Sneak Tools mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Download Link:
Forum Thread: http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1365057-wipz-sneak-tools/

Version 0.1 BETA
26 June 2012
Borgut1337

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Requirements
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- A working version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (latest official patch)

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Recommended
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- Sneak Tweak by deadfables, for more realistic detection and AI:
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/16449
- Also, check out my other 2 mods for improved combat gameplay, Deadly Combat
and Dual Wield parrying:
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/5485
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/9247

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Mod Description
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This mod aims to improve stealth gameplay by adding new tools and gameplay options
to give the player more control and more things to do when sneaking, instead of
only being able to slowly walk around and hope noone detects you.

It is important to notice that first of all this mod is about ADDING new options,
NOT about tweaking the already existing gameplay, although I might get to that later
too when I feel like I have all the basic options I want to have in my gameplay.

Not everything that I have planned so far is in this first beta release. Currently
available features are:

THROAT SLITTING WITH DAGGERS
Whenever you:
- are sneaking and
- have a dagger drawn and
- activate an NPC you are standing behind

you will be given an option whether you would like to pickpocket (as is the default
activation in vanilla Skyrim) or slit the NPC's throat. The second option will result
in a guarantueed kill and an animation of you slitting the NPC's throat.

KNOCKING UNCONSCIOUS WITH FISTS
Whenever you:
- are sneaking and
- have your fists raised (so no weapon equipped) and
- activate an NPC you are standing behind or an NPC that is sleeping

you will be given an option whether you would like to pickpocket (as is the default
activation in vanilla Skyrim) or knock the NPC unconscious. The second option will result
in the player swinging his fist, and if this attack hits the NPC, he will drop down unconscious.
If anyone that cares about crimes against the victim witnesses this act, it will be treated as
an assault.
The unconscious body can not be dragged around like dead bodies can in vanilla skyrim, but it
can be pushed around by activating the body whenever you are not sneaking. If you activate the
body whilst sneaking you will be able to access the victim's inventory.
Whenever someone did not witness the crime directly, but does see the unconscious body later,
he will enter an ''alert'' state. While in this state, if they see you touching the victim
(either trying to move the body or accessing the inventory), it will also be treated as an assault.
If they get near you while in this alerted state and you walk around with your fists or weapons
raised, they will also realise that you are the criminal and report you for assaulting.
Lastly, if you are currently trespassing and they have seen the unconscious body and now see you
they will also report you for assault (probably in addition to trespassing).
After 10 minutes of real time, an unconscious person will wake up again.

KILLING SLEEPING TARGETS
Whenever you:
- have any kind of melee weapon drawn (fists do not count) and
- activate an NPC that is sleeping

you will be given an option whether you would like to perform the default action (which is
either talking or pickpocketing, depending on whether you are sneaking or not) or whether
you want to kill the target. If you choose for the latter, you will execute 3 powerful
strikes in rapid succession in the direction you are looking. If you somehow managed to
activate this NPC without looking at him, this will result in missing your attacks and nothing
happening, but if the strikes connect they will kill the NPC (assuming he is not essential).

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Future Plans
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As was mentioned before, this mod is in beta and it is not finished. This means that there
are definitely plans to both add features and improve the already existing features. Plans I
am currently working on are:

MASKS HIDING YOUR IDENTITY
Certain masks will hide your identity allowing you to commit crimes without people knowing it
was you. My plan is to add a mask somewhere with this property in a way that will guarantuee
compatability, and an optional plugin which will add this ability to appropriate vanilla Skyrim
masks (like those from Thieves Guild/Dark Brotherhood), and provide a simple set of instructions
on how other modders can make a small patch to give their newly modded headwear the same properties.

These masks are inspired by how the Gray Cowl of Nocturnal worked in TES IV: Oblivion. Details:
- When equipping a mask, your current bounty will be saved and remember internally and then set to 0.
- When unequipping the mask, your bounty will be set to whatever it was before equipping.
- If you are detected when either equipping or unequipping the mask, and your ''mask identity'' had
a bounty, this bounty will be transferred to your real identity.

In addition to that basic functionality, extra things I might consider later on are:
- Guards keeping an extra eye out on you if they see you walking around with such a mask.
- Wearing a mask will become a crime in Holds where extremely large bounties have been accumulated
by mask-wearers already.
- Guards might check your inventory for masks in Holds where extremely large bounties have been
accumulated by mask-wearers already.

NON-GUARANTUEED THROAT SLITS AND KNOCKOUTS
On one hand, I do want throat slits and knockouts to be reliable to some extent. They must be a choice
you make as a player, and if you make the choice to use one of these tools at an appropriate time, you
should be able to rely on them to some extent.

On the other hand, if you try to slit the throat of a fully, heavily-armored knight, or try to knock
someone unconscious by striking his Daedric Helmet with your bare fists, it would be realistic if this
was not always succesful.

I will have to see how I am going to balance the reliability I want on one hand but realism on the other
hand, and I will probably look at:
- Heavy helmets reducing chance of succesful throat slits and knockouts.
- Heavy gauntlets (worn by player) increasing chance of succesful knockouts.
- Alternative choking or neck-breaking killing move using fists instead of daggers, which would be unaffected
by armor but not be guarantueed kill against lightly armored opponents like throat-slitting is.

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Installation
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<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Installation through NMM is advised and is as simple as pressing the button to download using the NMM and have
NMM install it.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Extract the downloaded archive in a temporary location. Then move the
.esp file to your Skyrim installation location's Data folder. Also move
the scripts folder to this folder. This location is:

/Steam/steamapps/common/skyrim/Data

After installing, make sure that the .esp file is
enabled by clicking the checkbox you see when you click ''Data Files''
after launching the game.

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Uninstallation
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Find Skyrim's data folder. This will be:

/Steam/steamapps/common/skyrim/Data/

In that folder, delete ''Sneak Tools.esp''.

Then open the Scripts folder (so in Skyrim\Data\Scripts) and remove the following files:
"PRKF_SneakToolsKillSleepingP_0203804E.pex"
"PRKF_SneakToolsKillUnconscio_020298C9.pex"
"PRKF_SneakToolsKnockOutPerk_010068E7.pex"
"PRKF_SneakToolsSlitThroatPer_01002DB0.pex"
"QF_SneakToolsMainQuest_01000D63.pex"
"SneakToolsAlertEffectScript.pex"
"SneakToolsKnockedOutMagEffScript.pex"
"SneakToolsNoticeBodiesEffectScript.pex"

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Incompatibilities
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No known incompatibilities at this point.

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Known issues/bugs
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It is a beta version. There may be unforeseen circumstances, so save often, especially
when using features added by the mod.
Also, take a look at the future plans for things of which I already know they can be
improved and am working on.

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Version History
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0.1 BETA (26 June 2012)
- Initial Beta release

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Permissions & Disclaimer
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- ALL FILES IN THE DOWNLOAD ARE PROVIDED ''AS IS'' WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY
OR GUARANTEE OF ANY KIND. IN NO EVENT CAN THE AUTHOR BE HELD RESPONSIBLE
FOR ANY CLAIMS, WHETHER OR NOT THEY ARE RELATED TO THE DOWNLOAD.

- In unedited form, this mod may only be redistributed on sites other
than www.skyrimnexus.com. If you redistribute the same mod on other
sites, you MUST inform your users that the original author will not
look for feedback or assist in troubleshooting on any site other
than www.skyrimnexus.com or forums.bethsoft.com.
- If edited, changed or improved upon, this mod may also be
redistributed on www.skyrimnexus.com.
- IN BOTH OF THE ABOVE CASES, the original author must be credited
for his work, and the original readme must be included.

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Contact information
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The author can be contacted through private messages on the nexus
sites and on the official bethesda softworks forums, in both cases
under the name ''Borgut1337''. The author will also read the comments
section of his mod on www.skyrimnexus.com regularly.

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Tools used
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- The Creation Kit

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Credits
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Thanks to:

- Bethesda Game Studios: For making the awesome game Skyrim
- All contributors to the Creation Kit wiki, without which learning
the new Papyrus scripting language would have been hell.