Many of you may have questions about SunHelm's cold system.
My goal for SunHelm 's cold and hypothermia is to be a challenge, but I also wanted the player to have the freedom to explore.
I have targeted this goal with 3.0.0's new balance changes. The best way to really know how it feels is to just give it a play test.
SunHelm also supports many of the more popular camping mods such as:
- Campfire
- Campsite
- Camping Lite
To put things as simply as possible, SunHelm will gradually make the player colder based on several factors including:
Region
Weather
Time of day (Or night, more specifically)
Month of the year/ Seasons
The colder the environment around the player, the colder they can become.
As the player gets colder, they will gradually suffer increasing debuffs.
When you reach max cold level, you will start taking damage over time.
The above factors will stack with one another. Example:
Being caught in a blizzard along the northern arctic coast of Skyrim at night, and during a winter month of the year is about the worst situation you can get yourself into.
Wear warm clothing or armor.
Soups will provide a temporary buff to your warmth rating.
You can warm yourself by any fire or heat source.
Torches will provide a warmth rating bonus.
Inn interiors are considered warm.
SunHelm uses the warmth rating system that was built into the game when the CC Survival Mode was released. These values can be customized using Survival Control Panel. The higher your warmth rating is, the slower you will become cold.
As of SunHelm 3.0.0, the month of the year will have an effect on how cold the environment is.
In SunHelm's implementation of seasons each month has a multiplier, which is multiplied by the base cold level of the area you are in. This means that regions should still reflect their visual environment relatively well. You wont see extreme arctic temperatures in areas you would not expect it.
SunHelm's base temperatures are balanced for the month of Last Seed (starting month). This is why the multipliers do not go lower than 0.8. In the dead of winter, temperatures will reach as much as 1.6 times normal.
The cold widget in SunHelm functions similarly to Survival Mode's. It does not tell you how cold you currently are. Rather, it will let you know if you are getting warmer or colder. The symbol for cold is a snowflake, while the warmth widget resembles the sun.
If the cold widget appears then you are getting colder.
If the cold widget appears and is also flashing between white and blue, then you are in a freezing and dangerous environment.
If the warmth widget appears, and is flashing, then you are being warmed by a heat source.
If the warmth widget appears, but is not flashing, then you are only being warmed by the environment around you. (ie. You entered an area that is warmer than you are)
SunHelm will provide audio and visual cues to give you some sort of status indication.
Upon reaching a new cold level, you will also see a message appear at the top of the screen such as, "I am frigid", etc.
You may also check your exact cold status/stage by looking in your active effects menu or using your continuance power/hotkey.
Upon entering an interior, unless it is explicitly considered cold or an inn, the player will not get colder or warmer unless influenced by other factors.
Heat sources will not warm you when running or sprinting near them. You must either be walking or standing still to reap the benefits of heat sources.