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Introduction

So you want to customize your archery physics, but don't want the hassle of patching every single projectile record in the entire game + all mods? Well, lucky for you Another Archery Patcher allows you to customize ( nearly ) every setting it uses!

Projectile Physics

The starting trajectory of all arrows & bolts in the game is controlled by the following factors:

1. Draw Weight

   • Draw weight (and speed) corresponds to the weight of the bow visible in the inventory screen.
   • Heavy bows take longer to pull back fully, but will fire arrows at much higher initial speeds than light bows, causing arrows to follow a flatter, longer trajectory.

2. Tilt Angle

   • This is the angle relative to the crosshair that projectiles begin their flight at.
   • This is controlled by the game INI files. See here for more information, and recommended settings.

3. Projectile Speed

   • The higher the projectile's speed, the flatter & longer its trajectory.
   • This is combined with the draw weight of the bow to get the actual speed value.

4. Projectile Gravity

   • The higher the projectile's gravity, the curvier & shorter its trajectory.
   • Gravity is a constant that causes the projectile to drop.
     On Earth, this is approximately 9.807 m/s², while on Nirn it is approximately 11.07 m/s². (source)

The interactions between these factors produces the final in-game trajectory.

Auto-Aim

Everyone's least favourite "convenience" feature can also affect the trajectory of a projectile, causing arrows to begin their path on a collision course with nearby enemies instead of where you were actually aiming.
("Collision course" is relative here, the game engine gets confused by moving targets & modified physics resulting in consistent missed shots.)

You can disable auto-aim with this setting:

Game Setting	Default	Disable Auto-Aim
fAutoAimMaxDegrees	1.000000	0.000000
fAutoAimMaxDistance	1800.000000	0.000000
fAutoAimScreenPercentage	6.000000	0.000000
fAutoAimMaxDegrees3rdPerson	2.000000	0.000000

Tilt Angle

You can change the tilt angle values directly by editing Skyrim.ini and/or SkyrimCustom.ini.
I recommend using the following values:

[Combat]
f1PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.2
f1PboltTiltUpAngle=0.2
f3PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7

Magnetism

This refers to the game engine's tendency to make assumptions about where a projectile should impact.
Magnetism causes projectiles that would normally miss a target to hit it anyway, and can often cause unintended side-effects like shooting a wooden beam instead of the enemy standing behind it.

Disabling magnetism is easy, open Skyrim.ini and/or SkyrimCustom.ini in your preferred text editor and replace/add the following:

[Combat]
fMagnetismStrafeHeadingMult=0.0
fMagnetismLookingMult=0.0

Note: If you're using the Tilt Angle adjustments already, then your INI should look like this:

[Combat]
f1PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.2
f1PboltTiltUpAngle=0.2
f3PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7
fMagnetismStrafeHeadingMult=0.0
fMagnetismLookingMult=0.0

Range

• The game engine imposes a limit on how far a projectile can fly while still checking if it has impacted something.
• If a projectile exceeds this limit, it will pass through anything it comes into contact with.
• This is controlled by the fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist Game Setting.

How to Access & Change Settings

If you're using the repository version, you can access the settings menu through the Synthesis application:

Settings documentation can be found here.

If you're using the external version, or if you prefer editing the .json file directly, you can find it here:
<SYNTHESIS_PATH>/Data/Another Archery Patcher/settings.json