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SETUP
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1. Use Gideon to install icon files: launch the file "Setup UI Images (Elden Ring Race Randomizer)" in the main folder, and wait for the installation of icon files to complete.

2. Download the Item and Enemy Randomizer from nexusmods.com (https://www.nexusmods.com/eldenring/mods/428)

For the sake of simplicity, unless you fully know what you are doing, let this instance of Item and Enemy Randomizer be used exclusively by Race Randomizer,
and don't use it while playing without Race Randomizer, use another instance then. Race Randomizer outputs files to the Item and Enemy Randomizer folders, and will therefore overwrite any other generations.

3. Extract Item and Enemy Randomizer to the main Race Randomizer mod directory (it should be: "Elden Ring Race Randomizer\randomizer")

4. Setup is done! The program can now be launched and used.

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USAGE
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The program itself has instructions for the generation process, but here's a more detailed outline:

1. Start the program (Elden Ring Race Randomizer.exe)

2. At the bottom of the UI, select the game's executable path (eldenring.exe)

3. Select the desired settings, and sync Race Randomizer options with other players using the "Copy Options String" and "Paste Options String" buttons

Keep in mind that all settings in the "Preferences/Visual" tab are not synced by design. These settings should not affect gameplay,
except the "Difficulty/Handicap" setting. Ensure that this setting is the same for all players if no Handicap is desired.

4. Run the first generation step (press the "1. Generate" button), wait for it to finish

5. Open Item and Enemy Randomizer

First time Item and Enemy Randomizer setup:
5a. Select game executable (can just copy the path you set in Race Randomizer)
5b. Select "Merge other mod" (! VERY IMPORTANT, DO NOT SELECT ANY OTHER OPTION !), then "Select mod directory to merge", and select the base folder of Race Randomizer ("Elden Ring Race Randomizer")
5c. I&ER setup completed

If running I&ER for the first time, set its options using the options string provided through a button in the Race Randomizer UI to paste the default I&ER settings.
(To paste settings in I&ER: click "Options" in the top menu bar in the Item and Enemy Randomizer window, then "Set form options from string...", and paste the settings string into the text box.)
It's also not a bad idea to simply copy the options string every time, to ensure settings are correct.

!!! Although seeds don't have to be synced between the programs, please do sync them for now in the initial testing period of Race Randomizer, for easier bug reporting/troubleshooting !!!

Keep in mind that the mod is balanced around these I&ER settings, and changing them may upset the intended balance.
See the question "Can I use any settings I want in Item and Enemy Randomizer?" below for further details.

6. Run Item and Enemy Randomizer, wait for it to finish

!!! Do not launch through Item and Enemy Randomizer after it has finished. Launch through Race Randomizer after finishing the 3rd step of generation !!!

7. When the Item and Enemy Randomizer is finished randomizing items and enemies, close it, and run the 3rd step of Race Randomizer ("3. Post-I&E Generation" button)

8. When the 3rd generation step is completed, the "Launch Game" button will become available, and the game can now be launched via that button

9. Play by launching through Race Randomizer!

NOTE: It's important that the game is always launched through Race Randomizer, not Item and Enemy Randomizer. I&ER has the final files, so most everything will work, however,

Also don't miss checking out the Quick Reference ("Documentation\Quick Reference.png"), to learn about the key changes you'll need to understand to do well in Race Randomizer,
or even the full reference ("Documentation\Elden Ring Race Randomizer - Reference.pdf") if you want the full details of the mod's changes.

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TROUBLESHOOTING
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Problem 1: A button isn't active when it's supposed to be, so I can't complete generating

Solution: try restarting the program and the generation process (from step 1). Even if something has gotten stuck, a complete restart of the generation process should always work.

If all else fails, you should always be able to reinstall the mod and it should work.

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QUESTIONS
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Q: Will using this mod mess up my vanilla game files?

A: No, ModEngine2 based mods are entirely isolated from the vanilla game. However, mods do share save slots with vanilla, so like with Item and Enemy Randomizer, keep randomizer saves separate from vanilla saves.

Q: Can I use any settings I want in Item and Enemy Randomizer?

A: Race Randomizer completely changes the structure of the game, forgoing vanilla progression for the most part. As such it is designed and balanced around certain I&ER settings,
and changing them may upset the intended balance. In particular, progression options such as requiring Great Runes for access to certain locations are not compatible at all and will
ruin the intended progression. Race Randomizer is also designed and balanced around these important location settings: "Vanilla locations of key items" + "Major bosses" + "Merchant shops".
It is not recommended to enable any other important locations, or to change the bias (blind item scavenge hunts are deemphasized in general in Race Randomizer, so non-zero bias shouldn't be necessary).
Cosmetic settings such as randomizing music will have no effect on gameplay though.

Options that are strongly not recommended to change from default:
-"Great runes to enter Leyndell": should be 0, otherwise Leyndell is massively more difficult to access than other legacy dungeons, and will never be relevant
-"Great runes to enter Mountaintops": should be 0, otherwise intended progression between regions is ruined
-"Change boss runes when the boss changes": this should always be ON, because it makes no sense to start in Mountaintops and get 1000000 runes for defeating a Putrid Corpse
-"Add shortcuts in Mountaintops for faster traversal": OFF, Race Randomizer already adds many shortcuts to Mountaintops to make it less linear, including some that are similar to I&ER
-"Purchase markers from Kalé"-options: Race Randomizer has its own hint system with a very different balance and focus, so these are largely not relevant

Other considerations:
-"Randomize starting class loadouts": does nothing, as Race Randomizer comes with its own classes, and the vanilla classes which I&ER randomizes are gone (it has custom equivalents with the same name though)
-"Randomize starting keepsakes": OFF, Race Randomizer randomizes keepsakes as well
-Turning off Item Randomizer entirely: new custom items as well as redistributed vanilla items have been placed with the intent that they'll be randomized out, so with no concern for e.g. placing
10 of the same item in the same area. This may change in the future, but as of this time having items non-randomized is not intended.
-Turning off Enemy Randomizer entirely: This is also not intended because it turns off the difficulty scaling the mod is balanced around. Also some Bingo goals and hints assume random enemies.

Q: Can I create a custom Enemy Randomizer preset?

A: You could, but Race Randomizer comes with its own enemy presets that aim to create a higher diversity of enemies and bosses than the vanilla distribution.
Other aspects of the mod are balanced around this new enemy distribution (such as Bingo goals), and a custom enemy preset may upset that balance.
There are also modifiers that affect enemy distribution by using enemy presets, and when these are active they overwrite the current I&ER enemy preset.
In the defined presets, all enemies have random scaling. This is because the game starts in a random region and so all regions need the same average difficulty.
Changing this is not recommended, again because the mod is balanced around randomly scaled enemies.

Q: Can I merge another mod with this mod?

A: You can always try, but at this time no further mod merging is intended to be supported. Race Randomizer is already merged with Item and Enemy Randomizer, so further merging is
guaranteed to come with many difficulties. Also, the mod is intended to be fairly competitively balanced, and for example custom movesets or items are frequently not well balanced.
However, suggestions for changes, additional options, or even content like items are welcome, as long as they are thought out.

Q: Can I, or you the developer, merge this mod with <insert large overhaul mod>?

A: No.

Q: Can I play the game "normally" with this mod?

A: You can try, but some parts of the game are not considered integral to the race gameplay, and have been intentionally ignored and therefore may not function properly.
For example, many NPC quests have triggers related to the players progression through the world, and may be broken due to the random starting location. In other cases,
progression has been intentionally broken, such as completing Farum Azula no longer taking the player to Ashen Leyndell (and so there is no way to actually reach
Ashen Leyndell and the normal end of the game). In other words, it is not recommended to play the game "normally" using Race Randomizer.

Do feel free to come up with your own race goal ideas though, but consider if the structure of the mod supports it.

Q: Can this be played with Seamless Co-op to have team races?

A: As of now, Seamless Co-op is untested, and may or may not be compatible. Seamless Co-op is currently too unstable to use in race scenarios, however, it's currently undergoing
a rewrite to hopefully become more stable. After that rewrite is complete, if there is interest in Seamless Co-op compatibility for team play, it could be looked into.

Q: Doesn't increased player speed/increased Torrent speed/infinite smithing stones/other change create unbalance in the game?

A: In my experience:
Player speed: no, enemies still have nearly perfect tracking even when you're faster. The extra movement speed is only rarely useful
against some bosses, but the significant speedup of traversal is worth it.
Torrent speed: somewhat, but:
-Torrent only has increased speed when galloping neutrally, not while the player is attacking
-Many randomized bosses that are normally not designed to be overworld bosses are already trivialized even at vanilla Torrent speed
-Race Randomizer doesn't have a very high focus on overworld bosses
Infinite smithing stones (using the Smithing Essence revamp): not at all. In races, time is your main enemy, and it still takes as long to get one weapon to a certain level (potentially
even longer, because the revamp increases upgrade rune cost). All it does is allow for higher build diversity, lessen the amount of items to keep track of, and makes dual wielding more viable.

If you're wondering about any of the other changes, feel free to ask. Pretty much every change has a good design reason behind it. Also keep in mind that many changes are optional.

Q: My game repeatedly crashes when going to a certain area or loading into the game, and I can't continue playing?

A: This can unfortunately happen with randomized enemies, but thankfully very seldom. The only thing I can really recommend is to get Cheat Engine, and use that to set starting
location somewhere else in the world, but this isn't trivial to learn how to do.

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CREDITS
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thefifthmatt - for Darkscript3, Item and Enemy Randomizer, and Elden Ring Convenience Mod
TKGP - for Soulsformats and UXM Unpacker
katalash - for Mod Engine 2 and DSMapStudio
george/kingbore, philiquaz - for DSMapStudio and help
AinTunez, HotPocketRemix - for Darkscript3
Nordgaren - for ErdToolsCPP and UXM Unpacker
Pear - for FLVER Editor and GPARAM Studio
GompDS - for ESDStudio
Meowmaritus - for DS Anim Studio
ividyon - for Gideon
f_wang - for Universal Torrent Speeder-Upper
The helpful people at ?ServerName? Discord server - for general help