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The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion:
~ Shining Creatures ~
Arkngt & The Filthy Spaniard
Current Version: 1.2 [2010-07-30]

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Index:
01 Description
02 Version History
03 Installation, Uninstallation
04 Conflicts, Load Order
05 Making your very own shining creatures
06 Permissions
07 Contact
08 Credit


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01 Description

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Shining Creatures makes Flame Atronachs, Frost Atronachs and Will-o-the-wisps shine with appropriate colors and effects. Flame Atronachs shine in a flame-like orange, Frost Atronachs glow in icy blue, Will-o-the-wisps shine in white and the light gets turned on/off appropriately. Shining Creatures does this by applying a universal method of causing a light to follow creatures or NPCs. See "Making your very own shining creatures" below for more on how it works and how to use it.

The main file affects all three creatures, but modular variants affecting them separately are also included. An optional plugin adds support for the Flame Atronach Familiars in DLCFrostcrag - Wizard's Tower.

IMPORTANT: Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) version 0015 or higher is required for the mod to work.


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02 Version History

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1.2 [2010-07-30]

Removed unnecessary dependency on Shivering Isles.

1.1 [2010-02-16]

Fixes an issue where disabled creatures with the RPSSCWispGlowScript (i.e. Shining Will-o-the-wisps) made the game crash. Shining Creatures now requires Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) version 0015 or higher to work.

1.0 [2010-02-03]



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03 Installation, Uninstallation

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Oblivion must be patched to 1.2.0416 for the mod to work.

IMPORTANT: It also requires Oblivion Script Extender (OBSE) version 0015 or higher. You can get the latest version of OBSE at http://obse.silverlock.org/.


Manual install:

Note: If using the separate variants in the 01 Modules folder, don't use the all-in-one version in the 00 Main folder.

All-in-one:

1. Extract the files in the 00 Main folder into your Oblivion\Data folder
2. Start Oblivion
3. Select the 'Shining Creatures' plugin in the Data Files section
4. Play the game

Pick and choose:

1. Extract the file(s) in the 01 Modules into your Oblivion\Data folder
2. Start Oblivion
3. Select the 'Shining Creatures_XXX' plugin(s) in the Data Files section
4. Play the game


Installation of the optional DLCFrostcrag patch:

Note: The Shining Creatures_DLCFrostcrag.esp patch requires the DLC Frostcrag.esp and Shining Creatures.esp (or Shining Creatures_AtronachFlame.esp) plugins to work.

1. Extract the file in the 02 Patch DLCFrostcrag folder into your Oblivion\Data folder
2. Start Oblivion
3. Select the 'Shining Creatures_DLCFrostcrag' plugin in the Data Files section
4. Play the game


BAIN install:

1. Place Shining Creatures.7z in the Oblivion Mods\Bash Installers folder
2. Start Wrye Bash > Installers
3. Highlight Shining Creatures.7z and check the 00 Main folder
4. Alternatively, check the 01 Modules folder instead and the plugins you want to use
5. Rightclick Shining Flame Atronachs.7z > Install
6. Check the plugins under Mods
7. Play the game


OBMM install:

The plugin comes with omod conversion data.

1. Open OBMM
2. Create > Add archive > navigate to the location of 'Shining Flame Atronachs.7z' and select it
3. Say yes to the warning and yes to importing omod conversion data
4. Create omod
5. Select Shining Flame Atronachs > Activate
6. Choose the options you want
7. Play the game


Uninstallation:

To ensure that all data from the mod are removed, make a save in a secluded cell, uninstall the mod, reload the save and wait for a respawn (three days on default) before making a new save.


Manual uninstall:

Remove the Shining Creatures esp(s) and txt files from the Oblivion\Data folder


BAIN uninstall:

Rightclick Shining Creatures.7z > Uninstall


OBMM uninstall:

Select Shining Creatures > Deactivate



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04 Conflicts, Load Order

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Shining Creatures alters the AbAtronachFlameEffect, AbAtronachFrostResist and AbWillOWispResistances for Flame Atronachs, Frost Atronachs and Will-o-the-wisps respectively. This means that all creatures having those particular abilities will shine when using Shining Creatures, as for instance the flaming creatures in MMM, such as the Flaming Skeletons. In many cases this is something of an added bonus, but it might be unwanted in certain cases.

Other than that, Shining Creatures shouldn't conflict with anything. Load later than other mods changing the same abilities to ensure that Shining Creatures not is overridden.


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05 Making your very own shining creatures

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The way in which the mod works is that each creature that glows is given a token specific to the colour it glows. This creates an invisible torch that then follows the creating
creature around, and upon the creatures death, is placed in a container set to respawn every 10 torches added to it, removing them from the game's memory. This is to allow the
use of the PlaceAtMe function without causing savegame bloat.
So, in order to make your own glowing creature, you must take these simple (IF YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!) steps:

- Go to Lights, find any beginning with RPSSCFollowLightXXX (or something similar)
- Create a new form from that, giving it the colour and flicker of your choice (I find adding a colour suffix is simple and useful)
- Open the scripts, find one starting with RPSSCLightFollowScriptXXX and copy the whole script
- Make a new script, pasting the old one into it. Rename it with the suffix you used before, and then scroll down to find a line that looks like "set LightRef to CreatureRef.PlaceAtMe RPSSCFollowLightXXX, 1, 0, 0"
- Change XXX to the suffix of your new light source (or if you decided to rename the whole thing change it to that)
- compile the script
- Go to clothing, find something beginning with RPSSCLightFollowTokenXXX
- Create a new form from this With the suffix of your choice, and add the script which you just changed to it.
- Either create a new creature or edit an existing one's base and add the new token to it.
- Done!

Some important notes concerning the above:

- Creatures made in this way should be only for your personal use, as unless you rename everything, it is likely to cause conflict with any other creatures that use this method,
if they do not also rename everything. Also, all my mods use the prefix RPS so it could end up conflicting with something I have made too!
- If you go about making a lot of creatures shine in this way, before any mods are made for it, it is possible that on uninstall, lots of references will be left over, causing save bloat.
- DO NOT DELETE cell: RPSShiningCreatureTestCell! If you do, nothing will work any more! (and references will not be removed so your savegame will bloat like global debt!)



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06 Permissions

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Feel free to use the content as long as credit is given where it is due.



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07 Contact Information

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If you have any questions, comments, etc. related to this mod, contact us at the official TES forums under the names Arkngt and The Filthy Spaniard.



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08 Credits

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Arkngt:

Thanks to Bethesda Softworks.
Thanks to all the helpful people at Bethesda Game Studios Forums, especially wiz0floyd, XMarksTheSpot and dev_akm for help with the original mod.
Thanks to TeamGecko for TES4Gecko.
Thanks to ElminsterEU for TES4View and TES4Edit.
Thanks to Reneer for help with the script.
Thanks to TheNiceOne for help with the omod conversion script.
Thanks to Fcara1, Valamoor and ishmaeltheforsaken for reporting and helping out with an issue with the 1.0 release.
Thanks to utumno and asdfzxc for reporting an issue with the 1.1 release.
And of course many thanks to The Filthy Spaniard for picking up the idea and scripting it.


The Filthy Spaniard:

Arkngt - his idea!
Members of the Bethsoft Forums, especially Kyoma, QQuix, Horny Quintus and Reneer
Bethesda Softworks
My Dog - for emotional support at this difficult time