Your Essential Skyrim Mods

July 19th, 2013

Fessels wrote:Yeah i saw the posts in there as well, and i am some what surprised to see that Arthmoor waves it of like that?

So was I to be honest.

No point in being a "good" mod user when you're lumped in with the rest who have no idea what they are doing. I stay away from the Beth forum (and most others these days except to lurk) and by the comments in that thread you can see why. I'm not an idiot and I'm not about to subject myself to ridicule because some people think they are always right.

All I know is whatever script tells NPC's to run inside during a vampire attack included Irileth and her guards and they never came out again, not even after waiting for hours in game time. I replicated this three times from saves before even reaching Whiterun and at different times of the day. They ran back inside Dragonsreach and stayed there. I found a dead Master Vampire by the main gate on one of these occasions, and no, there were no dogs anywhere inside the town or the outskirts, including the stables.

Like I said best scenario for me was to replace it and get rid of vampire attacks altogether. I have no unusual or weird mods and my load order is mostly as Boss sets because it's not always right either.

I've just spent another frustrating time sorting out another mod conflict and starting my character over four times. This one was a dialogue bug that didn't show up until I got to Whiterun, due to the NPC I wanted to talk to. It involves a very cute small furry animal which itself is actually a very good mod. However, it's not compatible with other followers, vanilla or otherwise and since there are quests where you're assigned a follower, it causes issues. ie, Farkas for example. The author is aware and says in the readme it's incompatible with other follower mods, but since it caused issues with vanilla dialogue I sadly had to remove it.

I just know I've been pulling my hair out trying to get my Khajiit past level 11 with some different, but common mods than I was using previously and I'm way past putting up with things that don't work for me. I have better things to do with my time.

Fessels · July 20th, 2013

Maigrets wrote:
Fessels wrote:Yeah i saw the posts in there as well, and i am some what surprised to see that Arthmoor waves it of like that?
So was I to be honest. No point in being a "good" mod user when you're lumped in with the rest who have no idea what they are doing. I stay away from the Beth forum (and most others these days except to lurk) and by the comments in that thread you can see why. I'm not an idiot and I'm not about to subject myself to ridicule because some people think they are always right.

All I know is whatever script tells NPC's to run inside during a vampire attack included Irileth and her guards and they never came out again, not even after waiting for hours in game time. I replicated this three times from saves before even reaching Whiterun and at different times of the day. They ran back inside Dragonsreach and stayed there. I found a dead Master Vampire by the main gate on one of these occasions, and no, there were no dogs anywhere inside the town or the outskirts, including the stables.

Like I said best scenario for me was to replace it and get rid of vampire attacks altogether. I have no unusual or weird mods and my load order is mostly as Boss sets because it's not always right either.

The last few days i hat been testing what would happen when a master Vampire would attack a town, and got some mixed results. In Whiterun i indeed got the part where NPC's would not come out after the Master Vampire and his Thralls where killed, while in Markath there where even two NPC's who joined in the fight even though they where not supposed to? I have no idea what changed with Vampire attacks after the 1.9 patch but it definitely is doing something to Arthmoors mod. Any way i have also given up Arthmoors mod and switched to the mod you mentioned.

Maigrets wrote:I've just spent another frustrating time sorting out another mod conflict and starting my character over four times. This one was a dialogue bug that didn't show up until I got to Whiterun, due to the NPC I wanted to talk to. It involves a very cute small furry animal which itself is actually a very good mod. However, it's not compatible with other followers, vanilla or otherwise and since there are quests where you're assigned a follower, it causes issues. ie, Farkas for example. The author is aware and says in the readme it's incompatible with other follower mods, but since it caused issues with vanilla dialogue I sadly had to remove it.

I just know I've been pulling my hair out trying to get my Khajiit past level 11 with some different, but common mods than I was using previously and I'm way past putting up with things that don't work for me. I have better things to do with my time.

Sorry to hear that you have so much frustration with the mods you use, i have been there myself several times so i know how it feels. It is especially frustrating if it happens while you have a character that you really like or with one that is already a high level character and then something happens. I hope you can get it working as you want fast.

I made changes in my mod list and updated a few so here is my new current load list.

Active Mod Files:

spoiler:

July 21st, 2013

The last few days i hat been testing what would happen when a master Vampire would attack a town, and got some mixed results. In Whiterun i indeed got the part where NPC's would not come out after the Master Vampire and his Thralls where killed, while in Markath there where even two NPC's who joined in the fight even though they where not supposed to? I have no idea what changed with Vampire attacks after the 1.9 patch but it definitely is doing something to Arthmoors mod. Any way i have also given up Arthmoors mod and switched to the mod you mentioned.

Thanks for confirming that there are actual issues.

It's not just me and the people at Nexus saying it. I might have tried to post my findings at Nexus if I could actually get the site to load reliably, nevermind post a comment.

The fact that you found mixed results is also interesting as it should be more consistent, however with this game's quirks who knows what can happen. I also find the NPC's still run and fight dragons despite using Run For Your Lives. I just lost a whole Khajiit camp and other NPC's outside Riften.

@ Gekko64 If you take it upon yourself to report it in the Beth thread (which I never asked you to do on my behalf btw) and then leave disparaging remarks about other users' intelligence, perhaps you can pass the above bit of info along and see what Arthmoor and co think. I personally don't care as I'm using something else as I already mentioned in another post.

Fessels · July 22nd, 2013

Well so far Run for your Lives has been working for me. Although i have not met any Dragons yet with Kail, so who knows what happens when i do eventually. As for the quirks of this game...yeah tell me about it. When i did that Cannibal quest in Markath, all the people that where there kept getting back up each time i killed them, i first thought some one was using a Animate Dead spell, but after a few tries i saw that was not the case. For some freaky reason all of them hat turned Essential, but unfortunately for them i use the mod SM Essential Kills from Strategy Master...so with the spell from that mod i was finally able to kill them all for good.

Gekko64 · July 27th, 2013

Maigrets wrote:
If you take it upon yourself to report it in the Beth thread (which I never asked you to do on my behalf btw) and then leave disparaging remarks about other users' intelligence,

can you please explain the above bit? I'm not sure what you mean, are you angry at me for posting on the beth forums about this?

anyway, even though I had missed that post of yours an update to the mod came out today. try it out and see if it fixes your issues

July 27th, 2013

can you please explain the above bit? I'm not sure what you mean, are you angry at me for posting on the beth forums about this?

The reason I was annoyed is not so much because you mentioned in the Beth forum thread at first, but that you and others, including Arthmoor after you posted about it, seem to assume that all Nexus users are idiots who don't know what they are talking about. If I could have I would have reported it myself at Nexus because that's where the mod is hosted and where I downloaded it, but due to the Nexus having issues it wasn't possible at the time.

If it, (and any other mod by other authors for that matter,) is not going to be supported at the main site where it's hosted for everyone, particularly people who know what they are talking about or can give better details, and we're expected to post issues somewhere else than in the mods own comments thread where it's usually easily accessible, then why should we bother and just decide not use it. I posted about it here because I'm sick of other forums that have elitist attitudes where if you don't agree with everything said you're wrong, and the Beth forum is one of those as demonstrated in that thread, and many others throughout the Official forums.

I also posted here only to comment about my experience as I would any other mod, not to cause problems or to trash it. I have a lot of respect for Arthmoor and many other modders, and it's not my intention to complain about something that didn't happen, or that I didn't try to fix on my own. I realize there are people who troll or just complain for no good reason, but we're not all like that. I've had bad experiences with my own Oblivion mods, so I know how ignorant some people can be.

I doubt some of the users who had the same experience as myself could really give that much more info because it's basically as they stated, although I could have given a bit more info as I did here, if as I said Nexus wasn't having issues at the time.

anyway, even though I had missed that post of yours an update to the mod came out today. try it out and see if it fixes your issues

Thanks for the info.

Maybe I'll try it on my next playthrough though as I'm currently engrossed in Falskaar and will be for quite a few more hours yet. Currently I have vampire attacks disabled completely in Skyrim as I've played through Dawnguard once and didn't like most of it, or at least the main quest, so I doubt I'll be doing it again any time soon. The side quests are better.

I'd like it more if there was a way to remove Serana from the equation as a permanent follower for most of it, and that's not possible unfortunately, although I do have a mod that disables a lot of her annoyances. I imagine many people just love her, although I know I'm not alone in my opinion of her as I've read in various places, but I can't even stand to have her near me after listening to her moan and complain, resurrecting everything, creating ash piles everywhere, and getting in the way all the time. She gets on my nerves so much I just wish I could kill her and be done with it.

I get along better with the "dumb" vanilla followers who at least, for the most part, are entertaining in their own way, or with a couple of mod followers I've tried. Beth went too far the other way with Serana and made her a complaining, anxiety filled pain in the backside who continues to moan even after it's all over. I keep DG for the mods that require it though.

That's all just my experience with DG. Others will be different of course.

Gekko64 · July 27th, 2013

"yeah I know many nexus comments are full of crap

but since a reliable forumgoer reported having issues with it I thought I'd ask here. Lemme check if I can give you more detailed info..."

that's all I said. come on, the guy has got a point that there's a lot of unreliable stuff that gets posted there. Am I supposed to argue with him on something I didn't experience first hand? After you told me you didn't want to get involved I respected your wish and left the topic alone

It seems I've managed to spread the seed of doubt though since he's now posting an update. So he's perhaps a bit grumpy but he does listen

Fessels · July 27th, 2013

Sorry but i did not think starting a new thread about it would be beneficial so i will place it here. Just saw this post on the Nexus Relz thread of Falskaar, and i really hat stop myself from posting a reaction on it.

Okay this mod should probably be seen in two ways. Professional speaking (since the mod author did all this to apply for a job at Bethesda).
Professional speaking i would give this mod a 5 in 10.

The story is not that bad ..the characters are good ...the sandbox for this mod is kinda fun to play at nice scenery some amazing water falls ...HOWEVER there is not after completing the mod that feeling of achievement we get thrown out of the door with a lousy $ in the pocket and sent packing. Where is my mansion ? Where is the rebuilding after the war? ...why are the houses considered outside places? *Spoiler Alert* I was hoping while in main mission at some point that big manor be awarded to us as services rendered or some such ...i was hoping in the end to be able to say we kinda saved the island ...but is hard to say that when the two major cities end destroyed in the end... *End of spoiler Alert*

I think maybe this mod was bit rushed in the end ..i dont know ..it just feels wrong after playing till the end i do not think i would pay real money for the mod (professional speaking) On the other hand as a player that decided to make a mod so not professional speaking i would say this mod is an 9 in 10. the same criticism applies but it IS quite remarkable what was done by the mod author ...especially because most of it was done by one person alone. There is still some hours of fun that this mod provides but in my opinion it really needs some tweaks

Seriously...that is the reason why this person thinks Falskaar only deserves a 5 out of 10? I realize it is a personal opinion of that person, but that is just plane nuts.

August 1st, 2013

Gekko64 wrote:"yeah I know many nexus comments are full of crap but since a reliable forumgoer reported having issues with it I thought I'd ask here. Lemme check if I can give you more detailed info..."

that's all I said. come on, the guy has got a point that there's a lot of unreliable stuff that gets posted there. Am I supposed to argue with him on something I didn't experience first hand? After you told me you didn't want to get involved I respected your wish and left the topic alone

I really have nothing more to say on the subject as it's just going to go round and round and I don't want an argument with you or anyone else.

It wasn't my intention when I first mentioned my mod problem.

The only thing I will repeat is if anyone's mods, not just Arthmoor's of course, won't be supported on the site people download them from and then those people expect support at that site, then comments should be disabled altogether. A moderator can do that if the author can't.

I do understand why he gets frustrated, but if noobish or troll comments are getting to much of a problem just don't allow any comments at all and don't trash everyone in general there because of it.

It seems I've managed to spread the seed of doubt though since he's now posting an update. So he's perhaps a bit grumpy but he does listen

Yeah, well grumpy is fine as I get grumpy myself as anyone can

but this kind of thing just makes me turn away and not use the mod at all, especially if there's an alternative.

Another example of how to drive people away, or me at least....There's a quest mod that I wanted to try but the 1st quest trigger didn't work for me for some odd reason so I couldn't continue even though I fulfilled the requirements. Fessels know which one that is and even though we had a lot of the same mods, it worked for him, but not me.

However, the author is such an asshole to anyone who has an issue that I wouldn't bother asking a question or continue trying to play his\her mod(s) because I've already seen his\her reactions to the very question I would have asked. That, however was before I last reinstalled the game and changed a lot of mods around so it may work this time, but I've lost interest as there are a lot of better ones with good support.

August 1st, 2013

Fessels wrote:Sorry but i did not think starting a new thread about it would be beneficial so i will place it here. Just saw this post on the Nexus Relz thread of Falskaar, and i really hat stop myself from posting a reaction on it.

Okay this mod should probably be seen in two ways. Professional speaking (since the mod author did all this to apply for a job at Bethesda).
Professional speaking i would give this mod a 5 in 10.

The story is not that bad ..the characters are good ...the sandbox for this mod is kinda fun to play at nice scenery some amazing water falls ...HOWEVER there is not after completing the mod that feeling of achievement we get thrown out of the door with a lousy $ in the pocket and sent packing. Where is my mansion ? Where is the rebuilding after the war? ...why are the houses considered outside places? *Spoiler Alert* I was hoping while in main mission at some point that big manor be awarded to us as services rendered or some such ...i was hoping in the end to be able to say we kinda saved the island ...but is hard to say that when the two major cities end destroyed in the end... *End of spoiler Alert*

I think maybe this mod was bit rushed in the end ..i dont know ..it just feels wrong after playing till the end i do not think i would pay real money for the mod (professional speaking) On the other hand as a player that decided to make a mod so not professional speaking i would say this mod is an 9 in 10. the same criticism applies but it IS quite remarkable what was done by the mod author ...especially because most of it was done by one person alone. There is still some hours of fun that this mod provides but in my opinion it really needs some tweaks
Seriously...that is the reason why this person thinks Falskaar only deserves a 5 out of 10? I realize it is a personal opinion of that person, but that is just plane nuts.

Heh...yes I saw that too, but it wasn't the worst comment I've seen. I don't know if it's jealousy or people just being mean spirited since I doubt many of them could come even close to a fraction of what AJV has done.

I'm almost at the last mission and have done everything else I can find and have had only one issue which was a gate trigger not working in a certain very large and very impressive cavern. I used a hint that someone left in the comments which was to drop a Draugr body on the switch so it stays down and opens the gate.

I have to admit I used God Mode for that particular sequence as I was surrounded by a dozen Deathlords, Overlords and a Lich and even with my followers I had no hope with all the shouting and being disarmed etc. It was also so much harder because that whole area had a lot of lag as soon as I entered for some reason, even before the battle, and I'm surprised my PC didn't crash at the time during the fight. The high level of all enemies in Falskaar is a complaint I've seen a number of people make so I wonder if it actually is my overhaul or how AVJ programed it. I think I did see him comment that he would look at the bandits levels.

I've thoroughly enjoyed Falskaar and I'm pretty sure will play it in my next playthrough and I'm not that easy to impress.

MasterAub · August 1st, 2013

I've decided I will play Skyrim again on my next PC. And I will be building it in December around Christmas Time as I will be back on vacation to my Home Country. Then I will for sure include this particular Mod on this next playthrough. There are so little quest mod compare to Oblivion...and when one shows up it's unconstructive criticism...Unbelievable!!!

August 3rd, 2013

MasterAub wrote:I've decided I will play Skyrim again on my next PC. And I will be building it in December around Christmas Time as I will be back on vacation to my Home Country. Then I will for sure include this particular Mod on this next playthrough. There are so little quest mod compare to Oblivion...and when one shows up it's unconstructive criticism...Unbelievable!!!

You won't regret it. Don't take any notice of the people who downgrade the mod for stupid reasons. It's a very great achievement. I just finished it last night after around 25 hours and had no problems worth speaking of and the few I had were easily fixed.

The ending sequence was very dramatic. I'm now back in Skyrim and it seems like an anticlimax after playing Falskaar...

.

One of the most stupid comments I've seen is someone uninstalled and unendorsed because at the end Alexander added the credits. Plus, they took great pains to tell everyone how much they hated that but mentioned nothing about the quality of the rest of the mod. Personally I think that was a nice touch to thank the people who helped him, for free, and certainly didn't take anything away from the mod itself.