Weekly Update (1/5/2018) -- Skyrim Souls, Real Bows, & Simple Crosshair

Hello my friends, and a Happy New Year to you all. I hope your holidays were fun and restful, and that you're all ready to tackle a new year. (2017 was a tough one, so hopefully we're all primed for 2018's challenges.)

As always, please welcome our newest Patrons!

• Andrew Dickie
• big dog
• Chris Walker-Bush
• greatbull324
• Jeremy Thomas
• Jonah Gordon
• Jonathan Gagnon
• kenneth doobert
• Martin Price
• Roman Sery
• Ruger

Thank you all, new Patrons and old, for your contributions!

Now, onto the update!

• Those of you who watched last month's stream will know that Skyrim Souls has been officially added to the installation. For those unaware, SS unpauses in-game menus (a la Dark Souls), so you can no longer freeze time while rummaging through your backpack/magic menu/etc.
  
  This certainly takes some getting used to, but I absolutely love the gameplay opportunities SS presents. For one, preparation & awareness are even more important -- no more scarfing down potions from the safety of your menus. Pickpocketing and Lockpicking are much more tense, since the world continues on around you (and that guard might come around that corner any second!) It also allows you to pass time while you read, play tavern games, etc., which is a nice roleplaying touch.
  
  To accommodate this new gameplay style, I'm looking into hotkey/control/UI mods that will make it easier to manage your equipment in real-time. Stay tuned on this.
  
  
• Real Bows has replaced Scoped Bows, as of now, to accommodate the re-introduction of the crosshair to Ultimate Skyrim (improved by the mod Simple Crosshair).
  
  When I first designed US, I removed the crosshair in an attempt to make archery more skillful/engaging. Scoped Bows fit this mechanic well, and so I included it (even though that meant using the ugly vanilla bow models). However, removing the crosshair proved wonky at best: though scopes were a delight to use, unscoped bows were often difficult/unsatisfying, and crossbows were basically unusable.
  
  In the interest of usability I've decided to re-enable crosshairs, which means two things: one, we're free to use the excellent Real Bows and its stunning bow models, and two, that we'll need Simple Crosshair to replace the god-awful vanilla crosshair.
  
  
• This is more of a sidenote, but I've replaced Farm Anywhere with Placeable Campfire Planters, which I believe offers a simpler and more enjoyable means of farming anywhere (as well as some other fun features).

That wraps up this week's update! I've got some particularly exciting stuff in store for next week, so stay tuned and thank you as always for reading.

Love,

BB