Your Top Five Immersive Mods?

[StayFrosty05]

What are the top five immersive mods you feel you couldn't play your game without?

 

Mine:

 

1/ Sleeping Dangers-Sands of Time....by...Tonycubed2

 

2/ Dragons Hunt in Swarms....by....alinahalo

 

3/ Skytest- Realistic Animals and Predators....by....etayorios

 

4/ Sneak Tools....by....Borgut

 

5/ Sounds of Skyrim....by....Cliffworms

 

Honorary mention of 'More Lush and Re-sized Plants and Grasses'....by....Hritikmaster....for making so many of the above mentioned dangers so damned hard to see.... :happy:

[fraquar]

In no particular order.

 

1) Lush Grass and Lush Trees (or any good mod which does the same)

2) Skytest - Realistic Animals and Predators

3) Sounds of Skyrim

4) Immersive Thunder

5) Lighting mod of choice

 

Beyond that to me atleast it really boils down to what floats your boat playstyle-wise; i.e. Hypothermic realism, Dragons running amok, etc.

[MightyZ0G]

in no particular order

 

1: Real Lighting with Customisation

 

2: Floral Overhaul (enhanced by Lush Grass and Trees)

 

3: Real Wildlife Skyrim

 

4: Lightless Abandon Dungeons

 

5: Quieter World (Dungeons and Winds)

 

to enhance Skyrim even more, turn off the compass, crosshair and HUD

[fraquar]

Yeah, it's really hard to separate those 3 (Floral, Grass, Trees). They just need a massive lift over vanilla Skyrim before one can even think of Immersion otherwise.

 

Never heard of Quieter World, gonna have to check that out.

[MightyZ0G]

here's the link to Quieter Worlds

 

I don't think I could play without it now

[gryph72]

In no particular order...

 

Post Processing Injector/Wrapper Systems

 

It's hard to pick just one. But no matter which I used, they all helped immensely in making the game world really pop and come to life.

 

 

On my XP machine where I first started to play Skyrim, I used anFXAA Injector Post Processor. Then I used Realistic Lighting with Customization which uses only the game engine lighting system and no external post processors.

 

 

When I moved Skyrim to the new Windows 7 machine, I used the ENBSeries post processor at first before switching back to Realistic Lighting with Customization but in combination with Enhanced Vanilla ENB with a further stripped down configuration to provide better shadows, depth of field and parallax bump mapping support.

 

Currently I'm using using Vibrant ENB with the Default configuration and I think this'll be my default post processor for the next while.

 

 

Climates of Tamriel

 

Climates of Tamriel adds a stunning amount of variation to the weather to the skies and lighting conditions of Skyrim. The mod includes 2,024 unique days, nights, sunrises and sun sets in addition to 506 unique weather systems. It's not infinite variety as in the real world but it sure looks and feels pretty damn close! And it's even more effective when used in conjunction with graphics post processing!

SkyTEST Realistic Animals and Predators

 

One of the things that annoyed me about Skyrim was how when you happened upon two groups of animals fighting each other, they'd suddenly unite forces and turn on you. I found this odd behavior to be particularly troublesome after starting a new character and installing mods that increased the number and lethality of Skyrim's creatures!

 

There's nothing like being a level 9 character being chased down by 6 saber cats and 4 bears who've decided to put their differences aside for the moment just so they can really ruin your day. There was the real danger of running into an ad hoc animal army that could rise up at any time to kill me should I happen to stumble into the wrong place at the wrong time. http://forums.nexusmods.com/public/style_emoticons/dark/tongue.gif

 

Not only did SkyTEST eliminate that ridiculous situation, it went further by implementing significantly more realistic animal behaviours and proper predator/prey relationships. Should someone decide to make a mod that addresses flora growth, we can have a complete ecosystem!

 

 

Texture Pack Combiner

 

The author of the Texture Pack Combiner went through hundreds of textures and performed many hours of comparison testing based on quality, transitioning, blending, distance, realism, errors and VRAM use. In the end he hand picked over 1,300 high quality textures from several popular high definition texture packs, and created a batch file to compile them into a single installation. If you can't decide which high definition texture pack to go with, Texture Pack Combiner is a handy all-in-one solution that provides a good starting point.

 

While deciding which texture is better is always highly subjective matter, I can't fault his choices. There's nothing I've come across so far that's glaring and it's an overall improvement over the default Skyrim texture set.

 

 

Sounds of Skyrim

While most of my immersive mod choices have been visual in nature, visuals aren't everything. Sounds of Skyrim adds new contextual sounds that add variety to the Skyrim soundscape.

 

Unfortunately, Sounds of Skyrim is currently offline due to an odd bug that was causing severe saved game bloat for some users. Hopefully the problems will be solved by the author and the mod will be online again some time soon.

 

Lively Inns and Taverns

 

I realize this is a top 5 list but I feel that Lively Inns and Taverns deserves a mention. Let's face it. The inns and taverns in Skyrim are downright depressing. They're virtually devoid of life, incongruous with their environment (the only inn/tavern in a large town or city and it's virtually empty?) and stocked just with NPCs who're only there to give out quests or drop some information for context. While it's understandable that not too many NPCs are used for technical reasons, it's still immersion breaking. That's why I appreciate mods like Lively Inns and Taverns.

 

Lively Inns and Taverns adds patrons (within reason and in keeping with the story) as well as the sounds of a busy inn/tavern that's more befitting of the setting. The mod author even implements sound occlusion! When you're outside the busy tavern, as you approach, you can hear the muffled sounds of bustling activity inside. When you're inside, go into an adjacent room off of the busy great hall and the crowd noise becomes muffled and quieter. It's a wonderful touch of realism.

 

Granted, the player may not spend a great deal of time in an inn or tavern for the majority of the game. But often times it's the occasional details, the ones that aren't always constantly in your face that can still significantly boost immersion.

Edited July 23, 2012 by gryph72

[StayFrosty05]

 

 

 

Lively Inns and Taverns

 

I realize this is a top 5 list but I feel that Lively Inns and Taverns deserves a mention. Let's face it. The inns and taverns in Skyrim are downright depressing. They're virtually devoid of life, incongruous with their environment (the only inn/tavern in a large town or city and it's virtually empty?) and stocked just with NPCs who're only there to give out quests or drop some information for context. While it's understandable that not too many NPCs are used for technical reasons, it's still immersion breaking. That's why I appreciate mods like Lively Inns and Taverns.

 

Lively Inns and Taverns adds patrons (within reason and in keeping with the story) as well as the sounds of a busy inn/tavern that's more befitting of the setting. The mod author even implements sound occlusion! When you're outside the busy tavern, as you approach, you can hear the muffled sounds of bustling activity inside. When you're inside, go into an adjacent room off of the busy great hall and the crowd noise becomes muffled and quieter. It's a wonderful touch of realism.

 

Granted, the player may not spend a great deal of time in an inn or tavern for the majority of the game. But often times it's the occasional details, the ones that aren't always constantly in your face that can still significantly boost immersion.

 

I have been tracking this particular mod myself....am unable to do much more than track at the moment as I am having some serious issues with my game....(not related to my top choice mods).... but it's a definite download once I'm up and running again.

[Seviraph]

also in no particular order

 

-WATER - Water And Terrain Enhancement Redux by OpticShooter

 

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/13268

 

-SkyTEST - Realistic Animals and Predators by EtaYorius

 

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/10175

 

-Under the Horizon of Dreams - Aetherian Sky by Neokore (dunno if you'd count this as immersive, but I really don't think I can play Skyrim without it after I discovered this)

 

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/1704

 

-Realistic Ragdolls and Force by dDefinder

 

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/601

 

-Elaborate Textiles - NPC Clothing Retexture by Miss Obsidienne

 

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19826

 

just off the top of my head, there's definitely more that I didn't list here though

[JanusForbeare]

WATER: I'm definitely with Seviraph on this one. Has a variety of options for cosmetic improvements to Skyrim's lakes, rivers, and oceans, and (much to my delight) corrects the direction of most of the currents and makes them more powerful. Bridges just became a lot more important. I should note that I've had one or two location-based CTDs with this mod, but they're not common.

 

DICE GAME IN TAVERNS: Unlike most of the previous suggestions, this isn't a cosmetic overhaul, but a new feature available in most inns. Adds some sneaky wood-elves (that's not an offensive stereotype, is it? :laugh: ) who will gamble with the player in an interactive, if simple, dice game. Apart from the much-needed addition of a new mini-game, one of my favourite things about this mod is that it's fully voiced. This mod is far less popular than it deserves to be.

 

TOTAL REALISM - BASIC NEEDS: The name pretty much speaks for itself. Your standard basic needs mod. Well-balanced.

 

FROSTFALL: A hugely popular mod that adds a weather and time-of-day dependent temperature value to the game. Unprotected characters can easily freeze to death, particularly in frigid water. When combined with a basic needs mod, like the one listed above, travelling requires a great deal of planning and forethought.

 

WINTER IS COMING: Nivea's dynamite cloak and hood mod adds a huge variety of new items to the game, with the option to have them pre-made, or craftable. These items use new armour slots, and are even compatible with the aforementioned "Frostfall" mod.

[gryph72]

 

-Realistic Ragdolls and Force by dDefinder

 

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/601

 

+1 on Realistic Ragdolls especially If you're using an archer build. Seeing the target sent flying head over heels 15 feet from where they were standing, all from an arrow shot is fun for the first few times but it gets a bit much.