Devious Bandit Overhaul

[Fraying9981]

1 hour ago, El_Duderino said:

Thanks much for the feedback. I'll inspect Treva's Watch to see if I can replicate this. Maybe the game is treating them differently in a way that clashes with this mod.

 

As for random bandits not turning hostile, I'm afraid that is expected behaviour with the mod. A known issue. This is because of the bandits all having lowered aggression, which makes them act like ordinary citizen NPCs and largely ignore being attacked by the player. This gets even more pronounced when you have mods that make neutral NPCs more forgiving to friendly fire.

 

I'm not sure if uninstalling the mod can revert the bandits' aggression, etc., to vanilla values or if these get baked into your savegame once they have been changed.

 

I really like the idea of your mod. Combined with ai it has amazing potential.

It does not work flawlessly for me though, so i will uninstall it, but i really hope you or someone else builds on this idea

[El_Duderino]

13 hours ago, Fraying9981 said:

i really hope you or someone else builds on this idea

Thanks for the kind words. I also think there is more potential here, alas I'm at the limit of my skills for the time being.

 

I've been using the mod in my own playthrough for almost a year now, and these are my conclusions:

 

The two most pronounced effects are that it

A) most of the time, works more or less as intended when one goes to the locations the mod specifically targets (either as toll distortion places, or the always-hostile places)

B) neuters bandits as a faction in other places, which can lead to annoying situations when those locations come up in a quest and you can just walk in and out, take what you want, kill whom you want all without the other bandits interfering.

 

A nice side effect occurs when fights break out between guards/soldiers and roaming bandits. This feels quite realistic to me and a big improvement over the "let's attack everything that moves" default bandit behaviour. 

 

However, on the technical side, I suppose it might have to be done vastly differently to get better results -- and that's where I can't progress further because of lack of skills:

• The trigger-based encounter system generally works as intended, however it's clumsy to set up and very inflexible to mod- or story-added places or changes in the game world (think Civil War).
• The compatibility nightmares are very annoying. In short, I think this mod really only works for people like me who always thought of bandits as a nuisance in gameplay rather than a faction that adds something of value.
• What this mod really needs is a fully dynamic way to treat bandits situationally when the game spawns them and adjusts their hostility and aggression accordingly. Alas, I have absolutely no idea how to set up something like that.

[Plaguetard2.0]

19 hours ago, El_Duderino said:

Thanks much for the feedback. I'll inspect Treva's Watch to see if I can replicate this. Maybe the game is treating them differently in a way that clashes with this mod.

 

As for random bandits not turning hostile, I'm afraid that is expected behaviour with the mod. A known issue. This is because of the bandits all having lowered aggression, which makes them act like ordinary citizen NPCs and largely ignore being attacked by the player. This gets even more pronounced when you have mods that make neutral NPCs more forgiving to friendly fire.

 

I'm not sure if uninstalling the mod can revert the bandits' aggression, etc., to vanilla values or if these get baked into your savegame once they have been changed.

No, I attempted to remove the mod and see if that would fix it, couldn't get it to work. Ultimately, I do have a fairly extensive mod list (don't we all at this point) so there could be a conflict with my mods specifically. It was odd that it was only Triva's Watch, and I checked, I have nothing that modifies Triva's Watch directly. If anything, I thought a mod conflict would just make the bandits end up aggroing (or some of the bandits). I was using console to see what might be altering NPC factions besides this mod. I did enjoy the mod otherwise, thank you for your work. If you see nothing, I'd suspect there is some sort of conflict on my end, I'm just not sure where. I saved the modlist with this mod, and when I feel like more problem solving than playing, I may tinker back and see if I can fix it.

[Fraying9981]

FYI I found these two mods I'm keen to test:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/147809

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/86549

[El_Duderino]

19 hours ago, Fraying9981 said:

FYI I found these two mods I'm keen to test:

Thanks much! That first one in particular sounds interesting. Thanks to using SPID, it's quite likely also compatible with this mod even though they partially do the same thing. SPID or maybe even better SkyPatcher will be definitely on my list if I work on this mod again.

[El_Duderino]

20 hours ago, Plaguetard2.0 said:

It was odd that it was only Triva's Watch

I've read up on Treva's Watch on the UESP Wiki https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Treva's_Watch and I think it's possible that this mod (or even just pacifying all bandits in general) breaks or clashes with the default setup of the place and the related Infiltration quest.

[Plaguetard2.0]

I'm not sure if you've seen this, but it may help in the future compatibility of your mod.

 

Dynamic Non-Player Characters (SKSE) at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community

[Fraying9981]

4 hours ago, El_Duderino said:

Thanks much! That first one in particular sounds interesting. Thanks to using SPID, it's quite likely also compatible with this mod even though they partially do the same thing. SPID or maybe even better SkyPatcher will be definitely on my list if I work on this mod again.

 

Yes I'm going to try it.
i removed the creatures from the ESP, looked easy to edit. I just want humans to be nice

[Dumuzi]

The whole concept for this mod sounds amazing, except for the fact that it requires Devious Devices. Every time I break down and try that mod out, I end up regretting it. If there were a version of this that was just Bandit Overhaul, without the Devious, I'd be all over it. As it stands, I'll just have to get over it and move on.

[pelle234]

Interesting mod, thanks alot! 

I'm using Rogues 'n raiders mod that overhauls bandits, and it seems to be compatible from a little testing by adding a skypatcher ini.

Create this file:
SKSE\plugins\Skypatcher\npc\DeviousBanditOverhaul\Devious Bandit Overhaul.esp.ini

And add this to it:
filterByFactions=Skyrim.esm|0001BCC0:filterByModNames=Rogues 'n Raiders.esp:setAggression=aggressive

Obviously you also require skypatcher.

[El_Duderino]

1 hour ago, pelle234 said:

I'm using Rogues 'n raiders mod that overhauls bandits, and it seems to be compatible from a little testing by adding a skypatcher ini.

Thank you so much for sharing this very elegant patch! I've taken the liberty of adding it to the mod's instructions as an example for how this and likely also similar mods can be patched.

 

3 hours ago, Dumuzi said:

that was just Bandit Overhaul, without the Devious

If somebody is feeling adventurous, it should be possible to remove the DD dependencies from this mod in the CK. It would however require quite a bit of surgery in the mod's scripts and dialogue. DD is integrated deeply into this mod.

[83ilotzent]

it'd be really cool if you could toggle On and Off that bandits would be aggro to you for roleplay purposes.

 

Otherwises this is an awesome mod.

[El_Duderino]

6 hours ago, 83ilotzent said:

it'd be really cool if you could toggle On and Off that bandits would be aggro to you for roleplay purposes.

Thanks, that is a really good idea. I'll see if I can find a reasonably simple and painless way to implement that.

[nunyabidnez]

So, is this mod still being developed / supported?  I absolutely love the concept, but don't want to get invested in another abandoned mod with a great premise.

[El_Duderino]

1 hour ago, nunyabidnez said:

So, is this mod still being developed / supported?  I absolutely love the concept, but don't want to get invested in another abandoned mod with a great premise.

Yes and no. This mod is complete insofar as I've taken the idea as far as my skills allow and it covers all of Skyrim. It's however not quite what I had set out to do (see limitations and compatibility notes on download page), but I've been using it in my current playthrough for over a year and it seems solid and stable.

 

I may do more tweaks and refinements over time (like the always-hostile toggle recommended earlier), but those are highly unlikely to require a new game.

[Idynian]

Re: The bandits at any specific camp will remember previous hostile encounters with them and will attack immediately if you return to their territory.

 

Might be much more complicated to do, but. Would it be possible to have a way to 'ask forgiveness', by submitting to certain devious conditions?

 

ie: Sure you can come back without being attacked, but you're now free use for any bandit living here.

[El_Duderino]

5 hours ago, Idynian said:

Might be much more complicated to do, but. Would it be possible to have a way to 'ask forgiveness', by submitting to certain devious conditions?

Thanks, that's a really cool idea. At the moment, I don't know how it could be implemented, but I'll definitely investigate further.  

[El_Duderino]

Mod Update!

 

New Feature: Bandits can now "legalize" stolen items and remove the stolen flag from them.

 

You can now ask bandits to "legalize" stolen goods. For a fee, of course. Speak to any bandit while at a bandit hideout/camp and ask them for help with some illegal items. A container menu will open, into which you can put your stolen items. Upon paying the fee, just close the container and your items will be returned to you, cleared of the "stolen" flag.

 

This update requries Steelfeathers’ Papyrus Extension! https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/154540?tab=description -- stick with version 0.3.0 if you do not want to use that extension.

Edited May 29 by El_Duderino

[Kelp,]

Hi there, I noticed in the comments that this mod has had some issues with Treva's Watch. Has this been resolved in the latest version, or is it an unresolvable issue that we just need to work around?

[El_Duderino]

2 hours ago, Kelp, said:

Hi there, I noticed in the comments that this mod has had some issues with Treva's Watch. Has this been resolved in the latest version, or is it an unresolvable issue that we just need to work around?

Hi and thanks for the reminder about this issue! I couldn't find a good way to address this when it was first reported and then must have forgotten about it.

 

As far as I can tell, Treva's Watch doesn't get broken outright by this mod, but it's far from ideal:

• The Treva's Watch bandits' "DBO behaviour" sort-of works. The interception quest starts and they walk towards the player, but then they usually get stuck behind the locked iron bars of the main entrance. The player can initiate dialogue with them through the gate. Failing that, the bandits should turn hostile after the dialogue timer runs out.
• The previous patch (0.3.0) improves the situation by turning the bandits hostile when getting shot at. This should allow conquering the fort "vanilla style".
• In theory, the vanilla Infiltration quest should be unaffected by this, but I haven't tested it yet (I find that quest quite underwhelming).

[Kelp,]

6 hours ago, El_Duderino said:

Hi and thanks for the reminder about this issue! I couldn't find a good way to address this when it was first reported and then must have forgotten about it.

 

As far as I can tell, Treva's Watch doesn't get broken outright by this mod, but it's far from ideal:

• The Treva's Watch bandits' "DBO behaviour" sort-of works. The interception quest starts and they walk towards the player, but then they usually get stuck behind the locked iron bars of the main entrance. The player can initiate dialogue with them through the gate. Failing that, the bandits should turn hostile after the dialogue timer runs out.
• The previous patch (0.3.0) improves the situation by turning the bandits hostile when getting shot at. This should allow conquering the fort "vanilla style".
• In theory, the vanilla Infiltration quest should be unaffected by this, but I haven't tested it yet (I find that quest quite underwhelming).

Thanks for the clarification, I'll give this mod a try!

[Kelp,]

By the way, is it possible to make this mod an esl? My modlist is reaching the limit

[hellios-apollon]

Hello, Does anyone have a patch for the Populated Skyrim Baka Edition? Thank you... 

[BonitaMussolini]

On 6/3/2026 at 6:07 AM, hellios-apollon said:

Hello, Does anyone have a patch for the Populated Skyrim Baka Edition? Thank you... 

Follow the instructions on the main page for how to patch it. It's not difficult at all you just make a file and replace the example text with Populated Skyrim Legendary.esp

 

I just did it and it works and was super easy if you just read.

[BonitaMussolini]

Just curious, many locations when a bandit approaches they tell me to give up my weapons and when I choose "will I get them back when I leave?" they just say no and become hostile when i exit dialogue. Is that typical or is there a way I'm supposed to get the weapon back if I do give it up?