SA Forums Skyrim Modding Thread (Page 2)

[img]http://i.imgur.com/VGWfYw6.png[/img]

The old thread's sections on Weapons, Armor, and Other In-Game items have been condensed into one section. It's entitled [i]Loot[/i] because, let's face it, that's what it is! The nice thing about these mods is that they are typically pretty easy to merge and save space in your load order. [i]Note: There are several popular mods that could go in this section - [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1002]Jaysus Swords[/url], [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/16438]Bandoliers[/url], [url=www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12092]Cloaks of Skyrim[/url], and [url=www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/13486]Winter is Coming[/url] - that have been omitted because they've been integrated into Complete Crafting Overhaul Remade, and you really should use that.[/i]

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19733/?]Immersive Armors[/url]:[/b] Really, the end-all-be-all of armor mods, almost all the decent armors have made it into this mod. Completely configurable with the MCM.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23530/?]Aetherium Armor and Weapons Compilation[/url]:[/b] Three words: Dwarven. Power. Armor. Great little mod, uses the Aetherium Forge from the Lost to the Ages quest. (Before you start bitching, [url=http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Chimarvamidium]yeah it's lore-friendly[/url].)

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50339/?]Morrowind Armor - Netch Leather[/url]:[/b] Very nicely done Netch leather armor. If you use this with Ashlander Apparel's "The Ashy Spellsword" plugin, load The Ashy Spellsword after this mod, as both try to edit Teldryn Sero.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/41466/?]Bonemold Expanded[/url]:[/b] Adds back in a bunch of Bonemold armor types that were in Morrowind, as well as adding in the [i]Gondolier Hat[/i] from Morrowind! Sold.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/26720/?]Ordinator Armor[/url]:[/b] Actually a port of an Oblivion armor mod, but still, Ordinator armor rules.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/75318/?]Wizard Hats[/url]:[/b] "Turn Skyrim's boring old mage hoods into something objectively better." -[url=https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3787350&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=5#post463578305]Simsmagic[/url]

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50459/?]Warmonger Armory[/url]:[/b] Another decent lore-friendly armor compilation, hasn't been updated in a while but still good.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/27644/?]Immersive Weapons[/url]:[/b] Probably the most popular weapons compilation, though not as good as Immersive Armors. I mention that it's the most popular because it consequently has the most compatibility patches.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/3871/?]Weapons of the Third Era[/url]:[/b] Adds a bunch of Morrowind and Oblivion style weapons.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/21120/?]Heavy Armory - New Weapons[/url]:[/b] Adds a lot of nice new weapons.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/44179/?]Lore Weapon Expansion[/url]:[/b] Adds some new weapons, with a focus on remaining lore friendly.

[i]Note: There is quite a bit of overlap among the above four weapons mods. It might be good to pick one and stick with it unless you are into resolving compatibility issues in TES5Edit (which you will be (modding is the game)).[/i]

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/71031/?]Billyroo's swords compilation[/url]:[/b] A collection of some fine-lookin' swords and other weapons.

[b]InsanitySorrow's swords, [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51544/?]the Thegn[/url], [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51417/?]the Stamford[/url], and [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/36416/?]the Bastard[/url]:[/b] The first two are Viking-themed, the last is a bastard sword. What were you expecting?

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/16751/?]The Loners Sword[/url]:[/b] Sort of a sword and quest mod, as there's a bit of a process to collecting it.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/32706/?]Brigandage[/url]:[/b] A set of armors for theify-roguish types. It can add its armors to the bandit leveled lists, giving Skyrim's bandits a lot more variety in appearance.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51813/?]Common Clothes[/url]:[/b] Enhances the look of ordinary plain clothes for ordinary, plain, Talos-fearin' folk.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/35094/?]Aesir Armor[/url]:[/b] Another kind of a quest mod, this armor set boasts of enough flexibility for any playstyle, consisting of 80 objects that can be combined into armor pieces.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/6524/?]Craftable Thalmor Equipment - Standalone Version[/url]:[/b] Adds in "dark" elven equipment used by the [s]Nazis[/s] Thalmor.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/16474/?]Deadly Dragons Armor[/url]y:[/b] Agents says that this is probably the most oldschool mod that he still regularly uses. It adds new weapons, armor, soul gems, and alchemy ingredients. Even though the equipment consists almost entirely of retextures, he still really likes this mod and some of the retextures. Companion to Deadly Dragons (See [i]Friends and Foes[/i] below.)

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/64440/]Real Bows[/url]:[/b] Replaces the vanilla bows with ones that are more physically probable and look really sharp, the modder sounds like he might actually be a bowyer.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/43517/?]An NPO Module - Crossbows[/url]:[/b] Adds in new crossbow types for each material.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/58704/?]Faction Crossbows[/url]:[/b] Adds in new crossbow types for various factions in the game, such as the Legion and the Dark Brotherhood. Could be considered a ~lore friendly~ alternative to the above.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/33177/?]Chitin Goggles[/url][/b] and [b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/13133/?]Dwemer Goggles and Scouter[/url]:[/b] The first is nice and lore friendly but is mostly cosmetic, the latter actually has some functions. Ignore the message from LOOT to remove Chitin goggles because it's included in Wet and Cold, because Wet and Cold doesn't include [i]craftable[/i] ones.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/64069/?]Craftable Horse Barding[/url]:[/b] All the fun of the Horse Armor DLC... ok, not the best description starter. Adds completely decorative horse armor to the crafting recipes and leveled lists.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/73449/?]Craftable Hearthfire Planters[/url]:[/b] Allows you to pursue your dream of turning Skyrim into a giant greenhouse. Requires Chesko's Campfire.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/57120]Book Covers Skyrim - Lost Library[/url]:[/b] A companion to Book Covers Skyrim (see the [i]Audiovisual Mods[/i] below), Lost Library adds in a large number of lore books from previous games and online sources.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/17836]Be a Milk Drinker[/url]:[/b] Adds purchaseable milk and craftable flavoured milk bottles to the game. Good for a survival game or Khajiit. One issue with it is that it adds some milk barrels to vanilla houses which might be out of place if you have any overhauls of those installed.

[b]Morrowloot:[/b] Hoo-boy, you may notice that the title of this entry isn't a link. That's because there's a number of versions of Morrowloot to choose from. The general idea of Morrowloot is removing the [s]fun[/s] leveled loot and replacing it with more thoughtful hand-placed loot in the vein of Morrowind. There's [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/44212]Morrowloot[/url], [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19416]Morrowloot: N'Wah Edition[/url], [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50740]Morrowloot: 4th Edition[/url], and [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/66105]Morrowloot: Ultimate[/url]. 4th Edition or N'Wah editions seem to be most compatible. Additionally, there's [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/76753/?]Morrowloot Ultimate Simplified[/url] which removes the stuff not related to weapons and armor (like level scaling, alchemy, and uncapper inis). Agents personally uses a butched version of original Morrowloot that removes the leveled list and crafting changes while keeping the hand-placed loot. I don't use it, though, and don't have any opinion on it!

[img]http://i.imgur.com/Dm5tlVB.png[/img]

Need new followers? Need new enemies? Look no further than this, the [i]Friends and Foes[/i] section! These mods all add new NPCs and creatures to the game or give new options for dealing with NPCs, be they people to help or people to kill.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/40960/?]Inigo[/url]:[/b] Goon Eric the Mauve [url=https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3567959&pagenumber=457&perpage=40#post460386456]says[/url] this is "the best custom follower hands down if you're looking for a follower that frequently interacts with you in a way that feels natural. A lot of his comments are genuinely pretty funny, and he slowly opens up to you over time in a way that doesn't feel nearly as hamhanded as Arissa or as sappy as Vilja. He's also built to be sneak friendly... The only downside is if you don't want your follower to actually be an active part of your world, but if that's the case I don't imagine you'd be installing custom follower mods anyway :v: Or if you don't like cat-men I guess."

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24666/?]Hoth[/url]:[/b] Cool-looking bounty hunter guy, made by the same author as Immersive Armors.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/44557/?]Brhuce Hammar - Legacy[/url]:[/b] TrainWiz's quest-and-follower mod. It uh, might have to be seen to be believed.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/8429/?]Interesting NPCs[/url]:[/b] A mix of some good and some bad things, but overall very ambitious, adding over 250 voiced NPCs and over 50 quests related to them.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/53129/?]The B-Team[/url]:[/b] Fleshes out some of the less well known named NPCs into followers.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52871/?]Sokco's Guild Starter[/url]:[/b] Allows you to create your own faction and invite NPCs to join it and wreak havoc/do good deeds/more or less fuck up constantly throughout Skyrim, as you please.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/18045/?]My Home Is Your Home[/url]:[/b] Allows you to assign followers to homes. We have never been closer to turning Skyrim into The Sims: High Fantasy. It's a glorious time to be alive.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/58613/?]Extra Encounters Reborn[/url]: [/b]Adds more stuff to randomly come across in the game.

[b]Extended Encounters:[/b] Same as the above, but now missing from the usual places.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/27866/?]High Level Enemies[/url]:[/b] Adds new higher level variants of Skyrim's enemy types to keep the difficulty scaling.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24913/?]Skyrim Immersive Creatures[/url]:[/b] Adds a ton of new creatures to the game, whether they are really "immersive" will have to be a personal judgement call.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/35631]Skyrim Monster Mod[/url]:[/b] SkyMoMod is rather outdated, and I only list it for completeness sake and to mention that it doesn't require the DLC.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/40491/?]Revenge Of the Enemies[/url]:[/b] Changes up the enemy AI to have more variety, intelligence, and surprise.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/38633]Dwarven Mechanical Dragons - Guardians of Kagrenzel Edition[/url]:[/b] Especially since the latest version of Deadly Dragons removed them, this version of DMD makes them memorable encounters, since they only appear in a few select locations, and are very tough.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/63022]Dwemer Spectres[/url]:[/b] This is an updated version of TrainWiz's original mod, and is better than the versions included with Skyrim Immersive Creatures. You can use this with SiC, just disable the SiC Spectres in the MCM. This includes named "Boss Spectres" in certain locations which have neat, unique loot.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/EUbSqzI.png[/img]

Places to keep your shit while you're out killing folks to make their shit your shit, [i]Player Homes[/i] can be a lot more than just buildings. Some include one or more quests.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/3231858/?tb=mods&pUp=1]Elianora[/url][/b] is a mod author with a variety of player home mods.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/76382/?]The Haven From The Cold And Dark[/url]:[/b] As the title suggests, a home with a lush green environment, which is located on an island far from Skyrim to preserve ~thy immersion~ It's set in its own little worldspace and has a few other locations to check out.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/63559/?]Haafinheim[/url]:[/b] This mod was an entrant, and first place winner, in the Reddit house mod contest. Includes a quest to take possession of the house and explain its current state before you fix it up.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/77809/?]Clockwork[/url]:[/b] By goon Antistar, it's more than just a house mod. It includes a quest to claim the place, side quests, and two dungeons. Rave reviews in the old thread.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50115]Fyr Manor[/url][/b] and [b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/75101]Agent's Fyr Manor Fixes[/url]:[/b] TrainWiz crazy clockwork city house, what Agents likes about this house is that while it's a fully featured house, you can't use all the features until you find the modules to unlock them, which are all hidden over Skyrim and Solstheim. Agents fixes makes several of the features work as advertised.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/71081]Rayek's End Revisited (Mazz's End)[/url]:[/b] Remake of a popular house mod by a Goon.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/35305/]Your Market Stall[/url]:[/b] Not so much a house, lets you craft a portable market stall that you can set up anywhere and place items for sale, and you sit at the chair to open shop. Good for moving stolen goods and of course ~immersion~

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/29249/]Hearthfire Multiple Adoptions[/url]:[/b] While not a house in and of itself, this lets you adopt up to six children and move your family to mod houses which support it, which is a lot of them.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52583]Jaxsonz Positioner[/url]:[/b] Also not a house in and of itself, this mod lets you reposition, remove, and add stuff to the game world and is useful for playing dollhouse with your player homes.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/4xDVZaP.png[/img]

These are mods that add new [i]Quests[/i], but also new lands and locations. For more of this type of thing, see the above section.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/53350/?]World-Eater Beater[/url]:[/b] This mod overhauls the final battle with Alduin to be an epic, five-stage affair. A TrainWiz creation, with all that entails.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52397/?]Moon and Star[/url]:[/b] Agents said this was good but short. To be honest, I have it on my list because I like the weird Dunmer refugee town it puts floating on rafts out in a lake. Maybe I will even do the quest someday when I actually play Skyr- ahahahaha. :smith:

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/41852/?]Aurora Village[/url]:[/b] Adds a little town to the lake by Falkreath. A neat little uncomplicated addition. Works well with the above with a patch.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/37994]Falskaar, by Alexander J. Velicky[/url]:[/b] Alexander J. Velicky's mod, Falskaar by Alexander J. Velicky, is a pretty massive mod. In Falskaar by Alexander J. Velicky, Alexander J. Velicky has added a massive new island, and Falskaar by Alexander J. Velicky apparently took Alexander J. Velicky 18 months of solo work to complete, and apparently got Alexander J. Velicky hired at Bungie. Falskaar by Alexander J. Velicky is a very technically adept mod, but with all due respect to Alexander J. Velicky, Agents found Falskaar by Alexander J. Velicky to be rather boring, to the point that he has started it several times but has yet to finish it. (Alexander J. Velicky)

OK, dropping kayfabe, this is a technically impressive mod that's actually kinda dull but has a lot of hype backing it uAlexander J. VelickyAlexander J. VelickyAlexander J. VelickyAlexander J. VelickyAlexander J. Velicky

[b]Wyrmstooth:[/b] A new-lands DLC-sized mod, the author has disappeared himself and all his works from the Internet so you'll have to find this on your own.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/56037]Dwemertech[/url] [/b]and [b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/53780]Spectraverse[/url]:[/b] I wasn't sure whether to put these in Quests or in Magic mods, because they're both. Dwemertech focuses on spells that use Dwemer technology to function, and Spectraverse has two sets of spells: Light and Dark. Both are lore friendly and have quests to gain new spells and abilities. Agents loves these mods. There are also non-quest version that just add the spells if you're a total fucking choade.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/41754]Aethernautics- A Space Travel Mod[/url]:[/b] This is TrainWiz's first Skyrim mod, and while it's kind of rough around the edges, it makes up for it by being awesome. Explore an abandoned dwemer launch facility and spaceship, then launch it and make it your home. Call down orbital strikes. Explore an abandoned Reman-Era moon colony. Yes, this is lore friendly.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/36317]The Lost Wonders of Mzark[/url]:[/b] Explore an ancient Dwemer weapons factory and shut it down before it threatens all of Skyrim.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/32458]Konahriks Accoutrements[/url]:[/b] Adds a new dungeon and quest, and adds wearable sets of Dragon Priest equipment that compliment the enchantments of the Masks.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/9782]Moonpath to Elsweyr[/url]:[/b] One of the first major Skyrim quest mods, it's not bad. It's got decent voice acting and nicely designed locations. The flow reminds me more of a BioWare game, with a central hub area and sub-areas reached by fast travel, rather than the Bethesda open-world style. Integrated into Legacy of the Dragonborn.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/479982]Spellmaking in Skyrim - The Last Altar[/url]:[/b] Actually a very nice quest attached to this mod, which extends the College of Winterhold questline, but the Spellmaking doesn't work with SPERG. At all, because this mod uses certain spells as markers for "player knows this effect for spellmaking" and SPERG adds new versions of every spell, so you can get to the spellmaking altar and climactic battle of the mod and be unable to make any spells. Author promised a compatibility patches years ago and then disappeared from the internet forever.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/58672]The Wheels of Lull[/url]:[/b] This is TrainWiz's Skyrim Magnum Opus - A huge mod with some amazing locations and voice work. Explore mountain abbeys overtaken by a mad Thalmor mage, the bottom of the ocean, areas of the clockwork city from Morrowind, and the foundations of reality itself. Meet Brhuce Hammar's dad. A few rough edges, but an amazing mod. This mod also is a sequel to every other Elder Scrolls mod Trainwiz has done, from Sotha Sil Expanded, to Brhuce Hammar Legacy.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/SwdMN3G.png[/img]

Okay, the section all you folks have been waiting for, how to make your game look purdy! Audiovisual mods change the look and feel of Skyrim in sometimes subtle and sometimes drastic ways. To start off, I'm just going to include a link to [url=https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3567959&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=1#post418982994]the old thread's post on modding visuals[/url], since a lot of it is relevant.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51467/?]Skyrim Mod Combiner[/url]:[/b] The SMC is a tool that lets you select and mix and match a whole bunch of visual mods and combine them in ways that produce an aesthetically pleasing whole. This will require you to go to mod pages and download stuff manually, but once you do, it blends all the files together into a new customized mod. Time consuming, maybe worth it.

[b][url="http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/45807/?"]Noble Skyrim HD[/url]:[/b] Quoting goon Siets: "Noble Skyrim replaces basically 97% of what is in the game with gorgeous, aesthetically-unified textures. Check out its Mod Features section. No more faffing about with 'rocking stones' this and 'aMidianBorn caves' that and however many other texture files you used to need to download." Almost certainly a hell of a lot more convenient than the SMC but if everything's not to your taste, you're SOL.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/9080/]Bethesda High-Res DLC Optimized[/url]:[/b] The HRDLC is poorly optimized. Have this load after the HRDLC and the Unofficial HR DLC patch.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/13049/]Imaginator[/url][/b] and [b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12525/]Dynavision[/url]:[/b] These two lightweight mods let you tinker with the appearance of Skyrim in an ENB-ish way with an absolutely tiny performance hit, since they use Skyrim's engine features rather than being shitty bolt-on code. Imaginator handles things like Saturation, Bloom, and contrast while Dynavision is all about Depth of Field.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/8655/?]Static Mesh Improvement Mod[/url]:[/b] This mod improves the appearance of tons of little and not-so-little objects in the world.

[b]Xenius Character Enhancement:[/b] Basically a "vanilla, but better" approach to making NPCs look better in Skyrim, just upgrades a bunch of character textures and models without requiring compatibility patches and such. Textures such as Skin and Eyes are upgraded without everyone looking like anime supermodels. We apologize to anyone who was hoping to get advice on how to make everyone look like anime supermodels. (Has vanished from the Nexus, so you must look ~elsewhere~)

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24909/?]aMidianBorn Book of Silence[/url]:[/b] Perhaps the "definitive" nicer-looking-stuff-in-Skyrim mod, along with [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/571605/?tb=mods&pUp=1]CaBaL120[/url]'s other mods. Seriously, this shit's pretty. There's also [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/29167/?]a version for Immersive Armors[/url].

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/42360/?]Bethesda Performance Textures - Armor - Clothes - Weapons[/url][/b], [b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/43921/?]Bethesda Performance Textures - Animals and Creatures[/url][/b], and [b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/5712421/?tb=mods&pUp=1]other mods by the same author[/url]:[/b] Even though it technically shouldn't be happening, aMidianBorn causes an unacceptable framerate loss on my shitty PC. These mods makes things prettier than the base game and don't have the hit. They're at least a worthy alternative, imo.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/15927]Improved Closefaced Helmets[/url]:[/b] Makes closed helms fit beast races better, and lets you actually see peoples' eyes in the eyeholes. Requires a good amount of compatibility patching.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19826]Elaborate Textiles[/url][/b] and [b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/32151]Ashland Apparel[/url]:[/b] Elaborite Textiles makes the vanilla clothes in Skyrim look much more interesting and varied, while Ashland apparel really makes the clothing and armor added by Dragonborn look sharp as hell.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/48160/?]Practical Female Armors[/url]:[/b] Look, this might be a personal thing, but I think armor designed around emphasizing tits is dumb. as. ffffuuuucck. Don't agree? Don't use this mod! There is [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/68075/?]an "expansion" mod for this[/url] that's compatible with Immersive Armors, but you need both. Also there's a [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/72349/]Book of Silence Patch[/url].

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/53071/?]EASIER LOCKPICKING - Without Cheating - Nordic Retexture[/url]:[/b] Called "easier" solely because this adds scratches to the sides of keyholes on the lockpicking screen, giving a better visual reference for where you picks broke.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/27095]Dragon Glyphs HD - Fixed[/url]:[/b] Makes Draconic Runes look much less pixelated everywhere.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/35399]Book Covers Skyrim[/url]:[/b] Gives every book in Skyrim an individualized cover with the title and everything. Integrated into Legacy of the Dragonborn, so if you're using that you don't need this.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/56614/?]Enchanted Arsenal[/url]:[/b] Provides a [i]ton[/i] of cool graphical effects for enchanted weapons.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/41076/?]Realistic Water Two[/url]:[/b] What I use to make water effects look good. Other options are [b]W.A.T.E.R.[/b] (which is no longer up on Nexus) and [b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1111/?]Pure Waters[/url][/b].

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/1047732/?tb=mods&pUp=1]ramccoid[/url][/b] has mods for lots and lots of graphics replacers for little things you might otherwise not think about: droplets, mist, oil slicks, etc.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/27043/?]Enhanced Lights and FX[/url]:[/b] There are many lighting mods, but this is the one I use for interiors. The way it works is mostly by removing a ton of ambient lighting and adding new light sources (I think?). Personally I just think this makes interiors look better, more natural, and dungeons scary af. Another option is [b][url="http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/30450/?"]Realistic Lighting Overhaul[/url][/b].

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/65242/?]Purity[/url] or [url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/17802/?]Climates of Tamriel[/url]:[/b] These both fall under the heading of "weather mods," which are not audiovisual in the way others on this list are, but are pretty much about changing the audiovisual experience of the game. The former is simpler, and therefore easier to set up, because it revamps the weather that exists in the game CoT adds new weather systems, and so has the potential for more interesting effects but requires a lot more care to implement in terms of compatibility.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/63478/?]True Storms[/url]: [/b]This little mod aims to make the rainstorms that roll through Skyrim into impressive and ominous events. Primarily it's a fix/improvement on the vanilla thunder sound effects. The mod page has videos of how this plays out in game, and it's pretty bombastic.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/43773/?]Audio Overhaul for Skyrim[/url]:[/b] Alters the volume and reverb of the in-game sounds in a way that's difficult to describe but very satisfying in action.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/54387/?]Immersive Sounds - Compendium[/url]:[/b] If nothing else, it adds a lot more variety to the available sounds in game.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/13286/?]Personalized Music[/url]:[/b] Just what it says. This mod takes quite a bit of setup, but once it's done it's nice to have your own soundtrack for the game (Rammstein makes excellent combat music!) Warning: Don't use the optional College of Winterhold plugin, because it causes crashes on saving when in the area of Winterhold.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24805/?]Better Animal Footsteps[/url]:[/b] Generally lowers or raises the volume of animal footsteps to be less jarring or [i]more[/i] jarring, as needed.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/35286/?]Dragons Shout with Voice[/url]:[/b] Supposedly, dragon's breath in Skyrim is a matter of words of power creating effects, which is why "shouting" works the way it does. Now, actual dragons' breath attacks will sound like the "deadly verbal debate" they're supposed to.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/57408/?]HDT Equipment[/url][/b] and [b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/59700/?]Capes with HDT physics[/url]:[/b] I think these are still a little too experimental, but they still look all kinds of impressive in action: equipment will jostle around on your character's body as you move using the in-game physics engine.

And now for a word on [b]actually using ENB as a graphics enhancement system[/b], as intended:

[quote="Siets" post="463473350"]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/WYJUExd.gif[/img]

[timg]http://i.imgur.com/ft5ZsXR.jpg[/timg]
[sub][sub]Because deep down... You [i]know[/i] you want to recreate Tormund Giantsbane in the most stunning and gloriest of detail.[/sub][/sub]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/pgQvX83.gif[/img]

[b][url=http://enbdev.com/download_mod_tesskyrim.html]ENB Binary Download Files[/url][/b]

[b][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxl59pFXhTU&list=PLE7DlYarj-De1YrWupbcesibJIRZkMVB8]Gopher's Guide to Skyrim ENB Mods[/url][/b]

[b][url=http://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:ENB]ENB S.T.E.P. Wiki[/url][/b]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/O3J1lFd.gif[/img]

[b]Why should I install an ENB?[/b]
Because this is how you turn Skyrim up to 11 and/or impress other members of your gender-preferred sex.

[b]In one sentence, what does an ENB technically do to the game?[/b]
It is a .dll file that inserts itself between the game's code and the final rendering engine in order to significantly alter the game's lighting effects, thereby producing dramatic and spectacular visual enhancements [i]when tuned appropriately.[/i]

[b]Why are there so many different ENBs?[/b]
I dunno. Why are there so many anime hair mods for a game that is supposed to be about vikings? I suppose everybody has their preferences.

In reality, that "when tuned appropriately" statement is the key phrasing from the technical description and is why there is such a variety of them out there. Every ENB mod author has their own aesthetic goals in mind when they set out to develop an ENB mod. Think of the "ENB .dlls/binaries" that Boris's site provides as the canvas and paint, and the "ENB mods" made by the various mod authors out there as them taking those materials and producing a finished painting. Some try for realism, others try for impressionism. Depending on what kind of Skyrim playthrough you are going for, you can have everything from gritty Game of Thrones naturalism up to colorful World of Warcraft high fancy. It all depends which ENB mod you decide to go with.

[b]What does ENB stand for?[/b]
"Everyone Needs Boris"
"Enhanced Natural Bloom"
"Extra Nefarious Bitcoins"

Take your pick! Near as I can tell, nobody actually knows.

[b]How bad is the framerate hit and is it [i]really[/i] worth the visual quality upgrade? :raise:[/b]

[timg]http://i.imgur.com/L7lDPlZ.jpg[/timg]
[sub][sub]I tend to think so![/sub][/sub]

This varies [i]greatly[/i] between ENBs, in-game location rendering demands, and hardware configurations. Some ENBs are designed to be performance friendly and only result in a 5-10 FPS hit in the most demanding of circumstances. Other ENBs are basically designed for screenshot archery only and murderize your FPS by 20, 30, or more before ultimately melting the solder on your video card.

[i]Do not let those numbers scare you away.[/i] You really do owe it to yourself to at least try a few of the popular ENBs out before deciding they aren't for you. Even several years old hardware configuration rigs may surprise you depending on the ENB. My old nVidia GTX 770 rig was able to run several popular ENBs with only a 3 to 5 FPS loss in most situations and still get incredible results. When testing out ENBs, pressing Shift + F12 will instantly turn the ENB effects on and off so that you can instantly gauge what the impact is on your configuration and decide if it is worth using.

Here's what I achieved at a nice, stable, 60 FPS on my old GTX 770:
[timg]http://i.imgur.com/JigBV3j.jpg[/timg]
[sub][sub]Not bad right?[/sub][/sub]

It must be stressed that you really do need to try out a few ENBs at the beginning of your game before committing to a full playthrough. [i]Learn from my mistakes![/i] I am currently running RealVision ENB on a system with an nVidia GTX 1080 and occasionally see my FPS dip into the 30's and 40's :barf: when strolling through Solitude or Riften (although, to be fair, most everywhere else I do still enjoy a stable 60.) I plan to switch to Natural Lighting and Atmospherics ENB for my next playthrough, which I hear from the thread and other modders is [i]much[/i] kinder on the performance and does not force ten thousand SSAO rendering passes on the card before offering up a single frame to my monitor. Fingers crossed!

[b]How do I get an FPS counter in Skyrim without spending money on Fraps?[/b]
Steam does this natively with any game. Make sure the Steam Overlay is enabled, then in-game invoke the Steam Overlay, click on Settings at the bottom, go to the In-Game tab, and then choose your desired FPS counter position via the drop-down menu. Voila!

[img]http://i.imgur.com/XDnSitl.png[/img]

[b]How much work is it to install an ENB?[/b]
Honestly if you follow this guide, it really should only take you 5 to 10 minutes to get one of the mainstream ENBs up and running and decide if it's something for you. Really all you are doing is manually dropping a few files in your Skyrim installation folder, and then installing the rest of the mod normally with your mod manager of choice. [spoiler]*cough* Mod Organizer *cough*[/spoiler] This is where 90% of folks can safely call it a day with their ENB setup.

Where ENBs can get time consuming is if you start delving into the documentation of each rendering effect, of which there are many that can be tweaked to your preference. Sometimes you do this because you feel like tinkering and squeezing out a few more FPS, and sometimes the pig just needs more lipstick. ;-*

[b]Alright, you've convinced me, let's give this ENB thing a whirl. Can I get a quick tl;dr version on how to install one of these?[/b]
Oh good. You've seen the light. :pray:

[timg]http://i.imgur.com/ImM4y6l.jpg[/timg]
[sub][sub]Then let us begin...[/sub][/sub]
[list]
[*]Peruse some ENB screenshots and get a feel for what you want. Everyone's favorite Skyrim modding tutor Gopher [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxl59pFXhTU&list=PLE7DlYarj-De1YrWupbcesibJIRZkMVB8"]has a great YouTube series showcasing various ENBs.[/url]
[*]Strongly consider going with Natural Lighting and Atmospherics ENB anyway.
[*]Finally decide on an ENB.
[*]Download the [i]specific[/i] ENB binary file version required by your ENB mod of choice from the [url="http://enbdev.com/download_mod_tesskyrim.html"]Skyrim ENB development page.[/url]
[*]Extract the enbseries zip file you just downloaded, go into the "WrapperVersion" folder, then copy everything inside to "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Skyrim".
[*]Keep a backup of those "WrapperVersion" files that you just copied somewhere else on your computer so that you can reference what files and folders you just manually installed to the Skyrim directory later (in the event that you want to remove or change your ENB.)
[*]Read through your ENB mod's installation instructions on Nexus. Usually there will be a few extra steps that are unique to each ENB mod, such as editing a few .ini file lines or disabling certain graphics settings for tesv.exe in your graphics card driver software.
[*]Some ENBs request that you install "enbhelper.dll" to your "enbseries" folder. You can download and extract that file from a zipped archive from the [url="http://www.dev-c.com/skyrim/enbhelper"]Skyrim ENB Helper development site.[/url]
[*]From the ENB mod's Nexus Mods "Files" page, download and install the mod files via your mod manager of choice. [spoiler]*cough* Mod Organizer *cough*[/spoiler]
[*]Load up your game and test out the ENB!
[/list]
My testing routine was always to start out "camping in the wilderness" via the mod Alternate Start - Live Another Life. This puts you right in-between Helgen and Riverwood, which lets you pan the camera around to test your performance impact both on staring off into the distant wilderness as well as staring in the direction of a town that is full of NPCs and other static meshes. Drink in the visuals for a bit, and then try pressing Shift + F12 a few times to toggle the ENB effects. This will let you observe the overall performance hit (if there even is any.)

Finally, remember to follow any written instructions from the ENB mod author. Every ENB is a little bit different. Always read and follow the mod author's instructions, which trump anything I've written in this ENB write-up.

[b]Argh. RIP my framerate. I decided I want to ditch or switch my ENB.[/b]
 [u]WARNING![/u] Be careful doing this mid-playthrough, since ENBs often require compatibility plugins for weather and/or water mods and thus will corrupt your save if removed. You really ought to pick your ENB ice cream flavor at the start of your playthrough.

With that out of the way, here is a quick step-by-step on removing an ENB:
[list]
[*]In your "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Skyrim" folder, you need to remove the "enbseries" folder, any "d3d****.dll" files, any "enb****.fx" files, and any "enb****.ini" files.
[*]Remove the ENB mod and plugins from your mod manager of choice. [spoiler]*cough* Mod Organizer *cough*[/spoiler]
[*]Congratulations you have removed the ENB. That's it. Nothing else to do. ENBs are not actually that tough to work with or swap out!
[/list]

[b]Manual file copying feels dirty in a post-Mod Organizer world. Is there anything out there that manages ENBs for me?[/b]
Indeed there is! This was news to me, but forums poster extraordinaire ThaumPenguin turned me on to a fancy little tool called ENB Mod Manager and Changer. This will likely save you a lot of time if/when you decide to go flipping through various ENBs before a new playthrough.
[quote="ThaumPenguin" post="463481731"]
Siets, maybe it would be a good idea to cover the [url="http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24402/?"]ENB Mod Manager and Changer[/url] as well?

It could save people a lot of hassle when it comes to choosing and switching between ENBs.
[/quote]
[/quote]

An Advanced Tweaking Guide can be found under "Super Technical Nerd Shit."

[img]http://i.imgur.com/DnrJsyx.png[/img]

The ~*~cRaY cRaY~*~ mods may or may not be lore-friendly or even good ideas, but are, uh, interesting if nothing else.

[b][url=http://sureai.net/games/enderal/?lang=en]Enderal - The Shards of Order[/url]:[/b] Kind of its own category in a way, this is a total conversion mod that is a sequel to Nehrim: At Fate's Edge, an Oblivion TC mod. A major investment but Nehrim supposedly owned hard so probably worth your attention. There is a list of [url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1H-z3QUA_IB8Kr1JUXyewSW0xVz0y40ic0tpqhtzAiIw/edit#gid=1882936259]Enderal-compatible mods[/url].

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52248/?]Legacy of the Dragonborn[/url]:[/b] Listed here because it's such a stupidly huge [i]thing [/i](seriously, it's a :siren: 2.5 GB download :siren: ). At its heart, it's a building to display the various cool shit you pick up on your adventures, acting as a museum. It's fallen prone to some major feature creep. Agents says that just having it installed at all can be a performance hit. Use your best judgment!

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/77792/?]Social NPCs[/url]:[/b] This is a cool idea for a mod that's a little crazy in its origin story: it's the author's master's thesis (in computer science or game design maybe, not sure). The thesis was research on simulating NPC relationships with a social interaction AI to "automatically create interesting stories that players want to interact with." This is inspiring. Someday I'm going to earn my PhD in Skyrim (and I'll still spend more time modding than playing it).

[img]http://i.imgur.com/Fadj38X.png[/img]

This is a list of [i]modders[/i] who make a lot of various Good (or at least Interesting) Shit.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/370317/?tb=mods&pUp=1]trainwiz[/url]:[/b] Mentioned a few times elsewhere but he's got so much stuff it's worth putting him here. Would be in the Cray Cray Modz section except that all the batshit is actually 100% lore friendly (usually??) because Elder Scrolls lore is seriously fucking nonsense bonkers. He's got quest and follower mods that uh, kinda push the boundaries, but not in some edgelord or creepshow way, you know what this is a bad description, bailing out now. Due to modder drama, he's been banned from the Nexus but has let other people upload his stuff for him. So, you won't necessarily be able to find all his mods on his profile.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/3578684/?tb=mods&pUp=1]mahty[/url]:[/b] Has a list of mods adding some dwarf-magitech-type stuff.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/users/8720933/?tb=mods&pUp=1]m150[/url]:[/b] A variety of strange follower mods, and more.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/7nOLB4G.png[/img]

Perhaps consider ignoring the hype and taking a pass on these ones. No links provided because I'm lazy and the whole point is to not use these, so just google it!!!

In fairness, not everyone agrees that all of these are irredeemable trash (some folks stick up for Dragon Combat Overhaul, for example), so remember that ultimately it's up to you to try things out and see what you like when it comes to subjective judgment calls about what's fun or not.

[b]Organized Bandits in Skyrim:[/b] An initially cool idea to create unique themed "gangs" of bandits, it's become bloated with barely relevant feature creep.

[b]Civil War Overhaul:[/b] This mod is a grand idea, but is insanely script-heavy and prone to bugs.

[b]Dragon Combat Overhaul:[/b] This mod goes far too far in the direction of "Dragons are unkillable murderbeasts." Sometimes they are just baffling and waste your time with weird or "fuck you" behavior.

[b]Stable uGrids to Load:[/b] Found to have a memory leak.

[b]Duel Combat Realism:[/b] [url=https://sites.google.com/site/grimyskyrim/mod-critiques/duel]Just read this review to understand[/url].

[b]Armonizer[/b] and [b]Weaponizer:[/b] These two mods have a lot of issues (e.g., Weaponizer adding weapons to enemies that can't use them which makes the enemies do nothing, Armonizer having several armors that have no female model and so give female characters mantorso) and haven't been updated in years.

[b]Midas Magic Evolved:[/b] Absolutely garbage mod, horrible typo-ridden trash.

[b]Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul:[/b] A cautionary take by forums poster Whizbang: "It runs like shit, it's poorly constructed because he just made like a million actor nodes everywhere and so it conflicts with everything, and the author is a weird spergy Frenchman who won't work with anyone in the greater mod community to try to make his mod better or more compatible." Further: "In continuing 'the author of Immersive Citizens is a crazy person' news, he forced the author of ETAC to remove their compatibility patch because he thinks it's stealing his work. Please don't use Immersive Citizens."