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Cat Mattress posted:
Thanks, I got mixed up a few times between "highest value" and "maximum number of values." I'm working on others' suggestions too!
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Aug 21, 2016 19:52
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(16^2)-1, or 255.
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Iunnrais posted:I don't see why Dragon Combat Overhaul is dis-recommended. Yes, it makes dragons murderbeasts, but I've gotten some REALLY epic fights out of it, and enjoyed every minute of the battles... which granted, take a long time. But combining it with other dragon mods that let you tweak HP and what not, you decrease their HP and defenses to make every hit meaningful, while DCO makes actually hitting them challenging. I've always enjoyed dco except for it inevitably glitching out on me and suddenly I'm trying to fight 7 dragons at once, regardless of the settings I've chosen. An awesome sight to see for sure, but also kind of game breaking when it happens in a city. I haven't used any dragon overhaul in quite some time though, so maybe they're better now? I've tried both deadly dragons and dco and couldn't really recommend either of them. YMMV though.
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Aug 21, 2016 19:52
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ThaumPenguin posted:Sounds like you've got some leftover files from User Interface Organizer lying around. Huh. I'd have thought that different games would be completely separate, especially when I don't even have New Vegas installed. I tried deleting all that stuff but no dice. Here's what it looks like http://imgur.com/0avilfC
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Aug 21, 2016 20:05
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I'm fairly sure Fire & Ice Overhaul + Dragon Combat Overhaul (and maybe Deadly Dragons) was what forced me to abandon one of my playthroughs. Several dragons attacked Whiterun at the same time and spewed ice and fire all over the place. Every time I tried to go back to that save my computer would inevitably undergo a BSOD at some point during the fight. It was one hell of a fight, though. I'll give Apollo that.
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Aug 21, 2016 20:07
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Kuno posted:Huh. I'd have thought that different games would be completely separate, especially when I don't even have New Vegas installed. You need separate MO installs for each game you want to use it with, at least until MO2/the 64bit version is released to the public. e: Are you doing this playthrough on a new MO profile? You might have some weird edits in your current MO profile's version of Skyrim.ini and SkyrimPrefs.ini, that'd explain some of the issues you are seeing. ThaumPenguin fucked around with this message at 20:13 on Aug 21, 2016 |
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Aug 21, 2016 20:10
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eta3: See below for the most recent draft! eta what the actual gently caress:  eta2: wait I'm dumb, this is just telling me what the length is, not preventing my post from going through. I'm just going to make two new posts below, whatever GunnerJ fucked around with this message at 20:23 on Aug 21, 2016 |
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Aug 21, 2016 20:14
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Title: Skyrim belongs to the Nerds! (Modding/Troubleshooting Thread) Where "just spent 10 hours modding, time to play" becomes "modding itself is the game." Welcome to the Skyrim Modding and Troubleshooting Thread. This is the Thanks in advance to Agents are Go. Like 70% of this is his work from before he became unable to continue. I offered to take over but I want to give credit where it's due. At points, statements of opinion from him will be noted as "Agents prefers..." etc. where it was originally "I prefer..." In other places, where I am in a position to concur with him, I've left it first-person. The previous version of the OP had a lot of mods that were outdated, outmoded, or just not worth the download. For the most part, I plan to list the best and most comprehensive mods in each category, along with a few of my personal favorites. I'll also add mods to each category that the thread recommends as time goes on. Sometimes, I'll also link to a specific modder's list of mods rather than an individual mod. This is especially true when they've created lots of small mods or so many worth checking out in a category that it would take forever to list them all. The first part of this thread is "The Mod Guide and List," the actual info on getting up to speed with modding and list of recommended mods. The second part (in the second post) will contain general advice and info about modding and links to other resources. Feel free to hop down and read it before continuing, like I've got all loving day up here.  SIMPLE THREAD RULES
THE MOD GUIDE AND LIST MODDING LINGO A quick definition of terms: Plugins, ESP or ESM files: A "plugin" is a basic game data definition file. The .esp and .esm file extensions are "Elder Scrolls Plugins" and "Elder Scrolls Masters" respectively, but they function in basically the same way: each file is a plugin containing lists of records of game data that mods modify. The base game data is stored in ESMs. You can only have 255 of them (including the official game files) due to math, but there are ways around this (see "Merged Plugin" above and "Plugin-less/ESP-less mod" below). BSA file: A "Bethesda Softworks Archive," the archive file format used by Bethesda to load non-game-data assets, including scripts. Technically, you could do without these and just load raw assets, but unless you're using a mod manager (see below) that cordons off mod files from Skyrim's data folder, this will make dealing with conflicting assets a thicket of sorrows. (Use a mod manager (i.e., use Mod Organizer).) Merged Patch, Bashed Patch, or Smashed Patch: Not to be confused with Merged Plugin, below. These are all terms for automatically created patches that solve conflicts between mods in your load order. A Merged Patch tries to resolve them, but is not that great at it. Requires using TES5Edit (more later about this). In this guide, "Merged Patch" is used throughout as a term for this general category of patch. A Bashed Patch was, in Oblivion and Fallout 3, a very capable tool for resolving these issues, but never developed that well for Skyrim. It's mostly good for merging changes to leveled lists, but a merged patch also does this. Requires using Wrye Bash (more later about this). A Smashed Patch is a new kind of patch made by matorsmash that tries to supersede both. So far the tool is pretty impressively powerful, but tricky to use. Merged Plugin: This refers to the result of either the Merge Plugins Standalone, or the Merge Plugins TES5Edit Script by matorsmash. Basically, it's the rsult of taking several mods' plugins and combining them into one. Not recommended for scripted/quest-heavy mods, but perfect for those "Here's three new swords" mods. Not to be confused with Merged Patch, above. Non-Conflicting Override: This is the kind of conflict that merged patches try to fix. They aren't real conflicts in the sense that they represent changes that could happily coexist in game, but the structure of plugin files is such that any change to any value in a single game record will be overwritten by any later change to that record. Say you have two mods that change, idk, Ulfric. One of them changes his hairstyle, the other changes his equipment. These changes don't really conflict with each other because Ulfric could easily rock a giant afro while toting around Cloud Strife's buster sword, but due to the structure of plugin files, only the last loaded mod will have its change in the game: either the new hair or the new sword, but not both. Creating a merged patch (above) would fix this by having its copy of Ulfric's record with both changes. One of the most important real reasons for a patch to fix these is because multiple mods may change the various lists Skyrim draws from to generate items, but only one version of each of these lists can exist in game. Papyrus: Plugin-less/ESP-less mod: These mods don't have an associated .esp file, usually texture, model, and/or sound replacers. This includes some SKSE plugins, below. SKSE Plugin: This mod is a DLL - sometimes paired with an ESP - that uses the Skyrim Script Extender to actually alter the games code at runtime. This allows for quite a few benefits over standard mods, but requires a lot more expertise to create than a more typical mod. Gimmick: Either means "reliant on using certain gameplay tricks" or "I am literally too stupid to handle this poo poo" -- depends on the person using the word. SkyProc Patcher: A patch created using a SkyProc Java application, which reads your plugins and creates a customized patch for your game. Note: If you're using Mod Organizer, you'll need to install 32-bit Java, since MO can't interface with 64-bit programs. Vanilla: Depending on context, Skyrim: Legendary Edition without mods, or Skyrim without DLC or mods period. Generally the former. Basically, "only content made by Bethesda" is the usual meaning. Immersive: Used to mean "doesn't seem out of place so it won't break your suspension of disbelief." Now utterly meaningless due to pretentious masturbatory overuse. At best, you can be reasonably sure that the mod will not contain Cloud Strife's buster sword or Sonic the Hedgehog characters if it's called immersive. Lore-Friendly: See Immersive. MOD SITES where_to_get_mods.txt Steam Workshop: Basically the iTunes of Skyrim Modding. Until recently, there were a lot of mods that literally couldn't be put on the Workshop, due to file size and type limitations. These have been relaxed lately, but there are a lot of modders who don't like the workshop due to policies and such, and thus don't post mods there. On the other hand, some mods can only be found here. The Nexus: The main source for mods, I'd use the cliched "hive of scum and villainy" Star Wars quote to describe the Nexus, but we have the 'Slab (below) for that. The Nexus has its own mod manager, the creatively titled Nexus Mod Manager, but it's garbage. Luckily, you can set Mod Organizer to handle the "Download with Nexus Mod Manager" links. Lover's Lab: AKA "Lover Slab" or "the 'Slab." Link intentionally not provided. While the Nexus will let you post your "Well here's a little girl in sexy clothes but it's okay because she's actually a thousand-year-old vampire" mod as long as you maintain plausible deniability, all that goes out the window on the 'Slab. Realistic Horse Vaginas, Immersive Rape, whatever, it's all there and lets hope it drat well stays there. If you ever decide to try your hand at making Skyrim mods, though, brace yourself for the possibility that the answer you seek to some obscure technical issue may end up being here. Pursuit of bizarre video-game-mediated sexual fetishes apparently brings out some real innovation and creativity in people! TES Alliance: Another decent place to get mods. It's got fewer mods, but the atmosphere is definitely friendlier than the Nexus. Some stuff (mostly Trainwiz stuff) is hosted here exclusively. (Description shamelessly stolen from the previous thread.) ModDB: Not Skyrim Specific, nor is it nearly as extensive, but some mods that have been removed from the Nexus for drama reasons have ended up here, namely the Populated Skyrim mods. /r/ModPiracy: A place you might be able find mods that are unavailable anywhere else, for whatever reason. Useful for anything that this list can't actually link to.  BEFORE YOU MOD There are a couple of things that we should go over before we begin:
MOD MANAGERS Before you begin actually modding, you need to decide on a mod manager to use. I strongly recommend using Mod Organizer over Nexus Mod Manager or Steam Workshop, and Agents has created a handy chart to help you decide:  Not listed here is Wrye Bash, which is a decent enough but very technically intricate mod manager. Not recommended over Mod Organizer, but you'll have to use it to make Bashed Patches, so it's worth knowing about. You could also decide just to install mods manually, and Godspeed with that, you crazy bastard. The remainder of this guide will assume that you chose Mod Organizer, and if you didn't, well, good luck you contrarian rear end in a top hat. Alright, let's dive right into the categories! MANDATORY The mods in this category are, while not actually mandatory, mods that improve the the game so much that I can't imagine even somebody determined to do a "vanilla" playthrough not using them. The Unofficial Legendary Edition Patch (USLEEP): This fixes all those annoying bugs that Bethesda leaves in because they're sloppy. If you're using the free High Resolution DLC, be sure to grab the Unofficial High-Resolution Patch too. There's rumblings that many of the "bug fixes" being made verge on subjective judgment calls about "how the game should be." To which, I think the developers would say, "Noooo!" (To resolve this strange bug in the patch which has not been fixed, consider Shut Up, Mirmulnir.) Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE): Not a mod but a program that "wraps" around Skyrim's executable. If you want to use SKSE, you have to launch Skyrim through it. SKSE adds a bunch of new Papyrus functions which are immensely useful for mod authors, and so many of the best new mods require it. Even if you don't plan on using any SKSE mods (which, lol, what the christ), you should be running with the SKSE Memory Fix for improved stability. Once you install SKSE, open up notepad and copy this into it: code:This fixes a long-standing Bethesda bug with memory allocation and causes Skyrim to be much more stable. Seriously, the folks behind the script extender back-ported this fix to Oblivion and the Fallouts and improved stability in those games too! Crash fixes and Bug fixes: Using the magic of the SKSE (above), "meh" has fixed a whole bunch of engine-deep issues. It's seriously kind of insane the poo poo he's found. ESP-less SKSE plugins, and you don't need the memory fix above if you use Crash fixes. SkyUI: Vastly improves the original Skyrim interface, which was designed by and for crab people. Also includes the Mod Configuration Menu (MCM) which is required by many mods these days. If you happen to be a crab person, you can use SkyUI Away to restore the original UI while keeping the MCM. If you install SkyUI Away, I will know instantly, and I will shake my head in bemusement wherever I am and whatever I am doing. ENBoost: ENB is a highly popular graphic extender that can make your game look amazing, for various definitions of amazing. I don't know, I don't use it for that because it also absolutely murders your framerate. However, it also implements several speedhacks in regards to how Skyrim handles textures, so if you run the stripped down "ENBoost" settings it actually improves performance and stability. SkyTweak and Grimy Utilities: I include these because they can both help overcome the bugs that slip through USLEEP, and are very useful mods in their own right. Extended UI: Makes several tweaks to the Skill screen, making it look nicer on high-res displays. MFG Console: Makes the console much more useful, displaying a lot more information when you select objects. Great for tracking down problems. Modern Brawl Bugs Patch, and the Brawl Bugs Patch CHEAT Patch: The Modern Brawl Bugs Patch fixes issues with a few scripts that cause them to break brawls. If this doesn't work (which it might not because this problem is seriously hard to nail down and eliminate), the cheat patch lets you use anything in a brawl without making it assault, and I strongly recommend installing both of these, because even if you plan to play every brawl honorably, brawls are incredibly easy to break, and some of them are quest requirements. Look, you've got two choices:
Wiseman303's Flora Fixes: Fixes the flora respawn bug, and is a better option than the old Flora Respawn Fix. Required by CACO. Weapons and Armor Fixes - Remade (WAFr) and Clothing and Clutter Fixes (CCF): Fixes little bugs and inconsistencies. Required by CCOr. Eyes Glitch Fix: Eyes have a tendency to get very messed up after certain effects, like invisibility, are removed. This prevents that. ESP-less. Enchantment Reload Fix: SKSE Plugin, fixes an engine bug related to player-made enchantments and reloading. Distant Decal Fix: Formerly much more critical, now fixes exactly 20 meshes that the USLEEP team hasn't (yet??). Not available on nexus, the link is to the STEP Wiki entry, with the download listed as "Other." THOSE 20 MESHES BETTER BE loving WORTH IT!!Dragon Stalking Fix: Ever left a building, just minding your own business, only to turn smack dab into 2 tons of dead flying lizard, just sorta draped over the architecture, accusing you with its cold dead eyes? I have and it's loving creepy, and this mod fixes it. Appropriately Attired Jarls: Teaches the Fuz Ro D-oh - Silent Voice: Saves everyone the time and effort of having to make silent voice files for unvoiced NPCs in mods. SKSE plugin, no ESP. May require some additional steps. Ragdoll Paralysis: Paralysis no longer locks your whole body up like a statue. Female Vampires Have Fangs: Apparently, until now vampire women in Skyrim have been unable to just bite people like animals?? Bowlegged Jump Animation Fix: Makes jumping look less ridiculous. Consistent Older People: Inflict the burden of entropy on those Skyrim residents who have been keeping their 70-something heads attached to 20-something bodies like blasphemous freaks of goddamn nature. No stretching: Fixes some ugly textures to preserve the illusion that you're actually looking at rocks rather than rock-colored sheets being wrapped over featureless geometric shapes. ~muh immersion~ QUALITY OF LIFE The mods in this section are, while not fixing bugs per-se, centered around eliminating the more frustrating elements of vanilla Skyrim, or improving lackluster elements, or otherwise adding neat new features and options to the game that don't quite fit elsewhere. A Quality World Map: Improves the resolution of the ingame map, and has an option for roads to show up on the world map! Bounty Gold: Lets you configure how much gold you get for various radiant quests through the MCM. When Vampires Attack and Run For Your Lives: These two mods cause villagers to run when Vampires and Dragons attack towns, respectively. You can, alternatively, just straight-up disable vampire attacks in towns. Hearthfire attacks disabled: Similar to the above, disables the attacks on your player-built homes in Hearthfire. Better Dialog Controls, Better Message Box Controls and No Poison Dialogs: Improves minor but recurring issues with controlling Skyrim. Quick Loot: Opens a menu when looking at a container that lets you nab stuff from it without opening it, like in Fallout 4. May have some instability issues without Crash fixes or Bug fixes (above). Better Jumping: Adds sprint-jumping, loving finally. Optionally enables (via ini) other jumping stuff, like double jumps. ESP-less SKSE plugin. Better Stealing: No longer is there a psychic crime imprint on items you steal (marking them as "Stolen") when no one is looking. Reasonably expensive items would logically be missed, so these will still need to be fenced. ESP-less SKSE plugin. Autosave Manager: Bethesda quicksaves have had a history of being corruption-prone. This eliminates that danger, as well as adding completely configurable time- and event- based saving. Skyrim Enhanced Camera: SKSE Plugin, makes it so you have a body and a shadow in first-person, as well as being able to use first person in views where the game normally throws you into third-person. There are other mods that do this, but not as well. Smart Souls: SKSE Plugin, compatible with everything. Makes it so Soul Gems will only fill gems of the appropriate size. RaceMenu: Opens up a lot more options for designing your character, so you can make your ~~perfect waifu~~. Bald Head: Finally, you can be a real bald old man instead of just some shaven-headed poser. Pumping Iron - Dynamic Muscle Growth: Quiet and Silent Dead Thrall Groans and Moans: Makes playing a Necromancer a lot more bearable by shutting your raised creatures the hell up. Uncle Sheogorath: Replaces the BORING loading screen tips with tips from Sheogorath himself! Goon-made. Lore-Based Loading Screens: If you actually want more BORING loading screens, try this out. Long Lost Smelters of Skyrim Puts smelters in more locations. There are other mods that do this, but this is the one Agents uses. Immersive Animations: Makes some of the animations in Skyrim look less awkward. Wearable Lanterns: Better than a torch. MCM configurable. Convenient Horses: Makes having and using a horse much more, well... convenient. MCM configurable. Immersive Horses: An alternative to the above that improves the way horses work and adds more options in less dramatic ways. The Paarthurnax Dilemma: Tired of that stupid loving bit with the Blades where Bethesda tried to make you make a "hard choice"? Give Todd Howard the middle finger with this mod. Guard Dialog Overhaul: Bit of a misnomer, as it actually touches a lot of incidental dialog from many NPCs, making the things they say to you and to each-other much more varied and sensible. The Choice is Yours - Fewer Forced Quests - Improved Dialogue Options: Exactly what the name of the mod says, makes it a lot easier to not get stupid quests you don't care about. See also "Thieves Guild Requirements - No Auto Quest Start Brynjolf" below. Timing is Everything - Quest Delay and Timing Control: Lets you control when and how a lot of different quests begin! Hate vampire attacks? Eliminate them here! Think it's stupid Merida would offer Dawnbreaker to a vampire? Look no further! Thieves Guild Requirements - No Auto Quest Start Brynjolf: This mod does something like what "The Choice is Yours" and "Timing is Everything" do, but for some specific aspects of the Thieves Guild. Brynjolf doesn't immediately bother you and won't try to recruit you unless you've actually, you know, stolen stuff before. Adds a few minor options and features to the quest itself, which is nice. Localized Thieves Guild Jobs: This lets you choose where your next thieves guild job will be, rather than having it randomly decided. Alternate Start - Live Another Life ("LAL") or Skyrim Unbound: Two different Alternate Start mods. LAL is a bit more pretentious, but has more options, while Unbound is bare-bones but a bit more configurable. I prefer LAL but have used both. Just use something to skip that loving cart ride. (LAL is quite useful for mod authors because it dumps you in a little cell right away before you select a start, so there's an area to test things out immediately.) Faster Horse Dismounting: Exactly what it says it is, ESP-less. D13 Faster GET UP STAND UP animation: Makes you stand up faster after being ragdolled, ESP-less. Skyrim -Community- Uncapper: Lets you modify far more than just the skill caps, things like rate of skill-gain and how much each skill contributes to levelling up. Required for SPERG. Even Better Quest Objectives: Removes the reliance on using quest arrows, going back to Morrowind style quest descriptions. Replaces the old Better Quest Objectives. Dragon Soul Relinquishment: Lets you trade dragon souls for perk points, faster movement, and more. Better Stealth AI for Followers - No Torch while Sneaking: Just what it says it is. Highly compatible. MoreHUD: Adds more info to the screen when you mouse over objects. Bring Out Your Dead: Gives final resting places to NPCs who didn't otherwise have them so that you can properly pay your respects when a random event kills them and their will tells a courier to send you 200 gold for some reason. Skyrim Project Optimization: Reduces the amount of stuff the game engine loads that you can't see. Does so by adding occlusion walls, so radical changes in architecture from other mods will reduce the amount of stuff the game engine loads that you can see. Time On Loading Screen (KenMOD): A friendly reminder that it's 4 AM, go to bed already! Immersive HUD - iHUD: Sets UI interface items to only show up when needed. Move it Dammit for NPC Companions and Followers: Because of this. Reduced NPC Greetings: Fewer chatty NPCs hollering random crap at you while you strut by on the way to your important dragonguy business. The number of such individuals can be lowered to 0 (by, like, shutting them up, not killing them or anything!). Cutting Room Floor: Restores quite a few quests, conversations, items, and locations Bethesda cut before release. MAJOR OVERHAULS Major overhauls touch every aspect of the game, especially the perk trees. There are, as far as I know, five major overhauls to Skyrim: SPERG, Ordinator, Perkus Maximus (PerMa), Skyrim Redone (SkyRe), and Requiem. SPERG - Skyrim Perk Enhancements and Rebalanced Gameplay: This is the goon-made and goon-favorite Skyrim overhaul. Agents likes to tell people that SPERG is how Vanilla Skyrim should've been. Places a lot more importance on your skill scores, Perk tree interaction, and eliminates "mandatory" perks. SPERG is also incredibly compatible (Agents found only one mod to be utterly incompatible with it: Khal's Spellmaking in Skyrim). Requires SKSE and Elys Community Uncapper. Has an MCM and is very configurable. Warning: The installer is a little messed up, you need to move the file SKSE_Elys_Uncapper.ini from the data\SPERG\SKSE\Plugins folder to data\SKSE\Plugins. You'll also need to make sure you move the Dragonborn and Dawnguard patches out of the Optional folder. Ordinator: This is a perk overhaul by the great EnaiSiaion. Makes some very unique playstyles possible, but has a reputation for being overly-reliant on "gimmicks." Some mad bastard out there made a SPERG/Ordinator combination patch so you can have the best of both worlds!  Perkus Maximus (PerMa) and Skyrim Redone (SkyRe): Two massive overhauls both done by the same crazy person, PerMa is the "Sequel" to SkyRe, incorporating many of its design decisions and discarding others. Both seem to focus more on making perk choices really matter and adding new gameplay options. Both SkyRe and PerMa require using SkyProc patchers. Requiem: ACE Combat Skills: An older skill and perk overhaul. I played with it back in the day and had fun with it, but it's no longer supported an a bit long in the tooth, design-wise. Still, might be worth checking out. MINOR OVERHAULS Unlike major overhauls, these mods are generally limited in scope to one segment of Skyrim's gameplay, and are mostly compatible with each other and possibly with major overhauls as well (almost everything is compatible with SPERG!) Complete Crafting Overhaul Remade (CCOr): CCOr is a major overhaul of the smithing system, with many integrated options and scriptied compatibility with a lot of mods. Has Jaysus Swords, Bandoliers, Cloaks of Skyrim, and Winter is Coming integrated into it, but you will need the meshes, textures, and sounds from those mods (just deactivate the ESP files from those mods). If you use this with SPERG, deactivate SPERG's salvage system in the MCM. Requires WAFr and CCF. Complete Alchemy and Cooking Overhaul (CACO): By the same modder as CCOr, CACO does for alchemy and cooking what CCOr does for smithing. Not quite as compatible as CCOr. If you use this with iNeed, disable iNeeds salt requirement in its MCM. Requires Wiseman's Flora Fixes. There is a SPERG patch out there for it, and even a SPERG+Ordinator patch for it if you want to get really crazy. Midas Magic: Not up to the quality of Apocalypse Spells (below), but adds quite a few fun spells with a neat way to acquire, and (amusingly) since this mod originally predated the DLC, some spells that Bethesda later Forgotten Magic Redone: A spell mod with a different focus than most: rather than adding a bunch a new spells, Forgotten Magic Redone adds a limited number of new spells that can be leveled up and upgraded. Elemental Destruction Magic: Adds three new elements of magic - Wind, Water, and Earth. Neat idea, not entirely ~lore-friendly~ but cool execution nonetheless. No idea on the inclusion of "Heart" yet. Apocalypse Spell Package: EnaiSiaion's magnum opus, Apocalypse adds tons of great new spells to Skyrim, and makes non-Destruction mage a viable playstyle. Even if you're not playing a primarily mage character, adds a lot of neat utility spells for Paladin and Assassin types. Wintermyst: Adds dozens of new enchantments to the game, by EnaiSiaion. Requires SKSE. Thunderchild: Revamps the shout aspects of the game, adds a ton of new shouts appropriate for different play styles, and passive abilities that help remove cooldown. Makes a shout-centric character viable. By EnaiSiaion. Aurora - Standing Stones of Skyrim: Makes the powers and bonuses associated with the Standing Stones more varied and interesting. By EnaiSiaion. Imperious - Races of Skyrim: Makes the powers and bonuses associated with the different races in Skyrim more varied and interesting. By EnaiSiaion. Disparity: As an alternative to the above, Disparity has options for making the various races more distinct and interesting with more of a focus on passive effects than active powers. I always forget the billion little active powers I get here and there, so I prefer it. It also has stuff for starting "character classes" to make your new characters less blank slates. By kryptopyr. VioLens: Revamps the "Killmove" aspect of the game. Successor to "Dance Of Death." Ultimate Combat or Deadly Combat: Either of these is a decent combat overhaul mod. Enhanced Skyrim Factions - The Companions Guild: This mod overhauls the Companions guild somewhat, restoring some cut content, fixing some bugs, and ensuring that the questline lasts more than two hours. College Days - Winterhold: The same idea as Enhanced Skyrim Factions - The Companions Guild but for - you guessed it! - The College of Winterhold! Frostfall: This mod by Chesko is a game-changer. It adds a hypothermia-survival mechanic to the game, and completely changes how you think about going from point A to point B. Scripted compatibility with related mods and CCOr. Best when paired with iNeed or RND. Chesko also has made a bunch of other survival-based mods that are worth checking out, though some are still WIP. He's got their info up on his site, Skyrim Survival. Realistic Needs and Diseases ("RND") or iNeed: I've used both these mods, and while they're both good, I much prefer iNeed. RND is really detailed oriented and specific, while iNeed is much more my speed. They both work, though. Hunterborn: This mod attempts to revamp the hunting and butchering/harvesting aspect of the game. Not bad, but a very script-heavy mod. Better Vampires: Makes almost every aspect of vampirism configurable through the MCM, and adds a lot of new features to being a vampire. Sneak through Fort Dawnguard and turn the entire Dawnguard into vampires! Moonlight Tales: Very similar in focus to Better Vampires, but for werewolves. Personalized Music: Just what it says. This mod takes quite a bit of setup, but once it's done it's nice to have your own soundtrack for the game (Rammstein makes excellent combat music!) Warning: Don't use the optional College of Winterhold plugin, because it causes crashes on saving when in the area of Winterhold. ASIS: A SkyProc Patcher, ASIS allows for increased and random spawns, distributes new spells and perks to NPCs, and gives more potions to NPCs. Use with Agent's Improved ASIS INIs. Automatic Variants: This is a SkyProc patcher that lets there be, you guessed it, variations in the appearance of enemies. A wonderful mod, I highly recommend it! Extensible Follower Framework: There are quite a few follower overhauls out there, but this is the one Agents recommends, for several reasons:
World-Eater Beater: This mod overhauls the final battle with Alduin to be an epic, five-stage affair. A TrainWiz creation, with all that entails. Dwemer Certified: Have you ever wanted to craft an army of automaton followers? Of course you have. Fire and Ice Overhaul: This mod makes it so things can actually catch fire from fire magic - and dragons breath! You can create ice walls and put out fires with ice magic. Great idea, but really script heavy. Follower Commentary Overhaul (FCO): This goon-made mod unlocks a ton of dialogue for every voicetype for followers. Lots of fun, especially with multiple follower mods. Relationship Dialogue Overhaul: Possible replacement for Follower Commentary Overhaul, a newer approach to managing NPC status/relations with the player and the dialog the game uses. Compatibility might not be there yet. Familiar Faces: This is a very cool mod that lets you import your characters from one playthough as NPCs into another. Requires RaceMenu. Morrowloot: Hoo-boy, you may notice that the title of this entry isn't a link. That's because there's a number of versions of Morrowloot to choose from. The general idea of Morrowloot is removing the TO BE CONTINUED...
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LOOT The old thread's sections on Weapons, Armor, and Other In-Game items have been condensed into one section. It's entitled "loot" because, let's face it, that's what it is! The nice thing about these mods is that they are typically pretty easy to merge and save space in your load order. Note: There are several popular mods that could go in this section - Jaysus Swords, Bandoliers, Cloaks of Skyrim, and Winter is Coming - that have been omitted because they've been integrated into Complete Crafting Overhaul Remade, and you really should use that. Immersive Armors: Really, the end-all-be-all of Armor Mods, almost all the decent armors have made it into this mod. Completely configurable with the MCM, IA is pretty much the gold standard for armor mods. Aetherium Armor and Weapons Compilation: Three words: Dwarven. Power. Armor. Great little mod, uses the Aetherium Forge from the Lost to the Ages quest. (Before you start bitching, yeah it's lore-friendly.) Morrowind Armor - Netch Leather: Very nicely done Netch leather armor. If you use this with Ashlander Apparel's "The Ashy Spellsword" plugin, load The Ashy Spellsword after this mod, as both try to edit Teldryn Sero. Bonemold Expanded: Adds back in a bunch of Bonemold armor types that were in Morrowind, as well as adding in the Gondolier Hat from Morrowind! Sold. Ordinator Armor: Actually a port of an Oblivion armor mod, but still, Ordinator armor rules. Warmonger Armory: Another decent lore-friendly armor compilation, hasn't been updated in a while but still good. Immersive Weapons: Probably the most popular weapons compilation, still not as good as Immersive Armors. (The reason I mention that it's the most popular is because it has the most compatibility patches.) Weapons of the Third Era: Adds a bunch of Morrowind and Oblivion style weapons. Heavy Armory - New Weapons: Adds a lot of nice new weapons. Lore Weapon Expansion: Adds some new weapons, with a focus on remaining lore friendly. Note: There is quite a bit of overlap among the above four weapons mods. It might be good to pick one and stick with it unless you are into resolving compatibility issues in TES5Edit (which you will be (modding is the game)). An NPO Module - Crossbows: Adds in new crossbow types for each material. Faction Crossbows Adds in new crossbow types for various factions in the game, such as the Legion and the Dark Brotherhood. Could be considered a ~lore friendly~ alternative to the above. Chitin Goggles and Dwemer Goggles and Scouter: The first is nice and lore friendly but is mostly cosmetic, the latter actually have some functions. Ignore the message from LOOT to remove Chitin goggles because it's included in Wet and Cold, because Wet and Cold doesn't include craftable ones. Book Covers Skyrim - Lost Library: A companion to Book Covers Skyrim (see the Audiovisual Mods below), Lost Library adds in a large number of lore books from previous games and online sources. Craftable Thalmor Equipment - Standalone Version: Adds in "dark" elven equipment used by the Deadly Dragons Armory: Agents says that this is probably the most oldschool mod that he still regularly uses. It adds new weapons, armor, soul gems, and alchemy ingredients. Even though the equipment consists almost entirely of retextures, he still really likes this mod and some of the retextures. Companion to Deadly Dragons (See Friends and Foes below.) FRIENDS AND FOES Need new followers? Need new enemies? Look no further! These mods all add new NPCs and creatures to the game or give new options for dealing with NPCs, be they people to help or people to kill. Inigo: Goon Eric the Mauve says this is "the best custom follower hands down if you're looking for a follower that frequently interacts with you in a way that feels natural. A lot of his comments are genuinely pretty funny, and he slowly opens up to you over time in a way that doesn't feel nearly as hamhanded as Arissa or as sappy as Vilja. He's also built to be sneak friendly (because let's face it Stealth Archer is the correct way to play Skyrim and all other play styles are self-imposed challenges). The only downside is if you don't want your follower to actually be an active part of your world, but if that's the case I don't imagine you'd be installing custom follower mods anyway  Or if you don't like cat-men I guess."Hoth: Cool-looking bounty hunter guy, made by the same author as Immersive Armors. Brhuce Hammar - Legacy: TrainWiz's quest-and-follower mod. It uh, might have to be seen to be believed. Interesting NPCs: A mix of some good and some bad things, but overall very ambitious, adding over 250 voiced NPCs and over 50 quests related to them. The B-Team: Fleshes out some of the less well known named NPCs into followers. Sokco's Guild Starter: Seemingly an eternal work in progress, the idea in its current state is still pretty cool. It allows you to create your own faction and invite NPCs to join it and wreak havoc/do good deeds/more or less gently caress up constantly throughout Skyrim, as you please. My Home Is Your Home: Allows you to assign followers to homes. We have never been closer to turning Skyrim into The Sims: High Fantasy. It's a glorious time to be alive. Extra Encounters Reborn: Adds more stuff to randomly come across in the game. Extended Encounters: Same as the above, but now missing from the usual places. High Level Enemies: Adds new higher level variants of Skyrim's enemy types to keep the difficulty scaling. Skyrim Immersive Creatures: Adds a ton of new creatures to the game, whether they are really "immersive" will have to be a personal judgement call. Revenge Of the Enemies: Changes up the enemy AI to have more variety, intelligence, and surprise. PLAYER HOMES Places to keep your poo poo while you're out killing folks to make their poo poo your poo poo. Elianora is a mod author with a variety of player home mods. The Haven From The Cold And Dark: As the title suggests, a home with a lush green environment, which is located on an island far from Skyrim to preserve ~thy immersion~ It's set in its own little worldspace and has a few other locations to check out. Haafinheim: This mod was an entrant, and first place winner, in the Reddit house mod contest. Includes a quest to take possession of the house and explain its current state before you fix it up. Clockwork: By goon Antistar, it's more than just a house mod. It includes a quest to claim the place, side quests, and two dungeons. Rave reviews in the old thread. QUESTS These are mods that add new quests and lands. Moon and Star: Agents said this was good but short. To be honest, I have it on my list because I like the weird Dunmer refugee town it puts floating on rafts out in a lake. Maybe I will even do the quest someday when I actually play Skyr- ahahahaha.  Aurora Village: Adds a little town to the lake by Falkreath. A neat little uncomplicated addition. Works well with the above with a patch. Falskaar, by Alexander J. Velicky: Alexander J. Velicky's mod, Falskaar by Alexander J. Velicky, is a pretty massive mod. In Falskaar by Alexander J. Velicky, Alexander J. Velicky has added a massive new island, and Falskaar by Alexander J. Velicky apparently took Alexander J. Velicky 18 months of solo work to complete, and apparently got Alexander J. Velicky hired at Bungie. Falskaar by Alexander J. Velicky is a very technically adept mod, but with all due respect to Alexander J. Velicky, Agents found Falskaar by Alexander J. Velicky to be rather boring, to the point that he has started it several times but has yet to finish it. (Alexander J. Velicky) OK, dropping kayfabe, this is a technically impressive mod that's actually kinda dull but has a lot of hype backing it uAlexander J. VelickyAlexander J. VelickyAlexander J. VelickyAlexander J. VelickyAlexander J. Velicky Wyrmstooth: A new-lands DLC-sized mod, the author has disappeared himself and all his works from the Internet so you'll have to find this on your own. AUDIOVISUALS Okay, the section all you folks have been waiting for, how to make your game look purdy! To start off, I'm just going to include a link to the old thread's post on modding visuals, since a lot of it is relevant. aMidianBorn Book of Silence: Perhaps the "definitive" nicer-looking-stuff-in-Skyrim mod, along with CaBaL120's other mods. Seriously, this poo poo's pretty. There's also a version for Immersive Armors. Bethesda Performance Textures - Armor - Clothes - Weapons, Bethesda Performance Textures - Animals and Creatures, and other mods by the same author: Even though it technically shouldn't be happening, aMidianBorn causes an unacceptable framerate loss on my lovely PC. These mods makes things prettier than the base game and don't have the hit. They're at least a worthy alternative, imo. Practical Female Armors: Look, this might be a personal thing, but I think armor designed around emphasizing tits is dumb. as. ffffuuuucck. Don't agree? Don't use this mod! There is a version of this that's compatible with Immersive Armors, too. EASIER LOCKPICKING - Without Cheating - Nordic Retexture: Called "easier" solely because this adds scratches to the sides of keyholes on the lockpicking screen, giving a better visual reference for where you picks broke. Enhanced Lights and FX: There are many lighting mods, but this is the one I use for interiors. The way it works is mostly by removing a ton of ambient lighting and adding new light sources (I think?). Personally I just think this makes interiors look better, more natural, and dungeons scary af. Enchanted Arsenal: Provides a ton of cool graphical effects for enchanted weapons. HDT Equipment and Capes with HDT physics: I think these are still a little too experimental, but they still look all kinds of impressive in action: equipment will jostle around on your character's body as you move using the in-game physics engine. Realistic Water Two: What I use to make water effects look good. Other options are W.A.T.E.R. (which is no longer up on Nexus) and Pure Waters. Audio Overhaul for Skyrim: Alters the volume and reverb of the in-game sounds in a way that's difficult to describe but very satisfying in action. Immersive Sounds - Compendium: If nothing else, it adds a lot more variety to the available sounds in game. Better Animal Footsteps: Generally lowers or raises the volume of animal footsteps to be less jarring or more jarring, as needed. Dragons Shout with Voice: Supposedly, dragon's breath in Skyrim is a matter of words of power creating effects, which is why "shouting" works the way it does. Now, actual dragons' breath attacks will sound like the "deadly verbal debate" they're supposed to. Static Mesh Improvement Mod: This mod improves the appearance of tons of little and not-so-little objects in the world. CRAY CRAY MODZ The mods in this section may or may not be lore-friendly or even good ideas, but are, uh, interesting if nothing else. Enderal - The Shards of Order: Kind of its own category in a way, this is a total conversion mod that is a sequel to Nehrim: At Fate's Edge, an Oblivion TC mod. A major investment but Nehrim supposedly owned hard so probably worth your attention. Legacy of the Dragonborn: Listed here because it's such a stupidly huge thing (seriously, it's a 2.5 GB download ). At its heart, it's a building to display the various cool poo poo you pick up on your adventures, acting as a museum. It's fallen prone to some major feature creep. Agents says that just having it installed at all can be a performance hit. Use your best judgment!MODDERS TO CHECK OUT This is a list of modders who make a lot of various Good (or at least Interesting) poo poo. trainwiz: Mentioned a few times elsewhere but he's got so much stuff it's worth putting him here. Would be in the Crazy Mods section except that all the batshit is actually 100% lore friendly (usually??) because Elder Scrolls lore is seriously loving nonsense bonkers. He's got quest and follower mods that uh, kinda push the boundaries, but not in some edgelord or creepshow way, you know what this is a bad description, bailing out now. ramccoid: Lots and lots of graphics replacers for little things you might otherwise not think about : droplets, mist, oil slicks, etc. mahty: Has a list of mods adding some dwarf-magitech-type stuff. m150: A variety of strange follower mods, and more. DISRECOMMENDED MODS Perhaps consider ignoring the hype and taking a pass on these ones. No links provided because I'm lazy and the whole point is to not use these, so just google it!!! In fairness, not everyone agrees that all of these are irredeemable trash (some folks stuck up for Dragon Combat Overhaul, for example), so remember that ultimately it's up to you to try things out and see what you like when it comes to subjective judgment calls about what's fun or not. Organized Bandits in Skyrim: An initially cool idea to create unique themed "gangs" of bandits, it's become bloated with barely relevant feature creep. Civil War Overhaul: This mod is a grand idea, but is insanely script-heavy and prone to bugs. Dragon Combat Overhaul: This mod goes far too far in the direction of "Dragons are unkillable murderbeasts." Sometimes they are just baffling and waste your time with weird or "gently caress you" behavior. Stable uGrids to Load: Found to have a memory leak. Duel Combat Realism: Just read this review to understand. Armonizer and Weaponizer: These two mods have a lot of issues (Weaponizer: Adding weapons to enemies that cant use them which makes the enemies do nothing, Armonizer: Having several armors that have no female model and so give female characters mantorso) and haven't been updated in years. Midas Magic Evolved: Absolutely garbage mod, horrible typo-ridden trash. Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul: A cautionary take by forums poster Whizbang: "It runs like poo poo, it's poorly constructed because he just made like a million actor nodes everywhere and so it conflicts with everything, and the author is a weird spergy Frenchman who won't work with anyone in the greater mod community to try to make his mod better or more compatible." "In continuing "the author of Immersive Citizens is a crazy person" news, he forced the author of ETAC to remove their compatibility patch because he thinks it's stealing his work. Please don't use Immersive Citizens." MODDING RESOURCES The first section was a list of recommended mods to get you started. This next section is about modding as a practice and community, other resources, technical info, tips and tricks. You may scoff at the idea of caring about this. You're probably thinking, "I'll just download the unofficial patches and some new armors or some poo poo, I don't need this nerd info." See you in 10 hours, friend. When you get back, consider getting involved the awesome GOON PROJECTS I'll talk about near the end! MOD AUTHORS These are a few names that might pop up from time to time, and so you might want to know: Arthmoor: The lead modder on the Unofficial Patches, and the creator of several other fairly good mods. That being said, he's also a complete toolbox and the physical embodiment of  . Avoid interaction with him if you can, but don't avoid using his mods because of it; mods are not some sort of rear end in a top hat prayer wheel, he doesn't get more powerful the more people who use them.EnaiSiaion: The author of Apocalypse Spells and numerous other magic-related mods. Highly imaginative and skilled, but a bit of a drama queen and a total perfectionist. TrainWiz: A modder who is crazy, awesome, and crazy awesome. His mods tend to explore be Dwemer and Morrowind centric, and to explore the more  areas of the lore. They include a mod where you fight giant monsters by piloting a giant steam centurion in a quest called Pacific Skyrim (Brhuce Hammar: Legacy), a mod that adds an explorable railroad system that connects all the Dwemer Ruins (Blackreach Railroad), and a mod that adds a Dwemer spaceship you can use as a player home (Aethernautics.) If none of that sounds exciting to you,  . That being said, his reach sometimes escapes his grasp, and his mods are known for having some rough edges.kryptopyr: Author of quite a few great mods, like CACO and CCOr. Boris Vorontsov: Author of the ENB series graphical enhancer, I'll just quote goon Coughing Hobo, who summed Boris up best when he said: Coughing Hobo posted:He exemplifies Russia's institutionalized racism and bigotry every time he talks about something other than ENB, and oftentimes when also talking about ENB. Chesko: Maker of Frostfall and other "survival" type mods. Generally a chill dude with a polished approach. Has a site with extensive info on his mods, Skyrim Survival. matorsmash: Doesn't make mods so much as modding utilities: the plugin merging script/app, "Mator Smash" for smashed patches, some TES5Edit scripts. Good stuff. Apollodown: Maker of the very popular Dragon Combat Overhaul and Civil War Overhaul mods. Has a unique writing style. EggOver1979: Seriously? Total rear end in a top hat. LittleRaskols: Another shithead. If you see this name attached to a mod, just turn around and walk away. Known Goon Modders: Agents are GO!, Hothtrooper, Nerd of Prey, LtSmash, Mazz, Terzaerian, Seorin (ret.). Let me know if you want on (or off) this list. MODDING TOOLS The following programs range from helpful to necessary for modding. TES5Edit: A tool that allows you to examine and modify the records of a number of loaded plugins and also make patches from plugin records. If you know what you're doing, and use the right scripts, you can do a fair amount of sophisticated modding. If you don't, you could gently caress things up horribly. Back up your plugins when it asks if you want to! The Creation Kit: The official mod design software. Available as a tool in Steam. Unless you're planning on making mods, you probably won't need this. Some compatibility issues (navmeshes) can only be resolved here, though. LOOT: The Load Order Optimization Tool. Successor to the similar BOSS, this attempts to reorder your plugins in a way that maximizes compatibility. It's not perfect, and the better you get at modding the more likely you will be to want to sort out load order yourself, but it's a start. Modwat.ch: A tool that constructs a load order summary for you and posts it on the web. Useful if, for some reason, you wanted to show a bunch of people your load order, perhaps to assist with troubleshooting. Merge Plugins: Stand-alone utility to manage the merger of plugins to reduce load order. Used to be a TES5Edit Script. Mator Smash: Stand-alone utility to make Smashed Patches. Used to be a TES5Edit Script. Still in testing and somewhat difficult to use, but check it out! Mod Picker: A work-in-progress project to demystify the process of selecting the mods that suit your needs and resolve compatibility issues by drawing on the community's collective experience. Theoretically allows for user feedback and review of mods, but due to Mod Checker: Work-in-progress online tool/info directory by goon Roadie. This is a lookup-table for compatibility issues between mods. "Check" it out! Skyrim Mod Combiner: The SMC is a tool that lets you select and mix and match a whole bunch of visual mods and combine them in ways that produce an aesthetically pleasing whole. FileAccess Interface for Skyrim Script (FISS): Not quite a mod in the usual sense, this is a tool that allows mods to read and write settings to files. Mods with MCMs that use this allow you to save settings between save games which is just awesome. Not needed for mods that don't use it. JContainers: Like FISS, this is a tool that extends the capabilities of mods to allow them to save data, but also adds new data structures. You only need it if you use a mod that needs it (like Familiar Faces). OTHER SITES The Skyrim Total Enhancement Project (STEP) STEP is... a lot of things. The project starts from the assumption that Skyrim is essentially a console game that needs a good amount of modding support to bring it to a baseline of where a PC game "should" be. Whether you agree with this or not, the results of their efforts are worth looking into. At its core is a regularly updated and refined recommended mod list and guide, which is worth checking out and following at least up until the graphics mods, after which it gets more subjective and limited by hardware. The list does not include any major gameplay alterations since its goal is to "bring Skyrim up" to a certain baseline of quality. It's a foundation to build on. I'm a bit of a STEP fanboy. In the old thread, I can't count the number of times I've linked to one of their guides when someone had a technical issue. Do you want to know how to:
Gameplay Enhancement Mods for Skyrim (GEMS) The GEMS list is an index of tons and tons miscellaneous gameplay mods. I don't think they have all been vetted for quality in the same way as the mods on STEP's list, but there's a huge variety of possible mods to try. The best part about this is that it's well organized. If you're looking for a mod that does a certain kind of thing, GEMS probably has a category for it. You could do a lot worse than browsing it for mods to try. Grimy's Mod Critiques Sadly abandoned now, but worth going through for the entertainment value alone of his takedown of the overrated DUEL Combat Realism mod. His approach also takes a lot of the mystery out of modding. YOUTUBERS BroDual This duo of brothers (yes, that is why the name) consistently and regularly puts out overviews of new mods. They have a truly massive number of review videos for which they have helpfully categorized playlists. Gopher Gopher hasn't done a lot of Skyrim mod updates recently, but he has a similar (thought much shorter) catalog of reviews to BroDual. More importantly, he has a number of very useful video guides: for beginners, on using MO, and various tweaks and fixes. Some don't like him because he can be pretty long winded, but he generally knows what he's talking about or at least listens to people who do. Novajam Updates somewhat infrequently, but his honest mod reviews are worth the wait. GOON PROJECTS So, the Mod Picker thing got me to thinking. If even the most well-thought-out and useful community projects outside the Nexus for sharing information about mods can be undermined by pissbaby primadonna mod authors, what can we do about it? Well, the obvious answer was to start our own mod info sharing site, with blackjack, hookers, etc., but most importantly, with the ability to be honest protected. I started one site and got control over an existing but abandoned one. Check them out and get involved! TES Goons Wiki This is an old site that's been just a bit neglected. I asked the original site runner for admin access and so now we can start sprucing it up. Since I went starry-eyed fanboy for STEP elsewhere in this post, I should clarify what sets this wiki apart. First, STEP doesn't really "editorialize" as much as I'd like to encourage for this resource (it doesn't really talk much about why it recommends the mods it does, or why it removes them outside of technical details or being superseded). Second, STEP's mods are about STEP's mission, meaning that anything that doesn't further its goal of "completing" a baseline Skyrim isn't on there (such as major gameplay overhauls). If you want to get involved (please do!), there should be a big honking "Join" button on the page, but also make a post in the thread so I know who you are. Immersive Lore-Friendly Mods of Skyrim: HD Ultimate Edition This is a modest little blog that I have big plans for. The aim is to be an honest review site. I'll start posting on it soon with more details now that I can SUPER TECHNICAL NERD poo poo There are some hard limits on what modding can accomplish, enforced by technical limitations of the game engine itself. There are also end-runs around these limits. This section is going to be just a bit on the crunchy side, but it's good to know to understand why certain things are needed or recommended. Maximum Number of Plugins First, Skyrim can only load 255 plugins, the ESP and ESM files that most basic mods use to store their info. Why? Well, to understand this, we need to understand a little about how Skyrim identifies records in plugins. A record is basically a data object that describes a thing in the game. Each record has an ID number formatted like this: YYZZZZZZ The first two, "YY," are set by the load order of the plugin, and the last six, "ZZZZZZ," are the number of the record within the plugin. For example, skyrim.esm will always be at load order 00, and update.esm at 01, as these are the basic requirements for Skyrim as a game. This means that a record in the former with the ID 00000111 will not conflict with one in the latter with an ID of 01000111, even though they have the same plugin-internal ID number (000111). These numbers are in hexadecimal, which means that each number is in base-16 as opposed to base-10 (i.e., decimal), which people most commonly use for math. In base-10, the maximum value of one "digit" starting at 0 is 9, so a base-10/decimal number goes from 0-9, meaning that a decimal "digit" has a maximum of 10 values. A base-16/hexadecimal number goes from 0-15 (with letters A-F representing the numbers from 10-15) so a hexadecimal digit can have 16 values. So what does all this dumb math for geeks have to do with your super cool video game modding hobby? Well, if the first two numbers establish the plugin's load order, it means that the maximum number of plugins you can have in your load order is FF, or 16^2, or 256, although the engine uses FF for dynamically generated objects. Thus, there are only 255 slots in your laod order, meaning you can only load 255 plugin files. How do we get around this? Well, remember the other part of the ID, the "ZZZZZZ" part? These are also hexadecimal numbers. They also set a maximum, the highest number of records a plugin can contain, which is FFFFFF, or 16^6, or 16,777,216. Most mods simply do not use anywhere near sixteen goddamn million records. This is a lot of "wasted space." Hence, merging plugins so that all their records are shared in one plugin circumvents the limit by moving mod info from the limited load order slots to the much more plentiful record slots. RAM Usage Skyrim, as an application running on your computer, can only use 3.1 GB of RAM. No matter how much RAM your system has, once Skyrim tries to use more than 3.1 GB, it crashes. This was likely the reason for a number of game crashes that were mysterious until this was figured out. Worse, for some reason, any data stored in VRAM has to be mirrored in RAM. So your hot as poo poo graphics card may have 4 GB of VRAM or whatever, but Skyrim can't use more than 3.1 GB of it. So running all your 8k immersive beard and high quality rock textures at once is like trying to cram Fort Knox into a jewelry box. Getting around this is why ENBoost is important. One of the things it does is create a bunch of dummy processes to take excess data off of skyrim.exe's hands once it starts approaching the 3.1 GB limit. Shuffling data around like this is slow, but it beats crashing. Brawl Bugs The Skyrim brawling "system" is intended to force you to engage in a bout of non-lethal fisticuffs. It enforces this by ending the brawl if you use weapons or magic with your opponent becoming so pissed off by your poor sportsmanship that they try to murder the gently caress out of you. The problem is that the way the game implements this is very... aggressive. It basically checks to see if you cause any kind of magic effect on yourself or your opponent. Even if it doesn't do anything. Why is this a problem? A bunch of mods work by using dummy magic effects on actors (including the player or NPCs). These are non-harmful and mostly for keeping some other effect working properly, and often don't do anything unless a condition is met (because the game needs to regularly keep track of whether to use the effect), but will count as "cheating." There is probably more to this than just that, which is why so many attempts to fix brawls straight up don't work. Mod authors have to be aware of this issue and careful to try to correct for them, and even then it's a gamble. It's better to just install the cheat patch and move on with your life. This does not oblige you to cheat, of course, it just makes the game not care if you do. You're on the honor system now! No bringing warhammers and death magic to a fist fight! LET'S KEEP THIS ROLLING This OP is meant to be kind of a living document. As long as I'm participating in the thread, I'll keep it updated as things develop. Please do make suggestions!
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Aug 21, 2016 20:22
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I'd say just post the thread with what you have and we can all discuss and fix *that*, the ball has got to get rolling at some point you know??? btw thanks for doing this I truly do appreciate it because my dumb goon rear end can't figure this poo poo out on my own
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Aug 21, 2016 20:24
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Pretty much, I am only waiting to hear back from Agents who wanted to add some stuff and to see if anyone spots typos. Otherwise, yeah, it's fukken time
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Aug 21, 2016 20:25
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Mr.Grit posted:I've always enjoyed dco except for it inevitably glitching out on me and suddenly I'm trying to fight 7 dragons at once, regardless of the settings I've chosen. An awesome sight to see for sure, but also kind of game breaking when it happens in a city. My problem with dco is that it was almost certainly meant for characters who heavily invested into ranged combat, either bow or magic. When I played it with my mage, it was slightly annoying, but kinda ok overall, but it made my two-handed barbarian playthrough miserable. Almost every fight took at least 45+ minutes, most of it spent either twidling my thumbs and waiting for the dragon to land, or twidling my thumbs and waiting to come out of stunlock from the many, many sources of stagger and knockback that the mod gives to almost every action the dragon makes. Also fighting 2+ dragons was pretty much unwinnable, unless I kited them into city guard/legion patrol/giant camp, becouse they could easily keep me stunlocked litteraly from full health to death. It was difficult all right, just not very fun.
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Aug 21, 2016 20:28
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So I just do all of that and the game is fun right?
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Aug 21, 2016 20:28
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There have to be more decent quest mods than just those three (and, uh, Falskaar), right?
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Aug 21, 2016 20:29
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Might be worth pointing out that Mod Organizer keeps its own copies of .ini files and changes to the standard files won't affect MO games.
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Aug 21, 2016 20:46
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^^^ Good call, thanks. Lunchmeat Larry posted:There have to be more decent quest mods than just those three (and, uh, Falskaar), right? Possibly, but I don't know enough about any of them. That's why the post is open to suggestions and expansions. GunnerJ fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Aug 21, 2016 |
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Aug 21, 2016 20:47
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GunnerJ, I hate to be a horrible nitpick (lies), but the description of Practical Female Armors - Immersive Armors Edition makes it seem like it's an alternative to Practical Female Armors, which it isn't. It's meant to be used alongside it.
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Aug 21, 2016 20:47
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ThaumPenguin posted:GunnerJ, I hate to be a horrible nitpick (lies), but the description of Practical Female Armors - Immersive Armors Edition makes it seem like it's an alternative to Practical Female Armors, which it isn't. It's meant to be used alongside it. Nah it's fine, this is the kind of thing I'm keeping the drafts up for.
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Aug 21, 2016 20:51
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Skimming through the new OP, I would like to ask what are the issues with OBIS (Organized Banditry in Skyrim) that landed it in Disrecommended mods? I had it installed for a while and so far, I didnt notice anything horrible - it just made bandits more varied and tougher, as advertised.
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Aug 21, 2016 21:07
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post the op and in true Skyrim fashion we can talk about modding the op
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Aug 21, 2016 21:17
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the things that stick to my mind from the time I used OBIS were the busted facemasks, the typo-ridden Book of bandits having its own special chance of spawning in almost any loot pile and coming up with its own massive pile of bandit uniforms and inventories from scratch, defying other mods' attempts to control leveled lists
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Aug 21, 2016 21:17
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tl; dr (Seriously though, good work)
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Aug 21, 2016 21:18
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Hey, so what was the recommended way to use Anti-aliasing? I remember something about GPU-based (?) Anti-aliasing being better than ENB's anti-aliasing. If that's true, how do I set it up? I use an NVIDIA Geforce GTX 770.
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Aug 21, 2016 21:31
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Go ahead and post, I'll throw my additions up later - the edit button exists for a reason. Also, you should make the first line in the first post " Last Updated on xx/xx/xx" so people don't pop in here and automatically assume the OP is outdated.
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Aug 21, 2016 21:44
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Agents are GO! posted:Go ahead and post, I'll throw my additions up later - the edit button exists for a reason. Also, you should make the first line in the first post " Last Updated on xx/xx/xx" so people don't pop in here and automatically assume the OP is outdated. Radomax idea here friend
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Aug 21, 2016 22:30
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Lt. Lizard posted:Skimming through the new OP, I would like to ask what are the issues with OBIS (Organized Banditry in Skyrim) that landed it in Disrecommended mods? I had it installed for a while and so far, I didnt notice anything horrible - it just made bandits more varied and tougher, as advertised. I've got a disclaimer up on that section about there being some difference of opinion about these being Bad Mods, but I'd rather discuss it when I put the thread up. But the reason is outlined in the entry: feature creep to the moon. Ideally, this is one of the things that an independent mod review/info site can allow for: multiple reviews giving impressions and experiences, even if it means sticking up for something the goon hivemind wants to lay low. See yall soon... on the Other Side...
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Aug 21, 2016 22:37
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GunnerJ posted:Realistic Needs and Diseases ("RND") or iNeed: I've used both these mods, and while they're both good, I much prefer iNeed. RND is really detailed oriented and specific, while iNeed is much more my speed. They both work, though. That link for iNeed appears to be broken.
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Aug 21, 2016 22:43
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incogneato posted:That link for iNeed appears to be broken. Yikes! Good catch.
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Aug 21, 2016 22:47
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GENTLEMEN.
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Aug 21, 2016 22:54
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You still have two errors here:quote:So what does all this dumb math for geeks have to do with your super cool video game modding hobby? Well, if the first two numbers establish the plugin's load order, it means that the maximum number of plugins you can have in your load order is FF, or 16^2, or 256, although the engine uses FF for dynamically generated objects. Thus, there are only 255 slots in your laod order, meaning you can only load 255 plugin files.
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Aug 21, 2016 22:59
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Cat Mattress posted:You still have two errors here: Ugh, I had multiple places this was copied to for editing so I think I might have fixed the math and then accidentally overwrote it, so who knows what other errors have slipped through! eta: OK, I'm not sure what the error there is because I am talking about maximum number of possible values, not highest value there?
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Aug 21, 2016 23:03
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I'm totally new to this whole Skyrim modding thing. Haven't even played the base game for years. I'd like to be able to wander around, get lost in the woods, explore neat poo poo, etc. I don't care about the big quests, I don't care about crafting (hated the grind of it), would like to avoid the temptation of fast travel type stuff, etc. I'm not looking for super realism or hardcore mode, I just want to chill and feel like I'm really exploring an open world (that I've hopefully forgotten most of). I noticed there are no weather mods on the list. Are these not usually looked well upon? I've seen things online about sweet fog and storms, super dark spoopy nights, etc. Sounds kinda neat--are there any that are goon-approved? Does this list seem to cover what I want for my goals?
Hopefully the whole SKSE and Mod Manager installation and use thing will be intuitive.
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Aug 21, 2016 23:45
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Weather mods... gently caress, they should be on there. That's just a straight up oversight. Anyway, post your poo poo in the new thread please!
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Aug 22, 2016 00:07
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GunnerJ posted:Weather mods... gently caress, they should be on there. That's just a straight up oversight. Coincidentally Purity recently updated to 2.0. But yeah, time to leave this thread, folks.
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Aug 22, 2016 00:24
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Don't forget the Book of Silence Patch for Practical Female Armor. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/72349/
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Aug 22, 2016 01:13
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Fare thee well, old modding thread! May a flight of Arthmoors sing thee to thy rest!
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Aug 22, 2016 06:13
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Agents are GO! posted:Fare thee well, old modding thread! May a flight of Arthmoors sing thee to thy rest! dovakin.... nooo00oo00
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Aug 22, 2016 12:23
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I refuse to upgrade to the new version of the modding thread, i'm sure it has loads of new bugs and compatibility issues. Besides i hear it doesn't play well with my sex mods!
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Aug 22, 2016 16:33
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Dongattack posted:I refuse to upgrade to the new version of the modding thread, i'm sure it has loads of new bugs and compatibility issues. Besides i hear it doesn't play well with my sex mods! Honestly, somebody really needs to work on a "One-Click New Skyrim Modding Thread" installer so that we don't have this recurring problem! 
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Aug 22, 2016 16:38
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Dongattack posted:I refuse to upgrade to the new version of the modding thread, i'm sure it has loads of new bugs and compatibility issues. Besides i hear it doesn't play well with my sex mods! All of these things are true, but I've reported you for your disrespect of my artistic vision all the same. Siets posted:Honestly, somebody really needs to work on a "One-Click New Skyrim Modding Thread" installer so that we don't have this recurring problem! i'll fuckin bash u, m8
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Aug 22, 2016 16:45
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 07:30 |
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Thread's dead. Long Live Skyrim Modding
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Aug 29, 2016 03:41
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