Fixes some pet peeves of mine with the VRIK mod. Currently including gesture system improvements, changes to ragdolling during knockback/death and a near-clip-distance bug fix.
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Author notes
Permissions are set to reflect VRIKs permissions.
File credits
prog for the incredible amount of hours put into creating and refining VRIK to the masterpiece it is today.
Quote from prog regarding my permission to make and post this mod: "@Arctal you have my full blessing to make any VRIK add-ons that you please - including using/changing the papyrus scripts that VRIK comes with."
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Arctal's VRIK Tweaks - Simplified Chinese Translation
Changelogs
Version 2.0
WARNING: Do NOT update to this version mid-save from a previous "Merged" variant of this tweaks mod. See sticky post. WARNING: Due to ESL-compacting, the update may not be mid-save-compatible even for the non-merged previous versions of this mod. Im unsure.
Changed version number to 2.0 just to indicate that this update requires reading the notes! There are no big changes to the tweaks itself but its interaction with VRIK has changed due to VRIK development being picked back up by Shizof. There is no longer a Merged variant as the VRIK esp may now change numerous times over the months to come and i dont want to have to update the tweaks every time VRIK updates. This mod is instead ESL flagged for those looking to save an esp slot (requires VR ESL support mod). You can ofc still merge it yourself if you want to.
- Added a failsafe for pre-2.0 zombie scripts that may help prevent a previous Merged variant of the mod from affecting neardist. I still recommend save cleaning though if you have this issue (see sticky post) - Deleted the NearDist setting from the Tweaks MCM. You can now change this value in the normal VRIK MCM instead and it should be saved and loaded properly from VRIK 0.8.2 onwards. - Updated for VRIK 0.8.2 - Flagged as ESL since VR now has a mod to support it - Removed non-optional gesture fixes and near dist fix as they are now integrated in the main VRIK mod
(Notes were forwarded from 1.8 & 1.9 due to its short lifespan)
Version 1.9
WARNING: Do NOT update to this version mid-save from a previous "Merged" variant of this tweaks mod. See sticky post. WARNING: Due to ESL-compacting, the update may not be mid-save-compatible even for the non-merged previous versions of this mod. Im unsure.
- Deleted the NearDist setting from the Tweaks MCM. You can now change this value in the normal VRIK MCM instead and it should be saved and loaded properly from VRIK 0.8.2 onwards. - Updated for VRIK 0.8.2 - Flagged as ESL since VR now has a mod to support it - Removed non-optional gesture fixes and near dist fix as they are now integrated in the main VRIK mod
(Notes were forwarded from 1.8 due to its short lifespan)
Version 1.8
WARNING: Due to ESL-compacting, the update may not be mid-save-compatible. Im unsure.
- Updated for VRIK 0.8.2 - Flagged as ESL since VR now has a mod to support it - Removed non-optional gesture fixes and near dist fix as they are now integrated in the main VRIK mod
Version 1.7
- Added separation of Death and Knockdown FX. Allowing you to set blackout settings individually for each one - Added "Redout" for the Death FX. Which tints the screen red then fades to black. This is the new default - Add "Instant" variants for both blackout and redout. These will not fade out but rather cut immediately to full-screen black or red (the red variant will also fade from fullscreen red to fullscreen black before reloading the previous save). Intended for people who want to avoid the motion sickness of being flung backwards by either death or knockback. - Changed gesture assignment intro text a bit - Added a "reset" option in the MCM to see the gesture assignment intro text again if you want to
Version 1.6
- Fixed an issue causing the knockdown FX to stop working after transforming to/from werewolf/vamplord
Version 1.5
- The blackout FX from getting knocked back can now be configured to last for the full duration of the knockdown (if you feel its unimmersive to have an invisible body). The blackout can also be now disabled entirely (but keeping the rest of the FX), for those that want to keep a clear eye on the battlefield. The animation event used for detecting a knockback has occurred (RemoveCharacterControllerFromWorld) can now be swapped to whichever event you want via xEdit under Magic Effects -> KnockDownFXEff. Some people have had issues with the knockdown FX not triggering on certain LOs. If you happen to discover some other event that works with your LO (while still also working with vanilla), let me know and i can swap to it officially. RemoveCharacterControllerFromWorld was the only one i found but the animation event swamp is vast and there may very well be others. - Minimum value for the neardist slider has been reduced from 5 to 1 cause some people apparently want that - "Press" gestures (i.e. the ones that just require you to press the gesture button without moving your hand) are no longer converted from unassigned to empty-cast upon mod startup. This is because some people use the same button for doing gestures that they also use for exiting menus. So in the normal situation of entering assignment mode -> opening menu -> equipping thing you want to assign -> exiting menu, you would get a prompt immediately asking if you want to assign it to "press" of the menu-exit button. This was highly confusing, so press gestures will simply stay "unassigned" now and will not be detected by the assignment power. However, if you do still want them assignable via power, all you have to do is enter the MCM and set them to Cast or Equip type there and they will be assignable again. - The startup text boxes have been slightly reformulated to be shorter and clearer. This fixes an issue where some headset resolutions would not show the last row of text (cause the text window had a smaller size)
Version 1.4
- Found a way to allow installation of the tweaks on saves where vrik is already running without needing a clean install. This mod can now be installed at any time without any special procedures. - Put back the sound when assigning gestures that got accidentally removed in 1.3
Safe to update for the separate version. Unsure how safe it is to update for the merged one. Please let me know if you try and encounter any issues with that.
Version 1.3
- Changed the sound that plays when casting spells via gestures to something better - Added a toggle to disable this added sound in the MCM
Safe to update for the separate version. Unsure how safe it is to update for the merged one. Please let me know if you try and encounter any issues with that.
Version 1.2
- Fixed the gesture-blocking during menus to also apply to crafting menus.
This update is safe to apply for both the Merged and normal versions without any clean saving required. It contains zero changes to the esp file.
Version 1.1
Requires another clean save to update! (sorry). Updates after this will hopefully be possible to do without clean saving but it depends on what i need to change.
- Removed the FOMOD and instead moved settings into a new MCM (VRIK Tweaks). - Added fNearDistance override option to counteract the VRIK bug that forces this variable to 5 on every game launch. Default for this is set to 13 which the community considers the best balance between flicker and clipping. Depending on your environment mods, you may be able to have it lower while still not having flickering issues, which is better. The lower you can set it, the less issues you'll have with clipping through your VRIK arms or looking very closely at things in the game. Feel free to experiment! Note that VRIK has this "near distance" option too in its MCM but that setting is subject to the VRIK bug and will NOT persist when restarting your game. - Added script sources, primarily for other authors who are changing the vrik system scripts and want to make patches for this mod (Hi Shizof!).
Reupload note: Just changed a single word in a description. If anyone managed to grab the previous 1.1 upload, you can just swap it out with this without any further actions needed (do NOT need to clean reinstall AGAIN)
Version 1.0
Initial release.
Near Clip Distance (Fix flickering mountains or clipping hands) (The NearDistance setting in the VRIK MCM has been fixed as of VRIK 0.8.2 and you can now set a good value in there instead)
To counteract a VRIK bug that forces your "fNearDistance" INI setting to 5 on every game launch, this tweak will allow you to configure an override value that will be applied every time you load a save (or when you change it in the MCM). Your override setting here is per-character (not game-wide). Note that VRIK has this "near distance" option too in its MCM but that setting is subject to the VRIK bug and will NOT persist when restarting your game.
What does this setting do? Well, setting it high will reduce Z-fighting (often seen as flickering snow on mountains) but will also cause graphical clipping issues with anything coming very near your face (like your hands or shoulders). Recommend less than 10 if you dont want clipping or more than 12 if you want less flicker.
Default value for this is set to 13 which the community considers the best balance between flicker and clipping. Depending on your environment mods, you may be able to have it lower while still not having flickering issues, which is better (less clipping). Feel free to experiment!
Gesture System (Minimize the need for the MCM menu during normal play and fix some bugs)
What is the VRIK gesture system? It allows you to instantly cast or equip spells, powers and shouts by swiping your hand in various directions while holding a dedicated gesture button. It can do a lot of other things as well, but that's its most used aspect and is what i'm focusing on here with my tweaks.
Fixes added: (These Fixes have been integrated into the VRIK main file as of VRIK 0.8.2 and no longer require these Tweaks. Optional changes below still require this mod)
Cast and Equip gestures will no longer work for spells you havent learned yet (since they carry over between saves, this was an easy way to cheat).
Cast and Equip gestures can no longer fire while you're in a menu. If you have a button you often use in menus as your gesture button, this led to a whole lot of accidental spell activations that would all fire off at once when you closed the menu and resumed time. Note however that if you close the menu with your gesture button, you can still trigger gestures with that (as the gesture will finish in unpaused state). Other gesture types like "emulate keypress" still work in menus.
Optional changes added (can be disabled in the MCM):
Allows quicker and easier access to assigning and changing Spell, Power and Shout gestures without opening the MCM. The new method uses a Power that can be activated with whatever you find most comfortable, be it a hotkey, Spell Wheel, voice or even a VRIK gesture itself. Once active, you can equip things and then perform gestures to assign those things to those gestures. Use the power again to deactivate and return gestures to normal operation. Details are explained in game (via popups) or in the above video. You can assign all 3 types as auto-cast. Spells can alternatively be assigned as "Equip" to allow you to aim them more accurately before firing. Shouts can be assigned as equip as well to have more accurate control over the amount of Words used. Powers can only be auto-cast as there is no reason to equip it in advance.
The new assignment system is completely interchangeable with the normal VRIK MCM. So you can choose to assign stuff with this new system, then change those assignments with the MCM or vice versa. You can also enter the MCM "Gesture Overview" to see all current assignments.
When starting a new save and activating the assignment Power for the first time, you'll be presented with an option to reset your entire gesture layout. This can be nice when starting a new game if you dont want to carry gestures over from an old one (VRIK gestures are saved game-wide, not on a save-by-save basis).
Spell casting via gestures will now have an accompanying sound effect to substitute for the missing normal cast sound, similar to how MageVR does it. This is the same sound for all spells though. I have picked something generic.
Important technical detail on the new gesture assignment system:
This only works when replacing a previous equip, cast or empty-cast assignment. Empty-cast means that the gesture is set to the "Cast" type but it's currently set to casting "None". This is different from Unassigned. If a gesture is entirely unassigned, this tweak mod is unable to detect that gesture being used and therefore cannot assign it to anything. To smooth out this process, it will ask you (on first launch) if you want to convert all your Unassigned gestures to empty-cast-types (which is the same thing, just detectable, so highly recommended).
While using this new system, you can also "clear" any gesture to convert it back to empty-cast. If you use the Reset option from point 3 above, that will convert ALL your gestures back to empty-casts.
If you have a gesture currently assigned to something special like keypress emulation, cycles or "quick spells" you will still have to enter the MCM if you want to reassign those.
Ragdoll/Death Alternative (Less motion sickness and more immersion)
What is player ragdolling? When pushed back by powerful attacks or shouts or when you die, your VRIK body will turn into a string puppet hanging from your wrists. The puppet will then (in cases where you didnt die) try to animate itself back up to standing position, which looks terrible when the hands have to stay synced with your controllers. Also, while this whole thing is going on, you are unable to move, attack or cast anything. Even more problematic however is that it is very unclear when this state has fully finished and given control back to the player. So it leads to the game feeling unresponsive and broken. Knowing when control is lost/regained has been a problem since Skyrim VR launched and is something I aim to fix here as well.
Optional changes added (can be disabled in the MCM):
When ragdolled, you will become "unconscious". A new state introduced that washes the color out of your surroundings, blacks you out for a moment, plays a new kind of "underwater heartbeat" sound with a visual effect to go along with it and most importantly, makes your body and weapons invisible (again with a visual effect so it doesnt just go *pop*). The intent being to let you very clearly know that you are no longer in control and that you have to wait for things to return to normal as well as hiding all the buggyness going on with your body. When the ragdolling ends, your body will return with accompanying sounds and visual effects to make it extremely clear that you can now move, attack and cast again.
The blackout when pushed back or dying can be set to instantly snap to fullscreen black to remove any motion sickness that would otherwise be induced by such chaotic and extreme movement.
While "unconscious" you can still be attacked and die. So this tweak has zero impact on balance, it is purely audio-visual. If you do die, your "heartbeats" will stop to make this clear. Fall damage from the pushback can also kill you.
Death and knockback are separate settings. You can have blackout in none, both or just one of them. Death also has the option of redout where the screen turns red then fades to black to differentiate it further from the knockback FX. This setting is new for 1.7 and not seen in the video demo.
The video shows the default settings of blacking out for only a second or two. In the MCM you may however make the blackout last for the full duration of the knockdown, if it feels more immersive or practical to you. For death, the blackout will always last until the game reloads (if enabled).
Installation
Just add it to your LO anywhere below VRIK. Can be installed on saves where VRIK is already running.
Credits
prog for the incredible amount of hours put into creating and refining VRIK to the masterpiece it is today.