This is a small-ish update, but hopefully the impact can be felt. Variations of each crow model, differing in size, have been added and distributed among all existing flocks. This should *hopefully* provide an improved sense of scale and diversity, further increasing the immersion offered by this mod.
The changes may be subtle in certain areas but should be most evident in the areas with a significant amount of crows (Whiterun Exterior, Windhelm Bridge, Dawnstar Exterior)
Interested to get feedback on the changes. I know there have been other requests/suggestions and those offered are still being considered. As always, feel free to continue offering suggestions, just no promises as to if/when they may be accommodated. Thanks and I hope you enjoy.
**READ THIS IF YOU'RE HAVING ISSUES WITH CROWS NOT APPEARING**
If you happen to encounter issues with Crows not appearing in the exterior Tamriel worldspace after running DynDolod, try updating DynDolod's resources to Alpha 40 or later(Safe bet to update to the newest DynDolod alpha as well (v135 as of writing this)). There was a bug with one of DynDolod's scripts that was causing them to not appear. This will likely require a new save.
This issue was affecting me when using DynDolod's resources Alpha 37, not sure what others might have also been affected. If you haven't had any issues with seeing crows after running DynDolod then you should be good.
Thanks for the downloads, comments and endorsements!! This mod gathered way more interest than I thought it would.
Please keep in mind that this mod was made for LE - This is a simple port IamHovah was kind to do!
I won't be able to make patches and changes to this mod based on compatability with other SE mods, since I don't have Skyrim SE. You are free to release patches and fixes for Flying Crows, but sadly I can't be of much assistance!
- This mod adds a number of flying crows to various external cells, complete with audio and flying animations. - Each crow flock will be active during the day (roughly between 7 AM and 9 PM) and go away at night.
The Crows are too LOUD!
- Beginning with version 1.2, a volume slider has been added to adjust the volume to your preference.
I don't see any crows, where are they!?!
- Verify the mod is actually installed and the esp file is activated in your mod manager. - Redownload and reinstall the mod, its possible it was corrupted during the initial download. - The best places to "test" would be outside the entrance of Windhelm and Whiterun.
The crows wont go away at night!
- This only occurs when starting a new game due to so many scripts firing off from the base game and any other scripted mods. Be sure to create an initial save in an internal cell and then reload the game.
The crows are all flapping in sync!
- No, they're not. Each model is set with the "Random Anim Start" record. - It might appear some are in sync but each animation/model is independent from each other. - For any LOD issues where they appear in sync, please seek assistance on the DynDolod 3 alpha forums.
Does this really NEED DynDolod?
- If you want LOD for the crows, yes. If not, then no. - This will require DynDolod to be run after it is installed for the Crow LOD to function.
There are too many crows!
- Kojak has a version with a reduced amount of crows available here.
ESM Flag????
- Flagged to ensure it doesn't get loaded late. The only thing that (to my knowledge) overwrites anything of significance from this mod is DynDolod so there shouldn't be any issues. If you feel so inclined, feel free to remove the flag. Instructions on how can be found here.
As an esm, this mod can/should load early enough that waterflow records should be overwritten by your water mod of choice.(as an example, I load this mod before USSEP/SLAWF, etc).
I ran a script that removes LE waterflows when initially converting to SE, though always possible something was missed.
Either way, if you do have an example do me a favor and please submit to the "Bug Reports" section as opposed the comments section. Makes for easier tracking.
Did not change much in my Mod Order. But installed this mod. I love it but... My fps drops are dramatically. Must find out if it's this. Anyone else with the same fps drop issue? I play in VR
Depends on your load order, where youre testing, your rig, etc..
You should be able to test with this mod enabled and disabled to see the difference.
I haven't heard of this mod affecting FPS too much but you could try the "lite" version listed in the sticky to see if the reduced crow count makes a difference.
Just be sure to use it with the 1.2 ESPFE version of this mod.
Thank you! Will test and report because I really like the Mod! Great immersion! . Should say that my load order is very heavy for VR. Means I also included alot IA things, Parallax, new NPC's and so on. I'll give the light version a try!
yes i play VR it's also heavily modded with parallax, community shaders, etc.. i'm getting a FPS drop that sounds similar to your experience... i'll also check out the lite version and test
I dont have Skyrim VR so unable to test or verify, unfortunately. However, have you tested the FPS drops with this mod enabled/disabled to see if this is the culprit?
I guess I could see under heavily modded setups this being the mod that just so happens to "tip the scale" but haven't seen much of an impact from this mod alone before.
Of course, please feel free to use Kojak's lite version if the reduced crow count improves the situation, just please be sure to use it with the 1.2 version of this mod.
I'm hesitant to post this as a bug report, since I'm stumped. Crash logs are just not my forte. I've noticed the crash log brought up a .nif mesh from this mod several times and maybe it could be causing it(?). The part with "WEAPON", along with the whole branch of what seems to belong to a skeleton showed up in a previous log though, without mentioning this mod. DynDOLOD showed up both times, however.
I'll post both the logs for for a better perspective anyway. https://pastebin.com/QQhsXWtP <- The one listing the crows. https://pastebin.com/u3pLJQ5E <- The first, that occurred earlier in the playthrough. No crows listed.
Apologies if this isn't a problem with the mod, I'm just trying to cover all ground here, since I'm pretty sure I've installed XP32 Skeletons correctly (I do have Maximum Carnage though, which needs its own skeletons to overwrite it). Perhaps it's even a DynDOLOD issue, though I'm no expert on that by any stretch.
Both crashes occurred while travelling around Skyrim. The first happened approaching Helgen, and the crow one was when I was approaching Whiterun from the Valtheim bandit tower on the river.
Hmm, well I can say with relative confidence that the supplied nif files from the mod don't cause crashes.
There is always the possibility that a mesh was corrupted during download and that could be resolved by removing the mod and redownloading/reinstalling.
Behaviorly though, if a mesh from this mod caused crashes it would happen immediately upon entering any cell where the crows are loaded.
I don't know much about Maximum Carnage but if the crash is skeleton related that would be a safe bet to look further into.
It seems from some testing that Mu Skeleton Editor was the likely culprit. I noticed that mujoint fix, from the same author suffered from some kind of weapon node crash. I didn't have that in, but taking out Mu Skeleton Editor made that kind of log disappear (though, there's a probability it just didn't get the chance to show up). Perhaps both mu mods share some kind of method that the game doesn't sit right with.
I'm doing a reshuffle of my load order anyway. Currently going through porting everything from Vortex to MO2, so a bit of a mammoth task ahead of me.
Hey there, it looks like the only things getting overwritten are water records which are not essential for this mod. Your load order (for this mod) is perfectly fine.
I tend to put this mod above USSEP, but ultimately this mods water records *should* be overwritten, particularly by your water mod of choice.
I'm pretty sure your statements about "the only thing that can go wrong is they won't go away" is false. As others have noted, there are problems with this mod on new game. And those problems can manifest in all kinds of ways.
In my case for example, the crows simply won't appear at all. I've never seen them in 8 hours playtime in since starting this game. And yes, outside WR in the middle of the day.
And it's not my mod setup or loadorder either: I installed this mod in my previous playthrough, and it worked out of the box. Now i started a new game on this same setup and loadorder, and the crows don't appear at all. So literarily the only difference here is adding the mod midgame, versus starting a new game with it. Apparently something can go wrong on new game that results in this mod scripts not being started, and then it never tries again, so might as well remove the mod, since it's not doing anything.
I think I may have this problem too. The mod worked fine initially but now on a new save they are not appearing. Your theory that the scripts might not run on start up and then don't fire again because of that sounds plausible. Is that how they work?
- Movable Static crow models are added to the Tamriel worldspace. - These models are enabled by default and set to respawn. - Three X Markers are added to the exterior cell "AbandonedPrisonExterior01" (The same cell you exit if you "escape" the prison cell in ASLAL") - These 3 markers have a script attached that disables and re-enables child references at X time of day. - Each X marker is configured with a different schedule. - These markers are also set to respawn - Each movable static crow model is associated with one of the three X markers, with the X markers being in an enabled state - The script "fires" at the X time of day, as indicated in either the body of the script OR the setting defined in the CK for the object that script is attached to. - So this script will fire twice a day, per X marker.
Ok, so lets go with Liberty's scenario/suggestion:
"Apparently something can go wrong on new game that results in this mod scripts not being started, and then it never tries again, so might as well remove the mod, since it's not doing anything."
- Given the native/default state of each crow model is "ON" they will be enabled and in the game world unless an action is taken against it. So, if as you say, the script never runs then - say it with me now - they just wont go away.
- Levity aside, I am sure there are bugs/issues that are present within the Skyrim engine that could interfere with any of the native papyrus scripts to fire correctly... and I suppose if you have a game that is, colloquially termed, "script heavy" its possible that the crows could, on an existing playthrough, be hidden and not re-enable due to active scripts not allowing other scripts to fire until they complete.... but quite frankly I'm not going to take ownership of bugs that would be affecting far more than this simple little mod. Engine issues in Skyrim are engine issues and not within the scope of this mod.
- I can say that in the close to two years since this mod went live I've loaded up a new game of Skyrim for testing purposes more than I'd care to admit and I have never, not once, experienced an issue similar to what you describe in both vanilla and heavily modded setups.
Much less *looks at unique downloads* Out of the 177,036 people that have downloaded this mod as of writing this, there is a significant minority that have reported issues. Heck, lets say for arguments sake that every single comment on this mod was an individual report of an error (247) - that would mean that errors only occur at a reported rate of 0.001%. So yes, as frustrating as it may be, the problem seems to be pebcak related and central to your setup.
- If you can find something tangible to show something is breaking this mod, or something within it is broken I will happily "eat crow" and work to get it resolved. Otherwise, please refrain from posting conjecture as fact. If you do end up finding anything, please submit it to the bug reports section with helpful technical information and a detailed description of your testing method.
- I'm sorry you're having issues with the mod, and while the theory suggested by the comment above does indeed sound vague enough to be plausible, it does not match how the mod functions.
If you continue to have an issue with the mod, please submit a report in the "bugs" section with detailed steps to re-create the issue as well as any other errors/reports that could be relevant. Best of luck.
Thank you so much for taking the time to give such detailed replies. I really appreciate you helping me to understand how the mod works as that helps me track down what is causing the problem. I always assume that issues I am having, unless it's a very new mod, will be something in my own load order and game set up and I am certain that's the case here. I will continue to test and if I find anything I can be certain of I will post it here in case it helps anyone else. I really loved the atmosphere your mod added to my game before I broke it lol
Is there any chance that a mod that changes AbandonedPrisonExterior01 could in some way interfere with your X markers? I don't think I have anything affecting that area but it's definitely worth me investigating if that's a possibility.
Anything is possible, but I would still find it highly unlikely.
X markers are just invisible little place holders that act as a means of manipulating something in the game. That could be something like what is done in this mod or it could act as a trigger for a quest, etc.
The only way those X markers could be affected would be if another mod overwrites them, specifically. And given the X markers used for this mod are added and not edited from something that's in the base game, then there shouldn't be anything else that would conflict.
The landscape around the x markers can change and they wouldn't be affected. Im not certain why Kong chose that spot specifically when he made the mod but yeah.
If you're not familiar with conflict detection/resolution as it pertains to modding I'd suggest checking out these articles by Ciathyza and Janquel, they're both very well written and provide great detail.
With that, feel free to open Xedit/SSEEdit with this mod/your whole modlist and see if anything conflicts. I'm on mobile now but can link a screenshot of where to view the markers later when at a PC.
Outside of this, I'd suggest making sure your game is as stable as possible. Check out Lexy's LOTD and/or Sinitar's guides (the stability sections) for a good baseline, if you haven't already. Best of luck.
Sorry to necro this thread, but I'm just reading it and I applaud how everyone handled the difficulty in communicating their problems and stating potential solutions. This could have easily dissolved into an argument, but was handled maturely --and I even benefitted from getting some articles on conflict resolution, which is where I'm currently at in my modding self-education.
Kudos to both of you for being mature and informative.
I am also very happy to be able to report that thanks to @IamHovah's follow up work (see his sticky above about Update 1.3) the problem that we were having was tracked back to DynDOLOD and is now fixed. I am so grateful to both @IamHovah and @sheson for all that they do.
This is one of those happy conclusion threads that show appreciation from all sides.
Just for the record, I used this mod in many many many a set up with another 145 plugin mods. Always shined through even with the rough modding I do...
It be great if you do a combo mod and include sea gulls. I do have a Sea Gul mod but means two Esp in my list for birds. .... Just a thought. ...
I'm not too knowledgeable about modding VR (so I could be wrong), but I imagine you'd still be able to merge the mods into a single plugin for use. Not sure if its just that VR doesn't recognize a plugin as an ESL/ESPFE, or if the formid's aren't recognized for some reason, but it would be something to look into.
I can reasonably say our mods could be merged without too much work. Only thing would be to update the DynDolod ini file to contain the 5 or so lines from Seagulls and this mods 4 lines, and update the ini file name to whatever you name the merged plugin.
Give Feedback
297 comments
What's New?
This is a small-ish update, but hopefully the impact can be felt. Variations of each crow model, differing in size, have been added and distributed among all existing flocks. This should *hopefully* provide an improved sense of scale and diversity, further increasing the immersion offered by this mod.
The changes may be subtle in certain areas but should be most evident in the areas with a significant amount of crows (Whiterun Exterior, Windhelm Bridge, Dawnstar Exterior)
Interested to get feedback on the changes. I know there have been other requests/suggestions and those offered are still being considered. As always, feel free to continue offering suggestions, just no promises as to if/when they may be accommodated. Thanks and I hope you enjoy.
If you happen to encounter issues with Crows not appearing in the exterior Tamriel worldspace after running DynDolod, try updating DynDolod's resources to Alpha 40 or later(Safe bet to update to the newest DynDolod alpha as well (v135 as of writing this)). There was a bug with one of DynDolod's scripts that was causing them to not appear. This will likely require a new save.
This issue was affecting me when using DynDolod's resources Alpha 37, not sure what others might have also been affected. If you haven't had any issues with seeing crows after running DynDolod then you should be good.
Please keep in mind that this mod was made for LE - This is a simple port IamHovah was kind to do!
I won't be able to make patches and changes to this mod based on compatability with other SE mods, since I don't have Skyrim SE. You are free to release patches and fixes for Flying Crows, but sadly I can't be of much assistance!
- What does this mod do?
- This mod adds a number of flying crows to various external cells, complete with audio and flying animations.- Each crow flock will be active during the day (roughly between 7 AM and 9 PM) and go away at night.
- The Crows are too LOUD!
- Beginning with version 1.2, a volume slider has been added to adjust the volume to your preference.
- I don't see any crows, where are they!?!
- Verify the mod is actually installed and the esp file is activated in your mod manager.- Redownload and reinstall the mod, its possible it was corrupted during the initial download.
- The best places to "test" would be outside the entrance of Windhelm and Whiterun.
- The crows wont go away at night!
- This only occurs when starting a new game due to so many scripts firing off from the base game and any other scripted mods. Be sure to create an initial save in an internal cell and then reload the game.
- The crows are all flapping in sync!
- No, they're not. Each model is set with the "Random Anim Start" record.- It might appear some are in sync but each animation/model is independent from each other.
- For any LOD issues where they appear in sync, please seek assistance on the DynDolod 3 alpha forums.
- Does this really NEED DynDolod?
- If you want LOD for the crows, yes. If not, then no.- This will require DynDolod to be run after it is installed for the Crow LOD to function.
- There are too many crows!
- Kojak has a version with a reduced amount of crows available here.
- ESM Flag????
- Flagged to ensure it doesn't get loaded late. The only thing that (to my knowledge) overwrites anything of significance from this mod is DynDolod so there shouldn't be any issues. If you feel so inclined, feel free to remove the flag. Instructions on how can be found here.As an esm, this mod can/should load early enough that waterflow records should be overwritten by your water mod of choice.(as an example, I load this mod before USSEP/SLAWF, etc).
I ran a script that removes LE waterflows when initially converting to SE, though always possible something was missed.
Either way, if you do have an example do me a favor and please submit to the "Bug Reports" section as opposed the comments section. Makes for easier tracking.
You should be able to test with this mod enabled and disabled to see the difference.
I haven't heard of this mod affecting FPS too much but you could try the "lite" version listed in the sticky to see if the reduced crow count makes a difference.
Just be sure to use it with the 1.2 ESPFE version of this mod.
I guess I could see under heavily modded setups this being the mod that just so happens to "tip the scale" but haven't seen much of an impact from this mod alone before.
Of course, please feel free to use Kojak's lite version if the reduced crow count improves the situation, just please be sure to use it with the 1.2 version of this mod.
My only suggestion would be to remove and reinstall this mod and/or verify the mod is enabled in your mod manager of choice.
I have no idea of that mods placement of birds so the only issue youd likely come.across would.be too many birds in specific areas.
Warrants testing, mind trying it out and reporting back?
I'll post both the logs for for a better perspective anyway.
https://pastebin.com/QQhsXWtP <- The one listing the crows.
https://pastebin.com/u3pLJQ5E <- The first, that occurred earlier in the playthrough. No crows listed.
Apologies if this isn't a problem with the mod, I'm just trying to cover all ground here, since I'm pretty sure I've installed XP32 Skeletons correctly (I do have Maximum Carnage though, which needs its own skeletons to overwrite it). Perhaps it's even a DynDOLOD issue, though I'm no expert on that by any stretch.
Both crashes occurred while travelling around Skyrim. The first happened approaching Helgen, and the crow one was when I was approaching Whiterun from the Valtheim bandit tower on the river.
There is always the possibility that a mesh was corrupted during download and that could be resolved by removing the mod and redownloading/reinstalling.
Behaviorly though, if a mesh from this mod caused crashes it would happen immediately upon entering any cell where the crows are loaded.
I don't know much about Maximum Carnage but if the crash is skeleton related that would be a safe bet to look further into.
Best of luck!
I'm doing a reshuffle of my load order anyway. Currently going through porting everything from Vortex to MO2, so a bit of a mammoth task ahead of me.
I'm using the lite version from Kojak and just wanted to know if the new version 1.3 is compatible.
Thanks in advance.
If it hasn't been updated yet then you wouldn't see the changes from 1.3 and would likely get DynDolod warnings/errors using them together.
If you haven't tried it out yet, I'd give the 1.3 version a try and see if you like it.
There are still a lot of crows but the new distribution was done to make the flocks feel a bit less busy.
is it ok?
https://imgur.com/a/TpUppf1
or should i change load order of this mod?
I tend to put this mod above USSEP, but ultimately this mods water records *should* be overwritten, particularly by your water mod of choice.
In my case for example, the crows simply won't appear at all. I've never seen them in 8 hours playtime in since starting this game. And yes, outside WR in the middle of the day.
And it's not my mod setup or loadorder either: I installed this mod in my previous playthrough, and it worked out of the box. Now i started a new game on this same setup and loadorder, and the crows don't appear at all. So literarily the only difference here is adding the mod midgame, versus starting a new game with it. Apparently something can go wrong on new game that results in this mod scripts not being started, and then it never tries again, so might as well remove the mod, since it's not doing anything.
The way this mod works:
- Movable Static crow models are added to the Tamriel worldspace.
- These models are enabled by default and set to respawn.
- Three X Markers are added to the exterior cell "AbandonedPrisonExterior01" (The same cell you exit if you "escape" the prison cell in ASLAL")
- These 3 markers have a script attached that disables and re-enables child references at X time of day.
- Each X marker is configured with a different schedule.
- These markers are also set to respawn
- Each movable static crow model is associated with one of the three X markers, with the X markers being in an enabled state
- The script "fires" at the X time of day, as indicated in either the body of the script OR the setting defined in the CK for the object that script is attached to.
- So this script will fire twice a day, per X marker.
Ok, so lets go with Liberty's scenario/suggestion:
"Apparently something can go wrong on new game that results in this mod scripts not being started, and then it never tries again, so might as well remove the mod, since it's not doing anything."
- Given the native/default state of each crow model is "ON" they will be enabled and in the game world unless an action is taken against it. So, if as you say, the script never runs then - say it with me now - they just wont go away.
- I can say that in the close to two years since this mod went live I've loaded up a new game of Skyrim for testing purposes more than I'd care to admit and I have never, not once, experienced an issue similar to what you describe in both vanilla and heavily modded setups.
Much less *looks at unique downloads* Out of the 177,036 people that have downloaded this mod as of writing this, there is a significant minority that have reported issues. Heck, lets say for arguments sake that every single comment on this mod was an individual report of an error (247) - that would mean that errors only occur at a reported rate of 0.001%. So yes, as frustrating as it may be, the problem seems to be pebcak related and central to your setup.
- If you can find something tangible to show something is breaking this mod, or something within it is broken I will happily "eat crow" and work to get it resolved. Otherwise, please refrain from posting conjecture as fact. If you do end up finding anything, please submit it to the bug reports section with helpful technical information and a detailed description of your testing method.
- I'm sorry you're having issues with the mod, and while the theory suggested by the comment above does indeed sound vague enough to be plausible, it does not match how the mod functions.
If you continue to have an issue with the mod, please submit a report in the "bugs" section with detailed steps to re-create the issue as well as any other errors/reports that could be relevant. Best of luck.
Thank you so much for taking the time to give such detailed replies. I really appreciate you helping me to understand how the mod works as that helps me track down what is causing the problem. I always assume that issues I am having, unless it's a very new mod, will be something in my own load order and game set up and I am certain that's the case here. I will continue to test and if I find anything I can be certain of I will post it here in case it helps anyone else. I really loved the atmosphere your mod added to my game before I broke it lol
Is there any chance that a mod that changes AbandonedPrisonExterior01 could in some way interfere with your X markers? I don't think I have anything affecting that area but it's definitely worth me investigating if that's a possibility.
Thank you
X markers are just invisible little place holders that act as a means of manipulating something in the game. That could be something like what is done in this mod or it could act as a trigger for a quest, etc.
The only way those X markers could be affected would be if another mod overwrites them, specifically. And given the X markers used for this mod are added and not edited from something that's in the base game, then there shouldn't be anything else that would conflict.
The landscape around the x markers can change and they wouldn't be affected. Im not certain why Kong chose that spot specifically when he made the mod but yeah.
If you're not familiar with conflict detection/resolution as it pertains to modding I'd suggest checking out these articles by Ciathyza and Janquel, they're both very well written and provide great detail.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/47327
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/37651
With that, feel free to open Xedit/SSEEdit with this mod/your whole modlist and see if anything conflicts. I'm on mobile now but can link a screenshot of where to view the markers later when at a PC.
Outside of this, I'd suggest making sure your game is as stable as possible. Check out Lexy's LOTD and/or Sinitar's guides (the stability sections) for a good baseline, if you haven't already. Best of luck.
Kudos to both of you for being mature and informative.
I am also very happy to be able to report that thanks to @IamHovah's follow up work (see his sticky above about Update 1.3) the problem that we were having was tracked back to DynDOLOD and is now fixed. I am so grateful to both @IamHovah and @sheson for all that they do.
And thanks @barmeyblonde for the kind words.
Just for the record, I used this mod in many many many a set up with another 145 plugin mods. Always shined through even with the rough modding I do...
It be great if you do a combo mod and include sea gulls. I do have a Sea Gul mod but means two Esp in my list for birds. .... Just a thought. ...
In VR every slot counts. 😃
I'm not too knowledgeable about modding VR (so I could be wrong), but I imagine you'd still be able to merge the mods into a single plugin for use. Not sure if its just that VR doesn't recognize a plugin as an ESL/ESPFE, or if the formid's aren't recognized for some reason, but it would be something to look into.
I can reasonably say our mods could be merged without too much work. Only thing would be to update the DynDolod ini file to contain the 5 or so lines from Seagulls and this mods 4 lines, and update the ini file name to whatever you name the merged plugin.
Interesting tip.
I'm not too knowledgeable about modding full stop, haha -- merge plugins mentioned and I was lost there after... haha