This mod is the release of a mod developed by me initially for the Legendary Edition, now available here also for the Special Edition and Anniversary Edition versions of Skyrim. The .esp is converted to Form 44 format, and all the .NIFs (meshes) and .DDSs (textures) are optimized in the correct ways to run in both SE and AE, requiring absolutely no further work on your part.
When possible, my releases to SE and AE are flagged as .ESLs, which means they don't take up an .ESP slot in the users load order. However, this is not always possible. Below, you can check the three possible scenarios and check which scenario applies to this specific release. Since the other two will be crossed out, and the correct one will be marked in yellow:
The mod is flagged as .ESL, so it won't take up space in your load order, and yet it will be read and executed perfectly by your game;
The mod is not flagged as .ESL, just like a normal .ESP, because it has FaceGen data on it, so if it was flagged, whoever is not using the last official updates for SE or AE, including most pirated Skyrim users, will have the NPCs added by this mod having the gray face bug. However, if you have the latest update installed, you can flag this mod as an .ESL using SSEEdit, at your own risk, but generally with no problems;
The mod is not flagged as .ESL, just like a normal .ESP, as it requires the use of .SEQ files. In all the tests I did, even regenerating the .SEQ files after flagging the .ESPs as .ESLs, the dialogues stopped working. So, to maintain the integrity of dialogues and even quests added by my mods with .SEQ files, you should not attempt to flag this file under any circumstances, and you should use it in the exact way I made it available for download. UPDATE(feb/23): I recently learned a safe method of .ESLfication of .ESPs with .SEQ files, however due to the considerable work involved it is generally only justified in mods with just a few lines of dialog. If this mod is not flagged as .ESL, it is due to the number of dialogs present in it, which would make the process slow and/or unfeasible within a reasonable amount of time.
One last comment: there is a common misconception that all LE meshes need to go through NifOptimizer in order to be used in SE or AE, with the most varied arguments defending this, and a few absurdities about what would happen if it wasn't done. This is just another one of the myths that this community believes without any basis, and that it spreads only because it saw many people repeating the same thing. DO NOT OPTIMIZE meshes, neither mine nor any from other mod's. Most meshes are ready to run directly from LE to SE. NifOptimizer should only be used in cases where they DO NOT WORK DIRECTLY WITHOUT BEING OPTIMIZED. Using NifOptimizer indiscriminately without need, and without knowing how to do it correctly, leads to terrible consequences, being able to damage UV's, Normal Maps, the very 3d structure of the models, and much more, in short, causing more problems than the possible problems you could have with 1 in every 100 meshes needing to be optimized, something you would later do manually and individually when proven necessary. JUST DON'T PASS MESHES THROUGH THE NIF OPTIMIZER EXCEPT IF THEY JUST DON'T WORK IN THE SPECIAL EDITION OR ANNIVERSARY EDITION AFTER YOU TESTED THEM YOURSELF FIRST.
It's a fact that yes NifOptimizer can solve problems in problematic Nifs, but in this case, and if these Nifs are mine, just contact me and I'll solve the problem for you. If you have really in-depth knowledge of how to correct any negative consequences of using the program on the problematic mesh, that's ok, do it, but if not, just contact me and I'll solve it, since the nif having the problem would be caused by a little oversight of mine while I was producing it, so would be my responsability to fix the problem as well.Unfortunately, because the use of NifOptimizer was recommended in many tutorials as a possible step, a lot of people took it as mandatory, and many fools started to use it as gospel and to convince others, but remember, it's not because it's on the internet that is real. There is absolutely NO such thing as an "old nif format". NiTriShape works perfectly in SE and AE, it is NOT necessary in any way to convert the .nifs to BSTriShape format for them to run smoothly in game, and this messy conversion can even lead you to severe ingame problems. Unfortunately, 3 or 4 paranoids managed to create a legion of players who live in constant panic of corrupting their games, and in an attempt to avoid it, they end up diving into a corruption many times greater, created by themselves, unnecessarily.But don't just take my word for it based on my years of experience and dedication to this activity, listen to Arcane University's own words about it, possibly the best center of studies on modding for The Elder Scrolls available on the internet: (image extracted from the link: https://wiki.beyondskyrim.org/wiki/Arcane_University:NIF_Data_Format)
Play more, have more fun, and let the authors be responsible for the technical condition and functionality of the mods they release. And if you don't trust them enough to use mods without trying to fix what often doesn't need to be fixed, just stop using those mods.
Take care, and if you have any doubts, look for me on my Discord server, Mihail
Hey Mihail, I absolutely love this mod, and all of your other work. You're doing Skyrim a great service!
I was just wondering - I really like the zombie attack world interactions added by CC and was wondering if it's possible to add them back in? Or create an optional patch that adds them back in?
Cool mod, however, please correct the balances!1) Conscription is cheap, and therefore you can quickly build up an army. 2) How long does it take for them to disappear? The skill says 87 seconds, the effects say 5 minutes, but they last much longer! 3) They are too powerful. I only needed 2-3 rotten zombies to take over the fort, but I can create them endlessly! Therefore, I ask you to make them very large, as their huge number was justified.
1) Conscription is cheap, and therefore you can quickly build up an army.
- I believe you refered to conjuration, and yes, the goal is for you to be able to build an army, but the stronger ones are not that cheap to cast. The reason for the urgency to solve the zombie problem as featured on the CC creation is now justified, previously it made no sense, because zombies are summoned a lot in Skyrim. Now there is really a danger of a type of spell able to build an army.
2) How long does it take for them to disappear? The skill says 87 seconds, the effects say 5 minutes, but they last much longer!
- Its answered in details alongside its mechanics on the mod description. Please do not install mods without reading mod descrioptions.
3) They are too powerful. I only needed 2-3 rotten zombies to take over the fort, but I can create them endlessly!
- They are actually far weaker (on their stronger variants) than the vanilla ones. On vanilla they reached absurd Dragon Priest and Draug Deathlord lvls, now they are far more modest. Even the weaker variants are now also weaker than the original creation. If you find the modified zombies powerful, you would find the vanilla CC ones absolute tyrants. Now they have logic lvls, as i said, far weaker and more logical. Indeed you can summon more than one at once, unlike vanilla, but thats the objective of this modification, to make it more unique. Also, probably you have good magicka, not all characters can create them endlessly.
Might I make a suggestion on this if I could be so bold?
To borrow a idea from Enaision's Ordinator perk mod, you could repurpose the altar from this mod to be more then just storytelling decoration. Touching the altar allowing you to choose what zombie type you summon. Summoning them as a near endless duration (999 days or something) conjuration that does not count towards your max summon cap. Of course just like with ordinator you need to exchange it for something (lets say, a filled black soul gem or having a reanimated minnion) Or simply casting one of the zombie spells on the altar, resulting in the "permanent" summon that has no max summon cap limit.
While casting the spells anywhere else results in a regular 1 minute version that adheres to your current max summon cap.
lore-wise the zombies would still be considered more dangerous no matter how you summon them as they can reanimate after being killed. But they become especially dangerous when summoned via the altar as there is no limit on how many you can summon, nor how long they remain at your side. (though perhaps also add a cap like Ordinator based on your current max magicka?)
It would be especially fun using in conjunction with Ordinator and summoning a zombie/skeleton army.
Jokes aside, just waiting at a location doesn't seem enough to have them catch up with you. I had a whole explanation ready, but none of it worked like how I usually solve problems with "lost" summons who have a long duration.
I took a look in the CK and I honestly have no idea how it worked until a few hours later when I noticed the altered projectile data.
Essentially the spells are empty spells that just do the conjuration visuals, and there the spell ends. The "projectile" that is shot during the casting of the spell instead spawns the Zombies, who are not your usual conjured undead, but spawned NPC's that are friendly to the player and have a AI package to follow.
Overall they are not very different, but they won't be teleported to your location if they stray too far, nor do they benefit from any spells or effects that are supposed to affect summons (mostly spells from other mods that specifically target summoned beings)
They also won't vanish on death, unfortunately that will mean they will also bloat up your save if you just keep summoning more and more over the course of your game (and losing them if they are not killed will ensure they will stay put indefinitely, or until you accidentally run into them after returning to the location you lost them)
I think it was done to ensure the resurrection mechanic would work, but I wonder if there could be alternatives.
Best scenario in my opinion is like I said in the previous post, normal conjured versions act like regular 60 second conjurations (with all benefits and downsides) so no resurrection for those guys.
Meanwhile the stronger "altar created" versions will remain permanently, but also benefit from the resurrection on death. While also getting a "rubber band" script or effect like in the Ordinator mod, to ensure that they don't get lost or stuck somewhere.
EDIT: I just saw on the other mods page that you don't do patches for CC Mods, sorry for not checking there as well first. Thank you for the amazing mods, though!
@MihailMods, I have a question with regards to this mod and your CC Goblin Overhaul Mod. Apparently both of them delete some NPC Actor records, so when another mod refers to them (in their own quest for example) it can cause a CTD. Those records have been restored in patches here and here. So my question: Is this intentional or an oversight? or is it not a problem?
its intentional, the ideal scenario is when you use just one overhaul for each creation, not several, so you dont need those deleted actors, because my overhauls already replace them. (sometimes is not even a replacement, is just some extra actors being removed because they have no reason to exist on the scenario of my overhaul) restoring the deleted authors to use them with other overhauls of same creation alongside mine may lead the changes made by me to be reversed, or at least non-existent, on those actors brought back, thus basically making using my overhaul an useless thing. for example, what is the point of undeleting the goblins i removed and keep using my overhaul for the cc goblins, if you are bringing back the human size, plastic looking ones, using no weapons, having no tribal paint, and etc, to be spawned by other mods? to me, lore-wise and immersion-wise it makes zero sense.
I hear you. I get that we use only one overhaul at a time. But what if the other mod isn't an overhaul? let's say another is just a random quest mod that uses one of those deleted records to spawn enemies in it's own separate quest. won't it cause issue? or does that not happen generally? i don't know much about questing tbh. I mean. It probably can be resolved with patch, but even still... Thanks for your time.
its a thing i would have in mind if was vanilla skyrim. but, its CC content, a thing i openly criticized, despised, from concept to implementation, since it was released. i am already opening a huge exception by overhauling a thing i never recognized as something worthy of my time, but i am doing it for the players, so, asking me to also care about compatibility with other mods that decided to use it as well is a bit too much. my commitment is to make it work with vanilla, and it works 100%, all that goes beyond that is responsability of the owner of each load order. again, i would not delete stuff if was modding vanilla, but i am basically modding paid mods (CC), a type of content full of inconsistencies, non-sense implementation and much more, and on description is already said by me that this overhaul is not compatible with other overhauls, so here ends my responsability. i am allways very honest with the users, never tried to be a double faced son of a b&@*$ like some authors that allways want to be the nice guy while being absolute trash when no one is seeing, so, going directly to the point, if this kind of thing (people complaining about my overhauls causing problems with mods that decided to use CC content on its original state) starts happening a lot, i will simply stop the CC overhauls and call it a day, after all, its not like if i am enjoying it a lot, since, as i said, i am doing it just for the community to have a better CC experience. have in mind i saw in other mod page an user saying i deleted some of the zombies to force people to download my zombie mod. come on, i have better stuff to do rather then listen to this kind of stuff, i can simply stop the overhauls and good luck playing with CC content as it is. but indeed, patches can be done, just be carefull because some patches may be simply reverting back many of my changes on my overhauls, thus making useless to use them.
Don't worry about such comments. They aren't accurate you know that. Regarding my questions, this was just me having doubts. I appreciate you taking time to answer them :)
Hello Mihail, while reading this I was thinking that I have a patch for Beyond Reach wich uses the CC Zombis. So, if I'm using your mod: will I have CTD, or will Beyond Reach uses your zombi overhaul? (I dont have other zombi overhaul, nor I know anyone)
hello Mihail really love this mod, did not remember installing it in my playthrough but was very impressed with the details and lore, zombies are fun to summon!
Wondering if its just me, or there is no way to dismiss the zombies? As my summons seems to be ;ast forever. Sorry if I misread the description regarding this.. Thank you!
"This zombie conjuration now has a truly dangerous and rarely seen magical potential: now you can summon as many zombies as you want. They don't disappear after a while and will follow you like a horde (although naturally they are very slow). As they cannot open doors, you can even summon them as a horde guarding a fortress, for example, greatly increasing the roleplay and immersion factor. Also now you can destroy entire cities with your potentially infinite horde (of course being careful not to overload your game with too many actors)"
i mean your model. can you just put those models on your zombies SE mods? or its impossible? seems like you put placeholder for thoses but DAMN i love those zombies more
141 comments
The mod is not flagged as .ESL, just like a normal .ESP, because it has FaceGen data on it, so if it was flagged, whoever is not using the last official updates for SE or AE, including most pirated Skyrim users, will have the NPCs added by this mod having the gray face bug. However, if you have the latest update installed, you can flag this mod as an .ESL using SSEEdit, at your own risk, but generally with no problems;The mod is not flagged as .ESL, just like a normal .ESP, as it requires the use of .SEQ files. In all the tests I did, even regenerating the .SEQ files after flagging the .ESPs as .ESLs, the dialogues stopped working. So, to maintain the integrity of dialogues and even quests added by my mods with .SEQ files, you should not attempt to flag this file under any circumstances, and you should use it in the exact way I made it available for download. UPDATE(feb/23): I recently learned a safe method of .ESLfication of .ESPs with .SEQ files, however due to the considerable work involved it is generally only justified in mods with just a few lines of dialog. If this mod is not flagged as .ESL, it is due to the number of dialogs present in it, which would make the process slow and/or unfeasible within a reasonable amount of time.JUST DON'T PASS MESHES THROUGH THE NIF OPTIMIZER EXCEPT IF THEY JUST DON'T WORK IN THE SPECIAL EDITION OR ANNIVERSARY EDITION AFTER YOU TESTED THEM YOURSELF FIRST.
It's a fact that yes NifOptimizer can solve problems in problematic Nifs, but in this case, and if these Nifs are mine, just contact me and I'll solve the problem for you. If you have really in-depth knowledge of how to correct any negative consequences of using the program on the problematic mesh, that's ok, do it, but if not, just contact me and I'll solve it, since the nif having the problem would be caused by a little oversight of mine while I was producing it, so would be my responsability to fix the problem as well.Unfortunately, because the use of NifOptimizer was recommended in many tutorials as a possible step, a lot of people took it as mandatory, and many fools started to use it as gospel and to convince others, but remember, it's not because it's on the internet that is real. There is absolutely NO such thing as an "old nif format". NiTriShape works perfectly in SE and AE, it is NOT necessary in any way to convert the .nifs to BSTriShape format for them to run smoothly in game, and this messy conversion can even lead you to severe ingame problems. Unfortunately, 3 or 4 paranoids managed to create a legion of players who live in constant panic of corrupting their games, and in an attempt to avoid it, they end up diving into a corruption many times greater, created by themselves, unnecessarily.But don't just take my word for it based on my years of experience and dedication to this activity, listen to Arcane University's own words about it, possibly the best center of studies on modding for The Elder Scrolls available on the internet: (image extracted from the link: https://wiki.beyondskyrim.org/wiki/Arcane_University:NIF_Data_Format)
Play more, have more fun, and let the authors be responsible for the technical condition and functionality of the mods they release. And if you don't trust them enough to use mods without trying to fix what often doesn't need to be fixed, just stop using those mods.
Take care, and if you have any doubts,
look for me on my Discord server,
Mihail
I was just wondering - I really like the zombie attack world interactions added by CC and was wondering if it's possible to add them back in? Or create an optional patch that adds them back in?
Appreciate your efforts as always.
you can simply enable them back on tesedit.
2) How long does it take for them to disappear? The skill says 87 seconds, the effects say 5 minutes, but they last much longer!
3) They are too powerful. I only needed 2-3 rotten zombies to take over the fort, but I can create them endlessly!
Therefore, I ask you to make them very large, as their huge number was justified.
- I believe you refered to conjuration, and yes, the goal is for you to be able to build an army, but the stronger ones are not that cheap to cast. The reason for the urgency to solve the zombie problem as featured on the CC creation is now justified, previously it made no sense, because zombies are summoned a lot in Skyrim. Now there is really a danger of a type of spell able to build an army.
2) How long does it take for them to disappear? The skill says 87 seconds, the effects say 5 minutes, but they last much longer!
- Its answered in details alongside its mechanics on the mod description. Please do not install mods without reading mod descrioptions.
3) They are too powerful. I only needed 2-3 rotten zombies to take over the fort, but I can create them endlessly!
- They are actually far weaker (on their stronger variants) than the vanilla ones. On vanilla they reached absurd Dragon Priest and Draug Deathlord lvls, now they are far more modest. Even the weaker variants are now also weaker than the original creation. If you find the modified zombies powerful, you would find the vanilla CC ones absolute tyrants. Now they have logic lvls, as i said, far weaker and more logical. Indeed you can summon more than one at once, unlike vanilla, but thats the objective of this modification, to make it more unique. Also, probably you have good magicka, not all characters can create them endlessly.
To borrow a idea from Enaision's Ordinator perk mod, you could repurpose the altar from this mod to be more then just storytelling decoration.
Touching the altar allowing you to choose what zombie type you summon.
Summoning them as a near endless duration (999 days or something) conjuration that does not count towards your max summon cap.
Of course just like with ordinator you need to exchange it for something (lets say, a filled black soul gem or having a reanimated minnion)
Or simply casting one of the zombie spells on the altar, resulting in the "permanent" summon that has no max summon cap limit.
While casting the spells anywhere else results in a regular 1 minute version that adheres to your current max summon cap.
lore-wise the zombies would still be considered more dangerous no matter how you summon them as they can reanimate after being killed.
But they become especially dangerous when summoned via the altar as there is no limit on how many you can summon, nor how long they remain at your side. (though perhaps also add a cap like Ordinator based on your current max magicka?)
It would be especially fun using in conjunction with Ordinator and summoning a zombie/skeleton army.
Jokes aside, just waiting at a location doesn't seem enough to have them catch up with you.
I had a whole explanation ready, but none of it worked like how I usually solve problems with "lost" summons who have a long duration.
I took a look in the CK and I honestly have no idea how it worked until a few hours later when I noticed the altered projectile data.
Essentially the spells are empty spells that just do the conjuration visuals, and there the spell ends.
The "projectile" that is shot during the casting of the spell instead spawns the Zombies, who are not your usual conjured undead, but spawned NPC's that are friendly to the player and have a AI package to follow.
Overall they are not very different, but they won't be teleported to your location if they stray too far, nor do they benefit from any spells or effects that are supposed to affect summons (mostly spells from other mods that specifically target summoned beings)
They also won't vanish on death, unfortunately that will mean they will also bloat up your save if you just keep summoning more and more over the course of your game (and losing them if they are not killed will ensure they will stay put indefinitely, or until you accidentally run into them after returning to the location you lost them)
I think it was done to ensure the resurrection mechanic would work, but I wonder if there could be alternatives.
Best scenario in my opinion is like I said in the previous post, normal conjured versions act like regular 60 second conjurations (with all benefits and downsides) so no resurrection for those guys.
Meanwhile the stronger "altar created" versions will remain permanently, but also benefit from the resurrection on death.
While also getting a "rubber band" script or effect like in the Ordinator mod, to ensure that they don't get lost or stuck somewhere.
Apparently both of them delete some NPC Actor records, so when another mod refers to them (in their own quest for example) it can cause a CTD.
Those records have been restored in patches here and here.
So my question: Is this intentional or an oversight? or is it not a problem?
restoring the deleted authors to use them with other overhauls of same creation alongside mine may lead the changes made by me to be reversed, or at least non-existent, on those actors brought back, thus basically making using my overhaul an useless thing.
for example, what is the point of undeleting the goblins i removed and keep using my overhaul for the cc goblins, if you are bringing back the human size, plastic looking ones, using no weapons, having no tribal paint, and etc, to be spawned by other mods?
to me, lore-wise and immersion-wise it makes zero sense.
let's say another is just a random quest mod that uses one of those deleted records to spawn enemies in it's own separate quest.
won't it cause issue? or does that not happen generally? i don't know much about questing tbh.
I mean. It probably can be resolved with patch, but even still...
Thanks for your time.
but, its CC content, a thing i openly criticized, despised, from concept to implementation, since it was released.
i am already opening a huge exception by overhauling a thing i never recognized as something worthy of my time, but i am doing it for the players, so, asking me to also care about compatibility with other mods that decided to use it as well is a bit too much.
my commitment is to make it work with vanilla, and it works 100%, all that goes beyond that is responsability of the owner of each load order.
again, i would not delete stuff if was modding vanilla, but i am basically modding paid mods (CC), a type of content full of inconsistencies, non-sense implementation and much more, and on description is already said by me that this overhaul is not compatible with other overhauls, so here ends my responsability.
i am allways very honest with the users, never tried to be a double faced son of a b&@*$ like some authors that allways want to be the nice guy while being absolute trash when no one is seeing, so, going directly to the point, if this kind of thing (people complaining about my overhauls causing problems with mods that decided to use CC content on its original state) starts happening a lot, i will simply stop the CC overhauls and call it a day, after all, its not like if i am enjoying it a lot, since, as i said, i am doing it just for the community to have a better CC experience.
have in mind i saw in other mod page an user saying i deleted some of the zombies to force people to download my zombie mod.
come on, i have better stuff to do rather then listen to this kind of stuff, i can simply stop the overhauls and good luck playing with CC content as it is.
but indeed, patches can be done, just be carefull because some patches may be simply reverting back many of my changes on my overhauls, thus making useless to use them.
Regarding my questions, this was just me having doubts.
I appreciate you taking time to answer them :)
everyone can have their own opinion, i am just expressing mine.
Wondering if its just me, or there is no way to dismiss the zombies? As my summons seems to be ;ast forever. Sorry if I misread the description regarding this.. Thank you!
"This zombie conjuration now has a truly dangerous and rarely seen magical potential:
now you can summon as many zombies as you want. They don't disappear
after a while and will follow you like a horde (although naturally they
are very slow). As they cannot open doors, you can even summon them as a
horde guarding a fortress, for example, greatly increasing the roleplay
and immersion factor. Also now you can destroy entire cities with your
potentially infinite horde (of course being careful not to overload your
game with too many actors)"