Bethesda Game Studio’s iconic fantasy epic is a great game with a ton of content on its own, but with the hard work of a tirelessly hard-working modding community, Skyrim becomes something truly unique.
In this article, we’re going to run down some of the best, most interesting, and most essential mods that Skyrim has to offer.
How do I install Skyrim mods?
There a few ways to install and manage your mods for Skyrim, and how you do it depends on which version of Skyrim you have. The Special Edition includes tools for searching for, installing and managing mods all built into the game. You can access it all from the main menu and it allows you to find and install new mods and update old ones without closing the game.
We have also compiled some of the best Minecraft mods of 2018 right now. Check this
If you have the original version of Skyrim, then your best bet is using a third party mod manager such as Nexus Mod Manager. This software allows you to easily install and update mods and handily keep them all in one place. Of course, you could always install mods manually into the game’s directory, but third-party managers make it quicker and simpler.
20 Best Skyrim Mods You Need To Check Out1. SkyUI
SkyUI is an excellent mod that overhauls the game’s original cumbersome inventory. It makes the UI much easier to navigate and is much more appropriate for the many, many, many items, weapons and random objects you’ll be picking up. It may also be a good introduction to the Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE), a tool that expands the capabilities of mods and allows you to make more dramatic changes to the game.
2. Static Mesh Improvement Mod
The Static Mesh Improvement Mod is a graphical mod that simply makes the game’s static 3D models look nicer. It’s no secret that Skyrim’s graphics haven’t exactly aged well in the 7 years since its original release and this is one of countless mods that attempt to alleviate that problem one bit at a time. An essential mod for anyone trying to make Skyrim look as not-bad as possible.
3. Total Character Makeover
Total Character Makeover is a mod that aims to make the character models of Skyrim look a bit more aesthetically-pleasing and less muddy and rough. The faces of Skyrim have always been a little on the ugly side, and this mod gives the NPCs and the player avatar some improved resolutions without ruining your frame rate.
4. Skyrim Special Edition Unofficial Patch
The Unofficial Patch for Skyrim Special Edition is a comprehensive bug-fixing mod that intends to be your one-stop-shop for eliminating all those nasty bugs that can still be found in the Special Edition. Essential for the smoothest Skyrim experience.
5. Opening Scene Overhaul
The Opening Scene Overhaul mod restores some lines that were cut by Bethesda but can still be found in the game’s files. It adds additional carriage dialogue, and offers some deeper insight into the world you’re about to explore. It also gives you the option of escaping with Ulfric himself if you decide to side with the Stormcloaks.
6. Open Cities
The Open Cities mod curbs the immersion-breaking loading screens that hit you whenever you enter a city, and aims to give the game a more Morrowind-like feel. Stroll through cities on horseback and come and go as you please. This mod helps to make the world of Skyrim more seamless and connected.
7. Alternative Start
The Alternative Start mod offers a different start for new characters. It’s the ideal mod for players who have experienced the original Skyrim opening more than enough times for one lifetime. A fun and unique role-playing mod, this mod is a great way to mix things up a bit if you have to start again with Special Edition, or simply want to make a new character.
8. Diverse Dragons Collection
This very cool mod overhauls the dragons you’ll encounter in Skyrim. The original game featured a small variety of dragon designs and the fights quickly become repetitive and underwhelming. The Diverse Dragons Collection adds a staggering 28 new dragons, each boasting their own big dicks. It also features a variety of new dragon breaths and abilities to make the fights more interesting, as well as new ranks for the dragons intended to make the encounters scale with your level.
9. Achievements Mod Enabler
This mod is pretty straightforward. Csi sap2000 v15 torrent. It allows you to earn achievements when using mods. Using mods doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re cheating, so why shouldn’t you be able to earn achievements whilst modding the game? Who plays Skyrim without mods, anyway?
10. Skyrim Flora Overhaul
Another nice graphical overhaul mod, the Skyrim Flora Overhaul mod replaces most of the game’s trees, grass and plants with original models, including 16 new trees and more than 180 new textures for ground cover and plants. One more essential mod for players looking for the prettiest Skyrim possible.
11. Surreal Lighting
Surreal Lighting adds a bit of wonder to the landscapes of Skyrim, helping to make it feel more fantasy and less ordinary. Helps to make Skyrim more colourful and vibrant. Skyrim se mod guide.
12. Interesting NPCs
Interesting NPCs adds some variety to Skyrim’s oft-bland and lifeless NPCs, most of which, if they don’t have a quest for you, will just spout generic lines that you’ll hear repeated over and over again. This mod adds a whole host of new characters, all with their own back stories, unique lines, and (most importantly) new voice acting that is (mostly) high quality.
13. The Forgotten City
This mod resembles something more akin to a Bethesda DLC expansion. The Forgotten City is a murder mystery set in the titular Forgotten City. It offers around 8 hours of gameplay and some high-quality writing that won a national Writer’s Guild award. It’s a very unique mod that’s well worth checking out.
14. Way of the Monk – Unarmed Overhaul
This Unarmed Overhaul mod does exactly that. It overhauls unarmed combat in an attempt to make it a viable play style. Featuring two new skill trees, Unarmed and Unarmoured, as well as a variety of related perks and equipment, it allows players to roll a Monk-like character and discover their inner zen.
15. Duel – Combat Realism
Duel is a mod that aims to fix the unrealistic combat system in Skyrim and completely change the way you play. It makes the player pay close attention to their stamina bar in order to survive, it ties in your weapons and armour to bring added realism, it changes how archery works, and more. If you’re looking for a dramatically different combat experience in Skyrim, Duel is your best bet.
16. Apocalypse – Magic of Skyrim
Apocalypse is a much-needed overhaul of the magic in Skyrim. Any fan of mages in RPGs is more than aware of how underwhelming magic is in Skyrim. This mod introduces 140 new spells that give you a large variety of new ways to tackle your enemies. These spells aren’t just the usual hold down spray of fire/cold/lightning until enemy dies and then rinse/repeat, this mod includes disables, summons, and a number of other cool surprises. Essential if you want to play a mage without getting bored.
17. Sneak Tools
Sneak Tools is a mod that aims to make the stealth more dynamic than simply staying in the shadows and getting bonus sneak attack damage. This mod allows you to slit throats, knock out enemies from behind, wear masks that hide your identity. Douse torches and lanterns to move through the shadows. Add an arsenal of trick arrows, including one that launches ropes that allows you to climb walls. Sneak Tools gives Skyrim a touch of Thief to make it’s stealth more interesting.
18. Falskaar
The Falskaar mod is one of the most impressive and comprehensive mods you’ll find for Skyrim. It’s essentially the size of an official expansion and introduces a new continent with an incredible 25 hours of new material. The creator of this mod took around 2000 hours to make it and now works at Bungie. The continent introduces a huge variety of new quests, wildlife, and a gorgeous landscape. Falskaar is an amazing achievement in modding and is a must-try for any Skyrim fan.
19. Skyrim Redone
Skyrim Redone is the mod of all mods for Skyrim. A true overhaul in the most literal sense, this monumental package of mods brings together a variety of different mods to give the game a massive makeover. It overhauls every aspect of the game, from perks and skills to the character stats and more, and even includes some more unique things like a grappling hook and disguises. It’s such a complex mod that it can be a bit of a pain to get working properly, but once you get it all up and running it’s the truly definitive modding experience for Skyrim.
20. Immersive Patrols
Immersive Patrols is a mod that creates a series of patrols for the factions of Skyrim: Stormcloak, Imperial, Thalmor, Dawnguard, Bandits, and so on. These routes will sometimes cross paths, leading to some violent clashes between the factions and offering more of the emergent chaos that we all love to watch.
How To Mods Skyrim Ps421. The Gate of Solitude
A huge content mod that adds a whole new questline to Oblivion, playing off of the Oblivion gates from the main storyline. It recommends you be at least level 35, and the creator suggests playing on Master difficulty for the best experience. It’s a hard and challenging load of content that’s sure to be a fun and interesting experience for experienced Oblivion player who have tired out the rest of the game’s content and its expansions.
Download here.
Well, if you have heard about Skyrim VR, you can learn how to use mods with Skyrim VR at uploadvr.
These are just some of the amazing mods available at your fingertips. Skyrim is the ultimate modding game. Its extreme flexibility and open-ended nature make it the perfect game to tweak and create new content for. Check out these best mods for Skyrim and see how it changes your Skyrim experience.
Let us know if you think we missed anything!
Using Skyrim mods to create a beautiful (or handsome) Player character using new body models and high resolution textures
Hi, and welcome to my latest hub on the Elder Scrolls V Skyrim. In today’s hub, I will look at updating the graphics for your Player Character using a series of mods.
As your Player Character is central to your experience in Skyrim, you want it to look as good as possible and the mods we install as part of this hub, will greatly improve its appearance. In addition, all the graphical improvements we make to your Player Character will be applied to the Non Player Characters, making your Skyrim game look much better.
First, we will update first of all the body models with better looking high resolution textures and a better more natural looking figure. Then, we will look at replacing the face, hair and eye textures, again with higher quality, better looking textures.
After you have installed and configured the mods I introduce across both hubs, you could end up with a character that looks like something like mine:
Once we have updated the textures and the body models, you may want to customise your character further to take advantage of the new models and textures we installed. I have another hub that goes into greater detail about using Race Menu to fully customise your Player characters face, as well Character Creation Overhaul which allows you to customise your new characters stats and starting class (mage, thief etc) as well as adding birth signs similar to those found in previous Elder Scrolls games. My hub on this can be found here:
Installing Skyrim Unbound using Nexus Mod Manager to enhance the Player Creation experience in Skyrim
The first step is to install a couple of essential mods using Nexus Mod Manager. If you are unfamiliar with it, Nexus Mod Manager is an excellent tool that allows you to manage all your mods as well as installing them with a single click. I have a hub that covers Nexus Mod Manager in greater detail which can be found here:
For more advanced users, there is another Mod Manager called Mod Organizer. It allows you to:
My hub on Mod Organizer can be found here:
Using Nexus Mod Manager, you can install Skyrim Unbound from the Nexus website .
Skyrim Unbound allows you to skip the opening sequence and fully customise your characters game start. You can choose starting equipment, starting place (you can start in any city, town or wilderness or even jail) and also delay the main story and turn off dragons. If you also install Sky UI you can change the configuration of this and many other mods mid game, so if you want to start the main quest or turn on random dragons you can do this using Sky UI. To learn more about both of these mods, I have a hub that covers other mods that I consider essential to everyone who plays Skyrim, which can be found here:
Installing mods to improve the body models used in Player Characters and Non Player Characters in Skyrim
The next step is to install either Caliente’s Body Mod or DIMONIZED UNP Female Body from Skyrim Nexus depending on your preference to replace the female characters models. I have chosen the Big Bottom Edition of Caliente’s mod (often known as CBBE) as I like the way that the models look, plus it has an underwear mode which I prefer and also, CBBE is far more configurable than UNP. If you activate the mod in Nexus Mod Manager, using a GUI installer, you can choose between body shapes, whether the models are nude, choose textures, eye brows and finally whether you would like to install some tools to help you further configure the models. CBBE comes with a utility called BodySlide which allows you to fully configure your Player Character’s body shape which I will cover in detail below.
You can see pictures below of a CBBE and Dimonized UNP female Player Character. I suggest that you check both mods out on the Skyrim Nexus mods, but be warned there are pictures there of an adult nature.
For the male Player Characters, I recommend:
Better males - Beautiful nudes and faces - New hairstyles - Faces – GeonoxFaces by Chris57 and FavoredSoul and Better males - Beautiful nudes and faces - New hairstyles - Underwear - Slip
You can see the before and after screenshots for both female and male which show the improvements we have made so far.
Use the Caliente’s Body Mod BodySlide tool to further customize your player character body shape in Skyrim
Where Caliente’s Body Mod really comes into its own is with the use of the BodySlide tool that is an optional extra that can be installed as part of the installation process. Using it, you can take the default body shape and change it using the sliders shown below. The changes you make will immediately affect your player character’s body shape the next time you launch Skyrim. To use Bodyslide:
If you want to save your settings as a preset, click Save Preset, name your preset. When you save it, make sure that you save it to DataCalienteToolsBodySlideSliderPresets so that BodySlide can see it. Now, next time you use BodySlide, your new preset will be available.
Now, when you run Skyrim, your player character will use the new nif files you have created and will have a body shape identical to the one you created.
Installing new high definition textures to update the eyes, hair and faces of Player Characters and Non Player Characters in Skyrim
The first mods we will install are ApachiiSkyHair and ApachiiSkyHair natural Retexture. These excellent mods replace both the hair for Humans, Elves and Orcs for both males and females. You should install all the below packs from the mod:
You can see examples of female elvish hair from Apachii’s excellent mod below:
Next, we will install Coverwoman by mrLenski, which replaces all the faces for all non beast races with high resolution textures. The mod enhances the skin on the face, the eyebrows, lips and also the make-up. It also comes in five variants which gives you greater choice over how your Player Character as well as the games NPCs will look. I personally went with look one.
Then, we will upgrade the Khajits with Coverkhajiits which comes in both a male and female version to replace models and textures for both sexes. It also improves the textures for all Khajits in game (both Player Character and Non Player Characters) and comes in two variants the 1024 and 2048 texture sizes. For those of us with slower computers, the 1024 textures are a perfect mix of performance and quality.
To complete the texture replacers, we now install four more mods.
First we install Better Beast Races v2 by Xenius. This mod changes the shape (the meshes) of the beast races the Argonians and the Khajits, making their faces less angular and more rounded. This will work perfectly with Coverkhajits (which is purely a texture replacement) as Better Beast Races does not replace the in game textures, just the meshes that create the shapes that we see in the world of Skyrim.
You can see below the difference installing these mods makes to the Beast Races. They are lore friendly and make a massive difference to how they will look in game.
The next mod we will install is the Eyes of Beauty by Gabriel Mailhot. This excellent mod comes with four options:
Standalone which will either add or replace eyes just for your Player Character depending on the option you choose
You can choose anyone of the above options and install them and they will work perfectly together. Personally, I installed them all but that is personal preference which is thanks to the flexibility offered by the modder.
The last mods I am going to look at are high resolution brows and beards by Hvergelmir. As the title suggests, these replace the in game beards and brows with highly detailed textures. It replaces the existing beards with high resolution hand painted beards which look fantastic in game. Hvergelmir has done similarly excellent work replacing the brows of everyone in game (your Player character as well as all NPCs). They both come in 1,024 and 2,048 versions depending on how powerful your computer is.
Conclusion
By replacing the default body models and textures for our player characters body, face, eyes and hair, from a variety of mods we have been able to make our player character look much better and more attractive than would have been possible using the Skyrim defaults.
I hope that you have enjoyed seeing the changes that these mods have introduced and that you go on to have a lot of adventures with your new character in the wonderful game world that is Elder Scrolls V Skyrim. Thanks for reading.
© 2015 Robbie C Wilson
How To Use Mods Skyrim Remastered Ps4
There aren't usually a lot of ways that PS4 players end up in this situation, but they've actually been outclassed by Xbox fans in the mods department this time around thanks to Skyrim: Special Edition.
PlayStation 4 players are now playing catch up twice with this revamped Skyrim experience: once to meet the PC community's insane plethora of mods, and again to just get on par with the Xbox One, which had several months lead time on mod support over the PS4.
How To Use Mods Skyrim Ps4 2
At the moment, there are only a paltry 1,600 PS4 Skyrim mods available, which might sound like a large number, but it's an infinitesimal fraction of what's been created since the game first arrived for PC six years back.
Many of the best Skyrim mods -- like the major bug fixes that address problems still present even after all the patches -- sadly haven't hit the PS4 just yet. There aren't a ton of mods that spice up the game's dialog options yet either, which is a shame as much like with Fallout 4, the dialog and story in Skyrim aren't quite up to par with the promise offered by this massive game world.
Despite those missing elements, there are still plenty of excellent PS4 Skyrim mods available, and here we're rounding up the best of the best mods you should get on installing first.
If you want to see other fantastic Skyrim mods, check out this page.
Mod: Even Better Quest Objectives
Skyrim's vanilla (and exceedingly bare bones) quest objective screen barely tells you anything about your current quest other than the absolute basics.
It definitely pales in comparison to the lengthy journal entries of more hardcore RPGs, and the lack of information sort of dumbs down the game -- especially the Special Edition -- as you basically just follow the arrow until you hit the person you need to talk to or kill.
That particular issue is alleviated with this mod, which gives you a much clearer idea of who gave the quest, where they are located, and what you are supposed to do to specifically fulfill the quest objectives.
Mod: Scroll Crafting
I sort of don't understand why this Special Edition mod wasn't in the base game. Who exactly is making these scrolls that you find everywhere -- and why can't the main character get in on the scroll-creating action?
Bethesda's vanilla Skyrim oversight is fixed by the modding community yet again, adding a new branch to the skill tree and the ability to craft a scroll for any spell. Besides the obvious utility function, this addition also makes it easier to have a pure magic build at earlier levels -- even before you have tons of magicka available.
Mod: Cooking, Brewing, and Alchemy Overhaul
An expansion to Skyrim's base crafting system, this nifty mod puts cooking pots and alchemy stations in every inn so you don't have to go hunting for them in any given settlement. But that's just the beginning.
The main draw of this mod is the brewstation, letting you brew drinks in addition to cooking the standard food options, while the number of food recipes is also bumped up significantly and a few ingredients have been added in as well.
If you've already crafted every type of food, try installing this Special Edition mod and keep your craft addiction going strong!
Mod: Hardcore Difficulty -- No Milkdrinkers
Is Skyrim too easy an experience for your walking siege engine of a Dragonborn? Does destroying enemies in the Special Edition get rote and tired? Not anymore!
If you are felling dragons and giants with ease -- and the town guards are no match for your Nord killing machine -- try out this mod to make things more deadly.
The main tweaks you'll find here are that your stamina and magicka will regenerate slower, while enemies will be tougher and block your attacks more often. It's an addition that really increases the stakes.
Mod: Alidon's Ultimate Armory
Definitely a “cheating” mod, this Skyrim: Special Edition mod is basically like accessing the secret console room in Fallout 4 -- but on steroids.
The extra area created by this mod gives you access to every vanilla item in the game, in addition to a host of custom items, spells, and followers. Topping it all off are doors to every hold, dungeon, and guild location. We'd suggest installing this one after you've either beaten the game or start a new playthrough.
Mod: Phenderix The Archmage Artifacts
These Skyrim “artifacts” are really just a simple way to cheat and get essentially infinite magicka. Equip one of the rings from this mod and you'll find yourself with an extra 100,000 magicka with which to sling an endless torrent of spells. So get on changing those iron ingots to gold and let loose with the fireballs already!
Mod: Extra Carry Weight
One of the most annoying things about these types of open world RPGs (other than de-emphasizing story and actual roleplaying choice) is that you always have more loot than you can conceivably carry back to town to sell or disenchant.
That won't be a problem with this very helpful PS4 mod, which gives an extra 2,500 pounds of carry-weight capacity for every point you put in stamina upon leveling up! Your mage will be able to sling a couple of hundred suits of armor over his shoulder and sell 'em all! If you've ever wanted to make more money in Skyrim, this is one of the better ways to do it.
Mod: Magical College of Winterhold
This immersion-based mod makes a series of tweaks to the college at Winterhold, so it feels more like a place actually inhabited by powerful wizards. In other words, Winterhold becomes a little more Hogwarts and a little less “dusty empty barn on top of the mountain.”
While it might not be a game-changing Skyrim mod, this one does lend more realism to the game -- which can go a long way after you've spent 200+ hours slaying dragons.
Mod: Surreal Lighting
With the serious possibility of spending hundreds of hours in-game, graphic overhaul mods are always a welcome addition to any RPG. However, they especially keep Skyrim looking interesting and gorgeous.
This much-praised lighting mod makes some changes to the base game so that outdoor areas have a brighter, more vibrant feel. Again, not a game-changing mod, but one that will make the Special Edition just a tad more special.
Mod: Rain and Snow FX
There may have been a graphics overall update with the release of the Special Edition, but there's still room for improvement -- and more ways to utilize the advanced power of current gen systems.
Creating more immersion with weather effects, this PlayStation 4 mod adds frost to your equipment when outside in cold areas, and also creates dripping particle effects when you run through water or stand outside in the rain.
Mod: Khajiit Speak Dialog Overhaul
An immersion mod to get you more into character if you picked the Khajiit race, this one modifies nearly every line of player dialog in the PS4 version of the game -- with a heavy dialect emphasis on Khajiit speech patterns.
Some of the additions are funny, while others are serious, and quite a few dig deep into the lore of The Elder Scrolls universe. Afterall, it's the ethos of the RPG genre to make you feel more like you're actually a living person in Skyrim.
Mod: Restore Vanilla Settings
As many a giddy PS4 fan has learned after going crazy installing new features, uninstalling mods isn't quite the same as it is on the PC version of Skyrim.
When you're done playing with all those nifty new mods, you might want to grab this one to scrub it all clean, especially if you went overboard and installed a bunch that don't play nice with each other.
This is a life-saving fallback if you're combating broken mods that have unintended consequences, accidentally preventing you from completing main story quests for one reason or another.
With more and more mods being added every day, it's only a matter of time before the PlayStation 4 version of Skyrim: Special Edition starts really competing with the Xbox One and PC versions.
While the number of mods right now is limited, there's still a massive amount of fun to be had trying out the options currently available on PS4.
What did you think of our PS4 Skyrim mod picks, and what mods would you recommend we try to keep us playing the game years later?
Published Jan. 4th 2017
Comments are closed.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |