MMM Patched from 1.7 (2.0.1) file - Martigen's Monster mod for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

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Highlights in this release include:

New Plugins

-> Diverse Creature Skins -- Because MMM has five variants of each and every creature in the game, as well as five variant combat styles for each, this was a simple plugin to make. When creatures spawn you will now see a mixture of textures being used, which adds variety and a level of depth not present anywhere else. High recommended to play with this plugin!

So far, the following creatures have multiple skins:

Wolf - 4 variants
Timber - 4 variants
Minotaur - 3 variants
Slaughterfish - 3 variants
Zombies - 5 variants
Skeleton - 5 variants*
Daedroth - 5 variants
Goblins - 4 variants
Lich - 2 variants
Dogs - 2 variants
Land Dreugh - 3 variants
Clannfear - 5 variants
Mudcrab - 3 variants
Mountain Lion - 3 variants
Imps - 3 variants
Scamps - 5 variants
Rats - 2 variants**
Sheep - 2 variants
Goat - 2 variants

* Skeletons already have armored variants, and now with extra skins as well there's literally dozens of combinations you'll find -- some with or without armor, some with or without a variant texture, and any mixture of the two. There’s now a huge range different combinations a skeleton can look like across the range of skeleton classes (armor has a greater chance of appearing on higher level skeletons), making for some truly incredible looking undead skeleton hoardes.

** One alternative is an albino, rare. Look out for the white rat in the grasses!

-> Looting NPCs & Creatures -- NPCs, Goblins and Ogres will loot the bodies of their fallen prey. The exception are Guards, since you don't want them taking your loot (unless you don't mind killing them for it). Looting is about more than just NPCs taking each other’s gear -- it breathes much more life into the world, for example:

* You will see a Bandit shoot a Deer and then run up to take its meat
* You will see Goblins crowd around a kill, vying to take their share of the spoils
* You will see Marauders fight among themselves as they loot the body of a guard
* You will see a Barbarian wielding a weapon taken from a dead foe you further up the road

These are just a few of the scenarios I've seen playing with the plugin so far.

Additionally, NPCs detect whether they are looting a creature or another NPC and act accordingly. And finally, what do they loot? Anything they can -- weapons, armor, food, gold and more. Naturally, NPCs and creatures will only loot if it's safe to do so, which usually means you see them doing it when you are undetected or when it's your body they're looting!

-> City Defences -- All cities except the IC now have legion archers patrolling the battlements of each city. Based on the Wall Archers concept by gumballthechewy, this has been built from the ground up with MMM using less guards so as not to impact performance, added external cell as well internal cell guards, added pathing points for patrols along the battlements, and gave them special torches and equipment to enhance their effect. At night, these torches light the walls of the city and are a beacon to weary travellers. And yes, they attack enemy creatures or NPCs within range of the paraphets, so now running to the safety of the city has meaning!

New Features

:: Adventuer Overhaul -- Adds some 35 new NPCs and classes to the game -- aside from Advenuters you'll also find Plunderers, Scouts, and Tomb Raiders with the following:

* All have a different aggression and responsibility level towards you -- Advenutuerers are more likely to help you out, Tomb Raiders more likely to see you as competition.

* They can be found mostly in dungeons, but will be found in tombs, caves and lairs for creatures, necromancers, conjurers and more.

* They can be found alone or sometimes in groups -- and this is based on class. So a Tomb Raider or Pillager is bound to be found on their own, while Scouts could be on their own or in a group of Adventurers.

* You'll find adventurers that consist of Argonian, Khajitt, Orc, Breton, Dark Elf, Wood Elf and High Elf races in both sexes, though the focus is on beast races.

* Groups will generally be 'race gangs', a new concept in MMM. That is a band of Argoanian Advenurers will be exactly that, all Argoanians. This may be expanded upon in future for general NPC encounters.

* And yes, in addition to general loot and explore packages they'll also loot their foes too if you're using the Looting NPCs and Creatures plugin.

The advenutrers add an awesome new dynamic -- let them help you, or fight them and take their loot. Maybe even do both! Thanks go to DarkDragon for the suggestion.

:: Size based loot drops -- Animals now drop meat equal to their size: a small deer will have 1 venison, a medium sized 2, a large deer 3. Same goes for Sheep, Horses, Boars, Wolves, Bears, Lions and more.

:: Passive Lists -- Bored of seeing deer around as the only truly passive (mudcrabs don't count!) wilderness creatures? Me too, so now Sheep and Goats can appear in some of the passive lists where deer roam, especially near farms. It also gives predators another type of prey to hunt, adding to the liveliness of the world. And, naturally, Sheep's Wool and Goats wool are two new ingredients.

:: Creature AI -- In addition to the current AI behaviour, some creatures will now seek water and graze on plants, similar to that found in Creatures Alive and OOO but more subtle. Big Thanks to CorePC who spent ages tweaking these for MMM and putting up with my suggestions!

:: Minotaur overhaul -- All the minotaur variants now also have varied looks across the levels, you will see over a dozen variant styles in game, plus the addition of a new Minotaur class (see New Creatures). Combined with the Diverse Creature Skins plugin, there are now dozens of variant styles for minotaurs you can meet.

:: Improved exploration -- Creatures and NPCs now have a little more realism in their exploration. You'll see more of the behavioural AI and inter-faction relationships occur, and quicker responses for encounters they meet.

:: Guard Items -- They already carry torches and lanterns, now all guards spawn with a range of items to flesh out their individual backgrounds -- they may carry books, potions, rings, food and more. Chance to find a skill increase book on them as well -- something extra for those evil NPCs who aren't terribly fond of guards! Thanks to Argochris for suggesting this and working on it with me.

:: More Wilderness Life -- Updated to add life to border regions, so if you explore off the beaten track or travel close to the borders, you'll still see and get encounters.

:: Updated Combat AI -- Lyrondor himself sent through some updates for the MMM Combat Behaviour. Now more Lyrondor than ever!

:: New replacement textures -- Thanks to Koldorn the Frost Antronach, Slaughterfish, Glass Golem, Ogre Champion, Primal Troll, Guardian Imp, Ancient Imp, and Black Widow Queen boss get a new lease on life. Koldorn also fixed a number of textures, reducing their size for better performance.

:: MMM for Frans -- MMM is fully updated for the latest Frans with the exception of the customiseable loot, which is slated for 2.1. For now MMM NPC's default to the HARDCORE balance model, but customiseable loot works everywhere else in the game world – Frans NPCs, chests, house loot, leveled quests and more.

:: MMM for OOO -- Yes, finally a tailored version for OOO! This will come in two stages: this release integrates the OOO loot for MMM NPCs, removes MMM guards so OOO guards take priority, and cross-polinates MMM and OOO factions for consistent behavior in the MMM factional system. Big thanks go to Vini for working with me on the factions to save me time, you’ve been a great help. Massive thanks also to Dev_akm for building the loot translation lists, you’re a hero. The next stage will integrate OOO’s creatures and NPCs into MMM's lists, and provide for OOO’s creature faction quest to control OOO and MMM creatures.

New Creatures

Thanks to Koldorn working by request for me there are a huge range of new and carefully designed creatures – each has a unique purpose, stats, abilities, loot, backstory and in some cases new behavioual AI. There are over 24 new creatures, highlights include:

:: Blood Minotaur -- A far more potent for than the usual breed, the blood minotaur is a perversion of mysticism and magic, and if you should survive an encounter, you may find the remnants of its last encounter and some of the valuable gems it prizes.

:: Black Hunger -- Stronger and darker than the average Hunger, you’ll want to avoid its paralyzing grasp. Fortuately, while dangerous they can fall quickly if fought with some strategy. Can drop soul gems and has a chance to appear in the wilderness, both in daytime and at night.

:: Rock Golems -- Relatively low level, no magic, and slower than their nearest cousins, the Rock Golems however hit hard and can take a beating. Naturally, being rock, they drop various stones, some of which can be used in crafting.

:: Arcane Golems -- The most powerful of all the golems, these can cast high level shields, reflect spells, silence, and absorb health. Be prepared!

:: Ogre Berserker -- The front-ogres between standard and Elder and Champion ogres, these guys are aggressive, hit hard, and will take a lot to fell -- but they may carry goodies worth your time to do so.

:: Pained Wraith -- More powerful than a Wraith, but not as much as a Gloom Wraith, the Pained Wraith have a startling speed so fast the first thing you'll know of them is when their claws sink deep into you.

:: Zombie Soldier -- Undead foot soliders still wearing the armor that, clearly, didn't protect them. They are, however, more dangerous than normal zombies -- their touch will rapidly drain your fatigue until you become helpless. Never let one get close! Comes in headless varieties, as well as the range of diverse zombie skins if the Diverse Creature Skins plugin is loaded.

:: Flaming Zombie -- While you might want to watch them burn these Zombies have with an unearthly fire that scorches their charred bodies. Stronger than Dread Zombies and faster, they are also immune to fire attacks.

:: Clannfear Patriarch -- Where do Clannfears come from? Now you know -- meet the parents, Clannfear style. You are but one thing to them -- food! Bring friends if you want to take one on.

:: Water Rat - Slick, wet fur and lives near waters and in sewers. Skitterish behaviour, most will flee from you as you approach, then wait at a distance, while others may attack out of fear. Being smaller than their cousins, they also carry less bone loot. They add a lot of atmosphere for sewers, not to mention spice up the variety of the water spawns.

:: Flaming Skeleton/Archer -- Above the Champion comes the flaming, blood red, skeletons. Stronger, meaner, badder, and on fire (and thus immune to the same). Bring your best bone breaker.

:: Implings - All young imps have a green-tinged skin before maturing to adulthood. Implings are smaller, fast but very weak, and magically mute. Not so much a threat but an annoyance, and in numbers they can distract you from the real enemy. Fun to punch out of the air!

:: Deep Lich -- Sitting between the Lich and the MMM Lich Lord boss, the Deep Lich is a potent foe and has the chance to drop magical loot and soul gems. Nice, if you can survive it! There are now four lich varieties -- Nether Lich, Lich, Deep Lich and Lich Lord.

:: Goblin Champion/Elite -- Where do the goblins go when they bring out the heavy guns? The armoured Goblin Champion and Goblin Elite! They play hard, fight hard, and drop loot second only to Warlords.

:: Goblin Assassin -- Don't think Goblins can be stealthy, fast, and deadly? The Goblin assassin is well suited to dark caves, something you find out as its poisoned daggers sink into your back...

:: Goats -- Bleet! We can always do with more passive creatures -- or prey, depending how you look at it -- and now both white and brown Goats join the Deer and Sheep to be found out in the wilds. Generally, there are thicker concentrations around farmland. Naturally, Goats drop Goat's Wool as well as mutton.

:: Bloody Knight/Archer -- Just when you think the tide is turning you'll see these guys enter the fray. They make your average skeletons look like playthings by comparison. Exceedingly strong, they'll appear at high levels above Hero and Champion skeletons.

:: Werewolves -- Werewolves mainly come in two forms -- Lesser and Greater -- and can be found outside only at night, or always if inside or in lairs. All Werewolves can transmit disease and naturally are somewhat resistant to normal weapons, poison and frost. Finally, all Werewolves drop Werewolf Fur, which being rare (and lets face it, hard to get!) will fetch a pretty penny in the cities.

:: Huntress Werewolf -- A much stronger, black as night werewolf whose howl you should fear. It doesn't matter how strong you are, she will see you as prey, and in addition to other werewolf abilities can paralyze on attack.

:: Night Troll -- Comes out only at night to hunt for prey, and is naturally more stealthy than its brethren. Usually the first thing – and last thing -- you’ll see are its glowing red eyes…

List of creatures that can now appear at night include: Skeletons of all levels, Zombies of all levels, Hunger, Black Hunger, Werewolves, Huntress Werewolf, and Night Trolls.

See the Changelog at the end for more updates.

If you are upgrading from a previous version, read the UPGRADING section!

[Martigen's Monster Mod v2.0]

"No two creatures will ever be the same." -- generic cool quote

Contact: PM 'Martigen' on official TES forums
Email: madmartigen at hotmail.com

===== WHAT IT DOES =====

* Over 120 new and diverse creatures and NPCs added to the realm of Tamriel
* All original and new creatures/NPCs spawn unique with a different size
* All original and new creatures/NPCs spawn unqiue with modified stats
* All original and new creatures/NPCs spawn unique with their own combat AI
* All original and new creatures/NPCs spawn unique with their own loot
* All original and new creatures/NPCs interact with over 25 new factions
* And much much more! See below for full feature list.

The variety in MMM is almost limitless. Each creature and NPC, both original and new, spawns with (in defined ranges) a randomised size; randomised adjustments to stats (such as strength, agility, health, fatigue, magic, willpower, and intelligence) all particular to their class; as well as range-randomised confidence; aggression; and even combat fighting styles. No more clones of creatures or NPCs where each one is identical, with MMM every encounter is different because every creature -- even those of the same race -- is uniquely different.

More than this, the stat adjustments are broken into two sections -- health, magic, strength, fatigue and confidence are affected by the same value that determines size -- so smaller creatures are generally weaker too and, in turn, less confident. Stats like agility, speed, and aggression are randomised based on and applied against the core stats. Speed is an important one here -- now you will see herds of deer running away at different speeds, or hoards of goblins charging towards you and fighting with you at different speeds. In conjunction with size, stat, and aggression changes as well as the fleeing and behavior code these changes adds a ton of life to the creatures of Tamriel.

Additionally, the advanced fleeing code works not just with the player, but other creatures and NPCs as well. You'll see a wolf starting a fight with a Bandit, and then running for its life. Or goblins swarming a Troll, and then pelting when the tide turns against them. In fact, very few mods allow for anything more than NPCs than can flee, but MMM adds carefully adapted code to all sorts of creatures and NPC types, particular to their class or nature (so for eg, Dremora never flee and nor do Bosses).

Finally, MMM is the first mod to tie a creature's confidence and aggression into faction interactions -- usually, setting faction ratings creates static behaviour (if a creature has a big enough negative reaction to another faction, it will always attack), with MMM creatures spawn with an adjustment to their aggression and confidence within a defined range, and when combined with the faction ratings, creates a vast diversity of behaviour. For example, a Big Cat might not always be hungry, and so might not always chase prey. Or a spawning Ogre that has a faction relationship towards wolves as enemies may be ambivalent towards a nearby wolf, while another spawned Ogre attacks it outright. Moreover, the changes scale in accordance with a creature's size and stats with bigger, more confident creatures more likely to start a fight with those in factions they just tolerate (as opposed to outright war or friendship). Additionally, more primal creatures may attack their own kind, such as Wolves or Trolls or Minotaurs. It's a low percentage, but again based around factions and aggression. If a highly aggressive Wolf spawns, it'll be highly aggressive not only to other factions but its own kind, and could well turn on them in a fight.

The most important change the faction system brings -- the player is no longer the centre of the universe. No more will you have three different creatures all attacking you at once and ignoring each other. Now, fights will be all-in brawls between you and the fighting factions you've stumbled upon.

===== KEY FEATURES =====

MMM does much more than add over 90 completely new and unique creature and NPC types. It also adds to all creatures and NPCs in the game both original and new:

* Advanced fleeing code for NPCs based on level and health
* Advanced wilderness behaviour for animals and creatures
* Advanced inter-faction behaviour for creatures and NPCs (see 'Factions' below)
* Advanced combat behaviour based on Lyrondor’s combat Behaviour mod
* Advanced plugin system with optional plugins to tailor the mod to your playstyle
* New and more rewarding loot drops for all creatures and NPCs
* New and versatile optional crafting system
* The ability to encounter _new_ creatures up to level 40 in the game, and be challenged to level 50+
* Statically scaled levelling -- meet creatures and NPCs more powerful than you, and less powerful than you, regardless of your level as you level.

Additionally, you'll also get to see:

* The ability for 'bad' NPCs to feign death, to try and flee
* Undead that resurrects in front of you when you least it expect it!
* Undead that resurrects after time, to create new encounters as you leave a dungeons
* Levelled guards in cities, with legion military ranks
* Patrol guards for roads, which include females
* New ingredients on animals, including pelts and meats and much more
* Giants in the form of giant humanoids and giant Ogres
* Resized races for greater diversity in Tamriel's inhabitants
* Nords and Orcs bulkier (aka Bulkier Nords and Orcs mod)
* The player no longer being the center of the universe -- the world happens around you sometimes, with or without your interaction, creating a realistic and thriving experience.

And on top of all this, a passionate attention to detail -- unique creatures and NPCs each designed with a purpose, style, back story, AI, loot, abilities, ingredients, faction behavior and more. Plus animals that can be afraid, aggressive, or tame and behave accordingly, bosses that are bigger, Spriggans that may cause a storm when they die, furs and meats on Barbarians, Marauders that like their drinks, petty loot on Bandits, Smugglers carrying their cargo, new regional armors on patrolling guards, corpses that stay around longer so you can loot them and much much more.

CREATURES AND NPCS INCLUDE:

New NPC types and classes

Giants -:- Really, really big people
Amazon -:- Light armor, bow wielding and fond of maces
Barbarian -:- Two handed wielding Orcs with light armor
Barbarian Shaman -:- As above, plus magic
Bandit Warmage -:- Heavy armor and destruction magic
Smuggler -:- Warrior-types with conjuration, and carrying illegal goods
Slayer -:- Khajitt bandits that hunt you with chameleon
Raiders -:- Improved versions of bandits -- melee, missile and magic
Defenders -:- Heavily armored bandits that use alternation and restoration
Blood Moon Wizards -:- Red cloaked wizards that just don't like you
Blood Moon Warrior -:- Simply put, one bad-ass fighter
Head Hunters -:- Argonion archers that try and paralyze you
Berserker -:- Shirtless nords fond of two-handers

New allied NPCs

Imperial Road Watchmen/Watchwomen -:- Male and Female road patrol. A friendly face on the roads!
Imperial Legion Rangers -:- Stronger versions of the Foresters, come with pet wolves.
Adventurers -:- Five new classes of adventuring NPCs from Scouts to Tomb Raiders

Plus all original Oblivion NPCs get advanced stat and size scaling, behaviour and combat AI, tailored loot drops etc and more.

New Creature types and classes

Gore Rats -:- Bigger, tougher, uglier
Elder bears -:- King size black and brown bears
Primal Troll -:- Meaner, bigger troll
Savage Troll -:- Even meaner, bigger troll
Hell Hounds -:- Fire wolves that spit fire
White Tail Wolf -:- White wolves that spit ice
White Fur Lion -:- Mountain snow lion
Leopard -:- It's a cat. A very big one
Snow leopard -:- A leopard fond of the cold
Panther -:- A sleek, black, killing machine
Goblin Bandits -:- Tougher, well equipped goblins
Berserker Ogre -:- Tougher than they look
Elder Ogre -:- Meaner, bigger ogre
Champion Ogre -:- Even meaner, bigger ogre (read: giant)
Guardian Imps -:- Meaner, tougher imps
Ancient Imps -:- Even Meaner, tougher imps
Mind Shatter -:- will o wisps on steroids
Tree Sprite -:- Big brother to the spriggans
Rock Elementals -:- Power of the elements, mythic
Fire Elementals -:- Power of the elements, mythic
Water Elementals -:- Power of the elements, mythic
Efreeti -:- Mischievous fast moving pure fire spirits
Haunted Heads -:- Floating ghostly skulls that want to take a bite out of you...
Dire Boar/Bear/Wolf/Lion -:- Diseased, crazed, animals. Vicious, may attack their own kind
Snow Bear -:- Big, white fur, and utterly cuddleable! But don't, it'll eat you for lunch
Frost Giant -:- A rare creature best avoided unless you want to become its next meal
Gargoyle -:- Forged from rock these imp-like foes don't cast spells but pack a punch
Wild Pahmar -:- Extremely aggressive intelligent hunting cat related to the Khajiit
Hunger -:- Foul creatures can be found in or near Oblivion gates, and walking the wilderness at night
Morphoid -:- Another daedric beast that keeps to the planes and just within range of Oblivion gates
Herne -:- A relative of the scamps, these horned daedra are more potent than their cousins
Golden Saint -:- High-level daedra found in the daedric realms along with Xivali
Clannfear Patriarch -:- Where do Clannfears come from? Now you know -- meet the parents
Implings -:- Implings are fast, weak, and magically mute.
Goblin Champion/Elite -:- Where do the goblins go when they bring out the heavy guns?
Goblin Assassin -:- Yes, Goblins can be stealthy, fast, and deadly!
Werewolves -:- Can be found outside only at night, or always if inside or in lairs.
Huntress Werewolf -:- Queen of the werewolves, she paralyze on touch.
Night Troll -- Comes out only at night, and is bigger and meaner than its cousins.
Spider Dryad -:- These nature beasts protect the wilderness from evil and trigger-happy players.
Giant Spiders -:- 6 new spiders including Black Widow Queen boss, Spiderlings, Giant Huntsman Spider, Giant Tree Spider and Giant Bush Spider, all poisonous and nasty
Golems -:- 12 different golems and their 'Greater' counterparts. Includes: Ebony, Gold, Iron, Mithril, Blood, Rock, Glass, Water, Magma, Mud, Silver and Arcane Golems

New Passive creatures

Carrion Rats -:- Appear at flesh based corpses after a while, and can be 'stamped' on.
Water Rat -:- Slick, wet fur and lives near waters and in sewers.
Sheep -:- Yes, the very same cute wooly creatures!
Goats -:- A little more temperamental, but friendly none the less.
Sentient Gas -:- Semi-intelligent dungeon dweller, will scatter from you as you approach.
Ghostly Apparition -:- When you meet one, you will know fear!
Dwemer Gem Scavenger -:- Won't attack unless you attack first. May carry precious gems...
Wild Guars -:- Three types can be found roaming plains, including a rare white Guar. You can pat the tame ones!

New Undead

Lich Lord -:- Special boss and as bad and mean as they get
Zombie Soldier -:- Undead foot soldiers still wearing the armor that, clearly, didn't protect them
Flaming Zombie -:- Charred and burned, these flaming foes will prove a tough fight
Flaming Skeleton/Archer -:- Above the Champion comes the flaming, blood red, skeletons.
Skeleton Fury -:- Fire borne skeleton with a hatred for life and a flaming sword
Armored Skeletons -:- Randomly and sparsely armored skeletons, in 25 variations, increasing in chance with rank
Bloody Knight/Archer -:- Just when you think the tide is turning you'll see these guys enter the fray.
Pained Wraith -:- More powerful than a Wraith, but not as much as a Gloom Wraith
Deep Lich -:- Sitting between the Lich and the MMM Lich Lord boss, the Deep Lich is a potent foe.
Undead Legion Fighter/Beserker/Archer -:- Undead Legion foot troops. Can raise from the dead
Undead Legion Battlemage/Knight -:- Tougher Undead Legion, be prepared!
Undead Elven Warrior/Knight/Archer -:- Undead Elven servant, also can raise from dead
Undead Elven Spellsword -:- Magic casting Undead Elven soldier
Undead Elven Lord -:- Dual-wielding Undead boss, carries unqiue off-hand weapon the player can use

Plus Headless variants of all of the above adds over 20 new undead to fight!

===== FACTION SYSTEM =====

The creature faction design is one of the most advanced to date and deserves some explanation:

The system is based off the creatures temperament towards other factions, and is tied in with an individual creature's aggression and confidence made possible by the stat adjustments each creautre and NPC spawns with. In other words, values are set not based around racial relations, but to what degree a creature would attack or avoid members of another faction. For example, Ogres might be happy to mix it up with Goblins but Goblins, while recognising Ogres as a threat, are set to generally not initiate combat with these foes much larger than them -- why start a fight you could lose?

The tight integration of a creature's aggression with factions creates a highly versatile and fluid system almost limitless in behaviour. By way of example, take a simple scenario of a Minotaur stumbling upon a boar. If the minotaur spawned with a lower aggression level, its faction relationship to the boar might cause it to be ambivalent towards the boar, and not attack it. If the same minotaur spawned with a higher aggression level, its faction relationship to the boar would cause it to attack the boar on sight.

This is different from other mods that alter factions because without aggression scaling, the behaviour is static and always predictable -- the minotaur will always attack. With MMM, faction relationships are flexible and are as individual as the creatures themselves. More over, the relationships still allow for outright enemies and friendships, regardless of aggression, in addition to the fluid system of unique creatures and their particular bias. For example, this allows 'Dire' (diseased) animals to be more aggressive and trigger fights with factions normal animals wouldn't. Including attacking their own kind.

Another example -- a pack of wolves might spawn where some of them chase after nearby dear while others don't and, when paired with stat adjustments and fleeing code as the player approaches, a whole range of behaviour can be seen from something simple as a group of wolves. The variances in creature speed mean a wolf might catch up and kill a deer, or a deer outrun a wolf. Add to this how these wolves interact with more than 22 other factions they might come across while chasing or fleeing, and with each wolf having individual size, stats, and its own predilection to fight, and even in this small microcosm example there's a wide variety of behaviours and outcomes simply not present in vanilla Oblivion.

Additionally, some creatures are capable of attacking their own kind -- this is particularly important for creatures like Wolves, Ogres, Trolls, Big Cats and more that don't have perfect relationships with their own race (Cats and Wolves especially are territorial). Though rare, if spawned with a high enough aggression they'll not only be more inclined to initiate combat with other factions, but also their own kind.

Finally, some creatures antagonised by a player are more likely to attack other creatures, too.

===== NEW in MMM 1.71 =====

Over 250M in 90+ brand new creatures and NPCs, 1500+ variant creatures and NPCs, unique encounters, advanced AI, tailored loot drops and more! Highlights in this release include:

Imperial Legion Rangers -- The next level up from Foresters, these friendly troops spawn with their own pet wolf, and like everything else, have unique stats, ability, loot, and more. Additionally, in vanilla Oblivion, there are just 13 Forester spawns. Now with MMM both Foresters and Rangers can now spawn in over 900 forest and wilderness themed locations across Tamriel.

Gems & Gem Dust -- A specially updated community plugin thanks to Bendiwolf that adds new Gem Dust ingredients for the new gems in the plugin, and removes the prompt for grinding gems.

No Carrion Rats -- To disable the appearance of Carrion Rats at corpses after a few hours. Good for thieves or another characters that don't want to be 'seen'.

Diverse NPC Faces -- A new community plugin developed by Argochris to take advantage of MMM's over 600 variant NPCs to give them all unique faces and races. In vanilla Oblivion, there are only a 4-5 variants of NPC types like 'Female Bandit', meaning there's a pretty high chance that you end up fighting twins, or even triplets, as NPCs with the same face end up spawning.

In MMM there has always been five extra variants for each for different combat styles, and in the Diverse Faces Plugin each is now also given a unique face and race. This means for a single NPC type there are up to 25 different faces that can spawn, so now not only are any two NPCs ever alike stats, abilities, AI and more but now no two NPCs will look the same either Highly recommended to use this plugin!

More Wilderness Life -- Another community plugin developed by Dae, More Wilderness Life adds hundreds of new spawn points across Tamriel to help fill the bare, empty areas Bethesda left in the game. This isn't about simply meeting more creatures -- the advanced behavioral AI and inter-faction relationships introduced by MMM results in a thriving, living world around you as you travel (and where you're not always the center of attention), completely changing your experience of Tamriel. Highly recommended to use this plugin

Naturally the plugins go hand in hand with other plugins such as Friendlier Factions and Reduced Spawns to give you tons of control over the world around you.

Lanterns for Guards -- All city guards now carry lanterns or torches at night. Thanks go to Jannix Quinn for the equippable lanterns! NOTE: You’ll need to wait 4-11 days (depending on what your cell respawn is set to) before you’ll see the guards with their new equipment.

Plus various fixes and updates – see the Changelog at the end for more information.

If you are upgrading from a previous version, read the UPGRADING section!

===== NEW in MMM 1.61 =====

New plugins:

Gems & Gem dust -- Combines Gem Dust, Tamriel's Glittering Geology, and Bone Grind into MMM's crafting system. The Gem Dust scripts have been scaled and applied against the gems in Tamriel's Glittering Geology, which you will also now find appearing on some creatures and in gem-based loot level lists.

No Giants -- Removes the giant humanoids from MMM's lists, for those who don't like hacking at knees.

Francesco's levelled quests -- Francesco's levelled quests plugin updated for MMM. Use this in place of the one bundled with Francescos. Requires Francescos.

20 new creatures including Lore Creatures with unique designs, purpose, AI, abilities, loot, ingredients and more:

Dwemer Gem Scavenger - A legacy of yore left over and still running with its original programming, these robotic servants will ignore you and other creatures, and are in turn themselves ignored. If you decide to attack they'll put up a heck of a fight... but it may be worth your while just to see what they carry!

Snow Bear - Big, white fur, and utterly cuddleable! But don't, it'll eat you for lunch. Found only in snowy areas, this is one bear best avoided. Drops bear meat and a snow bear pelt, sought after for its warm properties. New ingredient: Snow Bear Pelt

Frost Giant - A rare creature which, if you find one, is best avoided unless you want to become its next meal. Should you defeat it, you'll find it carries the meat and furs of recent prey, as well as the possesions of the last adventurers who made the mistake of trying their luck... New ingredient: Giant's Heart

Gargoyle - Forged from rock and the perversion of arcane magick, these imp-like foes don't cast spells but pack a punch as their solid fists teach you to fear a new kind of flapping beast. As a formation from rock, they drop Elemental salts as well as Gargoyle horns. New ingredient: Gargoyle Horn (from LC)

Giant Spiders:

Black Widow Queen - New Boss creature, this hulking behemoth of an arachnid spawns with its own spiderling young, is poisonous, fast, and cunning. Few see it and live to tell the tale. Found in mythic caves and some undead dungeons.
Spiderlings - The spiderlings are too young to develop poison glands, but are fast and nimble attackers.
Black Widow Spider - The mature form of a Black Widow, these can be found roaming some dungeons.
Giant Huntsman Spider - Found out anywhere in the wild and in some caves, these are as tough as Black Windows.
Giant Tree Spider - Not as tough as the others, can be found in rainforests and in mythic nature lairs.
Giant Bush Spider - The smallest and weakest of the new spiders, these can mostly be found in forests, and can be hard to see in the grasses...

With the exception of Spiderlings, all spiders are poisonous and drop poison glands you can use to make your own poisons... though the spiders themselves are immune to it! New ingredients: Spider Silk (from LC) and Poison Glands.

Wild Guar - Three types of Wild guars roaming plains, two common breeds and the chance of a rare white guar (about one in seven). Guars are more friendly than other wild animals, and when you approach some will be tame while others run to a safer distance. Guars, and also now horses, have been added as a chance to spawn on plains (previously there was just one spot in all tamriel to find wild horses). New ingredients: Guar Meat (awww!) and Guar Hide

Wild Pahmar - Extremely aggressive intelligent hunting cat related to the Khajiit -- and as a result it won't attack Kahjiits -- you, or any Khajiit NPCs it encounters, though it will defend itself. So if you're a Khajiit, you can sit and admire these beautiful beasts. As a rare creature its hide and meat fetch a pretty penny in the cities. New ingredients: Pahmar Meat and Pahmar Hide

Hunger - These foul creatures can be found in or near Oblivion gates, and occasionally walking the wilderness at night. Able to absorb health, paralyze, and disintegrate weapons and armor you don't want to start a fight with one unless you can finish it.

Morphoid - Another daedric beast that keeps to the planes and just within range of Oblivion gates. Strong, skilled in combat and hitting hard, these beasts are wreathed in flame and immune to the same.

Herne - Hunters for Hircine and a relative of the scamps, these horned daedra are somewhat more potent than their cousins, able to cast frost spells and heal themselves.

Golden Saint - High-level daedra found in the daedric realms along with Xivali, they are fearsome fighters wielding powerful swords and, occaisonally, may carry a magic item. They are powerful enough to give you a challenge even at level 40.

Spider Dryad - A relative of the Spriggan, and not always hostile, these nature beasts protect the wilderness from evil and trigger-happy players. More potent than their cousins they can cast lightning, heal themselves, command creatures to fight for them, and summon all manner of Spiders (see 'Spiders' above!) to defend themselves. As with Spriggans, when killed they have a chance of setting off a thunderstorm or rain, tied to nature as they are.

===== NEW in MMM 1.5 =====

Undead overhaul: 15 new undead including Undead Legion Fighters, Beserkers, Archers and Knights as well as Undead Elven Warriors, Knights, Archers and Lords. The Elven Lord even dual-wields with a unique Off-Hand sword textured especially for MMM.

Armored Skeletons: 25 variations of Skeletons with piecemeal armor, increasing in appearance the higher the level of skeleton.

Unique creatures: 5 completely new and unique creatures including --

:: Efreeti -- Mischievious pure fire spirits that are very fast moving, immune to fire, suseptible to frost, can hover above water, and drop fire salts.

:: Haunted Heads -- Floating ghostly skulls that want to take a bite out of you... large chance they start off dormant, looking like nothing more than a skull on the ground. As you approach they start to glow, and raise up from the floor... fast moving, they taunt you as they try to take you down!

:: Sentient Gas -- Passive dungeon dwelling creature -- yes, finally, more passive creatures! Always appearing in groups, they slowly drift over floors, are ignored by all creatures, and scatter like a school of fish as you approach. Similar AI to the code written for Alive Waters fish behaviour.

:: Skeleton Fury -- Fire borne skeleton with a hatred for life and a flaming sword -- sword is a new item, Longsword of Fury, MOBS balanced.

:: Ghostly Apparition - Another passive dungeon dweller, after a fashion. They do no damage, but sense life and will rapidly charge you on sight, screaming an unearthly howl as they charge you and... pass right through you. When you turn around, you find they've vanished -- but you've probably wet your trousers

New Scarier AI: New resurrection AI for undead means they may raise after a while, and provide a suprise on your way back through a dungeon or raise much sooner, perhaps even while you are near and least expect it... pack some nappies, you'll need them!

Goblin Tribal Shields: Frankpants' excellent unique shields for the Goblin tribes. However, there's a chance to find these on normal goblins who were lucky enough to find, or more likely steal, their own.

===== NEW FEATURES IN 1.3/1.4 =====

Carrion Rats
There's an 8% chance (less with Goblins, due to volume of numbers) after 3 hours have passed that Carrion Rats may appear at the corpses of creatures, animals, Goblins, NPCs, NPC bosses, Ogres, Minotaurs, Minotaur Lords, Trolls, and of the undead, zombies only. Some of the rats are ambivalent, others will scatter as you approach. Like everything else, they spawn in various sizes and various speeds, and I removed foot sounds to be sound card friendly.

Imagine walking back through an a dungeon and seeing a zombie corpse or NPC corpse surrounded by little blood-stained Carrion Rats! And if you feel the urge to stamp on the little buggers, you can. Run over them and you'll squish them (and hear it)!

Complete loot overhaul
Over 200 creatures and NPCs and all variants -- all original in Oblivion and those new in MMM -:- where indvidually tweaked for loot drops, based on creature type, class, and even sex -- for example, bandits may carry food as well valuables they have stolen, such as gold or jewelry, and even then male bandits might prefer rings while female bandits prefer all jewerly types. Similarly, Barbarians are more likely to carry raw hides from creatures or meats, Conjurers ingredients for their trade, Mages a chance of scrolls and potions, and you'll just have to find out what Smugglers might be smuggling! Every creature and NPC has got some personal treatment, even animals, zombies and skeletons!

Additionally loot drops are more rewarding where due -- Bosses for example have more loot, or more valuable loot, and based on class and profession. Further, the life and background story of creatures and NPCs is fleshed out by the loot drops -- animals may carry bones and hides; many NPCs may carry loose change, food and have cheap rings or other jewelry; bandits may carry cheap stolen silver, Marauders like their (sometimes cheerful) drinks; Slayers which are killers for hire are likely to carry a good amount of gold; Goblins may be carrying rat meat or dog meat for their dinner and so on. Every creature and NPC has a story behind it.

Creature AI
Wounded animals can now flee, based on confidence, and tame animals will turn towards the player as they approach.
Behaviour when the player approaches now includes, using a wolf as an example he will either:

* Attack on sight
* Be shy and flee on sight
* Be tame and turn towards the player as they get close
* If tame and attacked, will become hostile
* If wounded and has a low confidence, will flee combat

Shy animals run a short distance before returning to normal, but will run again if the player approaches ages. Shy animals that are attacked will fight back - but then may flee again if wounded too badly! Combined with the relationships with the more than 22 other factions, and range of wildlife behaviour is as diverse as it is cool

Hunters 2.5
All the new ingredients are integrated directly with the MMM, with the following changes:

* More meats and pelts from MMM were added to the hunters ingredient level lists
* New ingredients applied to all creatures both original Oblivion and and new in MMM, including daedra (missing in original Hunters)
* Tweaked loot drop lists to keep bone-based materials on animals, reserving bone and stone based materials for more intelligent creatures (for eg Golbins and Ogres, capable of shaping stone).
* Renamed ingredients to remove 'Arrowhead' -- It seemed strange to find things like a 'Bone Arrowhead' on an animal, so these were renamed to things like 'Sharpened Bone' to imply its use as an arrowhead without calling it as much.

Thanks to Axebane for allowing me to integrate his fantastic new creations!

Imperial Armors
Imperial City guards, and regional travelling guards, sport swank new threads thanks to yakueb and Ionis!

===== NEW FEATURES in 1.2 =====

Durability & Damage optional plugin
Boosts the durability of armor and weapons 100% (x2), and weapon damage (yours and enemies) by 50%. Helps balance out the increased fighting you experience from increased spawns.

MMM for Francescos
Named NPCs and stronger bosses now integrate perfectly, with MMM size/stat/flee code applied as well. Thanks to Newcomber24 for allowing me to integrate parts of Francescos 3.1 directly into MMM. Note: Requires Francescos 3.1 to work.

Stat reductions due to wounds
No more NPCs swinging at you like they've never been scratched. Instead, the more wounded an NPC, the weaker they get (strength, agility, and speed). Badly wounded NPCs won't be able to run as fast if they flee.

Feedback welcome on these new features.

So what does it all look like? See:

- A goblin camp where every goblin is a different size, has different strength, health, agility and confidence (and may flee if too scared). Some are more aggressive than others, and each of them fights differently.
- A herd of deer all varying in size scatter from your at differing speeds as you approach
- A Head Hunter turn invisble and attack you without warning, or a team of Barbarians scare the shirt off your back as they charge at you
- Wolves hunt deer. Cats hunt goblins. Minotaurs kill trolls. Bandits fight Marauders. And Imps get creamed by everyone. Well, ok, it's not that bad. Rats don't mind them.
- Zombies of different strengths and sizes shambling towards you at different speeds
- Golbins chase deer for the evenings food. Imps hunt a boar. Cats hunt horses and sheep, or goblins, for a snack
- A normal lion ignoring a member of a faction it has no quarrel with, but a dire one out of its mind with disease and attacking
- A group of wolves passing deer where some pursue while others don't. Some deer and wolves are faster or slower than others, so a wolf might catch up to a slow one, or deer outrun the wolf
- Undead interrupting a fight between Imps and Bears, and both turning their attention to the bigger threat
- A camp of Bandits and their dogs fighting it out with Marauders that wander into their territory
- Wolves attacking their own kind when stirred into a frenzy by you
- Champion Ogres towering above you, swiping for you like a snack on a stick (with a crunchy mithril wrapper)
- Golems attack anything they don't like, and drop gems when you fell them
- A hoarde of undead skeletons of different size, skills, and speeed attacking all life they come across
- Goblin Bandits robbing you -- and anyone else -- they find on the roads
- A Raider fleeing for his life from you, and running into a giant bear that takes him out with a single swipe
- Ice Wolves and Snow Lepoards in snowy mountainous areas, and giant Ogres watching the roads
- Flaming skeletons showing you that a walking pile of bones really can get more dangerous than you thought
- Defenders, Raiders, Amazons, Barbarians, Bloodmoon Warriors and more populating roads, the wilderness, forests, mountains, hills and the path that lays ahead of you!
- All this, just off the top of my head from briefly playtesting 1.1!

===== CRAFTING =====

MMM includes a crafting engine based on Axebane's excellent work with the Hunters mod. Combined with the Gems & Gem Dust plugin you can:

* Collect bones, feathers, stones, animal hide and more
* Make armor out of animal hides
* Make arrows out of bones/stones and feathers
* Grind bones into Bone Dust
* Grind a wide range of gems into Gem Dust, each with unique properties.

To grind bones and gems, you simply need a mortar and pestle and then just click on the bones or gems in your inventory. Only larger bones and gems can be ground to dust.

To make armor and arrows, first find the Leatherworking and Fletching tools which will show up in crates and barrels, just search and you'll eventually find them. Then, click on these tools to make items. If you have the required ingredients, you'll be able to craft new items.

Note that some bones can have dual use -- they can be ground to dust for alchemy, or used to make armor and arrows.

===== INSTALLING =====

1] Extract to your Oblivion/Data directory
2] Select 'Mart's Monster Mod.esm'
3] Select to load 'Mart's Monster Mod.esp'
*OR*
'Mart's Monster Mod for Francescos.esp'
*OR*
'Mart's Monster Mod for OOO.esp'
4] Read about the range of optional plugins from the PLUGINS section below
5] Drag your choice of plugins from the '== Optional Plugins ==' directory to your Data directory.
6] Select to load these plugins
7] Play!

What are the different versions?

Mart's Monster Mod: Use with vanilla, OOO, Adventurers and pretty much everything else!

Mart's Monster Mod for Francescos: A tailored version for Francescos that allows stronger enemies and stronger bosses and more to appear in MMM.

Mart's Monster Mod for OOO: this release integrates the OOO loot for MMM NPCs, removes MMM guards so OOO guards take priority, and cross-pollinates MMM and OOO factions so like creatures correctly behave (i.e OOO wolves and MMM wolves on the same faction).

===== LOAD ORDER =====

As MMM is designed to work both stand alone as well as with other mods like OOO and Francescos, it's important MMM is loaded after these to take effect. If you are using MMM with Francescos, this would be a good load order (note .esm 'master files' always load first regardless):

Francescos main .esm
Francescos extra items .esm
Mart's Monster Mod.esm
...
...
Francescos optional plugins .esps
Mart's Monster Mod for Francescos.esp
Mart's Monster Mod optional plugins .esps

Generally MMM should always be loaded last in your chain, the main exception is Mighty Magick, this should be loaded after MMM. Other notes:

* If you use Hunters 2.0 or Hunters 2.5, de-select it (included in MMM)
* If you use Creature Continuum, de-select it (included in MMM)
* If you use Beautiful People, or any other mod based on Elaborate Eyes, don't use the 'Races Resized' optional plugin
* If you use onboard sound, nearby creatures may cause stuttering. Use the newest 'Quiet Feet' mod, which is compatible with MMM, OOO and others -- Planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com

===== PLUGINS =====

MMM features a plugin system that allows you to tailor the mod to your playstyle. All plugins can be enabled or disabled at any time, but note some changes will take time to appear -- such as Diverse Imperial Armor or Reduced Spawn Rates -- which naturally occurs as cells reset while you play.

All plugins need to be loaded after whichever main .esp you are using, Mart's Monster Mod.esp, Mart's Monster Mod for Francescos.esp, or Mart's Monster Mod for OOO.esp.

But what do the different Plugins do?

Reduced Spawn Rates -- Reduced spawn rates for lower-end machines, stealthy characters, or those who prefer less action but want the other features MMM offers.

Reduced Reduced Spawn Rates -- As above, but further reduced.

Increased Spawn Rates -- The oppposite of RSR, this plugin adds a crazy amount of spawns to hardcore trigger happy players.

Friendlier Factions -- Like it says on the box. Inter-faction fights less likely to occur for all creatures, except Bandits and Marauders who are mortal enemies.

Less Bone Loot -- Another request in the official thread, reduced generic bone loot on creatures for those who don't use bones for crafting.

Damage & Durability -- Increases weapon damage by 50% and armor and weapon durability by 100% to help fights go faster and armor last longer with the default increase in spawns.

Resized Races -- Whether the diversity in race sizes is exentuated as well as females generally being shorter, and bulkier Nords and Orcs.

Gems & Gem Dust -- Combines Gem Dust, Tamriel's Glittering Geology, and Bone Grind into MMM's crafting system. The Gem Dust scripts have been scaled and applied against the gems in Tamriel's Glittering Geology, which you will also now find appearing on scome creatures and in gem-based loot level lists. Now updated by Bendiwolf to include new gem dusts for the new gems.

No Giants -- Removes the giant humanoids from MMM's lists, for those who don't like hacking at knees.

No Carrion Rats -- Removes the Carrion Rats spawning at corpses after a few hours. Alternaively, you can load this plugin and alter the percentage chance, just look for the global variable 'AMMRatPercent'.

Francesco's levelled quests -- Francesco's levelled quests plugin updated for MMM. Requires Francescos. NOTE: This is a compatibility plugin, you still need to load the original Francesco's levelled quests, simply loading the MMM version after it. See below for more.

More Wilderness Life -- Another community plugin developed by Dae, More Wilderness Life adds hundreds of new spawn points across Tamriel to help fill the bare, empty areas Bethesda left in the game. This isn't about simply meeting more creatures -- the advanced behavioral AI and inter-faction relationships introduced by MMM results in a thriving, living world around you as you travel (and where you're not always the center of attention), completely changing your experience of Tamriel. Highly recommended!

Diverse Imperial Armors -- The much improved Imperial City Guard armors by yakueb.

Diverse Creature Skins -- Adds diverse and different texture variants for many creatures in the game -- see a pack of wolves where each looks different or a swarm of Goblins with differences in texture and tone between them. This plugin adds a huge depth and variety to the game. Highly recommended!

Looting NPCs & Creatures -- NPCs, Goblins and Ogres will loot the bodies of their fallen prey. The exception are Guards, since you don't want them taking your loot (unless you don't mind killing them for it). Looting is about more than just NPCs taking each other’s gear -- it breathes much more life into the world.

City Defences -- All cities except the IC now have legion archers patrolling the battlements of each city. Based on the Wall Archers concept by gumballthechewy, this has been built from the ground up with MMM using less guards so as not to impact performance, added external cell as well internal cell guards, added pathing points for patrols along the battlements, and gave them special torches and equipment to enhance their effect.

NOTE: You no longer need the 'Diverse NPC Faces' (for MMM NPCs) plugin from previous versions, this is now integrated directly.

Recommended plugins

It's highly recommended to play with the following plugins for the full MMM experience:

More Wilderness Life
Damage & Durability
Gems & Gem Dust
Diverse Creature Skins

Don't forget if you're finding the going tough, especially if you're loading More Wilderness Life, try also:

Reduced Spawn Rates
Friendlier Factions

===== FRANS LEVELED QUESTS UPDATE ====

If you use 'Frans leveled quests.esp', please read the following.

In MMM 2.0 the three MMM updated Fran's leveled quest plugins are no longer required, instead a new single plugin is now used and is much simpler
to use. Unlike the old plugins which replaced the Frans versions, this actually requires them and simply loads after.

To use it simply load all your chosen Francescso optional files, including any compatibility plugins like Harvest Containers and TNR, and then
load the 'Mart's Monster Mod - Fran's leveled quests.esp' after these.

So for example, the load order would be:

Francescos .esms
Mart's Monster Mod .esm
...
…
Francesco optional files .esps
Francesco compatible files .esps
Mart's Monster Mod optional plugins .esps
Mart's Monster Mod - Fran's leveled quests.esp

NOTE: You only need to use the 'Mart's Monster Mod - Fran's leveled quests.esp' plugin if you use 'Francesco's optional leveled quests.esp' from
Frans. All other Frans compatibility files no longer need an updated version for MMM.