I'm sorry for not letting you know what was going on on with the mod. It's been a few hours of work from being published for quite a while, but long story short my health sort of imploded a few months ago, I'm having several absence seizures a day, there's huge holes in my memory and on top of that I've been getting my visa arranged so I don't get kicked out of the country, trying desperately not to fail my university courses and my work has suddenly gone through a massive expansion that's meant I've had to take on three times the work. And with all that going on I just somehow completely forgot this thing I've spent hundreds of hours and years of work on even existed.

I think I remember trying once or twice to finish it, but trying to juggle too much information at once in my head at the moment kind of causes it to blue screen of death and before I know it I'm being thrown around by spasms or having my face get personally acquainted with the floor. But I've worked out how to do stuff now (as long as I break things down into a list on paper I'm fine, it's just trying to remember things that's the problem) so I think I can manage it.

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Features
3. Install Instructions
4. Getting Started
5. FAQ
6. Future Plans
7. Credits

1. Introduction

Armoury of Tamriel is a weapons and armor overhaul mod that sets out to separate material from design. Ever been annoyed by having to choose between your favourite armor and having decent stats? Ever felt let down that your orcish warrior was better off using a fancy-pants ornate sword instead of a proper face splitting orcish saber? Ever wonder why every single smith in Tamriel makes ebony warhammers that look exactly alike?

Well that's what Armoury of Tamriel sets out to fix. Every weapon and armor craft-able and found in the world in loot and in NPC inventories in iron, steel, moonstone, orichalcum, silver, dwarven, glass, ebony and daedric.

2. Features

• All non-unique weapons in every material.
• All non-unique metal using armors in every material.
• Unique weapon and armor pieces (like Balgruuf's Greatsword and Queen Freydis' Sword) given unique textures.
• Special runic ancient nord weapons and armors craftable and found in game.
• New gemstone dust items for weapon tempering.
• New books purchasable from merchants or lootable from appropriate places that teach weapon and armor crafting styles.
• Dawnguard and Dragonborn addons (optional).
• New smithing skill tree systems (optional).
• Compatibility patches for Improved Closed Faced Helms, Better Shaped Weapons, Practical Female Armors and more (optional).
• Designed for maximum compatibility with other mods.
• All textures in either HD (same as resolutions as Bethesda HD textures) or regular resolution.

Smithing Perk Tree options:
The mod includes three different plugins with different perk tree options.
The standard version simply changes the perk tree from two linear paths to a tiered ladder.
The overhaul version replaces the material perks with new perks that improve the tempering of any armor or weapon. New crafting materials are automatically learned as you gain experience with smithing.
The compatibility version makes no changes to the perk tree or smithing perks and is recommended if you’re running another mod that changes the smithing perks that you’d rather use the changes of instead.

3. Install Instructions

If installing the high resolution textures version:
1. Download and extract the 'Textures' folder in the Armor Textures file to Skyrim\Data\.
2. Download and extract the 'Textures' folder in the Weapon Textures file to Skyrim\Data\.
3. If using Dawnguard and/or Dragonborn:
Download and extract the 'Textures' folder in the Expansion Textures file to Skyrim\Data\.
4. Download and extract the ‘Meshes’ folder in the Meshes file to Skyrim\Data.
5. Download and install Armoury of Tamriel either manually, or (suggested) through the Nexus Mod Manager.

If installing the standard resolution textures version:
1. Download and extract the 'Textures' folder in the Non-HD Textures file to Skyrim\Data\.
2. If using Dawnguard and/or Dragonborn:
Download and extract the 'Textures' folder in the Non-HD Expansion Textures file to Skyrim\Data\.
3. Download and install Armoury of Tamriel either manually, or (suggested) through the Nexus Mod Manager.

If installing manually without the Nexus Mod Manager or similar program:
Install all the files from the 00 Base folder.
Install the files from the Dawnguard and Dragonborn folder if needed.
Install ONE of the plugins from the 05 Perk Trees folder.
Install the files from the Extras and Compatibility folders as desired.


Note for people upgrading from a pre-version 2.0 version of Armoury of Tamriel:
Because AoT was started before the Creation Kit came out on community made tools it had issues present in the FormID numbering that caused crashes as more items were added to the mod. To fix this the weapons component of AoT had to be remade during the development of AoT. Unfortunately this means that save games using pre-2.0 versions of the mod (any version that doesn't include armors) will be incompatible with AoT 2.0. This doesn't mean it will ruin your save game or cause crashes, just that any items you have from old versions of AoT will dissapear and some NPCs will have no weapons equipped (principally guards) until the next respawn cycle happens in your game.

Uninstalling:
Delete the folder Skyrim\Data\Textures\Armor\300
Delete all folders in Skyrim\Data\Textures\Weapons\ beginning with '300'
Delete the folder Skyrim\Data\Meshes\Armor\300
Delete all folders in Skyrim\Data\Meshes\Weapons\ beginning with '300'
Then run the uninstall in the nexus mod manager.

4. Getting Started

If you’re not interested in crafting then all you really need to know is that there’s now a whole bunch of new toys to play with out in the world. Find them in chests, wielded or worn by your enemies or at your friendly local merchants.

If you’re interested in crafting then you can find or purchase crafting manuals (books called “Smith: Book Name”) around Skyrim to unlock new crafting recipes.

To temper your weapons you’ll now need to find, buy or craft whetstone grit. Depending on the hardness of the material your weapon is made out of you may be able to use simple corundum, but if you’re trying to sharpen a Daedric Greatsword then nothing but the hardest of gem dusts will do. Gemstones can be cut or crushed into gem dust at the smelter.

If you’re a light armor user then don’t feel left out in the cold. You can purchase a guide on armor adjustment from smiths that will allow you to convert the fit of heavy armors made out of moonstone, silver or glass to light armor.

That’s all you really need to know to get started, but if you have the time make sure you take a quick look over the FAQ as well. If you get lost or have any questions try posting on the Bethesda Softworks forum thread (preferred), PM’ing ‘Is this display name taken?’ (preferred over comments so I actually see them) or in the comments.

5. FAQ

Q. Is this mod compatible with SkyRe?
A. SoonTM. Using the compatibility version smithing perks plugin and the ReProccer the mod should be almost completely seamlessly integrated with SkyRe, but Armoury of Tamriel needs to be integrated into the BOSS masterlist before ReProccer can work its magic with it. I’ll post an update in the comments when that happens.

Q. Is this mod compatible with Complete Crafting Overhaul or similar mods?
A. No, those mods aren’t compatible with mods that add new items or change existing crafting recipes, and AoT most certainly does that. But don’t worry, AoT already integrates most of the features of those mods.

Q. Is this mod compatible with X mod?
A. AoT is built with compatibility in mind, but it’s also a huge mod. The two big compatability problems are mods that change leveled lists to add new items to NPCs and in loot and mods that rebalance gameplay by changing the stats of all weapons manually. If you use Wrye Bash to make a Bashed Patch the first is dealt with (you can run those mods with Armoury of Tamriel without creating a bashed patch, but whichever runs last will over ride the change of the other, making items from that mod appear rarely in loot/on generic NPCs). The second is more difficult and will likely cause balance issues in the game unless a compatibility patch is made (like SkyRe’s ReProccer).

Q. Why is the mod split into several downloads?
A. The first reason is that for a lot of people downloading the whole mod at once simply isn't an option. It's by an order of magnitude the biggest mod available on the Nexus for Skyrim. The second reason is that attempting to install the entire mod through the nexus mod manager results in hour long install times and crashes. We realize it's a little extra work, but it's simply the most reliable way to install the mod without issues.

Q. I can only craft Basic and Studded Hide items? What do?
A. You can learn new item styles through the magic of reading! Books can be purchased through blacksmiths and some merchants and occasionally found in bandit loot. Simply read a book in your inventory to enable/disable crafting of a weapon/armor style.

Q. Why not just have all the recipes available from the start?
A. With all recipes active at once the smithing menu will run extremely slow and may cause game crashes.

Q. How do I swap armor class for moonstone, silver and glass heavy armors?
A. You can purchase a book from blacksmiths called "Smith: Armor Adjustment". It will teach you a lesser power (activated from your powers menu and cast with the 'z' key by default like any shout or racial power) that opens up a menu that lets you swap the armor class of any eligible armor in your inventory.

Q. How do I make hafts? How do I make cut gems? How do I make gemstone dusts?
A. Hafts are made at skinning racks from firewood. Gems can be turned into cut gems or gem dust at smelters.

Q. How do I make Dragon Rune weapons and armors?
A. There's a rare book "Smith: A Treatise on the Power of Language" that when read will grant you a power (selectable and cast in the same way as racial powers or shouts) that will open a crafting menu that lets you create dragon rune weapons and armors. You can find runes in boss chests in draugr ruins or make them by using a Dragon's soul.

Q. Why do some weapon styles have worse/better/different stats than others?
A. Because a giant, thick, spiky daedric sword shouldn’t be identical to a sleek Dunmeri blade! Weapon styles may have different weights, swing speeds, critical hit chances and damage. If a weapon looks ‘worse’ than another similar weapon it’s likely because it’s much faster and has a higher critical hit chance.

Q. Can I use this mod with mesh/texture replacers like Amidiborns?
A. Yes, just choose the "Armoury of Tamriel Texture Mod Compatibility.esp" when installing the mod. You can then buy a book from blacksmiths that will give you an ability that lets you swap armors and weapons for a version that uses the default mesh and texture directories.

Q. Is this mod savegame compatible?
A. Yes. NPC and shop inventories will need to refresh before you start seeing the items equipped on them or purchasable, but this should only take a few in game days or be instant if you've not been to that area in more than a few days.

Q. Is this mod safe to install/uninstall?
A. Yes. The mod contains only a few scripts and they're all designed to be lightweight and have no game breaking impacts if uninstalled.

Q. What’s with the “Warm Day in Coldharbour” name?
A. This mod has been in the works ever since 2011. In that time people contributing to this mod have moved countries, gotten married, graduated degrees, started degrees, changed jobs, gotten diagnosed with life changing illnesses and had their houses catch on fire. It’s been one never ending chain of setbacks that made the mod seem like it’d be a warm day in coldharbour before it got released.

6. Future plans

Apart from any urgent bug patches there won’t be any work on new features in the immediate future. Maybe I’ll actually have a chance to sit down and play Skyrim for the first time since early 2012. After that we’re planning on a new mod, Armoury of Tamriel: Expanded, which will go beyond the origonal scope of the mod implementing features like clothing variants and crafting, unique outfits and items for certain NPCs and the integration of modder made weapons and armors.

7. Credits

Is This Display Name Taken?/Albatross - Scripts, .nif files, writing, construction set work, misc. texturing
Arctorius - Armor Textures
Ishmael the Forsaken - Weapon Textures
Baratan - Original creator of the mod

Special thanks to:
The Nifskope team for all their hard work without which modding for Bethesda’s games wouldn’t be half of what it is.
Leviathin: For SkyProc, without which this mod would never have been finished. And for not mocking me for the ridiculously stupid questions when I first started learning to program.

And everyone else who’s offered suggestions, advice and support that’s made this mod possible. Please don’t be offended that you’re not mentioned by name, I’m more thankful than I can say, it’s just been a long, long time. Shoot me a PM and I’ll add you to the list.