MOD OF THE MONTH FOR APRIL 2021
THANK YOU SO MUCH!

About

This is a complete overhaul of the mod The Kids Are Alright. It is basically a new mod with the same name. It is NOT compatible with old versions of the mod or patches. For those that don't know the original mod, it was a comprehensive, standalone child replacer/new npc/follower/hostile/everything else under the sun kid mod. This version just replaces the default kids and also adds 27 new randomly placed adoptable children to be discovered in the world of Skyrim. The new children are in places that make sense to their particular race - where do you see a lot of Dark Elves, Argonians, etc.? You'll figure it out if you know the game at all. Or just be a big fat cheater and download the document in the miscellaneous file section. The mod includes custom clothes tailored just for these children. And finally, as before, I've hidden away some silly Easter egg characters, cause I'm a very silly person.

Why

There was an incident that caused the original to be accidentally taken down by staff, and upon its restoration, the mod download page was turned into a huge unusable mess, and I removed it. The whole situation related to the cause and effect of the removal was very upsetting, and made me wonder if I wanted to continue with the mod at all. But I came to the realization that once you put something out there, it's out there forever. And what was out there just wasn't up to my current standard, and so here we are. A new day and a new mod. I made the original a very long time ago, and my modding skills at the time were, shall we say, rather basic. So I went through every kid and made either major or minor changes to correct flaws, give them a new look, or just because.

Changes

The original mod was getting WAY too complicated due to feature creep, so I took it back to basics, and here it shall stay. This version only replaces the default game kids, plus adds 27 new adoptable kids of the main humanoid-type races (and also including Khajiit and Argonian) to be discovered in the world. Follower scripts and dialogues were removed. I added new custom hand crafted bodies by me to better differentiate the sexes. Boys and girls also now have dedicated textures, boys are muscled and rough skinned, girls are softer. I fixed a large number of the original kids that had a distorted mouth mesh, caused by what, I don't know. But the biggest change was the conversion to esl (espfe). This was a major undertaking.

I realize that there may have been features of the old version that people are going to be upset about losing in this version, but I have good reasons to make the changes I made. The main reason is simplicity. I learned the hard way that the more features you add into a Skyrim mod, the more potential issues people will have, particularly with people who pride themselves on installing hundreds of mods, many of which are problematic in themselves in my experience.

Some of the deleted features may make a return in separate mods, but I wanted this one to stay true to its roots, a simple replacer mod that also adds a few new adoptable kids to cover the other neglected races. One critical omission I made that people might notice is kill-able or hostile kid options. To do this REQUIRES you to disable the "child" flag, which opens the child characters up to adult mods. I no longer support this type of content involving children, so don't ask, and don't whine at me about it.

If you want to add a BUNCH more of these kids, including bandits, vampires, witches, warlocks, and more, get the "Wild Child" plugin here.

Usage

I highly recommend using this mod on a new game start, and using a mod manager for installation. The assets are in a Bethesda Archive (bsa) file to keep the mod footprint low. The esp has been compressed and flagged as esl (espfe). There are updated patches for popular mods in a FOMOD installer on the download page.

Compatibility

I carry over fixes from USSEP.

This mod is compatible with Hearthfire Multiple Adoptions. Some previous versions needed a patch due to the follower capability in TKAA. The patch for Alternate Start Live Another Life is no longer needed in this version, the daughter of the wandering farmer family was removed.

DO NOT OPEN THIS MOD IN THE CREATION KIT AND MAKE CHANGES UNLESS YOU ARE AN EXPERIENCED MODDER. The 64 bit CK automatically generates new facegen files when you do this and you WILL have issues. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. If you need to make changes use THIS

DO NOT TRY TO PUT PHYSICS ENABLED ADULT CLOTHES ON THESE KIDS. I made the mod specifically do very bad stuff if you try to do this, deal with it.

This mod is NOT compatible with other kid mods, including older versions of my own. Make sure you remove ALL traces of these mods before installing this one, or you WILL have issues. Just a reminder: loose files overwrite bsa archives, always, load order doesn't matter. Mods that include kids will require patching. I have patched a large number of popular mods and will continue to work on others as I get time. The patches are meant to be used with bsa versions of each mod, unless they don't exist. In that case I supplied loose files, and you will need to overwrite.

Shiva's hair replacer - the loose files version will cause dark heads with the default kids. Use the bsa version of that mod and move TKAA.esp LOWER in load order to fix.

Kids in underwear - You didn't follow my advice in the Usage section, did you? This also may be due to Armor and Clothing Extension. To fix, go into that mods UI configuration and toggle the child clothes option OFF.

Not compatible with older versions of the replacer version of the TIWA44 minidress mod. It replaces the default game textures. My mod requires those for its custom child sized clothes. The standalone version of the old mod - or - the newer Shiva/CBBE ports/etc. should work fine. If Dorthe (from Riverwood) has a messed up dress, then this would be the reason.

Highly Recommended

If you like this mod, you will want these too:

Hearthfire Multiple Adoptions
Dragons Keep
Stonehall Orphanage

Permissions

My mods are all open permissions. I wish all mods were that way.

Credits

RaceMenu by Expired
Dimonized UNP Body by dimon99
Fair Skin Complexion by HHaleyy
Bijin skin by rxkx22
Adorable Face by lumina
Leyenda Skin
The Eyes Of Beauty by Gabriel Mailhot as LogRaam
Natural Eyes
BodySlide and Outfit Studio by Ousnius and Caliente
Brows by Hvergelmir
ApachiiSkyHair by Apachii
KS Hairdos Renewal by Kalilies Stealthic and Shockero
Pretty Khajiit by tktk
Feminine Argonian Textures (Chameleon and Lizard) by MONSTERraider
Khajiit leopard body texture for UNP BASE body by Nerevar22g
Warpaint Makeup for Human Females Vanilla Replacer by The Ex Maverik
Jarek - The Custom Voiced Skeleton Necromancer Follower by iMACobra

Modified externally sourced clothing and bodies from  en_hawk (Skykids). Additional hair from Holiday Hair, HS hair, Oblivion Hair Pack and SGHair 350. Hands and feet are by Halo of Halo's Mods. This mod wouldn't exist without the people listed above sharing their work, so please support them. Huge thanks and a tip of the helmet to ALL.

This mod has a lot of moving parts. If I missed anyone I sincerely apologize, please let me know so I can correct the credits.

Other

My other mods on Nexus