Starting Skyrim Anew: Using mods to enhance the experience

[blackjackS21]

Hello everybody,

 

You probably don't know me, as I never really bothered looking around in the Nexus forums until now. I hope I can get to know the community of Nexus a bit. :smile: Anyway, onto the matter at hand. A few years ago, I started playing Skyrim, and enjoyed it a lot...for a while. While I did enjoy the initial startup of the game, I quickly noticed frustrating flaws in the game that made my passion for the game die out quite quickly.

 

Fast forward 3 years later, and here we are now. I'm just at the end of my semester for college, and have two weeks of glorious nothingness coming up. I felt this was the perfect oppertunity to "get lost" in a game, and I remembered that I never completed Skyrim, which also happened to have gained quality DLC after its release. However, I'm a bit afraid to start off again. I'm afraid because I feel I would jump to the same conclusion as 3 years ago after a while and waste my time with the game. The solution? Mods, of course. One quick glance at the Skyrim mod file list made me realize how much could be added to this game, I just don't know where to start. There are plenty of videos and guides for "the top X mods in Skyrim" out there, but those do not really target my desires.

 

My gripes with Skyrim are as follows:

 

• Boring combat. It's basically smacking an opponent repeatedly while gulping down potions.
• Uninteresting gear and weapons. There are of course tiers of weapons, but every sword feels like the same one, just with another look, damage amount, and optional percentage-based enchantment.
• Not enough customisation for player homes.
• No incentive to re-explore old areas. This is mostly caused by the option to fast travel.
• No incentive to eat anything. Sure, some food gives you a buff, but the same can be done with a potion. It just feels like an useless addition to the game.
• Boring Companions. Unless the companion is quest-specific, the companion is mostly a travelling donkey that also happens to know how to fight.
• Somewhat similiar-feeling dungeons. There is enough variety to make exploring dungeons and such rewarding, but I never was really surprised by the loot or by the enemies.

So, here's my question for you all. What mods do you think would solve or cover up these problems? I happen to know there are a lot of player home mods, so I'm curious which one you would recommend for me to cover up the second point of critique. Furthermore, what other mods would you recommend that are a must-have for newer players? Finally, are there any mods you personally have enjoyed a lot and would recommend to me as well? The more, the better

 

It's a bit of a big request, I know that, but I would be thankful even if you mentioned just one mod, or if you gave tips for finding the right mods. I'll make sure to compile a list of mods that helped me out the most, so other new players like me will benefit from it as well. :smile:

 

TL;DR I used to play Sykrim but its flaws made me stop playing. I want to play it again with mods, but do not know what to pick and therefore am asking the community what they would think new players should install.

 

Edit: I should clarify that I currently have all the DLCs and prefer a role-playing kind of playthrough.

Edited April 2, 2015 by blackjackS21

[Boombro]

First of all son, what dlcs do you have?

Second, do you have an idea about modding of any kind? Did you use any kind of mod?

What kind of run are we talking about? An Role playing? I will get all rare stuff? I will do everything in this save?

[blackjackS21]

First of all son, what dlcs do you have?

Second, do you have an idea about modding of any kind? Did you use any kind of mod?

What kind of run are we talking about? An Role playing? I will get all rare stuff? I will do everything in this save?

That's a great series of questions, I should have posted that in the OP.

- I just bought all the DLC with legendary edition.

- I have used the Nexus Mod Manager in the past (I can recall using SkyUI), but it has been a while. I don't think I would need a lot of help with actually installing the mods themselves, though any any advice for installing mods is always welcome.

- That's a difficult question. I think I enjoy I think RP the most. I'm not really a completionist, but I do enjoy completely exploring the areas in RPGs. You know, discovering hidden areas with loot.

[Boombro]

Great!

 

The bare basics:

Skyui and all the patches.

SKSE.

The better map mod.

Better Dialogue Controls.

Better MessageBox Controls.

Brawl Bugs - Compatibility Edition.

Dragon Stalking Fix.

Dragonborn Book Bounds Fix - DBBookBounds

 

All that immersion!

Ineed: some will RND, but that need patches to work with many mods. Ineed works with anything, has less scripts and you can eat with your followers.

Audio Overhaul for Skyri: will sounds of birds, water, echoes, and many others to skyrim.

Wet and cold: when it rains, npcs will wear rain gear, when it snows they wear coats. When you get out of water, you will drop water.

IHSS - Improved Horse Step Sounds: back in oblivion, horse hoofs had that nice sounds when they hit stone, now it gone. Use this mod to if you like sounds of horses on stones.

Lanterns of Skyrim - All In One - Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - MCM Special Edition.

Lightweight Headtracking and Emotions.

Visible Windows: when it night time they light up.

Skyfalls: waterfalls and windmills when move far away.

Frostfall: a new version is coming soon that will need a complete removal of the old one.

 

 

Npc stuff:

Interesting NPCs: the best quest/follower/npc mod.

Inconsequential NPCs: will add many nps to fill up skyrim, not a good idea if you have a low end rig.

INIGO: best follower for a dragonborn.

My home is your home: look up updated version.

Run for you lives.

When the vampire attack.

SHearthfire multiple adoptions.

spouses Can Live Everywhere.

Skyrim Idle Dialogue Overhaul

 

 

I take my own quest! pack:

The Choice is Yours - Fewer Forced Quests - Improved Dialogue Options .

Timing is Everything - Quest Delay and Timing Control.

Thieves Guild Requirements - No Auto Quest Start Brynjolf.

 

Clothes and armor:

Immersive Armors.

Cloaks of Skyrim.

Winter is coming.

 

 

Now, the big mods:

Falskaar: you have maybe hear of it.

wyrmstooth: and this one.

Moon path: and this one.

Legacy of the Dragonborn: this one is more suited for a full save: it short, it a big house that you are tasked to fill it up with rare items you find. From the begger gloves in the ratway, to the crown of the high king!

Also comes with moonpath, many rare items from other mods, and airship, and quests, and big house you can live in it with your family!

 

However, it should be noted that the version out now ( 13.1) is a beta, a new version will be out shortly stay toned.

 

OIher:

Skyrim ubound (in steam.)

No npcs greeting.

Venders delay begone!

Move it!

Get up faster.

 

Now I forgot:

What race you want to play?

What kind of house do you want?

What kind of rig do you have?

[blackjackS21]

Great!

 

The bare basics:

Skyui and all the patches.

SKSE.

The better map mod.

Better Dialogue Controls.

Better MessageBox Controls.

Brawl Bugs - Compatibility Edition.

Dragon Stalking Fix.

Dragonborn Book Bounds Fix - DBBookBounds

 

All that immersion!

Ineed: some will RND, but that need patches to work with many mods. Ineed works with anything, has less scripts and you can eat with your followers.

Audio Overhaul for Skyri: will sounds of birds, water, echoes, and many others to skyrim.

Wet and cold: when it rains, npcs will wear rain gear, when it snows they wear coats. When you get out of water, you will drop water.

IHSS - Improved Horse Step Sounds: back in oblivion, horse hoofs had that nice sounds when they hit stone, now it gone. Use this mod to if you like sounds of horses on stones.

Lanterns of Skyrim - All In One - Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - MCM Special Edition.

Lightweight Headtracking and Emotions.

Visible Windows: when it night time they light up.

Skyfalls: waterfalls and windmills when move far away.

Frostfall: a new version is coming soon that will need a complete removal of the old one.

 

 

Npc stuff:

Interesting NPCs: the best quest/follower/npc mod.

Inconsequential NPCs: will add many nps to fill up skyrim, not a good idea if you have a low end rig.

INIGO: best follower for a dragonborn.

My home is your home: look up updated version.

Run for you lives.

When the vampire attack.

SHearthfire multiple adoptions.

spouses Can Live Everywhere.

Skyrim Idle Dialogue Overhaul

 

 

I take my own quest! pack:

The Choice is Yours - Fewer Forced Quests - Improved Dialogue Options .

Timing is Everything - Quest Delay and Timing Control.

Thieves Guild Requirements - No Auto Quest Start Brynjolf.

 

Clothes and armor:

Immersive Armors.

Cloaks of Skyrim.

Winter is coming.

 

 

Now, the big mods:

Falskaar: you have maybe hear of it.

wyrmstooth: and this one.

Moon path: and this one.

Legacy of the Dragonborn: this one is more suited for a full save: it short, it a big house that you are tasked to fill it up with rare items you find. From the begger gloves in the ratway, to the crown of the high king!

Also comes with moonpath, many rare items from other mods, and airship, and quests, and big house you can live in it with your family!

 

However, it should be noted that the version out now ( 13.1) is a beta, a new version will be out shortly stay toned.

 

OIher:

Skyrim ubound (in steam.)

No npcs greeting.

Venders delay begone!

Move it!

Get up faster.

 

Now I forgot:

What race you want to play?

What kind of house do you want?

What kind of rig do you have?

Wow! this is amazing. :yes: Thanks a lot for all of this. I'm going to check these out one by one by one.

 

To answer your other questions:

- No idea, probably either elven or some kind of human race. I used to be a spellsword Nord if I recall correctly but then I took an arrow in the knee , I'm probably going to dabble in magic again anyway, I enjoyed that the most.

- Hm......I would probably want a big (preferably upgradeable) housing area, or at least one where it's easy to sort loot, and has parts like alchemy table/enchanting table/furnace/leather skinning rack, so I don't have to travel back and forth between town just to smelt or create potions. Anything nature or arcane-themed is great, not really that picky with it.

- Oh boy, here comes the moment of shame. My pc has terrible specs (can't show the specs right now, as I'm not on my PC atm, but it has an integrated graphics card with 512 MB allocated, yuck), I bought it something like 5 years ago, but it's still able to run games like DS2 and Skyrim on 40-60 FPS quite well, provided I use the right settings. Nevertheless, I definitely won't be able to use HD or shader mods.

[Boombro]

Yeah, so most houses are kind of heavy. In fact the dllc ones will fit you just right! They have a lot of mods changing them.

 

Lakeview is near a lake but it has a lot of spawns near it. So many tales about it. The best is this:

 

Ohhhh....

There once was hero called the dragonborn, came all the way from no one knows where!

He had a sweet family that lived in a house the dragonborn made called lake view manor.

But then came the bandits, the bears, the dragon and vampires, for there was many spawns markers!

Let not forgot the necromancer alter with undead!

Then the dragonborn wife and followers all died.

Expect the kids since they can't be killed!

 

 

No wait, they are all like this...

 

 

Windstad is in the marshes, it has a really nice air around it. Very quiet. There are giants but they are seldom attack expect provoked and has a fish hatchery. Close to solitude, you can swim.

 

Don't use frostfall then, and try this http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/14504/?

[Mattiewagg]

Well, there are a lot of fabulous player homes.

 

The reddit contest yielded at least 20 new ones, though only a few are upgradeable.

 

Morskom Estate is great too. My own Mod Black Toe Meadhall is upgradable and has a fully voice acted quest.

[deRusett]

• Boring combat. It's basically smacking an opponent repeatedly while gulping down potions.

- I started playing more Archer / Sneak style play because of this and with various mods and tweaks it makes the game challenging and fun trying to snipe people from a distance or slit their throats

• Uninteresting gear and weapons. There are of course tiers of weapons, but every sword feels like the same one, just with another look, damage amount, and optional percentage-based enchantment.

- Immersive Weaons

- Immersive Armour

- Better Bows

- Complete crafting Overhaul - by Kryptopyr (having craftable bags and jewelry is nice)

- Elemental Arrows

These are a few to change up the weapons and add variety

• Not enough customisation for player homes.

- I love Breezy Home Fully Upgradeable and Riverside Shack - Customisable Home by Darkfox127 both are excellent, I like using both and keeping different things in them.

• No incentive to re-explore old areas. This is mostly caused by the option to fast travel.

- Hidden Treasures - Treasure Hunt, You are looking for some 200 small white chests all over skyrim, after 5 play throughs I think my best was finding 85 of them. Looking for these has me fast traveling a lot less. I haven't disabled fast traveling yet though there are a few mods I'm looking at to stop using Fast Travel

• No incentive to eat anything. Sure, some food gives you a buff, but the same can be done with a potion. It just feels like an useless addition to the game.

- I use iNeed. there is also Realistic Needs and Diseases, I like how iNeed is a little less PITA when you're playing casually than RND, But I do with there was more with specific foods doing different things.

• Boring Companions. Unless the companion is quest-specific, the companion is mostly a travelling donkey that also happens to know how to fight.

- Never use them, can't help here. I'm always a lone kinda guy I use HunterBorn and Achieve That! in my game play as a Solitary bow man.

• Somewhat similiar-feeling dungeons. There is enough variety to make exploring dungeons and such rewarding, but I never was really surprised by the loot or by the enemies.

- I use More Interesting Loot, and Pirate Lords loot adjustment, which makes looting fun, and then when you mix different enemy mods, to make the actual fighting in dungeons much harder they are far less boring.

There are so many mods to choose from, with so many playing styles, figure out things you like and look for ways to make you love them. I like killing Giants, so I have more Giants, and I like Organized bandits that follow me out if I run out of a dungeon so I can't just flee a fight, some play throughts I go Dragon crazy and see multiple Dragons in an hour other times I'm focused on playing from horse back.

I use Nexus Mod Manager, and have a back up of my Skyrim Data folder ready to start from scratch when ever needed. Play, break, play break. you'll have fun.