Skyrim Chain Beasts SE/AE/VR

[MTB]

23 hours ago, Lucky Sparrow said:

Can I add 0.9.8QF mid game?

If you mean to a game with v0.9.8 on it; should be fine,

(patch won't retroactively fix issues so best to have a save where not having played the PIT quest, or at least not used the follower fight feature of that.)

 

[dianaharuno]

Most incomplete quest mod i've ever played, very little guidance on what to do or where to go. Ebony Mine im CONVINCED is uncompletable. i have 0 idea how to 'become an apprentic conjurer and get friends enslaved' i'vej ust spend 2 hours afk invisibile in solitude letting women friends get captured for the LAST one but this time i doesnt work. tried debug, nada, doesnt help. So incomplete and frustrating

[MTB]

1 hour ago, dianaharuno said:

i have 0 idea how to 'become an apprentic conjurer

 

Spoiler

Novice Conjuration, Apprentice conjuration, Adept Conjuration, Expert ...   all perks in the conjuration tree...

 

[black-watch]

Is a new save necessary whenn updating from 0.9.7?

[MTB]

9 minutes ago, black-watch said:

Is a new save necessary whenn updating from 0.9.7?

 

Should be ok to update on existing save.

[jouda1212]

Just curious question I was not able to find answer - when someone are "hypnotized" going to activate mine, is there a way to stop him (otherwise than just killing him?)

[MTB]

8 hours ago, jouda1212 said:

Just curious question I was not able to find answer - when someone are "hypnotized" going to activate mine, is there a way to stop him (otherwise than just killing him?)

 

Spoiler

Yes, just talk to them.

 

[MTB]

 

Little sneak preview for those that have already obtained the speed whip. (Or don't mind using the skip menu to get it.)  Should work on existing saves (install over V098QF(2)). Should work with both LE and SE version.

Adds a new use for that whip...

Spoiler

You could already use it to speed up victims on their travels (like an escort might do), but now you can also make the NPC speed up when in the furniture:

NPCs in furniture can now struggle as well, but they need some encouragement to do so...

After a hit they'll struggle for a little bit. There is a small chance (10%) that they'll manage to free themselves by doing so, but even if they fail, it loosens their restraints, reducing their time left in the device a bit.

(Will only work after the NPC has been properly placed, alignment process finished...)

SkyrimChainBeasts-V099Preview01.7z

Edited October 11, 2025 by MTB

[awesomeSPAS]

@MTB Very interesting concept, thank you! One thing that I am struggling with though is this:

 

Follower, when recovering its gears is missing some items. Any idea what went wrong? In particular - those are armor, boots, gauntlets, amulet and ring I gave them to wear. But not all, other items like accessories (which i also I gave them) they are recovering well. 

 

Despite that followers are not naked but wearing their default cloth. If it helps, it is reproducible with Lidia

Edited October 14, 2025 by awesomeSPAS

[mnonyhc]

Hey, trying the mod for the first time, enjoying in quite a bit.

Got a couple of questions and a couple of ctd reports.

First, looting the item boxes using loot all from quicklootIE will sometimes cause a CTD, I've reported it on their end, where it ultimately should be fixed, but could we have a small workaround delay on the boxes disappearing when empty? I'm pretty sure that's what's causing the crash. https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/120075?tab=bugs (Occasional CTDs when looting all (R keybind) Skyrim Chain beast lootboxes)
(edit: seems like they are already looking into fixing it on their end)

Now for the questions.

How exactly is the herd dream supposed to work, you hit them with the wip and they turn around but it seems pretty random whether they finally decide to head to the furniture. is It just random or could a combat mod I'm using, like precision, be messing with the intended gameplay?

Half request, half CTD. I love the beast riding but could we have a more hands-off approach to it? Either have it able to automatically move to a marker we place on the map or at least an auto-run feature, an MCM option to customize the speed would also be nice (I usually play the game modded for very fast movement)
The spider also cant seem to go backwards which can cause it to be stuck in corners, and if you have a door in front of you the E keybind wont work to dismount, Can we consider swapping the keybind to R instead?
On that note, activating the door while dismounting (cuz I was spamming E in a corner trying to get it to dismount) will cause an animation-related CTD, another reason I think the keybind should probably be R or maybe needs better locking of the E keybind to prevent its use while dismounting as well.






 

Edited October 15, 2025 by mnonyhc

[Wolf470]

Firsly:  What I've seen of this mod is cool!  👽  I will say that I was attacked after buying Tundra Home (outside of Whiterun) - there was no problem with that and I got stripped down to just fists then fought them off - what was weird was that the equipment chest/beast vanished just after I killed the Steel Beast that attacked me.  I got my stuff back with the MCM but I just wanted to comment that the equipment chest/beasts should turn into a locked chest or stay where they get the equipment (close to the PC/NPC) so that you can get your stuff back if you don't get captured.  Still a nice mod and it adds more fun to Skyrim. 🐺

[MTB]

On 10/14/2025 at 10:38 PM, awesomeSPAS said:

@MTB Very interesting concept, thank you! One thing that I am struggling with though is this:

 

Follower, when recovering its gears is missing some items. Any idea what went wrong? In particular - those are armor, boots, gauntlets, amulet and ring I gave them to wear. But not all, other items like accessories (which i also I gave them) they are recovering well. 

 

Despite that followers are not naked but wearing their default cloth. If it helps, it is reproducible with Lidia

 

So just what they were wearing but not other things in their inventory, right?

Are you sure they are missing them and not just not wearing them? If so, have you tried return gear in the MCM to see whether they get it back then?

I'll have to check for possible bugs/race conditions etc. in the stripping code; the stripping of worn items does happen at a different moment from other items, so I guess it is possible there is a bug there specifically...

 

On 10/15/2025 at 11:08 AM, mnonyhc said:

delay on the boxes disappearing when empty? I'm pretty sure that's what's causing the crash. https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/120075?tab=bugs (Occasional CTDs when looting all (R keybind) Skyrim Chain beast lootboxes)
(edit: seems like they are already looking into fixing it on their end)

Now for the questions.

How exactly is the herd dream supposed to work, you hit them with the wip and they turn around but it seems pretty random whether they finally decide to head to the furniture. is It just random or could a combat mod I'm using, like precision, be messing with the intended gameplay?

Half request, half CTD. I love the beast riding but could we have a more hands-off approach to it? Either have it able to automatically move to a marker we place on the map or at least an auto-run feature, an MCM option to customize the speed would also be nice (I usually play the game modded for very fast movement)
The spider also cant seem to go backwards which can cause it to be stuck in corners, and if you have a door in front of you the E keybind wont work to dismount, Can we consider swapping the keybind to R instead?
On that note, activating the door while dismounting (cuz I was spamming E in a corner trying to get it to dismount) will cause an animation-related CTD, another reason I think the keybind should probably be R or maybe needs better locking of the E keybind to prevent its use while dismounting as well.

 

I guess if I add a `disable activation' it should be ok to add a short delay.  

 

herd dream

Working on a playthrough for that but not finished yet. Basics and some tips:

Spoiler

Two conditions for them to go to furniture on hit;

Spoiler

1. Capture period is active (as indicated by the gold glow. It's duration if fixed, hitting the victim does not end this period even though the gold glow is no longer visible due to the purple glow so you'll have to estimate whether it is still active...)

2. They are near the center of the arena (roughly the misty area though that drifts away slightly).

 

tip:

Spoiler

Bring another whip (the type you can loot from a chain spider corps), that will give you a useful additional tool.

 

tip2:

Spoiler

Some spells/powers you may have obtained can be used here as well.  A few may even help a bit.

 

 

The beast riding is basically horse riding with a funny looking horse (and a dirty trick to replace riding animations). This limits what I can do with it.

> auto-run

Doesn't the C key do that?

> Either have it able to automatically move to a marker we place on the map

There's is something like but instantly, not animated if that is what you mean.

Spoiler

Mark/teleport power, can be obtained through game play or via skip menu.

 

> an MCM option to customize the speed would also be nice (I usually play the game modded for very fast movement)

There's an option for faster crawling that also affects beast controlled riding.  While riding yourself you decide whether to walk or run (sprinting it not supported by most chain mounts) so not sure what you mean here?

 

>The spider also cant seem to go backwards which can cause it to be stuck in corners, and if you have a door in front of you the E keybind wont work to dismount, Can we consider swapping the keybind to R instead?

Mount/Dismount is tied to activate (key) by the game, not something I can change.

Going through doors mounted is not something the game intended so not really supported.

 

 

On 10/16/2025 at 6:20 AM, Wolf470 said:

Firsly:  What I've seen of this mod is cool!  👽  I will say that I was attacked after buying Tundra Home (outside of Whiterun) - there was no problem with that and I got stripped down to just fists then fought them off - what was weird was that the equipment chest/beast vanished just after I killed the Steel Beast that attacked me.  I got my stuff back with the MCM but I just wanted to comment that the equipment chest/beasts should turn into a locked chest or stay where they get the equipment (close to the PC/NPC) so that you can get your stuff back if you don't get captured.  Still a nice mod and it adds more fun to Skyrim. 🐺

 

>the equipment chest/beasts should turn into a locked chest

That is exactly what it does (well lock box not chest).  Note it is at the first place the (N)PC gets taken down and stays there. (Except if you free yourself in the meantime, then it creates a new box.)  So you'll have to remember where that is, or have some way to find that. (If taken down a second time, the stripper crab will start moving in that direction as it fades from view, giving you at least a hint in which direction it is...)  Can be challenging if it's eg in high grass or you've wandered off while fighting the beast(s)...

There's something to help with finding your boxes which you can obtain through game play:

Spoiler

Help someone that is already a friend out of their restraints and then ask them how they find their boxes...

 

[jouda1212]

1 hour ago, MTB said:

 

Are you sure they are missing them and not just not wearing them? If so, have you tried return gear in the MCM to see whether they get it back then?

I'll have to check for possible bugs/race conditions etc. in the stripping code; the stripping of worn items does happen at a different moment from other items, so I guess it is possible there is a bug there specifically...

 

Just some anecdotal evidence - I had similar problems, year ago almost surely reproducible, not now too often (but I significantly upgraded PC in between, so hypothesis about race condition is valid). If you have Chloe from Deviously Cursed Loot, and leave Premium equip on her (basically DD items which should not be unequipped at all), there was high chance she lost them if caught by chainbeasts.

 

Probably another one (maybe related) hint, i tried last days to play chainbeast quests in script heavy modlist (including SkyrimNet and locally running AI, so really intesive both for CPU and both GPUs), and I had 3 times to roll back to earlier save, because from some events (typically involving many beast, like broken wedding quest etc.) left my char in state, when is basically ignored in combat by anyone. I was not able to find reason for it (OAR did not display running animation, tgm, tai, tcai, tdetect all OK, no "strange" spell effect, just char was not attacked at all), just observer correlation with high script/cpu/graphics activity in chainbeasts.

[Wolf470]

12 hours ago, MTB said:

>the equipment chest/beasts should turn into a locked chest

That is exactly what it does (well lock box not chest).  Note it is at the first place the (N)PC gets taken down and stays there. (Except if you free yourself in the meantime, then it creates a new box.)  So you'll have to remember where that is, or have some way to find that. (If taken down a second time, the stripper crab will start moving in that direction as it fades from view, giving you at least a hint in which direction it is...)  Can be challenging if it's eg in high grass or you've wandered off while fighting the beast(s)...

Thank you for the help.... That's the thing - I moved all of 10 feet - the place I fought the Steel Chainbeast is where I defeated it and the box/crab moved towards the back of the house when I was jumped at the front.  That still gives me an idea of what to look for next time, thanks!  🙂  🐺  

 

Edit:  box/crab worked properly when a mine went off and I was attacked by the beast within (it grabbed what I was wearing)  then it waited there.  😁

Edited October 18, 2025 by Wolf470

[Seeker999]

About items not being returned, it does happen occasionally. Fairly early in my pt Farkas lost his wolf armor once and I had to use console commands (don't remember atm if I used additem or resetinventory or something else). Another follower lost the armor I gave him and I had to give him another set - this happened a couple of times.

I developed a routine of

1. telling people to recover their gear
2. debug: return gear to player (especially if I wasn't sure I found it all - I have a lot of items)
3. debug: return gear to owner
4. save
5. debug: gather unowned gear at player. If there are items obviously belonging to npc's I will reload save and go to step 6. Sometime I just decide to skip this step and go straight to 6.
6. debug: return unowned to previous owner
7. debug: gather unowned gear at player. I will admit at this point I'm a little tired of going to the debug menu in the mcm and scrolling to the 3rd page to deal with gear, but I am glad to have the options.

This doesn't always work. Right now there is one npc who is stubbornly naked in Solstheim because he never got his clothing back. I tried looking at him in console and resetinventory, additem, equipitem - nothing worked. He might wear something, but only until the next time I travel to Raven Rock by which time he's naked again.

A couple of times I got most of my stuff but not quite everything.

 

I didn't report it earlier because I am still on v. 0.9.5 and thought it might have been fixed. It's been a handful of times over 600+ hours and I save often, so I do additem or reload a save.

[MTB]

 

Thanks all for the reports.  Still not exactly sure of the cause but I've tried to build in some fail-safes, have it error towards not stripping on potentially unsafe states.  Updated code attached, maybe someone with repeatable issues can try it (two scripts, place in data/scripts - recommended to back up existing scripts first)?   (Some `debug spam'; shows the two stripping phases and whether a phase is being skipped.)

 

On 10/18/2025 at 7:06 AM, Seeker999 said:

He might wear something, but only until the next time I travel to Raven Rock by which time he's naked again.

Sounds like he's still got the `naked outfit' set.  Will need to add some `cleaner' debug code for such events.

 

On 10/17/2025 at 2:08 PM, jouda1212 said:

left my char in state, when is basically ignored in combat by anyone

Sounds like a protecting faction might still be set on the PC, perhaps the code that is supposed to remove it simply did not get to run...

First check the status menu to see PC not mentioned there, if not, you could check  SCB_FactionTravelingToDevice  or SCB_FactionBeingPunished set on the player (and if so unset them).

Scripts.7z

[DonQuiWho]

@MTB

 

Hi there

 

Can I update from.........:

 

Skyrim Chain Beasts-V095Full-SE

to

Skyrim Chain Beasts-V098-SE + Skyrim Chain Beasts-V098QF2 Full-SE

 

..........or should I first update to .........

 

Skyrim Chain Beasts-V097SE

then

SXL Skyrim Chain Beasts-V098SE

 

Any sdvice would be welcome, thanks!

 

DQW

[MTB]

4 hours ago, DonQuiWho said:

@MTB

 

Hi there

 

Can I update from.........:

 

Skyrim Chain Beasts-V095Full-SE

to

Skyrim Chain Beasts-V098-SE + Skyrim Chain Beasts-V098QF2 Full-SE

 

..........or should I first update to .........

 

Skyrim Chain Beasts-V097SE

then

SXL Skyrim Chain Beasts-V098SE

 

Any sdvice would be welcome, thanks!

 

DQW

 

You only need V098QF2 Full-SE, it contains a full install with the latest updates included (though not the preview&test files posted only in the support thread).

No need to do intermediate update steps.

 

[DonQuiWho]

On 10/21/2025 at 6:59 PM, MTB said:

 

You only need V098QF2 Full-SE, it contains a full install with the latest updates included (though not the preview&test files posted only in the support thread).

No need to do intermediate update steps.

 

 

Thanks!

 

Had a look at that and MO2 looks OK if I activate 98QF2 over 95

 

Can I assume, then, that the 'BAD' esl plugins etc which set the 'strength' of the beasts are now a thing of the past?

 

Last I asked, you said that you had omitted them, and 'sounded' as if that had been 'accidentally'.  You suggested that I looked for those in an older version, but I had lost all those when the local electricity company 'totalled' my SSD.  (I had asked in the context of hordes of the giant walkers appearing at the Whiterun main road junction, making the game very very difficult, almost impossible, to play  LOL!)

 

EDIT:  OK, so I tried overwriting 95 with 98 anyway and had a look at the MCM to check what was new/might need some adjustment etc, and came across a section that allowed you to vary Chain Beasts 'added health'.  Is that what is now the equivalent of the old optional, varied, BAD esls that allowed you to choose what sort of strength each of the various beasts had?

 

If it is, no need for a full reply - just add your personal uptick to this and that will be fine, thanks

 

DQW

Edited October 22, 2025 by DonQuiWho

[awesomeSPAS]

On 10/17/2025 at 5:19 AM, MTB said:

So just what they were wearing but not other things in their inventory, right?

Are you sure they are missing them and not just not wearing them? If so, have you tried return gear in the MCM to see whether they get it back then?

I'll have to check for possible bugs/race conditions etc. in the stripping code; the stripping of worn items does happen at a different moment from other items, so I guess it is possible there is a bug there specifically...

 

Yes they just disappeared from inventory. i know those issues are hard to track. I am playing Lorerim + SL so yes its heavy on papyrus. But it is definitely happening so something is wrong, may be related to ownership of items. Unfortunately I also CTD on teleport so i had to disable the entire mod. I know it is ambitious to run it on Lorerim, plus Lorerim is changing some maps. Chain Beasts mod is cool so i recommend everyone to try it out, just test it a little before going too far with your save to confirm your setup works well.

Edited October 21, 2025 by awesomeSPAS

[jouda1212]

On 10/20/2025 at 6:36 PM, MTB said:

Sounds like a protecting faction might still be set on the PC, perhaps the code that is supposed to remove it simply did not get to run...

First check the status menu to see PC not mentioned there, if not, you could check  SCB_FactionTravelingToDevice  or SCB_FactionBeingPunished set on the player (and if so unset them).

Found older save, and checked there.

Status menu is completely empty, as should be.

I found only those SCB related factions: SCB_TargetFaction (rank 0),  SCB_FactionFriendPunished (rank 0), SCB_FactionScanned (rank 2), SCB_HasBoxFaction (rank -1)

Anyway, I installed updated scripts - thank you -  and will try to kill some unstable mines again :),

 

Edit: Still preliminary, but with updated scripts everything seems to work well, even mess done by Destroy mine spell   Thank you 

Edited October 22, 2025 by jouda1212

[MTB]

On 10/21/2025 at 11:15 PM, awesomeSPAS said:

Unfortunately I also CTD on teleport

 

Should you try it again, see if the manual teleport (ie if you choose fast-forward) is also an issue, if not you can circumvent this problem by disabling auto-forward and using manual forward on overly long crawls.

 

On 10/22/2025 at 1:00 AM, jouda1212 said:

I found only those SCB related factions: SCB_TargetFaction (rank 0),  SCB_FactionFriendPunished (rank 0), SCB_FactionScanned (rank 2), SCB_HasBoxFaction (rank -1)

Anyway, I installed updated scripts - thank you -  and will try to kill some unstable mines again :),

 

Edit: Still preliminary, but with updated scripts everything seems to work well, even mess done by Destroy mine spell   Thank you 

Those factions should be there so don't explain the `no-combat' state, and if I recall correctly boxfaction is not used for PC so expected to not be in that.

( The factions I mentioned that could possibly explain `no-combat' are 0x??006BBE (where ?? is the load order of the the SCB esm) for scb_factionbeingpunished ("Being Punished by Chain Beasts") and 0x??003E7B for SCB_FactionTravelingToDevice ("Travel speed indicator")).

 

Good to hear script updates working so far, I'll include them in the next release.

 

[natybs]

hey so the ebony mine quest isn't letting me get the mobile prison beast with ordinator even if i max out conjuration to 100 and get all perks in it. i have also tryed to use the console commands to add the old vanilla perks, still not letting me Finnish ebony mine, says become an adept conjurer 

 

As an update, a new game produces the same problem. i tryed doing it with level 100 conjuration and all perks and the quest doesnt update past "become and adept summoner and trap more friends"

Edited October 26, 2025 by natybs

[MTB]

On 10/25/2025 at 12:31 PM, natybs said:

hey so the ebony mine quest isn't letting me get the mobile prison beast with ordinator even if i max out conjuration to 100 and get all perks in it. i have also tryed to use the console commands to add the old vanilla perks, still not letting me Finnish ebony mine, says become an adept conjurer 

 

As an update, a new game produces the same problem. i tryed doing it with level 100 conjuration and all perks and the quest doesnt update past "become and adept summoner and trap more friends"

 

Try the attached updated script (extract to data/scripts folder. update should take effect on load, fine for existing game).

With it the first new friend capture (or small skip in the SKIP menu) should advance the quest...

 

(Vanilla works fine, so it must be specific to the Ordinator compatibility patch. I don't have Ordinator installed, but for it instead of `Adept' you should have: Altromancy
Which was set to:  "Ordinator - Perks of Skyrim.esp", 0x000CB419 (Altromancy)

But I see that is the same ID number as the vanilla Altromancy, so I'm guessing Ordinator does not actually define such a perk but reuses the vanilla one.

This means it should be set to "Skyrim.esm", 0x000CB419 (Altromancy)  which is what the updated script does. )

 

SCB_INT_CoreScript.7z

[natybs]

9 hours ago, MTB said:

 

Try the attached updated script (extract to data/scripts folder. update should take effect on load, fine for existing game).

With it the first new friend capture (or small skip in the SKIP menu) should advance the quest...

 

(Vanilla works fine, so it must be specific to the Ordinator compatibility patch. I don't have Ordinator installed, but for it instead of `Adept' you should have: Altromancy
Which was set to:  "Ordinator - Perks of Skyrim.esp", 0x000CB419 (Altromancy)

But I see that is the same ID number as the vanilla Altromancy, so I'm guessing Ordinator does not actually define such a perk but reuses the vanilla one.

This means it should be set to "Skyrim.esm", 0x000CB419 (Altromancy)  which is what the updated script does. )

 

SCB_INT_CoreScript.7z 18.26 kB · 0 downloads

this did not work, but thanks for the help. the ordinator atromancy perk is different from a vanilla one, so mabey its a different issue. i used the console to finnish the quest and gave myself the mobile prison beast gold spell