LeddBate

1. Skyrim: 10/10 -Would gladly be eaten by a Troll again while looking at all the pretty ENB effects. 2. Civilization V: 9/10 -Would gladly let Ghandi nuke me again. (And again, and again, and again...) 3. Blood Bowl 2: 8/10 -Would gladly be sacked by a Nurgle's Rotter again. Uh, on second though, maybe not... 4. Half-Life 2: 8/10 -Would gladly buy Barney another beer. 5. MechWarrior 3: 8/10 -Would gladly pulse-laser more clanners. 6. RollerCoaster Tycoon: 8/10 -Would gladly build more roller-coasters that end in walls, lakes, pits full of ravenous Hyenas, etc. 7. GTA V: 8/10 -Would gladly... HOLY S***, WHAT THE F*** JUST HAPPENED!?! 8. Counter-Strike (1.6): 7/10 -Would gladly rage quit again. (And again, and again, and again...) 9. Team Fortress 2: 7/10 -See Counter Strike above. 10. Sins of a Solar Empire: 7/10 -Would gladly mod Starfleet vs. Cylons. vs. The Empire again. Edit: GRRRR, stupid auto-smileys.... O.K. -got rid of it.

And you can buy the PDF versions online from Prima for a fraction of those ridiculous prices. With Kindles and their ilk getting cheaper all the time, printed books are (regrettably) becoming obsolete.

Post your rig's stats (especially GPU) and your mod order. We'll see if something leaps out at us.

The prices on the 980 plummeted an average of $100. last month, so I went ahead and upgraded. Mind you, my previous card was a 670 with only 2GB of VRAM, so the 980 was pretty much a monster upgrade for me. sure, I'd like a 1080, but being able to play Witcher 3 with all the bells and whistles cranked up to max is verrrry nice. I hope Mortimer was able to get that ASUS card. Paired with that PSU, he will have a winning combo.

THIS! Although I bet he'd rather voice a Fallout 4 follower first.

If the learning curve for GIMP annoys you, try Paint.net. It's basically Paint on steroids (or a stripped-down Photoshop.)

What's your GPU? Most importantly, how many GB of VRAM does it have? Also, I don't trust the High-res texture packs from Bethesda. Too many prominent modders (and users) here on the Nexus say they're not worth in terms of what you get for the performance hit. More pragmatically, did you use LOOT? And did you use TESVEdit where directed to by LOOT?

I did above, but something around $500 to $800NZ. MSI stuff seems to either be exorbitantly priced here or very rare. Oh, see a 650W Corsair RM650x I could get. Hows that? Ah, sorry, I missed that. Yes, that PSU is VERY good. Here's the review at Tom's Hardware. No matter what video card you finally decide on, that PSU will give you the power you need. THIS! Although, Holy Cats! I see what you mean about the prices for shipping to NZ. Sheesh. Still, that MSI twin-fan design is verrrry nice. If you can afford it and the PSU you asked about, I think you've got a winning combo. Good luck! Techworld has almost perfect score (9.58/10) on PriceSpy. Those people you talk about, they don't trust them, because of the old site layout or did they actually had experience with customer service? http://pricespy.co.nz/shop.php?f=11597 Mostly it was issues with lack of contact details, maybe I was looking at old posts of it ... the main thing is Comodo keeps popping up with their site being blocked due to reports of phishing. Comodo?! (Makes a cross sign with fingers while hissing.) Aheh. Sorry, couldn't resist. Seriously though, try connecting with Avast anti-virus (or any other you trust) and see if you get warnings...

"Slaughterfish bonus party" LOL! On a serious note, I think this thread should be moved to Skyrim Spoilers. It just gives away a bit too much.

BlackRoseOfThorns is correct. As we were worried, you do indeed have a cheap PSU. So, yes, you should definitely get a new PSU immediately. You are taking a chance every time you use your PC with that PSU. Sorry to sound like an alarmist, but it's quite true. I agree that this one has to go. There is no point risking 900-1000$ PC rig with a part that can be easily replaced for 60-100$. I wouldn't use it even for budget build, if you really value your money. Argh! I forgot about the memory shenanigans with the 970. (D'oh!) Yeah, I know that it isn't that big a deal for most folks, but I wouldn't want a card that might suddenly drop speed (no matter how little the drop is) when my VRAM usage exceeded 3.5GB. Therefore, having been reminded of that, forget my endorsement of the 970. Go for a 1070 instead. Honestly, I hadn't even looked at the RX 480. I'll admit that I don't follow AMD cards very closely. (Of course, after my flub with the 970, I'm apparently no good with Nvidia cards either...) If Mortimer wants to save money, then the RX 480 or 1060 both seem to be good 2nd choices. As for the wattages, I was merely repeating the reported stats for the Nvidia base model. However, I agree that aftermarket models are generally better (better cooling, stable overclocks, usually better warranties, etc.) I agree that a higher wattage PSU (with at least a bronze rating) is a good investment. But Mortimer hasn't mentioned a specific budget (unless I missed him say it) so I'm trying to shoot for a middle-of-the-road cost on my suggestions. There's a review at Tom's Hardware for that PSU. TL/DR version is: Pros: Good price, good build, good warranty. Cons: Noisy under stress, potential power fluctuations when powering up. So, yeah, it's an OK power supply -as far as I can tell from the review. There are others in it's category that are better and can be had for $10 to $20 more. That seven year warranty is a nice endorsement though. That IS a nice card, and ASUS has a good rep. However, you might have noticed that BlackRoseOfThorns and I are going on about a "memory issue" with the 970. Basically, the 970's 4GB of VRAM is not truly 4GB, but rather is 3.5GB of high speed GDDR5 VRAM with the remaining 512MB at a slower speed. This was actually a clever feat of engineering by Nvidia to give us a good, cheap card. The problem that occurs is if you use more than the first 3.5GB of VRAM, then the card starts using the remaining 512MB of slower VRAM, which slows the cards operation. It isn't much of a slowdown, admittedly. But ANY drop in performance is not something you want out of your GPU. There are lots of articles out there on the internet about this issue. Too many to link to. They're easy to find, though. Read a few articles, and if it doesn't sound like a problem to you, then yeah! Grab it and the PSU you mentioned. It will be a terrific upgrade for your PC and let you run most modern games with all the bells and whistles turned up. IF you, like me, don't like the thought of a VRAM setup that might result in your card slowing down at times, then either the 1060 (budget) or 1070 (performance on a higer budget) are your better bets.

BlackRoseOfThorns is correct. As we were worried, you do indeed have a cheap PSU. So, yes, you should definitely get a new PSU immediately. You are taking a chance every time you use your PC with that PSU. Sorry to sound like an alarmist, but it's quite true. Okay, you've already gotten a few recommendations for cards (GTX 970, 1070 and R9 390) The 1070 will run you about $400+ while the 970 fluctuates wildly from $300 to $450 depending on the model. This is because the 970 has been out for a long time and has dozens of versions available from many manufacturers. The 1070 has only been out a little while and doesn't have that many versions out yet. The R9 390 will run in the range from $275 to $350 and has almost as many versions as the 970. Any of these three cards would be a terrific upgrade for you. The difference between the cards in "real-world" performance is minimal. Sources such as Toms Hardware and Benchmarks indicate that the difference between the cards is less than 5 FPS under most testing conditions. The 970 actually edges out the 1070 in most tests, but the drivers for the 1070 aren't mature yet, so we'll probably see a lot of change over the next six months as updated drivers are released. The AMD R9 390 is actually a bit superior to the 970 in most game tests (if only by a handful of frames.) Now lets talk PSUs. First, what's the minimum wattage you need? That's actually easy. You should always try to get a PSU with at least a "bronze" rating. Bronze, silver and gold ratings refer to how well the PSU actually delivers the power it promises. The details are a bit involved, so all you need to know is that a bronze rating is good enough. You should get a PSU with wattage about TWICE what your system requires. However, at higher GPU wattage levels, you can drop this down by about 25% (Because it's only the GPU that is drawing the additional power, not your entire system.) Your earlier stats indicate that (not counting your GPU) your system will consume approximately 75 to 90 watts. Now all you need to know is how many watts your GPU will consume... Nvidia GTX 970 = 145 watts Nvidia GTX 1070 = 150 watts AMD R9 390 = 295 watts As you can see, the R9 390, while a bit better than the other two cards in performance, is a real power hog compared to the Nvidia cards. So, to summarize: 970 or 1070 requires a 500 watt PSU. (550 watt would be safer.) R9 390 requires a 650 watt PSU. (You could probably get away with a 600 watt PSU, but I wouldn't recommend it.) Of course these three cards we've talked about aren't the only possibilities. But they are the best ones if you want to wring the most out of games ranging from Skyrim to current titles. My final advice on the matter is to get a good 550 watt PSU (Antec has the best reputation in my opinion) and go for a GTX 970. One last thing. Make sure that your GPU has room to breathe in your case. Overheating your GPU is not a good thing to do. Make sure it's intake fan(s) have lots of room (at least 3 inches, if possible) and that your case is equipped with lots of fans. You should have a minimum of two fans blowing air into your case and at least one blowing air out. A fan located on the side panel and another on the lower-front blowing inwards and a fan near the top back blowing outwards is a good basic air-flow setup.

Congratulations! Also, I read your title and thought: "Wait, Nexus has been around for 400 years?" LOL.

Is your rig an OEM from a store or did you build it yourself from parts? (I'm guessing the former.) Even so, if you have your original paper-work and manual(s) that came with it, you should be able to glean the info from that. If not, and you cannot determine the PSU's stats after getting a better look at it, there's still a way to tell. You can take it to a computer shop you trust and simply have them disconnect the leads from the PSU to the components and test it. If a Best Buy Geek Squad is your only choice, you might be able to get a reduced fee (they're usually quite expensive) if they think you're going to buy a GPU from them. Anyway, they can tell you what the wattage is. However, if you get a closer look at your PSU and it does NOT have anything indicating it's wattage (or, indeed, who actually built it) then you probably have a very cheap, low-powered generic PSU. If you can remove it from your case without too much fuss, heft it in you hands. Does it feel very light weight? If so, that's an indicator of a cheap PSU right there. Quality PSU's have a solid, heavy feel to them. To quote Marco Chiappetta from PCWorld: "Higher-quality power supplies almost always use bigger and better capacitors, chokes, and other internal components, and they come outfitted with larger heatsinks for superior heat dissipation—all of which translates into more weight. Larger cooling fans, which typically move more air while making less noise than smaller fans, are another plus." Translation: if you believe you have a cheap no-name PSU, get rid of it and get yourself a good name brand PSU to replace it with. Corsair, Seasonic and Antec are some good examples of quality PSU makers. Why should you do this? Because a cheap PSU can short out and send a surge through your PC's components, damaging them in it's death throes. In a worst-case scenario, a cheap PSU can catch fire when it (literally) flames out.

Well, it sounds like you already have decided. If you're losing interest in your current character, best to start a new one. But no need to scrap your current character, just start a new game with a new character. Be sure to create a new profile in NMM so that you can keep your mods for each character separate. Why is this important? Well, for example, lets say you want to use Arthmoor's "Alternate Start - Live Another Life" and perhaps a bunch of new mods for the new game. By using a new profile, if you ever decide to go back to the old character to play some more, all you have to do is switch profiles. Well, okay. SOME mods might make it a bit more complex than that, but the mod authors usually warn you about that sort of thing if their mod has... special needs. One of the best ways (for me anyway) to create a new character is to first come up with a background story, then build a character and a mod list to embellish that background. By way of example: On a recent play through, I decided to make a "soldier of fortune" character from Cyrodil that traveled to Skyrim because he'd heard about the rebellion flaring up and decided to join the Legion as an Auxiliary. I simply treated the Helgen intro sequence as a bad decision on my part to go to Skyrim BEFORE joining the Legion that caused me to be mistaken for a Stormcloak sympathizer/follower. Since I wanted to be an already experienced mercenary, I game myself about 10 levels worth of appropriate skills and stat boosts. This seemed a good level that made things challenging, but did not let me feel overpowered. Amongst the mods I put in my mod list, I made sure to install Civil War Overhaul, Warzones2015 and Civil War Aftermath. I waited to activate the plug-in for Aftermath AFTER I completed (and disabled) CWO. The result was a fantasy war movie that I was effectively starring in. Loved it. Of course, this may not be your cup of tea. I was just offering it as an example.

They are expecting easy conversion from old Skyrim to new one and in the new one they would be working on far better lighting. Good to know. Thanks for the info! Ow, my ears! Heh, okay seriously, -repost your request in the Mod Request sub-forum. You're much more likely to get an answer. (And don't shout when you re-post...)

The 1080 is overkill taking his CPU into account. The 1070 however would be a verrrry nice upgrade. Assuming he wants to shell out $400.+ AND assuming his PSU can handle it. Which brings me to: @Mortimer: Please take a look at your PSU and let us know what it is. It will really help us with making recommendations for you. I'll be offline soon for a day and a half, but I promise to check back in on this thread later. Oh, and if you're an AMD fan, assuming your PSU is up to snuff, I would recommend an aftermarket brand R9 390. It'll set you back about $300. -but it will give you performance very near the 1070 for about a hundred bucks cheaper. Note: Most R9s are double-wide cards. Add in the extra bit of space for the aftermarket brands' cooler and it can get a bit crowded. Of course, this is true of many Nvidia cards too. Check to make sure there's sufficient space for your card to A): Actually physically FIT into the space and B) Make sure there's plenty of room for it to breathe.

I forgot to mention that CWO is NOT compatible with mods that offer "Alternative Starts" as CWO requires you to go through the Helgen vanilla start scene to start the mod properly. So, for example, if you like Arthmoor's famed "Alternate Start - Live Another Life" you will have to choose between using one or the other. Sucks, I know. I love BOTH mods.

It's a HUGE project alright. Frankly, I'd be surprised to see it released in any less than 2 or 3 more years. They might change their minds and elect to release a portion of it (like the way Shadow of Morrowind has been released in an incomplete state) but there's been no indication of that from what I can see. I'd like to see more updates at their site but -I guess you can't write much about what you haven't completed yet. I am very curious to know whether the impending release of 64-bit Skyrim will make them consider altering course and re-coding for it instead of continuing down the old engine's path. What exactly would be involved in doing so? I'm completely ignorant on engine issues...

There are mods available to do all sorts of things to the Civil War quest line. There's way too many to list them all, so I'll just mention a few. Mods for during the Civil War: WarZones2015: Previously known as simply "WarZones" This mod also has a companion mod (actually an add-on) called Warzones Assualt. WarZones2015 basically allows you to add huge battles all over Skyrim to actually reflect that there is, in fact, a war going on. These battles do not directly affect the Civil War quest line. You do not even have to start the quest line. WZ2015 has an MCM menu, so you can decide when, where and how big the war's battles are. You can ignore the battles or choose a side and start swinging (shooting, casting, whatever...) WZA adds strongpoints for both factions with mini-quests for many of them. You will HAVE to choose a side for many of these mini-quests. Oh, and there's artillery too. Yes, they've added (very primitive) cannons. If you want to be a solider of fortune, or just want to feel like the entirety of Skyrim is going up in flames around you, then you should try these mods. Civil War Overhaul: This mod does what it says. It completely overhauls the Civil War quest-line and adds a campaign system that Bethesda probably wanted in the first place. Basically, winning the Civil War is no longer a shoe-in for your character. When you attack cities it IS possible for you to lose. Lose too many battles and you lose the war. Worse (or better, depending upon your point of view) the other side will not sit by and wait for you to complete the war for your chosen side. They will attack other cities after a certain amount of time. Adventure too long between battles and, Uh-oh, the other side just attacked a city you've already taken. It IS possible to lose the war simply through too much inaction. Please note that this mod requires that you START A NEW GAME. You CANNOT add this mod to an existing save. Please note that a long time ago both of these mods had bad reputations. Not so now. Both mods have been thoroughly updated (and playtested) and are a LOT more reliable and stable. You will need to read the mod descriptions thoroughly and follow their installation instructions to the letter if you want them to work properly, but if you do, they work very well. Note also that they are (mostly) compatible since one affects the quest line and the other does not. Expect possible issues when a campaign battle triggered by CWO is near a WZ2015 battle-spawn area. However, you can easily adjust these potential issues in WarZones MCM menu. Populated Skyrim Civil War: If you find WZ2015 too big for your tastes, then use this mod. It basically adds static, respawning Civil War battles throughout Skyrim, just not nearly as many as WarZones and you do not have the fine control that WZ2015 gives you. A good alternative if you want to see Civil War battles, but not the entire country going down in bloodshed. Note that this mod is compatible with CWO and mostly compatible with WarZones. You may experience conflicts with the spawn points between PSCW and WZ2015 depending on your mod load order. You might see soldiers spawned in nearby areas by both mods (which will result in truly huge battles. Hope your rig is up to the task) or one of the mods might overwrite the spawn point of the other, simply spawning in it's own soldiers. You will have to experiment if you want both mods. Frankly, I'd simply choose one or the other. Mods for during or after the Civil War: Civil War Aftermath: This mod lets you hunt down the opposing (losing) side's encampments, kill all the soldiers, then burn the encampments to the ground. This fulfills your General's orders to finish off the enemies (both during and after the resolution of the quest line) and gets you paid for doing so. And the encampments will NOT respawn. Indeed, if you pass by the encampment later, you will find the soldiers hanging from gibbets. Very eerie (but a heluva lot more satisfying then being attacked every frickin' time you pass the encampment.) This time the war is truly over for these soldiers. Note that I do not know if this mod is compatible with CWO. It should be, since it doesn't directly affect the quest line, but I'm not sure. Civil War Repairs: This mod lets you affect repairs in the three cities (Solitude, Whiterun and Windhelm) that actually take some serious damage during the sieges. Note that this particular mod has not been updated since June in 2012, so instead of something like an MCM menu, you have to actually use the console to activate it. Most users have reported that it works well, but for some it does not. To avoid issues, do NOT install this mod until AFTER you've completed the entire Civil War quest line (especially if you're using CWO.) Read the mod's posts by other users for more infomation. (For example: How to get Heimskr to come out of his house. Although, seriously, WHY would you want him back out of his house? I consider his being pent up in the house by the mod as a bonus!) Edited for spelling because I'm an idiot.

Good job with the pics. Yes, that helps a lot. 1) Your GPU's intake fan appears to be facing downwards towards the bottom of the case. There appears to be very little clearance between the GPU and the bottom of the case, ergo, no room for it to "breathe". That's going to cause temperature issues right there. Unfortunately, the slot above the GPU only appears to be for a sound card, so you cannot move it away from the bottom of the case. Short of getting a new (bigger) Mobo (Motherboard) and case -I don't see a solution for this EXCEPT to use additional fans to blow cool air into the case (positive case air-flow, remember?) thus getting at least some cool air into that space under the card for it to breathe in. 2) You clearly have a fan in the back. Does it blow out the back?. That's okay, but you need MORE fans to get air moving in there. (Just leaving the side panel off isn't enough.) You told Project 579 that your side panel does have holes for attaching a fan. Do so. Get the biggest one that will fit. 140mm or bigger if possible. See if you can remove the front bezel (panel) on your case. You may need to unscrew it, but the photo seems to indicate it will pop right off. That metal panel between it and the HD (hard drive) cage is full of holes so that you can attach another fan or two. Try to fit two if you can. If not, then put in the biggest single one that will fit. Make sure it blows inward also. Your Mobo probably won't have enough power headers for all those fans, so you'll have to get some molex adapters to plug the fans into spare power plugs from your PSU. NOTE: I can't see the front of your bezel, so I don't know if it has vents for airflow. If not, you may have to perform some plastic surgery with a dremel tool. You could cut away a part of the bezel (DON'T CUT OFF ANY WIRES OR MOVING PARTS!) then use cyanoacrylate (super-glue) to place a plastic panel that does have vents over the area you've cut off. You can go to any electronics or home improvement store to find such a part. Or, you can scavenge off something around the house like a broken old radio for example. 3) Your PSU appears to be a bronze-rated 600watt supply. MORE than enough for your needs. In fact, it's a bit of overkill, though not by much. However, it looks like it's intake fan is facing down into the space right above your CPU. So this is probably another major problem. You see, your PSU is trying to suck in air for it's own use -right from the area where the CPU stock-cooler is trying to suck in air to cool the CPU. In addition to this, that rear-mounted fan (if it is exhausting outwards) is ALSO trying to draw air from the exact same spot. Small wonder you're having overheating issues even with the side panel off. Well, adding the fans in (2) above will help. But you need a better cooling solution for your CPU. An AIO water cooler would be ideal, but I can't see anyplace to put the radiator. So, I'm thinking that a "tower" style air-cooler (such as this) might serve your purposes. That one I linked to is a bit of a monster, so you will have to measure the dimensions between your CPU (not counting the current stock cooler) and the far panel to make sure it fits. You can get smaller-sized air-coolers that are also quite powerful, but that Noctua one is probably the best bang-for-the-buck. In summary, there ARE things you can do to alleviate your heat issues. Try to add the fans. Remember to go for the biggest ones you can fit in the side and front. Replace your stock cooler with an after-market air-cooler. Make sure it will fit before you order it! (Or, make sure the supplier is generous with their return/exchange policy.) Doing these two things will run you between $80. and $110 depending on the cooler you settle on. There's no guarantees (especially with the placement of your GPU) but this SHOULD help. And don't forget to keep your PC's innards clean by using compressed air! I'm afraid your suspicions are at least partially correct. I wouldn't classify your PC as "crap" but it is definitely on the "not-well-designed" side. (Except for that PSU. That's a nice one.) You can actually build your own computer with a minimum of studying. (There are TONS of "How to do it" guides online. I recommend starting with Maximum PC and Tom's Hardware.) And a good middle-of-the-road PC can be built/bought for as little as $850. A really kick-ass one can be built for $1,100. I know, I built my own for just over that amount. However, a better way is to get a "bare-bones" rig (case, PSU, Mobo) then add the other components you want (RAM, GPU, soundcard, SSD(s) and HDs.) So start saving now and keep abreast of developments and parts online. In the meantime, good luck on fixing your heating issues on your current rig.

Without specific info on your case, and the position of the GPU (graphics card) and PSU (power supply) I can only guess at possible physical reasons for your overheating. Is your CPU water-cooled? Or does it have a stock air-cooler? How many fans (not counting the CPU and GPU fans) does your case have? Where are they located and how many of them pull air into the case vs. blowing air out of the case? By way of example: My PSU is bottom mounted and exhausts out the rear of my case. My GPU is located on the PCI-e slot furthest away from the PSU and exhausts out the back. My CPU and RAM are side-by-side right above my card. My CPU has a AIO (all-in-one) water cooling block connected to a radiator that exhausts out the top-back. Since my GPU's intake fan faces down towards the PSU (which generates some heat despite the back exhaust) I knew I would need additional cooling. Since the case side had a grill in it that would accomodate a fan, I added a 140mm one there blowing inwards just under the GPU (thus feeding it lots of cool air.) I added another fan to the front grill of the case near the bottom also blowing inwards. This created what is referred to as "positive case air-flow". That is, there is a bit more air being pushed into the case than being pulled out by the exhaust fans. This ensures that the inside of the case is never "starved" for cool air. You might be experiencing overheating issues due to (but not limited to) any of the following: 1) GPU's intake fan too close to something else -like another card or your PSU. Solution: Attempt to move GPU to another slot that gives it more room to "breathe". Add a case fan that blows directly at or close to the GPU's intake area. 2) CPU overheating. Solution: If using a stock air-cooler (or even an aftermarket air-cooler) remove cooler and check thermal paste. If it is too dry and flaky, it probably was not transferring the heat correctly. Re-apply a fresh layer of new paste and re-seat the cooler. If using a AIO water-cooler, same as above, but also check to make sure radiator fan is working and make sure radiator itself is clean. 3) General overheating. Solution: add more fans. They should blow air inwards to create positive case pressure to help blow heat out the back and top (if your case has any top vents.) If you do not have any remaining fan connectors on your motherboard, you should be able to use molex adapters on spare leads from your PSU. On a related note: DUST KILLS! No seriously, dust (and pet fur) is one of the primary killers of PCs. Keep a can of compressed air and clean out the inside of your rig at least once every two weeks (or once every week if you have pets.) This will help with overheating AND prevent malfunctions due to clogging of radiators and fans. This is especially important for your GPU. Also, keep a dust cover on your PC when you're not using it. I'm afraid others will have to jump in on the subject of whether your PC is "crap" or not. Edit: BTW, you are NOT an idiot. Idiots don't know how to ask for help properly. You have.

This has been discussed elsewhere in the past. Rather than make you folks slog through the old threads, here are the mods that will help prevent future massacres. 1) Dawnguard no Vampire Attacks by Beaker. This is a dirt simple mod that lets you pick up an amulet (it does NOT occupy the amulet slot on your character, so you can wear another one in addition) which basically keeps resetting the clock for Vampire attacks every time you enter a civilized area (including exiting buildings.) Note that this amulet stops RANDOM attacks -not the scripted ones that occur once you start the Dawnguard quest-line. As a bonus, there is a 2nd amulet (which also does not occupy the amulet slot on your character) that lets you postpone Dragon attacks as well. Using them is simple. While wearing them, the attacks are suspended. Take them off, and the normal chance of attacks resumes. Note that this mod is NOT compatible with Timing is Everything below. Use one or the other. 2) Timing is Everything - Quest Delay and Timing Control by kryptopyr. This is a much more detailed mod that does the same job as the above mod, but for nearly every major quest. You also have much finer control over the details (via an MCM menu.) This mod is so much better that even the mod author of DnVA says he prefers it to his own mod. It is not compatible with Dawnguard no Vampire Attacks. Use one or the other. 3) When Vampires Attack by Arthmoor. Don't want to turn off the random attacks but still want the major NPCs to be (somewhat) protected? Use this mod. It basically tweaks the NPCs so that when a Vampire attacks, the NON-military villagers/townspeople will run for shelter. The MILITARY types (guards, soldiers, mercs, etc.) will attack the vampires, thus forcing the bloodsuckers to concentrate on them instead of chasing important quest-givers. It doesn't ALWAYS work (sometimes a Vampire just happens to warp in right next to a non-military NPC before they can run) but it does cut down on the chance of a quest-giver becoming a late-night snack. This mod IS compatible with either of the two above, so I would recommend using it. There is version (also from Arthmoor) called Run for Your Lives, that does the same thing for Dragons. Instead of everyone (including the kids) rushing to fight the Dragon, they sensibly leave that sort of foolishness to you and the guards and RUN FOR THEIR LIVES! Makes a lot more sense. @Adipose: I'm afraid your suspicion is correct. Your quest-givers are gone. You can console them back into existence, but they will not function correctly (basically, they're "broken".) If you haven't played too far since you posted this, I recommend installing "When Vampires Attack" and "Timing is Everything", then going back to the last save before you are certain Vampires ate major NPCs. I know its a pain, but you might find it preferable to playing with near-empty cities and deserted villages. BTW, I also recommend installing Inconsequential NPCs, Immersive Patrols, Interesting NPCs and Populated Cities/Towns/Villages Legendary Edition. These four mods add tons of NPCs (more fodder for Dragons and Vampires and more "meat shields" for your important NPCs) and will make your cities, towns and village feel like they are truly alive. Be aware though, that using all four of these mods will tax below average rigs. However, I ran all these mods on a five year old computer with a GTX 460, so anything better than that should not have problems.

AND it will please the Goddess Elianora.

You sir, are comedy gold. I also would like a mod that would make citizens cognizant about recent events. But even if there is one (or someone makes one) I bet it has to be mostly subtitles like Arthmoor's "The Paarthurnax Dilemma" due to the lack of spoken lines in the game. Then again, maybe not. After all, it's just (mostly) wandering NPCs. As long as it isn't a regular NPC (with a known voice) then a mod author could get some folks to record lines for the mod.

I agree that a lot of Skyrim is inspired by Norse history and mythology. But I can't find any direct connection between Olaf in the game and Odin in Norse mythology. If you haven't read it yet, here's his Elder Scrolls wiki. On a related note: I find it interesting that in the game itself, you find conflicting evidence that Olaf was either a hero or a shameless charlatan. During the Bard's College quest line you actually encounter a wrathful Draugr lord who is apparently the spirit of Olaf, who wants to kill you and the ghost of a bard that exposed his legendary battle with the dragon Numinex as a lie long ago. Yet elsewhere you find compelling evidence that he really was a hero and you actually meet him in Sovngarde. Since only true heroes are allowed into Sovngarde, it seems a bit at odds with the evil lich-like version of him you fight.