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.
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
Hi Mihail, I am having an issue where the blue eyes for both the horse and the draugr are missing. I think they are somehow appearing on the ground below the creature. I tried reinstalling this mod and started a new save with only SkyUI USSEP and Alternate Start enabled. But still the eyes are missing. Do you have any ideas?
it is a mod incompatibility for sure, but a weird one if you don't have more than the 2 mentioned mods enabled, friend but if you still have the files on the game folder from another mods, one may still be causing it, even without their .esps enabled.
I know the cause of this phenomenon Light Limit Fix mode and Particle Patch mode These two modes that interfere with the light source are ruining the glow of this mode This is a common phenomenon for Draugundrs
But it's strange that it doesn't work when I only used SkyUI USSEP and Alternate Start Maybe must something interfering with the light source If you use MO2, you should also check the overwrite folder, and in the worst case, there may be some leftovers somewhere and you may have to format and reinstall the OS
I tried several times to fix it But it was impossible for an amateur like me...
No... In the end, the same thing happened to me Even the Draugundrs's eyes, which I thought were the same problem, were fine, but the Draugr Horseman and Helhest's eyes disappeared and were stuck to the soles Upon closer inspection, the Draugundrs' eyes were fine, but they were also stuck to the soles God, why are you giving me this ordeal?
hi mihail. i just tried this mod draugr horsemen look awesome
only 1 complaint. is that am playing at level 100. they are capping out at level 35. so i need them to level scale,
also i tried your crow=guy from the spell tome, he looks fabulous has a nice customized crow attack, yet he caps at level 35.
you did the bulk of the work, created the animations, and set the foundation for the new creature, thats 90% of it right there,
but its not up to the level of 100 compatible.
but i think the modder community can step in and add a level list, i see people take your mods, and texture them, there is this one guy that does it all the time, i forgot his name,
but the goal is exactly that, not all enemies lore wise should get even close to lvl 100. they have their limitations, you are the main character, the dragonborn, you can reach such lvls, they can't. draugr horsemen are just regular draugr, making it lvl untill lvl 100 would put them above dragonpriests that have fixed lvl of 50.
i think im going to start again at level 1 will these monsters spawn for me ? or is there a level minimum requirement ?
i think im going to start playing a Level 1 Maximum Mod for awhile. that looks like the best most funnest option right now.
you have a 100 hitpoints or whatever, its just like real life, anyone can get you even a simple wolf pack. your priorities are straight, get yourself some iron armor, some potions of healing and a durable axe. if you can get blessed by vampirism or learn powerful magics... All the better. you will have your wolf furs ready for skinning in no time,
but what i realized that if i'm running around Skyrim with 1,000 Health (Heh) and I have all these magics protecting me, there is Like Zero % chance I will ever die. so it lacks a definitive challenge mode.
which brings me back to this mod, hey why not try it again.. if they spawn at level 1 , that would be perfectly acceptable for my necromantic campaign setting. right now i'm using your infant dragrs, rats, cats, flesh atro, vigilants, cows, frogs to be honest, i think Rats are my favorite mod and most essential. in every little dungeon catacomb or streetway, they provide a useful bit of liveliness. i think frogs come in my 2nd favorite, they are hard to see and notice, but i can hear them well.
i tried to post my first mods ever on the nexus yesterday. a silly stupid mod that took me 5 minutes to make, but i'm really going to use it, and some fun utility spells. i've been on the nexus for 10 + years never tried to post a single mod in my life .
**edit, you did crows. you tackled them as best as you could. i want crows. to walk on the ground,. i want them to lift in to the air periodically and land on the house or fence or fly in a circle, (i want them targetable in the air too like a dragon is, not just a painting of it,) then periodically land on the ground again. that's Next Level Skyrim. just think dragon, really tiny, with no attacks, Hehe...
I wonder if the difficulty patch still works with it.
Edit: I finally encountered them, and they were in fact, not weak and were consistently one shotting me through heavy plate at level 30. They do die easily enough though, very glass cannon. So overall I say these are fantastic. They look and feel like part of the game, are placed in great spots, create interesting and fantastic fights- but they hit very very very hard. There are some areas where it places too many spawns of them which is a problem, but if not for that I think they would be fine for a high difficulty challenge enemy. The two before the labyrinthian dragon boss for example- that felt good. The small army of them attacking you during said dragon fight? Not so much. They out DPS the boss so it was essentially impossible without parry mods.
there is no need of a difficulty patch, friend, they allways were relatively weak enemies. except of course if the load order of the user is full of combat mods that mess with modded enemies.
This. It fits the theme though. As draugr they're not particularly tanky but they are kinda charging you on horseback. Was not expecting their dmg the first time I came up against them lol.
worksa, are you playing with combat or difficulty mods? at lvl 10 they are not able to kill me easely, much less when i am on lvl such as 30. their damage is indeed low, well, low as a draugr mounted on a horse can realistic be, but indeed low, is a thing you can literally check on their settings, on tesedit, it is not a matter of opinion. also, if you are playing on legendary edition, then i may believe they can turn into very difficult foes, because even a wolf does, but legendary edition is a non-lore friendly difficulty, where nothing makes sense, neither is realistic. in my personal opinion, skyrim ends in master difficulty, legendary is just artificial difficulty that turns the game into a bad experience.
since i believe images speak louder than words, lets analyse together the stats of the horsemen:
Starting with the weapons, as you can see the Glaive they use causes basically same damage of a Draugr Greatsword used by Draugrs all the time, just 1 point more because is a stronger weapon with bigger reach;
They have no natural damage, so the attacks only cause the damage that the weapon has as damage value. As you can see, most attacks keep the 18 dmg points, and the main ones duplicate it, like the horse stomp, so on these you get 36 points of damage, what is still low even for lower characters and those power attacks are easely avoidable;
As enemies they start at lvl 13, and scale to you untill lvl 35, so at lvl 30 you are facing Draugr Cavalry of lvl 30, to maintain the challenge, like vanilla Draugr do. Their stats are a relative combination of what the stats of a draugr and a draugr horse together would have, and at their weaker state they are comparable in health to a bear, that stands at lvl 12 in vanilla.
As you can see, except if you use lots of mods changing difficulty, or if you are playing on Legendary Edition where nothing makes sense, they are indeed pretty weak, or at least pretty average, enemies to face in the world.
Dude, I literally went through the Labyrinthian last night, and they were not fun to deal with (during the boss fight) lmao.
If I didn't have a follower and a dog, its really impossible (or nearly impossible) to beat alone. They're really strong and ironically were a bigger problem than the boss dragon. The dodge mods help me have a better chance at evading but man it was really difficult.
Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the cavalry encounters I find outside. They're nicely made
Just for extra context I don't have mods that increase their health and damage but they hit really hard and fast considering I had no mods that alter their stats. The only combat mod I have is MCO and Valhalla Combat, so they don't adjust health and damage
edit: Apparently they have a natural perk which gives them increased damage so I suppose that's why they hit a lot harder than normal despite the weapon stats you showed earlier, which is found at the npc itself and not the race; plus their speed makes it even scarier when dealing with them in Labyrinthian fashion
the perk is just a muliplier that oscilates between 1,75 to 2,5, friend. if the base damage of the cavalry is 18, the multiplication results in values around 40, around the same of a vanilla bear, nothing special. the only one that has base damage of 40, that can be increased via perk to around 70/80 is the horse stomping, extremely easy to avoid because how long it takes to be executed, and its still a very normal value.
are you playing on legendary? if yes, i strongly suggest returning to lower lvls, there all stuff goes crazy and non-immersive, regarding damage values and stuff such as that.
Lost several dead is dead characters to these draugr horse charges, at night, hard to see them coming in fast at weird angles through the trees in first person. :) Nice adrenaline kick to finish the run or escape with a story to tell (hopefully someday). Thanks for the great mod.
My question is, how did you get these NPCs to fight on horseback by default, but nobody else has figured out how to make other NPCs work with mounted combat? Great mod btw.
I've installed the mod and completely forgotten about it, had a great brick laying moment later when I got charged by a bunch of these mad lads. they're delightfully terrifying
63 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.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
but if you still have the files on the game folder from another mods, one may still be causing it, even without their .esps enabled.
I know the cause of this phenomenon
Light Limit Fix mode
and Particle Patch mode
These two modes that interfere with the light source are ruining the glow of this mode
This is a common phenomenon for Draugundrs
But it's strange that it doesn't work when I only used SkyUI USSEP and Alternate Start
Maybe must something interfering with the light source
If you use MO2, you should also check the overwrite folder, and in the worst case, there may be some leftovers somewhere and you may have to format and reinstall the OS
I tried several times to fix it
But it was impossible for an amateur like me...
Even the Draugundrs's eyes, which I thought were the same problem, were fine, but the Draugr
Horseman and Helhest's eyes disappeared and were stuck to the soles
Upon closer inspection, the Draugundrs' eyes were fine, but they were also stuck to the soles
God, why are you giving me this ordeal?
i just tried this mod
draugr horsemen look awesome
only 1 complaint.
is that am playing at level 100. they are capping out at level 35.
so i need them to level scale,
also i tried your crow=guy from the spell tome, he looks fabulous has a nice customized crow attack, yet he caps at level 35.
you did the bulk of the work, created the animations, and set the foundation for the new creature, thats 90% of it right there,
but its not up to the level of 100 compatible.
but i think the modder community can step in and add a level list,
i see people take your mods, and texture them, there is this one guy that does it all the time, i forgot his name,
thanks for the great mods.
but the goal is exactly that, not all enemies lore wise should get even close to lvl 100.
they have their limitations, you are the main character, the dragonborn, you can reach such lvls, they can't.
draugr horsemen are just regular draugr, making it lvl untill lvl 100 would put them above dragonpriests that have fixed lvl of 50.
will these monsters spawn for me ? or is there a level minimum requirement ?
i think im going to start playing a Level 1 Maximum Mod for awhile.
that looks like the best most funnest option right now.
you have a 100 hitpoints or whatever, its just like real life, anyone can get you even a simple wolf pack. your priorities are straight,
get yourself some iron armor, some potions of healing and a durable axe.
if you can get blessed by vampirism or learn powerful magics... All the better. you will have your wolf furs ready for skinning in no time,
but what i realized that if i'm running around Skyrim with 1,000 Health (Heh) and I have all these magics protecting me, there is Like Zero % chance I will ever die. so it lacks a definitive challenge mode.
which brings me back to this mod, hey why not try it again.. if they spawn at level 1 , that would be perfectly acceptable for my necromantic campaign setting.
right now i'm using your infant dragrs, rats, cats, flesh atro, vigilants, cows, frogs
to be honest, i think Rats are my favorite mod and most essential. in every little dungeon catacomb or streetway, they provide a useful bit of liveliness. i think frogs come in my 2nd favorite, they are hard to see and notice, but i can hear them well.
i tried to post my first mods ever on the nexus yesterday. a silly stupid mod that took me 5 minutes to make, but i'm really going to use it, and some fun utility spells. i've been on the nexus for 10 + years never tried to post a single mod in my life .
**edit, you did crows. you tackled them as best as you could.
i want crows. to walk on the ground,. i want them to lift in to the air periodically and land on the house or fence or fly in a circle, (i want them targetable in the air too like a dragon is, not just a painting of it,) then periodically land on the ground again.
that's Next Level Skyrim.
just think dragon, really tiny, with no attacks,
Hehe...
i agree, sometimes is cool to start from lvl 1 again, it's a new challenge.
have fun
Edit: I finally encountered them, and they were in fact, not weak and were consistently one shotting me through heavy plate at level 30. They do die easily enough though, very glass cannon.
So overall I say these are fantastic. They look and feel like part of the game, are placed in great spots, create interesting and fantastic fights- but they hit very very very hard.
There are some areas where it places too many spawns of them which is a problem, but if not for that I think they would be fine for a high difficulty challenge enemy. The two before the labyrinthian dragon boss for example- that felt good.
The small army of them attacking you during said dragon fight? Not so much. They out DPS the boss so it was essentially impossible without parry mods.
except of course if the load order of the user is full of combat mods that mess with modded enemies.
their damage is indeed low, well, low as a draugr mounted on a horse can realistic be, but indeed low, is a thing you can literally check on their settings, on tesedit, it is not a matter of opinion.
also, if you are playing on legendary edition, then i may believe they can turn into very difficult foes, because even a wolf does, but legendary edition is a non-lore friendly difficulty, where nothing makes sense, neither is realistic.
in my personal opinion, skyrim ends in master difficulty, legendary is just artificial difficulty that turns the game into a bad experience.
Starting with the weapons, as you can see the Glaive they use causes basically same damage of a Draugr Greatsword
used by Draugrs all the time, just 1 point more because is a stronger weapon with bigger reach;
They have no natural damage, so the attacks only cause the damage that the weapon has as damage value.
As you can see, most attacks keep the 18 dmg points, and the main ones duplicate it, like the horse stomp,
so on these you get 36 points of damage, what is still low even for lower characters and those power attacks are
easely avoidable;
As enemies they start at lvl 13, and scale to you untill lvl 35, so at lvl 30 you are facing Draugr Cavalry
of lvl 30, to maintain the challenge, like vanilla Draugr do. Their stats are a relative combination
of what the stats of a draugr and a draugr horse together would have, and at their weaker state
they are comparable in health to a bear, that stands at lvl 12 in vanilla.
As you can see, except if you use lots of mods changing difficulty, or if you are playing on Legendary Edition where
nothing makes sense, they are indeed pretty weak, or at least pretty average, enemies to face in the world.
If I didn't have a follower and a dog, its really impossible (or nearly impossible) to beat alone. They're really strong and ironically were a bigger problem than the boss dragon. The dodge mods help me have a better chance at evading but man it was really difficult.
Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the cavalry encounters I find outside. They're nicely made
Just for extra context I don't have mods that increase their health and damage but they hit really hard and fast considering I had no mods that alter their stats. The only combat mod I have is MCO and Valhalla Combat, so they don't adjust health and damage
edit: Apparently they have a natural perk which gives them increased damage so I suppose that's why they hit a lot harder than normal despite the weapon stats you showed earlier, which is found at the npc itself and not the race; plus their speed makes it even scarier when dealing with them in Labyrinthian fashion
if the base damage of the cavalry is 18, the multiplication results in values around 40, around the same of a vanilla bear, nothing special.
the only one that has base damage of 40, that can be increased via perk to around 70/80 is the horse stomping, extremely easy to avoid because how long it takes to be executed, and its still a very normal value.
are you playing on legendary? if yes, i strongly suggest returning to lower lvls, there all stuff goes crazy and non-immersive, regarding damage values and stuff such as that.
Mihail's Draugr Cavalry - Remove Windward Ruins Horsemen
also when the pack returns, this one wil be included on it.