Skyrim Latest and Greatest Mods

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

GothicGothicness

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So I've yet again decided I would try to 'explore' Skyrim. ( Game play is so so so boring , but with the right mod that make the world looks ok it is a bit fun to explore it )

I've finally found some settings and configs which makes the game look almost playable.

But I want to know what the latest and greatest terrain mods, water mods, and characters mod are to install those. Especially characters look awful in vanilla skyrim even with high res texture pack so a good mod for that would be high priority.
 
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Well, for water mods, I use W.A.T.E.R. and the add-on for Dragonborn.Wet and Cold, Enhanced Lights and FX, Climates of Tamriel, Ruins Clutter improved, Skyrim HD - 2K Textures, Realistic Lighting Overhaul, and the Static Mesh Improvement Mod (SIMM) are all good as well.

I also highly recommend looking into the ENB stuff as well, if you have a powerful machine. You can make Skyrim look pretty damn amazing. I *think* this is the ENB mod I use: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/23765

Hope that helps!
 
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What is it you dislike about skyrim? Maybe we can point you to some mods to address those issues.

I currently am running 104 mods although I'm going to try and trim that number down some. I have tons of new items, armor,npc's, monsters and wildlife. Also changed some perks, leveling speed, combat, ai, factions and of course a buttload of graphic mods. In the end though it's still skyrim at it's core and feels like skyrim.

So if its the concept of skyrim you don't like I'm not sure mods will help but if its just certain aspects of skyrim then mods can really make a difference.
 
GG likes games that are a challenge. Skyrim really isn't that challenging and is repetitive. But I liked it (a lot) nonetheless for the exploration and some of the crazy weird random (and yes buggy) things that happen.
 
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There are certainly mods that can make Skyrim more challenging (like Frostfall) but will leave that area to others as it was never an issue for me.

I have about 84 mods, about 80% of them related to textures and graphics as I have been on a mission to make the game as realistic (in a fantasy type of way) as possible. Some are very specific - like moss on rocks (which is really well done), mushrooms, and ivy - while others tend to cover things like snow, roads, and mountains.

Some ideas:

W.A.T.E.R: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/13268 and his (SparrowPrince) Moss on Rocks: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/31856/

SMIM (Static Mesh Improvement MOD), pretty much a must have: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/8655

Flora Overhaul by Vurt, another must have: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/141

Armor by AmidianBornCabal - this person is pure magic in their armor textures: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/24909

Immersive armors by Hotropper: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19733

Dramatic Clouds (unless you go with Climates of Tamriel): http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/4910

Climates of Tamriel - pretty awesome mod but I would wait as the author is about to come out with version3.0 with a very cool winter edition. Another genius mod: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/17802

Sample winter edition, Riverwood:
857653_156457964511522_183670523_o.jpg


Ruin Clutter is an awesome mod as well: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/14227

Great snow mod: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/28419 and goes well with Better Dynamic Snow: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/10383

Visible Windows by Isoku (all their stuff is excellent): http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/6971

I also use a lot of enhanced city mods - if you are interested in any of those let me know. They really breath some live into the environment and can't recommend them enough. Most of the major holds are all done. Autumn of Whiterun is probably my favorite.

For characters … well that so depends on your taste. At the very least I highly recommend XCE - Xenius Character Enhancement. He did a great job at really refining and improving all the character textures while staying true to the theme of the game: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/2356

Then smooth faces for ladies and gents: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/1971

Now if you are looking for enhanced character graphics it depends on gender and whether you just want better faces or also better bodies. I use XCE for face, eyes, lips and warpaint and better males for the body. Here are some shots of my characters (below) and one of Aela the huntress to give you an idea.

Also I can't recommend ENB's enough. Super easy to use and change around they can change the look more than any mod on the net, especially combined with a good lighting mod like RLO, RS, RCRN, or ELFX. They tend to be very personal preference though depending how you feel about things like SSAO, DoF, realistic colors, cinematic, fantasy, etc. I happen to love Seasons of Skyrim and Project ENB by Bronze316. The Goddess ENB is also remarkable and well done. For a more realistic, and closer to vanilla, ENB try Skyrealism ENB. For an ultra intense bring your PC to its knees ENB, try K ENB.

Look through some of the images on the links below to get an idea of what can be done. K ENB is the current hot one.

Project: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/20781

Seasons of Skyrim: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/23812

K ENB: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/30158/

The Goddess: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/23029

Skyrealism: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/23765

Aela with XCE:
aela_cu.jpg


My character, Grimolfr Nightblade:
shack1.jpg


shack3.jpg


bow.jpg


fire_magic1.jpg


Moon over Whiterun:
moon_over_whiterun.jpg
 
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and some landscape and water images (don't have hosted at the moment so attached):
 

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Thanks a lot wolfgrimdark. It is hard to believe it is the same game :)

GG likes games that are a challenge. Skyrim really isn't that challenging and is repetitive. But I liked it (a lot) nonetheless for the exploration and some of the crazy weird random (and yes buggy) things that happen.

yes all of those things are true and exploring is the only thing I consider fun, that's also why I want mods to optimize the graphics.

What is it you dislike about skyrim? Maybe we can point you to some mods to address those issues.

The combat and story is awful, however in skyrim the world is better, Oblivion was just too generic to even be fun to explore.
 
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If you want a semi-old school challenge, I think Requiem is a good mod choice.

I don't know why people think combat and story are awful in Skyrim - but I guess they have very different standards from me. It's hardly a miracle in those ways - but for the genre it's among the more competent.
 
While not a mod just tried the 1.9 skyrim beta with legendary difficulty mode.

It was definitely difficult, i died at the very first fight which has never happened before even with mods. Ended up having to kite them around while ralof finished them off. Got killed by mud crabs and wolves, although I wasn't really being to careful.

Not sure how it scales to higher levels since I couldnt select legendary difficulty from my save game had to start new. Not sure if that will be the same for everyone and it is just a beta.

Anyway for difficulty I combine ACE, monster mod, Skytest realistic animals and predators and skytest factions. That makes for a pretty brutal game. If you want to make the start even harder install live another life and choose the abandoned and left for dead start. Took me 3 hours just to get to riverwood alive and EARN enough money to by decent weapons and armor to go to bleakfall barrow. In a different play I was lucky enough to find a dead adventurer and take his stuff. Also I don't allow myself to use my spells until after I get to riverwood. I believe there's a mod to start with no spell if you don't feel you could resist.

For graphics there are tons of texture mods, lighting mods, enb's and such. I also highly recommend all of the enhanced cities. just subscribe to all of Matthieu6839's mods on the workshop they really bring things to life.

Immersive armors and weapons is a must for me also Climates of tamerial with minty lightning mod. It makes storms a whole new expierence.

There are the UI mods. Skyui and catogorized favorites which I can't play without and also 83willow adds bugs and skybirds adds birds and there's footprints which adds, obviously footprints. Small mods but they make real difference in bringing the world alive.

I could keep going but I better leave it at that for now.

Word of warning, modding can be addictive. At least for me it is.
 
Can't recall if this is mentioned but the ERSO (Erkeil Real Skyrim Overhaul) is very popular right now. it is very modular based so you can pick and choose what you want. Supposed to make the game much harder in many ways:

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/26217

I haven't tried it myself as I am very happy with the difficulty myself ... then again I impose numerous limitations on my character that make even "Adept" a struggle to play on sometimes so I don't need any mods for difficulty.
 
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wolfgrimdark, you have a new message!

Got it - will get a list for you but will post it in this thread in case others are interested. Should be able to get to it tonight.
 
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Sure!
Thank you very much, you're very helpful.
Please take your time, there's no hurry here =D
 
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Got my current list. The town mods are my most stable - since they don't really change and are mainly textures. I avoided ones that did interiors as that can cause issues with certain relighting mods. If you use lanterns of skyim you may see a few double lanterns in rare cases (I only saw one, at the inn in Falkreath) - although MannyGT just provided a great update that lets you configure the lanterns so I disable them in towns - I mainly like them on the roads.

Anyhow here is my favorite town list. They are almost all from Steam workshop. For whatever reason that is where the best ones seem to live. Funny in a way as I have 84 mods now and the only ones from steam are my town ones. A few might have a nexus version but in a way I rather like keeping them separate so haven't really checked Nexus. I like individual ones myself as I get more control over things.

tavesolitude.esp http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=84637410
tavefalkreath.esp http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=92628430
tavewindhelm.esp http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=89797363
taveriften.esp http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=80844987
betterwinterhold.esp http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=120066793
bettermorthal.esp http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=118237919
betterdawnstar.esp http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=119800618
the autumn of whiterun.esp http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=81082097
riverwoodenhancedplugin.esp http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=75827207
markarth_plus.esp http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=73915674
tos_oakwood_hf.esp http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=100934504
tos_laintardale.esp http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=92628430
treehouse.esp http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=82036578
bettercitiesmorebees.esp http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=126713579
Hut-of-'kreath http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=128615687

I will be the first to say these are NOT realistic although I consider them lore friendly in that it fits the theme of the game. What I mean is in many cases the towns are loaded up with foliage … and most towns would be bare and probably pretty dirty all things considered … but I am playing a fantasy game with dragons so I like my towns to be very picturesque :)

If you want a mod that does a "gentle" job of updating many of the cites check out the one by Dex which is more subtle and far less busy: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=8022

Anyhow there are a ton but the above are the favorites I settled on over the last 3 months while I waited for Dragonborn to come out and my current big playthrough. I even learned enough modding to make my own custom race (Nord Wolf-Blooded) and a custom companion named after my dog that passed away last summer. I am sure he would approve as I made him super big and fierce :)

A few more shots as well since I am a screenshot nut.
 

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wolfgrimdark, I can't thank you enough, your help is very appreciated.
I have not played Skyrim yet but I'll sure use all these graphics enhancements. I think it will make the game even more immersive.
I'm not too much of a fan of mods but this time I'll have to make an exception =)
Again, thank you very much for bringing these all up!
 
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Glad I could help … I am pretty passionate about the game so my pleasure. I was thinking about what my bare minimum line up would be if I had to restrict myself to just the most essential mods I could not live without - because I was a staunch "no mod no enb" user for pretty much any game, swearing by "vanilla." But once I tasted it … there was no turning back :)

So my ultimate top 5 line up, in order of importance, would be:

  1. ENB Series - Not a mod but this single tool can single handedly overhaul the entire look of the game with ultimate flexibility
  2. SMIM (Static Mesh Improvement Mod) - Easily the best overhaul of static objects in the game
  3. XCE (Xenius Character Enhancement) - Best compilation of all character textures in the game (IMO) while staying true to the game
  4. W.A.T.E.R (Plus options) - Best water overhaul and so much more
  5. Flora Overhaul by Vurt - Just adds so much to outdoor exploration and look of the game

Next in critical importance would be all the city enhancements, fixed eye adaption and further dark dungeons, and head tracking - which deserves special mention.

Head tracking I would normally list in place of water as I really can't play without it. But it opens up a pandora's box of issues … and it is one of those mods you won't miss unless you have used it. It basically makes your character pay attention to the world around them. In other words you character will watch and focus on NPC's you are talking to, you will track with head and body movements as people walk by, you will have actual facial expressions (happy, sad, angry, etc). After using it, and not having it, your character tends to look autistic and unresponsive to the world around you.

The issue is that the most current version (which is the least bug free and least risk of save game bloat) requires SkyUI … which in turn requires SKSE … which in turn means install more DLL's, running a wrapper EXE around the skyrim launcher EXE, and being dependent on the creators of SKSE to update it as soon as a patch comes out by Bethseda as SKSE won't work unless it matches the most current version of Skyrim. So it opens up a whole lot more complications and management. There is an old 2.6 version that doesn't require anything, and many people use that. But it is a little more buggy.

Anyhow sorry for hogging the thread … and remember these are just my own preferences :)
 
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Are there any mods that increase NPC and fauna density? I find it a bit silly when Ulfric storms Solitude after giving a speech in front of five soldiers or so.

I dont really need the towns to be more populated during "office hours", but I'd like to see a bit more wildlife and larger forces in the civil war questlines.
 
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Are there any mods that increase NPC and fauna density? I find it a bit silly when Ulfric storms Solitude after giving a speech in front of five soldiers or so.

I dont really need the towns to be more populated during "office hours", but I'd like to see a bit more wildlife and larger forces in the civil war questlines.

I'd say try real wildlife skyrim or skytest realistic animals and predators.

Warzones civil unrest will add more soldiers and dynamic fights.

Be sure to check compatibility for them as they are bigger mods.

There are others but those are the ones I've used.
 
I've started Skyrim twice, both times stopped after a day or two. I don't know what it is about it that I just don't care about. I know one thing that really lowered my expectations of the game was their removal of spellcrafting, which I think was the feature I loved the most about TES games... Is there a mod that adds spellcrafting by any chance?
 
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I've started Skyrim twice, both times stopped after a day or two. I don't know what it is about it that I just don't care about. I know one thing that really lowered my expectations of the game was their removal of spellcrafting, which I think was the feature I loved the most about TES games… Is there a mod that adds spellcrafting by any chance?

I haven't seen one but then I haven't looked as I haven't been a big caster this time; probably because I also miss spellcrafting and the overall spell collection seemed limited ... I blame it on consoles :) as they are my scapegoat whenever a PC game seems to get chopped.

However there is this mod that adds 275 spells to the game:

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/5898

Which I know is not the same thing as making your own but it does add variety at least.
 
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