I wonder, is it possible to give to some races their special 1st person view? like, khajiit that automatically have a night-eye effect when they go 1st person (whether this happens during night only is another technical issue)

Try this on a Night Eye ability that you add to Khajiit:

GetGraphVariableInt i1stPerson == 1

Or otherwise if you use an actual script, GetAnimationVariableInt("i1stPerson") == 1

Time of day is rather easy, use the Global Variable GameHour as a condition. Night Eye is used often in dungeons as well though, while some dungeons are well-lit and others are not.

thanks! this would be something intensive for performance?

If you figure out a good way for nighteye to activate in the correct situation, please let me know! its something which I would like to add to the auto-cast powers mod I am working on, but I really dont know of a non-invasive way of doing this.

Just a few lines? Nah, most likely not. Computers have a lot of processing power, short and simple script stuff is usually very lightweight.
Papyrus also runs scripts in separate threads so they have far less impact on FPS than for example scripts in Oblivion.

Just always try to script as efficient as possible out of principle and then in most cases you're fine concerning performance. There's no need to be paranoid about it, just script whatever feature you want. Even if you get some performance loss, useful features are usually worth it. If not, you'll find out eventually.


You could try using GetLightLevel:

http://www.creationkit.com/GetLightLevel_-_Actor

The value represents how much light shines on the actor (used for detection). It's usually a good indicator whether Night Eye would be useful or not, although it's possible that the player character is standing under the only light source in a very dungeon. You could perhaps make it somewhat more accurate by placing an invisible actor without collision and AI turned off 10 meters in front of the player every few seconds and also check it's light value.

It's rather hard to detect through Papyrus script when exactly it is a proper situation for Night Eye to be activated. It might be better to just add an extra toggle button for it so the player can decide?

This is what I have done seems like the safest route!

should I attach it to the race? or make it part of a racial trait/power?

It's probably best to only add it to the Player, preferably through an Alias or Perk.

what is an alias?
perk=racial perk?

Sounds like you have some reading to do.

http://www.creationkit.com/Alias
http://www.creationkit.com/Perk

lol only Alias was necessary.
I meant if it would be feasible to give racial bonuses as a "racial perk"