About this mod
My take on basic needs (eating, drinking, sleeping) in a subtle non-punishing way.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
Description
Basic needs are a common target for mods, since food and drink in the vanilla game are utterly useless, and sleeping is only marginally beneficial for skill increase bonuses. This mod gives these game mechanics a bit more weight, but without introducing a survival mini-game where one needs to keep large stores of food and drink in one's inventory, or stay near an inn to sleep every handful of hours.
The goal is to encourage eating, drinking, and sleeping without distracting from the rest of the game.
Requirements
SKSE: http://skse.silverlock.org/
SkyUI: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/3863/
Details
Vitality Mode can be started immediately from the MCM. If not started from the MCM, you will be given the option to start Vitality Mode one in-game hour after the Unbound tutorial quest is complete, or if using an alternate start mod.
Upon starting the mod, hunger, thirst, and fatigue will be tracked. As you travel through Skyrim, those attributes will slowly increase from 0% to 100%. When all attributes are below 10%, a vitality bonus of base stamina, health regeneration, magicka regeneration, and disease resistance will be applied. If any the attributes exceed 60%, a similar debuff will be applied. If any attribute reaches 100%, you will die. However, unless you are supremely negligent or configure attribute growths to be more hardcore, reaching the point of debuffs and death is very difficult.
To reduce hunger, eat food. All food has a satiety rating:
- Low: 5% hunger reduction default
- Average: 10% hunger reduction default
- Good: 15% hunger reduction default
- High: 20% hunger reduction default
Certain raw foods (meats, for example) are considered unsafe and their satiety effect is reduced until cooked. Also, some alchemy ingredients contribute a small reduction to hunger.
To reduce thirst, drink something. Non-alcoholic drinks reduce thirst 20% by default, alcoholic drinks 10% by default, and certain foods such as soups or stews also reduce thirst 5% by default. Alcohols have no additional negative effect given that almost every drink in Skyrim is alcoholic. Pure Water can be purchased from innkeepers or created at a cookpot using gathered water. Water can be gathered from standing water and waterfalls by "equipping" an empty container in your inventory. Valid empty containers are buckets, jugs, flagons, and empty wine bottles. The filled containers can be consumed, but they have reduced thirst quenching compared to Pure Water. Finally, water can be drunk directly from the same water that can be gathered by using a hotkey, if you do not have a suitable empty container.
To reduce fatigue, sleep in any bed. Fatigue will be cleared completely when sleeping for a full night (8 hours by default), and reduced appropriately but may not be cleared if sleeping for less than a full night.
Werewolves do not suffer from raw food penalties and fatigue grows half as quickly.
Vampires can only reduce hunger and thirst by feeding on blood or blood potions.
Cannibals can reduce hunger by feeding on dead bodies or from certain raw ingredients and do not suffer from raw food penalties.
The attribute increase and decrease is highly configurable, and if a food or drink item is unrecognized you will be given the option to add it with suitable stats. Further, meter widgets can be displayed or hidden directly in the MCM or with a configurable hotkey which show the current attribute statuses. All configuration can be done through the provided MCM.
The default meter widget colors denote which attribute is tracked. Orange for hunger, cyan for thirst, and white for fatigue. The icon widget colors also denote which attribute is tracked, but they correspond to the vitality bonus and penalty. White for below the bonus threshold, yellow for above the bonus threshold but below the penalty threshold, and red for above the penalty threshold.
Everything is configurable through the MCM. Additionally, previously unrecognized food and drink can be removed from the form lists so that they can be added again upon consumption. This is to facilitate correcting any accidental misconfiguration.
Credits
* isoku for permission to use the widget from iNeed.
* kuertee for permission to use the widget from Auto-save and Time.
* Shizof for providing a patch and permission to incorporate into the mod that adds kuertee's widget and is VR-compatible.
* FLipdeezy for kindly offering custom sounds, meshes, and textures.
* All the peeps. You folks are the only reason my mods reach the quality they do. :)
FAQ
"How is this different from other needs mods?"
Positive reinforcement rather than negative reinforcement. Other needs mods tend to add debuffs quickly as encouragement to eat, drink, and sleep. Vitality Mode instead offers the vitality bonus as encouragement to manage needs regularly, but you are not punished for ignoring needs until vitality becomes dangerously low.
Needs grow slowly enough and are satisfied easily enough that you are not required to keep large stores of food/drink in your inventory, or constantly worry whether a bed is nearby. The idea is to make the vanilla game mechanics useful rather than introduce a survival mini-game.
"Are vampires supported?"
Yes, both normal vampires and vampire lords are completely supported. As a normal vampire, feeding satisfies hunger and thirst. As a vampire lord, the bite power attack counts as feeding. Further, blood potions satisfy needs, and vampiric drinks can be added.
"Are werewolves supported?"
Yes. Feeding while in werewolf form will satisfy hunger, and werewolves enjoy slower fatigue growth.
"Cannibalism?"
Yes. With the Ring of Namira equipped, feeding on dead bodies satisfies hunger. Cannibals can also consume ingredients such as human flesh or hearts to satisfy hunger.
"What if I change my timescale?"
Attribute growth rates are not tied to time, so timescale changes will not alter how Vitality Mode works. Instead, attributes grow when changing locations for lighter script load and to avoid requiring you to manage needs in a dungeon.
"Mod compatibility?"
Mods that add food and drink are compatible out of the box; unrecognized items with a VendorItemFood or VendorItemFoodRaw keyword will trigger message boxes to add those items to my form lists when consumed.