The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - MODS & TWEAKS

Saw a Farcry Primal video and thought I'd run around with a bow a bit - which I got very bored of quickly as I've not used bows and still at L15-16 with them - but got Skyrim looking quite nice now - just need something to tidy up the distance a bit - DOF doesn't seem to be working properly in the latest ENB :S


IMO that is actually nicer looking than the new Farcry.
 
Do you guys spend more time modding than you do playing this game? :D


Just about to install the legendary edition that I got in Steam sale. What graphical mods should I be looking at first that won't break my game.
 
Pure waters is a good start or if you have dragonborn there is another good water mod (but requires the full dlc whereas pure waters doesn't).

The high-res texture pack - official and some 2K textures like the rock overhaul are nice to have.

The game is also MASSIVELY enhanced by SkyUI/SKSE - I resisted but honestly it makes such a difference without changing any of the original gameplay elements.

Much of the rest that I'd consider essential are ini tweaks rather than mods.

Oh cartographer's map markers and a mod that shows roads on the map is pretty much essential the stock map is some of the worst design ever.
 
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Thanks man. Its currently installing now. Got a couple of hours left though - ton of windows updates downloading at the same time :(

This may be a daft question but is this through steam workshop for all these mods orrrrr?


Im a noob when it comes to modding but know that its pretty much essential for this game.
 
Nexus is a better source for mods but personally I've stuck to the steam workshop for simplicity which has most though there are a few notable ones missing.

I'll list the ones I have later but not at my gaming PC at the moment.
 
Rroff said:
Nexus is a better source for mods but personally I've stuck to the steam workshop for simplicity which has most though there are a few notable ones missing.
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Ok thank you. I think Ill stick to Steam workshop too then if its working for others.

Plus I have no idea what Nexus is ha.
 
Limited to just Steam workshop this is the stuff I have installed btw:

HighResTexturePack (Official)
Milky Way Galaxy Texture - makes the night time look 10x better.
The Cartographers Map Markers
SkyUI (requires SKSE - also with SKSE installed in steam you have to launch that to start the game rather than launching Skyrim as normal)
HQ Snow texture (I did try some other snow mods but they were mostly over the top - planning on revisiting that at some point)
A quality world map with roads (there are better ones but I think that is the best that is on the steam workshop)
Pure Waters
Rocks2K Special Edition
Dat Grass (you really don't want to install this unless you have a stupidly high end system and other mods to enhance the overall look)
Improved interior lighting (think you need to use one of the realistic lighting mods to make the most of this one but I'm using ENB instead at the moment)
Immersive saturation boost

Ones I have subscribed but not running due to ENB or other mods:

Realistic Lighting
Double Grass Density (not really played about much with grass mods so there are probably better)

You might find something like Enhance Distant Terrain and/or other mods that force full LOD useful if you aren't using ugrid tweaks (which aren't recommended for a first run through).

My aim has largely been to preserve as much of the feel and style of the original game as possible while increasing the visual fidelity and working around the most clunky mechanics.

Problem with a lot of mods I find - they just ramp everything upto factor 9000 overly glossy, cramming as many pixels of "something" onto the surface to look high-res and while often look great in isolation when you pull back and view the whole scene stick out like an eye sore.
 
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Spuddy said:
Do you guys spend more time modding than you do playing this game? :D
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I know I do. :)

Rroff said:
Saw a Farcry Primal video and thought I'd run around with a bow a bit - which I got very bored of quickly as I've not used bows and still at L15-16 with them - but got Skyrim looking quite nice now - just need something to tidy up the distance a bit - DOF doesn't seem to be working properly in the latest ENB :S


My poor GTX780 is literally crying... (though I think its more drawcall/API bottleneck).
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19 -25fps, lol. DX9 is something like 1/4 the number of drawcalls of DX11/12 is capable of. Game slows to a crawl with too many calls even when the cpu is barely hitting 50%. Dense grass mods seem to be a particular offender I have to the turn the density down in mine, 95 or thereabouts (mod recommends 55)
 
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I don't think that mod works with the normal grass settings ingame either it seems to draw the same density and doesn't fade just renders out full detail to the fGrassStartFadeDistance value and cuts off immediately and I have that fairly ramped up using ugrids 9 so it doesn't look too silly (can still see it popping in and out of existence a bit though).

I've not found anything that looks as good as that mod though for insane quality settings but its definitely hitting those drawcalls hard - if I swap it for the double density normal grass mod I get 60fps solid (actual 58fps capped).
 
I've been having a go at modding Skyrim:

Stock
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2K Textures (Kinda wish I went with 4K as I have 8GB of VRAM...)
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Verdant Grass Mod
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ENB
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Also the Skyrim version of Midas Magic and a couple of the Sounds of Skyrim packs.
 
Do like the lighting on those looks quite natural - personally I prefer the 2K textures as the 4K ones seem to typically just cram lots of pixel noise in for the sake of it in some kind of artless "more" is better way.
 
That 2nd one in Riverwood looks stunning.

Think the lighting is a bit over-saturated how I've got it :S

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Is it sad I can find almost any arbitrary spot in the game almost instantly? :S
 
Yeah yours does look a bit more coloured. I was deliberately after a desaturated one as they're a bit more subtle and realistic in my opinion. The Real Vision one, which is the top one on Nexus, is in-your-face colourful and I hated it!

Tbh I would also be able to tell where the riverwood ones were as I've played the first two hours of Skyrim dozens of times :p
 
The slightly desaturated lighting looks a lot nicer - I went a bit crazy trying to get away from the flat 1 dimensional lighting that the game usually has :S
 
These are my colour scheme, I just like the more vibrant look to the world. I do like the moody pics and atmosphere, but when it's nice and pretty I tend to get into the mood more.

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I might have another go at modding Skyrim seeing as my new system will be able to run it well. I have had skyrim installed for 3 years and could only play 20 minutes because its so god damn ugly the vanilla. The shadows are shocking, I wish they would remake the game, but it's bethesda so that is unlikely. Graphics ain't everything in a game, but with a game such as this they are important to me so modding might be an option.
 
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