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The Midden: Expanded - Lite Version

A quality dungeon mod that greatly expands the College Midden, with minimal changes to existing areas. Well-balanced and lore-friendly, it is fully compatible with most mods. No DLCs required; lite version

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Highlights:

-Delve into immersive new dungeons beneath the College of Winterhold and the Sea of Ghosts
-Uncover the secret history of the College of Winterhold through new quests and adventures
-Lore-friendly, and carefully integrated into existing areas, characters, and histories-Adds much more depth to the College of Winterhold, especially for those roleplaying a dark wizard or master of the dark arts
-Challenging gameplay (2.5-3 hours) that rewards exploration, puzzle-solving, and determination
-New, balanced weapons, armor, and spells
-Fully navmeshed, optimized, and hand-cleaned with TES5Edit

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Lite Version Notes

This version is designed for maximum stability and compatibility, and uses v1.03 as its base. All custom scripts and quests have been removed. For those who are already familiar with this mod, the biggest change is that this version does NOT come with a player home, due to the removal of scripts required for its operation.

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User's Guide (SPOILER WARNING):

Personally, I recommend that the player discover these areas on their own, but if you want to jump right in or need a little help, then please read on.

If you poke around in Nelacar's room at the Inn, the Archmage's Quarters, or Phinis Gestor's room, you can find notes and an old history that will point you in the right direction. There are basically two routes to the dungeons and you can take 1 or both of them depending on what best suits your play style.

Notes in Nelacar's room will point you in the direction of a cliffside cave on the Winterhold side of the Great Divide. This area can be a bit tricky to find, so look around! A running theme of this mod is ''exploration is fun'', but if you feel otherwise, just walk the cliffline to the RIGHT of the bridge (facing the college) and keep going until you see a set of footprints in the snow, leading to a platform with a lantern. From here, just follow the ladder down to the entrance of ''The Icy Passage.'' All of the dungeons within--especially the Ruined Fane--are very free-form, in keeping with the non-linnear layout of the original midden sections. However, these dungeons are not especially large, so it's very unlikely that you'll get lost.

These dungeons can also be accessed more directly from the first area of the college midden. There's a pull-chain under some falling water under the overhang where the Draugr is. From there, you will have to enter the ''Dark Passage'', and solve a difficult 4-pillar puzzle to gain entry to the Arcane Grotto. The solution to this puzzle is hidden in the pages of ''The Chronicles of Thingol,'' a copy of which can be obtained either from Phinis Gestor's bookshelf, or on a corpse in the second midden area (near the exit). Even then, there are still 4 possibilities for the solution: 3 Eagles and 1 Snake. Try all the combinations to find the right one. Again, this puzzle is made to be intentionally hard. I think it adds to the sense of achievement in the spirit of older, more challengeing RPGs before the invention of the quest-compass.

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And lastly, a word from the author:

Many thanks to everyone who has subscribed to, favorited, or played this mod! This is my first-ever published mod, built entirely by myself using online tutorials and a great deal of trial-and-error. As of now, I regard this mod as more-or-less complete, but I will continue to add to it in the coming months to improve functionality, fix bugs, and add new content. Please feel free to send me any constructive comments, suggestions, or goodwill! Also, if anyone wants to tinker around with this mod, feel free to do so--provided that you credit me if you publish your alterations. Basically, just play nice!

Special thanks are also in order for Barry Cogan (for his invaluable tutorial on puzzle-pillars), DarkFox127 (for his excellent tutorial on teleport spells), Porcubot (for his great upgrade suggestions), Skyrimnut (for troubleshooting), and the ever-helpful CreationKit Wiki!

-Easier_Rider