About this mod

Modular gameplay mechanics & tweaks that feel like they came from the vanilla game and level the playing field between you and NPCs

Requirements
Permissions and credits
Changelogs
SUMMER: Skyrim Universally ‘Mursive Mechanical Expansion & Recalibration

I'm deprecating this mod but leaving the component mods, and have made them all standalone.












Modular gameplay mechanics expansion and balance overhaul, including:
  • Aim Shake and Stamina-Based Marksmanship: Your aim will shake and Stamina will drain while drawing cross/bows. You will be unable to draw cross/bows at low Stamina. Marksmanship requires skill and training.
  • Intuitive Defense: Defense is more intuitive. Blocking and Armor Ratings are more intuitive and better balanced between you and NPCs. Blocking requires Stamina. Wards block melee attacks.
  • Disguise: Use armor and clothing to disguise yourself as a member of various factions, creating a new stealth option that scales to Speechcraft rather than Sneak skill.
  • Dodge: Dodge attacks with the Sprint button, creating an additional timing-based option for defense.
  • Dwarven Engineering: Craft Dwarven Automata with the right knowledge and Smithing skills. Control them with special Staves found in Dwarven ruins. Power the Staves with Soul Gems.
  • Followers: Recruit a party of multiple followers and/or animals, command them with your voice, and equip them in battle.
  • Knockout: Knock out unsuspecting and weakened enemies with a fist, weapon, or spell. Be merciful, or do what you will with them.
  • Magic and Necromancy: Legacy spells from Morrowind and Oblivion. New spells based on Skyrim's shouts. A new necromancy system that lets you harvest body parts from the dead to create undead thralls and lead an army of the undead.
  • Parry: Parry attacks with carefully-timed counterattacks. Play as a dual wielder or spellsword without sacrificing defensive options.
  • Reflex: Your reflexes will alert you when enemies power attack or shoot at you
  • Speechcraft and Yielding: Use speechcraft to calm or intimidate enemies, beg for money, challenge people to brawls, or rob them. Enemies now actually yield, and can be looted or recruited. Lead a more pacifist existence if you choose.
  • Potion Toxicity: Potions cause toxicity that creates consequences for potion use and rewards investment in Alchemy and Poison Resistance.
  • Traps: Pick up, craft, and deploy traps to slow, trip, manipulate, and blow up your enemies.
  • Unarmed: Unarmed attacks deal stamina damage, can knock down opponents, and will level One-Handed skill, making Unarmed a viable playstyle.
  • UnLock: Lockpicking requirements gate your ability to access loot. Un/Lock spells and lock smashing provide alternatives, but with greater limitations to reward specialization in Lockpicking.
  • Racial Skills and Leveling: Races are now more distinct in their abilities and more diverse in their skills. Characters start weaker and without spells, letting you choose your path in the world.
  • Movement: Movement and sneaking are harder and have stamina costs. Combat stamina costs have been made less punishing.
  • Costs: Things cost more. Gold has weight.



How it Works
  • Modular: Download the main file here and any modules you want from the link. Ignore the rest. Most features are customizable in-game through a configuration menu.
  • Universal: Almost every feature can be used by NPCs, and will be if Spell Perk Item Distributor is installed.
  • Lore-friendly: New mechanics are rooted in the systems of previous Elder Scrolls games, or at least blend in through references to their lore.
  • Compatible: Minimal edits to the base game. New mechanics, spells, and items triggered in-game to reduce the need for patches.
  • All features work in VR




 Combat Modules 



Parry attacks with carefully-timed counterattacks. Play as a dual wielder or spellsword without sacrificing defensive options.




Dodge attacks with the Sprint button, creating an additional timing-based option for defense.




Aim Shake and Stamina-Based Marksmanship: Your aim will shake and Stamina will drain while drawing cross/bows. You will be unable to draw cross/bows at low Stamina. Marksmanship requires skill and training.




Intuitive Defense: Blocking and Armor Ratings are visible and better balanced between you and NPCs. Blocking requires Stamina. Wards block melee attacks.




Unarmed attacks deal stamina damage, can knock down opponents, and will level One-Handed skill, making Unarmed a viable playstyle.




Your Reflexes will alert you when enemies power attack or shoot at you.





Legacy spells from Morrowind and Oblivion. New spells based on Skyrim's shouts. A new necromancy system that lets you harvest body parts from the dead to create undead thralls and lead an army of the undead. The following 5 are one large module.



The School of Destruction has been expanded with touch-range spells, debuff spells, new damage types otherwise only available as Shouts, and weather control spells.




The school of Alteration has been expanded with spells that create new movement options, manipulate time, and manipulate your and enemies' abilities and items.




The school of Illusion has been expanded with spells to blind, distract, and manipulate enemies, and spells that create non-lethal approaches to combat.




The school of Restoration has been expanded with spells that augment your and allies' stats, turn enemies' spells to your advantage, poison enemies to create offensive options for Restoration mages, and even bring people back to life as a benevolent alternative to Conjuration.




The school of Conjuration has been expanded with new bound armor and weapons, spells to command Daedra and the dead, and to trap souls more efficiently. It also includes a new Necromancy system that caters to characters willing to seek power at the cost of their reputation.




Potions cause toxicity that creates consequences for potion use and rewards investment in Alchemy and Poison Resistance.





 Stealth Modules 



Use armor and clothing to disguise yourself as a member of various factions, creating a new stealth option that scales to Speechcraft rather than Sneak skill.




Knock out unsuspecting and weakened enemies with a fist, weapon, or spell. Be merciful, or do what you will with them.




UnLock: Lockpicking requirements gate your ability to access loot. Un/Lock spells and lock smashing provide alternatives, but with greater limitations to reward specialization in Lockpicking.





 Speechcraft Modules 



Speechcraft and Yielding: Use Speechcraft to calm or intimidate enemies, beg for money, challenge people to brawls, or rob them. Enemies now actually yield, and can be looted or recruited. Lead a more pacifist existence if you choose.




Followers: Recruit a party of multiple followers and/or animals, command them with your voice, and equip them in battle.





 Crafting Modules 



Pick up, craft, and deploy traps to slow, trip, manipulate, and blow up your enemies.




Dwarven Engineering: Craft Dwarven Automata with the right knowledge and Smithing skills. Control them with special Staves found in Dwarven ruins. Power the Staves with Soul Gems.




 Recalibration Modules 



Racial Skills and LevelingRaces are now more distinct in their abilities and more diverse in their skills. Characters start weaker and without spells, letting you choose your path in the world.





Movement: Movement and sneaking are harder.
If using this module with the Skills module, you must load the Skills module after (lower than) this one, otherwise it will overwrite the Abilities added by Skills. Skills automatically includes movement speed changes from this module.



Stamina: Jumping now costs stamina. Bashes and power attacks cost less.
Simple tweaks that pair well with a variety of other modules, especially Dodge, Reflex, and Parry



Costs: Things cost more. Gold has weight.
Simple tweaks to prices to encourage use of skills from the Speechcraft and Followers modules.




 Installation & Use 



Requirements
  • Mandatory: SKSE or SKSE VR
  • Recommended: SkyUI or SkyUI VR for the Mod Configuration Menu
  • Optional: SPID or SPID VR to allow NPCs to use features from the Aimshake, Defense, Dodge, Knockout, Magic, Parry, Reflexes, Stamina, Toxicity, Unarmed modules.
  • Optional: PowerOfThree's Tweaks and/or Papyrus Extender (or PowerOfThree's Tweaks VR and/or Papyrus Extender VR, both of which require the base versions for Special Edition at left to be installed) to enhance certain features in the Magic and Skills modules. The module can be used with or without them, no patch or separate version is needed.
  • Optional: SSE Engine Fixes or Engine Fixes VR to fix a vanilla bug with blocking, and ensure the Damage Resistance from blocking shown in the Defense module is aligned to what is actually happening in game. This module works without it, but assumes you are using it.
  • Optional: SKSE Address Library or Address Library VR, required for PowerOfThree's Tweaks, Papryus Extender, and Engine Fixes if using those.
  • The main module includes Modern Brawl Bug Fix by EnaiSiaion, which allows many of the modules that affect NPCs to work in a more streamlined way. Many other mods include this, you can load this before or after them, doesn't matter.
  • Any modules that include or forward changes from other mods will be noted on their description pages.
  • Various other optional dependencies noted on the pages of specific modules that use them.



Installation
  • Download the main SUMMER.zip file here. This contains the configuration menu, and distributes items from modules to NPCs and throughout the game world.
  • Download whichever modules you want to use. All can be used independently. Load order does not matter unless otherwise noted. Currently: Skill should be loaded after Movement if using both of those.
  • If building a bashed patch for other mods that edit leveled lists, don't include SUMMER or any of the modules. All edits to leveled lists are triggered when you load a module for the first time and do not require patches.
  • If you want to test features of the mod, use the testing functions in the configuration menu to add items, perks, and spells directly to your character.



Updating
  • Any versions labeled V3.x will be compatible with all other V3 versions.
  • V3 modules are not compatible with the V2 main file or modules. If you were playing with V2, you'll need to start a new save.
  • Modules can be installed mid-save. Only exception: Leveling changes from the Skills module will not work on existing saves, though added abilities will.
  • Like with any mod, I don't recommend removing modules from an existing save. Most modules contain options to deactivate their features which can be accessed through the configuration menu.



Skyrim VR
All features work in VR and require SKSE VR, with any additional requirements noted on their pages



Compatibility and Troubleshooting
Found a bug? Please submit a bug report here to help, and share your mod list and a copy of your Papyrus log from a play session where you encountered the bug. Info on how to enable Papyrus logging can be found here. I generally won't make patches for a mod I'm not using, but others are free to upload their own or to publish tweaked versions of the modules, no permission required.