tomislawus

Dying makes you drop all items on the spot and teleport you to the nearest town wearing only some random plain clothes. Your dropped items should disappear if you die again before picking them up. Obviously save scumming would be a huge problem for this mod to work. What do you guys think?

Dynamic timescale is a must. Otherwise you get 7 times hungry in one dungeon or travel from across the land without getting hungry at all. You should get hungry quite often while in the mountains traveling (survival), but not in dungeons or cities where you might spend much more real time than while travelling.

Actually I already did that with my Ember spell. Look up my mod for it. Creating a fire wall would be just a matter of creating your own hazard with longer life. In my mod I made all fire hazards much more deadly and including a firewall spell would be great, but on one condition: AI has to mind the fire and try to avoid it because without this behavior its either OP (as in my mod) or completely useless (as in vanilla).

I'm sorry for spamming your thread Manashota, but have you thought about somehow enabling friendly fire from spells and hazards player creates himself? I really like how my Ember spell work (it sets on fire people only if they step into the actual ember), but it bugs me unbelievably that it will never set on fire the player. I won't even mention retarded things like casting fireballs in a tight cave. I would imagine it would require some kind of an epic script only someone like you could cook up:D Also, I looked into the possibility of making a oil puddle spawning spell and it seems its another thing only you can do:D It would require a script that spawns an activator (oil trap). It would be epic if we could have combo-spells like in DA - first you create a puddle of oil and then set it on fire with a basic fire spell (or maybe even a torch) and watch your enemies burn.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/23341 This mod has some of your ideas implemented.

Writing such a long post about a mod you haven't actually played seems like waste of time. Why don't you download it, start a new game and see for yourself how the magic works? Only expert spells cost 400 magicka and you can cast sparks at level 1 and kill most of people even though it has a cost of 200 magicka.

Thanks for the feedback! I have to admit I might have changed some other things... like basic stats for all races:D Anyway, you can remove those changes with like 5 clicks in Details window, before you load a plugin in SCK. Casting a thunderbolt takes 4 seconds because the spell deals 400 damage and you are not supposed to run only with it equipped - you need to use a support spell like flash, trick or flames for some initial CC and only then you will be able to kill your enemy with the main spell. Novice spells are supposed to cost that much because you are supposed to take the novice perk if you want to cast them - if you want to be a mage you should invest in it first. I updated the mod with several new spells.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/23341 WIP Overhaul of all spells to be more balanced and visually adequate. Goal of this mod is to make Skyrim magic sytem more realistic and balanced. What do I mean by visual adequateness? Ever wondered why Ice Spike that clearly just went through that bandit head and is now stuck in his brain dealt only 25 damage? Well, that spell damage is not really adequate to its visuals. This mod is aimed to fix things like this. This mod makes all spells much more powerful, but also cost much more magicka. Almost all spells now require time to charge (up to 5 seconds). Most spells work just like in vanilla and only their numbers have been changed. Couple of spells have been completely overhauled. Illusory Flames (Flames)- creates a small explosion of illusory flames from caster hand that will frighten the shiit out of most inexperienced people and the less savage beasts. Frostbite (Frostbite) - this spell will deal only minor damage, but will briefly stop in its tracks even the most badass motherfuucker out there granted you soften them up first. Flash (Candlelight) - a magical flash of light that briefly stuns people. Need someone to check if it works against Falmer. For now only destruction and restoration spells have had their numbers completely changed. Scrolls and staffs also await their turn to be changed. Meanwhile, what other things about Skyrim magic and spells bother you? What other spells seem useless or inadequate in means of damage to visual presentation?

I overhauled Candlelight into Flash spell. It staggers target nearby enemy with flash of light (but will it work on Falmer?). Here is the file: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/23341

I overhauled most of the spells to be much more powerful, but now they require much more magicka to cast and almost all spells now have to be charged - for example fireball takes 4 seconds to cast and costs 400 magicka, but will kill almost anyone. I also changed Flames to be an illusion spell that does not deal damage, but instead frightens people. Is this the right direction? Any other ideas? Note, I have a strong rule not to create new spells (its feature creep, nooooooooo!).

Because they sweeten their morning coffe with tears of small children?

Also, Manashot have you looked into Script Dragon? It seem to be less cumbersome for the user (you just copy two files and play normally) than script extender and still its pretty sexy extension.

I've made a really quick and dirty overhaul of destruction spells (only changed some numbers) because I had the same awful feeling of complete inadequateness of spells like ice spike. Now, playing a mage is more like playing a nuker mage than lame dps mage. Please report back if you decide to check it out. dl.dropbox.com/s/sdkwsc159c31qjd/real_magic.esp

:ohmy: I got meme-zoned! I was thinking more about releasing my own magic overhaul focusing on pure utility and synergies between spells, so it would take careful planning and strategy to play a mage, not this "zap, zap, pew, pew" we have now. I just wanted to make it as compatible with your mod as possible or even a part of your overhaul... Well, I guess I can work with what can be found in this thread for now.

Hey Manashota, why don't you send me whatever you have already done in the magic overhaul (even if its only your own notes) and I will look into it when I have some time. Even if you won't like some of the changes I make, maybe you could still use something from it or someone else would enjoy it along your combat overhaul. I feel you are really overwhelmed with this project, have too little time for it and you desperately need help:D Note that I'm not promising anything - I have my own projects and I just got new job where I work with UDK so I'm not sure I will have the strength to work with another creation kit after 8 hours in the office.

I think Manashota got offended and won't speak to us now :ohdear:

How to implement dodging: When you block (and wear light armor) and then sidestep, for the first 0,5 seconds you will move very fast. This effect has a cooldown of several seconds.

Teh internetz is our playground where we can forget about rules of the real world, we can experiment and act differently to just see how it is. Its not because of lack of fear - I strongly believe that people should be polite and caring for each other - especially for those who can not defend themselves. I believe that you find what kind of a person someone is by seeing how he treats those who cannot harm him or are dependent somehow on him - think of a polite and always smiling businessman in a suit belittling and yelling at some poor McDonald's worker because there is something wrong with his sandwich or soda got spilled on his table. Its not how you treat your peers or supervisors - its how you treat those who are lower than you on on the social ladder. In many ways this is the case in our interactions on teh internetz, because there are no real repercussions here that could bite our ass for being ourselves. So be yourselves when you writing posts on teh forrums even if your an a**hole - know yourself:D ... Why the fuuck did I write all this? :psyduck: Well, at least my english is getting better:D

Its like you are the Democratic Party and I'm the Republican Party - we fight with each other, but in the end it turns out we are the same people with the same ideas and principles and we argue just for the sake of it and because fuuck it - democracy is all about false diversity. But still, it does not mean that we waste time - by arguing after our ideals we express them and therefor reiterate and internalize them better:D

This is the internetz - we don't have to waste our time for politeness here.

Manaduda, no one is trying to force you to do anything. Whatever I do, I do it because I care about your project and not to break your balls. You can't imagine how grateful I am to you for taking up this challenge, but this does not mean I should not try to evaluate what you do and give it to you straight in da face. And please, don't take offense - if you don't want feedback then just say it. Do you really think I want to waste my time writing these posts if you don't want to read them? I see how not having the mod to play can make it hard to assess your ideas for me, but still I think we can discuss this. I said that "fantasy realism" is bullshiit because its just something you say when you want to say that some things will not be realistic at all. This is bullshiit because its like saying that black people are actually white, but in a different shade of whiteness. Making your ideas into reality is one thing and trying to force them all into niche of realism because you like to think that your mod is realistic is a completely different thing and its basically bullshiiting yourself and others. Mount&Blade is a bad example because its choice and progress metagame is mainly about raising your army and not advancing your character. In M%B equipment and character stats are only small part of the whole RPG gameplay, while in Skyrim its all there is. Just because there is no difference for a mosquito between being hit by a 500 kg car and a 3 ton truck, it does not mean that there is no difference for an elephant in a similar situation. Remember that in Skyrim you fight with 500 kg spiders, giants and fuucking dragons. Having a sharper sword will not make a big difference for you if you fight with some half-naked bandit, but it will make a lot of difference if that iron sword of yours gets stuck in a dragon scale because its just not sharp enough to pierce it.

Dude, you lost it. Player freedom does not come from the fact that everything is as useful as anything else and there is no difference between various option. Player freedom comes from the possibility to choose from from various options that are DIFFERENT. If there is no difference between iron sword and daedric sword then there is no choice because there is only one sword with two different skins. If there is no difference between iron sword and daedric one then why should I even do quests? I don't need money for this shiny expensive sword, I'm just gonna live as a bum with my trusty old and rusty iron sword because fuuck it, everyone knows that there is no difference between iron and steel and people started to use steel for weapons because they enjoy the additional work. If your mod can't incorporate this simple truth that iron is worse than steel, then you should seriously reconsider taking out the realism part from your mod title. And this so called "fantasy realism" you are talking about is... I'm sorry, but this is bullshiit. Realism is about making the game more logical and intuitive - there was nothing logical or intuitive about iron armors making people more damaged by lighting and there is nothing logical or intuitive about making various weapons all the same. People will take your mod and after finding a better weapon (steel sword for example) they will expect it to be better somehow than an iron one and that would be a realistic assumption. Besides, from a gameplay perspective you basically want to break one of the basic rules of game design that says if something looks different it should work different. Skyrim is not a Sims spin-off. We do not want to dress up our characters however we want with no impact on gameplay. We want to see our characters dressed up differently as we make choices about our gamestyle and as we progress through the game content. Make choosing between a steel sword and an elven one something to consider by making both of them a viable choice in their own way, not through making the choice not matter. Example: steel sword is not as sharp or light as the elven one, but its cheaper and player can make here a choice between two viable options - he either buys the expensive, but better elven sword or he saves up the money and spends them on some potions or armor. This is called choice. Another example: player can choose between pink tofu and green tofu to eat and regain health. This is not a choice.

Yeah Manashota, you should consider changing the mod title to Total Casual Overhaul because, well, fuuck it - "anything works just as well as anything". Its all about you smashing buttons and not strategizing, saving up quest money for that uber glass dagger, etc. If people play Skyrim as a RPG in which they need to manage their resources they gonna have a bad time, right Manashota? I should be able to solo the whole game with my rusty iron dagger because whatever, "a rusty old dagger cuts just as well as a daedric-fuucking-demonic-out-this-world-metal dagger", right?

I can see some serious design flaw in an assumption that players should be able to choose freely what weapons they will use most of the time with no difference whatsoever between iron and elven sword for example. Skyrim is not a casual game where it is imperative that players are not forced into doing anything they might not want and they should be able to choose between iron and elven swords solely on their looks. Skyrim is a RPG and this means it incorporates progress of the protagonist and choice of the way it is made. Choosing what new equipment character is to use in-game is one layer of this philosophy of progress and choice. But this choice needs to be meaningful. I understand that your script lags when you try to make it check for weapon material, but what about permanent buffs to certain weapons? I imagine that when you compare an iron sword with an elven one you will notice that elven sword is not only sharper, but also lighter and better balanced. Why don't you give this elven sword a permanent buff of +5 to one handed weapons because its easier to swing with it?

It would have to work as a chance-per-hit system that would give a sword a 3% chance of it lowering its condition whenever a power attack occurs. Condition of a weapon would be depicted as a keyword in its name. Example: I have a Iron Sword (fine) and I attack with it using a power attack, game checks for that 3% threshold and if its true then my sword changes name to Iron Sword (plain) and its damage is lowered. Also, I would suggest redoing those keywords to something like that: Iron Sword (fine) = Iron Sword *** Iron Sword (plain) = Iron Sword ** Iron Sword (dull) = Iron Sword *