2001

Yeah I can get through that doorway, it is the next one where Tolfdir then leaves you to go deeper in Saarthal. It is a domed room with 4 draugr.

2002

Lever/button anywhere?

2003

Is that the one where the door doesn’t open until you put on the amulet?

D’oh, guess you covered that one already.

2004

Hopefully that image stays up. That is running STEP 2.8.8 and PNENB linked above with some reductions to the enbseries.ini to make it not totally bring my machine to my knees.

I also added Frostfall (survival mod) and the user created mod Falsakaar or w/e its called. Skyrim awaits!

2005

It is the room with two pull chains. One chain drops a set of spikes, the other chain raises the gate to grant access to the door. The problem is the door is non-interact-able.

2006

And here is an interior shot - I am really liking the atmosphere of this combination with frostfall. Everything feels a bit slower and serious.

2007

Those two shots are impressive. First time I’ve been tempted.

Uh, any more update on stability of ugrids 7+?

2008

Supposedly stable ugrids to load is helpful and the memory patch stuff which I think I am running with the dev version of skse but I’m not sure.

2009

I’m about to start another playthrough after finally having a character where I finished the main quest line. It was my 4th character that I attempted it with. I was afraid of burning out again so I focused on the main quest. This time I plan on taking things slower and do more exploring. Last time I used Climates of Tamriel + Project ENB. My frame rates usually stayed between 30-40 and didn’t really pose any problems. It occasionally got a little sluggish. This time I am going to use Realistic Lighting Overhaul, probably without an ENB to keep the framerates higher. I can keep everything on Ultra with max AA and Anisotropic Filtering. I like the vibrant outdoor colors with RLO. I use the optional RLO mods for brighter nights and dungeons. Sometimes I wish it was a little darker at night or in dungeons, but I think it is too dark without those options. A clear night with a full moon should be light enough to see by.

I was thinking of adding some type of combat / perk overhaul. I took a look at SPERG as suggested above and it seems a little over powered. Also, it seems to try to make everything useful for everybody (i.e. - What used to be a mace specific perk now benefits all weapons). It seems better than vanilla maybe, but I’m not sure it is the best option.

SkyRe looks tempting. It’s more of a complete redesign. There were a couple combat mods that may have potential. The thing is it seems like some of them go too far. Is it reasonable for someone to die after getting hit a handful of times if using heavy armor? Anyone have any suggestions for this? I want it to make combat something more than just clicking madly, but not super hard in a way that is more frustrating than fun.

2010

One of the bigger changes is that I will use a paper map mod with another that hides the player location and always starts the map centered on Whiterun. This may I have to use the land to navigate more. The mod that centers the map on Skyrim does make the map controls a little wonky, so it is far from perfect. I just think navigation will be too easy without it. I intend to go 1 handed weapon (probably with shield), bow. I probably won’t focus on Alchemy, Smithing and Enchanting, but I will make use of them. I will probably also do some stealth and a little bit of supporting magic. Of course these are just initial plans and may change.

Just to make sure I’m not missing something, once you’re engaged in melee combat the choices are:

  1. Get decked out in heavy armor and just try to take it, possibly using a shield to block.
  2. Go with light armor and back up / move around to try and avoid getting hit
    Right?

So far, these are the mods I plan on using.

SKSE (script extender)

------------------ Fixes -----------------------------

Unofficial patches: Skyrim, Hearthfire, Dragonborn, Dawnguard
Brawl Bugs

--------------------UI Enhancements-------------------------------------------------------

SKY UI
Unread Books Glow
Better Dialog Control
Better Messagebox Controls
Double Cursor Fix
Blessings Altar Descriptions
Wearable Lantern
Auto Unequip Ammo
Catagorized Favorites
Even Better Quest Objectives
Glowing Ore veins
Guess the Distance
Immersize HUD
Move It
Warburgs 3D Paper World Map
No GPS players map arrow marker

-------------------------- Graphics --------------------------------
Realistic Lighting Overhaul (I tried Enhanced Lighting and FX and didn’t like it as much).
SkyFalls and SkyMills
Better Dynamic Snow (enhances snow textures)
Raiserfx’s Ruins Clutter Improved
Static Mesh Improvement Mod
Pure Water (Tough to choose between this and W.A.T.E.R)
Bethesda Hi Res DLC Optimized
Skyrim HD 2K
Lush Trees and Grass (I tried Skyrim Fauna Overhaul, but I actually thought the fauna looked worse in many places. Also brings performance down too much in places compared to the benefit).
High Quality LODs
Enhanced Distant Terrain 1 & 2
Enhanced Night Skyrim
Splash of Rain
Footprints
ApachiiSkyHair
Beards
Better Females by Bella, No Makeup (improves the faces)
No More Blocky Faces
Book Covers Skyrim Legendary
Improved NPC Clothing
Immersive Armors
Immersive Weapons

-------------------------- Gameplay ----------------------------------------

Faster Mining

Maybe some perk / combat overhaul such as SPERG, SkyRe

Sky Tweak: If I find it necessary I will put this on

---------------------------Did not like------------------------------------------
Real Clouds
The Eyes of Beauty

2011

SPERG only changes the perks, the gameplay still feels vanilla. I don’t know the full extent of changes in SkyRE, but if I remember right it’s also mostly about the perks. For actual changes to the combat/stealth you’d have to look into stuff like Ultimate Combat, Duel, Path of Shadows or Requiem (changes A LOT of things though, so probably not what you’re looking for). Unfortunately I don’t have any first hand info on their status or compatibility with the other mods you’re running so you’ll have to do some research.

I’d also recommend you to add Complete Crafting Overhaul to the list, it goes nicely with Immersive Armors. Immersive Creatures is another fine mod if you’re looking for more monster variety.

2012

Yes to all of these. Ditch Faster Mining and go with Complete Crafting Overhaul, it has mining options built in.

Also, get rid of Bella’s (it’s terrible) and go with a whole new skin texture, something like Mature Body or SG Renewal. This is a decent guide to making the characters look good: http://www.tesgeneral.com/#!waifu/ch1j

Finally, Pure Waters and W.A.T.E.R. are both fairly out of date. The latest and greatest is Realistic Water 2.

2013

I wasn’t a fan of Immersive Weapons, as it put a lot of in my opinion not very lore friendly weapons into the loot lists. It seemed like every other bandit was using some asian themed weapon.

2014

I can’t use CCO with SkyRe, so for this play through I can’t. I will use it if I do a non SkyRe character.

I got rid of Bella and put in SG Renewal. From the screenshots it at least looked better.

I will look into Realistic Water 2. I should be able to plug that in any time.

Thanks for the suggestions.

2015

This is fucking amazing: http://imgur.com/a/ZKnkw

2016

Can I get my game to look like that?

2017

…Nope.

It seems it’s a filter in Photoshop called “Topaz simplify”. It would be the Next Big Thing if someone made it in a shader running in real time…

2018

Uggh, personal preference and all, but that looks horridly ugly.

2019

That is very nice!

2020

It is beautiful. Some really nicely composed screenshots in there. a lot of them would make good wallpapers. Look almost like painted concept art.