Topic: Skyrim mods (trying to figure out which ones to use)

[Luna]

I got the appearance mods out of the way, body replacers and all that. But I was wondering if anyone who plays it or has played it, what list of mods you guys might recommend for a really good experience.

[SinXAzgard21]

Mods that enhance the environment.  You can add new gear, some add new places on the map.   It is really up to you, honestly since dragonborn is coming out I'm uninstalling a lot of mods, like gear, custom mounts and so on.

[Sabby]

I'll give you my essentials list :)

Skyrim Redone. It alters pretty much every part of the game in some way, rebalancing and adding new content. It's just a superior game to vanilla, and still feels like a finished Skyrim, not a mod.

Monster Mod/Wars. This is two mods. There are Lore Friendly versions if you don't want out of place monsters, but they add SO many new spawns. Just walking down the road, boom, fire breathing Gargoyle.

Realistic Ragdoll and Forces. This just changes the ragdolls so they don't look inflatable. Looks closer to something out of source engine.

Crimson Tide. Much better blood effects.

Immersive Armors/Weapons. These two can be added to SkyRe. Just adds a whole bunch of Lore Friendly armors and weapons to the leveled lists.

Deadly Combat. This one might be a bit tricky to make work with SkyRe. I don't know how familiar you are with mods, but basically you install SkyRe without it's Combat and AI Modules, then you put the Deadly Combat Module last in the load order. This one is ESSENTIAL. It changes the entire flow of the game, for the better. Fights become tactical and damned fun. An epic level player being jumped and surrounded by 10 low level Bandits can actually die if you don't play smart.

Deadly Dragons. Another with Lore Friendly versions. Just adds some new Dragon types. I've found a few that were actually a solid challenge, like one that sends a fog to blind you and then harasses you with a rain of fireballs.

Duel Wield Parrying. Lets you block with your hands full! I'd suggest getting a gamer mouse for this one, as you need to map a new block button, and I've found a side mouse button works best. So now Battlemages and duel sword users can actually block. Works great with Deadly Combat.

I have more, but they're not nearly as important. All cosmetic things like Proper Length Arrows. Which is still awesome because it makes arrows punch right through the other end of a body.

[Chris Brady]

Personally, I use Crimson Tide, Dance of Death (a Killmoves mod), Realistic Rag Dolls and Force, Clanking Armour (for immersion, anyone in heavy armour now jingles like they should) as my 'mandatory mods'.  The Sounds of Skyrim mods (both dungeon and wilderness) add 'life' to it, but not really necessary.

[Arohk]

I definitely agree with the others on getting graphical and audio enhancements if you can handle them. Another one I recommend just for the fun of it is either Overlook Tower or Leveler's Tower. The second is a little more cheap because you can modify everything with a touch, but the Overlook Tower is actually a player home. It's fun to mess around with. :)

I also recommend the add-on that adds a multitude of spells to the game. Makes spell-slinging fresh and fun!

[Sabby]

Go to http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/. There's a top 25 list, categories and you can sort them by rating if your only after essentials. There's a LOT of useless mods, and the search settings are defaulted to upload date, so set it to Endorsements, Descending.

[Chris Brady]

Actually, Sabby, the ones I use are all on Steam's Workshop.  And those are easier to keep up to date, just subscribe and boom.

And for the record, I'm a melee fan, so I don't have any spell based Mods for my Skyrim.  I apologize.

[SinXAzgard21]

I've had nexus screw my game up and so on, so I also only use the steam workshop.

[Luna]

Just wanted to come back and thank you guys for some great suggestions!

[Sabby]

Great for Battlemages!

Also comes in curvy body variety.

[Chris Brady]

I'm taking off the 'Dance of Death' mod from my list of mandatory melee fighter mods.  The guy changed it so that you need to get two more mods, just so his can work.  I don't care for SkyUI or needing SKSE (which is a beta anyway.)

[ElusiveM00se]

I've always been a minimalist when it comes to mods, but I found one Skyrim mod that I just CANNOT live without.

"No Spiders - 'piderMan 'dition" by FancyPants on the Steam Workshop.

I am an arachnophobe. Just typing that word and thinking about it gives me the willies. It's a huge pain in the rear when it comes to the video games I love, because there are these creatures everywhere... in everything... all the time... with no option to turn it off.


So this mod turns all the creepy crawlies I'm afraid of into giant Spiderman-textured monster. Arguably creepier, but still better for me.

Happy gaming!

[Sabby]

I added a monster mod that changed some of the Frostbite Spiders to Funnel Web Spiders... without me knowing .__. at least the Frostbite Spiders don't look realistic! They're about as close to actual spiders as the Dragons are to actual Iguanas. So here I am sneaking in a cave, round a corner and come face to face with OMFGRUNAHHFUCKFUCKFUCKTHEREISNTENOUGHSTAMINAINTHEWORLDFORTHISAHH

[Shjade]

While I've never used one myself, of the various spider-substitution mods I've seen, my favorite is the one that turns them all into bears.

Ginormous, pouncing, poison-spitting bears.

@Sabby: if this mod (if you're afraid of spiders, don't click that link) is the one you're talking about, Sabby, I dunno...I mean, all it really does is change the colors. Doesn't make them look particularly closer to "real" spiders in terms of the body features.

Though I suppose a black spider is still more startling in a dark cave than a more visible light-brown one like the defaults.

[Love And Submission]

Literally the greatest mod of all time. Not just of skyrim but of any game ever created.


Nothing can top it.


(Skyrim) Macho Dragon Mod

Snap into a slim jim!

[Shjade]

Ah yes, the Macho dragons.

I love the idea of the audio, but that mod makes dragons look so completely hideous. D:

Still, just that long range murmuring at the beginning of the video is hilarious.

[Luna]

I have been avoiding ones that require SkyUI and SKSE as well.

Is Deadly Combat so much better than the SkyRe combat modules? They seem kind of similar from the descriptions.

[Sabby]

Yes, it is. Skyre honestly doesn't change much besides values. But it was a bit of a hassle to install. I don't know the exact way your supposed to do it, but what worked for me was installing SkyRe without it's Combat and Enemy AI Modules, then putting Deadly Combat after anything SkyRe in the load order. Best to start a clean save. Combined with SkyRe, DC is a total game changer. Hell, you can have those two mods by themselves and Skyrim would still be leaps and bounds above vanilla.

Just so everyone's aware, there seems to be a problem with Cloaks of Skyrim. My game is crashing randomly when I turn it on and there doesn't seem to be anything on the mod page. So if you get random freezes/CTD, that'd be the first thing to test.

[Luna]

Cool I will have to check it out, then. I will be starting a clean save anyway... I completely uninstalled and reinstalled everything after deciding not to use the ENB I had installed.