Thighrim
From EQUIS Lab Wiki
Luke Walker converted Bethesda Game Studio’s Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim into a game where the avatar is powered by pedaling a stationary bicycle. Skyrim is an action role-playing game set in an open world in which players have the freedom to participate in crafting, combat, looting, bartering, and questing. As players perform in-game actions, they are able to level up skills and improve their armor and weapons.
When the power-up is active in Thighrim, players’ attacks are 50% more effective and their health regenerates faster. Additionally, the power-up allows players to activate sprinting (by pressing a button on the controller) without draining their stamina resource. The attack and health related benefits are intended to incent players during combat by increasing their power versus enemies. The stamina resource is normally spent when sprinting or used to increase attack strength. Allowing sprinting without depleting stamina can reduce the tedium of travelling long distances between cities. To ensure that players understand when the power-up is active, we added visual feedback: on activation, there is a bright flash followed by a tornado effect surrounding the players’ weapons. When the power-up is deactivated, the swirling effect disappears. Additionally, the heart rate overlay from the power-up manager signals how close players are to their target heart rate.
Contents |
Installing
To install, first download consult the documentation for the Heart Rate Power-Ups toolkit. Use these instructions to install the toolkit and to download the Thighrim mod and configuration files.
Files
The files provided in the Skyrim mod folder are:
- Saves - folder containing save files used for our Thighrim experiment
- Scripts - folder containing source code of the Skyrim mod
- HeartRatePowerUps.esp - the Skyrim mod. Goes in the data folder (see below).
- HeartRatePowerUps.cfg - This is a configuration file for Skyrim, which presumably goes in the Data folder (see below).
- Skyrim_config.xml - toolkit configuration file for Skyrim. Specifies keystrokes Thighrim mod uses to receive information from toolkit. Needs to be configured to include correct path to FireAnt executable. When toolkit is started, this file is the single parameter given to toolkit.
Configuring
Data Folder
The Skyrim mod files (HeartRatePowerUps.esp and HeartRatePowerUps.cfg) should be placed in the Data folder of your Skyrim installation. If you used Steam to install Skyrim, this is most likely located here:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Skyrim\Data
