Description

This is a ZEdit UPF patch that dynamically randomizes the placement of standing stones throughout Skyrim. After installing and generating the patch you will find 10 of the 13 standing stones throughout Skyrim are no longer in their default and expected locations. Instead, the placements of 10 standing stones will be swapped amongst the default Vanilla positions. There are no new placements added to the game (although I'd like to work on that in the distant future). The patch utilizes ZEdit to assign the placements dynamically such that the results will usually vary between playthroughs. The Fighter, The Thief, and The Mage will be unaffected by this patch.

I use the term birthstone in a vague reference to Oblivion, although they are more correctly known as the Standing Stones and sometimes doomstones in Skyrim.

Like many other patches and tweaks present on the Nexus, this mod is intended to keep Skyrim fresh for players who are already familiar with the game but are revisiting it for new play-throughs or content runs. While this mod may be installed mid-game, it is ideally used in new or recent play-throughs before all birthstones have been discovered and pinned on the world map.

As an example, upon generating and installing the patch I may come upon The Atronach where The Lady previously was. In another user's playthrough, they may find The Shadow where The Lady previously was. The patch will swap the placements of stones using a mapping determined when the patch was generated.

For veteran users who know the precise locations of all standing stones, this mod is not as desirable nor useful. For most users, there are likely a few standing stones that are frequented in each playthrough. This mod will force you to explore Skyrim to find your favorite standing stones. When combined with other mods such as Andromeda and Frostfall, this exploration is more rewarding.

Recommended Mods

• Andromeda adds new and interesting standing stone effects, and also tweaks their balance to make all birthstones useful and viable. With Andromeda, you will appreciate finding more than just a few stones (such as The Atronach) dotted throughout Skyrim.
• Frostfall adds survivability elements to Skyrim. By utilizing Frostfall and disabling fast-travel it will become more challenging to locate the birthstones you desire the most in Skyrim. You will need to plan your adventures more carefully with regard to storms and the bitter cold.
• Word Wall Randomizer is a randomizer for word walls. I have not yet tried this mod in my personal play-through, but it appears to be stable and I'd highly recommend pairing it up with this randomizer to get a truly fresh play-through.
  

Recommended Tools

Mator Smash may resolve any conflicts on a record level that occur between this mod and another. This resolution may be critical for some (but not all) playthroughs. However, if you do not use this tool you may still uninstall this module should it cause trouble in your playthrough. Wrye Bash is the more traditional alternative to Mator Smash, so feel free to go with that too if you're more comfortable with it.

Instructions

• Install ZEdit
• Download this patch
• Add this module to ZEdit and restart the application
• Generate (or redo) your zpatch.esp patch
• [Optional] Back-up your zpatch.esp.
  

Required tools

• This mod requires ZEdit, which allows users to dynamically generate patches that are unique to their playthroughs.
  

Uninstallation

• Just delete your zpatch.esp or re-generate a new zpatch without this mod enabled in ZEdit.
• The standing stones will revert to their vanilla locations.
  

Reinstallation

• Delete your zpatch.esp or regenerate a new zpatch without this mod enabled in ZEdit.
• Start up Skyrim again and reload your latest save
• ! Save your game after the above steps !
• Regenerate a new zpatch.esp with this mod enabled in ZEdit.
  

Compatibility

• Compatible with Andromeda. Not compatible with any mods that add entirely new birthstones (but may be soon).
  

Credits

• Credit to Mator for both authoring ZEdit and UPF, and providing guidance and advice on how to use the tools. Without some of his dedicated time I doubt I alone would been able to complete this patch.
  

Author Comment (March 2021)
I've been using this patch for over 100 hours in my current play-throughs without trouble and will no longer be referring to it as beta. I have a couple plans for this mod for sometime later this year. Feel free to use the comments for suggestions as well. The two features I'm mulling over are:

• Allowing the Guardian Stones to be replaced (may require an optional script though)
• New placements of stones, or a subset of stones. This would require some pretty complicated ZEdit logic though.