My mod list for an overhauled archer/hunter type playthrough.

[ruddy88]

Decided to start an entirely new playthrough, all new mods.

 

First and foremost I am hoping someone can take a quick look over (load order posted below) and suggest any changes to order, or glaring oversights or issues that I may not have seen.
Specifically the Gameplay Changes towards the end of the list (AGO, HiS, NockToTip) and best order of these.

 

I love bows, and I always liked the idea of living off the land, so have made this to be a hunter/archer style playthrough. It would be very fitting for a wood elf, although I will be using a redguard more for aesthetic reasons than anything.

 

So, starting with alternate start, and choosing the camping choice as the starter.

The combination of Archery Gameplay Overhaul, Hunting in Skyrim and Nock to Tip will add an entirely new feel to archery. From a dedicated archery perk tree (Nock to tip reworks how smithing works for bows, utilising the archery tree instead of smithing), Much more customiseablility with Nock to Tips crafting as well, much better feel and behaviour with AGO (faster arrows, no auto aim etc). Hunting in Skyrim also ties in, then pairs with the new animals mods and SkyTest to create a much more "living" wilds, animal trapping, skinning etc etc, and all tied in with a new guild questline to get my bearings.

 

I dont like my game to be frustratingly hard, but I do want the occasional challenge. I have added in Combat Behaviour Improved for its much needed boost to the flow of melee combat, which I will still need to practice. I am considering adding in something like Revenge of the Enemies, I dont want to make the game too difficult in combat, I cant stand tanks, but I would like more intelligent enemies. This is still being decided on. In any case, Deadly Dragons has been added as a must, as a hunter, I will need an ultimate prize and I want it to be a big event.

 

Moving on.

Frostfall and camping have been added, mostly because Id never used them before, and they seem to fit this semi-survivalist playthrough. Making my decisions in the wild a lot more important.

I am considering adding iNeed, I had trialled this and I do like the idea of it, but even on lite settings I just find it becomes more of an annoyance than anything, and having "auto eat" on sort of defeats the purposes, just means I have to load up my inventory on more useless junk.

I might re-introduce this to the list and just put up with it, I love it and I hate it at the same time.

All of this is made that much more interesting with the inclusion of CoT, true Storms and Mintys lightning, making storms feel like a much bigger threat as I clammer to get a tent put up in the middle of a blizzard.

 

Interesting NPCs and imersive patrols have been added to make towns a bit more of a new experience (I still havent really experienced interesting NPCs yet), as well as make the roads a little more travelled and provide some interesting encounters while on the roads.

 

The texture packs are all just done by preference, as are the standalone armor and weapons, though immersive armor and weapons is a staple on any playthrough.

 

Falskaar and Wyrmtooth are being added simply because I have never played them before.

 

Holy crap, Sounds of Skyrim adds a whole new dynamic to the game. Tested this out recently and while roaming the woods I can no longer completely rely on sounds as dead giveaways for attacks. I hear animal calls all the time, rightly so, and every time I do i always have a moment of alertness, unsheathing my bow and scouting my surroundings. Its great that this so often amounts to nothing and is simply an ambient noise, on those odd occasions it is a real threat it feels that much more dangerous...

 

Although not in the beginning list, I am thinking of adding an alchemy overhaul of sorts, its not something I typically indulge in but I think a basic knowledge of floral medicines would come in handy when camping out in the woods.

 

No followers yet, I plan on flying solo for some time. I may look at adding a suitable companion, perhaps even an alchemist companion to fill that gap, but will first experience the lands solo.

 

 

Let me know what you think of this list, and if you have any suggestions (stable, script light options only at this stage) or alternatives. Aswell as any glaring oversights in my load order.

 

 

Install and Load order as follows:

---Non-NMM---

SKSE w/ Memory patch

ENBoost + ENB v0279

---VANILLA COMPONENTS---

Skyrim.esm

DLC x3

HighRes Texture Pack (official)

Unnofficial high res patch

USLEP

---BASE INSTALL---

Skyrim Project Optimisation

SkyUI

Enhanced Camera

---VISUALS---

Ruins Clutter Improved

Ultimate HD Fire

Skyrim Distance Overhaul

SMIM

Skyrim HD

Skyrim Realistic Overhaul (Overwrite)

Immersive Fallen Trees

Fences of Skyrim

HD IVY

Ivy Replacement

Natural Grass Texture

Realistic Water Two

Waves 1.0 (Transparent Wave spray for RW2)

PW Landscape Textures (Part of Pure Waters, replace textures).

Dust Effects

Realistic Smoke and Embers

Skyrim Particle Patch

Skyrim SubSurface Scattering Patch

Realistic Sun and Sunglare - CoT edition

---ENVIRONMENT & WEATHER---

Campfire

Frostfall - (install early)

Frostfall SkyUI Addon

CoT V3.1

COT Dawnguard and dragonborn patch

Supreme Storms for CoT

CoT Weather Patch

True Storms

True Storms CoT Patch

Mintys Lightning

Mintys CoT3_1 Lightning Patch

---NEW LANDS---

Falskaar

Wyrmstooth

Woodsmans Shack

Perseids Inns and Taverns - Basic (changes price of rental rooms only).

---SOUNDS---

Sounds of Skyrim 1, 2, 3

Check Compatibility Patches (Have to be extracted and installed manually)

---TEXTURE REPLACERS - NON LANDSCAPE---

Better Blood

High Quality Food

AmidianBorn Book of Silence (Armors and weapons etc) (check skyforge textures install correct)

Rugnarok

Book Covers

BellyAches Animal & Creatures

Bellyaches HD Dragon replacer.

Improved NPC Clothing

Improved NPC Clothing Expansion

Real Bows

Leanwolfs Better Shaped Weapons

---BODY AND ANIMS---

Racemenu

Racemenu Pre-Cache Killer

Cover Khajits M & F

Forgotten Argonian Roots

KS Hairdos

SG Hair

DIMONIZED UNP Body

UNPB Body NMM Installer - TBBP

Fitness Body Pre-Blended

AllInOne Face

AllInOne Face - Dawnguard

Mature Skin Texture (body and face UNP only)

SkySight Males

The Eyes Of beauty - Replacer version

HD Teeth

HD Normals

Beards & Brows

NMUBS

Realistic Ragdolls

XP32 Max - install "Groovtama's XPMS Extended" and use default settings

FNIS & Spells

Vampire Lord Armoured

Bijin Wives

Bijin Warmaidens

---NEW CREATURES AND NPCS---

Birds of Skyrim

Improved fish (Change master to USLEP)

Dogs of Skyrim

Deadly Dragons

Interesting NPCs

Interesting NPCs Alternate Locations

Interesting NPCs - Meshes for vampires

Immersive Patrols (Optional, confirm stability first)

Guard Dialogue Overhaul

---AI CHANGES---

Immersive Citizens

SkyTEST

---WEAPONS AND ARMORS---

UNP Female Armors

UNP Boot Pack

Immersive Armors

Immersive Weapons

Wearable Lanterns

Bandaliers Bags and Pouches

JaySuS Swords

Winter is Coming

Unique Bows Collection

Unique Uniques

UNP Rogue HD

Northgirl Armor

Prince and Pauper + Patches

Belt Fastened Quivers

Travel Attire

---GAMEPLAY CHANGES---

Combat Behaviour Improved

Hunting in Skyrim (May have to use no perks version or make a Patch yourself)

Archery Gameplay Overhaul

Nock to Tip - Should overwrite bash animation of AGO.

---LATE MODS---

Alternate Start

Dynavision

---PATCHES---

Nock to tip Patches:

Immersive Weapons

Unique Bows Collection

True Storms, CoT and Mintys patches.

SoS patches for CoT.

Check for more

BASHED PATCH for levelled lists.

 

 

 

 

[Nystel]

Looks like a solid list. COT is very script heavy. If you start to have lag look into replacing it with Pure Weather or Vivid Weather Systems, which are much lighter. Looks like you are still using the vanilla perks. If you want a little perk system, check out SPERG. That is what I am using. It is very lite weight compared to SkyRe or Requiem. There is no extra patching involved.

 

To help with your immersion, look into Immersive Hud. For a smaller mouse cursor, which is nice, and thinner compass; look for Smaller Cursor and A Thinner Compass.

 

Check out moreHud and Active Hud too.

Also, for more immersion, Jaxon Real Names. It names all the NPCs in the game and People are Strangers. Every NPC, except popular ones, will be a stranger to you until you talk to them. Then Real Names will give them a name.

 

This is just me, but I prefer Pure Waters to Realistic Water 2.

 

What ENB are you using? I am using Phinix, which recommends COT. It is nice. Very natural looking, no over saturation. If you want a gloom darker game, I highly recommend Bleak ENB.

[Nystel]

BTW you did a lot of work on this post, so I had to respond to it.

 

I never get a response to my mod lists. I didnt want to be a jerk.

[Shivala]

Nice list! I am currently going for hunter as well, I would recommend iNeed, but in the MCM , tweak the hunger/thirst so you only need food/water once a day, also set your timescale to 15 or 10 (20=vanilla) with iNeed. This makes time more realistic.

[Nystel]

Your right Shivala, but I never liked iNeed. The timescale can also be adjusted when creating the bash patch.

[Shivala]

Well, you can always RP , the old way... Just eat and drink everyday ;)

I recentely tried Rn&d, but it is even more invasive than iNeed. Plus it bugs with Hunterborn.

Edited March 31, 2016 by Shivala

[Nystel]

Yea, it is a bigger mod. It has compadibility patches with Hunterborn. I use both and it works fine. The problem with iNeed is that many mods dont have patches for it.