After a long break from Skyrim I decided to come back and have a poke around to see whats new in the mod world. While doing so I got an email from a friend with the tag line: "Dayz in Skyrim! Check it out."

This caused me to get excited: Skyrim and Zombies = good. The premise was great and the video that my friend sent me was pretty good; though it could use some work. If you want to check it out then you can https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXavU7jVxQ4: its worth watching especially if you want to play my game.

To cut to the chase I got thinking about turning Skyrim into a survival game. After some thought it occurred to me that I don't have to mod anything as both Bethesda and the Modding community have done the leg work - I just needed to put it all together in a big fat list. So here I am.

Don't get me wrong this sort of thing has been done before. I have found a few zombie survival mod lists out there but they all focus on one theme: Making the game difficult to play with zombies. So we find the classics like frostfall and camping mods in most of the lists; but they still felt so empty. Where were the awesome looking zombies? The game play overhauls? The need to eat? The need to scavenge? The need to craft your own stuff? On top of that what about rules? Sure you can just blunder around in Skyrim and do some quests, get that awesome spell and just pretty much within a few hours become a god.

This is where my first point comes in. You want to play Zombie survival (ZS)? Then there are ground rules. The second point of playing a ZS in Skyrim is the survival part - the need to live off the land.

So fellow modders, players and Zombie lovers I present to you the Skyrim Zombie Play-through.

The Rules:

Yes there are rules. You want to take my tips, use this mod list and play a Zombie survival play through then come on here and brag about it? Then follow these rules and I will give your bragging rights so much more attention.

1) hardcoe MODE - you read right; first rule is its hardcoe rules. That means ONE character, ONE death. Once you die (your character not yourself) that's it for that character. You need to start over with a new one.

2) NO MAGIC - yup I am serious. Magic makes you way overpowered in Skyrim. Fire spells, healing spells heck even summons take the edge away from actually surviving on your own. Whats the point of living off the land if you can conjure up a minion to guard you.

EXCEPTION: Alchemy. Living off the land means you learn a skill or two about the environment you live in. It is only fair then that you get to utilize that skill set.

EXCEPTION: If a mod requires the use of a spell then you are allowed to use it. This does not mean you can use every spell only the one that is needed: I.E Frostfall create campfire, place tent etc... but not

3) NO EXTRA MODS. This mod list is what you need to follow. Its a game after all that we want to play and share our experiences with. No UBER sword mod. No EXTRA camping gear. No one shot punch mods. Got a cool armor mod? That's great! Oh it adds 10,000 to armor and gives you 400% health regen? Jog on. If I don't put it on this list then you've lost your bragging rights to play this ZS.

EXCEPTION: Graphic mods are allowed. As long as they don't interfere with any of the mods in the mod list. I.E making lighting adjustments, changing the appearance of creatures in the list etc..

Follow these rules and we can all have a shared experience in this "mini adventure game"!

Further more: If you have found a cool mod that might compliment the list then do share it. If it gets added to the list then you get to use it, we get to use it and we discover something new!

So download these mods and post your experiences, your gameplay, tips and tricks and help create a DayZ style skyrim.

The Mods:

The mods I gathered together in a list are all about survival and zombies. There isn't really anything else added apart from some graphical mods. Please also understand that I am aware of "other" alternative mods out there but the ones I have listed seem to work together quite well.

The categories are broken down into: Survival, Zombies, Crafting, and Misc.

Survival:

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/9557/?: Bit odd in the survival section but it really does make it more challenging to have a random start as opposed to the original start option. Remember we are not playing Skyrim. We are playing the apocalypse.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/11163/?: Ultimate survival mod. Stay warm, Stay Dry. Nothing worse than freezing to death while fighting off a zombie. Has a lot of crafting options too.

Add-ons: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12092/? - adds more cloaks to help fight off the cold and wet.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/14809/?: After a scrap you need to tend to your wounds. Pick your fights dont want to bleed out!

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/26228/?: Micro manage your eat, sleep and drink options. Sleep becomes necessary. Avoid eating and drinking and you could die.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/33201/?: an in-depth process of dressing down a kill, skinning it for its pelt, taking material from it for alchemy, and finally butchering its meat. Makes hunting more interesting.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/16139/?tab=1&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmoddescription%2F%3Fid%3D16139%26preview%3D&pUp=1: Allows for fishing in Skyrim. Pretty cool eh?

Zombies:

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/9318/?: The main mod. It adds thousands of Draugr to the game world, so along side your usual critters you now have hordes of undead to contend with.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/28238/?: Turn those Draugr in zombies! Just a texture re-placer.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1174/?tab=4&&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fcomments%2F%3Fmod_id%3D1174%26page%3D1%26sort%3DDESC%26pid%3D0%26thread_id%3D472203&pUp=1: Zombies don't just have to be undead people you know? Just a texture re-placer.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1472/?tab=4&&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fcomments%2F%3Fmod_id%3D1472%26page%3D1%26sort%3DDESC%26pid%3D0%26thread_id%3D474917&pUp=1: Turns bears into zombie bears! Texture re-placer

OPTIONAL: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/35631/?tab=2&navtag=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexusmods.com%2Fskyrim%2Fajax%2Fmodfiles%2F%3Fid%3D35631&pUp=1 or https://sites.google.com/site/immersivecreatures/home.

Both these mods add more creatures to skyrim to make more of a challenge

Crafting:

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/17416/?: Excellent for lighting up dark areas while keeping your hands free. Adds a craftable, wearable, Travel Lantern that can be hooked onto your belt, or carried in your hand.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/35782/?: A silly oversight by bethesda now fixed. Mammoth powder can now be crafted for all your alchemy needs.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12709/?: setting up camp? Best be prepared.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23574/?: great for setting dead on fire, lighting up dark areas and setting off traps!

Misc:

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/10175/?: Overhaul of Vanilla Skyrim Animals behavior to act a much more realistic.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/23948/?: gonna need to be cooking so salt is gonna need to be around more.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/22745/?: Just an atmospheric mod. Looks nice.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/49472/?: Cant see? grab a torch. essential for that horror feeling.

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51957/?: Why is that candle lit when no one has been here for hundreds of years?

Final word: The main game, its quests and NPC's may or may not be accessible due to the zombie hordes. So be warned: this is survival mode not Main skyrim with added zombies.