Skyrim

[Beati Dogu]

Trouble is you can't get them until you're fairly powerful anyway. I think you need to have conjuration skills up to 65.

Mine is now 67, so I just got the Conjure Dremora Lord spell yesterday.

I have found it handy to chuck a Frost Atronach into the fray sometimes, even against Dragon Lords. It gives them something else to think about and me time to rebuild magicka.

[MarkRSi]

I think my Necromancer was at level 20 by the time they got the Dremora Lord spell, and not much longer to get up to 100 to get the twin summoning perk, I wasn't focusing on anything else though.

Even the lower level flame/frost astronachthingies are handy to use as cannon fodder, especially for a sneaky bd/thief character once their cover is blown.

[Steven_RW]

I played as a two handed and single handed heavy armour BEAST the first time, then a stealthy Elfen Archer that hardly wore any armour at all the second time. I haven't tried the mage route and it sounds tempting! :-)

SRW

[FourWheelDrift]

Just FYI - Skyrim Legendary Edition £6.50 at Tesco - http://www.tesco.com/direct/the-elder-scrolls-v-sk...

[Beati Dogu]

That's amazing value.

I was looking at this vid the other day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oyJNuhoIE4

Damn, it's no wonder I fancy Serana.

[Cotty]

If there was a tube

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/224836789/skyrim-m...

[Squirrelofwoe]

FourWheelDrift said:

What I have installed that all works together and fixes problems or adds better content. I will spoiler it as it's long, as long as the spoiler tags are working, they have been broken recently.

All mods are from the Skyrim Nexus except the populated Skyrim and Enhanced AI which are from here - http://erkeilmods.altervista.org/skyrim/welcome/


ENB - Project ENB

A Matter of Time - Time & date display on screen
A Quality World Map
Amazing Follower Tweaks
Animated Clutter
Ars Metallica Smithing overhaul
Artificial Intelligence limit increaser (now if there are more that 10 NPCs around the 11th and upwards don't stand around doing nothing)
AOF Farmhouses
Atlas Map Markers
Aurora Village
Balance Magic
Better Dialogue controls
Better Dynamic Snow
Better Shaped Weapons
Better Vampires
Bloodthirst - vampire NPCs can feed
Book Covers
Brawl Bug patch
Clanking armour
Climates of Tamriel + weather patches
Convenient Horse Herding (move your acquired horse to a fixed location so they don't follow you)
Convenient Horses (better saddles for all horses)
Creepy Zombies
Crossbows revamped
Customisable Camera (change the off centre 3rd person view + more)
Cutting Room Floor - adding back all missing Bethesda content they removed but kept in the exe so that the PS3 and Xbox wouldn't grind to a halt)
Faster get up & stand up animation
Dawnguard Vampire face fix
Dawnguard Wolf howl fix
Deadly Combat
Deadlt Spell impacts
Death Alternative - Captured
Death Alternative - Your money or your life
Designs of the Nords
dire HD High Hrothgar
DVA Dynamic Vampire appearance
Ebonvale
Enemy AI Overhaul
Enhanced Blood textures
Enhanced distant terrain
Enhanced Lights & FX + SMIM meshes
Enhanced Noble furniture
Equipping Overhaul
EWIs candle flame
Expanded Snow Systems (climates of tamriel version)
Expanded Towns & Cities + patches
Expanded Winterhold Destruction Ruins
Extended Encounters
Falskaar + CoT patch - very big mod quest & new land
Fast travel timescale fix
Fires hurt
Follower Commentary overhaul
Followers can relax
Footprints
Fores New Idles in Skyrim - FNIS - needed for some new animations
Forgotten Magic redone
FSS Better Bards - no long pauses between the lines when they sing
Fuz Ro D'Oh - silent voice, if you have new quest mods that don't "yet" have bespoke voices this adds temporary subtitles even if you have subtitles off.
General Stores
Get Snowy
Glowing Ore Veins
Green grass for ENB
Guard Dialogue Overhaul
Hale - horse retexure
Hassildor - player home for Vampires
High Hrothgar overhaul
Hold Border Banners
Holmwood - player home for a Vampire Hunter
HOPv - Horses on Patrol
Immersive Armours
Immersive Fallen Trees
Immersive NPC in the dark (they use lanterns or torches)
Immersive Patrols
Immersive Roads
Immersive Sounds - compendium
Immersive Weapons
Improved Closed faced helmets
Inconsequential NPCs
Inns & Taverns (adds travelling inns around Skyrim, useful if you run Frostfall and need shelter)
Interesting NPCs
JaySuS Swords
JK's Solitude
JKs Whiterun
JKs Windhelm
Lanterns of Skyrim (light the roads at jucntions/sign posts and bridges)
Legendary Cities - Tes Arena - Skyrim Frontier Fortress - Adds towns missing that were in Skyrim in the first Elder Scrolls game Arena.
Lore Weapon expansion
Lush tress and grass
Markarth Reach Environment upgrade
Morning Fogs - fog over water in some locations between 4-7am
Multiple Floor sandboxing - NPCs now go anywhere
My home is your home
ndh's animation overhaul - running & walking
New animation for magic casting
No snow under the roof
No spinning death animation
OBIS - Organised Bandits in Skyrim
People are Strangers - everyone you meet is unknown until you talk to them or hear their name mentioned by someone else.
Player Headtracking
Point the way - better and more signs
Populated Cities towns and villages
Populated dungeons caves and ruins
Populated forts towers places
Populated lands roads paths
Populated Skyrim Civil war
Populated prison cells
Project Parallax roads & bridges
Proper Length Arrows
Providence - a settlement near Ivarstead
Quieter Bears
Racemenu + options - better in-game "showracemenu" changing of appearance
RAIN
Real Ice
Real Shelter
Real Snow
Realistic Boat bobbing
Realistic Ragdolls and force
Realistic smoke and embers
Realistic sun & sunglare (CoT)
Realistic Wolf Howls
Rivserstone Fort - immersive player home
Roadsigns redone
Ruins Clutter improved
Run for your lives - NPCs in villages now run for cover during a Dragon attack
Rustic Windows
Sabrecat animation fix
Showracemenu precache killer - goes with racemenu above
Skyfalls & Skymills
Skyrim better roads
Skyrim Bigger trees
Skyrim Coin replacer redux
Skyrim HD 2k textures - I use the Lite versions)
Skyrim Immersive Creatures
Skyrim Project Optimisation
Skyrim Realistic Texture overhaul - Dragonborn
SkyUI
Smaller Ice spike and Ice spear
Smoking Torches everlasting with dynamic shadows option
SNOW - better wind blown snow effects
Spouses can live anywhere
Stable uGrids to load
Stars
Static Mesh Improvement mod
Supreme Storms
The Paarthurnax Dilemma - adds options to complete Blades without having to follow only one option. You will know if you've done it.
TK Children - adds some variety to the creepy village of the dammed vanilla children.
Torch of Everlasting - if you use an ENB with very dark nights this is useful, better than the default short torch time.
Trees HD Skyrim variation
True Medieval Tavern Music
Ultimate HD Fire effects
Unique Border Gates - adds guarded gates to the roads at the limits of the Skyrim map.
Unique Uniques - makes unique weapons actually look different
Unofficial Dawnguard Patch
Unofficial Dragonborn Patch
Unofficial Hearthfire patch
Unofficial Skyrim patch
Vivid landscapes - birthsigns, upgrade to birthstones
Vivid Landscapes - Rocking stones and mountains two
W.A.T.E.R
W.A.T.E.R. - bigger waves
Waterplants retexture
Webs Extended
West & Cold
Wet & Cold Ashes
Wet & Cold Holidays - NPCs celebrate various seasonal holidays
When Vampire attack - npcs take cover if not fighting
Winter is Coming - player and NPC cloaks
Wyrmstooth - big mod quest & new land


A few follower mods I currently have installed, all standalone with custom voices, stories and quest.
Arissa - Wandering Rogue
Rigmor of Bruma
Sofia
Vilja in Skyrim



spoiler doesn't seem to be working here, again. Sorry.

Ps. Cutting room floor, Inns and Taverns and TES Arena do have a couple of location conflicts (not CTD) Cutting room floor adds Bethesda's Heljarchen, TES Arena adds it as well, so use the TES Arena Modular and not activate Heljarchen. Inns & Taverns puts a inn right outside Vernim Wood but there's a wooden structure blocking the entrance to the stables, opening the console clicking on the wooden structure and typing disable removes it.

Edited by FourWheelDrift on Wednesday 17th September 12:09

I've been revisiting Skyrim again recently and having substantially upgraded my PC over the winter I've been upping my mod-count from the 10 or so essentials that I used to run (SKSE, SkyUI, Unbound etc) to about 60- trying out all manner of graphical/gameplay tweaks. Your list is proving extremely useful!

I can't believe how much of a difference can be made to the game and just how good it can look- and I've not even got around to the 2k textures yet... It feels like playing a new game.

[MarkRSi]

Any favourites? I too was playing with mostly with a few essential mods as I was just playing it on laptop before, but could start again with as I've got a more reasonable gaming pc (okay a little i3 desktop with a GTX750Ti. Flame me).

[FourWheelDrift]

MarkRSi said:

Any favourites? I too was playing with mostly with a few essential mods as I was just playing it on laptop before, but could start again with as I've got a more reasonable gaming pc (okay a little i3 desktop with a GTX750Ti. Flame me).

I wouldn't play again without more AI, having more people around locations, walking the roads in the villages, cities and inns changes the game. So all the mods that add people and improves their AI.

Populated Skyrim and Enhanced AI which are from here - http://erkeilmods.altervista.org/skyrim/welcome/
Which consist of :
Populated Cities towns and villages
Populated dungeons caves and ruins
Populated forts towers places
Populated lands roads paths
Populated Skyrim Civil war
Populated prison cells

Plus

Artificial Intelligence limit increaser
Enemy AI Overhaul
Expanded Towns & Cities + patches
Extended Encounters
HOPv - Horses on Patrol
Immersive NPC in the dark (they use lanterns or torches)
Immersive Patrols
Inconsequential NPCs
Interesting NPCs
OBIS - Organised Bandits in Skyrim

Skyrim is still a barren place but it's just not populated by 22 people, 3 dogs and a 1 chicken any more.

Other than the unofficial patches and SkyUI I would make sure I had those installed.

[Squirrelofwoe]

MarkRSi said:

Any favourites? I too was playing with mostly with a few essential mods as I was just playing it on laptop before, but could start again with as I've got a more reasonable gaming pc (okay a little i3 desktop with a GTX750Ti. Flame me).

As FourWheelDrift mentions above, improving the quantity & quality of the AI is a must now, all of those mentioned I use.

There are some essential ones such as SkyUI, and the SKSE (script extender) but I assume most people run those as a matter of course now anyway (I don't know how you could play Skyrim on PC without the SkyUI mod!)

Some other personal favorites;


-2k textures - I am running the 'lite' version of these and it really does transform the visuals. I'm not getting much performance hit either so I might try the full version.

-Static mesh improvements (3D ropes / chains etc, tons of stuff more detailed)

-Ruins clutter improved (self explanatory)

-Pure water (realistic water, this mod is pretty much essential!)

-Climates of Tamriel

-One of the lighting mods (can't remember which I use), though these can hit performance.

I'm running all of the individual city improvement mods, all of the towns & villages mods, and all of the city outskirts mods. These change the look of the places loads, and coupled with all of the addition NPCs makes the world far more 'alive'.

I'm also running a mod that adds more guards (+ dawnguard sentries) to all the cities & towns, makes a big difference to to the random vampire spawn fights.



-MoreHUD (hover over any object to see it's value, weight, armor rating + vs currently equipped, known effects of any ingredients, what skill a skillbook will effect etc).



-Dance of death (fully customizable kill-move settings)

-Skyrim unbound (fully customizable start, can disable all dragonborn stuff etc)

-Wet & Cold (increases the rain & snow, NPCs now react to it by wearing hoods / going inside etc, snow builds up on clothing - whole mod is fully tweakable in-game)

-Immersive weapons & Immersive Armours (2 separate mods but both add an absolute ton of new weapons/armours into the game- all lore friendly, and across all levels.)

-Improved arrows (makes arrows far more realistic- can end up with up to 25 stuck in a target now!)

-Crossbows revamped

-Low weight potions, can't remember the exact name- (all potions etc weigh only 0.1)

-Unread books glow (easily identify unread books)

-A smithing mod that basically lets you melt down or create almost anything.

-A mod that lets you spend dragon souls on Perks.

-A mod that improves the skills/perk system (some perks become automatic upon reaching certain levels)

That is a few off of the top of my head, but all of the ones in FourWheelDrift's massive list quoted in my post further up the page are well worth a look.

Most of the mods are fully customizable through the mod manager menu (added to the main in-game menu) which means you can tweak the settings on the fly.

Despite the 60 or so mods I am running (including a ton of graphical improvements and extra NPCs, world detail etc) I am still getting at least 80-100fps (or higher) 99% of the time, with only the really busy moments bringing it down to 50-60.

That is on an AMD 8-core FX-8350 4.0ghz processor, Ati R9-290 4gb card, and 8gb RAM.

I get the occasional crash-to-desktop so make sure I save regularly but otherwise it runs a treat. And I am still finding stuff that I never noticed in earlier play throughs!

[DMN]

Re-reading this thread has convinced me to try the mage route.

I've done the archer and bezerker approach a few times. Do make it extra hard I'm thinking no armour and no destruction magic.

[MarkRSi]

DMN said:

Re-reading this thread has convinced me to try the mage route.

I've done the archer and bezerker approach a few times. Do make it extra hard I'm thinking no armour and no destruction magic.

IMO I found going down the non-destruction route was easier for combat, either by getting enemies to fight each other/run away/do nothing/unable to see me (illusion) or just summoning an astrothingy/dremora lord to do the work for me.

Plus by not using destruction magic you generally won't attract attention to yourself, so it's possible to get through much of the game without getting hit by anyone.

[Beati Dogu]

The skill where you stun an opponent when you hit them with dual destruction magic is a great one to have. It gives you time to recharge and hit them again and again until you kill them.

[DMN]

Well I started, used Skyrim Unbound for a random start, with random gear (no armour), random spells (no destructive ones) and no money.

It started me off at Roikstead and I managed to steal some cash. Set off to Whiterun and just out of Roikstead I was attacked by bandits, so ran back as fast as I could The bandits where defeated by the town watch, but not before they've killed off four members of the general public. So I managed to loot some money and house keys. The only thing is I can't remember if I turned the dragonborn option on or off and I'm not sure how to jump start the Dragon Rising quest.

[Zod]

I've recently gone back to Skyrim to do the Dawnguard and Dragonborn DLCs and I'm enjoying it again. I'm still using my original Dunmer, but he's now level 81 with just about every perk. I tried the Ebony Warrior quest last night and found him impossible to kill. He can keep repeating Unrelenting Force, with hardly any recharge interval.

I've gone off, summoned Durnhevir three times and got the Soul Tear shout. Next time I'm going to try Dragon Aspect, followed by Soul Tear and I will also summon a dragon. I hope that will do for him!

[FourWheelDrift]

Couple of new videos posted on the Skywind, Morrowind using the Skyrim (Creation) Engine, mod.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E9cXPIaOVY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHXCq9dBQdA

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwMeA6uYyXr7N11tg...

[Squirrelofwoe]

FourWheelDrift said:

Couple of new videos posted on the Skywind, Morrowind using the Skyrim (Creation) Engine, mod.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E9cXPIaOVY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHXCq9dBQdA

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwMeA6uYyXr7N11tg...

I remember reading about that ages ago, they've made some serious progress!

Is there an ETA yet? As someone who never played Morrowind (started with Oblivion) I'm seriously looking forward to this.

Cheers for reminding me it's still in existence!

[FourWheelDrift]

I think there's still scripting work to be done, as in code scripting to make the quests and triggers work, voice acting and modelling still.

But it can't be far off now.

[Beati Dogu]

Sounds interesting. I bought Morrowind, but just never got into it for some reason.

[MarkRSi]

I bought Morrowind a while ago too, but this was after I'd played Skyrim, and as brilliant as it is (bartering system etc.) the combat just felt a bit dated in comparsion

I'll certainly look forward to this