About this mod
Zedit patcher to separate bows and crossbows into 6 different types with their own mechanics, strengths, and weaknesses to pave the way for different playstyles.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
bows and crossbows have distinct types and the types affect things like effective range, damage, detection, crit rolls, attack speed, movement speed.
These different attributes would force ranged players to choose their load outs for encounters depending on environment and opponents, and also influence character builds.
After my last campaign where I played a ranger(for the first time), I decided to boot up skyrim and try a serious archer build to replicate the joy I experienced. Too bad no joy ever came to me. I realized that combat archery in this game just sucks. My play style ended up being sneak attack x times-> get detected, switch weapons or die. I wanted more variability.
In vanilla skyrim that is nowhere to be found. A couple of overhauls have been made to address this but the changes are so drastic that compatibility
becomes a nightmare. This mod was made to address that by adding some PnP mechanics to ranged weapons and using zedit to make it compatible
with all load orders.
to replace the audio files in the fx folders with your own.
Max arrows in actor increased to 100
Arrow duration increased from 10 -> 120 seconds
Arrow recovery chance -> 0 .This will stop enemies magically getting your arrows
Enhanced crossbows armor pen is decreased from 50% ->10% as armor pen is now dependent on crossbow type + tier.
The default 50% player only crossbow stagger ability is removed. Different tiers offer different % chance now.
Bows and crossbows drain stamina/s when drawing/reloading when enabled in the patcher(enabled by default)
Longbows: 6/s
Greatbow: 11/s
Light Xbows :8/s
Heavy Xbow: 9/s
Siege Xbow: 12/s
Changes have been made to Ranger, QuickShot, and Eagle Eye(and their corresponding versions in ordinator, vokrii, and adamant). They now provide passive incremental buffs.
(The Patcher will resolve the compatibility issues so no need to worry if you use the above 3 perk mods, or vanilla.)
Eagle eye: The player now gains increased magnification passively starting at level 20 with magnitude depending on equipped weapon type.
ShortBow/Light Crossbow:
30% magnification unlocked at archery level 20
40% magnification unlocked at archery level 40
50% magnification unlocked at archery level 60
LongBows/Heavy Crossbow:
30% magnification unlocked at archery level 20
50% magnification unlocked at archery level 40
70% magnification unlocked at archery level 60
GreatBows/ Siege Crossbows:
30% magnification unlocked at archery level 20
60% magnification unlocked at archery level 40
90% magnification unlocked at archery level 60
Ranger: All applicable actors now suffer decreasing move penalty when aiming ranged weapons passively as their archery skill grows.
ShortBow/Light Crossbow:
40% speed reduction at archery skill level < 20
30% speed reduction at archery skill level < 40
15% speed reduction at archery skill level < 60
0% speed reduction at archery skill level >60
LongBows/Heavy Crossbow:
40% speed reduction at archery skill level < 20
30% speed reduction at archery skill level < 40
20% speed reduction at archery skill level < 60
10% speed reduction at archery skill level >60
GreatBows/ Siege Crossbows:
40% speed reduction at archery skill level < 20
30% speed reduction at archery skill level < 40
20% speed reduction at archery skill level > 60
Quickshot: All applicable actors now draw/reload ranged weapons faster passively as their archery skill grows.
ShortBow/Light Crossbow:
Draw/reload 10% faster at archery level 30
Draw/reload 20% faster at archery level 50
Draw/reload 30% faster at archery level 60
LongBows/Heavy Crossbow:
Draw/reload 5% faster at archery level 30
Draw/reload 10% faster at archery level 50
Draw/reload 20% faster at archery level 60
GreatBows/ Siege Crossbows:
No reduction for these weapons.
Bows:
Devastating Shot: 2/4/6/8% chance to inflict a heavy stagger attack granted at archery levels 20/40/60/80
Penetrating Shot: 2.5/5/7.5/10% chance to inflict an attack that ignores armor at archery levels 20/40/60/80
Critical Plus: Critical hits deal bonus damage 25/50/75% of archery level depending on bow type.
Crossbows
Improvised Weapon: Crossbows deal bonus bash damage equal to 25/50/75% or archery level depending on crossbow type.
In PnP, ranged weapons have a dropoff point where you the farther you go outside your weapons preferred attack range, the more of an accuracy penalty you take.
Eeffective range has been implemented through projectile speeds. Different projectile types/tiers have speed variance.(You can change speeds in projectiles.json to customize to your liking.)
Projectile Type Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 | Tier 4 |
Short 3600 4200 4800 5400
Light 4800 5400 6000 6600
Long 6000 6600 7200 7800
Heavy 9000 9600 10200 10800
Great 11400
Siege 12000
Each ranged weapon type is separated into 4 tiers with the exception of siege and great weapons. The higher the tier, the greater the weapon performs.
Weapon properties are only activated when using ammunition of the same type i.e Short Arrows + Short bows.
Using mismatched ammunition will result in a damage penalty of 50% (I.e Long arrow + short bow) and 90% for great/siege weapons.Weapons perform at their max potential(Matching Tiered Ammunition Bonus) when using ammunition of the same tier i.e Short Arrow T1 + Short bow T1.
Short Bows:
Special Properties:
Critical Threat II: Critical chance increase up to 15%
Critical Shot I: Critical hits deal bonus damage equal to 25% of current archery skill level
Strengths:
Mobility
Fast draw speed
Silent
Weaknesses:
Low effective ranged
Low damage
No interrupts until later tiers.
Shortbows can only hold half the enchantment magnitude of a regular "sized" weapon
Matching ammunition property :
Tier 1: + 2% crit chance
Tier 2: + 4% crit chance
Tier 3: + 6% crit chance
Tier 4: + 8% crit chance
Matching tiered ammunition:
Tier 1: + 8% crit chance
Tier 2: + 10% crit chance
Tier 3: + 12% crit chance, + 5% interrupt
Tier 4: + 15% crit chance, + 10% interrupt
Light Crossbows
Special Properties:
Improvised weapon I: Light Crossbow bash deals bonus damage equal to 25% of current archery level
Interrupt I: Can periodically interrupt humanoids and small animals
Strengths:
Mobility
Fast reload speed
Low Armor penetration at high tiers.
Weaknesses:
Low effective ranged
Low damage
Light Crossbows can only hold half the enchantment magnitude of regular weapons
Matching ammunition type:
Tier 1: + 2% interrupt chance
Tier 2: + 5% interrupt chance
Tier 3: + 7% interrupt chance
Tier 4: + 10% interrupt chance
Matching tiered ammunition:
Tier 1: + 10% interrupt chance
Tier 2: + 13% interrupt chance
Tier 3: + 17% interrupt chance, +10% armor pen
Tier 4: + 20% interrupt chance, +15% armor pen
Long bows:
Special Properties:
Critical Threat I: Critical chance increase up to 10%
Critical Shot II: Critical hits deal bonus damage equal to 50% of current archery skill level
Focus Shot: Standing still and not sneaking when attacking grants a damage bonus of up to 50% depending on archery level.
Interrupt II: Can periodically interrupt humanoids,small, and large animals depending on tier.
Strengths:
Armor penetration
High Effective Range
High Damage
Weaknesses:
High Stamina Consumption
Slow draw speed
Loud
Matching ammunition type:
Tier 1: + 10% interrupt, + 5% armor pen
Tier 2: + 12% interrupt, + 9% armor pen
Tier 3: + 14% interrupt, + 12% armor pen
Tier 4: + 15% interrupt, + 15% armor pen,
Matching tiered ammunition:
Tier 1: + 15% interrupt, +15% armor pen, + 2.5% critical chance
Tier 2: + 20% interrupt, +21% armor pen, + 5% critical chance
Tier 3: + 25% interrupt, +24% armor pen, + 7.5% critical chance
Tier 4: + 30% interrupt, +30% armor pen + 10% critical chance
Heavy Crossbows:
Special Properties:
Improvised weapon II: Heavy Crossbow bash deals bonus damage equal to 50% of current archery level
Prone: Heavy Crossbows can periodically knock enemies to their feet
Interrupt III: Can periodically interrupt all but large mass actors
Strengths:
Armor penetration
High Effective Range
High Damage
Weaknesses:
High Stamina Consumption
Slow reload speed
Very Loud
Movement speed debuff (-15%)
Sneak Penalty when equipped
Matching ammunition type:
Tier 1: + 20% interrupt, + 15% armor pen
Tier 2: + 22% interrupt, + 20% armor pen
Tier 3: + 23% interrupt, + 25% armor pen
Tier 4: + 25% interrupt, + 30% armor pen,
Matching tiered ammunition:
Tier1: + 25% interrupt, +30 % armor pen, +20% prone chance
Tier2: + 35% interrupt, +35 % armor pen, +25% prone chance
Tier3: + 45% interrupt, +40% armor pen, +30% prone chance
Tier4: + 50% interrupt, +50 % armor pen, +35% prone chance
Siege Crossbows:
Special Properties:
Improvised weapon III: Siege Crossbow bash deals bonus damage equal to 75% of current archery level
Prone III: Heavy Crossbows will always knock enemies to their feet
Interrupt IV: Can periodically interrupt all actors
Exposed: Incoming damage is increased by 25% when reloading/aiming
Strengths:
High Armor penetration
Highest Effective Range
Very High Damage
Weaknesses:
Very High Stamina Consumption
Very Slow reload speed
Very Loud
Movement speed debuff (-30%)
Sneak Penalty when equipped
Matching tiered ammunition:
Tier 1: +90% armor pen, + 100% knockdown chance
GreatBows:
Special Properties:
Critical Shot III: Critical hits deal bonus damage equal to 75% of current archery skill level
Interrupt IV: Can periodically interrupt all actors
Exposed: Incoming damage is increased by 25% when drawing
Strengths:
High Armor penetration
High Effective Range
Very High Damage
Weaknesses:
Very High Stamina Consumption
Very Slow draw speed
Very Loud
Movement speed debuff (-22%)
Sneak Penalty when equipped
Matching tiered ammunition:
Tier 1: +70% armor pen, + 100% knockdown chance
1. Install the mod the usual way, and activate HeartSeeker in your load order. HeartSeeker.esp can go wherever you want in your load order.
2. Install zEdit
3. Add the patcher to zEdit
- Open zEdit.
- In the top right is a button that looks like 3 little cubes, click it and it will show a list of currently installed patchers.
- Click to install a new patcher.
- Find and select the Heartseeker patcher (its wherever you installed the mod inside a folder called "zEdit patchers")
- Restart zEdit
4. Run the patcher. The patcher needs to be run AFTER you've already built your bashed patch
- Load your full load order* into zEdit, including HeartSeeker.esp. The position of the HeartSeeker esp does not matter.
- *If you have >254 plugins run either the synthesis filter provided by Untamed or the UPF Plugin Generator provided by lilmetal
- In the top right is a button that looks like a jigsaw puzzle, click it to see a list of installed patchers.
- Build the Heart Seeker patch, it will take about 3 minutes and creates an esp called "heartseeker_patch.esp".
- Exit zEdit saving the newly created patch esp.
5. Play the game
- Both HeartSeeker.esp and heart_seeker_patch.esp need to be active in your load order.
- heartseeker_patch.esp needs to be after all mods it is patching in your load order.
Since this is a zedit patcher it is compatible with just about every mod and offers some customization. Settings are as follows:
- Short bow crit damage multiplier
- Short bow damage multiplier
- Long bow damage multiplier
- Light Crossbow damage multiplier
- Heavy Crossbow damage multiplier
- Greatbow damage multiplier
- Siege Crossbow damage multiplier
- Stamina usage perk distribution
The patcher uses the following resource files to determine how to handle weapons/ammunition/custom weapons:
- Projectiles.json: These contain speed values for projectile tiers.
- Weapons.json: Weapon material and type which determines tier, speed, engage range, sound, stagger duration etc. Edit these to you liking.
- Overrides.json: Custom weapon/ammo entries and items to ignore
In overrides.json you can define your own values for specific weapons/arrows by editor id as well as what NOT to patch. You will immediately know how to add a custom item/override an existing vanilla item when looking at the file. The definitions for great/siege weapons go.
I've already added custom entries for the following mods:
- legendary skyrim crossbows. HeartSeeker was made to add on to this. Make sure to grab the waccf patch
- marc
- Noldor Content Pack
- Sands Of time
- Heritage
- DragonSlayer bows and arrows These will become great bows
- Siege Crossbow collection SSE These will become siege xbows. (Thanks for the conversion evittalex!)
This mod is just about fully compatible with all mods although it does have some soft conflicts. If a mod makes bow drawing/reloading consume stamina(i.e Wildcat) then disable that feature or disable the patcher setting for distributing its own stamina perks. Perk overhauls are compatible although you may want to adjust the crit damage multiplier for shortbows depending on what you're using. I found that good settings are 3 for vanilla, 1 for vokrii, and 2 for adamant.
I believe the only mod that may be slightly incompatible is Archery Gameplay Overhaul if its animations are still dependent on bows having a speed value of 1 although every other feature of this mod will work.
- Legendary skyrim crossbows HeartSeeker was made to go in conjunction with this although it isn't a hard req.
- Speed and Reach fixes -> Enables proper kiting
- Action Speed -> All npcs and players drawing/reloading and movement speed will vary based on skill levels
- Know Your Enemy -> Enemies have different resistances which will encourage rangers to rotate between the different ranged weapon types
- Wildcat -> Disable wildcats bow draw cost management or this mods version)
Q. Why doesn't Sneak attacks activate all the time with some weapons?
A. Weapons and their projectiles now have the same detection level. That means using a long bow(DETECTION LEVEL LOUD) for sneak attacks in small enclosed spaces or in close range will fail because enemies will have a much easier time to detect attacks. Its best to use short/light weapons for indoor/short range sneak attacks and other weapons for long range sneak attacks.
Mcm menu for stamina costs
github for json configuration files
Piercing projectiles for heavy/great
- meh321 for Bug Fixes SSE
- kryptopyr for Waccf
- cinnacon for Long/short bows which inspired me to work on this
- Kelsenellenelvian for Legendary skyrim crossbows which inspired me to work on this
- Klamactus for feed back on features/balancing
- matortheeternal for zedit
- renketsuo for attack speed framework