Alpha 3 released see top post for full readme.

Changelog
Major : Script rewritten from scratch to optomize with all the new features (since alpha 1). REQUIRES NEW INI FILE
Added : Take Aim. Nock and arrow and hold it (without moving) to improve the accuracy of your shot
Added : Running with arrow nocked at master Marksman option
Added : No moving backwards with arrow nocked option

Awesome new features, kandiedan. :thumbsup:
Thank you for this mod. I think it's gonna be one of those mods that will stay in my LO.

Kandiedan-

I use Duke Patricks Archery mods which are far deadlier than FCOM_archery. You will die in one or two shots for at least the first 10 levels. Even as your opponents advance you will still fear being shot in the back.

His mods also have great animations and calculations of NPCs dodging arrows and added in bow sway effects. He also makes it possible to dodge theirs better as well.

So with these arrow shots are a bit harder than vanilla.

I like about 50% of the features being offered here. Will things like no backwards running be able to be turned on while also being able to turn off the difficulty in hitting (as that is covered by another mod)?

thanks.

yes everything is configurable with the ini file
if you set xdanMarksmanChallenge.BaseOffset to 0, all of your arrows will fly staight.
You will still be left with no running with arrow nocked and no backwards movement with arrow nocked

-dan

Hey kandiedan ,
I've just been testing out version 3 and everything is great. I especially like the forced walk option so I can no longer "kite" my enemies. It's too cheap IMO and I've dropped using bows for a very long time. Now I can start using bows again. Thank you!!

If you're still considering the NPC part, I know that Duke Patrick made one which seemed to work decently, although I'm unsure as to if its still kicking around *shrug*
Might be worth looking into for an idea as to how to make it work with your system.

My whole plan was to make it more interesing (and harder) to use a bow. I think that the NPC archers poor AI (when compared to my playing style) made them useless. I could take on 5 then at twice my level and mow them down without getting hit. Now just taking out 1 takes time, a healing potion, and a little luck. That fits with the immersion that I wanted so I don't want to nerf the NPCs (feel free to use any of my code to release a mod that does that though no need to go around repeating work).




Glad you like it. I only have about 20 hours of test on alpha three myself so if you notice any bugs/glitches or things that you think could make the gameplay better, please let me know.

Just wanted to say that I fully agree with this. The player can quite easily dodge the enemy arrows, so if the NPCs start shooting worse, it becomes too easy winning.

I think the default offset was a bit too large, but with an ini file, it was very easy to turn it down a bit, so thanks for a good immersion mod

I was thinking that because it's so easy to dodge NPC arrows it might actually be more difficult if the NPC shoot a little more irregular. However I don't think this mod needs to go there really.

try playing this mod with the defaults from the ini file. it is no longer easy to hit a NPC archer and dodge his arrows. Either you have to stand still long enough to risk getting hit or your shot isn't going to be very accurate.

-dan

Hi,

I played a bit with your alpha 3 version yesterday and really liked it, it will definately stay in my game

Assume the player walks with the Alway Run key toggled ON, and with the run key down - thus walking as long as the run key is down. This is how I generally walk.

If the player nocks an arror while doing this, he will start to run, and continue to do so until the arrow is denocked, regardless of any tapping of the Run or Always Run keys. The reason is this code:

If (no_run_with_arrow_nocked == 1)	if (player.isrunning)		set player_was_running to 1		set run_toggeled to 0		If (IsControlPressed 10 == 0)			TapControl 11			set run_toggeled to 1		endif	else		set player_was_running to 0	endif	DisableControl 10; disable run	DisableControl 11; disable always run endif

which must be changed to something like:

If (no_run_with_arrow_nocked == 1)	set player_was_running to player.isrunning	set run_toggeled to (player_was_running != IsControlPressed 10)	If (run_toggeled)		TapControl 11	endif	DisableControl 10; disable run	DisableControl 11; disable always run endif

And then you must change your two instances of

if (player_was_running == 1) && run_toggeled	TapControl 11endif

by removing "(player_was_running == 1) && "

Note that this is completely untested.


Also, you should consider comparing the marksman skill against the game setting iSkillExpertMin instead of 75, to be compatible with mods that changes the perk requirements.

Finally, as mentioned once before, I wish you could move the ini file location from "data\_xdan\" to "data\ini\", since there are now quite anumber of mods that use the special "data\ini\" folder for their ini files.

Anyway, thanks for a very nice mod

Thanks! great glitch report. It will be fixed in the next release.


I can't use iSKillExpertMin becuase I set up this mod to not require oblivion.esm as a master.



Sure. I can do this, is there a wiki or thread about how stuff should be formatted in this folder?

-dan

Alpha 4 is now released. See top post for updates.

If you use this mod please leave suggestions for default ini values. I'd like to get an idea of what values people like as I prepare this for final release.

-dan

This mod sounds great. I guess it will work great along with Duke Patricks - Near Miss Magic And Arrow Shots Alert The Target and Duke Patricks - NPC MAGIC and Arrows Can Miss Now.

Any ideas if it will, or should, work correctly with http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=14723

Thanks. I'm playing a ranger character now, and I really like this mod. I didn't see it mentioned in the changelog, but have you fixed the always/never run error I mentioned above?

yes, that is in there. and thanks for the excellent bug report.

in the change log "Code changed a bit to execute faster" I guess should also have included "and handle enable/disable controls better". If you look at the new code its much cleaner and there is now a "cleanup" state to make sure the running gets reset under all conditions.

Mods like "no backwards running" can still cause problems, I'll continue to work on compatability problems when people point them out. I wish OBSE had the ability for multiple mods to handle enable/disable of the same control in a reliable way . . . oh well.

-dan

I don't use either of those mods so no testing here.
Duke Patricks - should be no problem.
Crossbows - Assuming crossbows are modified Oblivion "bows" type it should be fine.

The only problems I have seen with any mods are those that do bad stuff with OBSE enable/disable control commands. This can mess with the "no run with arrow nocked", "no backwards movement with arrow nocked" and the "stagger" features. If you have problems, try disabling those features in the ini and report the problems here. I can figure out the problem and ask the mod owners to fix their mod or I can provide a patched fix for you.

Also any mod that changes the bow speed will make the "stagger" function a bit funny. You need to adjust "stagger_first_check_time" so that the check occurs before your nock an arrow on your fastest bow.
nevermind . . . I can use OBSE to get bow speed. I'll add that to the next version. but for now just decrease "stagger_first_check_time" if you can shoot arrows before enemies have the chance to stagger you.

Let me know if you have any problems.

-dan

Hm, I must've missed this being released- it looks awesome, definitely going in my load order!

I was just wondering, how does no running backward conflict with this, because i use it.

Why are you using no backwards running? Because running backwards and shooting arrows is cheap? if so, this mod fixes that so just use the features in this mod and disable "no backwards running".

if you want no backwards running for other reasons, here is where it will conflict . . .

When you try to run backwards "No backwards running" will disable your run key. When you stop pressing the back button, it will reenable your run key (even if some other mod wants it disabled).
So example, you are moving backwards (No backwards running disables run key), then nock an arrow (marksmen challenge disables run key), then start moving forward (running backwards enables run key), you will be left able to run with an arrow nocked (which this mod tries to prevent).

What can you do till I come up with a better detection system for other mods.
1) Disable "no backwards running" mod as stated above.
2) Live with an accassional run with arrow nocked
3) Disable "no run with arrow nocked" in my mod and you will always be able to run when moving forward.

-dan

Wow, this sounds awesome! Shocked that I missed it before.

I really have to try this out. :tops:



Probably a stupid question, but does this also have problems with Fran's reduced backward run speed? Or is that one compatible?

yea I was really suprised that this mod got so little attention compared to some of my other stuff and I thought it was 10x cooler than anything else I have released.




Frans original reduced backwards run speed without OBSE changed your movent speed by changing your speed attribute so no conflict.
Any OBSE version that toggels the run key could have the same problem.
The only real solution I can see is to have OBSE be a bit smarter with the way keys are disabled.

It needs to be able to keep track of each script that disables a key and only enable the key only if all mods that have requested to disable a key re-enable it.
Failing that there is no sure fire way to garuntee what happens given the way that the engine executes scripts.
(that only took about 2 days of very annoying testing to figure out)

-dan

Oy, well, sometimes these things just make no sense. I think it should get a lot more love once it has a proper release. If it works out the way it sounds like it should, then perhaps we can find a way to bundle it with FCOM or something like that (if you're interested).



Awesome!



Ugh. I feel your pain. Been there myself many times. :brokencomputer:

Indeed! After I finish the runeskull project, my next plan on the horizon was to OBSEisz all the FCOM scripts that I think would give better gameplay with OBSE.
Maybe we could also add a bundle of gameplay mods (all configurable independently of course) that the FCOM team feels improves the experience and have been tweaked to work together properly?

-dan

Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking.