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Weapon Variant Expansion

Note:
This mod will only work if your Skyrim is installed to the default directory (C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim). Otherwise the items will be invisible in game. If anyone wants to fix it all you need to do is load the meshes in nifskope and delete everything in the texture paths before the textures folder. Unfortunately I don't have the time to do so myself.


Weapon Variants Expansion

Also available on Skyrim Nexus: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=10902

WVE is a collection of 98 weapons and 24 shield variations added to leveled lists (NPC's, loot and shop inventories) and the forge. Each of the new weapons is a variant of an existing one.

I felt that skyrim could use a little more variety in the types of equipment you find. I was a bit disappointed after Bethesda hyped up how many more weapons and armours there were than in Oblivion and so I decided to add a little more visual and gameplay variety to the game.

Mostly the mod is simply aesthetic, however the new weapon types are balanced to make them fit in game. Hammers for example hit a little harder and have a slightly higher critical damage than maces, however they swing a little slower and weigh a little more.

Features:
12 New Battleaxe Variants
11 New War-Axe Variants
11 New Shortswords
16 New Greatsword Variants
9 New One-Handed Hammers
9 New Two-Handed War-Maces
2 New Daggers
13 New Sword Variants
11 New Fighting Staves
10 New Large Shields
10 New Small Shields
and
4 New Bucklers

Change Log:
v1. First release.

v1.1
-Forsworn club no longer accidentally thinks it's a sword in the .nif file, should appear properly in the right hand.
-Missing upgrade recipes for ebony shields added.
-Honed and normal Ancient Nord Daggers will no longer appear on Draugr to avoid a bug where they were unable to use them.

v1.2
-Nine new one handed sword models added to the game.

Planned Future Features:
-Long and Shortbow variants
-Armour Variants
-More aesthetic variants

FAQ:
Q. Where will I find them in game?
A. Anywhere you find weapons. Foreign style weapons like the new Scimitars and Akaviri weapons are rare, but will show up on bandits and vampires from time to time and the rest of the weapons will show up at around a 50/50 ratio wherever you'd expect the vanilla versions to appear.

Q. What skills/perks do the new item types use?
A.They use the perks/skills closest to what they are. So:
War-Maces: Two-Handed Skill, benefits from Warhammer Perks.
Shortsword: One-Handed Skill, benefits from Sword Perks.
Hammer: One-Handed Skill, benefits from Mace Perks.
Staff: Two-Handed Skill, benefits from Warhammer Perks.

Q. What's the differences with the new weapon types?
A. Hammers, War-Maces, Short Swords and Staves all have unique properties:
Hammers: Do more damage and have a higher critical damage than maces however are slower and weigh more.
War-Maces: Lighter and faster than Warhammers, however do less damage.
Short Swords: Lighter and faster than Long Swords, however do less damage and have shorter reach.
Staves: Staves do around the same amount of damage as a mace of equal quality, however they're light, have great reach and swing very fast, making them excellent vehicles for damage enchantments.

Q. I don't like the scabbards/sheathes on the new two handed swords, is there a version without them?
A. Yes, it's on the Nexus page linked above. Unfortunately Steamworkshop doesn't do multiple .esp files, so I can't upload it here.

Q. Is this compatible with other mods that add weapons to the game?
A. No and Yes. Any other mod that effects the weapon levelled lists (one's that add weapons that randomly appear on bandits/in shops/etc) will be incompatible, meaning that the second mod to load (closer to the bottom of your load order) will overwrite any shared leveled lists with the other mod. However it's an easy fix, all you need is to make a bashed patch with Wrye Bash/Smash to merge the lists.

Q. What about crafting mods or mods that add new craftable weapons?
A. Completely compatible.

Q. Will you do armour variants too?
A. I'd really like to and hopefully will over the next month or two, but don't go holding your breath.

Q. I'm allergic to google, how do I do a bashed patch?
A. Again, you only need this if you're running more than one mod that uses the weapons leveled lists (i.e. randomly places new weapons in the game world/in shops/NPC inventories). First thing you need to do is get Wrye Bash for Skyrim. Then install it, copy the bashed patch.esp from the 'extras' folder, run wrye bash, right click on bashed patch.esp in the load order and select "rebuild patch". Then just run the game with bashed patch.esp active.
NOTE: A lot of people seem to be mistaking merging mods for merging leveled lists. That feature doesn't work with Skyrim yet. Don't change any options, don't tick any boxes, Wrye Smash will detect that the mods need to merge their leveled lists all by itself, all you have to do is update the bashed patch.

Other Mods You May Like:
Crafting Complete by Me. - http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=10255
Armory of Tamriel by Baratan - http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=2933
Greatsword sheaths and scabbards by DoubleBrewski. - http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=5624