Improving Skyrim / Recommended Mods thread (Mostly about Requiem)

[Inconceivable]

Skyrim's combat is shit, installing mods to make it harder just makes it hard shit -- the worst kind of shit.

As a parent of a small child and a toddler, I can assure you that hard shit is not the worst kind of shit. Quite the contrary, hard shit is the best shit.

 

[Mud']

my friend and I played that Skyrim co-op mod for a couple of hours (as a funny joke, I swear) and now it has made me want to mod Skyrim again. Wish me luck. We'll see how many more shitty mods have been released in the past two years.

How stable is that shit? I thought the project was dead.

Also you can play it coop with mods?

 

[Funposter]

my friend and I played that Skyrim co-op mod for a couple of hours (as a funny joke, I swear) and now it has made me want to mod Skyrim again. Wish me luck. We'll see how many more shitty mods have been released in the past two years.

How stable is that shit? I thought the project was dead.

Also you can play it coop with mods?

Stable enough. It's not perfect, but it does what it says on the tin. The biggest problem is probably that it duplicates levelled encounters, meaning you will have things happen like running into two Dragons at once, only one of which YOU can kill and absorb the soul of, while your friend gets the other. There will also sometimes be instances of enemies appearing on one player's screen but not the other's and so on. But we managed to play for maybe four hours overall and had FUN.

Mods work, but both players need to have them in their load order and there's no SKSE support. You CAN have equipment mods in your load order that the other person doesn't have, but you'll appear naked if wearing modded armour etc. so it's best to sync load orders.

 

[Luzur]

 

[Twiglard]

This looks pretty nice. But is it worth playing?

 

[Clockwork Knight]

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/45956

 

[Crispy]

This looks pretty nice. But is it worth playing?

Static Mesh Improvement Mod + Quality Addon
Bugfix Compilation
Unofficial Material Fix
Assorted mesh fixes
WiZkiD Parallax Farmhouses
Misc Retexture Project
Rally's All The Things
Forgotten Retex Project
Ruins Clutter Improved SE
Inferno - Fire Effects Redux
Smoking Torches and Candles SSE
Embers HD
KD - Realistic Fireplaces SE
Better Dynamic Snow SE
HD Lods Textures SE
Windy Grass
Obsidian Mountain Fogs
Tamrielic Textures SE
SD's Farmhouse Fences
Skyrim Landscape Overhaul - Stone Walls (from LE its just textures)
aMidianBorn mods series
Realistic HD Baskets Remastered
Deadly Spell Impacts
Dirtcliffsroots
Kajuan mods series
JWD's Ash Pile HD
Ennead - Banners
Gecko's Dwarven Ruins Textures
ElSopa mods series
CleverCharff's mods series
RUGNAROK
Organic Riften Leaves
HD Unique Inn-Shops Signs Remaster
PELTAPALOOZA
Rudy HQ - Falling Leaves and Needles for ENB SE
Rudy HQ - Miscellaneous SE
Rudy HQ - Nordic Ruins
Rudy HQ - Standing Stones
Rudy HQ - Hay SE
Rudy HQ - More Lights for ENB SE (FULL)
Gamwich mods series
Skyrim 3D Furniture
Ice Wraiths Retexture
Unique Flowers and Plants
The Jedi Trees SE
EEKs Renthal Flora Collection
Renthal Nettle SSE
Ivy by Mari
Veydosebrom Regions (riften area footage was used with this mod : Folkvangr - Grass and Landscape Overhaul)
Origins Of Forest - 3D Forest Grass
Skyrim 3D Windmill
Waterplants for Skyrim
Swamp fungal pod by Mari
Skyland HD Road Signs
Majestic Mountains (default)
HD Stone Quarry and Clay Deposit
Arctic - Frost Effects Redux
Voltage
Spider Webs and Particles for ENB
Northern Ice
Less Distracting Blowing Snow Effects
Improved Clouds Mesh
TB's Improved Smoke
Luminosity - Lightweight Lighting
Tamriel Master Lights - Standard version
Draco's Beautiful Auroras
Dynamic Volumetric Lighting and Sun Shadows
CG4 Snow Effects
Rally's Butterflies Moths and Torchbugs
Volcanic Heat Haze
Winterhold Statue - Animated with ENB Lights
R.A.S.S. - Rain Ash And Snow Shaders
Frozen Electrocuted Combustion
DynDOLOD

It would probably take an entire day to find, download, install, and attempt to troubleshoot all those mods, and you'd have accomplished only making the game look better.

Why do it?

 

[Zariusz]

This mod divides the armour into many elements. I dont know if it covers all skyrim sets.
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/43173?tab=description
I didnt play special edition version so i dont know if author changed anything but in Oldrim it worked like this

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Skyrim's combat is shit, installing mods to make it harder just makes it hard shit -- the worst kind of shit.

As a parent of a small child and a toddler, I can assure you that hard shit is not the worst kind of shit. Quite the contrary, hard shit is the best shit.

I can agree. I saw an interview recently with popular teen singer Billie Ellish and she was talking about pooping and how much she loves to do it. She said, and I quote (from memory): "I once pooped 8 times in a single day, and not the bad kind, but nice, solid, firm ones. Best day of my life!" No, this is not my crude attempt at some kind of scatological humor. It's true. Google the interview, but don't run and proceed in an orderly fashion to the google servers to do it and don't be overloading them, y'hear?

 

[Puukko]

Trying out different followers and having them do the bulk of combat for you is how I do it these days.

 

[AwesomeButton]

Just posting this for no reason other than it's funny:

 

[Malamert]

Any mods that add random NPC adventurers that can loot items, explore dungeons and just generally give the impression that they're on their own quests? Stuff to make the world livelier and more interesting?

 

[Mud']

Any mods that add random NPC adventurers that can loot items, explore dungeons and just generally give the impression that they're on their own quests? Stuff to make the world livelier and more interesting?

I am not quiet sure, but The Notice Board i think had that, i once saw a group of Adventurers going to a tower of bandits, they told me something along the lines of "you can join us" and i got a radiant quest.

So i went to town, did some stuff and i saw a NPC go up to a board, pick something up and it was the same, he told me the same thing and he had a quest to go to some cave.

So yeah maybe that is what you are looking for.

 

[cretin]

It only took them 10 years, but skyrim fans are finally starting to realize the difference between professional artists working under a single unified direction, vs modders insisting they improved how the game looks because they made a texture BIGGERER AND BETTERER
https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods...come_to_a_realization_i_love_the_graphics_of/

I've been saying this all along, and used to bring it up tactfully on reddit and still got downvoted into oblivion by retards who would shit their pants if you tried to explain to them that just because one texture is bigger than another, doesn't mean it is better.

Most mod guides and modpacks are a horrendous waste of time and space. Skyrim, especially the special edition, is not a terrible looking game to begin with, and the aspects of it that are terrible (such as distant terrain) aren't even fixable by mods.

I straight up won't even bother with visual mods from now on. Its a huge waste of time, just download skyrim SE, install requiem (or YASH) and whatever other gameplay affecting mods from there. Done and dusted in like 30 minutes flat. And if it's shit, well at least you won't have wasted several days before finding that out.

 

[Luzur]

It only took them 10 years, but skyrim fans are finally starting to realize the difference between professional artists working under a single unified direction, vs modders insisting they improved how the game looks because they made a texture BIGGERER AND BETTERER
https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods...come_to_a_realization_i_love_the_graphics_of/

I've been saying this all along, and used to bring it up tactfully on reddit and still got downvoted into oblivion by retards who would shit their pants if you tried to explain to them that just because one texture is bigger than another, doesn't mean it is better.

Most mod guides and modpacks are a horrendous waste of time and space. Skyrim, especially the special edition, is not a terrible looking game to begin with, and the aspects of it that are terrible (such as distant terrain) aren't even fixable by mods.

I straight up won't even bother with visual mods from now on. Its a huge waste of time, just download skyrim SE, install requiem (or YASH) and whatever other gameplay affecting mods from there. Done and dusted in like 30 minutes flat. And if it's shit, well at least you won't have wasted several days before finding that out.

the real thing that needs some real heavy modding is the entire gamesystem, combat and plot, the rest is fine (except maybe bigger map)

 

[d1r]

It only took them 10 years, but skyrim fans are finally starting to realize the difference between professional artists working under a single unified direction, vs modders insisting they improved how the game looks because they made a texture BIGGERER AND BETTERER
https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods...come_to_a_realization_i_love_the_graphics_of/

I've been saying this all along, and used to bring it up tactfully on reddit and still got downvoted into oblivion by retards who would shit their pants if you tried to explain to them that just because one texture is bigger than another, doesn't mean it is better.

Most mod guides and modpacks are a horrendous waste of time and space. Skyrim, especially the special edition, is not a terrible looking game to begin with, and the aspects of it that are terrible (such as distant terrain) aren't even fixable by mods.

I straight up won't even bother with visual mods from now on. Its a huge waste of time, just download skyrim SE, install requiem (or YASH) and whatever other gameplay affecting mods from there. Done and dusted in like 30 minutes flat. And if it's shit, well at least you won't have wasted several days before finding that out.

the real thing that needs some real heavy modding is the entire gamesystem, combat and plot, the rest is fine (except maybe bigger map)

So, are we talking about a new game here?

 

[Yosharian]

It only took them 10 years, but skyrim fans are finally starting to realize the difference between professional artists working under a single unified direction, vs modders insisting they improved how the game looks because they made a texture BIGGERER AND BETTERER
https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods...come_to_a_realization_i_love_the_graphics_of/

I've been saying this all along, and used to bring it up tactfully on reddit and still got downvoted into oblivion by retards who would shit their pants if you tried to explain to them that just because one texture is bigger than another, doesn't mean it is better.

Most mod guides and modpacks are a horrendous waste of time and space. Skyrim, especially the special edition, is not a terrible looking game to begin with, and the aspects of it that are terrible (such as distant terrain) aren't even fixable by mods.

I straight up won't even bother with visual mods from now on. Its a huge waste of time, just download skyrim SE, install requiem (or YASH) and whatever other gameplay affecting mods from there. Done and dusted in like 30 minutes flat. And if it's shit, well at least you won't have wasted several days before finding that out.

Sorry, no. The vanilla graphics aren't bad, and the vast majority of texture packs are trash, but it's still possible to greatly improve Skyrim's graphics while maintaining the original style.

You're going from one extreme to another and claiming enlightenment.

Furthermore, the idea of wasting 'days' modding Skyrim when there's a small army of creators out there making modlists for Wabbajack that transform the way the game plays and looks is a joke.

I can install a bunch of modlists and try them all out to see which one I like in a few hours, and most of that would be waiting on downloads which don't require you to even be at the computer.

I installed the latest Viva New Vegas in 15 minutes on my shitty 4G router and I'm playing FNV bug-free with 11 years' worth of gameplay and UI improvements. A simple Reshade install on top of that, 5 minutes of tweaking in Stewie's INI files, that's it.

 

[Lambach]

It only took them 10 years, but skyrim fans are finally starting to realize the difference between professional artists working under a single unified direction, vs modders insisting they improved how the game looks because they made a texture BIGGERER AND BETTERER
https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods...come_to_a_realization_i_love_the_graphics_of/

Your "Skyrim fans realize" theory is based on one (1) Plebbit thread with a grand total of fewer than 200 replies. On the other hand, there are god-knows-how-many millions of graphics enhancement mod downloads on Nexus alone.

It's absolutely possible to improve graphics of a 10-year-old game that wasn't particularly visually impressive even when it released with mods. Hell, even Oblivion looks fucking breathtaking with the correct setup. The only question is whether it's worth going through the hassle of setting it up to only look amazing when the core game itself is trash.

 

[Puukko]

I've also been using Wabbajack extensively and you can get a really stunning looking game with minimal effort. I don't think there's a single game of this age that comes close to how much it can be improved on that front.

 

[d1r]

I've also been using Wabbajack extensively and you can get a really stunning looking game with minimal effort. I don't think there's a single game of this age that comes close to how much it can be improved on that front.

Morrowind comes very close.

 

[Trans-Financial-Man]

d the aspects of it that are terrible (such as distant terrain) aren't even fixable by mods.

One of the big aspects of Dyndolod IS to fix distant terrain and does it quite well. Also, having recently played Skyrim in VR again. Those shitty console optimised textures become especially apparent and immersion breaking when you can physically hold up those objects to your eye.

I'm in agreement that mod lists are a massive faff. A waste of time and space. But that's why I like Wabbajack so much. I have a big enough SSD now to hold one of the big modlists that autoinstalls and configures everything. I do think the modded textures could be downsized space wise but we are talking about a game that is now a decade old. I like the Elder Souls Wabbajack install because it rethemes Skyrim to a more grim dark aesthetic and gameplay design that reminds me of old B/X DnD I used to play in the late 70's (i'm fucking old, sue me). It's optional though. If your method works for you go for it. I had a modlist I made myself that turned Skyrim VR into a Witcher VR game with random contracts and Reqrium and stuff like that and had a ball of a time. And now modders have put in proper physics and body PoV so you don't feel like a ghost floating through Skyrim. You can even physically unholster your weapons.



I know that's small and inconsequential to many of you. But in my opinion immersive experiences are built on getting the smaller unnecessary things working. VR or pancake wise. Things you may never even notice. Before you go on to tedious shit like Survival mechanics, get shit like making sure animations don't clip through objects, your gun sounds accurate, etc. However I do think proper physics and physical interactions are going to be paramount to any VR immersive sims going forward. Even silly shit like picking up a bucket, carrying it around with you and putting things in the bucket. That could be tedious with a keyboard and mouse. But with your actual hands and the dynamic non scripted movement real hands offer suddenly opens the doors to all kinds of ways to implement puzzles and challenges. Using physics and physical interaction to solve puzzles and encounters in new and interesting ways. Think of Dark Messiah or Arx Fatalis in VR with full physics. That'd be pretty cool to me.

 

[Yosharian]

Someone has to make the next Elder Scrolls game and it sure isn't going to be Bethesda any time soon

 

[Hirato]

of all the serious mods, the only one whose style I actively dislike is ENB.
As cool as particle lights are, it comes with many caveats (more washing out, oversharpening, night eye usually being broken, etc), even when you use presets like 'Rudy ENB' which are generally considered more favourably.

 

[racofer]

Skyrim, especially the special edition, is not a terrible looking game to begin with, and the aspects of it that are terrible...

So, everything?

 

[MpuMngwana]

Finally, the mod we've all been waiting for:

https://www.thegamer.com/noskyrim-mod-skyrim-nexus-mods/