............................................................ Name: Better Horses Version: 1.7.7 Author: LtMattmoo Released: 06/03/12 Category: Animals, creatures, mounts & horses Skyrim Nexus: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=10579 Skyrim Nexus, German translation: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=10404 Skyrim Nexus, Italian Translation: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=11865 Steam Workshop: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=9507 ............................................................ Description =========== Better Horses is an overhaul plugin for the horses of Skyrim, inclusive of features such as saddle storage, whistle commands and trampling as well as many configurable stat tweaks. Better horses aims to make Skyrim's horses how they always should have been, useful, while leaving as many changes as possible down to the individual player's preference. Features ======== Before you begin using this plugin, you should read up on each of the included features and get your head around what, exactly, Better Horses will be changing in your game. Full documentation on these features can be found below or in the in-game manual, "How To Train Your Horse", which can be found lying around at any of the major stables in Skyrim. Breeds ------ A horse's breed, distinguishable by its colour, now makes a difference to its stats. ~~Black~~ Black horses, Shadowmere included, are built for long-distance running: -25 Speed +200 Stamina ~~Black and White~~ These horses are bred to be warhorses: +100 Health +100% Trample Damage -50 Carry Weight ~~Brown~~ Brown horses are your average, well-rounded horses: [Basic Stats] ~~Grey~~ Grey horses are true beasts of burden and make for great packhorses: +200 Carry Weight -50 Speed ~~Palomino~~ Palomino horses are the fastest in all Skyrim. Frost also has these stats: +25 Speed +50 Stamina -100 Health -150 Carry Weight Cowardice --------- Horses will now choose to flee at the sight of combat, rather than getting involved and killed. This feature is optional (see below). If not disabled, this can be set to affect all horses except Frost and Shadowmere or all horses (including Frost and Shadowmere). Health and Essentiality ----------------------- This feature marks horses as "essential", meaning that they cannot die. This feature is optional (see below). If not disabled, this can be set to affect all horses or Frost and Shadowmere only. If you choose to disable Essentiallity, you will instead be able to adjust horses' Health. This will allow for a compromise between an immortal horse and a dead one. Horse Calling ------------- Using a special horse call, you can command your horse to come to you, follow you or stay put. This call is listed with your spells as a Power, is cast as a Shout and, when used, will cause your last rode horse to follow you, stop following you, or teleport to you, depending on the situation. You obtain the Horse Call by reading the In-Game Manual. ~~Come~~ If your horse is nearby when you use the call, providing that it's not already doing so, it will come to you and begin following you. Although it still will not engage in combat, a cowardly horse will not flee while following you. ~~Stay~~ If your horse is nearby, but is already following you, calling it will command it to stop following you and stay put. Your horse will also cease to follow you and stay put should you mount/dismount it or access its saddle storage. ~~Far Call~~ If your horse is out of ear-shot and you have the magicka available, you will call with an ethereal whistle. This has the same effect on the horse as a standard "Come" call. This call costs 25 magicka to use. ~~Summoning Call~~ If your horse is especially far away and you have the magicka available, your ethereal whistle will teleport your horse to you. Once by your side, your horse will begin following you. This call costs 100 magicka to use. Ignorance --------- When horses detect you, your stealth meter will no longer react. Simply, your sneaking crosshair ignores perceptive horses. Saddle Storage -------------- The inventories of all saddled horses are now accessible. Simply activate your horse while sneaking and, instead of mounting it, you will gain access to its handy, mobile storage. Naturally, horses have a Carry Weight of 300, but this can vary depending on a horse's breed. Speed and Stamina ----------------- Horses' Speeds are now adjustable (see below), as are their Staminas. High Speed makes a horse go faster, while high Stamina allows a horse to "sprint" for longer. Trampling --------- If a horse you're riding collides with an NPC while "sprinting", that NPC will be trampled, running them down and causing significant damage. Trampling is hostile and will cause NPCs to retaliate. This feature is optional (see below). Configuration ============= Some of Better Horses' features are optional or adjustable. After reading the In-Game Manual, you will be prompted to set these options via the Better Horses Options Interface. If you ever want to change these settings again, you must type "set HorseSettings to 1" into the console, then read the Manual again. Installation ============ Better Horses installs as a simple plugin and archive. Simply copy lt_better_horses.esp and lt_better_horses.bsa to your Skyrim/Data directory and activate Better Horses within your favourite mod manager. Uninstallation ============== Because of how deep this plugin digs itself into your game in order to thoroughly improve the horses of Skyrim, trying to remove it can cause a teeny, tiny um.. Mutation. This only affects saves made with Better Horses enabled but can show effects of significant severity. Checking this mod out won't do any harm. These "mutations" only occur on saved games that had Better Horse enabled so, as long as you don't save, just taking a look-see won't hurt. As for the mutations themselves; common side-effects include the inability to mount horses and incorrect horse stats (speed, stamina, health, etcetera). There is little I can do about this, but I have written a plugin which repairs every known mutation on a saved game. I call it the Better Horses Uninstaller and it can be obtained here: Skyrim Nexus: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/download.php?id=36175 Steam Workshop: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=10450 Using the Uninstaller is easy. Just remove Better Horses and use this in its place and you shouldn't experience any of the issues know to be caused by removing this plugin. UPDATING: Unless stated otherwise, the Uninstaller is not required when updating from one version of Better Horses to another. Known Bugs and Issues ===================== First of all, it is worth mentioning that this plugin is probably incompatible with any other mod which directly affects horses in any way. Other than this, and the uninstallation mutations, it is not unheared of for some features to fail to function for a rare few individuals. If you become such an individual, after trying the basic stuff (reinstalling, rearranging your plugin load order, loading a previous save) you should collect as much information as you can about the particular problem, then let me know. Changelog ========= ---06/03/12---version1.7.7 - Corrected documentation on Breeds in the In-Game Manual. - Revised the Options Interface for more accurate, interactive options. ---01/03/12---version1.7.6 - Removed Staying Put Feature. - Bugfix: All vanishing horse bugs. - Bugfix: No Health options follow setting Frost and Shadowmere to Essential. ---29/02/12---version1.7.5 - Revisited Breeds - Reduced Natural Carry Weight to 300. - Added "Shadowmere only" option to Essentiality. - Added Ignorance feature (horses ignore you while sneaking). ---27/02/12---version1.7.4 - Bugfix: Horses don't fast travel to cities with stables. - Bugfix: You are asked to set Health after selecting All Essential. ---26/02/12---version1.7.3--- - If only Frost and Shadowmere are Essential, all other horses get adjustable Health. - Bugfix: Horses lose items in their inventory if left alone too long. ---25/02/12---version1.7.2--- - Mounted saves no longer cause bugs. - Bugfix: Horse doesn't Trample when rode, but does when not. - Made horses' Health adjustable. ---24/02/12---version1.7.1--- - Bugfix: No Saddle Storage on Shadowmere. - Bugfix: Horses die when activated. ---22/02/12---version1.7.0--- - Added Breeds. - Added In-Game Manual to all major stables. - Introduced Saddle Storage limit. ---20/02/12---version1.6.4--- - Bugfix: Horse Call attempts a Summoning Call when LastRiddenHorse is dead or inexistent. ---20/02/12---version1.6.3--- - Bugfix: Horse disappears OnLoad. ---19/02/12---version1.6.2--- - "No vanilla cowardice" bugfix. - Settings are now Vanilla by default. - Added "Trample hostiles only" option. - Essentiality now protects from fall damage. ---18/02/12---version1.6.1--- - Horse following distance increased. - Horses now stay exactly where they are when fast travelling. ---17/02/12---version1.6.0--- - Rewrote In-Game Manual. - Added Horse Cost adjustability. - Added Better Horses Options Interface. - "Manual not granted Horse Call" bugfix. ---16/02/12---version1.5.0--- - Added in-game manual. - Added Trampling feature. - Removed Horse Call mounting grant. Spell can now only be obtained from manual. - "Send to origin" bugfix. ---15/02/12---version1.4.0--- - Staying Put feature (Horses Don't Fast Travel) added. - Horses now "stay" when their saddle storage is accessed or when dismounted. ---14/02/12---version1.3.4--- - Horse Calling overhauled. ---14/02/12---version1.3.3--- - Faster Dismounting feature temporarily removed. - "Shadowfax" calling whistle duration reduced. ---13/02/12---version1.3.2--- - Removed "But..." debug message. ---13/02/12---version1.3.1--- - Horse Calling sounds revised. - Horses now only stop following when called to. ---13/02/12---version1.3.0--- - Increased default horse speed to 120% - Added Essential Horses feature. - Added Optional/Adjustable features. ---11/02/12---version1.2.2--- - Fixed Fast Dismounting. ---11/02/12---version1.2.1--- - Horse Calling scripts replaced with AI package for smoother functionality. ---11/02/12---version1.2.0--- - Added the More Speed feature. - Added the Horse Calling feature. ---11/02/12---version1.1.0--- - Diagnosed Cowardly Horses and Fast Dismounting failures. - Fixed the Cowardly Horses feature. - Added the Longer Galloping feature. ---10/02/12---version1.0.0--- - Initial release. Planned Features ================ Actually, I'm all but done here. All suggestions that have not made it into the plugin so far, I have either given up with or decided against. There is one thing, though... A cry for help -------------- I still really want to put a Fast Dismounting feature back into this plugin and I know that it's not only me that misses it. The thing is, with my limited skill, there is noth ing more I can do. To get this feature back, I need the help of someone who knows their way around an animation. I'm looking for a copy of 'meshes\actors\sharedkillmoves\human&horse\paired_dismount.hkx', modified as to be significantly faster. I was previously using an empty animation but this approach was so buggy that, although the idea was very well received, I was repetitively requested to remove the feature. If anyone has the skill to achieve the HKX that I need, and is willing to do it, please let me know. There's no doubt that you'll have the thanks of every Better Horse subscriber along with my own. Credits ======= I would like to thank the following people for their contributions to this plugin. So, in no particular order: --Benboncan at Freesound.org-- http://www.freesound.org/people/Benboncan/sounds/77752/ Author of original whistle sound effect which was modified and used for the "Come" and "Stay" Horse Calls. --Fuzzpilz at YouTube-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JU0XEMqShw&feature=related Uploaded an extract of Lord of the Rings from which I extracted and modified the Shadowfax whistle for the "Far Call" and "Summoning Call" Horse Calls. ---Cyrus at Steam--- http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198018561544 Came out with many a grand suggestion, helping me to perfect the Horse Call feature. ---Needsaname at Nexus--- http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/556640-scripting-problems-when-did-this-stop-being-simple/ Helped me make the jump between TESCS/GECK and the Creation Kit. ---Norden at Nexus and Steam--- http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=10404 Provided a German translation of this plugin. ---Arr! at Steam--- http://steamcommunity.com/id/4rr Provided definitive knowledge on the Inventory Amnesia bug which led to its repair. ---Sukeban at Nexus--- http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/modules/members/index.php?id=3797636 Provided the detailed suggestion which became the 1.7.5 Breeds revision. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone.. Cheers to y'all! ~ LtMattmoo