osmosys

I made a big list here: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1307379-creating-the-best-requiem-experience/ Cheers

Does requiem take bug submissions anywhere?

For reference this was partially achieved in Morrowind with: http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=5666

Being able to grab glass/dwemmer/ebony gear at level 1 really sucks. Especially from chests that aren't even locked, and with no guards watching! Vanilla made it waaay too easy to get super items. Oblivion was even worse, but let's not go there. Mods like Requiem and Morrowloot seem to handle this one pretty well, but I still see flaws in both of them. In Requiem I found a couple chests with no guards that had immersion breaking items in them (this is due to Vanilla, but I think Requem should lock these). I haven't tried Morrowloot, but I doubt it works with Requiem (my main mod) so it's out. It also suffers from a few things like: 1. The same items are always everywhere. You get one play through kid. When you start again you'll know where to look... doh 2. It turns off being able to craft higher level items. I like this and I don't like this (I'll explain why). What I do like about Morrowloot: 1. There is one set of Daedric, and you gotta hunt it down. Just like Morrowind. 2. It adds some of the old nostalgia uniques to the game from Morrowind (seeing a pattern yet?) 3. Loot is gained logically. So Orc gear from Orcs. Dwemmer gear from Dwemmer ruins. Coherency! :-) In my head this is what the perfect item mod would be: 1. An item mod with some statically placed items that "rotate" or "move" to different positions when the game starts. Just so it isn't crazy to manage you could have eight or so presets, and one is chosen randomly when the game starts. This would have to be done with very careful attention to detail. 2. An item mod that still has chests that randomly give out loot, but a bit tighter with more guards etc (or guards that will follow you if you are sneaking around which another mod covers). So you can get static items, but sometimes you get a nice random item also. 3. An item mod that has one to three sets of daedric in the entire game. One is scattered everywhere, and the other could be worn by an incredibly difficult to kill NPC - thus breaking the main questline (so don't kill him you greedy jerk). The last set could be given out by an INCREDIBLY difficult quest (or not). 4. An item mod that still allows you to craft daedric gear, but requires more than just leveling up smithing. A compromise. Maybe a level check requirement? Or maybe you need to assemble the book by finding different pages scattered all over the map? This would make it as difficult - even more difficult - as finding the scattered suit of daedric armor. 5. An item mod that has a patch that works with Requiem ;-) 6. Lastly make an installer with options like: Change creature level lists, or disable this change (allowing another mod to take precedence like *cough* Requiem *cough* )Lock chests found in easily accessible places? (with a spoiler list included so people can track this easily)Add additional guards that work shifts over certain areas? (again with a list)Choose your scatter preset 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or Random. (again list it)Turn on / off craftable daedric gear? Craftable ebony? EtcRequire difficult to obtain items to be able to craft daedric?Remove Daedric from all NPCs except one? (with list)Only one set of Daedric scattered? Only three sets of Ebony?Install lore friendly unique items from Morrowind? (spoiler list)Find lore friendly Morrowind uniques from random preset placements, or from quest objectives? (very optional)That would be killer! ---------------- I foresee if this mod would have problems like: 1. Conflicts with any kind of guard overhauls (maybe) 2. The scatter presets sucking. Like one preset is so much more lucky than the other or has bad locations. This takes a lot of patience and hard work to pull off. 3. Players complaining about not being able to find all the daedric on their own. Ha! Keep looking loser! 4. The lore friendly uniques sucking or not lining up with other mods like Requiem. 5. A lock of thoroughness. Some chests with uber gear not being locked or watched. Allowing the player to rush there at the start of the game. 6. The scatter presets leaving items hanging in the air. So one item rotates for another but it's smaller and doesn't place right :/ 7. The scatter presets could also break coherency. You can't have a piece of daedric scatter to a dwemmer ruin. You have to have different discrete layers. "Scatter channels." --------------- Go make it guys! :-) I can help with testing/qa/design/communication/project mangement/writing. LOL

I just can't believe how much better it looks!

If anyone is curious just compare these two images: NEW: http://thumbnails112.imagebam.com/29949/7abf80299485277.jpg OLD: http://thumbnails101.imagebam.com/29949/65d4fb299485284.jpg Notice how that shiny crap is toned way the hell down?

I think I answered my own question: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/822/? WOW does it look good with this. Too bad on high settings I get 18 FPS :(

This game is fun, but there are highlights *everywhere*. The ground, the plants, the creatures, the walls, and the items; it all shines like a toaster. If you look around your room you'll notice that most highlights are fairly subdued. Now compare that to Skyrim and the amazing graphics may start to seem overdone. This all started around the time bump/normal mapping and HDR etc became the norm. Some developers understand that real settings have very low subtle highlights (like real life), but sadly most make their textures an eye sore. So is there something to tweak the mapping? Turn it down? Anything?

Thanks for the info. Requiem seems like it's fairly solid, and luckily it makes most of the big changes on it's own. I'm not gonna bother with Hunterborn. Too much hassle. Any kind of creature/npc mod seems off limits also. That just leaves me with very discrete mods, and graphics tweaks. Not so bad. I'm sure I'll have an enjoyable playthrough.

Did you need a bashed patch, or does it fit with requiem with no issues? Requiem changes leveled creature lists a lot, and I want to avoid any changes other mods make.

Yeah any kind of NPC mod will instantly create problems. I'm going to focus on the core requiem experience plus the must have mods, and then progress from there. Let me know how you fare! :-)

I'm getting back into Skyrim, and created this lost of mods for my next play through. This list of mods is compatible with one another except when noted. -------- [Core Game Files] Skyrim Skyrim Heathfire Skyrim Dawnguard Skyrim Dragonborn High Resolution DLC [Patches for Core Game Files] (These will work with Requiem but you need to use the optional esp from Requiem Hard Times) Unofficial Skyrim Patch Unofficial Dawnguard Patch Unofficial Hearthfire Patch Unofficial Dragonborn Patch Unofficial High Resolution Patch [script Support for Requiem] Skyrim Script Extender [Character/Quest/Interface/Other] Alternate Start - Live Another Life (this seems to work ok, but the game starts off a bit stilted. I also think some of the starting options are a bit... well see for yourself.) Even Better Quest Objectives - (A must have if you turn quest markers off. I really hope it's extensive enough because otherwise you can't progress at all. This is probably my number one concern. If it doesn't work I have to turn quest markers back on. I hate quest markers. I hope this works with all the expansion content!) Better Fast Travel - Carriages and Ships (Very useful since Requiem turns fast travel off, but I don't know if this conflicts) SkyUI - (pretty sure you need this to use Requiem) [Requiem Files] Requiem - (comes with Dawnguard Support. This is all you need to play Requiem but it won't support the other expansions) Requiem - Dragonborn Requiem - Hearthfires Requiem - Immersive Creatures Requiem - Immersive Patrols Requiem - Immersive Weapons (I don't know if Requiem already has most of these weapons) Requiem - Immersive Armors (I don't know if Requiem already has most of these armors) Requiem - Skytest Realist Animals and Predators Requiem - Dragon Combat Overhaul (be wary I've read of bugs) Requiem - Civil War Overhaul (again I've read of bugs) Requiem - Moonpath to Elswyer Patch Requiem - Wyrmstooth Requiem - Falskaar Requiem - Hard Times (You need this for Requiem to work properly with the unofficial patches. Requiem wasn't designed with the unofficial patches in mind. You can read more about the requiem forums here. Look for the post by Joelph. Update: I think Requiem Hard Times has a standalone esp if you want compatibility without running Hard Times itself... Update2: I talked to the mod author and he said that most of the fixes for the unofficial patches should work fine since Requiem doesn't touch quests, and a lot of the other fixes are more cosmetic anyway. [Other Requiem Compatible Mods] Update: Check out the Requiem Extended Mod Here: http://forum.step-project.com/showthread.php?tid=4306 Frostfall, Wet and Cold, Cloaks of Skyrim (for Frostfall) (None of these have many issues, but Cloaks may need a bash file) Winter is Coming - (Right now I use the craft only option to avoid leveled lists problems) Moonpath to Elswyer (with requiem patch) Wyrmstooth (with requiem patch) Falskaar (with requiem patch) Immersive Patrols (with requiem patch) Immersive Weapons (with requiem patch) Skyrim Immersive Creatures (with requiem patch) Skytest Realist Animals and Predators (with requiem patch) Dragon Combat Overhaul (with requiem patch) Cival War Overhaul (with requiem patch) Hunterborn - This comes with a requiem patch! Hurray! Vilja in Skyrim - Apparently this is compatible with Requiem now. Note: Be tentative about running these mods: 1. Falskaar 2. Moonpath to Elswyer 3. Wyrmstooth These are fan made expansions. They may be great, but fan made content is often very lacking and unbalanced. Maybe the requiem mod patches fix these, but I'm not certain. Also, do these support or need Even Better Quest Objectives? If you go to these regions with your compass marker turned off it may not work right... I have no idea... [Personal Favorites: Graphics/Interface] A Quality World Map with Roads Climates of Tamriel - Weather - Lightning - Audio (If you get rain while under canopies it's Skyrim not this mod. Blame Bethesda.) Real Vision ENB - (performance gets really crappy unless you have a great video card) Racemenu - (May go well with XCE Xenius Character Enhancement) Static Mesh Improvement Mod - (This has a conflict with W.A.T.E.R. so install W.A.T.E.R. last and overwrite) Gems of Skyrim Better Shaped Swords - (This mod is great since there is no esp. Just some graphical changes. It's not complete however...) Glowing Ore Veins - (Haven't seen any problems. Pretty discrete.) Enhanced Night Skyrim Skyrim Flora Overhaul W.A.T.E.R. Footprints Hires Legible Road Signs [Personal Favorites: Other] Unread Books Glow - (I don't see how this would create problems, but I could be wrong :/) Skyrim Book Covers - (Seems to work with Unread books glow....) Birds of Skyrim - (These are all new inconsequential additions.) Wearable Lanterns - (I haven't run into any problems with this one. It's pretty discrete.) Bandoliers Auto Unequip Ammo - (I don't see how this could conflict.) Realistic Ragdolls and Force - (It shouldn't conflict? Haven't tried it yet.) Lanterns of Skyrim - (I've been running this without problems. It's a fairly discrete mod.) Sounds of Skyrim - (This may conflict with Climates of Tamriel) [Additional Likely Incompatible Mods] Magic Midas Magick - I doubt it's been setup with the hardcore world of Requiem involved. Probably OP and conflicting. Dwemerverse - This seems cool, but I have no idea what it would do to requiem, or if the spells are overpowered. Apocolypse Spell Package - Again I have no idea what this would do to Requiem's spells, or if they are OP. NPC/Monster Organized Bandits - not sure if the leveled list work well. Trade Routes - The changes to the economcy probably conflict, but I'm not sure. Interesting NPCS - (This has potential for conflicts. Do any of them have overpowered items? Do they conflict with Requiem's leveled lists?) Populated Caves and Dungeons - (The author claims this is compatible with overhauls, but it's possible Requiem already does what this mod does on it's own.) Ultimate Follower Overhaul - (A mod like this seems inherently dangerous for many many reasons.) Guard Dialogue Overhaul - Again this makes me paranoid about leveled list changes. Cloaks of Skyrim (I assume this needs a bashed patch) Other 4. Pumping Iron - Not sure if this works well with other mods. Loot Options Requiem's loot is good, but if you want that extra something you'll have to look elsewhere. Other mods address this, but it's highly doubtful they will work without a patch. Morrowloot - I really really want this to work with Requiem, but I doubt it's compatible. It seems worthy of making a patch though... Seems like it does so many things right too... sigh... Immersive Loot and Cells - Another good loot mod, but I doubt it works with Requiem. Dynamic Loot - Another Good option, and I doubt it works. Why I chose Requiem I'm a Morrowind fan, and I really really really hated Oblivion. So bad that I never beat it, and even OOO wasn't enough to make me want to play the game. If you wonder why just read this page: https://sites.google.com/site/damicat/ Damicat pretty much nailed it. So when Skyrim came out I was skeptical, and I gave it a whirl, but quickly lost interest. It seemed better that Oblivion in some ways, but at it's core it was still too "softcore" for my tastes. So I waited and waited, and even forgot about Skyrim, and then came back and found two mods that seemed interesting. Skyre, and Requiem. Skyre seems like an awesome mod, but I wanted something a bit more comprehensive. Something where the author kept the bigger picture in mind, balancing how their tweaks affect every point in the game. Modular mods are like a double edged sword. Sure they may be more discrete, and allow the player to customize their experience, but they also have one dramatic failing. For example, if you mix a magic mod with a monster difficulty mod will it make the game better or worse? Think about it carefully. The answer is maybe. It may be that the monster difficulty mod has monsters with hit point increases/decreases that mesh well with a magic enhancement mod's damage increases/decreases. But it depends on how those increases/decreases line up, and this can be chaotic. The creators of mods tend to use Vanilla Skyrim as their baseline for how their mod should work. They can't possibly think about the baseline of another mod maker (let alone fifty other mod makers). It's not possible. This is why I think Requiem will be a better experience for me. To drive it home even further think about it this way: Magic Mod A - Spells 2x damage in most catagories. (essentially making the game easier at the aggregate) Magic Mod B - Spells do less damage (Seen as a realism mod in some ways. Toned down hardcore magic.) Magic Mod C - A mix of more or less damage (random based upon the mod makers sensibilities. May even break vanilla.) Creature Mod A - Creatures are deleveled (static levels that tend to be harder at first) Creature Mod B - Creatures are leveled but beefed up. That's five variables. Three times two is six, so there are six possible combinations: Magic Mod A - Creature Mod A (harder creatures may be overcome by additional damage nullifying the creature change) Magic Mod A - Creature Mod B (semi-harder creatures may or may not be overcome by additional damage. It's a coin toss.) Magic Mod B - Creature Mod A (harder creatures are now ridiculously hard) Magic Mod B - Creature Mod B (semi-harder creatures are now a lot harder) Magic Mod C - Creature Mod A (Mixed results. Maybe frustrating maybe not) Magic Mod C - Creature Mod B (Again mixed results) Now before you go off and say, "Dude Midas Magic works great with my deleveled monsters" think about this. I won't know you're right until I'm already 20 hours into the game. By then I've got a good enough sample to know if you're right or wrong. But you know what? By then it's too late. I wont uninstall and start over, and I will already have spoiled the game for myself. Instead I'm banking that the people that made Requiem know enough about the "bigger picture" to complete a coherent, and balanced (within the increased difficulty) experience. Because they considered how changing one thing would change another within the baseline of Requiem (not the baseline of Vanilla Skyrim). There is one important caveat though. It's possible that Requiem is too hard, but I LOVED Dark Souls, so bring on the pain! ----------- Any help or comments is appreciated.