Aetherial Endeavors

Expand Outward Definitive Edition with more classes, magic, quests, equipment and crafting, plus a graphics overhaul and useful improvements to inventory management, travel and co-op.

This pack is for players who want more to discover in Aurai and more ways to build a character. Existing skills, weapons and combat mechanics are also reworked, so expect a different experience from vanilla Outward. It is intended for solo and co-op play, with challenge and variety in mind.

See the known issues below.

What the pack includes

• More character builds. Trainers and skill trees include Crusader, Dragon Knight, Necromancer, Martial Artist, Juggernaut and Kazite Blademaster. Champions of Elatt adds Paladin and Cleric, while Mendicants adds the Itinerant Scholar and Ki-based skills. Classfixes also changes existing skill trees.
• More magic and support skills. Rune and sigil changes, mana weapons, runic equipment and scrolls expand your options. Supportive Rune Sage and Crusader offer ways to help a co-op partner. Runic Barrier adds a ward that shares incoming damage between health and mana. With lots more to discover!
• More equipment. Find and craft knives, crossbows, NPC weapons, armor, backpacks, tents and enchantments. Elemental Armory adds elemental weapons, including options for Stormcancer's equipment. WeaponBalancePatch and other equipment mods change some existing items.
• More quests and crafting. Champions of Elatt adds a questline, a boss and holy relic weapons to restore. Quests of Aurai adds more quests. Cooking, alchemy and crafting mods expand the meals, potions, bombs and equipment you can make. AntiAlchemyAbuse limits profit from potion crafting.
• A visual overhaul. Outward UE5 Overhaul adds changes to lighting, shadows, ambient occlusion, color grading, reflections, water and distant scenery. Its graphics menu lets you choose a preset or adjust individual effects.
• Bestiary. Discover vanilla and modded creatures through encounters, with rotating 3D models, learned defenses, combat records and observed loot. Open your Journal and select Bestiary in the bottom-left corner of the page. Discoveries are saved separately for each character.
• Clearer information and easier looting. CombatHUD, improved item descriptions, stash filters, crafting categories and enchantment previews help with everyday play. Instant Take Items removes the need to hold the pickup button. Pickup Notification Adjustment displays item icons and combined quantities above the bottom-right hotbar, with a queue for larger loot hauls.
• Convenience and travel. Waterskin Reslotting replaces an empty hotbar waterskin with another from your inventory. Hold to Aim Bows lets you aim while holding the button. The Swamp Map shows missing bridges, Soroborean Travel Agency adds caravan options, and travel potions and meditation help with travel and recovery.
• Co-op options. Share recipes, use the host's stash and support each other in combat. Raid Mode provides settings for party size, difficulty and shared quest rewards.

Aetherial Endeavors Fixes is included automatically. It provides fixes for supported mod errors and compatibility issues, including startup loading improvements. There is no separate setup step.

Settings and graphics controls

If your keyboard uses the function keys for media controls, hold Fn with the key above.

For graphics settings, open F10. If the overhaul lowers your frame rate too much, try UE5 Balanced (High FPS) or reduce individual effects. Visual quality and performance will depend on your computer and settings. See the overhaul author's documentation for its controls and presets.

For gameplay settings, open F5 and find the relevant mod. Raid Mode controls party size, difficulty and shared rewards. SkilledAtMeditation controls how quickly meditation restores health, stamina and mana. Not every mod has configurable options.

For co-op, all players must use the same pack version and matching config settings. If anyone changes a config option, every player must apply the same change before playing together.

Included gameplay settings

The pack supplies these Raid Mode defaults:

• Two players by default. You can enable larger parties by increasing the player limit in F5 → Raid Mode. Raid Mode's default difficulty adjustment is enabled, and Extra Hard Mode is off.
• The stability rework is enabled, changing when enemies stagger and fall down.
• Reviving a teammate burns 40% health and stamina, reducing those maximum stats until the burnt portion is recovered. A healing item is not required to revive someone.
• Story and side-quest skill rewards are shared. Options that give each player a separate copy of an artifact item are off.

You can change these settings through F5 → Raid Mode (Fn + F5 on keyboards that require it). For a larger group, increase the player limit and have every player use the same value. Any other config changes must also match for everyone in the group. An existing profile may already have different settings saved.

Bank of Aurai interest is set to 0%. Deposited silver does not earn extra money over time.

Known issues

Additional mods can conflict with this pack. If you add any, install and test them one at a time.

• Mendicants: the included fixes address the Jinx conflict with NPC Weapons and Classfixes, but the combination remains experimental. Other skills and co-op interactions need more testing.
• Champions of Elatt: its author reports occasional enemy syncing issues in co-op. If this becomes a huge problem please send me your log and ill try my best to fix this issue.
• NPC Weapons: with Classfixes, some weapons may not count as the type a skill expects. Its author also reports some weapons firing more projectiles than intended. The fixes mod does not cover these issues but if anything seems unbalanced or way to weak please inform me!
• Crossbow Master: use Crossbow Shot only with crossbows. Its author warns that using the skill with a normal bow is gamebreaking.
• There is a lot more to this pack so just download and enjoy!

Thanks and support

Thanks to the mod creators and the Outward modding community for making this pack possible. Enjoy Aurai! <3

Join the Valforge Discord for help, bug reports and suggestions.