What was that about the ship of Theseus?

April 26, 2023 5:47 AM

The state of modded Skyrim in 2023: [Ray Tracing Shader | RTX 4090 | 4K DLSS] [FPS Test With RTGI Shader | 3440x1440] [RTX 3060TI] [Reshade RTGI - 1400+ MODS]
posted by Fizz (14 comments total)

There's a solid "ships with mod support" pun here that I can't quite make happen this morning but I'm saying it anyway.

Also dang! It's amazing what folks are still doing with this game. (also anyone who can somehow get 1400 mods running without terrible conflicts is probably some kind of code wizard)
posted by curious nu at 6:51 AM on April 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Some of those shrubs look really nervous.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:04 AM on April 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

This stuff makes the wandering around in forests and underground areas etc look great, however as the years go by the buildings and cities look increasingly like LEGO prefabs plonked onto the landscape, especially when compared to something like Ass Creeds Odyssey and Valhalla.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 7:36 AM on April 26, 2023 [6 favorites]

Looks neat but there's no way my 2014-era potato of a video card could run any of this stuff.
posted by octothorpe at 7:40 AM on April 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

You can now watch Lokir be shot to death by an archer in glorious 4K.
posted by Fizz at 7:41 AM on April 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

however as the years go by the buildings and cities look increasingly like LEGO prefabs plonked onto the landscape

Photogrammetry (scanning objects into 3D models and textures) will solve a lot of that.

Unrecord has extremely photorealistic graphics for example, many people mistook it for actual bodycam footage.
posted by xdvesper at 7:44 AM on April 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

@xdvesper

Sure, but I was referring to the buildings in Skyrim in particular, which no amount of modding will fix.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 7:53 AM on April 26, 2023

Not trying to be an asshole by asking this, but are there any mods that make character motion look at all natural? Immersion is always going to tank when your lush, ray-traced world is populated by stiff-spined, jerky manikins.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 7:59 AM on April 26, 2023 [1 favorite]

Skyrim's got mods for everything. Never tried them myself but there are motion / animation replacers.
posted by Meatbomb at 8:08 AM on April 26, 2023

Skyrim's got mods for everything. Never tried them myself but there are motion / animation replacers.

Yup, check out this video where modders have overhauled the animation/combat to mimic Elden Ring, only inside of Skyrim.
posted by Fizz at 8:11 AM on April 26, 2023 [5 favorites]

anyone who can somehow get 1400 mods running without terrible conflicts is probably some kind of code wizard

You use the Wyre Bash utility in combination with a mod manager, every so often you might have to delve a little deeper.

How to Use Wyre Bash for "Skyrim" Mods to Create a Bashed Patch
posted by snuffleupagus at 9:24 AM on April 26, 2023

You use the Wyre Bash utility in combination with a mod manager, every so often you might have to delve a little deeper.

Wrye Bash (which everyone misspells for some reason!) doesn't work so well with large mod lists (it can only handle a maximum of 255 plugins); Mator Smash with updates and a utility that lets you split your load order into discrete chunks of no more than 255 mods for patching will work better.
posted by Pseudonymous Cognomen at 11:01 AM on April 26, 2023 [3 favorites]

Yup, check out this video where modders have overhauled the animation/combat to mimic Elden Ring, only inside of Skyrim.

Huh. HUH.
posted by cortex at 11:07 AM on April 26, 2023

I used to know how to spell Wrye Bash. Until I took an arrow to the knee.

Totally forgot about that mod limit, kinda cumbersome with the segments but neat that it all works as well as it does.
posted by snuffleupagus at 11:45 AM on April 26, 2023 [2 favorites]