1 - If you find any bugs, you can report them and if we are lucky, I'll manage to fix it.
2 - If anybody finds the numbers too harsh or lacking when it comes to servant strength or the player's magicka drain, please let me know. I'd like to make all reanimation candidates an attractive choice.
3 - Update Notes are at the top of the description page.
Underrated mod I absolutely love this concept and cant understand why there isnt anything similar out there. Magic draining instead of being a flat cost screams roleplay and immersion and I NEED this mod to play at this point. Necromancer gang rise up
FYI: You forget to reset the "No Absorb/Reflect" flag on the various summons spells + the spells that you added (as corrected by the Unofficial Patch). So it's constant swirlies with the mod installed + no summons if you use the Atronach stone or other forms of spell absorbtion.
I've tested your mod in my current load order and it doesn't seem to work as intended. The maximum magicka my character has is 110, no enchantments to boost amount magicka or regeneration. First I reanimated a weak corpse and my magicka reserves depleted within several seconds. Even at 0 magicka the reanimated corpse stays reanimated. Next I tried to reanimate two weak corpses at once before my magicka ran out. Again, magicka is at value 0 and both zombies stay reanimated.
Edit: Between both above mentioned tests I took the carriage from Whiterun to Falkreath. The reanimated corpse didn't travel with me and the magicka drain stopped, but the reanimation is still listed under active effects.
After the second test I killed off both zombies. They didn't turn to ashes, so this seems to work as intended.
Thanks for the feedback Sceadugengan. I took a look at the mod, and just like you said, they didn't die at 0 magicka. I looked at the script's code and saw the blunder I made, turns out I took out the line of code that kills the zombies. I'll upload the correct script right now with version 1.02, let me know if this one works if you have the time.
I am not familiar with how zombies behave with carriages, I tried taking a carriage Whiterun >> Riften and back and a reanimated mudcrab would spawn nearby when I arrived. Definitely something to keep in mind, thanks for mentioning it.
Now, in the case a reanimated actor does end up far away from you, what you mentioned makes sense. This mod uses a quest that fills 20 alias spaces with actors near the player. For each actor it detects, it applies a mana drain. In the eventual case that the actor eventually makes its way back to you, the quest will find the actor and start draining you again. If the actor never finds you and manages to survive, I guess it would perish after 99 ingame days.
I've played a bit with the new version 1.02. Reanimated corpses now topple over when I run out of magicka and my magicka reserves last longer. Although I've observed something weird. Even with a level 1 corpse my magicka eventually runs dry. For testing purposes I've ingested a potion which boosts conjuration skill by 100 and magicka regen by 100% and it still happens with the same lvl1 corpse. The rate at which the magicka depletes seems to be about the same in both cases (with and without the potion's effect). I suspect magicka regen is halted as long as a damage magicka effect is active which would kind of defeat the point... I've tried to google it and can't say for sure. Maybe some other mod is interfering with my tests.
Took quite a bit to respond, been iterating quite a bit.
Just like you said, when damaging the player's magicka, magicka regeneration is disabled completely. I tried a bunch of different ideas, mostly getting fancy with magicka regeneration, didn't work out. But I managed to apply a magicka restore with the same values as your current magicka regeneration, similar to magicka potions as a HoT ( It takes into account your max magicka, magicka base regeneration, and magicka regeneration modifiers such as enchantments and potions ). The results felt quite satisfying, I didn't pay attention to the numbers, but those can be easily changed based on requests.
Now that I have added fake magicka regeneration, it should be very easy to upkeep small amounts of low level actors indefinitely. Magicka regeneration buffs like potions and enchantments are now very relevant and should be a very good strategy for keeping your armies alive for a longer period of time. Vanilla magicka regeneration is 3% of your total magicka per second, so by getting more magicka, you will also increase your regeneration. The one thing the mod does not cover is magicka regeneration in combat, which in vanilla goes down to from 3% to 0.99% of your maximum magicka per second. I do not know if anybody would desire a regen nerf while in combat, so I decided to leave it as out of combat regen for the time being.
Version 1.04 is working nicely for me. I've been running around with a lvl2 zombie wolf and I noticed the decreased magicka regen.
Regarding combat magicka regen: With your current version there's an easy exploit to boost your combat regen. The vanilla combat regen is at 33% of your out of combat regen. Now all you need to do is reanimate a lvl1 corpse and you get 100% minus the reanimation upkeep. If you fix this and nerf the fake magicka regen to 33% while in combat it makes it harder for true necromancer characters to balance their numbers of undead and magicka regen, since it would drastically decrease as soon as they enter combat. Trying to get the maximum numbers of zombies while not running out of magicka in the middle of combat is a headache. I'd suggest to implement some sort of feedback system to tell the player when he has too many summoned/reanimated creatures and will likely run out of juice in combat.
Up till now I've only posted about problems with your mod. I hope you don't get discouraged because of me D: I really like the idea.
In favor of shutting down the exploit, I tried adding the combat multiplier to the magicka regen.
Regarding a feedback system, I can't think of an implementation that wouldn't be overly intrusive (I'm dizzy from all these debug notifications). For now, trial and error is better than whatever warnings I can provide through the interface.
As for reaching the current maximum zombie count (20), the hard cap is not meant to be reached "in order to" give the impression of there being a sot cap instead. "I can summon 5 low level actors, but can't support them for long, but I can summon 2, support them for a long time, and reanimate them as they die." Currently, the player can progress towards the 20 actor cap by leveling up his maximum magicka to increase regeneration outside of combat and inside combat, if you gain 10 magicka upon leveling up, you gain 0.3 mag/sec out of combat. I also have the 40% discount at lvl 100 conjuration (which can be increased).
If somebody wants to have more power (more actors) at lower levels, I can upload versions with more generous numbers. Depends on what the user wants.
Don't worry about the critiques, I made this mod for personal use. Uploading it to nexus is a bonus for troubleshooting / brainstorming.
I've been running around with version 1.05 for a while now and I couldn't find any more obvious problems. Although my character is a warrior dabbling in necromancy, so there was no extensive testing.
If I had to gripe about something then it would be compatibility with other mods. Some magic overhauls adjust the magicka regen in combat and your fake combat regen indirectly reverts this change :p
Could you possibly upload a version with no regeneration penalty for active summon in lower levels or for any level? Possibly add a small magicka deduction for each order issued rather than maintaining a summon?
The current implementation checks in 2 second intervals whether the player has any commanded actors, prepares a damage magicka over time spell with a 2 second duration for each actor and applies it to the player. If the player has run out of magicka, it kills all commanded actors. Ideally it would behave like a DoT since I applied a DoT Magic Effect.
I felt the magicka drain effect looked stunted, but I am not sure how much if at all.
I've got another mod which modifies the summoned weapons perks. Can I use both mods or will your mod overwrite those changes, too?
I like the idea of draining magicka to balance what you can dish out. I've seen something similar in Dragon Age (was ist the first or the second game? ah, whatever) where continuously running buffs and summoned creatures would reduce your maximum mana amount until the magic was dispelled as some kind of upkeep cost.
New Conjuration School currently edits a single Perk in the vanilla conjuration tree, that is the Twin Souls Perk. I changed it from [Set to 2] actor limit to [Add 1] actor limit. So it should not overwrite any of the three vanilla bound weapon perks.
Give Feedback
16 comments
2 - If anybody finds the numbers too harsh or lacking when it comes to servant strength or the player's magicka drain, please let me know. I'd like to make all reanimation candidates an attractive choice.
3 - Update Notes are at the top of the description page.
The maximum magicka my character has is 110, no enchantments to boost amount magicka or regeneration.
First I reanimated a weak corpse and my magicka reserves depleted within several seconds.
Even at 0 magicka the reanimated corpse stays reanimated.
Next I tried to reanimate two weak corpses at once before my magicka ran out.
Again, magicka is at value 0 and both zombies stay reanimated.
load order
0 0 Skyrim.esm
1 1 Update.esm
2 2 Dawnguard.esm
3 3 HearthFires.esm
4 4 Dragonborn.esm
5 5 Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch.esp
6 6 Falskaar.esm
7 7 Wyrmstooth.esp
8 8 WM Flora Fixes.esp
9 9 MFVM.esm
10 a TeenVoice.esm
11 b EFFCore.esm
12 c BeeingFemale.esm
13 d SleepingDangers-SandsofTime.esp
14 e Inn Girls Resources.esm
15 f ApachiiHair.esm
16 10 AzarHair.esm
17 11 ZaZAnimationPack.esm
18 12 daymoyl.esm
19 13 MolagBalsInferno.esm
20 14 EnhancedAIFramework.esm
21 15 Lootification.esm
22 16 Schlongs of Skyrim - Core.esm
23 17 CreatureFramework.esm
24 18 SexLab.esm
25 19 SexLabAroused.esm
26 1a OrganicFactions.esm
27 1b PSQ PlayerSuccubusQuest.esm
28 1c Cutting Room Floor.esp
29 1d FISS.esp
30 1e dD - Realistic Ragdoll Force - Realistic.esp
31 1f Weapons & Armor Fixes_Remade.esp
32 20 EnhancedLightsandFX.esp
33 21 Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul.esp
34 22 SOTAntiCTD.esp
35 23 Hair Mods Merge.esp
36 24 Clothing & Clutter Fixes.esp
37 25 CollegeOfWinterholdImmersive.esp
38 26 Complete Crafting Overhaul_Remade.esp
39 27 Complete Alchemy & Cooking Overhaul.esp
40 28 City Extensions Merge.esp
41 29 Book Covers Skyrim.esp
42 2a Wintermyst - Enchantments of Skyrim.esp
43 2b Immersive Jewelry.esp
44 2c MoreBanditCamps.esp
45 2d Skyrim Immersive Creatures.esp
46 2e Quests and Locations Merge.esp
47 2f SkyrimCoinReplacerRedux.esp
48 30 Wyrmtooth Patches Merge.esp
49 31 WAF_CCF_SIC Patch.esp
50 32 Hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp
51 33 Immersive Weapons.esp
52 34 aMidianborn_Skyforge_Weapons.esp
53 35 WeaponsArmorFixes_ImmersiveWeapons_Patch.esp
54 36 SafeAutoSave.esp
55 37 SkyUI.esp
56 38 LessIntrusiveHUD.esp
57 39 AHZmoreHUD.esp
58 3a RaceMenu.esp
59 3b RaceMenuPlugin.esp
60 3c Souls_Quick_Menu.esp
61 3d FNIS.esp
62 3e Customizable Camera.esp
63 3f SleepMenuExtender.esp
64 40 AMatterOfTime.esp
65 41 SimplyKnock.esp
66 42 Taste&EquipMenu.esp
67 43 SexLab_Solutions.esp
68 44 ClothingCraft.esp
69 45 NPCs Merge.esp
70 46 Skyrim Immersive Creatures - DLC2.esp
71 47 ELFX - Weathers.esp
72 48 MoonAndStar_MAS.esp
73 49 Undeath.esp
74 4a Skyrim Unbound.esp
75 4b Destroy the Thieves Guild.esp
76 4c EFFDialogue.esp
77 4d Dynamic Dialogue Followers.esp
78 4e Point The Way.esp
79 4f RealisticWaterTwo.esp
80 50 RealisticWaterTwo - Wyrmstooth.esp
81 51 BFT Ships and Carriages.esp
82 52 RBB_Merge.esp
83 53 Dark Dungeons for Skyrim-Dawnguard-Dragonborn.esp
84 54 SexLabSkoomaWhore.esp
85 55 RealisticWaterTwo - Legendary.esp
86 56 Weapons Merge.esp
87 57 AoT.esp
88 58 Balanced_Magic.esp
89 59 ImmersiveSpells.esp
90 5a Better Vampires.esp
91 5b SL01AmuletsSkyrim.esp
92 5c SMIM-Merged-All.esp
93 5d ZaFromTheDeepsV2.esp
94 5e NorthernCardinal.esp
95 5f Immersive Horses.esp
96 60 Craftable Horse Barding.esp
97 61 Companions Merge.esp
98 62 MFVM_EFF_Patch.esp
99 63 arnima.esp
100 64 SexLab-AmorousAdventures.esp
101 65 Hot and Sweaty - Detection ++.esp
102 66 RealisticWaterTwo - Waves - Wyrmstooth.esp
103 67 ForgottenCity.esp
104 68 SL99Exchanger.esp
105 69 daymoyl_DawnguardAddon.esp
106 6a Draugnarok.esp
107 6b Immersive Citizens - CRF patch.esp
108 6c Extended Encounters.esp
109 6d SexLab_Hormones.esp
110 6e Vampirelordroyal.esp
111 6f AllowVampireLordAction.esp
112 70 Auto Unequip Ammo.esp
113 71 FireBurns.esp
114 72 Predator Vision.esp
115 73 ReadAndLearnSpeechcraft.esp
116 74 Troy1010_ImprovedArmorFormula 4.0.0.esp
117 75 Improved Armor Formula for npcs.esp
118 76 No Skill Limit.esp
119 77 SL99VanillaFollowersAI.esp
120 78 MIDFollowMeCloser.esp
121 79 Better Stealth AI for Followers.esp
122 7a UIExtensions.esp
123 7b BrighterTorchesBiggerMagelight.esp
124 7c BeeingFemaleBasicAddOn.esp
125 7d mintylightningmod.esp
126 7e WondersofWeather.esp
127 7f RealisticWaterTwo - Waves - Falskaar.esp
128 80 TreaclemanFalskaarPatch.esp
129 81 FireAndIceOverhaul.esp
130 82 Destructible_bottles.esp
131 83 DeadlySpellImpacts.esp
132 84 NPC Body Scale Randomizer.esp
133 85 Hothtrooper44_Armor_Ecksstra.esp
134 86 Tes4mod.esp
135 87 TTLeatherMashup.esp
136 88 OMageReplacerPack.esp
137 89 CWINPCOpulentOutfits.esp
138 8a TrueStorms.esp
139 8b Supreme Fog.esp
140 8c RealisticWaterTwo - Falskaar.esp
141 8d Falskaar Quest-Fix.esp
142 8e SexistGuards.esp
143 8f OMageCommonRobesV2.esp
144 90 SexLab Eager NPCs.esp
145 91 SL99Exchanger_Patch_Immersive Jewelry.esp
146 92 Brevi_MoonlightTales.esp
147 93 OMageStandalonePack.esp
148 94 bm_SimpleAction.esp
149 95 dcc-tanking.esp
150 96 AMB Glass Variants Lore.esp
151 97 Differently Ebony.esp
152 98 LindsVaerminaHood.esp
153 99 retakrew7_chest.esp
154 9a CCO_SIC_Patch.esp
155 9b TavernClothes-MTM.esp
156 9c LoversComfort.esp
157 9d Apocalypse - The Spell Package.esp
158 9e WestWindMisfit.esp
159 9f ClothingCraft Extended.esp
160 a0 AlchemistJournal.esp
161 a1 BCS - CCOR Patch.esp
162 a2 HearthfireMultiKid.esp
163 a3 Size Does Matter HF.esp
164 a4 MFVM_Hearthfire_Patch.esp
165 a5 HearthfireMultiKid_LastName.esp
166 a6 CACO - Undeath patch.esp
167 a7 CACO_CoinReplacer_Patch.esp
168 a8 CACO_Immersive Creatures Patch.esp
169 a9 CACO_USKP_Patch.esp
170 aa CACO_Wyrmstooth_Patch.esp
171 ab Schlongs of Skyrim.esp
172 ac SOS - VectorPlexus Regular Addon.esp
173 ad SOS - B3lisario UNP Addon.esp
174 ae SOS Female Schlongifier (No Schlong Addon by Erundil).esp
175 af MoreNastyCritters.esp
176 b0 SexLabNudeCreatures.esp
177 b1 SexLabNudeCreaturesDB.esp
178 b2 SexLabNudeCreaturesDG.esp
179 b3 SexLab Sound FX Replacer.esp
180 b4 SexLabDefeat.esp
181 b5 Scent of Sex.esp
182 b6 SLSW Addicted.esp
183 b7 S2B Skyrim ONLY.esp
184 b8 S2B Apocalypse Spells Addon.esp
185 b9 S2B Dawnguard Addon.esp
186 ba S2B Dragonborn Addon.esp
187 bb SlaveTats.esp
188 bc SleepTight.esp
189 bd Apropos.esp
190 be NecroAnims.esp
191 bf dD-No Spinning Death Animation Merged.esp
192 c0 Sexual Vampire Feed.esp
193 c1 Dual Sheath Redux.esp
194 c2 Reanimate FX.esp
195 c3 SS_BattlemageReborn.esp
196 c4 Bound Armory.esp
197 c5 fcteResurrection.esp
198 c6 FunctionalBags.esp
199 c7 00marzRestorativeCandlelight.esp
200 c8 _tck_SpellCrafting.esp
201 c9 TrueTransmutation.esp
202 ca UndeadServants.esp
203 cb Balanced_Magic_Dawnguard.esp
204 cc SmartCast_1_0.esp
205 cd PumpingIron.esp
206 ce SoulsQuickMenuFixbySOT.esp
207 cf Hearthfire IHO Compatibility Patch.esp
208 d0 Soul Trap Redone.esp
209 d1 Cloak of souls Fix.esp
210 d2 WerewolfPerksExpanded.esp
211 d3 BVandRB_Formlist.esp
212 d4 Real Flying.esp
213 d5 Animated Dragon Wings.esp
214 d6 SL Deadly Drain.esp
215 d7 RaceMenuMorphsUUNP.esp
216 d8 SOS - Hormones UNP Addon.esp
217 d9 Hot and Sweaty - Dawnguard Patch.esp
218 da TrueNecromancerAmulet.esp
219 db Saeri_AetherialCrown.esp
220 dc SL01AmuletsSkyrim_BetterVampires.esp
221 dd SL01AmuletsSkyrimDGDB_Outfit_CCOR.esp
222 de DovahBlingJewelrySignetRings.esp
223 df IJWintermystPatch.esp
224 e0 Immersive Jewelry CACO Patch.esp
225 e1 ImprovedGlowingGlowDust.esp
226 e2 Dr_Bandolier.esp
227 e3 12FemaleBrows.esp
228 e4 FloppySOS.esp
229 e5 XPMSE.esp
230 e6 TKDodge.esp
231 e7 FNISspells.esp
232 e8 New Conjuration School.esp
233 e9 TES5Merged.esp
234 ea Bashed Patch, 0.esp
235 eb LLI.esp
236 ec Dual Sheath Redux Patch.esp
NoAutoAim.esp
Weapons & Armor_TrueWeaponsLvlLists.esp
I didn't test it yet without other mods.
Edit:
Between both above mentioned tests I took the carriage from Whiterun to Falkreath.
The reanimated corpse didn't travel with me and the magicka drain stopped, but the reanimation is still listed under active effects.
After the second test I killed off both zombies.
They didn't turn to ashes, so this seems to work as intended.
I am not familiar with how zombies behave with carriages, I tried taking a carriage Whiterun >> Riften and back and a reanimated mudcrab would spawn nearby when I arrived. Definitely something to keep in mind, thanks for mentioning it.
Now, in the case a reanimated actor does end up far away from you, what you mentioned makes sense. This mod uses a quest that fills 20 alias spaces with actors near the player. For each actor it detects, it applies a mana drain. In the eventual case that the actor eventually makes its way back to you, the quest will find the actor and start draining you again. If the actor never finds you and manages to survive, I guess it would perish after 99 ingame days.
Reanimated corpses now topple over when I run out of magicka and my magicka reserves last longer.
Although I've observed something weird.
Even with a level 1 corpse my magicka eventually runs dry.
For testing purposes I've ingested a potion which boosts conjuration skill by 100 and magicka regen by 100% and it still happens with the same lvl1 corpse.
The rate at which the magicka depletes seems to be about the same in both cases (with and without the potion's effect).
I suspect magicka regen is halted as long as a damage magicka effect is active which would kind of defeat the point...
I've tried to google it and can't say for sure.
Maybe some other mod is interfering with my tests.
Just like you said, when damaging the player's magicka, magicka regeneration is disabled completely. I tried a bunch of different ideas, mostly getting fancy with magicka regeneration, didn't work out. But I managed to apply a magicka restore with the same values as your current magicka regeneration, similar to magicka potions as a HoT ( It takes into account your max magicka, magicka base regeneration, and magicka regeneration modifiers such as enchantments and potions ). The results felt quite satisfying, I didn't pay attention to the numbers, but those can be easily changed based on requests.
Now that I have added fake magicka regeneration, it should be very easy to upkeep small amounts of low level actors indefinitely. Magicka regeneration buffs like potions and enchantments are now very relevant and should be a very good strategy for keeping your armies alive for a longer period of time. Vanilla magicka regeneration is 3% of your total magicka per second, so by getting more magicka, you will also increase your regeneration. The one thing the mod does not cover is magicka regeneration in combat, which in vanilla goes down to from 3% to 0.99% of your maximum magicka per second. I do not know if anybody would desire a regen nerf while in combat, so I decided to leave it as out of combat regen for the time being.
I've been running around with a lvl2 zombie wolf and I noticed the decreased magicka regen.
Regarding combat magicka regen:
With your current version there's an easy exploit to boost your combat regen.
The vanilla combat regen is at 33% of your out of combat regen.
Now all you need to do is reanimate a lvl1 corpse and you get 100% minus the reanimation upkeep.
If you fix this and nerf the fake magicka regen to 33% while in combat it makes it harder for true necromancer characters to balance their numbers of undead and magicka regen, since it would drastically decrease as soon as they enter combat.
Trying to get the maximum numbers of zombies while not running out of magicka in the middle of combat is a headache.
I'd suggest to implement some sort of feedback system to tell the player when he has too many summoned/reanimated creatures and will likely run out of juice in combat.
Up till now I've only posted about problems with your mod.
I hope you don't get discouraged because of me D:
I really like the idea.
Regarding a feedback system, I can't think of an implementation that wouldn't be overly intrusive (I'm dizzy from all these debug notifications). For now, trial and error is better than whatever warnings I can provide through the interface.
As for reaching the current maximum zombie count (20), the hard cap is not meant to be reached "in order to" give the impression of there being a sot cap instead. "I can summon 5 low level actors, but can't support them for long, but I can summon 2, support them for a long time, and reanimate them as they die." Currently, the player can progress towards the 20 actor cap by leveling up his maximum magicka to increase regeneration outside of combat and inside combat, if you gain 10 magicka upon leveling up, you gain 0.3 mag/sec out of combat. I also have the 40% discount at lvl 100 conjuration (which can be increased).
If somebody wants to have more power (more actors) at lower levels, I can upload versions with more generous numbers. Depends on what the user wants.
Don't worry about the critiques, I made this mod for personal use. Uploading it to nexus is a bonus for troubleshooting / brainstorming.
Although my character is a warrior dabbling in necromancy, so there was no extensive testing.
If I had to gripe about something then it would be compatibility with other mods.
Some magic overhauls adjust the magicka regen in combat and your fake combat regen indirectly reverts this change :p
I felt the magicka drain effect looked stunted, but I am not sure how much if at all.
Can I use both mods or will your mod overwrite those changes, too?
I like the idea of draining magicka to balance what you can dish out.
I've seen something similar in Dragon Age (was ist the first or the second game? ah, whatever) where continuously running buffs and summoned creatures would reduce your maximum mana amount until the magic was dispelled as some kind of upkeep cost.