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About this mod
Replaces all spiders and insects with gardening bots, security bots, and sanitation bots. Only the model is changed, so spiders and insects can still be killed and looted as usual. Includes an optional download to remove insect sound effects and an optional terrormorph replacer.
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
- Donations
Update 2 November: Vortex Horrors from the Shattered Space DLC are now replaced. I'm sorry it took me so long. I put them into the full version only; the arachnophobia version does NOT replace Vortex Horror. Far as I can tell they look sort of like scorpions, so I didn't think they counted as a spider. As always, let me know if I guessed wrong.
My next update will be to completely remove ALL the bots and change them to random dinosaur creatures instead. I only chose bots to begin with due to modding limitations at the time when I first created this mod, and honestly they're unrealistic and they destroy the immersion. I've been wanting to get rid of them for a long time, but it seemed like I was the only person who cared, and it's a lot of work for an update nobody else wanted. I've finally heard from one single person who does want it, and that's a good enough excuse to take the plunge. I will leave the old version with the bots available for those of you weirdos who like them. I'll also look into making the mod description shorter.
For everyone out there who suffers from arachnophobia or just a simple fear of insects, this is for you. This mod replaces arachnid-type creatures and other insects with small bots: security bots, gardening bots, and sanitation bots.
The mod is available in two main flavors, and there are also several optional add-ons. You should only download ONE of the main files; choose Arachnophobia or Flyswatter. You can select as many of the options as you wish, and they'll work with either main file.
Arachnophobia: This will ONLY replace spiders and spider-like creatures. Please be aware that not everyone agrees about which creatures should be considered spiders; many of the worst offenders only have six legs. I had to make a judgement based on whether it LOOKS like a spider and MOVES like a spider, and therefore is likely to trigger arachnophobia in most people -- it's irrelevant whether or not it is considered an arachnid by standard taxonomical classification. Either way. I'm not willing to carefully study dozens of images of potential spiders in order to make that call. I've done my best, but if you're extremely phobic, use the flyswatter version to be safe.
Flyswatter: This will replace every insect in the game, including the spiders. The only ones who escaped were larvae, as those are basically just grubs. If I get comments asking for their removal anyway, I'll add them. That is, remove them. You know what I mean.
Again, please choose one of the above versions; you don't need both. Now for the optional files:
Insect Sound Remover: Just like it says on the tin. This will silence every insect sound effect in the game -- each group of insects shares the same sounds, so it's not possible to separate out and remove only the sounds of specific creatures. You can use this sound remover with the arachnophobia version of the mod if you choose, just keep in mind that it will silence all insects and not just the (former) spiders.
Terrormorph Add-On: This will replace terrormorphs, obviously. Includes both regular terrormorphs and anomalies.
Terrormorph Sound Remover: Silences all terrormorph sound effects, including the screams.
Colors: By default, the bots use the original insect's colors and texture patterns. This will change it into bright rainbow colors instead. Check the mod images for examples of both.
Installation:
Mod managers: I do not know whether Vortex is still putting files in the wrong folder. It might be fine now; if you're using it, you probably know better than I do. As far as I'm aware, MO2 should work without issue.
For manual installation: Unzip the file you've downloaded, including any optional files, then drag and drop the Data folder from each one into your Documents/My Games/Starfield folder. There should be an existing Data folder in there already, so make sure you don't put my Data folder inside the existing one!
If you've never installed a mesh or texture replacer mod before, you will need to create a blank document named StarfieldCustom.ini and copy the following into it before saving it into that same Starfield folder.
You may want to ensure that Windows is showing all file extensions, otherwise you'll likely end up with a text file named StarfieldCustom.ini.txt, which won't work.
It was suggested to me that for anyone who is severely phobic, you really don't want your first indication that the mod isn't working to come as you're being devoured by a huge spider you weren't expecting to see. So, once you've installed everything you selected, you can test whether or not the mod is working correctly by going to the Lodge and checking out the portraits that hang on the wall to the left of the entrance. You should see a small flyswatter icon in the corner of each portrait. If it's not there, you have installed the mod improperly; please try again.
Frequently Asked Questions:
I just encountered something that looks like a spider in the arachnophobia version! I thought your mod was supposed to remove these bastards?
You're almost certainly seeing an insect I didn't think counted as a spider, so I placed it in the full flyswatter version of the mod instead. If you're using the arachnophobia version and you see a spider in your game, or something you feel looks like a spider, please let me know the full name of the creature. If it's my mistake I'll get it swatted ASAP for you; my judgement of what's a spider and what's not isn't perfect by any means! But if you're encountering a lot of insects that upset you, consider switching to the flyswatter version instead.
The bots are cute, but they're extremely non-immersive. Can't you make the spiders all into deer or cats or something?
If Bethesda ever releases tools to create new animations, I could do that. I did try to create new animals to replace the insects instead of using bots, but the problem is that it's not possible to make new animations. Bethesda does not seem interested in allowing modders to do that. So I can create a tiger or a deer, but it won't be able to move or run or do anything but stand immobile because the animation designed for an insect or a dinosaur won't work with something shaped differently. It took a ton of effort to create the feroclaw and get it working, and it still looks like it's limping because it uses the animation meant for a totally different creature. At this point I just don't have the motivation to spend a month working on a new animal within the extremely narrow limitations and then have it look ridiculous anyway.
In the mean time, I can only replace one Starfield creature with a different Starfield creature. When I initially created and released this mod, the tools to change a creature's animations were not yet available. Because of that limitation, I originally chose bots because they don't have legs, so they can use the existing insect animations without looking janky and weird. Now that we have xEdit, it's possible to fix that, so in theory I could replace any spider or insect using any other creature in the game. At some point I may do just that; remove the bots entirely, and choose a selection of a dozen or so dinosaurs to replace the insects instead. The main reason I haven't done so yet is because it would be a lot of work, and I've gotten zero feedback on the idea. I'm not willing to put 20+ hours of effort into changing and then thoroughly testing the mod unless I know that people have a strong preference for getting rid of the bots. Over the months I've asked several questions for users of this mod to tell me what they prefer, and not once has even one single person responded.
I just got ganked by a murderous Roomba! I'm embarrassed and I'd like to blame you.
Yeah, that sucks for you doesn't it. It happens to me a lot too and it's one of the big reasons I'm trying so hard to bring new creatures into the game as replacers instead of the bots. Somehow looking at a bot instinctively makes you feel like it can't be dangerous, and thirty seconds later you're on the ground and reloading your save because the cute floating sanitation bot with its little brush is actually a lvl 60 fire-spitting nightmare. Take a look at the images I uploaded -- then take a guess as to what happened about 2 seconds after I snagged the screenshot of every single damned coralcrawler on Oborum I all coming at me at once. It wasn't pretty. The cute pink color did not make me feel any better after that massacre. Try to stop underestimating the bots.
How about the insect chittering and other sound effects? Can you remove those?
Done! Download the optional Insect Sound Remover and install it the same way you installed the original mod. I've had a bunch of requests to remove insect sound effects along with actual insects, and that's totally understandable so I looked into it. I was able to do a complete silencing of all the sounds in the insect folders, but for now that's the best I can do. Many of those sounds are inoffensive things like footsteps or simple clangs and heavy thuds, but in order to sort out the insect chittering and hissing from the normal sounds, I will have to listen to every single one. And I'll have to convert them to .wav format first. I'll try to get to that in the next month or two, but no promises. There are a LOT of sound effects, well over a thousand individual files.
Does this mod replace terrormorphs?
Terrormorph replacement is available as an optional download. I understand why terrormorphs can trigger arachnophobia for some people, but in general they aren't really all that spider-y, and they're central to some important major questlines. I didn't want to ruin the immersive experience for those people who aren't bothered by the terrormorphs and prefer not to be fighting a sanitation bot during a dramatic quest climax. So terrormorphs are a completely optional replacement, as are terrormorph sound effects. You can turn the terrormorphs into bots without removing their original sounds, or you can do both, or neither.
Your arachnophobia mod replaced a creature that I don't think looks like a spider at all. And why is this other creature that's definitely a spider only in the flyswatter mod? How are you deciding which creatures go in which version? You're doing it wrong.
I'm sorry. The problem is that I'm severely arachnophobic myself and I also have trouble with insects in general, so sometimes it's difficult for me to tell if a creature is panicking me because it's a spider or just because it's a giant nightmare insect. If you find a creature I replaced in the arachnophobia version of the mod that you think is NOT a spider and should have been left alone, please let me know about it, and I'll consider moving it to the flyswatter version. Likewise, if you think a creature that is only in the flyswatter definitely IS a spider and really ought to be in arachnophobia, tell me about that too.
Is there a list of which creatures have been replaced?
Yes, but also no. The issue here is that the internal development names (the filenames) for a creature's model do not always match the final in-game name. For example, during one of Starfield's main story quests you will encounter creatures that are called the Cataxi. These things seem to horrify just about everyone, so I obviously chose to replace them with bots. Trouble is, it turns out there is nothing with the filename "cataxi" anywhere in the game's mesh and texture folders. The files for the Cataxi model are named "hexohermit" instead.
If I know a creature's in-game name, I can use xEdit to track down the files for its model and replace it. What I can't do is go backwards and find the actual name of the creature when all I have are the filenames. Additionally, some files are used by more than one creature. So, I've replaced every model that looks like an insect, but I don't know all the names of the creatures using those files. I just know if the model is found within the "octopedes" group and the filename is crimson_spider, I don't want to see it in my game -- even if the actual creature is called Fluffy Teddybear Crab or something.
With that in mind, here's a list of creatures that are replaced in each version. Again, these are internal filenames, so some of them match the creature's actual name and some do not. I listed the name of the creature when I knew it, but I've run across several where more than one creature is using the same model and I only have one of the names.
Arachnophobia version:
angler, arachnofly, bearclaw, blistercrab, brain squid, brightcage, cephalopod, coralcrab, coralcrawler (actual name: Grylloba), crimson spider (actual name: Longarm), exocrawler, glider (actual name: Adult Pest, Juvenile Pest, Queen Pest), glowing spider (actual name: Spiderwasp), hexohermit (actual name: Cataxi Hunter, Cataxi Nymph, Cataxi Warrior), horned crab (actual name: Hornface), maggotcrab, maggotmantis (actual name: Maggotmaw), Mars spider (actual name: Arachnomantis), orbweaver (actual name: Stingback), rock crab (actual name: Boneback), roundshell crab, scorpion no tail (actual name: Kreet Stalker), spider, spiked crab, sunflower (actual name: Sunflower Swarmer)
Flyswatter version includes everything from the first list, plus:
beetlecrab, blob, blobtreejumper, boneshell, brainblimp, clickbeetle, cockroach (actual name: Shiproach, Space Roach), coralbug, crab, crabfly, cranefly, cricket, dragonfly, eggback, galloping beetle, glowhand, grabber, hookneck (actual name: Hookpest), hopper, ikuradon (actual name: Swarm Sister, Swarm Mother), landshark, leafbug, lionfish, longhorn beetle, mayfly, mantodea, metropus, mole cricket (actual name: Roundface), morningstar, plated flea, plated mantis, pumicestone, radarface, rockhopper, rockhound, saturnine, scarab stinger, shardhopper, stingray, thorn mantis, trident (actual name: Swarmling), vuvuzelisk, windbag
My next update will be to completely remove ALL the bots and change them to random dinosaur creatures instead. I only chose bots to begin with due to modding limitations at the time when I first created this mod, and honestly they're unrealistic and they destroy the immersion. I've been wanting to get rid of them for a long time, but it seemed like I was the only person who cared, and it's a lot of work for an update nobody else wanted. I've finally heard from one single person who does want it, and that's a good enough excuse to take the plunge. I will leave the old version with the bots available for those of you weirdos who like them. I'll also look into making the mod description shorter.
For everyone out there who suffers from arachnophobia or just a simple fear of insects, this is for you. This mod replaces arachnid-type creatures and other insects with small bots: security bots, gardening bots, and sanitation bots.
The mod is available in two main flavors, and there are also several optional add-ons. You should only download ONE of the main files; choose Arachnophobia or Flyswatter. You can select as many of the options as you wish, and they'll work with either main file.
Arachnophobia: This will ONLY replace spiders and spider-like creatures. Please be aware that not everyone agrees about which creatures should be considered spiders; many of the worst offenders only have six legs. I had to make a judgement based on whether it LOOKS like a spider and MOVES like a spider, and therefore is likely to trigger arachnophobia in most people -- it's irrelevant whether or not it is considered an arachnid by standard taxonomical classification. Either way. I'm not willing to carefully study dozens of images of potential spiders in order to make that call. I've done my best, but if you're extremely phobic, use the flyswatter version to be safe.
Flyswatter: This will replace every insect in the game, including the spiders. The only ones who escaped were larvae, as those are basically just grubs. If I get comments asking for their removal anyway, I'll add them. That is, remove them. You know what I mean.
Again, please choose one of the above versions; you don't need both. Now for the optional files:
Insect Sound Remover: Just like it says on the tin. This will silence every insect sound effect in the game -- each group of insects shares the same sounds, so it's not possible to separate out and remove only the sounds of specific creatures. You can use this sound remover with the arachnophobia version of the mod if you choose, just keep in mind that it will silence all insects and not just the (former) spiders.
Terrormorph Add-On: This will replace terrormorphs, obviously. Includes both regular terrormorphs and anomalies.
Terrormorph Sound Remover: Silences all terrormorph sound effects, including the screams.
Colors: By default, the bots use the original insect's colors and texture patterns. This will change it into bright rainbow colors instead. Check the mod images for examples of both.
Installation:
Mod managers: I do not know whether Vortex is still putting files in the wrong folder. It might be fine now; if you're using it, you probably know better than I do. As far as I'm aware, MO2 should work without issue.
For manual installation: Unzip the file you've downloaded, including any optional files, then drag and drop the Data folder from each one into your Documents/My Games/Starfield folder. There should be an existing Data folder in there already, so make sure you don't put my Data folder inside the existing one!
If you've never installed a mesh or texture replacer mod before, you will need to create a blank document named StarfieldCustom.ini and copy the following into it before saving it into that same Starfield folder.
[Archive]
bInvalidateOlderFiles=1
sResourceDataDirsFinal=
You may want to ensure that Windows is showing all file extensions, otherwise you'll likely end up with a text file named StarfieldCustom.ini.txt, which won't work.
It was suggested to me that for anyone who is severely phobic, you really don't want your first indication that the mod isn't working to come as you're being devoured by a huge spider you weren't expecting to see. So, once you've installed everything you selected, you can test whether or not the mod is working correctly by going to the Lodge and checking out the portraits that hang on the wall to the left of the entrance. You should see a small flyswatter icon in the corner of each portrait. If it's not there, you have installed the mod improperly; please try again.
Frequently Asked Questions:
I just encountered something that looks like a spider in the arachnophobia version! I thought your mod was supposed to remove these bastards?
You're almost certainly seeing an insect I didn't think counted as a spider, so I placed it in the full flyswatter version of the mod instead. If you're using the arachnophobia version and you see a spider in your game, or something you feel looks like a spider, please let me know the full name of the creature. If it's my mistake I'll get it swatted ASAP for you; my judgement of what's a spider and what's not isn't perfect by any means! But if you're encountering a lot of insects that upset you, consider switching to the flyswatter version instead.
The bots are cute, but they're extremely non-immersive. Can't you make the spiders all into deer or cats or something?
If Bethesda ever releases tools to create new animations, I could do that. I did try to create new animals to replace the insects instead of using bots, but the problem is that it's not possible to make new animations. Bethesda does not seem interested in allowing modders to do that. So I can create a tiger or a deer, but it won't be able to move or run or do anything but stand immobile because the animation designed for an insect or a dinosaur won't work with something shaped differently. It took a ton of effort to create the feroclaw and get it working, and it still looks like it's limping because it uses the animation meant for a totally different creature. At this point I just don't have the motivation to spend a month working on a new animal within the extremely narrow limitations and then have it look ridiculous anyway.
In the mean time, I can only replace one Starfield creature with a different Starfield creature. When I initially created and released this mod, the tools to change a creature's animations were not yet available. Because of that limitation, I originally chose bots because they don't have legs, so they can use the existing insect animations without looking janky and weird. Now that we have xEdit, it's possible to fix that, so in theory I could replace any spider or insect using any other creature in the game. At some point I may do just that; remove the bots entirely, and choose a selection of a dozen or so dinosaurs to replace the insects instead. The main reason I haven't done so yet is because it would be a lot of work, and I've gotten zero feedback on the idea. I'm not willing to put 20+ hours of effort into changing and then thoroughly testing the mod unless I know that people have a strong preference for getting rid of the bots. Over the months I've asked several questions for users of this mod to tell me what they prefer, and not once has even one single person responded.
I just got ganked by a murderous Roomba! I'm embarrassed and I'd like to blame you.
Yeah, that sucks for you doesn't it. It happens to me a lot too and it's one of the big reasons I'm trying so hard to bring new creatures into the game as replacers instead of the bots. Somehow looking at a bot instinctively makes you feel like it can't be dangerous, and thirty seconds later you're on the ground and reloading your save because the cute floating sanitation bot with its little brush is actually a lvl 60 fire-spitting nightmare. Take a look at the images I uploaded -- then take a guess as to what happened about 2 seconds after I snagged the screenshot of every single damned coralcrawler on Oborum I all coming at me at once. It wasn't pretty. The cute pink color did not make me feel any better after that massacre. Try to stop underestimating the bots.
How about the insect chittering and other sound effects? Can you remove those?
Done! Download the optional Insect Sound Remover and install it the same way you installed the original mod. I've had a bunch of requests to remove insect sound effects along with actual insects, and that's totally understandable so I looked into it. I was able to do a complete silencing of all the sounds in the insect folders, but for now that's the best I can do. Many of those sounds are inoffensive things like footsteps or simple clangs and heavy thuds, but in order to sort out the insect chittering and hissing from the normal sounds, I will have to listen to every single one. And I'll have to convert them to .wav format first. I'll try to get to that in the next month or two, but no promises. There are a LOT of sound effects, well over a thousand individual files.
Does this mod replace terrormorphs?
Terrormorph replacement is available as an optional download. I understand why terrormorphs can trigger arachnophobia for some people, but in general they aren't really all that spider-y, and they're central to some important major questlines. I didn't want to ruin the immersive experience for those people who aren't bothered by the terrormorphs and prefer not to be fighting a sanitation bot during a dramatic quest climax. So terrormorphs are a completely optional replacement, as are terrormorph sound effects. You can turn the terrormorphs into bots without removing their original sounds, or you can do both, or neither.
Your arachnophobia mod replaced a creature that I don't think looks like a spider at all. And why is this other creature that's definitely a spider only in the flyswatter mod? How are you deciding which creatures go in which version? You're doing it wrong.
I'm sorry. The problem is that I'm severely arachnophobic myself and I also have trouble with insects in general, so sometimes it's difficult for me to tell if a creature is panicking me because it's a spider or just because it's a giant nightmare insect. If you find a creature I replaced in the arachnophobia version of the mod that you think is NOT a spider and should have been left alone, please let me know about it, and I'll consider moving it to the flyswatter version. Likewise, if you think a creature that is only in the flyswatter definitely IS a spider and really ought to be in arachnophobia, tell me about that too.
Is there a list of which creatures have been replaced?
Yes, but also no. The issue here is that the internal development names (the filenames) for a creature's model do not always match the final in-game name. For example, during one of Starfield's main story quests you will encounter creatures that are called the Cataxi. These things seem to horrify just about everyone, so I obviously chose to replace them with bots. Trouble is, it turns out there is nothing with the filename "cataxi" anywhere in the game's mesh and texture folders. The files for the Cataxi model are named "hexohermit" instead.
If I know a creature's in-game name, I can use xEdit to track down the files for its model and replace it. What I can't do is go backwards and find the actual name of the creature when all I have are the filenames. Additionally, some files are used by more than one creature. So, I've replaced every model that looks like an insect, but I don't know all the names of the creatures using those files. I just know if the model is found within the "octopedes" group and the filename is crimson_spider, I don't want to see it in my game -- even if the actual creature is called Fluffy Teddybear Crab or something.
With that in mind, here's a list of creatures that are replaced in each version. Again, these are internal filenames, so some of them match the creature's actual name and some do not. I listed the name of the creature when I knew it, but I've run across several where more than one creature is using the same model and I only have one of the names.
Arachnophobia version:
angler, arachnofly, bearclaw, blistercrab, brain squid, brightcage, cephalopod, coralcrab, coralcrawler (actual name: Grylloba), crimson spider (actual name: Longarm), exocrawler, glider (actual name: Adult Pest, Juvenile Pest, Queen Pest), glowing spider (actual name: Spiderwasp), hexohermit (actual name: Cataxi Hunter, Cataxi Nymph, Cataxi Warrior), horned crab (actual name: Hornface), maggotcrab, maggotmantis (actual name: Maggotmaw), Mars spider (actual name: Arachnomantis), orbweaver (actual name: Stingback), rock crab (actual name: Boneback), roundshell crab, scorpion no tail (actual name: Kreet Stalker), spider, spiked crab, sunflower (actual name: Sunflower Swarmer)
Flyswatter version includes everything from the first list, plus:
beetlecrab, blob, blobtreejumper, boneshell, brainblimp, clickbeetle, cockroach (actual name: Shiproach, Space Roach), coralbug, crab, crabfly, cranefly, cricket, dragonfly, eggback, galloping beetle, glowhand, grabber, hookneck (actual name: Hookpest), hopper, ikuradon (actual name: Swarm Sister, Swarm Mother), landshark, leafbug, lionfish, longhorn beetle, mayfly, mantodea, metropus, mole cricket (actual name: Roundface), morningstar, plated flea, plated mantis, pumicestone, radarface, rockhopper, rockhound, saturnine, scarab stinger, shardhopper, stingray, thorn mantis, trident (actual name: Swarmling), vuvuzelisk, windbag