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About this mod
Adds a brand new settlement around Windstad Manor, brings new lore to the area, and overall gives Hjaalmarch some love!
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
"To the north of the Drajkmyr marshes, in Hjaalmarch, lies mist-cloaked Windstad.
An unassuming settlement with a fascinating history nonetheless,
which I’ve extensively researched, and will now share with you, dear reader..."
- History of Windstad, by Erilar Runatyr
An unassuming settlement with a fascinating history nonetheless,
which I’ve extensively researched, and will now share with you, dear reader..."
- History of Windstad, by Erilar Runatyr
WINDSTAD brings some life and lore to your thanedom. Your holdings are now more than a patch of swamp grass,
and the land you bought is part of a greater story. Explore a new village, trade with your people, and unfold the past...
Hjaalmarch screams "untapped potential". This hold could well have been the eeriest place in all of Skyrim.
Rolling fog, vampires, wizards, outcasts, a labyrinthine marsh dotted with ruins... Just think about it.
If you don't see where I'm going, I'll let Fudge convince you. Point is, this mod is first and foremost an exercise
in mood and atmosphere, playing with the idea of a quaint but somber settlement,
infused by obscure folklore, moonlight tales, and shady business.
and the land you bought is part of a greater story. Explore a new village, trade with your people, and unfold the past...
Hjaalmarch screams "untapped potential". This hold could well have been the eeriest place in all of Skyrim.
Rolling fog, vampires, wizards, outcasts, a labyrinthine marsh dotted with ruins... Just think about it.
If you don't see where I'm going, I'll let Fudge convince you. Point is, this mod is first and foremost an exercise
in mood and atmosphere, playing with the idea of a quaint but somber settlement,
infused by obscure folklore, moonlight tales, and shady business.
⩤ What this mod adds ⩥
• A whole new village centered around Windstad Manor, with its own history!
• 6 navmeshed interior cells for your people to live in and for you to explore.
• 8 NPCs, comprising 6 merchants and 2 guards.
• Lore and secrets to find, hidden in cautious level design, readable documents and in NPC routines.
• Something interesting to a criminaly underdevelopped region of Skyrim.
• A cute well in front of your manor.
• Folk-inspired goodness.
• Torchbugs!
• NOT a build-your-own-settlement mod!
⩤ What this mod changes ⩥
• The map icon for Windstad Manor has been replaced with the unused "Morthal Castle" icon. All Hearthfire manors normally use the "town" icon, which looked awkward since Windstad (the village) has its own map icon, using the "town" icon. Using the "town" icon for the manor and not using it for the ACTUAL town didn't really make sense to me.
• The horkers to the south of the fish farm were moved to the north of it. They used to attack Hjalti. I delcared this terrible event canon, and it became a pivotal part of Hjalti's character. However, should you load this mod mid-game and have already explored the area, they will still be there and you might be able to witness a reenactment of this legendary battle.
• The horse carriage has been moved closer to the village. Again, should you install this mod mid-game and have already purchased the carriage, it might not register straight away. Use it to travel to another town, wait a whole week in an interior cell, go back to Windstad manor, and it should be in its new spot. But you shouldn't load mods mid-game anyway, my mischievous friend.
• Valdimar's idle markers have been moved around abit to account for the existence of the new structures.
• Very minimal edits to the outdoors navmesh.
• Some trees were removed. Let not their sacrifice be forgotten.
⩤ Compatibility and requirements ⩥
YES, Windstad is compatible with Windstad Mine, though imo using both together feels a little overkill, and they don't really match together on a visual perspective. It might also drag down your FPS a bit, especially on lower-end setups.WINDSTAD is obviously not compatible with mods that edit this same area, such as Dracos Hearthfire Homes Exterior.
Appart from that, you should not be running into too many compatibility issues. No changes were made to the Hearthfire content, so anything that ONLY affects the manor itself or its inside is safe to use. As for requirements, it is as standalone as can be. It only requires Dragonborn for the dunmeri assets in Neryna's house. No, not even Hearthfire is required.
⩤ Regarding NPCs, routines and navmeshing ⩥
Citizens of Windstad have very basic but diverse custom routines. Though they are no masterwork of AI packaging, I tried to give them all some narative value. Simply put, every citizen's got one outdoors loop they will perform for some time at some point in the day, outside of which they will follow their indoors sleeping/vibing/working schedule. On top of that, I set up three small "happenings", each taking place once a week. Along with the documents scattered across the village, they should help you understand your people a bit better, as they are not very talkative.
However, having NPCs wander outside require a well-navmeshed terrain, and editing the outdoors navmesh is a tricky thing, one I have decided to avoid as it can lead to serious issues and gamebreaking bugs, especially in such a wide open area - though relatively small, Windstad actually spans a couple of cells, which means even more trouble for navmesh editing. To get arround this issue, I used collision boxes, a nifty little tool widely used by the Hearthfire DLC, that allows NPCs to understand their surroundings without editing the navmesh. This is a much safer option, but one that comes with a downfall. NPCs will only notice collision boxes when the player is around, which means that if one of them starts pathing while you're away, you might find them a little confused, maybe trying to walk through walls and such. There is no way to avoid this issue, and should it happen, talking to them should interrupt their pathing and let them recalculate it, this time taking the collision boxes into account. Should this not work, waiting one hour will do the trick.
This is only the case for the exterior. Interior cells are fully navmeshed.
On this topic, I am aware that Erilar will sometimes act weird indoors, droning in place. I have not been able to figure this one out yet, but I believe he's a bit confused by the verticality of his tower and stacked floors. This would require a complete redisign of his tower, which I might look into in the future. For now, let's assume he is... entranced by the arcane, drifing through astral planes. You know. Wizards tend to be a bit odd. I'm sure most nords would agree.
⩤ Q&A ⩥
Q : Will you do other Hearthfire settlements?
A : Unlikely. My love for Hjaalmarch really is what drove this mod, more than my interest in Hearthfire.
Q : I WANT TO BE A POWERFUL OVERLORD, OBEYED AND FEARED BY MY CITIZENS, I WANT TO CONTROL THEIR SCHEDULES AND TAKE THEIR MONEY
A : Please don't bring capitalism into this my thane, feudalism is enough already.
Q : Will you do some more Hjaalmarch stuff in the future then?
A : Likely. Maybe even some more Windstad stuff. You might notice that some doors have been left open, actually...
Q : CAN I MARY THE NPCs? I WANT THE DUNMER DUSSY
A : NO. YOU N'WAH.
Q : Soooo what is your next project?
A : I have a few ideas in mind. WINDSTAD has been my largest project so far, so I might stick to a small one next up, just to... unwindstad. Okay I'll see myself out.
Q : WAIT, I have more questions!
A : Don't be shy, use the "posts" section!
Q : ALSO, I found a bug.
A : First check the posts and/or bug reports. Second, if you don't find answers there, let me know either through posting or reporting. Third, consider not leaving food outside the fridge. That's how you get ants. K bye for real this time. Cya.
⩤ Credits ⩥
• Yuril for the arch and pillars
• Tesak1243 for the houses
Thank you two so much for sharing these amazing resources!
⩤ Check out my other mods! ⩥
• Wuth Rein, an ancient nordic hideout
• The Ruined Lookout, an outdoors shelter
⩤ Recommended mods to pair with WINDSTAD ⩥
• Morthal Barrow - amazing dungeon, building upon the lore introduced for the area in ESO, which WINDSTAD also builds upon. A must-have for lore nerds.
• Northern Marsh Bridges - ever tried walking through a swamp? I have. And trust me, these really come in handy.
• Natura - nature-based spell pack with a witchy merchant in Morthal, which imo perfectly fits the atmosphere for a mage playthrough
• The Great City Of Morthal - my favourite upgrade for Morthal, pairs really well with Northern Vanilla Farmhouses.