Mod Suggestions for Cities & Settlements?

[SamReaper]

Afternoon chaps.

I've finally got 100+ mods going now and I've finally got my game to a playable state.

I'm on to my last big changes now - that being cities, villages, and other marked settlements. There are a couple of these mods that have caught my eye so far, HOLDS being one of them.

What mods do you guys think are particularly good? I have a few expectations below that I wanted to meet, so if you think there's something for me, lets hear it.

Expectations:

1. More housing within all holds, but more so the major ones, I think you guys can understand this one. Everywhere is a bloody ghost town yet I'm supposed to believe there's functioning economies and livelihoods taking place? Yeah right.

2. On the latter, I would love to see more street vendors selling food and drink, minor tradesmen and women trying to make a living. Take Whiterun for example, its supposedly meant to be Skyrim's trade capital, but there's only like 7 shops or so.

3. Expansion of these already existing holds and settlements would be crucial too. Whiterun should have a large market feeling on the outskirts, the interior city should feel more high class and homely as you progress through the districts.

4. Security is basically none-existent in some of these places, which makes me wonder how half these folk survive even one week when theres all kinds of crazy stuff out in the world. Every settlement should have some kind of wall thats manned with guards. There can be exceptions for the smaller ones, but at least have some kind of acceptable guard presence to fend off the scary things.

5. Personality. This is absent in some of the holds, I think that different holds in different parts of the country need to have their own aesthetic. After all, they have constructed their buildings and such from different materials to one another. It feel super half-arsed seeing recycled assets like the Jarl's houses in the minor places as an example.

On a side note, I actually prefer mods that make cities and holds their own instanced areas, I think this gives authors the ability to go above the limitations when its open world; and this doesn't strain my machines power as much.

If you guys have combinations of mods, I'm all ears too.

Thanks in advance!

Edited October 18, 2020 by SamReaper

[thumbincubation]

This is probably only a small portion of what you would like to eventually see, but I use all of Arthmoor's village expansions and additions, in conjunction with JK's Skyrim all-in-one, and a separate Solitude Expansion by Caesirius. That walls most of the smaller cities, at least partially. Mnikjom has some good expansions as well, including a walled redo of Winterhold, though I believe that would force you to choose between it and JKs. Look at the 'reborn' options on his page, as well, for some expansions and population increases on non-town places, like whitewatch tower and vaultheim towers. He has some T-Skyrim mods that are designed around JKs, so you can add even more of a lived in look to the cities. I use multiple NPC mods as well, including the entire Populated Skyrim series and both Genesis and Genesis surface spawns, hosted by Tonycubed2, both Immersive Patrols and Companions and Followers SE by Scrabbulor, and NPCs travel by Win2009, Between all of these, Skyrim is quite a bit busier. I have not yet begun to expand the outsides of the cities, but that is coming soon. Hopefully some of these will help you.

[SamReaper]

This is probably only a small portion of what you would like to eventually see, but I use all of Arthmoor's village expansions and additions, in conjunction with JK's Skyrim all-in-one, and a separate Solitude Expansion by Caesirius. That walls most of the smaller cities, at least partially. Mnikjom has some good expansions as well, including a walled redo of Winterhold, though I believe that would force you to choose between it and JKs. Look at the 'reborn' options on his page, as well, for some expansions and population increases on non-town places, like whitewatch tower and vaultheim towers. He has some T-Skyrim mods that are designed around JKs, so you can add even more of a lived in look to the cities. I use multiple NPC mods as well, including the entire Populated Skyrim series and both Genesis and Genesis surface spawns, hosted by Tonycubed2, both Immersive Patrols and Companions and Followers SE by Scrabbulor, and NPCs travel by Win2009, Between all of these, Skyrim is quite a bit busier. I have not yet begun to expand the outsides of the cities, but that is coming soon. Hopefully some of these will help you.

 

Evening there mate.

 

Thanks for that beefy bit of information bro, I will go check those out, and see if that meets some of my OCD needs!

 

If I find anything that satisfies the outside upgrade criteria, I'll let you know too.

 

Kinfd regards.

Edited October 18, 2020 by SamReaper

[thumbincubation]

You're welcome, and also thank you. Hopefully some of them prove enjoyable for you.

[juanimillonario]

I use all the "Great Cities, Towns, Villages" collection + JK Skyrim + Cities of the North Dawnstar and Morthal + Capital Whiterun. You will have bigger cities with more fortifications, more npcs, and every city and town with its own architecture,

[SamReaper]

I use all the "Great Cities, Towns, Villages" collection + JK Skyrim + Cities of the North Dawnstar and Morthal + Capital Whiterun. You will have bigger cities with more fortifications, more npcs, and every city and town with its own architecture,

 

Sounds good, I recognise a few of those too. What would the load order on that look like? Vortex makes my head swivel sometimes when it comes to conflicts, but I'm guessing that those mods have their own installers that allow you to pick and choose which aspects will be installed?

 

Yeah I will install those and see what I think.