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I've always thought that Winstad Manor was the perfect Hearthfires house, with it's misty moors and the sounds of the waves crashing all around. It's the perfect location for a Frost Mage, Necromancer, or Vampire- dark, icy, mysterious and beautiful.

Yet I've always hated the interior of the house! All of the Hearthfire Houses seem woefully drab, absurdly green, and full of useless clutter. Worse still, most of the mods we have focus on Lakeview Manor, so I had no choice but to make my own mod for Winstad. And 1 year later,  my overhaul of Windstad is finally complete. The end result is a warm, inviting house that feels more fitting of the Dragonborn. Not overly fancy, not overly simplistic. It's just right. I now consider this mod in it's final version, there will be no additional improvements or updates from 1.8 unless some major bug is found.

Major Changes I made:

Exterior

Moved the Horkers away from the shoreline and added functional lighting to the exterior. Now you can actually see the lighting, even if you are using a mod which makes nights darker. Version 1.2 added additional lighting and extra ore mine. Version 1.4 adds a path from the main road near the Dawnstar Imperial Camp, all the way past Highgate Ruins to the house. It's got it's own lighting as well, so you will always find your way back home even in the darkest of nights. Version 1.4 also adds safe storage near the outdoor smelter. Version 1.4 adds a new campsite across the from the fishery. The area has been completely redone and landscaped. You've got a lovely view for three, as well as roaring fire and some choice wines. Take your spouse or followers and enjoy the scenery. Version 1.8 also adds some safe storage at the camp, because I personally have a habit of collecting building materials long before I buy the house. Some storage and lighting have been moved to play well with Windstad Exterior Additions. Also added in 1.8 is a letter and gemstones in the bandit house next to the Stormcloak camp for immersion when playing with Windstad Mine.

Lighting

Added day and night cycles throughout the house, similar to the lighting system in ELFX. I begged the author of that mod to change the Hearthfire lighting for years now, but since they never have I finally learned how to do it myself. It's not easy in a house like this that is so big, but I didn't want to have any flickering lights or strange issues. Therefore, the Lighting might be too dark or bright for you depending on your ENB or reshade settings. There are areas of the house that don't have much light at all, but that's actually what I was going for. I'm willing to make other versions of the lighting if enough people request it, but so far everyone seems like to it as is. This mod is totally compatible with ELFX, obviously, as of now.

Entrance

Less clutter, more functionality. I added three additional shrines- Mephala, Azura and Boethiah. The entrance feels now more like a sitting room than a trophy room, but there is room for your beloved treasures here as well. Added a small bookcase and 3 functional planters, idles, plus Morthal Banners because you're the Thane, after all. 

Dining Room

Added six additional seats, and replaced that hideous fireplace with one slightly reminiscent of Dragonsreach. Less clutter, more organized furniture one would find in a dining room. Bright firelight at night, more toned down during the day. You'll now hear Tavern Music, because if you hire a bard, it just makes sense. Version 1.2 adds additional idles for the bard, pets, and the bard's audience.

 

 Kitchen/Backroom

Added a kitchen with a bar, oven, and plenty of storage, so now you don't have to build one. Your followers and spouse can relax at the bar and have themselves a nice drink too. Custom storage for things such as wines, ingredients, baked goods, bread and veggies.

Upstairs

Remodeled upstairs to be more attractive and organized. You'll still get the alchemy and enchanting tables, along with some additional storage for ingredients, soulgems, jewelry and potions. More storage as well, and less useless clutter.

Bedrooms

Added doors for extra privacy, and a Nocturnal shine in very back room. Added an additional bed speficially for the Housecarl, since he didn't have any designated bed. Tagged the single child's beds as actual child's beds, since I used to get really annoyed when someone else would sleep in there and my kids couldn't. More storage and lighting for the kids.

Compatibility/Load Order

Not compatible with anything that changes the main hall or lighting of Winstad, including Improved Hearthfire Lighting. Compatible with mods that changes any of the three wings if they have vanilla lighting. Load this near the bottom of your load order. Be sure to load it AFTER Alternate Start or you won't see the lighting changes. Cleaned and forwarded changes from USSEP. Note 2/22/21- This file's planters conflict with Schlongs of Skyrim if you character is a Nord. No, I won't be fixing it because I don't even know how it conflicts, but apparently it does. 

Upate: If you use Snazzy Furniture Overhaul, the full version adds a rockinghorse chair to the upstairs bedroom and thus, conflicts with Tranquil Windstad. Only choose the replacer version if you want to use both files. 

How to Install: 

If you want the lighting and landscape changes, install this file at the start of a new game. If you don't care about that, you can install it before you build the house. People have reported that when they had never visited the swamp before, the landscape changes still showed up.

Things you can build:

Entrance: Bench, Weapon Racks.
Main Hall: Dining Table and Chairs, Mannequin, Display Case, Chair, Corner Shelves.
Main Hall Bedrooms: All bedroom furniture EXCEPT Tall Shelf , Bookcase , and Tall Shelf With Displace Case. Things will be floating until you build the furniture- that's normal.
Basement: You can skip building the goat horn lights. I have have put in new lighting and they are not needed.

That's it, you're done. Sit back and enjoy your new home!