Improving Skyrim / Recommended Mods thread (Mostly about Requiem)

[Gord]

I would recommend get something to beef up Requiem's dragons, otherwise the lizards are just too weak compared to other high level enemies. Dragon Combat Overhaul is nice, because it does make them stay in the air longer and use their breath attacks, instead of just parking their ass on the ground. I've used Requiem with DCO and Enhanced Mighty Dragons.

To that I can only say: be careful with making them harder. My current char is a melee guy, heavy armor, sword'n'board. Ranged or melee chars barely leave a dent, but dragons still one-shot me. Problem is, I need to get close to them to hit them, which usually means insta-death.
Enemy magic users pose a similar problem, but are much more squishy.

In comparison my mage had a relatively easy time, iirc (but that was with an older version of Requiem, too, so maybe Dragons got boosted since then).
You can stay away from enemies, summon or reanimate meat-shields for protection and almost everything is vulnerable to magic, which hits like a truck.

Anyway, in my experience mage equals easy mode in Requiem (if you do it right), melee is definitely more difficult and doesn't need dragons boosted.

 

[hell bovine]

To that I can only say: be careful with making them harder. My current char is a melee guy, heavy armor, sword'n'board. Ranged or melee chars barley leave a dent, but dragons still one-shot me. Problem is, I need to get close to them to hit them, which usually means insta-death.
Enemy magic users pose a similar problem, but are much more squishy.

In comparison my mage had a relatively easy time, iirc (but that was with an older version of Requiem, too, so maybe Dragons got boosted since then).
You can stay away from enemies, summon or reanimate meat-shields for protection and almost everything is vulnerable to magic, which hits like a truck.

Anyway, in my experience mage equals easy mode in Requiem (if you do it right), melee is definitely more difficult and doesn't need dragons boosted.

Oh, I agree about mages being too powerful. I've played a thief with conjuration, and eventually conjuration took over, because the master level summons can kill everything, including dragon priests, on their own. The problem is that magic doesn't seem that bad at lower levels, but when you hit 75 the jump in power is ridiculous. I've tested alteration and destruction and it was the same as with conjuration. I think only illusion is somewhat balanced.

Ah well, maybe spell schools in Requiem will get fixed eventually. (I still like DCO, because if a lizard got wings, it should use it, especially since they get trampled by giants and mammoths otherwise.)

 

[DraQ]

To that I can only say: be careful with making them harder. My current char is a melee guy, heavy armor, sword'n'board. Ranged or melee chars barely leave a dent, but dragons still one-shot me. Problem is, I need to get close to them to hit them, which usually means insta-death.
Enemy magic users pose a similar problem, but are much more squishy.

In comparison my mage had a relatively easy time, iirc (but that was with an older version of Requiem, too, so maybe Dragons got boosted since then).
You can stay away from enemies, summon or reanimate meat-shields for protection and almost everything is vulnerable to magic, which hits like a truck.

Anyway, in my experience mage equals easy mode in Requiem (if you do it right), melee is definitely more difficult and doesn't need dragons boosted.

Actually I stopped using EMD because it nerfed dragons' melee.
If your main complaint is that dragons are too easy to kill from distance, but too hard in melee it should be right up your alley and it's a mighty fine mod.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

At Smithing 100, I can improve an Orcish cuirass to 266 and an Ebony one to a pitiful 286. Is Ebony supposed to be this shitty in Requiem or do I need to look for something I messed up?
I've been fapping over my Ebony gear for a long time (very rare, thanks to Morrowloot), thinking I'll finally be able to melee dragons once I get my hands on that crafting manual... So this is mighty disappointing, to say the least. Especially, when I can already improve a Dwemer cuirass to 306, thanks to the Ancient Knowledge perk.

Found the reason - ebony armor is bugged in that it is affected by the Light Armor version of Matching Set (the perk that gives a % bonus if wearing a full suit of a specific armor). The unofficial patch is supposed to fix this, though.

http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Heavy_Armor#Matching_Set

Alternate start mods are a must in all post-Morrowind Bethesda games, if you for some reason decide to play one of them. Skyrim is no exception.

But Requiem makes the intro hilarious. Alduin is supposed to start shooting at you specifically if you linger around for too long, which isn't very noticeable in vanilla. With Requiem's damage, he can and will kill you several times unless you GTFO like you're told to.

I am not sure you need Run for your lives and When vampires attack with Requiem. NPCs used to hide from dragons (except for guards) in the versions I've played, and vampire attacks were disabled by default, because master vampires are too powerful for the townsfolk to handle.

Requiem already includes this feature, yeah.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

Speaking of dragon overhauls, which version of EMD would you guys recommend? I'm looking for something tougher than in Requiem, but not insanely so.
Already tried Slightly Mighty Unleveled - but that caused the first dragon at the tower to drop before I could even land a hit.

 

[Gord]

Actually I stopped using EMD because it nerfed dragons' melee.
If your main complaint is that dragons are too easy to kill from distance, but too hard in melee it should be right up your alley and it's a mighty fine mod.

Hm, might try it then if I pick up Skyrim again.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Wet'n'Cold - Frostfall - Realistic Needs and Diseases

Immersive Armours

 

[Drax]

Did Midas ever update his spells mod?

 

[DraQ]

(Re)installed Apocalypse magic since there is Requiem patch. I still hate the bullshit with overcomplicated spell mechanics where a spell deals bonus damage on every prime numbered hit but only in even days of odd months unless the target has been sat on by an atronach - then it's even hours on odd days of even months (I may be slightly exaggerating but you get the point), but overall it's good fun - got onto a tower in Forsworn occupied fort with my battlemage lizard character and had them plinking at me with their bows and generally being a nuisance refusing to stay put and hiding behind all sorts of cover (my character being a tincan they didn't do more than scratch at a time but kept disrupting my own aim) so I ducked behind battlements for maximum cover and started tagging them with Apocalypse's summon spell teleporting them right in front of me - but on the other side of the battlements. Atop tall tower. Hilarity (and gravity) ensued.

There are some other fun spells in it too, like the one allowing you to raise a piece of wall from the ground (and keep it up by continuous concentration).

Speaking of dragon overhauls, which version of EMD would you guys recommend? I'm looking for something tougher than in Requiem, but not insanely so.
Already tried Slightly Mighty Unleveled - but that caused the first dragon at the tower to drop before I could even land a hit.

With Requiem you want either max unleveled option or second to it. The former makes dragons nearly impossible to kill and may be a serious PITA given gameplay context, the latter makes them slightly too wimpy for Requiem, but actually manageable.

I may actually try using it again - it's pretty plug'n'play in terms of installation/uninstallation.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

With Requiem you want either max unleveled option or second to it. The former makes dragons nearly impossible to kill and may be a serious PITA given gameplay context, the latter makes them slightly too wimpy for Requiem, but actually manageable.

I may actually try using it again - it's pretty plug'n'play in terms of installation/uninstallation.

Alright, done some testing, and can confirm all of it. Looks like "Nightmare Mighty Unleveled" would have been a good match for Requiem, except for the dragons' absolutely ridiculous health regen: there's just nothing I can think of that can counteract it. No matter how much damage you do to the dragon while it's stationary, once it starts flying, it'll regain all its health before you can hit it again. And that's playing as a mage.
If the health regen was a bit more sensible, I would've preferred this version, but it looks like "Super Mighty Unleveled" is the way to go - wimpier than I'd like, but actually still a bit tougher than Requiem's (tested on the same one).

 

[DraQ]

Ok, no dice as there is no sensible way to use it with Requiem and DCO (with Requiem patch).

Alright, done some testing, and can confirm all of it. Looks like "Nightmare Mighty Unleveled" would have been a good match for Requiem, except for the dragons' absolutely ridiculous health regen: there's just nothing I can think of that can counteract it. No matter how much damage you do to the dragon while it's stationary, once it starts flying, it'll regain all its health before you can hit it again. And that's playing as a mage.
If the health regen was a bit more sensible, I would've preferred this version, but it looks like "Super Mighty Unleveled" is the way to go - wimpier than I'd like, but actually still a bit tougher than Requiem's (tested on the same one).

You need a DOT of some sort to offset the regen. With mage or analchemist it should be fairly doable.

 

[Delterius]

analchemist

You stop reading this thread for a couple of months and even DraQ is turning into RK.

 

[DraQ]

You stop reading this thread for a couple of months and even DraQ is turning into RK.

Something ate myspace.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

You need a DOT of some sort to offset the regen. With mage or analchemist it should be fairly doable.

IIRC, best poisons I could make when I played a thief had somewhere around 5 hp/s. And poison spells are something like 1-3 hp/s (never use them, can't remember exactly)? Not very useful against what appears to be around 300 hp/s regen (Legendary Dragon) in NMU version of EMD.

 

[DraQ]

IIRC, best poisons I could make when I played a thief had somewhere around 5 hp/s. And poison spells are something like 1-3 hp/s (never use them, can't remember exactly)? Not very useful against what appears to be around 300 hp/s (Legendary Dragon) in NMU version of EMD.

I remember lightning jolt stalling their regen quite effectively. Also, horrendous decay potion can be made from daedra heart - this shit is godkiller.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I believe any amount of DoT can stop regeneration, the two timers don't "compete". Trolls for example can tank several soldiers from a camp at once but a quick puff of flames stops their crazy regen and they die instantly. The only problem is that with wimpy poisons you'll have to keep pumping it into the dragon or they'll heal once the damage timers runs out.

 

[Delterius]

If this was Morrowind I'd make a poison spell that deals 0 damage for all eternity.

EDIT: and then DraQ would call me a loser for not nuking the whole of vvardenfell under 3 spell effects.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

I remember lightning jolt stalling their regen quite effectively.

I believe any amount of DoT can stop regeneration, the two timers don't "compete". Trolls for example can tank several soldiers from a camp at once but a quick puff of flames stops their crazy regen and they die instantly. The only problem is that with wimpy poisons you'll have to keep pumping it into the dragon or they'll heal once the damage timers runs out.

I hoped so as well, but nope, DoT doesn't stop regen. Just tried hitting same dragon with Lightning Jolt and Venomous Spray - it continued to regen like crazy as usual.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I've reinstalled Skyrim after a few years (finished the base game + Dragonborn, didn't like it really but used no mods outside of SkyUI).

My goal is to play Requiem + Frostfall. Requiem is giving me problems however, specifically their Reqtificator patcher. I spent the better part of last night trying to install 1.9.2 but after trying everything I just could not make it work at all (fucking Java complaining about permissions but all folder permissions are set correctly); managed to install 1.8.2 after some wrangling - how much worse is this version compared to the latest one, is it worth playing still?

Every other mod works perfectly - I'm not using that many (Climates of Tamriel, Ambient Lights, redone basic meshes, the 4 unofficial patches, etc.). Using LOOT for the load order. The Requiem thing is really bugging me, though. Any thoughts?

 

[hell bovine]

I've reinstalled Skyrim after a few years (finished the base game + Dragonborn, didn't like it really but used no mods outside of SkyUI).

My goal is to play Requiem + Frostfall. Requiem is giving me problems however, specifically their Reqtificator patcher. I spent the better part of last night trying to install 1.9.2 but after trying everything I just could not make it work at all (fucking Java complaining about permissions but all folder permissions are set correctly); managed to install 1.8.2 after some wrangling - how much worse is this version compared to the latest one, is it worth playing still?

Every other mod works perfectly - I'm not using that many (Climates of Tamriel, Ambient Lights, redone basic meshes, the 4 unofficial patches, etc.). Using LOOT for the load order. The Requiem thing is really bugging me, though. Any thoughts?

I'm terrible at troubleshooting, but I'd suggest disabling all other mods (except for those required) and trying to run that java patcher without using any mod organizers/nexus managers/loot whatsoever. Also, is this a fresh install of Skyrim?

PS I'm waiting for 1.9.3 anyway, it's supposed to come out soon.

 

[Gord]

The Requiem thing is really bugging me, though. Any thoughts?

I had some Java issues with it due to using the wrong Java version.
Might be another issue entirely, but make sure you are using the latest version and have both 64bit and 32bit versions installed.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Yep, after installed the latest x64 bit version of Java I was able to run it no problem. I had the .65 x86 version before.

 

[Stormcrowfleet]

Since there is 185pages of Skyrim mod, is it possible to have a small list of the best ones ? I don't care about the graphics since my computer sucks.

Last time I played the game I didn't really enjoyed it even if I finished it, but I'm willing to try again with a new playthrough, including mods, not doing the actual mainquest, etc.

 

[GarfunkeL]

If you really don't care about graphics at all, well, that cuts down the amount of mods to browse through significantly already.

Get either Requiem or Perkimus Maximus&SkyRe combo because nobody wants to play vanilla Skyrim. PerMa is an updated perk/skill overhaul so you can install it and then Skyrim Redone except for the old perks/skill module.

Immersive Weapons and Immersive Armours give you more variety on the stuff that you'll use to slice people up.

If you want survival elements, then Frostfall, Wet'n'Cold, Realistic Needs & Diseases, I Hunger, Hunterborn form a pretty decent combination.

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

Since there is 185pages of Skyrim mod, is it possible to have a small list of the best ones ? I don't care about the graphics since my computer sucks.

Last time I played the game I didn't really enjoyed it even if I finished it, but I'm willing to try again with a new playthrough, including mods, not doing the actual mainquest, etc.

Gameplay: Requiem (+patches: 1, 2, 3, 4), Enhanced Mighty Dragons (Super Mighty Unleveled), Morrowloot 4E (+ Meshes Fix from original Morrowloot + Requiem patch), Complete Crafting Overhaul Remade, Individualized Shout Cooldowns (makes shouts actually useful instead of a gimmick), Smart Souls, Alternate Start - Live Another Life.

Atmosphere: Relighting Skyrim, Natural Lighting and Atmospherics ENB, Realistic Water Two, Audio Overhaul Skyrim, Lanterns of Skyrim - All In One (only the scriptless version, without any addons except for Dawnguard), Dynavision (+ patch; don't change any settings - install and forget).
I'd also add Skyrim Distance Overhaul and SkyFalls + SkyMills, but since you say your computer sucks, they might affect fps too much for too little gain in visual fidelity.

Fixes: Unofficial Patches, Stable uGridsToLoad, Safety Load, Enchantment Reload Fix, Weapons and Armor Fixes Remade, Clothing and Clutter Fixes, Better Rocks and Mountains - UV Tweak, Skyrim Particle Patch for ENB, Subsurface Scattering Patch for ENB, Skyrim Project Optimization.

There's a ton of other mods I'd recommend, but the above are essential unfuckedifications.
I had half a mind to make sort of a rundown of good mods and modding practices, but figured nobody would give a fuck, so it'd be a waste of time.