What Are Your Foundation Mods?, Ones that are always in the rotation Options

[SubRosa]

I have a ton of mods, many of which add new weapons, races, armor, etc... But I don't keep them all active all the time. Typically I will only turn on the mods I want to use for a particular character, and turn off the other clothing, weapon, etc... mods that they are not using. The reason is that there is a hard limit on how many mods you can have active - 252 or so. Also the more mods you have active will eventually start to slow you game down, especially script-intensive mods or massive 2k and 4k texture packs. It all depends on how powerful your computer is to begin with of course. 150 mods might not make a beefy comp blink, but could bring one that is slow to begin with to its knees.

But even that said, I have some mods that are always active, no matter what character. These are what I mean by Foundations. They are the rock on which everything else is built. Some of them are:


General Graphics

No Tint and Desaturation (wow, there are colors again!)

No Stretching (textures)

No Blood (No Blood Splatter On Your Hud option)

No Bloom


Landscape Detail

Shrine of Azura LOD Fix

A Clear World Map

A Quality World Map - With Roads

Enhanced Distant Terrain

Enhanced Night Sky

High Quality LODs

Pure Waters (makes the water semi-transparent from above, so you can actually see the shallow parts you can walk through without swimming)

Distant Detail Hearthfire Edition

Footprints

SkyFalls and SkyMills - Animated Distant Waterfalls and WindMills


Quests

Thieves Guild Requirements - No Auto Quest Start Brynjolf

Dawnguard Delayed Start


Armor & Weapons

Auto Unequip Ammo

UltraHD - Stormcloak and City Guards

Open Faced Helmets

Runed Draugr Greatswords

Well Placed Weapons and Quivers


Gameplay

Ash Pile Expiration

Open and Lock Spells

Lockpick Pro

Player Headtracking

Puppeteer Master (pose mod)

You Are Not The Dragonborn

Improved Skill Books


Creatures

Real Foxes


User Interface

SkyUI

Immersive Hud


Other Stuff

Female Mannequins

Neutral Hjerim

Guards Equipment Comment Tweak

Long Lost Smelters of Skyrim


Then of course I have my whole array of body and face mods Listed Here


So what do other people have that is always in the rotation? It is nice to share, because that is how we learn about mods we never knew existed.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Nov 21 2016, 03:27 AM

[SubRosa]

I tried BOSS back in Oblivion, and found it was not much use for me. Most of my mods are all homemade, and it does not know what to do with them.

I use TES Mod Manager for creating archives (.omod files) of all my mods that have loose files, and for the load order. I have heard several horror stories from people whose games have been fubared by NMM, and that is enough for me to steer clear of it.

Just for Shits and Giggles, here is a list of my home-made mods that I use on a regular basis:

Weightless Ingredients (makes alchemical ingredients weightless)

Better Magic (makes some tweaks to how magic works, mainly to make the magicka regen rate the same in combat as outside of combat - in vanilla it regens at 1/3rd the rate in combat).

Falkreath Camp (adds a campsite outside of Falkreath)

Magicka Gems (renames soul gems to magicka gems)

Better Jenassa (Improves Jenassa with helpful perks, like Light Step)

Dawnstar Smithy Improved (adds some missing things to the Dawnstar Smithy)

Dawnstar House (adds a player house to Dawnstar)

Better Talos Blessing (since I do not use shouts, it changes the Talos shrine blessing to a bonus to one and two handed)

Winterhold Inn Magic Crafting (puts an enchantment station in the Winterhold Inn, for non-college characters)

Craftable Circlets (makes circlets craftable)

Improved Erik the Slayer (see Better Jenassa above)

Alchemist Shack Home (makes the Alchemist's Shack a suitable player home, with all safe storage and a enchantment table as well as alchemical station out back)

More Alchemy Workstations (adds more alchemy workstations to the inns around the province)

Anise's Cabin (makes Anise's Cabin a better home)

Improved Familiars

All Dogs to Huskies (makes all dogs huskies)

Better Illia (again, improves Illia for use as a follower)

Bound Light Bow (adds a Bound Bow spell with the same stats as a hunting bow, for starting characters)

More Enchanting Stations (adds more enchanting stations to places like inns and shops, such as the Riverwood Trader)

Dwemer Smelting and Crafting Improved (Makes all the Dwemer scrap metal items smeltable, instead of just half of them like in vanilla)

Better Weather (Improves the weather)

White Leather Armor (makes an unenchanted version the grey/white thieves guild armor craftable)

Craftable Theives Guild Armor (makes an unenchanted version of the brown and black TG armor craftable)

Arena Ienith Improved (again, makes her a better follower)

Borghak Improved (you guessed it)

Dawnbreaker Improved (improved the base damage of Dawnbreaker, so its a more viable weapon at high levels even if you are not fighting undead)

Witches to Cultists (changes the name of all Witches to Hagraven Cultists)

Trainer Angrenor (makes him a One-Handed Trainer)

Trainers Hermir (makes her a Heavy Armor Trainer)

Trainers Brenuin (Makes him a Sneak Trainer)

Trainers Bolund (makes him a Two-Handed Trainer)

More Vendor Gold (increases the amount of money vendors have to buy with)

Smithing Levels Quicker (slightly increases the how fast Smithing levels up, so now my characters who use it hit 100 around level 36 - 40)

Better Archery Perks (rearranges some of the Archery perks, making Ranger available at a skill of only 30, etc...)

Better Marcurio

More playable Monk Hoods and Robes (makes monk outfits craftable not made by me, but modded again by me)

Holy Fire Spells (creates a bunch of fire-like spells that only damage Undead [I made this before Dawnguard])

Craftable Nightingale Armor (makes an unenchanted set of Nightingale Armor craftable)

No Fugitive Handing You A Stolen Weapon (removes this random encounter)

No Dragons (does what it says on the tin)

Better Ghost Blade (makes the Ghost Blade a worthwhile weapon)

Undead Summoning

No Spiders (see No Dragons)

Hearthfire - Iron Creates More Building Materials (Increased the amount of hinges, nails, etc... you get from an iron ingot)

Blackreach Easy Access (Lets you get into Blackreach without doing the Septimus Signus quest).

Light Black Helm (makes a craftable helmet with the stats of Elven, and the appearance of an ebony helmet)

Light Black Shield (the same, but making a black shield craftable with the stats of Elven.

No House Of Horrors (stops that Vigilant of Stendarr outside of it from harrassing you every time you walk by)

Improved Quest Items (makes many of the quest items more useful, without being overpowered)

Better Daedric Quest Rewards (the same with the Daedric Artifacts, most of which I never use otherwise because I can make better myself)

Better Enchantments 50, 75, 100, 125, 150 (a series of mods that changes the base enchantment value of robes [magicka regen + magicka skill] so they are equal to what you can buy in the game. I swap them out depending on what level I am)

Longer Duration Mage Armor Spell (makes the Mage Armor spells last longer)

Aetherial Crown to Ruby Circlet (because I think the Aetherial Crown looks ugly)

Whiterun Stormcloak Quartermaster (adds a quartermaster to the Whiterun Stormcloak Camp)

More Trainers (adds a slew of more trainers in addition to those in other mods above)

Deer Pelt Tanning (allows you to break down Deer Pelts into Leather)

Weakness to Element Spells (adds Weakness to Fire, Frost, Shock spells)

Falkreath Court Wizard (adds a court wizard to Falkreath)

Whiterun Mystic Emporium (Adds the Mystic Emporium and Calandil to Whiterun, so my characters do not have to go to Dragonsreach and dodge Irileth every time they want to buy or sell magic stuff)

Better Standing Stone Powers (improves the standing stone powers, so that I actually want to use more than just The Lord)

Gauldr Amulet Improved (makes the Gauldr Amulets grant a 50% bonus instead of 30%, as I can usually buy better amulets by the time I get the Gauldr ones)

Wards Cost Less Magicka (makes using Wards cheaper, so you can use them longer)

Absorb Health Spells Restoration (adds Absorb Health spells that work off of Restoration)

Transmute Iron to Steel (changes the Transmute spell from Iron to Gold to Iron to Steel. That way you do not get a 100 Smithing at 5th level)

Dragonborn - Waterwalking Boots (adds several boots with the waterwalking enchantment, for wearing or disenchanting to learn the enchantment)

Nordic Carved Armor Without Ebony (makes Nordic Carved Armor craftable without Ebony, so lower level characters can make it)

Dragonborn Better Solstheim Weather (improves the weather in Solstheim)

General Stores (adds a General Store to every city and small town that does not have one, also adds a smithy to every hold capital that does not have one)

Craftable Forsworn Gear (makes Forsworn gear craftable)

Poison Spells and Weapons (adds poison-based spells and weapons)

Steel Iron Hide Shield Replacer (Replaces those vanilla shields with some from the Matherian Viking Shield Set)

Subtle Fire FX Shader (replaces the shader used for fire based melee weapons, so that the target is not wreathed in flames (and hard to see)

Snow Elf Bow (Turns Auriel's Bow and the Blessed Elven Arrows into a craftable Snow Elf bow and arrows with the same stats and Elven)

Night Eye Spell (Makes Night Eye a buyable spell, removes the blurring effect, and the color desaturation)

Spriggan Earth Mothers Are Animal Actors (so that Kyne's Peace will work on them)

Burnt Spriggans are Animal Actors (again, so they can be Peaced)

Elemental Summoning (adds a bunch of elemental critters that can be summoned in lieu of Daedra)

Better Faendal (makes him look better, and a more useful follower)

Dawnguard Items and Spells (makes the vampire and DG items craftable and lootable, so you can use them without doing the questline)

Dragonborn Othreloth Conjuration Trainer (makes Othreloth a conjuration trainer)

Dragonborn Thalmor Elven Armor (puts the Thalmor you meet on Solstheim in Elven Armor)

Dragonborn No Word Walls (disables all the world walls on Solstheim)

Fur Crafting (makes all the fur armor, gloves, etc... craftable)

Chronicles of Steel Lite (Takes the sword meshes and textures from Chronicles of Steel and make them craftable with the same stats as Steel Swords. Also replaces the vanilla Steel Sword with one of them)

Nature Summoning

Animal Friend

4 Elf Races Updated (an improved by me version of the 4 Elf Races mod)

Deadwalker Race (adds a playable undead race using the 4 Elf Races mod above as a base now made by me completely from scratch.)

Daedric Bow Recolor (makes it more black and red)

Daedric Arrow Recolor (does the same on the arrows)

Eisen Platte Armor Light (several changes to the Eisen Platte Armor, including making it Light Armor)

Runed Nord Hero Weapons (adds glowing runes to the Nord Hero Weapons, changes the base color to the same as Ancient Nord weapons)

Shouts Are Spells (turns many of the Dragon Shouts into ordinary spells)

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Oct 28 2013, 12:34 AM