Skyrim Mods - A Comprehensive List & User Support Thread

Krenum said:
Hey if I kill the owner , how do I get his body out of the house? I don't want his corpse stinking up the joint.
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Open the console, click on the dead body, type disable.

spaceman said:
Shadows. How do you get yours so natural looking? I still have blocky, blobby ones. Not horrible but not anything as nice as yours. See under her head how crappy they are?
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ENB.
 
I am using RCRN 3.6 though. hmm

I wonder if there is an issue with it and the other mods I am using with the nexus manager.
 
Please let us know if you find any issues with RCRN and other mods. I've been thinking about using RCRN. Thanks.
 
spaceman said:
I am using RCRN 3.6 though. hmm

I wonder if there is an issue with it and the other mods I am using with the nexus manager.
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ENB will work with RCRN, it is just that you'll probably have to tweak the ENB config to your liking or maybe there are already some ENB configs for RCRN.

Other option is to use an ini tweak that makes shadows look better (not as good as ENB) but will drastically shorten shadow distance.
 
DJ you've done some awesome stuff there my man. I just took down all your mods and will endorse ASAP. :)

Do you have any good links or tips for "Creation Kit for newbies" ? :)
 
Q-BZ said:
DJ you've done some awesome stuff there my man. I just took down all your mods and will endorse ASAP. :)

Do you have any good links or tips for "Creation Kit for newbies" ? :)
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Thank you.

The CK wiki is probably the best:
http://www.creationkit.com/Main_Page

CK forum is good too if you have a specific question:
http://forums.bethsoft.com/forum/184-the-creation-kit/

Finally, there are lots of tutorial videos on YouTube.

My tips for modding:
1. Make lots of manual back ups of your mod file. The CK seems to randomly make its own backups but they are too unreliable.

2. If you have to edit vanilla navmesh, wait until the end as this can be a very tricky area since you cannot delete vanilla navmesh without causing possible instability. The CK will sometimes automatically delete vanilla navmesh when you're editing the navmesh too, or so I've read.

2.1. On the topic of vanilla navmesh, use L_NAVCUT when you can. These are created from collision cubes/planes and simply use the primitive L_NAVCUT. As the name suggests, they "cut" into the navmesh and inform NPCs that that section of navmesh doesn't exist. It is so useful since it doesn't actually touch navmesh.

3. If you're making dialogue, don't forget to create a SEQ file at the end. TES5Edit, among other programs, can make this file easily.

4. Run TES5Edit before uploading your mod so it is nice and clean. TES5Edit currently cannot "fix" deleted vanilla navmesh (again, why it is so important to not delete).

5. If building a house, dungeon, village mod then first create some lore so you have something to guide you when designing.

6. Don't delete vanilla objects/references. Instead, set them to initially disabled. This was more problematic before TES5Edit came along as these count as dirty edits so they are usually cleaned.

7. Sometimes having two CK's open at the same time is helpful. You'll need to perform this tweak to allow it:
In SkyrimEditor.ini change bAllowMultipleEditors=0 to bAllowMultipleEditors=1

8. I suggest having the Update.esm file as a master instead of just Skyrim.esm since Update.esm contains Bethesda's fixes/patches. First clean Update.esm with TES5Edit.

9. NifSkope is useful. :) Supposedly, the CK has a method built into to allow texture changes on nif files, though I just use NifSkope for such things.

10. Save often as the CK crashes at weird intervals - sometimes I can leave it open all day and other times it crashes in a few minutes.

11. Experiment with objects to create unique things. For instance, near the volcanic area in Skyrim, Bethesda has a smashed carriage even though there isn't a smashed carriage object to use:

TESV2012-12-2514-28-52-09sd.jpg


What they did was use two carriages, some planks, embers/ash to create the scene. Quite creative, IMO.

That's all I can think of for now.

Edit: I almost forgot the most important tip:
12. Test, test, and do more testing of your mod before release. It's amazing how many things can go wrong in the game even though they look find in the CK. :)
 
dj_2004 said:
ENB will work with RCRN, it is just that you'll probably have to tweak the ENB config to your liking or maybe there are already some ENB configs for RCRN.

Other option is to use an ini tweak that makes shadows look better (not as good as ENB) but will drastically shorten shadow distance.
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Isn't ENB pretty taxing on the CPU and GPU compared to other visual tweaks?
 
speaking of deleted navmeshes. I heard hearthfire DLC created a lot of instability with existing mods. Have the unnoficial patches removed those issues? Been avoiding getting that DLC for that reason.
 
How is load order decided with mods that do not have .esp files? For example, mods like SkyUI and TPC. How do I know and change what order they load in? I ask because I see no differences between having the high-res texture pack on and off. Same with any other texture mods.
 
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Texture packs don't have a load order since they don't normally have an .esp. The texture files just need to be in the right folder (skyrim\data\textures\).
 
Cod said:
Isn't ENB pretty taxing on the CPU and GPU compared to other visual tweaks?
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Boy it sure as hell is.


dj_2004 said:
Yeppers, but it depends on which settings are turned on.
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Yup!


Hey do you know if I can get ENB and FXAA Injector to play together if I wanted to just to mess around? I really like FXAA Injector big time.
 
Q-BZ said:
Boy it sure as hell is.




Yup!


Hey do you know if I can get ENB and FXAA Injector to play together if I wanted to just to mess around? I really like FXAA Injector big time.
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I think you need to tell ENB that you want FXAA Injector's dll to run. Using the Injector version of ENB, in the enbseries.ini:
EnableProxyLibrary=true
InitProxyFunctions=true (not sure if this one needs to be true or not)
ProxyLibrary=d3d9.dll
 
Bankie said:
Texture packs don't have a load order since they don't normally have an .esp. The texture files just need to be in the right folder (skyrim\data\textures\).
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Thanks for the reply. Sometimes I feel like the textures I install aren't working right and everything looks the same as vanilla Skyrim...maybe my sight is going bad.
 
Cod said:
Thanks for the reply. Sometimes I feel like the textures I install aren't working right and everything looks the same as vanilla Skyrim...maybe my sight is going bad.
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Vanilla textures are awful, they must be installed incorrectly.

And to those saying there is no load order for textures--there may not be a load order you can set, but i've definitely hashed out my own install order for texture packs so that the barrels, coins, snow, etc are put on top of other bigger packs, etc.

I had like 15 or so texture mods written down in the order i had to install them just so i'd get it right lol
 
dj_2004 said:
I think you need to tell ENB that you want FXAA Injector's dll to run. Using the Injector version of ENB, in the enbseries.ini:
EnableProxyLibrary=true
InitProxyFunctions=true (not sure if this one needs to be true or not)
ProxyLibrary=d3d9.dll
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Cool thanks!
 
Is there still a popular injector? I remember using one when the game first came out, and i loved it simply because it took away a 'blur' that covered everything.

Will ENB alone remove the blur or do people still use the injector for that?
 
Finally got my game looking a little more colorful, a nice change of pace from my old cold settings. Still maintaining a nice 40-50 FPS on my rig, 2560x1440.

Skyrim Folder Size: 20GB








Mods:
Update.esm
Dawnguard.esm
HearthFires.esm
ApachiiHair.esm
ApachiiHairFemales.esm
Ambience Music Overhaul.esm
JSwords.esm
Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Main.esm
SkyMoMod.esm
SPIKE.esm
HighResTexturePack01.esp
HighResTexturePack02.esp
Chesko_Frostfall.esp
newheavyarmorsound.esp
alvor's house dynamic.esp
Ambience Music Overhaul - Addon.esp
Ambience Music Overhaul - Combat.esp
Ambience Music Overhaul - Interiors and Special.esp
staticmeshimprovementmod.esp
Birdsofskyrim.esp
hq_skyrimmap.esp
item sorting by saige.esp
morevillageanimals.esp
navetsea female face preset.esp
SkyMoMod_lists.esp
iHUD.esp
Cloaks.esp
1nivWICCloaks.esp
1nivWICSkyCloaksPatch.esp
dbarmor.esp
DragonBoneEbonsteel.esp
dragonboneweaponscomplete.esp
hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp
Hvergelmir's Armor Retexture - HAR.esp
Hvergelmir's Shield Retexture - HSR.esp
isilnarsil.esp
warmagearmor.esp
dr_bandolier.esp
DeadlyDragons.esp
quest_andtherealmsofdaedra.esp
tos_granitehall.esp
markarth_plus.esp
quest_nomercy.esp
quest_sorcery.esp
quest_seaofghosts.esp
quest_thebiggertheyare.esp
whiterunexenhanced.esp
Masters of Death.esp
armored-horses.esp
faster vanilla horses.esp
Immersive Weapons.esp
NonEssentialChilds.esp
respectful guards.esp
Spells Cast Light.esp
riverwoodenhancedplugin.esp
taveriften.esp
tavesolitude.esp
tavewindhelm.esp
tos_amber_guard.esp
tos_laintardale_hf.esp
tos_oakwood_hf.esp
townsandcitiesenhanced.esp
whiteruninenhanced.esp
tavefalkreath.esp
dd - realistic ragdoll force - realistic.esp
Apocalypse - The Spell Package.esp
The Dance of Death.esp
crimson tide - blood.esp
SkyRe_Main.esp
SkyRe_Combat.esp
SkyRe_EncounterZones.esp
SkyRe_EnemyAI.esp
SkyRe_EnemyScaling.esp
SkyRe_StandingStones.esp
SkyRe_hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp
SkyRe_Plugin_JaySuSSwords_1.3D.esp
See YourSelf drink and eat.esp
UFO - Ultimate Follower Overhaul.esp
UFO - Dawnguard AddOn.esp
UFO - Heartfire AddOn.esp
disablelydiatradedialog.esp
Alternate Start - Live Another Life.esp
SkyRe_Races.esp
WATER.esp
Bashed Patch, 0.esp
ReProccer.esp
SupremeRaces.esp
Hvergelmir's Redesigned Housecarls - HRH.esp
SupremeCustomCompanions.esp
Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Vivida ENB.esp

List of mods on Nexus Mod Manager: There are also various ones I installed manually or through the workshop.
 
I'm deleting Skyrim right now and will do a clean install to try again. I'll post some screens if I still feel like everything looks the same regardless of mods downloaded.
 
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Nice shots, Nick!

chockomonkey said:
Is there still a popular injector? I remember using one when the game first came out, and i loved it simply because it took away a 'blur' that covered everything.

Will ENB alone remove the blur or do people still use the injector for that?
Click to expand...

Which blur? The static DoF blur or the "grime" blur that made textures look a bit blurry?

I think ENB can control both.

Edit:
This looks like a good Skyrim Monster Mod replacer:
Skyrim Immersive Creatures
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/24913
 
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When you add / delete mods, are you required to start a new game? If not, how does one go about this? I'm going to start a new game with vanilla Skyrim (w/ official HD DLC) and play for a few hours to make sure my graphic settings maintain a solid FPS throughout different environments. I'd like to create some saves in random places like Whiterun, inside a dungeon / house, etc.. Then just keep returning to those places each time I add / delete a mod.

Sorry for all the questions. Thanks for all the help.
 
Cod said:
When you add / delete mods, are you required to start a new game? If not, how does one go about this? I'm going to start a new game with vanilla Skyrim (w/ official HD DLC) and play for a few hours to make sure my graphic settings maintain a solid FPS throughout different environments. I'd like to create some saves in random places like Whiterun, inside a dungeon / house, etc.. Then just keep returning to those places each time I add / delete a mod.

Sorry for all the questions. Thanks for all the help.
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Depends on the mod. You are rarely required to start a new game, but a decent amount of mods will mess your save game file up if you remove them.

Texture, mesh, and interface mods are usually safe to uninstall/install as much as you'd like. Esp mods depend on what they do. Esm mods can be tricky and can cause immediate CTD upon loading a save that used them. Script mods can also be dangerous and is probably where a lot of instability issues come from.
 
So its mod dependent, thanks for that. Is it the same for .ini tweaks? Depends on what I'm tweaking?
 
Cod said:
So its mod dependent, thanks for that. Is it the same for .ini tweaks? Depends on what I'm tweaking?
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Ini tweaks can be changed at any time. Ugridstoload is a little tricky as you have to use the console to revert to a lower value.
 
Thanks for the information. I'll probably leave the .ini tweaks alone until I understand what each line does a little better.

I've decided to play through Skyrim completely (as complete as you can) only using interface mods and patches. I also setup an AMD Application Profile for Skyrim based on AMD, RCRN, and S.T.E.P. inputs. My mod list includes the following:

Official High-Res DLC
HD Textures DLC Fix
HighResTexturePack DLC Tweaks
Unofficial Skyrim Patch
Unofficial Dawnguard Patch
Unofficial Hearthfire Patch
Sky UI
Categorized Favorites Menu
Immersive Hud
Quality World Map w/ Roads

I've run everything through TES5Edit that needed it, so I should be good to go now. Hopefully my FPS remains good throughout and I can play with some super HD texture packs in the future with better performance.
 
So I just finished a 5-hour session and have a question (yes, another one). I feel like my FPS was rather low considering I used few mods and even downgraded some of the in game graphic settings to high (default was Ultra). Any ideas what could be causing this? I play at 1920x1080 w/ FOV 90 and no other .ini tweaks. I get 60 pretty easily in simple buildings (houses, etc.), but caves/dungeons are in the 30-40 range and outside is typically in the 20-30 range with fluxes to 45-50. I don't get it...is this normal? Judging from reviews of my GPU, I should be average upper 50s the majority of the time.
 
Cod said:
So I just finished a 5-hour session and have a question (yes, another one). I feel like my FPS was rather low considering I used few mods and even downgraded some of the in game graphic settings to high (default was Ultra). Any ideas what could be causing this? I play at 1920x1080 w/ FOV 90 and no other .ini tweaks. I get 60 pretty easily in simple buildings (houses, etc.), but caves/dungeons are in the 30-40 range and outside is typically in the 20-30 range with fluxes to 45-50. I don't get it...is this normal? Judging from reviews of my GPU, I should be average upper 50s the majority of the time.
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lots of lighting effects going on in dungeons, could be taxing your system more.
 
andrewbub said:
lots of lighting effects going on in dungeons, could be taxing your system more.
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I don't have any lighting effect mods installed though, that's why I'm confused. Unless vanilla Skyrim with official HD DLC has a lot of lighting effects built in.
 
Highly recommend Skyrim Configurator. No need to mess with the .inis ever again.
 
Cod said:
I don't have any lighting effect mods installed though, that's why I'm confused. Unless vanilla Skyrim with official HD DLC has a lot of lighting effects built in.
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The HD DLC is composed of textures only. Uninstall the HD DLC and see if that helps.
 
You bastards. I spent 3 hours yesterday installing Skyrim mods , SO MUCH TIME :)

But on another note .. it looks frigging beautiful. Also should I install the extra HD DLC pack even though I got the Skyrim 2k HD Mod?
 
Godmachine said:
You bastards. I spent 3 hours yesterday installing Skyrim mods , SO MUCH TIME :)

But on another note .. it looks frigging beautiful. Also should I install the extra HD DLC pack even though I got the Skyrim 2k HD Mod?
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The HD DLC does handle some things that 2K doesn't, like some armors/clothing. Depending on how you install texture mods, you may need to reinstall 2K after installing the HD DLC due to it overwriting 2K textures.

IMO, there are usually better texture mods out there for the objects not textured by the large texture mods. They can be found in the list.
 
I mean, its not unplayable by any means. It just irks me because I thought I'd be able to have the game look a little better with a 7850. Guess its time to OC the CPU and GPU a little bit. I may try installing SRO and turning off the official HD pack.
 
I don't think you should be getting such large dips in FPS in interiors. What AA amount do you use? Also, I suggest using High for shadows rather than Ultra as I think people have compared the two and found them to look the same.

The issue with the HD DLC is that it is 2048x2048 textures where 1024x1024 textures usually look nearly the same. This mod sounds like it makes them 1024x1024: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/9080. I'm not sure if this will help.
 
dj_2004 said:
I don't think you should be getting such large dips in FPS in interiors. What AA amount do you use? Also, I suggest using High for shadows rather than Ultra as I think people have compared the two and found them to look the same.

The issue with the HD DLC is that it is 2048x2048 textures where 1024x1024 textures usually look nearly the same. This mod sounds like it makes them 1024x1024: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/9080. I'm not sure if this will help.
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I'll try the optimizer tonight. For settings, everything is already set to HIGH. I think only detail level is ULTRA. My AA is set to 4x because from images, 4x and 8x look very similar, but 4x is much more performance friendly.

Is there a way to test if its my CPU causing the bottleneck? Or is it just trailer and error? I just figured with a 3570K and 2GB 7850, I should be getting much better performance. I guess I can try turning v-sync off as well. The only problem with that is, some games (F1 2012) cause screen tearing while others don't (TF2).
 
NickJames said:
Finally got my game looking a little more colorful, a nice change of pace from my old cold settings. Still maintaining a nice 40-50 FPS on my rig, 2560x1440.

Skyrim Folder Size: 20GB
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Which ENB are you using?
 
Cod said:
I'll try the optimizer tonight. For settings, everything is already set to HIGH. I think only detail level is ULTRA. My AA is set to 4x because from images, 4x and 8x look very similar, but 4x is much more performance friendly.

Is there a way to test if its my CPU causing the bottleneck? Or is it just trailer and error? I just figured with a 3570K and 2GB 7850, I should be getting much better performance. I guess I can try turning v-sync off as well. The only problem with that is, some games (F1 2012) cause screen tearing while others don't (TF2).
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I don't suggest turning off vsync due to Skyrim's time being tied to it.

Is your CPU overclocked? Skyrim is somewhat CPU dependent due to it not being coded to take full advantage of multi-core CPUs. I saw a large FPS increase overclocking my CPU but I forget what mods I had running.

There is SMAA if you want to try that instead of AA.
 
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