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About this mod
You and a team of divers are hired to scour ruins at the bottom of Lake Honrich. A dialogue-heavy quest with puzzles, platforming, and a focus on water mechanics. But be wary of the siren’s call..
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
-
Translations
- Turkish
- Spanish
- Russian
- Portuguese
- Polish
- Mandarin
- Italian
- French
- Czech
- Changelogs
- Donations
Sirenroot: Deluge of Deceit is a dialogue-heavy dungeon dive into Ayleid ruins with puzzles, platforming, and a focus on water mechanics.
With influences from Tomb Raider and Dragon Age, you'll climb, dive, solve puzzles and sprint under timers-
as well as control other characters, persuade, look for clues, and determine the fate of others.
A mysterious operatic voice was discovered within the depths of Lake Honrich, stemming from an unusual plant.
Light pours out from behind the roots, hinting at a flooded tunnel below.
You and a team of divers are hired by the Black-Briars to investigate the cave, and salvage the alchemical ingredient.
It appears a simple job at first, but as the cavern's structure falls apart around you, the team finds themselves buried in the ruins below.
Light pours out from behind the roots, hinting at a flooded tunnel below.
You and a team of divers are hired by the Black-Briars to investigate the cave, and salvage the alchemical ingredient.
It appears a simple job at first, but as the cavern's structure falls apart around you, the team finds themselves buried in the ruins below.
- A 2-5 hour long quest with multiple endings, and many options for the player's dialogue.
- A large puzzle dungeon with a focus on verticality, platforming, diving sections, water control and shortcuts.
- Cutscenes, climbing, and non-player character control make the quest feel like no other.
- ~1000 sentences of voiced dialogue by a talented cast of voice actors.
- Unique NPCs: with defined personalities and pasts, they react to your choice of words. Character sections have multiple completion routes.
- These NPCs may live or die, according to the player's choices. Don't reload. The others will react.
- Lead NPCs are also 'standalone' visually, with hand-sculpted faces, unique skin, hair and outfits. Even unique animations!
- Turn up the in-game music! A newly produced joint 14 track OST featuring young scrolls, for cutscenes, cells & secrets.
- Use of the new Ayleid tileset from the 1.6 update, alongside 100+ new mesh assets.
Skyrim: Special Edition for Steam, GOG, or XBOX Game Pass. Please use a mod manager to install.
No mods, Creation Club content or DLC like the Anniversary Edition bundle are required to play Sirenroot.
It is fine to install on an existing save game. Do not uninstall the mod on an existing save.
Sirenroot requires the Ayleid tileset, included in the free Skyrim SE to AE patch from November 2021.
Please update your game to the latest version or use the 'Best of Both Worlds' downgrade if you know what you're doing, as it retains those assets.
VR users do not have access to these assets.
Optional Requirement: The Cause
- Some Ayleid assets, like doors, use sounds from The Cause. These will default to another base Skyrim sound/silence if you do not have it.
- Exclusive to the Nexus version of Sirenroot, DAR allows new animations to appear for the NPCs, to show personality and improve scenes!
- Converts all scripted climbing prompts into Animated Traversal's fully animated climbing.
No level or quest requirements.*
Speak to Frissa Black-Briar at Elgrim's Elixirs in Riften.
For detailed quest information, here is the full walkthrough article.
*There are a fair amount of underwater sections. Being prepared with waterbreathing can help, but is not necessary.
Click the spoiler below for details like troubleshooting, compatibility, and more about the mod.
Spoiler:
TROUBLESHOOTING / INSTALLATION
Gameplay
VISUALS & PERFORMANCE
COMPATIBILITY
FAQ & Author Notes
Show
TROUBLESHOOTING / INSTALLATION
Spoiler:
Q: Can I install this on an existing save?
Sure. Don't uninstall it after you've saved though.
Q: I'm crashing when I open the game!
You probably don't have the latest version of Update.esm. Delete it and re-verify. (You're probably missing the new assets too. See you in the next two troubleshooting questions!)
Q: Assets are missing after the collapse! Purple stuff, missing dungeon areas!
One of two things are possible:
1. Whatever platform you're running on (steam, etc.) didn't update your assets correctly from an older version.
2. Your game version is prior to the 1.6+ update, and thus does does not have access to the Ayleid tileset.
If your game is downgraded, backup these files to paste back in later:
SkyrimSE.exe
bink2w64.dll / binkw64.dll
Delete these from your data folder, (backup if you want,) and re-verify files through Steam, etc.
Update.esm
Skyrim - Meshes0.bsa
Skyrim - Textures3.bsa
Skyrim - Patch.bsa (you may not have this, that's fine.)
Skyrim - Misc.bsa
Add your backup files.
Q: I can't open chests!
Try this file. (Don't delete stuff as they said, actually download their main file.)
Q: Buttons aren't working at all!
Whatever platform you're running on (steam, etc.) didn't update your scripts correctly.
Look at the above steps for 'missing assets.'
Q: I do not want to 'update' my game in anyway that's out of my control!
Q: or I'm on VR!
How can I still play your mod?
Note, I do not recommend this. I cannot confirm if this would 100% work. And it's annoying to do.
You'll need access (somehow, maybe another installation) to an AE game.
You'll need these updated files specifically:
Update.esm
Skyrim - Meshes0.bsa
Skyrim - Textures3.bsa
Skyrim - Patch.bsa (maybe not?)
Skyrim - Misc.bsa
Use the new Update.esm.
Extract these folders from the .bsas. You can use this to do so.
meshes\creationclub\_shared\dungeons\ayleidruins
textures\creationclub\_shared\dungeons\ayleidruins
Scripts\(all "ccbgs.." related scripts.)
You can package this into a mod for your mod manager, or just dump it into your data folder.
Show
Q: Can I install this on an existing save?
Sure. Don't uninstall it after you've saved though.
Q: I'm crashing when I open the game!
You probably don't have the latest version of Update.esm. Delete it and re-verify. (You're probably missing the new assets too. See you in the next two troubleshooting questions!)
Q: Assets are missing after the collapse! Purple stuff, missing dungeon areas!
One of two things are possible:
1. Whatever platform you're running on (steam, etc.) didn't update your assets correctly from an older version.
2. Your game version is prior to the 1.6+ update, and thus does does not have access to the Ayleid tileset.
If your game is downgraded, backup these files to paste back in later:
SkyrimSE.exe
bink2w64.dll / binkw64.dll
Delete these from your data folder, (backup if you want,) and re-verify files through Steam, etc.
Update.esm
Skyrim - Meshes0.bsa
Skyrim - Textures3.bsa
Skyrim - Patch.bsa (you may not have this, that's fine.)
Skyrim - Misc.bsa
Add your backup files.
Q: I can't open chests!
Try this file. (Don't delete stuff as they said, actually download their main file.)
Q: Buttons aren't working at all!
Whatever platform you're running on (steam, etc.) didn't update your scripts correctly.
Look at the above steps for 'missing assets.'
Q: I do not want to 'update' my game in anyway that's out of my control!
Q: or I'm on VR!
How can I still play your mod?
Note, I do not recommend this. I cannot confirm if this would 100% work. And it's annoying to do.
You'll need access (somehow, maybe another installation) to an AE game.
You'll need these updated files specifically:
Update.esm
Skyrim - Meshes0.bsa
Skyrim - Textures3.bsa
Skyrim - Patch.bsa (maybe not?)
Skyrim - Misc.bsa
Use the new Update.esm.
Extract these folders from the .bsas. You can use this to do so.
meshes\creationclub\_shared\dungeons\ayleidruins
textures\creationclub\_shared\dungeons\ayleidruins
Scripts\(all "ccbgs.." related scripts.)
You can package this into a mod for your mod manager, or just dump it into your data folder.
Gameplay
Spoiler:
Show
- There is no level requirement, combat encounters range from level 1 and up. Pulls from existing leveled lists in your game.
- Follower support is bare bones. You can try to have them tag along- but it's not designed for it. There will be a lot of teleporting. They might get lost.
- You do not need to be an Argonian/have water breathing skills. I recommend an Oxygen meter mod.
- This mod does not account for sprint jumping or double jumping. All 'difficult' platforming sections are possible in vanilla with the smallest races.
- Ambient lighting is dramatically low, nearly pitch-black.
- I have spent a large amount of time testing lighting not only for visuals, but for gameplay reasons- not only for leading to progression, but also to push to the engine light limit (4 shadow casting lights in field of vision, 7 lights maximum 'touching' a single mesh) while accommodating for a single extra light. (like a torch/spell.) Feel free to use one should you feel it is necessary, though you might find having a torch out means you may not be see how the lights guide your way.
- I have spent a large amount of time testing lighting not only for visuals, but for gameplay reasons- not only for leading to progression, but also to push to the engine light limit (4 shadow casting lights in field of vision, 7 lights maximum 'touching' a single mesh) while accommodating for a single extra light. (like a torch/spell.) Feel free to use one should you feel it is necessary, though you might find having a torch out means you may not be see how the lights guide your way.
VISUALS & PERFORMANCE
Spoiler:
Visual Recommendations
Technical Performance
Show
Visual Recommendations
- I recommend Ayleid-related ENB Lights, Ayleid retextures, and upscaled architecture textures. (See the file at the bottom.)
- I also recommend fixes for certain mesh types, as many designs are heavy with meshes that are (for some reason) broken in vanilla.
- I have designed underwater sections with vanilla 'vision' in mind, but I do think clearer water makes it look nicer.
- Some lighting mods heavily affect the look of dust & light beam effects. Personally, I threw this on top of Lux to retain the vanilla beam look.
- This mod has large caves. With lots of rocks & shaping, some cave retextures look.. unsightly. I recommend Skyland or Underground.
Technical Performance
- Any new textures are 'middle of line' in comparison with standard retextures, ex: 2K faces & clothes + 1K normals, 2K architecture..
- An HD pack is available in the optional files. I recommend this if your card has above 4GB VRAM.
- Occlusion planes and room bounds are set up. There isn't any more clutter than you'd expect in other dungeon mods. Cells are fairly small.
- No intense scripting, everything is single fire.
COMPATIBILITY
Spoiler:
Improved Camera SE:
Default .ini settings conflict with camera scripting in Sirenroot. To fix this, change..
SKSE\Plugins\ImprovedCameraSE\Profiles\Default.ini
Followers: I'd only bring ones that you can recall with spells, etc. They'll probably get lost in the dungeon.
Dialogue: The quest mod is fairly isolated. There are no edits to existing dialogue systems with vanilla NPCs, only added on top through the plugin's quests.
Cell Edits: There may be possible conflicts with anything that touches the connected water-to-land area with Riften's lake, right by Merryfair Farm. It's quite far away from the city. Please let me know. Frissa Black-Briar was also placed inside Elgrim's Elixirs.
(Make sure your water mods and LOD stuff loads after this mod.)
The Sirenroot quest objects are only enabled in the area once the quest has started.
Riften dock overhauls should be fine.
Lighting: (Mods like Lux, ELFX, RLO, etc..)
Likely not necessary to make patches. Lighting is hand placed for level design reasons, and cells use custom lighting templates.
(a patch might be useful if it looks really off with your ENB, but otherwise would change the intended look.)
Mobility: The mod was not designed with mods like Better Jumping (allows double jumping) or Skyrim's Paraglider in mind.
Increased mobility mods, and even Whirlwind Sprint should not break anything- I took extra care to make sure event/script triggers occur in the proper order should things be skipped, but overall, I would let those mods take a back seat here. Puzzles!
Show
Improved Camera SE:
Default .ini settings conflict with camera scripting in Sirenroot. To fix this, change..
SKSE\Plugins\ImprovedCameraSE\Profiles\Default.ini
[EVENTS]
bScripted=1
bThirdPerson=1
Followers: I'd only bring ones that you can recall with spells, etc. They'll probably get lost in the dungeon.
Dialogue: The quest mod is fairly isolated. There are no edits to existing dialogue systems with vanilla NPCs, only added on top through the plugin's quests.
Cell Edits: There may be possible conflicts with anything that touches the connected water-to-land area with Riften's lake, right by Merryfair Farm. It's quite far away from the city. Please let me know. Frissa Black-Briar was also placed inside Elgrim's Elixirs.
(Make sure your water mods and LOD stuff loads after this mod.)
The Sirenroot quest objects are only enabled in the area once the quest has started.
Riften dock overhauls should be fine.
Lighting: (Mods like Lux, ELFX, RLO, etc..)
Likely not necessary to make patches. Lighting is hand placed for level design reasons, and cells use custom lighting templates.
(a patch might be useful if it looks really off with your ENB, but otherwise would change the intended look.)
Mobility: The mod was not designed with mods like Better Jumping (allows double jumping) or Skyrim's Paraglider in mind.
Increased mobility mods, and even Whirlwind Sprint should not break anything- I took extra care to make sure event/script triggers occur in the proper order should things be skipped, but overall, I would let those mods take a back seat here. Puzzles!
FAQ & Author Notes
Spoiler:
Q: Is this a horror mod? Should I play it with the lights off? Content warnings?
Some moments can be tense danger-wise, but it's mostly atmospheric tension/panic caused by gameplay reasons. (Long time underwater, timers.) No jumpscares or floating ghosts that chase you under a lake of ice. The mod isn't scary, but I did want to give an eerie/dread feeling overall. The most emotions characters can show are: being angry at the player, or pleading desperately for help. You won't find anything particularly more grim than base Skyrim.
Q: How long is the mod? Is there a lot of dialogue?
I'd say 4-6 hours max if you take time with puzzles, like to ask every question, and don't skip lines. You could speedrun it in 40 minutes.
A lot of the time spent in dialogue contributes to how long the mod can possibly be- It's quite dialogue heavy.
I made sure to gently pad in-between longer dialogue moments with exploration/a puzzle/combat. However, a lot of scenes are optional. You can get 35% through the quest, completely ignore each character's main section, which is 40% of the content, and happily blitz your way to the end. This, obviously, changes the outcome of the quest though.
Q: How is the roleplaying? Can I play as a chaotic evil character who kills everyone?
Uh. I had considered a 'immediately attack lead characters the first time you met them' dialogue thing, but ultimately it was too much work when it came to scripting and checking who and who isn't alive in specific cases.
The player ultimately has these choices: Help, or refuse to help/ignore the problem.
There is a fair chunk of flavour dialogue (and responses!) when it comes to how aggressively your character may feel about situations as they come, but 'decisions' tend to be more straightforward.
Q: How similar is this to base game quests/other mods?
It's pretty different, intentionally so. I just wanted to make something new and cool. You could call it gimmicky. I like doing new things!
Q: You mentioned Clockwork above. How similar is this to Clockwork/other mods?
I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a touch inspired by Clockwork. There are definitely big similarities in both of our stories and themes.
The main focus of Sirenroot is the multiple choice outcomes and the theme of deceiving the player.
A friend of mine also told me that my mod is very similar in themes to Maelstrom. (available on Loverslab.) I haven't played it though!
Q: Does this have any followers?
Nope.
Q: Can I romance any of the characters?
Nope.
Q: You know MxR & PotasticPanda. Why didn't you ask Jeannie to voice a character?
im shy
Q: How long did it take to make this?
8 months, on & off. I started in July 2022. There were a couple times where I didn't touch it for a full 40 days. So.. 4 months of daily work?
Q: The Ayleidoon dialogue isn't accurate to the established grammatical structure in the lore.
what would you do if ok so he said yes would go?
Q: Is there anything you would change about the mod now that it's been released?
(Minor spoilers.) Puzzle pacing is a bit odd. There was one rule self-imposed that I had broken: Introduce an element in a basic way to let the player understand it, then use the elements in a more complex way later. There needed to be a prep puzzle prior to Tilael's puzzle. I'd swap the timed swimming puzzle in the Morbalseli cell with the block climbing + timed lever puzzle in the cell right after the daydream, as I think that one is more difficult. I'd also add more padding in between the conversations. I think Cayrice could have used another minor section. A bit more reactivity near the end from the lead NPCs.
My #1 change: There needed to be another character control section. Somewhere. I don't think I used this enough. 2/3 main ones + 1 hidden is not great.
On the technical side, my papyrus & CK work has improved quite a bit. I did some bad practice stuff when it came to persistence. (It's fine though, 'tis just a mod.) There were some weird workarounds in scripts that weren't necessary because I wasn't aware of ways to do certain functions, but every script in Sirenroot is single-fire, so it's not an issue.
Q: What did you learn from making this project?
For future work, I'd make sure to plan out cells, puzzles and story further in advance. I struggled a bit with artist's block when it came time to make rooms and puzzles, which heavily slowed me down. As I mentioned 'prep' puzzles in the question above: I had reworked a few puzzles several times, and planning would have let me avoid that. This applies to pacing as well- place down the rooms first, decorate after. Creating 'vertical slices' makes reordering incredibly difficult.
A stronger focus in direction and intention for the mod was needed. I wanted a water dungeon at first, but then I introduced characters, which made me think about adding consequential dialogue, and then the project expanded in far too many directions as I kept going. I'm satisfied with the final product, but the lack of planning and intention made development tough.
Show
Q: Is this a horror mod? Should I play it with the lights off? Content warnings?
Some moments can be tense danger-wise, but it's mostly atmospheric tension/panic caused by gameplay reasons. (Long time underwater, timers.) No jumpscares or floating ghosts that chase you under a lake of ice. The mod isn't scary, but I did want to give an eerie/dread feeling overall. The most emotions characters can show are: being angry at the player, or pleading desperately for help. You won't find anything particularly more grim than base Skyrim.
Q: How long is the mod? Is there a lot of dialogue?
I'd say 4-6 hours max if you take time with puzzles, like to ask every question, and don't skip lines. You could speedrun it in 40 minutes.
A lot of the time spent in dialogue contributes to how long the mod can possibly be- It's quite dialogue heavy.
I made sure to gently pad in-between longer dialogue moments with exploration/a puzzle/combat. However, a lot of scenes are optional. You can get 35% through the quest, completely ignore each character's main section, which is 40% of the content, and happily blitz your way to the end. This, obviously, changes the outcome of the quest though.
Q: How is the roleplaying? Can I play as a chaotic evil character who kills everyone?
Uh. I had considered a 'immediately attack lead characters the first time you met them' dialogue thing, but ultimately it was too much work when it came to scripting and checking who and who isn't alive in specific cases.
The player ultimately has these choices: Help, or refuse to help/ignore the problem.
There is a fair chunk of flavour dialogue (and responses!) when it comes to how aggressively your character may feel about situations as they come, but 'decisions' tend to be more straightforward.
Q: How similar is this to base game quests/other mods?
It's pretty different, intentionally so. I just wanted to make something new and cool. You could call it gimmicky. I like doing new things!
Q: You mentioned Clockwork above. How similar is this to Clockwork/other mods?
I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a touch inspired by Clockwork. There are definitely big similarities in both of our stories and themes.
The main focus of Sirenroot is the multiple choice outcomes and the theme of deceiving the player.
A friend of mine also told me that my mod is very similar in themes to Maelstrom. (available on Loverslab.) I haven't played it though!
Q: Does this have any followers?
Nope.
Q: Can I romance any of the characters?
Nope.
Q: You know MxR & PotasticPanda. Why didn't you ask Jeannie to voice a character?
im shy
Q: How long did it take to make this?
8 months, on & off. I started in July 2022. There were a couple times where I didn't touch it for a full 40 days. So.. 4 months of daily work?
Q: The Ayleidoon dialogue isn't accurate to the established grammatical structure in the lore.
what would you do if ok so he said yes would go?
Q: Is there anything you would change about the mod now that it's been released?
(Minor spoilers.) Puzzle pacing is a bit odd. There was one rule self-imposed that I had broken: Introduce an element in a basic way to let the player understand it, then use the elements in a more complex way later. There needed to be a prep puzzle prior to Tilael's puzzle. I'd swap the timed swimming puzzle in the Morbalseli cell with the block climbing + timed lever puzzle in the cell right after the daydream, as I think that one is more difficult. I'd also add more padding in between the conversations. I think Cayrice could have used another minor section. A bit more reactivity near the end from the lead NPCs.
My #1 change: There needed to be another character control section. Somewhere. I don't think I used this enough. 2/3 main ones + 1 hidden is not great.
On the technical side, my papyrus & CK work has improved quite a bit. I did some bad practice stuff when it came to persistence. (It's fine though, 'tis just a mod.) There were some weird workarounds in scripts that weren't necessary because I wasn't aware of ways to do certain functions, but every script in Sirenroot is single-fire, so it's not an issue.
Q: What did you learn from making this project?
For future work, I'd make sure to plan out cells, puzzles and story further in advance. I struggled a bit with artist's block when it came time to make rooms and puzzles, which heavily slowed me down. As I mentioned 'prep' puzzles in the question above: I had reworked a few puzzles several times, and planning would have let me avoid that. This applies to pacing as well- place down the rooms first, decorate after. Creating 'vertical slices' makes reordering incredibly difficult.
A stronger focus in direction and intention for the mod was needed. I wanted a water dungeon at first, but then I introduced characters, which made me think about adding consequential dialogue, and then the project expanded in far too many directions as I kept going. I'm satisfied with the final product, but the lack of planning and intention made development tough.
Elizabeth Plant as Cayrice Bentieve
Chephren Parker as Peletius Flonel
Rin Araneta as Tilael
Ryan Smith as Yineel "Primes-his-Poison"
Thea Solone as Frissa Black-Briar
Kerstyn Unger as Larelleis "The Siren"
MeekVoice as The Assassin
young scrolls for vocal performances and production in the OST
Chephren Parker & Everglaid for vocal performances in the OST
Willowy for custom 3d assets
More mod asset credits can be found in the credits tab at the top of the page.