Elder Scrolls Skyrim thread

[mori]

Here is my complete unedited mod list:

1.FNIS SE
2. Immersive Citizens- AI Overhaul
3.Caliente's Beautiful Body Enhancer
4.Bodyslide and Outfit Studio
5.Achievements Mod Enabler
6.Unofficial Skyrim SE patch
7. Alternate Start (LoL)
8. SIMM
9. BenezeiahQuestMarkers
10. Immersive Patrols SE
11. Enhanced Texture Detail
12. Anna NPC's
12. Relationship Dialogue Overhaul
13. Bijin Warmaidens
14. XP32 MSSE
15. Skyrim Flora Overhaul
16. Realistic Waters Two
17. Blackthorn- A buildable town
18. Enhanced Blood Textures SE
19. Immersive Armors
20. Pretty Combat Animations
21. ElysiumEstate
22. Rustic Clothing
23. Rugnarok
24. Quality World Map
25. FlowerGirls SE
26. KS Hairdos SSE
27. KF-Falkreath
28. Marriage Mod
29. The Kids Are Alright
30. Beyond Skyrim-Bruma
31. Beyond Skyrim Integration Patch
32. Bijin Wives
33. High Poly Project
34. Obsidian Weathers
35. The Ordinary Women
36. Sky UI
37. FNIS PCEA2
38. FNIS Sexy Move
39. The Eyes of Beauty
40. Fuz Ro D'oh
41. GIST Soul Trap
42. Immersive Weapons
43. Smooth Sky Mesh
44. RaceMenu
45. The Great City of Dragon Bridge
46. Lucien
47. Bijin Skin
48. Wolf Twins
49. JK's Arcadia's Cauldron
50. JK's Belthor's General Goods
51. JK's Warmaidens
52. JK's The Drunken Horseman
53. JK's The Bannered Mare
54. Bullish Bovine
Start getting into the kinky stuff
55. Female Facial Animation
56. Book of Silence
57. Arousal Based Matchmaker
58. SI_Matchmaker_Light_SE
59. SOS SE
60. SexLab EagerNPC
61. Sexlab Aroused
62. SexLab Framework

I did not include various weather and atmosphere mods and ENBs that I tried but did not take a liking to. I am running the Obsidian ENB.

One mod that made me make moral choices was The Kids Are Alright. When you are clearing out a bandit camp and suddenly a child runs out to a fallen bandit and starts sobbing. Then they ask you, "What am I going to do now?". You are not going to have to worry about that kid because you are getting the blade and thrown on top of the rest of the bodies, I can't have you coming for me years down the road seeking revenge.

[Daehawk]

Kinky at number 55 huh? I see FlowerGirls SE up there at 25

[mori]

Missed that one. But I never interacted with any of them.

[Blackhawk]

Play Enderal.

I thought it was a much better story than the Skyrim's.

A big +1 to this! I've sunk about 30 hours into it over the past week and am loving it!

Happy gaming!

-Zork

I could have sworn we had an Enderal thread. Anyway, Enderal has been ported to the Special Edition. Just as significant, it has also been made playable in VR.

For those who haven't played it, it's a free mod that's essentially a full campaign. All it has in common with Skyrim is that it uses it's engine. The mechanics and balance are all different. And a lot of people say that Enderal is a much better game than Skyrim was. I never quite finished it, but my impression was that it's a justified claim.

[Daehawk]

Ive been waiting on a return to Skyrim. It takes me 2 weeks to mod it right. I could probably get rid of all my other games and still not finish Skyrim in 20 years. I dont even have the DLCs or GotY.

[Hyena]

Play Enderal.

I thought it was a much better story than the Skyrim's.

A big +1 to this! I've sunk about 30 hours into it over the past week and am loving it!

Happy gaming!

-Zork

I could have sworn we had an Enderal thread. Anyway, Enderal has been ported to the Special Edition. Just as significant, it has also been made playable in VR.

For those who haven't played it, it's a free mod that's essentially a full campaign. All it has in common with Skyrim is that it uses it's engine. The mechanics and balance are all different. And a lot of people say that Enderal is a much better game than Skyrim was. I never quite finished it, but my impression was that it's a justified claim.

VR compatible now??? Damnit. Now I HAVE to get a decent video card.

[Daehawk]

Looks like good ole Beth is about to dump some more gas on the fire.

Thanks go to Blues Clues News

Skyrim: Anniversary Edition Will Break Mods

A post on Reddit offers an "important PSA" about the upcoming Skyrim: Anniversary Edition (thanks DSOGaming). This is a warning that significant changes under the hood will break compatibility with many of the large number of modifications for the role-playing game. Word is: "the native code mod scene is going to be broken for an unknown length of time after AE's release." Here's more:

Well had been considering another install and super mod up. But this makes me think Ill never install the game again. Im not ready now and later no mods will work. I doubt many mod makers want to go back and make their decade old mods run....yet again.

[Carpet_pissr]

But mods won’t work with just the AE, right? I assume if you don’t buy/install that, you can still use mods with whatever edition you have, pre-AE?

[Hrothgar]

Right now Skyrim and Skyrim Special Edition are separate installs under Steam. I presume Anniversary Edition would be another separate install.

[Daehawk]

Rumor is its a free Steam autoupdate to the gane. Maybe it makes all copies into one new one. No idea really. May be a fake rumor.

[Blackhawk]

There is contradictory information out there. The most reliable seems to be that Anniversary will be paid, not free, and that there will be a 'discount' upgrade option. However, the Special Edition will include a few freebies - fishing, survival mode, a few quests, and an updated code base. It's the last one that will break mods for the Special Edition if true. From what I understand, it isn't just an updated .exe file like most updates that break mods, it's a completely rewritten version. That means that the core mods that other mods build off of (like the Script Extender) won't just be able to update, they'll have to rewrite it from scratch. That could take update time from the few days typical after a patch to potentially months.

So, yeah - Bethesda has never been mod friendly. They keep the modding because it makes them money (it's a selling point for their games), but they really don't move a finger way to help beyond what's possible in the official editor (and probably 80% of the mods out there exceed the editor.)

[dbt1949]

Bethesda senior community lead Jessica Finster confirmed at Quakecon 2021 that gamers who own the Special Edition can “upgrade to the Anniversary Edition for the additional content.”

[Blackhawk]

While setting up Fallout 4 VR, I paid for a month of Nexus premium to avoid hour-long downloads of texture packs. I've decided that once I get FO4VR stable, I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity to also get SkyrimVR modded up and ready to play. That's two Bethesda modding sessions in a row. My head already hurts!

[Blackhawk]

Note: I'm playing the VR version. The game itself is the same except for the interface. This post does, however, pertain as much to regular Skyrim/Fallout as it does to the VR version, and if you're a fan, you might want to give it a read.

Ok, so I'm taking a break from fighting with Fallout 4 VR. As I said in that thread, the VR versions of Skyrim and Fallout 4 seem more finicky when it comes to modding, and are a hassle to troubleshoot compared to the pancake version. Still, Skyrim was a better VR implementation than Fallout 4, seems to have gotten better post release support, and has a bigger modding community. It also feels like a better fit for VR than Fallout (FO4VR's two biggest problems where how it handled guns/aiming, and how much of a hassle building had become - Skyrim lacks both of those things.)

But, after futzing with two full modding setups for Fallout 4 VR, I didn't really feel much enthusiasm for trying a third modding cycle with Skyrim. I decided, though, to try Wabbajack. Why the hell not? Wabbajack, for the 97.8% of you who don't know, is a sort of mod client/downloader/installer. It does everything for you. So far, my process has been 1) delete everything Skyrim VR off of my drives, 2) install Skyrim VR fresh, 3) install Wabbajack, and 4) run the Wabbajack list I chose. Right now it's running. It will take several hours to do it's thing. But if it works like I understand it to, when I'm done my fresh Skyrim VR install will be fully modded, including all of the mods downloaded, configured, and installed, all of the configuration done, all of the necessary .ini files edited and tweaked, the load order established, everything except making a few final choices and setting up a couple of files.

It's the equivalent of having a full-time pro modder come in and set up your game for you while you do something else, with a set of mods, options, and configurations that are heavily tested to be safe and stable. That's one hell of an upside if it works, and it has so much good word of mouth that I'm pretty confident that it will work.

The downside is that you're setting up someone else's pre-determined set of mods rather than going through and picking and choosing your own. You can add mods to these setups after you're done, but I understand that you have to be careful in doing so. Still, I'm not in the mood to futz with the two days of headaches that come from doing it myself, only to end up with a less stable (although more personal) end result. Right now I just want the thing running and the issues solved. This should do that.

Here's the thing, though - Wabbajack isn't just Skyrim VR and Fallout 4 VR. It also works with Morrowind, Oblivion, old Skyrim, Skyrim SE, Fallout 4, Fallout New Vegas, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age II, No Man's Sky, Darkest Dungeon, Dishonored, and Kerbal Space Program (and, I'm guessing, other games will be added.)

So, here's to giving it a test. Wish me luck!

[Blackhawk]

Hell, I forgot to link the mod list I went with. I'll be using FUS:

FUS is a fundamental modlist for Skyrim VR that offers 3 profiles.

FUS (Basic): Including the barebones for a good VR experience.
FUS RO (Basic + Visuals): Also includes some visual improvements.
FUS RO DAH (Basic + Visuals + Gameplay): Also includes several mods that alter gameplay, both VR-specific and general ones.

This modlist is meant to be used by people who either want to start their own totally personal modlist but dont want to bother with the basic stuff (in that case use the FUS - green basics), or by people who want to have an as fast as possible mod list installation to get Skyrim VR running with a generally vanilla-lore-friendly overhaul and never come back (in that case use the FUS RO - blue visuals - or the FUS RO DAH - yellow gameplay - profiles in addition if you like fun). So in this list, only the FUS profile is meant to be absolutely essential. The rest is what we find to be a nice minimalistic setup that users can either just use or butcher at their taste and level of competence

[TheMix]

Good luck.

Question, it handles all the downloading and installing of the mods? When I briefly read up on it, it seemed to be saying that it would give you the list, but you needed to do the downloading yourself. I also got the impression that it would tell you all the config changes, but you'd have to do them yourself. (I think one of the things I watched/read mentioned that you'd need to spend an hour or so updating the configurations when done downloading and installing. But it does, I think, tell you what the configuration changes are.)

[Blackhawk]

Good luck.

Question, it handles all the downloading and installing of the mods? When I briefly read up on it, it seemed to be saying that it would give you the list, but you needed to do the downloading yourself. I also got the impression that it would tell you all the config changes, but you'd have to do them yourself. (I think one of the things I watched/read mentioned that you'd need to spend an hour or so updating the configurations when done downloading and installing. But it does, I think, tell you what the configuration changes are.)

I'll let you know. For now, all I know is what's on that page (and the download and install process took me about 30 minutes - I was ready for three to four hours!)

One other thought: If this is a seamless as it seems like, it would really set up a great option for replayability - just install a different collection (I wonder if there are profiles?) and play it as a completely different game. This time, colorful fantasy exploration game. Next time, hardcore medieval survival game.

[TheMix]

I did notice that there were a LOT of Skyrim options. But FO4 was pretty sparse. And I think 'none' if you didn't have the DLCs. (Which I did finally pick up when they hit a "good" sale price. I think until last week I had never seen them more than 50% off.)

[Daehawk]

I have owned the game since release but never got the DLCs. Mods though require them a lot so I grabbed the GotY edition for $10 the other week / month.

[Blackhawk]

I did notice that there were a LOT of Skyrim options. But FO4 was pretty sparse. And I think 'none' if you didn't have the DLCs. (Which I did finally pick up when they hit a "good" sale price. I think until last week I had never seen them more than 50% off.)

I thought you were waiting until NEXT time!

[Blackhawk]

Good luck.

Question, it handles all the downloading and installing of the mods? When I briefly read up on it, it seemed to be saying that it would give you the list, but you needed to do the downloading yourself. I also got the impression that it would tell you all the config changes, but you'd have to do them yourself. (I think one of the things I watched/read mentioned that you'd need to spend an hour or so updating the configurations when done downloading and installing. But it does, I think, tell you what the configuration changes are.)

So, I have no idea if FUS works the same as every other Wabbajack, but here is what I did:

1. Reinstalled a fresh copy of Skyrim
2. Installed Wabbajack and downloaded the (small) modlist file.
3. Double-clicked the modlist and waited 30-45 minutes. (Note that I have a very fast connection, around 225 down, and I have a Nexus premium account for a month (about five bucks.) A slower connection/throttled free account would be slower.)
4. Ran Mod Organizer (installed by the mods), then ran two utilities created by the list author. The first let me pick which of several basic sets of files I wanted, the second let me pick an ENB.
5. Chose a profile from the three above.
6. Made one single edit in one .ini file (for the specific ENB I chose.)
7. Pushed play.

I did a lot of reading as I chose options, but beyond that? Fresh install to (so far) rock-solid fully modded setup in about an hour. I tested with a clean Skyrim SE save I downloaded, and everything worked, and looked, awesome.

Now that I have it installed, there are a number of other options the author has left open for me to go through. There are two different water options, for instance - I select the one I want. There are a number of other mods ready to go, but not enabled. I select the ones that appeal. Beyond that, there is nothing to do at all.

[dbt1949]

I'm going to wait for the Anniversary Edition and see what they offer there before I start another Skyrim character.

[TheMix]

I did notice that there were a LOT of Skyrim options. But FO4 was pretty sparse. And I think 'none' if you didn't have the DLCs. (Which I did finally pick up when they hit a "good" sale price. I think until last week I had never seen them more than 50% off.)

I thought you were waiting until NEXT time!

I was. Because I'd never seen them more than 50% off. So I also figured the longer I waited, the better the chance. But for less than $10? Considering I'd never seen them that low, I figured I better act sooner.

[Blackhawk]

I've been busy lately, and haven't had much time to work, but I've been making my way through the FUS modlist lately, reading about each mod on the Nexus, and making a 'mod manual' for those that need it ( a list of settings, configuration options, notes on how to start it, etc.)

Man, I'm almost ready to start actually playing! I just need to figure out what to actually play. I come from enough of a tabletop RPG background that character history and motivation are important to me. It isn't "I'm in Skyrim, time to do the quests", it is "Why am I here, and why do I care about helping this guy find his lost sweetroll?"

I have two ideas:

The first is an archer, but a combat archer, not a stealthy archer. Stand out, take a few shots as the enemies approach, then switch to melee. I don't want a sneaker here, and I don't want a 'nature' ranger. The first I've played a ton of, and the second would be too limiting for first VR playthrough.

Pros:
~Archery is a blast in VR
~Some fun gameplay ideas
~A good choice for running with NPC companions
~It opens up some race options I've never played (I've never played a Bosmer, for instance.)

Cons:
~As fun as archery is, it tires my left shoulder (the partially paralyzed one) out quickly. I don't know if that would be a problem or not in the long run.
~I don't have anything worked out beyond the base concept of 'combat archer.' Not even race.

The other is a Dunmer, mostly wizard balanced out with light, fast melee.
Pros:
~I have a rough background already in place, although it isn't fully fleshed out
~It's tied to one of my old Morrowind characters, which is just a fun element
~It uses magic, which is a blast in VR, especially with gesture mods (trace symbols in the air to activate spells.)

Cons:
~I wouldn't be able to use archery
~It would rely on weapons for melee blocking, and I really don't like the way parrying works in VR (it mimics the pancake version - you hold your weapon out horizontally and it functions like a shield - that feel so, so wrong in VR - parrying should be an active process.)

I may find a high-level 'clean' testing save to download somewhere and just try out a few things before deciding.

FYI, this was the character concept I was fiddling with for the Dunmer, presented in the stream-of-consciousness brainstorming I used to figure it out. Spoilers for Morrowind.

Spoiler:

I may actually draw a little inspiration from a not-so-nice Dunmer traditionalist that I played in Morrowind a long time ago. He was a bit, er, racist. He'd bend over backwards to support a Dunmer, would help out other races if there was something in it for him, but wouldn't lift a finger to help the beast races unless there was something he wanted and it served his interests. And he'd probably stomp on their sweetrolls on the way out the door after he got paid.

Maybe a descendent?

There's an idea. It's been what, a tad over 200 years? And the other character was a wizard who did well in House Telvanni. He was older in Morrowind, but powerful Telvanni wizards could extend their lives. My character could be his son or grandson. He ends up in Skyrim because... (? - and why wouldn't he just go back home?), and it could be a case of nature-vs-nurture. He was raised by my other character, but times have changed - will he overcome that influence? I have Inigo installed, so that could be a strong influence to overcome the prejudices he was raised to…

And there's another idea. I know why he can't go home - home is Vvardenfell, in Tel Uvirith (the player Telvanni stronghold from Morrowind.) It would have been destroyed some 196 years before Skyrim. My new character, as a child, his mother, and his father (my old character) would have been refugees, first to Solstheim, and then to... Windhelm. The hatred toward both mages and Dunmer led to a group of Nords killing his father (my old character), which is why my character would support the Imperials in the civil war (motivation!) If you've been paying attention, that means that my character would be in excess of 200 years of age. That doesn't make sense, but there is a reason.

I'm using the Realm of Lorkhan alternate start mod, which literally starts you, in its own words, "...someplace unknown... Somewhere outside of space and time." After his father's murder, my character grew angry and went after the Nords who did it, something well beyond his ability, and, like his father, he was killed. Or, rather, was an instant from being killed when he vanished.

His father was the Nerevarine, and interacted with the Heart of Lorkhan. It affected him, and taint was passed on to his son (my character.) It was just enough for Lorkhan to reach through time and space and pluck him out, then release him where he wanted him to be.

It gives me a personal motivation (a great dislike of the Nords, thus taking a pleasure in helping their enemies in the civil war), a struggle (he's in a strange land, in a changed time, and without a real home, any family being a century gone), a reason for being in Skyrim (there really isn't anywhere else to go), a larger motivation (to regain the respect and power once associated with his family, which may include guild activities and/or the main quest as routes to regain influence), and a behind-the-scenes character arc (dealing with the attitude he was raised with toward other races.)

[dbt1949]

I just think "Superman".

[Blackhawk]

I just think "Superman".

So, make an Imperial, open the console, type:

player.setav UnarmedDamage 9999
TGM
TCL

Maybe add a mod that magnifies the physics so that when you punch someone they go flying across the world.

I was going through the FUS mods, and was reading the Triumvirate description. I liked this bit:

Where to get the spells:
Like vanilla spell tomes, Triumvirate spell tomes can be bought at thematically appropriate vendors, up to your skill level in their school. See each class for a list of vendors.

I want to cheat!
There is a secret way to get all of the spellbooks. Just kill the Riverwood chicken and loot its corpse. You're welcome.

[dbt1949]

I think I have over a dozen bookmarks for console items and such for Skyrim and Fallout 4. Also for finding where items are.

[Blackhawk]

FYI, this was the character concept I was fiddling with for the Dunmer, presented in the stream-of-consciousness brainstorming I used to figure it out. Spoilers for Morrowind.

Spoiler:

I may actually draw a little inspiration from a not-so-nice Dunmer traditionalist that I played in Morrowind a long time ago. He was a bit, er, racist. He'd bend over backwards to support a Dunmer, would help out other races if there was something in it for him, but wouldn't lift a finger to help the beast races unless there was something he wanted and it served his interests. And he'd probably stomp on their sweetrolls on the way out the door after he got paid.

Maybe a descendent?

There's an idea. It's been what, a tad over 200 years? And the other character was a wizard who did well in House Telvanni. He was older in Morrowind, but powerful Telvanni wizards could extend their lives. My character could be his son or grandson. He ends up in Skyrim because... (? - and why wouldn't he just go back home?), and it could be a case of nature-vs-nurture. He was raised by my other character, but times have changed - will he overcome that influence? I have Inigo installed, so that could be a strong influence to overcome the prejudices he was raised to…

And there's another idea. I know why he can't go home - home is Vvardenfell, in Tel Uvirith (the player Telvanni stronghold from Morrowind.) It would have been destroyed some 196 years before Skyrim. My new character, as a child, his mother, and his father (my old character) would have been refugees, first to Solstheim, and then to... Windhelm. The hatred toward both mages and Dunmer led to a group of Nords killing his father (my old character), which is why my character would support the Imperials in the civil war (motivation!) If you've been paying attention, that means that my character would be in excess of 200 years of age. That doesn't make sense, but there is a reason.

I'm using the Realm of Lorkhan alternate start mod, which literally starts you, in its own words, "...someplace unknown... Somewhere outside of space and time." After his father's murder, my character grew angry and went after the Nords who did it, something well beyond his ability, and, like his father, he was killed. Or, rather, was an instant from being killed when he vanished.

His father was the Nerevarine, and interacted with the Heart of Lorkhan. It affected him, and taint was passed on to his son (my character.) It was just enough for Lorkhan to reach through time and space and pluck him out, then release him where he wanted him to be.

It gives me a personal motivation (a great dislike of the Nords, thus taking a pleasure in helping their enemies in the civil war), a struggle (he's in a strange land, in a changed time, and without a real home, any family being a century gone), a reason for being in Skyrim (there really isn't anywhere else to go), a larger motivation (to regain the respect and power once associated with his family, which may include guild activities and/or the main quest as routes to regain influence), and a behind-the-scenes character arc (dealing with the attitude he was raised with toward other races.)

Alrighty, I'm going with the Dunmer concept, but I went with more of a straight mage. I've figured out the core build. I'm taking the rough background I used above, and I created a short guide to the character. It gives me direction and motivation once I'm in game. It gives me goals other than 'kill all the stuff and take all the loot!' , and gives me a few... complications. Character quirks that will actually push some choices (including quest and dialog choices) in ways I might not choose otherwise. After all, why is it always 'good playthrough' and 'evil playthrough' when most people are both? This character certainly qualifies, as his motivations aren't particularly altruistic, and whether he's a good guy, a greedy guy, or straight up evil depends on who you are and what you want. Dunmer? You got it. Imperial or Altmer? Maybe. How much? Nord or Argonian? Get bent. Oh, it'll benefit me? Sure, but I'll find a way to twist it to hurt you at the same time.

[Fardaza]

That's pretty impressive Blackhawk! I've never even come close to that kind of forethought.

[Blackhawk]

That's pretty impressive Blackhawk! I've never even come close to that kind of forethought.

Thanks! I generally do something like that in RPGs where your character isn't defined for you. Something like Baldur's Gate or Divinity gets that kind of treatment - how much detail depends on how well I know the world. I know Elder Scrolls fairly well (and I probably know the Forgotten Realms better, speaking of Baldur's Gate.) More than 30 years of tabletop tabletop RPGing means that I really want to know what makes my character tick before I step into the world, otherwise I just do everything - and that gets bland.

[Blackhawk]

Also, 'revers' = 'reveres' because I can't spell.

[dbt1949]

You have to find your son who was kidnapped by elves.

[Fardaza]

Closest I've ever come to that much back story was when I used Alternate Start once. I don't remember exactly what it said, but it was something like "You're a merchant from another province." I chose to start in the southwest corner of the map.

I decided my goal was to make as much money as I could. After being attacked by 2 bandit groups, I went into the nearest town. That's when I realized that all the stuff I'd picked up from the bandits was actually worth more money than what I was carrying. And so began my life as a hired sword for anyone willing to pay. I could get the reward and sell the loot!

Then around level 3 or 4 I somehow stumbled into a cave and unlocked a Daedric quest. It was really easy at that level. I had a super badass sword then, and it lasted for about 20 more levels!!

Most fun I've had in Skyrim in the last couple years.

[Blackhawk]

Realm of Lorkhan is an excellent alternate start mod.

Last night I finished polishing up my character, then used the option to start at the Nightingale Inn. Sure enough, it plopped me down behind a small hill, just out of sight of the road. Right where the Nords had dragged him to 'make and example' of him 200 years before (looks more like 179 years before, now that I do the math), just before he they struck the killing blow and he vanished. So there I was, on a snowy road, surrounded by nastiness. I wandered over to the inn, spent the night, and the next day headed back toward Windhelm.

I tweaked my story a bit. (Davryn Salethi, btw - a good Dunmer name, and I couldn't find the saves or any screenshots with my old Morrowind character's name.) My parents managed to bring a fair amount of their Telvanni wealth with them from Morrowind, and were among the earlier refugees to arrive, so they were able to purchase a manor in town before the hatred began toward Dunmer (as refugees) and toward mages (for the Oblivion Crisis), which forced the later arrivals into the Gray Quarter. It was their presence on the good side of town that led to the resentment and to their murder-by-mob. My character was young, barely an adult, and had been planning on attending the College of Winterhold before everything went to hell. His uncle (mother's brother) was a professor there, and had a home nearby he would have used. But after the murders he instead went looking for revenge, but didn't have the skill to back up his ego, and managed to get himself dragged out of town by the same group that had killed his parents. It was only the taint from the Heart of Lorkhan (a core plot element from Morrowind, for those that don't remember), passed to him from his father (my character in Morrowind who interacted with the Heart) that allowed Lorkhan to reach through time and pluck him out.

I'm guessing that my character wasn't supposed to be the 'Dovahkin' - it was supposed to be one of his descendants. But with him going and getting himself murdered, he threatened the future and plans were 'adjusted' by Lorkhan (none of which is based on anything canon, btw - just elements that would make sense if they were used that way.) He was put in the position his descendant was supposed to end up in instead.

So he made his way to Windhelm. He knew there was nothing he could do (and likely didn't realize that centuries had passed yet...), so he hired a cart to take him to Windhelm, to the college, to become a mage.

It was a great start - low level, dangerous area, a good motivation to be involved, but a valid excuse for not knowing what is going on in the world.

[Daehawk]

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Anniversary Edition FAQ

Ya. I have no plans to ever pay to 'upgrade'

I have my physical copy, my Steam copy, my Steam SE copy. Im good,.

[dbt1949]

I, on the other hand will probably upgrade to it. I need a reason to start the game back up again.

[Madmarcus]

I've gotten too used to having mods that need the SKSE. I might have been done with Skyrim anyway but this is the probably the bit that means I drop it for good. Last years run through Fallout 4 also felt like I'd finally seen pretty much everything and could drop that game too.

Hopefully I'll have a computer able to run the next Bethesda game.

[hepcat]

So this morning I logged onto my Xbox Series X for a few minutes before work and noticed that as a gamepass member, the anniversary upgrade was a couple of bucks off. I went ahead and grabbed it. It downloaded the whole game again for some reason, but that may have been something I did.

I started it up and noticed that no mods were installed. That's fine, but I miss my "alternate start" mod as I don't want to go through that lengthy tutorial intro yet again.

I do wonder how I can tell if I have the anniversary edition active. I mean, it shows up alongside my install when I view details on the game, but in game I'd like some kind of indication that it's the anniversary edition. I'll have to play around with it tonight to see if there is a way.

[Blackhawk]

FWIW, practically all of the significant mods are currently dead for the SE until the utilities are updated. And they'll break again the instant Bethesda updates the SE with any patches.

And none of them have been ported to the AE. Some that don't require utilities (like the script extender) may work as they are, or they may have game-breaking issues that don't show up until hours into the game, by which point the issues are baked into your save files.

If anyone is wanting to play regular Skyrim modded, either wait a few months, or wait until the community finds a way to roll back the update (and then don't update until you're done playing.)

[dbt1949]

First of all there was a large (for me) update. I assumed this was the anniversary edition before you purchase like everybody does now a days.
I went and got the anniversary update. Didn't have to download anything. But when I started the game I had to download (ingame) god knows how many updates 1 item at a time. Starts off with Dragon armor and then dragonplate armor and on and on. Each item taking a couple of minutes.
After a half an hour I walked away and came back a couple of hours later and evidently it was all done.
Started my save game and it loaded okay. But I can see no new updates. I must have to start a new game which I haven't done yet. <sigh>