Stallion Ring

[Victor15]

Stallion Ring

View File

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OVERVIEW - The mod allows you to find and wear an enchanted ring called "The Stallion Ring," made by a person calling themselves "Curt the Cursed Enchanter." Be forewarned that the ring is not all that it appears to be; Read the poem included with it carefully and heed it's instructions. A "spoiler file" is included with this mod for people who would like additional clarity on the nature of the ring.

 

The container containing the ring (and the poem) may be found outside and under a bridge. Additional clues (in order):

 

Spoiler

Past Riverwood.

 

Spoiler

Before Whiterun.

 

Spoiler

Just before Chillfurrow Farm.

 

In response to feedback, here is the poem that is in the mod so that you may judge if this mod is something that you would be interested in using for your playthroughs. Again, if you want precise details on what the ring does, there's a "spoiler" text file included in the mod.

 

Spoiler

Behold the curse of the Stallion Ring,
Worn by paupers, worn by kings.
Each thought that ownership would turn them great,
Too late did they learn that it was all a mistake.

 

True, it is, it grants great speed,
For the ring is based upon a steed.
Water shall become solid so fast that you run,
But the costs are so great it shall ruin your fun.

 

Regardless of type, no armor may be adorned,
From head to foot, only clothes must be worn.
And those who are quick must also travel light,
Your burden is reduced regardless of might.

 

And the steed has hooves which make a great sound,
Enemies shall know when you are around.

 

Before this ring you try to accept,
If I were you, it would not be kept.
I'd let it lie wherever it was found,
And hope it is swallowed into the ground.

 

But the soil shall always vomit it back,
To display itself to some witless hack.
To glimmer it's charms and attract a cod,
In the hopeless attempt to become a God.

 

Yet, here it is, in front of you now,
A decision is placed upon your brow.
Accept your fate as a peasant and walk away,
Or will fate tempt you now and lead you astray?

 

 

The mod is a single .ESP file and is placed into the directory that all .ESP files are placed in. The mod contains no scripts. Uninstallation is simple; Remove the ring, save the game, uninstall the mod, re-load your save game and simply re-save your game.

 

The mod was made using Skyrim: Anniversary Edition but I can only presume that it will work on earlier editions. Please let me know if that is not the case as I have no way of testing the mod on earlier editions.

 

Any constructive feedback is welcome, as always. I do expect to tweak the mod a tiny bit but it all depends upon feedback.

 

Finally, please do not re-distribute this mod to places such as NexusMods; I do not hate NexusMods or the people who work there. I only want to have one central location for which to monitor the feedback and reception of the mod. Having multiple places to modify (and monitor) the mod would be detrimental to it's upkeep.

 

I hope that you enjoy this mod. Thank you.

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• Submitter
  Victor15
• Submitted
  05/15/2022
• Category
  Armor & Clothing
• Requires
  Skyrim, 7-zip
• Special Edition Compatible
  Yes

 

[shardoom]

So no images and no information on what the ring does?

 

That's a bold way to upload a mod.

[SmedleyDButler]

Not to mention putting an SE mod in the LE section.

[Harvald]

19 minutes ago, SmedleyDButler said:

Not to mention putting an SE mod in the LE section.

It's only an esp, so it will work in both games.

[Z0mBieP00Nani]

I don't install shit unless I know what it does.

[Victor15]

3 hours ago, shardoom said:

So no images and no information on what the ring does?

 

That's a bold way to upload a mod.

 

Hi shardoom and thank you for your prompt feedback.

 

In response to your concern about information on what the ring does, I understand that the initial description could be seen as inadequate for people who want more exact information. However, I also want to balance that desire out with the nature and intent of the mod, which is that the ring is mysterious and that what it does is not initially clear to the wearer. My compromise is to include the poem that is discovered with the ring in the description of the mod (in spoiler text) in the event that people want more information. Remember that there's a "spoiler file" included with the mod that offers very precise information on that the ring does for those people who want that level of clarity.

 

As for the desire for screenshots, I'm not sure if screenshots are entirely necessary. The spoiler texts offer a fairly good description of where it is and you can get that same information in the "spoiler file" included with the mod. It is fair that I may need to revise this opinion for later but I want there to be some mystery to where the item is; Think of it as another treasure hunt.

 

Again, thank you for your feedback and I hope that you enjoy the mod.

[Victor15]

1 hour ago, SmedleyDButler said:

Not to mention putting an SE mod in the LE section.

 

19 minutes ago, Z0mBieP00Nani said:

I don't install shit unless I know what it does.

 

Hi SmedleyDButler & Z0mBieP00Nani. My initial responses to your posts were apparently cut off by being "timed out" by the website. Here is a more abbreviated response:

 

The mod is a single .ESP file that uses no scripting. My understanding of the differences between the versions of Skyrim is that it should be compatible with all of the versions but, if it does not, I will remove it.

 

The intent of the mod is that the ring is mysterious and that the player does not know precisely what the ring does until they read the poem and wear it for themselves. I appreciate your apprehension; As a result, I have now included the poem seen in the mod in the description of the mod. Please remember that there is also a "spoiler file" included with the mod that gives very precise details on what the ring does so that you may judge for yourself if you want to install the mod or not.

 

Thank you both for your feedback and I hope that you enjoy the mod, should you choose to use it.

[Antiope_Apollonia]

"You must download this mod in order to be allowed to find out whether this mod is worth downloading."

 

An interesting gambit to try to inflate your download numbers, I suppose.

[Z0mBieP00Nani]

4 hours ago, shardoom said:

So no images and no information on what the ring does?

 

That's a bold way to upload a mod.

It deletes system 32, HA April fools!

 

*But it's not even April...

 

Oh, sorry.

 

(only kidding, it's just a mod as far as I know)

[SmedleyDButler]

42 minutes ago, Antiope_Apollonia said:

"You must download this mod in order to be allowed to find out whether this mod is worth downloading."

 

An interesting gambit to try to inflate your download numbers, I suppose.

 

This is the problem, yes.

 

Also I would have no way of knowing the mod was .esp only (and Harvald is correct that that would run in both LE and SE fine if that's all it is) without downloading it.

 

Never mind that people don't want to risk fragile load orders on a mystery mod. Sure, you can open it up in TESV edit by why would you go to that trouble for a mod you have no idea if you'd like at all or not?

[tessory2]

What the ring do?

[Alessia Wellington]

15 minutes ago, tessory2 said:

What the ring do?

 

It let's you run 50% faster, and also allows you to walk on water. As a trade-off, you're not allowed to wear any armour, have your carrying capacity cut in half, and you're easier to spot while sneaking.

[Victor15]

Well, this has certainly been an education for myself.

 

I did not realize that a mod containing a single enchanted item would cause so much... controversy?

 

My honest thought was that people other than myself would have the same level of curiosity (and fun) that I have had for similar mods (not presented here, apparently) where an enchanted item's abilities weren't completely transparent and you would have to learn through experimentation what those abilities were. Clearly, that is not the case for this website. I even thought that including a poem roughly describing it's abilities and a "spoiler file" would spoil the puzzle for too many people but including them seems to have caused even more controversy, accusing me of inflating download numbers.

 

I did not intend to insult your community or offend it. I also thought that your community was already familiar with these types of mods or, at the very least, would be appreciative of it. That is clearly not the case.

 

What can I write? I "misjudged the market," to use entrepreneurial language.

 

I shall rescind this mod for now and reconsider similar efforts. Thank you for the feedback.

[NedolUmosh]

For your future endeavors: consider that enchanted items from this website could do almost anything.  When I read your poem I thought the item would forever transform the main character into a pony girl/boy/whatever, a horse/pony furry, and/or a 4-legged horse/pony.  Maybe even a My Little Pony character.  Some people would love those options to appeal to their fetishes, and others would be absolutely turned off by one or more of those options.  Therefore, it's in the users' best interests to have at least some idea of what we're putting into the game.  There's room to create some mystery, but as the mod author it's likely in your best interest to set SOME expectations if you want a more favorable result.  At the very least, letting users know their hard drives won't explode to the sound of horse sex or something would be a plus.

[slvsaris]

On 5/15/2022 at 6:06 PM, Harvald said:

It's only an esp, so it will work in both games.

While this may be true is some cases, it is a bad practice and NOT true in all cases.  Very bad practice.

[SmedleyDButler]

I don't get how "No one likes surprise mods" followed bye a long list of reasons explaining why this is the case is hard to understand. Or why "Not wanting to install something on your computer whose origins, purpose, and function are basically unknown, offered by a total stranger." for that matter.

 

I mean, do the math. On one hand we could have the amazing experience of... what exactly? We had no way of knowing? On the other hand, we could brick our game. Do you think that sounds like a good risk for us to take?

 

We're not a fuckin' market AND we're not any different from the reddit or Nexus crowd on this particular issue. Nobody wants mystery mods - or to use an "entrepreneurial" metaphor myself, no one's going to get excited about a product that's being "advertised" using ads with no pictures or information.

[chuckyw]

I don't think it is a big deal at all.  If you are unsure about a mod that has no description, move on, or ask here if someone tried it and what happened.  it is super easy and drama free.  I read the poem and had a pretty good idea of what the mod was about.  Everyone, please just enjoy mods and be nice to each other

[SmedleyDButler]

I mean, I'm being a dick about it, but I think most people ITT just want OP to understand why there would be such a negative reaction to their mod, since OP seems to be quite confused about this.

 

[jenova666]

uhmm.... what does it even do? I mean. When you make a mod, shouldn't you explain what the purpose of the mod even is? Is it an armor mod? A quest mod? A unique item mod? A story mod?

If I am going to go through the hassle of looking over my mods again, shouldn't I at least be told what each mod does?

[keitolainen]

Very interesting thread. My question would be this: if you don't want to install a mod who's effects you are not clear on, why don't you choose not to install it? Why is this a conversation? The mod author included three levels of spoilers.. first, no spoilers, go in blind. Second, a cryptic poem that provides hints but no specifics. Third, an actual full spoiler in the mod download. I'm not sure I understand the argument that needing to download the mod to get the full spoilers is artificially inflating the mod's downloads. Why is that a concern? There's no ad revenue here.

 

To the mod author though: maybe a compromise would be to include specific spoilers on the download page, in a clearly labelled spoiler block. Personally I think the idea of going in blind is fun, and I've definitely downloaded quest mods which I didn't know each specific stage of beforehand.

[SmedleyDButler]

57 minutes ago, keitolainen said:

Very interesting thread. My question would be this: if you don't want to install a mod who's effects you are not clear on, why don't you choose not to install it? Why is this a conversation? The mod author included three levels of spoilers.. first, no spoilers, go in blind. Second, a cryptic poem that provides hints but no specifics. Third, an actual full spoiler in the mod download. I'm not sure I understand the argument that needing to download the mod to get the full spoilers is artificially inflating the mod's downloads. Why is that a concern? There's no ad revenue here.

 

To the mod author though: maybe a compromise would be to include specific spoilers on the download page, in a clearly labelled spoiler block. Personally I think the idea of going in blind is fun, and I've definitely downloaded quest mods which I didn't know each specific stage of beforehand.

 

Proving information is good modding practice and a generally-agreed-upon standard.

 

If you're going to break conventions which exist for good and practical reasons, you need to be offering something better than "It's a surpriiiiise!"

 

As for our response, if we say nothing, what lesson is the mod author supposed to learn from that?

[keitolainen]

7 hours ago, SmedleyDButler said:

 

Proving information is good modding practice and a generally-agreed-upon standard.

 

If you're going to break conventions which exist for good and practical reasons, you need to be offering something better than "It's a surpriiiiise!"

 

As for our response, if we say nothing, what lesson is the mod author supposed to learn from that?

 

That seems like a circular argument. Also, I think it's worth keeping in mind that most users on sites like this don't post at all, it is only an extreme minority that do, especially those that post regularly. It would be a mistake to assume that responses like these are significant. As I'm writing this the mod has over 400 downloads, but only a handful of people responding here. Why assume that everyone agrees with you and not that everyone agrees with me? Neither of us represent anything meaningful. No one voted for us. I hope that the mod author keeps that in mind and re-uploads the file. Unless an admin tells you otherwise, randos like myself don't speak for anyone other than ourselves.

[SmedleyDButler]

9 hours ago, keitolainen said:

 

That seems like a circular argument. Also, I think it's worth keeping in mind that most users on sites like this don't post at all, it is only an extreme minority that do, especially those that post regularly. It would be a mistake to assume that responses like these are significant. As I'm writing this the mod has over 400 downloads, but only a handful of people responding here. Why assume that everyone agrees with you and not that everyone agrees with me? Neither of us represent anything meaningful. No one voted for us. I hope that the mod author keeps that in mind and re-uploads the file. Unless an admin tells you otherwise, randos like myself don't speak for anyone other than ourselves.

 

"Seems like" is not "is". The reasons the convention exist have already been posted multiple times ITT.

 

Speaking about a convention which clearly exists is a description of facts, not an opinion. If you believe I'm lying or wrong, feel free to look around here or go on Nexus and count the ratio of "surprise" mods with no or blank images or information uploaded to versus mods with images and clear, unambiguous documentation. In fact it's literally Nexus POLICY that mods cannot be published without at least one image. You may also want to look at the comments in such mods.

 

This is not Nexus, but they are by far the larger platform and in any case the same convention holds true for both sites in practice, even if we don't have explicit rules for it.

 

This isn't something happening in a vacuum either; poorly-made mods can fuck your savegame up. That too is a fact, not an opinion. Just because the mod is offered for free does not mean it has no costs to the user.

[audhol]

And so another budding mod author is burned to the ground because he or she decided not to make a full on description of what his or her mod does. Bravo to all of you that dissed his or her mod. Maybee you've not all noticed just how little new content is being posted on LL recently whilst nexus is booming. There are far too many people here that choose to criticise the work others do and provide to you FOR FREE. You don't get what it does? You don't wanna take the risk? fine then don't download it or better still make constructive comments to the author about how his or her mod description could be improved. BTW nice to see the amount of mods that the people using their time to moan here have contributed to the community.

 

@Victor15 don't give up, if you enjoy modding do it for yourself I'm sorry for the reactions you have encountered.

[Dusk_]

I would say Victor15 received the most constructive criticism that could be given for a mod or upload like this.

1. "Why aren't people downloading my mod?" - People don't know what it does, so they ignore it.
2. "Why aren't people commenting on the mod?" - People didn't install it, because they didn't know what it did. Or they ignored it because of the poor description.
3. "How can I make my mod more appealing?" - The people who might like your creation won't know it if your description is bad.

 

I would also personally say that the amount that a mod creators plays coy should be appropriately proportional to the quality of the surprise. Quest mods don't have to describe the entire story they're adding, but they should at least adequately describe how to get started, and what kind of content users can expect to experience.

 

For a mod like this, the only thing I could really say about it is that it's about 5 minutes to install and follow the vague directions, all for an interesting, but ultimately one-note, enchanted item. Kind of like a Rick Roll that you have to work for.