Im new to mods, but feel like I'm cheating? And is it considered cheating to use something like Immersive Armors?

[DarkPhoton]

I've added SkyUI which has been fantastic as well as graphics mods since I upgraded my pc and its been a blast to get back into Skyrim.

However I also feel like I want to download some of the other extremely popular ones that seem interesting to me, such as "Immersive Armors" and "Immersive Weapons", but I can't seen to shake the feeling that I'm cheating. Yes I know its not a competitive multiplayer game, but I don't want to be able to find weapons and armors that while improve the variety of the game suddenly destroy the balance of the difficulty level, especially since I'm already good at the game and can manage the highest difficulty.

So do you guys find using these mods as cheating or just adding some variety? And more specifically has anyone used "Immersive Armors" or "immersive Weapons" and found that the modders that made them balanced it well enough so that it doesn't break the difficulty of the game? I know they're meant to be "immersive" and not game-breaking but I would be glad to know the degree which this is true with the people that have experienced this mod.

[Mringasa]

I use Immersive Weapons, and it isn't gamebreaking. It actually keeps the game balanced because the weapons are also in the leveled lists for the Bandits and whatnot. They get to play with them too. The weapons themselves are not unbalanced. The mod author(s) did a great job of keeping them inline with vanilla weapons.

[ShocksVR #AirLink]

Just so you know, Immersive armors and Immersive weapons, NPCs ALSO get access to these items. If you added the mods mid playthrough, you may need to wait 31 days before they showup on other NPCs. Other than that, both mods don't alter the difficulty of the game. Their protection/damage values fall within the range of vanilla items.

But ya, if you added items that only you get access too that gives you an advantage, then I see that as cheating. WHat I do is let the enemies cheat and give them stuff I usually wouldn't have.

Welcome to modding; pretty fun ehh? Soon you'll be spending more time looking for mods, than actually playing the game. Good luck!!

[DarkPhoton]

Originally posted by Mringasa:

I use Immersive Weapons, and it isn't gamebreaking. It actually keeps the game balanced because the weapons are also in the leveled lists for the Bandits and whatnot. They get to play with them too. The weapons themselves are not unbalanced. The mod author(s) did a great job of keeping them inline with vanilla weapons.

Thanks for the reply, that's great to hear. I'm hoping immersive armors is the same deal then

[DarkPhoton]

Originally posted by Dr. Cyclophosphamide - akylagent:

Just so you know, Immersive armors and Immersive weapons, NPCs ALSO get access to these items. If you added the mods mid playthrough, you may need to wait 31 days before they showup on other NPCs. Other than that, both mods don't alter the difficulty of the game. Their protection/damage values fall within the range of vanilla items.

But ya, if you added items that only you get access too that gives you an advantage, then I see that as cheating. WHat I do is let the enemies cheat and give them stuff I usually wouldn't have.

Welcome to modding; pretty fun ehh? Soon you'll be spending more time looking for mods, than actually playing the game. Good luck!!

Haha yeah that makes sense, nah I won't download mods that only give myself a powerful weapon or something like that. Thanks for the reply!

[GrimCat]

How do you cheat at a single player game? Who are you cheating?
Mods are a great way to make the game yours. If you feel like you're getting too powerful try something like Revenge of the enemies and higher level enemies mods.
You've done some research on using mods? Using MO or NMM with LOOT doing the sorting? Research now will save you many headaches down the road.

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by DarkPhoton:

So do you guys find using these mods as cheating or just adding some variety?

A bit of both, but remember the only person you can cheat in a single player game is yourself.
I don't mean that as high philosophy or moralising, just that since you can only cheat yourself, why let yourself be bothered. Go for whatever you like, and have fun.

[Wulf_McMau]

It is a singleplayer game, so u can't rly cheat. And no These mods arent cheats

[Incunabulum]

Originally posted by DarkPhoton:

Im new to mods, but feel like I'm cheating? And is it considered cheating to use something like Immersive Armors?

FFS man, this is PC, not peasantville. Do what you want in a single-player game. Its your game, you paid for it. Change the rules, whatever. Nobody here gives a ♥♥♥♥ about your gamerscore or cheevos so we don't care if in modding a game you make it easier to get them.

[Bomb Bloke]

Originally posted by Dr. Cyclophosphamide - akylagent:

But ya, if you added items that only you get access too that gives you an advantage, then I see that as cheating.

The irony is that the vanilla crafting system does exactly this.

[Ilja]

Originally posted by Bomb Bloke:

Originally posted by Dr. Cyclophosphamide - akylagent:

But ya, if you added items that only you get access too that gives you an advantage, then I see that as cheating.

The irony is that the vanilla crafting system does exactly this.

.. and distributing modded content with levelled lists and Bashed Patch more or less fixes it.

Indeed. As strange it may sound, properly modded game with merged levelled lists is less cheating than vanilla game.

[Mringasa]

Complete Crafting Overhaul Remade is one to look at if you want some variety to the game. It does an excellent job of remaking the crafting system. There's a ton of options you can choose from (on the fly from the MCM) to make the game more suited to your playing.

I've actually got the crafting system harder in my games now because I've checked off that lovely box that says "Immersive" for components needed. You can adjust ore -> ingot ratios, tweak how mining works and it has compatibility with a few other equipment mods that you can work with.

Not sure if it adds anything to the game as far as equipment goes, but it does a fantastic job of overhauling the crafting system.

One to look at as well is More Interesting Loot for Skyrim. This one can be very OP, but there are numerous choices you can make in the MCM to balance it to what you feel is proper. I use this one simply because it pisses me off to clear out 3 Draugr Death Overlords and get 20 gold + a magicka potion. Lots of options you can choose from, and percentages for drops as well, and it adds a bunch of uniques to the game that don't go overboard.

Here's a link for it if you want to check it out:

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/48869/?

[Ilja]

Originally posted by Mringasa:

Complete Crafting Overhaul Remade is one to look at if you want some variety to the game. It does an excellent job of remaking the crafting system. There's a ton of options you can choose from (on the fly from the MCM) to make the game more suited to your playing.

I've actually got the crafting system harder in my games now because I've checked off that lovely box that says "Immersive" for components needed. You can adjust ore -> ingot ratios, tweak how mining works and it has compatibility with a few other equipment mods that you can work with.

Not sure if it adds anything to the game as far as equipment goes, but it does a fantastic job of overhauling the crafting system.

One to look at as well is More Interesting Loot for Skyrim. This one can be very OP, but there are numerous choices you can make in the MCM to balance it to what you feel is proper. I use this one simply because it pisses me off to clear out 3 Draugr Death Overlords and get 20 gold + a magicka potion. Lots of options you can choose from, and percentages for drops as well, and it adds a bunch of uniques to the game that don't go overboard.

Here's a link for it if you want to check it out:

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/48869/?

CCOR is highly recommended mod. It also allows you to use some mods directly from MCM. You do not need ESP files, but you do need resource files. Mods come fully patched. However, unique cloaks from Cloaks of Skyrim are not included.

CCOR Supported Mods
http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/2672844-ccor-supported-mods/

CCOR is included to this list, which was designed to solve bugs and bug-like behaviour from Skyrim.

Small list of little big mods for Skyrim
http://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/34094415774892758/

[Wicked Clown Luv]

Glad to see other people care about maintaining purity of challenge and the accomplishment that comes with winning when one sticks with that mantra. Mods are a slippery slope man, I would indeed classify using many of them as cheating and giving yourself an unfair advantage the developers never intended.

These immersive armor and weapon mods sound fine though since enemies get them to. Once you go beyond that, adding things for you, adding more powerful enemies, I would no longer trust the balance, and would forever be questioning whether my success in the game was earned or given by a mod.

If you share a similar mentality, I wouldn't go much beyond these immersive armor mods or that gnawing will forever be in the back of your mind, devalueing anything you do in game.

[DarkPhoton]

Originally posted by Fresh:

Glad to see other people care about maintaining purity of challenge and the accomplishment that comes with winning when one sticks with that mantra. Mods are a slippery slope man, I would indeed classify using many of them as cheating and giving yourself an unfair advantage the developers never intended.

These immersive armor and weapon mods sound fine though since enemies get them to. Once you go beyond that, adding things for you, adding more powerful enemies, I would no longer trust the balance, and would forever be questioning whether my success in the game was earned or given by a mod.

If you share a similar mentality, I wouldn't go much beyond these immersive armor mods or that gnawing will forever be in the back of your mind, devalueing anything you do in game.

Yeah that was more my original meaning of "cheating" and not that I care about my "score" or whatever, its simply wanting a good experience for myself and having fun also comes with wanting a challenge with the gameplay pure to its original intent. I think these mods that I mentioned are fine though after trying it for a while, as they are similar in strength as the other weapon types just add to art variety. I won't go ahead and add mods that make me incredibly powerful and such because yes while that's "fun" it's fun for a very limited time for me and I much rather have fun through variety AND challenge and not just one of them. Also the moral feeling of keeping it pure and true to the series :D

[velvetsanity]

Whether a given mod is considered cheating depends on the gameplay experience you want. If a mod gives you an advantage over enemies that you don't have in vanilla, I'd call that cheating. There are a ton of mods that intentionally increase the difficulty such as the Epic Gameplay Overhaul series and mods like Realistic Needs And Diseases (which makes food and drink a requirement for survival) and Frostfall (which adds the possibility of hypothermia and freezing to death).

I'd say it's hard to consider increasing the difficulty "cheating" unless it's cheating in favor of the enemy.

Also, last time I tried to use immersive armors, it had some issues related to physics. Specifically, cart physics would go haywire both in the vanilla start cart ride to helgen and when using Touring Carriages (a patch was released for TC, but the issue remained and I think is caused by unused/untextured bits in the IA meshes. There's an hdt physics enabled remodel of IA's armors that cleans up the unused parts of the meshes which I suspect will fix the issue)