I have yet to attempt commenting on anyone's blog, so I'm not sure how that procedure works. Sorry if it's irritating, though. Wish I could make it allow anybody to do it.

I actually meant worth the physical space in the world. I've installed mods after AWLS in the past and the smoke would be displaced due to building movement. That would be the only time I would ever notice the smoke; otherwise I tended to completely ignore it. Since it obviously was just making my experience in the game more confusing, I decided this time I would just leave it off. The windows are the more impressive part, anyway (in my opinion).

I'm actually not entirely sure whether adding rain via the console would work the same way, since I have All Natural. I might have to remake the video completely and just make sure the weather remains consistent before I start recording for each part. Thanks for all the help; I greatly appreciate your interest.

Sorry to double post, but I just redid the video. The weather is the now the same in both parts.

You obviously weren't using AWLS for the smoke in the past. The smoke effect is attached to the building mesh itself, so regardless of where any building gets moved to, the smoke moves with it, remaining correctly in place over the chimney. Just as the lit windows remain correct when buildings are moved. AWLS isn't like the older mods which lit windows, where the lights are separate objects placed specifically in front of windows, and smoke is hand-placed above each chimney - that method was made obsolete when AWLS was released!

That wasn't an assumption; I speak from direct experience. The system may have been changed recently, but back when I tried to use smoke, incompatibility issues would pop up all the time when I tried to add mods later. Because of this, I'll always personally recommend not using the smoke.

Nope, seriously, you must think of the other smoke mod (don't remember its name), because AWLS has always worked the way display name... describes. The smoke is a part of the mesh, so if the mesh is moved, the smoke is too. That works with any mod that moves vanilla buildings, or adds new buildings with vanilla smoke meshes.

I know, because I use AWLS with lot of mod-added/moved buildings, and have enjoyed the rising smoke from when it was released (and I also read it in the description).

Hmm... Odd. I actually made a thread here before because of an issue I was having with buildings and I'm pretty sure we decided it was being caused by AWLS's smoke. But I suppose if it won't cause issues now, I'll give it another shot. I don't think I'll take the time to make a video for it, though; the lights are much more notable in my mind.

Might want to edit the blog though, recommending the smoke

I use it and haven't ever had problems with it

Well that is easy to explain. You had AWLS installed with smoke active, it was working fine, the smoke was above the chimneys. But you also had another mod installed at the same time which was adding smoke to some buildings, but adding the smoke as separate objects above the buildings in the CS, rather than attaching to the meshes themselves. A third mod installed had relocated those buildings, so that the smoke placed manually by the second mod was left behind.

I can see that. I suppose we'll just have to see how things look after I start getting into mods that move around buildings.

@AliTheLord: Yes, you're definitely right. I'll change my description right now.

Here's a little bump for those that aren't yet aware of my blog's existence.

The two most recent posts are about Animated Window Lighting System (AWLS) and Tamriel NPCs Revamped (TNR). Be sure to let me know what you think!

I hate to post three times in a row, but I really would like some feedback for what I'm doing here.

The two most recent posts are about Dungeon Actors Have Torches and Creatures Alive. PLEASE tell me what you think. Whether it's here, on my blog, or through my YouTube Channel. I just need to know that what I'm doing is actually worth making public.

Very interesting blog. I added it into my Skyrim to Oblivion thread. Hope that you are ok with that.

It's good that you have announced these two new additions here, since I wait for you to do this rather than checking your site for updates.


Asking for feedback does encourage people to give their opinions

Well, for Creatures Alive, it doesn't look like this is a mod you can really capture in video. What you show looks no different from what you get in-game without mods: the mudcrabs swim, the deer run away, the lions and wolves and bears (oh my!) attack the player as well as NPCs. It may be true that they're less common when playing at level one, but that isn't something you can truly show in the video. It looks great, however, whether I think I'm seeing vanilla creatures in action or modded ones from Creatures Alive. Fortunately, since you couple each video with some words, you were still able to make the mod sound appealing by talking about it.

For Actors Have Torches, it would be great if the final shot of an NPC walking around a corner with a torch was a little longer, waiting until he/she had walked away or starting before he/she arrived, to demonstrate how dark it is before they arrive or after they've left in comparison to how the torch lights the place up and shows that they're there. In your earlier videos of mods, you tended to follow a very similar path when moving both for default and with the relevant mod active, which really helped to see the difference as you could relate what you were watching with the mod active directly to what you had just watched without the mod. This video does not appear to do this (though of course the darkness which is necessary to prove the difference does make it hard to be sure), it seems to flash through a number of still images or exceedingly brief motion-captured pieces to show default, and then the section with the mod active appears to show totally different locations, making it harder to relate one to the other. This does give another great preview of Cava Obscura though!

@mirage87: Yes, of course! This is intended to be a resource, so by all means, feel free to link to it.

@display name: Creatures Alive was more of a trailer than my usual Default/Mod approach. The mod uses only vanilla meshes and textures for its additions, so it's a bit hard to visually represent the change without previous experience with vanilla wildlife in Cyrodiil. This is probably why the download page on Nexus doesn't have any screenshots with it. Glad you enjoyed my post, though! As for Torches, The majority of the clips I flash for the Default section actually are in the same area as the Mod part. It's just so hard to tell what's what when the atmosphere has been made so dark! Like Creatures Alive, though, a description of the mod is probably a lot more informative than anything I can capture on film, which is why I think I'm going to settle with what I already created. The videos I make are meant to compliment my discussion, otherwise I would just be publicizing the YouTube channel. Smack me if I sound too defensive, but I want to make sure you understand my intentions. Thanks so much for the critique, and hopefully I didn't scare off from doing it again in the future.

And for those of you who wait for me to update you here, my most recent post is about MOBS and Kuertee's Attribute-Based and Skill-Based Damage Modifiers.

Nice blog you have there, Matthew.
Well structured and succint.
And thanks for the review.

Of course, and thanks for the kind words! I'm glad you like what you see.

I've been in Boston this week, which is why I haven't made any new posts, but I did find that two mods I've discussed on the blog (Creatures Alive and Alive Waters) don't completely get along. After seeing a few too many slaughterfish young bouncing around on the land, I decided to remove it from my current setup and add a word of caution onto my post about it on the blog. It's nothing game-breaking, but I don't want to mislead people into thinking everything I discuss is completely compatible with each other. This being said, my next video will likely talk about a different animal behavior mod.

Thanks again for creating the blog, and special thanks for pushing me over the edge and finally installing Cava Obscura. While it looked quite intriguing I had always felt that, unlike Cyrodiil's obviously too bright night sky, the realm's "dungeons" were dark enough. I was wrong. Obscurafied dungeons add immeasurably to my gaming experience. It's also very nifty in how it recognizes and configures itself for a great many of my installed mods during Bashed_Patch creation. Would that more mods behaved similarly.

I was gonna post a comment at the Blog itself, but do not use any of the required social networks (for want of a better term) or intend to join them.

I wouldn't blame either mod, slaughterfish bounce all over the ground without any mods. They tend to move forward even when they reach the edge of water, get up onto the land, then continue in the same direction while flopping up and down out of water. A mod adding more fish will of course make this more noticeable, but neither mod is causing it to happen.

I'm glad you made this remark; it was enough for me to reinstall the mod and look around more. The problem seems to be rare enough for me to still recommend them both, so I'll remove my warning from the post.

Now that I'm done sorting out my animal behavior troubles and my Spring Break is over, I believe it's time to get back to blogging. I'll be sure to bump this whenever I make a new post.

Just want to bump in to say that your effort is appreciated, so keep on even if you don't get many comments

Thanks for the support!

I thought I'd let everyone know that I edited my post regarding Creatures Alive to add a side note linking to Corepc's tweaked version of the mod. His changes should fix a couple problems some have noticed with the spawning and animal behavior. Also, the most recent post is about Fizzle. Be sure to let me know what you think!

Also, Decrepit, I apologize for never thanking you for the compliments. Always nice to hear what I'm doing is having an influence.

Sorry to double post, but I figured I should give this a little bump every time I update.

The two most recent posts discuss Fizzle and my own Skeleton Diversity. Please please please PLEASE tell me what you think. I'm dying for some constructive criticism!

Skeleton Diversity is an "instant download", as was the Zombie version. I've been peeved about the racist selection of who gets to be undead since game release, and I'm not even into Zombies/etc. the slightest. I think undead are lame, but if they're in the game, thanks to these mods now they're at least done right!

As for Fizzle, I guess I'm not yet seeing how it significantly differs from similar mods. Perhaps some time/text can be taken detailing the unique points Fizzle has to offer.

I find your HD videos highly useful, except for in the more heavily compressed scenes. Not as useful to me are the ones that max out at 480p, but to the extent that they yet give at least a vague idea of what I would be seeing running the mod, they are still appreciated.

I'm glad you've taken the time and effort to embark upon this project. I thank you for your contribution. As for my comments, don't take anything too hard. I dish out criticism in a very positive and helpful attitude because I was raised to see accurate criticism as a favor, whether given or received.

I'm glad you've enjoyed it, both my blog and my mod! I know the older videos are not as high of quality, so maybe eventually I'll go back and attempt to redo them. Sadly I don't hold on to the Project files after a couple videos in, so it isn't as simple as re-saving the video. Thanks for your words.

My most recent post is about Strategy Master's Combat Hide. As always, any comments or criticism are more than welcome!

Sorry to double post, but I have a couple of announcements regarding the blog.

First, my most recent post is a discussion of basically everything I decided not to make individual posts for. Don't worry; that doesn't mean I'm done. I'll probably do this every month or so to show what else I've been trying for personal use.

Second, I discovered how to abbreviate the previews of my posts on the main page. I did this for my most recent one, mainly because I didn't want it too take too much room over the videos, which I'm sure most people prefer over my writing. Should I do this with past posts as well in order to be able to fit more posts on the page? Please give me your opinion.

Third, I removed the followers section of the blog and shifted my personal description over the right side of the page. This allows for a lot more room for my posts (in terms of width). Do you like this layout more than the old one? Would you prefer the Archive and About Me sections to be on the left instead? Again, please tell me what you think.

I'd kill to have more comments about the blog in general, whether it be on here or the blog itself. I want to learn from my audience, and it's hard to do that when I don't get any feedback.