Skyrim - Population Mods

Couchpotato

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Have you ever played Skyrim and thought the game world is barren. If you did a talented modder at the Nexus has a few mods to repopulate the game world.

Populated Cities Towns Villages

Now all cities, towns and villages have new NPCs, with their AI, daily routines and actions. Compatible with everything (I suggest you to use with Immersive Settlements and Inconsequential NPCs), this mod does not use scripts. All new NPCs are respawnable, with different aspects.
Populated Forts Towers Places

How is possible that few bandits may conquer and keep a fort? Why most of them are inside when only 4-5 bandits are patrolling the walls? Now these oddities are fixed. More bandits, more immersion, more challenge and much, much other. Without using scripts, compatible with anything.
Populated Dungeons Caves Ruins

Now a lot of locations (mainly caves and ruins) are more populated by enemies. This mod aims to give you: surprises, more challenge, more immersion and much other. PDCR is script-free and should be compatible almost with anything.
More information.
 
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I've been utterly baffled by the appeal of mods like this since "Morrowind Comes Alive." Populating the world with cardboard cutouts with no specific dialogue, voices or quests dilutes the experience in my mind. Much better to use mods like Interesting NPCs and Inconsequential NPCs (which also has generic, non speaking NPCs, but also adds scenes between them and other cool stuff.)

Just my opinion, of course, but I felt like saying it.
 
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I've been utterly baffled by the appeal of mods like this since "Morrowind Comes Alive." Populating the world with cardboard cutouts with no specific dialogue, voices or quests dilutes the experience in my mind. Much better to use mods like Interesting NPCs and Inconsequential NPCs (which also has generic, non speaking NPCs, but also adds scenes between them and other cool stuff.)

Just my opinion, of course, but I felt like saying it.
All three of his mods are compatible with any other mod that alters the population. I'm using all three and the added population does speak to you.

Anyway it's the weekend and I'm all out of news right now. I'll take what I can find. If anyone has any new stories please send me links.;)
 
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I've been utterly baffled by the appeal of mods like this since "Morrowind Comes Alive." Populating the world with cardboard cutouts with no specific dialogue, voices or quests dilutes the experience in my mind. Much better to use mods like Interesting NPCs and Inconsequential NPCs (which also has generic, non speaking NPCs, but also adds scenes between them and other cool stuff.)

Just my opinion, of course, but I felt like saying it.

I have to agree as far as Morrowind Comes Alive is concerned.

MCA NPCs stood out like an eyesore.

As for this mod, I haven't tried it so I'll reserve judgement.
 
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Some of that is risk - I like both. Interesting NPCs is awesome but a very large mod with a lot of scripts. People just get a little nervous with script heavy mods. I think the populated mods are not that unrealistic.

In real life you tend to just see people all over while doing things. How often do they end up talking to you and asking for help on a quest or sharing their daily life?

I think it is partly atmosphere. I use them myself but I will admit I prefer the other two NPC ones given a choice as they are more interesting to interact with :)
 
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Mass scripting can really be bad for long term game stability, yeah. At least SKSE has that added feature to get rid of orphaned scripts - other Bethesda games don't enjoy that luxury.
 
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I like the Populated Towns and the Immersive Patrols Mods. The Populated Forts & Populated Dungeons mods were too much. I like danger, but not npcs that randomly wander into locations and one hit kill me on a semi regular basis.
 
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It's a tad off-topic, but I'd like to make an observation about RPGs that's bothered me for some time.

Why are swords and weapons always (99%) carried on a player character's back? I know, I know. We're talking fantasy here. But I've always found it a bit jarring to see this humongous sword or axe stuck to a player character's back like it was a magnet. No sheath, no scabbard because it must stick to his or her back by magic.
In reality [I know, this is fantasy; I get it] this would only work for short weapons like daggers or a short handled axe. Bows are usually depicted correctly for the most part. Sometimes for camera or composition purposes, archers are shown as firing left-handed.
Getting back to my point, a standard sized sword would be nearly impossible to unsheath if it were in a sheath on your back. Your arm is simply not long enough to pull it out. That's why swords were invariably worn on the opposite hip, not on the back. Anyway, just thought I'd share.
 
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Wouldnt those huge-ass swords go all the way to/into the ground (unless you're a real giant with 2m legs) if they were attached to the hip.. Doesnt sound like a good idea for any type of acrobatic movement either ;) I think i prefer if they have it on their back, shouldnt be any problem to unsheath a tall sword unless the sheath is glued into place and can't be budged to the side (to follow along when you unsheath it).

But yeah, it could be done much nicer i think, not sure if there are any mods that fixes it..
 
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Actually, it should be a clip, not a sheath. One side of the clips is rigid and the other would be made to give. You would basically snap a two-handed weapon in and out of the clips as you pull it away from your body. The back part should be sheath-like to avoid cutting yourself when you are drawing or refastening. Every swordsman would need replacement clips handy on the side that is made to give; they're going to wear out and then your sword wouldn't stay secured :)
 
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.

Why are swords and weapons always (99%) carried on a player character's back? I know, I know. We're talking fantasy here. But I've always found it a bit jarring to see this humongous sword or axe stuck to a player character's back like it was a magnet. No sheath, no scabbard because it must stick to his or her back by magic.
In reality [I know, this is fantasy; I get it] this would only work for short weapons like daggers or a short handled axe. Bows are usually depicted correctly for the most part. Sometimes for camera or composition purposes, archers are shown as firing left-handed.
Getting back to my point, a standard sized sword would be nearly impossible to unsheath if it were in a sheath on your back. Your arm is simply not long enough to pull it out. That's why swords were invariably worn on the opposite hip, not on the back. Anyway, just thought I'd share.

Weapons can be worn on the back.

Unsheathing is usually a two handed move.

When worn on the front, long blades are worn high above the hips and unsheathing is made using gravity.

The outer hand is used to tilt the sheath toward the bottom to let gravity work while the inner hand collects the sword on the other side.
On the back, it works the same but it requires suppler arms for sure.
Long swords are rarely unsheathed in a bottom to top move, rather in a top to bottom move.
Using both arms gives you enough span to unsheath long blades.
 
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A little research shows a lot of people asking about 2H scabbards with not a lot of answers. From history some are carried across the shoulder like a polearm. Depending on length some are at the hip. Most sources say the back is the least favored position and the only historical ones I could find stated carried on the shoulder or in carts and only used for actual battle.
 
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Why are swords and weapons always (99%) carried on a player character's back? I know, I know. We're talking fantasy here. But I've always found it a bit jarring to see this humongous sword or axe stuck to a player character's back like it was a magnet. , not on the back.

I suspect it is cheaper to animate with a sword across the back rather than dangling from the waist. The latter needs to take more physics into account and thus consume more system resources.
 
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A little research shows a lot of people asking about 2H scabbards with not a lot of answers. From history some are carried across the shoulder like a polearm. Depending on length some are at the hip. Most sources say the back is the least favored position and the only historical ones I could find stated carried on the shoulder or in carts and only used for actual battle.

People were geared up before entering combat. They had time to take their swords out.
That is when fantasy settings have trouble finding inspiration from reality: they wont find many occurrences of people running around fully clad, getting to fight every two hours or so.
 
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Some of that is risk - I like both. Interesting NPCs is awesome but a very large mod with a lot of scripts. People just get a little nervous with script heavy mods.

There are scripts in INPCs, but they only fire when they're pertinent, unlike mods like Frostfall, Realistic Needs & Diseases, and so on. So, it's really not that bad. I don't have a powerhouse machine, and I run it along with other mods like the two I just mentioned, and it's fine. I did disable another quest mod (Agent of Righteous Might) because, despite the fact that I hadn't started the quest at all, it was running scripts over and over again, more frequently than anything else in my 100+ mod load order.

In real life you tend to just see people all over while doing things. How often do they end up talking to you and asking for help on a quest or sharing their daily life?

I think it is partly atmosphere. I use them myself but I will admit I prefer the other two NPC ones given a choice as they are more interesting to interact with :)

Never! But that's because it is, as you point out, real life. I like a game to be fun, more fun than real life, not tedious, ya know? If I have to sift through 100 NPCs to get to one who actually has something unique and interesting to say, for me that's boredom personified.
 
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I can't believe ppl are installing those things.

Just imagining overpopulated already annoying Blackreach (falmers, falmer thralls, spiders, trolls, giants, constructs) makes me sick.
 
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From the descriptions it doesnt seem like any of these mods provide increased population density where I think Skyrim needs it the most. I would like to see more NPCs in certain battles (Ulfric attacking Solitude at the head of less than ten men, and giving a speech to five or so is a joke), and also more wildlife in the wilderness (that is very empty between locations).

Cities could use more NPCs, but if it makes it much harder to find the meaningful ones then I say gameplay trumps population density.

Forts, dungeons and the like have the right population density as far as I can tell. We are not talking army garrisons here. Having about 20-30 bandits holding a keep is quite reasonable, and most forts I recall have about ten men manning the walls. The whole point of a fortress is that you need fewer men to hold it.
 
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I would like to see more NPCs in certain battles (Ulfric attacking Solitude at the head of less than ten men, and giving a speech to five or so is a joke), and also more wildlife in the wilderness (that is very empty between locations).

I believe that the Civil War Overhaul mod already increase existing battle size (along with adding a bunch of fights a little everywhere, do not install with a lowbie character).

There is also a bunch of wildlife overhaul mods for Skyrim that change spawn points (and behaviors).
 
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Can't get on the nexus right now too much traffic . Happens far too often considering I paid for a premium membership.
 
I agree. Dark One needs to have a whole site dedicated to premium members, not just download mirrors. If you are premium, you shouldn't be affected by high traffic on the regular non-payer side of things.
 
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