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> > THE GREAT EQUALIZER - VERSION 2 < <
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Built using a much more sophisticated system than the first version,
TGE will now be much more accurate and precise with the changes
it makes.
It also will do its best to make a smart choice when it comes to
proper progression of weapons.

TGE V2 is based on WAFR and its True Orcish Weapons optional file,
made by Kryptopyr, as well as Proper Crossbow Integration
by Kelsenellenelvian.

Care has been taken to ensure a smooth patching process,
and you should expect patch times of under 20 minutes.
As an example, I patched just over 28,000 records and
had a total patch time of around 15 minutes.

In theory, any and all mod-added weapons, armor, and ammunition
will be patched.

No longer does TGE base all its changes on keywords.
Instead it uses a hybrid system, utilizing both keywords
and the stats on the item TGE is looking at.

Let's take a hypothetical example to explain this further.
Weapon A enters into TGE.
The very first thing that happens is it is analyzed to get all
relevant keywords, such as what it's made of and what kind of
weapon it is.
For this example, TGE detects that Weapon A has two krywords
that denote type, sword and dagger.
In the next step, TGE will determine which type Weapon A is
based on where its stats lie in relation to the templates
that TGE works with.
Weapon A is considered a sword by TGE, and we move on.
Now, Weapon A is analyzed even further.
It will go down one of two paths: the first based on an
existing material, and the second, based on its stats.
The material-based path is simple enough, if Weapon A has
a specific material that exists in the template files,
then Weapon A will be changed to more closely match the
reference. The most important part is that with the exception
of damage, stats are not forced to fit the reference exactly.
Damage is forced because without that, proper progression cannot
be assured.
Path two, the stat-based path, is reserved for items that do
not have a match in the template files. What happens in this
case is Weapon A's stats will be taken into consideration
above almost all other information gathered from the first
analysis. The only keyword that matters here is what type
Weapon A is classed as. This is so that a relevant reference
can be found based on its type.
Furthermore, Weapon A's stats will be brought together into
an averaged value that will then further refine the match
made to the reference file.
This is done for each and every stat Weapon A has.
One of my goals for TGE V2 was to keep some individuality
for each item TGE alters, and this is achieved very well
by this hybrid method.
Moving on, Weapon A has been matched with an iron warhammer
using the material-based deep analysis.
From here, as mentioned briefly, each stat, except critical damage,
runs through the deep analysis process. Critical damage is exempt
because it relies heavily on the damage on the weapon and boils down
to a very simple formula: damage / 2 rounded to the nearest integer.
Once that is finished, Weapon A is checked against its old values,
ensuring that only the changes TGE made are preserved in the patch file.
Weapon A has had its damage, critical damage, and price changed.
TGE then copies Weapon A to the patch file, accesses this newly-added
record, and changes only the copy of Weapon A in the patch file.
This is done to make sure the only file ever edited is the patch file.
All original records remain intact.
From here, TGE will move on to a new weapon, armor, or ammo record
and go through this same process for each item, unless the user has
specifically told TGE not to touch a specific item or file.

> > INSTALLATION AND USAGE < <

Installation is simple, just extract the files to your TES5Edit's
edit scripts directory, as an example, here's mine.
C:\Steam Games\steamapps\common\Skyrim\TES5Edit\Edit Scripts

From here, you should now have access to The Great Equalizer.pas within
TES5Edit.

Usage can also be simple, depending on your needs.
In its simplest form, and for most cases, just run the script
and it will generate a patch for all mods loaded into TES5Edit.
However if you have other requirements, read on.

Open up The Great Equalizer.pas in any text editor (I recommend Notepad++)
Scroll down until you see a section labeled as 'BEGIN USER SETTINGS NOW'
I've done my best to comment every extensively, but will go over everything
in this readme regardless.

The very first toggle is for notifications, defaults to true (enabled.)
If this is your first run of TGE V2, I highly recommend keeping these on.
If, however, you are running it again, you can turn these off for a possible
speed boost. I don't recommend turning it off, as TES5Edit will freeze
for the duration of the patching process, giving no feedback whatsoever
that it's working at all.

The next toggle is for logging, defaults to false (disabled.)
This is very important if you have any sort of issue running TGE, and will
help me help you fix whatever is happening.
I've done my best to catch any problems that may arise and log those errors
to a text file.
However please keep in mind that not every error can be caught with xEdit scripting.
This is simply a limitation of the scripting implementation and cannot
be circumvented.
I recommend leaving this off unless said issues arise as the log files generated can
and most likely will be well over 1Mb in size.
If you ever do need the generated files, they are contained in
the following directories:
TES5Edit\Edit Scripts\The Great Equalizer\Data will contain the main log
(where any error logging will be written)
TES5Edit\Edit Scripts\The Great Equalizer\Data\Additional Logs will contain
logs specific to each record type processed by TGE (weapons, armors, ammo.)

Next up, we have 'excludedFileNames.'
If for any reason you need to keep TGE from touching a specific mod, this is for you.
Specifics on how to use it are as follows, and is a quote from the main file.
"For multiple files, copy the following line as many times as needed
Replace with the mod name you want to exclude
Please note that this has to be exactly as it appears
IE Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Patch.esp
Make sure that the quotation marks and apostrophes remain exactly as they appear (' ')"

Along those same lines, you have 'exclusions.'
This is for specific records you don't want TGE to alter.
The following is an excerpt from the main file on its usage.
"For multiple records, copy the following line as many times as needed
Replace with the record name you want to exclude
Please note that this has to be exactly as it appears, IE CCOR_
Make sure that the apostrophes remain exactly as they appear (' ')"

The next two settings are very important.
TGE comes with two modes of operation: exclusive and inclusive.
"whichMode" will dictate to TGE which mode it should operate on.
If you switch to INCLUSIVE, you must use the next setting,
otherwise inclusive mode simply won't work as intended.
This setting is 'includedFileNames.'
Here is a quote from the main file concerning its usage
"Replace with the mod name you want to include
Please note that this has to be exactly as it appears
IE Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Patch.esp
Make sure that the quotation marks and apostrophes remain exactly as they appear (' ')
PLEASE NOTE: If the file you want to include has spaces, you need to encase it in quotation marks
Your new line would look like this: includedFileNames.Add('""');"

As of V2.5, users now have access to another toggle, willBeMerged.
Its usage is straightforward, but must be run in exclusion mode.
When set to true, it will tell TGE to patch in vanilla records.
This is to be used only in conjunction with the optional patchers and
their inclusion mode, configured in their scripts
to run only on TGE's patch file.
If you will not be running the optional patchers, or wish to have
separate patch files, please leave willBeMerged set to false.

Those are the only configurable settings available to users at this time.
I've done my best to cover most use cases, but some may simply be outside
the scope of TGE.

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> > IMMERSIVE WEAPON REACHES PATCHER - VERSION 1 < <
----------------------------------------------------

Included as an optional file, Immersive Weapon Reaches Patcher is
based on Kelsenellenelvian's Immersive Weapon Reaches mod,
who asked me to make a patcher based on this mod.

Please refer to the following page for full details.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/86020/?
Do note that my patcher will affect ALL mods, and as such,
covers far more bases than Kelsenellenelvian's original mod.

> > INSTALLATION AND USAGE < <

Installation is simple, just extract the files to your TES5Edit's
edit scripts directory, as an example, here's mine.
C:\Steam Games\steamapps\common\Skyrim\TES5Edit\Edit Scripts

From here, you should now have access to Immersive Weapon Reaches.pas within
TES5Edit.

Usage is straight-forward for most use-cases: simply run the script
and a patch will be made.
Like TGE, though, IWR comes with modes and the ability to enable logging.

Logging is the simplest to go over.
'enableLogging' set to true (enabled) will generate a log file in the following
directory:
TES5Edit\Edit Scripts\logs\Immersive Weapon Reaches
There are no notifications while the script is running.
It will tell you when it starts, and when it finishes, so please be patient
while it works.
Like TGE, there is error handling, so most errors should be logged to the file.
By default, it is disabled, but can be enabled if you need it.

Now, for the modes.
I'll simply take a snippet from the TGE portion of this readme to explain this.
"The next two settings are very important.
TGE comes with two modes of operation: exclusive and inclusive.
"whichMode" will dictate to TGE which mode it should operate on.
If you switch to INCLUSIVE, you must use the next setting,
otherwise inclusive mode simply won't work as intended.
This setting is 'includedFileNames.'
Here is a quote from the main file concerning its usage
Replace with the mod name you want to include
Please note that this has to be exactly as it appears
IE Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Patch.esp
Make sure that the quotation marks and apostrophes remain exactly as they appear (' ')
PLEASE NOTE: If the file you want to include has spaces, you need to encase it in quotation marks
Your new line would look like this: includedFileNames.Add('""');"

----------------------------------------------------
> > CHANGE RNAM TO DEFAULT PATCHER - VERSION 1 < <
----------------------------------------------------

Included as an optional file, Change RNAM To Default Patcher will change the race
entry for all worn items to be Default Race. It was made by request from Kelsenellenelvian.

> > INSTALLATION AND USAGE < <

Installation is simple, just extract the files to your TES5Edit's
edit scripts directory, as an example, here's mine.
C:\Steam Games\steamapps\common\Skyrim\TES5Edit\Edit Scripts

From here, you should now have access to Change RNAM To Default.pas within
TES5Edit.

Usage is straight-forward for most use-cases: simply run the script
and a patch will be made.
Like TGE, though, CRTD comes with modes and the ability to enable logging.

Logging is the simplest to go over.
'enableLogging' set to true (enabled) will generate a log file in the following
directory:
TES5Edit\Edit Scripts\logs\Change RNAM To Default
There are no notifications while the script is running.
It will tell you when it starts, and when it finishes, so please be patient
while it works.
Like TGE, there is error handling, so most errors should be logged to the file.
By default, it is disabled, but can be enabled if you need it.

Now, for the modes.
I'll simply take a snippet from the TGE portion of this readme to explain this.
"The next two settings are very important.
TGE comes with two modes of operation: exclusive and inclusive.
"whichMode" will dictate to TGE which mode it should operate on.
If you switch to INCLUSIVE, you must use the next setting,
otherwise inclusive mode simply won't work as intended.
This setting is 'includedFileNames.'
Here is a quote from the main file concerning its usage
Replace with the mod name you want to include
Please note that this has to be exactly as it appears
IE Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Patch.esp
Make sure that the quotation marks and apostrophes remain exactly as they appear (' ')
PLEASE NOTE: If the file you want to include has spaces, you need to encase it in quotation marks
Your new line would look like this: includedFileNames.Add('""');"

----------------------------------------------------
> > ALTER WEAPON SPEEDS PATCHER - VERSION 1 < <
----------------------------------------------------

Included as an optional file, Alter Weapon Speeds Patcher will adjust all weapon speeds
to match the vanilla records. Made by request from Kelsenellenelvian.

> > INSTALLATION AND USAGE < <

Installation is simple, just extract the files to your TES5Edit's
edit scripts directory, as an example, here's mine.
C:\Steam Games\steamapps\common\Skyrim\TES5Edit\Edit Scripts

From here, you should now have access to Alter Weapon Speeds.pas within
TES5Edit.

Usage is straight-forward for most use-cases: simply run the script
and a patch will be made.
Like TGE, though, AWS comes with modes and the ability to enable logging.

Logging is the simplest to go over.
'enableLogging' set to true (enabled) will generate a log file in the following
directory:
TES5Edit\Edit Scripts\logs\Alter Weapon Speeds
There are no notifications while the script is running.
It will tell you when it starts, and when it finishes, so please be patient
while it works.
Like TGE, there is error handling, so most errors should be logged to the file.
By default, it is disabled, but can be enabled if you need it.

Now, for the modes.
I'll simply take a snippet from the TGE portion of this readme to explain this.
"The next two settings are very important.
TGE comes with two modes of operation: exclusive and inclusive.
"whichMode" will dictate to TGE which mode it should operate on.
If you switch to INCLUSIVE, you must use the next setting,
otherwise inclusive mode simply won't work as intended.
This setting is 'includedFileNames.'
Here is a quote from the main file concerning its usage
Replace with the mod name you want to include
Please note that this has to be exactly as it appears
IE Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Patch.esp
Make sure that the quotation marks and apostrophes remain exactly as they appear (' ')
PLEASE NOTE: If the file you want to include has spaces, you need to encase it in quotation marks
Your new line would look like this: includedFileNames.Add('""');"

Lastly, this patcher contains a toggle for bows.
'shouldChangeBows' will dictate if bows are mass-changed, or if they will
remain unchanged.
By default, it is set to true (enabled,) but can be set to false (disabled) if
you want more variety in your bow speeds.

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> > CLOSING THOUGHTS < <
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V2 will most likely be the last version of The Great Equalizer.
I've never been able to keep a project active for indefinite periods of time.
It just takes way too much out of me.

Consider the following a permission line.
So long as you credit me as the original author of TGE, you are allowed to bugfix, modify,
and base other mods/patchers off of TGE. This applies to the optional patchers as well.
This means that if you have a mod that you would like to make and want to even out its records,
you can apply any of the included patchers on the TGE page to your mod and provide that ESP
as-is without redirecting others to TGE's page and having them run TGE, or its optional patchers,
on your mod.
Do not, for any reason, sell any part of TGE, or the optional patchers, in any way,
directly (for example through any paid mod scheme) or indirectly (through things such as Adfly.)

Once again, if you do anything with TGE or the optional patchers, please just give credit
where it is due.




In closing, I do hope TGE and the optional patchers serve you well, and maybe make your game
just a bit more enjoyable.

It's been a pleasure, take care!
-MatthiosArcanus