BTB's Game Improvements - The Topic : III - Morrowind

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:16 pm

I want to ask a thing. I think you have very well balanced everything a human mind can think about. But you omitted one thing, if I didn't go blind: weapon attack ratings. Is there a particular reason for that? Mayby compatibility with other mods? I admit that this might be an issue, long time ago I used Taddeus' Balanced Weapons and I almost got mad rebalancing all the mod I added that included new (unbalanced) weapons. I swore to myself to not repeat that again for the sake of my sanity. Anyway, you tweaked armor ratings, so why not weapons too? Even with weaker weapons one could raise the game difficulty a bit to balance armed enemies new attack power. Maybe an alternative Equipment plugin would solve the problem if someone doesn't like that kind of balancing. Well, a question, and a suggestion too.

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 6:32 pm

No, I just like to select everything with TesTool and press clean XD, unless the readme specifies otherwise. I imagine that this means that cleaning the settings plugin is a bad idea.

Equipment plugin.

And yeah, go ahead.

I want to ask a thing. I think you have very well balanced everything a human mind can think about. But you omitted one thing, if I didn't go blind: weapon attack ratings. Is there a particular reason for that? Mayby compatibility with other mods? I admit that this might be an issue, long time ago I used Taddeus' Balanced Weapons and I almost got mad rebalancing all the mod I added that included new (unbalanced) weapons. I swore to myself to not repeat that again for the sake of my sanity. Anyway, you tweaked armor ratings, so why not weapons too? Even with weaker weapons one could raise the game difficulty a bit to balance armed enemies new attack power. Maybe an alternative Equipment plugin would solve the problem if someone doesn't like that kind of balancing. Well, a question, and a suggestion too.

Yeah, the only reason that I haven't gone after weapon damage ratings is, like I said above, because the prospect has been too daunting. Armor ratings were a *lot* easier to balance because they required a lot less work. Balancing weapon attack ratings will be more akin to the value and enchantment rebalances, which were a considerable amount of work.

I may break down and do them, anyway, but I'm not sure at the moment.

» Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:27 am

Oh, hey, look... I found the problem with the level-up script in the character plugin. I'm actually not quite sure why I was ever [censored] enough to think that this would work in the first place.

*Fix, fix*

I'm not at home to test it myself, but if anyone wants to try it and confirm that it works:

http://btb2.free.fr/temp/btb_char.zip

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 9:39 pm

apologies, double post

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:48 am

One further strange thing to add is, that I just tried starting a brand new game, and get the same error about the BTB_soulgemscript_rat on loading

I will update here once i get to Vivec and can test out what happens on meeting J'Rasha

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 9:31 pm

One further strange thing to add is, that I just tried starting a brand new game, and get the same error about the BTB_soulgemscript_rat on loading

I will update here once i get to Vivec and can test out what happens on meeting J'Rasha

Hmm... can you post your mod list here?

The thought occurred to me that perhaps you might be using a mod that in some way alters petty soul gems.

Except that it would also cause the same problem with Arrile.

Damn, this just does not add up.

» Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:07 am

Hmm... can you post your mod list here?

The thought occurred to me that perhaps you might be using a mod that in some way alters petty soul gems.

Except that it would also cause the same problem with Arrile.

Damn, this just does not add up.

Well I headed over to Vivec and bought a rat soul gem from J'Rasha... all worked fine. Saved game and restarted, but am still getting the error.

Is there an easy way to post my mod list rather than typing it all out? (this question really shows you the calibre of player you're dealing with !)

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 1:57 pm

Well I headed over to Vivec and bought a rat soul gem from J'Rasha... all worked fine. Saved game and restarted, but am still getting the error.

Is there an easy way to post my mod list rather than typing it all out? (this question really shows you the calibre of player you're dealing with !)

I appear to have fixed it *touch wood*

I found that in your myriad alterations you had incorporated the "calsurguard" mod into your own mod, but I still had it in my mod list. I removed it, ran wyremash and hey presto... it's working now! Even with new games.

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 11:18 am

double post again... sry

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 11:29 am

I appear to have fixed it *touch wood*

I found that in your myriad alterations you had incorporated the "calsurguard" mod into your own mod, but I still had it in my mod list. I removed it, ran wyremash and hey presto... it's working now! Even with new games.

Think I spoke too soon, still intermittently getting the error, mainly when starting new games. My cleaned Wyremash save game appears to be working ok now though, but cannot start a new game. I believe the problem is certaily something to do with my mod list.. if there's an easy way to extract the list from the launcher I can post it in here, although they are nearly all from your recommended list.

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 6:08 pm

if there's an easy way to extract the list from the launcher I can post it in here, although they are nearly all from your recommended list.

Select your save in Wrye --> Right click the File header on the right column. --> Select Copy List --> Paste as desired.

You can also get it from your ini file, but it won't be listed by load order.

Also, since I'm here, BTB, one of the tweaks I liked from Wakim's was increasing the torch duration a bit. I always thought the vanilla torches went out way too quickly. Just wondered if you had considered adding that.

» Tue Apr 26, 2011 2:35 am

Select your save in Wrye --> Right click the File header on the right column. --> Select Copy List --> Paste as desired.

You can also get it from your ini file, but it won't be listed by load order.

Thanks for the tip!

Well, it all seems to have gone to hell in a handcart again, now I can neither start a new game, nor use my WM cleaned saves without the error popping up. When i start a new game, the error pops up in a windows error message outside the game, and causes the cut scene to crash, making it completely impossible to start a new game.

When I load a save game, the error message pops up within the game and I can easily select to "continue running exe". Once in the game, it doesn't seem to cause any problems, so I do apologise for making something of a mountain out of a molehill.

There was definately some improvement when i deleted the superfluous Calsurguard mod, immediately I could start a new game and watch the cut scene without any issues, and once cleaned with WM, my saves appeared to work as well. Nothing has changed, but now they have stopped working again which is really odd.

This is the error i get copied from the Warnings file: "Unable to find referenced object " " in script BTB_soulgemscript_rat."

Without further ado, my mod list from WM for savegame "Bug", (I don't use any mod manager)

Masters for Bug0000.ess:
001 Morrowind.esm
002 Tribunal.esm
003 Bloodmoon.esm
004 Morrowind Patch v1.6.5-BETA.esm
005 Bloodmoon Landscape Overhaul 1.0.esm
006 Better Heads.esm
007 Better Heads Tribunal addon.esm
008 Better Heads Bloodmoon addon.esm
009 Morrowind Advanced.esm
010 Texture Fix - Bloodmoon 1.1.esm
011 Texture Fix 1.8.esm
012 WeatheredSigns.esp
013 entertainers.esp
014 AreaEffectArrows.esp
015 bcsounds.esp
016 master_index.esp
017 LeFemmArmor.esp
018 adamantiumarmor.esp
019 EBQ_Artifact.esp
020 Siege at Firemoth.esp
021 AtmosphericSoundEffects-3.0.esp
022 Daggerfall Collection Ver 1.1 (BTB Edit).esp
023 Better Bodies.esp
024 farrp_WeaponCompilationMod_V2.esp
025 abotWhereAreAllBirdsGoing.esp
026 Illuminated Windows.esp
027 ASE Tribunal Expansion.esp
028 ASE Bloodmoon Expansion.esp
029 Illuminated Windows - Bloodmoon.esp
030 Syc_HerbalismforPurists (Pearl Bug Edit).esp (Version 1.2)
031 Syc_HerbalismforPurists_BM.esp
032 Syc_HerbalismforPurists_TB.esp
033 Dialogue Closer of Doom.esp
034 New Argonian Bodies - Mature.esp
035 New Khajiit Bodies - Mature.esp
036 BTB - Character.esp
037 BTB - Spells.esp
038 BTB - Alchemy.esp
039 BTB - Equipment.esp
040 BTB - Settings.esp
041 Better Clothes Complete (BTB Edit).esp
042 nocliffraceraddon.ESP
043 Quieter_UI_Sounds.esp
044 IceBradyHurdyRobeReplacerALL.esp
045 Murderous Dreams_Safe.esp
046 master_list.esp
047 Talrivian's State-Based HP Mod v.2.2.esp
048 MW_Adv_Required (BTB Edit).esp
049 Adj_Magicka Regen (0.10%).esp"

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 11:48 pm

Number one?

I mean the author of http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=8634 who worked on the same issue: Damage of daedric weapons.

Well, so long as your potions aren't reaching "days" in length, or you're getting these effects without decent alchemy equipment, I think this is still all right.
Though, I imagine through stacking that you could pretty much carry anything you wanted to.

I create potions of feather ~400, and my warrior can carry ~350 (70 STR * 5), so a single potion is powerful enough to remove *all* my burden. I was expecting the feather potions/spells would just alleviate my burden. And I'm a warrior...

Yeah, I may need to look at this again. The problem is simply that a lot of outside factors go into this one, and they're factors that vary from game to game. My biggest concern was that, although the growth seemed fast at a level of 5-10, that it would eventually slow down. If you're at 60 and still seeing it grow too fast, well... yeah.

Hard to say as I use GCD (with its standard settings (not easy nor hard ones)).
Actually I lowered the skill growth to 0.3 early in the game when I realized it was too easy to boost it.
But even, I started the skill at 5 (no bonus at all) and GCD is severe with low starting skills, so I really think 1.0 is too high.

Hmm... alembics are either too effective, or that's because of how high the paralyze effect cost is set in the "Spells" plugin.

I'm ok with that. The thing is I do not slowly upgrade my alchemy set, instead, I directly jump from the basic "Apprentice's Mortar and Pestle" of Arrille to the (grand) master set of Nalcarya of White Haven in Balmora when I got enough money, so I don't have the time to see the paralyzing effect reducing slowly.
BTW I think it's a problem of the alchemy in MW: you can get one of the best alchemy set in the game in the first city you visit and it's not that much expensive. As a consequence, I don't create a lot of weak potions and I don't care and don't know nothing about the different alchemy tools.

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 9:45 pm

I'm ok with that. The thing is I do not slowly upgrade my alchemy set, instead, I directly jump from the basic "Apprentice's Mortar and Pestle" of Arrille to the (grand) master set of Nalcarya of White Haven in Balmora when I got enough money, so I don't have the time to see the paralyzing effect reducing slowly.
BTW I think it's a problem of the alchemy in MW: you can get one of the best alchemy set in the game in the first city you visit and it's not that much expensive. As a consequence, I don't create a lot of weak potions and I don't care and don't know nothing about the different alchemy tools.

It's one of the reason I made AdvancedAlchemy : with this mod you have a penalty when you use quality apparatuses with low Alchemy. So in the early game, you can't use master or grandmaster stuff.

BTB :
Great work on your mod, I'm using :
Alchemy
Equipment
Settings (Alternate)
Spells

I also use some others GMST tweaks :

Spoiler

fDiseasixferChance 3.75 (instead of 2.5)
fFallDamageDistanceMin 300 (instead of 400)
fFallDistanceMult 0.14 (instead of 0.07)
fMagicStartIconBlink 9 (instead of 3)
fMaxWalkSpeed 220 (instead of 200)
fMinWalkSpeed 110 (instead of 100)
fProjectileMaxSpeed 4500 (instead of 3000)
fProjectileMinSpeed 600 (instead of 400)
fProjectileThrownStoreChance 80 (instead of 25)
fThrownWeaponMaxSpeed 1500 (instead of 1000)
fThrownWeaponMinSpeed 600 (instead of 300)
fTrapCostMult -1 (instead of 0)
fVanityDelay 180 (instead of 30)
iAlchemyMod 1 (instead of 2)
iBlockMaxChance 75 (instead of 50)
iBlockMaxChance 15 (instead of 10)
iKnockDownOddsBase 40 (instead of 50)
iMonthsToRespawn 1 (instead of 4)

? Increases by 50% the chances of catching disease from diseased creatures
? Decreases by 25% the minimum distance to fall before taking damage
? Double the distance multiplier damage
? Triple the time for the icon fading process when spell is terminate
? Increases by 10% walk speed
? Increases by 50% the projectile speed
? Increases the chances of retrieving projectile weapons from dead opponents from 25% to 80%
? Increases by 50% the thrown weapon speed
? Activate trap cost mult : now the chance to disarm the trap is decreased by the cost of the trap spell
? Increases by 6 the time before the camera starts rotating around your character
? iAchmyMod : override for AA
? Increases maximum chance to block from 50% to 75%
? Increases minimum chance to block from 10% to 15%
? Decreases by 20% the chance to be knock down
? Decreases from 4 month to respawn to 1

» Tue Apr 26, 2011 12:06 am

Maybe the syntax in soulgem scripts should be like:

player->AddSoulGem, "rat", Misc_SoulGem_Petty

Instead of:

player->addsoulgem "Misc_SoulGem_Petty" "rat"

I suppose MW has an issue with nested quotation marks.

» Tue Apr 26, 2011 2:12 am

Also, since I'm here, BTB, one of the tweaks I liked from Wakim's was increasing the torch duration a bit. I always thought the vanilla torches went out way too quickly. Just wondered if you had considered adding that.

Hadn't thought of that, actually.

Sure, I'll throw it into my next update.

This is the error i get copied from the Warnings file: "Unable to find referenced object " " in script BTB_soulgemscript_rat."

Ok, yeah... I think I get it, now (thanks, DWS). I'm still not sure why your game is only picking on the rat script, but I know what that is, and I know how to fix it.

http://btb2.free.fr/temp/btb_settings.zip

Let me know if that fixes your problem.

(I *really* need to learn to quit taking MWEdit's word for it that my code has been properly compiled. :brokencomputer: )

I mean the author of http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=8634 who worked on the same issue: Damage of daedric weapons.

I'll have a look at his settings... might save me a bit of work.

I create potions of feather ~400, and my warrior can carry ~350 (70 STR * 5), so a single potion is powerful enough to remove *all* my burden. I was expecting the feather potions/spells would just alleviate my burden. And I'm a warrior...

I think at this point I should be looking into adjusting the GMSTs that govern Alchemy potion effects and durations, otherwise we're just going to keep having this same conversation about every spell effect in the game that I've set to a reasonable value in the "Spells" plugin.

I'm ok with that. The thing is I do not slowly upgrade my alchemy set, instead, I directly jump from the basic "Apprentice's Mortar and Pestle" of Arrille to the (grand) master set of Nalcarya of White Haven in Balmora when I got enough money, so I don't have the time to see the paralyzing effect reducing slowly.
BTW I think it's a problem of the alchemy in MW: you can get one of the best alchemy set in the game in the first city you visit and it's not that much expensive. As a consequence, I don't create a lot of weak potions and I don't care and don't know nothing about the different alchemy tools.

Yeah, I think I'm going to raise the cost of the grandmaster alchemy set... possibly the master set, too.

I also use some others GMST tweaks :

Spoiler

fDiseasixferChance 3.75 (instead of 2.5)
fFallDamageDistanceMin 300 (instead of 400)
fFallDistanceMult 0.14 (instead of 0.07)
fMagicStartIconBlink 9 (instead of 3)
fMaxWalkSpeed 220 (instead of 200)
fMinWalkSpeed 110 (instead of 100)
fProjectileMaxSpeed 4500 (instead of 3000)
fProjectileMinSpeed 600 (instead of 400)
fProjectileThrownStoreChance 80 (instead of 25)
fThrownWeaponMaxSpeed 1500 (instead of 1000)
fThrownWeaponMinSpeed 600 (instead of 300)
fTrapCostMult -1 (instead of 0)
fVanityDelay 180 (instead of 30)
iAlchemyMod 1 (instead of 2)
iBlockMaxChance 75 (instead of 50)
iBlockMaxChance 15 (instead of 10)
iKnockDownOddsBase 40 (instead of 50)
iMonthsToRespawn 1 (instead of 4)

? Increases by 50% the chances of catching disease from diseased creatures
? Decreases by 25% the minimum distance to fall before taking damage
? Double the distance multiplier damage
? Triple the time for the icon fading process when spell is terminate
? Increases by 10% walk speed
? Increases by 50% the projectile speed
? Increases the chances of retrieving projectile weapons from dead opponents from 25% to 80%
? Increases by 50% the thrown weapon speed
? Activate trap cost mult : now the chance to disarm the trap is decreased by the cost of the trap spell
? Increases by 6 the time before the camera starts rotating around your character
? iAchmyMod : override for AA
? Increases maximum chance to block from 50% to 75%
? Increases minimum chance to block from 10% to 15%
? Decreases by 20% the chance to be knock down
? Decreases from 4 month to respawn to 1

Interesting... I may use a few of those (particularly the trap one).

Anyways, give me a few hours to do my thing, and I'll post a tentative changelist for the next version.

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 2:57 pm

BTW I think it's a problem of the alchemy in MW: you can get one of the best alchemy set in the game in the first city you visit and it's not that much expensive. As a consequence, I don't create a lot of weak potions and I don't care and don't know nothing about the different alchemy tools.

It's one of the reason I made AdvancedAlchemy : with this mod you have a penalty when you use quality apparatuses with low Alchemy. So in the early game, you can't use master or grandmaster stuff.

Yeah, I think I'm going to raise the cost of the grandmaster alchemy set... possibly the master set, too.

Even with all the mods you suggest I'm still able to quickly find thousands of gold early in the game.
I think I prefer DarkSCR's solution as:
- Gold cannot be a reliable lock for anything in the game, there is always a way to find enough,
- It makes sense the player has to be skilled enough to use high quality technical alchemy tools.
However, I'm not sure I want to use the whole AA mod as it changes many things of the alchemy system, and may not be fully compatible with BTB GI or other mods of my install.

@DarkSCR: Could you tell me about AA and BTB GI compatibility?

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:02 pm

Even with all the mods you suggest I'm still able to quickly find thousands of gold early in the game.
I think I prefer DarkSCR's solution as:
- Gold cannot be a reliable lock for anything in the game, there is always a way to find enough,
- It makes sense the player has to be skilled enough to use high quality technical alchemy tools.

The GMST edit is only one part of the balance. I have lots of other settings to play with... values of the equipment, values of the stuff that you commonly sell for more money, qualities of the equipment... etc.

Speaking of Daedric equipment values...

? Lowered Daedric Shortsword value from 2,000 to 1,500.
? Lowered Daedric Spear value from 2,000 to 1,500.
? Lowered Daedric Mace value from 2,500 to 1,500.
? Lowered Daedric War Axe value from 2,500 to 1,500.
? Lowered Daedric Warhammer value from 2,500 to 1,500.
? Lowered Daedric Longsword value from 2,500 to 1,500.
? Lowered Daedric Wakizashi value from 5,000 to 2,000.
? Lowered Daedric Long Bow value from 5,000 to 2,000.
? Lowered Daedric Katana value from 5,000 to 2,000.
? Lowered Daedric Battle Axe value from 5,000 to 2,000.
? Lowered Daedric Claymore value from 7,500 to 2,500.
? Lowered Daedric Dai-katana value from 7,500 to 2,500.

? Lowered Daedric Gauntlet value from 2,500 to 1,000.
? Lowered Daedric Fountain Helm value from 3,000 to 1,000.
? Lowered Daedric Terror Helm value from 4,000 to 1,500.
? Lowered Daedric God Helm value from 5,000 to 2,000.
? Lowered Daedric Boots value from 5,000 to 2,000.
? Lowered Daedric Pauldron value from 5,000 to 2,000.
? Lowered Daedric Shield value from 5,000 to 2,000.
? Lowered Daedric Greaves value from 5,000 to 2,000.
? Lowered Daedric Tower Shield value from 7,500 to 2,500.
? Lowered Daedric Cuirass value from 7,500 to 2,500.

How does that look?

Of course, now I have to go around and compare other values to make sure I haven't caused an imbalance somewhere else.

EDIT: Also, Mym, I need to know... where are you getting all this Daedric [censored] from, anyway? You said you were using MWA, and as far as I know, it cuts down on all of the Daedric pinatas.

EDIT2: It looks like the one really common source of Daedric weapons - even with MWA - is from Dreamoras. I imagine if I just remove Daedric weapons from the random_excellent_melee list, that will go a long way towards balancing everything out/

» Tue Apr 26, 2011 1:26 am

Ok, yeah... I think I get it, now (thanks, DWS). I'm still not sure why your game is only picking on the rat script, but I know what that is, and I know how to fix it.

http://btb2.free.fr/temp/btb_settings.zip

Let me know if that fixes your problem.

(I *really* need to learn to quit taking MWEdit's word for it that my code has been properly compiled. :brokencomputer: )

Just had time to test the new esp, but unfortunately am still getting exactly the same error when starting a brand new game, or loading a save. Does anything in my mod list leap out as being incompatible?

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 12:46 pm

Speaking of Daedric equipment values...

? Lowered Daedric Shortsword value from 2,000 to 1,500.
[...]
How does that look?

If their drop rate is low for real, I think the values you suggest are just fine.

EDIT: Also, Mym, I need to know... where are you getting all this Daedric [censored] from, anyway? You said you were using MWA, and as far as I know, it cuts down on all of the Daedric pinatas.

That's exactly what I'm wondering: I have no idea.

EDIT2: It looks like the one really common source of Daedric weapons - even with MWA - is from Dreamoras.

Indeed I got a lot of daedric stuff from them.

I imagine if I just remove Daedric weapons from the random_excellent_melee list, that will go a long way towards balancing everything out

It could be a solution.
As monsters respawn, you would then remove an infinite source of daedric items.
But we need to be sure the player will still have decent chances to find daedric stuff elsewhere.

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 6:04 pm

I imagine if I just remove Daedric weapons from the random_excellent_melee list, that will go a long way towards balancing everything out

It could be a solution.
As monsters respawn, you would then remove an infinite source of daedric items.
But we need to be sure the player will still have decent chances to find daedric stuff elsewhere.

I used a method implemented by Hotfusion in his Economy Adjuster to balance daedric stuff drop rate. He balanced the drop rate editing the leveled list and then made a script to give Dremoras and Golden Saints deadric equipment. When they die the script removes the daedric equipment. What you get is what is in the leveled list. So you are sure they will fight with that stuff but you aren't sure if you will get it. I edited all Dremoras and Golden Saints in MWA (and if I recall correct, in Creatures X) using this method.

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:59 pm

About the soulgem scripts again. I wondered about why Enchanted Editor crashes as soon as I select one of the scripts.
The scripts are attached to the soulgems that you want to remove? Wouldn't it be a script that removes itself? I recall an issue with things like that.

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 10:14 pm

About the soulgem scripts again. I wondered about why Enchanted Editor crashes as soon as I select one of the scripts.
The scripts are attached to the soulgems that you want to remove? Wouldn't it be a script that removes itself? I recall an issue with things like that.

Yes, if you remove the soulgem from its own script the game will crash. You should do it through a global script to make sure it works. Or this is what I'd do, maybe there's some other workaround.

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 7:53 pm

Oh, hey, look... I found the problem with the level-up script in the character plugin. I'm actually not quite sure why I was ever [censored] enough to think that this would work in the first place.

*Fix, fix*

I'm not at home to test it myself, but if anyone wants to try it and confirm that it works:

http://btb2.free.fr/temp/btb_char.zip

So maybe this is related to the above ?

"Hi, my Wayward ability gives me a strength of 65 yet I'm loosing this ability Wayward, after a sleep/rest, on the current save game. The icons no longer appears in the spell inventory screen, and I've lost strength down to 45.
? is Why is my Wayward birth-sign ability disappearing"
http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1156557-birthsigns-images-on-screen/page__gopid__16941137#entry16941137
Need to find the right place to post, again!

» Mon Apr 25, 2011 4:43 pm

Just had time to test the new esp, but unfortunately am still getting exactly the same error when starting a brand new game, or loading a save. Does anything in my mod list leap out as being incompatible?

Well, if that didn't work (which pretty much tells me where the problem is), then this one should:

http://btb2.free.fr/temp/btb_settings_part_deux.zip

If their drop rate is low for real, I think the values you suggest are just fine.That's exactly what I'm wondering: I have no idea.Indeed I got a lot of daedric stuff from them.It could be a solution. As monsters respawn, you would then remove an infinite source of daedric items.But we need to be sure the player will still have decent chances to find daedric stuff elsewhere.

Yeah... after all, the only reason I'm lowering the values is because it's so common.

See, the basic approach I am taking to this problem is simple: non-unique powerful equipment that can be found in leveled lists needs to be made cheaper. Non-unique powerful equipment that can be purchased needs to still be expensive. The problem is that there is a direct conflict here, when you get into things like Golden Saints using glass weapons.

I used a method implemented by Hotfusion in his Economy Adjuster to balance daedric stuff drop rate. He balanced the drop rate editing the leveled list and then made a script to give Dremoras and Golden Saints deadric equipment. When they die the script removes the daedric equipment. What you get is what is in the leveled list. So you are sure they will fight with that stuff but you aren't sure if you will get it. I edited all Dremoras and Golden Saints in MWA (and if I recall correct, in Creatures X) using this method.

I actually considered revisiting HotFusion's method earlier... am about to have a look at his scripts right now. I'm still not sure if this is the route I want to go yet, but it's lookiing like it will be. It solves the above problem, definitely.

EDIT: looking at HotFusion's script now, and I see a potential for problems in the same way that we discussed for your music mod... dead enemies don't always have 0 HP.

So, why don't we just create replica daedric weapons for them to use that are scripted to remove themselves if the *player* picks them up?

Of course, we get into a problem there were I'm basically being a dike by showing you a Daedric weapon and then taking it right back away.

Yes, if you remove the soulgem from its own script the game will crash. You should do it through a global script to make sure it works. Or this is what I'd do, maybe there's some other workaround.

But both the original game (bluescript) and the Morrowind Patch Project (cursed ingredients) do it this way with no ill effects