Thanks to everyone in the comments for their support & endorsements!



Reasons for this mod
I have always played Elder Scrolls games as a mage/ spell-sword and Skyrim was no different but, likely from having been spoiled with the splendour of the Arcane University in Oblivion, I was disappointed with the messy, dilapidated interiors of the College and it's magically-clueless inhabitants (so-called 'masters' defending themselves with flames and fire-bolt an other such un-immersive annoyances). This mod attempts to bring some of that missing grandeur, magic and mystery to the College by adding a variety of new objects, activators, locations and books as well as improving the magical aptitudes of the faculty members and introducing a tutoring system through which you may learn directly from the masters as they teach; now the Mages of Winterhold really do "gladly (sic) share knowledge amongst themselves".



Rundown of Features
Generally: removal or organisation of unwanted clutter from interior and exterior locations. All cells featuring re-positioned objects have had navmeshes reworked and tested both in and out of combat. Just-in-time (JIT) lighting has been introduced to all suitable cells, improving performance and eliminating flickering associated with over-lighting individual meshes. Great care has been taken to avoid dirty edits, including automatic and manual Tes5Edit cleaning. Screenshots and videos were taken with, Dawnguard, Dragonborn & HD DLC, Skyrim HD2K, Natural Lighting & Atmospherics ENB, ELnFX, Interesting NPCs & Inconsequential NPCs.

This mod is compatible with, but not dependent on, the following mods* by default or by virtue of a compatibility patch:

Official DLCs
All re-textures of the College and College items.
Interesting NPCs
Inconsequential NPCs
Cutting Room Floor
Live Another Life
Skyrim Redone
Requiem
Expanded Winterhold Destruction Ruins
Qaxes Winterhold Rebuild
ELnFX
Apachii SkyHair
Opulent Outfits
Cloaks of Skyrim
Caranthir Tower
Spell Crafting Mod
College of Winterhold Shop Fixes
Apophysis Dragon Priest Masks
Skyrim Distance Overhaul
Real Shelter Full Release
Follower Commentary Overhaul
Ultimate Follower Overhaul
Forgotten Magic Redone
Expanded Towns & Cities
Rustic Windows
Aemer's Refuge Continued
Winterhold College Improved
Skyrim Scroll Crafting

*That a mod is not on this list is no reason to believe it is incompatible! These mods are listed because they could conceivably edit the College. If you are unsure then ask the comments section or, better yet, perform a test and drop a comment with your results ;)


Inhabitants: These changes are handled in separate ESPs listed under the "NPC Improvements" tab in the installers. Each character will now scale better with the player, and many will start at a much higher level then the player. Each character now has access to a suite of spells and perks, appropriate to their level and area of expertise. Where offensive spells are concerned, characters now specialise in one particular element (E.G. fire) and make greater use of the School of Conjuration. Characters now attend morning classes in the Hall of the Elements then study in the Arcanaeum or their quarters afternoon. Colette now trades alchemy supplies & Sergius sells enchanting supplies, concordant with their roles as healers and enchanters, respectively (NB: this particular change only seems to work if you install before ever talking with them; see the readme). You also now have the option of allowing Tolfdir to take on the role of Arch-Mage, if you feel undeserving of your position. This can be renegotiated at any time through dialogue or through the MCM menu. All characters will assemble in the Hall of the Elements for meals at noon after practice and again at 6 p.m.


Hall of Countenance: There are now magical experiments going on and research underway. Lots of new objects and modders resources have been used to increase immersion.


Hall of Attainment: More personalised dormitories and tidier object positioning. A cooking area has been added for users of survival mods and a room previously filled with clutter has been cleared for compatibility with the Spell Crafting Mod .


The Arcanaeum:In vanilla this was more a private collection of books than a provincial library. More bookshelves (with player-fillable bookshelves for spare skill books/ spell tomes), map areas (with a topographic map under construction) and artefacts for teaching/ research. More animation markers for idle characters.


Hall of the Elements:Minor object positioning improvements and more light balls. Location of new morning classes and practice sessions for all members of the College from which you may gain experience, but only up to the level that character would be able to train you privately. College members will assemble here for meals after practice sessions and again in the evening if an "NPC Improvements" ESP is chosen in the installers.


Arch-Mage's Quarters: Improved workstations, new cooking area and a desk for the Master of the College. Clutter has been cleared to make way for bookshelves, plaques, mannequins and racks for items. The random mound of dirt has been cut back and contained, with most of the plants relocated to the Lustratorium (see below). This cell now hosts a working clock, able to chime at midday, tell you the time, day of the week and month of the year at a glance. A Harry Potter inspired 'pensieve' allows the Arch-Mage to scry upon the College or Skyrim's jarls, and keep track of current developments (see video). The containers and workbenches are scripted for easy storage of different categories of items and automatic retrieval of alchemy and enchanting resources. Some containers allow their item category to be redesignated and both auto-containers and auto-workbenches can be disabled at any time through the MCM menu.


College Sanctuary: I always found it strange that the most powerful and sought-after items in Skyrim (such as Daedric artefacts) were simply dumped in a box in the middle of Whiterun and left unprotected. The sanctuary is my answer to this; a new room for the College atop the main tower and accessible only by teleportation. The room becomes accessible after quest-line completion and contains scripted displays for important artefacts, Daedric or otherwise. The interior features transparent windows so you can see the sun, moons and stars from inside and the lighting is scripted to mimic the movement of the sun across the sky.


The Midden: Smithing facilities, remnants of Old Winterhold, can now be accessed in the Midden, so you no longer have to travel in order to smith or craft. Integrated Oblivion-style black soul gem altar, which will allow you to darken empty grand soul gems after midnight, in the Shade of the Revenant.


Courtyard & Bridge: Once you become Arch-Mage, you can activate the second focal point on the bridge to repair it (or 'bewitch' it again). Navmeshes have been cut back so characters actually use the paths and dragon markers have been adjusted. Added more snowdrifts and light effects to the walls and and more wind to the bridge. The frontmost tower has been converted to an astronomy area with working telescopes (WIP) and several scripted items. This area will be visited by Urag and Arniel at night. The empty land in the courtyard is now occupied the Lustratorium...


Lustratorium and Subterrarium: Just as I had visions of the bridge collapsing, I also imagined the giant mound of earth in the AMQ crashing through the floor and and crushing the unwitting mages below. The College's botanical collections are now housed in the Lustratorium, The building has two wings: an 'alpine' wing with flora from cooler climates; and a 'tropical' wing, with those from warmer ones. These are connected by a network of underground tunnels, the Subterrarium. I intend to add an alchemist in future versions, who will tend the plants.

Installation

The mod comes with an automated installer and scripted maintenance system, and the features & scripts in this mod are written in such a way that your progress through the college quest-line is irrelevant. If, however, you have visited the College before installing this mod OR run a previous version you must ensure that, before installation:

- You have removed any loose scripts (data>scripts>CWI...) - You have deleted the redundant Aemer's Refuge Patch - You have removed all items from College containers (only if installing, updating from <2.31 or using Winterhold Improved Patch) - You have removed all items from College followers - You have dismissed all College followers - You are not in or near the College

These measures will ensure that all functions as normal, that characters update properly, and that you won't lose any items.

This mod features larger cells that vanilla Skyrim, necessitating the use of either SSME OR the SKSE alpha builds with appropriate ini edits (see downloads section). See the readme for a more detailed explanation.

If you are using the Winterhold College Improved Patch, make doubly certain that your Arch-Mage's Quarters is completely empty. When you re-enter, you will have to disable the kitchen area to avoid collision problems, although cooking equipment is still available in the Alchemy area. Run BOSS! You must use the version of the ELnFX patch that comes with this mod and load any of my NPC patches after the Winterhold College Improved Patch, or else character changes won't show.

BONUS STEP for updating users: if you have no items in the College and have saved, load up the save after uninstalling the old version but before installing the new version. You will receive a message about missing content; it can be ignored. Make a new save without the mod installed. This will orphan all scripts from the old version, ready to be removed from your save by the Save Game Script Cleaner. Kudos to Hadoram!

Permissions

The ESPs in these files must not be redistributed, either fully or in part. The BSA contains resources created by other modders on the nexus, and therefore its contents cannot be freely redistributed - correlate sub-folders with the credits to find the original resource files if you want them for your own mod. A separate archive containing all of the meshes, textures and scripts that I made is available in the downloads section, for anyone interested. These can be used freely, but any credit would be appreciated :)

Credits

Bethesda Softworks - Skyrim & the Creation Kit.

Sharlikran - Tes5Edit

Creation Kit Wiki - Complete Example Scripts

Elinen & ZTree - Hoddminir Plants & Trees & Hoddminir Water Plants

Tamira - New Plants

Apachii - Apachii SkyHair

Z993126 - Topographic Map

TonyNarko67 - Shelf Scrolls

Stroti & Tamira - Resource Packs, Oven, Castle furniture, Dragonstone Manor

Sydzilla - Markarth Banner

Oaristys - Resource Pack

Runspect - Resource Pack

Tueffelachtein - Resource Pack

ZX - Hand-Painted Map

Xui - Xui Books

InsanitySorrow - Curtains, Window Boxes, Room Dividers, Dwemer Art, Chessboard, Charts

Lilith - Ready Clutter

Blary - Alchemy Clutter, BookSets, OpenBooks, IngredientsJar, PotionShelf, Ingredients Wall Art, Ingredients Drawer

Stoverjm - Open Books Library

LiaMue - Silver Cutlery

Kraeten - Griffon Fortress

DaemonJax - JIT lighting example

Angilla - Elder Statue

Mr. Dave - Texture Resource

[*] Matortheeternal - Merge Plugins Tes5Edit Script