generates upon its targets. Blade and Blunt are still more powerful options for all level ranges, but becoming disarmed suddenly will no longer leave a resourceful player powerless.
On that same note, Vanilla Extract also promotes the use of Power Attacks from all combat styles. It does this by reducing the charge timer, allowing faster execution of power attacks. Fatigue management as well as not opening yourself up for a counter-attack still play a major role however and the overuse of Power Attacks can lead to quick defeat.
Finally, Vanilla Extract improves upon Marksmanship by increasing the range value of arrows as well as the speed at which they travel. Many other overhaul mods alter archery in a similar manner and their alterations can easily work with Vanilla Extract's, as Vanilla Extract only alters 3 specific variables related to archery that can only enhance archery further when working alongside other overhaul mods.
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_/CHANGES TO HEAVY ARMOR\_
Just as Vanilla Extract reduces the weightlessness effect of high levels of Light Armor, it applies that same concept to Heavy Armor as well. At Expert level in Heavy Armor you will have a 25% reduction in weight and Master level carries the perk of a 50% reduction in worn weight. Again, this is simply to rebalance the effects of Athletics and Encumbrance at higher levels.
As an additional bonus to players who prefer Heavy Armor, the Blades gear from the tutorial dungeon is completely playable. You can retrieve an almost full set(minus the shield) of the gear from either Captain Renoit or Glenroy upon their death. The stats of this gear has been reduced to that of Iron except for the weight, which remains the same, and the value which has been reduced to zero. It's nothing special and some Rusted Iron will probably work better, but it's more beneficial to Heavy Armor classes than Rough Leather Gloves.
Light Armor specialists are more than welcome to step outside the tutorial dungeon and garnish their own full set of gear from one of the two bandits less than a hundred or so feet in front of you. The Blades gear was made playable simply to give Heavy Armor characters a less expensive or tedious method of acquiring their first full low level set.
In the same way that the Blades Gear has been playable, Vanilla Extract also makes Dremora equipment playable as well. The difference is that the Dremora gear has not been watered down. This is so that both the challenge and reward of defeating the Dremora remain intact. All Dremora gear has the visible appearance of Daedric, but their stats range all the way from Daedric to Iron.
Only the equipment itself is altered by Vanilla Extract, not the actors. OOO users won't miss their chance to see the good captian in her black armor.
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_/CHANGES TO SNEAK ATTACKS\_
Sneak attacks in Vanilla Extract level up far more linear than in Vanilla Oblivion. The base damage increase for Novices in Sneak, using either Marksman or a melee skill, remains the same: 2x increase for marksman, 4x increase for melee. Beyond that though, as new perks in Sneak are acquired, the multipliers increase more dramatically: 0.5x for marksman and 1x for melee. So Masters of Sneak will receive a bonus of 4x damage to marksman sneak attacks and a 8x bonus to melee sneak attacks.
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_/CHANGES TO NPCS AND CREATURES\_
The most important and probably the most obvious alteration that Vanilla Extract makes at higher levels is that it increases the level range of creatures and npc's pulled from levelled list. The Vanilla Oblivion default value for this range is 8, calculated from the highest levelled object in the list that is at or below the player's level, thus only pulling up to 8 levels below the maximum levelled value of the list. Vanilla Extract sets this value at 99 to allow Oblivion to continue pulling creatures and NPC's from lower levels as the player advances.
The base multipliers that Vanilla Oblivion uses to calculate stats for NPCs and creatures is 0.5 and this is reduced to 0.4 for lower levels, which are level 4 and below. What Vanilla Extract does is extend that low level status up to and including level 20, but increasing the multiplier to the normal 0.5. Beyond level 20, the "normal" multiplier takes effect which Vanilla Extract sets to 0.6.
What this means is that lower levels will be a be a little bit more challenging, but not overly difficult. Higher levels will also be slightly more intense than in Vanilla Oblivion as well. When coupled with many of the overhaul mods including Fran's, MMM and OOO, this can create even more of a challenge than either Vanilla Extract or the other overhaul mod could have produced alone.
A final alteration that Vanilla Extract makes to NPCs and creatures is the reduction of Magicka. Vanilla Oblivion, by default, provides a 1.5 Magicka bonus to all NPCs and creatures to compensate for their lack of a birthsign. I don't know about you, but even in some of my longest combat sessions with Conjurers and Necromancers, I've never seen them let up on bashing me with spells from lack of Magicka. Vanilla Extract attempts to rectify this by reducing, or rather eliminating that bonus by resetting the multiplyer to 1.0.
The changes to NPCs and creatures are all done through the core settings of the engine. Levelled lists and individual creatures are not altered in any way at all, simply the values that govern their attribute growth and the levels at which they are generated. Mods that alter creature behavior, inventory, stats or add/alter creatures in any way will be 100% combatible with these changes.
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_/CHANGES TO LOOT\_
Loot has received the same tweak to generating levelled lists that creatures and NPC's have meaning that Vanilla Extract will continue pulling loot from lower level lists as you progress. This will mean that most high level Bandits and other NPC's will no longer wear almost complete full sets of Daedric or Glass. The same is true for most loot chests. Low level items like Iron and Fur will continue to exist in Oblivion for as long as your character does.
Certain types of loot have also been balanced to provide a further reward to the player for discovering them. The first of which are pelts obtained from Mountain Lions, Wolves, Timber Wolves, Black Bears and Brown Bears. Wolf Pelts have been increased in value from 10 Septims to 50 Septims. Lion Pelts have been reduced in weight to 1 unit and their value increased to 100 Septims. Finally, Bear Pelts have also been reweighed to 1 unit and their value increased to 150 Septims. This should help encourage the hunting of animal pelts for profit.
The value of all Gems and Nuggets has also been increased as follows. Gold Nuggets are now worth 250 Septims and Silver Nuggets are worth 150. Pearls are worth 50, Topaz's are worth 100, Rubies are worth 200, Sapphires are worth 300, Emeralds are worth 400 and Diamonds are worth 500. Flawed versions of Gems are worth exactly half of their normal counterpart and flawless Gems are worth twice as much. Gems are so few and far between that their value in Vanilla Oblivion hardly made them worth finding.
The price of Necklaces and Amulets has also increased based on material. Bronze Necklaces are now worth 25 Septims, Copper 50 Septims, Jade 75 Septims, Silver 100 Septims, Gold 250 Septims and Jeweled 500 Septims. The value of Amulets of the same material are worth twice that of the necklaces.
In that same respect, Rings are also increased in value based on materials. Brass Rings are worth 25 Septims, Copper Rings 50 Septims, Jade Rings 75 Septims, Silver Rings 100 Septims, Gold Rings 250 Septims and Ebony Rings 500 Septims. The value of Rings with Gem insets has increased to the value of the base Ring plus half the value of the standard Gem. So a Silver Emerald Ring would be worth the value of a Silver Ring(100 Septims) plus half the value of an Emerald(400) which comes out to be worth 300 Septims.
Silverware of all types has also been increased in values, but their weights have remained the same. Silver Forks, Knives, Plates, Spoons and Tankards are now worth 20 Septims each. Silver Glasses, Goblets and Vases will now fetch 30 Septims. Silver Bowls and Pitchers are worth 40 and Silver Carafes and Urns are worth 50 Septims each.
Vanilla Extract also seeks to make Alcohol slightly more valuable as well. Beer, Mead, Cheap Wine, Rosethorn Mead and Newheim's Special Brew are all now worth 10 Septims each. Ale, Bernice's Summer Wine and Surilie Brothers Wine are worth 25. Tamika's West Weald Wine and Fellmoor Red Wine are worth 40. Surilie Brothers Vintage 415 and Bernice's Roofwater Wine are worth 75. Tamika Vintage 415 and Fellmore Swamp Wine are worth 100. Surilie Brothers Vintage 399 and Bernice's Alley Wine are worth 150. Tamika Vintage 399 and Fellmore Spore Wine are worth 175. Finally, Shadowbanish Wine is worth 225 Septims.
These changes are all meant to make dungeon exploration more rewarding and encourage it as a means of profit over other methods. The values are not overpowering in the least as low level loot will not make you magically rich. The higher value loot generally appears in higher levels when the value of NPC equipment has also increased dramatically.
Vanilla Extract also makes one more specific change, although not technically loot, in adding the Gladiator's Sword to the game world. This one-handed blade appears in the Construction Set already, but was never referenced to be used in the game world. It comes stock with several drain attribute effects and is comparable to Steel as a base weapon. It was originally intended as a weapon for the Arena and I had wanted to include it there, but I didn't want to alter any of the Arena combatants or levelled lists that their gear is generated from. I've instead placed it in a brand new vendor-owned Chest in Slash 'N Smash and made it available to purchase from Urbul gro-Orkulg to eliminate conflicts with other mods. This should make a nice addition to those who enjoy collecting the unique Vendor Items.
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_/CHANGES TO THE ARENA\_
The Arena is now 100% lootable. This is not intended as any form of quick profit for lower levels, however, as all Arena equipment has been altered to be worth zero Septims with two noteable exceptions: the Gray Aegis and Shimmerstrike, which retain their natural value as unique enchanted items.
While some may consider the Gray Aegis to be more of a cheat than a functional magical shield with it's 100% spell resistence, it's base stats are roughly similar to a Steel Shield. The functional value of a levelled Escutcheon of Chorrol is still far more inviting to the experienced gamer with it's powerful Reflect Damage enchantment and much much higher defense value over the Gray Aegis.
The Arena loot items are completely seperate entries in the Construction Set from their normal counterparts and only the items themselves and, not their appropriate levelled list, and the scripts(attached to the combatants) have been altered. Mods that alter the Arena Combatants themselves in any way are 100% combatable with Vanilla Extract's changes.
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_/CHANGES TO DOOMSTONES\_
While the renown based Doomstones are often the more highly sought after of the two types, the Birthsign Doomstones still grant fairly beneficial powers to the player. The powers that they grant are all once-a-day Greater Powers and hardly unbalancing in any way. Vanilla Extract encourages players to seek these out by altering the scripts that apply when you activate them.
Normally, upon activation, a Birthsign Doomstone will grant you it's power, but in turn it will strip you of any other powers obtained from another Birthsign Doomstone. This will not happen with Vanilla Extract, instead you will receive the new stone's power as normal and retain any other powers acquired. There is no prerequisite for activating the stones other than finding them and making sure the sun is down.
As yet another bonus, Vanilla Extract adds a new Doomstone to the world of Tamriel: the Nirn Stone. The script and power of the Nirn Stone already existed in the Construction Set, but was never implimented into the game. Vanilla Extract simply replaces an already existing Runestone, which are found in multiple instances across Tamriel, with the Nirn Stone. This is one of the only two cell alterations that Vanilla Extract makes, the other being a non-reachable chest in Slash 'N Smash.
The stone itself requires a renown of at least 100 to activate and provides a once-a-day Greater Power to the player upon activation.
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_/MISCELLANEOUS ALTERATIONS\_
The distance at which guards can react to the warning cry of a crime alarm has been reduced in Vanilla Extract to the actual distance in-game at which the alarm can be heard. This should prevent far away guards from reacting to a crime that they obviously couldn't have been able to physically witness or hear the cry of your victim.
Upon the death of the player, the menu screen will no longer display almost immidiately. The timer for this has been reset from 0.4 seconds to a more relaxing value of 300 seconds or 5 minutes. This is to give players the opportunity to take screenshots of their death pose, ponder over their unfortunate demise or just go grab a cheeseburger. Pressing the appropriate key any time after death will still bring up the menu as usual and you may load your last saved game as normal from there.
The timer for essential NPC unconsciousness has also been reset from a mere 15 seconds to 60 seconds or 1 full minute. In more dangerous combat situations this should make essential companions far less beneficial as they will take much longer to recover from falls.
Finally, Vanilla Extract dramatically changes the way Chameleon is perceived onscreen by negating the natural refraction effect that the engine creates. By its nature, this refraction generates very little visible difference based upon the actual percentage of Chameleon being applied. By negating this effect, Chameleon creates an effect of transparency. Higher values of Chameleon will make characters and enemies alike almost completely disappear while lower values of Chameleon will be more readily visible.
Users of Nvidia graphics cards be warned, this alteration can create gray screens when combined with higher values of interior and exterior shadows. I'm an Nvidia user myself, but it's nothing too detrimental to gameplay as it only persists in exact locations where the refraction effect is used and then only in first person mode. Not everyone with an Nvidia graphics card will receive this effect and shadows are still more than applicable for those with this problem. I personally keep all the shadows on all the time, in areas where it becomes a problem I turn down int and ext shadows slightly but still keep all other shadow variables at max. This generally resolves the problem completely.
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_/OPTIONAL PLAYER HEALTH PLUGIN\_
One of the major concerns with starting characters is always the race to raise endurance(thereby neglecting other stats) in order to raise health which does not work retroactively in Vanilla Oblivion. This gives the player a sacrifice situation and forces even more micromanagement of skills should the player decide end-game health points be more beneficial than early level modifiers in other attributes.
Vanilla Extract's optional plugin, "VE Retroactive Endurance," offers a solution to this problem. It eliminates the health bonus per level based on Endurance and instead bases player health on a multiplier(5) of Endurance, which is then calculated at level up. So at max Endurance you should have exactly 500 health points, which is just slightly below what it would be for characters that max out endurance early without retroactive endurance. This is only suggested for a starting character, as those who have gained levels will have far more than 500 health when loading the plugin.
While the obvious benefit is the minimizing of micromanaging of skills, a secondary perk of the mod is that it boosts low level health as well. The health boost itself isn't as much of a perk as it is a balancer. Given the changes, discussed later, that Vanilla Extract makes to both the player and enemies, the extra health boost can come in quite handy. Mages and other character types who don't focus on endurance as much will definitely be appreciative of the extra health as well. Vanilla Extract is, however, completely enjoyable with or without this plugin.
If you decide to stop using this optional plugin be sure to heal to full before saving as your health will be much lower once you load without the plugin. Retroactive endurance isn't for everyone and it's not a modification you can easily walk away from, but it's something I enjoy using on my characters. As long as you continue to use the plugin on a character there are absolutely no drawbacks to it all though.
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_/OPTIONAL TRAINING PLUGIN\_
Are you tired of micromanaging your skills every level? Ever wonder why trainers are even included in the game when the training limit is so low? Vanilla Oblivion only lets you train up to 5 times per level. Vanilla Extract alters this to allow you to train up to 25 times per level and lowers training costs slightly. This optional plugin, although, creates a much more dramatic effect on training.
First of all it reduces all skill gain values to 0.0. This will force you to train skills in order to advance in them. Secondly, it increases the training limit to 999, basically making training sessions per level infinite. Thirdly it sets all Advanced and Master Trainers to essential status to prevent their unfortunate demise. Hauls Ropes Faster has been fixed in this plugin to offer training as well and Conjuration Advanced Trainers will train your character up to 75 in order to cast the necessary spell to receive Master Training.
I have made this part of Vanilla Extract 100% optional simply because it alters so many things in the game. Zero rate skill gains aren't for everyone and even with Vanilla Extract's reduced training cost, alot of hard earned Septims will go into levelling your character up. The changes this plugin makes to trainers will override any other mod's alterations to those NPC's and many of them altered are involved in quests or offer other services to the player. This is the only part of the mod where compatability issues will arise with any frequency.
That being said, if you find any bugs of any kind or can offer any suggestions or help in the development of this mod, feel free to contact me at [email protected]. I always welcome constructive criticism and feedback.
________
_/OVERVIEW\_
Vanilla Extract is designed with an emphasis on rebalancing gameplay through several factors to make the game more enjoyable. It is not meant to make the game easier or harder, nor is it meant to be more realistic. It is simply a collection of modifications to core game settings with the intent of diversifying character development.
This mod does not add anything to the game whatsoever. Vanilla Extract specifically does NOT touch levelled lists of any kind. This should be compatable with many other mods, including most of the Overhaul mods. The changes Vanilla Extract makes are extremely precise and focused with the hopes of providing maximum gameplay effect with minimal CS editing and maximum mod compatability. Obviously not everything is going to be compatable, but with a little manipulation of the load order most mods should work hand in hand with Vanilla Extract. In fact, Vanilla Extract can act as a good companion mod for most of the overhaul mods.
Let me restate this, Vanilla Extract is not intended to be an overhual type mod. It's assortment of tweaks work discreetly behind the scenes and easily allow the real overhaul mods to do what they do best. It is designed to be either a stand-alone mod or as a companion to already popular overhaul mods. I personally prefer Francesco's and MMM, which VE works seamlessly with.
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_/CHANGES TO MAGICKA\_
Vanilla Extract attempts to rebalance the use of Magicka in several ways. First and foremost, it adds a slight increase of Magicka to the player. In Vanilla Oblivion, Magicka is determined by a formula that comes out as two times your intelligence. Vanilla Extract increases that ratio to 2.5 to provide a slight increase at all levels. This provides a slightly higher buffer for magicka regeneration in longer sessions of combat while still not overpowering the stat.
Vanilla Oblivion attempts to control Magicka regeneration through the use of the Willpower attribute. In reality, Willpower governs the percentage rate of Magicka that increases, not exact point values. This creates the reality of maximum Magicka, and thus Intelligence, having a higher impact on Magicka regeneration than Willpower. Vanilla Extract fixes this by altering the base values of the formula used to define that regeneration to more dynamic settings. The result is Willpower that works.
At lower levels of Willpower, Magicka will regenerate much slower than in Vanilla Oblivion and at higher levels it will begin to regenerate much faster. Mage type characters who start out with naturally decent scores in Willpower will notice little to no difference until later levels where they will begin to reap the benefits. Non-mage types, however, will inevitably suffer a shortage of magicka in longer standoffs.
Vanilla Extract also alters the use of Magicka through Armor Penalties, which are much higher than Vanilla Oblivion. Lower skill levels in worn armor will not only provide a much lower spell efficiency for mages, but the minimum armor penalty has also been increased from 2% to 25%. Masters of Heavy or Light Armor will still be able to use Magicka at a moderate spell effeciency level, but Novices and Apprentices(especially with low Willpower) will find Magicka almost useless.
The final adjustment that Vanilla Extract makes toward the use of Magicka is the speed at which targeted spells travel, which is a bit faster than Vanilla Oblivion. All of the changes to Magicka are born from the intent of redefining and empowering mage types and at the same time providing hurdles for cross-class characters. It is incredibly possible for cross-classes to exist and even thrive in Vanilla Extract, but no longer will they be superior at lower levels to pure mages.
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_/CHANGES TO ENCUMBRANCE\_
Just as Vanilla Extract provides a small boost to Magicka, it also provides a small boost to maximum Encumbrance as well. This is nothing drastic enough to be unbalancing, but rather a small boost to characters with low strength and a slightly higher perk for those with high strength. The actual Encumbrance limit for characters with an attribute value of 100 for Strength is 600 over the Vanilla Oblivion limit of 500. This is, of course, ratio'd so lower levels will not receive a 100 limit bonus or anything.
Vanilla Extract also seeks to alter the effects of Encumbrance as well as the limit. The effects of worn equipment on the character are moderately increased. This should be most noticable on characters wearing Heavy Armor. Classes that wear clothing will notice little to no effect at all and characters in Light Armor will notice a slight decrease in mobility. The same effects are noticable on armored enemies as well.
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_/CHANGES TO ALCHEMY AND POTIONS\_
Alchemy was originally designed to be a survival type skill allowing players to brew powerful potions to help themselves and deadly poisons to use on their enemies. With the default settings provided by Vanilla Oblivion though the use of potions or poisons in most situations is all but unnecessary. Vanilla Extract seeks to redefine Alchemy and increase its usefullness and at the same time decrease the effectiveness of its abuse.
While the changes Vanilla Extract makes generally promote the need for either more effective potion and/or spell use, it also alters the way in which potions are used. In Vanilla Oblivion a character with any skill level of Alchemy may ingest up to four potions at once. Vanilla Extract makes this more skill based by setting potion drinking limits as additional skill perks. Novices in Alchemy may now drink only one potion at a time. This limit will raise as additional levels are reached in Alchemy and Masters may consume up to 5 potions over the Vanilla Oblivion default of 4.
Promoting the use of the Alchemy skill is all well and good but the common abuse of Alchemy as a means of profit must also be addressed. To this extent, Vanilla Extract reduces the value of all Alchemy produced potions and poisons to zero. Alchemy is a skill that should be revered as a boon in combat to those who master it's ways; not a source of income for those who prefer flower picking over dungeon diving.
As a final change to Alchemy-related endeavors, Vanilla Extract alters the way in which Nirnroot behaves. Rather than disappearing permanently upon harvest, Nirnroot will now behave as any other flora in Tamriel and reswpawn its ingredients. The successful harvest rate of Nirnroot has also been lowered from its default value of 100% to a mere 33%. This should make Nirnroot collecting even more challenging to the honest adventurer(those that choose not to abuse the "Wait" command) while at the same time not removing this beautiful flora from the world.
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_/CHANGES TO ARMORER AND REPAIRING\_
Vanilla Extract makes several alterations to the effects of damaging and repairing armor with the intent of promoting Armorer as a skill. First of all, the rate at which Armor is damaged has been slightly decreased to provide further resilience to the player in tougher combat situations that Vanilla Extract may produce. This should prove beneficial to all character types regardless of their preference of Armorer as a major skill.
In order to help promote Armorer as a skill, Vanilla Extract increases the cost of repairing armor at the smith. It also alters Repair Hammers to be weightless. In Vanilla Oblivion certain items such as Lockpicks and Torches were already weightless. Vanilla Extract simply seeks to add this same unlimited carrying capacity of a necessary dungeon tool to the Repair Hammer as well.
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_/CHANGES TO ATHLETICS AND ACROBATICS\_
Acrobatics in Vanilla Extract is mostly left as is with one minor exception: the maximum jump height has been raised slightly. Athletics, on the other hand, has been rebalanced quite a bit to provide further Fatigue penalties on the player at lower levels. This is designed to create a very slight penalization towards players who abuse Athletics as a minor skill and at the same time reward those that Master it without allowing Superman type running.
Novices and Apprentices of Athletics will now generate Fatigue loss while running. At Journeyman level in Athletics there will be neither Fatigue loss or gain while running, but rather it will hold a constant value while running. At Expert and Master, Fatigue regeneration will be present but at much slower rates than when standing or walking. I believe this strikes a fine balance between Vanilla Oblivion's broken Athletics perks and the realism mods that make Fatigue management tedious.
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_/CHANGES TO LIGHT ARMOR\_
In order to preserve Vanilla Extract's alterations to both Athletics and Encumbrance, the expert perk of Light Armor has been reduced from a 100% decrease in worn encumbrance to a 50% decrease. This modification should be more than a well-earned reward for advancing in the skill while still not giving the character the effective benefit of weightless armor.
Vanilla Extract also alters the Master level skill perk in Light Armor, reducing it from a 50% increase in defense to a 15% increase. This is to differientiate Light Armor and Heavy Armor further when both become Mastered.
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_/CHANGES TO COMBAT\_
Vanilla Extract attempts to make Hand to Hand a more viable option in combat. It does this by increasing the maximum damage output of the skill and by increasing the Fatigue loss affect that Hand to Hand generates upon its targets. Blade and Blunt are still more powerful options for all level ranges, but becoming disarmed suddenly will no longer leave a resourceful player powerless.
On that same note, Vanilla Extract also promotes the use of Power Attacks from all combat styles. It does this by reducing the charge timer, allowing faster execution of power attacks. Fatigue management as well as not opening yourself up for a counter-attack still play a major role however and the overuse of Power Attacks can lead to quick defeat.
Finally, Vanilla Extract improves upon Marksmanship by increasing the range value of arrows as well as the speed at which they travel. Many other overhaul mods alter archery in a similar manner and their alterations can easily work with Vanilla Extract's, as Vanilla Extract only alters 3 specific variables related to archery that can only enhance archery further when working alongside other overhaul mods.
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_/CHANGES TO HEAVY ARMOR\_
Just as Vanilla Extract reduces the weightlessness effect of high levels of Light Armor, it applies that same concept to Heavy Armor as well. At Expert level in Heavy Armor you will have a 25% reduction in weight and Master level carries the perk of a 50% reduction in worn weight. Again, this is simply to rebalance the effects of Athletics and Encumbrance at higher levels.
As an additional bonus to players who prefer Heavy Armor, the Blades gear from the tutorial dungeon is completely playable. You can retrieve an almost full set(minus the shield) of the gear from either Captain Renoit or Glenroy upon their death. The stats of this gear has been reduced to that of Iron except for the weight, which remains the same, and the value which has been reduced to zero. It's nothing special and some Rusted Iron will probably work better, but it's more beneficial to Heavy Armor classes than Rough Leather Gloves.
Light Armor specialists are more than welcome to step outside the tutorial dungeon and garnish their own full set of gear from one of the two bandits less than a hundred or so feet in front of you. The Blades gear was made playable simply to give Heavy Armor characters a less expensive or tedious method of acquiring their first full low level set.
In the same way that the Blades Gear has been playable, Vanilla Extract also makes Dremora equipment playable as well. The difference is that the Dremora gear has not been watered down. This is so that both the challenge and reward of defeating the Dremora remain intact. All Dremora gear has the visible appearance of Daedric, but their stats range all the way from Daedric to Iron.
Only the equipment itself is altered by Vanilla Extract, not the actors. OOO users won't miss their chance to see the good captian in her black armor.
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_/CHANGES TO SNEAK ATTACKS\_
Sneak attacks in Vanilla Extract level up far more linear than in Vanilla Oblivion. The base damage increase for Novices in Sneak, using either Marksman or a melee skill, remains the same: 2x increase for marksman, 4x increase for melee. Beyond that though, as new perks in Sneak are acquired, the multipliers increase more dramatically: 0.5x for marksman and 1x for melee. So Masters of Sneak will receive a bonus of 4x damage to marksman sneak attacks and a 8x bonus to melee sneak attacks.
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_/CHANGES TO NPCS AND CREATURES\_
The most important and probably the most obvious alteration that Vanilla Extract makes at higher levels is that it increases the level range of creatures and npc's pulled from levelled list. The Vanilla Oblivion default value for this range is 8, calculated from the highest levelled object in the list that is at or below the player's level, thus only pulling up to 8 levels below the maximum levelled value of the list. Vanilla Extract sets this value at 99 to allow Oblivion to continue pulling creatures and NPC's from lower levels as the player advances.
The base multipliers that Vanilla Oblivion uses to calculate stats for NPCs and creatures is 0.5 and this is reduced to 0.4 for lower levels, which are level 4 and below. What Vanilla Extract does is extend that low level status up to and including level 20, but increasing the multiplier to the normal 0.5. Beyond level 20, the "normal" multiplier takes effect which Vanilla Extract sets to 0.6.
What this means is that lower levels will be a be a little bit more challenging, but not overly difficult. Higher levels will also be slightly more intense than in Vanilla Oblivion as well. When coupled with many of the overhaul mods including Fran's, MMM and OOO, this can create even more of a challenge than either Vanilla Extract or the other overhaul mod could have produced alone.
A final alteration that Vanilla Extract makes to NPCs and creatures is the reduction of Magicka. Vanilla Oblivion, by default, provides a 1.5 Magicka bonus to all NPCs and creatures to compensate for their lack of a birthsign. I don't know about you, but even in some of my longest combat sessions with Conjurers and Necromancers, I've never seen them let up on bashing me with spells from lack of Magicka. Vanilla Extract attempts to rectify this by reducing, or rather eliminating that bonus by resetting the multiplyer to 1.0.
The changes to NPCs and creatures are all done through the core settings of the engine. Levelled lists and individual creatures are not altered in any way at all, simply the values that govern their attribute growth and the levels at which they are generated. Mods that alter creature behavior, inventory, stats or add/alter creatures in any way will be 100% combatible with these changes.
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_/CHANGES TO LOOT\_
Loot has received the same tweak to generating levelled lists that creatures and NPC's have meaning that Vanilla Extract will continue pulling loot from lower level lists as you progress. This will mean that most high level Bandits and other NPC's will no longer wear almost complete full sets of Daedric or Glass. The same is true for most loot chests. Low level items like Iron and Fur will continue to exist in Oblivion for as long as your character does.
Certain types of loot have also been balanced to provide a further reward to the player for discovering them. The first of which are pelts obtained from Mountain Lions, Wolves, Timber Wolves, Black Bears and Brown Bears. Wolf Pelts have been increased in value from 10 Septims to 50 Septims. Lion Pelts have been reduced in weight to 1 unit and their value increased to 100 Septims. Finally, Bear Pelts have also been reweighed to 1 unit and their value increased to 150 Septims. This should help encourage the hunting of animal pelts for profit.
The value of all Gems and Nuggets has also been increased as follows. Gold Nuggets are now worth 250 Septims and Silver Nuggets are worth 150. Pearls are worth 50, Topaz's are worth 100, Rubies are worth 200, Sapphires are worth 300, Emeralds are worth 400 and Diamonds are worth 500. Flawed versions of Gems are worth exactly half of their normal counterpart and flawless Gems are worth twice as much. Gems are so few and far between that their value in Vanilla Oblivion hardly made them worth finding.
The price of Necklaces and Amulets has also increased based on material. Bronze Necklaces are now worth 25 Septims, Copper 50 Septims, Jade 75 Septims, Silver 100 Septims, Gold 250 Septims and Jeweled 500 Septims. The value of Amulets of the same material are worth twice that of the necklaces.
In that same respect, Rings are also increased in value based on materials. Brass Rings are worth 25 Septims, Copper Rings 50 Septims, Jade Rings 75 Septims, Silver Rings 100 Septims, Gold Rings 250 Septims and Ebony Rings 500 Septims. The value of Rings with Gem insets has increased to the value of the base Ring plus half the value of the standard Gem. So a Silver Emerald Ring would be worth the value of a Silver Ring(100 Septims) plus half the value of an Emerald(400) which comes out to be worth 300 Septims.
Silverware of all types has also been increased in values, but their weights have remained the same. Silver Forks, Knives, Plates, Spoons and Tankards are now worth 20 Septims each. Silver Glasses, Goblets and Vases will now fetch 30 Septims. Silver Bowls and Pitchers are worth 40 and Silver Carafes and Urns are worth 50 Septims each.
Vanilla Extract also seeks to make Alcohol slightly more valuable as well. Beer, Mead, Cheap Wine, Rosethorn Mead and Newheim's Special Brew are all now worth 10 Septims each. Ale, Bernice's Summer Wine and Surilie Brothers Wine are worth 25. Tamika's West Weald Wine and Fellmoor Red Wine are worth 40. Surilie Brothers Vintage 415 and Bernice's Roofwater Wine are worth 75. Tamika Vintage 415 and Fellmore Swamp Wine are worth 100. Surilie Brothers Vintage 399 and Bernice's Alley Wine are worth 150. Tamika Vintage 399 and Fellmore Spore Wine are worth 175. Finally, Shadowbanish Wine is worth 225 Septims.
These changes are all meant to make dungeon exploration more rewarding and encourage it as a means of profit over other methods. The values are not overpowering in the least as low level loot will not make you magically rich. The higher value loot generally appears in higher levels when the value of NPC equipment has also increased dramatically.
Vanilla Extract also makes one more specific change, although not technically loot, in adding the Gladiator's Sword to the game world. This one-handed blade appears in the Construction Set already, but was never referenced to be used in the game world. It comes stock with several drain attribute effects and is comparable to Steel as a base weapon. It was originally intended as a weapon for the Arena and I had wanted to include it there, but I didn't want to alter any of the Arena combatants or levelled lists that their gear is generated from. I've instead placed it in a brand new vendor-owned Chest in Slash 'N Smash and made it available to purchase from Urbul gro-Orkulg to eliminate conflicts with other mods. This should make a nice addition to those who enjoy collecting the unique Vendor Items.
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_/CHANGES TO THE ARENA\_
The Arena is now 100% lootable. This is not intended as any form of quick profit for lower levels, however, as all Arena equipment has been altered to be worth zero Septims with two noteable exceptions: the Gray Aegis and Shimmerstrike, which retain their natural value as unique enchanted items.
While some may consider the Gray Aegis to be more of a cheat than a functional magical shield with it's 100% spell resistence, it's base stats are roughly similar to a Steel Shield. The functional value of a levelled Escutcheon of Chorrol is still far more inviting to the experienced gamer with it's powerful Reflect Damage enchantment and much much higher defense value over the Gray Aegis.
The Arena loot items are completely seperate entries in the Construction Set from their normal counterparts and only the items themselves and, not their appropriate levelled list, and the scripts(attached to the combatants) have been altered. Mods that alter the Arena Combatants themselves in any way are 100% combatable with Vanilla Extract's changes.
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_/CHANGES TO DOOMSTONES\_
While the renown based Doomstones are often the more highly sought after of the two types, the Birthsign Doomstones still grant fairly beneficial powers to the player. The powers that they grant are all once-a-day Greater Powers and hardly unbalancing in any way. Vanilla Extract encourages players to seek these out by altering the scripts that apply when you activate them.
Normally, upon activation, a Birthsign Doomstone will grant you it's power, but in turn it will strip you of any other powers obtained from another Birthsign Doomstone. This will not happen with Vanilla Extract, instead you will receive the new stone's power as normal and retain any other powers acquired. There is no prerequisite for activating the stones other than finding them and making sure the sun is down.
As yet another bonus, Vanilla Extract adds a new Doomstone to the world of Tamriel: the Nirn Stone. The script and power of the Nirn Stone already existed in the Construction Set, but was never implimented into the game. Vanilla Extract simply replaces an already existing Runestone, which are found in multiple instances across Tamriel, with the Nirn Stone. This is one of the only two cell alterations that Vanilla Extract makes, the other being a non-reachable chest in Slash 'N Smash.
The stone itself requires a renown of at least 100 to activate and provides a once-a-day Greater Power to the player upon activation.
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_/MISCELLANEOUS ALTERATIONS\_
The distance at which guards can react to the warning cry of a crime alarm has been reduced in Vanilla Extract to the actual distance in-game at which the alarm can be heard. This should prevent far away guards from reacting to a crime that they obviously couldn't have been able to physically witness or hear the cry of your victim.
Upon the death of the player, the menu screen will no longer display almost immidiately. The timer for this has been reset from 0.4 seconds to a more relaxing value of 300 seconds or 5 minutes. This is to give players the opportunity to take screenshots of their death pose, ponder over their unfortunate demise or just go grab a cheeseburger. Pressing the appropriate key any time after death will still bring up the menu as usual and you may load your last saved game as normal from there.
The timer for essential NPC unconsciousness has also been reset from a mere 15 seconds to 60 seconds or 1 full minute. In more dangerous combat situations this should make essential companions far less beneficial as they will take much longer to recover from falls.
Finally, Vanilla Extract dramatically changes the way Chameleon is perceived onscreen by negating the natural refraction effect that the engine creates. By its nature, this refraction generates very little visible difference based upon the actual percentage of Chameleon being applied. By negating this effect, Chameleon creates an effect of transparency. Higher values of Chameleon will make characters and enemies alike almost completely disappear while lower values of Chameleon will be more readily visible.
Users of Nvidia graphics cards be warned, this alteration can create gray screens when combined with higher values of interior and exterior shadows. I'm an Nvidia user myself, but it's nothing too detrimental to gameplay as it only persists in exact locations where the refraction effect is used and then only in first person mode. Not everyone with an Nvidia graphics card will receive this effect and shadows are still more than applicable for those with this problem. I personally keep all the shadows on all the time, in areas where it becomes a problem I turn down int and ext shadows slightly but still keep all other shadow variables at max. This generally resolves the problem completely.
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_/OPTIONAL PLAYER HEALTH PLUGIN\_
One of the major concerns with starting characters is always the race to raise endurance(thereby neglecting other stats) in order to raise health which does not work retroactively in Vanilla Oblivion. This gives the player a sacrifice situation and forces even more micromanagement of skills should the player decide end-game health points be more beneficial than early level modifiers in other attributes.
Vanilla Extract's optional plugin, "VE Retroactive Endurance," offers a solution to this problem. It eliminates the health bonus per level based on Endurance and instead bases player health on a multiplier(5) of Endurance, which is then calculated at level up. So at max Endurance you should have exactly 500 health points, which is just slightly below what it would be for characters that max out endurance early without retroactive endurance. This is only suggested for a starting character, as those who have gained levels will have far more than 500 health when loading the plugin.
While the obvious benefit is the minimizing of micromanaging of skills, a secondary perk of the mod is that it boosts low level health as well. The health boost itself isn't as much of a perk as it is a balancer. Given the changes, discussed later, that Vanilla Extract makes to both the player and enemies, the extra health boost can come in quite handy. Mages and other character types who don't focus on endurance as much will definitely be appreciative of the extra health as well. Vanilla Extract is, however, completely enjoyable with or without this plugin.
If you decide to stop using this optional plugin be sure to heal to full before saving as your health will be much lower once you load without the plugin. Retroactive endurance isn't for everyone and it's not a modification you can easily walk away from, but it's something I enjoy using on my characters. As long as you continue to use the plugin on a character there are absolutely no drawbacks to it all though.
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_/OPTIONAL TRAINING PLUGIN\_
Are you tired of micromanaging your skills every level? Ever wonder why trainers are even included in the game when the training limit is so low? Vanilla Oblivion only lets you train up to 5 times per level. Vanilla Extract alters this to allow you to train up to 25 times per level and lowers training costs slightly. This optional plugin, although, creates a much more dramatic effect on training.
First of all it reduces all skill gain values to 0.0. This will force you to train skills in order to advance in them. Secondly, it increases the training limit to 999, basically making training sessions per level infinite. Thirdly it sets all Advanced and Master Trainers to essential status to prevent their unfortunate demise. Hauls Ropes Faster has been fixed in this plugin to offer training as well and Conjuration Advanced Trainers will train your character up to 75 in order to cast the necessary spell to receive Master Training.
I have made this part of Vanilla Extract 100% optional simply because it alters so many things in the game. Zero rate skill gains aren't for everyone and even with Vanilla Extract's reduced training cost, alot of hard earned Septims will go into levelling your character up. The changes this plugin makes to trainers will override any other mod's alterations to those NPC's and many of them altered are involved in quests or offer other services to the player. This is the only part of the mod where compatability issues will arise with any frequency.