[RELz] YASH - Yet Another Skyrim hardcoe mod : V

» Sat Mar 09, 2013 8:14 pm

YASH

Yet Another Skyrim hardcoe mod

Your game. My vision.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/32562/

Requirements

Spoiler

Skyrim 1.8.151.0.7 - WARNING - the current YASH version does NOT work with 1.9 beta - once 1.9 goes live you'll have to wait for the appropriate YASH version before updating the game
Dawnguard DLC
Hearthfire DLC
Dragonborn DLC
Unofficial Skyrim Patch -- see the included Readme for the required version
Unofficial Dawnguard Patch -- see the included Readme for the required version
Unofficial Hearthfire Patch -- see the included Readme for the required version
Unofficial Dragonborn Patch -- see the included Readme for the required version
SKSE
Wrye Bash v303 or higher
7zip 9.20 or higher

Installation

Spoiler

Manual installation

NOT supported.

Wrye Bash installation

YASH is aimed to intermediate mod users who know their way around both TESVEdit and Wrye Bash. Make sure you have cleaned Update.esm and ALL DLC with TESVEdit 3.0.28 or superior before installing the mod.

The archive is BAIN ready. Just drop the archive in the Wrye Bash mods directory, install the mod as usual and enable YASH.esp.

At the time of this writing YASH is not included in the BOSS masterlist yet. For now load the mod last in your load order, just before the Bashed Patch. Rebuilding the Bashed Patch after the installation is necessary to merge the Unofficial Patches leveled lists with YASH's. A word of warning here: YASH features the most complex leveled lists system ever made, whereas in vanilla most lists have an average 20 entries most YASH lists have 230, for a total of over half a million entries. Wrye Bash may throw an out of memory error while rebuilding the patch, just close WB and retry until the patch is generated correctly.

*** VERY IMPORTANT - read before playing ***

Spoiler

Before playing the game with YASH on you should enter the right state of mind. YASH is a LONG and HARD journey from zero to hero. You die because you're supposed to die. You survive when you're supposed to survive. They die when they're supposed to die. You start as a whelp, weak and lacking any skill whatsoever, and you're supposed to play as such.

You MUST start a new character to run YASH. The mod does NOT work with existing characters and it should NOT be uninstalled from an existing character.

Also, keep in mind that YASH difficulty is balanced to work with http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/18436 increased spawns. Installing ASIS alongside YASH is not strictly required but it's HIGHLY recommended to play YASH in its intended form. Otherwise you may find the game too easy on the long run.

Introduction

YASH is my personal attempt to make the game mechanics more interesting, by adding subtle but substantial gameplay elements in a strictly lore-friendly way. It's primarily aimed at hardcoe roleplayers but due to its nature it should please just about everyone.

The main goal is to start as a complete nobody, suffer greatly at first and feel a real sense of accomplishment when you level up and increase your skills. YASH is not necessarily harder than vanilla but its gameplay is way, way different.

YASH abides by three strict rules:

Never, ever affect the player with something that will NOT affect the NPCs. Never. If your Khajiit character runs fast it's because ALL Khajiit in the game run fast. If your Redguard character is more skilled with one handed weapons it's because ALL Redguards are more skilled with one handed weapons. If your Bosmer character can deal more damage with bows and draw them fast it's because ALL Wood Elves are more skilled with bows. And so on. The essence of the mod is that you are NOT anything special compared to other people, save for your innate ability to shout.
Don't disrupt the vanilla mechanics: improve them. YASH intentionally does NOT add new perks, new skills, new spells, new weapons, etc. Instead, it improves the existing game elements by making them more interesting and useful, sometimes essential to proceed.
Replace the player skill with the character skill. YASH is not aimed at button mashers but at players who carefully plan their characters.

Last but not least, never let anyone think that he's playing with a mod on. The best mod is the one that doesn't feel it's a mod at all, but something so well integrated into the game that the player could think it's always been like that since day one. This is the hardest goal but I did my best to accomplish it. Also, one fundamental rule here is that the mod should NOT need instructions at all. Everything is explained in-game thanks to non-intrusive messages that inform the player about what's going on. I also have to add that YASH is intentionally NOT user configurable by any means, but I am willing to provide instructions to alter the mod to your likings using either the CK or xEdit.

Major gameplay changes

Spoiler

Unique Races

They are now really unique, have different stats, traits and abilities and choosing a race actually affects the gameplay. To name a few, Altmers regenerate magicka more quickly, Orcs are best at smithing and Redguards swing one handed weapons faster. Note that as I stated above this does NOT affect the player alone. It affects the race, therefore ALL Khajiit regenerate stamina quickly, ALL Nords have a low magicka pool and regenerate it slowly, ALL Wood Elves have a low initial carry weight, etc. This obviously applies to followers as well. The list can go on and on, suffice it to say that every race has now all its stats and skills altered [see table], all affecting the gameplay in one way or another.

Details:

Spoiler

Initial stats and skills:

			ARGONIAN	BRETON		DARKELF		HIGHELF		IMPERIAL	KHAJIIT		NORD		ORC		REDGUARD		WOODELFSTARTING HEALTH		65		70		55		60		70		65		85		100		70			50STARTING MAGICKA	25		85		70		100		75		10		5		25		15			10STARTING STAMINA	70		30		25		35		30		100		40		50		80			90CARRY WEIGHT		75		80		60		70		80		75		95		110		80			50HEALTH REGEN		0.25		0.3		0.1		0.2		0.3		0.25		0.45		0.6		0.3			0.1MAGICKA REGEN		2.5		8.5		7		10		7.5		1		0.5		2.5		1.5			1STAMINA REGEN		7		3		2.5		3.5		3		10		4		5		8			9ALTERATION		3		3		3		0		0		0		0		0		0			0ALCHEMY			0		0		0		0		0		3		0		0		0			5ARCHERY			0		0		0		0		0		0		0		0		3			7BLOCK			0		0		0		0		0		0		3		3		5			0CONJURATION		0		7		3		3		0		0		0		0		0			0DESTRUCTION		0		0		7		3		0		0		0		0		0			0ENCHANTING		0		0		0		5		3		0		0		0		0			0HEAVY ARMOR		0		0		0		0		3		0		0		3		0			0ILLUSION		0		5		3		7		0		0		0		0		0			0LIGHT ARMOR		3		0		0		0		0		0		5		0		3			3LOCKPICKING		5		0		0		0		0		3		0		0		0			3ONE-HANDED		0		0		0		0		3		3		3		5		7			0PICKPOCKET		3		0		0		0		0		7		0		0		0			0RESTORATION		0		3		0		3		5		0		0		0		0			0SMITHING		0		0		0		0		0		0		3		7		3			0SNEAK			7		0		5		0		0		5		0		0		0			3SPEECH			0		3		0		0		7		0		0		0		0			0TWO-HANDED		0		0		0		0		0		0		7		3		0			0SPECIAL ABILITY		+50% PSN RES	-25% CONJ CST	-25% DEST CST	-25% ILLS CST	+25% HAGGLE	+20% SPEED	+10 MELEE DMG	+25% SMITHING	+15% WPN SPEED		+50% BOW DMG

Plus the vanilla powers and abilities.

Race specific perks

Long story short: ALL perks stats have been altered in a way or another and some perk ranks are available only to certain races.

No level scaling

You're not the center of the world anymore. The world lives a life on its own and it does NOT depend on you anymore. More than 2,000 leveled lists have been edited with a collection of xEdit scripts I made myself to make it so that the more valuable items are rare and the less valuable items are spread all over the place. There is NO hand placed loot, everything is placed with a so refined formula that most leveled lists contain up to 200 automatically generated entries [most vanilla lists have 20]. Even I have no idea where the more valuable loot is. The same applies to creatures and NPC, the harder enemies are rare and the easier are more common.

Details:

Spoiler

No hand placed loot means that there are no hand placed items, but bosses will often carry powerful weapons and boss chests will often contain valuable loot: to encourage exploration most lists have been moved from the merchants inventories to the bosses chest. The chances are roughly as follows:

Iron: 33 chances out of 100
Steel: 22 chances out of 100
Orcish: 17 chances out of 100
Dwarven: 12 chances out of 100
Elven: 8 chances out of 100
Glass: 5 chances out of 100
Ebony: 2 chances out of 100
Dragonbone: 0 chances, save for a few bosses. You want Dragon weapons and armors, you smith them yourself
Daedric: 1 chance out of 100

Enchanted stuff follows the same rule.

NPC follow a similar rule. This is how their leveled lists are generated:

LLIST	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	15	201	204	139	139	111	87	66	58	42	39	35	32	31	342	51	77	51	51	54	55	43	40	36	31	28	29	293		39	39	38	44	45	38	35	33	29	26	27	274			26	30	34	35	34	33	30	27	25	25	245				25	23	23	28	29	27	25	23	23	226					13	18	23	25	24	23	22	21	207						13	18	21	21	21	20	19	178							13	17	18	19	19	17	159								13	15	17	17	15	1310									12	15	16	13	1111										13	14	11	912											13	9	713												7	514												5	415												3	316													317													318													319													320													3TOT	255	255	255	255	255	255	255	255	255	255	255	255	255

Meaning that in a list with 8 NPC the weakest has 58 chances out of 255 to be picked [that's 23%], while the hardest has 13 chances out of 255 to be picked [that's 5%] etc.

Skill requirements for spells, weapons, armors and shields

Even in the lucky event that you find an Ebony Battleaxe or a Glass Bow after one hour of play, you'll not be able to use it properly until you meet the skill requirements for that weapon. You'll be slow and clunky and won't deal a great amount of damage. Again, your skill will be almost meaningless, while your character skill will be essential. I can't stress this enough: this applies to everyone else as well. If you happen to stumble upon a low skilled bandit wielding a Glass Mace you'll notice that he will be slow, clunky and not very efficient with it. The same applies to shields, if you lack the required skill for a specific material you'll block much less damage then usual. Cuirasses and boots will slow you down. Helmets will slow your magicka regeneration, gauntlets will double the spell cost and halve the spell magnitude. Spells have a chance to fail, skill dependent.

Details:

Spoiler

Weapons requirements are as follows:

Iron		1	in either One Handed, Two Handed or MarksmanSteel		20	in either One Handed, Two Handed or MarksmanOrcish		30	in either One Handed, Two Handed or MarksmanDwarven		40	in either One Handed, Two Handed or MarksmanElven		50	in either One Handed, Two Handed or MarksmanGlass		60	in either One Handed, Two Handed or MarksmanEbony		70	in either One Handed, Two Handed or MarksmanDragonbone	80	in either One Handed, Two Handed or MarksmanDaedric		90	in either One Handed, Two Handed or Marksman

If you don't meet the required skill for that specific material the damage will be reduced to 10% and the weapon speed to 80%.

Note that if dual wielding you have to be skilled in BOTH weapons. This is both intentional and necessary, since dual wielding power attacks take into account only the LEFT weapon speed, so if your skill is low and you wield an uber weapon in the right hand and a weak dagger in the left hand you wouldn't suffer any penalties. This just shows how bad the dual wielding implementation is.

Armors requirements are as follows:

Iron		1	in Heavy ArmorSteel		20	in Heavy ArmorOrcish		30	in Heavy ArmorDwarven		40	in Heavy ArmorEbony		70	in Heavy ArmorDragonplate	80	in Heavy ArmorDaedric		90	in Heavy ArmorScaled		20	in Light ArmorElven		40	in Light ArmorGlass		60	in Light ArmorDragonscale	80	in Light Armor

If you don't meet the required skill for that specific material, armor and boots will slow you down by 20% each and increase your stamina drain when running. Helmets cut magica regen in half, gauntlets double the spell cost and halve their magnitude.

Shields requirements are as follows:

Iron		1	in BlockSteel		20	in BlockOrcish		30	in BlockDwarven		40	in BlockElven		40	in BlockGlass		60	in BlockEbony		70	in BlockDragonplate	80	in BlockDragonscale	80	in BlockDaedric		90	in Block

Armor ratings are altered accordingly, to balance all the above.

Spells have a chance to fail depending on your skill. The higher the skill, the lowest the chance for the spell to fail. Once you reach 100 in that specific magic school no spells will ever fail anymore. Like weapons, if dual casting you have to be skilled in BOTH spells because one disrupts the other. Say you have a Ward in your left hand and Flames in your right hand, if you're low on Restoration there will be a chance to fail the Flame spell even though you're skilled in Destruction.

What matters for all the above is the BASE actor value, so buffs and enchantments won't ever lend a hand in meeting the required skill.

Skill is everything

Skill governs everything you do. The damage you deal with a weapon, the chance to pick a lock or to pickpocket, the magnitude and duration of a spell, the power of an enchanted item. Everything. All spells scale to skill level, up to twice the magnitude and duration once you reach 100 in the school of the current spell. All weapons scale to skill level, up to twice the damage once you reach 100 in either one handed, two handed or marksman. When you equip a weapon its damage will instantly update accordingly to your skill.

Details:

Spoiler

When I say EVERYTHING I mean it. You have to be skilled in Alchemy if you want to succesfully harvest an ingredient from a plant. You have to be skilled in Smithing if you want to temper weapons and armors. You have to be skilled in Enchanting if you want to enchant whatever you like with whatever spell you like.

Enchanting skill required to enchant specific item types with any kind of spell:

30	Clothing40	Jewelry50	Boots60	Gauntlets70	Helmet80	Cuirass90	Shields

Smithing skill required to temper specific materials:

14	Iron20	Steel30	Orcish40	Dwarven50	Elven60	Glass70	Ebony80	Dragon90	Daedric

Weapon damage scaling formula: Damage = Weapon Damage * (1 + skill / 100) [where skill is either One Handed, Two Handed or Marksman. Once you reach 100 you'll deal double the damage]
Spell magnitude scaling formula: Magnitude = Spell Magnitude * (1 + skill / 100) [where skill is the magic school skill the spell belongs to. Once you reach 100 your spells will have double the magnitude]
Spell duration scaling formula: Duration = Spell Duration * (1 + skill / 100) [where skill is the magic school skill the spell belongs to. Once you reach 100 your spells will have double the duration]
Successful harvesting chance [in %]: 25 + Alchemy skill [meaning that once you reach 75 in Alchemy you'll always harvest ingredients succesfully]
Pickpocket chance formula: Pickpocket chance * (1 + Pickpocket skill / 100) [once you reach 100 you'll have double the chance to succesfully pick a pocket]
Lockpicking sweet spot: (1 + Lockpicking skill / 50) [once you reach 100 the locks will be 4 times easier to pick]

Foods and drinks

They now serve a purpose. Instead of creating a primary needs system I took a completely different approach: you're not forced to eat to stay alive but if you DO eat you'll gain good bonuses to Magicka, Health and Stamina that will last for a long while. Raw foods boost attributes a little, cooked meals boost them way more. So, you wake up in the morning, have a good breakfast and your attributes are boosted til lunch. You eat your lunch, mixing several foods to maximize your attributes and you're done until dinner. As a rule of thumb wine and meat based meals increase Health, alcoholics and fish based meals increase Magicka [hey they contain phosphorus after all!] and vegetables based meals increase Stamina. Gameplay-wise the system works by a simple association of ideas: you see meat, you think Health. You see fish, you think Magicka. You see an apple, you think Stamina. The game will warn you if you eat too much, so eat up and don't worry about being a glutton. However, you should eat in a considerate manner: if you eat too much too quickly there will be a chance for the current effect to be dispelled and you'll have to wait a bit to digest the food before eating again.

Details:

Spoiler

To avoid the effect to be dispelled, as a rule of thumb you should wait for the eating sound to end before eating anything else. Plus, eating the same kind of food does not add any benefit: eating 10 apples is equal to eating only one. This is both to prevent players carrying around tons of apples and to encourage players to mix several food types.

Food benefits are soft capped at 50, meaning that if your food boost is at 50 you won't gain any more benefits from foods until the health/magicka/stamina boost decreases below 50. However, if your boost is at 49 you'll still gain benefit from the food you're eating. Therefore the maximum boost gained by foods is 74 [49 + 25]. Food effects are listed under the Effect menu but you don't have to do the math yourself, the game will warn you if you're close to your boost limit or if you didn't gain any benefit from the food.

Food benefits are as follows:

				TYPE		COST		TIME (m)	COOKED		FORTIFY MAGICKA		FORTIFY HEALTH		FORTIFY STAMINAALE				DRINK		5		30		NO			10			NO			NOASH HOPPER LEG			FOOD		2		5		NO			NO			5			NOASH HOPPER MEAT			FOOD		2		5		NO			NO			10			NOASH YAM				FOOD		1		5		NO			NO			NO			5ALTO WINE			DRINK		10		30		NO			NO			15			NOAPPLE CABBAGE STEW		FOOD		10		30		YES			NO			NO			25APPLE DUMPLING			FOOD		4		10		YES			NO			NO			12APPLE PIE			FOOD		7		10		YES			NO			NO			18ARGONIAN ALE			DRINK		10		30		NO			15			NO			NOARGONIAN BLOODWINE		DRINK		25		30		NO			NO			25			NOBAKED POTATOES			FOOD		4		10		YES			NO			NO			12BEEF STEW			FOOD		15		30		YES			NO			25			NOBLACK-BRIAR MEAD		DRINK		25		30		NO			25			NO			NOBLACK-BRIAR RESERVE		DRINK		250		35		NO			25			NO			NOBOILED CREME TREAT		FOOD		4		10		YES			NO			NO			12BOAR MEAT			FOOD		4		5		NO			NO			8			NOBOAR MEAT COOKED		FOOD		8		10		YES			NO			15			NOBRAIDED BREAD			FOOD		5		10		YES			NO			NO			15BREAD				FOOD		4		10		YES			NO			NO			12BUTTER				FOOD		2		5		NO			NO			NO			8CABBAGE				FOOD		1		5		NO			NO			NO			5CABBAGE POTATO SOUP		FOOD		10		30		YES			NO			NO			25CABBAGE SOUP			FOOD		10		30		YES			NO			NO			25CARROT				FOOD		1		5		NO			NO			NO			5CHARRED SKEEVER MEAT		FOOD		5		10		YES			NO			10			NOCHICKEN briast			FOOD		2		5		NO			NO			5			NOCHICKEN DUMPLING		FOOD		5		10		YES			NO			10			NOCLAM CHOWDER			FOOD		12		30		YES			25			NO			NOCLAM MEAT			FOOD		2		5		NO			5			NO			NOCLIFF RACER			DRINK		30		20		NO			NO			NO			25COLOVIAN BRANDY			DRINK		75		30		NO			25			NO			NOCOOKED BEEF			FOOD		8		10		YES			NO			15			NOCYRODILIC BRANDY		DRINK		100		30		NO			25			NO			NODOG MEAT			FOOD		2		5		NO			NO			5			NODRAGONS BREATH MEAD		DRINK		5		30		NO			10			NO			NOEIDAR CHEESE WEDGE		FOOD		2		5		NO			NO			NO			8EIDAR CHEESE WHEEL		FOOD		4		10		NO			NO			NO			12ELSWEYR FONDUE			FOOD		12		30		YES			25			NO			NOFIREBRAND WINE			DRINK		30		30		NO			NO			30			NOGARLIC BREAD			FOOD		5		10		YES			NO			NO			15GOAT CHEESE WEDGE		FOOD		2		5		NO			NO			NO			8GOAT CHEESE WHEEL		FOOD		4		10		NO			NO			NO			12GOURD				FOOD		1		5		NO			NO			NO			5GREEN APPLE			FOOD		1		5		NO			NO			NO			5GRILLED CHICKEN briast		FOOD		5		10		YES			NO			10			NOGRILLED LEEKS			FOOD		3		10		YES			NO			NO			10HOLY WATER			DRINK		5		30		NO			10			NO			NOHONEY				FOOD		3		10		NO			NO			NO			10HONEY NUT TREAT			FOOD		4		10		YES			NO			NO			12HONNINGBREW MEAD		DRINK		25		30		NO			25			NO			NOHORKER AND ASH YAM STEW		FOOD		12		30		YES			25			NO			NOHORKER LOAF			FOOD		8		10		YES			12			NO			NOHORKER MEAT			FOOD		4		10		NO			5			NO			NOHORKER STEW			FOOD		12		30		YES			25			NO			NOHORSE HAUNCH			FOOD		8		10		YES			NO			15			NOHORSE MEAT			FOOD		4		5		NO			NO			8			NOJAZBAY CROSTATA			FOOD		8		10		YES			NO			NO			18JESSICAS WINE			DRINK		5		30		NO			NO			10			NOJUG OF MILK			DRINK		5		30		NO			NO			NO			15JUNIPER BERRY CROSTATA		FOOD		8		10		YES			NO			NO			18LAVENDER DUMPLING		FOOD		6		10		YES			NO			NO			12LEEK				FOOD		1		5		NO			NO			NO			5LEG OF GOAT			FOOD		2		5		NO			NO			5			NOLEG OF GOAT ROAST		FOOD		4		10		YES			NO			10			NOLONG TAFFY TREAT		FOOD		2		5		NO			NO			NO			8MAMMOTH CHEESE BOWL		FOOD		3		10		NO			NO			NO			10MAMMOTH SNOUT			FOOD		8		10		NO			NO			8			NOMAMMOTH STEAK			FOOD		10		12		YES			NO			15			NOMEAD WITH JUNIPER BERRY		DRINK		5		30		NO			10			NO			NOMUDCRAB LEGS			FOOD		2		5		NO			5			NO			NONORD MEAD			DRINK		5		30		NO			10			NO			NOPHEASANT briast			FOOD		2		5		NO			NO			5			NOPHEASANT ROAST			FOOD		5		10		YES			NO			10			NOPOTATO				FOOD		1		5		NO			NO			NO			5POTATO BREAD			FOOD		5		10		YES			NO			NO			15POTATO SOUP			FOOD		10		30		YES			NO			NO			25RABBIT HAUNCH			FOOD		5		10		YES			NO			10			NORAW BEEF			FOOD		4		5		NO			NO			8			NORAW RABBIT LEG			FOOD		2		5		NO			NO			5			NORED APPLE			FOOD		1		5		NO			NO			NO			5SACK OF FLOUR			FOOD		1		5		NO			NO			NO			5SALMON MEAT			FOOD		2		5		NO			5			NO			NOSALMON STEAK			FOOD		4		10		YES			10			NO			NOSEARED SLAUGHTERFISH		FOOD		4		10		YES			10			NO			NOSLICED EIDAR CHEESE		FOOD		1		5		NO			NO			NO			5SLICED GOAT CHEESE		FOOD		1		5		NO			NO			NO			5SNOWBERRY CROSTATA		FOOD		8		10		YES			NO			NO			18SPICED BEEF			FOOD		8		10		YES			NO			15			NOSPICED WINE			DRINK		20		30		NO			NO			20			NOSTEAMED MUDCRAB LEGS		FOOD		4		10		YES			10			NO			NOSTROS MKAI RUM			DRINK		60		25		NO			25			NO			NOSURILIE BROTHERS WINE		DRINK		25		30		NO			NO			25			NOSWEET ROLL			FOOD		4		10		YES			NO			NO			12TOMATO				FOOD		1		5		NO			NO			NO			5TOMATO SOUP			FOOD		10		30		YES			NO			NO			25VEGETABLE SOUP			FOOD		10		30		YES			NO			NO			25VELVET LECHANCE			DRINK		30		20		NO			NO			25			NOVENISON				FOOD		4		5		NO			NO			8			NOVENISON CHOP			FOOD		8		10		YES			NO			15			NOVENISON STEW			FOOD		15		30		YES			NO			25			NOWHITE-GOLD TOWER		DRINK		30		20		NO			25			NO			NOWINE				DRINK		5		30		NO			NO			10			NO

Open encounter zones

Think you can enter a cave, awake a snow bear and just run like hell? Think twice. Enemies will now follow you everywhere, in some cases if you make a Draugr angry enough he'll chase you to the death outside his barrow! Be more careful next time you want to loot a cave.

Details:

Spoiler

Once you've played the mod a bit you'll realize why Beth didn't enable this feature since the beginning: you can easily wreak havok EVERYWHERE you go, by leading a pack of trolls right into a tavern or Draugr Deathlords into towns. You'll have to think twice before entering a dungeon because once you're in there's no turning back! You either kill everything or you risk having dungeon creatures running into the wilderness. Entering a dungeon is like throwing a grenade into a wasp nest. Make sure your characters have the proper preparation before doing so.

Also, keep in mind that outrunning enemies into a dungeon and gaining the exit is completely useless: once you are out of there they'll instantly teleport beside you, no matter the distance you kept them at while you were inside [and that's the 2nd reason why Beth didn't enable OEZ since the beginning].

Altered items names and stats

Everything [and I mean everything] is altered in a way or another. All potions have been renamed with meaningful names so that you know their magnitudes with a blink of an eye -- the 6 magnitudes are now added as 6 different suffixes: Weak, Average, Strong, Great, Extreme and Ultimate. All items have been reweighted and all weapons damages and armor ratings have been altered to match their material inherent power [Iron is weak, Dragonbone is REALLY strong etc].

Details:

Spoiler

Armors stats are as follows:

Iron		* 1.1Iron Banded	* 1.1Imperial	* 1.2Steel		* 1.3Steelplate	* 1.3Draugr		* 1.3Falmer		* 1.3Dawnguard	* 1.3Orcish		* 1.4Dwarven		* 1.5Elven		* 1.6Glass		* 1.7Ebony		* 1.8Dragon		* 1.9Daedric		* 2.0

Weapons stats are as follows:

Iron		* 1.1Imperial	* 1.2Steel		* 1.3Silver		* 1.3Draugr		* 1.3Falmer		* 1.3Orcish		* 1.4Dwarven		* 1.5Elven		* 1.6Glass		* 1.7Ebony		* 1.8Dragon		* 1.9Daedric		* 2.0

Improved weaknesses and resistances

All enemies have their weaknesses and resistances. I won't spoil anything here, you'll have to find out which weapons and spells work best by yourself using some logic. While nothing prevents you from using always the same weapon against all enemies, if you really want to survive you'll have to use the right weapon for the right enemy.

Details:

Spoiler

Are you sure you want me to spoil the game for you?

Spoiler

Well, you asked for it.

Spoiler

First off, weaknesses and resistances apply to YOU as well. You MUST wear a full set of armor [cuirass, helmet, gauntlets, boots] if you want to survive. I didn't implement locational damage but if you miss a single armor part you won't be full protected against arrows and melee weapons. The same applies to humanoid NPC as well.

Now onto creatures:

Undead, automatons, Atronachs and shell protected creatures resist 80% of the damage coming from arrows and bolts.
Flame Athronacs, Gargoyles and Ash Spawns are almost immune to fire spells.
Frost Atronachs, Frostbite Spiders and Death Hounds are almost immune to Frost Spells.
Storm Athronacs and Gargoyles are almost immune to Shock spells.

Draugr and Spriggans receive twice the damage coming from axes.
Trolls, Spriggans, Death Hounds and Frostbite Spiders receive three times the damage coming from fire spells.
Flame Atronachs receive three times the damage coming from frost spells.
Automatons, shell protected creatures, Gargoyles and Skeletons receive twice the damage coming from maces.
Automatons receive twice the damage coming from shock spells.
Beasts and no armored creatures receive twice the damage coming from swords.

Please use the SPOILER tags if you mention anything of the above in the thread.

Improved combat AI

Enemies are now smarter. They'll dodge and block your attacks more often, be more aggressive when you give them openings and know whether it's time to flee or time to continue fighting. More than 100 AI stats have been altered to improve the combat system.

Details:

Spoiler

Well there's not much to detail here and actually it's not the strongest part of the mod. The game AI is utterly idiotic no matter what, but altering the AI stats helped a bit. Plus, once NPC health drops below 20% they'll be affected by a Demoralize spell that will cause them to flee. As a consequence, yielding is now a true yielding: if their health is low they won't continue fighting after recovering.

Minor gameplay changes

Spoiler

You can drop non-MQ quest items
skill increases [and therefore leveling up] are half as slow
Spoiler

An exception to the above is the FIRST ever skill increase. It will take you a LOT to, say, increase Block from 0 to 1. Then all of a sudden something will explode in your character's mind and he will go like HA, now THIS is how I'm supposed to block effectively. This is just a way for you, the player, to tell the game that yes, you REALLY want to increase this skill so that you can't increase a skill by mistake. You have two choices: you either work on your skill the hard way [by using it] or you get some training/read a skill book. Once the first ever skill increase is reached your skills will increase as usual [but always half as slow compared to vanilla].
no difficulty settings. Altering the game difficulty in the game menu has no effect anymore: YASH has its own difficulty setting
Spoiler

Vanilla difficulty settings work this way: at Novice you deal twice the damage and get half the damage. At Master you deal half the damage and get twice the damage. With YASH there's always a 1:1 correspondence between damage dealt and damage taken, no matter the difficulty setting.
~~you can drop quest items. They are renamed as something like *Golden Claw*, so that players know they are important~~ postponed to future updates -- waiting for the SKSE team to come up with something along the lines of IsQuestItem/SetQuestItem
race-specific skills aside, all initial skills start from 0. You read it right, you start as a complete nobody
Spoiler

I'm confident any serious roleplayer will have an explanation for this
running and attacking with melee weapons drains stamina. Draining all your stamina pool will NOT prevent you from running but it will prevent sprints and power attacks
Spoiler

The same applies to drawn bows. Note that if you're not skilled in the cuirass or boots you're wearing the stamina will drain much more quickly.
potions cure over time
Spoiler

The same applies to the ingredients of the same potions. Actually there's no other way to make potions curing over time in the CK other than altering the ingredients effect durations. As a consequence, when you're low on Health / Magicka / Stamina you may take advantage of the ingredients powers by eating them raw: their magnitudes and durations are increased compared to vanilla.
the first perk of each skill tree has a skill requirement
Spoiler

I have absolutely no idea why Beth didn't do this on the first place. What kind of character should be able to pick a perk right from the start? At any rate, the skill requirement is 10 for all trees. Since all skills start from 0 and by the time you have 10 in whatever skill you're already at level 4 or so you aren't likely to spend your perk points right from the first level ups.
carry weight is not stamina dependent anymore. Instead, you gain a bonus to your carrying capacity at each level, race-dependent, regardless of which attribute you choose to increase at level up
Spoiler
Carry weight increases are as follows:
```
Bosmer		1Argonian	2Dunmer		2Altmer		2Khajiit		2Breton		3Imperial	3Redguard	3Orc		4Nord		4
```
Note that if you don't level when the game informs you that you've actually leveled up you WON'T get the carry weight bonus. That is, if you level up twice in a row because your skill points are already at the next level you'll only get ONE bonus because the bonus itself is applied only once when you close the skills menu. Therefore you'd better level up as soon as possible.
timescale is set to 12, so that 1 hour in game = 5 minutes IRL, to accomodate the foods and drinks timed boosts
you can chop wood 10 times in a row
creatures venoms are more letal and last longer
the player has no starting spells anymore
the spinning death animation is replaced by a ragdoll
common jobs will pay less, houses cost more, bounties are higher, spell books cost more, etc.
giants are really gigantic
dragons are way more powerful and spawn rarely
skill books have their associated skill in their title
Spoiler

This isn't much realistic, I know I know. But it's to prevent players leveling up the wrong skill.
city guards don't wear helmets anymore [I hate robots]
lockpicks have weight
merchants inventory respawn every week [vanilla is 2 days]
NPC use ammunitions - once they run out of ammo they go melee
health regeneration during combat is disabled
merchants inventories are location-based: Alvor in Riverwood isn't likely to sell enchanted stuff while Beirand in solitude have plenty
armor skills are slightly increased while moving around if you wear a full set of armor
Spoiler

Actually since there's no way to detect if the player is walking [there is no IsWalking condition in the CK] you'll get the skill increases only if you either RUN or sprint while wearing a full set of armor. Note that you can't mix armor parts here: you are supposed to either wear a full light armor set or a full heavy armor set.
save for a few exceptions, merchants don't sell ingots, leather and animal parts anymore. You want pelts, go hunting. You want ore and ingots, go mining
ingots, ore, leather and leather strips you used to find around the world are gone, save for those you may find inside containers
Spoiler
To balance the above out, you obtain much more ore from mine veins:
```
IRON		50ORICHALCUM	36CORUNDUM	32SILVER		30MOONSTONE	24HEARTHSTONE	24QUICKSILVER	20MALACHITE	18GOLD		15EBONY		12STALHRIM	12
```
Might look too much at a first glance but you have to take into account that you'll need a LOT of resources to build your own house.
you can't change cuirass and boots in combat unless you meet the required skill to do so
Spoiler

Cuirass require 50 in either Heavy Armor or Light Armor, boots require 25 in either Heavy Armor or Light Armor. If you change armor in combat you'll find yourself either naked or barefoot and you won't be able to reequip the armor parts until you're out of combat. You may find that you can't wear the armor parts even though you're actually NOT in combat anymore but it's just how bad the IsInCombat implementation is: if the game thinks you're still in combat you're in combat, period. Hide somewhere and just wait until the the IsInCombat condition is not met anymore.
Rested, Well Rested and Lover's Comfort won't increase skills faster for 8 hours anymore. Instead, all attributes regenerate 5, 10 and 15% faster for 8 hours
you can bash locks open up to Expert difficulty, provided you have the required two handed skill -- lock bashing is restricted to barbarian-like characters
you can't pick locks no matter how good you're at it if your character lacks the required lockpicking skill
Spoiler

Does not mean that I'm preventing you from trying. The lockpicking interface will still show up, but a message will inform you that you won't be able to pick the lock no matter how hard you try.
all enemies search for you way longer after a sneak attack
Spoiler

There's no way to get rid forever of the JUST MY IMAGINATION situation after you've just stuck an arrow right in the middle of the eyes of an NPC but they'll look for you much, much longer.
almost all plants [pines, ferns, aspens, vine maples etc] are searchable for ingredients like critters and mushrooms. You have also a small chance to find hidden treasures
Spoiler
Searchable plants:
- Aspen
- Bush
- Clover
- Dead Shrub
- Dead Tree
- Fern
- Fern Cluster
- Moss
- Pine
- Roots [found underground, hanging from the cave ceiling]
- Shrub
- Small Pine
- Sword Fern
- Sword Fern Cluster
- Thicket
- Tree [just a generic tree found in the Reach]
- Tree stump [as above]
- Tundra Shrub
- Vine Maple
- Yellow Shrub
- Young Pine
Unlike common harvestable ingredients, the chance of finding ingredients in non-common plants is not skill dependent. Neither is the chance of finding a small treasure.
enchanted items effects are soft capped: you get the benefit of an enchanted item only if the same current effect is below 50 in magnitude
merchants are harder
minor tweaks to just about anything you can name

All the above in a 3 Mb only compressed archive.

Stability, performance and compatibility

Spoiler

Stability

YASH can't crash your game. Period.

However, it WILL instantly crash your game at the game menu if you don't have the required DLC and unofficial patches.

Performance

I've never had any evidence of performance drops, but your mileage my vary. Don't be misled by the size of the archive [it's because the mod mostly uses vanilla resources only]. YASH is HUGE. As such, you wouldn't believe how many things are running under the hood. Therefore, I could imagine that a little performance drop on low end machines is to be expected in very crowded areas.

Compatibility

YASH was never made with compatibility in mind. Therefore, conflicts with mods that alter the same things are to be expected. The question here should not be "Is YASH compatible with mod X that alters the same thing?" but "Do I still need mod X that alters the same thing?" - No, you don't.

Truth is, if you believe in what YASH does you really don't need much else.

Side note: YASH works beautifully with ASIS increased spawns [actually it's VERY recommended to install ASIS alongside YASH to increase the spawn rates], but if you choose ASIS AI it will overwrite YASH's [not a big deal, they appear to be very similar]. YASH is perfectly compatible with http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/9557 but it's obviously incompatible with any other overhaul out there.

A few numbers

Spoiler

19Mb in size for the ESP alone [yes, it's BIG]
more than 18,000 vanilla records altered [yes, A LOT]
8 months of work -- around 800 hours [yes, a LOT of work]

Thanks to:

Spoiler

Arthmoor
B1gBadDaddy
Hanaisse
heilghast
Il Ducey
JustinOther
Pseron Wyrd
Rocket
SilentSpike
Terra Nova
Verteiron
Worm
Zilav

And everyone I may have forgot to mention.

» Sat Mar 09, 2013 7:07 pm

Yes, I brought forward the release date. My mod, my rules