It was made in 2016 over half a decade ago and has nav mesh editing which shouldn't have been in there (can break other mods and cause CTDs) and doesn't have any of the features fixes or updates that the latest version of SkyTEST added in the half a decade it was released, and its not supported.
So this mod is a lite version of the latest file to include all of the fixes and updates that have occurred in the last half decade+ and I'm supporting it. I also fixed the bugs in the latest version as well in this Lite Version too. :)
Well thank you for asking the question. Its a good question and gives me a opportunity to better explain the difference. Ill sticky this. Kuddos for a good question.
Is It Compatible/Patch Questions: Due to the light nature of this mod 99% of the time a patch is no longer needed and instead a change to your load order is all that is required (i.e. my mod should come before x or after x). I do not mind helping people out with compatibility but ONLY if you spent at minimum 2 min looking at my mod and the mod in question in xEdit.
Because this mod is so light weight it only take a couple min to check compatibility - specifically you only need to look at about 50 records which can all fit on your screen at once. All you have to do is expand each tab and look for records in Red. Green, yellow, and white records can be ignored, red records require your attention but ONLY IF those records are edited by both mods. So in perspective here you are expanding tabs and only looking for a single color on your screen. It takes 2 min. I want to push you all to be better modders so to that end doing what I described above will teach you how to check. I am busy making and updating mods so this 2 min inconvenience burden should fall on you not me. That said however you can absolutely report back and ask me questions about findings if after 2 min you are lost - or say you don't understand please help - i am always happy to help :)
This is a great idea but it also is a tremendous amount of work. He has 26 articles Id have to read on how to implement various changes and even though this mod is light given the size of this mod and diversity of edits this would be weeks maybe months worth of work for me starting at square 0 to wrap my head around it, test it, make it. If I have time to get around to it I can try but I need to prioritize working on things professionally for my future child and family and need to pull back from putting so many hours of work into project for others. That said In my personal load order I need 3 patches so this would just be for others. But for you I joined his discord group and am asking to confirm the lift of this effort. But yea looking at how its made its not a .esp I make or edit using the Creation kit, I cant use xEdit, or any easy access quick editing or batch patching script I can write for xedit, its a text file read by skse and has to be made by hand I think. This turns into writing something equivalent to a novel.
However* what is easy for me is updating the existing mod and trying to make it even more light weight, apply more fixes, etc. that I want in my game personally anyway so I am doing it for others and myself and I do have a update planned for this mod and I do have time to chip into doing that level of work and will continue to update and release mods when its both something I want and something I can share.
no worries man, take your time. Skypatcher author seems pretty active, maybe u can collaborate with him or other authors inside the discord to ease the work needed.
Please see the note on the description page. Keep in mind this mod is now ESL, when we ESL a mod we have to change all the ID numbers so its compact what might that mean for another mod trying to read those ID numbers?
This question is why the note was made and prompts the answer just as a means to help grow the knowledge sharing in the community. Also remember to check the description page OR check xEdit quick for mod compatibility! :)
Also the post directly under yours talks about Mortal Enemies. My open question to the post below which still has not been answered is what does xEdit say is required.
I hear you but I've been modding for 5 yrs and never used/learned xEdit and havent needed it. I saw the post about mortal enemies below but doesnt say a definitive answer just that you need to use xEdit which isnt an option for people like me. lol. Anyway thanks for the reply. I appreciate it
Did you see the description page? Did that answer your question? Also the post below talks about SkyPatcher are you familiar with that tool? Because a version of Mortal Enemies was made for it. To me it looks like you may not have read the post below or that would have been something to follow up on since that is a definitive answer. Also in general your patch related question or any future question would have been answered by the description page which you may have missed so I would make sure to read the note i made quick they take a lot of work to make!
Also I would highly recommend you use xEdit btw its very basic and easy to use to check for compatibility. If you are asking is it compatible questions then you really need it. I would say complexity wise xEdit is on par with Microsoft word even easier in fact. Also there is a stellar official xEdit discord group with a ton of great people to help newbies. Anyway hope that helps and all the best!
Going to give this mod a shot. I have used the regular version for a while (years) now. I like that this mod is light weight and it appears you have worked really hard to fix issues and cut out the extra fat. Looking forward to seeing the differences in game play. Thank you
I used the original for years but removed it before taking a break for a year or so. Came back and recently realised I needed to reinstall SkyTest due to my immersion being ruin by bears, sabrecats and wolves working together and not acting like normal predators.
Came across your version and couldnt be happier :) Plus ir's a huge bonus that you've removed the extra spawns as I had to install so many patches for the original with it spawning creatures from it's own folders rather then vanilla files and textures not working on the Skytest spawns.
well thanks man! and thanks for stopping by to share some positivity I really appreciate it :)
Also I just want to point out how rare it is for people to actually take time to endorse a mod and I noticed you are a heavy edorser and that is appreciated in the community - kuddos
I always try to endorse anything I download,use or enjoy. Even if it's a mod I end up not keep in my build because it's not something I like but works fine I still try to remember to endorse just as thank you to the mod authors for providing the community with their mods and time.
Hey, I am absolutely loving your take on the SkyTEST Mod. Quick Question as I am using it alongside Bears of the North. Your patch does everything necessary and I dont need the one from the BotN site right? LOOT is griping about the missing compatibility patch and my OCD wants to have that message solved. Is there any way for you to rename it so it matches the one BotN demands? Or can I just rename the patch .esp?
The patch only resizes the bears to BOTNs values the mods work fine without a patch even -you just wouldnt have them sized up. Now that said if you are OCD which I am in the sense of perfection then I think its important for you to know that the way BOTN sizes up the bears leads to some issues. Please see the spoiler for details:
Spoiler:
Show
They basically changed the size of the bears via a edit in the .esp. For one the game engine does not handle high values well and causes the physics in game to go insane when you do this to a high degree with values over 1.5 or close to it. It can result in the animal flying into orbit, CTDs, etc. Now that said although they use very high values they are not so high that it would cause CTDs by no means but it does within the relm of possibility depending on when and where they ragdoll could cause a deformation of the mesh via stretching or phsyics bugs with them flying. Another bug their method caues and this is more annoying and immersion breaking and is 10000% present in BOTN is that the hit box and skele does not scale when you size up a bear this way through the .esp. meaning arrows and spells will pass right through them depending were you shoot. Small values are okay and that is the way to go but for large changes like in BOTN you need to edit the skele and hitbox to size up or down that is the actual solution if you want to dramatically change size.
Now all that said what I can say is i plan to actually implement a skele system in this mod it will correct animal sizes and give perfect 1 to 1 hitbox ratios and make them the actual size they were in real life which is fun and cool. This also means bears will be correctly sized up making a BOTN patch in the near future in my opinion no longer needed as I will be sizing them up myself anyway correctly. For the interim if you are OCD about warnings then id say just place my mod after if you want no bugs introduced by BOTN's size up. Otherwise you can place BOTN after my mod and just drag and drop my values into BOTN baking in a patch into that mod yourself if you like but that will mean the size up bugs i mentioned will be present.
Thank you very much for the extensive explanation. I think I will go for loading your mod after BOTN. Eliminating/Avoiding potential bugs in it's root cause is always a good thing for me.
That being said, hearing you plan to extend the mod further is really pleasant Information!
Does this include or remove the stat increases, as well as the knockdown chance for larger animals? I used full SkyTEST a long time ago, and while I liked the ai and behaviour changes, the fact that it turned some wildlife into boss fights harder than dragon priests was a bit weird
mammoths have a chance to knock you down yea but they are pretty big and its a medium chance they will pull it off. But everything else no not really they just will cause a "stagger" were the screen shakes and you stumble for a second. Cave Bears and Sabre cats however have a unique single power attack that is not used very often but if pulled off usually after a charging run it can knock you down iirc. but thats it.
stat increases are slightly different - but there are stat differences. Fauna is less player centric and reflects their historical strength so for example I wouldnt expect you to be able to take down a mammoth at level 1 they are massive and thick skinned to that end they are heavily armored and have high health. Another example is Sabre cats which will in terms of AI are aggressive only when they are on the hunt for another animal for a meal, otherwise they are passive and wont attack the player outright unless the player continues to approach them. That said Sabre cats given that they were a very tough creature that took down mammoths has a higher static level then vanilla making it less player centric, so you would likely die if you tried to go toe to toe with one at level 1. that said however if any animal is too strong for you they do all fear fire and using any fire spell will make them flee and give you a chance to run away if needed.
Other differences reduce their health by a lot but give them more armor if they are known have thicker skin this is the case for some bears and to this point anything that negates armor will do sever damage to them. All in all except for mammoths all fauna has relatively low health so poisons and spells are pretty effective on them. Some are more armored then others but magic and posiens and some special weapons that negate armor will do a lot of damage to them.
It adds new animals and doesnt touch existing ones so just skimming the mod page no I wouldnt expect any interaction but you know what I know! Im just going off the mod page like I said but yea i think it would be fine.
thanks mate! yea im just trying to continue cleaning up the vanilla records and add abilities only where it makes sense (like the recent change to sabre cats giving them strength and defense against mammoths). This will continue to be a light project and just focused on the vanilla animals and improve their AI, and interactions the player has with them.
Works great. One question though, is there a reason why the keyword ActorTypeCreature is removed from ChickenRace?
I just noticed this because this prevents "Dynamic Animal Variants SPID" from distributing the new armor variants to chickens due to the SPID filter relying on that keyword for some reason.
Ive been meaning to do another pass at fixes for this mod to include some Havok mesh fixes for some of the animals - this would be one of those things addressed by the fix. To answer your question to my knowledge I cant see a good reason to remove it and it would have been removed by EtYours who created the original SkyTest mod this mod is based off of - so I would undo that change since i cant see a good reason for it.
For now just drag and drop the keyword over from Skyrim.esm over into this mod for yourself so SPID works for you. Let me know if it causes any issues however.. i cant see how it could but let me know all the same... but it is odd SPID would use that keyword since its used by litterally near everything from bears to wolves etc.
I also need to change the name of "Deer" to "Reindeer" because skyrim has actual reindeer in it and their name is just deer. which is a minor naming bug but still. Also Elk and Deer should always give antlers... they are on their head you can see them.
182 comments
So this mod is a lite version of the latest file to include all of the fixes and updates that have occurred in the last half decade+ and I'm supporting it. I also fixed the bugs in the latest version as well in this Lite Version too. :)
Due to the light nature of this mod 99% of the time a patch is no longer needed and instead a change to your load order is all that is required (i.e. my mod should come before x or after x). I do not mind helping people out with compatibility but ONLY if you spent at minimum 2 min looking at my mod and the mod in question in xEdit.
Because this mod is so light weight it only take a couple min to check compatibility - specifically you only need to look at about 50 records which can all fit on your screen at once. All you have to do is expand each tab and look for records in Red. Green, yellow, and white records can be ignored, red records require your attention but ONLY IF those records are edited by both mods. So in perspective here you are expanding tabs and only looking for a single color on your screen. It takes 2 min. I want to push you all to be better modders so to that end doing what I described above will teach you how to check. I am busy making and updating mods so this 2 min inconvenience burden should fall on you not me. That said however you can absolutely report back and ask me questions about findings if after 2 min you are lost - or say you don't understand please help - i am always happy to help :)
However* what is easy for me is updating the existing mod and trying to make it even more light weight, apply more fixes, etc. that I want in my game personally anyway so I am doing it for others and myself and I do have a update planned for this mod and I do have time to chip into doing that level of work and will continue to update and release mods when its both something I want and something I can share.
cheers!
This question is why the note was made and prompts the answer just as a means to help grow the knowledge sharing in the community. Also remember to check the description page OR check xEdit quick for mod compatibility! :)
Also the post directly under yours talks about Mortal Enemies. My open question to the post below which still has not been answered is what does xEdit say is required.
Also I would highly recommend you use xEdit btw its very basic and easy to use to check for compatibility. If you are asking is it compatible questions then you really need it. I would say complexity wise xEdit is on par with Microsoft word even easier in fact. Also there is a stellar official xEdit discord group with a ton of great people to help newbies. Anyway hope that helps and all the best!
Edit: Perfect without patches!!!
I used the original for years but removed it before taking a break for a year or so. Came back and recently realised I needed to reinstall SkyTest due to my immersion being ruin by bears, sabrecats and wolves working together and not acting like normal predators.
Came across your version and couldnt be happier :) Plus ir's a huge bonus that you've removed the extra spawns as I had to install so many patches for the original with it spawning creatures from it's own folders rather then vanilla files and textures not working on the Skytest spawns.
Also I just want to point out how rare it is for people to actually take time to endorse a mod and I noticed you are a heavy edorser and that is appreciated in the community - kuddos
I always try to endorse anything I download,use or enjoy. Even if it's a mod I end up not keep in my build because it's not something I like but works fine I still try to remember to endorse just as thank you to the mod authors for providing the community with their mods and time.
Now all that said what I can say is i plan to actually implement a skele system in this mod it will correct animal sizes and give perfect 1 to 1 hitbox ratios and make them the actual size they were in real life which is fun and cool. This also means bears will be correctly sized up making a BOTN patch in the near future in my opinion no longer needed as I will be sizing them up myself anyway correctly. For the interim if you are OCD about warnings then id say just place my mod after if you want no bugs introduced by BOTN's size up. Otherwise you can place BOTN after my mod and just drag and drop my values into BOTN baking in a patch into that mod yourself if you like but that will mean the size up bugs i mentioned will be present.
That being said, hearing you plan to extend the mod further is really pleasant Information!
Thank you for everything :)
Other differences reduce their health by a lot but give them more armor if they are known have thicker skin this is the case for some bears and to this point anything that negates armor will do sever damage to them. All in all except for mammoths all fauna has relatively low health so poisons and spells are pretty effective on them. Some are more armored then others but magic and posiens and some special weapons that negate armor will do a lot of damage to them.
edit: do you expect any compatibility issues with a mod like Animals A Plenty?
I just noticed this because this prevents "Dynamic Animal Variants SPID" from distributing the new armor variants to chickens due to the SPID filter relying on that keyword for some reason.
For now just drag and drop the keyword over from Skyrim.esm over into this mod for yourself so SPID works for you. Let me know if it causes any issues however.. i cant see how it could but let me know all the same... but it is odd SPID would use that keyword since its used by litterally near everything from bears to wolves etc.
I also need to change the name of "Deer" to "Reindeer" because skyrim has actual reindeer in it and their name is just deer. which is a minor naming bug but still. Also Elk and Deer should always give antlers... they are on their head you can see them.