There could be many reasons why you like Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, the beautiful graphics the in-depth stories, the non-linear gameplay, the near infinite ways that you can create and evolve your character, the list is long. Don’t get me wrong all those things are good, and you wouldn’t have a game without them, but to me the best bit about Skyrim, is that due to a very active modding community the world is constantly changing. If there’s something you don’t like about Skyrim and want to change it, then you can by way of the Skyrim Workshop.
Mods range from slight tweaks to the inclusion of new factions, quests, dungeons, even whole cities. As they say, the only limit is the imagination of the modding community. If you haven’t added any mods to your game of Skyrim yet then you really are missing out on some nice extra content.
I’ve gone through the list of mods that I use in my Skyrim, and picked out ten of them that I would never start a game without. Now, before we get to the list of mods, it is worth making it clear that this is in no way an exhaustive list. It couldn’t be further from one, there are now thousands upon thousands of mods in the workshop.
So, here is my list in reverse order.
Ever get frustrated at those seconds, which feel like hours while you are waiting for your hero to mine. Each swing of the pic-axe seems to slow down your whole game, to the point where you can’t be bothered to mine anymore just to avoid it. Assuming you don’t attacked while you mine and have to endure the crazily slow ‘putting away’ of the pic-axe. Well this mod puts a channeled ore extractor spell in the game, simply cast the spell at an ore node and hold until the node is depleted; easy and quick. Once the mod is installed you can find the Ore Extractor spell scattered around the game, or you can buy it from the vendor in Riverwood.
Get the mod here.
9. Cooking Matters by Lass Giselle
Cooking is pretty pointless. Sorry Bethesda it is. Unless you’re playing on an extreme difficulty where every scrap of health means life or death, once you’ve got your achievement you’ll find that the benefits don’t outweigh the annoyance of having your bags constantly full of food, and the endless scrounge for salt. This mod adds a gajillion (it’s a real number) more recipes and ‘spices’ up your food to give better and longer lasting benefits and buffs. If you are going to bother with cooking, at least it can be worth it.
Get the mod here.
8. Fast Travel from Anywhere by T3rRoR_SoLdi3R
Honestly, the name of the mod gives you everything you need to know, Fast Travel from Anywhere allows you to fast travel from anywhere, well almost anywhere. Even though this mod is something that I now consider pretty essential, its function is scarcely used. Most of the dungeons in Skyrim have an entrance and an exit anyway, so you won’t have a run back or the dungeons are so small that it isn’t even worth using it anyway. However, you get yourself stuck in a dungeon somewhere, miles away from the last autosave unable to get out, this is a godsend. Oh, you obviously can’t be in combat to use it either.
Get the mod here.
7. Dragon Priest Quest Markers by Turn_on_a_dime
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6. Stones of Barenziah Quest Markers by Turn_on_a_dime
I’m lumping these two together as they both pretty much do the same thing. Straight off the bat, I don’t like looking at gaming wiki’s too often. They’re great especially on a game like Skyrim which has a lot of information that people need to know. However, usually I am alright to just bungle around the landscape, making some mistakes, killing the wrong people, suddenly realising what happens if you put two ingredients together etc. There is however a limit, and the two quest lines, involving the dragon priest masks and the Stones of Barenziah are the other end of the scale. No matter how long I play Skyrim, I will never have found every mask and every Stone of Barenziah through the normal course of play. This mod adds a quest marker to the map. Follow the arrows and get the stones and masks. Perfect.
Get the mods here (stones) and here (dragon priest)
5. Killerkeo’s Skimpy Armor Pack Wip by Killerkeo
Right, now this one I’m not proud of liking. After all we’re in the 21st Century. The sight of young attractive women in skimpy (and probably quite useless) armour brandishing large weapons is a little passé and should be reserved for the less mature and civilised 20th Century. However, I am still a chap and if I am to play a female character it seems a down right crime to cover her up in such bulky and dare I say unflattering armour. This mod changes all the armour textures for the female adventurers, revealing midrifts and cleavage a plenty… anyway, we’ll move on shall we?
Get the mod here.
4. Max Money Merchants by XxKongaPkX
One of my biggest bugbears with the way that the shops work is that I can never sell everything I am holding. I turn up at the shop with bags of magical weapons and armour, potions, gold, and jewellery. Ready to unload everything on to the incredibly merchant he tells me that he has enough money to buy one weapon and a few potions, leaving me still loaded down and trudging off to the next village or waiting there for 24 hours. This Mod increases the amount of starting cash for all merchants to 30,000 gold, more than enough for anyone.
There’s a little cheat with this mod installed. During the opening quest of the Thieves Guild quest line ‘A Chance Arrangement’ you are asked to steal Madesi’s ring. Well in the same box as his ring is 30,000 gold for the taking. He doesn’t even look like he misses it, poor sod.
Get the mod here.
3. Crimson Tide – Blood *New 2.2* by Magus
Now on to the gore, can never have enough right? Well, not in a game like Skyrim where heads are being cut off all over the place. The Crimson Tide mod adds blood spray, arterial splatter and pools of gore, and they are specific to the weapon as well. Now every bash, slice and chop looks as gruesome as it should be.
Get the mod here.
2. Skyrim Ultimate Graphic and Gameplay Enhancement [50+ Mods] by graphicscore
Number 2 is reserved for all the little graphical mods that have taken Skyrim from a great looking game to a mouth-wateringly gorgeous game. I downloaded the HD patches of course, but I knew that Skyrim could still do more so I started to look at all the graphics mods that have been made, and there are loads. So many graphics mods have been created that it would be impossible to list even the tip of the iceberg. What I will say is, find a good collection of graphics mods like the one listed above and just get click happy. Some of the mods I use are Lush grass, Lush trees, Detailed outskirts, Detailed cities, GKB Green Trees, Pure Waters, Ruins clutter improved, Lush greens, Better embers, HQ snow texture, Deeper snow etc.
Get the mods here.
1. SkyUI by Snakster
Now the big one. If you are not using SkyUI already then you really need to. The creators of SkyUI have taken the original Interface, which let’s be fair is bulky and irritating at best, and thrown most of it away, replacing it with a new interface that it cleaner, tidier and much better organised. It does take a bit of faffing to get it going. You have to download the Skyrim Script Extender, which isn’t a steam mod. Saying that, my Script Extender became outdated, and the only thing that’s different is a message telling me the extender was out of date. So maybe you don’t need it. Anyway, follow the instructions here.
Get the mod here.
Which Skyrim mods are you using? If there are ones you think I should using let me know. Hell! Advertise your own ones below. It will at least get one new person trying it.
