Finally getting around to Skyrim (actually, I planned to wait till it was $10, but someone got it for me), so I’d like to get an idea of the best mods.
Now, on my first run through, I don’t like to make drastic alterations to gameplay. For instance, I wouldn’t want the Oblivion levelling mods type stuff. I want to do one run through with a fairly vanilla gameplay before I mod the hell out of it for the second run through.
But I do want all sorts of little usability and graphical mods. For instance - in Oblivion when you harvested alchemy ingredients from plants, the plant would be visually unchanged, so you’d have to spend time circling around it to make sure you got everything. I got a simple mod that just made the freshly picked plants dissapear, so you could see that you’d harvested the whole thing. I want 2 or 3 dozen little mods like that - little things that just make the game play smoother with no downsides.
So UI mods (oblivion’s default UI was so terrible) would be good, random stuff that makes the game less obscure or punishing, side quests that don’t affect the main quest, graphical mods that make the world look better, better maps, people models better, etc. Stuff that just enhances rather than changes the core gameplay.
I’d suggest zero. Most of the things you’re talking about seem to have been built into the Skyrim engine (herbs and ore deposits change when you harvest them, plenty of sidequests, even side quest chains, that don’t affect the cores, etc.)
I’m at about 1300 hours played and haven’t used a single mod.
I was just using that as a little example of the sort of mods I want, but I’m sure there are a million ways to improve the stock skyrim. You’d need a UI overhaul for one, because console UIs are craptastic. There are all sorts of mods that make the game look better. There are ones that add locations and quests. Ones that fix bugs. Add weapons. Add character custimization. Improve quest directions/text. All sorts of things you can change to enhance rather than change the gameplay.
SkyUI seems to be the favored UI upgrade for Skyrim. Note that it requires the Skyrim Script Extender (aka SKSE) to work. You also have to boot the game up through the SKSE instead of normally; just add a desktop shortcut for it.
I like The Cartographer’s Map Markers, which adds a lot of discoverable fast travel points. So you can arrive right at the inn or shop or little ruins you are traveling to.
If you like Argonians, then I recommend More Argonian colour (color) tints; as the name says, it just adds more colors you can choose for your Argonian at character creation.
One nice little mod I liked was one that would change the name of containers to give you an idea of what was in them. Instead of just Barrel, it would be Produce Barrel, so you’d know it had cabbages or whatnot in it. Saved a lot of time compulsively checking every container in the game, just in case there was something important in it.
You’d think so, but bear in mind that most of the people you’ll be seeing naked are enemies you’ve stripped the armor off of after killing them. Now, if looking at piles of nude, often headless corpses is your cup of tea, I say go for it; otherwise, it’s best avoided.
Oh, there’s mods that apparently make everyone naked or semi-naked all the time, not just dead people. You can find all sorts of fetishistic weirdness if you look; heck, I ran across a mod that gave werewolves large aroused male genitals…um, no thanks, I can live without that.
You can also add a shortcut to Steam, maybe more convenient. Games > Add a non-Steam game.
Ones I use I’d recommend:
SkyUI
Official/Semi-official:
Fall of the Space Core, Vol I - especially if you like Portal
Dawnguard - you can buy this later once you get farther into the MQ
Hearthfire
HiResTexturePack - Get if your computer can run it
Aesthetic/Non game affecting:
Auto Unequip Ammo - basically, quivers only appear if you’re equipped with a ranged weapon
Unlimited Bookshelves - Makes the MUCH larger, but now they fill instead of leaning everywhere
Brand-Shei prison fix - a minor NPC gets permanently imprisoned, even though he’s supposed to be released. This fixes it
Makes things a little less annoying:
House Map Markers - fast travel to houses once you get them
Non sure of the name, but one that levels leveled items. The one I use makes it simple but not imbalanced
Detect Skills Spell - see what skills NPCs have, especially your companions
Stone of Barenziah quest markers - may be considered an exploit, but install if you can’t find all these bastards. IMHO it’s no more cheating than checking the Wikis
One that adjusts the rate of Killmoves may be good, whether you end up loving them or hating them. “Killmove Control” is what I have
Hey I’m sorry but it’s just not Skyrim if every guy isn’t roided out with grossly huge muscles and dicks that swing past the knees, including the wearwolves, and also if every lady isn’t suffering from SEVERE back problems due to her ZZZ sized breasts.
There are a gazillion awesome-sounding skyrim mod, I’m glad to see the modding community is alive and well, because the game is ridiculously better with them. I’d even call the vanilla game incomplete.
I basically just went down the top 50 list at the steam workshop and nexus mods and grabbed around 40% of them. Eventually I decided I’d just have to start playing, or I’d spend all day on mods.
Towns and Villages enhanced - Villages, whiterun, Riften, Solitaude… wejl, just get all of them.
Project Reality Climates of Tamriel
Lanterns of SKyrim - get both
Pure waters
That’s ice
Better dynamic snow
Birds and flocks
Legible road signs (a no brainer)
Sounds of skyrim - get both
Better quest objectives
Wealthy merchants
Dragons diversified (recommend heartily - makes dragons more dangerouns, more unpredictable, much more fun!)
Stones of Brenzia quest markers
As long As I’m sitting here with insomnia, anyone tried any ( or all ) of the various spell book add-ons like Midas, Apocalypse, or Phenderix and have any opinions on which they prefer? I’m thinking of giving a pure mage another try, but I think I’d like to add to the vanilla spell list.
I’m not at my PC, so I can’t check the name, but one I wouldn’t live without is the glowing books mod. It makes books that you have NOT read glow slightly on shelves and tables, so you don’t have to click on every volume in the game in case you’ve forgotten to read it. Sort of along the same line as the visual herb mod the OP was talking about in Oblivion.
I also like some of the magic arrow mods; allowing things like fire and frost effects on arrows (it overpowers archery a bit, but I don’t actually mind that).
Other than that, I was pretty impressed with Skyrim’s basic level of usability compared to previous versions; most of the mods I use add areas/quests to the game (usually in a buggy fashion; it’s apparently hard to get that right) rather than change basic gameplay.
I played a mage with Phendrix mod and some of the spells were rather useless, some were about the same power level as the original spells and some were overpowered. Since I had already finished the game a few times I didn’t feel bad using the imbalanced spells to get through some fights, but YMMV. I actually ended up using the vanilla spells a lot even with the mod, though the mod did give the runes a lot longer range which made those more useful. A few of the added summons were ridiculously good.
Haven’t tried the other spell mods so can’t compare them.
