There have been a lot of requests and discussion about compatibility with overhauls: SkyRe, Requiem, Perkus Maximus, and SPERG. The biggest concern is over the distribution of the new perks provided by these overhauls. I feel that the distribution of these overhaul perks is unnecessary and actually undesirable, but I feel I should probably explain why I feel that way.

First, it's an issue of Game Design: I'll need to digress a little bit to make my point: Back in the days of Dungeons and Dragons 3.5, I was reading through Savage Species, a guide on making player characters out of non-standard races. Part of it that stuck with me is germane to this issue. Paraphrasing, because I don't have Savage Species in front of me, it stated that powers needed to be balanced differently depending on whether the creature was an NPC or a PC, because the same powers in the hands of a PC were much more dangerous. An NPC is probably only going to have one encounter in which to use its powers, because the PCs will probably kill it. A PC is going to get a lot more use out of a "3 times a day" power than an NPC.

The issue here is sort of an inverse of that one. Overhaul perks are generally a little more complicated than the vanilla perks. The AI of Skyrim, on the other hand, is pretty simple. I stated a little while ago that my biggest wish for Elder Scrolls VI is AI on a par even with older First-Person Shooters like Half-Life 2 or the original Halo. The AI in Skyrim simply isn't smart enough to use many of the conditional perks offered by the Overhauls, while the more general perks of Vanilla serve them well.

In addition, the random list nature of Skyrim works against it too: While the player can choose to use weapons to most take advantage of their perks, NPCs are generally stuck using whatever they spawn with. If they're assigned perks that they can't use, what's the point.

Incidentally, this is why a lot of spells get left out of distribution entirely. Sure, it would be neat to fight mages who were using the Calldowns spell from Dwemertech, but the AI in Skyrim simply can't manage it.

Second, it's an issue of balance: In order to balance the perk distribution, it would be neccessary to block all the vanilla perks that were replaced by Overhaul perks, otherwise NPCs would have the effects of both sets of perks and be quite overpowered, an issue that cropped up frequently with earlier versions of ASIS that had glitches in Perk Distribution that Dienes fixed after he was provided with enough information to deduce what was occuring.

This also becomes an issue when the overhaul edits vanilla perks in addition to adding new ones. SPERG perks, even ones that are based on vanilla perks, are entirely seperate from the vanilla perks, while SkyRe edits vanilla ones - but not all of them.

Additionally, because of the way ASIS distributes perks, NPCs will have perk combinations that the player cannot match. PerMa and SkyRe, and possibly Requiem, have mutually exclusive perk-tree branches: If you choose path A you cannot also choose path B. ASIS cannot discern between these and will give NPCs both paths if they meet the requirements.

Third, it's an issue of effort versus reward: As I stated in my first point, NPCs generally aren't going to be around long enough to reap the rewards of more specialized perks. There's not going to be that much difference in the long run for an NPC to have a perk that gives a bonus solely to one-handed Dwemer Swords rather one that gives a bonus to one-handed weapons in general.

Fourth, it's an issue of compatibility: There are some mods out there that give unique options based on perks that NPCs have. I believe there's one that lets NPCs smith for you based on their smithing perks. If these are designed for Vanilla perks, keeping NPC perks vanilla makes it easier to be compatibly with those mods.

Finally, it's an issue of stability: SPERG perks, at the least, are designed with only the player in mind, and will not necessarily function correctly for NPCs, to the point of crashing the game. I found this out the hard way when I upgraded ASIS at one point and forgot to re-add SPERG to the blocklist. I had quite a few CTDs before I finally realized what had happened.

Figuring out exactly which perks from each overhaul are safe to give to NPCs would be a herculean task, while Vanilla perks - with a few exceptions, already blocked - are perfectly safe to give to NPCs.

In closing, these are the reasons I've been highly resistant to do seperate overhaul versions of my INIs. However, I fully encourage anybody who wishes to do one to go right ahead. I'll be updating my permissions soon in order to facilitate this.