There's not much difference between the illusion spells Chameleon and Shadow (viewtopic.php?t=2980), other then 1. they're a weaker but cheaper form of Invisibility, and 2. there's an 8% chance of failure over time with Chameleon to Shadow's 4%, even though they cost the same. How about a mod that fixes that?
Making Chameleon cheaper would be the simplest solution, but it's been... hypothesized that chameleon should work only when standing still, and shadow only should work only indoors. I think Ideally whatever changes are made should make you consider each concealment spell differently depending on the current situation.
Alderwood wrote: ↑Mon May 29, 2023 8:27 pm
it's been... hypothesized that chameleon should work only when standing still, and shadow only should work only indoors
Indeed, the manual says that chameleon is basically invisibility while you're not moving, and shadow form allows to move invisibly "in dark places", which likely means dungeons I guess.
I wrote a mod several months ago that alters enemy vision and how those spells work.
The shadow spell will work poorly if the pc is standing in front of a well lit area, creating a silhouette.
Chameleon works best in well lit areas, but less so in dark areas.
Invisibility is basically improved chameleon.
The mod requires changes to core code, so won't be available until sometime after version 1 comes out.
I like the idea of making these spells functionally different. IMHO chameleon should operate like increasingly good camouflage. The amount of light should have far less effect (but still some) than movement. Chameleon should also work better in areas where objects are nearby in the same orientation as you are. e.g. in a building, if you are standing next to a wall chameleon will tend to blend you into the wall. This would greatly depend on the orientation of the viewer. If from the perspective of the viewer, there is nothing behind you to blend into you are visible. This would make things like going prone very effective.
Shadow on the other hand would make movement less critical than lighting. In general, the less global illumination you have the better. Of course, being next to objects helps but not to the extent that it does with chameleon. Shadow blends you into the surrounding darkness as chameleon blends you into the surrounding objects. Of course, if you have a light source behind you relative to the viewer your presence will become obvious. Creatures with very good night vision will be less affected by shadow. For them, the global illumination is effectively much higher.
It strikes me that none of these spells would do the least good against one of the lowest-level monsters the giant bat. Echolocation nullifies all of these purely visual spells.
It strikes me that none of these spells would do the least good against one of the lowest-level monsters the giant bat. Echolocation nullifies all of these purely visual spells.
In my (unreleased) mod code I assigned creature-specific vision/hearing sensitivities.
I gave bats perfect vision within a 120 degree cone extending to a distance of roughly 15 meters or so.
I gave skeletal warriors perfect 360 degree vision, but it is limited to a distance of 12 meters or so.
I'd like to see a mod that implemented racial differences in senses. Bonuses to sight and hearing such as Kajit night sight where things that a human could not see appear as greyscale images.
I have another unreleased first-person-lighting mod to shade the weapon and horse graphics of the pc to match lighting conditions. It also implements visual effects for shadow/chameleon spells.
I added a 'grope light' feature to that mod to allow the player to see their immediate surroundings to a very limited radius, typically a few meters. The light is only visible to the player and does not impact stealth.
I increased the radius for Khajiit.
Argonians have a greatly extended radius when underwater.
Characters with acute hearing have an additional bonus radius.
I did a bit of a mock-up of night vision. The dark-adapted vision washes out (desaturates) items with less light. Things in the dark also tend to appear more blue due to the sensitivity of the eye at low light (rods as opposed to cones)
Normal Vision
DF night vision normal.png (1.04 MiB) Viewed 1285 times
It's a bit hard to tell as the difference is a bit subtle and hard to see in the post, but the wall behind has a banner hanging on it that is marginally easier to see in the second picture.
A more pronounced example
DF night vision extreme.png (1.03 MiB) Viewed 1190 times
If the player is facing a nearby light source, it would spoil their night vision.
This effect could be implemented by varying the ambient light levels.
I'll make a note to add that to my first-person-lighting mod.
