Looking for a great and stable combination of mods...

[LOKITYZ]

Can anyone who has played Skyrim for many hours without any significant issues recommend what mod combination they use? I have a weaker system so I don't really care for visual mods, just gameplay mods or the such... I currently use SkyRe in combination with a lot of other mods, but It doesn't seem very stable, I almost always crash when I load my savegame and have to load a far earlier save to start the game, then load my current save game. That, and there also is the random crashes that occur quite rarely, but they never happened before I used SkyRe (I use SSME and ENBboost).

 

I'm near to completing my current run, and I would like to know about great mod combinations that are really stable, works well with all the DLC (I have the Legendary Edition), don't demand too much from your system, and are really immersive and fun to play for my next run, as more of a magic-warrior character. Any ideas?

[Hyacathusarullistad]

As of this post, I've got 2753 hours logged in Skyrim since Christmas Day 2011. I haven't really played any other games in the last two years. I mean, I set Skyrim aside for six weeks last summer when I got my hands on the Mass Effect trilogy, but that's about it. I'm still in love with Skyrim, and mods have played a huge part in my continuing enjoyment of the game. And of those hours, probably about 2700 of those hours were played with mods. I've tried many of the different overhaul and gameplay mods on the Nexus, and have rather firm opinions on all of them.

 

Before you look at any gameplay changing mods though, there are some bare bones type things you'll likely already be mostly aware of. You need to install the Unofficial Skyrim Patch, for example, as well as the accompanying unofficial patch for each of the DLCs. You'll also need SKSE, either the stable 1.6.16 or the 1.7.0 alpha. If you use the former you'll also need the Skyrim Startup Memory Editor to combat hanging and CTDs. This same memory patch is built into SKSE v1.7.0 alpha. You'll also want Better MessageBox Controls and Better Dialogue Controls, which repair control issues the vanilla game has with a mouse and keyboard. You'll also want both BOSS and Wrye Bash for optimising and maintaining your load final order.

 

Now to the meat of it. SkyRe is a fantastic overhaul that goes miles towards fixing many of the flawed and/or lacklustre mechanics of the vanilla game. That said, it's also notoriously unstable in larger load orders, in part because of the ReProccer. Compatibility is difficult to achieve with a mod that makes such extensive and fundamental changes to the game's mechanics. Even mods that claim or make efforts towards full compatibility aren't always able to get there. After several playthroughs with SkyRe I tried SPERG, which I found alright but rather arbitrary in how it applied some of its new ideas. I then tried Requiem, which... well, quite simply wasn't for me. The gameplay overhaul I've found to be the best is called TheThirdRace Skill Overhaul. It rebalances and repairs the majority of the vanilla game's more fundamental weak points, gameplay wise, and does so while still maintaining the spirit of the vanilla skills. It's a fantastic and vastly under appreciated mod, and I strongly endorse it if you're looking for a lightweight alternative to SkyRe. The aspect you'll like most for a mage-warrior build is that your spells will now scale in power with their school's level.

 

What makes it so great, however, is the fact that it's entirely modular in nature. You can pick and choose which skills you want it to rework, which means you can also use it in tandem with a more specific skill overhaul. Instead of TTRSO's smithing skills, I use kryptopyr's Complete Crafting Overhaul Remade, along with the rest of his crafting suite (all of which he lists just under the GEMS banner). I personally prefer the Improved Vanilla Tree option in the Smithing Perks Overhaul module. The same author also has a mod called Stealth Skills Rebalanced that overhauls Sneak, Lockpicking, and Pickpocket. They each make their respective skills more challenging and rewarding in both early and late play, changing not only how the skills are used but also how NPCs react to the player as well.

Another skill rebuild you could combine these with is Enchanting Awakened, which is a far more in depth reconstruction of the Enchanting skill than what TTRSO, SkyRe, or the like have achieved. There's far too much to this mod for me to describe here, but I suggest you take a look at it. It needs a patch to work 100% with Stealth Skills Rebalanced, which can be found in EA's download section. I strongly endorse not only the mod itself, but the author as well.

 

If you want mods that add or expand content rather than repairing gameplay, you should look at Helgen Reborn. Some of the voice acting leaves a bit to be desired, but the added content and characters themselves more than make up for a single fuzzy mic on one character and a bad Arnold impression from another. I've only made it partway through the story myself, but it's definitely worth every bit of praise it receives. The Fight Against the Thalmor mods (there are four of them) are decent as well, though they have their issues. Not only are they rather demanding engine and RAM wise, but the author clearly isn't a native English speaker. This wouldn't be a problem at all if the quests weren't so reliant on in-game notes and character journals, where there's some rather awkward grammar and such. It does nothing to diminish the quality of the mods, of course, but it bothered me personally. Also keep in mind that Fight Against the Thalmor II is not compatible with Helgen Reborn, even with the supposed "patch" released by the STEP team. The simple solution is to just not use Fight Against the Thalmor - The Cyrodiil Frontier in favour of Helgen Reborn, which in my opinion adds more to the game anyway.

You can also look at some of the DLC-style content around. I'd recommend Wyrmstooth, and many others will point you towards Falskaar as well. I'm personally not a fan of the latter, but the former is quite enjoyable IMO. There are various other such DLC sized content mods in progress, but none are complete yet that I'm aware of.

 

The thing about such extensive content adding mods, however, is that they do place a great deal of strain on the game engine. If you're on a weaker system you may want to pick one and save the others for future playthroughs. If you want a cool added content mod for a mage build, though, I'd suggest Qaxes Winterhold Rebuild. It lets you play a part in the restoration of WInterhold in much the same way Helgen Reborn involves you in restoring Helgen, albeit with somewhat less content. Still, if you're spending a lot of time in and around Winterhold then you may as well run expanded content that expands places you're going to be.

Finally, you should definitely consider ApolloDown's Civil War Overhaul. It's a genius mod that makes the Civil War in Skyrim something you'll actually want to take part in. His Dragon Combat Overhaul is even more essential if you want dragons to be the terrifying mythological machines of destruction they're supposed to be. Add in the likes of Deadly Dragons and you'll find yourself dreading random dragon attacks. It's fantastic.

Those are the core gameplay mod recommendations I'll leave you with. I have a list of suggestions for lightweight graphical mods as well - mostly lighting and weather mods rather than texture overhauls, though I have a host of those as well. XD

[LOKITYZ]

Hey, thank you for the detailed and extensive suggestions, I think SkyRe is awesome, but the lack of stability and compatibility with other mods really bugs me, and I've used SPERG before, it was okay, but still not as good as SkyRe. And Requiem kinda sucked for me... Not exactly my cup of tea. I was thinking on going back to SPERG for my next run, my game almost never crashed while I was using SPERG, but I'll try out your suggestions, because I don't think I have ever heard of these mods before and they seem interesting.

 

And while I would really like to use some graphical or visual mods, I just don't think my weak system will be able to handle them. Thank you again for these suggestions, I was kind of expecting to get some familiar mod recommendations, but instead I got these mods that are completely new to me.

 

Btw, I also realised that somehow, I posted this topic twice, oops.

[dePog]

Hey Lokityz,

 

I too am a Skyrim junky with 2828 hours logged up so far. I would like to fly the flag for Requiem. The first time I loaded it I thought it was waaaayyyyy too hard and removed it. I played with SkyRe for a while, but something about my experience with Requiem was nagging away at the back of my brain (or it might just have been some sort of psychological neurosis). So when Requiem was updated to be MCM based I went back to it. Now I am a Requiem junky. The game is just no challenge without it.

 

So basically, what I am saying is, when you've played Skyrim for a while and it seems too easy, go back and try Requiem again. You might get hooked too :)

 

Cheers,

 

dePog

[dePog]

With regard to mods that make the game more immersive for me, I would recommend:

 

Auto Unequip Ammo - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/10753/?

 

Enhanced Blood - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/60/? (Yes its visual but it makes fighting more real)

 

Frostfall Hypothermia - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/11163/? (pack a tent or die, lol)

 

iNeed (Food, water, Sleep) - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51473/?

 

MFG Console - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/44596/? (Makes your character's eyes blink. I just have to have it, lol)

 

More Dynamic Injuries - http://tesalliance.org/forums/index.php?/topic/5072-relz-more-dynamic-injuries/ (this gives specific damage depending on the injury. If cut you will bleed out unless you apply stitches, if hit with a heavy weapon your bones may break and you will need to apply a splint to reset your arm/leg, etc.)

 

Player Headtracking - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23600/? (this brings your character life. He/she will now look at people and interesting things around them)

 

Immersive Weapons - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/27644/?

 

Those are my "must haves" and they all work together nicely for me.

 

Have fun.

 

dePog

Edited April 16, 2014 by dePog