Advanced Skyrim Overhaul (aka Nature of the beast II) – werewolf werebear necromancer and dwemer overhauls included
This mod is a continuation of Nature of the beast mod. This mod adds several sophisticated and original biological abilities and is best for werewolf players. It also allows you to command different actors and use sophisticated dwemer weapons and equipment.
I) Short description:
This mod is a continuation of Nature of the beast mod. This mod adds many sophisticated and original spells, abilities and mechanics that will revolutionize your gameplay.
There are 3 major parts of the mod that however are interconnected with one another:
1) Beast part – this part adds several biological abilities and is best for werewolf players or werebeast players to be precise (for there are several werebeast forms available). It should also suit players that play as other beast races both vanilla (vampires, argonians, khajiits) and custom. The purpose of this part of the mod is to give the player the feeling he/she is really playing as a beast and even to command a horde of other beasts, to empower the player and to let him/her experience the Skyrim as never before. Dont let the above fool you. You can add any lesser power no matter what race you are playing.
In practice you can gain:
a) an automatic and immersive night eye that gradually turns on and off night eye effect depending on the amount of light on the player,
b) a realistic smell that depends on the strength and direction of wind and allows you to track targets/plants/ingredients/food(even when in containers)/water/fire/etc from significant distance while providing you with many informations about them. Be advise though, you can be smelled as well even while not having the smell lesser powers,
c) adrenaline surge that makes you faster (2 versions: turbo or slow-motion), stronger, increases jump height and reduces fall damage at the cost of stamina,
d) 6th sense that warns you when you are about to get hit either in melee, by spell or arrow and can trigger the above adrenaline surge if you choose so (if you choose slow-motion version of adrenaline surge you have a good chance to dodge the attack),
e) realistic heat vision that takes into account events like death, swimming and rain (not under roof – roof detection!) and gradually turns on or off visual effects on nearby targets (when swimming the change is instant). Be advise though, some actors you can sense your heat as well even while you dont have the heat sense lesser powers
f) lesser power allowing you to transform into alpha werewolf and back at will,
g) chance to live as an Alpha Werewolf indefinatelly, to eat, drink and sleep in this form,
h) chance to amass a wolf/werewolf pack consisting of wolves and werewolves you meet while being in Alpha (or vanilla) Werewolf form and command the pack by issuing simple commands like wait, follow me, wait there and forward (and with Moonlight Tales much more),
i) chance to live as a Green Bane (giant monstrous yet stealthy lizard) indefinatelly, to eat, drink and sleep in this form, the lizard has its own unique abilties like camouflage (partial invisibility), spit, burrow and poisoned claws,
j) chance to live as a mighty Werebear indefinatelly, to eat, drink and sleep in this form;
k) chance to live as a flying, winged dragorian and to hunt in this form like eagles do;
l) chance to climb trees/buildings, sneak in the beast form;
m) chance to meet a green bane and learn the true meaning of terror or to meet your best pet ever.
2) Minion system part – minion system is a system that allows the player to control different kind of actors such as followers/hirelings/follower pets/ summoned or reanimated creatures (minions). It is perfect for any player that wants to play as a commander / necromancer / summoner / constructor commanding different kind of actors
In practice you can gain:
a) ability to command followers/hirelings/follower dogs/summmons without fighting yourself (wait, wait there, follow, forward, attack commands via custom buttons);
b) ability to make your more advanced minions a labor force that harvest, mine, process and sell resources (including crafting and upgrading items, cooking, making camp etc)
c) new necromantic spells that raise/summon undead
d) summoning spell to summon your minions from afar
3) Dwemer pack – allows you to craft and use state of the art dwemer weapons and equipment
In practice you can gain access to:
a) dwemer automatic projectile launcher – a crossover between automatic rifle and railgun – very sophisticated and powerfull, uses 5 types of ammo, needs energy (form soul gems) to operate, has a clip of 24 bullets, 2 fire modes, can be reloaded any time
b) dwemer rapid projectile launcher (gattling cannon)
c) dwemer heavy projectile launcher (shotgun)
d) dwemer long range projectile launcher (sniper rifle with scope)
e) dwemer flamethrower (sets target a light, creates fire, melts ice)
f) dwemer cryo thrower (freezes targets and creates ice, extinguishes fire)
g) dwemer arcthrower (kills and paralyses targets, very effective against wet targets)
h) dwemer scout spider – remotely controlled, with cloaking device, can deploy grenades
i) dwemer mechanical sword (chain sword) – again requires energy (form soul gems) to operate properly
j) heavy exploding bolts and arrows (3 types) – pretty powerfull, transforms bows/crossbows into granade launchers (and make them usefull despite the automatic projectile launcher)
k) dwemer explosive devices (mines) – very powerfull – can be deplayed, picked up, armed, disarmed, concealed and revealed and triggered both manually (with timer), remotely and by proximity
l) command or meet actors (including hostile ones) that use the above weapons, including heavily armored dwemer terminators,
m) use grenades
n) repair destroyed dwemer constructs with repair tool and spare parts
o) flying disk that uses energy and returns to the player when reaches target/distination, if powered, benefits from auto-targeting (without energy it is weaker and doesnt return)
p) sophisticated dwemer equipment powered by dwemer generator:
– dwemer generator (refuelled with distilled spiritis that can be cooked at cooking pot) – equipment worn by player, allows to recharge automatic projectile launcher, mechanical sword, remote control rod, dwemer flying disc, powers other dwemer equipment
– mechanical blade that when powered discharges energy
– mechanical shield that when powered creates energy barrier in front of the player
– cloaking device – that renders the player almost completely invisible and violantly deactivates when in contact with water
– different kind of head equipments that give you different kind of vision modes, zoom and some enhanced hearing, water breathing, distracting sound and hologram decoy
– shoulder cannon (autotargetting with head equipment)
– warp device – spohisticated personal teleporter (both long and short range)
II) Requirements:
1) Skyrim;
2) Dawnguard DLC;
3) Dragonborn DLC;
4) SKSE;
5) Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Package for Visual Studio 2013 (x86)
6) Fores New Idles in Skyrim & FNIS Creature Pack for additional animations for the beasts;
if you want to play as dragorian:
7) Animated Dragon Wings by Anton (Warning!: must be installed before ASO);
if you want to use dwemer longrange projectile launcher:
8) Usable Scope Mod attached to SkyRevolution Dwemer Sniper Rifle by pigti (Warning!: must be installed before ASO).
If you dont have the DLCs know that ver. 2.21 doesnt require any DLC and ver. 2.31 doesnt require Dragonborn DLC (it requires only Dawnguard DLC).
III) Recommended mods:
1) DYNAVSION – Dynamic Depth of Field by Gopher and MyGoodEye;
2) Immersive HUD – iHUD by Gopher;
3) Real Effect Candle by Yuril ;
4) Realistic Lighting With Customization by Pluto – 747823 – Leviathan1753 – Sydney666 ;
5) Subliminal Traps by Mr Dave ;
6) SkyTEST – Realistic Animals and Predators by EtaYorius ;
7) IMPs More Complex Needs – full compatibility, but only Steam Workshop version! (see above);
8) Frostfall by Chesko – the mod is now fully compatible with mine. In other words my Alpha werewolf and Green bane will be recognised as beasts with all benefits (they are much more resistant to frost);
9) Amazing Follower Tweaks – you can identify followers as werewolves if turned using this mod and you can also command them using my minion system;
10) PsiKotics Necromancy Mod – provides you with multiple undead minions and you can command them using my minion system – just remember if you summon a skeleton while having 25 minions one of your minion will be unregistered from minion system so the new minion can be registered in the system;
11) Brawl Bug Plugin or Brawl Bugs Patch – Plugins – Modder Resource – to avoid brawl bug, see Bugs/Issues section below;
12) Dwemer Artificer mod – it allows you to construct and then deploy/upgrade different dwemer automaton and command them with my Minion system;
13) Horsemen – Mounted Combat Enhancement + UFO – if you want to command mounted followers (now this is something absolutely special);
14) Hunting in Skyrim – for better hunting experience;
15) Realistic Needs and Diseases – full compatibility;
16) Heart of the Beast – Werewolf Sound and Texture Overhaul – the best sound/graphical overhaul for Alpha werewolf/Green Bane;
17) Bestial Hunger – Werewolf Bloodlust – this mod causes some serious detrimental consequances when you dont feed as a werewolf for a long time;
18) Tales of Lycanthropy – Werewolf Overhaul – forcefull transformations based on moon faze, disease and more, check out compatibility patch;
19) Moonlight Tales – Werewolf and Werebear Overhaul – a successor of Tales of Lycanthropy, forcefull transformations based on moon phase, disease, werewolf/werebear encounters, custom skins and a bonus: WHEN COMBINED WITH NOTB2 YOU CAN COMMAND UP TO 25 WEREWOLVES THAT TRANSFORM WITH YOU AND ACCESS THEIR INVENTORY, check out compatibility patch;
20) Armored Skeletons and The Walking Dead or Skyrim Immersive Creatures – both by lifestorock if you want to use my summon skeleton spells;
21) Necromancy– Undead FX by WDog367 – if you want to use vanilla raise dead spells and see decaying zombies;
22) Dwemer Merchant for ASO Nature of the Beast II by elr0y7 – so you can buy various dwemer items instead of obtaining them for free.
IV) Instalation:
1) Unpack the content of skyrim directory inside your skyrim directory
OR
2) download it via NMM
3) when installing MT compatibility patch make sure you activate both mods (MT and Notb2) simultanously (make a clean save without both mods if needed)
4) You must overwrite Animated Dragon Wings by Anton mod
V) Uninstalation:
1) Turn off all my lesser powers/abilities/spells
2) Choose stop mod option in maintenance section of the ring menu (beware the befriended wolves/werewolves)
3) Wait at least 6 hours of in-game time
4) Make a save
5) Exit the game
VI) Updates:
1) Uninstall old version;
2) Make a save (clean save);
3) Install new version.
OR
1) Uninstall old version;
2) Install new version;
3) Choose the reset mod option in maintenance section of the ring menu.
PLEASE NOTE THAT the safest method i sto return to safe made before installation of any version of this mod.
VII) Future plans:
1) Polymorph to flock of birds or bats;
2) Telepathic abilities applied even without eye contact, like control (make a target your puppet), charm to follow you, enrage, pacify, frighten, perhaps blind.
IX) Legal issues:
1) This mod is provided as is;
2) Notwithstanding the above any constructive criticism or suggestion will be appreciated;
3) I do not take any responsibility for any errors caused by this mod (although I tried to test it as much as I can), use it at your own risk;
4) You may use any part of this mod in whatever way you wish (I have even provided you with the source files). Just give me credit and post a link to this page.
X) Suggestions:
1) Check out for updates of this mod from time to time on Skyrim Nexus site.
VIII) Bugs/issues:
1) The ring menu mentioned above may seem to be broken. Few times I have experienced it myself although for me everything works fine now. It always seems to happen only with the last added option in the main menu. This bug is propably caused by wrong update of the mod – see appropriate section above. I hope this helps. If not notify me. This has been fixed in ver. 2.6;
2) Occasionally the smell ability can describe NPC as FOXRACE when its a humanoid. This is a Skyrim glitch not caused by the mod. This problem should be eliminated now, if not please notify me;
3) Sometimes the 6th sense will trigger adrenaline surge even when hostile actor is not attacking you but someone else. This is because it is enough for the actor to spot you to be technically in combat with you. I tried to limit this as much as I can, this will happen only when target can see you and is turned in your more or less exact direction. I dont know how to fix it completely but it should happen very rare. Sometimes 6th sense can trigger adrenaline surge too late for you when hostile actor is using ranged attack and is at medium distance;
4) Some quest stages or fights can require you to cast no spells. This is a problem, because although you cant see this the mod constantly causes the player to cast spells via scripts. This is so called brawl bug. In such case you have 3 options: 1) turn off the mod for appropriate time, 2) turn off for appropriate time all passive abilities (night eye, smell, 6th sense), wind script and detection of player by actors and minion script or 3) download and turn on Brawl Bug Plugin (see Recommended mods section above). Its quite easy now to turn off and on all abilities/scripts of the mod. You can do this in ring menu in maintenance section. Just remember to wait for the first punch. Currently I recommend to download Brawl Bugs Patch – Plugins – Modder Resource;
5) Minion system now covers also undead actors, but raise dead will not follow your commands due to the issues with thier AI. Their AI is hidden somewhere in the Skyrim engine and to my knowledge no one was able to overwrite/disable it so far. Only summoned actors will follow your commands. I have implemented a special scripted raise dead slave spell that can raise dead actors and allows you to command them via the Minion system;
6) If you use SkyUI the game may crash once you open magic menu. This has been fixed in ver. 2.1;
7) Occasionally you can get an eye glitch. Its a Skyrim glitch and not the fault of the mod. It can be removed by typing in “player.addspell 000f71d1” followed by “player.removespell 000f71d1″ in the console;
8) In order to leave my beast forms you must hold adrenaline surge button. This way you will access the survival menu. There choose transformation option. From ver. 2.8 ther is altrantive way;
9) Some people have experienced keybind saving problem. I was told that it seems to be effected by the position in the load order and that the position of my mod cannot exceed position 7F Hex (127 Dec). I havent tested it myself since I donot use such amount of mods myself;
10) Some have experienced that the mod is not working (nothing worked and they even didnt have the ring) or that the smell in not working (no name, just brackets). The solution is restart my mod via the ring menu or to deactivate and activate my mod several times in mod manager (first turn it off via the ring menu) or if thats not working change load order.
11) Dont loot any container while in any of my beast forms. You shouldnt be able to do it in the first place but in case you can dont do it or you will loose that object forever. This mechanism was implemented to avoid exploits concerning feeding. In any beast form you are not supposed to pick anything. All you can in a beast form is to feed on something. From ver. 2.8 you loose only what you can eat;
12) Some ENB mods can prevent nightvision effects from working. This is a problem that effects vanilla nightvision as well as vision effects from mods such as this. If you are using an ENB configuration, you must ensure that UseOriginalPostProcessing” is set to `1 in your enbseries.ini” file;
13) From time to time smell tracking is turned off but the visual effect persists. I dont know why. I tried to fix it but I failed. If something like that happens you should start tracking again and then deactivate the tracking. This should fix it;
14) Wispmother Smoke glitch – it appears very rarely, its a Skyrim glitch.
