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About this mod
This mod makes stealth more difficult and encourages thoughtful sneaking.
- Permissions and credits
It's hard to show the effect of this mod in a picture but the pictures taken are all starting from the same spot, walking towards the fire with no boots. Each picture shows how far I was able to get before being detected. Whenever NPC had Line of Sight and I was in the light, I was spotted. At expert and master levels of sneak, I was able to sneak through the light when they weren't looking. If they looked while I was in the light, they saw me. At apprentice and Journeymen levels, they heard me coming when I got to about where the light started.
Details
While making this mod, my focus is on what I want a Master of Sneak to be able to do. In vanilla, a master of sneak had no use of invisibilty or chameleon and could walk just about anywhere without being detected. Masters of sneak should be able to run in the shadows, get close enough for melee sneak attacks, and be able to run and hide again after the backstabs. Journeymen of sneak will be able to walk behind npcs in the dark and get sneak attacks. Running will definitely get you detected still. Experts should be able to run in the shadows to reach their target for the backstab. Anything below Journeyman will almost definitely not be able to wear boots and will almost always have to walk to not be caught. At these levels, resorting to marksman sneak attacks will be almost mandatory.
Without chameleon or an invisibility spell, sneaking in light will almost always get you detected. To stay hidden, you have to stay in the darkness. Invisibility is the only surefire way of not being detected in light. Chameleon is helpful but it is still very hard to walk in light and not be discovered.
NPC's are also able to hear you better. Getting to journeyman and Expert in sneak is very important now. Those perks are really important and you can instantly tell a difference.
Being in combat has a much higher penalty than it used to. This makes other NPCs more aware that you are attacking their allies. I hated in Vanilla that I could attack one npc and only have one or two come after me when there are 5 in the room. This should fix that from happening. One shot kills on npcs that are away from the group shouldn't alert the rest. So think tactically to clear the room without being detected.
Sneaking in broad daylight is also going to be very difficult if not impossible. Wait for night time or learn an invisibility spell.
Melee sneak attacks will become very difficult until higher levels of sneak and even then, you have to stick to the shadows.
Inadvertently, this mod makes leveling sneak at low levels much harder because you will become detected much more easily. Stay to the shadow, don't wear footwear, and walk everywhere at early levels.
I definitely recommend All Natural- Real Lights. This will remove much of the fake lights in interior cells. With the new importance of staying in the dark, that mod will be very helpful.
As far as time spent in the CS, this mod took almost no time to make. I've done a decent amount of testing to get the feel that I wanted from stealth. This mod took probably 1/1000000th of the time that saebel spent on making SDR so if you want something much more intricate and detailed, you should look into SDR. It's a really great mod.
Compatibility
As far as I know, the only mod that this mod is not compatible with is SDR because SDR redoes the entire detection formula and this mod alters the original formula. Most other stealth overhauls actually don't touch the GMSTs I edited. Using this with stealth overhaul will make being able to hide after attacking a little bit easier. If you find a mod that does change some of the same settings, let me know and I will make note of them.
Installation
All that is contained in the zip folder is the .esp. You can use OBMM, wrye bash, or extract it manually.
Issues
If you find any weird behavior with this mod installed, please let me know. I've done some testing but to go through every scenario is very hard by myself.
Details
While making this mod, my focus is on what I want a Master of Sneak to be able to do. In vanilla, a master of sneak had no use of invisibilty or chameleon and could walk just about anywhere without being detected. Masters of sneak should be able to run in the shadows, get close enough for melee sneak attacks, and be able to run and hide again after the backstabs. Journeymen of sneak will be able to walk behind npcs in the dark and get sneak attacks. Running will definitely get you detected still. Experts should be able to run in the shadows to reach their target for the backstab. Anything below Journeyman will almost definitely not be able to wear boots and will almost always have to walk to not be caught. At these levels, resorting to marksman sneak attacks will be almost mandatory.
Without chameleon or an invisibility spell, sneaking in light will almost always get you detected. To stay hidden, you have to stay in the darkness. Invisibility is the only surefire way of not being detected in light. Chameleon is helpful but it is still very hard to walk in light and not be discovered.
NPC's are also able to hear you better. Getting to journeyman and Expert in sneak is very important now. Those perks are really important and you can instantly tell a difference.
Being in combat has a much higher penalty than it used to. This makes other NPCs more aware that you are attacking their allies. I hated in Vanilla that I could attack one npc and only have one or two come after me when there are 5 in the room. This should fix that from happening. One shot kills on npcs that are away from the group shouldn't alert the rest. So think tactically to clear the room without being detected.
Sneaking in broad daylight is also going to be very difficult if not impossible. Wait for night time or learn an invisibility spell.
Melee sneak attacks will become very difficult until higher levels of sneak and even then, you have to stick to the shadows.
Inadvertently, this mod makes leveling sneak at low levels much harder because you will become detected much more easily. Stay to the shadow, don't wear footwear, and walk everywhere at early levels.
I definitely recommend All Natural- Real Lights. This will remove much of the fake lights in interior cells. With the new importance of staying in the dark, that mod will be very helpful.
As far as time spent in the CS, this mod took almost no time to make. I've done a decent amount of testing to get the feel that I wanted from stealth. This mod took probably 1/1000000th of the time that saebel spent on making SDR so if you want something much more intricate and detailed, you should look into SDR. It's a really great mod.
Compatibility
As far as I know, the only mod that this mod is not compatible with is SDR because SDR redoes the entire detection formula and this mod alters the original formula. Most other stealth overhauls actually don't touch the GMSTs I edited. Using this with stealth overhaul will make being able to hide after attacking a little bit easier. If you find a mod that does change some of the same settings, let me know and I will make note of them.
Installation
All that is contained in the zip folder is the .esp. You can use OBMM, wrye bash, or extract it manually.
Issues
If you find any weird behavior with this mod installed, please let me know. I've done some testing but to go through every scenario is very hard by myself.