Trying to determine best "increased encounters" mods

[miketheratguy]

Thanks a lot, I appreciate that. I haven't written off SoT yet, I liked where it was going. I just needed to stop and see how DFB is working once I saw that the MCM menu was making it perform more closely to my specifics. So far, so good. Although I thought for sure that there were mods that added more spawn points and nothing else, but I'm not seeing any.

 

I've definitely had to do a complete flushing of my data folder before. Fortunately only a couple of times thanks to learning the trick of making a virgin save game for testing purposes. Also, I have a trick for clearing out mods that are complicated. Since I don't use NMM, I sometimes install a mod like Sands of Time that has hundreds of scripts. How do you keep track of all those files commingling with the other files in the script folder? You can't. So what I do is reinstall them- I open the RAR, go to the mod's script folder, and highlight all the scripts. I then drag them into my game's script folder where Windows asks me if I want to replace the ones that are already there. After I say yes the scripts that were moved into the game's folder are now conveniently highlighted from the move, so I simply grab them and toss them into the recycle bin in one fell swoop. No needing to identify and delete any files one by one when you do it that way. It's saved me loads of time.

 

Then again using NMM would probably save me even more time, lol. What can I say? The last time I used it there were errors and things got messed up.

[Shadeybladey]

I will never be entirely convinced that a simple change in game clears scripts....Had a bit of confirmation on that suspicion of mine also, I used a Script Mod that effects Dragon behavior, found it way to buggy and got rid of it and started a new game, I noted Alduin was behaving a lot more aggressively in Helgen though despite the fact that I had deleted all the saves from the previous game and had gone back to my own clean save Helgen start (bound prisoner)...

 

Well, as you say, you have to disable the mod and remove all it's components as well. There's no such thing as a "clean save" by removing active scripted mods, loading and saving; unless you do the total restart with no mods at all. You have to load a save that has never seen the mod.

 

And there's no way a mod's scripts could get into a save if they are not active when you save the game.

 

Which mod was it, out of interest? I have Dragon Combat Overhaul which actually seems to make them behave more intelligently, rather than just make them tougher. And Immediate Dragons, so they still appear even if I never go to Whiterun.

 

 

I have a bunch of "Vanilla" saves at Helgen (using the console Save "Vanilla 01" etc), just before you get off the cart, with just:

 

HighResTexturePack01.esp

HighResTexturePack02.esp

HighResTexturePack03.esp

Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp

SkyUI.esp

iHUD.esp

World_Map_Height_Pitch_Tweak_250.esp

 

 

So then I can create a new character with whatever new set of mods I want (I have about 140). Once I get my hands untied, I save, exit, install the mods and reload.

 

But, of course, if any of those above are updated, I have to sit through the cart ride again. :sad:

 

But a total clean out and re-installing everything from scratch isn't a bad idea either. I did it just the once, though.

 

~.~

 

Mike, I think you've tried some of these, but I have

 

DragonCombatOverhaul.esp

ImmediateDragons.esp

Immersive Battles.esp

Immersive Brigands.esp

Immersive Events.esp

Immersive Factions.esp

Immersive Mercenaries.esp

Immersive Patrols.esp

Immersive Travelers.esp

Immersive Werewolves.esp

 

SkyTEST-RealisticAnimals&Predators.esp (although this is for animals).

 

They seem to add a LOT of NPC spawns and you get ambushed by bandits who wait outside an Inn while you sleep. I have seen quite large Stormcloak vs Imperial battles, plus both fighting Necromancers before turning on each other.

 

I'd avoid Warzones and Civil War Overhaul.

 

I've been meaning to try ASIS for a while as I have some friends who swear by it, but haven't got round to it yet.

 

And even if you don't increase Dragon spawns, I'd recommend Run For Your Lives

 

and if you have Dawnguard, When Vampires Attack.

 

~.~

[StayFrosty05]

ShadeyBladey....It was DCO....I ended up running a number of Alduin tests to confirm, was definitely still effecting Alduins behavior, much more active and his Meteorites in Helgen were insane.

[Shadeybladey]

Are you sure it was the mod? DCO has 51 loose files scripts with it, which will override the Vanilla bsa if they have the same name as the packaged vanilla scripts. Did you remember to take them out?

 

The last fresh start I did had some pretty incredible meteor storms as well, although they didn't damage me.

 

But I only made a totally fresh character recently, so I've probably forgotten what Vanilla looks like!

 

~.~

[miketheratguy]

I'd been using Immersive Patrols for a little while and it seemed alright. I'll probably try adding it back in to see if it place nice with Random Encounters, which is still working well.

[StayFrosty05]

Mike...A note from SoT's Modder in regards to Spawns in Skyrim...:

 

".....spawning non vanilla npcs is inherently destabilizing to skyrim . The game is designed to place npcs in it beforehand. A lot of code has to be added to stop game crashing events when running scripts that deal with spawns."

 

That would explain why no 'Spawn Point' Mods I would say. I do know that's why the SoT Modder introduced the little invisible Spirits inside Interiors....the Spirits are the Spawn Points, is why they run ahead of you, to drop random Spawns....And of course his exterior encounters, they spawn directly on your character...given some distance of course...the distance depending on variables.

 

Your way of finding the scripts in your Files is a very clever solution, I like it very much.... :happy:

[miketheratguy]

Thanks! I hope it comes in handy. It works for any files, of course. One just has to enter the proper folder, drop in and overwrite the files you're looking to get rid of, and then after they're all overwritten just delete them all at once while they're still highlighted. Of course this requires a copy of the original RAR, but if a mod is good I always keep a copy of it.

 

I continue to be divided about SoT, which I plan to look into some more later tonight. The advanced features some really cool, but I was able to play for about three straight hours using Random Encounters without a single crash or freeze. And we're talking a few megabytes of files as opposed to over half a gigabyte.

 

Still, while the encounters are great I just don't get nearly as many as I'd like. Still need to see if the mod can work in conjunction with others before I put the test on hold and go back to trying SoT again.

[StayFrosty05]

Shadey....I just installed and un-installed DCO via NMM. I prefer not to download Loose Files if I can help it, should have researched DCO further it seems...barring SoT as I am guaranteed support and help if anything goes south... I am not that savvy about Mods, only what I observe such as DCO's continued effects and what I pick up from information along the way....Am liking Mike's solution to finding files though... :happy:

 

The Meteorite insanity did me no damage either, just concerned me that a no longer present Mod was still effecting my game....after my nightmare experience with Skytest, I certainly prefer not to go through that again.... :ohdear:

[StayFrosty05]

Mike....It's a shame you weren't around when SoT went cock eyed.... :tongue: ...we had encounters pouring out of our ears, drowning in encounters...we were under siege.... :tongue: ...was Epic!!.... :dance: Would take our Dovahkins days to cross Skyrim, had to battle all the way AND a number of encounters would spawn in waves, so we had SoT NPC's in battle with other SoT NPC's, my Dovahkin quite often would lead them to one another ...as a lone wolf kinda dude he needed all the help he could find near by, so often ran them into each other to get them fighting among themselves also....those SoT days were awesome.... :D ...had many amazing battles, it's almost a shame SoT's Modder fixed the issue... :unsure: ...you may have loved that borked SoT file...I know I and a few others did.... :D

[miketheratguy]

Was that the only thing that was "wrong" with the file? Does the file still exist anywhere? That's part of what I'm trying to get going in my game again- a lot more fighting. We're talking 30 seconds between skirmishes.

 

What caused that to happen, anyway?