Version 2.5 is now available. Apart from anything else, I'd noticed that one of the NPCs in KotN had CharacterGen stats and no spell list, so there are now updated .esp files for KotN in both versions of the mod. I've playtested the changes, some of which will require a new game to take effect (e.g. moving the location of the ambush in MG09, "Ulterior Motives").
Wow, I first uploaded this mod 7 years ago today! The latest version (2.4.2) may well be the last. I don't want to keep tinkering for the sake of it, and I really need to focus on updating my other mods.
Hi zymurgy65, thank you for the update! This is definitely one of my favorite mods. Quick question: the latest version without cosmetic changes doesn't have your modified "Knights.esp" file. Is this intended?
Yes, the Knights .esp file had only cosmetic changes (I think I just changed the eye colour of two Redguard NPCs), so it's unnecessary for the vanilla faces version. Glad you like the mod, as it's the one that gave me the confidence to start publishing. I'm working on yet another update at the moment. I know I said I wouldn't, but I was playing through the Mages Guild quest line and found an issue with some of the quest-specific necromancers. I've gone back to an old savegame that predates the changes, and I'm playing through the quests again to see if I've fixed the problem.
Version 2.4.1 omitted the changes made to many NPCs by the Unofficial Patches. This has been corrected. My apologies - that's what happens when you try to update too many mods at once!
I really like this mod and Creature Fix Compendium, clearly a lot of thought and effort were put into balance and lore friendliness. I actually checked record by record, and although I didn't agree with every change it was fun imagining the author's thought process behind every tweak. Many of the changes should be considered fixes in the same manner as UOP really, such as giving footwear to barefoot NPC, removing footwear from Mythic Dawn agents since they can't be used with their robes, a few of the class changes... Really nice work.
However, there seems to be a problem with the way the Shimmerstrike dagger's levelled enchantment was implemented: there are duplicate records in the Enchantment and Weapon lists. Notice how the FormIDs repeat three times, and some names repeat too. This causes reference issues, plus Wrye Bash can't process those records properly while building a bashed patch. The duplicate records don't change any stats so I believe they can be safely deleted, and only 3 should remain (besides the original dagger of course, so 4 total).
Thanks for pointing that out. Something else to fix when I reinstall Oblivion. I'll have to do it over the Christmas holidays, if not before. It's the reason I bought a gaming laptop, after all!
I hope to do so. I'm running a Star Wars RPG campaign at the moment, but I've managed to get ahead of myself planning the missions, so I should have the time to at least check my own mods and tidy them up.
I was unable to figure out what was happening with Shimmerstrike, so I scrapped the levelling. It now has a fixed 10 points of frost damage and a lot more charges. I found a few other issues (mainly because this was the first mod I wrote), so I've fixed them in the latest version.
I put this mod very high up in the order, so that it won't override other mods in which I've edited the npcs or other aspects of the game that I want to remain unchanged from what they do or how I edited them. This mod's bash tags & edits such as adding stuff to inventories or adding spells to npcs will therefore be added in appropriately, while other mods' edits will ALSO be included, instead of being replaced by this mod's. So in other words, this mod is best used as a base, then you put overhauls like OOO & MMM underneath it so their changes will be included also. MOO and Latta go very low in the order, so all the things they do will remain unchanged. Of course you need to be using a bashed patch. If you try to use a comprehensive mod like this in a heavily modded game without a bashed patch, your game would be very messed up indeed.
Not a popular mod but I actually really like this one. It's very subtle, but after looking up some NPCs I find that the ones in my game have equipment appropriate to their level instead of mine, which is, to me, more immersive. Take Modryn Oreyn for example at level 40 - with this mod he'll be strutting about in Daedric armor, as will the Guildmaster herself. The changes to NPC classes are relatively small in comparison to the secret benefit of "things make more sense" I've gained through this mod, and I'm finding situations to be more believable in context of a role playing game.
Tough NPCs at a static level can always be found in their level's corresponding armor tier(if their class specializes in Lt/Hv Armor), like Mazoga who I found in Orcish. Since this mod allows bypassing the level-up restriction on this gear e.g. Pickpocketing a paralyzed sleeping NPC with such equipment, I've taken it upon myself to increase the difficulty quite a bit more than usual, and never going under halfway, as then the extra few points of damage/armor don't break the early game balance. tl;dr Fun mod that you might want to bash into a patch with mods that expand leveled lists and equipment.
Thanks for the positive feedback. This mod actually started as an attempt to make the Fighters Guild look more like experienced professionals, but I soon realised that a lot of the NPC classes needed tweaking as well.
Not sure if it's just this mod or caused by a mix of mods, but Oblivion crashes every time I try to enter the Arena Bloodworks. Disabling this mod allows entry again. It's odd as I did all the other content in the game without encountering this anywhere else, it only crashes the Arena Bloodworks when I have no other mods that target the Arena content and few mods total anyway other than bug fixes. Anyone else have this problem?
It's not just you. I've run a test with a new character using just a handful of mods and run into the same problem. The weird thing is I've made no changes to the Bloodworks itself, and the changes to Agronak, Owyn and Ysabel were made a long time ago. I'll have to run some more tests to see if I can pin down the bug.
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However, there seems to be a problem with the way the Shimmerstrike dagger's levelled enchantment was implemented: there are duplicate records in the Enchantment and Weapon lists. Notice how the FormIDs repeat three times, and some names repeat too. This causes reference issues, plus Wrye Bash can't process those records properly while building a bashed patch. The duplicate records don't change any stats so I believe they can be safely deleted, and only 3 should remain (besides the original dagger of course, so 4 total).
PS: and/or with Av Latta Magicka?
Tough NPCs at a static level can always be found in their level's corresponding armor tier(if their class specializes in Lt/Hv Armor), like Mazoga who I found in Orcish. Since this mod allows bypassing the level-up restriction on this gear e.g. Pickpocketing a paralyzed sleeping NPC with such equipment, I've taken it upon myself to increase the difficulty quite a bit more than usual, and never going under halfway, as then the extra few points of damage/armor don't break the early game balance. tl;dr Fun mod that you might want to bash into a patch with mods that expand leveled lists and equipment.