:) hey thanks, firstly I'm glad you like the mods!! as to your question: I've thought in the past about making xVASynth patches or allowing other people to make them, however I would prefer that you didn't do so - or at least, if you did, then to keep them for personal usage instead of posting them publicly! my feelings on voice AIs have grown over the past few years in that even though nobody would be profiting off them in this case, I now know a lot of voice actors would prefer their voices not be used for AI - so even though I'm not profiting off their voices I would still feel bad about it knowing that the actors would prefer that it not exist, you know what I mean? moreover, I edit lines of dialogue a LOT, so there'd be a lot of generating and re-generating to do anyway haha!
BUT all that being said, someone asked that I make a version of some of my mods without any new dialogue added at all (the ones where this is feasible, such as this one) to prevent this from being an issue, and I do intend to create these dialogue-less versions some day! I just haven't gotten around to it, lol
My biggest concern is the use of Redguard and Nord/Orc females, and how they lack ANY dialogue for the shivering isles, so you'll hear a voiced convo just go silent. A bit immersion breaking. I thought of an alternate solution, simply changing these npcs to different races lmao.
that is definitely one way to do it lol! I didn't want to avoid them altogether because I feel like it would've gotten a bit conspicuous after a while! :') but heck that's the great part about modding, is that worse comes to worse, anyone can just open the mod up in the CS and change the NPCs for their own game!
I was actually planning on creating a female Nord, Orc, and Redguard version of my other mod about adding generic Dremora lines to the Shivering Isles - there'd still be silence when it comes to the NPCs having SI-specific conversations and exchanging rumors and all that, but you'd still have greetings and generic "Indeed, I believe so" replies and the like! I haven't done so because it is admittedly a bit tedious, lol
I appreciate these SI mods that add npcs, but you might want to consider upping their stats considerably. I was going through in the CS upgrading every one of these npcs from all the mods, and I noticed the majority of them have extremely low levels, no or little equipment, and are not essential or even respawning. Many have extremely low or 0 confidence & aggression, meaning they'll run screaming from every fight, fight barehanded on the rare occasions they're not fleeing, die from one or two hits, and stay dead forever. Cast a mass frenzy spell and these towns are very quickly filled with dead npcs from these mods, who will never respawn.
There's not much point putting such lame, weak npcs who can't defend themselves in the game, just as eye candy basically, when battles are such a huge part of the game. Everything else is great about these mods, but when they center around npcs like these do, more attention should be paid to them. 70-100 confidence & aggression is standard to avoid the constant fleeing; leveled armor & weapon lists in inventories to avoid the barehanded fighting; levels of 20 and up, etc.
funnily enough, the things like low confidence & aggression were actually intentional for many of them, since someone reported the exact opposite problem you were having - they were using one of the overhauls that increases enemy stats and the mod-added NPCs kept getting absolutely annihilated because they tried to fight back, lol! The reason I solved the problem this way (by making them more likely to run away) instead of that way (by giving them strong weapons and armor) is because I also don't want to make things very overpowered and unbalanced, which I assume is also why the regular vanilla NPCs don't have weapons and armor either. If everyone had proper weapons/armor, even if they weren't levelled or anything, it would still make it really easy for the player to get their hands on really good loot by doing something like you describe haha, by frenzying everyone in town and leading them to guards, sneaking poison apples, or pickpocketing them!
still, I remember you've asked about this before and I'm sure you're not the only one who feels this way haha, people do love making large scale town-wide wars haha! so I think I will someday make something, if not an update then at least an alternate .esp file for some of my mods where the NPCs have had their stats/equipment buffed! :) that being said, I don't know exactly when that will be haha, balancing things like stats and weapons is not my strong suit!
This is a great mod that adds two new outside districts to New Sheoth. I feel the narrow alleys and quaint shops are so well designed, that they feel like natural extensions of the Bliss and Crucible districts, as if they were designed by Bethesda itself, and add a lot of flair to the mania and dementia atmospheres where previously the outer walls of New Sheoth looked bland and vacant. My only issue with this otherwise perfect mod, is that some of the new NPCs, despite having generic dialogue, are mute. You could expect mute NPCs if they have custom dialogue (which others added in this mod like the shopkeepers have) but sadly even the generic ones are occasionally mute, occasionally have voiced rumors. To make things weirder, the shopkeeper NPCs with the custom greeting have voiced generic rumors, while the generic NPCs that do greet you have muted rumors. This makes for some very awkward conversations when two NPCs meet, as one will deliver silent lines and the other will respond to them as if they had heard it. Fix this, and the mod will be perfect.
:) wow, thank you very much for the nice words!! I'm very happy that you like the design of the locations, that means a lot! As to the problem with some NPCs being unvoiced, yeah it bothers me too, but unfortunately I'm not sure there's anything I can do to fix it - some combinations of races/genders never had the generic Shivering Isles dialogue recorded by Bethesda because there weren't any of them actually present in the DLC when it was released! So far, the certain combinations I've noticed that have this problem are female Nords, female Orcs, and female Redguards. There is an OBSE plugin that somewhat fixes this voice problem - it's called "Voice File Redirector" and it uses OBSE to play a different race's voice line if one is missing. But of course, that might still make for an awkward time since the NPC will be switching voice types mid-conversation, lol! Hopefully someday those xVASynth programs will become easier to understand and use, that way this problem can be legitimately fixed! But until then, the only solutions are to either use what I mentioned or manually change the race/gender of the NPCs in question :')
huh, I had no idea that Integration: Stranded Light had such a big Shivering Isles aspect to it! thank you for the bringing this to my attention! I'm not sure if they are compatible as I've never used it myself, but I can tell you that SINSO only edits the areas directly outside of New Sheoth's two gates, so it depends on whether or not Integration makes a lot of edits there! if it leaves the road out of Crucible to the Graveyard largely alone and the pond/beach outside of Bliss largely alone, then it should be fine :)
Thank you so much for responding so swiftly, yeah, it places a gallery outside the gates of Bliss, I'm gonna test it now and get back to you, in case anyone else has this question in future.
hey, no problem! :) yeah, if you could let me know the extent to which it does or does not conflict, that would be great! if it's not too big of a conflict (as in, it's just buildings intersecting with each other weirdly, as opposed to huge landscape tears or something), I could try and make a compatible version of SINSO myself, or at least write up some instructions on how someone can fix the conflict themselves!
Tested it, unfortunately, does conflict. No horrendous land seams, it's just placed on top of three of the properties from your mod, the fisherman's hut, Decorous Regalia, and the house next to it.
thanks for checking that out! :) ah, that's a shame - I was somewhat hoping it would be a situation where only one building needed to be relocated, but it's a bit difficult to relocate 3 of them + whatever landscaping and pathgrids are there. I think I will try to get in contact with the creator of Integration: Stranded Light sometime soon and see if it's possible to fix the compatibility issue - thanks again for bringing this to my attention!
I started a new game just to make sure the merged mods get a clean start. Went through the initial SI quest, no problem. Explored all around SI - certainly not everywhere but many diff places - everything looks wonderful. Only minor issue was a few npcs walking into buildings/rocks/other obstructions in Whispersins; who knows if this is a pathgrid issue in the mod, or the result of it being merged with the other mods. Not a problem enough to worry about. So I would say to anyone who wants to merge all the mods, it appears safe to me, although the homeowner quests haven't been tested yet and I doubt I'll get around to ever checking those. Also I'm NOT using OOO SI, which could throw some problems into the mix since it's a sprawling mod; I'm not sure.
wonderful news! Thank you for leaving this comment, I'm glad to hear it :) Good idea to start it from the very beginning as well, that's not something I've done yet so it's great to hear it all works so far. About the NPCs in Whispersins - was this happening outside (as in, the SEWorld worldspace) or inside the caverns? If it's the former then it might be a problem with USIP or something, I did have to edit quite a few pathgrids around the area and didn't thoroughly compare it to USIP because I didn't anticipate needing to - and if it's the latter then I suppose I'm not surprised unfortunately haha, the NPCs have some problems navigating some of the narrower parts of the caverns for reasons I don't fully understand! I've had an update for Whispersins in the works for quite a while now, so I'll be sure to give the pathgrids another pass before I release it.
Just a guard & a couple npcs; I frenzied them and while in combat they had some problems navigating around the town. Guard mindlessly shooting arrows into a house, npcs running into obstructions without having the brains to go around. That kind of thing, same as I saw in Crucible the other day (but not this time; probably depends on what time of day or night and who is out & about); probably unavoidable when mods collide due to pathgridding. I didn't go inside any interiors or caverns yet. Any updates you post are fine by me, since I'm not editing anything in the merged plugin. It's easy to delete the esp and merge them from scratch again with any updated versions. Takes only a few minutes.
yeah there is a certain point where there's not much that can be done when it comes to pathgrids and combat unfortunately, I'll still look over the pathgrids a couple more times! heck, I'll probably try the same frenzy spell method you used haha, that way I'll see if I can replicate that issue!
I merged all 6 of your SI mods into one esp. Somewhat risky, but not as much so with these since you're not using any additional resources other than vanilla, with no esm or other master dependencies. Main thing that sometimes happens with merges is the npcs' AI & pathgridding gets messed up, and sometimes landscaping/structures too. I had a quick superficial look around SI and see no problems. I saw 2 npcs (so far) walking into walls, and I'm sure there's probably more once I look around more, but this might be something in the original mods and not a result of the merge, I dunno. If that's the only problem, it's a small price to pay for saving 5 load order slots. Usually if merging mods isn't gonna work, you'll see a ton of problems all over the place, but not so with these mods. Everything looks great no matter where I go. If there are quests, I haven't tried them yet, so that's an unknown, particularly with your house owning mod. Merging can occasionally mess up quests but not very often.
So if a user wants to merge all 6 SI plugins into one merged esp, they can try that, but they should probably wait until or if I report back in a few days on any potential problems I might encounter.
PS: I like that you've given many of the npcs clothing, weapons, armor, etc, but I started a few fights with frenzy between npcs and noticed some of them had no armor or weapons. Fighting barehanded and armorless, they went down in 2 seconds, so it seems possibly they have very low levels as well. If you keep updating these mods, maybe you could make the npcs a little more formidable, or at least address the ones missing weapons & armor. Hopefully all these npcs respawn, right?
:) I'm really glad to hear this actually, I've thought about combining all (or at least several) of my mods into one large file for precisely that reason! I'm not surprised to hear there's some pathgrid problems, the AI can be a bit finicky at times and indeed I've occasionally noticed pathfinding problems in the original mods too - I fix them when I can, but sometimes bugs still slip through since actually seeing pathfinding bugs depends on one of the NPCs just coincidentally happening to walk there, lol! Yeah, if there's any problem with quests and such, it'd for sure be most noticeable with the New Homeowners mod since that's what the entire mod is built around - the only other mod I've made that has quests in it is the town mod called Whispersins, but you'd at least still have the town itself to run around. Whereas if a quest was broken in New Homeowners, that's just the entire mod busted, lol!
you know, I thought they were set to respawn too, but the ones added by New Sheoth Outskirts actually aren't! It might be the Cities Expanded mod that has respawning NPCs, I know at least one of them does! I'll probably change them to respawn in a future update, since they are at risk being outside the walls and all. Interesting that some of them were fighting barehanded - most of the NPCs should have a basic non-levelled weapon! I'll double check them all again, though. As for the armor, yeah I always forget to add some haha, I'll likely give some NPCs armor in the future!
You really did a fantastic job on all these SI mods. It's amazing, actually, the amount of detail that went into it, and it pays off in-game. These are must have mods, since SI was so bare before. I'll be going through the merged SI mods more thoroughly in the coming week or so and I'll let you know if I see anything amiss as I play through. I have my doubts that all 6 can be merged into 1 without some major problem somewhere, but we'll see. Thanks for your hard work to make other gamers happy.
:))) wow, that's very nice of you to say!! It can be hard to judge if a mod is too detailed or too sparse sometimes, since you get to used to seeing your own work that you can't really look at it with new eyes, you know? so it's incredible to think that anything I made could be considered a must-have - I'm very happy that I can give back to the TES4 community in some way! If you do find any issues with the merged version, please do let me know! I'm not sure how much I could do to fix them if I ever did merge the mods myself, but it would be good to know what to look for in case, like you said, anyone else wants to merge them! :) I'll sticky this post to this comment page, that way anyone who ends up on this mod page can see!
Very nice little mod! I like how it fits easily in the Isles and general ambience of Mania and Dementia. Definetly a must addition to any mod load order!
I haven't experienced any bugs so far, so these are good news.
I don't know if you still update your mod, but here might be some nice additions : - Custom signs for the new shops - Letters, books, named items and hints about the new citizens life, interactions and madness
:) wow, thank you for the very nice comment, I'm so glad you like it!! I'm also glad to hear you haven't experienced any bugs, I've always found bug testing to be a bit difficult so I'm always mildly worried one will sneak by me and end up in a release!
I like your ideas for additions too - I've been learning how to retexture things lately, so now I might be able to actually create custom signs! I like the idea about adding in things like letters and books to characterize the new citizens as well, it's a fun way to get around having to create a million lines of silent dialogue lol! I originally didn't have any future updates planned, but heck, now I just might :)
wow, how weird! yes, that is definitely not supposed to look like that. I think that is a mod conflict - I remember specifically editing the land there to make that door to Baszone's Tavern easier to access, so the fact that it's become a hill in your game is what makes me think something else has changed that land. do you have any other mods that edit that area? I didn't think there were any mods that had content around the exterior of Crucible other than the Open Cities mod, so I'm very interested in this :o
OK, if it's normal in your version then I guess it's something on my end. Nvm, I don't mind leaving it as is as there is still the upper entrance to the tavern.
fair enough! yeah, I just checked again in my game and the hill isn't there, just the door - if you do happen to figure out which other mods edit the landscape there, let me know! :)
:) I am very happy to read that, thank you so much!! I agree wholeheartedly, the Shivering Isles is very underutilized in mods compared to Cyrodiil itself, despite being equally as fun - hopefully someday the Isles will get as much attention as it deserves, haha!
![[1.2] From the Bliss Walkway](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51232/51232-1627869608-641273541.png "[1.2] From the Bliss Walkway")
![[1.2] Bliss Cliffside](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51232/51232-1627869664-2127420741.png "[1.2] Bliss Cliffside")
![[1.2] Entering the Outskirts](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51232/51232-1627869749-1235090957.png "[1.2] Entering the Outskirts")
![[1.2] Crucible Baliwog Herd](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51232/51232-1627869789-253776392.png "[1.2] Crucible Baliwog Herd")
![[1.2] Overhead View of the Pond](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51232/51232-1627869863-74895783.png "[1.2] Overhead View of the Pond")
![[1.3] Crucible Greenery](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51232/51232-1642221650-1713229194.png "[1.3] Crucible Greenery")
![[1.3] Bliss Greenery](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51232/51232-1642221717-1527489630.png "[1.3] Bliss Greenery")
![[1.4] New Signs](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51232/51232-1661265016-1424851032.png "[1.4] New Signs")
![[1.4] New Signs](https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/101/images/thumbnails/51232/51232-1661265044-448420643.png "[1.4] New Signs")
74 comments
BUT all that being said, someone asked that I make a version of some of my mods without any new dialogue added at all (the ones where this is feasible, such as this one) to prevent this from being an issue, and I do intend to create these dialogue-less versions some day! I just haven't gotten around to it, lol
I was actually planning on creating a female Nord, Orc, and Redguard version of my other mod about adding generic Dremora lines to the Shivering Isles - there'd still be silence when it comes to the NPCs having SI-specific conversations and exchanging rumors and all that, but you'd still have greetings and generic "Indeed, I believe so" replies and the like! I haven't done so because it is admittedly a bit tedious, lol
There's not much point putting such lame, weak npcs who can't defend themselves in the game, just as eye candy basically, when battles are such a huge part of the game. Everything else is great about these mods, but when they center around npcs like these do, more attention should be paid to them. 70-100 confidence & aggression is standard to avoid the constant fleeing; leveled armor & weapon lists in inventories to avoid the barehanded fighting; levels of 20 and up, etc.
still, I remember you've asked about this before and I'm sure you're not the only one who feels this way haha, people do love making large scale town-wide wars haha! so I think I will someday make something, if not an update then at least an alternate .esp file for some of my mods where the NPCs have had their stats/equipment buffed! :) that being said, I don't know exactly when that will be haha, balancing things like stats and weapons is not my strong suit!
So if a user wants to merge all 6 SI plugins into one merged esp, they can try that, but they should probably wait until or if I report back in a few days on any potential problems I might encounter.
PS: I like that you've given many of the npcs clothing, weapons, armor, etc, but I started a few fights with frenzy between npcs and noticed some of them had no armor or weapons. Fighting barehanded and armorless, they went down in 2 seconds, so it seems possibly they have very low levels as well. If you keep updating these mods, maybe you could make the npcs a little more formidable, or at least address the ones missing weapons & armor. Hopefully all these npcs respawn, right?
you know, I thought they were set to respawn too, but the ones added by New Sheoth Outskirts actually aren't! It might be the Cities Expanded mod that has respawning NPCs, I know at least one of them does! I'll probably change them to respawn in a future update, since they are at risk being outside the walls and all. Interesting that some of them were fighting barehanded - most of the NPCs should have a basic non-levelled weapon! I'll double check them all again, though. As for the armor, yeah I always forget to add some haha, I'll likely give some NPCs armor in the future!
I haven't experienced any bugs so far, so these are good news.
I don't know if you still update your mod, but here might be some nice additions :
- Custom signs for the new shops
- Letters, books, named items and hints about the new citizens life, interactions and madness
I really like it "as is" in any case!
I like your ideas for additions too - I've been learning how to retexture things lately, so now I might be able to actually create custom signs! I like the idea about adding in things like letters and books to characterize the new citizens as well, it's a fun way to get around having to create a million lines of silent dialogue lol! I originally didn't have any future updates planned, but heck, now I just might :)
https://i.imgur.com/9Dyzwar.png
(quick edit for clarity)