GOKSTAD SAILABLE SHIP AND PORTABLE PLAYER HOME v1.3b

- Another ground-breaking mod by SLuckyD

- Including a custom book & Skyrim naval charts by Mebyon

(HOPEFULLY, it's the prequel to the upcoming epic, 'Stone Unhenged' mod also by SLuckyD. See the included readMe files for more information on future plans on both mods.)

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YOU NEED BE ABLE TO MAINTAIN AT LEAST 30fps IN-GAME FOR THIS MOD TO WORK DECENTLY. In order to tweak your game or actual system to gain fps, see the tweak-section below for tips.

30-40fps = Jumpy and Studdering Objects

40-50fps = Occasional Studdering

50+ fps = Flawless Operation

This mod requires a certain level of system performance; when not met, the ship's pieces will appear to 'studder'. If your system is inadequate, it will NOT ruin or destroy anything.. it simply won't sail as smoothly as you may want it to (using this mod will NOT adversely affect anything in-game). For lower fps rates (<40), you should use the 'Observer' or 'Navigator' view modes to minimize the studder effect. Please see the section below for more details.

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READ THE INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE DOWNLOADING AND USING. This Mod is still unfinished, but is 100% usable and performs as described below.

ONLY POST COMMENTS IF: you have something politely constructive to say, have a technical problem, or want to express your truthful opinion on the Gokstad (don't forget I READ this stuff, and may respond accordingly!).

[SUMMARY]

Sail the icy seas of the North, in REAL-TIME, using the FIRST sailable ship for Skyrim! The Gokstad will have you and your horse out to any island or coastal location in speed, safety, and style... did I mention you can ram it into enemies on the shore? Attack them with your bow or magic WHILE STILL SAILING.. for Skyrim drive-bys! Optionally spawn a raiding party when you beach the ship, to help fight anything closeby. The ship is also a safe, portable Player-home, with its own map-marker; choose from three different interiors.

[DETAILS]

- Adds a custom-made, precisely authentic, SAILABLE VIKING SHIP. Modeled 1:1 scale to the real-life Gokstad longship in Norway.

- The ship is also a portable & safe place to sleep, perform alchemy, or permanently store loot.

- Choose from THREE different Player-home interiors; the authentic Gokstad, the IceRunner (Vanilla-clone), or Katariah (also a Vanilla-clone). Eventually, I plan to enable followers to enter them.

- Available for free at a new dock; located just North of the East Empire Company Warehouse (near Solitude). The dock is immediately in front of the waterfront door (in the cliffside) which takes Player up to Solitude (inside the walls).

- PORTABLE MAP-MARKER; located wherever the ship is. Fast-travel is disabled while sailing, restored when stopped.

- When crashing your Gokstad at a fast enough speed, it will cause fireball damage to anything nearby.

- You may also opt to spawn several friendly attackers during this sequence; choose from Nord Raiders or Draugr Warriors.

- Instantly travel to a distant dock; currently two to choose from - Solitude and Dawnstar.

- Sail in full, REAL-TIME CONTROLS; in First OR Third Person view! Third Person allows you to seamlessly view Player from any angle while sailing.

- Animated oars automatically appear at slower speeds; while the sail unfurls when moving faster.

- Player's last horse ridden will also hitch a ride on the Gokstad.

- Full Player controls are enabled the entire time; so Inventory and Quickslots may be accessed. In Pilot view-mode, you are able to ATTACK ENEMIES WHILE SAILING using a bow or magic. (Navigator and Observer views prevent magic/weapons.. see below for details)

- Includes a helpful navigation book created by Mebyon. This has a naval chart in it, which I will eventually place on a mesh... similar to the 'civil war' maps.

- There's also an in-game book which gives real-life information about the Gokstad Viking Longship in Norway. It's the first of several planned volumes relating the stories, the history, and the details of one of the oldest and most intact ships of its kind.

[DIRECTIONS/USAGE]

Location:

- There are pre-discovered mapMarkers for both the dock AND the ship itself (wherever it may be). The dock is located near the EastEmpireCo Warehouse, as you travel the road toward the sea. If you use the door from Solitude (inside the walls), it comes out at a door in the rock cliffs near the water - DIRECTLY in front of that door is where you'll see the dock & the ship.

Starting the sailing controls:

- ACTIVATE THE OARS.

Player-Homes:

- ACTIVATE THE STOWED SAIL (or the lever on the dock), then choose 'VISIT PLAYER HOME' - To return, ACTIVATE THE DECK (Vanilla ships: exit through the appropriate door)

Instant Travel to Distant Ports:

- ACTIVATE THE STOWED SAIL WHILE SNEAKING

- Currently, only two destinations are available; hopefully will be expanded in a future version.

[CONTROLS]

(Watch for the speed notices in the upper-left corner of the screen. When you see 'full' you don't need to press it anymore.)

USE THE DIRECTIONAL KEYS (WASD) TO CONTROL THE SHIP

(As long as the button is pressed, the action still takes place; when released, ship movement still continues)

Changed/remapped directional keys or a 360 controller should work effortlessly.

FORWARD (W) - Acceleration

SPRINT FORWARD (Alt-W) - Full Speed Ahead

BACKWARD (S) - Brake & Reverse

LEFT & RIGHT (A & D) - Turns the Ship

SNEAK WHILE WEAPON DRAWN (Cntl then R) - Immediately stops the ship and exits the controls

Running aground/assaulting land:

- The ship will immediately stop and end the control script when the bow runs ashore, or comes into contact with anything larger than a rock.

It will NOT stop if the ship is in reverse or going VERY slow. This is for easily relaunching your ship, or in case you get it stuck somewhere.

If impact occurs at or above "Ramming Speed", a huge fireball is auto-cast on the entire area and explosion effects play. The fireball is toggled OFF by default.

You may choose to have three friendly (but temporary) attackers spawn after the fireball is cast.

- You may also 'park' your ship off-shore by Sneak/DrawWeapon to anchor... then hop ashore for your assault or explorations.

- Be aware that enemies can and WILL come aboard your ship after you... if at all possible (ie: the ship is close enough to land). If you activate the sailing again, they will eventually fall overboard; unless they kill you first.

Entering the Player-home:

- ACTIVATE THE STOWED SAIL while the ship is stopped, then choose "VISIT PLAYER HOME"

- To return back to the 'world'; (Gokstad) ACTIVATE THE DECK, (IceRunner & Katariah) ACTIVATE THE DOOR which exits the boat. [Katariah has two such doors in its the top level]

Horse aboard the ship:

- It will automatically bring along your LAST RIDDEN HORSE. If you haven't ridden a horse since loading your current saveGame, no horse will be on the ship.

- If you ram your ship up on shore (for an explosion), your horse will NOT be damaged... so don't worry because I disable its 'damagability' until after the explosion.

Attacking enemies while sailing:

- You must be in Pilot view-mode to use weapons or magic.

- Simply point and shoot! Continue using WASD to move the ship while you attack from afar.

If you Sneak-While-Weapon-Drawn, the boat will STOP sailing (without an explosion or NPC spawns).

[CUSTOMIZATION MENU]

Activate the stowed sail while the ship is stopped, or the lever on the dock

VISIT PLAYER HOME:

Will instantly transport you to whichever Player-home you've chosen in the Customization Menu. The default is the Authentic Gokstad.

NPC SPAWNS:

1- None

2- Nord Raiders

3- Draugr Warriors

Will create THREE friendly attackers near the bow of the ship. (all are leveled to Player)

Occurs only when the ship is moving fast enough to have the sail up/unfurled.

Each attacker will disappear forever if killed, or thirty seconds after the last enemy in the area has been killed... whichever comes first.

Will attack anything that isn't Player-Faction related (followers, spouse, housecarl, etc). Also, because I didn't want this to conflict with Vanilla or other mods, currently EVERYTHING will most likely attack them (including your followers). [I plan to work on this in the future.]

TOGGLE EXPLOSIONS:

- Off by default. On will cause a fireball to automatically be cast on the bow area if the ship is going fast enough.

CRASH DETECTOR HEIGHT:

1- Normal

2- Medium

3- High

Normal is at sea-level, Medium allows you to sail over ice floes/rocks and low land, while High ignores most anything below the TOP OF THE BOW.

SET SHIP INTERIOR:

1- Authenthic Gokstad

2- (Vanilla) IceRunner

3- (Vanilla) Katariah

All interiors have Player-storage, which is labelled such. Anything NOT labelled will respawn and destroy anything you leave inside it.

The Vanilla interiors have all NPCs and quest-related objects removed; as well as the weapon racks. All else has been left intact.

CHANGE VIEW:

1- Pilot (normal)

2- Observer

3- Navigator

Pilot view is the ONLY one which allows the use of weapons and magic while still sailing; Sneaking-While-Weapon-Drawn will instantly stop the ship (without an explosion or NPC spawns).

Observer & Navigator views require Player to 'crash/beach' the ship to stop sailing; and may best be viewed in third person mode.

Pilot view requires at least 30-35fps to function smoothly; Observer/Navigator views allow smooth operation with as low as 20-25fps (but at the cost of not using weapons/magic while sailing).

[REQUIRED]

Skyrim v1.5.26.05 or higher

[UPGRADING FROM A PREVIOUS VERSION]

- (SKIP THIS STEP if you don't have any items in the Player-storage) start the game with the old version still enabled (and the new version NOT enabled/installed); remove the items and exit the ship, save a new saveGame away from any area this mod changes and exit Skyrim

- simply overwrite the old files with the new

- make sure to disable the old ESP before playing the game

[INSTALLATION]

- be sure to create a new saveGame BEFORE using this mod; in an area that is NOT changed by the mod

- copy the contents of this mod's DATA/ folder to your game's DATA/ folder (recursing subfolders)

- run the game; and in the Skyrim Launcher, click "Data Files"

- make sure the box next to this mod's ESP is CHECKED

(load order shouldn't make a difference, as I do NOT change anything Vanilla)

- click "OK" then click "Play"

- load your new saveGame and play

[POTENTIAL CONFLICTS]

- Any other mod which alters the cells Wilderness (-15,24), SolitudeDocks2 (-16,24), and/or DawnstarExterior04 (7,26). (the cells at and just North of EastEmpire Warehouse entrance; and just outside Dawnstar)

- Any other mod, INI setting, or software which alters the game of Skyrim or saveGame data

- A BETA version of Skyrim; or a recently released FINAL version. (I tend to wait a couple weeks after Final releases to avoid potentially lingering drama)

- Modman software may not install the mod correctly; if you have strange problems (eg: CTD), use the above directions for a manual installation. It's usually because my Data/ folder wasn't extracted with recursed folders (or at all).

For specific conflicts/problems and how to resolve them, see the mod's comment/discussion thread; there may be solutions to common problems, but some may require special attention. Don't be afraid to post if you get stuck or can't find what you need!

[UNINSTALL]

- load your saveGame with this mod STILL installed/enabled

- remove your belongings from the Player-storage inside the interiors

- navigate Player to an area in-game that is NOT changed by the mod

- create a NEW saveGame, exit Skyrim

- delete this mod's resources (specifically listed above, after "Installation")

- the Data/Meshes/SLuckyD/Gokstad/ folder and it's contents

- the Data/Textures/SLuckyD/Gokstad/ folder and it's contents

- the "aaSLuckGok.." scripts located in the Data/Scripts/ folder

- the mod's ESP file

- load your new saveGame and resume play

[Real-Life BACKGROUND]

Gokstad: pronounced GAWK-shtahd (rhymes with "hawk's plaid"). In real-life, this was the name of an area in modern Norway, now a collection of various farms, and is believed to have been one farm, estate, or 'township' long ago. The word Gokstad derives from the words "gaukr" (cuckoo bird) and "stadir" (dwelling or farm). This 'Cuckoo Farm' is where the real Gokstad Ship was found at the time of its (re)discovery in 1880, buried inside a huge earthen round-barrow called Kongshaugen (King's Mound). The barrow was named thusly because of the belief that an ancient King was buried there. Unimaginative scholars, as they are wont to do, referred to the ship by the place where it was found. SEE THE IN-GAME BOOK for more real-life information; located inside the Gokstad tent-ship (Player-home).

SLuckyD: pronounced SLUH-kee-DEE' (rhymes with "plucky fee"). Slucky, or just Sluck if you're into the whole brevity thing, is the online alias for the creator of this mod, and someone who has been on the cutting edge of Skyrim modding since the game's release. Unless I'm recruited to work somewhere which eats too far into my free time, I hope to continue offering the modding community more new releases, improving past releases, fixing bugs in the game, and helping others to make their own modding visions materialize. Few people know what SLuckyD means, as it's only been posted a couple times maybe... I'll probably stick it in a mod's EasterEgg somewhere.

[VERSION HISTORY]

v1.3b

- fixes not being able to exit Vanilla interiors

- changes how Player exits the Gokstad 'interior'

- adds collision to the main ship's meshes (eliminating one more object that needed scripting to move)

- collision now affects actors during sailing (will push them if they are in the way)

- fixes issue of the ship moving while the Player remaining still; and/or CTD

- reduces studdering and 'wandering' of ship's objects (oars, sail, etc)

- removes ability to change the script timing; is now hard-coded at a flat rate (0.1)

- adds ability to adjust height of crash-detector

- adds ability to toggle explosion/fireball on or off

v1.2b

- adds two more interiors as alternative Player-homes

- adds various 'system performance modes', for in-game adjustment by Users

- adds optional spawning of three NPCs, two different types

- adds ability to change view/position of Player

- adds collision to some meshes for better immersion (replaces the lever inside the mast)

- adds the ability to use the mod at fps rates as low as the 20-25fps (use 'Change View')

- sail and oars now switch out depending on speed (sail/row and stowed)

- expands functionality of the 'ground/crash detector' (now detects most everything)

- adds a Customization Menu in-game, so Users can tweak various aspects of the mod

- tweaked for overall increase in performance on ALL systems

- adds another simple dock in Dawnstar

- fixed the 'reset lever' on the dock

v1.1b

- fixes the shields from clipping into the gunwales

- revamped the entire control system to allow WASD instead of sneak/mouseLook

- better collision detection; adds actor detection (rather than only land)

- moves Player's position on the ship while sailing to the Navigator's spot in the stern

- adds the beginnings of the shipwright's building

- fixes the stowedSail from not appearing when anchoring (if far enough away from the dock)

- overall stability of the script and operation (given User's system maintains at least 50fps)

v1.0b

requires the Gokstad Hotfix2 to also be installed

- First PostCK release; remade completely using the Skyrim Creation Kit

- adds a simple dock near EastEmpireWarehouse

- adds a sailable ship to Tamriel

- adds a static ship to an interior cell (for the Player-home)

- adds the first volume of 'History of the Gokstad'

vBeta 1 through 3

* DO NOT USE THESE - PreCK mods may cause saveGame corruption or other problems in-game *

- Original PreCK releases

- only the meshes, and a bed in the 'tent ship'

[CREDITS]

- Mebyon: for creating the magnificent naval chart for the coastline of Skyrim, and for taking it even further by making a book with valuable game information. ALSO for putting up with my 'editorial comments & advice' during the chart's development.

- Bethesda: I used several Vanilla textures applied to my meshes. I also altered a Vanilla NIF to contain my meshes (due to the shader data not being exported from 3DSMax properly); as well as using collision geometry from various Vanilla meshes.

- Langskibet fra Gokstad ved Sandefjord; N Nicolaysen 1882 Kristiania, Forlagt af Alb. Cammermeyer (this is the book I used to model most of the Gokstad)

[LEGAL] Bethesda (or "Licensor" as defined in the Skyrim EULA) is not the author of the "Customized Game Materials" included in this package. “THIS MATERIAL IS NOT MADE, GUARANTEED OR SUPPORTED BY THE PUBLISHER OF THE SOFTWARE OR ITS AFFILIATES.”