I've been hearing how good Skyrim is with mods, so I installed some and then uninstalled it not long after.

For some reason I feel guilty not playing a game the way the developer intended it

They want people to mod... on PC. they released the creation kit for modders.

The way I see it, some people like to be told a story while other people like to tell their own stories. People who want to be told a story are, on the whole, more likely to want to play a game 'the way the developer intended it.' People who want to tell their own stories are, on the whole, more likely to want to use a game's resources to tell their own stories.

I have said this many times over the years: I see these games as blank books in which I can write my own stories, blank canvasses on which I can paint my own pictures. I do not want to experience the game as the developers intended it. I want to make the game I want to play, the way I intend it.

This is why I use mods. Mods are valuable tools that help me express my creativity.

This is something you need only worry about for mods that change how the game is played or tweaks the vanilla experience in some way. By this, I mean things like SkyRe and others of that ilk.

But by adding new armor or weapons to the game, or other things that expand on the vanilla experience without altering it, you are still playing it the way they intended.

Find a mod that increases the difficulty (in other ways than nerfing the PC)

How do you know what the developer intended? Maybe they were pressured to release by a Publisher and couldn't put more features, models, animations or anything else in. Maybe the developer didn't even think of some of the ideas and if they were given they would have been implemented. Maybe the developer needed stifle the game to cater to a larger audience.

Seriously I wouldn't assume what a developer intended and I'm pretty sure most games are a far cry from what a developer first pictured and intended.

Just play the way you wanna play you don't pay sixty bucks and not have fun.

If mods make you have fun, then have fun. If mods rob you of your fun, throw them out of the window. Simple as that

The poster above me nailed it.

I have gone through Morrowind and Oblivion with barely a mod used, and Skyrim on console so I can't mod. And when I eventually get it on PC, I won't be doing any extensive modding.

There are some interesting ones out there, but 95% of the time, mods do actually nothing for me. There's barely any appeal to them for me. I don't see how playing the way some gamer sitting in his gaming room is any better than playing the game how the developers designed it. Most mods don't address what I would want to see in the game anyways.

That's great that Planet Elder Scrolls and TESNexus exist to allow these modders to share and download mods, and I adore Bethesda for releasing the Construction Kit with all their games, but when I can go through 25 pages worth of mods on these sites and find 2 that have any kind of appeal to me, I know that modding and mods aren't for me.

Between Morrowind and Oblivion both, I can probably count on both hands the # of mods I have running between both games combined.

Morrowind, I have a mod that makes summoning illegal and if caught, I will be attacked by the guards, a mod that makes Detect Life work like Oblivion and Skyrim where I see the essence of energy in my field of vision instead of on the map, a Dwemer galleon outside of Vivec, Animated Morrowind which adds some new NPC's that do more than just stand around (sit, fish, drink, eat, cook, play music, etc.), and a scripted spells mod that adds some shape shifter spells, and like 2 houses.

Oblivion, I use DarkUI or Darnified UI, whatever it's called, a mod that adds cloaks as a clothing option, and a mod that addresses the psychic guards.

Since I have Skyrim on console, I don't even know what mods are out there.

Depends on which mods you run. I have around 12 profiles, none of them have mods that alter the core mechanics in anyway. Which means, my mods are for re-textures, lighting fixes, water etc. Nothing that changing the leveing system, XP gaimed, perk resetting and such.

Trust me, if you get the right mods, you would not even look at ENBs and appreciate the artwork of what Bethesda did.

If you get any mods that make the game easier, such as easier smithing, over powered armour and weapons, adjusting the perk tree(s) and spells, then it becomes boring.

And i have the opposite. Don't care that much for retextures or improved effects, but all underlying mechanics have been altered with mods.

And that's the beauty of mods: you can customise the game to your liking.

And that's why i remain a customer of BGS despite often criticising them for pretty much everything

As for feeling quilty of using mods? Only if use ridiculously overpowered items. And when i encounter such, i change their stats usually matching some vanilla item. Mostly i use mods to increase difficulty. I'm from the eighties, back then to be a gamer was to be a masochist

As long as you don't mod in ridiculously lore-breaking things you're still playing the game Beth intended you to play.

Exactly, i am more into keeping the core and base of the game the same, higher resolution textures (not replacers) to keep the game the way Bethesda designed it is my kind of thing.

Too late http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=111902493

Seems legit.

Well, no one has modded in a motorcycle and a SVD sniper rifle yet. I have to take what i can get

I know the feeling you are trying to describe. I still use a few mods though, because there are some things the game just doesnt do good enough on its own. For one thing, the magic system... absolutely terrible. Secondly.. how many items in the game look awesome but come with a crappy enchant? I feel no guilt using mods to give myself unenchanted good looking armor.

My Dunmer mage character wanted a dumner outfit to enchant and use, but the only ones in the game came with a 75% magic regen enchant... simple mod to fix that!

Beth changed Thu'um's lore into dragon language and invented the dragon war with holes enough to ashame a swiss cheese. I'd say, at this point everything goes, a least they don't make a key that allows someone to pick Nordic doors. Oh wait...

I've had the same problems sometimes. Usually minor mods work for me when it comes to gaming on the PC.

Strangely, I agree to everybody's point of view, they are all valid. The pros and cons of having a mod and depending on what the mod does, whether it just improves aspects of the game, or adds different play. Or those that alter how they play the original game by moderating how you play the role, commonly called nerfing.

But isn't nerfing really your choice of how you role-play the game, of all the choices there are available to you, choosing not to over-power yourself, etcetera. If you accepted all power-ups, you would be way over powered, but if the game restricted that OP choice then it would limit the freedom of choice which the game is reknowned for. As a player who would like restriction to be OP, that would suit me fine, but some like to be OP. Personally I think the OPing should be done by switching to Easy setting.

However simply nerfing can do it for me to a great extent, such as taking no potions or using them on weapons, seems fairer anyway unless the enemies use them, and from what I see, they don't use them.

Depends on the mods you choose to install:

• Climates of Tamriel, Enhanced lights & FX, Static Mesh Improvement Mod, Intricate Spider Webs, Deadly Spell Impacts, W.A.T.E.R., Enhanced Blood Textures and other mods out there, make the game simply more pretty.
• The Unofficial Patches fix the game.
• Skyrim Script Extender, makes otherwise impossible to work properly mods, possible.
• SkyUI, this irreplaceable user interface addon, every PC player should have and use
• The Dance of Death for those who want more varied killcams and better control over them.
• Convenient Horses, the best mount addon I can think of.
• Dragon Combat Overhaul makes dragons feel more like dragons (watch out for the knockback)
• ASIS makes the NPCs smarter (and deadlier since they use the perks & spells the player has access to)
• Run for your lives & When Vampires attack make any NPC who's not a guard or a Companion, do the obvious when either Dragons or Vampires show up: run and hide.
• aMidian Book of Silence is easily the best texture overhaul I've found out there for the vanilla armor/weapons.

These, were just examples. Like I wrote in the beginning, it's all about what you choose to install

For me, it doesn't matter what the mod does. It's all about customization. If that changes or adds a weapon, texture or all the trees.

I look at the vanilla game as just that. Plain vanilla ice cream. Yea they sell me the core but I am free to add any combination of ingredients to get the flavor I want. Vanilla is great and there are people that love vanilla and want nothing else. But Ben and Jerry's Fish Food is pretty damn good and I don't feel guilty one bit about it.

They offer mods as well. Dawnguard is just a mod. It's the exact same thing that anybody else could create as an addition for the game. It's just an official mod.

Bethesda has always favored PC users by releasing creation kits, implementing developer consoles and clearly gearing many parts of the game so that they can be improved for PC users. Bethesda all but says that PC users should mod this game and they already give us the tools to do so.

Don't feel bad. Feel glad.

Hey man, you've got totally the wrong idea about mods. Beth wants PCers to mod 'cause that's how they search for talent! The CK is their talent scout! I don't know if I'm a natural modder myself, 'cause I'm not a techno geek. I'm more of a brainstormer and ideas person. I've watched so many movies and TV dramas since I was a kid that I've got a treasure chest full of neat ideas. My ideas tend to be pretty big and dramatic too. But I'm also really one for sticking to lore as best I can when placing these mods into the TES world. I'm certainly not someone who'd want to put a Boeing 747 into TES, 'cause it kills the immersion. I like the idea of taking bits and pieces from other fantasies, movies, legends and history, then blending them all together into new concepts and designs for TES, just as Beth obviously did themselves when they were developing the games. I can see lots that Beth obviously took from history, legends, D&D, Tolkien etc., so why not do more of it for my own mods? I say, if it looks right for TES world, if it looks like it fits, then there's a very good chance that it will, especially if you want to continue the game after you've played all the vanilla quests and plotlines.

Why should you care what people think about mods? just play it the way you want. if you dont feel comfortable using mods then dont. i find mods can ruin skyrim, especially enb, armor, faces mods. etc and i wouldn't say Beth wants us to use these mods. they just like to encourage modders.

Yes. Very few developers do that nowadays