Real Frozen Mountains - Biome Visual Transformation

CREDITS: All credits to ZY20042 for the amazing work.

NEXUS LINKS: https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/14879?tab=description

PERMISSIONS: Granted by ZY20042

DESCRIPTION:

A visual and weather overhaul of one of the Frozen Mountains Biomes to make the mountains appear frigid and towering.

The "Frozen Mountains" biomes are not very interesting or visually appealing in the base game. There is little incentive to climb the mountains, and the view from the summit shows the grid-like, procedurally generated terrain elements. For planets and moons with an atmosphere, the weather types are shared among all the "Frozen" biomes, and there is no distinct mountain weather.

This mod changes the appearance of one of the five Frozen Mountains Biomes and introduces new mountain weather patterns to the biome for planets and moons with atmospheres. Its goal is to turn the summits into POIs that offer stunning views to those who climb them. This mod is for players seeking a change of scenery during repeated playthroughs and for those who enjoy hiking and mountain sports in real life.

The changes affect 68 planets and moons that utilise the FrozenNoLife03 biome. See the full list below. Those marked with "*" have an atmosphere and are worth visiting (the airless planets and moons are still pretty boring).

Spoiler: Show Agamon B Alchibal X-a Alchibal X-b* Alpha Marae III-d* Andromas V-b* Archimedes VI* Bara VII-a Bardeen VII-a Belwah Beta Marae V-b Bohr VI-d Carinae IV-a Celabrai III-c Charybdis V* Cragg Delta Vulpes V-d Enlil IV* Eridani VII-c* Fermi VII-c* Feynman VII-c Foucault V-d* Foucault VIII-a Gamma Vulpes II-d* Groombridge V-c Guniibuu IV* Gunibuu VII-c Heinlein IV-c* Heisenberg IV* Huygen V-a Hyla VI-a* Ice Ixyll IV* Ixyll VII-c Kalira Khayyam VI-e Kumasi VII-d Lantana V-b Leviathan V-a Maal IX-c Maheo IV-b Marduk VII-c Masada VII-a Moloch V-b Muphrid VI-d Nemeria V-c* Nikola I Oborum III-c Ourea* Porrima IV-d* Procyon VI-b* Pyrass VII-d Rana VIII Rutherford V-e Schrodinger VII-b Serpentis VI-a* Shoza VIIl-d* Sparta VII-a Strix II* Syrma V* Ternion IX-c Tirna IX Tirna VIII-d Ursa Minor III* Verne VI-a* Voss* Xi Ophiuchi VIII-c* Zelazny VIII-b Zeta Ophiuchi VI-b

Various changes: Retextures of the terrain

• The rock faces of the mountains have been changed to steep snow slopes.

Weather changes (for planets and moons with atmospheres)

• Added a set of mountain weather: Vanilla clear, low fog with various levels of cloudiness, and snow.
• The low fog is clear at ground level, becomes dense at mid-altitude, and is entirely clear at the tallest summits. They are designed to create an illusion of height and distance.

Complete removal of the procedurally generated rocks and gas vents (Version 2.0.0).

• See note on planetary survey below.

INSTALLATION: Download the main file via a mod manager. The mod can be installed mid-game.

COMPATIBILITY AND LOAD ORDER: This mod modifies the following vanilla record and will conflict with other mods that edit the same thing:

• Biome FrozenNoLife03

This mod does NOT edit worldspaces or cells. This mod has its own weather and climate entries and is load-order independent of other weather mods.

Load order:

• This mod should be loaded after mods that edit biomes.

Notes on Weather:

• The weather changes whenever you fast-travel. If you want to get a particular weather condition when you're on top of a mountain, drop an outpost beacon, fast travel away, then back, and repeat until you get the weather you want.
• There might be some banding artefact beneath the fog layer, which can look pretty cool. The banding is dependent on the sun angle and viewing angle. Either move to a new location or wait for the sun to move.
• The top of the low fog is set to obscure the banding artefacts at the horizon in the vanilla game, but they might still be visible in photo mode. Use Steam or another app to take a screenshot if this is an issue.

Notes on Version 2.0.0 and Planetary Survey: Version 2.0.0 removes all the proc-gen rocks and gas vents (look at the screenshot below and see how gorgeous the landscape is without those things). This will affect how you scan for resources when doing your planetary survey. Fortunately, the resource veins remain unaffected and can be used to complete your survey, and you still can build an outpost and harvest them with a harvester. Rocks and gas vents can still also spawn near POIs, so more reason to visit them. Or use a cheat QOL mod to complete the survey.

CREDITS AND TOOLS Creation Kit by Bethesda