Back to Skyrim after a long time

[Atheran2]

Hello there... I decided to play skyrim again after a long time (from before the first DLC) but I'm completelly lost with the tons of mods that are around now. When I used to play I knew almost every mod in here but now...

So I decided to ask here about suggestions depending on how I want to play.

 

What I'm looking for in this new modded run is:

 

1) Total Immersion (I don't care how many mods, I just want to feel I'm one with my character. Things from cold (I really want to try frostfall :tongue:) to hunting (heard hunterborn is very good) to basic needs (there's a ton of those mods :/) to even graphics/textures mods that immerse you (lighting, realistic snow (I always hated the original snow on stone stairs. It looked like they were painted with white paint) etc) I don't need insanelly HD mods, I'm not here for simply the looks, but if there are immersive HD ones I have no problem. Sounds help as well...

 

As for the NPCs, dialogues, interesting characters, textures/models (see above). Populated cities, random encounters on the wild (from patrols to merchants even to homeless people (don't know anything about the last one). The more dialogues I can have the better, even if it is for new quests or simply some whining for the cold or a good story. There was a mod that made factions fight each other and made the whole civil war much more immersive when I played (it was probably in alpha stage then) Is it still around?

 

2) Lore friendly. Not canon specifically but lore. I don't want a lightsaber or a legolas companion and I don't want to be in middle earth or in Game of Thrones. Specific things from other universes that do not conflict with the lore I have no problem with (I heard there are some good cloaks from Game of Thrones for example). I don't want my PC to wear prada or high heels when running in the snow for example.

 

3) Quests! As long as they fit the above categories and are good I want em! When I first played Skyrim I was disappointed of how small it was. This time I won't rush through the story but everything that can add to my playtime is good.

 

4) Homes. I want my player to have a home. And the vanilla ones suck iirc. I want a good comfy home that has space to store items, crafting stuff etc etc. And I want it good looking. And I want to work for it, not start a new game with it. (Bit of demanding request but c'mon there's a ton of home mods and I can't really search ALL of them.)

 

5) Any way to start with a normal life and avoid the first sequence of the game that I played over and over and over again?

 

6) Overhauls? I don't care for them much but I wouldn't really mind if it makes the game better without violating the above categories. In fact I plan to use REQUIEM.

 

PS. I'm not lazy, and I'll update this thread with mods that I have or plan to get over time in case it helps anyone in the future, but I need a place to start looking...

PS2. I don't know what I'll play so any non conflicting class/skill mods that make the combat more interesting are welcomed.

PS3. The above can be generalised for everything. I don't know if I stay normal or if I change to vamp or a wolf, so even if I may not use them it'd be a good idea to have them.

 

EDIT: Going to do some searching and I'll update with mods that seemed interesting to me in case it helps anyone else or it helps with suggestions

Edited April 7, 2014 by Atheran2

[Skyrabbit]

Welcome back! There are loads of goodies available now.

If you have been away that long you may not know about GEMS. It is a catalogue of some of the best mods available with good explanations and opinions. It will also give you some advice about which ones are compatible.

 

Here- http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23826/?

 

I would also suggest looking at some of the videos made by Gopher for very good advice about mods and modding.

Enjoy! :thumbsup:

[chanchan05]

LOL. You sound like you want my mod build. LOL. :D

 

Except I use SkyRe because there are more compatibility patches for it with the mods I use than Requiem.

 

Mods:

A Matter of Time

Achieve That

Acquisitive Soul Gems

Alternate Start-Live Another Life

Alternative Crafting System

Amazing Follower Tweaks

Artificial Intelligence Limit Increaser- More Brains

Audio Overhaul for Skyrim+Patches

Bandolier Bags and Pouches

Belt Fastened Quivers

Better Dialogue Controls

Book Covers of Skyrim + Patches

Categorized Favorites Menu (+Oni Edition patch)

Character Creation Overhaul

Cloaks of Skyrim

Closer Quivers and Longer Arrows

Clothing and Clutter Fixes

Coins of Tamriel

Complete Crafting Overhaul Remade

Convenient Horses

Cutting Room Floor

Deadly Dragons

Death Souls - Death is Overrated

Drinking Fountains of Skyrim

Dual Wield Parrying

Dwemer Goggles

Dynamic Auto-Sorting System

Dynavision

EK Ring Limiter

Elysium Estate

Enhanced Blood Texture

Enhanced Distant Terrain

Enhanced Lights and FX

Enhanced Skyrim Factions - The Companions

Epic Gameplay Overhaul

Equipment Overhaul

Ethereal Elven Overhaul + Patches

Even Better Quest Objectives

Expanded Towns and Cities + Patches

Expanded Winterhold Ruins

Face masks for Skyrim

Feminine Females

Footprints

Frostfall

Gems of Skyrim

Gildergreen Regrown

Grass on Steroids

Harvest Overhaul

Hearthfire Multiple Adoptions

Helms and Circlets

Hidden Hideouts of Skyrim

Hold Border Banners

Hotkeys++

Immersive Armors

Immersive College of Winterhold

iHUD

Immersive NPC in the Dark

Immersive Patrols

Immersive Soul Gems

Immersive Spells and Light

Immersive Weapons

ImpeREAL Empire - Unique Cities - Falkreath

Improved Dragon Shouts

Inconsequential NPCs

Increased Guild and Bounty Rewards (+ FedEx addon)

Inigo

Interesting NPCs

Killing Traps

Lanterns of Skyrim

Living Takes Time

Locational Damage

Lock Overhaul

Lore Based Loading Screens

Mage Backpack + Extended Edition

Mages Love Dragon Priest Masks

Masters of Death (DB armor replacer)

Moon Glow

Moon Phase affects Brightness at Night

Moonlight Tales

MorrowLoot 4E

Much Ado About Snow Elves

My Home is Your Home

No Empty Tags on Containers (+ No hud key prompts addon)

No Psychic Lock Knowledge

No Quest Items

No Sneak Attack Sound

Order My Items

Perseid's Realistic Room Rental Enhanced

Point the Way

Predator Vision

Project Reality - Climates of Tamriel + Patches

Project Ultimatum

Proper Aiming

Pure Waters

Realistic Needs and Diseases + Patches

Realistic Nights

Ren's HD Shrines

Run For Your Lives

Scarcity

Skyrim Bigger Trees

Skyrim Community Uncapper (for Skyre)

Skyrim Peasant Fashion

SkyTEST - Realistic Animals and Predators

SkyUI

Sleep Tight

Sometimes Pick Up Books

Special Events of Tamriel

Starting Spell Choice

Subliminal Traps

Superior Lore Friendly Hair

T3nd0's Skyrim Redone

The Choice is Yours

The Dance of Death

The Oblivion Realms Series 1: Gates of Solitude

The Oblivions Realsm Series 2: Morthal Pain

The Paarthurnax Dilemma

The Way of the Dovahkiin - Ultimate Deadly Encounters - Sands of Time + Patches

Thieves Guild Requirements

Timing is Everything

Trade and Barter

Traps Make Noise

True Bound Daedric Armors

Unique Uniques

Unofficial Patches

Warburg's 3D Paper World Map

Weapon and Armor Fixes

Werewolf Mastery

Wet and Cold (+ Ashes and Holidays)

When Vampires Attack

Winter is Coming

 

Others to consider

 

*Better Vampires

*Daedric Dawnbreaker

*Convenient Horse Herding

*Imaginator + I Can' Believe it's ENB (if you don't plan to use an ENB)

*Remove Interior Fog

*Scoped Bows (If you play without crosshairs)

*Skyrim Performance Plus

*Skyrim Project Optimization

*Splash of Rain

*Touring Carriages

*Ultimate Spinning Arrows

 

 

Note: I am using merged plugins and bashed patches to make all these fit into the 255 limit.

Edited April 8, 2014 by chanchan05

[Atheran2]

Thanks Skyrabbit! This is indeed helpfull :smile: Altho' many of the mods it lists are not lore-friendly even if it says so in the description.

 

ChanChan05 any chance to post a list? Maybe? Please? :smile:

I'm not set on Requiem anyways... I just liked the name and what I saw in the videos.

 

Diggin' through GEMS now... I love the fact it has links to videos about the mods...

Edited April 7, 2014 by Atheran2

[chanchan05]

You replied as I was editing my previous post.

 

PS:

 

I forgot to mention, use Xathra's patches for SkyRe. Do NOT use qostafan's

 

You're going to die a lot with that build. :D

Edited April 8, 2014 by chanchan05

[Atheran2]

Thanks a ton... I may not include some of them but it sure helps. And seeing both requiem and SkyRe I'll probably go with requiem. SHould I expect a lot of incompatibilities with it?

 

And what you mean about merging? Can I merge 2 compatible mods into one? ie a mod adding new weapons and a mod adding armors as long as they do not change the same base files?

[chanchan05]

Yep. For example, Warburg's Paper World Map has 3 plugins, 1 for Skyrim, then Dawnguard then Dragonborn. Thus 3 files which count against the 255 limit. I merged the files into 1 esp I named WarburgMerged, thus using only 1 file for all DLCs instead of 3. I also have 7 additonal armor mods which I merged into 1 filed labeled armormods.esp. This helps to add more mods than possible without merging.

 

Well, some mods aren't too friendly with Requiem. Sands of Time for example, there isn't a proper patch for it yet. However I consider it a more important mod for my gameplay as compared to either SkyRe or Requiem. In fact, I built my game around it, with mods that either complement it or works well with it as well as immersion, so I chose the one with a proper patch for it, in this case SkyRe.

[ponyboy10]

Off the top of my head I would recommend Interesting NPCs (adds a lot of.... interesting NPCs), Immersive Armors + Immersive Weapons, Skyrim Wildlife Overhaul, and AI Overhaul.

[Atheran2]

Well... I got a bunch of mods installed and after 2 days of sorting them in the correct order and finding new ones as well I started playing. I had some major problems in the first times with the game crashing or even worse freezing my pc entirelly so I had to restart it, but I believe I solved them. I then started a new game and having the Alternate Start mod on I chose the "surprise me" option which made me a new member of the dark brotherhood.

 

And I love it (don't get me wrong, I wanted to play that kind of character (close to the nightblade build) all thiefy and assassin like.) I only worry about two things, so I thought I'd ask here if someone has any experience.

1) Starting as a member of the dark brotherhood through the "Live another life" mod is well put in the game? Or it'll destroy things like the drak brotherhood quest/dialogues etc?

2) Is the nighblade build (even changed around) playable with the requiem mod? Right now I'm with DR armor and with 20ish in sneak/perks for silent moving and silent moving spell from Illusion tree and I still can't successfully sneak behind almost anyone. Everyone up until now manages to see/hear me even if it's night and have their back turned on me.

 

I have almost no texture/graphical mods on yet but I can upload my loadorder here if you can give me ideas for additions. Not cheesy or good looking things, but mods that'll make my experience in the game more complete. And of course lore friendly...

[chanchan05]

Alternate Start won't break quests.