Hello everyone. I just wanna say first that I don't intend to return to Skyrim modding anytime soon. I guess this is pretty obvious though since I've been inactive for a few years and I haven't been responding to any messages. About that, I'm really sorry. Truth is, things in life got in the way of my modding, or maybe it's because I simply lost motivation to continue modding. I'm not afraid to admit that. Anyway, I'm just announcing here that since I'm obviously not continuing modding and that I'm no longer updating this mod, I'm going ahead and allowing permission to anyone to use, alter, update, etc. my mod in any non-monetary manner. Basically, as long as you're not using this mod to make money (that money should belong to Bethesda since this IS their game, regardless of how you may view them in an ethical sense), you may do things like update this, change it, bring it over to Fallout 4, whatever. I have just one condition for this though: don't forget to credit me, matortheeternal for the script I used, and Bethesda for Skyrim.

I guess one last thing I'd like to say is thank you to everyone who downloaded, endorsed, and enjoyed Immersive Children despite my inactivity. It really means a lot that some people actually cared about such tiny issues as child size scaling and similar issues arising from the child flag. Also, once again, sorry to those who messaged me and never received a reply. I really am sorry. Also, since I'm not really modding anymore (or at least anytime soon), don't hold any hope that I'll respond back to any posts or messages. I haven't responded to anything for the past few years, so why expect that now? Anyway, I hope you all keep enjoying modding and playing Skyrim, or hell, whatever other game you're playing. :)






Immersive Children version 4.0 is released! The update includes improvements to the mod itself and a new One ImCh Patcher that is no longer based on SkyProc, but instead based on a library (based on xEdit scripting) called MXPF, from matortheeternal. As such, you'll only need xEdit (TES5Edit) to use this new patcher. Go to the "Installation" section below for instructions on using the new patcher.

Also, with this new mod update, the EBQO patch is no longer needed, courtesy of iMACobra. I'll keep the patch in the old files section for convenience though.

For details on the new One ImCh Patcher, read the new section "PLEASE READ: Introducing MXPF and the new One ImCh Patcher".



For those of you that use (or intend to use) my NPCs Protected Redux patch, I urge all of you to check out iMACobra's Protect your People - PyP - Better NPC Protection. This mod does a better job at NPC protection than NPCs Protected Redux because it protects NPCs through Reference Aliases rather than by editing separate Actor records, as NPCs Protected Redux does. The latter way of protecting NPCs is an inefficient solution, leading to the major issue of mod incompatibility and the need to create compatibility patches for such a mod. Protect your People has no such problem and gets the job of protecting NPCs done in a clean and compatible way. I totally recommend the mod.

tl;dr Use the new Protect your People - PyP - Better NPC Protection instead of NPCs Protected Redux. You will have better mileage a better modded Skyrim experience without the necessity for compatibility patches.

FEATURED BY:

MxR

Hooray!!! My mod reached Hot Files!
Thank you guys! :D

Update (10/7/17)
- Immersive Children updated to version 4.0
- mod improvements
- EBQO patch no longer needed
- new One ImCh patcher based on matortheeternal's MXPF

Previous updates



Table of Contents
PLEASE READ: Introducing MXPF and the new One ImCh Patcher

1. Introduction: The True (and Compromising) Nature of Killable Children Mods
2. Features of this Mod
3. Technical Details: A Solution to the Consequences Introduced by the Disabling of the Child Flag
4. The Necessity of the One ImCh Patcher
5. "Why should I use this mod?"
6. The Unique Issue of Non-Essential Children
7. Requirements
8. Installation
9. Uninstallation
10. Recommendations
11. Compatibility
12. Issues
13. To-Do List
14. Permissions
15. Credits

Prior to Immersive Children 4.0, the One ImCh Patcher, being a SkyProc-based patcher, required Java, something a few users of my mod have had trouble dealing with in terms of Java installation.

I'm proud to announce that the newest iteration of the One ImCh Patcher is no longer based on SkyProc, but instead based on something called MXPF, a xEdit-based library from matortheeternal. I'm proud of this new patcher because it's much easier to install, any issues that may arise will not be as difficult to resolve, and the MXPF library has much more power compared to SkyProc, which is severely limited in functionality. For example, this new One ImCh Patcher now supports furniture editing. I no longer have a need to create separate compatibility patches for furniture editing/adding mods; this new patcher will do that job.

However, there is one downside that may annoy some of you... longer patching time. I'm not sure if it is that my patch scripting logic is not so efficient or if it's just that xEdit scripting is slower than Java scripting (or a combination of those), but no doubt patching takes longer with this new patcher, and this is excluding the new furniture patching function.

[EDIT: I can confirm that faster computer processing will make the xEdit patcher run faster so I guess faster CPUs are better.]

Regardless, I still believe that this MXPF-based patcher is superior to the SkyProc-based patcher due to the extended patching functions and ease of installation (literally all you need to do is set up TES5Edit if you haven't already done so, and then insert my new patcher (a single .pas file) and matortheexternal's libraries (2 .pas files in a lib folder) into TESEdit's "Edit Scripts" folder).

I hope this new One ImCh Patcher is to everyone's liking and convenience. And as always, let me know if any issues arise. I will fix them if I can.

Go to the "Installation" section for new installation instructions of this new patcher.







This mod does the following:

• removes the Child flag from child races, rendering children mortal (except Aventus, Babette, Fjotra, and Nelkir who are not mortal until their associated quests are completed)
• checks the 'Allow Pickpocket' flag, making them pickpocketable
• fixes unique Hearthfire child animations that stop working after the child flag is turned off
• fixes furniture usage so that children will assume the correct animation when sitting on chairs and will not use certain furniture, such as crafting stations
• adds coffins and urns for children to the Halls of the Dead to increase immersion
• does fixes for some child beds that were incorporated into USLEEP after we reported it (Adara, Knud, Sissel and Britte never slept because their beds weren't designated child-sized beds)

This mod also includes a MXPF patcher (called the One Imch Patcher) that is necessary for you to use if you are going to play with mods that add new races with the keyword "ActorTypeNPC" (or modify the vanilla NPC races in any way) and furnitures with the interaction keyword also "ActorTypeNPC". However, if you are playing a game with no mods or are just using USLEEP, you DO NOT need to use the MXPF patcher.





















Honestly, I would like for you to just install the mod and experience it for yourself, but experiencing the purpose of my mod might take a while and it could get boring just to spend a play session observing children, so I will give you several reasons why it would benefit you to download this mod.

1. Restored child behavior even after unchecking the child flag. This is the main purpose of my mod. This is why my mod should be used over other killable children mods. This is the exact reason why I sat down and spent many weeks (or months) doing the following: learned the ins-and-outs of child AI behavior, learned how to make a SkyProc patcher, learned MXPF scripting to make a much more superior TES5Edit patching script, came around and even released this mod in the first place. It honestly behooves me as to why no one made an attempt to fix those glaring issues introduced by unchecking the child flag.
2. Immersion. Invincible children are not at all immersive. Mortal children are. Instead of the only survivors of dragon and vampire attacks being children, no person (save for Protected/Essential/Ghost/Invulnerable-flagged NPCs) is exempt from the danger of these vile predators. Everyone has the potential to die in a village attack. It is up to you to defend that helpless child being chased by a wicked vampire. Good on you if you save that child. You're a hero. On the other hand, if that child were to die, it would be a very tragic thing. Perhaps it will ease your self-imposed sorrow if you were to visit that child's urn/coffin/grave in respect.
3. Moral dilemma. This semi-relates to immersion. Say you're trying to burglarize someone's house when they're not home. You're stealing their valuables and then suddenly their child catches you in the criminal act. You panic as the child attempts to call the guards. Will you run away and burglarize for another day? Or will you decide to kill the child in order to prevent being caught and getting a bounty on your head? It's your choice.
4. Child followers; now you can take your child with you on your adventures! With the child flag checked, children would be perpetually fearful in the combat state. Even if you got a "Child-flagged" follower to follow you, they'd never participate in combat because of the fearfulness hard-coded into the Child flag. Now with my mod, the Child-flagged fearfulness no longer will apply. Only the child NPC's confidence level will determine whether or not the child will fight back. If you find that the child indeed has a low confidence level, just open up the console, click on them, and then type in and enter "setav confidence 4". That should fix them up. Of course, you could easily get this kind of child follower behavior with any other killable children mod, but you wouldn't be getting the other benefits of my mod now would you?
5. Pickpocket children. This isn't possible in the vanilla game. I'm not sure why Bethesda didn't allow children to be pickpocketed. Anyway, my mod enables child NPCs to be pickpocketed, so pickpocket away. You might find good stuff in their pocket, like their house key. Very useful, am I right?
6. Child followers will now act like children. Let's take Raeza, Patricia, and Yumi as examples. Although they're all technically child followers, in actuality they are not really children because they don't have the Child flag checked. This is necessary so that they function properly as followers (see Point 4 for details). However, since they are not actually children, they won't be able to use child animations, such as the dedicated child sitting animation. Instead, if they all were to sit down, they would instead assume the adult sitting animation shown below:







As you can see, problems occur when children assume the adult sitting animation, such as clipping. Keep in mind that this is exactly what happens with Raeza, Patricia, and Yumi if you do not have any other mods installed. Immersive Children allows them to use child animations while still functioning properly as followers:







If you wanted Raeza, Patricia, and/or Yumi as your child/children, this mod will allow them to act like children while still maintaining their follower functionality. The TES5Edit patcher will allow them to assume child animations.

*Required to use the MXPF - One ImCh Patcher.

NOTE: Despite the requirements, you have the option of playing a Legendary version of Immersive Children or a Vanilla version of Immersive Children with any selection of DLC addons. These addons are for the benefit of non-Legendary Skyrim players.




NMM or MO is recommended for easy installation. If you are doing manual installation, extract the files to the main Skyrim directory. Do the same for my compatibility patches.

[With the release of Immersive Children 4.0, I have created a MXPF patcher, called "One ImCh Patcher", that will resolve conflicts between my mod and other mods that edit and/or add race records with the keyword "ActorTypeNPC" and furniture records with the Interaction Keyword, also "ActorTypeNPC". If you are a familiar Immersive Children user, you may be surprised to find out that I have removed almost all compatibility patches between my mod and other mods. This is because the MXPF patcher will take care of all those compatibility issues by creating a single patch.]

Check the compatibility section for conflicting mods that need to be resolved with the "One ImCh Patcher".

NOTE: If you do not play with any mods that edit and/or add "ActorTypeNPC" race records and "ActorTypeNPC" furniture records, you DO NOT need to use the MXPF patcher. For example, if you play an un-modded or USLEEP-only playthrough, you absolutely do not need to use the patcher.

Instructions on using the "MXPF - One ImCh Patcher"
Pre-Step 1: If you haven't already done so because you never had a need for patching until now, install TES5Edit.
Pre-Step 2: If you're a non-NMM/MO user, navigate to the (Your Steam games installation directory)\Skyrim\Data directory. Otherwise, search for whereever NMM or MO placed your Immersive Children files.
Pre-Step 3: Cut the "Edit Scripts" folder and paste it into the TES5Edit directory. Overwrite all if asked.





Pre-Step 4: Use LOOT to sort your load order. VERY IMPORTANT.

1. Launch TES5Edit. (Launch via MO if you're a MO user.)
2. Press OK and wait until the "Background Loader: finished" message at the bottom shows up.
3. Click on any of the plugins you loaded on the left panel. Make sure the plugin is highlighted.
4. Right-click on the plugin name.
5. Select "Apply Script". A new window will pop up.
6. Near the top of the window, click the horizontally rectangular box next to "Script". A dropdown box listing different scripts will show up from it.
7. Scroll down (or up) the list of scripts until you find "MXPF - One ImCh Patcher".
8. Click on "MXPF - One ImCh Patcher". The dropdown box should disappear.
9. Click OK.
10. The window will disappear and a new, smaller window will appear asking you to type something. Name it anything but without '.esp'. I prefer to call the new patch "One ImCh Patcher" or "One ImCh Patch", but it's your choice.
11. Click OK and then wait until a message like "[Apply Script done]  Processed Records: 39, Elapsed Time: 01:04" appears near the botton of the main window. Patching time will vary depending on your computer and load order. If you experience freezing, do not worry; this is a normal occurrence (this is likely due to the nature of RACE records possessing A LOT of information for TES5Edit to read).
12. Patch created!





Post-Step: Create a merged patch to ensure that all the edits you want for the patched records have been forwarded.

The order patches should be created is: TES5Merged Patch -> Bashed Patch -> Other Patchers (Requiem, SkyRe, etc. -> One ImCh Patcher

LOOT is stupid and does not place the created patch in the best position. The patch needs to stay close to the bottom as possible, at least below any plugins that include override records to new records included in the created patch because LOOT doesn't know shit.




Generally, unless a mod is a simple texture and/or mesh replacer, it is never recommended to uninstall a mod mid-save. However, if you need to uninstall this mod, first in your save, go to a room with no children. Next, enter the console command "stopquest ImCh_DeadBodyCleanUpQuest" (and "stopquest ImCh_DeadBodyCleanUpQuestHF" if you use either "Immersive Children - Legendary" or "Immersive Children - Hearthfire"), then save your game. Finally follow the directions below.

NMM or MO is recommended for easy uninstallation. If you're doing manual uninstallation, delete ImCh (Insert abbreviated DLC name here).esm and the pex and psc files with the 'ImCh_' prefix.




I recommend using any mod that overhauls children's appearances in order to get rid of the potato head abominations created by Bethesda. Any child appearance overhaul mod like RS Children or TK Children will do nicely.

By far my favorite child appearance overhaul mod is tktk1's TK Children. Personally, I think this mod does the best job in making Skyrim children look like children. With TK Children 2.0, tktk added a bit more diversity to differentiate the children's faces, so there's a bit more facial variety to be had with TKC 2.0. However, TK Children has the issue of plastic-faced and small-headed children, so be sure to also install the following mods (in THIS ORDER) alongside TKC:

• new children
• Freckle Face Skin Texture for TKChildren
• TK Children Bigger Head

If you would like to know what one of tktk's children look like with these patches, here's a picture of Aeta from Skaal Village:


I also recommend Prince and The Pauper to replace the boring vanilla child clothing with more interesting and varied child clothing. I further recommend Gamwich's Rustic Clothing which is included in the FOMOD installer of PnP.

Other recommendations:

Children Fight Back (and Multiple Child Followers Guide)

• This mod was created to remedy the fearfulness most vanilla children had when entering the combat state. Technically speaking, a dialogue option introduced by this mod will raise a child's Confidence level to 4. However, if you don't mind using console commands, you can alternatively just click on a child via console and then enter 'setav confidence 4'.

Raeza - Follower and Adoptable

• A cute and awesome Drow child follower.

Yumi - an adoptable kid

• Another cute child follower.

This mod conflicts with other mods that modify any vanilla race records with the keyword "ActorTypeNPC", any furniture records with the "RaceToScale" keyword, and certain placed reference records. This is necessary for you to know because there are many mods out there that alter vanilla RACE records, such as race overhaul mods like Disparity and Imperious. This mod also conflicts with mods that add new "ActorTypeNPC" races simply because these races aren't inherently affected by Immersive Children. As such, it is IMPERATIVE that you use the MXPF patcher (called "One ImCh Patcher"); it will create a patch that will ensure compatibility between my mod and all other conflicting mods. However, if you do not play with any mods that edit or add new 'ActorTypeNPC' RACE, FURNITURE, and IDLE ANIMATION records, you DO NOT need to use the MXPF Patcher.

Also, be sure to watch the YouTube video about Merged Patches at the bottom of this section. A merged patch is something all modders should know how to make and will make your life a helluva lot easier when it comes to dealing with mod incompatibilities in an extensive load order.

Compatible mods
Bring Out Your Dead
Child clothes for adult based children-My little addon
Cutting Room Floor
Falskaar
Hearthfire multiple adoptions - Now with custom home support for kids and spouse
Inconsequential NPCs
Interesting NPCs
Mour - Fully Voiced Halfdragon Follower

• She is technically the vanilla Breton race so any mods modifying vanilla races (Imperious, Racial Body Morphs, etc.) will affect her.

Rustic Children


NOTE: Any mod that adds new "ActorTypeNPC" races are by default INCOMPATIBLE with Immersive Children; you must use my MXPF patcher to resolve the issue.

Conflicting/Incompatible mods potentially* resolved by the "One ImCh Patcher" (my MXPF patcher)

This list is not constantly being updated and is only here to show you that Immersive Children is not easily compatible without the MXPF
patcher.

* I said potentially because my MXPF patcher does not create merged patches; it only forwards the latest overrides of all RACE records in one's mod list. To ensure ultimate compatibility in your load order (or if you only want certain attributes of a record to be present), you must create a merged patch after you have created a patch from the MXPF patcher. See the video below if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

**Any mods listed above are only incompatible because they include custom ActorTypeNPC races and so need to be patched in order for NPCs of those custom races to use furniture properly. Reiterated here because someone inquired why Vilja was incompatible with Immersive Children and that was because Vilja is a custom race, not a true Nord *gasp*, so she would not be able to use any furniture without the MXPF patcher supporting her custom race.

Conflicting/Incompatible mods with compatibility patches because of issues outside the scope of the SkyProc patcher
Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul (both FULL AND LITE)
NPCs Protected Redux Protect your People - PyP - Better NPC Protection is a superior mod. Read its description to understand why.

Conflicting/Incompatible mods that still need compatibility patches because of issues outside the scope of the MXPF patcher
N/A


The following mods are made obsolete by Immersive Children simply because they do the same thing as my mod. However, they have issues that my mod fixes.

Obsolete mods
Kill Children
Killable And Lootable Children
Killable Children
Killable Children - No Race Menu
Killable children V2
Non-Essential Children
Pickpocketable Children
Stranger Danger - Children can be pick-pocketed or killed

Found an incompatible mod? Let me know and I will update any of these lists. I might even be able to make a patch as well.

NOTE: Although I have provided a TES5Edit (MXPF) patcher that potentially eliminates mod conflicts and a few necessary compatibility patches, there is NO EXCUSE that a user shouldn't create a merged patch. If you don't know what that is, go watch the video below and become enlightened as a better mod user.


For further details about cross mod incompatibility, read the article Immersive Children Compatibility.




There are no issues currently.

• Create a video highlighting the main (and most important) features of this mod.

You may update, change, bring over to Fallout 4, etc. as long as you are not doing it for monetary gain and as long as you give proper credit to me and all others specified in the credits below.






iMACobra, for testing out my mod, modifying the way the Essential quest children are handled (making the EBQO patch obsolete), and some other things
Noctum28, for his suggestion of the SkyProc patcher idea and help on finding SkyProc information
Raider480, for helping me in fixing my SkyProc bat file
matortheeternal for his amazing MXPF libraries and his help with my creating the new MXPF patcher
Everyone who downloaded this mod thus understanding the bitter implications of just unchecking the child flag and nothing else, THANK YOU!!!