Important Edit:

Upon originally release it was pointed out to me by Psymon that I had forgotten completly to clean it. Rest assured it is cleaned thoroughly now and reuploaded on both the nexus and Alliance! Despite my noble efforts, TES4EDIT will still identify error upon error when you open the mod: don't worry though, its not dirty or going to crash your game. It is infact because I had OBME instaleld when creating the spells, and despite using none of its features, it has still left a mark on my spells. This basicly means everything will function completly fine weather you have OBME or not, but TES4EDIT will freak out if you open it up


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Hi guys, I've just finished my latest mod, Power Animals

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzULfHHVn9M
A public service announcement giving a brief explanation of the mod and a look at its controls! XD

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=40125

http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/files/file/1007-mys terious-mr-bears-power-animals/



Most companion mods are just that, a companion. And most magical Summons, mod added and otherwise, are just that- creatures that can be summoned. I tried to make something a bit more dynamic... instead of having a companion, or a summonable creature, my spell gives the ability to transmute some of your life-force into creating an Avatar to fight along side you, follow you and protect you. But you don't get to choose what your avatar looks like... your avatar chooses you.

This whole idea is based on the books, His Dark Materials... some might know this series for the film, The Golden Compass (not that I approved of that film at all...). Every person in that world has a magical avatar that represents them like part of their soul that follows them around. Sailors have a seagull or a seal, great leaders have proud wildcats, etc etc. I've always loved that idea, and I've tried to replicate it here.

If your character is a strong warrior that favours heavy armour, your avatar may be a bear. If your character is nible thief, it may be a cat. A ranger may have a hound dog companion, and a blunt weapon wielding barbarian an ogre. Either way each avatar is designed to compliment the play style of its owner. Not only this, but as you grow in power so does your avatar, and this is represented physically. You may start off with a cub, but as you play your avatar will slowly transform into a raging bear, lager than any other in the game!


http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo194/FahFahMah/PowerAnimalTri2.jpg



it is not only the appearence that is dynamic, I also spent agggesss making the controls fun and easy in much the same way as my WIPZ mod, Elemental Magic (I lie, EXACTLY the same way). You only have one spell to summon, dismiss, and command your avatar. call it to follow with a tap of the cast button and the LMB, set it to attack everything it sees with the RMB, tell it to wait with both LMB and RMB and summon it/dismiss it by holding down the cast button. I have tried to make all this feel as though you are actually influencing a sentinent being, too, and not just flicking a switch- as you give commands, your avatar will glow different colours. (whilst designed to be transparent, there are .esps for transulcency and opacicity too)

But thats not all. Each avatar brings a different Power that you may use at will. For example, you may be wondering how a cat would be any use at all. Well activate its power by tapping cast, and it runs away releasing pheromones, causing everyone in line of sight to try and chase it away... whilst you slip past the now vacent guard post. Enter a blood thirsty rage with your hulking Ogre, or scare enemies away with a howl from your wolf, or inherit the hardened skin of a boar and turn your flesh to stone!


http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo194/FahFahMah/PowerAnimalTri4.jpg



Ultimatly, this mod aims to make you feel like your characters are truly unique. Every weapon you use, wether you run or walk, sneak or fight, wear heavy armour or light, all defines what your avatar will look like- I tried to make it truly represent the character You will get a brief explanation of what your avatar is and why it has taken that form, and an explanation of its unique power. This means you can technically keep levelling different skills to see every differnt type of avatar - I won't tell you all the possibilities know this as well- characters with maxed out stats will find a very nice reward... part of which is a choice of two otherwise unavailable avatars!


I hope you enjoy, and keep an eye out for Elemental magic- this spell is simply one of fifteen equally big spells, half of which are nearly finished!


Mysterious Mr. Bear

I look forward to elemental magic - will it have any third party requirements? Like Fearsome Magicka has a requirement for Pluggy?

I like spells that grow in power - far better than the trend of a spellbook that is cluttered with constantly less powered spells as you gain levels yourself.

Since you have an Ogre as an option (my inner guide is an Ogre - funny) .... why not an imp. that would work great for wizard types. just a thought.

As it is the wolf and bear will make a great companion mod to Pimpskinny's Druid Mod.

thanks

[edit] also - a readme is needed. Are you intending people figure out the power animals powers solely by experimentation?

[edit 2] and then also I checked the mod for extraneous records with tes4edit and saw this warning several times:
[00:10] Background Loader:
[00:10] Background Loader:
... I've never seen that error before.

and the mod has 223 Identical to Master Records and 2 Deletions of Master Records.


[edit 3]
Actually that error above might be serious. I loaded the mod with Supreme Magicka to see if there was any overlap and there was with the spell touch of fear ... trying to open the record in edit caused errors I've never seen before.
Not trying to beat you up over arcane or details of minutia, but http://cs.elderscrolls.com/constwiki/index.php/TES4Edit_Cleaning_Guide benefits all.

Oh god, I've forgotton to clean it... how amature -_-

And as for these records... do you understand what this means? Because I don't understand at all :S I havent touched any spells, certainly not any of Supreme Magickas. Is this because I forgot to clean?

Cleaning now... this is the issue with a 1am release I imagine

Well it is a vanilla spell but with this mod loaded into edit with only Oblivion.esm and SM causes errors such that I can't look at the spell. It is easy to spot though just load this and SM into edit and look through the spells for red (load yours last) - trying to highlight it causes edit to crash and I had to use task manager to close it.

Sorry I can't be more of a help - at best I'm a crash pilot.

Ah yes, the issue with "touch of fear" is indeed a dirty mod -_- Sorry about that. I will release an update straight away. I dont actually remember touching that spell though... how strange....

Also I think I know what the strange errors with the spells are- the spell were created with Oblivion magic Extender Loaded but I never used a feature of it once. It seems its left its mark on the spells though invisibly- it doesnt effect things in-game wether you have OBME or not but when you open tesedit it goes crazy.

Ok, the Nexus is now updating with tottaly clean files The strange errors should not be effecting anything at all, just a sign that OBME has been there I think. To reply to some of the other things you said way back five minuets ago when I was panicking:

Who says there isn't an imp? Ok, thats unfair, no there isn't an imp. The reason for this is that the Magical Entity was far more effective and unique to each character than what I could do with creatures for magic types - whilst it would LOOK cool, it would do little else.

As for a readme with all the possible animals.. I think that's against the spirit of the mod, somewhat. I don't really imagine people downloading, opening up a text file, picking an animal they like and then changing their character to suit it as what the mod is about... instead I hope that people will leave this file loaded for multiple characters, and have a sense of excitement and discovery each time it takes a new form and they get a messagebox explaining a new power to them. Buuut I do understand that just isn't for everyone. I myself have skipped the "build up" on a lot of mods and just gone straight to what I want quite a few times. So lets just say you'll look forward to a maxed skills character....

Thanks for you help (and curiosity) by the way, its really appreciated. What prompted you to open up tes4edit if you dont mind me asking? General prodedure?

I always check mods for if they need cleaning. Nothing personal - just SOP.

As for the readme - I'd put something - at least install instructions and a few hints on what to try. Some dislike the lack of a readme.

No offence taken, its good practice! Especially when dealing with the kind of fool that uploads his mod at 1am without cleaning it or putting in a readme...

Yeah, my mods always lack a readme in the first file because I only remember to create one when prompted! People might be tempted to call me lazy, if it wasn't for the fact that I'm amazing and very modest.
I have packaged one with it now though, the same that was printed on the nexus page. I think its enough- install instructions, uninstall, legal, a decent description... as a modder I'm always interested to hear about mechanics of mods but as a gamer I think it takes away from it beauty of it quite alot, and I try to remember that when writing descriptions.

This mod sounds truly remarkable, Mysterious Mr. Bear. You have taken animal companions and summons to a new level. It sounds like you have turbo-charged an entire genre with this mod.

I have always used Maigret's animal companions but this might be enough to tempt me away. Congratulations on a wonderful new concept!

lol Love the vid mate, very nice touch :tops:

Thanks!! I'd always hated with summons having to summon a skeleton at level 3, then at level 6 buy a new spell that summons a skeleton with a metal hat.... etc etc. That and I had always loved the Demons from His Dark Materials



haha thanks Can you tell I'd been playing a bit of fallout before I made it?

This looks incredible. The idea is awesome, and from what I have heard, the implementation is good. I do think you should have a spoiler text, but you don't have to rush; I imagine I can find something specific if I need it in the Construction Set.

P.S. Best video EVER!!!