Hey all!

Alright I've been working on a very small mod that just alters some aspects of the game. I have a decent list of things I've changed and others I'm going to be getting to. I started thinking about how little I know about modding in general, and how there are so many things I wish I had the "know how" to be able to change. So I designed this mod for myself, but tried to keep it fairly balanced, because I want to enhance my gaming experience rather than become "Uber" or "OP." Also I made this with the "I don't know how to make mods" gamer in mind, so they can have a mod that changes some little things without adding a lot of other things.

Anyway sorry for the long introduction, but I wanted some community feedback on the little things that you guys/gals feel could be improved in skyrim.

Current Mods

My WIP Changelog

Mind you, I have the utmost respect for the modding community and I know there are mods that do some of the stuff I've done and thing I want to do, but I like to do whatever I can on my own.

I don't mind constructive criticism, but if you're going to respond let's keep things respectful. If you have an idea of something that could/should be tweaked that's not included let me know.

Neat idea. I can say I've seen a lot of these changes done in various mods that focus on fixing "issues" with the game, inconsistencies and what not. Good on you for taking initiative and learning by doing whats been done on your own.

Maybe look into some other common inconsistencies like the ability to break down armors and weapons into baser materials, the ability to temper the unique weapons and armors (I don't remember if this is or isn't a feature of the base game).

Edit: I'd also be aware that any lack of interest in what your doing isn't because what your doing isn't a worth while fix, but because other bigger mods already alter many of these things, and some people may not want some changes compared to others. But as a learning experience for yourself and altering your game how you see fit, its pretty cool, keep it up.

Yeah I started made a few recipes to temper some of the unique non-temperable items, but have a long way to go to get to them all. I hadn't thought of breaking down armor and weapons, but I really like that idea, so I'll probably incorporate it.

I kinda figured this thread wouldn't get a lot of attention, but figured I'd start it anyway. Also I understand not wanting to use a mod that has features things that are changed in bigger mods, it'd be a bit redundant, but if someone finds it interesting wouldn't they just need to put this mod last in their load order to let the bigger mod take precedence?

btw, thank you for your response and positive attitude toward this

Ha, as someone who has the interest in modding/scripting/programming I think its worth it to push people delving into it especially in this sort of way.

Your also right, if your mod had something that was new or unique then people would surely use it. Another idea you could take from it is the idea of making things modular. If not for others, as a practice of organizing mods you make. Creating a fixes and overhauls mod and breaking the it into relevant categories like smithing "fixes", combat, and expansion specific. Not something to worry yourself over at all really just an idea if you ever wanted to practice this sort of thing, though it is more a mod user important thing, helpful to those downloading or looking for mods.

So instead of say having one mod including everything, have multiple mods that focus solely on one thing? Like keep the werewolf and vamp mod separate from the smithing mod so if someone can pick and choose which aspects they want. I decided to make the racial mod separate from the "fix" mod, because I felt that diverted a bit too much from what I wanted to do with that one.

Also on scripting: I used to do a bit of scripting for Oblivion, but am intimidated by papyrus for some reason. I have all these ideas for new land mass mods and quests, but beyond creating the basic land mass/settlement and NPCs I get overwhelmed once scripting and quest designing come into play

Well, say you Name your mod on the Nexus, Fixes and Overhauls or something more eye-catching, and then when someone looks at the files section they will see different groups.

Smithing and Crafting Fixes and Overhauls

Dawnguard Fixes and Overhauls

etc.

This way your mod is then more accessible to people who may only be interested in certain things like the smithing or something and they don't have to download something that in turn changes something they are comfortable with. If you are familiar with two major overhauls ACE and Skyrim Redone, they are both examples of a modular mod that includes changes to multiple things but allow the downloader to pick and choose what they want.

As for scripting, if you've no experience with programming or scripting it can be intimidating though many tutorials do exist. It really is like learning another language haha. Scripting is a lot easier to achieve something with than is programming though as its a lot easier to read. Its more similar to the idea of just writing what you want to happen and it happening versus programming that you have a lot of extra input required.

I'd check out some of the tutorials for the creation kit as they have a few papyrus focused tutorials to get you started. I'd try smaller projects that require scripting rather than trying to delve into quests as they can contain a laaaaarge amount of scripts. I'm not completely familiar with what can and can't be done in the CK's script or with the addition of SKSE, but I'm sure you can find examples of easy to achieve effects that you could use as practice.