mikeprok17

It has been very slow for me today, Sunday 07-Apr-2013. Perhaps they are have a very high amount of traffic to the Skyrim nexus site.

Warning, minor thread drift, but someone mentioned getting to kill the Thalmor! I enjoy killing Thalmor no matter which side in the civil war I support. Those bastards targeted me for death when I was not their enemy. The also talk down to my high elf character like he is not an elf. My dark elf characters can't stand the Thalmor, because they cannot get the simple fact that the Dunmer are the best elven sub-race through their myopic little Altmer brains. :biggrin: Stupid Thalmor claim they saved all elvenkind from Oblivion, but it was Martin Septim and the Champion of Cyrodil (a Dark Elf in my game) who did the real work. The Thalmor also did not do squat for Morrwind, so they can kiss my Tribunal loving Dunmer butt. I get simply giddy when my vampire Dark Elf can use a Justicar patrol for a nice snack. It is also loads of fun to clean out their stupid fort as a vampire lord. Looks like I will have to hurt some more Thalmor tonight if I play Skyrim. :cool:

Search the Nexus site for Racemenu. You will need some other mods to go along with it to get all the changes you would like. This is the only editor that I currently know of and it must be run from the console using the command "showracemenu." Mike

hmill13 worte: "Last i heared wasnt a wyrm just an adolescent/ancient (depending on type) or magically created dragon? like a baby/ancient and or a familiar." Again this classification comes from one or a few particular settings or legends. The term wyrm was used to describe a specific type of dragon in some legends rather than a age catagory, which was adopted by TSR for D&D. They catagorized their dragons using an age scale from hatchling through ancient, in the 1st edition Monster Manual. This age scale was also a general measure of the dragons' power. Later, they added wyrm and great wyrm as additional age catagories in Dragon magazine, then adopted these to extra age ranks into the Forgotten Realms setting. They also had Wyrm monster that was a flightless dragon in either Monster Manual 2 or the Fiend Folio. I cannot recall what they currently use, as I have not played newer edition of D&D much. In old legends, a wyrm or worm described a type of dragon that was flightless and serpentine in European dragon legends. I have seen other settings with different dragon vs. wyrm delinetations. The computer RPG, Dragon Age for example uses wyrm to describe male dragons, which are more animal-like and flightless and Dragon to describe females of the same species that are intelligent and winged. I bring this up mainly to illustrate my earlier point about remembering that the author/creator of the fiction will define dragons in their world. hmill13, I completely agree with you about wishing for dragons with more uniques personalities and motivations in Skyrim. I wish you the best of luck with the mod your are building to give dragons more flavor. Best regards, Mike

I will have to check out Wyrmstooth. Thanks for the tip! I am a big fan of dragons, partly because alma mater's mascot is a dragon.

Calling TES dragons wyverns is probalby due to the influence of another game or genera's depiction of dragons. TES has always shown its dragons to have two legs (rear) and two arms/wings for flight. Just because another game or series of books depict their dragons as having front limbs, rear limbs, and wings does not make them more legitimate dragons. For comparison, the dragons in some Asian legends can fly without wings and are more serpentine than their western counterparts. They are just as legitimately dragons, just a different type. Wyverns in some legends are indeed dragons, just another type that are ususally noted for having a poisoned tail. The wyrms in some legends have very stubby legs, a serpentine body, and no wings yet they are also classified as dragons. It all depends upon who is writing the story as to what defines a mythical creature. Dragons do not have to conform to D&D, Palladium, Dragon Age, Tolkieen, Morte D'Arthur, or any particular story or games' standards to be legit for the TES settings. For the record, I personally prefer dragons that have front and back limbs in addition to their wings, but I do not dislike the TES style of dragons as they are what has been shown for this game setting throughout the the years. Just my $0.02 and best regards, Mike

Only if that character is set up to be available for marrige in the game. Many characters that are potential spouses do not bring up the subject until you have done them a favor or completed a specific quest. You must be wearing the Amulet of Mara after the necessary trigger has been recored by the game. There are definitely characters that cannot be married because they are not scripted to be available to become your spouse. There are mods that let one work around these limitations if you desire.

I like Serana over Freya but I have downloaded and use the Vilja mod. This follower is very interactive to the point of driving you crazy with her inane chatter. She has her own quests and alot voice acted dialogue, even interacting with specific followers like Lydia, Jenessa, Vilkas, and a few others. You will either love her or want to kill her or both. For my hardcore vampire character, Serana is her best buddy and they travel together after teaming up. My werewolf has grown attached to Serana and finally asked her to be his wife (mod). The main problem I sometimes have with Serana is her constant, "what do you need?", which is nothing compared to Vilja's I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm tired, etc. If they were not such fun companions, I would probably kill Serana and Vilja myself at times.

The mod to make the townsfolk run away from the vampires doe not always work but it does help. The deadly dragons mod now lets you make merchants and quest related characters essential to avoid their deaths and this has also helped keep important characters alive in my game.

Yes, elves have very long lifespans.

If you like sexy attire like that shown in many animes or Japanese video games, search the Nexus mod site for the authors: Hentai and Nausicaa. They have some great looking outfits, but you will also need Callientes Big Bottomed Body Mod (CBBE) for many of these outfits. Another good choice is to do a Search for UNP body mod and UNP armors/outfits. CBBE and UNP are two distinct body mods that have a large number of non lore-friendly outfits and armors, which include much of what you describe in your post.

I thinik we need to remember that TES setting is quite distinct from D&D and other fantasy settings with its own lore, history, and creatures. I am an old school D&D player and I used to view many games, stories, and movies through a D&D lens. I have found this approach to be a mistake that has harmed my appreciation for non-D&D worlds and stories until I remembered to always treat each one as its own unique setting. Granted others settings have very similar dragons to D&D, but TES has always tried to be its own distinct setting with similarities to others only being it is a fantasy world with non-humans and magic. The Dov, dragons of the TES world are not all the treasure hungry lizards of Greyhawk, the Forgotten Realms, or Middle Earth settings. First off, TES dragons do not have seven limbs (a tail, two wings, plus a set arms/legs and hind legs). They have two rear legs like a raptor, two arms/wings to fly, and a tail. They do not appear to use tools like some D&D dragons, so their need to acquire treasure is probably not the same. The Dov are instinctive rullers and dominators, according to the information one them shares. They would not need money to get things done, since you had bettter submit to their will or else. I could picture a TES dragon that wanted something to simply take it or demand it from the lesser mortals all around them. You can envison one landing in a small village and demanding a some cattle, a nice scale polishing, and some serious ass-kissing otherwise the village gets broken. The Dov are also described as most at home in the high places or the sky, so living deep underground would go against this given trait. They are immortal and probably do not need to eat, drink, or require shelter unless they desire it. If one was into treasure, it would more likely be an individual preferance rather than a common racial trait. Another point to consider is that dragons have been gone for thousands of years until the events of Skyrim, so most of the dragons have not been active long enough to have established any kind of major lairs if they even do that sort of thing on Tamriel. Dragons do not appear to share their habits or desires with the lesser mortal races, so very little is actually known about their motivations. As to the high incidence of dragon encounters in Skyrim, remember that there is a big reason given in the game as why they are showing up (I do not want to post spoilers). Personally, I like having dragons with different motivations than the classics (D&D, Tolkieen, Dragonlance, etc). I kind of wish the creators of Skyrim had enough time to create a good number of them with distinct personalities and motivations but it's a really big game already. If you would like to have tougher dragons, try the Deadly Dragons mod (mentioned by the OP) which allows you to tweak how tough they are in your game. It also makes the dragons more diverse, adding new elemental attacks and magic to their repetoires. There is an armor and weapons mod that goes along with Deadly Dragons, which will add some unique treasures and components to the dragons. These mods have greatly added to my personal enjoyment of the dragons in Skyrim. I also felt they were underpowered until I discovered these mods. Just my $0.02, Mike

If you are upgrading to a new version, click yes and the newer version will update over the currently installed one. If you are just installing an add-on to an existing mod, most of the time you click no and just let it install without over-writing the existing files. Many mods actually tell you how to do this in their readme. Just read the NMM dialogue box carefully before making your choice. Make sure you are aware of the file that you are installing and the version of the current file. NMM displays the version along with other data about the mods. Just remember that you can always uninstall through NMM then reinstall the mod and its components as long as you have not deleted the existing mod. It takes a bit of use before you feel comfortable but you will after you have been using NMM for a bit. It really is a very nice piece of software for managing and controlling your mods. Another thing to keep in mind is to check the load order after you have made additions. If a mod has an add-on rather than an update, the add-on should be loading after the main mod in the load order. The same thing applies to mods which may be inter-dependent. For example, a mod they requires SkyUI should be loaded after the SkyUI file in the load order. This allows the correct files to be in place so a dependent mod can access necessary data. There is a utility called BOSS that helps optimize your load order if you need help. You can find more information on the main nexus site and in the NMM readme. Best of luck, Mike

I need another option, because my character's tend not to join the Dark Brotherhood but usually destroy it. I have played the DB quest line through and killed Cicero, but I usually never get past the initiation. I hate being handed ultimatums and my character's are usually a Vampire Lord or a Werewolf. When I am told that I cannot leave until someone dies, it seems natural to eat the Assassin that kidnapped me. At least she tells me, "Well Done" as she croaks. I then take out my petty vengence on rest of the DB. Now that I think about it, I guess I let Cicero live most of the time because he is not in the DB HQ when I tear through it as Vampire Lord or werewolf.

This is a minor drift but it addresses why many people do not like vampires. If you are familiar with the game setting for Bloodshadows, the world of Marl has many types of non-humans that would qualify as monsters living along side humans in its cities. The humans seem to tolerate shapeshifters, zombies, and even some demons, but vampires are almost always hated even if they behave. Humans do not like being lower on the food chain and cannot stand that there are monsters that look exactly like they do, who can snack on them. Their general consensus is that the other monsters all look like monsters when they are trying to get you but the damn sneaky vampires do not have to show their true natures before they sink in their fangs. The old vampires do not like werewolves and visa versa is retained in a lot of fiction and was used as a major setting point White Wolf's Vampire the Masquarade and Werewolf RPGlines, and also in a number of moveis. In Tamriel, the fact that werewolves are linked to Hircine and vampires to Molag Bal may instill some natural rivalry, since the Daedra Princes tend to compete with each other for the souls of mortals. It may also be as simple as human nautre, where you tend to feel that your own culture/group/team/club/etc. is the best because you are in it.

You can be detected even when sneaking and invisible if you do something to alert opponents. Having a low sneak and noisey armor is usually one of the easiest ways for your foes to beat invisibility. The muffle spell mentioned above really does help alot. Another thing to remember is to never bump into someone while invisible and sneaking, because you are automatically detected in these cases. Invisibility is not an automatic way to remain undetected and I personally find this to be a good thing, because all my heavy armor wearing characters could just go invisible rather than having to rely on good stealth skills and tactics. One more thing, without the illusion perk to cast spells quietly, just casting invisibility will alert a close to medium distance opponent to your position as they hear you cast your spell. Just my $0.02 and best regards, Mike

I have taken out the Thalmor Fort in werewolf form so no one would recognize me, but I still get guard comments about it. Doing stuff in Werewolf form ensures you do not dinged with the crime as long no one sees you shapeshift, so it can be irritating to get credit for stuff that I do only as a furball. This is just on of those limits that computer RPGs have. The respectful guard dialogue mod does seem to help in keeping them from talking down to you once you are a thane or are famous.

Charus

I like it when Vilija offers to help Lydia with her burdens if Lydia will leave some sweet rolls for Vilja.

Thanks for mentioning the Race menu mod. I just recently installed this one and it works great. It does allow you change your character's height, and many other features. You can use it on an existing character by using the "showracemenu" command in the console. Using this command can crash your game, so I recommend the following to minimize any damage. 1. Backup your savegame 2. Go to an isolated area such as your own house. Small area's that are freshly loaded require less resources. 3. Save the game. 4. Unequip all your items, armor, clothes, and/or weapons. High res stuff that is equipped seems to cause more crashes. Also being able to see your character's body may be useful as you beef them up or slim them down. 5. Go into third person view and rotate the camera so that you are looking at your character from the front. 6. Make sure your follower(s) are not in the field of view 7. Re-save the game and exit Skyrim, allowing your computer's memory to clear. I have had far less lockups after lauching a fresh game that doing this after playing for a while. 8. Launch Skyrim and open the last savegame. 9. Open the console and type "showracemenu". 10. Wait for the command to be processed, can take a few to 10 seconds. Longer usually indicates a lockup. 11. Close the console or you will not be able to select anything. 12. Do not change your race. It will reset your perks and you can loose all your experience. 13. Navigate to whatever menu choice you want to tweak and carefully make your changes. 14. Click done and set your name. 15. Consider saving your altered character in a new slot, then check out your changes. 16. You may want to exit and re-launch Skyrim after you are satisfied in order to clear memory before playing for a while. Just what has worked for me, Mike

Your character is gifted with the Dragonblood by Akatosh, so the dragonborn is chosen by the head of the gods in Tamriel. Any member of any race could be chosen, it just so happens that the player's character happens to be fate's tool whether they want it or not. And for the record, "The Dunmer is the most perfect form to ever sanctify the surface of Tamriel with the imprint of its foot!" ;D We all know how humble and sociable the Dark Elves can be. :cool:

If you have Skyrim on the PC, the software and updates will atutomatically be downloaded through Steam. You can install mods using, Steam Workshop, simply by subscribing to the mods that you want. They will be downloaded automatically by steam. I use Nexus Mod Manager for most of my mods. You can download it from the Nexus site. I like NMM for organizing my mod load order even if I have download mods from Steam Workshop but the majority of my mods are downloaded from the Nexus mod site. You should also consider getting SKSE (Skyrim Script extender) which a number of really great mods need. SkyUI is another very useful mod and it requires SKSE. Beyond that, just browse through the Nexus site and check out what is available. It all depends upon what suits your taste. Best of luck, Mike

My favorites are mages/battlemages/spellswords. I usually make a Dunmer or Altmer, but I have made Nord warriors too.

No Dreugh (aquatic) or land dreugh in Skyrim.

I am using 314.22 without any problems.