Skyrim Survival Mods

[illanthropist]

Hey guys

Read several mentions of people using these and it spurred my interest, purchased Skyrim in the "Steam Winter Watch Your Wallet!" and thought I'd create a post rather than going off topic elsewhere.

I only racked up about 10hrs of play and thought I'd give it another bash at some point and wanted to ask you chaps what mods exactly and what do they end up doing?

Cheers

[hauteecolerider]

Hello, welcome to Skyrim! You'll find it different from TLD, yet with the right mods, it could be downright familiar to you . . .

Mods are files that change or modify the primary game executable's functions in order to provide different gameplay experience. They do NOT change the .exe file itself, nor do they alter the data files that come with the game. Instead, the game .exe runs, then these mod files load after the game's files and alter how they are presented to the player.

The mod files are found in your Steam directory -- from memory they would be: Steam - common - Steam apps - Skyrim

Then you should see the Skyrim directory with the .exe alongside the Data folder and a few other files. Inside the Data folder are the .esm's and the .esp's. esm files are master files, they are not common and are typically found with certain overhaul files. esp files are much more common, and most mods (except texture replacers) use these. esp files work off the esm files.

The best source for information (and my go-to for mods here http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/) is the Nexus Forums http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?s=f3b77291e664a9c3a95514e044a93ed1&c=411,419

A couple of tips for you first: install Steam/Skyrim in its own folder out of UAC control. If installed in the default folder (I think it would be x86 Program Files). Otherwise UAC will not let you mod Skyrim (or any other game for that matter). Play Skyrim on vanilla settings and figure out what you like and don't like about it before you start loading mods. Mod management is easy, until you get up over 10 mods. Then mod install and load order becomes important, as mods can overwrite previously installed/loaded mods and give you undesirable results. Back up your saves before adding a mod. I guess it goes without saying that you should add one mod at a time and test it out in game before adding another. I use two different mod managers - Wrye Bash, which is fairly complex to learn but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty awesome, and I'm trying out Mod Organizer, which is supposed to handle data files better. Don't go there just yet.

When you're ready to install mods, here's a few I recommend: SkyUI - it lets you manage compatible mods from within the game; A Matter of Time, which provides a HUD clock that you can toggle on or off (I love that feature); and Immersive HUD, which lets you customize the HUD features and adjust their size, transparency and persistency (permanently on or toggleable).

Mods I recommend to get a closer feel to what TLD gives you are Frostfall 3.0, Campfire (a prerequisite for Frostfall, as its esm is used by FF), and Hunterborn (which gives you better harvests and the ability to craft bows and arrows with what comes to hand). You can even start the game with next to nothing and these mods will let you recreate the survival experience of TLD or very nearly do so.

If you have any other questions feel free to ask! I've been playing Skyrim with over 140 mods and I love it. It's more role-play than TLD, but it's amazing how much my modded Skyrim comes close to TLD . . . Maybe it's my preferred play style - I always did enjoy the exploration/crafting aspects of such games the most.

[illanthropist]

Cheers for that, familiar with the term mods but outside of addons for World of Warcraft which only really tweak the UI have no experience.

Got steam saved to a custom directory so that's a good start, it's a pain moving steam folders.

Outside of this, WoW (retired) and Dragon Age Origins not really gamed much in yrs, enjoyed Skyrim except for possibly alchemy, will be good to give it a whirl again now I've finished Lego Lord of the Rings

12 minutes ago, hauteecolerider said:

Maybe it's my preferred play style - I always did enjoy the exploration/crafting aspects of such games the most.

Me too I guess, most of my WoW time was spent doing that, was a bit of a completionist with crafting, never really heavy on group content, PvP/raiding.

Thanks again for the tips will definitely look into those you mentioned, the nearest to a campfire mod in World of warcraft was placing a smoke flare on a camp fire to enhance the realism!

[hauteecolerider]

WoW is MMO, right? I find it difficult to be able to use mods that significantly alter gameplay in an MMO without screwing up the experience for other online users . . .

So you would find Skyrim's mods extremely interesting when you're ready to dive in.

[illanthropist]

25 minutes ago, hauteecolerider said:

WoW is MMO, right?

Yeah, World of Warcraft, the addons only customise ones own user interface, anything more than that you'd get a ban for hacking.  I'm a left handed mouse user so struggle with a most off the shelf set ups in PC gaming.

[Patrick Carlson]

6 hours ago, illanthropist said:

Yeah, World of Warcraft, the addons only customise ones own user interface, anything more than that you'd get a ban for hacking.  I'm a left handed mouse user so struggle with a most off the shelf set ups in PC gaming.

Skyrim is a great way to get introduced to a modding scene. Many (if not hundreds of them) work flawlessly and might as well have been made by the developers. The Skyrim Steam Workshop is a great place to poke around too, in addition to the Nexus website. 

This is a nice guide for Skyrim mods that gets regularly updated by the folks at PCGamer. http://www.pcgamer.com/best-skyrim-mods/

[illanthropist]

Cheers Patrick, will check it out.

The only knowledge I have of the modding scene came from watching Quadrophenia

edit: Oooh my, how much is possible with these mods, underestimated what it actually meant.

Will I have to be careful though, I think Skyrim runs on 2 cores but just wondering if all these mods will cause performance issues on an overclocked G3258 (4.3G) a a 750Ti 2GB card.

Was on a budget when I built the rig or else would have gone with an i5.

[hauteecolerider]

You have to remember Skyrim is already 5 years old. Not familiar with that particular processor, but if your graphics card is an NVIDIA Titan you will be just fine. The biggest thing is the RAM and the VRAM. Skyrim barely uses two cores -- my 2008 Mac Pro with 2 2.8 GHZ quad-core Intel Xeon processors, an NVIDIA GeForce 750 GT with 2 GB VRAM and 12 GB RAM runs it just fine). If your rig has newer processors than my trusty old workhorse, you should be fine. 

Nowadays budget PC's are more than capable of running a modded Skyrim.

Quadrophenia! Ha!

[illanthropist]

Cool thanks, apps that use multi core like adobe suits run pants but should be OK given you say only makes use of 2 cores.  Yes my card is the Nvidia GTX750Ti I expect very similar to yours, my el cheapo mainboard only runs the 8GB RAM installed at 1330.  

Some of those texture packs look amazing that was my main concern rendering those.

Will definitely have a good fiddle on Sunday

 

[hauteecolerider]

Be careful with the textures. It's very easy to go overboard with them. I use only the 1K textures - I think they do well without impacting gameplay. For me the gameplay is a priority, eye candy is secondary. 

Two recommendations: Gamwich's textures. They're multiple files, but small and designed for performance. I like the 1K textures for the most part. They are awesome. Alternatively the second one, which is more complex and took me three days to install, is the STEP improvement project. It is a guide to installing various mods to improve graphics, and is very extensive. Not one I recommend for newbies - it is the one I am currently running on and it's nice, but I could do without the Skyrim Flora Overhaul - it is very graphics and processor intensive, so sometimes I see some stutter. Some of the textures that are part of STEP aren't as good as their Gamwich counterparts, IMHO.

Adobe Creative Suite is one of the few software programs out there that actually use all four of a quad-core setup. The others are mostly professional video editing and 3D graphics rendering programs (such as those used in game design). To play modded Skyrim I'm sure you'll be just fine.

[illanthropist]

Thanks, won't be going all out on textures particularly ones like flora, think I'll start a fresh game as been so long forgotten how to play, that's if I can tear myself away from TLD