Having trouble finding good mods, suggestions?

[kevineugenius]

Alright, I have some work to do. A few of those screenies are pretty impressive!

 

Still not 100% sure on the character textures, and here's why: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/32329/?

 

 

This is NOT a nude body replacer, but you can use it in ADDITION with a nude body replacer (without quality loss). My mod is only a NORMAL MAP (please click NORMAL MAP). So my mod doesn't contain any nudity, just an abstract normal map.

...

ATTENTION:

If you want to use my mod with UNP/UNPB/UNPC/CBBE/CBBE-Bodyslide/ADEC you must have their meshes and skintextures already installed.

 

So, if you have to have the skintextures already in order to use the "normal map," that implies to me that there's layers. I'm not saying I'm right, I just don't fully understand it and the quoted text is what threw me off. If I need to get a skin texture and a normal map AND a body mesh, that's fine and I'll start looking for them all. If I'm confused... well, it won't be the last time.

[BlackRoseOfThorns]

Alright, I have some work to do. A few of those screenies are pretty impressive!

 

Still not 100% sure on the character textures, and here's why: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/32329/?

 

 

This is NOT a nude body replacer, but you can use it in ADDITION with a nude body replacer (without quality loss). My mod is only a NORMAL MAP (please click NORMAL MAP). So my mod doesn't contain any nudity, just an abstract normal map.

...

ATTENTION:

If you want to use my mod with UNP/UNPB/UNPC/CBBE/CBBE-Bodyslide/ADEC you must have their meshes and skintextures already installed.

 

So, if you have to have the skintextures already in order to use the "normal map," that implies to me that there's layers. I'm not saying I'm right, I just don't fully understand it and the quoted text is what threw me off. If I need to get a skin texture and a normal map AND a body mesh, that's fine and I'll start looking for them all. If I'm confused... well, it won't be the last time.

 

There's diffuse map (color texture), normal map (definition of surface), specular map (shine) and sk.dds (for subsurface scattering with enb). You can for example grab compatible normal map for more defined muscles or veins. Specular map can be used to imitate sweat. I would suggest grabbing nude body since it will be compatible with most of the mods. There was somewhere a mod which would auto equip underwear after removing armor (script). You might want to look into that, if nude bodies are so immersive breaking for you.

[kevineugenius]

They don't actually break the immersion, they just make me feel pervy a little :P

 

If someone is dead and I steal their armor and leave a naked body behind, that's okay with me.

 

One last question:

If I use NMM and press deactivate on all my mods, is that going to give me a clean as-stable-as-Bethesda-gets version of the game or do I need to use some tool to clean things up after? Should I run the re-verify of files on Steam or anything?

[EnaiSiaion]

It almost needs a numbering system like MMORPGs use for casting because there's so many spells you could use in a single fight, plus some need very fast reactions

You know you can hotkey spells in your favourites list?

 

Also you don't rely on finding spells because few NPCs can drop them, you buy them.

[BlackRoseOfThorns]

One last question:

If I use NMM and press deactivate on all my mods, is that going to give me a clean as-stable-as-Bethesda-gets version of the game or do I need to use some tool to clean things up after? Should I run the re-verify of files on Steam or anything?

 

Yes. Original Bethesda files are stored in .bsa archives and don't mingle with mod files. The only mod files that can't be removed by mod manager are files that you installed manualy (enb and skse including, you should stick with enboost and skse for performance hacks anyway). Bear in mind that some mods can't be uninstalled in mid game, you would have to start over your character since the old save requires data from specific mod (scripts, gameplay overhauls). Read FAQ on mod authors page for more info on uninstallation preocess, since sometimes you need to stop mod ingame and save before removing it. Textures and meshes can be removed anytime, unless they are required by other mod (addon or compability patch).

 

PS: If you cleaned Bethesda master files with TES5Edit and you want your old dirty edits back :P , or you made changes to skyrim.ini, skyrimprefs.ini and want the original ones (you could probably find it on nexus and edit your gpu name manually), you can verify integrity of game cache in steam library>skyrim>properties>local files.

Edited March 6, 2015 by BlackRoseOfThorns

[kevineugenius]

Alright, cool. I have a list of 34 mods installed and active right now and the CTDs are pretty infrequent and predictable. So far a quicksave, open door, CTD, load, open door again makes it work just fine and I can live with that (Helgen Reborn custom areas seem to be the cause). I also have umpteen tabs open in chrome of mods to try out as soon as I'm done with Helgen Reborn.

 

Thanks for the hotkey tip; was that added in SkyUI or am I just a tard and managed to go 190 hours of vanilla Skyrim without noticing that you could hotkey stuff? Lol. I do buy spells, they're way too infrequent in loot. It's pretty fun to blast someone with dual lightning bolts but on a difficult bad guy who resists really well and takes maybe 15 double bolts while my followers can kill him with 3-4 chops of their axe... well, it makes me want to play with some other alternate start mods and re-roll as a melee again. As a caster, I'm basically support for my followers. It works and it fits with lore imo.

 

I grabbed project ENB and that really helped the character textures pop and look great now. There's a lot of other things that it kinda ruined though, so tweaking is in order. It has a list of recommended mods surrounding flora and lighting, so I'll go through those as well.

 

I feel I need something for shadows, water, and lighting to really get the look right. Then I'll go for textures or maybe the other ENB (I went with the one that said it wouldn't hurt FPS much due to my high resolution setup. So far, no problems so maybe I can try the other and see what happens) or both. There's also still a lot of stuff I have installed that I either haven't crafted yet or haven't found so I'm not completely done testing what I've got installed.

 

I am, however, starting to get hold of the "fun" of mods. I wish I had the patience to teach myself how to create mods but maybe that's something for next winter. Anyway, I was going to say that I almost feel like a game developer. Not a legit one, of course, but taking the vanilla content then piecing together a custom bunch of modifications really makes the game feel like it's mine. So, goodbye free time. I probably won't do DA:O because it was really crashy but when I tire of Skyrim modding I've got Fallout 3 and New Vegas to do as well.

 

This was the result I was really hoping for. Thanks guys.

[Galadreal]

for graphics you should should try SMIM, it is small, but does a lot of different things (like those horrible tomatoes...they just gross me out.)

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/8655/?

 

If you are looking for more Immersion, I would recomend Frostfall:

https://www.google.com/search?q=Frostfall&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

 

and RND:

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/26228/?

 

for Characters, if you don't want them to be too pretty, Xenius did several things, including No More Blocky Faes, but he has a mod that includes several of the improvements:

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/2356/?

 

Otherwise there is Better Males and then CBBE and the Bi-phenotypes base texture is pretty good . I think it should work, as long as you select the nevernude option on CBBE. the author of Bi-Phenotypes also did a few other really good female body textures that are realistic.

 

You might also try Civil War Overhaul or Dragon Combat overhaul. It makes the Civil war a lot more realistic feeling to me.

 

Also. ENBs can be really nice looking, but they can also eat your FPS alive, make the game run choppy, etc. Not to mention the first time I installed on with a lot of high resolution mods, I thought my eyes were going to start bleeding from all the detail. It was a bit of a shock really.

 

Edit: Sorry, I forgot to mention, uninstall mods with nexus, does usually give you a clean slate, but some things can get left behind, it is best to check your Skyrim/Data folder to make sure nothing is hanging around after you uninstall everything. Some things are sneaky that way.

 

Edit 2: If you get a hankering, you can also try Alternate Start: Live another life. It just kind of puts you in a different spot to start out with. There are lots to choose from.

Edited March 7, 2015 by Galadreal

[BlackRoseOfThorns]

Alright, cool. I have a list of 34 mods installed and active right now and the CTDs are pretty infrequent and predictable. So far a quicksave, open door, CTD, load, open door again makes it work just fine and I can live with that (Helgen Reborn custom areas seem to be the cause). I also have umpteen tabs open in chrome of mods to try out as soon as I'm done with Helgen Reborn.

 

Speed and Stability Guide for ENB by tony971

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50214/?

 

SKSE ini pre-download for lazy users by Sagittarius22

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51038/?

 

I feel I need something for shadows, water, and lighting to really get the look right. Then I'll go for textures or maybe the other ENB (I went with the one that said it wouldn't hurt FPS much due to my high resolution setup. So far, no problems so maybe I can try the other and see what happens) or both. There's also still a lot of stuff I have installed that I either haven't crafted yet or haven't found so I'm not completely done testing what I've got installed.

 

Ball11s High End INI files for an ENB by Ball11

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/63504/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D63504%26preview%3D&pUp=1

 

Backup your old .ini's and check performance with these. Increasing shadow, light and lod values helps a lot. You might want to revert ugrid7 to ugrid5 for stability and less issues with quests.

If you ever want to play with higher ugrid or revert it back to 5, get Stable uGridsToLoad. Some says it also benefits vanilla ugrid5.

 

Get Realistic Water Two (with parallax textures) + Watercolor for ENB and tweak water subsurface scattering in Enb GUI.

 

This was the result I was really hoping for. Thanks guys.

 

Glad it works for you :D

[onekrone]

I know of no mod that removes soul gems.

 

However I do know several mods that make soul gem filling simple.

 

Skyrealism perk trees has a perk in the enchanting tree that allows you to automaticly fill soul gems no need for soul trap. You'll want the balanced. Perk trees.

 

Wintermyst enchantments has an amulet that will fill your highest level soul gem once or twice a day.

 

There is a mod that automaticly recharges your weapons

[onekrone]

I know of no mod that removes soul gems.

 

However I do know several mods that make soul gem filling simple.

 

Skyrealism perk trees has a perk in the enchanting tree that allows you to automaticly fill soul gems no need for soul trap. You'll want the balanced. Perk trees.

 

Wintermyst enchantments has an amulet that will fill your highest level soul gem once or twice a day.

 

Smart souls will put the right soul in the right gem. No more petty soul in a grand soul gem.

 

 

There is a mod that automaticly recharges your weapons