0 of 0
About this mod
Re-balances Morrowind's ecology, changing animal behaviour, adding new prey animals based in lore, and simulating predator-prey relationships between animals.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
TriangleTooth's Ecology Mod
Version 1.2
(See Readme File for install instructions)
Morrowind's ecology is not very realistic. Most creatures are relentlessly hostile, and there are few examples of realistic creature behaviours in the game. This mod aims to fix that to at least some degree.
FEATURES:
1. Animal AI Tweaks
All animals on Vvardenfell and Solstheim have had their AI edited to make them less aggressive. Unlike many similar mods, my mod does not make them completely passive, but instead makes normal animals only attack if the player gets very close (within a few feet). Diseased variants are more aggressive but still not as aggressive as vanilla. Blighted animals are completely berserk and will attack on sight.
2. Animal Reproduction
Larger animals may now spawn a baby with them. These are smaller, weaker versions of the animal that do not drop any useful items. Unfortunately, babies cannot be scripted to follow their 'parents' in Morrowind, so we have to make do with them just spawning next to them.
3. Predator-Prey Simulation.
Morrowind's AI is very primitive. It is not currently possible to make generic animals hunt and kill one another. This mod will give you the next best thing - sometimes, prey animals will spawn in dead, with a predator next to their corpse! This feature has been carefully balanced - only normal, non-diseased animals can have this happen to them and only those spawned in levelled lists - hand placed guar will not be killed! Also, this will never happen indoors.
Due to this feature and the baby spawning, all vanilla outdoor levelled lists have been edited - original creatures removed and scripted copies added. Levelled list mergers will be needed to preserve this feature, though failure to use one will simply mean this feature will not occur.
4. New Creature - Beetles!
Morrowind's ashlander camps are full of colourful beetle shells that they reference as belonging to creatures they herd. Now, thanks to models from the Tamriel Rebuilt team, these beetles can be found across Vvardenfell. The beetles are passive, because there's enough hostile wildlife already. Beetles are subject to Predator-Prey Simulation. V1.1 adds pheromone sticks to beetle pens to make them look more sensible.
5. Guar herds and beetle pens
The ashlander camps now feature small pens containing the new beetles and some domesticated (passive) shalk, in accordance with vanilla dialogue about them herding the creatures. Guar Herds have also been added to the Grazelands and Ascadian Isles regions.
FISH ADDON
Morrowind's oceans are even worse than the land - every single creature in them is vicious. With this addon, that will no longer be the case. Using models from Cait Sith and the Tamriel Rebuilt team, the seas will now contain may passive fish in addition to the still aggressive slaughterfish and dreugh. Many of these fish spawn in schools, and many are region-specific.
The fish addon is optional as I know some people may prefer a strict lore basis for all creatures added to the game. I have given all fish what I think are reasonable lore-based names.
A patch for Anthology Solstheim, which moves salmon spawn points to the new location of the island, has been added in V1.1.
KNOWN ISSUES AND COMPATIBILITY
This mod will conflict with any mod that alters the same creatures, and compatibility patches will be needed. Further, many features will not work on creatures added through new levelled lists.
A patch for Tamriel Rebuilt has been added, which enables creatures on the mainland to experience the new features. It also adds baby velk spawning and sets the molecrab as a potential prey creature.
A patch for Bloodmoon Rebalanced has been added. This copies BMR's changes to the Bloodmoon wildlife stats to this mod.
A levelled list merger is essential with any mod that modifies the vanilla outdoor levelled lists.
OpenMW is required for the OpenMW version. This version has an extra feature - creatures that spawn with babies will be more aggressive and less likely to flee from combat, to simulate a protective nature. If run with the vanilla engine, the script will cause these animals to become more and more aggressive over time. This is because in the vanilla game, ModFight modifies the base creature, but in OpenMW it only modifies the reference creature. Do not run this version with the vanilla engine.
This mod may have a noticeable impact on performance on weaker PCs or heavily modded installs. This is due to the addition of scripts to most normal creatures.
THANKS AND PERMISSIONS
Models for beetles and some fish were created by the Tamriel Rebuilt team.
Cait's Sea creatures provide the remaining fish models.
To the best of my knowledge, both of these sources are free to use with proper credit. If I am mistaken please contact me and I will discuss alterations or remove them immediately.
Also thanks to mods such as Sabregirl's Ecology mod and Real Wildlife for inspiration.
Piratelord's Creatures for script inspiration.
Version 1.2
(See Readme File for install instructions)
Morrowind's ecology is not very realistic. Most creatures are relentlessly hostile, and there are few examples of realistic creature behaviours in the game. This mod aims to fix that to at least some degree.
FEATURES:
1. Animal AI Tweaks
All animals on Vvardenfell and Solstheim have had their AI edited to make them less aggressive. Unlike many similar mods, my mod does not make them completely passive, but instead makes normal animals only attack if the player gets very close (within a few feet). Diseased variants are more aggressive but still not as aggressive as vanilla. Blighted animals are completely berserk and will attack on sight.
2. Animal Reproduction
Larger animals may now spawn a baby with them. These are smaller, weaker versions of the animal that do not drop any useful items. Unfortunately, babies cannot be scripted to follow their 'parents' in Morrowind, so we have to make do with them just spawning next to them.
3. Predator-Prey Simulation.
Morrowind's AI is very primitive. It is not currently possible to make generic animals hunt and kill one another. This mod will give you the next best thing - sometimes, prey animals will spawn in dead, with a predator next to their corpse! This feature has been carefully balanced - only normal, non-diseased animals can have this happen to them and only those spawned in levelled lists - hand placed guar will not be killed! Also, this will never happen indoors.
Due to this feature and the baby spawning, all vanilla outdoor levelled lists have been edited - original creatures removed and scripted copies added. Levelled list mergers will be needed to preserve this feature, though failure to use one will simply mean this feature will not occur.
4. New Creature - Beetles!
Morrowind's ashlander camps are full of colourful beetle shells that they reference as belonging to creatures they herd. Now, thanks to models from the Tamriel Rebuilt team, these beetles can be found across Vvardenfell. The beetles are passive, because there's enough hostile wildlife already. Beetles are subject to Predator-Prey Simulation. V1.1 adds pheromone sticks to beetle pens to make them look more sensible.
5. Guar herds and beetle pens
The ashlander camps now feature small pens containing the new beetles and some domesticated (passive) shalk, in accordance with vanilla dialogue about them herding the creatures. Guar Herds have also been added to the Grazelands and Ascadian Isles regions.
FISH ADDON
Morrowind's oceans are even worse than the land - every single creature in them is vicious. With this addon, that will no longer be the case. Using models from Cait Sith and the Tamriel Rebuilt team, the seas will now contain may passive fish in addition to the still aggressive slaughterfish and dreugh. Many of these fish spawn in schools, and many are region-specific.
The fish addon is optional as I know some people may prefer a strict lore basis for all creatures added to the game. I have given all fish what I think are reasonable lore-based names.
A patch for Anthology Solstheim, which moves salmon spawn points to the new location of the island, has been added in V1.1.
KNOWN ISSUES AND COMPATIBILITY
This mod will conflict with any mod that alters the same creatures, and compatibility patches will be needed. Further, many features will not work on creatures added through new levelled lists.
A patch for Tamriel Rebuilt has been added, which enables creatures on the mainland to experience the new features. It also adds baby velk spawning and sets the molecrab as a potential prey creature.
A patch for Bloodmoon Rebalanced has been added. This copies BMR's changes to the Bloodmoon wildlife stats to this mod.
A levelled list merger is essential with any mod that modifies the vanilla outdoor levelled lists.
OpenMW is required for the OpenMW version. This version has an extra feature - creatures that spawn with babies will be more aggressive and less likely to flee from combat, to simulate a protective nature. If run with the vanilla engine, the script will cause these animals to become more and more aggressive over time. This is because in the vanilla game, ModFight modifies the base creature, but in OpenMW it only modifies the reference creature. Do not run this version with the vanilla engine.
This mod may have a noticeable impact on performance on weaker PCs or heavily modded installs. This is due to the addition of scripts to most normal creatures.
THANKS AND PERMISSIONS
Models for beetles and some fish were created by the Tamriel Rebuilt team.
Cait's Sea creatures provide the remaining fish models.
To the best of my knowledge, both of these sources are free to use with proper credit. If I am mistaken please contact me and I will discuss alterations or remove them immediately.
Also thanks to mods such as Sabregirl's Ecology mod and Real Wildlife for inspiration.
Piratelord's Creatures for script inspiration.