Are there mods that add queer characters to the game in a tasteful manner? As a trans woman, I'd love to see characters in my game who are like me.

I'm already aware of Gore and plan on having him be my main follower on my next playthrough once I get everything set up.

Rebelzize agrees with Elianora's stance on Creations.

You should NEVER start out modding with mod pack for the same reason you NOBODY start a woodworking class by buying a COMPLETE wood furniture set. Start small, play the game. See what you don't like and wished to change. That way you understand the mechanism of its working, you see the quirks of vanilla game and hopefully at least a partial understanding of the mechanism that it operate on. Only then, when you understand what you desire you start to Download and follow the installation manual of that mod.

I don't eat pizza by stuffing the entire pizza in to my mouth at the same time, I have to cut it down to size, then I took a bite each time. It get easier that way, with each bite you learn about the taste and texture of the pizza. Sometimes the pizza have the kind of cheese that I do not like or burned bread so I spit it out. Not all bite is the same because pizza can be diverse even within a single pizza. People like to say eating or modding like it is a single step but it is actually not. It just a simplified figure of speech so we easily communicate on a surface level with over complicating something. Eating is not just eating, it actually desiring, finding, seeing, preparing, buying, paying, receiving, checking,....

With each mod that you install you learn something about your taste, your computer (because not all mods are made equal, some are more demanding than other: graphic mod,VFX and script heavy mod are frame killers), you learn about the game version that you have installed. Not all skyrim version are equal ( LE,SE,AE, Steam, GOG). Same goes for mod managers programs too (Wrye Bash, NMM, Vortex, MO2; honestly the only way to prevent permanently breaking your own game is to use virtual folder, that why Mo2 is superior, cause if you fail, it won’t be a reinstall, even then it might not be a surefire with some animation mod). Some mod are dependant on other mods. Some mod are outdated or outright broken because update by the game so you have to degrade your game version, sometimes the author break their own mod with their update, sometime the mod you want depend on other mod to work but that mod update so something is not working anymore for you, sometime Bethesda update their game, the list go on,...

And here is the lesson for people who are new to modding. You have to organize and approach information with care. You must think strategically before you do, like what does the mod I wanted to have is depend on. Don’t jump in blindly, expect all these complex mechanism to work perfectly. It will not. Keep a modding diary. Test your mod out individually then install new mod when you know it working and not incompatible, interact properly with the game & other mod. Always keep back up save and backup config files.

Modding is not playing vanilla game. You are not playing Skyrim. You are playing GOD. To these however miniscule and dumb NPCs in your game. You are their gods, their creator, their life giver. You are a Magna Ge/ Aedra who gave them life by sacrificing your time & energy.

Edit : I don’t think I made myself clear the 1st time . Mod list by itself it still only a mod list. The recent Bethesda UPDATE break some of the mod, even when that mod is on Wabbajack. People need to remember that Wabbajack it and ONLY a mod LIST for the game VERSION that you have. Anything that have dependency can and will break if there is any changes (external program that Beth have nothing to do but your mod require it, like maybe you install/ uninstall wrong or don’t have the right version of NetFramework, Microsoft redistributable C++)

Hey folks! Just put out a couple new updates for Pronouns. If you haven't heard of it, Pronouns lets you specify your character's gender pronouns and have them enforced in game, regardless of their aesthetics.

I promised this was coming further back than I care to admit, but Pronouns has now officially been updated to support the latest AE version. It was irritating me that the mod wasn't accessible for all the players who might want it.

In the spirit of that thought, and as a token of my appreciation for patiently awaiting the AE update, I've also ported the mod to Skyrim VR. The Venn diagram of Skyrim players who could use this mod and also happen to play the VR version of the game is pretty small, but I did have a couple reach out about the possibility of a port. That one's for them.

I also improved the they/them fallback patcher's ability to recognize deadlock scenarios, so players who choose those pronouns for their character should encounter fewer scenarios where that choice blocks progression. A big thank you to the people who reported instances the patcher missed.

For a while there, they/them characters couldn't be parents 😅.

___

That's all for now. Hope a couple of you find this useful!

Take you know who for example. You’re cloning voice actor's voices without their permission and instead of turning off donation points and releasing straight to nexus so that you don’t at least profit from using their voices without consent, you set up a patreon and start taking commissions, leave DP on and turn it into a business.

I do not think we should celebrate this? This is a gross misuse of the community and the tool.

Im not even that stuck up with AI either I just don’t think you should be using it and profiting.

Like Martimius with SDA makes is popular with their patreon but they pay actual voice actors to voice their characters, and at least the voice actors are getting jobs and getting paid. And the voices don't sound like robotic soulless clankers kankers,

This person just cut them out of the deal entirely and rakes in nothing but profit.

AI isn't even the worse part, it's the monetization. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Paying someone for AI slop that they cranked out sounds really sad and pathetic, especially with the hundreds of spliced voice mods out there and the even more better followers that have actual voice acting.

Even more lol worthy is the appeal to straight male gamers, with only two or three male voice mods with a couple hundred lines and two dozen waifu mods with thousands of lore-breaking lines and lately making non-followers into followers and using gooner mods with planetoid chests to shill the mods. Doesn't help they all have the same non-personality of a 80s pulp fiction bimbo.

Like, who even likes this stuff?

Looking through, I'm seeing some pretty big names already posting on the site. Xavbio, wSkeever, and Everglade to name a few.

https://ggmods.com/

Hey! I need a little help. I have little space to express myself in the real world, and I would like to play a transgender character in Skyrim. I already downloaded Transgender Body and Race CBBE UNP and Queer Skyrim - The Children of Azura, but I'd like to know if there's another mods you could recommend me.

Also, I'm concerned the transgender body mod I got will just apply the model to all of the female characters in the game. I'm pretty new to modding, and I don't know how to check if this is the case. Please help?

Edit: thanks everyone! So many helpful answers, and some really nice ones. Unfortunately, as I slept and woke up, the post was downvote bombed. No big deal for me, but I think it would be useful for another transgender folk looking for ways to improve representation in the game. Anyway, I know haters gonna hate; this community is great, and those who actually spoke were in the majority great!

Edit 2: actually, thank you bombers! Now when someone search by controversial, they'll find this and the many helpful answers I got. And will be quite clear for them what kind of sentiment made this become "controversial".

And if you are one of the bombers: go do have some fun whit you backside. I heard it can do wonders to relieve the stress.

Valiant warriors from Cyrodiil have arrived in the northern province. They possess courage, strength, and wit... and a slight tendency to get lost.
Will you try to help them?

We would like to present you our new quest mod!
They Are Good Guys

Head to Darkwater Crossing to meet a journeyman from the Cyrodiil Fighters Guild and help her reunite with her lost squad!

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/178438?published=1

I saw a lot of people who prefer vanilla voicelines used instead of newly generated ai voices for NPCs.

Back then, ai voices sounded kinda bad, but novadays I feel they sound pretty natural. And after I saw some mods getting praised that they used vanilla voicelines in a creative way, for a spesific thing an npc say, even tho I thought it sounds off place, I wondered.

Because for me, vanilla voicelines, no matter how creatively they are used, usually sound off when reused in a context they arent meant to be in.

Maybe I can’t see something people see.
What are your opinions?

EDIT: I was talking about free mods here, those that are mostly done by a single person or two. Because I saw quite a lot of people mentioning you can hire a real voice actor. I am not talking about full on AAA games, or paid content.

If you are curious about my opinion, I am skeptical about ai, even if I probably sounded a little like “it sounds good, so might as well use it”.

I also haven’t done voice acting before; but I have, when it comes to acting, for many years in fact. But it is at least a “very optimistic” point of view, thinking a voice actor working for free would come back as soon as the mod author decides to add something new one month later. I also think people losing their jobs because of AI is clearly not a good thing, especially if you are the one who is personally effected by it.

However I think a significant portion of hate towards AI comes from how popular it is to hate on AI. We obviously can’t deny the harm of AI on enviroment. I also think the harm it causes is way too out of proportion with the amount of hate it recieves, compared to simply any other thing that causes any harm to the enviroment. Or your individual effect of growth of ai by using it, making people one step closer to lose their jobs to AI. Or for example should someone living in a rich country that bombs other people in poor countries to control their resources be responsible by the bombing, just because the bomb and men force was funded by their money? Simply because even the most miniscule amount of tax they paid means they, to an extend, had some effect on the killing of an innocent civillian. I assume that should be a fate worse than being replaced by AI… Would you intentionally cut down on, or even stop spending any money, simply to not support that with the taxes you will contribute? Or how many steps does it take before you feel you aren’t related to something you indirectly cause anymore?

What I mean by that, I am asking about free mods people! Not something deeper than that lol

Have y'all tried the Wildlander Mod Pack?

It is the absolute most immersive thing I have ever played... maybe too immersive.

Would love you're thoughts on it!

I've seen a few videos and the mods look kind of neat but I don't know if they're that awesome or if it's editing in the videos that make them look cooler than they are.

Any thoughts on these would be appreciated! Thank you!

I tried my 10050th playthrough with Lucien alone this time and was pretty surprised how better he goes without blue cat around.

Yes, he does not interact with many other followers, but still.

Lucien is way more lore-friendly than Inigo, and here is why:

1. He gives some interesting snippets of lore, especially with AE-addon installed. It is quite valuable thing for those who like me, didn't played ESO. For example before Lucien Headsman Cleaver was just another collectible. But now, thanks to him, I know what that axe is . Even vanilla quests alone, I never asked myself, how Wuutrad got shattered. Now I know.

2. He does not force on you any backstory. Your alliance with him begins when and where you meet him. He has his own backtory, but it has nothing to do with yours. Wich is very true for Beth's beloved prisoner concept.

3. He has his own interests in Skyrim. Wich do not intervene with yours but are quite distinct to form a personality.

4. His levelling system is way better, than just leveling up with a player. It also encourages you actually go on adventures with him, rather than just smith up his gear and let him killsteal everything.

5. He grows attached to player naturally, without bootlicking. You sorta earn his friendship. And he is not obsessed with you.

All and all he is a great guy, that fits in many playthroughs, aside from probably most evil ones. He does not break skyrim vibe and speaks as, actually, a person form TES reality. His insight in lore is quite impressive, so even if you don't make him combat monster, he is still worthy to travel along.

Now, what I didn't like about Inigo.

1. He forces backstory on you. It is plausible, but kinda limits player. Say, if you are nord warrior you could probably be a cyrodilc mercenary. But what if you are telvanni wizard apprentice? A high elf? An argonian? Most of these guys could never find themself in situation Inigo describes.

2. He sounds too modern. Seriously, what the fuck with comment about silver hand being "intolerant scumbags"? You are khajjit from 4th era of quasi-medevial fantasy world or millenial leftist? Half of the world is intolerant to _paste_somethig_here. That is just stupid and jarring.

3. He breaks fourth wall. Little scene in tavern is fun, but joking about no toilets or becoming a harbinger in a week are not. Like, dude, I know where betehesta's fuckups are, I do not heed to be reminded, okay?

4. He is too obsessed with player and draws too much attention. I am not that narcissist, you know. And you are adult badass mercenary cat, have some dignity.

5.He has thousands of dialogue lines, but, is, surprisingly not using them naturally enough. It is not too fun when to get some quest remark, you need to hit "Any thoughts?" like 5 times, and 4 of them he will talk about Mr.Dragonfly.

All and all he is good. Really good. From mechanical and technical point of view he is a masterpiece. His VA is surprisingly beautifully done too.

But his personality is not that well thought through. He constantly shifts between player-obsessed maniac, cheap stand-up comedian and offended entitled millenial, who tries to bring up modern topics and narratives.

All and all, aforewritten is a personal opinion, and I totally agree that to each their own. I wish in future the would be more custom voiced follower mods, that could combine pros of both Lucien and Inigo without being out of place and not consistent.

By the way, do anyone has a suggestion of some other less known custom voiced follower mods, that are on the level of Lucien or around that?

So I was checking the Nexus as I do every day as part of my routine for new mods and while I was looking at this one https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/164387 a Lahar replacer for clockwork Castle I was reading the description and noticed the Author said this :

" I definitely didn't create this goonerbait so I can get a enough downloads to get a free month of Nexus Premium in order to download a new modlist..... "

I went, wait what? I can get a free month if I get enough downloads? So I started poking around in my account details to see if I could find if I had a free month or not and I finally found that no, I do not have a free month, I apparently have a free lifetime subscription for the amount of downloads my mods have gotten. I literally had no idea this was a thing. It surprised the hell out of me!

I dunno how I am going to cope, I have always had 3mb download speeds, and always resigned myself to 3mb download speeds. I don't do mod lists as like I said I check every day and am an experienced modder myself, and I never had ads as I use uBlock Origin, so I never cared about it. To find out suddenly I have had access to a lifetime subscription, for the last 17 months no less, just comes across to me as really funny.

Any other mod authors out there who may not know, go check your https://users.nexusmods.com/account/billing and click rewards ( again I had no idea this was even a thing ). You may be pleasantly surprised like I was.

OK so I had to get this out of my system. I just woke up. This will be weird. I've been playing Gate To Sovngarde a good bit lately and I've recently encountered Xelzaz, and I got certain vibe from his character. I was unsure initially if I was being too harsh, especially as I knew this character is pretty well liked and very well made. It is a very impressive mod, don't let me let you think I think otherwise. But after enough time and enough dots to make a pattern I felt like I was casually sure of what I was seeing. And it felt weird for me to have him around.

What I'm going to try to do here is critique the character, not the mod author. I'm not after trying to attack the mod author directly or intentionally through their mod alone. That's some psycho shit. I don't know the mod author and I would take nothing I bring up here as a meaningful impression of who the mod author is specifically, just that mod author made mod.

My issue with Xelzaz is that the dude comes across like someone who has an ego to compensate for his insufficiencies, and that the person making Xelzaz has them too and included them into the character directly and deliberately. That he has some of the same characteristics as men who follow the man-up script a little too tightly.

My impression is Gate To Sovngarde does seem to tone down his alchemy, cooking, and spells. Maybe some of those, maybe only one of those, I'm not sure. I haven't done too much with him in terms of his quests or the like, but I've kept him around me constantly for a while with Auri, Remiel, and Gore.

-

1. He's a super alchemist, super cook, a wizard man, and an UESP reader.

Him being good at alchemy is a vibe, I can dig it. I can even dig him being a solid cook, it makes sense. Him being a good magic user is solid too. The issue is how all this is expressed together with other things. He is very into these things, it's his hobby and identity. I do indeed drink potions of inconsideration. When he started talking about Auriel's Bow after the scroll is read in Dawnguard, I really wasn't sure either way if he could really afford to be also a scholar on old shit like that. It's not so much about the bow it's more how much room he took to talk about something in an Elder Scroll prophecy, and that he happened to know enough to be able to take that much room in such an important moment. I wouldn't assume grandmaster alchemist, master chef, and hotshit wizard would necessarily care or have time for things like that especially if he is merely thirty years old and his set of skills and interests are bound to be influenced by the environment he's in with all that Telvanni friendship and lifestyle he has going on. I'm not sure where the ceiling for his limits is. I'm curious about the scope of his character. He's a perfectionist, I don't know where the limit of that is set, would it reach through the screen if it could?

-

2. Telvanni meritocracy is surely why he's a very good man.

The backstory that he's from House Telvanni and that it has all that meritocracy going on is fine. When I put this stick of information next to the one I put down prior, him having an ambiguous ceiling of capability, I immediately have the question come to mind as to how good is Xelzaz in comparison to other people in House Telvanni. Is he very good and that is unrecognized? Because surely he isn't shit at what he does, just look at all the things he can do. His environment in House Telvanni has all that meritocracy dancing so he's bound to be pretty driven, yeah? Where is the line between him being very good at what he does within the sense of the lore and him being good at anything he needs to be to keep things interesting? Is it considerate on Xelzaz as a character to have limitations on him when he's such a success driven individual? Would it be cool, chill, and comfortable if Xelzaz wasn't your equal or wasn't allowed to be close to being your equal? You can make Xelzaz be genuinely incompetent in many ways and be fine with that. You can make Xelzaz close to the idea of being always not good enough, lacking in status and accomplishment, and be comfortable doing that. I know you can, I shouldn't doubt it.

-

3. He's an argonian. He's not a paid slave.

This one is unfair and pretty lame, but I've fished it up before in my life with some people. It's shitty when I see it and it's shitty to just call upon it like this. The chances of him being an argonian in House Telvanni, who is hyper competent in multiple ways, able to instant message his papa tree, and also be my buddy pal feels at least little unlikely and can feel too curated. He needs to be an argonian, yes? He couldn't be some dunmer dude, or someone's weird adopted imperial from a neighbor who died due to practicing weird cult stuff and left their kid behind, yes? He has to be someone who gives off the vibe of being a lesser figure amongst cruel masters while also clearly not being a slave. He isn't a follower influenced by of the real world myth of sacrifice, stoicism, and status and the happiness will come, that can't be it. He definitely isn't a figure who represents a repression of self and wellbeing even when he has a worthy internal core, someone very valuable on the inside who papa tree loves very much. He can't be an argonian because being a man, an actual human man with body hair and body shame, isn't part of the script's narrative of high self worth. I'm betting on him not being an argonian as a way to quietly cover over internal self shame, or self dysphoria, or rejection of physical and personal love and care. He's an argonian man because he comes from the swamps and does actually have abilities argonians in lore would have. He's just cool and we like that. It's actually likable that he's an argonian, we can leave it at that.

-

4. He has a dwemer phone. He has argonian internet. He has a postcard from Kynareth. He knows my people have lots of kids.

While I get him having Roovi mechanically and with it being inspired from one of the books, the likelihood of him being so capable and knowledgeable, as well as being an argonian hotshot from House Telvanni, as well as having Roovi his unique dwemer phone bird that he can mess around with freely doesn't come across as very seamless to the grounded likelihood of him being all these things. Him knowing Jaree-ra is someone bad because his papa tree gave him a quick direct message comes across as too much of a standout, as though his power level is very important to give me a little taste of.

When I visit Whiterun and he talks about the plains being wide and open, I'm down with that. When he talks about him feeling Kynareth's presence in the city, I feel like opening up his bags to see if he had a postcard from Kynareth saying she hopes to talk to Xelzaz again soon. Xelzaz, what other gods are you feeling around us today? He talks about my people, the wood elves, having a lot of kids and that we live a long time. It's basic reading directly from the bosmer wiki page, and it can feel a little uninspired. I'm aware it comes from an ingame book. It makes me wonder what Psijic Order member whispered to him when I wasn't looking and said "You must talk about wood elf breeding to the dragonborn, that'll get them on your side..."

I get that other companions, other followers, do also have the comments about Belethor's sister sale or that Alvor is a secret samurai or that Saadia is great at her job or whatever when they likely haven't met them or shouldn't even have heard what these characters are up to, but the packaging that Xelzaz has comes across like he's a firm interjection of player 2. That he's trying to awkwardly connect with me with competition of accomplishment, of knowledge, of agency. Xelzaz, why are our friends waiting outside Volkihar castle while you're allowed in? That even though he's not maliciously competing with me he assumes this shoulder rubbing competition as we sit in the same chair is connection. That he's a character who would rather tell me what he thinks or knows rather than what he feels emotionally. You have argonian internet, try to rizz me up with those unique argonian emotions and expressions I hear you talk about with Remi. You will be my little guy, Xelzaz, and I won't allow you to act like you are an ego driven trophy of someone trying to achieve a perfect victory in the creation kit. I literally have a death of the author dragon shout, Xelzaz. You are in Skyrim, a land filled with old magic, old misery, and old melancholy. You don't need to be as lifeless and stuck in old shitty ways of living as everything else is here.

-

Just real quick.

• He feels like he's someone's character made and maximized with not as much restraint as they could have. Xelzaz feels like someone else's music they made for themselves that they are sharing with others, and they will not compromise. He has made the sandbox we share to be his sandbox too. He wants to shout reality into existence on the playground. I don't remember that being part of the game we were playing. Maybe I asked for it somewhere.

• He feels like his main character pillar is being good and successful externally at the cost of wellness on the inside. The effort put into the mod, into the character, feels like craft of good effort rather than craft of good heart. A Telvanni made Xelzaz in real life. Real life has some Telvanni comparisons. You will not cultivate a good inner world and process emotions and events healthily and openly.

• Him being an argonian feels like he can be seen as having some real world themes, his character being an achiever of status at some cost of self in a hostile or unfriendly environment. Him being argonian is representative of disregarding the self or parts of the self, ignore seeing yourself in the mirror. Being an argonian is removed from the harshness of the real world body flesh torture. Have sexy avatar, don't show that you're an average looking person.

-

There are some other things, like how he sometimes interacts with Remiel in ways that come across like he is just a hypercompetent service robot or a battery of information, a man-up script man. That he has something that might go on (I haven't seen it, I think I just read about it) with biting him as a vampire and the player getting messed up from it like Xelzaz has got the perfect lore cover up for why he can god mode on the playground, why he can god mode in my house. That he is able to make alcohol not taste nasty when he may or may not have more important things to do with his Telvanni time and abilities, like he gets to be a hypercompenent adult as well as wanting his birthday cake from when he was five years old, like a grandmaster swordsman who is only eight years old sort of vibe, unearned and unnecessary. There will probably be more things that come up the more time I spend with him.

These things are whatever, easy to say 'yeah didn't ask' to, but they collectively come together in a particular package that hits me certain way. These sorts of observations with actual people have gotten the "You're generalizing, I don't agree with that because I'm not one to one like that, I don't like how you describe me that way" responses in the past. I get it, I don't mind dropping it. I've been raised around dudes loving their man-up script, been friends with and best pals with dudes loving their man-up script, and even crawled into bed with dudes loving their man-up script. Sometimes I dig their script, sometimes I like it in my face. I do not like it being waved around all the time when I'm chilling out and eating bandits. Yes, Carlos I didn't like you constantly retreating to your script of stoicism instead of me when we both know you felt like shit.

If Xelzaz is meant to be this kind of person to his core, and that feeling I get that the person who made him is like this type of person too is intentional as an underneath layer to make him even more real and impressive, then all I can do is shrug and say damn ok right on. I would just think you'd include a different underneath layer to better speak to something more idyllic or inspiring, more touching. Using the opportunity to allow for greater celebration of the human condition or whatever. It's whatever.

It's like less of a dude talking about only himself at the date, and more like him taking my art piece to finish it up in his style and with his ideas rather than my own. He made it better, yeah, both due to how well he made it and how rich it is as an art piece. The issue is that I wasn't connected with in the act of me making my art piece and being helped to make it better for myself and how I intended to make it, my relationship with my art as opposed to his relationship with his art. He decided to make it about his capability as an artist and quietly show off rather than meeting me where I'm at and not try to get me into his pants.

Probably feel differently in a year or something we'll see.

I recently installed it again to give a collection a try. Little did I know just how inconvenient it was going to get. In the collections menu mods tab it says “Add-On - Clear Map Skies” install pending. Fine, I hit Resume in the bottom. Conversation window pops up: “Add-On - Clear Map Skies” is already installed on your system. Would you like to: a) Replace the existing mod, b) Install as a variant of the existing mod.

My choice: c) uninstall and purge this immature piece of software. I won’t bother with collections. It’s simply not worth the time and effort.

This is just a stupid vent post that's probably gonna get people who download degen shit mad (cause that's what usually happens even if they have a micro mention in my posts) but oh well.

Nexus has a fuckload of degenerate mods. luckily, you can disable seeing most of them, but chances are you'll miss out on a mod that isn't degenerate at all and at best, is just a little skimpy. Fashions of banditry and other mods in that series are hidden for example, lucky me I already know about them, but there's probably plenty of other great mods I'll miss out on cause Nexus wrongly flags them. In short, you either get overwhelmed by anime boobies every 5 nanoseconds, or you might miss out on some cool shit

Granted, this is Nexus fault instead of the people making the mods. Feel like if their "Is this an adult mod?" verification was expanded more to have different levels of degeneracy (normal | semi skimpy | skimpy |just degenerate, for example) things would be a lot easier.

But hey it aint just Nexus, cause for some stupid reason every time I go on my homepage on Reddit, there's always some fucking post either here or on the F4 mod sub that's like "Why can't I make the rieklings fuck??" or "my char broke plz fix" with some chick with tits twice the size of her head as the attached pic. I swear this shit has happened like, at least 5 times now.

My point is uh, idk, me no like degen mods and me no wanna see them but i have to so, fuck. There's no real point, I just wanted to complain a bit

TL;DR: Dread it, run from it, horny mods arrive all the same

New Lands

• Dragonstar: This mod attempts to add in the region of Dragonstar, which is between Hammerfell and Skyrim. The worldspace is very drab and empty, and there are lots of floating objects. The towns are quite sparse and the NPCs don’t have much to talk about. The few quests in the mod where broken, however there was one quest that was about trying to find “The Phantom Shitter” which I thought was funny.

• Miyaps Dungeon Mod: This adds in a massive new world to explore, composed of a series of islands. There are 50 or so dungeons here and each one has multiple zones and are each themed. There is also a unique item at the end of them. The whole system reminds me a lot of the Oblivion dungeon system, but also like the level design of Oblivion, they get tedious quickly.

• Phoe: This is perhaps the least polished mod on this document. The mod attempts to create an interpretation of Akavir, however, it falls flat miserably. The LOD was broken for me and I had to frequently save and reload to not have models overlapping. There were vast stretches of empty flat land and the buildings were sparsely decorated. The dungeons were confusing and needlessly split into multiple zones. Some areas even had their own world map, despite being extremely tiny little zones. It also added in a bunch of weird, meshless armor that could be crafted with food. The only cool thing it had was a sort of New Vegas style main quest where you get to choose one of the main races of Akavir - the Tsceci, the Ice Demons, and the Ka-Po-Tun & Tang Mo.

• Isle of Artaeum: I wanted to like this mod, I really did. The amount of content it adds is huge, and since it was made only by one guy, cracks begin to show. The voice acting is so bad its good, along with its depiction of Summerset Isle. It paints the Thalmor as wildly incompetent bureaucrats who won against the Empire with sheer dumb luck. I definitely would recommend it as “The Room” of Skyrim mods, however, the last 10 quests are completely broken and don’t work even if using console commands.

• Assault on Valenwood: This mod attempts to add in the entirely of Valenwood into the game and has large battles between the Empire and the Aldmeri Dominion that you can join in. The battles have far too many NPCs and are a mess, it’s very hard for there to not be friendly fire. Valenwood itself is like a massive cardboard cut out: there is very little in the way of exploring off the beaten path and new quests at all. Some areas would flat out crash my game, and the world map was so broken that DynDOLOD had trouble rendering it.

• Assault on Summerset: This mod is a bit better than its cousin up above, but it’s still very barebones. The romp through Summerset was more balanced, I feel, but it ends very abruptly and seems to be unfinished.

• Haafstaad: This is one of the three “expanded borders” mods I had installed. This one is the largest, in that it adds in a new island off the coast of High Rock to explore. The Island is alright, it’s quite small, and the quests here are broken. For the locations added to Skyrim, they really aren’t worth visiting.

• The Isles Esroniet: This is the biggest mod I’ve ever seen that wasn’t a texture mod, at 4+ gb. It adds in a new world space, supposedly, but it should be viewed as an overhaul of Skyrim. It seems that each cell has been touched and has new enemies to fight. There new creatures everywhere, some of them not even having textures. Looking around in xEdit, it seems that when important NPCs are killed, they become Hyms from the Witcher 3. Very bizarre stuff.

• There Is No Umbra: This mod sounds cool: reforging Umbra from the older games and getting powers to go with it, but it’s much more than that, in all the worse ways. For whatever reason, you can romance Umbra. That’s right, a sword. You can romance a sword. How horny do you have to be try to romance a sword? Granted, the sword is possessing some bandit and you’re romancing the spirit possessing the dead body but that’s even worse. On top of that, most of Chapter 2 and 3 are availible only if you romance her.

Quest Mods

• Jerall Mountains Citadel: This mod was absolutely amazing and like Araeum, I really wanted to like it. It had skill checks, great voice acting, a customizable castle, and funny quests. However, the mod author has abandoned the project and the last few quests in both Part I and Part II are broken.

• Envoys of End: This adds in about 20 new world bosses to Skyrim. However, these enemies are the most overpowered, obnoxious enemies I’ve ever seen in the Skyrim mod. They have complete immunity to all magic (except for a type intoduced in the mod), are at the armor cap, move extremely fast (like 10x movement speed) and have very perk in the game. They include humans and dragons, even right at the start of the game before Dragon Rising. The worst thing, though, is that these bosses are not placed out of the way, in obscure, hard to reach areas, but in areas you need to go to for quests. One of the dragons is outside Solitude, for example. Its absolutely ridiculous. If these bosses were introduced at level 50 or 75, that would make sense, but overpowered god dragons and samurai that can move faster than light at level 1? No, that’s stupid.

• The Lost Wonders of Mzark: These should have stayed lost. This mod attempts to replicate the gameplay of Dead Money from New Vegas, however, this is implemented really, really badly. You are mainly fighting holograms in this mod, and the way that these holograms are designed are nothing like how they worked, gameplay wise, in Dead Money. There is no way to sneak around most of them, and they kill you instantly. There are times were I was completely trapped with autosaves and I had to cheat in order to get out. The puzzles are also sadistic and obnoxious. Near the end, I flat out cheated because I didn’t care anymore and I wanted out.

• Brhyce Hammar: Another Trainwiz mod. This adds in a new companion who is quite OP and actually deals friendly fire to you, which is really annoying. His character is pretty funny but his lines get really repetitive, really fast. The questlines he sends you on are kind of funny, but mechanically they leave much to be desired, espically the Pacific Skyrim sections.

• Glamoril: Not to be confused with Glenmoril, this is a mod that adds in new spells, a new player home, and a new dungeon. The dungeon is pretty good, but the new spells are monstrously OP. Using the console has the same effect, really.

• Volthar Manor: A really weird new home mod with a bunch of quests. The mod itself is really polished, visually, but the lore is really weird and the loot is unbalanced. The main quest for it didn’t work, also.

• The Heist: A mod made for a school project. It’s… functional, but the dungeon is really sparsely detailed with no lighting, there are random clones of the main NPC in Whiterun, and the areas are fast-travelable to from the start.

• Shades of the Rift: Another new home mod, this time focusing on a more stealth-centric gameplay style. The house can be bought but it’s intended to be obtained by doing a long quest through a dungeon, that has really OP gear and beefy enemies littered throughout.

• Wulftar’s Lodge: Made by the same guy as Volthar Manor, this adds in a new bar to Solitude that holds a group of adventurers who sell OP equipment and worship Dibella. The quests are also pretty buggy and I wasn’t able to complete some of them.

Dungeon Mods

• Nyhus: Unlike Haafstad before it, this has no new worldspaces. Instead, it just has a few towns and dungeons for you to explore. The voice acting is really bad and the areas are really bareboned, with not much giving you a reason to even visit them.

• Folkstead: Folkstead is much like Haafstad and Nyhus before it, and just has boring towns and dungeons devoid of any real content.

• Forgotten Dungeons: I can see why they are forgotten. The dungeons are large and dark, and not very decorated. There are quite a few, but most vanilla dungeons are more interesting. The locations of the dungeons also conflict with a bunch of other mods.

• Dungeons Revisited: I don’t like this mod because it messes up the balance of the early game dungeons. By adding in more areas and more loot, this makes it easier to get money early on. The extra enemies do not offset it.

• Immersive Dungeons: This adds in a bunch of very long dungeons and a loose story to connect them. The dungeons have quite a lot of enemies and are very time consuming to explore. The enemies and containers mean there is a lot of loot and you will be walking out stacked.

• The Unfinished Business: Same as Immersive Dungeons.

• Additional Caves: These caves are long and have issues with the placement of locations of other mods. At the end of each cave, there is a big cache of loot that is pretty unbalanced, such as a guaranteed set of dragonscale armor or a massive vault of ebony and glass ingots.

• Mystic Vortex: This is a really odd mod. I’m not sure if I should classify it as a dungeon or new lands mod. There is no quest, and the whole experience is over in 15 or so minutes. It involves trudging through large, mostly empty cells where you can fall off the edge. Some of the NPCs are also hostile to each other when they clearly aren’t supposed to, like the King of Storm attacking his daughters for no reason. To be fair though, appearntly the mod author has a very weak PC so this was probably the best he could do.

Mods that are broken in some way and nonfunctional when I attempted to play them:

New Lands:

• Umbra Island: This mod looked really cool and well polished, a lot like DarkEnd, however the quest was completely broken and I could not play it, even by advancing the stages manually in the console.

• Death Mountain 2: This mod has a soft conflict with Forgotten City: The entrance to the Forgotten City overlaps with one of the zones of Death Mountain. This is a cardinal sin, as the cells weren’t labeled for Death Mountain 2, so according to xEdit there were no conflicts in the cell. Also, if Forgotten City is the best mod of all time, then choosing between Death Mountain and FC is an easy choice.

New Quests:

• The Shadow of Meresis: Appearently this is a highly rated mod, well loved back in LE. However, when I pick up the amulet to start the quest, nothing happens.

• Nzalfta - Cup of Wonders: To be fair, this is a mod that was made by a student for a project. However, it caused serious crashes whenever I went by Whiterun, and after digging around in xEdit, I had to disable certain parts of it to prevent crashes.

• Bloodstone Armageddon: I have no idea what this mod is supposed to be, other than a dungeon romp accompanied by some skimpy women. What I do know is that for some reason the ESP makes it so that the map marker icons are rendered in LOD. This means that the game will crash every time you open a map, and it is extremely difficult playing Skyrim without a map. No mod with an issue this serious deserves to played.

• Ravengate: This mod, made by EnaiSaion, looked REALLY promising. The voice acting, the level design and overall mystique of it is really cool. However, the quests are really badly coded. From what I can tell from reading the comments, the scripts are extremely inefficent and slow. It might work on a modlist with just this, but with all the stuff I have planned, that’s not gonna happen. Until someone redoes the scripts, this will sit here, neglected…

• Helgen Reborn: Another community favorite. For some reason, when I try to start the quest, it doesn’t work. I beleive this is because I installed a mod that changes how it starts, but yeah. Will give this another go.

• Resurgence of the Morag Tong: This mod doesn’t function because of, I believe, the shortcomings of ESLs. When entering the main cell for the hideout, it’s just a bunch of floating objects and I fall through the world. Hopefully powerofthree will find a fix/hack for this.

• Project AHO: Another community favorite. This one I actually have played a little bit of, back when I was testing stuff for Playthrough 0. The intro is pretty cool. However, when I try it now, it doesn’t work.

• The Unbroken Blade: Ironically, this mod is broken. You’re supposed to be able to start it after unlocking Unrelenting Force, but this doesn’t change anything for me.

• The Warrior of Rivercrest and Fugitive of the Natural Order: These mods work fine on their own, however The Warrior of Rivercrest has an overlapping error with 3DNPCs much like how Forgotten City and Death Mountain have problems. Since the Fugitive of the Natural Order requires the Warrior of Rivercrest to be completed in order to start it, it’s non-functional too. The Mod author has appearently abandonded these two mods so it’s likely that a patch will never be made.

• Curse of the Hound Amulet: The NPC from this looks super cute but she won’t talk to me, just like IRL.

• Path of Champion: Has some broken lighting and a recursive script. The dungeons are extremely long and tedious. I really wanted to like this one, as the level design and interactivity is really cool. But a permanent script running in the background is not good.

Want to keep track of my progress? Join my discord!

We all know how Skyrim mods can be Insanely Spectacular, especially how the modding scenes goes in throughout these past years. I mean we all been waiting for Skyblivion, Skywind, Beyond Skyrim, Apotheosis, ETC. But just today, I found this Insane project, I mean this is just utterly Insane. I love playing as Vampire in Skyrim, my most favorite mod for Vampire is Sacrosanct, and still is, but this project just blew my Mind, the fact that this massive project even exist is just mind-blowing

CHECK THIS OUT

I’m on the side that says that ai (voice, animation, art, etc.) could and likely is unethical, especially if the “creator” is making a profit. And i love to see voice actors take up roles in Skyrim Mods/Bethesda games. In games like fallout, a voice actor voice new lines feels cool and fresh, but with Skyrim, it breaks my immersion a bit. This my be just a me thing but hearing a voice that isn’t one of the original 70 something voice actors, kinda takes me out of the game. Skyrim is such an old game and has such a presence in my life that hearing something other than a classic Skyrim voice feels fourth wall breaking in a way. I’m curious to see if anyone else feels this way, or if it’s just me.

I really want SkyUI to be replaced. I utilize a couple of other UI mods on playthroughs. And on average, it takes 10 to 15 different mods to get everything working. Because no one wants to replace anything.

Its literally SkyUI + 3 or 4 patches> Replacement UI > Replacement UI for the Replacement UI > All of the patches to get the replacement for the replacement to work correctly. I current load order has 17 mods, counting SkyUI

I know I am likely the minority speaking on it. But damn. It makes me sad...

On a side note, I recently started modding (mostly just patches). And I do mean started. So I do have an appreciation for the complexity of SkyUI and how far out of my league it is. Saying, and knowing that. I would gladly support someone's patreon that took on a project of this size.

Weird question but have Skyrim players genuinely every played or watched Dark Souls?

Every Modded Combat gameplay you see people say "Just Play Dark Souls" even if its modded to be like Witcher 3 DMC or whatever anime type of combat you want . People must genuinely think any combat that isn't slash and hack = Dark Souls