This mod adds new custom unicorns, with customised meshes with unique glows and hand painted textures. Very handpainted, I use ArtRage, not Photoshop!



Version 3.0 is a big update, as I move from getting the designs working to creating a functional unicorn race mod (I still want to work on the designs, but I need proper unicorns to test with properly... ).

Main Mod


Currently not flagged ESL but only because I'm trying not to break anything while I learn how to do something new and I'm going to start mixing up versions otherwise - it's fine to flag it ESL at your end, just be warned that future updates may break things. It's starting to settle down though.

Unicorns of Skyrim 3.0

Main mod, and required master. Adds base records for everything else. Requires a basic unicorn mesh and textures (I've included one in the misc files if you don't have one already - it uses various resources I've updated for here and Ark of Chanterelle).

You do not need this basic unicorn if you only want to use the elementals add on, as it comes with all its own unicorns. You only need it if you want the main mod as a standalone unicorn overhaul or for the ghost unicorns.

Doesn't do anything on its own, you'll need a patch/add on/console commands to add the unicorns to the game.

Unicorns of Skyrim 2.5

Currently this is still the only all in one source of meshes and textures, so I'm leaving it up until I update all that stuff. Only required if you want the Elemental Unicorns add on (i.e. the fun repainted unicorns!). If you use this, overwrite it with the main 3.0 version.

You can also use the individual Updated Meshes and potato textures instead. There will be a handful of missing textures (like eyes), but nothing major.


Optional Add Ons:


These are all optional, if you don't install any of them, the unicorns will just use the default behaviour and appearance. All flagged ESL.

Elemental Unicorns:

Adds all the new redesigned unicorns with unique abilities as standard tame unicorns and as wild unicorns. They have slightly different behaviours and packages and may diverge more in the future, but currently use the same designs. Includes many alternate variants and gender variants for a better range of unicorns. 

You need the meshes and textures from either the update/misc files, or from Unicorns of Skyrim 2.5. 


Ghost Summons

Adds new unicorn ghost summons. These use the default unicorn appearance and Skyrim's vanilla visual effects for a very light weight add on. 

To spawn them in game, you either need to use console commands, or the included spell or power (which also needs console commands right now because... testing!).

Spell name: Summon Ghost Unicorn 

To get the REF ID ingame. hit the ~ key to open the console and type:

help "Summon Ghost Unicorn" 0 spel

The refid will look something like 2D000887 but will be different for every game.

To add the spell or power (your choice) type:

player.addspell REFID

The spell lasts 10min and I need to fix the massive mana cost. The power is once a day, and the unicorn will last 10 hours. I will probably change these after some gameplay testing.

You get a random ghost unicorn, and they all have the player mount faction (so you don't end up chasing it everywhere if you use something like To Tame A Horse or Convenient Horses), and waterwalking. The rest of the abilities vary by time (e.g. storm, frost, flame) and mostly will only show up in combat.

note: currently they act like riding dragons because I forgot I was testing that when I uploaded the file. They are also extremely cowardly and will squeak and flee from under you if danger appears - I'll be adding a 'reliable summons' version, but I am rather enjoying them having some actual personality and not being spammable meat shields. It also balances out the spell a bit, as it would be OP otherwise.



Unicorns in Chanterelle

This patches Unicorns in Skyrim's wild and non wild unicorns into Chanterelle's horse herds and existing unicorn spawns, respectively. Requires Ark of Chanterelle and the Horse Herds add on. It also patches the factions of the new spawns at the same time for better compatibility. This is the only download that currently adds unicorns naturally into the world.

It will spawn the elemental unicorns if you have the add on, and the default unicorn if you only have the main Unicorns in Skyrim mod. It has a chance of still spawning the default unicorn in its original spots.


Patches

There are optional ESL flagged patches for:

• SkyTEST Lite ESL (factions)
• SkyTEST Lite ESL and Chanterelle (combined factions)
• Chanterelle Unicorn Race (overrides my custom race for the static spawn unicorns - the other ones need to keep their behaviour data or they don't make any sense).
  

Textures:

Larger and downsized textures available. I honestly don't see much difference between them for the manes and tails, the handpainted aspect means there's a lot of detail in there and it oversizes well (rather than looking as obviously pixelated) so you can usually get away with the smaller version.  But I am on a potato computer, so YMMV. 

Original Unicorn Textures:

There is an optional download to replace the original unicorn textures (used by various mods at this point, but originally from the old non-SE Skyrim Unicorns). I repainted them at 4K and 2K sizes, and totally repainted the eye because it was too blurry to upscale anyway. I have used some of these in the main mod as well, but not all of them.

You are welcome to re-use these freely in other mods, as they aren't my creations, but I did but a bit of work into recreating them so please credit me if you use them. 






Old rambling below that is still mostly relevant:


The new unicorns:

Currently this mod adds twelve thirteen new unicorns. To spawn them in game, you either need to use the console, use a patch, or overwrite another mod's unicorn mesh.

The unicorns:

• Stone
• Water
• Ice
• Fire
• Black
• Autumn
• Night
• White
• Silver - discontinued in 3.1 and rolled into the White variants
• Gold
• Moss
• Snake
• Purple - discontinued in 3.1 and rolled into the Fire variants
• Ghost
  

You can spawn them in game by using 

player.placeatme UnicornNAME 

e.g. player.placeatme UnicornSnake


I've attempted to give them some unique abilities, but it's a very rough pass and I haven't had much chance to test them (damage resistances, and passive abilities, mostly)

• The water Unicorn has waterwalking - note: if you walk forward it is easy to walk down into the water, just stand still to float back up again. Very useful if you wanted to play in Flooded Skyrim.
• They all also have reduced fall damage as a perk. I'm still too focussed on getting the textures and meshes working to really figure out the balancing of effects, but that will probably happen in future.
• The main mod adds custom Unicorn races, it's just a quick mishmash of deer and horses, I haven't really sat down and worked out the stats much, but they do use my more realistic movement settings from my Best Horse Movement patch (in FOMOD).
  

If you want to use them with a different mod, you either need

• a patch 
• or rename the mesh that you want to use (e.g. unicornwater.nif ) to the same name as the mesh you want to replace (usually unicorn.nif), and then overwrite the other mod. 
  

I'll probably upload them as individual files once I've finished editing them to make that process easier.


Ghost Unicorns - lite standalone version

This is meant as a very light alternative (or a future spell summons add on) that only needs a single default unicorn.nif mesh from any mod, and uses Skyrim's default visual effects to differentiate between the types. Still in testing, but currently you can spawn them from the console using the following editor IDs:

Unicornfirelite
Unicornicelite
Unicornghostlite
Unicornstonelite
Unicorngoldlite
Unicornsilverlite


 If you would like to upgrade the original unicorn directly without downloading all the files here, I have some extra individual retextures over at Chanterelle Fixed Meshes and Potato Textures for Computer Chips - the gold and silver manes are a different texture to the one in this mod, so they'll still look unique. You can also get the white body texture, and or no glow white unicorn horn mesh for a lovely classic white unicorn look. Ark of Chanterelle isn't required, but you'll need either it or this mod or Unicorns SE for the rest of the textures. Or just get the upscaled textures from the optional downloads in this mod, but without any colour changes.



Future plans:

Assuming I don't get bored and wander off, this mod needs me to

• Reduce the number of random extra textures to the minimum actually needed. 
• Repaint some of body textures now I have a much better upscaled guide to work from.
• Finish setting up the custom unicorn race data
• Finish adding custom effects and balancing the different types
• Add patches for other unicorn mods
• Add a way to see them in Skyrim more naturally.
• Get sidetracked and paint sixteen new unicorns and never actually finish learning how to edit meshes.
• Upload original and mini sized versions (I don't think anyone really needs 4K eyes, but I am on a potato computer so what do I know, I'm just the artist).
  

And yes, I am now tempted to make My Little Pony versions of everything.



My Other Mods

Food
Gourmet No Salt For Simple Food - magically upgrade your cooking fires to apply heat to meat without needing salt. 
Gourmet Unsalted and Re-Seasoned begone salt, welcome, the culinary benefits of simple herbs and a low sodium diet
Chocolate Money - Eat Your Gold Survival Cheat omnomnom turn your useless money into delicious warming cocoa foods 
Baked In Mud Crabs - clay baking recipes for Campfire Deliciously hearty traditionally cooked campfire meals

Outfits
Hide Those Ears  Render thine artificial elfish ears (from Goam's Elven Ears) invisible at will in game. Magic!
Outfit Presets for Skyrim Outfit System SE Revived Premade outfit sets for all your cosmetic needs.

Audio
Soft Footed Mammoths - Quieter Mammoth Footsteps - it works for dinosaurs too.
Shut Up Dinosaurs for quieter Solstheim netches and Chanterelle creatures

Visual and Items
Chanterelle Fixed Meshes and Potato Textures - less crashing, less computer meltdowns, less art. Wait.
Baby Dinosaur Skulls for Chanterelle - it's the littlest things that bug you the most. Fix one of them now!

Misc
Restarter's Random Patches - aaaaaaall the patches.
Restarter's Random Patches for Chanterelle - this one has illustrations



Get more fixed meshes and some extra unicorn textures at Chanterelle Fixed Meshes and Potato Textures for Computer Chips