Skyrim Screenshots

[Thorin Oakshield 260]

The top city-pic is taken in Falkreath, the other one is indeed Whiterun. Both have more flora added by the Enhanced City Mods. I have to say, it does look more natural now.

 

As for the burning bandit: He attacked me the moment I entered the main road, coming from the mountain path leading to the Tower of Stendar. So I killed him using my swords; of which one is having a fire-soul trap enhancement and the other one a life leech enhancement. Biggest problem is, both enhancements work with the other sword as well, so when hitting him with the LL-sword, the bugger still burns. Add a hit with the other sword to it, and you got a burning bandit, like in the screenshot.

Still, the fire-soul trap enhancement is one of the best there is in this game, given that so many foes are vulnerable to fire.

 

Thorin

[Omnicide 26]

Nice stuff there, Thorin; the screenshots look great, especially the bandit on fire. As far as spoilers go, there's still so much I haven't seen yet that I'd probably forget about it anyway. The list of mods, especially the recommended mods, will come in handy when I finally get around to it.

 

I'm still running vanilla Skyrim with only one mod, and that is the mod to craft my own arrows, which is available in Dawnguard.

 

Just out of curiosity, are the Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn DLC's worth it in your opinions?

[Thorin Oakshield 260]

Nice stuff there, Thorin; the screenshots look great, especially the bandit on fire. As far as spoilers go, there's still so much I haven't seen yet that I'd probably forget about it anyway. The list of mods, especially the recommended mods, will come in handy when I finally get around to it.

 

I'm still running vanilla Skyrim with only one mod, and that is the mod to craft my own arrows, which is available in Dawnguard.

 

Just out of curiosity, are the Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn DLC's worth it in your opinions?

 

 

If you're still running Vanilla Skyrim, I recommend you subscribe to the "Unofficial Skyrim Patch" as well. It solves a lot of bugs, the official patches won't fix and it offers some improvements of the game in general. Most important: it's a community patch, so you can expect regular updates of it.

 

As for the DLC's: I think they're all worth it.

Dawnguard and Dragonborn offer new quest lines, new foes, new area's to explore and new weapons / armour to the game; thus making the entire experience more beautiful.

Hearthfire offers three new houses and the ability to adopt children - if you're married (so much for escaping RL) - making the entire game feeling more like ROLE PLAYING.

Another nice feature of Hearthfire is the fact you can build your own houses now. They all look alike, but each house has the option to build 3 additional wings; and each wing is having three choices as well. Meaning 27 different possibilities. Given you have three houses, some tough choices have to be made there.

One of the good things of this, is that you can build a house to your needs. I.e.: when you decide it's the place you want to live you add a Master Bedroom, a Storage and a Kitchen to your house.

The total list of options are:

West-side: Greenhouse, Master Bedroom, Enchantments' tower

North-side: Storage, Alchemy Tower, Trophy-Room

East-Side: Armoury, Kitchen, Library Tower

 

As said, Dawnguard offers new weapons; which are 2 x-bows. These bows can be enhanced a bit with two side-quests, but adding a mod to be able to use - and craft - more bows is almost a must.

Disadvantage is that because of Dawnguard you often have to face nightly attacks on cities, occasionally killing essential citizens. (Like I had when Whiterun got under attack and Arianne, her hubby and that Greymane smith were killed).

You get to know a bit more about the history of the Falmer as well.

 

Dragonborn takes you to an entirely new island, where several side-quests and one main-quest are found. I'ts the place where you find the most new armour and a few new weapons; although by the time I got to that place I was using Dragon material weapons already; thus the new items were useless.

And you get to know a bit about the life of the Ancient Nords as well.

There's also a High Resolutions Pack-DLC which you can download at Steam for free. It's certainly worth it.

 

Overall, yes, I think adding the three DLC's to my game was worth it.

To give you an impression about the prices: Dawnguard and Dragonborn are available for 20Euro's; Hearthfire is for 5 Euro's.

It's money well spent, if you ask me.

But....

I read somewhere that Bethesda isn't releasing any DLC's for Skyrim. So you might wait a while until Steam drops the prices and buy the whole package at once.

Which could be the moment the Elder Scrolls On-Line is released.

 

Anyway, if you're curious about more things to be shown in screenies, just yell.

 

Thorin

[Stormwing 40]

I'll echo Thorin considering the DLC. Tho, I got the main game, Heartfire and Dawnguard on Steam sale, so only full priced one was Dragonborn.

Wanted to get it ASAP, if only to prevent some mods going haywire because of added DB compatibility while not having it meself.

Still to finish either Dawnguard of Dragonborn, but I'm not regretting of getting 'em. They add so much resources for modders to toy with.

[Thorin Oakshield 260]

If you decide to buy the DLC's; there are two pieces of advice I'd like to give you.

 

1) When looking for mods to play, check the workshop. Then click at the "Collections"-tab.

This'll give you an overview of what a large amount of players consider the "best mods available.

One of the collections I recommend to download are the official patches. The beautification mods are a good one too. The rest is up to you.

 

Warning rest of the post contains major spoilers

 

 

 

2) As mentioned in my previous post, you got 9 options for house expansion in Hearthfire. Each of the houses also comes with a special building, giving you a hint about what to build where.

Since each of the houses come with a small garden, it's easy to grow some of the ingredients needed for your potions. Or to grow food, for that matter.

Based upon that - and my own experiences - I think the best house expansions would be:

1) Heljarchen Hall:

Special building: Grain Mill

Expansions: Kitchen, Master Bedroom, Storage Room

(You might make this one your permanent residence if you decide to get marry and adopt children)

2) Lakeview Manor:

Special building: Apiary

 

Windstad Manor:

Special building: Fishery

 

Both the Apiary and the Fishery offer room for some alchemy ingredients; making both locations the ideal ones for an Alchemy Tower.

Since you're building that tower, adding a Greenhouse - to grow even more ingredients - is a must. The last choice for your Alchemist-building could be the Library or the Trophy Room. Personally I'd pick the Library

Leaving the Enchanter's Tower, Armoury and Trophy Room or Library for the last building.

You might switch the Greenhouse and the Enchanter's Tower, however you'll miss out on growing a large amount of Alchemy ingredients yourself at that particular manor. And with the ability to pick a perk to get twice the amount of ingredients in the Alchemy tree, having as many ingredients available nearby as possible seems like a very good choice to me.

 

You'll find some more information at the Elderscrolls Wiki, I mentioned in one of my previous posts.

 

Thorin

[Stormwing 40]

Actually, I'd recommend to get Nexus mod manager, if one is to go into some more serious modding, as Workshop is seriously limited in sizes of the mods. Requires an account on the Nexus forums to get the manager, but it really is worth it. But it's up to everyone, which methods to use.

Been using the Nexus Manager for most of my mods, save few directly applied, which are, on the second hand, easily removed too. Most of the mods in Nexus are Manager compatible anyway, and there is also lots of rankings and showcases about great mods.

Also, many have been tagged as GEMS, which are either considered cream of the crops- mods, or otherwise well done.

Just my few dimes, but thought say that.

[Thorin Oakshield 260]

Minor spoiler:

One of the weapon effects of Dawnguard:

 

 

 

 

Big advantage of it: You don't have to put your victims on ice anymore.

 

 

 

Thorin

[Spock 271]

When I first got Skyrim it was for the PS3. I finished it 3 times before I decided that I wanted to get a copy for the PC so I could get Mods for it.

I finally got a PC version from Amazon but haven't played much because I'm still ticked that it was not actually on the disk I paid for. All I got was a Steam installer which then downloaded Skyrim! Talk about a rip off. I have finally learned how to disable Steam so I don't need to be online to play. I just wish I had the full game on disc for that inevitable time in the distant future when I want to reinstall the game and either don't have Internet or Steam has gone out of business.

Will try to post some screenshots once I get levelled up enough.

[Omnicide 26]

Thanks for the plethora of information, guys, especially Thorin.

 

I've got the Nexus Mod Manager loaded already. Based on what I've learned I'm thinking about downloading these first 2 mods just for starters:

 

-Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp

 

-Unofficial High Resolution Patch.esp (I've already downloaded the 'Official High Resolution Patch')

 

I will be getting them from here:

 

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19

 

Once I've got the basics, I will check out a few of the other mods.

 

Btw, what exactly does the Beautification Mod accomplish? It sounds like something I'd like to get.

 

Thanks for all the help, guys!

[Omnicide 26]

Ok, I finally downloaded a few necessary mods, such as the Unofficial Skyrim Patch and the Unofficial High Resolution Patch. I have the SkyUI downloaded but not activated, as I'm not really in the mood to mess with SKSE right now (they should have made it an 'exe.' for ease of use, in my opinion). The SkyUI is much simpler than the original interface, but only works partially due to SKSE not being implemented. I can live with the old interface for now, however.

 

As far as 'fun' mods go, I did get the Enhanced Blood Textures mod, but haven't checked it out yet. I'm thinking about eventually grabbing the Project Reality Climates of Tamriel Weather mod, and also the Frostfall mod. Right now I'm just researching the top most downloaded mods on the Nexus website, as there are so many to choose from.

[Thorin Oakshield 260]

If you'd like me to look into the mods available at the Nexus and pick a few for you, let me know. Got a couple of days off, so enough time to look into it. However, I do need to know what you'd like to have, in the first place.

 

As for "beautification" mods: When playing a game I'd like to see the environment looking as "natural" as possible compared with the graphics.

Like in Sacred 2, where you could see the grass, trees etcetera the way they are supposed to be; although the entire environment wasn't exactly as it is in the real world.

Skyrim is a lot more based upon the real world as Sacred 2 was; but all in all I found the cities in particular and the total environment in general a bit "empty" looking. Reason why I downloaded some mods improving that, while other mods enhanced the ways water, rocks, ice, snow etcetera were looking.

 

Same can be said about the weapon mods I downloaded. It's not that I'm not happy with the available weapons; they give enough variation about which weapons to use; it's more that I'd like to see more "realistic" weapons.

And [spoiler!] Dawnguard offers only 4 crossbows; of which 2 are enhanced versions of the other two. So adding a mod making it possible to create crossbows in every part of the smithing tree enhances my gameplay; as it gives me better - read: more powerful - crossbows when advancing through the game.

 

I think the most important thing about adding mods or which mods to add is: "What is it you want to see / use in this game?"

Some players like to see a beautiful and / or realistic environment, including the weather; other players like to have the role playing part being so realistic, they add mods where you are forced to eat / sleep every (game) day to make sure your hero remains at full strength.

Other players add all kinds of armour to their games, because they'd like the armour of previous versions of The Elder Scrolls series more.

Other players like to add their own player-homes, because they're not happy with the houses Skyrim and its add-ons offer; being it because you can't store all the books, or because you can't display all the armour and weapons you can forge etcetera.

Therefore, the first thing you need to do is to figure out what you exactly want. Stormwind and I can tell you "you've got to that this mod" or "take that mod because it's wonderful", but that's our opinion, not yours.

So, make up your mind what you'd like to see in the game and we're able to help you into the right direction. It is however still up to you if you download the mods we're supposing, so don't be afraid you'd insult us if you turn a suggestion down. After all, it's a suggestion; not a "take this or I'll kill you" offer.

 

 

Thorin

[Stormwing 40]

Well, Thorin said most of what I had in mind too. No fear I will be offended either. Everyone has their own tastes.

And when you get those DLCs, you absolutely should get their Unofficial Patches too.

And about the mods of choices, my list is also somewhat NSFW-tagged. xD Plus, got some skin and face textures and other things. Never really was quite satisfied with Bethesda's works.

And a heap of different weapon mods, ranging from new weapons to some re-textured ones. Also, those immersion mods, like tents and food stuff kinda sound tempting, but I'm more of a casual player, so I leave 'em to others. But do try 'em out, if you feel that way. Might even like 'em.

[Omnicide 26]

Eventually I will get all the expansions, along with the official/unofficial patches.

 

I think I'm gonna just play through the entire game (or at least most of the entire game) once before deciding on which mods I need or want. Right now is a little too early to decide on what might be necessary since there is still so much I haven't seen yet.

[Thorin Oakshield 260]

Here's the evidence; Vampires have a Boot fetish!

 

Screenshot is taken in Morvath's Lair.

 

Thorin

[Stormwing 40]

Damn, why didn't I think of that? Been raiding that place a few times already.

One of the random things in Skyrim. Other known fact is that Dwemer used a lot of preservatives. What else could possibly explain all those edible veggies in Dwemer ruins? xD And no, they can't possibly all be due to excavators and thieves.

Same with ancient Nords. So much food on those crypts.

[Thorin Oakshield 260]

The ancient Nords were the best inventors of their age as well.

I mean: their tombs crumble, but when you enter then after 100's or even 1.000's of years the fires are still burning. Somehow they found a way to reproduce the eternal flame.

 

I wish I had one of those fire basins. Could save me a lot on heating cost during winter time.

 

 

Thorin

Edited April 28, 2013 by Thorin Oakshield

[Stormwing 40]

Yes, those too. Dwemer things I totally understand. They had all that Aetherium stuff, so their constructs and things can easily run for all that time, but normal fires? Maybe some altered form of Alchemist's Fire or something.

But prolly is just your usual videogame logic.

[Omnicide 26]

Yea, it's all videogame logic, because in reality it'd probably be pitch black in most of the tombs. Undead don't need to worry as they can see in the dark.

 

Also, some of the vegetables/food you find out in the open must have magical preservatives, since you don't get sick after eating it.

I especially cringe at the thought of seeing 'dog meat' at a few of the random merchants. My Khajiit would rather starve than eat dog meat, ugh...

 

Here's a few pics I've gathered over the last week of playing, but I'll give fair warning to those who are squeemish:

there's some pretty morbid/bloody/gory stuff that follows, thanks in part to the blood mod.

 

This pic is actually the only pleasant one among the rest; it's a Skyrim borealis:

 

The rest are fairly gruesome:

 

A game of William Tell gone wrong:

 

Pin-cushion:

 

Some Heads Are Gonna Roll (sequence):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Thorin Oakshield 260]

You know Rogvir (the one that is beheaded) is actually burried at the Sloeford cemetary?
Except he's mistaken for a woman, so the tombstone read: "If she only hadn't lost her head".

 

Thorin

[Omnicide 26]

Ok, I've shown you a few screenshots of what lies on the other end of my Khajiit's blades (or arrows), but never any pics of the actual perpetrator.

 

This is 'Nighteyes the Desecrator' getting ready to chow down on some kibbles. In his line of work, he has found that the best way to get rid of incriminating evidence is to simply eat it:

 

(Technically, it's not cannabilism, since he's not human)

 

Stay tuned to see what lies behind the mask...

 

 

 

 

[Omnicide 26]

Here is the dude, er cat, behind the mask:

 

Nighteyes the Desecrator dressed up in full Nightingale Armor:

 

 

 

 

[Omnicide 26]

Running short on time, so I'm just gonna post this one pic of my latest character, 'Black Orchid.' She's a Redguard Ninja Assassin (Redguards make pretty nice assassins, btw). The Mods I'm using to get the nice effects are these:

 

N_43 Hair Pack

Better Females by Bella Version 3

Calientes Female Body Mod Big Bottom Edition -CBBE-

Arise Chapter 1 - Black Sacrament Armor (w/Dark Brotherhood replacer/High-res version)

 

 

More pics of Black Orchid soon to follow...

[Omnicide 26]

Ok, had a little bit of extra time, so here's a few more...

 

The Black Hand:

 

Black Orchid Double shot:

 

I See You:

[wolfie2kX 528]

Hmm.. Funny thing about the last couple shots of Black Orchid.. I'd almost swear she looks familiar - sort of like a fairly young Britney Spears that's been toonified...

[Aegis 256]

Hit me baby one more - thanks for the visual.