Vaalsark – Alpha
Custom canid-esque beastrace (originally intended as an NPC race, but the mod they were meant for is more of a pipedream, so I decided to get something out of it and decided to release them as playable.)
~Alpha~
(Entirely playable, some aesthetic content not yet implemented, still undergoing refinement)
==MY RACES==
Vaalsark – Anubis / Anubian Jackal inspired Canid Race
Kygarra – Spotted Hyena Race
Aurnev – Wolf Race – Coming soon!
Niiras – Shark Race – Still being worked on…
==My stance on paid mods & Permissions==
I completely intend for the Vaalsark and my other race mods to remain free for everyone to enjoy!
Wanting to use my assets/races in your paid mod? Please contact me for details.
DO NOT use my assets in your paid mod without seeking explicit permission from me. In seeking permission, you must explicitly declare your mod to me to be a for-profit mod.
==Alpha Disclaimer==
This mod is currently in development, but completely playable. It is mostly content complete, but is still missing various aesthetic things, and may have aesthetic glitches which DO NOT affect playability or gameplay. Expect new content additions & improvements over time.
==A note of thanks==
Thanks to everyone who endorsed, this mod made it to the first page on the nexus ‘by endorsements [descending]’ list for race mods on 6/9/2012 with an endorse count of 59. Even if it may not stay up there in the future, I would like to say that the support (in PMs, the comments section, and through endorsements and downloads) I have received here from the nexus community has been very inspirational, and I honestly can say that I never expected to get onto that page. So thanks to everyone who has stopped by and endorsed or commented; here’s to a future of high-quality beast race mods!
==A note on lore-ness==
I’ve seen enough commends on this that I felt I should add this to the main description. This mod is neither intended to be something that adds content stated to exist in canon, nor something that adds something completely out of place [Ie, just adding it for the hell of it]. The mod-idea that this mod was spawned from was something more along the lines of The Spires from oblivion; ultimately fanon, at the end of the day, but inserted in a minimally disruptive manner. Though you don’t quiet get to see it yet in the current state of this mod [I’m currently focusing on specifically getting the race itself complete before working on any supplementary content], there is a large and detailed backstory to this race which intentionally was fitted to existing lore I could find [I plan to have a long addition to this description by the 0.2.0.0 release with a much more detailed description]. I plan on adding supplementary in-game content during the beta and post-release phases that gives them a better feeling of fitting in with the existing world. I also plan to release further race mods in the future, including the canon Lilmothiit (though they did disappear in (IIRC) the second era).
TL:DR;
If you are a die-hard purist, well, you can stick to playing with high-res packs and stuff like that – I doubt any realistically moddable and balanced race could be created that would satisfy you, short of ‘playable X’ mods letting you play as some already in-game race.
If you are looking for things explicitly stated by canon, well, you can wait for some of my later mods which will feature some canon beast races.
If you don’t mind having well-fitted fanon mods, I’d recommend watching this mod for once the supplementary content begins work.
And if you don’t care about backstory and that stuff, well, go right ahead and download it if you like it.
== A further note on Lilmothiit ==
Yes, I know of them, they are planned, as a separate mod. Work has begun, but its slow, and I have a lot of things going on at once.
== A note on lore friendliness and Lilmothiit ==
Please DO NOT tell me to change the name of the race because “it would make it lore friendly”. This is absurd, and I have heard it far too much.
== Yet another note on suggestions ==
BTW, I’d really appreciate it if people would actually read the backstory (once its up around 0.2.0.0) and such before posting suggestions that would be influenced by it [ie, racial powers, etc].
==Note to everyone who wants a Wolf or a Fox race or some race based on some specific animal, or wants other headmeshes because I keep getting asked and somehow never got around to putting up this note until now==
1: I am heavily constrained in terms of what I can do with head meshes and still have working morphs (Which for me is a must), because I cannot make .tri files (the only person who has figured this out for headmeshes afaik is Throttle Kitty back in Oblivion, and I can’t figure out what TK’s guide talks about because a lot of those option that it says are in the conformulator are not in the conformulator, or at least not obviously there), and any new geometry would require a new .tri file, hence why that just won’t be happening. For that matter, I can also not make .egm files. Different story though.
2: This race isn’t designed to be wolves or foxes or other any singular common animal – I was not trying to design them like that, and in fact was never the point; there will be others in the future for people who want that, but not now, not yet – those are all either still in concept-art or very early production stages.
==1. Mod info==
This mod adds the vaalsark, a canine-like race (though they don’t happen to be based off any single real-world animal in particular). Originally they were destined to be used as an NPC race for a pipe-dream mod of mine, but I decided since it was absurdly unlikely that I would ever get it done (it involved multiple new world-spaces, and huge quantities of custom content including architecture, flora, fauna, clothing, armor, food…), so I decided to at least release the vaalsark as a custom race.
===Stats===
Health, Stamina, Magicka all start at 100
Male height is 1.1 (.02 taller than both Altmer genders)
Female height is 1.05
Skill bonuses:
Ench +10
Smth +5
Dest +5
Alter + 5
1Hand +5
HvyArmor +5
Total = +35 (same as all vanilla races)
Ability: (Currently tentative)
+50% magic resist (this is a much higher innate ability than other races due to their lack of a power).
Power: (Currently tentative)
None
===Current State of CharGen Options===
Custom head mesh: Implemented and fully functional
Custom mouth mesh: Implemented, minor tweaks planned
Eyes: Implemented, ~14 options available now
Hair: no options added so far
Morphs: Fully functional
Alternate colors: Implemented, but may be tweaked in response to future textures
Facial markings: Facial colors are implemented, markings semi-implemented
Textures: Implemented, but very much a work in progress
===Current State of Playability===
I’ve gotten characters of both male & female to level 50 already, so its entirely playable
===Installation===
I’m only providing info for manual installation, which is what I do, since I honestly have no idea how NMM handles mods.
Basically extract the archive, which maintains the proper directory structure to merge with the ../steamapps/common/skyrim/data/ directory. You can then copy the contents of ..extractedDirectory/data/ into ..steamappspath/skyrim/data/.
To uninstall (as opposed to de-activate, which is done through the ‘data files’ option in the launcher, or the mod manager of your choice [Don’t use the former if also using the latter to manage your active mods, as it will screw up your load order]), just delete the files that were added. You can see which files were put where by looking in the directory structure of the zip. I’d provide a list of files, but its going to likely change quite a bit from version to version, so I won’t.
See changelog for installation of optional and/or replacer files.
==2. Future plans==
Chargen & Appearance:
Implement more eye options [Done]
Implement alternate color options [Done]
Implement facial markings [Done]
Implement chargen presets [Done]
Implement hair options [In progress]
Continue work on textures [In progress]
Minor tweaks to mouth [Done]
Custom voices [Revised placeholders]
Add NPCs [Experiments in progress]
Add Items [In progress]
Possibly textures for other body mods (ones that aren’t the ‘big bewbs’ style anyways) (lower priority)
Possibly digitigrade version (low priority, very much something to be done far down the line though. This is what I had initially envisioned for them though)
Gamplay:
Implement vampirism support (using the compatibility mod, so it will play nice with other race mods)
Mess around with the racial abilities/powers.
Misc:
Possible derived race mods (low priority, after completion). If you want to create a race mod based off this mod, I may be able to lend a hand with getting some of my resources in order, time permitting.
Possible other custom content (low priority, after completion).
===Things I will not be doing (and probably permitting derivative mods of), so don’t ask===
[edit the header to clarify]
A ‘more human’ style (ie, human or human faced, but with ears & tail, etc). The default plantigrade body was already more human than I cared for but it was what was there for me to work with. [Not happening, I’m not doing it, I’m not allowing derivatives to do it, end of story. DO NOT ASK.]
Textures for ‘big bewbs’ bodymods [I’m not going to be doing it, but you may ask to release ones you made yourself]
Uploading to steam workshop – the mod is incompatible with it on a technical level. Furthermore, there are serious problems with mod-thievery there as well.
==3. Known Issues==
* Textures are WIP and may show seams. Will be finalized in the beta stage.
* Using grain-mills results in the animation being offset. I’m not sure what exactly is causing this issue, and will be looking into it during the beta stage.
* May conflict/experience strange glitches with anything altering vampirism aside from racial compatibility, which it uses
* May conflict/experience strange glitches with anything altering the werewolf scripts aside from racial compatibility, which it uses
* Apparently a mod (From a rather long load list that was never isolated) can prevent you from attacking while using the race; to fix this, simply set the load order to load this mod as close to the top (first) as possible.
==4. Troubleshooting==
Notes: these are just the issues that I have seen people encounter so far.
“Skyrim crashes when it loads the main menu!”
– This is because you are missing an .esm file; either you managed to install it incorrectly, you disabled skyrim.esm, update.esm or racialcompatibility.esm, or you are using a pirated version. If you are using a pirated version, see the next item:
“I’m using a pirated version and – ”
– Stop right there. It doesn’t work, won’t work, don’t ask, don’t waste my time. I’m glad you like my mod, but you should just buy the game so that you can actually use it. I have already had several people pester me for help, only to realize that their copies were pirated and that the issues were specifically because their versions were pirated, after hours were wasted trying to figure out what was wrong.
“I’m using steam in offline mode/never update because I turned off automatic update, so I’m on version [some old version before 1.6], and it doesn’t work”
– The latest version requires at least 1.6 to my knowledge; I can’t guarantee it will work. Also, with the advent of patch 1.7, you really should upgrade to it because it fixes a huge amount of bugs. The sucky patches were 1.2/1.3/1.4 and 1.5 with regards to the navmeshes; 1.6 was good, and 1.7 is great.
“Attacking doesn’t work!”
– This is due to a mod conflict; try first to move this mod to the end of the load order. If it still doesn’t work, move it to the front of the load order.
“Vampirism doesn’t work!”
– This is again due to a conflict between racial compatibility & some vampire mods; unfortunately due to the lack of standardization I can’t guarantee that the few potential fixes I coded in will work.
“My body is all messed up! (Its got nord/khajiit textures/tail)”
– Try moving this mod to the end of your load order. This occurs due to a conflict with a mod thats touching things its not supposed to be touching. Sometimes this can occur very rarely when a mod tries to modify this mod intentionally. I am not sure what causes it, but I have run into the problem a few times.
==5. Help Wanted==
Making custom voices for the race (or I might just modify existing bethesda ones if nothing else)
Feel free to tell me if you have some useful talents/abilities that you think will help accomplish one of the things listed in section 3, and give examples. Don’t bother saying ‘I can’t mod, but I can advise’ – that’s what the discussion threads are for; make your suggestions there, you don’t need to ask to do it.
==6. Background info==
===Short background===
(This was the old Chargen race info blurb, before I removed it in 0.0.1.1 because it was too long)
A race of artificial origin, the Vaalsark were created by the tonal architect Navezkhal in the late second era when his fortress was under siege by the falmer. With his centurions being destroyed faster than his fortress could rebuild them, he needed something to turn the tide quickly. Upon observing one of his tamed Vaalsken, a predator native to the subterranean cave where his fortress resided, kill several falmer with ease, shrugging off their magic, he realized that they would be the ultimate soldier against the falmer. If they could obey his commands that was. Using technology he had developed on his own toward the dwemer goal of ascension, he combined his own blood with that of the tamed Vaalsken he kept and created the first of the Vaalsark.
Vaalsark have a natural resistance to magic, capable of shrugging off even the most powerful attacks, and even a relatively weak Vaalsark can nullify magical attacks designed to affect more powerful entities. However, despite the incredible Vaalsark intellect, inherited from their dwemer creator, their natural magic nullification makes it incredibly difficult to cast spells. True to their design as warriors, they are tough, yet also retain the ability to stalk their prey.
