Modded Skyrim Experience

[Falsename]

I want to paint a picture of what it's like to play Skyrim with a number of mods added. Keep in mind nothing is added 'for effect', take everything literally because it is. Also, this was done in 'complete' first person. You look down and you see your legs and the clothes you're wearing. Playing an instrument or just holding your hands over the first to keep warm, you'll see it.


I was dragged out of Helgan and left in the forest with nothing more than a fireplace and a Salmon steak. By the time I made it to Riverwood I was starving/thirsty and tired. I had to steal food from homes, drink from the stream and sleep out in the rain. I almost died from exposure to the wet/cold and a bad case of Rockjoint.

I met a man, he was young and inexperienced but eager to travel, he helped me get to whiterun. It's not easy when you're sick, you crawl and stumble but eventually you get there. He made money chopping firewood and I played music in the inn with a stolen Drum until we had enough money for a room/food/clothes and other essentials. He may be naive, but he saved my life just getting from Riverwood to Whiterun.



Fastforward:
We have a trip planned. Hjormir, Lydia, an Elf and myself are heading to Solitude for Christmas, completing a few quests on the way. We pooled our money together for camping equipment and the other essentials (warm weather gear/cloaks/backpacks). We tried to cut through labrynthia over the mountains... mistake. We got trapped by a blizzard in the ruins with no wood to burn. I searched around and managed to find some old books to burn, that gave us a few hours of warmth but it was short lived.

We managed to make it to Morthal, freezing/bloody and dying. I was dripping blood after being attacked on the road, I could see it in the snow as I walked. First thing we did was jump into the bathhouse at morthal, let the steamy water warm us right up.

We lost the elf in Morthal. I'm not sure why she decided to stay behind. We had planned to make it to Solitude for Christmas, but that had passed while we were trapped in the ruins, so now we'd be lucky to get there for Christmas. Lydia gave me her gift while in the ruins.... A pair of shoes.... Thanks.

On the way through we picked up a bard in Dragon'sbridge who wanted to apply to the bard's college. When we finally got to Solitude it was bustling. There were decorations up for the upcoming festivities, the inn was packed and there was no spare rooms. So my little group had to stay outside, set up our tent next to the Khajit trading caravan.

At the bard's college our bard follower applies and got in, but she wanted to travel with us for a while longer before enrolling.

New Years! There were free drinks and food, wine and mead. The whole town was out in the street dancing and singing. My bard follower and I stood before them and performed. I played the lute while she sang (beautifully). We played a few songs, I was halfway through one when the fireworks started, exploding in the night sky with the aura behind it. It was incredible. A few drinks through the night and I was stumbling around like the others, barely able to stay upright on two feet.

The next morning we were hungover. By 'we' I mean Solitude. No one was up, the stores were shut. Give us sleep. I may or may not have slept with one of my followers.

It was a great celebration... but I think we'll take the carriage back to Whiterun.




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Skyrim becomes a living/breathing and immersive place with the help of a few Mods. There is so much more that I've failed to capture, like the funny and extraordinarily relevant dialogue your followers have. How full of life the cities are now. The celebrations. The diseases and starvation. The cruel weather. The unique personalities. The new weapons. The relationships too, it's not just 'marry me' anymore, you build a friendship close to that of more deliberate games (like... Mass Effect) only it's all unscripted and either hilarious or somber.


Skyrim was a great game for late 2011. With these mods, Skyrim is a game that is ahead of it's time for 2014.

 

[PlayerDos]

I dunno how I slogged through the xbox version of it when it came out. I got the PC version from steam a while back and installed a fuckton of mods and the game is just superior in every way imaginable. There's actually shit to do.

 

[Autumnflame]

I mod all the elder scrolls and fallout games after one vanilla playthrough

it adds a nice spice to the game.

any game really that gets some great mods i am happy to install

 

[el grandos tabetos]

I found most mods like camping, going hungry and having to eat, dying of cold, etc... made the game tedious instead of fun. Their novelty factor wears off after a few hours, that's my experience with all mods, whether for Skyrim or Fallout 3. Once I install a mod I go "OMG why didn't they implement this in the vanilla game", then a few hours later I go "Oh right, that's why" and I uninstall the mod.

Even texture mods I don't use. The early ones actually made Skyrim look worse, and while the current ENB ones look great, the intermittent cell-load stuttering they introduce makes the game unplayable.

The only better thing I found with the PC version over the console version is 60 fps, in terms of immersion that makes a world of difference to me. But that's about it.

 

[DEAD34345]

Ok, now I need a list of the mods you're using. Seriously. Please.

I was already looking for an excuse to start on Skyrim again, and that all sounds unbelievably awesome. Plus whenever I try to pick out my own mods, I spend so long downloading, installing, testing and adjusting them that I eventually get driven to extreme boredom and give up on the game altogether.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

Ehh, the only Elder Scrolls that I've modded was Morrowind, and thats because the Overhaul sorts everything out and prevents conflictions with others. I'm content with vanilla Skyrim and Oblivion. Though I may get the better UI mod for Oblivion and that will be it.

I care nothing for mods where you have to eat, not get too cold, have to sleep, etc. Just seems more tedious than anything else.

That was my experience with the realistic needs mods of Skyrim - it forces you to just stop (often at early levels) and perform some tedious task and then wait around (in real time) for some set of conditions to be met. Without warm clothing, running straight to Dragon's Reach can be suicide especially if you cut through the river (rather than crossing the bridge) as you'll freeze to death within minutes in the normal conditions at the tomb. It also forces you to carry a bunch of otherwise useless stuff like an Axe and firewood as a "just in case" measure even once you start getting warmer clothing. In the (regular) blizzard conditions in the game, even with very warm clothing you'll have to stop and build a fire from time to time and wait around until your character is warm again. It is an interesting exercise in realism but, ultimately, it breaks any flow the game might have and often forces you to either take inconvenient routes to a location or constantly stop and build fires.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

that is a very different skyrim than the one I'm currently playing, also heavily modded. I tried immersive first person view, but even with the appropriate setting on 0, the constant "bouncing" is off putting and it only gets worse in werewolf form.

I modded my game for the best graphics since building a new top end machine last Sept. I've got a few mods for armours, weapons and magic so I can loosely role play a druid type character. I have nature based spells, a quarterstaff and summon animals, as well as shapeshift. I have a few convenience mods and more than a few tweaks, but none of the realism ones...tho the OP does make a good case for them.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

can you list what mods you're using, or at least the main ones? I'm guessing "interesting npcs"is one, but the rest are unknown.

 

[ForumSafari]

Hjormir

I don't suppose you could list your mods could you? I'm using Interesting NPCs too but I'm considering heavily modding Skyrim and going for a maximum realism run.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

I found most mods like camping, going hungry and having to eat, dying of cold, etc... made the game tedious instead of fun. Their novelty factor wears off after a few hours, that's my experience with all mods, whether for Skyrim or Fallout 3. Once I install a mod I go "OMG why didn't they implement this in the vanilla game", then a few hours later I go "Oh right, that's why" and I uninstall the mod.

Even texture mods I don't use. The early ones actually made Skyrim look worse, and while the current ENB ones look great, the intermittent cell-load stuttering they introduce makes the game unplayable.

The only better thing I found with the PC version over the console version is 60 fps, in terms of immersion that makes a world of difference to me. But that's about it.

The ones you listed are only graphical mods or mods that affect gameplay in major ways. Minor mods that change little things but make the game much more straightforward are far better, and soon you can't imagine life without them. Such mods include Lightweight potions and poisons (potions and poisons only wigh 0,1 instead of 0,5), faster vanilla horses, stones of barenziah quest markers, auto unequip arrows (helps the immersion a whole lot), mine map markers, non-linear perks etc. If you honestly consider the PC version's only advantage the 60 FPS, you've missed out a whole lot.

 

[Falsename]

can you list what mods you're using, or at least the main ones? I'm guessing "interesting npcs"is one, but the rest are unknown.

Hjormir

I don't suppose you could list your mods could you? I'm using Interesting NPCs too but I'm considering heavily modding Skyrim and going for a maximum realism run.

I'll try to list the ones that create this experience. There are a lot more that add 'aesthetic' realism, but they're more optional and opinion based.

- Frostfall
- Wet and Cold (+ Holidays)
- Alternate Start
- Realistic Needs and Diseases
- Climates of Tamriel (makes the sky look cooler)
- Interesting NPCs
- Inconsequential NPCs (Together they make the cities much more populated, also makes holidays more fun)
- Fight or Fly (Some people can now legitimately surrender and stop fighting)
- JaySuS Swords
- Immersive First Person (Spend a few minutes on the settings and it works great. Head bobbing about 2>7)
- Expanded Towns and Cities
- Amazing Follower Tweaks
- Enhanced Blood Textures.
- Sounds of Skyrim Civilization + Dungeons (Just for that audio 'kick')
- Become a Bard (Steam workshop)

- Animated Prostitution (This is a 'adult' mod, but does add the feeling of having a 'relationship' with another character. Get drunk and have some fun with someone or finally making a move with your follower, it adds 'depth'. But... it is essentially a sex mod).


There are other mods you could add but I think these are probably the most immersive. A good place to start is in the Nexus with 'Immersive' as a tag search. I found it hard to stop modding the game once I'd started, always adding bits and pieces; but eventually I stopped long enough to start playing

 

[michael87cn]

I really can't find any good mods. There is only superficial stuff, nudity, and mods that might be fun but haven't been updated for years and have bugs, CTDs, or are just unfinished.

I don't really think anyone likes Skyrim enough to make good mods for it.

 

[aozgolo]

One thing important to realize about "immersion" mods is that some of them seriously slow down the pace of the game A LOT.

Doesn't sound so bad for some people, I get how the roleplay can be fun. Yet if you prefer just getting shit DONE in your game, well maybe they aren't for you.

The survival mods can be really well done, adding the NEED to eat, drink, sleep, keep warm, cook your food, repair your weapons, and so on add a great degree of immersion to the game, but for some people like myself, it also makes the game incredibly slow.

I much prefer the ones that add realism without compromising core gameplay. Many of Falsename's suggestions are good but be warned that Frostfall and Realistic Needs and Diseases will seriously alter your playstyle. A few others I can suggest:

-Auto Unequip Arrows (will auto equip last used ammo for any ranged weapon)
-Auto Unequip Shield (will auto-equip your shield when you select a 1-handed weapon)
-Bandolier Bags and Pouches (If you're a packrat like me, these add a great aesthetic detail that increases your carry weight A LOT without breaking immersion, it just saves you extra trips)
-Cooking Expanded
-Dragon Combat Overhaul
-Deadly Dragons (This with DCO above will turn Dragons from minor nuisances into the major bad-ass super bosses they were supposed to be, fighting a dragon can be terrifying when they send you flying through the air after landing close to you, and only the best geared adventurer can survive a single full breath attack. You can forget going melee with them though)
-Expanded Winterhold Destruction Ruins (for a better Winterhold)
-Extensible Follower Framework (Recruit as many followers as you want)
-My Home is Your Home (Gives you a reason to have multiple homes, you can tell your companions to live ANYWHERE)
-Faster Mining (because mining is sllooooow)
-Immersive Armors
-Immersive Weapons
-Immersive Beds (you actually get in and out of them)
-Improved Fish (WAAAAY more fish in the water)
-Real Wildlife (Greatly expands Skyrim's Wildlife and interactions)
-Skyrim Immersive Creatures
-SkyTEST Realistic Animals and Predators (Wolves chasing Deer oh my)
-Winter is Coming - Cloaks (because cloaks are awesome)

You'll need a tool like WryeBASH to make all these mods play nice with each other but I think they drastically improve the immersion without compromising pace.

 

[ForumSafari]

A good place to start is in the Nexus with 'Immersive' as a tag search. I found it hard to stop modding the game once I'd started, always adding bits and pieces; but eventually I stopped long enough to start playing

I had that with Oblivion, the only issue I've found with Skyrim mods is that they seem a little crashtacular. Thanks for the list, once I'm done with work I'm installing the whole damn lot!

 

[el grandos tabetos]

I found most mods like camping, going hungry and having to eat, dying of cold, etc... made the game tedious instead of fun. Their novelty factor wears off after a few hours, that's my experience with all mods, whether for Skyrim or Fallout 3. Once I install a mod I go "OMG why didn't they implement this in the vanilla game", then a few hours later I go "Oh right, that's why" and I uninstall the mod.

Even texture mods I don't use. The early ones actually made Skyrim look worse, and while the current ENB ones look great, the intermittent cell-load stuttering they introduce makes the game unplayable.

The only better thing I found with the PC version over the console version is 60 fps, in terms of immersion that makes a world of difference to me. But that's about it.

The ones you listed are only graphical mods or mods that affect gameplay in major ways. Minor mods that change little things but make the game much more straightforward are far better, and soon you can't imagine life without them. Such mods include Lightweight potions and poisons (potions and poisons only weigh 0,1 instead of 0,5), faster vanilla horses, stones of barenziah quest markers, auto unequip arrows (helps the immersion a whole lot), mine map markers, non-linear perks etc. If you honestly consider the PC version's only advantage the 60 FPS, you've missed out a whole lot.

All these small gameplay-tweak mods really depend on taste. There's reasons things were made the way they're made, Vanilla Skyrim is made by people with more than a decade of experience and whose profession is to keep tweaking a single game over many years to see what fits best with the gameplay. These kinds of mods on the other hand are made by random people in their free time over the course of a week at most.

 

[aozgolo]

Skyrim is also one of those games where modding is really a love affair because it takes considerable work to get it to pay off how you want. Crashes are a big enough problem in vanilla Skyrim, add on top of that mods and you're just asking for trouble. My current game with 120+ mods runs with very little in the way of CTDs (no more than the vanilla game at least) but it certainly took considerable effort.

Using Nexus Mod Manager to download and install my mods for a clean and easy removal utility

BOSS to detect proper load order for mods and place them in sequence.

Wrye Bash to merge levelled lists which is important if you have more than one mod that edits a levelled list (like say 2 mods that add new creatures to the game)

Then finally TESVEdit to remove dirty edits which are unnecessary changes in a mod that don't really do anything but add to save game bloat and have a chance to cause strange glitches.

Add on top of that numerous crash prevention mods like pre-cache killers, graphical tweaks, and so on...

It's a very involved process, not hard per se, but it has a learning curve and I really can only recommend it for people who truly love Skyrim and want to unlock it's greatest potential through mods.



Though this isn't such an issue if all you want is only a handful of 3 or 4 mods, but if you're like me and end up running over 50 simultaneously, steps like what I mentioned are practically a necessity.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I'm glad you're having fun with those realism mods that make you have to eat and get medicine and whatnot, but I find that kind of micromanagement extremely tiresome.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I found most mods like camping, going hungry and having to eat, dying of cold, etc... made the game tedious instead of fun. Their novelty factor wears off after a few hours, that's my experience with all mods, whether for Skyrim or Fallout 3. Once I install a mod I go "OMG why didn't they implement this in the vanilla game", then a few hours later I go "Oh right, that's why" and I uninstall the mod.

Even texture mods I don't use. The early ones actually made Skyrim look worse, and while the current ENB ones look great, the intermittent cell-load stuttering they introduce makes the game unplayable.

The only better thing I found with the PC version over the console version is 60 fps, in terms of immersion that makes a world of difference to me. But that's about it.

The ones you listed are only graphical mods or mods that affect gameplay in major ways. Minor mods that change little things but make the game much more straightforward are far better, and soon you can't imagine life without them. Such mods include Lightweight potions and poisons (potions and poisons only weigh 0,1 instead of 0,5), faster vanilla horses, stones of barenziah quest markers, auto unequip arrows (helps the immersion a whole lot), mine map markers, non-linear perks etc. If you honestly consider the PC version's only advantage the 60 FPS, you've missed out a whole lot.

All these small gameplay-tweak mods really depend on taste. There's reasons things were made the way they're made, Vanilla Skyrim is made by people with more than a decade of experience and whose profession is to keep tweaking a single game over many years to see what fits best with the gameplay. These kinds of mods on the other hand are made by random people in their free time over the course of a week at most.

When why the hell is the standard UI so crap compared to the likes of SkyUI?

The ability to sort my inventory was a godsend when it came to dealing with loot. And the less said about the default favorites menu the better.