Guide To An Immersive Skyrim

Welcome to a Guide To An Immersive Skyrim. For the following minutes of glorious life of adventures, I will help you with making the world of Skyrim and your adventures more immersive. The following mods and tips I am going ot tell you about, are in my opinion essential for making the best out of the tale of the Dragonborn. The category of the mods have a wide range from gameplay mechanics to quests to graphical improvements and even further than that. I hope this guide will help you out, and increase the amount of fun you will have.

Introduction

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Hello! Welcome to my guide for creating an immersive Skyrim! Assuming you have already read the other description, I will not ramble on about exactly what this is about, but I will be specifying a few things here.

So, what is this guide about?
In this guide, I will tell you about a couple of mods, actually a whole bunch, that will improve the player's experience in Skyrim. All these mods are compatible with each other, and all improve the game in one way or another. I have been playing with this combination of mods for a while now, and decided to bring it out to the playerbase. I claim no rights to any of the mods, the mods all belong to the rightful creators. There are some mods which I could not find a proper video for, so not every mod has a video showcasing it. Feel free to create a video and let me know - I'll make sure to add it to the descriptions!

So, this guide is only about mods?
No, not quite. Although I have mentioned the word "mod" a whole bunch of times already, there will also be a section for gameplay tips. That section can also be used by the mod-users, but is mainly focused around the players who do not wish to spend time on downloading and installing mods, but just wish to improve their experience in the vanilla version of the game.

What kinds of mods can I be expecting to see?
You can see the main categories of the mods to your right in the table of contents, but I'll tell ya a little more.

Some of the mods impact the graphics of the game. This varies from changes to the landscape, shaders, skybox, textures and so back and so forth. Then there will be a pair of mods that impact the sounds and music of the game, improving each of them in several ways. Then we have the combat and gameplay mods that change, well you guessed it, the gameplay and combat of the game. That ranges from implementing dodge maneuvers all the way over to war zones and even further.

Will you just get started already?
Sure...

Required Mods

Before we begin the best parts, here are a big mods that the following mods rely on. These following mods are required in order for the majority of the other mods to function correctly.

Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE)

- created by Ian Patterson, Stephen Abel and Paul Connelly

The Skyrim Script Extender, mainly referred to as SKSE, is a big mod that allows modders to improve their mods in several ways that they on beforehand were unable to. It pretty much expands the limitations of modding, allowing the modders to offer you a greater experience.

Download[skse.silverlock.org] Installation[skse.silverlock.org]
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SkyUI

- created by snakser, Mardoxx and T3T

SkyUI is a mod that improves Skyrim's user interface by removing wasteful screen space and adds a nicer look that is more appealing to the player. What makes this one of the main mods is the MCM mod that is included in SkyUI. Many mods rely on MCM in order for the player to be able to configure the settings of most mods they install. Some mods also require controls to be set before the mod itself is useable in-game. This would
be done through the Mod Configuration Menu (MCM).

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com] Steam Workshop
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Nexus Mod Manager (NMM)

- created by the Nexus Team

The Nexus Mod Manager is a program that allows you to download mods from the Skyrim Nexus site right to the manager, whereafter you can activate or deactivate the mod. It's a quite neat program, and the majority of mods in this guide are only downloadable manually or through the Nexus Manager - not many are downloadable throuh the Steam Workshop, and it has some limitations that most mods exceed. The manager is downlodable
by clicking the Install NMM button at the top of the page.

Skyrim Nexus Website[www.nexusmods.com]

Gameplay Tips

Let's begin with the section which is mainly focused around the players who do not wish to download and install any mods, but only wish to have a more immersive feel during the vanilla game.

Planning & Playing

Before you begin your adventure, think about how your character will be. His personality, how he will act in certain situations, what his job could be and what he'd do when he's not slaying dragons and draugrs. Think of a name that fits into the lore. Not GamerGod88 or anything in that direction - think about something that fits in with the lore; let's say Erik Dovahkiin or something. I don't know, you make something up.

When you've got your character planned out, focus on staying in character. This is one of the hard, but fun, parts of being an actor. You've gotta stay in character all the time. Think about what your character would do in the current situation; what he'd say, how he'd act, how he'd respond. Always stay in character - never exit character, unless you quit the game.

Eating, Drinking & Sleeping

In real life, you wouldn't try not to eat or drink anything unless you need some energy or you were just hit with a sword. This is how the fantasy Dragonborn, that Bethesda created, would do it - but you're not that Dragonborn. You're Erik Dovahkiin, you live like a normal human being. Eat the amount of times you'd eat in real life, you might want to eat more than that, as he is constantly walking around, doing things, while you just sit here on a chair in front of a computer. Don't forgot to drink twice as much either, and try to sleep
when a normal human being would sleep.

Walking, Waiting and Travelling

I don't think you'd run all the way from your apartment and all the way over to Burger King in real life either. Although it would be good for you to run all the way, you'd probably walk or take the bus. But since you can't take the bus in Skyrim, you'll have to walk. Running from Markarth to Windhelm is a tough thing to do, so walking would probably do it. But remember to take some rests in between. Maybe stop at Whiterun or an inn out in the middle of nowhere and stay until you're ready to keep going.

Another thing to do, would be to use the Wait mechanic after having crafted an item at a forge, for example. Normally, it takes ten seconds for the Dragonborn to craft a brand new set of Dragonbone armor. In real life, it would take over a day to do that, so why not use the Wait option after having crafted something, to fit the timescale?

Living, Marrying & Working

Of course your character can't constantly be on an adventure, roaming dungeons, new lands and all that amazing stuff. Some people like to just settle down in a city and make a living. Find a woman to marry, buy a house to live in and act like you actually have a job. Of course you can be a wandering traveller who buys things cheap from one vendor and sells it more expensively somewhere else to make a profit. You can also be a lumberjack, grab an axe and just spend your day collecting wood at the woodcutting place.
Then you can sell that wood to the other lumberjack guy
and make a profit from that. You can always help out
at a forge if you want to. Maybe join a guild or something.

Gameplay Mods

Cloaks of Skyrim

- created by Noodles

The Cloaks of Skyirm mod adds almost 100 new styles of cloaks to the world of Skyrim. The cloaks are craftable, levelled-lists and static loot. They're lore-friendly and enchantable. The aim of the mod is to provide some variety and flavour to the world, as well as the chance to wear a stylish cloak and quite literally keep the cold out (as it provides defence against cold in the Frostfall and Hypothermia mods). Imperial guards wear Imperial cloaks, Whiterun guards wear Whiterun cloaks and so on and so forth. I think it is pretty badass to see guards around in all the holds, wearing cloaks depending on where they are from.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Real Estate (RE)

- created by M3t4lxxx

The Real Estate mod allows the Dovahkiin to become a landlord by purchasing and renting properties like houses, shops, inns and more. You can then use the income you receive from them to buy even more properties, or you can just spend the money on whatever you want. You can buy buildings by using the property sign outside most buildings.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Equipping Overhaul

- created by DragonDude1029

Equipping Overhaul is a complete overhaul on Skyrim's system of swapping, equipping and dropping items. All the features can be reconfigured, using MCM. One of the main features of the mod is to become fully armed. All your favorited weapons will show up, sheathed, around on your character. Another feature is that torches stay lit when you drop them. Those are just two of the four features of the mod.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Gangs of Skyrim

- created by Raynel07

The Gangs of Skyrim mod aims to bring more action and fun to Skyrim. This mod adds six gangs to Skyrim, each claiming their own turf in the world. The mod introdues gang- and drug wars. It also adds seven new quests and NPCs that you can speak with and learn about the various gangs around the world. Meet Pandora in the Frostflow Lighthouse, as she will be your greatest source of intelligence. The Fuz Ro D-oh - Silent Voice mod is highly recommended.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com] Fuz Ro D-oh[www.nexusmods.com]
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Jobs of Skyrim

- created by Littleork

This mod adds new jobs for you to help the player immerse in the world of Skyrim. It adds a nice touch to roleplaying, and allows the player to be a guard, bounty hunter, blacksmith, chef or whatever they feel like. The Fuz Ro D-oh - Silent Voice mod is highly recommended.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com] Fuz Ro D-oh[www.nexusmods.com]
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Guard Dialogue Overhaul

- created by Eckss

The Guard Dialogue Overhaul alters the guards' dialogue, changing it from something that breaks your immersion to something that ultimately increases it. The dialogue is all in the original voices and is fully compatible and friendly with the lore of Skyrim. The mod fixes all the guards' dialogue bugs and adds new dialogue options for your character to use. Everything makes sense!

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Sneak Tools

- created by Borgut1337

This mod aims to improve the stealth gameplay mechanics by adding new tools and gameplay options to give the player more control and more options when sneaking. The mod intorudces new mechanics such as throat slitting, knocking people unconscious and killing sleeping targets. It adds much more than that, but we'd be here for a long time if I were to name them.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Marriage Mod - To Have & To Hold

- created by joeThinkStudios

This mod is designed to enhance the current marriage system in Skyrim - specifically the wedding scene at the Temple of Mara. The mod fixes various marriage-relatedb ugs and adds mechanics to remarry. Ultimately, the goal of this mod is to bring the character and their spouse more close together and have a much more robust and interactive experience withi the marriage system.

Steam Workshop Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Adura's Merchant Mod - Player Shops

- created by Adura

Adura's Merchant Mod allows the player to open up a shop or merchant stand in a city of Skyrim. In this mod, the player is able to buy and run their own stand, sell their own items and set up a wondrous display. Become the shop owner and merchant you've always wanted to be.

Steam Workshop
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Dovahkiin Relaxes Too

- created by wgstein

The Dovahkiin Relaxes Too mod allows the player to act like a normal NPC. Using this mod, you're able to warm your hands at the campfire, take a bath in the hot spring near Darkwater Crossing and much more. Activate the mod through using a silent shout that is completely safe to use in cities, as it does no harm. Approved by Health Inspection.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Random Alternate Start

- created by Syclonix

Now this is actually a quite simple mod, but it is still on my list of favorite mods. This mod allows the player to begin another life than just being the chosen Dragonborn who almost gets executed at Helgen. With this mod, you'll spawn a random place in the world of Skyrim and begin a whole new adventure in a whole new way. You'll get a quest where you have to go to Helgen, because there have been rumours of an incident having happened there. It is absolutely brilliant.

Steam Workshop Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Reduced Distance NPC Greetings

- created by Cipsciss

This mod pretty much reduces the distance of NPC greetings. Yup. Now you'll actually need to be close to them before they will greet you and say 'Hello!'. Nice little touch.

Steam Workshop
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Followers Can Relax

- created by King Coin

This mod allows the player's followers/companions to relax and interact with the environement they are surrounded by. You can just tell them to relax and swing around. They'll then walk around the area they are in and interact with the various things there are to interact with.

Steam Workshop Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]

More Gameplay Mods

Realistic Ragdolls and Force

- created by dDefinder

This mod reduces the extra force applied on ragdolls to a more reasonable level. It also replaces ragdolls so that they bend and twist realistically and fall at a faster velocity.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Bandolier - Bags and Pouches

- created by Dragten / Cyrax

The Bandolier mod implements bags and pouches that the player can craft at blacksmiths. The bags and pouches increases the amount of weight the player is able to carry, so that you can now walk around with much more stuff. I know how much space dragonbones fill up, and this mod is great for giving me the ability to have extra bags for them to fill.

Steam Workshop Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Formal Legions

- created by DreadnaughtVCN

The Formal Legions mod changes the original peasant Imperial armor to a much more badass armor set. The Imperials now were a full face helmet and heavy armor. Some soldiers will occasionally wear Solitude guard armor, studded armor and officer armor to add in a bit of diversity.

Steam Workshop
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Camping

- created by LtMattmoo

This mod introduces the player to the wonders of sleeping under the stars, by adding camping gear to Skyrim's general goods stores. Every major general store in Skyrim, as well as a few trade caravans, will now occasionally stock camping gear, including a pair of tents, a tinderbox, a cooking port, a mortar and a pestle. The camping gear can also be crafted.

Steam Workshop

Graphical Mods

Climates of Tamriel

- created by JJC71

Climates of Tamriel is a gigantic mod that overhauls the weather, lighting and sounds. It adds atmospheric conditions to the seven climates of Skydin and adds over 500 new unique weather systems. It also adds over 2000 stunning days, nights, sunsets and sunrises. It really is a brilliant mod - one of the very best out there. Check out their Nexus post to read much more about what the mod does and effects.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Realistic Water Two

- created by isoku

Realistic Water Two is a mod that completely overhauls the water in Skyrim. New water surface textures were carefully crafted in an attempt to imitate the fluid motion of water. Lake, pond, river and ocean water are now visually and aurally distinct from each other. Boats, ice chunks and ships not gently bob around in the water, the audio sounds of waters have been improved and the visuals themselves have also been heavily improved.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Splash of Rain

- created by isoku

Splash of Rain is a darn fine mod that changes the way rain effects appear in the game. Rain impact splash effects now appear on most uncovered surfaces during rain and ambient rain sound effects play in interiors. The player is also able to configure the relative number of splashes and the interior ambient volume through the MCM.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Immersive Interiors

- created by SomeWelshGuy

The aim of Immersive Interiors is to replace the generic, always dark interiors of city buildings and turn them into dynamic areas that reflect the outdoor lighting, weather and sound. This removes the feeling of interiors being isolated, dungeon like areas and transforms them into areas with new found realism and immersion.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Skyrim HD - 2K Textures

- created by NebuLa

Skyrim HD is a project that heavily enhances the textures in Skyrim. The mod increases the resolution of the game's textures and also improves the textures themselves, making them more detailed. Improved textures range all the way from architecture to the sky to the water, clothes, clutter, dungeons and more.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Project ENB

- created by Bronze316

Project ENB is an ENB configuration which offers intense visuals, high performance, darker dungeons and customization. The goal is to provide the optimum ENB preset to be used with Project Reality - Climates of Tamriel. In short, these graphics are extremely realistic and sharp and hav been configured from the ground up.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Skyrim Project Optimization

- created by rgabriel15

Project Optimization is a mod that aims to improve the performance losses in some interiors. If you use highly demanding lighting and ENBs, then this mod is just fit for you. It will boost your FPS and prevent your computer from turning into a Commodore all of the sudden while playing. While improving the performance of your rig, it doesn't even remove anything from the game or makes the graphics look worse. Nothing visually changes, everything just runs better.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Immersive Boosts (Contrast & Saturation)

- created by Aplestormy

Those two mods change the saturation and contrast of the game. The Contrast version doubles the amount of game contrast, getting rid of the washed out visuals. It makes shadows deeper and boosts color and enhances the vibrancy of outdoor lighting and effects. The Saturation version doubles the amount of game saturation and makes colors brighter and more vibrant. Just like the contrast version, it enhances the cibrancy of outdoor lighting and effects.

Steam Workshop (Saturation) Skyrim Nexus (Saturation)[www.nexusmods.com]
Steam Workshop (Contrast) Skyrim Nexus (Contrast)[www.nexusmods.com]

Animation Mods

Immersive Animations

- created by Bergzore

The Immersive Animations mod adds new optional animations and overauls the vanilla animations, making them more immersive, realistic and smooth. The mod changes several animations, including the sprinting, weapon drawing and attacking animations.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]

Audio Mods

Audio Overhaul for Skyrim (AOS)

- created by David Jegutidse

The AOS mod is an extensive sound overhaul aiming to make the soundscape more immersive, clear, responsive, impacful and ultimately fun, while always aiming for maximum compatibility, performance and coherency with the main game. The mod uses more real life audio behavior as a guideline. The audio has been tweaked and often redesigned form scratch in thousands of instances of content and implementation to achieve one coherent vision for the soundscape hat does not rely on third party content or code. All that text was directly copied from the Nexus post. Excuse me for my laziness - it's early in the morning, gimmie a break.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Sounds of Skyrim

- created by Cliffworms

Sounds of Skyrim is an audio project split in three parts that in total adds around 460 new sound effects to the game world. The sounds are affected by the time of day, weather and location, and the main goal of the mod is to crank up the atmosphere of the world of Skyrim by making the previously soundless, empty game world more atmospheric and adding many new sounds to do so.

Steam Workshop

City & Village Mods

Open Cities Skyrim

- created by Arthmoor

The Open Cities of Skyrim mod is a comprehensive project that aims to bring back at least part of the feel of Morrowind - specifically how most of the cities were a natural part of the world and you could just walk in without loading screens. In vanilla Skyrim, whenever you entered a city, it felt like you entered a whole new world. It felt like you left the world of Skyrim and entered a peaceful realm where no evil roams. I think it is much cooler to enter a beautiful city that actually is in the world of Skyrim, and this mod aims to bring just that. It feels so great to just enter a city without having to wait for a loading screen to finish first.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Populated Cities

- created by Pandazooka

The Populated Cites mod clears up all the empty space in the cities, adding a whole bunch of citizens walking around, trying to make a living. Ten or more NPCs will spawn in all the large major cities, and 5 or more will spawn in the smaller major cities, such as Falkreath, Winterhold etc. The NPCs are randomized everyday, so it never feels like the same people are out all the time. You'll see farmers, nobles and adventurers wandering the cities.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Towns and Villages: Enhanced

- created by Aplestormy

The Towns and Villages: Enhanced mod collection aims to completely change the atmosphere of Skyrim's cities, towns and villages. New flora makes cities come alive and clutter adds on to the great work done by Bethesda. Additions such as water features and statues are placed in suitible spaces to find in with their environment. Lighting has been reworked to make cities brighter and more realistic. Small details such as flowers on graves, garden tables and soldier equipment make each environment much more immersive and interesting.

Steam Workshop

Combat Mods

Dodge Mod

- created by Borgut1337

Have you ever felt like you have no mobility in combat? Like you're pretty much just stuck in the same spot, forced to hit your opponent faster than he hits you? Well, with this mod you can make short, quick movements to dodge the opponents' attacks. A dodge consists of two parts; immediately when the dodge key is pressed, the player will gain a large increase in movement speed, which is quickly followed by a dodge animation where the player makes one more quick step in the chosen direction and then regains his footing and normal control of the character.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Warzones

- created by MyGoodEye

The Warzones mod adds a really nice touch to the civil war, adding tons of zones around the world of Skyrim, where the Imperials will fight the Stormcloaks in one big war. The player can travel to those warzones and help out the side they have chosen, although if they haven't chosen a side, there is a skirmish on a road to Korvanjund where the Bandits are also fighting.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Bandit Raids

- created by SwampRock

You've probably heard guards talking about how there haven't been any good bandits raids lately, right? Well, this mod perodically spawns huge groups of bandits around each of the five major cities of Skyrim. Each city is met by a different variety of bandits, complete with loot and varying degrees of difficulty.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Civil War Recurring Sieges (CWRS)

- created by Edoserax

This mod adds a little more excitement to the whole civil war thing. Nothing happens in the war apart from the scripted sieges of the holds. This mod delivers a recurring siege battle every 100 Skyrim hours involving the actors reflecting the side you chose to help out in the war. The siege war takes place at one of the random forts around the game world. Kill the enemy commander, receive a reward and a stipend, rinse, lather, repeat.

Steam Workshop Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]

Interface Mods

A Quality World Map

- created by IcePenguin

A Quality World Map heavily changes your map, making all the roads visible, removing sky and pretty much making the whole map much more clear and much more readable. Now you can actually navigate around the world of Skyrim, using the map.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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A Thinner Compass

- created by mrphantastik

A Thinner Compass mod pretty much, you guessed it, scales the compass bar at the top of your screen a little down, so it dosen't take up as much space as it did before. The author of this mod though the size of the default compass was rather large, so he decided to scale it down. Although the compass still maintains the same length as before.

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]
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Immersive HUD (iHUD)

- created by Gopher

The Immersive HUD mod aims to provide the immersive feel you get from having no hud, whilst keeping the usefulness of having one. It takes the permanently visible HUD elements such as the compass and crosshair, and hides them when not needed. Thumbs up for Gopher for creating this mod and his Skyrim Mod Sanctuary series!

Skyrim Nexus[www.nexusmods.com]

[wimbo thug]

can you make a wabbajack pack?

[nMate]

????????

[Vix ❤]

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[Licel]

don't trust him

[Licel]

guys my sister is holding me hostage if she finds out she's going to slam my ihaegiuaeugaegbisdghbb nia nbljaj a<G?l,.' gn#OU BHGWGhbnj

[Lancer]

cool but im not sure my game can't handle all these mods and it will probably crash. But besides all that this is a good guide with good mods. Also I have a mod for you what about the disguise mod? It allows you to wear enemy armor and you will blend in...Well until you take the armor off :T

[Caringsoul]

For anybody asking for links to the mod, if you click the words under the mod it will send you to it. Like where it says "Steam Workshop" click that and it'll take you to the mod.

[AjaxSawdy]

Can you add links to the recommended mods please?

[Gerk Meta]

Hej jeg har nogle problemer med alle mine nudemods til mænd noget du kan hjælpe med?

[Maerkuz]

Having problems with NMM and I can't find an answer in the forums.
Every time I try to run NMM, it says that I need the current version of .NET which I already have.

I can't get past this, and therefore can't get any of the mods listed that aren't Steam Workshop.

Any suggestions??