EPTSince our main thread on Skyrim moves very fast since the release and quite some people stated in there that a solid guide on what mods are out, usefull and awesome would be something they'd like to see, I'm going to make one and keep it updated for the time being.
If you have the feeling that you know a mod that I don't know about and have not integrated yet, feel free to post it in this thread with a source and a short description.
1st rule of modding your game: ALWAYS BACK UP FILES / SAVEGAMES BEFORE YOU MODIFY STUFF
2nd rule of modding your game: Unless it's small stuff like textures, do it one by one to avoid conflicts. If two mods try to modify the same resource your game might crash on startup and you have to find out wtf is going wrong on your own.
(click us)
1. Modding
2. The Purpose of this Guide
3. Known Bugs and Fixes
4. General Graphic Mods
5. Gameplay Modifications
6. UI Modifications
7. Texture Modifications
8. Other Mods
9. Other Modding Guides
1. Modding
Modding and the games itself being modding-friendly has been proven to be an intregral ingredient of what makes The Elder Scrolls Series so popular and playable over huge amounts of time. Modding Bethesda games is rather easy to accomplish since the release of Morrowind (2002) and can range from tweaking small textures, to changes in the UI, integrating new buildings or NPCs and all the way to completely change the game to a completely new experience.
To show you guys some examples in terms of what has been possible in previous TES games, entirely done by the community:
TES: Morrowind 2011 Graphical Project
Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul 1.3
2. The Purpose of this Guide
The TES modding community has a tendency to... let's say "explode" very quickly. As of now, the major modding databases for Skyrim already have 200+ files uploaded. Since the construction kit is not available yet most of these mods are textures and workarounds, but that doesn't mean that there isn't awesome stuff to integrate in your game yet. I won't add small texture mods like armor/face/etc. stuff. If you want a whiter snow fox, cleaner faces or a more baller looking dragon armor, please look for it yourself. That's what the big mod DBs are there for.
Since it is very, very easy to get lost quickly when it comes to all those different mods and tweaks I will try to guide you through the swamps and make your Skyrim experiences as pleasent as possible. Please fasten your seatbelts as I'm trying to give recommendations on what's already out there and how it works.
Note that I (obviously) don't take any responsibility for whatever happens to your game or computer if you use any of what I'm suggesting. Also note that I'm not providing official support for any of those mods. Please always check the original sources for updates and discussions as I might not be able to keep up with this soon enough.
MAKE SURE TO BACKUP FILES BEFORE YOU OVERWRITE THEM, JUST IN CASE.
I'm trying to avoid any and all spoilers, however it might happen that you get to know the name of certain quests or see some parts of the game you haven't seen yet. Shouldn't be anything major though.
3. Known Bugs and Fixes
Questname: Esbern Quest (anyone got the real name of the quest?)
Problem: At one point the player will be asked to rescue a person named Esbern from the Ratways. However, his voice is bugged and you won't be able to hear him.
Fix: This fixes it nicely.
Questname: Waking Nightmare
Problem: When you follow Erandur up the mountain into the night caller temple he goes inside and when you follow him he isn't there.
Fix: Afaik there is no "official" fix out there yet, however what worked for me was talking to him after his little speech at the temple and when he has his weapon drawn. Then I waited for a few seconds and entered and suddenly he was there. Yay!
4. General Graphic Mods
Modname: FXAA Post Process Injector
Source: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=131
Author: some_dude
What it does: This allows you to access the FXAA settings for the game. FXAA is usually known to be a quick way to access a lot of features like bloom, sharpen, technicolor, sepia, tonemap, vignette, and more. Each of those features can be edited via a .txt file and applied instantly just by saving the .txt and pressing the PAUSE key on the keyboard, very conveniant.
Comment: While this is the original version of the injector, personally I'm using a slightly different version with different settings. While the file that manages all the post processing is easy to edit and access, some of it's features are quite tricky to get right. The mod I'm using personally is right below.
Modname: rendermax fine-tuning FX
Source: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=174
Author: rendermax
What it does: Same as above, making the FXAA values accessible and sets a solid preset.
Comment: I really loved his settings a lot more than the original ones. More realistic, more crisp and it gets rid of the games inherent green stitch. Yes, it has one. Trust me. Personally I set float Sharpen to 0.10 to remove the "grainy" look and I set VignetteRadius/Amount to 0.90 and -0.10 to reduce the darkened corners. Heres how the difference looks for me (open in new window to compare properly)
(don't ask me why the second image is resized, but you get the idea, I hope.
+ Show Spoiler +
Before:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Xy00S.jpg)
After:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/0STB4.jpg)
After:
Modname: Fix Shadows
Source: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=148
Author: Ray
What it does: Not a true "mod", but rather a .ini tweak to improve all the "blocky" shadows you can currently see, even on ultra settings. This should also incrase FPS drasticly if you run similar 4xxx numers. Just try it out.
Comment: Awesome fix. Make sure to half all the 4096 numbers if you get FPS issues from this one.
Modname: Large Address Aware
Source: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=202
Author: FordGT90Concept
What it does: This allows Skyrim to use up more than 2GB of memory, this will increase stability of Skyrim and performance by increasing the amount that can be loaded into memory at any one time.
Comment: Helped to fight those persisting 5s loading lags for me.
5. Gameplay Modifications
Modname: Fuzzys Realism Mod
Source: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=235
Author: Fuzzysecurity
What it does: FRM is a realism mod designed to make the game more immerse, challenging, and more realistic.
Comment: This is the one for the hardcore Morrowind fans. Gives you the ability to remove stuff like Quest Tracking, Compass and HUD. Updates planned for when the mod kit is released (e.g. no fast travel)
Modname: Map in full 3D
Source: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=145
Author: Mikanoshi
What it does: This mod changes camera controls in ingame map view so it becomes possible to zoom in almost to the ground.
Comment: Awesome feature, especially to find routes to objectives without ending up on the wrong side of the mountain. =D
Modname: Lockpick Pro
Source: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=219
Author: Kenney
What it does: This mod adds a bar at the top of the screen while picking a lock which shows you the 'sweet spot' of the lock. It also shows the health of the current lockpick.
Comment: I'm not using this since I consider it cheap and I have no trouble with locks, but for those who are simply pissed about them this should help.
6. UI Modifications
Modname: Display time on loading screen
Source: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=98
Author: Kenney
What it does: Your boss is already complaining that you show up late? Your kids are crying 'cause you forget to pick them up from school? No more!
Comment: To everyone who gets immersed too much, this is simple and should help out.
7. Texture Modifications
Modname: Enhanced Blood Textures
Source: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=60
Author: dDefinder
What it does: Exactly what the name says. Looks way cooler imo.
Comment: BLOOD!!
Modname: Glowing Ore Veins 300
Source: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=193
Author: Baratan
What it does: Are you missing like half the ore because you never recognize it's there?
Comment: I didn't think it's usefull. Installed it and realized how many ore veins there really are. FML.
Modname: Enhanced Night Skyrim
Source: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=85
Author: CptJoker
What it does: More stars, brigthers stars - just like it should lo
Comment: If you have ever been out in the wild far from cities and miss the thousands of stars you see there in Skyrim.. here you go.
Modname: better interior__ retex-beta
Source: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=238
Author: quazaque
What it does: "Too many times we have to interact with wooden shelves/tables/chairs etc. - I realized to make retex for those things cause vanilla ones are disguisting."
Comment: Simple yet awesome fix for the small interior stuff.
Modname: Beautiful Skyrim
Source: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=120
Author: Masterdaz
What it does: "Photo-realistic retex Collection to make Skyrim a more beautiful place. Working through the textures one folder at a time."
Comment: Awesome project, so far he's been updating it frequently.
Modname: Vurts Skyrim Flora Overhaul
Source: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=141
Author: vurt
What it does: Right now, treeeees! They look way cooler this way imo, you can select from a few different versions, too.
Comment: I use "Subtle Green" and recommend bark 1 or 2, but check them for yourself. Installation is a bit effy atm, I just installed the first version, overwrote stuff and overwrote/deleted for the bark textures.
8. Other
Modname: Perk Planner
Source: http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=159
Author: Shiloh
What it does: A simple spreadsheet to plan out your levels/perks and all that stuff. For all the mathcraft nerds.
Comment:
9. Other Modding Guides
Here I'll list other solid Modding Guides I'm coming across. A lot of the stuff will be similar to what I showed you here, but maybe you find some other worthy mod for your game.
http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/11/14/the-10-best-skyrim-mods-so-far/
Version History
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15-11-11 - Creation
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![[image loading]](http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/images/120-1-1321312983.jpg)
