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As someone who can never leave well enough alone, I have decided to start testing mods to compliment this already great package.
Feel free to add replies of any mods you think may be good to add.
Day 1
Riverwood Redux: This mod adds more houses in a beautifully landscaped manner to the other side of the river. They blend in so well with the existing town, and give Riverwood its own character as a town. There also is a small non cheating house that can be acquired through a quest which begins with a note attached to the door of the house.
Fixed Eye Adaptation: Get up out of your chair, go outside and look at the sky(not the sun). Now look at the ground. Do you go half blind for 5 seconds? No? Then this mod is for you. It removes the majority of the eye adaptation effect because surprise, surprise, your eyes do it themselves when looking at a bright screen followed by a dark screen. No additional technology needed.
Lawrens RNG Guards: Tired of faceless Stormcloak clones? This mod randomizes the gear loadout of various city guards to add variety to their appearance. Lore friendly helmets and armor choices with city appropriate shields are randomly selected at spawn for each guard. (Special note, may take up to one month to effectively randomize guards if used on existing save game)
Realistic Ragdolls and Force: Some people enjoy being super heroes, and having their killing blow to a mammoth send it flying end over end. As I typically play a thief, I prefer my arrow to not send my target flying into the next room where his buddies are. I personally would prefer my enemies crumple at my feet, or fall backwards in a realistic manner. This mod fixes that.
Occupy Skyrim: It always bugged me in Skyrim that I was always able to overcome any enemy encounters. Odd huh? But I actually like to suddenly realize I am outmatched sometimes, and need to run/hide/dive off a cliff and hope I land in a deep spot in that small river below me etc. With this mod, it takes the scripted encounters such as thalmor patrols, assasins, and all the existing civil war battles and adds varying amounts of npcs to them. It also makes a great alternative to Warzones if you have a slower PC, although if your PC is good, it makes a nice compliment to it.
Populus: My new favorite city filler mod, this mod adds 54 unique named NPCs to various towns. Some go about typical day to day life, interacting with their surroundings. In the evening you can find quite a few of them filling the taverns. Some travel and a few are full fledged, non arrow in the knee adventurer types who will fight enemies they come across in their travels, and can occasionally come to your rescue (or be found needing yours).
UNP Female Armors: This mod is an especially rare one. It delves into uncharted territory in modding. It makes armor that fits a female body replacer(UNP, the one that comes with Project Frenzy) that doesn't turn the women into hookers. The meshes fit the body, so no more shapeshifting women based on what they wear. The modder sticks with the existing style of armor, just improves the detail of it and shapes it correctly. Definitly worth the look if you dont consider panties to be an appropiate armor type.
New Bard Songs: This mod replaces the somewhat bored sounding bards voices with much more talented singers. Google "Youtube Malukuh" (I can't post links yet...) to hear an example of one of the new artists in this mod.
Dragonbone Weapons: Ok, I'm the DragonBorn, I killed dragons, I made armor... now what am I supposed to do with the 50 other dragon bones I've collected? This mod allows you to craft weapons out of the bones too. The stats are pretty much even with how one would expect them to be compared to the rest of the weapons. Very nice texturework too.
High Res Legible Road Signs: Most textures look fine at regular resolution, and the low size helps with fps since they are so common and you wont get super close to them anyway. For road signs this does not apply since they are very far apart from eachother, so only one is rendered at a time. And since they have to be read, one has to get close and this is where low res textures fail. Nice realistic wood texture to them too.
Well, this concludes this batch of compatible mods. Not because I am out of mods, but simply because I am tired of typing. Feel free to leave comments or requests down below.
Day 2
Hello again everyone, I'm back to suggest a few more mods that I like that blend nicely with our existing content.
Skyrim Starter Homes: Decided you could care less about reporting to Whiterun at the beginning of the game? Maybe you'll be the Dragonborn tomorrow? It always bugged me that in order to get a house you had to follow questlines. Maybe I just want to explore dungeons and wander around skyrim. But since I can't carry everything, I need a place to call my own. This mod adds a small exterior house in a secluded point near dragon bridge. No frills, no 50 cabinets with statues everywhere. Its a house... it has walls, roof, door and some basic furniture. For the minimalist who isnt interested in city living. The mod author is currently making more in unused locations around skyrim.
Portable Campsite: Ever find a great looking location and want to live there? Now you can. Portable Campsite adds a hunter in Riverwood that sells camping gear. Cheap? Broke? You can also craft the gear. So far it contains bedrolls, tents, campfire, cooking spits, traps and more. No storage yet though
Lore Friendly Armor Pack: This mod adds 7 different sets of craftable armor to the game. It also puts them on certain types of enemies, for example it adds them to some of the stronger bandits. All of the armor types fit with the original Skyrim style nicely with balanced stats.
Ask Follower Skills: You only get one follower, so you gotta pick the right one. But how do you really know if they are any good or not? With this mod, you just ask them. It adds a line to their dialog, select it and it will pop up a menu showing their level and skills. It turns out many followers have the wrong gear initially for their skills making this mod even more valuable.
Adventurers and Travellers: Another mod to add more life to Skyrim this mod adds....yup, adventurers and travellers. Adventurers travel in small groups with fighters archers and mages. They do not enter dungeons, but can be found attempting and sometimes succeeding at clearing bandit camps and forts held by evil elements. They respawn at cell reset if they die in the attempt. Travellers are less impressive, but none the less important to immersion. They are just regular npcs moving from town to town. They are not fighters, (although they will try) and are usually outmatched by bandits and predators unless there are a few of them together. Travellers also respawn which given their self defense skills is a must.
OK, thats it for today, I'll update when I have tested out some more. I will also eventually post a list of the mods that have failed to be properly compatible. Mods that are already on the stickied Compatible Mods thread will not be tested, so be sure to check those out too.
Day 3 (BTW, this is not a 100% daily thing, it's just working out so far)
Was a little busy today, only got a few for you today.
Four Homes: Another one of the house mods for those with less extravagent tastes. It adds 4 homes (didnt see that coming huh?) to Skyrim. They are well blended in with their surroundings. 3 of them are little more than a bedroll and a few bags, and the last one is about even with a farmers house. It's the style of each of these houses that make them worthwile. One is in the trunk of a dead tree by Falkreath graveyard. One is a windmill near a ruined house. One is a odd house with a fishing boat for a roof(looks nicer than it sounds) and the last one is a rogues hideaway with a pile of loot (only about 1000 gold, and it looks way cooler to leave it there). INCOMPATIBLE WITH RIVERWOOD REDUX, fixable by disabling 3 trees that are overlapping (you'll see which ones.)
Striping Fix: Now don't get all excited, I said striping, not stripping. This mod fixes the lighting of many interiors (Breezehome being the best example) of the annoying criss cross stripe shadows. Once you have used it, you can never tolerate the ugly shadow mess again.
More Travelers: After a few versions with glaring bugs this mod is now a great addition to the immersion in Skyrim. It adds various people walking around Skyrim. The best feature of this one is that it adds horseback travelers too, something the game was badly lacking. If a horse is killed, the traveler will walk to the stables and get another (If he survived of course) and if the rider gets killed, the horse will wander back to the stables to be ready for a new traveler. Plus its great watching these extra npcs fighting in the increased spawns from other mods.
Thats it for today, hopefully be back tomorrow.
Day 4---->?
I am in the process of moving at the moment, so while I will still be answering compatibility questions, I will be taking a break from reviewing mods. If anyone is interested in being a guest reviewer, please let me know.
Feel free to add replies of any mods you think may be good to add.
Day 1
Riverwood Redux: This mod adds more houses in a beautifully landscaped manner to the other side of the river. They blend in so well with the existing town, and give Riverwood its own character as a town. There also is a small non cheating house that can be acquired through a quest which begins with a note attached to the door of the house.
Fixed Eye Adaptation: Get up out of your chair, go outside and look at the sky(not the sun). Now look at the ground. Do you go half blind for 5 seconds? No? Then this mod is for you. It removes the majority of the eye adaptation effect because surprise, surprise, your eyes do it themselves when looking at a bright screen followed by a dark screen. No additional technology needed.
Lawrens RNG Guards: Tired of faceless Stormcloak clones? This mod randomizes the gear loadout of various city guards to add variety to their appearance. Lore friendly helmets and armor choices with city appropriate shields are randomly selected at spawn for each guard. (Special note, may take up to one month to effectively randomize guards if used on existing save game)
Realistic Ragdolls and Force: Some people enjoy being super heroes, and having their killing blow to a mammoth send it flying end over end. As I typically play a thief, I prefer my arrow to not send my target flying into the next room where his buddies are. I personally would prefer my enemies crumple at my feet, or fall backwards in a realistic manner. This mod fixes that.
Occupy Skyrim: It always bugged me in Skyrim that I was always able to overcome any enemy encounters. Odd huh? But I actually like to suddenly realize I am outmatched sometimes, and need to run/hide/dive off a cliff and hope I land in a deep spot in that small river below me etc. With this mod, it takes the scripted encounters such as thalmor patrols, assasins, and all the existing civil war battles and adds varying amounts of npcs to them. It also makes a great alternative to Warzones if you have a slower PC, although if your PC is good, it makes a nice compliment to it.
Populus: My new favorite city filler mod, this mod adds 54 unique named NPCs to various towns. Some go about typical day to day life, interacting with their surroundings. In the evening you can find quite a few of them filling the taverns. Some travel and a few are full fledged, non arrow in the knee adventurer types who will fight enemies they come across in their travels, and can occasionally come to your rescue (or be found needing yours).
UNP Female Armors: This mod is an especially rare one. It delves into uncharted territory in modding. It makes armor that fits a female body replacer(UNP, the one that comes with Project Frenzy) that doesn't turn the women into hookers. The meshes fit the body, so no more shapeshifting women based on what they wear. The modder sticks with the existing style of armor, just improves the detail of it and shapes it correctly. Definitly worth the look if you dont consider panties to be an appropiate armor type.
New Bard Songs: This mod replaces the somewhat bored sounding bards voices with much more talented singers. Google "Youtube Malukuh" (I can't post links yet...) to hear an example of one of the new artists in this mod.
Dragonbone Weapons: Ok, I'm the DragonBorn, I killed dragons, I made armor... now what am I supposed to do with the 50 other dragon bones I've collected? This mod allows you to craft weapons out of the bones too. The stats are pretty much even with how one would expect them to be compared to the rest of the weapons. Very nice texturework too.
High Res Legible Road Signs: Most textures look fine at regular resolution, and the low size helps with fps since they are so common and you wont get super close to them anyway. For road signs this does not apply since they are very far apart from eachother, so only one is rendered at a time. And since they have to be read, one has to get close and this is where low res textures fail. Nice realistic wood texture to them too.
Well, this concludes this batch of compatible mods. Not because I am out of mods, but simply because I am tired of typing. Feel free to leave comments or requests down below.
Day 2
Hello again everyone, I'm back to suggest a few more mods that I like that blend nicely with our existing content.
Skyrim Starter Homes: Decided you could care less about reporting to Whiterun at the beginning of the game? Maybe you'll be the Dragonborn tomorrow? It always bugged me that in order to get a house you had to follow questlines. Maybe I just want to explore dungeons and wander around skyrim. But since I can't carry everything, I need a place to call my own. This mod adds a small exterior house in a secluded point near dragon bridge. No frills, no 50 cabinets with statues everywhere. Its a house... it has walls, roof, door and some basic furniture. For the minimalist who isnt interested in city living. The mod author is currently making more in unused locations around skyrim.
Portable Campsite: Ever find a great looking location and want to live there? Now you can. Portable Campsite adds a hunter in Riverwood that sells camping gear. Cheap? Broke? You can also craft the gear. So far it contains bedrolls, tents, campfire, cooking spits, traps and more. No storage yet though
Lore Friendly Armor Pack: This mod adds 7 different sets of craftable armor to the game. It also puts them on certain types of enemies, for example it adds them to some of the stronger bandits. All of the armor types fit with the original Skyrim style nicely with balanced stats.
Ask Follower Skills: You only get one follower, so you gotta pick the right one. But how do you really know if they are any good or not? With this mod, you just ask them. It adds a line to their dialog, select it and it will pop up a menu showing their level and skills. It turns out many followers have the wrong gear initially for their skills making this mod even more valuable.
Adventurers and Travellers: Another mod to add more life to Skyrim this mod adds....yup, adventurers and travellers. Adventurers travel in small groups with fighters archers and mages. They do not enter dungeons, but can be found attempting and sometimes succeeding at clearing bandit camps and forts held by evil elements. They respawn at cell reset if they die in the attempt. Travellers are less impressive, but none the less important to immersion. They are just regular npcs moving from town to town. They are not fighters, (although they will try) and are usually outmatched by bandits and predators unless there are a few of them together. Travellers also respawn which given their self defense skills is a must.
OK, thats it for today, I'll update when I have tested out some more. I will also eventually post a list of the mods that have failed to be properly compatible. Mods that are already on the stickied Compatible Mods thread will not be tested, so be sure to check those out too.
Day 3 (BTW, this is not a 100% daily thing, it's just working out so far)
Was a little busy today, only got a few for you today.
Four Homes: Another one of the house mods for those with less extravagent tastes. It adds 4 homes (didnt see that coming huh?) to Skyrim. They are well blended in with their surroundings. 3 of them are little more than a bedroll and a few bags, and the last one is about even with a farmers house. It's the style of each of these houses that make them worthwile. One is in the trunk of a dead tree by Falkreath graveyard. One is a windmill near a ruined house. One is a odd house with a fishing boat for a roof(looks nicer than it sounds) and the last one is a rogues hideaway with a pile of loot (only about 1000 gold, and it looks way cooler to leave it there). INCOMPATIBLE WITH RIVERWOOD REDUX, fixable by disabling 3 trees that are overlapping (you'll see which ones.)
Striping Fix: Now don't get all excited, I said striping, not stripping. This mod fixes the lighting of many interiors (Breezehome being the best example) of the annoying criss cross stripe shadows. Once you have used it, you can never tolerate the ugly shadow mess again.
More Travelers: After a few versions with glaring bugs this mod is now a great addition to the immersion in Skyrim. It adds various people walking around Skyrim. The best feature of this one is that it adds horseback travelers too, something the game was badly lacking. If a horse is killed, the traveler will walk to the stables and get another (If he survived of course) and if the rider gets killed, the horse will wander back to the stables to be ready for a new traveler. Plus its great watching these extra npcs fighting in the increased spawns from other mods.
Thats it for today, hopefully be back tomorrow.
Day 4---->?
I am in the process of moving at the moment, so while I will still be answering compatibility questions, I will be taking a break from reviewing mods. If anyone is interested in being a guest reviewer, please let me know.
Last edited by oogabooga66 on 2/28/2012, 7:54 pm; edited 5 times in total
