MARCO'S ARMOR UNDERHAUL

THIS MOD REQUIRES SHIVERING ISLES!

This mod rebalances stats for every armor in the game, including unique and generic enchanted armors. Changes are too comprehensive to include in a text file, see the included spreadsheet, but significant changes include:

-Durability on all items has been reworked. Early light armors won't be so pathetic, but endgame armors in general are a little less durable. Global armor rate decays slower via GMST edit, but because some armors now have lower durability you might not notice it as much.

Orcish and Daedric armors are considerably heavier - only an Expert or Master of Heavy Armor can efficiently wear them. Glass armor has a much higher AR, but it's also way less durable - whereas Elven Armor is the most durable Light Armor in the game now. The most durable armor in the game period is Dwarven Armor, by a wide margin; the Dwemer really knew how to build items that could withstand the test of time.

Imperial Captain armor, worn by Imperial Watch captains and Imperial Palace guards, was made playable. But you'll have to kill a guard to get it. Criminal scum.

I also added three new sets of armor. "Colovian Leather", which existed in the game files but was never utilized by Bethesda, is an advanced Leather (Light) armor between Chainmail and Mithril; includes a Colovian Fur Helm by McMuffin. "Fine Steel" is an amalgamation of several different resources, and is between Steel and Dwarven in stats. Both of them can be found on Bandit and Marauder bosses, respectively. I've also added a new set of Daedric Armor, using models made by McMuffin, and a Daedric Tower Shield made by Xaxxiron. This set is named "Daedroth" Armor, and is hand-placed throughout the game world. Hint: Check in main quest or Daedric quest-related dungeons. Extra hint: These are the only items in the set you can miss out on permanently, but they're not hidden away and hard to find like the other pieces: The Shield and Helmet are in Mankar Camoran's Paradise, and the Boots are in the Sigillum Sanguis of Bruma's Great Gate.

All of these new armors have been distributed through vanilla leveled lists, so it should be compatible with most major overhauls (mileage may vary). But (for the most part) I have removed most leveled lists from NPC inventories; instead, they have my own custom-made leveled lists, designed to be much more specific. The premise of this change is to distribute some of the new armors appropriately, but mainly hone in on when certain enemies should suck (bandits) and others should kick your ass (vampires). You'll find that enemies stop scaling with you and reach a maximum level at some point; on the flipside, enemies will have a minimum level that may or may not be much higher than your current level.

While I was there I went through several unique NPCs that have level-scaled equipment, like Pinarus Inventius or Mazoga the Orc, and gave them much more specific, un-leveled equipment. If I missed anyone, tell me who and I'll fix them! For unique NPCs that still scale to the player's level, I set a maximum level of 20. All of my adjustments are made based on level 30 being around the endgame level for most characters.

INSTALL
Extract the contents of this archive to your Oblivion/Data folder. Check the mod's privilege in the mod manager of your choice, or Oblivion's default launcher.

COMPATIBILITY
Super important: this mod requires Shivering Isles.

This mod changes a lot of stuff; you're going to want Wrye Bash to ensure the best compatibility. I've already added appropriate Bash Tags, so the right info will be imported into your Bashed Patch; however, if you use another mod that replaces the inventories of NPCs, each mods' changes will be added and the NPC will have extra items/armor pieces. If this happens, it's safe to remove the "Invent" tag from my mod. Similarly, if you don't like my changes to NPC levels, remove the "Actors.ACBS" tag. If you don't like the armor stats themselves, remove the "Stats" tag. I don't recommend removing the "Names" tag, as I've made minimal changes. (Note: removing the tags doesn't mean that my mod's info won't be in your game; it just means it will be overwritten by mods lower in the load order, or imported into the Bashed Patch, if applicable)

Included is a patch for Knights of the Nine. All this patch does is balance the Divine Crusader's Armor (to be consistent with my other balances), the generic Knights of the Nine armor, and dresses Sir Roderic in a non-leveled set of armor. I don't have the other plugins, so I cannot make patches for any armor pieces they add.

Mods that add new armor sets, such as Armamentarium, are technically compatible - but the armor's values will be inconsistent with mine

CONTACT
My forum names... vary, but as of right now you can find me as BOXMAAAN on the Nexus, BOX_MAAAN on the official Bethsoft forums, and Hoon or HoonDing basically anywhere else. Your best bet (especially if you're from the future) is probably to email me at "fmonacchio (at) gmail (dot) com".

CREDITS
-GuarTrainer (aka garymorrowind) for "Fine Steel" armor from his "Armoury of Conan" mod
-giggityninja for "Fine Steel Helmet" from his "Steel Great Helm" resource
-mirz619 for "Fine Steel Shield" from his "Steel Shield Replacer" resource
-McMuffin (aka John Yerkes) for his "Daedric Lord" armor resource, and his "Colovian Fur Helm" resource
-Xaxxiron for his "Daedric Tower Shield" mesh

SPECIAL THANKS
-The fantastic modders listed above in the credits. Their resources are fantastic.
-Kobal, Saebel, migck, and everyone else who provided feedback on the Bethsoft forums.
-The various musicians whose recordings kept me sane during the making of this mod.
-Best modding community ever.
-Bethesda, for making a bitchin' game and then letting us mod it.

CHANGELOG
1.0
-Equipped any unique NPCs wearing level-scaled armor to wear more specific armor. Set their max levels to 20 where applicable.
-Hand-placed Daedroth Armor in specific places in the game.

0.4
-Created completely new NPC leveled lists and replaced the inventories of almost all generic NPCs
-Modified minimum and maximum levels for each NPC, as well as the player level offset, to be more specific
-Vanilla Daedric Armor is named Daedric, McMuffin's (mod-added) Daedric Armor is named Daedroth. Just easier to keep track.

0.3:
-Further honed armor stats
-Distributed new armors across vanilla leveled lists
-Renamed "Daedric" armor to "Daedroth" armor
-Renamed "Imperial Watch" armor to "Imperial Captain" armor
-Added GuarTrainer's "Thorgrim" armor + giggityninja's "Steel Great Helm" helmet + mirz619's Steel Shield, named "Fine Steel" armor
-Added McMuffin's "Daedric Lord" armor resource, named it "Daedric" armor
-Added Xaxxiron's Daedric Tower Shield mesh

0.2:
-Implemented bulk of armor stat changes
-"Imperial Watch" Armor made playable
-Renamed "Legion" armor to "Legionairre" armor
-Renamed "Light Iron Shield" to "Iron Buckler"
-Renamed all Amber and Madness weapons from "Perfect Madness Helmet" to "Madness Helmet (Perfect), etc
-Added "Colovian Leather Shield", uses vanilla Leather Shield model

0.1:
-Renamed "Pit" Armor to "Colovian Leather" Armor, gave it stats