Improving Skyrim / Recommended Mods thread (Mostly about Requiem)

[Luzur]

Is there a mod that tones down/removes the level scaling of city guards?

why? they are pretty weak as it is.

 

[tindrli]

what about UI??? anything on the horizont?

 

[gromit]

Frost:
http://static.skyrimnexus.com/downloads ... 984111.jpg

The nearest impact literally looks like someone shot their load on the screen and took a picture.

 

[Gord]

what about UI??? anything on the horizont?

Aside from the previously posted QD Inventory mod, now there's also SkyUI.
Both are similar, but the latter has also a search function.

Edit: SkyUI also conveniently flags items that are enchanted, stolen, poisoned.

 

[Freelance Henchman]

Frost:
http://static.skyrimnexus.com/downloads ... 984111.jpg

The nearest impact literally looks like someone shot their load on the screen and took a picture.

All in preparation for that grand rape mod no doubt.

That will help then.

 

[Kitako]

what about UI??? anything on the horizont?

They released the UI talked since day 1 on Beth forums.

Didn't try it yet because it require KSE, which requires the game patched to 1.3, and I'm in no way interested in those bug-infested patches.

Anyway, the interface looks like a great improvement.

http://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3863


They also released some basic HUD mods

 

[Father Walker]

SkyUI seriously inclines the inventory. Hopefuly they will mod rest of the interface quickly.

 

[Rhalle]

Not a mod, exactly-- but useful.

If you use Lydia (or others, too, I guess), you can use console commands to remove their invisible default equipment to increase their carry weight.

You can also remove Lydia's hunter bow in this way, and she will actually use the bow you give her.

I suspect that you can make an NPC put on any clothing-- with stats on it-- if you strip them completely.

Method:

(Take everything you don't want to lose off of them first!)

Go to your companion. Open console. Click on your companion and their numerical code will appear in the middle of the screen. Type removeallitems in console. Close console and they will be naked.

You can (and may still have to) also use the command showinventory. It will give you a list of codes and items. Use the command removeitem 10003758 X, where 1000876 (or whatever it is) is the item ID given in the showinventory list, and X is the number of items.

So, for instance, removing 1 hunter bow in console would be:

removeitem 00004545 1

You can check to make sure it worked by using showinventory again.

You can also force companions to level up by using the commands enable and disable. Tell them you don't need them so they start to walk away. Open console. Click on them to get their NPC code to appear. Type disable. They will disappear. Do not close the console or click anything else and type enable. They will reappear. They will level up, at least to your level-- if they haven't hit their preset cap, which is at least 30. You can re-hire them, and they will have lots more hps and be altogether more effective.

They will, however, likely have all that default junk in them again, which you can remove again by the method above if you so choose.

 

[Gord]

This mod sounds like it's too good to be true:

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1321575-rel-tesv-acceleration-layer/

People report up to 40% increase in FPS in some notoriously CPU heavy places like Markarth or Whiterun.
Average gain still seems to be something like 20%.

It's a SKSE (Skyrim Script Extender) plugin that allegedly replaces some functions from the original TESV.exe with more optimized ones.
According to the author Bethesda has compiled Skyrim's exe without any of the usual optimization flags, leading to a, well, terribly optimized exe.

It's pretty new, so maybe we will even see some more improvements.

Btw., Ianpatt, the guy behind all the Script extenders has done the integration into SKSE, so I'm positive that it is really working.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

This mod sounds like it's too good to be true:

http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1321575-rel-tesv-acceleration-layer/

People report up to 40% increase in FPS in some notoriously CPU heavy places like Markarth or Whiterun.
Average gain still seems to be something like 20%.

It's a SKSE (Skyrim Script Extender) plugin that allegedly replaces some functions from the original TESV.exe with more optimized ones.
According to the author Bethesda has compiled Skyrim's exe without any of the usual optimization flags, leading to a, well, terribly optimized exe.

It's pretty new, so maybe we will even see some more improvements.

Btw., Ianpatt, the guy behind all the Script extenders has done the integration into SKSE, so I'm positive that it is really working.

I'd honestly be willing to believe some kind of stupid conspiracy theory (like they didn't optimize it on purpose to lower the performance gap between pcs and consoles to make console kids happier), than accept this as a mistake. There's a limit to how incompetent one can be, and failing to add some flags to a compile script and missing out on a 20% increase in performance is well beyond that. It's borderline sabotage tbh.

 

[Gord]

I'd honestly be willing to believe some kind of stupid conspiracy theory (like they didn't optimize it on purpose to lower the performance gap between pcs and consoles to make console kids happier), than accept this as a mistake. There's a limit to how incompetent one can be, and failing to add some flags to a compile script and missing out on a 20% increase in performance is well beyond that. It's borderline sabotage tbh.

Certainly makes you think. But what would they gain? So far they have only lost even more reputation by the bad optimization.
Although, if they would have invested heavily in Intel stocks...

Anyway: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

 

[hiver]

well, they did launch "its so difficult to design for PC" damage control PR bullshit just before the release.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

I'd honestly be willing to believe some kind of stupid conspiracy theory (like they didn't optimize it on purpose to lower the performance gap between pcs and consoles to make console kids happier), than accept this as a mistake. There's a limit to how incompetent one can be, and failing to add some flags to a compile script and missing out on a 20% increase in performance is well beyond that. It's borderline sabotage tbh.

Certainly makes you think. But what would they gain? So far they have only lost even more reputation by the bad optimization.
Although, if they would have invested heavily in Intel stocks...

Anyway: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

Yeah, I know, but I just don't think this is adequately explained by stupidity. I mean, if it was some elaborate optimization that had a chance of screwing shit up on some hardware configurations, I wouldn't mind. If some super specific d3d dll comes out later on and provides a major performance boost, I won't complain either, because the volatility such a tweak introduces could very well not be worth it from a developer standpoint.

However, this is just some guy inlining a bunch of functions. The only thing it can do is make the program image a bit larger, and apparently it doesn't even do that.

Seriously, wtf bros.

 

[Gord]

The guy behind it guessed that they probably had problems during compilation and deactivated everything for that reason, because whatever problems they had were worse than 20% performance loss.

What I really wonder right now is whether the next patch will fix it...

 

[hiver]

"pc is so difficlut to design for, its terrible"

 

[Crispy]

Behold, once again, the power of modders. They'll fix it.

I'll update op if this makes it far enough along with no terrible side effects. Looking forward to trying it myself.

 

[Kitako]

Realistic Lighting

Makes the lighting more realistic without the use of screen shader injections or other post-processing.

The "fixes" in this mod for exteriors:
- More powerful sun color
- Lighter sunset/sunrise skies
- Lighter cloudy skies
- Darker ambient color
- Very dark nights
- Fixed color balance and saturation for all weather types to look realistic
- Removed bloom
- Removed forced contrast increase

Animated 24 hour cycle comparison - Modified is on the right.

For interiors:
- Removed fake "reflected light" color
- Darker interiors
- Very dark dungeons
- Fixed saturation, the color balance was fine
- Removed bloom (candles still glow from particles)
- Removed forced contrast increase

I didn't try it yet cause I have no time to play Skyrim these days, but this mod is worth just for the eye-gouging bloom. Doing it without using post processing and fps killing injectors is a plus.

 

[Gord]

Ok, have tested the performance thing a bit.
Indeed got between 5 and 10 fps more in the critical places (Whiterun, Markarth, Rifton).
Pretty cool.

We'll see if it affects stability, but I won't play much Skyrim in the next weeks I guess.

 

[Drakron]

I didn't try it yet cause I have no time to play Skyrim these days, but this mod is worth just for the eye-gouging bloom. Doing it without using post processing and fps killing injectors is a plus.

Well Skyrim does not even use Bloom, at least EXTREME settings of it so why does it remove Bloom? I checked some injectors and as usual, because it exist we must use it, they put Bloom back on.

This might sound odd but I prefer Bethsoft washed out settings because it fits with the area, I shy away from "realism" because more then not, there its not realism.

 

[Gord]

A few people are reporting problems with scripts not firing with the acceleration plugin for SKSE.
Not everyone seems affected and some people made similar reports since patch 1.3.10 even without the plugin.

One script that seems to have a high chance of causing trouble is right at the start of the game, after the dragon attack in Helgen when you get into the first fight.
I tested it on my pc and for me, too, it doesn't work right when I use the plugin, but it can be worked around.

So you might want to keep that in mind if you use it. The gain in fps can be quite substantial.

Edit: Use the updated version and everyting should be fine.

 

[bminorkey]

Is there a mod that tones down/removes the level scaling of city guards?

why? they are pretty weak as it is.

I'm more concerned with realism, really. Kind of makes no sense when a single guard can beat a giant when your character is strong enough.

 

[Gord]

Just saw the winner for the File of the month contest at SkyrimNexus:

Rounding off our countdown to the first place File of the Month winner for Skyrim Nexus, we have Thepal with his mod, Nude Females.

 

[Father Walker]

Didn't you know that realistic boobies are one of the most important elements of a good cRPG?

 

[Gorawala]

Andoran, the overhaul mod originally slated for release in late 2011 for Oblivion, is now being released for Skyrim. So, can overhaul mods fix Skyrim?

Source (in Russian) : http://mtes.ru/andoran/2012/andoran-pozdravlyaet-vseh-s-novym-godom.html

 

[OSK]

Holy fuck the user interface sucks. SkyUI looks nice, but it's inventory only. The barter UI in particular is frustrating the hell out of me.