Description

• Geode Veins -> Aetherium Veins: These veins will now give Aetherium ore when mined.
• Aetherium Veins: These veins will now give Aetherium ore when mined. They can only be mined with an Ancient Dwarven Pickaxe (which can found in one of the chests of the Aetherial Forge). You can convert 100 Aetherium Ore into one Aetherium Crest at the Aetherial Forge. I set this to 100 ores, because aetherium ore grade is very poor and to make a Crest you'll need a lot as it's established a crest is made of perfect Aetherium.
• Aetherium, Ebony and Heartstone Veins have a small chance to give soul gems, except for black ones. Those veins will no longer give normal gems.
• Grand Soul Gems can be turned into Black Soul Gems on Soul Altars, by casting Soul Trap on the altar. This can only be done when the Shade of the Revenant (purple glow above altar) is active. (which happens every eight days.)
• You can find Soul Altars at various necromancer and warlock lairs around Skyrim.
• You can grind down Soul Gems into dust at a grain mill. This dust can be as an Alchemical ingredient to make potions and poisons. I might give it some more use in the future.
  

How to use Soul Gem Altars

• Activate the soul gem altar, this will open the container menu. Store any amount of Grand Souls in it.
• Wait until the Shade of the Revenant is active. This happens every 8 days. You know it's active when you see a purple light shining above the altar.
• Cast the Soul Trap spell on the altar. If everything is correct, you will have converted one Grand Soul Gem into one Black Soul Gem.
• Cast Soul Trap again till all the Soul Gems, you want to convert, are successfully converted.
  

Notes:

• You will need to have read the book "Necromancer's Moon", which can be found very rarily on dead necromancers and near the boss NPC in Southfringe Sanctum.
• You can also get the knowledge to make Black Soul Gems, by reading the book called "Creation of Black Soul Gems", which can be found randomly among other rare books, in shops, chests, etc.
  

Known Issues

• The Ancient Dwarven Pickaxe isn't used in mining animations. Instead the Vanilla pickaxe is used in them. If anyone knows how to fix this, let me know. v2.0 supports AnimObject Swapper. If installed and you have the Ancient Dwarven Pickaxe in your inventory, you'll use that for mining.
• The collision on the Soul Gem Altars is sometimes a bit wonky, making your soul trap cast not register sometimes. In this case, try recasting.
  

Compatibility

Any mod which edits and overwrites the Soul Trap magic effect, is incompatible. When in doubt, load your entire load order in xEdit and check if "0004DBA3" is being overwritten by another mod.

There are patches available for:

• Greatpicks
  
• CCOR
• Beyond Skyrim - Bruma
  

v2.0 and onwards supports AnimObject Swapper. If installed and you have the Ancient Dwarven Pickaxe in your inventory, you'll use that for mining.
v2.1 and onwards supports i4. If installed, it will give the Ancient Dwarven Pickaxe a proper icon.

FAQ

Q: Wasn't this mod called differently?
A: It used to be called "More Lore-Friendly Soul Gems" (the ESPs still do), but a user recommended a more suitable name.

Q: ESPFE?
A: Yes.

Q: Does installing/updating/uninstalling on an existing save work?
A: As far as I know, it should. However, it's good practice to keep a backup save prior to doing this, just in case.

Q: Is this compatible with <insert mod>?
A: I don't know by heart. You might need to check yourself.

Q: Will you make a patch for <insert mod>?
A: Only if it's a mod I use myself or plan on using, I have enough time and I actually like the idea. Otherwise, feel free to do it yourself. (see permissions)

Q: I have a suggestion to improve the mod. Can you do it?
A: Maybe, if I have time and I like the idea, I'll consider it.

Q: Will you port this to <insert platform>?
A: No, I myself only support the Steam and GOG English SE and AE versions of Skyrim. If someone else wants to port it, feel free. (see permission) If you decide to port it, you yourself take full responsibility to offer support to said port. I will not provide no support for any ports by third parties.

Q: I use a ported version of this mod on <insert platform> and I have a problem. Can you help?
A: I don't provide any support for third party ports on other platforms than the Steam and GOG English SE and AE versions of Skyrim. If you have issues, you should adress the person that ported it.

Q: Does this work on Skyrim 1.6+, aka "Anniversary Edition"?
A: Yes, it should.

Q: Why don't your mods use MCMs and instead use this janky console command system to set globals?
A: I am not a fan of MCMs. You can set the globals by making a patch in xEdit. I have no plans of changing this. If you want to add an MCM, feel free. (see permissions)

Q: Why don't you use FOMODs?
A: That would require reuploading the entire mod, in question, even if I only make a small change. My internet is limited and reuploading the files each time will take a huge chunk of my monthly volume.