August 2020 Update

Hey all!

Today I have pushed a tiny update - 3.4.5 - and figured I'd take the opportunity to talk about what I am currently working on.

The Phoenix Flavour 3.5

The next big update for TPF - 3.5 - is currently in the works. It is going to have some regular additions such as Aetherius and Mundus to complete the existing suite of gameplay mods by SimonMagus. I removed Subtle But Classless as the mod seems to be somewhat unpopular and I'm not using it myself anymore.

I also tweaked alchemy a little further. Skyrim Alchemy Fixed was replaced by Alchemy Potions and Food Adjustments which among other thing balances the ridiculous amounts of money you get for some crafted potions. I liked SAF's removal of Alchemy/Smithing/Enchanting boosts through potions and enchanted items in order to remove the crafting loop so I separated these changes out and put them up on my Morrowloot Miscellaneous page.

The biggest change however is the removal of optional mods. This is a huge step but one of several changes of this kind taken since the release of the first non-modular version, 3.0. The more customisability I remove, the easier it gets for me to expand TPF.  A vote of 335 in favour over 30 opposed convinced me to finally go ahead with this. From 3.5 going forward, all mods will be mandatory and must be installed. To clarify: currently optional mods will not be removed, they will simply no longer be optional.

Next up for TPF

After 3.5, I have my eyes set on two aspects that need improving before I can be truly happy with the current setup.

Number one is landscape. While I love Cathedral Landscapes, its excellent performance and terrain LOD blending, development is very slow and there are some problems with the mod that haven't been fixed in a long time. If we move on from Cath Landscapes, it will mean the return of LODGen. I am set on using Dave's texture for the most part.

The only problem is grass. I tried the new Veydosebrom and don't like how it looks from a distance, plus the performance impact over Cath is considerable although the grass is less dense. I have been struggling for months to find a good solution for grass/landscape. We will see.

Number two is loot. At the moment we are using Umgak's Hybrid Loot which still yields too many enchanted drops. I would also like to further limit Elven/Orcish/Dwarven drops which is potentially problematic as some of them will have to be replaced - otherwise most chests would be fairly worthless. Again, I'm not sure how to handle it at the moment.

A Note on Wabbajack

Thanks to that PC Gamer article and the fact that Lively added a LOTD profile, TPF is now among the most downloaded Wabbajack installers. I am ecstatic and inexplicably terrified.

Fallout 4

My own ventures into the realms of madness with Wabbajack are going well. The Fallout 4 installer already compiled and I am working out some kinks before submitting it for testing. Won't be long now!

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Although this post is mostly a string of good news, I would like to add that I am not currently spending a lot of time on TPF for either game. School is keeping me busy and the afternoons I mostly spend relaxing. I do intend to use the weekends but at least yesterday (Saturday), Jedi: Fallen Order happened so what can you do. Loved that game.

Anyway, there is no ETA for anything. Most updates either take three good days or several slow weeks and I can never tell which one it's going to be. We will see.

Cheers and happy modding!

Phoenix