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About this mod
This is a highly-configurable and stable system to boost bandit and Draugr encounters.
“The Draug have awoken from their slumber, they have arisen from their graves. Why and how they have sought to wreak havoc upon Tamriel with such numbers and fury, only the Seven know.”
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Blight of the Night
Advanced Spawn System
Maker’s breath! They’re everywhere!
Advanced Spawn System
Maker’s breath! They’re everywhere!
Requires: SKSE, SkyUI and MCM
Overview
This is an increased encounter system which spawns groups of Bandits day and night. Draugr will spawn in the wilderness during the night and also in or around their barrows at any time. In addition, the vampires which attack villages have been replaced with Draugr. This system is highly-configurable via the MCM panel.
Important Notes
Must-read information will be listed here for easy reference. If you don’t read it, don’t come complaining.
The polling system is disabled by default, which means the mod will do nothing until it is activated in the MCM.
This is to ensure that spawns do not occur when starting a new game, and compatibility with alternate starts.
The ESP file must not be renamed because the scripts grab forms directly from the file rather than properties.
Update Notes
Minor commentary regarding things to do and other relevant stuff, will be listed here for easy reference.
No DLC Version
This is almost identical to the Dawnguard one. The three types of skeletons use the same models each because it doesn’t have the additional ones, although they each have their individual stats the same as the DLC version. The vampire quest is unavailable without the DLC, so there will be no attacks on villages. Other than that it’s the same. I must warn that it has hardly been tested with no DLC, although it should be fine.
The Spawn System
A hidden quest starts when the mod is first activated, which attaches a script to the player. A polling system is used, which can be configured in the MCM to run at a minimum of every minute and up to ten minutes (or it can be disabled entirely). Each time the check occurs, if the player’s current location is valid then a scan will take place for markers. If a marker is found, and if it is also in a valid location, another series of checks will occur. The final stage involves checking user-defined parameters regarding the chance and quantity of the spawns, and in the case of bandits the time of day.
There are some important things to note about the system:
Only a few select types are blocked entirely, so if the player is in one of these places then nothing can spawn at all...
- Dragon lairs
- Falmer lairs
- Dwarven ruins
- Eldergleam Sanctuary
Only the interiors of Dwarven ruins matter, if a few spawns occur in any exteriors then I don’t really care. As for Falmer lairs, some of them are actually exterior worlds which can make things difficult - if you’re at the entrance to a Falmer dungeon, the spawning system may be ineffective until you leave.
The following types of locations have specific restrictions or allowances...
- Residential areas - random spawns will never occur within them
- Nordic ruins - Draugr can appear inside or directly outside them
- Generic dungeons and caves - bandits will spawn inside and out
- Redoubts - treated the same as dungeons for bandits
- Military forts - bandits spawn until guards take over
- Pinewatch - the exterior is attached to a dungeon
- Bloated Man’s Grotto - treated as a normal dungeon
- Brinewater Grotto and Deepwood Vale - as above
- Frostmere Depths - bandits and Draugr may spawn
- Japhet’s Folly - a piratey place for piratey people
Bear in mind that if you’re currently in a village, spawns may still occur outside of it should the scanning system select a valid marker. Although no spawns will occur inside the village itself, there is indeed potential for an outside spawn to make their way into a village - the only way around this is to block spawns entirely if the player is in a habitable place, but I’ll leave it be unless I receive lots of complaints.
Note that there should be no spawns whatsoever if you’re in a city because the outside world would not be loaded, and the bar against settlements is a catch-all (so no need to define each place) - spawns will also not occur in shops and homes because they are not defined as clear-able (again, a catch-all). Farms, mills and generic shacks all fall under the habitation clause as well. Basically, there’s gonna be no spawning immediately outside of Whiterun, only beyond the farms and meaderies - this doesn’t mean to say that bandits won’t spawn close enough to cause trouble, they just won’t find those Khajiit at the gates for example.
If the location is exterior and has not been defined, so it’s the general wilderness, bandits can spawn anywhere according to the hours set by the player in the MCM. Draugr and Skelintons may appear randomly throughout the night as well but the times are not configurable. In regards to dungeons and their immediate external areas, things can spawn at any time so the time settings have no effect unless it’s the wilderness - the only settings which matter in that case are the primary percentages and quantities as defined in the MCM. Bandits can also spawn outside barrows at any time, but never inside - so you might therefore regularly encounter fights outside barrows between bandits and Draugr.
A word of warning must be given - if the chances and quantities are ramped up to the maximum, expect to encounter problems in areas of limited egress. If you have lots of stuff spawning every minute at a guaranteed rate, performance and stability are equally as guaranteed to diminish. I might actually limit the maximum chance to 50% in order to prevent any serious problems, but for now the choice is with the player should they wish to deviate from the defaults.
It’s worth noting that the percentage is not absolute because when an object is scanned for, there could be no suitable objects available within the given radius (again, this is configurable) or one was found but it’s not in a valid location. Thus, the percentages only apply after a valid marker has been selected.
The Draug
They follow the same line as the original ones, starting with thralls, to wight and onto overlord. They are ethereal, they have spells, shouts, enchanted weapons and Ancient Nord Armour. They are appropriately levelled in respect of which ones will appear and what weapon they have according to the player level. They will only appear during the dark hours or in their barrows and occasionally they will attack a village in the night.
The Skelintons
Each Draugr can attempt a single spawn of skeletons. There are three types of skeleton; normal, a slightly more powerful one and an armoured one. They do not have weapons so they will either try clawing you to death or they will pick something up (even if it’s a pickaxe, presumably if it does damage they will use it). No less, their bony bones can do some hurt. In addition, each skeleton can attempt to spawn a ghost wolf.
The Bandits
As said, they are essentially unmodified aside of the spawning system. They will mostly be noticed during the late evening and early morning, they don’t really mess about between those hours because of the Draugr. Basically, anywhere a rabbit might normally wander you will now find bandits. Note that regardless of the MCM settings, conventional spawns will still occur as the game sees fit.
The Gift of Yngol
The Overlords have a chance of wearing an enchanted Ancient Nord set which is equivalent to Steel Plate. The helmet is the same model as the Yngol version. As a set it provides a 50% bonus to health, stamina and magicka regeneration as well as a 25% boost to one/two-handed damage. The set includes a special amulet, which is the same model as the Ancient Nord one. The set can be looted and by wearing all 5 pieces the Gift of Yngol is granted which provides a 20% boost to armour and damage against undead.
I will take a look at the original stuff involving Yngol, I will see about spawning his ghost which would instead always have this armour set (so no Overlords would ever have it). He’d be tougher still, his body would be cold and stiff already so you’d have to work to rip his armour off it.
The Control Panel
Now here’s the beauty, the Mod Configuration Menu. It has these kinda gizmos going on...
- Define minimum and maximum quantity per spawn, possibly random
- Define the absolute chance of the spawn occurring at all
- Define the hours during which the bandits will operate
- Toggle the attacks on villages
Compatibility and Requirements
This requires Dawnguard, but the other DLC is not needed. This does not in itself utilise SkyUI in any way, but in order to configure the mod you will need it as well as the MCM mod itself. I have no idea whatsoever regarding Special Edition, and frankly I don’t care.
This will conflict with anything which changes the following:
- Ancient Nord Armour add-ons
- The vampire attacks quest
Considerations for Specific Mods
When Vampires Attack
I haven’t used this much because I’ve not long had the DLC, so I’m not entirely sure how it works. I’ve briefly checked the scripts and quest and I’m not seeing anything to suggest vampires are even looked at, it may well be dealing with the status of the quest itself - so if the quest is running, citizens will run and hide until the quest ceases. If this is the case then I would expect that even though the vampires are switched for Draugr, they should still flee into their homes, inns or wherever they go. As such I’m going to blindly guess that it is not only compatible, but moreover complementary.
Timing is Everything
The only conflict with this is the setting for the minimum level at which vampire attacks may occur. I use exactly the same global variable so it really doesn’t matter which mod is loaded first because if they both have the same setting then it’s a non-issue. No other settings have been changed other than switching the spawns to Draugr instead of vampires. I have also not touched anything to do with werewolves. There may be some aspects of this mod which impact upon the Draugr attacking villages, but this is entirely out of my hands.
OBIS
I have changed a couple of levelled lists relating to the bandits. I think OBIS changes the same lists so there will be a conflict, the difference between them won’t be significant but it could affect the custom shields it uses. In any case, and with all due respect for OBIS, I must be bluntly honest in recommending that these two mods are not used together. Without getting all technical about it, I just don’t think the game will be stable with both of them. This is based on my own experience with OBIS, I had to get rid of it and write my own spawn system because it was a nightmare, and my mod here is pretty much the result. I am however extremely grateful to OBIS for a fair amount of inspiration and motivation behind this mod.
Genesis
This won’t conflict in a general sense, however if you’re using Genesis to insert bandit spawns then you have to keep in mind just how many NPCs may potentially be spawned in one place. It’s something I have to be aware of as well, but to be fair my MCM settings allow the player to tweak the spawns and Genesis has options to a similar effect. As long as you configure both mods accordingly there should be no problems. The same thus applies to any other mod which creates dynamic spawns, to include any immersive patrols or the likes (since there would likely be constant fights on the roads).
Other than that, you’re good to go so far as I can tell thus far. In the meanwhile, please post any reports or recommendations you may have - I would like to expand this and improve on it in any way I can so I’m always open to ideas.