Better Storms & Weather
BS&W v0.9 released 8/16/06
by PsychEroc

-Featuring MUCH Better Lightning Strikes During Storms & MUCH More Immersive Sounding Weather

Experience BETTER STORMS with BETTER LIGHTNING and BETTER THUNDER with my re-write of Lightning strikes During Storms (PJ's), 8 brand new high quality thunder sounds (from More Immersive Sounding Weather), enhanced OB weather sounds (wind, rain, & thunder), and enhanced rain and thunderstorm settings.  

Better Storms & Weather (BS&W) replaces PJ's Better Ligtning Strikes During Storms & PsychEroc's More Immersive Sounding Weather (MIS-W), so if you use this mod please disable PJ's & MIS-W.  BS&W also includes newer versions of some files included in Oblivion Stereo Sound Overhaul (OSSO) v0.9.

NOTE: the v0.9 release is NOT compatible with NE/NW, but the v1.0 release will be!


v0.9 COMPATIBILITY
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NOT COMPATIBLE WITH:
-x- PJ's Lightning Strikes During Storms by PJ (BS&W replaces PJ's mod with a revised and re-written version)
-x- More Immersive Sounding Storms (MIS-W) by PsychEroc (BS&W replaces my old mod with a revised version)
-x- Real Thunder Sounds by CrazyAce (these may conflict with my new sounds)
-x- Natural Environments/Weather (BS&W v0.9 is NOT compatible, but BS&W v1.0 will be combatible with NE/NW!!!!)

COMPATIBLE WITH:
-+- Oblivion Stereo Sound Overhaul (OSSO) by PsychEroc
-+- More Immersive Sound by Deckard (as long as MIS loads before BS&W)
-+- Most other mods that don't affect weather or these particular sounds


INSTALLATION NOTES
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-To install, decompress 7zip archive into your Oblivion\Data folder and click "yes to all".  When loading Oblivion, chose the Storms data file to activate the esp.

-If you use More Immersive Sound (MIS) it must load before Storms.esp or else the Storms.esp will not work. (In other words, load MIS first, then Storms.)

-If you use Oblivion Stereo Sound Overhaul (OSSO) simply copy over the OSSO sounds with these newer versions.

-If you install Oblivion Stereo Sound Overhaul (OSSO) after Better Storms & Weather then you will need to re-install BS&W to get the newer version of the sounds back.


NOTES, POSSIBLE PROBLEMS, TWEAKS, ETC.
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1. Like PJ's mod, this mod changes the Darkness & Shock Damage magic effects.  Thus it will potentially conflict with any other mod using Darkness and may cause noticible changes to spells using Shock damage.  Please report any problems to the forums.

2. Two methods were used to create lightning "flashes".  The first method, only for flashes from distant and sky lightning, quickly loads and unloads a new weather system, which is a relatively extreme method.  As a result, during each of these flashes some systems will experience FPS loss & rain glitches, however each flash only lasts for a fraction of a second.  If this is bothersome, use the following console command to turn it off: press "~" then type "set PEStorms.noflash to 1" then press "enter"

3. The second "flash" method is used for close lightning strikes and it involves a tweak to the Light magic effect.  Please report to the forums if this messes up any other Light-based spells and I'll release a version of the .esp that removes this type of flash.  If you want to disable this flash effect (for some reason) use the following console command: press "~" then type "set PEStorms.noflash to 2" then press "enter"

4. If you want to change the percent chance of getting lightning use the following console commands.
To increase the chance 5%, for example, press "~" then type "set PEstorms.changechance to 5" then press "enter".
To decrease the chance 5%, for example, press "~" then type "set PEstorms.changechance to -10" then press "enter".

5. Once installed and loaded, follow these steps to immediately experience the mod:
 -a) Go outdoors
 -b) Open Console: press the "~" key
 -c) Type "sw 00038ef1", press "Enter", then close console by pressing the "~" key again.  This will make a thunderstorm slowly begin (be patient and don't move around too much or it may not ever start)
 -d) After the thunderous experience, the storm will pass naturally and you can continue with your game.


CREDITS
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Thanks to Martigen for encouraging me and pointing me to sites with free sounds.
Thanks to PJ for providing the meshes & textures and letting me whack at his code.
Thanks to Mr Flippy for originally starting the lightning strike mod.

All new thunder sounds were tweaked from the original recordings credited to the following contributors at TheFreeSoundProject (http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/index.php):
acclivity
dobroide
Pingel

All new thunder sounds are used under the following liscence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/sampling+/1.0/