Looking for the best city overhaul mod

[Vardan]

I’m looking for the best city overhaul to remake Skyrim’s cities and towns. I’m looking for ones that are compatible with each other. For every city, if anyone knows one let me know. It’s to work with AE

[Rez Elwin]

I don't know if it's the Best but I use JK's Skyrim, overhauls every city and town in the game. https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/6289

[Vardan]

How good is JK's overhaul?

[SpeedFreak1972]

If we gonna answer that we need your definition of good, because it has a different meaning for everyone.

[xybolt]

As SpeedFreak1972 has commented, a "good" overhaul is a subjective thing. JK's city is a known one and has various overhauls on cities and towns. However, it is not complete as some locations aren't covered by that mod. The same thing can be said for other cities overhauls. So you have to mix and match if you want to have all locations covered.

You can use this category to select some, check the screenshots (also read the review), ect to find your city overhaul mods: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/categories/53/?BH=0

There are some mods that allows you to combine city overhauls, but wait with that until you're experienced with modding.

Here's a list I know from my mind
- JK's cities
- Dawn of Skyrim
- Cities of the North
- Spaghettis overhauls (there are various!)
- Holds the City
- Great Cities

If you want an overhaul that is fps friendly and mostly conflict free, go for Spaghetti's overhauls

If you want complexity with performance impact, look into JK or Dawn. Both have supplementary patches for various mods.

[Rez Elwin]

Originally posted by Vardan:

How good is JK's overhaul?

Good is subjective, I like JK's because not only is it an all in one replacer, but it just improves what is already there in a lore-friendly way.

[Vardan]

I was looking at using JK's for skyrim but many people were saying it's not a good idea to use due to a lot of bugs and issues and that the author wasn't fixing a lot of them.

[Vardan]

I did hear Dawn of Skyrim, spaghetti and cities of the north were good

[xybolt]

Originally posted by Vardan:

I was looking at using JK's for skyrim but many people were saying it's not a good idea to use due to a lot of bugs and issues and that the author wasn't fixing a lot of them.

It's a mod that has a lot users and the mod is doing a lot changes to the cells it touches, leading to performance problems at some users. But that it's having "a lot bugs and issues" is usually caused by the user themselves, that they have added mods that touches the came cells as what the mod touches. Such as a mod that adds a npc spawn point in Whiterun. Well, that may require a patching if JK has made a same edit in the same place. You can perform a conflict override but it's advisable to verify it in creation kit first. Some patching may be required if it is necessary.

In general, the mod works fine as it is, if your pc can run it.

Also, an advise: please consult the "requirements" box on the Description page. Usually, you can find patches for that mod in the "Mods requiring this file" table. JK has a lot patches.

[Rez Elwin]

Originally posted by xybolt:

Originally posted by Vardan:

I was looking at using JK's for skyrim but many people were saying it's not a good idea to use due to a lot of bugs and issues and that the author wasn't fixing a lot of them.

It's a mod that has a lot users and the mod is doing a lot changes to the cells it touches, leading to performance problems at some users. But that it's having "a lot bugs and issues" is usually caused by the user themselves, that they have added mods that touches the came cells as what the mod touches. Such as a mod that adds a npc spawn point in Whiterun. Well, that may require a patching if JK has made a same edit in the same place. You can perform a conflict override but it's advisable to verify it in creation kit first. Some patching may be required if it is necessary.

In general, the mod works fine as it is, if your pc can run it.

Also, an advise: please consult the "requirements" box on the Description page. Usually, you can find patches for that mod in the "Mods requiring this file" table. JK has a lot patches.

Yep, I have had only one issue with JK's, and it was related to another mod that had a character try to navigate to an area behind Rorikstead, which was blocked due to the new buildings added. Other than that, I have not had any issues with any other area.

That issue however is the same as any other city or town overhaul that adds things.

[Vardan]

Thank you for that, just wanted to check one other thing as many users are reporting crashes near Riverwood, Dragon Bridge and Ivarstead. Just wanting to know if it’s the mod related or conflicts. Does JK’s have the interior mods in a pack so they aren’t individual?

[Rez Elwin]

Originally posted by Vardan:

Thank you for that, just wanted to check one other thing as many users are reporting crashes near Riverwood, Dragon Bridge and Ivarstead. Just wanting to know if it’s the mod related or conflicts. Does JK’s have the interior mods in a pack so they aren’t individual?

Well I have not had any Issues around those areas, and I have around 200 something mods. I very much doubt JK's is the cause, it makes large edits to the area, it can conflict with a lot of things.

The only all in one version of his Interiors I saw was in collections, I don't know how collections works exactly, so I can't provide much assistance on that. https://next.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/collections/pkcov7

[Vardan]

Jk usuually conflicts with other mods similar to it. So landscape mods, weapons, clothes evt should be fine?

[Rez Elwin]

Originally posted by Vardan:

Jk usuually conflicts with other mods similar to it. So landscape mods, weapons, clothes evt should be fine?

Unless the landscape mod also edits the same area. Weapons and Clothes however are almost always compatible with everything,

[xybolt]

not sure what you have in mind with that "landscape mods" because JK is partially a such mod as well.

Changes to NPCs in such cities aren't not a problem as JK does not use them. However, if a mod (somewhat technically described...)
- adds a specific interaction place (such as sitting on a bench) for something specific
--> then it might to be patched. Use xEdit to check it. If this bench is still on same place, it's A-ok to let it override. If not, you need to move the interaction marker by Creation Kit
- adds an item (like a shrine)
---> it needs a patch if the place where the shrine is placed to is altered as well. Use Creation Kit to view it and optionally move it
- adds a or multiple NPC(s)
---> usually it is okay to let this mod win the override as custom spawn markers are put on top. You may see weird clipping (such as NPC being within a bench) but the game auto-resolves it themselves by "teleporting" it out of this spot if its pathfinding is not able to find its route
- alters a NPC (let's say Jarl Balgruuf has another sword and/or hair)
---> no problem
- overhauls the exterior of a house in a city (like Breezehome got a chimney)
---> in most situations, it is not a problem. It depends of what's being done with that exterior. It is possible that some objects are clipping. Assume that someone altered the Whiterun inn to be larger, it may lead to have that platform (added by JK) being "half half" between the walls of the inn and outside...

As usual, if you start to suspect conflicts or have a large mod list (after 20), it's best to learn how xEdit works so that you can inspect conflicts yourself. It's something with a bit learning curve but once you've mastered it, it will become useful for you. I'm one of those that have 500+ mods and have used xEdit extensively (together with Creation Kit) to ensure that conflicts are handled properly.

[xybolt]

more info about xEdit (for this game, it's SSEEdit then), of which is a tool you can find here https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/164

xEdit is an advanced graphical module editor and conflict detector for Bethesda games. It currently supports Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Fallout 4, Oblivion, Skyrim, and Skyrim SE. We refer to the program as xEdit for short.

Tome: https://tes5edit.github.io/docs/
repository: https://github.com/TES5Edit/TES5Edit