Detection Extended – Hot and Sweaty
Stealth overhaul that dynamically changes detection based on weather, time, and location and previous successful detection events. Also adds secondary detection abilities such as smell and heat detection to enemies. Fully configurable. Requires SKSE, SkyUI, and PapyrusUtil.
Introduction
Detection Extended – Hot and Sweaty, is stealth overhaul that dynamically changes detection variables based on weather, time, and location, and previous successful detection events. It also adds various detection mechanics to enemies to make for a more immersive and active stealth experience. All options fully configurable in the MCM, with additional profile support via PapyrusUtil.
Requirements
SkyUI 5.1 or above
PapyrusUtil 3.3 or above
SKSE 1.7.3 or above
Description
Visual detection is much more important, and it is practically impossible to hide in plain sight when not in the shadows. Enemies are also partially blinded to you when you are hiding in the shadows. Enemies with Night vision or Heat detection will not be blinded so beware.
Enemies are more sensitive to sound than before, especially at night. However it is harder to detect you by sound when in locations where there may be lots of background noise, such as in mines, or in towns and cities.
During twilight hours stealth variables will gradual change from day-time to night-time values or vice versa with a dip right at the center.
Weather will directly impact detection distance as well as dampen enemy sensitivity in other areas as well, such as smell detection and heat detection.
Undead can detect your heat signature by default. Heat detection uses Frostfall’s temperature, warmth and coverage values if it is installed. Also when hiding in a Hidespot you are immune to detection by heat.
Animals can smell you from a distance and prey will flee at the slightest whiff. Smell detection will use dirtiness levels if Bathing in Skyrim is installed. If you are really filthy even NPC’s can detect you via smell.
Finally Dwemer can detect you via magicka amount.
All supplementary forms of detection are harder in crowded areas, and can be configured per race in the MCM, as well as globally turned on or off.
Various spells and recipes added to mitigate smell and magicka and heat signatures.
Hit and run tactics become much more difficult as a successful detection event will make subsequent detection much easier.
NPC’s will also cast candlelight or equip torches or wearable lanterns when searching in the dark.
Currently in beta. Unfortunately due to the fact that everyone’s load order is different perfectly balancing the stealth aspect is very hard. The feel of stealth greatly changes depending on which weather and lighting overhaul you are using. Likewise, perk overhaul choice will make a huge difference as well. Therefore I would like to ask the community to share any profiles you have made that you feel are balanced. I’ll gladly include them as optional files on this page.
Word of warning: Easy preset is not necessarily easy. It’s can “easy” as a ranged stealth character depending on your load order. Thus the naming of the presets has caused some confusion. As I said the presets aren’t balanced for all load orders so your experience may vary.
Script Load
This mod is as script heavy as you configure it to be. A background script will run once every quarter hour in-game (configurable) if you are in an outdoor area. Otherwise it will only run when you traverse a single cell’s worth of distance.
A secondary rather light background script runs once every few seconds (configurable) to update the base sneak variable if you’ve been detected recently.
An ability adding script runs when first encountering an NPC, with an additional function called when meeting a new race for the 1st time. This shouldn’t be a problem unless you have hundreds of NPC’s all with new races in your cell all at once.
The heaviest scripts are the supplementary detection scripts (smell, heat detection and magicka detection). They will run once every few seconds (configurable) when they aren’t in combat, are still in range, and you fulfill certain conditions (stinky enough / hot enough / have enough magicka).
By itself it shouldn’t cause problems but if you are running a very script-heavy game you may want to check your script lag. I’ve run this mod with various script heavy mods and have had no problems, but if your load order is already at it’s limit you may want to toggle some options off.
Upgrade Instructions
Before installing a newer version, always make sure to put the mod in a suspended state using the MCM and save. Once that is done go ahead and install and activate the new version as normal.
Compatibility
Fully compatible with all perk tree overhauls, as well as some stealth overhauls. Changes very few vanilla records.
The following Vanilla (and DLC) records are changed:
Game Settings:
fSneakActionMult
fSneakAlertMod
fSneakSleepBonus
Races:
Slaughterfish
Shouts:
Throw Voice Shout (only the actual Shout record itself has been changed. Neither the the Spell, nor any Magic Effects have been modified)
Spells:
Storm Call (all versions)
Clear Skies (all versions)
Falmer Abilities
Ariel’s Bow’s Eclipse Blast (Dawnguard)
Game settings can be overwritten without too much consequence, as it is often changed depending on the perk overhaul of choice. I just changed it just in case someone was using Vanilla values. Likewise the slaughterfish change is minor enough that if another mod changes that race, it’s no big deal.
On the other hand changes to the Throw Voice shout and other shout abilities can cause unintentional behavior and a patch will need to be made. If there is such a mod please let me know and I’ll see what I can do to rectify any compatibility issues.
Mods for which patches have already been made include:
Dawnguard
Bathing in Skyrim
Hidespots
Fully compatible with Frostfall 3.0 or above. Older 2.6 version not supported.
If Dyndolod is installed and starting a new play-through, please deactivate this mod before going outside for the first time. You can turn it back on once Dyndolod has finished activating.
Load Order
This mod must come after Bathing in Skyrim, and Hidespots. Place above any Wearable Lanterns Patches such as Wearable Lanterns SMIM Patch, Glass fix for Cheskos Wearable Lanterns, or Glass fix for Wearable lanterns SMIM patch.
F.A.Q.
Question: What is up with the “Hot and Sweaty” banners?
Answer: Originally it was going to simply add heat and smell detection to enemies, and called it Hot and sweaty after thermal and olfactory detection. However when implementing those features, various things led to adding dynamic background stealth tweaking, and so the title was changed to Hot and Sweaty – Detection Extended. I was going to upload it under the title “Hot and Sweaty D Extended” but to avoid confusion I decided to not shorten Detection to a mere D. Still even with detection spelled out, people assumed that it was some sort of NSFW mod, so I finally changed the order to what it is now. Hopefully this will clear up any remaining confusion.
Question: Do you have any other features you plan to implement?
Answer: I would like to add a widget to show current player light level, but as I don’t have experience making swf files, that may not happen in the near future.
Question: Why is the cloak included so horribly ugly?
Answer: Hey! I worked hard on that cloak! … But yes it’s quite the old worn-down drab looking cloak isn’t it? Just how a cloak which has been left rotting in a dungeon for who knows how long would look like don’t you think? Besides you can just un-enchant it and use its enchantment on something that looks better if you want.
Question: Sometimes I’m hiding in the shadows, but I’m still clearly visible to enemies.
Answer: That’s not a question.
Question: Don’t be so pedantic.
Answer: That one isn’t either. Fine. How you appear on screen, and how the game calculates your light level are two different things. Trees and other object shadows don’t count towards your light level, and so if you are in a dark forest, you may still be completely visible. Likewise an ENB that simulates cloud shadows may show you being in the shade visually, but for the in game stealth equation you are still in the bright noon-day sun. There is unfortunately no way to counter this. There is a hot-key that tells you how visible you are which can be configured in the MCM. You can also check in the Status tab to see your current light level in decimal.
Question: Help! I’m constantly being detected and attacked by animals!
Answer: Use Saleratus (deodorant), sold by any general goods store near you. If you have Bathing in Skyrim installed, make sure you only bathe with Plain soap, Spriggan Soap, or Dwemer Soap. Also don’t try to stab them in the back; you won’t be able to completely mask your scent without magic. If enemies are still able to detect you too easily, try to decrease the smell sensitivity options or smell detection distance in the MCM.
Question: Is this mod family friendly?
Answer: Absolutely. I’m not exactly sure why you would ask such a question.
Question: Why do the Quests and Magic effects in your mod have such suggestive names? Are you really sure this mod is safe?
Answer: I’m not sure what so suggestive about having a Magic Effect called Matching Illumination Light Finder Script, or a quest named Background Dirtiness Smell Manager. I’m not sure what you’re getting at here. How is that inappropriate in any way? And what the heck are you doing digging around in my mod?
Question: I take it you are a fan of MxR Mods?
Answer: … Okay this FAQ is over.
