[WIP] More Immersive Skyrim

[Amaranth]

More Immersive Skyrim

1. The Beginning

2. Description (What I've done so far)

3. To-Do List (What I've planned to add)

4. Various Ideas

5. Conclusion

1. The Beginning

First: Yeah, I need to come up with at least SOME name, but that's hard :/ So, More Immersive Skyrim is lame but at least better than "I need a name" so I'll go with this one until I magicaly come up with something better... :<

From the beginning I thought that the Scaling introduced in Skyrim is way better than in Oblivion - but still things bugged me.

I'm not one of those people who hate random (good) loot completely, but I always hated that I find better loot when I'm at a higher level - and that in some crappy boss chests which where not even hard to conquer.

I started with Scaling Stopper which completely delevels stuff, but it was not completely to my taste since you mostely encounter enemies with an average level of 20.

Then there was Morrowloot which is indeed very awesome and well-done, but sadly not 100% what I wanted either.

In a simply deleveled world the chance for getting good stuff is too high in my opinion. So I ended up starting something by myself even though I have nearly no experience in modding. There is no helping it since there is nothing to REALLY fit my taste.

First it was just a personal project but after spending hours I thought that once finished I will publish what I've done. While I don't think I will reach many people or it will be popular at all maybe one more person will think it's fine the way I've done it and will be glad to have it done. In the end whether someone will like it or nor doesn't really matter since I want to use it myself and spend the time therefor - it's even fun somehow.

2. Description

What I have done so far though I'm sure many parts will be improved from time to time. Even with personal stuff I'm quite a perfectionist. And I have fun that way

I want however to only use Vanilla Skyrim ressources to keep it small since I don't like to clutter my game with tons of stuff which don't really fit the scenery in the end.

2.1 Loot

+ Unleveled LootLists where I thought I made sense, which are most of them except some Quest related ones.

+ Everything from Orcish Armory onwards is rarer and mostly obtainable from Bosses and Boss Chests, but even rare within those. (Same for the best robes)

+ Glass and Ebony is even rarer.

+ Daedric and Dragonscale is only obtainble from special bosses and Dragons. While Dragons have an lower chance to drop those than special bosses.

+ Rare Loot obtainble from newly added rare and tough boss enemies while the highest level ones have a chance to drop Daedric while lower level ones will have a chance to drop rare loot appropriate to their level or even wear a few pieces of rare equipment.

+ Enchanted Pieces should be rarer but I like the possibility of getting those from chests.

+ Added a few new ingredients so far. Mostly to animals who had nothing more than food and a hide. (i.e. Deers & Foxes now drop "Hearts"to make hunting more useful). Some will drop more of their "parts".

+ Bandits have a new List for random clutter, just like thiefs. Bandits steal stuff too.

+ There now is a small chance to get enchanted (lower level) robes and jewelry as well as unenchanted Armor (no Shield) from Furniture to make thievery a litte bit worthy.

2.2 Actors

+ Encounter Zones now have a min- and max-level to stop the whole world from evolving around the player. I'm not quite sure about how or if I want to delevel the actors without having everything to unorganised. I like to have various difficulty zones.

I think I will have Interiors the way they are (with said min&max level so prevent everything from scaling to player-level) and set actors which don't have one to a fixed level. Plains will be deleveled then to ensure a greater variety there. Anyway, that's part of my "Work in Progress".

+ Special (rarely seen) Bosses you may encounter which carry good loot but are very hard to beat. So that you will feel rewarded after a long battle. Bosses will be human as well as creatures and will be aviable in various levels. So far a thought of a range from ~15 to 50+ or 60+. While only the highest level ones may carry daedric loot. And the lowest only "more" loot and enchanted lower level stuff.

+ Most Actors will have equipment more appropriate to their factions. Thief will wear "normal" armor while Thalmor will have elven armory. Bandits will use common weapons while their Bosses will have a chance to have an orcish weapon.

I thought about having orcish stuff only for orcs (...) but then I thought like "Hm, is the player the only one to travel the world and get stuff, maybe the bandit robbed a rich merchant and got lucky having a rare weapon!". If Bandits get their hands and such a good weapon their Boss will most likely claim it for himself rather then giving it to his henchmen.

Also Draugr will wear Ancient Nord Weapons. Vampires will now have a chance to get their hands on an minor enchanted weapon.

3. To-Do List

+ Add some hand-placed loot all over the world for variety in how to obtain stuff. Most not necessary be the "best" out there but surely nice to find.

+ Change Dwemer LeveledLists to contain DwarvenStuff only.

I think others may got their hands on Dwarven/Elven/Orcish stuff, but I'm curious how so much non-dwarven stuff made its way into a >sealed< dwemer ruin.

+ Vampires were way too weak in my opinion. So they should become stronger. But I'm not sure whether Dawnguard will change something about them or not. (Only talking about Vamp NPCs). But I don't think it will change very much about those added by Vanilla Skyrim.

+ Some other Actors also should be tougher since I like to feel like I'm not the only one capable of fighting in whole Tamriel!

+ Adding more variety to wildlife such as Wild Horses.

+ + I'd also love to have Werewolf Packs added to some places.

+ Basic changes to animal behaviour to be more realistic (which of course can be overwritten a mod like SkyTEST)

+ Change Pickpocket loot to be more interesting.

4. Future Plans

+ Adding strong NPCs which carry good loot but are friendly and may be killed if you're an assassin

+ More loot to obtain for thieves. I'd love some good hand-placed loot in houses. But I'm not sure yet regarding compability issues.

+ Change higher tier (Orcish onwards) recipes to be much harder to craft to fit in with loot rariety. But I think I will keep that in a secondary file.

+ Adding some more or less static bosses.

+ I'd love to have travelling merchants and commoners. As well as a more lively world where thieves rob commoners in towns. But that's another issue and is for sure covered by other mods. I'm just way too ambitious.

5. Conclusion

Well, as you can see I go way overboard for a personal projects - but that's just how I am. Stupid me. But I carefully went through the stuff and maintain my ideas.

I'd like to keep compability issues as low as possible but a mod like that will most likely conflict with similar stuff. But I'm eager to ensure compability where it is possible. (Dragon Mods for example.)

Also I think most changes can easily be overwritten by a mod loaded later in the list.

I have a long way to go but many things are also added already. I think I'll be in the position to do more indepth tests the next days.

Wow, so much text even though I think that's not really appealing to people other than myself. I can use this as a personal reference anyway

So, posted here and over at Bethforums. That should be enough anyway for sth. like this. I just thought I may will have more noob questions to ask later on

Edited July 1, 2012 by Amaranth

[HeyYou]

The further you get from some flavor of civilization, the meaner the encounters should get.

[Amaranth]

Well, actually I really tried to contribute the encounterzones that way - at least near "capital" cities- , but I have to finetune here a lot. It's not that easy to get a good balance between high&low zones Anyway, seems like a long way to go for me

[l0new0lf331]

I would download this.I have long thought the loot system and enemy encounters was pretty crappy.I thought about starting one up but lack the knowledge and skills to do.My kung-fu is weak.I liked what OOO,FCOM set-up added to Oblivion but even that wasn't what I wanted.I would like to see for example Bosses have better and rarer loot,klling a bandit chief and getting Ranger gear and maybe $200 is pretty weak.Finding rare stuff in the wilderness would give me more incentive to explore too.Crafting recipes for certain armors and weapons should be found as books in rare,hard to find places or learned from a master smith.I would like to help you but sadly you'd have to hold my hand for now.But I hope you do this,I'll download it!

[Carmelpoptart]

Are you going to release this? it doesnt have to be finished. and this is exactly what i was looking for!