Enderal: The Shards of Order - free total conversion mod for Skyrim

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Enderal: The Shards of Order - free total conversion mod for Skyrim

TheOneAndOnlyT: Dec 18, 2005; Well well, mister fancy-pants, I hope you're wearing your matching sweater today, or you'll be cut down like the ugly tree you are.

What's this thing?
Enderal: The Shards of Order is a free total conversion mod for Skyrim and the sequel to the Oblivion total conversion mod Nehrim: At Fate's Edge, developed by the German mod team SureAI. Released in German last month, Enderal has just come out in English today!

Total Conversion? What's that mean?
Pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Enderal uses Skyrim's engine to essentially create a completely new game, with its own world, characters, items, spells, and game systems. Though the game has an obvious Skyrim feel due to the engine, Enderal is completely disconnected from Skyrim, Tamriel, and the Elder Scrolls continuity. All you need to play is a legal PC copy of Skyrim.

So why would I want to play this thing?
Here's a few reasons:

A completely new world: Enderal's world isn't as massive as Skyrim's, but it still contains a huge number of quests and the developers promise 30-100 hours of playtime, depending on how completionist you're feeling.
A varied landscape: Enderal isn't just Nordic forest and snowfields like Skyrim was. You'll see deserts, jungles, and beaches, just to name a few.
Overhauled game systems: Enderal discards Skyrim's "learn by doing" skill system in favor of a more traditional RPG template with experience points for kills and quests. Leveling up grants you skill points which can be used to improve the skills of your choice. There are also new abilities that replace Skyrim's Shouts, as well as new perk trees and "classes" your character can gain by investing enough in each tree.
New items and spells: It wouldn't be an RPG if there wasn't a vast amount of loot to be had. Enderal takes things one step further with concepts from other games such as armor sets, which grant bonuses the more pieces of the set you wear.
No level scaling: Everything in Enderal is fixed, from the enemies to the loot. Certain areas of the game are explicitly meant for characters of higher levels, and it's entirely possible to blunder into them and get horribly murdered, or make off with a badass sword 20 levels earlier than you're supposed to have it.
Full voice acting: Normally a negative for a mod, but early reports claim the voice work is decent, if not stellar.

Screenshots

FAQ

So how do I actually install Enderal?
You can download Enderal's installer from the Enderal website. Note that the installer comes in two parts: a launcher and an "installation package", which contains the actual game data. The installation package is about 8GB and the launcher will ask for it during the installation process. The launcher will also back up your Skyrim directory for you during installation.

So my 10,000 Skyrim mods will work perfectly with this game, right?
Almost certainly not! Enderal uses its own .esm file, which means Skyrim mods won't play nicely with it (and the installer will beat you over the head about this). It's best to install Enderal on a clean install of Skyrim. Enderal also comes with its own version of SkyUI out of the box, so you don't have to worry about using Skyrim's lovely consolized interface.
UPDATE: Several people in the thread have confirmed that minor Skyrim mods for things such as the UI or quality-of-life improvements will work just fine with Enderal. That said, you should still add your mods after Enderal is installed, rather than trying to install Enderal on top of your modded Skyrim directory.

I've never played Nehrim. Is this game going to make any sense?
You should be fine. Enderal takes place in the same world as Nehrim, but the intro cinematic will tell you the important bits of Nehrim's plot.

Where do I go for the quest "Secrets from a Can"?
Step 1: The kid is a liar, the shrine isn't behind his house. It's a small glowing structure next to the beach.
Step 2: If you look to the west from the shrine you can see a giant dead tree up on a hill. Go there, and near the tree are some ruined-looking stairs that will lead you to the spot.

I'm stuck on <other quest>, help!
Ask in the thread! I'll be sure to add common places to get stuck here as people come across them.

Where the gently caress is the last piece of <armor set>? I've looked everywhere!
Reddit has put together a loot listing if you're looking for a particular item. Spoilers abound, obviously.

TheOneAndOnlyT fucked around with this message at 00:25 on Aug 23, 2016

# ¿ Aug 14, 2016 02:26

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 15, 2024 14:41

TheOneAndOnlyT: Dec 18, 2005; Well well, mister fancy-pants, I hope you're wearing your matching sweater today, or you'll be cut down like the ugly tree you are.

CommissarMega posted:

You said this was a 'sequel' to Nehrim- is that just in the sense that it's another TC from Nehrim's makers, or should I play Nehrim to understand the story of this one? Because I can't find my Morrowind CD (CDs? I can't even remember, it was so long), and it seems like a bit too much of a time investment.

From what I understand, Nehrim and Enderal take place in the same world, but they're not so connected that you need to play Nehrim first. I could be wrong, but I haven't finished downloading yet :shobon:

# ¿ Aug 14, 2016 05:36

TheOneAndOnlyT: Dec 18, 2005; Well well, mister fancy-pants, I hope you're wearing your matching sweater today, or you'll be cut down like the ugly tree you are.

Does anyone know which setting will turn off the blur on faraway objects? I keep feeling like my eyes are out of focus.

# ¿ Aug 14, 2016 22:06

TheOneAndOnlyT: Dec 18, 2005; Well well, mister fancy-pants, I hope you're wearing your matching sweater today, or you'll be cut down like the ugly tree you are.

Doctor Goat posted:

Where do I actually see what my learning points are?

They're in the hero menu (default H).

# ¿ Aug 15, 2016 02:40

TheOneAndOnlyT: Dec 18, 2005; Well well, mister fancy-pants, I hope you're wearing your matching sweater today, or you'll be cut down like the ugly tree you are.

Doctor Goat posted:

Ah, okay. This is the one thing that doesn't work on controllers.

Should I have a class by Riverville? I'm still Blade Dancer / Adventurer from the beginning.

Judging from the description in the hero menu, your class is determined only by your investments in the perk trees. The Enderal website made it sound like you chose a class manually early on, but I guess I misinterpreted that.

# ¿ Aug 15, 2016 07:28

TheOneAndOnlyT: Dec 18, 2005; Well well, mister fancy-pants, I hope you're wearing your matching sweater today, or you'll be cut down like the ugly tree you are.

Is anyone able to get the "active effects" icons to show up in the corner like SkyUI usually allows? Enderal's SkyUI has the options set up to show them by default but I've never seen them appear.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2016 18:45

TheOneAndOnlyT: Dec 18, 2005; Well well, mister fancy-pants, I hope you're wearing your matching sweater today, or you'll be cut down like the ugly tree you are.

Ra Ra Rasputin posted:

Is there a difference between the races? the description of the desert people race talked about the founding of mysticism so I figured might work out for a mage type, but on levelup I get the choice of +9 health +8 mana or +11 stamina.

Are the levelup stats different for every race, and the elf ear guy would have +11 mana?

I'm playing as an Aeterna and I get the same level-up choices, and I started with all my skills at 15, so I don't think there's any difference statwise. There was a woman in the first village who specifically asked me about being an Aeterna though, so it might affect some dialogue and characters.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2016 19:13

TheOneAndOnlyT: Dec 18, 2005; Well well, mister fancy-pants, I hope you're wearing your matching sweater today, or you'll be cut down like the ugly tree you are.

Ciaphas posted:

If I got bored of Skyrim within a few hours due to the open-worldy-ness and lack of direction (and not a little decision paralysis on character archetype, I'll be honest) would I still end up getting bored with this TC? I guess I could just download and try it for myself but

Hard to say. On the one hand, you're kind of encouraged to head off the beaten path so you can rack up XP in side dungeons and be better prepared for later areas. On the other hand, the lack of level scaling means that you don't have an entire world open to you right from the start, since later areas are meant for higher-level characters. I haven't gotten too far yet, but if it's anything like Nehrim, there's a decently-defined progression to exploring the world that Skyrim doesn't really have.

TheOneAndOnlyT fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Aug 17, 2016

# ¿ Aug 17, 2016 00:41

TheOneAndOnlyT: Dec 18, 2005; Well well, mister fancy-pants, I hope you're wearing your matching sweater today, or you'll be cut down like the ugly tree you are.

Agents are GO! posted:

There are special chests scattered about, the first one I found was in River~~wood~~ville in the market. It's got a glowy effect on it.

This, they're named "Secure Chest" or something similar. All Secure Chests connect to each other as well, so you don't have to walk back to the first one every time.

# ¿ Aug 17, 2016 17:31

TheOneAndOnlyT: Dec 18, 2005; Well well, mister fancy-pants, I hope you're wearing your matching sweater today, or you'll be cut down like the ugly tree you are.

Greaseman posted:

Yeah, what do points in magic skills actually do if they're not required for the 'perks'? If I'm only interested in summoning things and bound weapons it seems so far like there's no reason to increase the relevant skill.

If it's like Skyrim it decreases the magicka cost. But if you're only summoning a bound weapon every 5 minutes or so it probably doesn't matter. I feel like making perks no longer require a certain skill level might have been a misstep.

On the flipside, it feels like the devs saw how weak destruction magic was in Skyrim and responded by making Elementarist spells hilariously overpowered. Shock magic is particularly devastating--Blazing Spark Rank I is 22 shock damage for 7 magicka, and that's enough to instantly one-shot any Sun Coast monster from across a room with a dual cast. I just got to Ark and found Rank II, which is 46 damage for just 11 magicka. And that's an Apprentice-level spell. :stare:

# ¿ Aug 19, 2016 07:25

TheOneAndOnlyT: Dec 18, 2005; Well well, mister fancy-pants, I hope you're wearing your matching sweater today, or you'll be cut down like the ugly tree you are.

Wolpertinger posted:

This looks interesting, but would I be better off playing Nehrim first? I haven't touched oblivion in so many years and it seems like it might be unbearably janky at this point.

Addressed in the OP:

TheOneAndOnlyT posted:

I've never played Nehrim. Is this game going to make any sense?
You should be fine. Enderal takes place in the same world as Nehrim, but the intro cinematic will tell you the important bits of Nehrim's plot.

# ¿ Aug 22, 2016 06:29

TheOneAndOnlyT: Dec 18, 2005; Well well, mister fancy-pants, I hope you're wearing your matching sweater today, or you'll be cut down like the ugly tree you are.

FutonForensic posted:

Hi friends,

If you're looking for the last piece of an armor set or a particular weapon, Reddit's put together a already robust loot guide with stats and locations.

Nice. Added this to the OP.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2016 00:24

TheOneAndOnlyT: Dec 18, 2005; Well well, mister fancy-pants, I hope you're wearing your matching sweater today, or you'll be cut down like the ugly tree you are.

Zereth posted:

EDIT: Also I am slightly annoyed that magic-focused armor sets tend to spread themselves out over every possible school of magic. Gloves? Elementalism and Mentalism! Hat? Entropy and Psionics!

Eh, better that than 20 instances of "sweet I found some new mage armo--oh wait it's for Light Magic."

EDIT: I'm pretty sure they spread skills out like this for the heavy and "thief" armor sets as well.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2016 23:48

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ¿ May 15, 2024 14:41

TheOneAndOnlyT: Dec 18, 2005; Well well, mister fancy-pants, I hope you're wearing your matching sweater today, or you'll be cut down like the ugly tree you are.

Sonofsilversign posted:

Im really liking Enderal so far, but the skill book system is just terrible. Ill post some rebalancing tips later.

Does anyone know where to sell enchanted items? Specifically rings? Im carrying like 2k worth of them and no one in Ark seems to buy them.

The clothing store in the market will take them. I forget the name but it's next to the leather goods shop.

# ¿ Sep 4, 2016 02:16

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Enderal: The Shards of Order - free total conversion mod for Skyrim