***********************************************************************

eek's Cooking Mod (demo)

***********************************************************************
by eek


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Introduction
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The aim of this mod is to enhance your Oblivion roleplaying experience by allowing your character to cook a variety of meals using new and existing ingredients. Cooked foods will provide more benefits than their raw counterparts when eaten, and can also be used in alchemy. In addition, you can add deadly poisons to these foods in order to create an alternative to the Poison Apples.

Note that this is a very early stage in development, and it could be some time before a more functional version is released. lease report any issues you have, and let me know of any suggestions, too. The feedback is very much appreciated.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Installation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Extract the archive to your Oblivion/Data folder. Or if you're doing it manually, place the .esp in the Data folder, and the meshes in Data/Meshes/ebm.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Description
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the demo version of the Cooking Mod, and does not, therefore, have the full functionality. This version allows you to make cooked versions of existing in-game meats (such as Venison and Rat Meat) using the cooking pot (which is carried in your inventory). To do this, simply equip it, and choose the meal you wish to cook.

Successful cooking is based on your skill level in Alchemy. Each meal is given a "level" (Novice, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert), representing it's difficulty. If your Alchemy level matches that of the meal, you will succeed 75% of the time. If yours is one above the meal, you will have a 100% success rate. One level below is 25%, and if you attempt a meal 2 levels higher you will always fail.

Also, one can poison certain foods using Nightshade, Foxglove Nectar or Fly Amanita Caps. This is done by first using the Poison Retort to extract the poison from one of these ingredients, then using the Poison Needle to apply it to the food. Both of these are done by equipping the apparatus in your inventory. Note that none of the new apparatus can be used in Alchemy. Poisoned foods are weightless and have the same effect as Poison Apples. This allows you to create the Deadly Poison using Alchemy before you reach Master, but because the effect is non-hostile, it will be made as a potion (meaning you cannot apply it to a weapon). Once made into a potion through Alchemy, the poison cannot be used on food.

The meals you can cook are as follows (raw meats are the ones already in-game):
Raw Boar Meat->Cooked Ham
Raw Crab Meat->Cooked Crab Meat
Raw Mutton->Cooked Mutton
Raw Rat Meat->Cooked Rat Meat
Raw Venison->Cooked Venison
Summer Bolete Cap->Cooked Mushroom
Carrot, Leek, Potato, Radish->Vegetable Soup

These meals can all be poisoned, as described above. The Cooking Pot, Poison Needle and a Recipe Book are all available from various vendors, as are the new foods. Alternatively, the utensils and book can be obtained from a sack outside the Prison Sewer Exit, for those who want to cook right away. Cooking Pots may be sold by publicans, the poisoning equipment is sold by Shady Sam, and the new foods have been added to various food lists, both vendors and loot.

The ingredients used have been lightened so that you may carry more, and remember that the poisoned foods are weightless to that they may be placed in NPC inventories whie pickpocketing. Foods are worth more when cooked (and even more when poisoned), so it is profitable to learn this craft, should you choose to do so.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Compatibility/Known Issues
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unknown


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Updates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

None (demo)


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Contact
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Any questions, comments, criticisms, suggestions, death threats or declarations of eternal love should either be emailed to me at [email protected] or sent via PM at the official Elder Scrolls forums (username is eek... as I'm sure you've guessed).


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Future Versions
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In versions beta and 1.0
- over 70 cookable meals, some existing, most entirely new. Most are based on real-world recipes.
- over 200 new foods and raw ingredients, some based on existing meshes, others brand new. All have balanced effects, useful for Alchemy
- cooking apparatus added to houses, shops, castles and wilderness camps
- recipe books describing the new meals
- new poisoned food types

Beyond 1.0
- cooking increases the player's Alchemy skill
- foreign foods, including some old favourites from Morrowind
- raw foods may cause illness (based on player's Endurance)
- player can buy and run a cooking business, placing goods in an "export" container (which gives back gold based on the value of what the player puts in)