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Posted by: SubRosa Aug 7 2014, 09:29 PM

Sometimes I see a mod and think "Hey, that looks interesting!" Often in a screenshot from someone else's game. Or on those occasional visits to the Nexus and I see it on the front page. I thought I would create a topic that might make it easier for all of us to keep up on what mods are out there -new or old - that at least look good. If other folks already have it, they can chime in and offer their opinions/experience with it. If not, they might decide to try it themselves.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/56395 looks interesting. It requires Dragonborn, and is basically a mash up of vanilla armors. But it seems to come together alright. Has anyone tried it? I don't have a character right now who it would be appropriate for, so even if I download it, it could be months before I actually try it out.

Posted by: Acadian Aug 7 2014, 09:42 PM

This is a good idea for a thread - thanks!

I haven't seen that Rogue Armor one, as it's fairly new. It looks fabulous though - like it really fits and belongs in the game for a rogue character. I very much like that it has some color (red) but that the red is subdued enough that it would be totally appropriate for dungeon crawling.

It has a bit too much metal on it and is too 'roguishly rough and ready' for Buffy the mystic archer, but it's a great looking armor for the right character for sure. It looks like something Aravi the skirmisher might like perhaps.

Posted by: Grits Aug 7 2014, 10:07 PM

That looks great on the Khajiit! I love the fingerless gauntlets. It looks like something Valdi would wear on her more roguish days. The rough armor she wears now exposes a little too much boob for her liking.

I'd love to see it on Aravi.

Posted by: Grits Aug 7 2014, 10:40 PM

OK, I had Valdi do a quick fashion show in Castle Volkihar. Our findings:

It looks awesome. BUT it shows a bit more hip than I would like. Especially with the armored hood on Valdi’s bare skin seemed to say, “Stab my kidneys.”

However Valdi does not have fur. I would still love it on a Khajiit.

http://i.imgur.com/J1tJrVx.png

http://i.imgur.com/5LcOQ6U.png

http://i.imgur.com/B1DZF9e.png

Posted by: SubRosa Aug 7 2014, 11:21 PM

Valdi is hot!

Erm, I mean the armor does look good. It does expose the love handles a bit though.

Posted by: haute ecole rider Aug 8 2014, 07:34 PM

I already saw the mod on the Nexus and thought the same thing - too much hip exposure. As I've become more exposure-minded thanks to Frostfall, I've been avoiding those custom/modded armors that reveal too much. The vanilla fur armor shows a little too much cleavage for my Alise's taste, but we decided that the armor still provides Full protection thanks to the Snow Cat who donated the pelt for this particular piece. Anyways, she wears her enchanted fur travel cloak over it so it's not that noticeable.

One thing I adore about Skyrim are the DOGS! The way they look at you with those big brown eyes that somehow glint with mischief, the way they lie down when you're idling, and the way they hang their shaggy wolfhound heads when you look at them funny. They all remind me of how I always imagined Grit's Ulfe to be! Anyway, I found http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/56793/ last night and thought hmmmmm . . . I like what it does to Vigilance, Alise's current companion (along with SubRosa's summoned Saber Cat).

Posted by: Acadian Aug 8 2014, 07:58 PM

Anybody know of a nice little to make the dogs stop barking all the time? It's nice for about five minutes but forces me to fire the dog before long. Barking to acknowledge commands only maybe? or only a couple times a day instead of every couple minutes?

I tried one of the huskies from DG and ran right into the same disqualifying problem right away.

Posted by: SubRosa Aug 8 2014, 08:55 PM

There are mods like http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/11704 that make them stop entirely, but I do not know of ones that only make them bark a little bit of the time.

Posted by: Grits Aug 8 2014, 09:13 PM

I love the Skyrim dogs, too. They are exactly how I imagined Ulfe, only grey instead of blonde. I was so happy when I saw the first screenshot of one! That Unique Dogs mod looks neat. Changing the color is the next thing I’m trying to figure out for Ulfe.

I use http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/7028/ to make the barking a little more pleasant. Sorry I don't know a mod to make them bark less.

Posted by: Acadian Aug 8 2014, 09:29 PM

Oh thanks for that! I'll have to check those out!

Posted by: Grits Aug 25 2014, 09:02 PM

This just in from the http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/56793/ version 1.2 change log: "-added less barking and no barking options."

I haven't tried it yet, but it's looking pretty good to me now.

Posted by: haute ecole rider Aug 26 2014, 06:01 AM

One thing about the mod, it turns Stump positively PURPLE! It's especially noticeable in bright sunlight.

First time I saw this I was "Watthef--" Then I cracked up laughing when I realized the kids must have concocted some kind of shampoo with purple mountain flower, lavender and garlic in an attempt to rid the poor guy of fleas. I'm not sure if it did get rid of the fleas, but it certainly explains the purple color!

Posted by: Grits Aug 26 2014, 12:03 PM

I noticed purple Stump in the screenshots. Here's the other comment from the change log: "- Fixed the purple tint bug! (Woohoo!)." Lavender and purple mountain flower, that's awesome.

Posted by: SubRosa Aug 27 2014, 02:10 AM

I came across an interesting armor mod today while l was looking for new outfits for Persephone. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/34727 and its http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/35126 have a great, realistic look. It would be good for an ordinary, no-nonsense girl. The curling feather on the back of the helmet is the only thing that looks a bit fantastical. But the rest of the helmet http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_spot_burgonet.html, and with the chest plate, is straight from Real Life.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51798 looks very neat as well. A lot fancier than the Sonia armor, but still very functional. A good knightly attire.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19655 is another good looking armor set.

Posted by: Acadian Aug 27 2014, 03:09 AM

SubRosa, the SPOA Silver Knight Armor looks absolutely stunning! Every bit of it. In fact, it sports a helmet that I would actually put on a character!

Posted by: SubRosa Aug 27 2014, 03:17 AM

It does have a helmet. But it completely covers the wearer's head and face. So even if Persephone goes with it, she will be bare-headed.

Posted by: Acadian Aug 27 2014, 03:21 AM

*glances at avatar* Yeah, I love full face helmets - both the practicality and mystery they provide. I like wearing the one in my avatar to keep that pesky blond ponytail from popping out. . . but it doesn't work so well, does it? Back in OB, I used to imagine the look on folks' faces when the massive knight in shining golden (dwarven) armor removed the full face helm to reveal - Sir Mazoga!

Posted by: Grits Aug 27 2014, 03:39 AM

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24253/ is one that caught my attention. I think it might have too much gold for Persephone, though. I also think the http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/55849/ looks nice.

Posted by: Grits Aug 27 2014, 01:57 PM

Here’s one that I’m having reckless fun with and hopefully not sowing the seeds of my game’s destruction. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/57335/. Best thing so far: custom potions names!!! You know how happy this makes me.

Posted by: Acadian Aug 27 2014, 03:17 PM

A happy Grits!

Flea shampoo, Jerric juice, ...

Posted by: SubRosa Aug 27 2014, 04:17 PM

That is a great way to give Flash and the other horses names as well!

Posted by: SubRosa Sep 2 2014, 01:05 AM

I started using http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/13457 a few days ago. It is a simple little mod, that puts a light on the player character's face. It does not sound like much, but it does look really good. There are two spells, for varying levels of brightness, and two more to cast them on NPCs. I find I like the darker version best, as it adds only a subtle light to the PC.

Posted by: Grits Sep 15 2014, 07:38 PM

Ok, so http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/58074/ may be the final piece of the puzzle that gets me to recreate Njall the Unliving and put him through the vampire side of Dawnguard as SubRosa suggested. I’ve always loved the ancient Nord armor except for the miniskirt part. It looks like this mod just gives it pants.

BTW, Facelight is working great for me. Thank you for the tip!

Posted by: haute ecole rider Sep 16 2014, 03:14 AM

Yaay pants!

I hate the way the Ancient Nord armor and the Imperial Legion armor leaves knees so bare. I mean, come on, this is eternal Frostfall! Brrrrgh!

Posted by: Grits Sep 16 2014, 03:25 AM

I used to use an armor mod just for the pants that you could put under other armor. I felt itchy with all of those bare legs walking through thigh-high brush.

Weren’t we just talking about how silly it is that NPCs don’t seem to notice the glowing eyes and butt faces of NPC vampires? Here’s a mod for that: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/58139/.

I haven’t tried it since I’m using a different mod for eyes and fangs plus my own player vampire face tweaks with whatever I did that I don’t remember, but it would seem that this mod could replace both.

Posted by: SubRosa Sep 16 2014, 04:53 PM

Thanks! I'll download that after work and give it a whirl.

Posted by: Pseron Wyrd Sep 18 2014, 01:23 AM

Here's a mod I just discovered. It's called http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/54509/

It allows you to bring old characters into your current game. "...meet your Dragonborn from past play-throughs, create a monument to their achievements, and even bring them to your world as faithful allies... or worthy opponents! Whether you're a role-player trying to build a coherent story of Skyrim or you just think it'd be cool to use your other players as followers, Familiar Faces is the only way to do it!"

The reason this mod interests me is that I've been doing this for almost 12 years but I've always had to do it manually in the Construction Set. It looks like this mod offers an easier and more automated way of accomplishing the same thing. I will definitely be trying this out the next time I play Skyrim.

Posted by: Acadian Sep 18 2014, 02:52 AM

Looks very neat, Pseron Wyrd! I'm sure there are several folks here who would be interested in it.

I'm watching this one: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50346/?tab=4&&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fcomments%2F%3Fmod_id%3D50346%26page%3D1%26sort%3DDESC%26pid%3D0%26thread_id%3D1355164&pUp=1 . Seems like it makes everything that is supposed to respawn do so in 72 hours. Plants, critters, dungeons.

I play at the same time scale of 10 that I use in OB and three days is perfect for me. Buffy's such a voracious dungeon diver that 10 days is just way too slow. The dungeons in Skyrim are so pretty that we're rather addicted to clearing them.

Posted by: haute ecole rider Sep 18 2014, 06:11 PM

Thanks for that info! I haven't yet played Skyrim with a different character, but I may want to import Alise as an NPC into my next char's game. Too bad this mod isn't for Oblivion - I would totally put Julian and Tallei into each other's game!



I'm like you, Acadian, but I prefer a slightly longer respawn time - more like 5 in game days. I pace things so slowly because I play hardcore - my characters have to eat, drink and sleep daily. No marathon modes for them! So I guess I'll wait until I'm ready to figure out how to reset the respawn time in my game.

Posted by: Acadian Sep 19 2014, 01:29 AM

Rider, that mod I linked to has several optional files you can load for differing respawn times. I think there's about 5 options running from 72 hours up to about 360 hours I think.

Posted by: Pseron Wyrd Sep 19 2014, 01:44 PM

A 72-hour respawn mod was one of the first Skyrim mods I used. The game works great this way, I like it. I'm just too used to 72-hour spawns in Morrowind and Oblivion. The longer times seem too long to me.

The only problem I had was with the main quest. There's am encampment of bandits right outside the entrance to Sky Haven Temple and it can be a serious PITA to have to clear them out every time you want to get inside.

There may be clever ways to avoid having to fight them, but I don't have the patience for cleverness, lol. I ended up disabling my respawn mod for the duration of the main quest.

Posted by: Grits Sep 19 2014, 02:07 PM

I noticed the various esps have different names, so I can easily use them with profiles to suit different characters. The Zanimal definitely wants the shortest one so he can raid his favorite spots more often. I think most of my characters will use the six day one. It looks pretty easy to change it to five days if it turns out that would suit better. This is a great find! Thank you!

Posted by: Acadian Sep 19 2014, 02:11 PM

Thanks for the endorsement, Pseron. I figure I'll start a new playthrough within a few weeks and tweak my mods to include that one.

Posted by: SubRosa Sep 19 2014, 03:49 PM

I disabled the main quest instead...

Posted by: Pseron Wyrd Sep 19 2014, 07:14 PM

Unlike yourself, I have no morals. Or the ability to think for myself, apparently. I slaughtered Dragons because Beth told me to. I rationalized this by telling myself that they attacked me first. What could I do? It was self-defense. I tried this argument on Alvor and he seemed to buy it. "That sounds reasonable," he said. But, then, Alvor doesn't strike me as being very bright.

Unfortunately [here comes my favorite Skyrim rant] Bethesda decided to tie the main quest into both the civil war and the Dragonborn expansion. This hideous game design decision meant that I was forced to begin the main quest two more times (triggering more Dragons) in order to experience those quest lines with other characters.

I hope they never do that again, ever. Ever. Ever.

Posted by: SubRosa Sep 19 2014, 09:24 PM

Those are dragons? I thought they were over-sized cliffracers! I got so tired of killing them in Morrowind, that I have no desire to do it again in another province.

I did stomach enough of the main quest to do the civil war from both sides. But never again. Honestly, the Civil War questlines were not very interesting. I do hope they don't interweave more major questlines into their main quests again, but I think that is only going to become more the case, not less. Bethesda seems to be becoming more and more like Obsidian in their desire to control the player's decisions, to the point of them becoming meaningless.

Posted by: Acadian Sep 29 2014, 01:33 PM

An update. I've been using this mod for a couple days now and love it. In vanilla, dungeons that are marked as 'cleared' respawn in 30 days; everything else that is suppose to respawn does so in 10 days.

This mod has several files so you can install one that changes these values to something close to your liking. I'm using the file 'Fast Respawn 144'. It makes 'cleared' dungeons respawn in 6 days and everything else respawn in three days.

Buffy's a voracious dungeon diver and has a wide range. But 30 / 10 days was simply too long. As a result, we were getting bored after a few hundred hours, frustrated by empty dungeons and restarting her game. With this mod it pretty much ensures that by the time she returns to a dungeon it's reloaded with fresh victims.

Posted by: haute ecole rider Sep 30 2014, 12:57 AM

I also downloaded and added the Fast Respawn mod to my loadout.

I went with the 240 file, which respawns cleared cells in 10 days and all else in 5.

I was already in Falskaar when I added this mod, so I have yet to see its effects here. But I'm totally looking forward to our return to Skyrim! Alise is not quite the inveterate dungeon diver that Buffy is, but she really hates bandits, so she is vigilant about them . . .

Another mod I'm watching is http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/58551/. I'm looking at this and wondering, did the Roman legionnaries really build these things every night?? If so, I'm even more impressed!

Posted by: Lopov Nov 1 2014, 08:32 PM

Thanks for the Fast Respawn mod, Acadian, I have yet to find the optimal respawn time for my game but I'll definitely use it.

For those interested in adding some more inns that are also each unique in its on way, here ishttp://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/28283/. Then there are http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/49206/ and http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50954/ mod, which give even bandits some basic schedules. And then there's also http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/58296/ mod which not only allows you to sit anywhere but also to sleep anywhere, just as it was in Morrowind.

Posted by: mALX Nov 1 2014, 10:03 PM

Did anyone else watch the vid for "Sleep Tight?" I was in stitches! Especially at the end when the credits were rolling and he started dancing! SPEW! That lady beating on him as he danced ... OMG, that was hilarious!!!

That mod "Simple Actions" sounds great!!! I def want that one! Thanks, Lopov!

Posted by: Acadian Nov 1 2014, 10:17 PM

Thanks for the endorsement of Simple Actions, Lopov. I've been tracking that one for some time but haven't downloaded or installed it.

Posted by: Lopov Nov 1 2014, 10:38 PM

You're both welcome. The only issue (minor, at least for me) is that when waking up, your character will have eyes closed but reloading fixes it. Apparently this wasn't always the issue but it happened with the official update that disabled blinking, for instance, my character in Skyrim didn't blink at first but I fixed it withhttp://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/44596/.

Posted by: SubRosa Nov 2 2014, 12:06 AM

Have you had a chance to use Humanoid Vampires? I have been using it, but the vampire in the Solitude Court still looks the same. Did they just overlook her? Or is it just an issue with my game?

I did notice that Alva in Morthal looks normal. I haven't thought to look at the other vampires Persephone has killed lately. She has been too busy chopping with her sword to really study them. I think I'll take her back to Movarth's Lair for another look.

Just took a look. Movarth not only still has the butt-face, but his whole head has turned grey! However, the generic Ancient Vampire also there looks like a normal human. I opened up the mod, and see it only changes the vampire race entries. Alva is officially a Nord Female race, like Serana, so that's why she looks normal. Sybille Stentor is a BretonVampireRace, which the mod alters, but still shows up with the butt-face? I have no idea why. I moved the mod to the bottom of the load order, so it is taking precedence over anything else I have that might be conflicting. I think this is going into the recycle bin.


Thanks for the link on Simple Actions. I have downloaded that and added it. Even though it might be a while before I play a character that sleeps (Persephone is undead, so she has not eaten or slept in four thousand years).

Posted by: SubRosa Nov 2 2014, 12:33 AM

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12951 looks interesting. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52228/ led me to it, and it seems to do a great deal more than Race Menu (which never really impressed me). It says you can even save the face you make, and has an Undo/Redo system. Has anyone ever tried it?

Edit: I installed it, wow, there are tons of options. After starting the game and trying it out, I recall I had tried it once before and not bothered to keep it. But I can see a whole lot of new options now, which I like. You can do things like change eye size and width, brow arching, the size of your mouth, the size of just the upper lip, or the lower, etc... You can even change your character's height, how big your head is, scale the size of your weapon up and down, and so on. It has multiple levels of zooming in, and lighting of various levels it can spawn for you to see your character better.

http://i.imgur.com/UHHBt7z.jpg. Same with your lips, so now we can have any lipstick color we want! The inability to do that in vanilla Skyrim is one of the reasons I made my Deadwalker Race for Persephone, with new textures. Thanks to this, we can see what she would look like http://i.imgur.com/BwDLkqn.jpg, without me having to tinker around with changing her race.

Posted by: Acadian Nov 2 2014, 07:43 PM

SubRosa, that's good to know. I'm using Race Menu, but I'll have to keep my eye on that one you're using. One thing I do like about Race Menu is that I can change size/shape/angle of elf ears. That really helps vs hair clipping since almost all hair mods are designed for round ears.

Posted by: SubRosa Nov 2 2014, 07:55 PM

You can do the same with the ears with ECE. In fact, you can give your human elf ears if you want, of several different varieties.

Posted by: Acadian Nov 2 2014, 07:57 PM

Oh, thanks for letting me know that! When I quickly glanced at ECE, I didn't see any ear tweaks. Thanks again!

Posted by: Grits Nov 2 2014, 08:03 PM

Fast Respawn is still working great for me. It is very easy to adjust the settings so that they’re just right. Great recommendation!

I still haven’t tried that Humanoid Vampires mod yet. Sybille Stentor being overlooked would be a big issue for me. The whole point is that my mortal characters should not recognize the vampires who are passing for human, like Alva and Sybille. I’ll try it out with Zanimal’s game, since he has access to Castle Volkihar.

Oh! Also I found a Male Brute voice set that someone made for Nanahane’s Additional Voice Sets. It’s Set 2 in http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/37681/ whose exact name I can never remember. That’s Jerric’s voice, so I gave it a whirl. It is awesome!

He and Darnand were heading out the Whiterun gate around six in the evening. I was debating where they would want to stop for the night. Out of the blue Jerric said, “By the Nine I’d give good money for a pint of ale to warm my bones.” (He “discovered” Breezehome by walking past it due to a new mod with a map marker.) Needless to say they went back to the Bannered Mare!

Of course I'm still using CFS's Player Voicesets mod with Wulfy's voice for the Zanimal. That voice makes the character!

Posted by: Grits Nov 3 2014, 01:42 AM

OK, I just tried the Humanoid Vampire face mod and Sybille looks the same in my games without it, I'm assuming because I'm using a better fangs and non-glowing eyes mod that I think replaces the vampire characters' individual heads. The Volkihar vampires looked the same in Zanimal's game without it. So if for some reason I don't want to use that one I'll check out Humanoid Vampires again, but it seems I'm covered without it.

The fang mod would be a major pain to remove, so I didn't check without it. I've been having issues lately.

I actually don't mind the bat faces on the Volkihar clan. They wouldn't have any reason to conceal their nature while they're at the castle.


Edit: D'oh! Humanoid Vampires affects the player as well as some NPCs. I've already tweaked Z's vampire face myself, but that must have been what I was thinking about when I looked at that mod. The vampire player. *sighs*

Posted by: Acadian Nov 3 2014, 02:25 AM

Lopov, I went ahead and installed Simple Actions and am very happy with it. Simple and effective. Mostly I simply want the ability for Buffy to sit wherever she wants, and this does it! Thanks!

Posted by: Acadian Nov 3 2014, 03:33 AM

Just came across a new mod on Nexus that screamed 'Jerric needs this!' Maybe Buffy too. Anyway, the mod is called http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/59612/?tab=2&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmodfiles%2F%3Fid%3D59612&pUp=1 and adds a pack mule companion. Like anything new, I'll track it for a time before considering installing. Sure looks fun though.

Posted by: Grits Nov 3 2014, 04:05 AM

I love it! Poor Flash was wearing a Traveler pack saddle at first (Convenient Horses) but then he looked too burdened and Jerric wouldn't ride him! A mule follower would be just right. Tracking for now (and making sure the mule won't oust Ulfe from her spot in the caravan). Thanks for spotting this!

Posted by: SubRosa Nov 3 2014, 04:50 AM

I found my old vampire face fixer mod. It was one I made myself. It is very simple really. All you have to do is go to your Data\Textures\Actors\Female folder. Find femalehead.dds and femalehead_msn.dds. Copy each, paste the copies in the same folder, and rename them femaleheadvampire.dds and femaleheadvampire_msn.dds.

Viola! your female vampires look the same as your regular wimmins. Do the same to the two male head texture files to fix the boy fangs.

Posted by: Grits Nov 17 2014, 03:03 PM

Here’s a new mod that made me think of ghastley’s Clarisse: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/59925/. It docks in Windhelm, Solitude, and Dawnstar like Captain Zanimal’s ship (Northern Cardinal mod), but this one is a whole lot prettier.

Posted by: Acadian Nov 17 2014, 03:31 PM

Grits, I'm tracking that ship mod as well. Just need to figure out how to get it to also dock in Anvil!

Seriously, there's some province-hopping RP possibilities there methinks.

Posted by: Grits Nov 17 2014, 04:21 PM

Acadian, that’s a great idea! We pretended that Darnand and Jerric returned to Cyrodiil via ship this time, but it didn’t occur to me to have them actually board one of Skyrim’s ships. Fun!

Posted by: Acadian Nov 17 2014, 04:33 PM

Hey, a guy who can open the door of his IC Waterfront shack and, through the magic of fast travel, step out onto the beach of Anvil can surely manage this one! I still remember that as the most creative use of fast travel I've heard.

Posted by: mALX Nov 17 2014, 04:49 PM

All of Elianora's player house mods are awesome, but I haven't been able to use any till this one - they have all required the DLC's, that I don't have. I DL'd it immediately when I saw it didn't require DLC. She has a flair for making a gorgeous player home. The fact that it moves the player around too is a real plus!

Posted by: Acadian Nov 18 2014, 03:15 AM

Thanks, mALX, for that endorsement of the Serenity ship's modder - that's good to know!

SubRosa mentioned in post #44 above that Enhanced Character Edit was a viable alternative to Race Menu which I have been using. Well, I dumped Race Menu and went to ECE and have been using ECE for a day or so doing quite a few little things with it. I'm happy to report that I've had no problems at all with ECE and prefer it to Race Menu in several small ways.

SubRosa comes through once again!

Posted by: mALX Nov 18 2014, 03:34 AM

I'll have to try it, that Race Menu one is flighty.

Posted by: SubRosa Nov 18 2014, 06:19 PM

I had one issue with ECE so far. When I am playing Persephone I noticed that her scars get partially covered over if ECE is active. But this does not happen with any of the vanilla races. I think this is because Persephone belongs to a race I modded into the game, and it isn't meshing perfectly wtih the femaleheadchargen.tri or femalehead.nif files that ECE adds. So if you are playing a custom race, that is one thing to watch for.

Posted by: Acadian Nov 18 2014, 06:40 PM

Oh thanks for the info. Happily, Buffy's a real Bosmer - so we get all the race-specific comments. There are few enough of her sisters in the game that I have done the few minor race tweaks needed to the whole vanilla race of 'female Bosmer'.

Posted by: Grits Nov 18 2014, 06:59 PM

The thing that keeps me from trying ECE is that I’ve finally gotten RaceMenuOverlays to work for men, which means at long last Jerric gets some ink. I couldn’t tell if there is something similar for ECE. Does anyone know if you can add tattoos to just your character with ECE? Or perhaps I’m approaching the situation wrong.

Posted by: SubRosa Nov 18 2014, 07:26 PM

You can use Race Menu with ECE, but some of ECEs features won't work. So that is one way.

ECE doesn't use overlays, but apparently there is a workaround to get tats with it, though it sounds confusing. http://www.loverslab.com/topic/35223-tattoos-with-enhanced-character-edit-ece/ explains it all. If you can get the blasted page to load.

Here's the gist of it: There is a way its a bit of a pita but you'll need http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/37481. Next create your character using ece and save the preset then quit skyrim install RM and all the overlays you want load the character back up and go to town with the tats. Your character will look messed up just ignore that for now once you got all you want save/quit drop rm but make sure netimmerse override loose files stay put and probably the textures from the overlays. Load back up making sure ece is enabled go back into showracemenu and select your preset restoring your face/body shape. Because netimmerse override will preserve the overlays you placed your now set just repeat the process any time you want to redo em.

Posted by: Lopov Nov 26 2014, 10:58 PM

Another mod I'd recommend is http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/38529/? which allows you travel between cities and actually see yourself sitting on a carriage. It has many options and you can exit carriages anytime you wish or change your destination anytime.

I also use http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/32592/? mod that allows you to take books, not read them automatically. You still gain skill when reading them, though.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/43805/? which allows you to make food at every burning campfire.

And though this is purely subjective, I've finally found a combination of mods that make characters look as I want them to - it's a combination of http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/2356/? and http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/2332/?. While XCE does a great job by making characters feel and look more believable, faces can still appear completely different when seen in different lights, sometimes a younger character can look old when seen from a different angle etc. Using Younger Characters beside it softens some facial lines and makes characters look more or less "the same", no matter at what light do you look at them. Of course that's purely subjective but I decided to share it anyway.

Posted by: Renee Gade IV Nov 27 2014, 03:00 PM

nom nom eat u up ! Touring Carriages looks pretty cool, and also the campfire one.

On day 1 of my Skyrim-on-PC career I'm going to have quite a list of mods to install

Posted by: Lopov Nov 28 2014, 02:57 PM

So you like that carriage mod, eh? Then here are some pics for you:

http://shrani.najdi.si/?3n/kg/wDCXeaI/107-on-a-carriage-i.jpg
http://shrani.najdi.si/?1Q/WG/300QSMXg/108-on-a-carriage-ii.jpg
http://shrani.najdi.si/?s/fS/3qKjuXrn/110-on-a-carriage-iv.jpg

Posted by: Grits Dec 5 2014, 03:55 PM

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/60453/ is (are?) back on the Nexus. Just a heads up, the Heljarchen greenhouse goes in the Trophy Room, not in the Storage Room like at Lakeview.

Yay!!

Posted by: Acadian Dec 10 2014, 03:35 PM

I'm still happily using ECE (instead of Race Menu) and am happy with it. Thanks again, SubRosa!

*

Buffy is doing the Dawnguard questline for her second time. I remember Serana as being a pretty good follower, but the nice thing about a second go through is that I pay much more attention to the less than essential details and have more time to be concerned with how Buffy perceives things and feels. Anyway, this play through, I’m struck by how often Serana repeats the line, “Yes? What did you need?” Once sensitized to this, it was becoming very tedious/irritating. I did some poking around on NEXus and found I was not the only one with that complaint. I found two relevant mods that address it:

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/29922/ This is a tiny (<1kb) mod that simply removes that line from Serana’s repertoire. It is well-endorsed and seems like a simple solution.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52283/ This is a bigger (~24MB) mod that goes into all of Serana’s existing voice dialogue found in the CK (both used and unused in game) and does some major tweaking. It specifically precludes her from repeating that offending line any more that once every 2.5 hours so it does fix my complaint. It goes much further though, even offering new dialogue branch trees by cutting and pasting magic with her existing dialogue bits – again, including some not used in the vanilla DLC. This mod is also highly endorsed and seems actively supported.

Anyway, I went with the bigger choice (Serana dialogue edit) and have been using it for a couple days now with Serana ‘welded’ to Buffy. It absolutely fixes my complaint about her overly repeating that one line. It also subtly brings Serana much more alive. There are several new lines and some creative use of existing ones. And, as I mentioned, there are new dialogue branches. Yesterday, Buffy was asking Serana about her family (as you could without the mod). That branched into a new dialogue when Serana replied, then asked about Buffy’s family. To which Buffy was able to respond that she was an orphan. Serana sympathized, saying that given how dysfunctional her own family is that she feels like an orphan as well. The mod is not massive in the dialogue revisions, but I am finding the subtle changes and improvements to be noticeable and quite well done. Bottom line is that it does indeed improve Serana, at least in my view.

Posted by: Lopov Dec 25 2014, 09:03 PM

Reading about Amazing Followers Tweak in another thread I decided to give it a try a few days ago and I heartily recommend it. The main reason why I installed it, is to manage followers' outfit when outside and when at home, so thanks to AFT Lydia automatically changes to common clothes when in Breezehome and no longer cooks in her steel plate armor. Another great feature is that if standing idle for some time, followers begin to do something on their own, be it eating, cooking, tanning, basically anything. It has a lot of other cool features too that I have yet to try out.

Here's another mod I installed recently - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/43053/?. It applies more realistic weight to clothing items and renames some items, so that not all shoes are called just shoes and boots but they're instead called cuffed boots, fine shoes, etc...It also makes reduces clipping when wearing amulets and clothes, making amulets more visible. Among others, it also changes Gold to Septims. It has a bunch of other features as well.

And although I usually don't care how my characters look when not wearing any clothes or armor, I installed a body replacer for men just because despite using XCE mod that cleans the skin, it still looked too dirty IMO. I used the most popular mod called Better males because it has an option to use a new body but keep vanilla underwear. The skin is now cleaner and fingers & toes are more detailed. It also allows setting body hair either from completely shaven to as hairy as bear.

For now I don't use any female replacer because I have yet to find one that keeps underwear untouched or only slightly changed without making women too model-like.

Posted by: SubRosa Dec 26 2014, 08:20 PM

Sounds like we are using the same mod for males. I use Better Males - Younger Faces Merged With Men By Geonox.

I found that http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/6709 does not look too model like, so long as you keep the weight boob slider over to the left. UNP Skinny eliminates that problem altogether. It has various underwear options. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/3563 gives you a makeup free face that greatly reduces neckseams. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/16731 will let you give your female characters as much or little muscles (mainly abs) as you like.

Posted by: Lopov Jan 2 2015, 05:45 PM

Thanks for suggestions, I'll look them up.

Any good mods to make decorating homes easier? With vanilla it's almost impossible to position objects on shelves as we want, not to mention that some objects get tossed on the floor when the cell is reentered or save reloaded.

Posted by: ghastley Jan 2 2015, 06:41 PM

I haven't tried http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52583 but it looks like it might do the job. I believe Grits and others have used the renamer mod from the same author, and liked it, so it's likely this is equally well-made.

Posted by: Lopov Jan 2 2015, 09:07 PM

Looks good, thanks.

Posted by: ghastley Jan 5 2015, 04:00 PM

Noted in the mod's own thread, but I downloaded http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/29249 to see if it would bypass the issues with adopting Uzgash at the Stronghold, and it did!

The mod gives you a spell to "bless" your home. What this does is check for various features that make it child-friendly, such as:

• Beds/chests owned by the right faction,
• A training dummy,
• Idle markers for kid activities,
• map markers so they can go home!

If the house passes the test, you can tell an adoptable kid you have a home for them (the dialog option doesn't say where). Because it has all the location data captured, the kid will move there, and do all the usual adopted child things, such as adopt a pet, give you gifts, argue with sibling, etc.

Quite a few (20+) player home mods already qualify, and my Build Your Own Stronghold will add to that number. Although Bethesda developers made a lot of thing harder for me by hard-coding the list of official homes into their scripts, they made it a lot easier, too, with the location type keywords that this mod can detect and use. I just had to mark a few items with the right keywords, and the house became a home with a few minutes' work.

Posted by: mALX Jan 5 2015, 06:49 PM

Wait, can you give more details about what makes a home child friendly? Example: What idle markers, furniture, and ... why do they need a training dummy? And is there a specific training dummy they need?

Posted by: ghastley Jan 5 2015, 09:04 PM

There's quite a list, but it's all in a text file with the mod itself. It could do with a bit of re-organising, as I think things were added to the list as they were added to the mod, rather than put into sub-lists like "inside", "outside", or "markers" or "furniture". But I just worked down the list with the CK open, and it all worked the first time.

There's a child-sized dummy that comes with Hearthfires, and you can place more than one. If you give a child a wooden sword or dagger, they'll go try it out, so they need a target other than their adoptive parent!

I already had most of the things they needed in the Stronghold, it was just a case of flagging them with the right keywords.

Posted by: mALX Jan 6 2015, 01:50 AM

Yes, that list def needs some organization, but they have a lot of tips on it (along with some things that were unnecessary to say, like "build an interior" - but the list is Awesome! I have archived it for future reference, lol.

Posted by: Grits Jan 6 2015, 04:36 PM

Yep, I use the Positioner too. I even bought a keypad so I could use it. So far, so good. Happy decorating, Lopov! (There's a thread somewhere for you to post screenshots of your house, hint hint. Ah, http://chorrol.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=5335.)

Posted by: Lopov Jan 7 2015, 08:39 PM

The Positioner is great, I tested it in some cave, the best functions are to finally be able to turn items around and lock them in place so they don't fall off shelves all the time. I will post some screenies of Breezhome when they return there but I think they'll be on the road for a long time. Because when cultists attack, one just has to investigate what's going on...

Posted by: ghastley Jan 7 2015, 09:53 PM

I've done all my home decorating using the console SetPos X, SetAngle z etc. only to find that it get knocked out of place by a follower. I may start using that just for the lock.

Posted by: Lopov Feb 11 2015, 02:04 PM

I have troubles even with objects that are supposed to be locked in places. Some will stay there after being locked but others will appear floating in air when the cell is reentered or I reload the game. Does anyone know how to fix this? I tried finding the answer at Nexus but it's hard to find what you're looking for in a very long Posts section.

EDIT: After some more searching, I found the answer and I can confirm that locking objects in place works if done that way. Here's a copy from Nexus:

Posted by: ghastley Feb 11 2015, 03:00 PM

That matches my experience. I have a habit of collecting dragon claws in the display case in the Lakeview Entryway, and they always leap back out the first time I put them in there. Second time always works, but the new ones sometimes knock out the old ones on the way.

Posted by: ghastley Feb 18 2015, 07:17 PM

Just noticed that the http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/62676 is out. I downloaded it and tried it in an existing game. It messed up Uzgash, as it replaces some of the files she uses, but I wouldn't normally expect to use both together.

It changes all the existing children, and appears to do so in a way that may prevent it being used with any other mod that adds new children, as those won't use the new/replaced assets.

Except ... I'm currently testing to see if I can use it as a master to make extra children. Mixed results so far.

Posted by: mALX Feb 19 2015, 06:18 AM

I don't understand what the "morphs" means on that Overhaul link, really didn't understand what they were talking about on that Details page.

I have been trying hard to find a really good child face/head shape - was hoping to find a way to make a cute standalone vampire child.

Posted by: ghastley Feb 19 2015, 03:44 PM

Morphs = Shape variations - sliders for the CK facegen tab, since the mod does do playable children. So eye shape, pointed/round chin, eyebrow height/angle, thick/thin lips, wider/narrower nose.

E.g. a Redguard might use a rounder chin, wider nose, thicker lips than a Wood Elf. Same differences as the adults are made available, instead of all the kids having the same face.

A morph target set uses the same mesh as the base, with the vertices only moved - none added or deleted. The sliders determine how far in between the two positions for each vertex the result occupies. Since the meshes for the child head and the adult head are different, you can't use the adult morph targets with the child, and Hallgarth has made extra target heads for the kids.

However, there's a lot more in the mod than just heads, and it's the other stuff that's giving me problems. There's a new skeleton, for some reason, and all the clothing has been replaced with items that fit that. So my outfit for Uzi doesn't work on any other child. I'm still trying to track down what was done to textures, as Uzi's skin is also looking wrong with this in place.

Posted by: mALX Feb 19 2015, 05:52 PM

The screenshots didn't show much difference between them that I could see; and they still seemed to have a pumpkinish look - I wondered all along if someone couldn't do a better skull for the children; and maybe even have different ones for some of the races so they would be a bit more distinguishable and varied.

What is the difference in this overhaul and RS Children Overhaul? How did the RS manage to make those cute faces on the children? (or are they adults shrunk like that giant Orc girl I showed you?)

Posted by: SubRosa Feb 22 2015, 05:43 AM

I came across http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/56826 today. It is a good pair of lore- (and realism) friendly cuirasses. There are several different versions, from replacers for the vanilla scale armor, to a standalone version.

Posted by: Acadian Feb 22 2015, 01:30 PM

SubRosa - that does indeed look nice. I like the scaled armor, but this in addition looks like it could be nice for some characters. Thanks for sharing!

Posted by: Lopov Feb 22 2015, 08:36 PM

Look what I found - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/10746/?tab=2&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmodfiles%2F%3Fid%3D10746&pUp=1. Awesome! Lucius was forced to join the College as a part of the main quest and I roleplay it in such a way that he doesn't have access to the library immediately so he has to act as a student for some time. But I didn't want to do any quests because I knew that you become the Arch-Mage at the end. However, with this mod I can safely do the questline and choose Tolfdir as the new Arch-Mage. This mod my day!

Posted by: SubRosa Feb 22 2015, 08:47 PM

I use that. There are a few things it missed, that you can fix with the console. Which naturally I cannot find now, even though I have posted the commands on these forums, and saved them to my backups...

Here is some of it. This will stop people calling you the Archmage. It takes you out of the Archmage faction, and puts you back in the regular Mages Guild faction:

player.removefromfaction 103372
player.addtofaction 1F259 4

Posted by: SubRosa Feb 22 2015, 10:52 PM

I came across two more interesting looking armor mods today while hunting for something for Molly to wear.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/36459/ adds a light and heavy (mailed) set of armor.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/37746 adds three sets of armor. The one for females looks really striking.

Posted by: mALX Feb 23 2015, 12:49 AM

Of the two, this is my favorite. I never wear heavy armor, but loved the look of the mail in this one better than the light armor the mod offers. It was really awesome how you could get many different looks out of it too! Both of these are made with the heavy armor:

http://static-5.nexusmods.com/15/mods/110/images/36459-2-1407667846.jpg

http://static-5.nexusmods.com/15/mods/110/images/36459-2-1406668890.jpg

Posted by: Grits Feb 24 2015, 12:43 AM

Thanks for those console commands. I’m adding them to a note I keep on my phone. I can never find these things when I’m looking for them!

Here’s one that is supposed to allow followers to walk next to you: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/62863/. There is a long list of follower mods that won’t work with it, but I’m hoping that walking at the player’s side will become a new feature for others now that this one is out there. Also I hope it works with KC’s Followers Can Relax. I remember the follower distance part of the Game Jam video. I wanted that so much!!

Posted by: Lopov Feb 24 2015, 12:28 PM

@SubRosa: thanks for these commands, I'll use them when needed unless Lucius changes his mind and accepts the honorary title of the Arch-Mage.

@Grits: sounds like an interesting mod, I'll try it out because followers walking behind our characters really annoys me. Lucius intends to travel with Brelyna in the near future, I'll let you know if it works.

Posted by: Grits Feb 24 2015, 04:12 PM

Lopov, I'm told that Followers as Companions really does require the SKSE 1.7.2 beta, which I'm not using yet. I'd love to hear about how it works if you try it.

Posted by: Lopov Feb 24 2015, 04:20 PM

I did some testing.

In the MCM you have the option to choose which button to assign to change follower's position from behind to beside. This works fine as long as you don't stop walking, then you have to press the button again because the follower is yet again behind you. This might be because I use AFT.

I will do some more testing but it might be that it conflicts with AFT.

Posted by: Grits Feb 24 2015, 04:30 PM

Thank you, Lopov! From the mod comments it definitely conflicts with AFT. I use KC's Followers Can Relax in my games where I don't need multiple followers, so I'm hoping it will work with that one.

One of the things I like about AFT is outfit management, but I don't use AFT in all of my games. There's a new mod called Empty Slots that might work for giving followers invisible items so that you can dress them from their vanilla inventory menu if you make stuff that they will equip. I'm giving this one a try with my own tweaks. Then poor Stenvar won't have to wear his armor into the spa. Hopefully.


Edit: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/63048/ works great. I spent about two minutes in the CK making a few heavy armor versions of the hands, feet, circlet, and body slots so that I can play dressup with followers using the Trade Items dialog. No more gauntlets at the dinner table or armor in the bathhouse!

Also handy for its intended use, unequipping items like capes and earrings when you use a hotkey to change outfits.

Posted by: SubRosa Feb 24 2015, 08:50 PM

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/36049/ adds some spiffy retextures of the vanilla necro robes. This is now in my regular rotation.

Posted by: mALX Mar 2 2015, 12:12 AM

This is regarding Ghastley's children project - in playing Fallout 3 since Skyrim came out; I've been struck by how well done the children were in Fallout 3 - I went to Rivet City and that cute little girl kept waving at me and saying hi - very cute idles on those children; the children were cute and realistic looking for children -

What I want to know is; if Bethesda had that kind of capability in Fallout 3, why did they not use it in Skyrim? I would love to see those children - or at least some of those awesome child idles - in Skyrim.

I know WE can't bring them over, but Bethesda could have.

I really wish they could be used as a model to try for though.

Posted by: Grits Mar 4 2015, 03:11 PM

Here’s a new one that I like a lot: Gamwich’s amusingly namedhttp://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/63353/. The kids still look like Skyrim kids, just better. Best of all (for me) there is no need to patch every mod that adds children to the game. It’s the kind of simple replacer that I tend to forget is even there.

Posted by: mALX Mar 4 2015, 08:24 PM

That mod sounds really great - and closer to what I was looking for than most of the child overhauls where I couldn't see a visual difference in the appearance of the children.

Posted by: Lopov Mar 6 2015, 10:44 PM

I have a minor problem with the AFT mod. When used in Lucius' game, it works flawlessly and I can recruit any NPC as a companion. But in Aard's game when I try to make someone a companion by casting a spell on them, I get the message saying sth like "Script parameter missing - mod conflict?". However, I use exactly the same mods for both games. The only difference is that I installed AFT when Lucius has been around for some time while Aard started with AFT installed.

Any advices?

Thanks.

Posted by: ghastley Mar 7 2015, 02:17 AM

Same order? Try running LOOT.

Posted by: Lopov Mar 8 2015, 09:42 PM

Thanks, it worked. I didn't know about LOOT, I was using BOSS.

Posted by: Acadian Mar 13 2015, 05:29 PM

Buffy's always had a. . . relationship with Azura. But her shrine area is so barren. We've always felt sorry for poor Aranea standing up there all by herself, doubtless freezing her. . . ears off. So we found a mod called Azura Shrine Temple that looks interesting. May give it a try.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/59614/?

Posted by: SubRosa Mar 13 2015, 05:33 PM

That is an interesting mod. Though I think more could have been done. If they had made Dragonborn a requirement, they could have used some of the new meshes and textures from the Reclamations Temple in Red Rock, put the priests in Reclamations Robes, and even put a Dunmer-style tomb underneath it all.

Posted by: Grits Mar 13 2015, 06:04 PM

Oh, this looks nice. It makes a lot of sense that there would be some shelter there, perhaps even an old Nordic substructure on the site that the Dunmer chose for Azura’s shrine. I’ve always thought that there needed to be a little bit more but not too much, and this mod looks just right. Excellent find!

I think you’re right, SubRosa, Dragonborn could provide more Dunmer flavor. Hmm…

Posted by: ghastley Mar 13 2015, 07:05 PM

On the other hand, this is appropriate for a Nord temple to her. It's not just the Dunmer that appreciate her, Clark will tell you. Yes, Aranea is a Dunmer, but that doesn't imply she built it.

On the gripping hand, I'd change the outfits of the monks in the temple to be the same as Aranea's.

Posted by: SubRosa Mar 13 2015, 07:25 PM

IIRC, it was the Dunmer who built the shrine after coming to Skyrim, in tribute to Azura saving them from the Red Year by warning them to get the heck out of there beforehand. So I think it really ought to look more Dunish than Nordish. Besides, don't we really have enough Nordic tomb architecture in Skyrim?

http://i.imgur.com/sc4Sijd.jpg is a very quick (about an hour and a half) and dirty test of what the Azura shrine might look like with some true Dunmer architecture. A few doors could be put into the steps somewhere for a temple inside that stone base. Some banners might be tossed in over the bare stone to add some flavor, and of course other DB assets like reclamation robes would make the staff look more unique.

Some Redoran-style buildings could be added on the ground around it, either the bug-buildings, or the more 'normal' stone block ones. Throw in some more people, horses, a stable/smithy, and it would make for a neat little place. After a few hundred hours of work, it would probably look pretty good.

Posted by: Acadian Mar 13 2015, 07:28 PM

Nice to see some interest in this! I noticed that mod author pitched that it requires no DLC, but several commenters mentioned how nice some of DB DLC items could be. I guess I could go either way. I think Aranea mentions that Dunmer emigrating from MW built the shrine, but Grit's point could well be the case too that they perhaps built atop an old Nordic structure of some sort.

I think I'll give it a go and report how it goes.

Edit: Oops, I was posting the same time SubRosa was.

Posted by: Acadian Mar 13 2015, 08:53 PM

So I installed the Azura Temple mod and it works fine. The mod is not elaborate and, as we know, only uses vanilla (w/o DLC) assets. Not fancy, but does a nice job of giving the place a permanent and livable presence. A few camping pigrims outside and a nice little temple inside with a couple acolytes. Given Buffy's affinity for Azura, it is certainly a keeper for me.

Posted by: ghastley Mar 13 2015, 09:33 PM

Aranea's dialog in the vanilla game says she's alone at the shrine. Did they remember to change that?

Posted by: Acadian Mar 13 2015, 11:06 PM

I'm not sure. Buffy asked that question of Aranea before we installed the mod. She's deep in a dungeon right now but next time she's back by the shrine, she'll try asking again. My gut tells me that Aranea's dialogue was not changed. The mod changes nothing up at the top (Aranea's area) of the shrine. None of the additional NPCs offer any dialogue exchanges with you. If you activate them, they simply make a comment, then exit the conversation. Again, a very simple and unambitious mod, but I'm still pleased with it.

Buffy's fave feature is that the inside of the temple is spacious enough to bring Superian in out of the weather. Silly horse-crazy elf.

Edit: Buffy finished the Azura quest, then talked to Aranea again. No dialogue about being there by herself. . . but I suspect that would be the vanilla situation too after the quest. Sorry I can't say for sure, but I'm still betting Aranea's dialogue has not been touched by the simple temple mod.

Edit #2: In a new game, Buffy talked to Aranea at the very beginning of the quest when you can ask her if she's there all alone. She says yes, so the mod does not change any of Aranea's dialogue. Still a good keeper mod for me!

Posted by: Lopov Mar 15 2015, 09:22 PM

A problem with Playeble Instruments mod which allows you to be a bard and earn tips, is that once audience's coinpurses get empty, you receive tips no longer, which makes performing for the same crowd impossible because sooner or later they run out of money. The only workaround I've found so far, is to manually reset inventories of NPCs with the console, however, NPCs get a lot of money this way so instead of earning 2 - 10 tips per one performance, you can now get even 20 or more gold which isn't what I was hoping for.

Posted by: Lopov Mar 23 2015, 09:45 AM

I've been havinghttp://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51247/ installed since day one though never really got around to using it because my characters almost never got a bounty. In short, if you get a bounty in some hold, it'll gradually decrease as days pass, you can customize these values by yourself.

So the other day Aard punched Nurelion because he pissed him off and got a bounty of 250 septims (I modded this value). But Nurelion didn't fight back and when Aard came out of the White Phial, guards didn't arrest him. They would arrest him if talked to, though, I tested it.

So I forgot about this mod and yesterday while playing I got a message in the upper left corner, saying sth like "Guards in Windhelm probably forgot about me by now." Aard's bounty from Eastmarch was gone and it was good to see that the mod works as intended.

Posted by: Acadian Mar 23 2015, 01:06 PM

Lopov - That mod makes good sense. Gives meaning to the whole 'lay low for awhile' stuff that bad guys say.

Posted by: SubRosa Mar 23 2015, 07:08 PM

That is really cool. You really can get out of town and lie low for a while, then go back later.

Posted by: Grits Mar 24 2015, 12:18 AM

That's a neat find. I've made a note for the next time I end up with a criminal. Thanks, Lopov!

Posted by: Lopov Mar 27 2015, 10:59 PM

Today I installed a mod that removes http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/36/?tab=2&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmodfiles%2F%3Fid%3D36&pUp=1 during fights. No more typing "csb" to clear the screen when taking action shots.

Posted by: Acadian Mar 28 2015, 12:05 AM

Lopov - I've toyed with looking for something like that. I've always hated blood on the screen because, to me, it just screams: "You are playing a video game that is occurring on the other side of your computer screen." I think the whole idea was a terrible one. I see that's an older mod, and hope you'll let us know if it works well or causes any problem.

Posted by: ghastley Mar 29 2015, 06:51 PM

I turned it back on in my game, and quickly found why I turned it off. The game crashes when I get hit!

I may have a bad copy, so I'll download a fresh one, and try again.

Posted by: Grits Mar 29 2015, 07:10 PM

I've used the No Blood on your HUD version since I started playing on my laptop. Fixing the silly screen spatter and the lack of player headtracking were my first priorities!

Posted by: Acadian Mar 30 2015, 02:02 AM

Someone mentioned the below mod over on the BethSoft forums and it sure looks interesting. It made me think of Renee.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/48375/?tab=4&&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fcomments%2F%3Fmod_id%3D48375%26page%3D1%26sort%3DDESC%26pid%3D0%26thread_id%3D1242526&pUp=1

Posted by: Lopov Mar 30 2015, 10:19 PM

When I d/l-ed the No blood splatter on your HUD version, my game also crashed, apparently because of a conflict between this mod and official HD Textures. But there are instructions on how to get the mod working - to remove only blood on your HUD, download the main file (No blood) and only extract two files, namely:

Textures/Blood/

screenbloodalpha01opt.dds
screenbloodcolor01opt.dds

Then it works, I tested it.

Posted by: Grits Mar 30 2015, 10:53 PM

Aha. I don’t use the official HD Textures (because my laptop is too fragile), so I’ve never encountered that. I’m glad you got it working, Lopov!

Posted by: ArtemisNoir2 Apr 2 2015, 08:00 PM

Just noticed this, and I put it on Tracking. When I reinstall Skyrim, I may give it a try:

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/64201/?

Posted by: ghastley Apr 2 2015, 09:58 PM

I Installed just those two textures, and discarded the empty nifs, and it works fine.

Posted by: Lopov Apr 14 2015, 10:30 PM

A neat mod for all who prefer some romantic scenes from time to time - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/60903/. Interesting that sex mods were out probably on the same day as CK was released but this mod which is far superior IMO, was released in December 2014. It's very simple and works - I tested it with Lucius & Lydia and Aard & Muiri.

Posted by: Renee Apr 14 2015, 11:39 PM

Whoa I think I'm going to try this one. I like this phrase in the mod's description...

That made my LoL

Posted by: Grits Apr 15 2015, 03:19 AM

What a sweet idea, thanks Lopov! There’s a “Give Me Some Sugar” menu option in AFT, but it looked like a vampire animation when I tried it with Mags and the orc she’s hauling around, I forget his name. It should be called “Put A Love Bite On My Neck.” The pictures in this mod look much better.

Strap-on not included, lol.

Posted by: mALX Apr 15 2015, 03:46 AM

This mod looks Awesome!

Posted by: Grits Apr 15 2015, 12:25 PM

Yikes, I completely forgot to come back and mention this. Thank you for jogging my memory, mALX.

I’m trying out Take Notes in Ninette’s game and so far I love it. I’ve always jotted things down on paper (or old receipts, or napkins, or sometimes on my hand) as I played so that I didn’t have to remember them later when I was writing their update, but this lets the journaling occur in-game while you’re right there with the character. It may seem like a small thing but it’s huge for imme… immer… the I word.

I haven’t tried to export her journal or do anything but write so far. The only drawback at first was it seemed as if the mod was going to hog a lot of hotkeys, but I’m using the tabs and mouse method and so I only needed to find one empty key. (Which was not easy. After years with two hotkeys on consoles I have hotkeyed just about everything that I could. )

Acadian, I thought of Renee, too. I love the unedited pure character thought in her updates, including words scratched out. Thank you for pointing out this mod!

Posted by: Renee Apr 16 2015, 12:36 AM

Sign me up for Take Notes too.

Posted by: Acadian Apr 16 2015, 12:51 AM

Grits, thanks for the feedback that is seems like a good mod.

Heh, I figured Renee'd want this one!

Posted by: Grits Apr 16 2015, 12:24 PM

Acadian, I’m always hesitant to recommend a mod after my snowflake/dandelion seed debacle!

Here are two that caught my eye: Chesko’s http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/64798/ and http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/63874/.

Campfire is from what I can tell the camping part of Frostfall. The upcoming Frostfall 3.0 will use it as a master, as will the planned Last Seed which seems to be a needs mod. I tried it last night and it’s everything I loved about Frostfall’s camping without the hypothermia part that my laptop couldn’t gracefully handle.

Immersive Speechcraft offers conversation options with a lot of NPCs, like give them a gift, beg for gold, attempt to mug them, or taunt them into attacking you. The mod author has said they are working on a Brawl option. I haven’t tried it yet.

Posted by: Renee Apr 16 2015, 12:38 PM

Gritsy: By the way, Claire did spend some time in Solitude after getting out of jail, so we got some screenshots of her spending time in the Bard's College.

Frostfall is awesome, but I had to dumb it way down to taste, especially the hypothermia part. Let's say it gets down to 10 to 15 degrees farenheit (and that's being generous, it could be in the 20s in Skyrim's worst climes, and still snowy). I walked my daughter to school several times in this weather, just a few weeks ago when it was still winter. Never was I >< that close to dying.

That was my one issue with the default setting of Frostfall ... if Claire spent an equivalent amount of time walking through cold weather, roughly a half-hour, she'd be freezing to death, and Farkas actually had to 'rescue' her one time. So thank goodness we can configure this mod to taste. I mean, I can see if Claire was standing around, not doing anything for hours in freezing, windy weather, but not if she's walking / running around / active. *shrugs*

Otherwise, that camping addition sounds pretty kewl. Imm... IMM immmmmersie Immersive Speechcraft sounds pretty nice, as well, although (in Claire's game) CSR gives us additional speech options. But CSR keeps gettng a little buggy too.

/modspeak

Posted by: haute ecole rider Apr 18 2015, 02:20 AM

Renee, the first time Alise and I played through Skyrim, it was unmodded (all vanilla). She kept complaining how cold it was and flat out refused to put her toes in the water anywhere! "What, are you kidding me? I'll get hypothermia and die!" So Frostfall was a great mod for us because it gave us tents and campfires and a way to get warm out in the wild. Camping Gear of the Northern Ranger became Alise's favorite, though, because of its darkfire. Came in useful up north, where trees are scarce (think Saarthal). The second time we played through, it was really challenging, and like you, I had to damp down the hypothermia effects.

Grits, Alise and I are going to try that new Camping mod. We'll see how we like it.

Posted by: Renee Apr 18 2015, 04:11 AM

Yeah, FF is a very harsh mod, even with its Lite setting I thought it was too harsh. I mean, just a month ago we were all walking around in 15 degree weather where I live, right? And we were okay. Cold, but okay. Certainly nowhere near death. Frostfall makes it seem like the pc goes from 40 degree weather (Solitude / no snow) to -30 F, or something, wherever any snow is.

Posted by: haute ecole rider Apr 18 2015, 01:53 PM

We've been talking about walking around in 15 degree weather this past winter. But how many of us are wearing lightweight GoreTex parkas and polypropylene underwear and gloves/boots insulated with Thinsulate? These things have been available for only about 20 years or so. I recall as a child growing up with wool, bundling up in such thick down outerwear that we could hardly move, and yet waiting 10 minutes for the school bus in 15 degree weather put us at risk for frostbite. I've always gotten frozen toes every winter, narrowly escaping real frostbite on several occasions. And that's with two or three layers of thick wool.

So no, I don't think Frostfall is unrealistic given what is available for materials. Leather. Fur. Linen. And Frostfall does have customizable settings for custom armor (read mods) that you can set. When I used the light armors http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/25113/?tab=3&selected_game=110&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmodimages%2F%3Fid%3D25113%26user%3D1%26gid%3D110&pUp=1 and http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/7184/ I set their hypothermia ratings on FULL and roleplayed that when Alise forged them, she made them highly Frost Resistant as well. Now that would be the Skyrim equivalent of the modern technology so many of us now buy from North Face and Columbia (very popular around here).

BTW, those two armors are Alise's favorites. She will not wear anything else. Her housecarl Argis doesn't mind the view, either, when they're out in the wilds.

Posted by: Grits Apr 18 2015, 02:21 PM

Awesome, I’d love to hear how the camp setup works. I loved the mechanic in FF, and it was flexible enough to set up camp inside dungeons or in some pretty tight spots. Also it seems that building a fire works a little differently, so I’d love to hear about that.

I’m trying out Immersive Speechcraft with a new character (Argonian pyromancer Chases the Fish) since I don’t want to lose anyone if it turns out to be more than I can use. I’ll post about it in one of the update threads. I probably won’t use it in every game unless the author adds a Brawl option. The biggest drawback so far is that the options only appear if the NPC has a follower voice set. EDIT: Nope, I was wrong about that. Only unique voices are excluded.

haute, I love those armor sets. Abiene wore Grace Darkling’s mail dress for a while until she got used to dealing with Skyrim’s wildlife. She was convinced that she would be eaten by a sabre cat.

Posted by: Acadian Apr 18 2015, 02:24 PM

Heh, thank the Eight Nine for resist frost-enchanted bling (and saddle pads)! Oh and the ability to heat nearby boulders with the flames spell that lets them generate heat for hours (learned that from watching Captain Jim Kirk do that with his phaser on old Star Trek episodes, lol). Oh, not to mention placing a fire rune on the ground before unrolling your bedroll (Craftable and Placeable Bedrolls mod) helps keep you warm in the bedroll. Buffy uses a 'barkskin' spell (oakflesh) to simulate creating a waterproof shield around her and her clothing before entering frigid water, then uses a 'dry' spell (regular healing) to simulate drying off instantly upon emerging from the water. Flames to melt snow so a thirsty mare can drink. A simple flame spell even takes care of any cooking. Buffy is physically too weak to effectively wield a woodcutter axe so chopping wood for a fire is out. She might gather dead branches and make a small campfire (Camping Lite mod) in temperate areas, but that is mostly for its cheery atmosphere. I guess a mage approaches the cold differently. . . . All roleplay/pretend of course, but that is why a 'realistic' cold mod doesn't mesh with my fantasy Skyrim.

Posted by: Grits Apr 18 2015, 03:23 PM

Frostfall was never Lil’s cup of tea, either. It didn’t account for her enchantments as well as we thought it should. Also she doesn’t mind gathering deadwood for a cheery fire, but she has a low tolerance for wood cutting. A mage light stuck to a rock was our best attempt to represent her Bosmer earth magic. I love how Buffy’s spells let her enjoy the water! The fire rune bedroll warmer is genius.

Posted by: haute ecole rider Apr 18 2015, 06:17 PM

Yes, it is different from FF. While the camp placement is pretty much the same as well as I can remember, the campfire is a bit more work. She needs tinder (made from mora tapinella) which of course she used up all hers making potions. As long as she is in forested areas, finding wood isn't much problem. And she has no problem cutting wood. Not that different from wielding a war axe (her second favorite one handed weapon).


I also liked Hothtrooper's armors, too. I tried Immersive Armors during our last playthrough, but there weren't all that much armor that either Alise nor Argis liked, so I looked into getting some of his single stuff. A lot of it is over the top, but the detailing and thought that went into his work is incredible. Seems to be a shame not to give Argis at least one of his armors, though Alise is liking the Warchief armor for herself. So that will be coming up.

I'm up to 59 mods now. Some things are different, but we are reusing a lot of the previous stuff that we really liked. Something new with the horses is KrittaKitty's http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/57456/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D57456%26preview%3D&pUp=1. It's been on my tracking list for quite some time, and I decided this time was perfect to take it out for a spin. IMHO, these new textures really look like they belong in Skyrim. Alise just bought her first horse, the Riften grey which is based on the Grey Fell Pony. I'm trying to recall what we named that horse, I think it was something like Elenwinn. In any case, that is this horse's name right now.

Posted by: Renee Apr 19 2015, 08:55 AM

Primitive Horse Breeds looks nice. I just found a wild horse mod, I forget its name, though. It simply adds horses, and small horse herds (sort of like the wild horses in Cyrodiil just south of the Imperial City).

Posted by: Grits Apr 21 2015, 01:23 PM

Renee, is it http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/15305/? I think that one uses some of AlienSlof’s gorgeous horses. Sadly I have to skip these due to my laptop’s fragility.

I also love the look of the primitive horse breeds. Some day!

haute, thanks for the feedback. I like the idea of building a fire rather than just plopping one down. I think it will make me slow down and enjoy the evening more since I spent time setting the camp up.

I was wrong about the voice set limitation of Immersive Speechcraft. I was getting ignored on purpose due to low Speechcraft skill, so the options never appeared in some cases as they are meant to not appear. NPCs with unique voices do not get the mod’s options by design, which means that if Chases the Fish tried to mug Ulfric Stormcloak for example, he will just get ignored. So far so good.

Posted by: SubRosa Apr 21 2015, 02:31 PM

Which is a good thing, because all he would hear is Fus Ro Dah! (the battle of Solitude is almost hilarious from the Imperials he sends flying around!)

Posted by: Grits Apr 24 2015, 12:18 AM

Here’s a look at http://i.imgur.com/YK4U4CN.png fitted with two bedrolls and a fire going outside. I had to laugh as it looks like Darnand got as far away from the Nord as possible while still being inside the tent. I really like the building-a-fire process, and the fire looks different depending on how you build it.

I suspect that the spacing isn’t right yet, since it looks like Darnand is positioned on his bedroll so that a spouse can cuddle up with him. (Which is supposed to happen if you go camping with your spouse.)

Posted by: haute ecole rider Apr 24 2015, 04:16 PM

That's really cool! Alise has not yet moved up to the large leather tent, as she doesn't have a traveling companion other than Liath Macha at this point in her game. I've also noticed that she sleeps on one side of her single bedroll, too.

I have a lot of fun building the campfire, too. Though I have to admit that in this playthrough Alise couldn't find a woodcutter's axe! Before, they were everywhere! Now she can't find a single one! It drove her nuts, until I used the console to give her one. Now that she has one, we'll probably see the darned things everywhere.

Could Darnand be all the way over there because of a certain Nord's certain tendency to cut the cheese?

Posted by: Grits Apr 24 2015, 04:26 PM

I suspect that’s exactly half of the reason, the other half being a tendency to sleep-cuddle.

I found a way to craft a woodcutter’s axe without needing a woodcutter’s axe to cut the firewood first to make the axe you don’t have yet, which really bugged me before. You find a rock, gather some other kind of wood, use that to craft a single-use stone hatchet, cut firewood with the stone hatchet, and then you can craft a real axe with ingots and firewood. Whew!

Posted by: SubRosa Apr 24 2015, 04:33 PM

This is why I created a batch file to simply add firewood to my character's inventory.

player.additem 6f993 2

Just put it in a text file in your Skyrim\Data folder, and run it by typing: bat filename

Immersive? No. Pain the Rear? Also no.

BTW. That will be $30 for anyone using it...

Posted by: haute ecole rider Apr 24 2015, 05:39 PM

$30 for firewood? Sure, here ya go . . .

Now you've got to buy it back from me for $30 a piece!

Posted by: Grits Apr 28 2015, 01:08 PM

Here’s a card game for your character to play: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/65141/. Chases the Fish is testing this out for me along with Immersive Speechcraft. Orgnar caught him cheating and threatened to bash his face in.

Posted by: Acadian Apr 28 2015, 03:39 PM

Grits, I noticed that game mod yesterday. Let us know how Chases the Skirts likes it!

Posted by: mALX Apr 28 2015, 03:52 PM

Oh, that is just like the Caravan games in Fallout: New Vegas! You are given one deck if you start a certain quest; after that the vendors would sell you cards and play with you. The cards the vendors sell may have more powerful cards to play (like buying Yu Gi Oh cards, you have a better chance of getting a more powerful card via individual sales purchases than through the packs; which have like a .0000001 chance to have a powerful card in them).

Posted by: Acadian May 1 2015, 08:13 PM

When I saw a new mod called Winged Twilights over at Nexus, I could not help but think of SubRosa's Gothmage Saya and her helper, Kyroteke (sp?).

I didn't provide a link because the images of the summoned Twilights are nekked by default, with a clothed option if desired.

Posted by: SubRosa May 1 2015, 09:39 PM

Very neat! I guess this means at some point Saya will have to journey to Skyrim.

Posted by: Acadian May 3 2015, 02:44 AM

Just noticed a brand new Skymod on Nexus - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/65432/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D65432%26preview%3D&pUp=1 . Based on the College mantled robes, it provides custom robes for Dawnguard mages. Since I'm a fan of College robes and the Dawnguard, I think it is simply a wonderful idea and looks pretty good. Gonna track it for awhile though - I'm not talented enough with mods to be a guinea pig/tester.

Posted by: Acadian May 7 2015, 10:38 PM

Today I noticed that http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/65636/ has migrated from Steam to Nexus. I understand the mod is well-respected over on Steam. There also many folks (like me) who are interested but have avoided it since it was not on Nexus - until today. I'm going to track it on Nexus and see how the feedback on it goes.

Posted by: Grits May 7 2015, 11:05 PM

Yay, thanks! I’m downloading the update now.

Posted by: mALX May 8 2015, 07:26 PM

Downloaded! Thanks for the heads up! Like you, I won't download mods from Steam and have wanted something exactly like this - except I want the dancing enabled.

Posted by: Grits May 8 2015, 09:25 PM

There’s a very cool new option in Become a Bard that requires http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/57046/, so I’m considering adding that. Does anyone know a reason not to?

Posted by: mALX May 8 2015, 09:33 PM

I think it needs MCI to configure whether you want dancing or not, etc.

Posted by: Grits May 9 2015, 01:19 PM

Yep, the mod can still be used without SkyUI or SKSE but some of the features can only be controlled if you have it for the Mod Configuration Menu. There’s a new option through UIExtentions that shows the songs by title instead of just by number, which will be a huge improvement if you use the option that causes factions to respond to their songs. Varia played Song 1 from a new book and it turned out to be “Age of Oppression.” Luckily she was in Stormcloak territory at the time or there would have been a fight.

I also finally read through how to add your own custom song books, and it doesn’t look difficult. It’s a really neat mod.

I’ll keep the NPC dancing turned on in my games. I can see how some people might not want Ulfic’s somber court dancing around to a bard’s song, but to me that’s part of being a Nord!

Posted by: haute ecole rider May 9 2015, 03:43 PM

Dancing around a Jarl's court! Definitely being a Nord! No question! Especially when tumblers are overflowing with mead as well!

Posted by: SubRosa May 9 2015, 05:59 PM

Imagines Galmar twerking... Noooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Acadian May 9 2015, 06:02 PM

All I can think of now is Vilja dancing on the table.

Posted by: mALX May 9 2015, 07:21 PM

BWAAHAA!

Posted by: Acadian May 23 2015, 02:14 PM

Just noticed a new mod on Sky Nexus called http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/66180/. As soon as I saw it, I thought of Grits and Renee, for it allows you to cast alteration armor spells and destruction elemental cloak spells on allies to buff them. There's a short vid at the link that does a good job of showcasing the mod.

Posted by: mALX May 23 2015, 02:45 PM

This sounds like a great (and very needed) mod if it works well and doesn't cause conflicts! Can it be caste on your horse? Oh, most def want this one!



EDIT: Downloaded it!

Posted by: Grits May 25 2015, 02:49 PM

Thank you very much, Acadian! This is indeed just the kind of thing I can use with my followers. It will be much easier to keep track of companion Jerric when he’s surrounded by a Frost Cloak. Yay!

Posted by: ghastley May 26 2015, 03:54 PM

Not a new mod, but one I only just had a reason to download. My latest character is Hot-Lips, an Argonian with red facial markings that led to her name. I was considering an Argonian version of my Orc Hearthfires for her, so I looked around on the Nexus for ideas, and found http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52630

It has just about everything I was planning, and a few more features besides. Underwater entrance as well as above-ground one, all the crafting stations (including staff enchanter from DB), and reasonable storage. The pluses, and I'm not sure I'd have included those, are displays for Dragon masks, Paragons, and Claws, and a disenchanter.

Of course, it's ready-made, and not a build-your-own, but it's given me ideas for decor (like the green roots everywhere) and general architecture. And Hot-Lips and Derkeethus like it, so it stays in their game. Since Derkeethus is part of the mini-quest to get the key to the place, its location is appropriate.

I'd considered implementing my joke about Siddgeir selling land at the bottom of Lake Illinata, and putting an entrance down there, with a regular Hearthfires starter home as the entryway on-shore. There's a Nordic ruin submerged off the North shore, with a flat patch near it for the small house. I still might build that.

Posted by: Acadian May 26 2015, 04:41 PM

Very nice! As soon as I saw some of the interior detail, I figured it was the talented work of Elianara. Really like how the entrances are hidden.

Posted by: mALX May 26 2015, 08:43 PM

Yes, Elianora has a distinctive and recognizable style! Nice one, Ghastley!

Posted by: Grits May 26 2015, 11:51 PM

Nice find, ghastley! The décor and architecture are the parts that appeal to me the most, and the pluses (custom displays, static clutter) are what I would leave out.

I love the underwater entrance. The roots and green Peryite-looking plants look great. I always admire Elianora’s decorating. She has quite an eye.

Posted by: Grits May 30 2015, 03:22 AM

I must have this one. Right now. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/66417/.

Posted by: Acadian May 30 2015, 03:51 AM

Yay for the recognition that real coffee fits into TES just fine.

Posted by: mALX May 30 2015, 03:58 AM

Now I'm thirsty!


That looks like Flintone/Garnet's coffee texture and Stroti's teapot retextured, it looks good in black!

Posted by: Grits Jun 1 2015, 07:34 PM

I’m using this coffee mod now and loving it. I don’t have any other mods that add water to my game, so I also love buying the drinking water added by Elianora’s mod from innkeepers.

Of course I’ve tweaked things a little to suit Grits’s Tamriel. Coffee is kahve, and it increases your magicka regeneration by a tiny bit for a long time rather than increasing stamina. That’s why mages and especially Jerric are so addicted to it.

Posted by: mALX Jun 1 2015, 08:51 PM

Is that water added in the same (Coffee) mod or is that a separate mod? (Link Please?)

Posted by: Grits Jun 1 2015, 09:09 PM

It's in the same mod, http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/66417/. Water is an ingredient along with Coffee Beans to make a Mug of Coffee at a coffee pot. You can drink the Mug of Coffee for an effect, plus you can eat the portion of coffee beans like an alchemy ingredient and drink the water like any other drink. Drinking a bottle of water restores 15 Stamina, I believe.



Oh, I should also mention and recommend http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52583/ again, which is a mod that lets you duplicate and pick up statics then place them where you want later. Valdi scooped up a coffee pot at the Bee and Barb, so now she can put them down wherever she wants to brew some coffee. She will place another one at the hearth in her cottage, another at Breezehome, one at Lakeview Manor, etc. The coffee mod places them in the taverns

Posted by: mALX Jun 2 2015, 01:56 AM

I'll bet that positioner mod messes up the NPC's on the navmesh!

Posted by: mALX Jun 2 2015, 02:36 AM

I love that the coffee mod adds water and coffee separately, and that you have to actually make it! That is something I missed when you first posted that coffee mod. I am def downloading that one, though I've already got that pot and coffee textures in my game - just to see how Elianora got the coffee to brew, lol.

Posted by: Grits Jun 4 2015, 03:42 PM

Jerric is staying at his Winterhold College dorm room at the moment, which of course I have tweaked a bit to provide a desk and some shelves. Much to his delight he discovered http://i.imgur.com/YioqRo2.png (by the coffee mod, I did not put it there). Much to my delight it did not clip with my shelves. Another yay for Eli’s Coffee mod!

Posted by: mALX Jun 4 2015, 03:48 PM

How cool! Wonder whether that blue flame is vanilla?

Posted by: Grits Jun 4 2015, 04:13 PM

Probably. I used the same effect under the cookpot I placed in the Hall of Attainment in my Winterhold dorm room mod (which is what Jerric used to cook haute's soup ). It's neat to see a magical flame instead of a mundane one in use at the college.

Posted by: mALX Jun 6 2015, 06:03 PM

So it doesn't come with one of the DLC? Next time you have that mod up in the CK, can you notate what the name of it is and post it? I haven't been able to find it, and did look several times for something like that. I gave up thinking it must be a DLC item.

Posted by: Grits Jun 6 2015, 09:10 PM

No problem. That blue fire is the same in both mods. It’s the Movable Static C06FXfireBlueWithEmbersHeavy.

Posted by: mALX Jun 6 2015, 11:47 PM

Thank you so much, I'll def look for it again and where you said! Thank you!

Posted by: haute ecole rider Jun 15 2015, 09:45 PM

Has anyone tried out http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/29624/

I'm thinking of adding this to Alise's game because while I have a good combination of the vanilla presets for her her face is still missing that . . . something. ECE just doesn't seem to cut it for me, but the characters I've seen with RaceMenu are more my speed. So I'm thinking of using it, but would it be okay to add it to my current game (over 100 hours in, only texture mods added, vanilla body and faces) and visit the face sculptor in Riften? They're headed there since Argis is nagging Alise about seeing the priest there. Or would it be better to start a new game with it?

Posted by: Grits Jun 15 2015, 10:00 PM

I’m using RaceMenu version 2.9.6 with no issues, but the current version is quite different. I’m interested to hear if anyone is using 3.0 or above since I have not updated yet.

Posted by: ghastley Jun 15 2015, 10:10 PM

I use RaceMenu, too. You'll find that not all of the sliders work unless you have other mods that provide the morphs and skeletal features that they're tweaking. RM doesn't grey them out if they don't work, you just don't see any difference when you move them. That can potentially cause issues if a setting is saved that gets supported later.

Mine is also pre-3.0, as that's when the categories were changed from icons to text. So I haven't tried the new sculpting capabilities yet.

Posted by: haute ecole rider Jun 15 2015, 10:41 PM

Thank you very much for your endorsements of RaceMenu, Grits and ghastley! I will download it and give it a whirl.

But right now Alise and I are shopping for a suitable wedding dress. We tried the vanilla one in a previous playthrough, but she thought it made her butt look big. And she wants to look especially nice for Argis.

Posted by: Grits Jun 15 2015, 10:47 PM

Yay, congrats to the happy couple! I'm afraid my brides don't have any wedding dress recommendations. Valdi wore the red one and Jensa wore a blue every-day dress. Happy shopping!

If you want them to wear their rings on the left hand I can point you in the direction I took. I never liked having the wedding rings on the right hand.

Posted by: haute ecole rider Jun 15 2015, 10:56 PM

Please I would like to know how to get my character to wear rings on the left hand!

Posted by: SubRosa Jun 16 2015, 01:10 AM

Hrafngoelir is my only character to marry, and she wore the http://i.imgur.com/lvwRwRi.jpg. At least that is what the actual garment is called. I don't think you can actually buy it anywhere, http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Wedding_Dress#00088956

Posted by: mALX Jun 16 2015, 01:47 AM

That wedding dress is stunning! I love it !!! Wait ... is she marrying ... Jerric?



GAAAAAAH!


*mALX hurries off to write a warning letter to Jerric's wife...*

Posted by: SubRosa Jun 16 2015, 02:21 AM

That is not Jerric! It is the first person Hrafn met when she returned to Skyrim: Ralof.

Posted by: haute ecole rider Jun 16 2015, 02:41 AM

Hrafn married Ralof? I thought for sure she would marry Jordis! Alise almost did!

Anyway, that is the same Wedding Dress Alise wore the first time around. Neither of us liked the way she looked in it. So we went hunting, and found a different dress for her this time around. The best part of it, she crafted it herself!

So it's official - Alise and Argis are MARRIED!

Posted by: mALX Jun 16 2015, 03:25 AM

(Ralof doesn't look like that in my game, lol! )

Posted by: Grits Jun 16 2015, 01:39 PM

Congratulations to the happy couple! Any chance for a wedding picture? I’d love to see her dress!


Sure! For the wedding rings I’m using http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/58491/, which also adds other rings for the left hand. There are a number of options. In the current version you can install as is but the file names are not very descriptive. Since I was updating and wanted to keep the old file names I made a quick custom install folder for myself. Here’s how to do that.

The choices are Dawnguard or Vanilla, and I’m using the version that includes the Dawnguard vampire rings (which I have not actually seen in the game yet). Then you decide which equipment slot you want to use, 56 or 61. I’m using 61. So I chose the 61DG files from both the BSA and ESP folders. If you are using the mod Complete Crafting Overhaul Remade you would choose your esp from the CCOR folder rather than the ESP folder.

Additionally (and optionally) the FPV folder contains the esp that will allow the left-hand rings to be visible in first-person view, which I haven’t tried yet. Again there’s a choice between one that includes Dawnguard and just Vanilla. I think there’s a potential issue with custom races that makes this an add-on rather than just included in the main mod.

So you choose the BSA and ESP that you want and rename them to LeftHandRings. If you want to use the first-person view addition you rename the file you want from the FPV folder to LeftHandRings_1stPersonView.esp. Then just install however you like and activate.

I hadn’t updated since version 1-6, so I made a new install folder and checked it out including a quick look in TES5Edit. Erik and Valdi’s wedding rings appeared on their left ring fingers just like they should. Oh, I should mention that the wedding rings look like a shiny gold wedding band rather than a Skyrim ring just on a different finger. Here’s a picture of http://i.imgur.com/EcxMBEl.png to show what I mean.

This is one of those things that takes longer to describe than to actually do, I promise!



I love that picture!
Here’s a picture of http://i.imgur.com/MBs1Or7.png. I’m not sure if a mod adds the wedding ensemble to Radiant Raiment in my games or if I did it myself, but that’s where she went to buy her dressing and flowers. If her butt looked big she would have considered it an improvement. Valdi is mostly knees and elbows.


So I have to know… Who is Jerric’s wife?! (Jerric is also more than a little curious!)



Edit: Forgot the link!

Posted by: SubRosa Jun 16 2015, 02:27 PM

Ralof was kind and sweet in the carriage ride into Skyrim, and then he helped Hrafn escape from the clutches of the Evil Empire™, and fought with the Rebel Alliance to free the galaxy from their foul dominion. How could a True Nord girl resist? They even made their vows http://i.imgur.com/AMePac9.jpg. How much more romantic can you get than that?



*throws rice*



It is probably the improved textures I am using for males. I also have a mod too that makes Ralof a marriable follower, but I don't think it changes his appearance any. I was going to say he cleans up nice. But he's still dirty!



Poor Valdi! She looks like she is walking up to the executioner's axe once more!



I am sure she means Abiene. A wife in spirit, if not in legality. Or maybe Ulfe...

Posted by: mALX Jun 16 2015, 07:18 PM

Huh? Didn't I read somewhere that he was either married or getting married to Valdi? Urk ... Well, if she gets an anonymous letter in the mail warning her of Jerric's duplicitous philandering and bigamy, tell her just to ignore it,


She really does look scared like a "pre-wedding" pic in that screen! I have one of me looking like that too, lol.












BWAAHAA! Ulfe!!!!


I love the screen of saying vows before Talos, that even looks like a touching moment is taking place! Awesome shot!

Posted by: SubRosa Jun 16 2015, 09:07 PM

Oh no, that was Erik the I'm-Really-Not-Interested-In-Women...

Posted by: mALX Jun 16 2015, 09:54 PM

Oh, okay. Hmmm, no wonder Valdi is looking doe-eyed at Jerric then!


(or maybe that WAS Erik she was looking at, urk. Nord males all have a tendency to look alike to me I think, lol). OMG, maybe it was Ralof she was looking at all along! GAAAAAH!






Just teasing.

Posted by: Grits Jun 24 2015, 02:15 AM

Consider her warned, lol.


Here's one that looks cool: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/66919/. Seems like a good fit for Chases-the-Fish.

Posted by: mALX Jun 24 2015, 03:07 AM

That is very cool! I wonder if it leaves a puddle?

Posted by: Grits Jun 24 2015, 03:15 AM

It looks very cool in the game. It makes a splashing sound.

Posted by: haute ecole rider Jun 24 2015, 05:37 PM

Like a puppy going through housetraining?



Acadian, I'm wondering if this mod would want to make Buffy change into her preferred Bosmer outfit every time she casts a spell?

Posted by: mALX Jul 11 2015, 02:29 AM

*

SubRosa and Lopov wew talking about some items should only be used to save Nirn - so I kind of got a kick out of it when I opened up Nexus today and saw this in my in box:



http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/67704/?



In the description she says that is exactly what this vault is for, the dark books, Staff of Magnus, the Elder Scroll, etc. - things that would be dangerous if left out in the world.

The Vault is at the Throat of the World, requires that shout to access. It is not one of those fancy vaults (so Elianora says) - but I thought it was spectacularly done!

Posted by: Grits Jul 11 2015, 02:51 AM

That’s the best vault-type mod I’ve seen. It lets the artifacts take center stage and really looks like a place that a person uses, not a huge Dovahkiin Bat Cave. Great find, thanks for linking it!

Posted by: Grits Jul 25 2015, 08:14 PM

Here’s another retexture for our Triss armor fans: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/68008/. The author says they are going to upload a vanilla version as well.

I have not installed it yet. There are some extras on the way soon, so I’ll take a look when that happens.

Posted by: haute ecole rider Jul 29 2015, 04:21 PM

Hey, has anyone tried out http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/52397/ It is voted one of the top quest mods out there, and was just recently updated (July 9th). Because it is of Dunmers, I was thinking it looked interesting for my Dunmer character to get into. It certainly would create an interesting conflict between her and her handsome Nord hubby, as Solstheim has done. The saving grace as far as Argis is concerned is that Solstheim has that wonderful Skaal village that feels just like home. But he is not comfortable with the netches (their booming makes his skin crawl), feels out of place among the Redoran Guard at Raven Rock, and thinks Neloth is absolutely batshit.

OTOH, my mod list is looking absolutely full with over 140 active mods. I don't think I've ever modded Oblivion out that much, and this is certainly the most modded Skyrim game I've played. Alise and I are still playing, still exploring. We are wrapping up the Dragonborn DLC (a couple of miscellaneous quests to complete, then we have to dump all the damned Black Books). We have begun the http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/35841/ quest, and I am looking forward to being able to ride peacefully through Helgen (!) when traveling back and forth between Riften and Lakeview. And we still have http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/37994/to visit (we are both looking forward to exploring that zone - it was absolutely beautiful the last time).

Back on the subject of mods, I am looking for alternatives to http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/44410/. It's a nice mod that lets me have six kids at Lakeview, however I really hate that my housecarls stay on one level, that the lighting keeps flickering (and it's not due to lightning outside), and the decor just doesn't feel lore-friendly to me at all - too modern. Also the other night Alise turned in for the night and found Calder relaxing in her hot tub. Excuuuse me, this is for Argis and myself only! You've got your own downstairs! I also miss being able to build the house a bit at a time - when you add a wing, it comes fully decorated. I know, I know, it's due to coding constraints. So I'm wondering if this - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/66783/ - will provide me with the options I'm looking for.

Any thoughts, input, suggestions, are much appreciated! Danke!

Posted by: ghastley Jul 30 2015, 06:55 PM

Acadian, weren't you looking for something like http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/68323

Posted by: Acadian Jul 30 2015, 07:07 PM

I was indeed! I noticed this when it was released yesterday. It seems elegantly simple. Since I'm not technismart enough to deal with problem mods, I always let new ones that show promise 'rest' (let others test them out, lol) for a time to see how they do. I am certainly tracking this one and, pending some experienced-based good comments, will really take a look at adding it. Thanks, and I can imagine others might be interested in it as well.

Posted by: haute ecole rider Aug 28 2015, 05:32 PM

So I try to visit the Nexus's Recently Added mods page daily to keep up with what's new in Skyrim.

And I found http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/68738/?tab=3&selected_game=110&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmodimages%2F%3Fid%3D68738%26user%3D1%26gid%3D110&pUp=1 Could Julian visit Skyrim sometime in the near future? If you look for "Imshallah" in the screenshots for this mod, you'll see someone who is nearly a dead ringer for my Oblivion character! Right down to the scamp scars on her cheek (granted, it's Imshallah's left cheek, while Julian sports them on her right). The only thing missing is the four-times-broken nose. The best part of this? No mods other than Skyrim.esm needed!

I've added this to my tracking list. If I wanted to take Julian to Skyrim and have her explore the land of her Legio Six posting, maybe I'll use this. It occurred to me that there are no Goblins in Skyrim, and I wonder if pilus prior Julian had something to do with it?

Posted by: Acadian Aug 28 2015, 05:56 PM

Goodness, you're right! That one character does indeed look like Julian!

Think she could straighten out the Legion in Skyrim?

Posted by: ghastley Aug 28 2015, 06:24 PM

Except that the ones you really need are listed further down. Imshallah's hair is from one of those, and I suspect the skin texture from another. Still, at least you know which ones they are, now!

Posted by: haute ecole rider Aug 28 2015, 07:34 PM

Hair and eye mods don't bother me none. I'm already using an eye mod that has the exact color of Julian's eyes, so that's no problem. I don't use anything other than Superior Lore Friendly Hair textures. The ones I hate are the ones that say I have to use this specific skin or that specific hair.

With this one, I wasn't really referring to the superficial stuff. I was really after the facial structure, which is why I said Imshalla was nearly a dead ringer for Julian. If I bring my main TESIV character to Skyrim, I don't need to do much tweaking with this RaceMenu preset.

Posted by: Grits Aug 28 2015, 07:38 PM

She does look like Julian! You will be ready to go if she decides to take a trip north.

Posted by: SubRosa Sep 26 2015, 09:20 PM

Last night I found http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/64215. It adds an ancient Greek bronze cuirass in six colors, a bronze bracer in six varieties, six varieties of hoplon shields, six really high crested attic helmets, six really good looking Corinthian helmets, six bronze greaves, a bronze xiphos (greek infantry sword), a linothorax, and even some sandals and even a couple of chitons.

I had been thinking of restarting Persephone in Skyland, but this has me mulling over the idea of playing an Amazon. After all, I played a Roman already, so why not? I just wish there was a mod that added spears with real spear-fighting animations to go with it, since that would be ideal.

Posted by: Acadian Sep 26 2015, 09:58 PM

Wow, some of those pieces look really neat!

Posted by: mALX Sep 26 2015, 10:35 PM

Some of those look Awesome!

Posted by: haute ecole rider Sep 27 2015, 06:48 PM

Considering that the original Persephone is an ancient Greek goddess it would be interesting to see undead Persephone as an Amazon. Hmmm, worth a look!

Posted by: SubRosa Sep 27 2015, 07:31 PM

http://i.imgur.com/vmZJa36.jpg.

I am still looking at possible new outfits for her. Though it does not look like anything can hold a candle to the Eisen Platte white. http://i.imgur.com/hqxBP2J.jpg, from http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/65814. It's an outstanding reproduction of a flamberge zweihander.

http://i.imgur.com/sPDz1FX.jpg. I shot this down before, but that was without this sword. With the zweihander it creates a neat Fantasy German Landsknecht look.

http://i.imgur.com/QXfQSe2.jpg. I am still looking for a weapon. The xiphos and falcata that came with the Greek Armor mod are not that great. I found a Xiphos mod, but I don't like the way the blade looks, and the pommel is kind of weird as well. So I think I will look in some of the weapon packs to see if any have any xiphos or kopis - looking swords.

http://i.imgur.com/FRF1rEH.jpg might work in a pinch however. Amazons are famous for using battle axes. It is where the labrys comes from, and probably the saying of being "an old battle axe".

I should probably make a new wardrobe topic for these musings!

Posted by: Grits Sep 27 2015, 07:59 PM

Whenever I see Eisen platte white I always think, Hey, that’s Persephone’s armor! However that zweihander sword with zzjay’s plate is also a winner. I think she looks modern Skyrim but better, perhaps fitting in more than she stands out. Could that look start a new chapter for Persephone?

I love your real live Amazon. That shield is gorgeous, and the gold of the Dwemer axe works well with the armor color. I haven’t seen any less shiny gold-toned weapons to recommend. Very cool!

Posted by: mALX Sep 28 2015, 06:59 PM

No, that doesn't suit Persephone - but that shield is gorgeous!


That plate armor is absolutely Awesome, and the helmet suits Persephone - but I don't feel like the armor does, over all.

Maybe take that Amazon armor and change the color/textures? I still like the plate helm better; because this one obscures her face too much (and the plate one even showed her hair!)

That Dwarven axe reay matches the Amazon outfit well


I always love watching your outfitting decisions! The ability to change clothing was one of the things that made me first fall in love with Oblivion,

Posted by: haute ecole rider Sep 29 2015, 05:32 AM

Hey, Acadian, have you seen http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/57371/ It made me think of Buffy. I mean, it's got green, flowers, trees, animals, and best of all, waterfalls!

I am looking for a nice tiny woodland home for my new Skyrim character, a Bosmer hunter. Well, not very original, but Halle tried out Hunterborn for me and we both loved it. So I got to thinking about playing a character that lives off the land, and decided a little Bosmer lady would fit the role very well. So I started a new game with her, using the STEP project. No, I haven't yet fixed the LOD texture issues, but the game started just fine with those deactivated, so I know for sure that's the problem. So when I have more time, I'll go back and tinker with the set up. I do want to add Hunterborn, and I'm on the fence about either Campfire or Camping Kit of the Northern Ranger. I love the latter because it's so customizable, and the barrel in the larger tent is perfect for stowing excess weight. But I love the immersion of Campfire, so I'll have to think on it a bit more.

In the meantime I'm browsing through the player homes and abodes mods to see what's out there.

Posted by: Acadian Sep 29 2015, 12:45 PM

Rider, no, I hadn't seen that one. But as far as I know, all of Elianora's mods are gems. Heh, Buffy's 'house' is Superian's saddlebags, or maybe an inn when she's in a town. Seriously, the mare carries everything Buffy owns and they are well and truly on the road all the time. A bedroll under the stars wherever they are when it gets dark works well. A tent if the weather is bad. Thanks much for thinking of her!

Posted by: Grits Sep 30 2015, 09:00 PM

Here’s one that looks interesting: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/70142/. It’s seems to be a collection of radiant quests that you can do for rewards. I might give this one a try.

Posted by: mALX Sep 30 2015, 10:04 PM

Oooh, just like in ESO !!!

Posted by: haute ecole rider Oct 9 2015, 06:18 PM

I am trying out a few mods that I think are perfect for my Bosmer hunter. First are a couple of my standard mods - http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/54090/, and http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/10733/ (thanks 'Rosa!). These two are in every Skyrim playthrough I've done since the second one (the first modded one). With Halle's playthrough, I tried out http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/33201/, and really liked it. It gave me lots of ideas for my Bosmer. I've added http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/65613/ to go with Frostfall (on Lite, as the regular setting is really difficult!) I have yet to try it out, but I'm looking forward to it! Since my Bosmer started with LAL's "Left for Dead" option, she literally has nothing but her wits to survive on. Fishing will definitely help!

For the hunting itself, we are using http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/64440/ paired with http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/61376/ For quick movement from one location to another, we are trying out http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/60584/, because he is summonable. My Bosmer likes him pitch black with blue eyes. Quite the striking beast. As we left him the default destrier size, and bareback, she finds him a challenge, but I adore the way she staggers when she dismounts.

Added, but not yet tried out, are the http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/37289/ and the http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/5727/

Downloaded, but not yet installed, are http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/69720/ the http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31485/ and http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/39928/ I feel that Kyne is closest to the Bosmeri deity Y'ffre, which my Bosmer tries to follow closely. Though it's difficult to hew to the Green Pact when you have no weapons to bring down game. But that should change soon!

So we will see how things progress with Phaedre!

Posted by: SubRosa Oct 9 2015, 08:41 PM

I just started using http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/9930. It is a simple mod that moves back the fog from the player. But it has a big effect at removing much of the desaturated haze of the game. It makes things much brighter and more colorful.

I also started using http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/29253 which does a similar thing with all the interiors.

Of course I have also been using http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/648/ since I started playing, to remove the grey, colorless tint the vanilla game puts on everything.

The three of these mods really help to bring back the color to the game, without the need of using an ENB.

Posted by: Acadian Oct 9 2015, 08:59 PM

SubRosa, I'm very intrigued by those simple graphics mods you recommended, as when I looked into ENB stuff I became confused and relegated ENB to the 'too hard' box. Regarding the No Tint and Saturation mod, which of the files do you recommend using - the top one in the list?

Posted by: SubRosa Oct 9 2015, 09:24 PM

The top one is the only one that I use from the No Tint mod.

Posted by: haute ecole rider Oct 9 2015, 09:50 PM

I second the No Tint mod. It's part of my standard mod loadout. Wouldn't play without it.

I don't use ENB, either. Like you, Acadian, I looked at it and became confused.

Posted by: Acadian Oct 9 2015, 10:53 PM

Thank you so much, ladies! I shall have to try all three of those little graphics mods.

Posted by: Acadian Oct 10 2015, 01:13 AM

So I saved my game and installed the No Tint main file via OBMM. Install was fine but in the active mods list, it is listed as an esm vs esp. Did a bit of reading through the mod's comments and found a bit of mixed opinion/controversy/warning about that. Fired up the game and noticed no visual difference running around Whiterun. So I uninstalled it and went back to my save from before installing.

Moving on to try the other two mods, one at a time, of course.

Posted by: SubRosa Oct 10 2015, 01:45 AM

It is an .esm rather than an .esp. Why they made it a master file, I don't know. If you don't see any difference with it loaded, you probably have something else doing the same thing that is loading after it and taking precedence.

Posted by: Acadian Oct 10 2015, 02:02 AM

Hmm. The only mod I have that has anything to do with graphics is the official graphics DLC so I'm not sure what might be interfering. Also, when I install a new mod, I put it dead last in my load order to test / evaluate it (then set it where I want in my LO if I decide it's a keeper). I'm going to wait a bit until Buffy's out on the road traveling, then try the next one (exterior fog). Later, I might try that no tint one again in a different area than inside the city of Whiterun. Thanks for the help and ideas.

Posted by: SubRosa Oct 10 2015, 02:26 AM

It looks like you are using something, because your screenshots look more vibrant and colorful than the vanilla game settings.

Posted by: Acadian Oct 10 2015, 02:49 AM

That's good to hear that my screenies are nice. More, you think, than the official DLC for graphics provides? I had a small saturation mod quite some time ago and uninstalled it because it made Superian look funny. Perhaps 300 hours ago and before I started our current playthrough. I wouldn't think there would be any residuals. But overall, I'm not unhappy with my graphics so if I don't get them any better I'm still happy enough.

Posted by: mALX Oct 10 2015, 03:02 AM

If you have the official texture pack it over-rides everything (from what I've heard).

Posted by: SubRosa Oct 10 2015, 04:35 AM

Now you prompted me to do a test with No Tint active and turned off. I don't see any difference now either. But back in the day it made a huge difference. So something else is changing the saturation levels. I opened up No Tint in the CK and found it modifies the Image Space and Image Space Modifier entries.

A quick look revealed that the No Bloom mod I am using also mods the Image Spaces. So it is overriding that half of No Tint. I have my own home made weather mod, but it does not touch Image Spaces or Image Space Modifiers. I will have to look to see what else might be overriding the Image Space Modifiers.

Okay, I just disabled all of my mods and tried the game. Still looks the same. I swear it is more colorful than it was when I first started playing. So I wonder if Bethesda sneaked in a change to the saturation levels in one of the updates?

Posted by: Acadian Oct 10 2015, 02:32 PM

Thanks so much for doing some testing. I know my eye for graphics is not very sophisticated so I appreciate hearing your impressions. I'll probably try those other two today and see how they do.

Posted by: mALX Oct 10 2015, 09:32 PM

I would most def be interested in the one that clears the interior fog; that is one thing that bugged me to death in Skyrim - hazy interiors in the houses. I mean, in a dungeon it is fine, but inside your house in a sunny city?

Thank you for the link!

Posted by: SubRosa Oct 11 2015, 02:34 AM

For the Lagertha fans here I stumbled across a few today:

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/70435 for Racemenu. It also has a big list of other hair, eye, etc... mods.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/61103 just like from the show.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/7184 might be your best bet for female mail armor. I had a hard time finding any mail armor at all when I created Hervor, and almost all of those were either male only, or looked like crap on females. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/21721 is what I used back then.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12506/ adds a bunch of good Viking swords.

Posted by: mALX Oct 11 2015, 03:14 AM

Those mods of SubRosa's are awesome; I have them too.

That Hunterborn mod sounds amazing, and most def one of the best roleplay mods I've seen yet - downloaded, and thank you for the link!

I didn't download the last three mods, but may eventually try them out; they sound really interesting and well done!

Posted by: mALX Oct 11 2015, 04:50 AM

Oooh, that exterior fog remover makes it look so much better! Most def trying that one too! Thank you for the link!









I love the look of that chainmail! Really nice!

Posted by: Acadian Oct 11 2015, 02:18 PM

Wow, I quite like the Grace Darkling Ranger armor. But, as you know, I have kind of a weak spot for any outfit based on those mantled college type robes.

Posted by: Acadian Oct 11 2015, 06:42 PM

So I took a screenshot, saved the game, installed Revamped Exterior Fog and retook basically the same screenshot (midday in the Riften forest with trees, Buffy, Superian in close, and trees and mountains in the distance). The diffs in game seemed pretty subtle. I then pulled up the without and with screenshots and that made the difference easier to see as I studied them. The difference is, as I said, subtle, but a definite improvement. I'm thinking the Revamped Exterior Fog is a keeper. Thank you, SubRosa!

Next time we're inside a good area to check, I'll repeat the process with the interior fog mod and check that out.

Posted by: mALX Oct 11 2015, 06:47 PM

Screens or it didn't happen!

Posted by: haute ecole rider Oct 11 2015, 07:49 PM

Hunterborn is definitely a keeper, especially if you want to RP a wilderness survivor. It lets my PC go off the roads and explore the countryside without worrying about supplies.

Phaedre just leveled up to 2 after over a week in the wilds between Kynesgrove and Mixwater Mill. She finally got enough good pelts to make a Hunter's Bedroll, which lets her sleep outdoors. Next up, more waterskins so she can travel further away from water. She has a Fur Armor (full sleeves), but wants to get more first. At this point her only weapon is a Hunting Bow and Bone Arrows - it is all she can craft at this time. But the best thing for her was the Tanning Rack (from Frostfall) - it really lets her make use of all the pelts she is slowly accumulating.

Further info: These mods are added to the STEP Core mod loadout, which is made up of hundreds of mods. Many are texture mods, so my plugins are actually much fewer, at 193. I'm still on the fence about http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/141/ which is part of the STEP Project. But it adds quite a bit of interest to the environment, and I suspect it makes No Tint unnecessary.

I am also trying out a new mod, http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/65242/ which combines Pure Weathers and Pure Waters. I had Pure Waters before in previous playthroughs and loved what it does, so I thought I would give this a try. I had to disable Realistic Waters Two from the STEP project, and it took me a while to figure out how to remove all traces of this mod from the loadout. But I have to say that I love the way the water looks. And I was able to remove SkyFalls and SkyMills from the mod list, too, by using DynDOLOD to generate the animated waterfalls. I'd have to say it looks much better so far!

Posted by: mALX Oct 11 2015, 08:12 PM

Hunterborn is exactly my kind of roleplay; that has to be one of the best thought out mods ever!

I like the look of both of the overhauls you posted, very nice!

Posted by: Acadian Oct 11 2015, 10:32 PM

So I got Buffy into a nice cave, took a screen, saved the game and installed Remove Interior Fog. Then I loaded up the same scene and took another screen. Comparing the two side by side reveals a very significant and pleasant effect from the mod. Definitely a keeper! Thanks once again, SubRosa.

Posted by: mALX Oct 11 2015, 11:14 PM

GAAAAAH!!!! Where are the screens so we can see the difference?

Posted by: Acadian Oct 11 2015, 11:44 PM

MALX, the links to the mods' pages have good screens that show what the mods do better than the simple screens I took. I just took them, pulled them up, made a keep/not keep decision and deleted the screens after they served that purpose.

Posted by: mALX Oct 12 2015, 12:02 AM

The mod links didn't have Buffy in them (or should I say Bussey? )

Posted by: Renee Oct 28 2015, 01:13 AM

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/62068/?. If you have an arrogant, selfish bastard of a character, this mod's possibly for you. It changes the responses we have during certain conversations, making them not so "safe" and durr-ish. This mod totally fits Master Baytor's game, since he is arrogant and selfish and spoiled. It would not fit Claire's game though. She's more about "safe", durr-ish dialog to what people say.

Anyways, the author of this mod somehow played around with the responses NPCs make, as well. I don't know Serioos (mod author) did it. It seems like Serioos changed some NPC comments around, so that the things our arrogant character says will also have an appropriate response from the NPC who answers.

So yeah, I like this one. There's supposed to be another mod which caters to safer characters, but improves what we get in vanilla, conversation-wise. Maybe I'll try that one for Claire's game.

Posted by: SubRosa Oct 28 2015, 01:33 AM

I was reading over some of the lines for that mod, and my eyes instantly lit up on this one:

"Many soldiers were killed. I hope your precious crown was worth it."

and all I cold think was:

"Many Bothans died for this. I hope your precious crown was worth it."

Posted by: Grits Oct 28 2015, 01:45 AM

Renee, that mod looks like a winner for Master Baytor. I read through the lines in the screenshot and they are hilarious!

Posted by: Renee Oct 28 2015, 11:13 PM

Yup, it's a great mod. Somebody out there really put a lot of effort into it.

What are bothans? Sorry, not familiar with that term. And a Google search just led me in circles

Posted by: Grits Dec 19 2015, 09:34 PM

Jacelyn my independent (non-Guild) thief has a new outfit that she loves: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/71215/. Jacelyn wears a grey robe with mask and hood for work. This outfit is for making people think that she is not a thief. The boots have quite a heel, which to Jace says “I don’t need to walk very far.” Maybe they think she is a courier. I’m not sure if she has a clue what she’s doing or if anyone is fooled, but she http://i.imgur.com/g9JsmqU.png.

Posted by: Acadian Dec 19 2015, 10:40 PM

Grits that new outfit looks great! And coming from Elianora is likely an auto-endorse. Fortunately for my load order, when it comes to Witcherey kinda stuff, Buffy only has eyes for the basic Triss outfit.

Posted by: mALX Dec 20 2015, 02:13 AM

How cute that armor is!

Posted by: Grits Dec 20 2015, 02:58 PM

I’m looking for new adventure wear for Abiene, but Jacelyn snapped this outfit up immediately. Abiene still wears her Adept college robes with mage gloves and tan boots in the field. She refuses to wear trousers of any kind. Even the leggings under the short college robe are a style reach for her. I hoped that the brown color (her favorite) and the cute shoulder cape on this outfit would entice her, but nope.

Posted by: SubRosa Dec 20 2015, 07:26 PM

That outfit looks really neat. I downloaded it for a future character to use.

Posted by: haute ecole rider Jan 19 2016, 03:54 AM

I've been playing a Bosmer archer/hunter with Chesko's new http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/11163/mod. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/33201/works very well with it, and in fact Hunterborn's Scrimshaw power has been folded into Frostfall's Craft Item power. Where I kept getting error messages about scripting running too slow for Frostfall while processing dead animals, now the two mods play together very well and I have yet to encounter any errors or conflicts after about a week of playing with the two. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/64798/has been updated as well, and I think it is easier and more realistic now to build campfires in the wild. I can't remember if it was Renee or someone else here who was complaining about how hardcore the old Frostfall is - she would be glad to know the new version (3.0.1) is much easier to live with. To put icing on the cake, I'm also using http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/65613/ since Phaedre lives near the western end of Lake Ilinalta in Falkreath Hold and likes a bit of fish from time to time.

I liked Frostfall v. 2.6 before, and didn't find it too cumbersome combined with Hunterborn, though the repetition was tiresome. And Campfire was fun by itself and combined with http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/10573/ However, this new combination of Frostfall 3.0, Campfire 1.6, Hunterborn 1.4.4 and Art of the Catch 1.0.1 is amazing! And immmmmersive!

Posted by: Grits Jan 19 2016, 04:01 AM

That’s great news, haute! I’ve had an eye on Art of the Catch and Hunterborn for a while but haven’t looked at them lately. It might be time to take another look, especially for those characters who wander more than quest. Jerric loves to go fishing in ESO. Sometimes when I log on that’s the only thing he does.

Thank you very much for the report!

Posted by: Acadian Feb 6 2016, 04:40 AM

I saw a new mod by Chesko on Nexus today that looks interesting. I don't think I'll be using it, but can certainly imagine others might want to consider it. The mod is called Simply Knock and lets you knock on locked doors. Whoever is inside will answer you through the door and you may be able to get them to let you in. Sounds convenient if you want to visit a friend at night or contact a quest giver after hours. Anyway, here's the link: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/73236/

Posted by: Grits Feb 9 2016, 04:57 AM

Thank you, Acadian! I will give this one a try in Jacelyn's game. A burglar does not like to surprise homeowners. Then if it works out Jerric will love it. Crashing at a friend's house is one of his favorite things, and he rarely gets there at a reasonable hour.

Posted by: Acadian Feb 18 2016, 01:36 PM

Noticed a mod that came up on Nexus today. I'm not sure I would call it 'interesting' so much as 'hilarious'.

The mod is called http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/73627/ and the opening line in the description is. . . 'Lydia now sounds like Farkas'.

Posted by: Grits Feb 20 2016, 09:47 PM

That is hilarious. She walks like Farkas, now she can sound like him, too.

Posted by: Lopov Mar 29 2016, 06:29 PM

This may not be the best thread but is there any way to force reset the radiant quest system with the console, something like when you can reset health or inventory of merchants? I always have to wait for a long time between bounty quests, they're not available one after another.

Posted by: ghastley Mar 29 2016, 06:55 PM

They actually are theoretically available right away, but the bounty quests may reserve NPC's in the radiant system, and so conflict with them. There's no "wait a bit" involved.

The Jarl's steward may be the bottleneck in most cases. Make sure you have no quests that involve them.

Posted by: Lopov Mar 31 2016, 11:50 AM

Yeah, thanks, that was the case, as long as there was an option to decorate home, he didn't provide new quests. After fully decorating the house, bounties are available again.

Posted by: SubRosa Mar 31 2016, 07:46 PM

So all the Hold's criminals are safe so long as there is outstanding work for your interior decorator! I just love Bethesda!

Posted by: Grits Mar 31 2016, 08:10 PM

Ha, that's hilarious! I'll bet that lackadaisical decorating is behind my persistent radiant quest issues. Our homes are our castles, I suppose.

Posted by: SubRosa Sep 10 2016, 03:57 AM

With Persephone's return to Skyland, I am trying out some new mods.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/78517 is a simple replacer for the Draugr sounds. I have only heard a few draugr so far, but so good. The new voices are deeper and more bestial. They sound like they might have a little bit of a tiger mixed in.

I am not sure if I mentioned it before, but I am also using http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1197/ - It gives the armor an outstanding reflective finish. It isn't a perfect mirror look, but just enough for you to notice the light reflecting off of people's armor. Screenshots don't do it justice. You have to actually see it in the game to truly appreciate it.

I also found http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/69103. I am not using it currently, but I really like how they took the ancient nord armor and added in parts of the 'modern' Skyrim steel armor to round out the set.

I also added several of my own mods for Persephone's latest incarnation. A few weeks ago I integrated http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/66630 into my Deadwalker race mod. Over the last few days also added more hairstyles, which you should be seeing once Persephone takes off her hood.

I also modded http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/65814 to create Malediction from the zweihander.

Finally I tweaked my http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/10463/ mod to add a Female Draugr archer to the summonings. Once I have time to play with it and I am sure there are no bugs, I will upload the new version with the Draugress to the Nexus.

Posted by: mALX Sep 26 2016, 07:05 AM

Is this the change I noticed in Persephone's eyes in the last few sets of screens? If so, I like these better than the last change prior to that - those eyes looked more scary and totally dead; while the new eyes seem to look undead/dead, but reflect the person that used to be; if that makes any sense. There is just a tinge of blue in the new ones that looks Awesome.

Posted by: SubRosa Nov 21 2016, 03:28 AM

I started using http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/13448. It comes in multiple versions, depending on how long you want ash piles to stick around. I am using the 1 hour version, and so far so good, ash piles vanish after waiting for an hour.

Posted by: Acadian Nov 21 2016, 04:14 AM

How neat is that?!? I always liked the idea of the wispmother summons but they left those pesky ashpiles when they expired. This might solve that.

Posted by: ghastley Nov 21 2016, 08:08 PM

I discovered that copying forward the texture files from A Clearer World Map (with Roads) to SE works fine. I didn't bother removing the clouds, as they're not thick enough to annoy. I don't know if that has been re-issued for SE yet. A search failed to find it on Nexus. There is a mod that kills the fog in map view, which I may try.

Posted by: Cain Nov 21 2016, 08:20 PM

Works well.

Posted by: Lopov Dec 16 2016, 10:08 AM

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51554/ - awesome mod, just don't go drinking potions in the heat of a battle.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1971/ - my personal favorite mod when it comes to faces. Compatible with several body replacers (patches are available to d/l as optional), neckseams are almost gone.

Posted by: Grits Jan 9 2017, 06:23 PM

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/81393/ for Skyrim by Arthmoor! I haven't tried it yet, but I will.

Posted by: SubRosa Apr 30 2017, 11:21 PM

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/83507 looks outstanding. I have not tried it, but I think it would work perfectly with the zweihander from http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/65814

Posted by: ghastley Jan 19 2018, 05:26 PM

Don't mention https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/88992 to mALX.

Posted by: mALX Jan 19 2018, 08:22 PM

Posted by: SubRosa Jul 15 2019, 02:25 AM

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23326 is an interesting mod. It gives you a ring that basically acts as an invisible shield. I tried it out today with an unarmed fighter. You cannot block in unarmed combat. But this gives you the option to do so, as the game thinks it is a shield. I eventually opted out of using it, but not because of this mod. It is just that unarmed combat in Skyrim is so lackluster. Even with mods to improve it.

Posted by: Kane Sep 28 2019, 01:14 PM

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/15773

Posted by: Lopov Sep 30 2019, 01:20 PM

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/44623 - makes time pass when browsing inventory, journal, map, browsing in shops etc. Highly customizable, so you get to decide how much time passes.

Posted by: SubRosa Mar 30 2020, 06:54 PM

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/38151 is a neat mod that allows you to change when some quests start, like the Dragonborn Cultists attacking you, or random dragon attacks, or random Dawnguard vampire attacks, and the like. It requires all the DLC and SkyUI. I have already found other mods and console commands that do individual bits and pieces of these things. But never all together in one package.

Posted by: Lopov Mar 31 2020, 10:47 AM

This mod is a must, I agree. I've been using it for years.

Posted by: Renee Mar 31 2020, 02:57 PM

Ha ha I have squirrels in my gameworld! They make little squeak noises.

Posted by: Grits Mar 31 2020, 07:05 PM

I love this mod. It's so nice to be able to deal with those things through one mod.

Posted by: SubRosa Mar 31 2020, 07:33 PM

I will probably start using it instead of the other mods. Since I have Dragonborn, and I am actually doing the vanilla main quest, I am being attacked by Miraak's Cultists constantly. It seems like once a day. It has really gotten annoying. I don't see any mods or console commands to reduce the frequency of these attacks, except Timing is Everything.

Posted by: SubRosa Apr 13 2020, 01:40 AM

I have been using https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31582 for several days now. It adds more buildings, merchants, and NPCs in general to Raven Rock. I highly recommend it. It makes the place feel a lot more like a real settlement. Plus the extra merchants really help with unloading all that good Dragonborn loot.

Posted by: Lopov Apr 22 2020, 02:06 PM

Is there a console command to make just one location on the map visible? I don't mean tmm, but just to add one undiscovered place?

Posted by: Renee Apr 22 2020, 06:40 PM

I can't tell you how many merchants I've added into Vyvoor's game, and potentially other games which follow. Especially in the smaller villages like Morthal, where they only have an alchemist but not a general trader or a smith? Come on, now. Let's change that.