First things first: 'armor rating' mods alter the link between survivability and armor rating, be it by rescaling or recalc. To do this, they usually modify game settings related to the armor rating (like 'fArmorScalingFactor' and 'fMaxArmorRating') and/or use an external .dll to make the game use a different calculation (this is not an exhaustive explanation nor a 100% correct one, it's just to give an idea of what 'armor rating' mods do).
The issue with altering the armor rating management is that every mod created with the 'vanilla' vision in mind (so pretty much EVERY mod) will be put off-balance by armor rating mods (be it a tiny bit or a lot), if they have records that affect armor rating in one way or the other: for example, some spells might become unexpectedly more/less powerful if they add/remove armor rating to/from an NPC or the player; this is usually just a lesser balance concern that some might not even 'feel' while playing, but in some cases it can bring a major imbalance on the table.
'Combat overhauls' are especially susceptible of game settings changes, since they -almost necessarily- need to change 'armor rating' related settings to properly work and to remain balanced: this means that 'armor rating' mods will conflict with 'combat overhauls', resulting in (again) a lesser balance concern, or in some cases even more severe imbalances/issues.
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[BASIC build] of my mod - as the name might suggest - doesn't take into account any of the aforementioned issues, since it's only an 'armor rating' mod and any balance issue with other mods would be out of scope; as such, it will not receive balance updates, but only bridges for specific incompatibilities/improved functionality; any mod made compatible with the FULL build is already compatible with the BASIC build out of the box (since it doesn't alter any vanilla records), but will not be specifically re-balanced around it.
[FULL build] of my mod, on the other hand, takes into account the presence of magic/perk/combat overhaul to dynamically adjust its own parameters and rebalances the magnitude of the added new spells/effects that would otherwise result off-balance; as such, it will receive balance updates for any mod that might benefit from it, in addition to any other bridge provided for the BASIC build.
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Mods not included in the lists below are either trivially already compatible (since there's nothing to patch/bridge to begin with), or still not 'discovered' by me. Some natively compatible mods are included anyway because they might rise compatibility concerns on a first sight.
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Glossary:⁂
- patch - actual .esp (esl flagged) plugin, to be placed after what it is supposed to patch, on the load order
- bridge - 'plugin less' patch, to be placed after what it is supposed to patch, on the mod list
- automatic bridging - internal code-handled patch, no user actions required
- compatibility [...] / balance [...] - whenever the reason for patching is a matter of actual incompatibility or mere values re-balancing
- description consistency patch - specific, optional patch to update perks/spells descriptions alone
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List of compatible mods for both builds:
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- Player Combat Parameters > compatibility bridge available on files page
- Notes - PCP shows the % damage reduction on screen, calculating it based on vanilla values; the provided bridge will make it use ARO values, hence showing the correct % damage reduction
- Notes - PCP shows the % damage reduction on screen, calculating it based on vanilla values; the provided bridge will make it use ARO values, hence showing the correct % damage reduction
- Resistances Rescaled > automatic compatibility bridging from v1.2.0
- Notes - RR needs to keep track of vanilla values to correctly show the information on MCM: by doing so it changes game settings according to its current status ('default' or 'user defined' values if rescaling is active, 'vanilla' values if rescaling is not active), but this means that even with rescaling disabled for armor, the game settings are grounded to its own 'RR values' regardless; the automatic bridging will override RR options about rescaling and game settings so that it will not interfere with ARO's own handling of armor rating, leaving everything else untouched on RR side
- Notes - RR needs to keep track of vanilla values to correctly show the information on MCM: by doing so it changes game settings according to its current status ('default' or 'user defined' values if rescaling is active, 'vanilla' values if rescaling is not active), but this means that even with rescaling disabled for armor, the game settings are grounded to its own 'RR values' regardless; the automatic bridging will override RR options about rescaling and game settings so that it will not interfere with ARO's own handling of armor rating, leaving everything else untouched on RR side
- Simply Balanced > natively compatible
- Notes - SB should have no overlapping or incompatibility with ARO, since it uses its own perks and doesn't actually touch armor rating at all; more specifically, the two mods modify two different aspects of the game (armor rating/survivability ratio for ARO, incoming/outcoming damage multipliers for SB), so they are not competing each other; it might be wise to tweak SB values a little, though, accordingly to the fact that the player is expected to be more tanky against physical damage in general
- Notes - SB should have no overlapping or incompatibility with ARO, since it uses its own perks and doesn't actually touch armor rating at all; more specifically, the two mods modify two different aspects of the game (armor rating/survivability ratio for ARO, incoming/outcoming damage multipliers for SB), so they are not competing each other; it might be wise to tweak SB values a little, though, accordingly to the fact that the player is expected to be more tanky against physical damage in general
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Specific list of compatible mods for FULL build:
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- Combat overhauls:
- Magic overhauls:
- Odin > automatic balance bridging from v1.1.0, optional description consistency patch available on files page
- Load order: indifferent
- Load order: indifferent
- Mysticism > automatic balance bridging from v1.3.0
- Load order: put 'ARO' below 'Mysticism'
- Load order: put 'ARO' below 'Mysticism'
- Apocalypse > automatic balance bridging from v1.3.0
- Load order: indifferent
- Load order: indifferent
- Odin > automatic balance bridging from v1.1.0, optional description consistency patch available on files page
- Perk overhauls:
- Ordinator > automatic balance bridging from v1.2.0, optional description consistency patch available on files page
- Load order: put 'ARO' above 'Ordinator'
- Load order: put 'ARO' above 'Ordinator'
- Vokrii > automatic balance bridging from v1.2.0, optional description consistency patch available on files page
- Load order: put 'ARO' above 'Vokrii'
- Load order: put 'ARO' above 'Vokrii'
- Adamant > standard compatibility patch available on files page
- Load order: put the required patch below 'ARO' and 'Adamant'
- Notes: ARO will shut down if the required patch is not found; note that you shouldn't use the 'Adamant' patch if you are using Hand to Hand
- Hand to Hand > standard compatibility patch available on files page
- Load order: put the required patch below 'ARO' and 'Hand to Hand'
- Notes: ARO will shut down if the required patch is not found; note that you only need the 'Hand to Hand' patch if you are using Hand to Hand, not the 'Adamant' one
- Ordinator > automatic balance bridging from v1.2.0, optional description consistency patch available on files page
- Other mods:
- Cutting Room Floor > automatic compatibility bridging from v1.1.0
- Load order: put 'ARO' below 'Cutting Room Floor'
- Notes - maintains the CRF edits to flesh spells MGEF records so that they use the proper hit shaders
- Cutting Room Floor - Alteration Armor Shield Spell Fix > automatic compatibility bridging from v1.1.1
- Load order: put 'ARO' below 'Alteration Armor Shield Spell Fix'
- Notes - reverts the CRF edits to flesh spells MGEF records so that they keep using the 'standard' hit shaders
- FleshFX > automatic compatibility bridging from v1.1.0
- Load order: put 'ARO' below 'FleshFX'
- Notes - maintains the FFX edits to flesh spells MGEF records so that they use the proper hit shaders
- Immersive Sounds - Compendium > automatic compatibility bridging if po3's Papyrus Extender is installed, standard compatibility patch available on files page anyway; I STRONGLY recommend using po3's Papyrus Extender for a patch-less bridging, since this patch will of course conflict with other patches that alter the flesh spells MGEF records, and distributing cross-patches would be both hard to maintain (for the modder) and confusing (for the user): more specifically, this patch is NOT compatible with 'Adamant' and 'Hand to Hand' patches
- Load order: put 'ARO' below 'Immersive Sounds - Compendium'
- Notes - maintains the ISC edits to flesh spells MGEF records so that they use the proper sound descriptors
- True Alteration Armor Visuals > automatic compatibility bridging from v1.1.0
- Load order: put 'ARO' below 'True Alteration Armor Visuals'
- Notes - maintains the TAAV edits to flesh spells MGEF records so that they use the proper hit shaders
- virtually any College overhauls > compatible from v1.1.0
- Load order: indifferent
- Notes - this mod places some "Scrolls of Dragonhide" inside the College of Winterhold (and another, lesser concerning location), but the way it does so ensures that no incompatibilities should ever arise with any CoW overhaul or mods that make edit to the interested cells; worst case scenario, the scrolls simply won't be placed at all
- Cutting Room Floor > automatic compatibility bridging from v1.1.0
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Specific list of mods that are being checked for FULL build:
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- Magic overhauls:
- -
- -
- Perk overhauls:
- -
- -
- Combat overhauls:
- Blade and Blunt (on hold)
- Blade and Blunt (on hold)
- Other mods:
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