What mods create a real gritty medieval experience?

[Sky999]

I've been experimenting with a lot of mods lately, and I've found a few that make the game seem a bit more 'dark' than vanilla is, such as a black retexture of Alduin and Enhanced Blood Textures, but apart from that I haven't been able to get the game to feel any darker or grittier. Everything seems so colourful in Skyrim, what I want are mods that make the game seem more brutal, dark, bloody and ultimately more realistic, are there any mods that do this?

 

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/3/17/1268840108634/valhalla-rising-film-001.jpg

[Moraelin]

Well, I tend to put extra blood on some of my weapons. The maces have two blood meshes instead of one, for example. Dunno about much more ambitious projects though.

 

That said, if I'm allowed to be a windbag, way I see it,

 

1. The hangups about wearing colourfull stuff are more recent. In ye olde days, whoever could afford to wear coloured stuff, did so. Even just as status symbols. Since dyes were expensive, wearing something really colourful showed wealth and status. Monarchs and high ranking nobles could look like peacocks, pretty much. French royalty in particular adopts a particular shade of blue as for their clothes and flags just because it was the most bloody expensive dye they knew of. And at least red (from a bug), green (from a lichen), and woad blue were quite common for everyone who could afford it.

 

Plus, knights tended to wear colourful surcoats and shields, even just for heraldic reasons.

 

And it's not just colours, it's colour combinations. A style of clothes that was popular was with different halves of the coat or different pant legs (which really were separate at the time) in different colours. For example, you could have a coat that's vertically split into a green side and a red side, and pant legs that are even worse matched. This sometimes matched the coat of arms, but sometimes it was just for the heck of it. Nowadays you'd think "clown outfit", but back then it was what the refined folks wore :P

 

2. And sometimes you didn't even have a choice. E.g., for the Knights Hospitaller, who had at that point worn a simple black tabard with a white cross for more than a century, a Pope decreed that they must wear red surcoats with white crosses. And you, know, they were an order directly subordinate to the Pope, so what the big guy said, they did.

 

3. And in some cases it just wasn't in good taste to wear black. A knight who wore a black shield and/or tabard, was one who didn't have or didn't want to show his heraldry. So at best someone suspicious and up to no good (hence being used as the bad guy in some stories), and at worst some worthless pleb without a title or family. So pretty much when they call Edward posthumously "the Black Knight", it's pretty much a way to call him a bastard. (There is no evidence that he ever wore black to deserve such an epithet.)

 

4. And if you look at the ANCIENT times, since the game is a mix of late Roman Empire and early Vikings, now those wore seriously pimp colours. Analysis of the Greek and Roman statues for example shows that they weren't exactly white. They were painted over. And Good Talos, at least the Greeks seem to have loved garish combinations of bright colours. You'd have some guys with yellow and azure and pink and God knows what else on his robe and cloak and armour.

 

So, anyway, what I'm getting at is that IMHO Skyrim isn't colourful enough :P

Edited February 26, 2012 by Moraelin

[jet4571]

Check the spelling for a particular people in #4 Moraelin.

 

Anyway to add to your great post... I dont get the dark and gritty less colors is realistic mentality. Go to the countryside and look around. yes it could be somewhat monotone during 2 seasons depending on where you live or it could be filled with colors year around. The picture shown does not look realistic to me but filtered to look less colorful.

 

*edit

Also to add the environment would've been brighter and more colorful compared to today because there was virtually no pollution back then. there's a difference today going from suburbs to the countryside. imagine removing all smog altogether. even rainy/foggy/or cloudy conditions would be more colorful.

 

Oh and for "real"....

 

http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/462397-total-realism-overhaul/

Edited February 25, 2012 by jet4571

[Moraelin]

Rofl, good catch. I had to re-read it twice before I noticed I wrote "Geeks" :P

[Mansh00ter]

Although Total Realism isn't really aiming to create a medieval simulator... more of a "realistic high fantasy". And honestly, there are better games AND mods than Skyrim if you're looking for that. I would recommend Mount&Blade:Warband + Brytenwalda mod. Very realistic, very gritty. Not exactly medieval (post-Roman Britain, Ireland and Scotland), but very fun.

[jet4571]

Rofl, good catch. I had to re-read it twice before I noticed I wrote "Geeks" :P

 

Amazing what one letter changes isn't it. and i laughed when i saw it because it was apt. "Them geeks wore mismatched bright colored crazy outfits didn't they?" was what i was thinking. but then again you would need to see the historical use of the word geek and its connection to circus to know why i was laughing.

 

anyway OT:

A good mod to adjust Skyrim to be more realistic is find an ENB series that makes the nights darker and days brighter with colors more vibrant. there is probably 1k ENB settings files uploaded here at the nexus, i am sure one will work.