Ethereal Elven Overhaul Post-USLeEP Patch
v1.0
by Darklocq (based on prior work by nuska and thordir and Sakr3d and trilioth)
2021-05-29

This is a patch-of-a-patch to bring "Ethereal Elven Overhaul" (EEO) into full
modernity, by preserving full compatibility with "Unofficial Skyrim Legendary
Edition Patch" (USLeEP or USLEP), plus applying some later-discovered fixes
like "Aringoth Race Fix" and "Vampire No Dirt Tintmasks", and two error
corrections for the original EEO USLeEP patch, and some typos USLeEP missed.

This comes as either an add-on patch, or a replacement for the plugin
ethereal_elven_overhaul.esp

Users of a STEP Guide build of Skyrim LE, or anyone else who is using "AI
Overhaul", should not use this version but should instead get "Ethereal Elven
Overhaul and AI Overhaul Patch for USLEP and STEP":
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/108006/


In Detail
=========

* Fixes an incorrect texture path in "Ethereal Elven Overhaul - USLEEP Update",
and a USLeEP fix that patch missed.
* Applies the "Vampire No Dirt Tintmasks" / "Clean Your Vampire" fix (no more
plastic-looking elven vamp faces).
* Applies Aringoth appearance tweaks from "Aringoth Race Fix" and "Aringoth
Race - Sleep - Invisibility Potion Combo Patch" (Aringoth is supposed to be
a Wood not High Elf, and USLeEP fixed the race record but not his actual
appearance). The approach taken here is a mix of EEO and prior Aringoth
tweaks (because EEO also treated him as Altmer).
* Fixes some race description typos that USLeEP missed.
* Generally defers to "Ethereal Elven Overhaul - USLEEP Update" when it and
USLeEP and/or EEO don't agree on something, since the point of that patch
was normalizing them with each other.
* Applies the female walk fix to Jenassa (if you really want your female
hirelings using an unnatural male gait, you can hack that back in yourself).

It keeps fixes implemented by "Ethereal Elven Overhaul - USLEEP Update", namely:

* Restores "vampire appearance reform" changes made for Dawnguard, after EEO
was written.
* Applies pre-USLeEP Update.esm fixes that also post-date EEO.
* Applies USLeEP changes rather than old USkP ones where those differ.
* Repairs completely mistaken changes that EEO made to names of body slots.
Probably had no in-game effect, but it was very confusing in TES5Edit.

Issues:
* No known issues.
* A potential one is that Aringoth's head may need to be re-exported in the CK
and added to the mod as character assets.


Requirements
============

This requires (in order of installation):

1. All three DLCs: Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn, plus Update.esm and
a current version of the game (v1.9.36.0, or later, if a later version ever
comes, which is unlikely). USLeEP requires all of these.

2. "Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch" (USLeEP, USLEP)
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/71214

3. The original "Ethereal Elven Overhaul" mod:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24273
My patch is compatible with EEO options like "High-Res Texture Pack" and
"NPC Face Tint Files" (but do not install "Freckled Face Texture for UNP"
unless you want all females of all races to have low-res freckles!)

4. The Dawnguard- and Dragonborn-patched version with its additional resources:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/46067?tab=files
(get the main file there and let it overwrite ethereal_elven_overhaul.esp).
My patch is compatible with the "Jenassa and Irileth Original Warpaint"
option there (recommended, or some dialogue will not make sense). In Mod
Organizer 2, have it all merge directly into "Ethereal Elven Overhaul", not
replace it, nor install as a separate "mod" for MO2 purposes.

5. "Ethereal Elven Overhaul - USLEEP Update":
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/73909
Let it overwrite ethereal_elven_overhaul.esp again if it wants to. In MO2,
the FOMOD will install this as a new "mod" by itself and not merge it.

6. This patch goes last, among these mods, in installation order and mod load
order. Let it overwrite ethereal_elven_overhaul.esp if you're asked, in a
manual install. In MO2, install to a new "mod" in left pane; do not merge
into EEO (or the USLeEP patch above will just override it).


Compatibility Limitations of EEO
================================

* This patch does not account for "AI Overhaul". If you are using that mod, by
itself or as part of a STEP Guide build of Skyrim:
https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/SkyrimLE:3.0.0
then you should get "Ethereal Elven Overhaul and AI Overhaul Patch for USLEP
and STEP" instead of (not in addition to) this patch:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/108006/

* All three DLCs are required, even the elf-free Hearthfires, because USLeEP
is a hard dependency, and it requires all of them.

* If you already have the EEO patch for the "Unofficial Skyrim Patch" (USkP),
it must be removed (along with USkP itself); this patch is for USLeEP only.

* EEO and these patches for it are not fully compatible with game-wide NPC
overhaul mods ("beautifiers", etc.), at least inasmuch as they affect
Dark, High, and Wood Elves. Some have specific patches for them already.
Look at that specific mod's file's page, and in Skyrim Nexus search results
for "Ethereal Elven" and for "EEO". Look also at the "Ethereal Eleven
Overhaul Patches" page:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/46067?tab=files
It has patches for "Immersive Patrols", "Interesting NPCs", "Falskaar",
"Inconsequential NPCs", "Populated Cities, Towns and Villages", "Populated
Lands, Roads and Paths", "Ravenrock Expanded", and "Wyrmstooth", plus
"Organized Bandits in Skyrim" and "Immersive Weapons" (found inside the
"Trilioth's Plugin Pack" option; don't use the other files in it, which are
obsolete). It is unlikely that all of these patches are perfectly compatible
with EEO as patched so far by the above process, without further, well,
patching. Any that touch any of the same NPC or race records will be a
conflict, so conflicts between each other are likely. The original EEO mod's
Files page has a patch for "Requiem", and there are at least two more, so
probably use which ever is newer if you need one.

* Specific-NPC mods that change a particular elf character will have to come
after EEO and this patch, unless they already have their own EEO patch.
If they have no such patch, then they will undo the "Ethereal-ization" of the
character. If you try to load them before EEO they'll simply not be changed
the way that character mod intended to change them.

* There are numerous tweaking and bug-fixing mods that also change an NPC here
and there ("Cutting Room Floor", etc.); without a mod-specific patch, those
that affect any elves will not be entirely compatible with EEO, and should be
loaded after it. Just be resigned to a few vanilla-looking elves.

* If used with "Vampire No Dirt Tintmasks USLeEP (USLEP) Patch - No More
Plastic-looking Vampire Faces"
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/97249
use the EEO version of that mod. The relevant changes THAT mod makes
to elven vampires are included in this patch, but THIS patch doesn't address
non-elven vampires, so you need both.

* If used with "Aringoth Race - Sleep - Invisibility Potion Combo Patch", get
the new EEO version of that:
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/92986
EEO and this patch cannot be used with the separate Aringoth patches that
were combined to make the above mod; they'll either undo EEO's changes to
the character, or get undone by EEO.

* EEO users of any mod that "normalizes" vampire faces to look more like
everyday NPCs should install that mod, then EEO and its main patches as
described above, then "Ethereal Elven Overhaul - Dawnguard Vampire Fix"
(which is not really a fix but a subjective preference):
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/69079
This just edits elven vampire headpart records, and doesn't conflict with
the other EEO patches above.

* The old "Ethereal Elven Overhaul Feminine Females Patch" patch provided by
the FF mod is not needed; what it does is already done by this EEO
post-USLeEP Patch (which should load after FF). If "Ethereal Elven Overhaul
FF Patch.esp" is in your load order, remove it.


Installation
============

When you understand all these limitations, then install this like any other
mod, and place it properly in your load order. As of this writing, LOOT is
not aware of the stand-alone version, so you may have to manually tweak its
position in your load order to comply with the above compatibility needs.

You have two options:

* Replacement ESP: RECOMMENDED. A new merged ethereal_elven_overhaul.esp to
overwrite the old one yet again. In MO2, because EEO's USLeEP Patch FOMOD
installs as a new "mod" in MO2's left pane, do not tell MO2 to merge this
new post-USLeEP version into EEO. That will just result in an updated EEO
that gets replaced by the stand-alone USLeEP patch anyway. Instead, install
this new post-USLeEP patch as its own "mod" in MO2, after both EEO and its
USLeEP patch.

* Stand-alone patch: A new ESP to add, which will consume a mod slot if
not merged. Recommended only for testing (it's easy to disable to revert
back to the USLeEP patch version of EEO).

EEO SHOULD BE USED IN A NEW GAME. Otherwise you're going to have to use the
Construction Kit to re-export the head of every single elf who has already
been loaded into the game, to not get the "grey face" bug. Google for how to
do that, if you're a stubborn glutton for punishment.


Permissions and Credits
=======================

I impose no restrictions of any kind on this patch. EEO is by nuska, who
released it without modification or asset-use restrictions. Separate patches
for USkP and for DG and DB were created in 2013-2014 by thordir, without
restriction and with the specific intent that they be improved further. Sakr3d
created the first USLeEP patch for EEO, based on thordir's separate ones.
Trilioth had also produced a set of separate ones; I don't know if any of
Sakr3d's combination work drew upon them. All these authors receive an equal
share of the Mod Reward Points this new patch will earn.

The three images used for the Nexus page are from the original mods' pages.