Long Read

Long Read

Probe, but with a bow.

Long Read is a small passive skill for Outward Definitive Edition. Once you know it, the Speedster skill Probe

works with a bow in your main hand: instead of a melee jab you draw and loose a probing arrow. It builds Alert on hit

and climbs Probe's usual ladder (Probe, Bait, Taunt, Mark, Flourish) with the same numbers as the melee version.

Melee Probe is left exactly as it was.

What the probing arrow does

• Bow draw and release animation, one arrow consumed, a real projectile from whatever bow you're holding

(bow damage plus arrow damage, like any bow skill).

• 0.5x damage and 0.15x impact at Alert 0 to 3, 1.25x damage with full impact at Alert 4. Same as melee Probe.
• +1 Alert on you per hit. Taunt inflicts Confusion, Mark inflicts Pain, the other stages inflict nothing.
• Probe's stamina cost and cooldown are untouched; the draw animation is what sets the pace.
• Hunter's Eye lock-on range applies, same as any bow shot.
• Swap weapons mid-fight and your Alert count carries over; the next Probe follows whatever you're holding.
• Off-hand items (pistol, chakram, lantern, shield, lexicon) don't matter.
• Probe's requirement line now reads "Required: Melee Weapon, or Bow with Long Read."

Learning it

Talk to Lawrence Dakers, Hunter in the Harmattan central market and ask to train with him. He'll tell you what he

wants: you need to know Probe (Serge Battleborn, in the same market) and Hunter's Eye (Ture, in Berg), and

bring 50 silver. Come back with all three and a new answer appears. Say it, the screen goes dark for a moment, and you

walk away knowing Long Read. It's the same kind of lesson Robyn Garnet gives for Haunt Hex. His shop and quest are

unchanged, and the option goes away once you've learned the skill.

If you'd rather not touch Lawrence, set Trainer = Odette in the config and his sister Odette Dakers, Tracker

stands next to him and teaches it instead. She's a SideLoader character, so she stands still rather than using the

market idle animations.

Install

Needs Outward Definitive Edition on the Steam default-mono beta branch (the one BepInEx mods use), plus:

• BepInExPack_Outward 5.4.19 or newer
• SideLoader 3.8.4 or newer

Use r2modman or Mod Manager. For a manual install, make BepInEx/plugins/LongRead/ and copy the

contents of the zip's plugins/ folder into it, so you end up with BepInEx/plugins/LongRead/LongRead.dll and

BepInEx/plugins/LongRead/SideLoader/manifest.txt. Leave the manifest.json, README and icon out.

Config

BepInEx/config/djk.longread.cfg appears after the first run. Changes apply on the next game start.

| Key | Default | What it does |

|---|---|---|

| Price | 50 | Silver Dakers asks for. |

| RequirePrerequisites | true | Whether he insists on Probe and Hunter's Eye first. |

| BowDamageMultiplier | 0.5 | Probing arrow damage multiplier at Alert 0 to 3. |

| FlourishDamageMultiplier | 1.25 | Probing arrow damage multiplier at Alert 4. |

| ConsumeArrows | true | Use up one arrow per probing shot. |

| UseBowFormNames | false | Show bow-flavoured stage names while a bow is equipped: Ranging Shot, Feint, Goad, Mark, Trick Shot. |

| BowCastAnimation | PowerShot | Animation for the shot. PowerShot is Sniper Shot's long aimed draw. PierceShot is quicker, EvasionShoot is quicker still but hops you backwards, StrafingShot is Strafing Run's shot. |

| Trainer | Lawrence | Lawrence adds the lesson to Lawrence Dakers' dialogue. Odette spawns Odette Dakers beside him instead. In co-op the host decides whether Odette exists; joining players always keep Lawrence's option. |

Item IDs

This mod reserves item IDs 2317000 to 2317099. Long Read itself is 2317000. The only vanilla item it touches is

Probe (8205422), which gets one extra bow-only effect set and the new requirement line.

Known limitations

• Co-op is untested. Everyone should run the mod; a player without it sees the bow animation but no arrow, no damage

and no Alert change.

• Probe's description is shown i