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The Elder Scrolls III MORROWIND: Water Life by abot
Tribunal OR Bloodmoon engine required 
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Water Life is an attempt to mix the scripting techniques developed in 
the "Where are all bird going?" plugin with the best aquatic creature 
modding resources to bring more life into Morrowind waters. 

This plugin mainly adds to Morrowind (most) peaceful aquatic creatures 
based on the wonderful models & textures by Cait Sith, Lady Eternity & 
Proudfoot, Brash. 

The main goals of the plugin are:

- make waters and shore feel more alive, especially deep sea diving in 
wilderness desert areas 

- tolerable/dynamic fps hit 

- no install/uninstall/reinstall quest/game consequences 

- compatibility with all existing & future plugins, thanks to the 
dynamic, real time placement/deletion of all items and water areas 
recognition. 

What makes this plugin really different is the way (with pros and cons) 
creatures are placed in the world and the effort to make them more 
"alive". You can hate or love this way of placing creatures, but I think 
it's worth a try. 

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IMPORTANT! READ IT! Installation/use: 
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Installation: open the .7z archive and extract the Data Files folder 
and its contents into your Morrowind folder, paying attention to 
keep the subdirectory/files structure.

This mod uses some ingredients/interaction with Necessities Of 
Morrowind. If you use both the mods, you must have Necessities Of 
Morrowind loaded AFTER Water Life to have NOM drinking/fill working and 
autodrink/autofill NOM water containers in known fresh water zones and 
when raining. 

NOTE: from version 1.10 the abotWaterLife is in .esm format (Master 
plugin), so it will be loaded before NOM anyway. It is still correct to 
have all mods ordered by date descending though. 

The game engine loads stuff ordered by type and inverse timestamp, so 
loading order is: .esm (older first) .esp (older first) .ess (older 
first) 

Suggested rule: All .esm should be dated before .esp, and all .esp 
should be dated before .ess saved games 

If you have a .esm or a .ess with date in the future (I.E. to make it 
load after all other mods), as your saved games will be saved with your 
current system date by default, you probably will break this rule. 

Note: the rule has exceptions, there are mods engineered to be loaded 
before/after every other mods (GMST fixes/vaccine) which must have dates 
set in the future/past, refer to their documentation for more info. 

Do as you like, I prefer to reorder my mods to follow the rule using 
TESTool (or Mash, but I have customized my Mash copy to make this 
operation easier, so I suggest you use TESTool for mod reordering). 


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Requirements 
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This plugin requires Tribunal OR Bloodmoon (not the .esm checked, but 
the engine must support automatic start scripts, delete and other 
scripting functions non present in the original Morrowind). 

It was compiled and tested with version 1.6.18.20 of Morrowind. 

The plugin is set to NOT be dependant on Tribunal.esm/Bloodmoon.esm 
loaded. This way, a unique plugin is compatible with both expansions. 

Note for mod customization: if you recompile/resave it from TESCS 
without declaring it dependant on Tribunal or Bloodmoon, you should 
clean the (generated by TESCS) GMST (using TESToool for instance), or 
set it as dependant from Tribunal.esm or Bloodmoon.esm (or avoid the 
problem using the excellent "GMST Vaccine.esp" by Wrye) 

If you simply want change the plugin date to adjust its loading order, 
I really suggest you use Mash 
(http://www.morrowind-oblivion.com/utilities.php#wyre) or TESTool 
(http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=utilities.detail&id 
=34 ) to do it instead of resaving it from TESCS. 

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Updates history 
********************************************************************** 

Updates/changes in version 1.18

- added menu option to configure spawning of gondoliers (yes/No/not in Wilderness)

- updated NOM ingredient for ducks & geese

- fixed autoloot missing some sand coin

- fixed gondolier trips disabling previous player waterwalking 

- recompressed some textures



Updates/changes in version 1.17

- added Arcimaestro Antares's Cecaelia

- some scripts optimizations

- reworked documentation

- fixed potentially crashing meshes


Updates/changes in version 1.16/1.15 to 1.16 patch 

- ingredient changed for better compatibility with next NOM version

- fixed a bug in fishing scripts

- added nocturnal gondoliers (gondola is equipped with a lamp) 

- added code to cope with evil player attacking gondoliers 

- some script optimization and inventory loot fixing

- stripified some meshes

- reworked documentation


Updates/changes in version 1.15/1.14 to 1.15 patch 

- fixed initial player position on gondolier trips

- better placing of ducks & geese (should go to water surface faster) 

- Wizard Island detection based on cell name instead of coordinates so 
to be compatible with relocated versions 



Updates/changes in version 1.14/1.13 to 1.14 patch 

- added interaction with gondoliers 


Updates/changes in version 1.13/1.12 to 1.13 patch 

- added Arcimaestro Antares' gondoliers 

- fixed Manbou animation to swim a little lower 

- added recognition of Tamriel Rebuilt Map 2 fresh water areas (Lake 
Boethiah south area) 

- ab01wlAntiSpawnRing should work better. 

For anybody too lazy to read everything or search... Place a ring in 
your (probably interior) cell to avoid creature spawning in the cell. 
From the console: placeatpc ab01wlantispawnring 1 100 0 then you have to 
exit/reenter the cell for this to work 

From the editor: drop a ring inside the cell. 


Updates/changes in version 1.12/1.11 to 1.12 patch 

- snow melting: auto-filling NOM bottles now works also When it is 
snowing and you are near a NOM fire, 

- if you are using the last NOM 2.13.02 version, auto-filling NOM 
bottles when it is raining now works without triggering the NOM message 
"You don't need water now" and preserving the original NOM messages when 
using wells. 

- fixed possible disappearing of small water creatures when killed out 
of water 

- fixed (rare) possibility of creatures following you inside interiors 

- changed blood texture to avoid possible big red blood stains when 
fishing 

- fixed small glitch in fishing code 

- companions and guards should peacefully let you go fishing now 

- removed extra file NOM2.12patch.esp, please use up-to-date NOM2.13.esp 
or better 


Updates/changes in version 1.11/1.10 to 1.11 patch 

- fix/small crabs can be captured with the spear again 

- fix/ should be better interfaced with last TR_Data.esm release 

- fix/abotWaterLife.esm redated to avoid possible conflicts with 
Morrowind.esm date 

- better detection of water area near Port Telvanni in TR map 1 


Updates/changes in version 1.10/1.9 to 1.10 patch 

- for better compatibility with expansion plugins, the file is now a 
master plugin. This should also simplify loading Necessities of 
Morrowind after this plugin. Just replace the previous abotWaterLife.esp 
with the last abotWaterLife.esm 

- for all youngsters/impressionable/contemplative people, added a "Less 
aggressive predators" configuration option to allow more contemplative 
water trips 

- for all lore or collision purists/somersault whales hating people, 
added a "Spawn whales" configuration option. As with all other options, 
you can change them real-time. 

- now you can also configure if you want to spawn water palaces 

- in standard Morrowind, the only things automatically spawned by the 
engine in the sea wilderness seem to be slaughterfish and (at higher 
level) dreugh schools. Now the "New fishing-rod compatible 
slaughterfish" option not only will replace behavior of next generation 
of slaughterfish, but also dreughs. You can make those engine ever 
spawning slaughterfishes/dreughs less annoying using the "Less 
aggressive predators" option if you like. 

- configuration menu reworked for easier options navigation and display 
of changes with back << and forth >> buttons. 

- added advice message when bleeding near predators 

- added Dwemer Diving Helm and Dreugh Water Breathing Helm 

- added precious submarine mineral veins on some rocks 

- added jars, crates, barrels, urns, various shipwreck debris, drowned 
corpses & skeletons (many thanks to JAEGER for ideas, suggestions & 
testing help) 

- added BookRotate compatible script to Water Life Book (thanks Cydine & 
Maboroshi Daikon!) 

- reworked loot, treasures/locks should be better scaled with player 
level 

- sextant can now be used while swimming (not when diving) to allow for 
easier treasure searching, and does not repeat warning messages 

- added recognition of Tamriel Rebuilt Map 1 and Silgrad 
Tower/Blacklight fresh water areas 

- better whales AI and placing 

- fixed possible unsafe item disabling, should be much more stable now 
than version 1.8 
- fixed possible freezing when attacked while hitch-hiking 

- fixed killerwhale loot (thanks Ershatz!) 

- added a small Daedric/Common language hint section in Water Life book 


Updates/changes in version 1.9/1.8 to 1.9 patch 

- added a wonderful gift from Mordicus, a renewed, colorful Water Life 
Book :-) Note. you can see all the new content of the book from a game 
in progress, but to be able to see the new book jacket you probably need 
to start a new game. 

- added special mapped treasure chests... 

- added display of last noted coordinates to the sextant (thanks to 
shakti for the idea!), this should be useful to track back a previously 
visited place. 

- due to people complaining, snails are no more spawned by default. If, 
like me, you think they are worth the warning animation message, just 
re-enable them using the configuration option. 

- added (configurable) bubbles effect on 1st person view loot compatible 
with The Lys' Resources Enhanced. You can get The Lys' Resources 
Enhanced here: 
http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=2674 

- option to avoid possible shortsword skill increase while using the 
fishing rod, or let the skill rise in a way compatible with Galsiah's 
Character Development (many thanks to Galsiah for the fixes!) 

- wrong creature placement probability reduction 

- general code tweaks/loot mechanics improvements, should be more stable 
and generate less saved game data. 

- added extra file NOM2.12patch.esp to change NOM so to use standard, 
not scripted leveled lists (see notes on changes for version 1.8 for 
info about possible problems with scripted leveled lists and how to 
solve them). Correct .esp loading order is: abotWaterLife.esp NOM 
2.12.esp / GAM NOM 2.12.esp NOM2.12patch.esp 

- added Wrye's Mash creature remover so you can easily clean your 
savegame from creatures spawned by Waterlife. 


Updates/changes in version 1.8 

- replaced scripting changes to leveled lists with standard in-editor 
changes. 

- changed the slaugterfish spawning configuration option 

- added the option to avoid spawning the creatures giving (unharmful but 
possibly annoying) animation warnings (snails) 

- removed automatic addition of a configuration ring to the player's 
inventory if the ring is no more present. If you loose it, you can find 
another in Foryn Gilnith Shack, Seyda Neen. 

- a few other code stability optimizations 

Version 1.8 is mainly a fix for reported problems (many thanks to 
DarkDragon for realizing this and helping with the fixes) when adding to 
a in-progress game other mods changing the leveled items in a non 
scripted way. Please, see 
http://www.elderscrolls.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=206075 or the 
thread copy Save Games and Leveled Lists.txt in the \Data Files\Docs 
folder. 

If you have a saved game with this kind of problems to clean, here is 
the suggested procedure: 

Make (as always) a backup copy of your savegame. Load up the save in 
Enchanted Editor 
(http://hellwolve.blessed-oddity.com/index.php?main=download.htm). Look 
for LEVI (Items Leveled) or LEVC (Creatures Leveled) entries, and delete 
all of them, then save the (now) cleaned save game. Then, as usual, 
replace the old WaterLife.esp with the new version, paying attention to 
keep your mod loading order with a proper mod administration tool (Mash, 
TESTool...). Then, as usual when changing mod configuration, regenerate 
your Mashed Lists.esp (or Merged_Leveled_lists.esp if you are using 
TESTool+Aerolorn's resequencer) 

Sadly, as you can see reading the thread, it seems I am not the only one 
who was unaware of the problem, and if you are using other mods having 
the same problem, this will not be probably be solved. 

For anyone interested, a patch to NOM using standard levelled lists is 
included from version 1.9 of Water Life. Just load NOM2.12.esp after 
abotWaterLife as usual, load NOM2.12patch.esp after NOM2.12.esp, then 
regenerate your leveled lists as usual. 

Remember that your generated Mashed Lists.esp (or 
Merged_Leveled_lists.esp if you are using TESTool+Aerolorn's 
resequencer) should be loaded last. If not, change the mod dates 
accordingly. 


Updates/changes in version 1.7 

- added redwoodtreesprite's resources: chitons, sand dollars (I've 
called them "sand coins" though), sea stars, shells, snails! (see 
detailed credits in \Docs folder), and a lot of related ingredients. 

- added LadyLuck's sponge ingredients 

- added some Daduke's/redwoodtreesprite's wilderness marine ingredients 
(and unicorn horn resized as a nice shell) 

- added Corv's feather ingredient for all you aquatic rangers ;-) 

- scripts tweaks: spawning errors reduction, improved speed & stability, 
better crawling of crabs & snails 

- added no-spawning rings (experimental, mainly for modders) Place a 
ring in your cell to avoid creature spawning in the cell. From the 
console: placeatpc ab01wlantispawnring 1 100 0 From the editor: drop a 
ring inside the cell. 

- updated ingredients icons thanks to Dogfish 

- changed leveled ingredients probability 

- added fresh water recognition of Wizard Island & Sea of Destiny areas 
( experimental, still you should not see tropical fish under WI icy 
lake) 

- updated & moved documentation file to Data Files\Docs folder (more 
Mash friendly... by the way, go GET Mash!) 

- inverted ndib black pearl icon alpha channel (thanks to detritus2004 
& Mordicus hint) 

- increased blue whales base size by 0.2 

- increased min size of water palaces by 0.05 

- scripted ducks & geese sounds should overlap less sounds now 

- increased dolphin speed when hitch-hiking 

- decreased turtle speed a little 

- increased turtle probability a little 

- increased water palaces probability a little 

- sunfish should be less common in low water 

- sonar creature empty hit voice moved middle way for better 
compatibility 

- replaced Fidel's water palace textures with better-compressed textures 
by Erstam 


Updates/changes in version 1.6/1.x Patch: 

- added cute red crabs from Dragon's Breech 

- If you dive enough, you may find deep water palaces! 

- added FAQ section from TES forums to this file 

- added ancient dreugh 

- added grom ingredient 

- no more levitation/teleportation disabling when hitch-hiking 

- predators are normally a little less aggressive but can feel your 
bleeding, and become more aggressive... so beware, and heal yourself! 

- predators will "eat" more preys 

- better recognition of player spear fishing 

- slight changes to leveled items 

- reduced treasure chests lock level a little 

- reduced seastars probability a little 

- script tweaks 


Updates/changes in version 1.5/1.x Patch: 

- tweaked spawning engine to improve creature placements (hopefully a 
big reduction of misplaced creatures, thanks for the error reports, 
Ashemanu!) 

- limited "cold" zone to be more west of Sheogorad. Bloodmoon should 
probably be more to the north, it is same latitude as Sheogorad probably 
only due to the limitations of the Morrowind map) 

- spawning frequency in interiors reduced to avoid problems in small 
caves 

- tweaked AIFlee settings to be more compatible with Wakim AI flee game 
settings 

- now you can autodrink/autofill NOM bottles even with a spell ready 
(you still can't with a sword ready) 

- tweaked initialization scripts 

- removed items from Foryn Gilnith shack 

- sea stars and barnacles should be spawned more near water 

- now you can configure spawning things down to 5 min FPS; not suggested 
everywhere, but maybe this way you will be able to see a duck near 
Balmora Expanded with low specs machines 

- intro and water life book text revised, thanks to princess_stomper, 
Yelena and HarryManback at TES forums 

Updates/changes in version 1.4/1.x Patch: 

- removed configuration menu autorun to avoid compatibility problems 
with NOM or other mods using autorun configuration menus. You can access 
Water Life configuration menu any time you want simply equipping the 
<Water Life Ring> 

- now your Short Blade skill is stored when you equip a Fishing Rod and 
reset when you unequip it, so it should increase that skill no more 

- added NOM autodrink/NOM water containers autofill option in known 
fresh water zones and when raining! (you MUST have Necessities Of 
Morrowind loaded AFTER Water Life for this to work) 

- added the option to enable/disable NOM autodrink/NOM water containers 
autofill option from Water Life configuration menu 

- now ducks and geese should appear day only 

- tweaked predators AI stats a little 

- removed autocalculate attribute from jellyfish and octopus spells 

- tweaked creatures placing engine, now spawn in front percent factor 
works more like expected, and bigger things should be spawned mostly 
behind the player 


Updates/changes in version 1.3/1.2 Patch: 

- fixed problem of dying "sonar" npc sounds heard by some users 

- fixed problems with bubbles water breathing spell not ending correctly 

Updates/changes in version 1.2/1.1 Patch: 

- fixed issue with being able to fish even without baits 

- last wrong creatures placing out of water issues should be hopefully 
fixed 

- code/items placing tweaks 

- added x 3 spawning fish factor to the configuration menu (not 
recommended, intended only for fast preview) 

Updates/changes in version 1.1/1.0 Patch: 

- great code & stability improvement (update to this version is strongly 
recommended) 

- fixed swimming crabs 

- fixed barnacles angle 

- fixed repeating message using sextant on cloudy nights 

- fixed wrong placing of creatures out of water 

- manatees should jump no more 

- added x 0.75 spawning fish factor to configuration menu 

- now a few creatures are spawning even in pools. You can't always see 
them, but you can always try to fish for them ;-) 

- added hitch-hiking for some peaceful sea creatures :-) 


Updates/changes in version 1.0/Beta Patch: 

- Thanks to Cait, Angel Fish mesh animation 100% fixed (Yay!) 

- Major changes in spawning engine: now creatures can spawn even when 
you are out of water (configurable by menu) 

- no more need to deep dive to encounter big ocean fish, and more 
homogeneous distribution of creatures 

- a configurable % of fish can be spawned in front of player 

- configurable spawn speed factor 

- you can fish even when out of water 

- you can use the Fishing Rod from your favorite boat or ship 

- you can enable/disable auto fish spawning with/without Fishing Rod 
equipped from configuration menu 

- fish caught with Fishing Rods will auto-loot 

- Now you can use Crab Meat, Scrib Jerky and Kwama Cuttle as bait with 
Fishing Rods 

- Fishing Rods included in a more appropriate leveled list 

- Fishing Rods no more need sneaking, have a longer reach, and use a 
less-combat luring system 

- fixed randomization of fish loot 

- Fishing Academy fishing skill compatibility added 

- Sextant is activated when equipped 

- <Water Life> configuration ring added, you can start the configuration 
menu anytime/anywhere simply equipping it. Like the <Tempus Fugit Ring>, 
it will auto-unequip after use 

- improved plants/rocks/seafloor items vertical placing (should fix the 
majority of floating issues near steep slopes). 

- better placements of big rocks in exterior waters, no big rocks in 
interior waters 

- thanks to the improved placing routine, more rocks/flora in 
medium/deep water 

- improved crabs walking (they should "swim" less and walk more now) 

- lowered jellyfish sting spell power a little 

- now you can enable/disable creature spawning in interiors from the 
configuration menu; good for people not wishing to share their private 
swimming pools with fish ;-) 

- changed initialization/configuration script to be less frame intensive 

- Changed meshes for sonar spawners: now they use an invisible npc: and 
the only thing that could be rarely spot is the npc shadow, instead of 
the "phantom" hermit crab used before 

- some new/changed content for Water Life Book. It now also magically 
reports the fishing skill of the reader a la Fishing Academy. 

- fixed missing icons transparency 

- New style slaughterfish aggressivity/power increased 

- No changes to original slaughterfish if not chosen by config menu 

- added Cait's duck13 animation mesh missing from beta (sorry) 

Updates/changes in Beta: 

- removed Morrowind4Fish "giant" trophies (still 100% compatible with 
Morrowind4Fish, and Wilderness 2.1 too) 

- lowered minimum in water depth to start creature spawning to -60 
units. This was necessary to avoid problems with small pools 
recognition. 

- warm area enlarged so to include Odai river mouth 

- NOM (Necessities Of Morrowind) compatible/ingredients added (crab, 
fish) 

- modified/added plants, statics & ingredients (algae, kollops, rocks, 
interactive air bubbles...) 

- modified/added creatures 

- modified/added items (new dynamic treasure chests, 

improved shipwrecks) 

- improved spawning engine + interior water recognition 

- configurable auto gathering of new ingredients / spear fishing 
facility 

- fishing rods! now you can go fishing even pesky slaughterfish 

- configurable minimum FPS before adding a new creature 

- configurable slaughterfish spawning 

- in game configuration menu 

- A small illustrated book 

- improved version of my previous "Sextants" plugin included 

- improved version of my previous "Tempus Fugit ring" plugin included 


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Hints & Tips 
********************************************************************** 

- If you loose your <Water Life> configuration ring, relax, you can find 
another one in Foryn Gilnith Shack, Seyda Neen. 

- In default configuration the script check for water areas around to 
spawn fish. You can tune this by configuration menu, enabling the check 
only when you have the Fishing Rod equipped. If you unequip the Fishing 
Rod/disable out of water spawning, the script will spawn only when you 
are at about -60 into water, so the overhead is minimum when out of 
water. 

- Be careful when fishing with people around; Fishing Rods do almost no 
damage, but have a long range! 

- Fishing is meant to be a lone sport. Better not have companions/guards 
around stealing your prey. 

- The spear-fishing facility and the fishing rods work only with my 
new-added water creatures; in fact, all code is attached to the 
creature. So, if you are using other mods containing the same Cait's 
creatures (Wilderness 2, Morrowind4Fish, Cait's Sea and so on), these 
features will not work with creatures added by other mods. 

You can easily recognize a creature added from my mod switching to 3d 
person view, opening the game console and clicking on the creature: the 
console window title will show the creature name; my creatures have the 
ab01 prefix. Anyway, if you are trying to use a fishing rod with the 
right creature (a fish introduced by my mod), you should see explanation 
messages telling you if you are acting the right way. So, if you don't 
have any Crab Meat or Scrib Jerky or Kwama Cuttle bait, a message should 
tell you that you need it to go fishing; if you are in too deep water, a 
message should tell you, and so on. If no messages appear, it's probably 
the wrong fish (not a small enough fish of my mod, or not a fish of my 
mod at all). If you have the bait and the fish is from my mod, try 
aiming & hitting it until you feel some nibbles. You should be able to 
lure the fish until it is near enough to catch it (pay attention to 
people/creatures around, fishing rods do 1 damage but have a GREAT 
range). Good luck & enjoy fishing, it's great especially from a safe row 
boat (but you can even fish from MadMax ultimate galleon). 

- Be careful with ducks & geese, now they will follow you in/out of 
water if you bother them. Also, if you are lucky enough, geese can 
reserve some surprise... 

- This plugin works great with: Necessities of Morrowind by Taddeus & 
Nymeria (but beware, without the patch NOM can mess with levelled items) 
Water Seraph race by millinghordesman, Where Are All Birds Going by 
abot, Ultimate Galleon by MadMax, Sea of Solstheim by Detritus2004, 
Resources Enhanced by TheLys. 

I really suggest you try these with Water Life. 

Ultimate Galleon, Stormrider sailing mods use attack-disabled/disabled 
when not in use invisible collision detect NPC placed around the boats, 
so they don't react if hit by Fishing Rod or if surrounded by aggressive 
fish). 

- This plugin is compatible with: Dale Stocker's Merfolk, Stormrider by 
Kellick Stormcrow, The Wilderness Mod 2.x, Morrowind4Fish Beta, Sea of 
Destiny, Fishing Academy, SellnSail... This plugin should be compatible 
with almost everything ;-) 

- The electric water netch is a citation from the Sword Of The Perithia 
TC by Andre Sergoyan, first mod that made me wish to be a Morrowind 
modder. 

********************************************************************** 
Saved Games 
********************************************************************** 

This plugin should not invalidate your old saved games. If you don't 
want to use it any more, simply uncheck it. 99% of stuff is new / 
created dynamically by script, so there should be no conflict with other 
mods. 

IMPORTANT: PREVIOUS VERSION USERS READ SECTION BELOW: 

if you experience problems after updating, use a "clean" saved game. 

1. If you have not done it yet, add the line 

AllowYesToAll=1 

to your Morrowind.ini file under [General] section. This could avoid you 
a lot of confirmation clicks. 

2. Make a backup of the old abotWaterLife.esp and of your save game 

3. Go to a small interior cell without water 

4. Save the game and exit. 

5. Restart the game, and uncheck the previous version of this mod from 
the Data Files menu before you load the game just saved. 

6. Load your saved game. You will probably have warning messages, but 
thanks to the AllowYesToAll=1 line, you can ignore all with 1 click) 

7. Once you're back in the game without the mod loaded, save the game 
again. 

8. replace the old version of abotWaterLife.esp with the new, updated 
version If you want to use the NOM autodrink/autofill in fresh water 
option, be sure to load Necessities Of Morrowind AFTER Water Life 
(eventually set abotWaterLife.esp file date/time accordingly) 

9. Reload the last, clean saved game, hopefully you will not loose much 
of your belongings. I am sorry, too many changes to save alpha/beta 
stuff. 


********************************************************************** 
Known glitches/bugs 
********************************************************************** 

Because of the way these creatures move, first time a snail is generated 
Morrowind and the editor will give you the following warning: "AnimGroup 
"WalkForward" for "CLONE RTS_CaitSnail_" was exported with "Animate in 
Place" from MAX." 

This has no effect on gameplay at all, and the creatures animate 
perfectly ingame. 

Be sure to have a line AllowYesToAll=1 put in the Morrowind.ini file to 
be able to check only one popup warning box. 

note: from version 1.8, you can choose from the configuration menu to 
avoid spawning the creatures giving animation warnings (snails) 

note: from version 1.9 ,due to people complaining, snails are no more 
spawned by default. If, like me, you think they are worth the warning 
animation message, just re-enable them using the configuration option. 

Animated treasure chests have a wide open radius, so avoid opening them 
from the back else you risk getting stuck. It is also possible that you 
get stuck into a generated water palace, it should be rare, but it may 
happen. If you get stuck, you can just use the console command fixme or 
tcl to temporarily toggle game collisions... or just reload previous 
save. 

Sometimes you could catch aquatic creatures crawling out of water... 
they should disappear as soon as you look in another direction. 

Cait's Whales have known animation size problems (difficult to hit, 
player can walk through...). I decided to keep them anyway because I 
love them, so please don't ask. 

Sometimes creatures seem to freeze during AI recalculation... be 
patient, they usually find a way... especially if you don't look at 
them. 

The Fishing Rod is a short blade, instead of a blunt weapon, mainly for 
the less strange effect of the shadow cast by the engine. 

There is a small still noticeable animation jump on Cait's ducks & geese 
entering/exiting from water. I hope those who understand what's behind 
the scenes will forgive me. 

I was in doubt if writing a sequel to "ABC" for Barbarians: "S is for 
Sextant...", then I decided to dare a sort of diary book; English is not 
my language, so forgive that kind of mistakes. 

Fishing Academy/Sell and Sail mods use invisible ship collision 
detection NPCs that are not attack disabled so they can attack 
player/fish. Try to avoid hitting them with the Fishing Rod (being 
invisible, I know it's difficult without cheating with TCB console 
command). 

There has been reports of creatures spawning in wrong places: due to the 
placing method, this can't be avoided 100% (but it should be really 
rare). 

- if you loose your Water Life book, you can buy one at Balmora, from 
the Pawnbroker Dralasa Nithryon. 

From version 1.8 standard leveled list are used instead of (buggy) 
scripted leveled lists (see Updates/changes in version 1.8for more 
info). This means, same as with every other mod using leveled lists, you 
need to regenerate your Mash or TESTool merged leveled lists to have 
lists work as intended after upgrading. 

Please signal all bugs/suggestions you can think of. You can contact me 
at Elder Scrolls forums or by email. 


********************************************************************** 
Known Conflicts 
********************************************************************** 

There can be a slight conflict with mods modifying the slaughterfish 
script. If you load such a mod after Water Life, you will not be able to 
go fishing slaughterfish/make them less aggressives; not a critical conflict at all, but
good to know).
So far the mods I know changing the standard slaughterfish script 
are: Water Life, Creatures by PirateLord, Huntermod by Martin Bohnet, 
Morrowind Creatures by Master X. Last loaded of these mods will override 
the slaughterfish script, so choose as you like. 

A recommendation: if you install a mod using older version of Cait's 
angel fish files after this plugin, you'd better restore the fixed files 
(dated 2005) provided with Water Life to avoid the angel fish missing 
death animation error. 


********************************************************************** 
Credits 
********************************************************************** 

My first thanks for models, textures and support to: Arcimaestro 
Antares, Brash, Brillo, Cait (extra thanks to her for fixing the Angel 
Fish animation), Corv, Daduke, Detritus2004, Dogfish, Erstam, Fidel, 
Kagrenaz, kishinju, Korrow, Lady Eternity, LadyLuck, lochnarus, 
LordOverKill, Max_aka_NOBODY, Mordicus, Nymeria, Proudfoot, Qarl, 
redwoodtreesprite, SNAPCASE, Starcon5, Srikandi, Taddeus, TommyKhajiit 
(if I forgot someone, I apologize and please, let me know). 

Thanks to Corv for letting me use the feather ingredient so this mod and 
Ultimate Ranger can go together well. 

Second thanks for MadMax and Zappara, your scripts has been a great 
inspiration source; a special thank to MadMax also for making his last 
masterpiece Ultimate Galleon as compatible as possible to this plugin. 

Then I wanna thank Mordicus for the french translation of this mod 
(harder than expected by us both) and for the precious feedback. 

Last but not least, I want to thank all people giving 
feedback/testing/ideas/support at the TES forums and by mail; 
improvements are heavily based on your precious feedback: Abaraxas, 
Anghardel67, Apophis2412, Arsonide, Ashemanu, Ava, bl4k3, blake., 
BlindEye, blooo, bluntfang, brady228, Brrrtje, BungaDunga, Caine, Canus, 
Case, catman the raven, chojin, Cyrodiil, DagothUhr, Darnammu, DARoot, 
dilord, Dimitri Mazieres, DJ_Antogator, doe, efin, Eidolon, Eirinjas,
Enslaved, FallingStar, Flatliner, FofA, fragonard, Galeth, Gen_Lee, Goalie8, 
GrayskiesRooster, harborgolfer, HarryManback, Hellbishop, highpressure, 
Illtempered, ix-ir, JAEGER, Jarrod, JayProgrammer, Kagz, Keket, 
killersquid, Korana, Korrow, LaTiTi, LazyAshSlave, littledoggey, 
Mahatma_Dandee, Marbred, Matthew_Kaine, mfelizandy, Nigedo, 
Nimrod_Flamehair, Orc_Hunter, Pester, Pseron Wyrd, princess_stomper, 
Raveren, Renzeekin, RizzenWsV, scifiguy52, SkyGuy, Sarafan, 
SATAN_OF_PDS, seden, S'Viirr, SerialKiller, Shanjaq, Silver_Falcon, some 
dumb guy, SSJ4 Goku, sunsi, suzaku, Sven_the_Llama, SveNitoR, Taurusaud, 
TehTufty, Telesphoros, Tempered, tetchy, The_inwah, Thrall, tx365,
Tyndale, Varrdlich-DamaGus, Vivli, Yelena (again, if I forgot someone,
 I apologize) 

This plugin, like many others, could not exist without the info found in 
the invaluable "Morrowind Scripting for Dummies", a manual for the TES 
Construction Set Scripting Language by GhanBuriGhan and "Morrowind Mod 
Maker's Manual" by Edwardsm 

Also, debugging random generated items can be a nightmare; without 
Bink's QuickChar plugin it would have been a longer nightmare (thanks 
Bink!) 

A huge thank you also to MentalElf for TesFiles, awesome mod-packaging 
tool! 


********************************************************************** 
Permissions 
********************************************************************** 
Used resources: ( author, availability: * = should ask author). Also, 
please read the info inside Docs folder. 

BookArt\abot ( abot )
Icons\abot ( abot, Dogfish, redwoodtreesprite ) 
Icons\Cait_Misc ( Cait, Proudfoot, Kagrenaz )
Icons\Detritus (Detritus2004 ) 
Icons\FKA ( Corv *) 
Icons\LL ( LadyLuck ) 
Icons\NoM ( 
Taddeus, Nymeria * ) 
Icons\RTS ( redwoodtreesprite # ) 

Meshes ( Brillo #) 
Meshes\1s5 ( Starcon5, LordOverKill, Max_aka_NOBODY, 
Qarl) 
Meshes\abot ( reworked Startcon5 sextant, Lady E, Bethesda 
meshes, reworked Fidel palace) 
Meshes\abot\aa ( reworked Arcimaestro Antares meshes )
Meshes\Barabus ( barabus ) 
Meshes\Cait_Farm ( Cait, Proudfoot, Kagrenaz ) 
Meshes\Cait_Misc ( Cait ) 
Meshes\Cait_Polar ( Cait, Proudfoot, Kagrenaz ) 
Meshes\Cait_Sea (Cait, Proudfoot, Kagrenaz ) 
Meshes\DB ( Lady Eternity & Proudfoot; free for modding if you download 
full Dragon's Breech Total conversion ) 
Meshes\DD (Daduke # ) 
Meshes\FKA ( Corv *) 
Meshes\DD (Daduke # ) 
Meshes\Detritus ( Detritus2004 * ) 
Meshes\FKA ( Corv *)
Meshes\LadyE ( Lady E. )
Meshes\LadyL ( LadyLuck ) 
Meshes\RTS ( Cait, Korrow, lochnarus, TommyKhajiit ) 
Sound\Cr\Cait_Farm ( Cait, Kagrenaz ) 
Sound\abot ( abot, Arcimaestro Antares)
Sound\abot\Cr ( Cait, abot ) 
Sound\AnCr (Arcimaestro Antares)
Textures\AnCr  (Arcimaestro Antares)

Complete info for redwoodtreesprite's modder resources is inside the 
\Docs folder. Please take a look at it. 

When possible/not conflicting, I put unmodified resources in the 
original/resembling author name folders. 

Not (*) models and textures should be free for modders/Morrowind 
standard/reworked by me, but please credit the authors. 

For (#) models and textures check original info in Docs folder. 

For (*) models and textures use you should ask authors (there should be 
no problems, they are all kind). 

The fishing rod, sextant and water palace are the result of my 
part-time/sneaking tampering with a 3dstudio installation. The original 
meshes are by Bethesda, Starcon5 and Fidel, I just stripped/moved/scaled 
stuff, so if you want to use them don't forget to credit the original 
authors. 

For complete credits about Arcimaestro Antares' Cecaelia creature, see the
original info in Docs folder.


You have my full permission to use things I introduced in this mod in 
any way you like. Credit is not necessary - but would be nice. 

No permission needed for uploading/translating this mod, anyway a mail 
/PM at TESForums to make me aware of it will be appreciated :-) 

For obvious lack of time, I guarantee uploading of official updates of 
this plugin only at my site (abot.silgrad.com) and at Morrowind Summit 
(www.rpgplanet.com/morrowind/). 



********************************************************************** 
Historical FAQ (extract from releases history at TES forums) 
********************************************************************** 

Q: Whats the difference between this one, and the already released 
aquatic mod by lady E?
A: Water Life is an attempt to mix the scripting 
techniques developed in the "Where are all bird going?" plugin with the 
best aquatic creature modding resources to my knowledge and taste. It's 
based mainly on creatures modeled by Cait, previously included by Brash 
in Morrowind4Fish plugin and by Cait/Kagrenaz in various other plugins; 
there are also a few models by Lady E, jellyfish and great shark if I 
recall correctly. The main difference is the way ( with pros and cons) 
creatures are placed in the world and the effort to make them more 
"alive". You can hate or love this way of placing creatures; I think 
it's worth a try. If you are afraid of the big download, maybe you can 
try the birds plugin using similar concepts 

Q: How does the animals behave in this mod, compared to other sealife 
mods!!??
A: There is an attempt to implement a sort of prey/predator 
behavior, not only aggressive monster vs. player or peaceful birds like 
creatures. This is limited by the game engine, but given the player- 
centric point of view of this plugin, the workaround predator attack 
player->prey attack predator can still give an acceptable feel. 

Q: As far as the spawning ship recks I think that could be a bad idea do 
to the fact that it would be hard to determine if its a real one or not 
when your looking for one quest related. Then I dont know what it looks 
like exactly so Ill see later.
A: Well, don't think these shipwrecks can 
be confused with standard ones, no doors to enter (and different sizes). 
There is still the (rare) possibility of a randomly generated shipwreck 
crashing with standard quest one, but you only need to move away enough 
from generated one to make it disappear from the world (imagine loosing 
your direction on deep sea wilderness), so it should be no real problem. 

Q: Fish tended to have the "stuck swimming into shore" issue more often 
(noted especially with Haze, Amango Salamon, Trout). Most would turn 
around and go back into the deeper waters, but it would take 'em 20-40 
seconds. Small issue, as I see it with every water life mod.
A: Yes, you 
can script AI to try new routes, often avoiding permanent stuck, but it 
requires long engine calculations. I think this is a necessary 
compromise 

Q: I had a mod active that added a bridge in seyda neen and I was 
swimming behind it, hunting crabs and napolean fish (those cuties) when 
suddenly three shovelnose's spawned and I hadn't seen any for about half 
an hour, is there some way to make some fish spawn less than others? 
I've only seen two sharks so I'm guessing there is. This isn't really a 
complaint but I just thought I'd report my happenings back to you, if 
they're any help at all. Also, jellyfish, I've only ever seen one, but I 
have been swimming in shallow water, do they spawn more in the deeper 
water?
A: Every creature has a configurable probability to be randomly 
spawned, so this can be trimmed, but it's always possible that for some 
periods a creature will be spawned more or not spawned at all, so what 
you experienced is pretty normal (and besides, I think this on the 
distance adds to the variety); medium/deep sea water spawns a lot of 
different creatures, so it's normal that some of them seem to appear 
rarely (single creature probability can be 4%). My main concern is to 
balance attacking predators versus defending preys (well, giving the 
fact that preys defend in packs, predators seem to need some stats 
pumping) 

Q: - Too many whales. Besides I don't like the jumping and 
summersaulting animations (ever seen a bluewhale making a summersault?), 
whales should be encountered VERY rarely, but in your mod it can happen 
that there are 3 big whales and a few orcas around at the same time. 
Encountering a big whale should be a very rare sensation. (Any way of 
disabling Caits whalejumping anims?)
A: Well, whales are one of the 
reasons that made me start this mod. I really love them, but being so 
huge and so "elaborate" in vertical evolutions, they had big problems in 
other mods using them. I thought that lowering their size a little and 
making them appear only in deep (well, relative to standard Morrowind 
water depth) water could avoid stuck problems. Then I tried disabling 
the jumps... I suddely realized how I was missing them. So, maybe I will 
probably reduce the jump probability for non-humpback whales, but don't 
wanna disable it completely. Did you try following a singing-jumping 
humpback whale at sunset? (you need the debug flight ring or something 
similar to be fast enough, but we are debugging after all, and these 
huge beasts are animated so fast). And orcas should be looking for 
whales cuties. Maybe I have to trim things a little, but this is what 
I'd like to reach, small whales families. 

Q: -A bug with a killerwhale. It tried to attack me (at least it looked 
like it). It ended being stuck above my head, rapidly changing 
directions resulting in a flicker. The only way i could get rid of it 
was to disable it via console. This happened twice.
A: Yes, it happened 
to me also. I initially thought it was related with the AI/combat 
settings, but it never happens to sharks, so I fear is an animation 
problem, don't know if I can fix it, I'll try. I even thought about not 
using the killerwhales, but I like them very much. 

Q: ... I still can't explain the crab invasion in Seyda Neen but I'm 
sure the answer will come...
A: I think it's due to the AI path grid in 
Seyda Neen being so near to the water. Crabs wandering radius is long 
enough to enjoy a walk on Seyda Neen. It may be considered a funny way 
to make guards earn their money. 

Q: Creatures disapear well I'm not sure when they disapear but sometimes 
another creature spawns in the place of another one. So my question is 
would it be possible to make a creature disapear if another one touches 
it or after killing it.
A: A creature should disappear when you are at a 
distance about 5500/5800 units and NOT looking at it. The script to 
determine if player is looking at a creature is Horatio's one taken from 
MSFD8, it's fast enough and effective, but has a rough 45° resolution 
step; so it's possible that at certains angles, especially looking 
around fast, you can CATCH something vanishing. If this happened STARING 
at a creature, then it's probably a bug I have to care to. I was in 
doubt on making creatures disappear immediately after death, but I 
thought that normal creature deletion when player was far enough could 
be a more realistic approach (well, a big killed shark should not vanish 
so easily). I am oriented on making small container creatures like 
seastars directly disappear in front of the player after looting a la 
"herbalism", this can be justified by the small dimension of the 
crumbling container and is far more convenient (you don't have the 
problem to remember what you have looted on your picking work). 

Q:Additions/ideas: One of the iconic images/ideas of the deep seas are 
sharks. The sharks are done pretty well although the Giant White Shark's 
(Great White Shark?) head/jaw and gills need some work I think, the eyes 
are too bugged out and the teeth and jaws just look wrong, as a 
signature fish this is so worth getting someone to improve it.
A: Well, 
I would be glad to find some good modeler/graphic willing to do it. 
There are a lot of possible model improvements, especially regarding 
combat animations (Cait models were not aimed at this I suppose). 
Anyway, I think the combat animation of Lady E big shark is still the 
best one, so I wanna keep it. 

Q:A couple of critter ideas: Kraken, giant aggressive octopusses of the 
deep.
A: In the absence of a squid model, I was thinking about it myself; 
being not a modeler, if I manage to obtain a big enough scaled one with 
no collision problems by tesc/scripting I'll give it a try. 

Q:Giant angler fish (the fish with huge heads and teeth and a light as 
a lure infront of their teeth). Have the light highly visible and the 
fish invisible until it attacks as the player comes to investigate, 
another good one for scaring the pants off the player.
A: Yum... models, 
please! 

Q: - I'm not too sure about the penguins on Solstheim. The entire place 
has a Scandinavian/North Pole feel to them, in which Emperor Penguins 
seem out of place to me. I haven't heard anyone else bring this up, so 
it's probably just me.
A: If we want to strictly adhere to Morrowind 
lore, very few of these creatures could fit. I'm trying to reproduce a 
realistic fres/salt/cold/temperate/warm environment positioning and a 
realistic enough behavior, but it's all related to Morrowind actual 
geography, so no south pole equivalence... and I love those penguins too 
much to remove them gladly. If others (many many others) complain about 
it, we will see. 

Q: - Maybe add one or two quests to encourage the players to go out and 
get wet? The most basic one could have some of the alchemists having you 
go out and gather shark teeth, turtle's eggs or whatever. I have zero 
experience in making mods myself, but would be happy to provide plot and 
dialogue for a more advanced type of quest. Now, because I have zero 
modding experience, I have no idea how much extra work this is compared 
to what you've done already. Do not feel offended if it is really, 
really much!
A: This is a good idea, but actually I have other 
priorities (= suggestions based fixes & placing engine improvement), and 
I'd like to have quests as external themed mods, playable with or 
without this mod loaded. A great example is Dale Stocker's Merfolks mod. 
We will see, maybe someone else more skilled than me with quests and 
english language could find it interesting. 

Q: -All the creatures seen and mentioned so far exist on earth. Maybe 
give some of them a more 'Morrowind' feel? This could even be something 
relatively uncomplex like kelp-type shading on the Great Whites, or 
putting a prehistoric turtle's head on the turtles?
A: My graphic skills 
are limited to (bad) retexturing, so no modeling, sorry; maybe some 
reskinning. 

Q: -I'm pretty sure I saw a shark do the flipper thing as well.
A: 
Actually they LEARN from dolphins. And, if they see a bird, they even 
catch it on the fly... ;-) No, you probably have seen a killerwhale or a 
big dolphin 

Q: -Maybe include a giant slaughterfish in your mod?
A: A really tough Old Blue Fin? Not a bad idea. 

Q: -The item you get for killing a perch is called 'suziki'. Is this a 
Japanese recipe or something? I didn't get it.
A: Yes, I think all Cait's 
fish Morrowind animations are based on japanese 3ds fish models. Some 
models are typical japanese fish. Ingredient (trophy) names taken from 
Morrowind4fish beta by Brash are still japanese only. I retained these 
ingredient names for better compatibility with Morrowind4fish. Now I am 
considering about correct the names and / or add/substitute with 
standard and NecessitiesOfMorrowind fish related ingredients. 

Q. -The octopus shouldn't lamely hit you with one tentacle...
A: Sorry, this is the only attack animation 

Q:I've been looking around for ducks and geese but still haven't seen 
any, which areas and times of the day are they most likely to spawn in? 
I've only seen a couple in my whole time playing with your mod. =)
A: They should spawn mostly when you are in low , fresh river and lake 
water ( about -60 / -90 Z coord) . I.E. Odai river, especially near 
Balmora, Suran, lake Amaya, Solstheim river and so on 

Q: -Just a thought, but maybe could you add (ie not let be spawned but 
put on the world) one or two of your creations? It would be so cool to 
stand upon Vivec's foreign quarter, stare at the see and then see whale 
blowing in the distance.
A: There are mods (to which I am and want remain as compatible as I 
can) that hand-place same creature models in fixed positions: 
Morrowind4Fish, Cait's Sea & Grotto, Wilderness 2, and maybe others 
I don't recall. I don't like hand placing creatures in possible future mods 
landzone areas.

Q:I chose the box with spear but I was still able to kill fish with an 
axe maybe I was supposed to check something else.
A: No, the spear is a 
facility, it's not really needed, you can still use every weapon you 
like, but you will have to "open" the corpse as standard. If you use a 
spear, you can "string" the killed crab/fish and auto-loot it, so there 
is a sort of usability "bonus". This feature was inspired from the ix-ir 
idea and argonian players comments in alpha thread. 

Q:When I was in shallow water off shore about ankle deep when a sea 
horse spawned. I believe a summoned ancestor ghost fell to the bottom of 
the water causing it to Spawn. Any summoned creature or companion can 
sit on the bottom and creatures will still spawn. It's great how you got 
everything to interact. The sea horse opened like a container but all 
the fish had herbalism effects.
A: Yes, auto loot works when using spear with small fish & crabs, and fishing rods. 

Q:I was in a cave with a pool just below me when I heard an air bubble 
sound. I looked down and seen a clown fish. If only I had a fishing rod. 
I do not believe it was supposed to spawn.
A:This is 1 of the most noticeable beta additions: interior water recognition; 
now creatures can spawn even in interior water (grottos, pools...). The condition is: 
player must be emitting splash/swimming sounds 

Q:I have not seen any crabs yet. I do not know where they spawn but I 
believe shallow water would might be best since they are small and hard 
to find which might be the reason I could not find any.
A: Crabs should be common enough near the shores. There should also 
be new bigger crabs on deep sea floor. 

A: OK, time for some explanation about fishing rods: 

The spear-fishing facility and the fishing rods work only with my new- 
added water creatures; in fact, all code is attached to the creature. 

So, if you are using other mods containing the same Cait's creatures 
(Wilderness 2, Morrowind4Fish, Cait's Sea and so on), these features 
will not work with creatures added by other mods. 

You can easily recognize a creature added from my mod switching to 3d 
person view, opening the game console and clicking on the creature: the 
console window title will show the creature name; my creatures have the 
ab01 prefix. 

Anyway, if you are trying to use a fishing rod with the right creature 
( a fish introduced by my mod), you should see explanation message 
telling you if you are acting the right way. 

So, if you don't have any crab meat bait, a message should tell you that 
you need it to go fishing and so on. If no messages appear, it's 
probably the wrong fish (not a small enough fish of my mod, or not a 
fish of my mod at all). 

Q: If you fish with a companion following you they will attack the fish 
so you can not catch it and it disapears.
A: Yes, same problem near 
guards. Actually, fishing was meant to be a good, lonely relaxing sport 
(like it should be?), or a less risky way for starting players to catch 
fish. If player is able to do it without much risk, killing fish the 
standard way may be faster and more effective. Regarding the 
guards/companion problems, I tried 'luring' fish with AIfollow instead 
of Combat, but it's not as effective. 

Q: I have a last question for you: when will the message box "Pearl Fish 
gathered from caught fish" will display ? (what difference with "Pearl 
Fish gathered"?) 
A: "x Fish gathered from caught fish" = gathered using fishing rod. "x 
Fish gathered" = standard gathered with autoloot on "You got it with the 
spear!" = gathered with the spear (randomly acquired ingredient not 
specified) 

Q:But I wonder how many time should the player use the rod (clicking the 
mouse) to catch a fish? Of course I can catch fishes easily, but I click 
many times with the mouse for that... if the message "a good throw" 
appears, does it mean that I have to wait the fish approaches, or do I 
have to click a few times (to make the fish come closer and to catch 
it)? 
A: You should study the fish; if it's coming closer, wait without more 
clicking until you see the "it's near!" message (you could have multiple 
message if there are many fishes), then start clicking again near the 
fish 

Q: When the fishes are close, it's easy to hit them with the rod... 
should the player try to avoid that? is it the normal way for fishing or 
shall I use the rod (one single click) and wait till the fish is 
gathered? 
A:It's better if you click near the fish, but there is no real problem 
if you hit it, apart some possible unavoidable "critical hit" message. 
There is not a "click count" for catching a fish. It depends on your 
position relative to the fish, on the presence of other fishes, on the 
fish AI, on randomization, on your (fishing academy compatible, + 0.2 
for every caught fish) fishskill, on your PC luck... The more you fish 
( = the higher your fishskill), the less clicks should be needed, but 
relative positioning and other factors count :-) Q: If the fish were 
added to leveled list and the normal ones were taken out then it should 
place some in water.(not sure if I said that right might be an edit) A: 
Yes, there should be some advantages using leveled lists, but the 
primary goals of this mod (compatibility with actual and future mods, 
very low fps hit when out of water...) could be compromised 

Q:Since u have such a variety of fish why not auto place some in game 
Not that many but a few to give the player something to look at while 
hes not underwater 2 or 3 in the balmora river u know just a few random 
amounts...
A: Well, this is a little against the starting goals of this mod

Q: ...maybe even add em into the unerwater levelled lists too that 
would be sweet
A: This could be more feasible. When I will have actual 
beta problems solved, I will think about it (can't promise though), but 
I think it would better be a separate add-on for those wishing to add 
this feature and not willing to use other existing, but maybe too heavy 
mods implementing same leveled list models. 

Q: What are these sextants you are talking about. Never mind I think I 
read about them in a book. Any idea where to find them?
A: From Water Life book: "Among the most valued items brought to Morrowind by the 
empire, sextants allow seasoned sailors to calculate, when equipped in 
the righ, their geographical coordinates, elapsed trip times and medium 
speed" Sextants are sold from Arrille and the majority of pawnbrokers. 
Not so fun as fishing rods, still in theme with water life, and 
interesting (I liked Starcon5 sextant model very much, so I tried to 
make it something equipable/usable). To use a sextant, equip it. 

Q: It's really awesome, but unfortunately it makes my game so unstable 
that it's practically unplayable. But, my computer isn't that great, so 
I'll have only it on sometime when I'm just playing through the 
mainquest without any extra mods in. Good work.
A: I turned up the 
threshold on mine as well so it requires 25 fps to spawn creatures. This 
ensures that there will be plenty of animals way out at sea in my game, 
and much less if any at all in the lakes and streams. 

Q: I got a sextant, It's a pretty neat little device. Gives all these 
precise readings of time location ect. It would go well with a sailing 
mod. And it's nice to look at too.
A: The goal with the sextant was to 
make it of use, while keeping visible the great Starcon5 model. 
Yesterday I played for the 1st time with MadMax Ultimate Galleon... 
wonderful I really wanna be able to use my sextant when walking around 
over the galleon, sailing and measuring full speed 

Q: I used the sextant and the uses never went down at all. Thou it was 
10000 or so. It was still a great machine.
A: To be equipable/visible, 
actually the sextant use the probe animation... it's a 0.1 quality 
probe, so pretty useless as a probe but very durable. 

Q: The fishing rod every once in a while hits the fish when I cast even 
thou they are fairly distant from shore. A: Yes, the fishing rod has a 
great range, like real ones, to lure distant fish; and I managed to 
intercept hits and replace hit sounds, but critical hits/bloodstains are 
still visible. 

Q:Does that galleon in the screenies come with the mod? It looks 
different from Emberwolf's version (nicer, actuallly, with the cannons). 
A: It's the awesome Ultimate Galleon by MadMax, to which my mod 
(particularly the sextants and fishing rods) has been designed to be as 
compatible as possible (and, thanks to Max, vice versa). Be sure to try 
it, it's a masterpiece. 

Q: BTW, what exactly does the sextant do?
A: "Sextants allow you to 
calculate, in the right weather condition, your geographical 
coordinates, your elapsed trip times and, with some difficult, but well 
known by sailors, calculations, your average speed." In practice, I like 
to use a sextant when sailing high above the sea from the ultimate 
galleon crow nest, or before/after a silt strider trip to measure 
distance/speed of the journey. It could be used also for treasure map 
quests ( MJY has used it for this purpose in a mod ). 

Q: I already have 3 files with v1.3, so can I installing the patch 
without it causing issues in those files? I love these mods, they're 
amazing. I love your birds one, too.
A: Thanks Matt, glad you like them! 
There should be no problems replacing the old version, apart maybe some 
"can't find blah..." message at the first restart, but, as always, 
backup your important savegames and the old version of the mod before 
replacing it. As a general rule, if you want continue playing a on-going 
game, the new plugin version should be set to the same date/time of the 
previous version you are replacing (this is not required with this mod, 
but it's good practice valid for all plugin updates), so it will be 
loaded by Morrowind in the same order. Also, updated version of Water 
Life should be loaded before Necessities of Morrowind if you want enable 
the new NOM water containers autofill feature when near fresh 
water/raining. To manage this and other "routine" mod maintenance tasks 
I really suggest the coupled use of TESTools (to change dates/sort mods) 
and Mash (to change date/solve most plugin load order and doubling 
problems). Also, cleaning your savegame is always a good idea. 

Q: How many types of fish can you catch? So far I have only caught Bark 
Fish, Pearl Fish and Abbot Fish... Edit: if these three are the only 
ones, please add more, this mod rules
A:Thanks for the appreciations. 
The decision to give only ingredients as loot came after a good amount 
of feedback in alpha/beta threads about balancing/cooperation with other 
mods. This was the first step to mutual interaction with Necessities of 
Morrowind, one of the most used "realism" plugins, and to my knowledge 
the only one authorizing/giving modders a free to use ingredients 
resource pack. This also avoids problems with the originally used too 
big/too fps taxing creature trophies ( happy.gif try dropping a whale 
trophy on Balmora's main square, and you'll see what I mean). 

Q: I kind of like this mod, and am currently using the previous version. 
However, I don't really like the sea stars, they add to much "fruity" to 
the game. Is there a quick way to get rid of them or keep them from 
spawning?
A: There are not many things that can be safely spawned on 
seashore: crabs, barnacles, sea stars. Removing sea stars completely 
would reduce variety too much. What I could do is lover sea stars 
probability, but this probably would mean someone else will think there 
are too many barnacles or too many crabs. Best thing is consider sea 
stars like flowers... you can appreciate them even without looting 
smile.gif And don't fear them cluttering your game. When you are more 
than about 5000 units away and looking elsewhere, things autodelete. 

Q: Thanks for the update abot. I have a question though. Does a new 
water life ring suppose to appear in your PC's inventory every time you 
load your game? This is happening to me every time I load my saved game. 
A: If you have no ring in the inventory, yes, this is supposed to 
happen. The ring is the way to access the configuration menu any time 
you like, so on reload a fresh new ring is added if you have no ring. 

Q: At what level or how do sharks apear? do they use creature spwan 
points, or do they appear once the player reaches a certain level or 
what, haven't had chance to gains levels and investigate.
A: Creatures are dynamically spawned by script around the player, no levelled lists 
are used (except the replaced-if-you-wish new-style slaughterfish). This 
gives life to all ocean wilderness, has the advantage of working with 
past, present and future mods, and has a near to 0 compatibility problem 
with other mods changing levelled lists. Try a trip to a sea area near 
your preferred land explansion plugin, or to the brand-new isle you are 
working on... you will find water life there also. Generation does not 
depend on player level. It depends on geographic zone (latitude, 
fresh/salt water) and on water depth (usually deeper water = more 
dangerous creatures risk). Also, creature size counts. A big creature is 
tougher than a small, same type one. A low-level player should be able 
to swim inside low water with not many problems if he can cope with 
slaughterfish... but deep diving is another story. You can count on 
helpful creatures though. 

Q: another idea: Could you add an ingrediant for every fish? e.g. if you 
cath a salmon, the 'ingredient' is salmon. It would also rock if it is 
possible to add a random weight to ingredients, so it is possible to 
show of your 12 lbs. catfish or something (I have no clue how heavy that 
is, because in my country we use other weight indicators, whatever it is 
called). Keep up the above excellent work!
A: First releases of this 
plugin used trophies like other existing mods using the same wonderful 
Cait's models (Morrowind4fish beta by Brash and Wilderness 2 by PumaMan 
for instance). The problem is that trophies used the creature mesh, so - 
If you not resize them by script (Morrowind4Fish beta), there are 
problems with big ones (sharks, whales...) - if you resize them by 
script, there are problems with FPS/ingredients stacking and still 
problems with originally big, too weird if resized ones (whales). The 
possible solution (adopted, for a certain extent, by last Wilderness 2.1 
also) could be : - not use biggest ones (whales, maybe killerwhales and 
big sharks) - use 3dstudio resized/new smaller meshes. 

If you are able/willing to resize most Cait's aquatic meshes using a 3d 
program to make new ingredients, I will happily ask her permission to do 
it and add the new ingredients/trophies to my plugin. 

If you are able to obtain permission from PumaMan (I gave up a long time 
ago asking for bird models, sorry) to use some aquatic ingredients from 
Wilderness 2.1, I will gladly consider adding them. 

I'd like more adding some of the ingredients from Morrowind Crafting, so 
to have more interaction with it, but the readme states the author don't 
like other mods using these as resources. 

Besides, a few posts before you can see another user asking to limit 
seastars... as you can see, sometimes one request seems to be against 
another... so, being impossible to satisfy everyone, I have to choose, 
and when in doubt, I usually choose to satisfy (feasible) majority 
requests... or myself 

********************************************************************** 

Anyway, don't fear deep diving and enjoy! 
- abot abitoftaste@gmail.com 

--- 

dedicated to Dennis aka Grumpy, father of all companion mods, great 
modder and great person - may you forever walk on warm sands. 

