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The Elder Scrolls III
MORROWIND:

Advanced Alchemy

Version : beta2
Author : DarkSCR
Released : 20/06/2010
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Index:

1. Description
2. Installation
3. Playing the Plugin
4. Features
5. Version
6. Conflicts
7. Credits
8. Copyright


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1. DESCRIPTION
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The main goal of this mod is to make alchemy more immersive.

This mod has been inspired (but completely redone) by the mod AtHomeAlchemy (by Syclonix).

So like AHA, now you can perfectly place your alchemy set in the world and use it without moving it.
Instead, you can now simply "fire up" the apparatuses you wish to use by activating them.

This mod go further and it make things slightly harder because player should choose adequate apparatuses (relative to his Alchemy skill).
He also need to be concentrate and need time to make potions.

So, nice new features are :
- Player can't use other people apparatus.
- Player can't make potion in menumode.
- Now each apparatus has an ideal range of use based on Alchemy skill : train your Alchemy before using quality items.
- Time flowing when player is making potions.
- Home made potions are cheaper, effects are stronger but duration is less.


This mod is dependent upon Morrowind Script Extender (MWSE).


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2. INSTALLING THE PLUGIN
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To install the plugin, unzip the files into the Morrowind/Data Files
directory.

REQUIREMENTS:
Morrowind, Tribunal, Bloodmoon.
Morrowind Script Extender (MWSE v0.9.2 or later) or MGE (3.8+).


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3. PLAYING THE PLUGIN
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From the Morrowind Launcher, select Data Files and check the box
next to the Advanced Alchemy.esp file.


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4. PLUGIN FEATURES
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Activating alchemy apparatus now will "fire it up" to be used for
potion making. Simply activate all the apparatuses you wish to use
then activate the mortar and pestle to bring up the alchemy menu.

Apparatuses that have been activated will remain activated until
you leave the room or you stay near them.
If you want to use a different apparatus than the one currently active,
just fire up the new one and the old apparatus will automatically turn off by
itself.

To take or steal an apparatus, hold the sneak key when activating it.
You can also use telekinesis to grab the object from a distance.

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New features :
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You can't use an apparatus which is not yours, you must steal it first.

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You can't make potions in menu mode : BE CAREFUL before engage combat.
You must be concentrated to make potions.

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Now each apparatus has an ideal range of use (based on your Alchemy skill) :
- Apprentice : 0 - 19
- Journeyman : 20 - 39
- Master : 40 - 59
- GrandMaster : 60 - 79
- SecretMaster : 80 - ...

You can always use an apparatus after its ideal range (you're skill making better potions).
If you use an apparatus below its ideal range, you'll have a temporary curse.
This feature can be desactivate, simply edit one global var :
DSC_AA_UseCurse=0 (default =1)

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TimeFlow :
Each second passed in alchemy menu advances game time by a certain amount of time.
By default, 20 seconds passed in this menu advances game time by one hour.

You can configure this feature by editing this global var :
DSC_AA_TimeFlowMult=180
Increase it to make time flowing more quickly.
Decrease it to make time flowing more slowly.
Put 0 to desactivate this feature.

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Some GMST tweaks to :
- Strongly decrease value of self made potions but not zero.
- Decrease duration.
- Increase magnitude.

fPotionStrengthMult = 0.1 (before 0.5) : decreases duration, magnitude and value.
fPotionT1DurMult = 0.15 (before 0.5) : increases duration to balance fPotionStrengthMult decreases.
fPotionT1MagMult = 0.25 (before 1.5) : increases magnitude to balance fPotionStrengthMult decreases.
iAlchemyMod = 1 (before 2) : cost of self made potion / 2


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5. PLUGIN VERSION
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beta2 :
- Remove message when player equip an apparatus.
- Add a confirmation message when player has an Alchemy penalty.
- Add a sound when player has an Alchemy penalty.
- Add optional TimeFlow feature when making potions.
- Add changes made by Morrowind Patch (by Quorn) : typo changes and mesh and icon for Journeyman Calcinator.

beta1 :
First beta release


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6. CONFLICTS & BUGS
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No knows bugs or conflicts.

Feedback, comments, suggestions, bug reports are welcome !


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7. CREDITS
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Bethesda for Elder Scrolls series : did you play Arena ?
Syclonix for AtHomeAlchemy which inspired this mod.
Fliggerty for all his MWSE mods.
Taddeus for testing and many ideas.
Quorn for his compilation work on Morrowind Patch.

Thanks
Forums for so many usefull infos.

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8. COPYRIGHT
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You are free to modify and re-distribute this work, so long as you :
1- Contact me : if I won't reply for 1 month -> go on !
2- Give the author(s) credit proportional to their contribution to the final work.
3- Distribute the final work under the same terms.

By downloading and running this plugin, you acknowledge the following :
- You have read and understood this readme file.
- You acknowledge that the author of this plugin accepts no responsibility for
damage to your game saves, operating system, computer, etc,
when using this plugin.


NOTE: Please do not upload any of my plugins for distribution without my permission.
I strongly prefer to have access to everywhere that my work is hosted so that I can update and maintain all of it.


You can contact me via Bethesda's official forums at http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?act=idx under the username DarkSCR.

- Make the time flow when you make a potion, something like ten minutes for every potion. It would make it even more immersive.

That would make INT buffing to augment alchemy results useless. I do not see that as a positive result.

I tried it a bit and the mod is very interesting, it really makes alchemy very different from the vanilla game. I like the fact that you can't make potions while fighting, that you can't use an apparatus that is owned by someone else (as making a potion is a process requiring time, not something you do in 2 seconds while the owner looks elsewhere) and that different apparatus need different skill levels. So :thumbsup: .

Possible suggestions, take what you like and discard the rest:
- When you try to equip an apparatus there's a message that warns you to drop it. I'd remove the message, since a player using the mod would know how to make potions with it. However, if you want to take the message, there's a space before the ":" that should be removed.
- Is it possible to open the potion making window without opening the inventory, map, etc. windows?
- The message you get about the penalty for using a higher level apparatus should be more evident. Add an "Ok" button to the messagebox, at least when the penalty is very big. I can accept a -5 in alchemy without noticing, but I want definitely know if I have -40. Maybe some sort of sound effect can help notice it too?
- Give a *slight* bonus if the player uses an apparatus below his level? A master alchemist would make something good even with a poor apparatus. However this bonus should be smaller than the corresponding penalty for using a higher level apparatus.
- Make the time flow when you make a potion, something like ten minutes for every potion. It would make it even more immersive.

Hmmm, this certainly looks interesting. I'd looked into using the At Home Alchemy mod, but chose not to use it because I wanted something with more features. I'll try this out once its out of Beta - mostly because I get tired of adjusting my nearly maxed out load order and intend on putting such a thing off as long as possible.

- Good idea for the sound if there is a penalty : did you have a sound in mind ?
- Time flow, why not but optional and maybe only a few seconds (by default).

No, I don't have a precise sound in mind, sorry, it was just a suggestion. Maybe you can use the default sound for alchemy failure (if such a thing exist, I'm not on my computer now).
As for the time flow, my idea was something like: the player enters his home at noon, makes a lot of potions and when he/she exits it's dusk. This will give the impression of having spent the day making potions, which I think is cool. So the process of making a potion obviously takes a few seconds in real time, but the script could advance the game clock of something like 10 minutes per potion. So 20 potions would be around 3 hours. But you should be able to detect by script when the player creates a potion to do this, and I don't know if it's possible.

Time flow: interesting but I think this can't be done ! I don't know any way of detecting if a potion was made !

Ah! It was too good to be true!
Nonetheless, this remains a very interesting mod.

Time flow: interesting but I think this can't be done ! I don't know any way of detecting if a potion was made !

Time flow: interesting but I think this can't be done ! I don't know any way of detecting if a potion was made !

First idea: when you make a new potion, your alchemy skill is raised by a decimal value. Maybe MWSE can check for it? Or maybe the GetAlchemy (or whatever it is called) function returns a float and so you can check for it even with the standard script commands?

Alternate idea: make a float variable (let's call it MyTimer) that keeps count of how many seconds the player keeps the alchemy window open with the GetSecondsPassed function. You can assume that the player makes a potion every (uhm) 10 seconds? So each time MyTimer reach 10 seconds, add 10 minutes to the game clock and reset MyTimer to 0. You can put in a safety limit (no more than 5-6 hours) for players who open the alchemy window and then go out for lunch, so that they don't find their character one year older when coming back to the computer.

Hope these can help.

Do I make in this mod the changes on apparatuses done by Morrowind Patch ?

I assume that you can't open the alchemy window without the other ones.