LE Mods to make Skyrim a terrifying place

[OpenWorldAddict]

This is not necessarily a 'mod request', it's mod search help request.

 

I am looking for a group of mods that when combined together makes being out, alone, in the wilderness of Skyrim or underground in caves, ruins or tombs; as terrifying as the halls, corridors, and tubes of Sevastopol in Alien Isolation.

 

When you are not in a civilized are there should be a constant state of dread.

 

I want this to be done several ways:

 

1. Nights in the wilderness should be brutally dark, but you should still be able to see areas lit by torch/campfire.

2. I don't want to be alerted by combat music that I am being attacked.

3. Monster and predator attacks should be instantly deadly. So should attacks from archers and mages, and even well trained warriors.

4. I want to make magic very hard to use so that I can't instantly use it to help me hide, heal my self, or use magic to destroy the attacker.

5. I want stealth to be essential for survival, and so should bows or daggers.

9. predators should be afraid of fire, something that I can use to my advantage

10. There should be more foggy days, especially in the wilderness far away from the cities. (fog helps to increase the sense of tension.)

11. There should be a chance of monster/predator attack while sleeping camped out in the wilderness.

12. In the wilderness and in dungeons, resources should be scarce.

 

What makes games truly terrifying is when there is a scarcity of resources, when it is so dark or foggy that you really don't know what's out there, and when you know any encounter can kill you in an instant. Those elements together maintain a constant state of dread... and that is true horror. That is what I want to bring to Skyrim by modding it, and that is what I am asking for help with.

Edited November 17, 2014 by OpenWorldAddict

[Alexmancer]

I'm going to look more into this, but definitely check out Sands of Time, especially the sleep module. It makes being alone a really bad idea, especially if you bring bedrolls and plan on sleeping in caves and dungeons. Bring a buddy! xD

 

For darkness, try Climates of Tamriel, darker nights and hazardous dungeons are good options. There are a few options to make nights even darker. I think I'm using level 3 right now. But they are especially nice when it feels like the night is being lit by the stars, or if you are using Lanterns of Skyrim, so areas around the lantern look washed in light with blackness beyond their radius. Couple this with Supreme and Volumetric Fog or even Morning Fogs for nice results.

 

Also, take a look at some sound mods. Sounds of Skyrim has some very creepy sounding ambient sounds for dungeons and caves, and I've really enjoyed using those.

 

Check out Primal Fear to make wolves and other animals afraid of torches. They will still stalk you and attack when you put torches away. Works for sabre cats too.

 

For scarcity, try out Morrowloot to make loot unleveled but with better items being much more rare and some handplaced with only one of things like daedric armor, and the mod, Scarcity. Really, that's what it's called.

 

Immersive Creatures also has a night time spawn thing that makes some undead spawn at night.

 

I'm going to do more searching and hope to find some more for you. I'm playing Alien: Isolation right now, myself. Very fun game. xD

 

I think there is also a mod that adds something like an Insanity meter that is a bit reminiscent of Amnesia. Being in the dark adds to it, you start seeing things that aren't there, that sort of thing. Sounds like it would be especially nice if it did that in Apocrypha too.

Edited November 17, 2014 by Alexmancer

[Alexmancer]

Found it! It's called Survive the Night. I keep meaning to try this mod out myself. It sounds pretty cool.

Edited November 17, 2014 by Alexmancer

[Boombro]

You can try this for the looks http://aceeqmodding.weebly.com/dark-fantasy-overhaul.html also look up for realistic world lighting beta.

[OpenWorldAddict]

Alexmancer, thank you for the help so far...

 

So Sands of Time has sleeping only module. I'll give this a try as long as I can turn off the probability of being attack in inns or homes.

 

I actually prefer Pure Weather over climates of tamriel. it makes things dark depending on the weather, so stormy nights are really dark. Do you know if the fog mods are compatible with it?

 

I totally forgot about how sounds effect mood, so Sounds of Skyrim is a good choice. It doesn't resolve the combat music problem. If combat music were more subtle than it wouldn't be so bad.

 

Primal Fear sounds good, but I wonder if lighting a campfire would keep them away or setting them ablaze (with magic or staves) would send them running? Having them afraid of the campfire would be useful since I use Frostfall anyway. it doesn't make sense if animals are afraid of torches but not afraid of campfires.

 

I've known about Morrowloot, will give scarcity a try. I am also looking into the mod You Hunger which reduces the amount of food you can find.

 

Immersive creatures might be interesting, as long as can can turn off certain features. I don't like things that aren't lore friendly.

 

I don't think I will be using Survive the Night since it locks you from being able to use your inventory at night as well as other things. Being able to set up camp when you emerge from a dungeon at night is essential to staying warm for Frostfall.

 

Keep up the suggestions, a lot of areas still need to be covered, such as:

1. Stealth being essential for survival

2. monster/predator attacks being instantly deadly

3. magic spells being hard to use or spell tomes hard to find/buy.

Edited November 17, 2014 by OpenWorldAddict

[Alexmancer]

I'm using the sleep only module for sands of time. The full version is called "Path of the Dovahkiin" I believe. It's by the same mod author.

 

The fogs, I am unsure of. If you read the descriptions on the page, usually it will explain what they are compatible with, but I don't see why they wouldn't be.

 

And yup, Sounds of Skyrim are mostly just ambient sounds. The's one for Dungeons, the Wilds, and Civilizations. You can use one or all.

 

I'm not sure if the campfires will keep them away, I haven't actually tried yet, but they really should (in my opinion at least). If you are using something like SkyTEST - Realistic Animals and Predators though, hey will back off if you use flame spells on them, or any spells really. Good mod to use in combination.

 

From what I hear both Scarcity and You Hunger work well together. I haven't used them both at the same time, but they both seem pretty good.

 

In Immersive Creatures, most of them actually are lore friendly. Oddly enough, even Minataurs are lore-friendly. Though I haven't seen any since before Morrowind. There is an MCM menu though and you can turn off some creatures you don't want to use.

 

For Survive the Night, that is the only feature that has kept me from installing it yet. The idea is fun, but I do want access to my inventory too. With some tweaks, I think it could be very fun to play.

 

Hmm... I'm not sure of Stealth, but perhaps look into Stealth Skills Rebalanced, or really any other mod by that author, they are pretty good, and I like the balanced add. If you aren't using something like PerMa or Skye, take a look.

 

I do not know of anything that makes monster or predator attacks instantly deadly, but I will look into it some more. Same with the magic spells. I guess I'd have to look for a magic overhaul that makes Skyrim more low magic. I don't know if that would be incredibly lore-friendly though as ES is a high magic setting.

Edited November 17, 2014 by Alexmancer

[notmyhome]

Immersive Creatures comes with an MCM you can use to toggle most of those creatures that aren't completely lore-friendly.

 

On the Sands of Times website there's a guide on how to make Skyrim a horror game, most of those features would look nice in your setup too.

 

As a night mod I really like Realistic Nights.

[Alexmancer]

You know, I haven't checked out their website yet. I think I'll take a look too.

[Alexmancer]

You know, for magic being harder to use (though probably still more rewarding later down the line), might wanna check out this mod by Apollodown.