Skyrim mod adds all-new "Far Cry-esque" detection markers for sneaky Dragonborns

Despite its sedate melee combat system, stealth archery in Skyrim is still a blast to play.

Part of it goes to the design focused on making archery fun. It hits just the right balance between the need to lead to a target and its hidden magnetic auto-targeting to pad out narrow misses.

The other, bigger part, however, goes to the Elder Scrolls sneak system. Like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, any character in Skyrim can enter sneak mode by crouching to engage in elusive ventures. Also, like Oblivion, the sneak system is represented on the UI with an eye on the crosshairs.

Maxsu and WilliamsWang's new mod, Detection Meter (v0.12), upgrades this UI feedback to a directional meter reminiscent of Far Cry 3.

The mod can be downloaded from the Nexus.

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Why the new directional detection markers can be useful in Skyrim

Skyrim itself has made some UI improvements over Oblivion when it comes to sneaking. Oblivion's sneak-eye crosshair fades out as the player moves out of sight, whereas Skyrim's iteration of the eye is animated. It can go from wide-open to closed shut in order to indicate a detection state. Naturally, this makes the degree of detection more palpable than Oblivion, but it still misses out on one vital component.

Being a densely populated game, this game usually has several actors (Creation Kit's term for NPCs, including domestic animals) watching the player at any given time. The UI is not sufficient to tell the player exactly who they are visible to when trying to sneak, it only describes the immediate degree of success. This is where Maxsu's mod comes in handy.

The mod's new directional UI works in the following way:

• Not in combat: NPCs with a line of sight on the player will be represented by a white arrow/bar on the screen pointing to the direction of said NPC. The 'white bar' component here represents the detection value.
• In combat: Hostile NPCs will be represented by a similar red arrow/bar, and the red bar will function as a marker of the player's 'stealth points,' i.e., how detected they are during combat. The bar will flash red as the player is detected.

The mod currently officially supports only the non-Anniversary Edition build of SKSE and Special Edition (Patch 1.5.97). While the Anniversary Edition alpha is out, bug reports for patches 1.6x onwards will not be accounted for.