Best products from r/skyrimmods

I'm running an i5 750 and it blows away skyrim on full HD texture pack (not the DLC one) and I also only have 4gigs DDR3 since my one stick was bad in my 8 gig kit. Then again, it is G.skill 2133mhz ram @ 2200mhz, so it's really fast, but trust me...4 gigs of ddr3 is enough. So is an i5. The i5 has crushed everything I have thrown at it and then some, and have it overclocked at 4ghz at a stable 32c idle/60c full load (corsair h50 dual fan push/pull), and there is no reason to upgrade for a long time (then again the 750 is better than the 2500k) but don't let anyone tell you the i5 is falling short. I also have the same video card and can vouch for its awesome performance (with ultra settings and hd textures it's not 100% smooth, but is absolutely more than playable, and could always just get a second one SLI and itll run smooth as glass and I only paid 175$ for this one and they're selling on Amazon in Like New for about $180 now, IMO the best video card right now under $250 by far, let alone $175)

All that being said....your real issue is your hard drive!!!!

Trust me on this!! I have the same hard drive but a 320gig caviar blue 7500rpm as my backup drive on my gaming computer (my htpc has the 3 caviar black 750's) and I had Skyrim installed on it for a bit, and then switched over to installing it to my main drive (corsair force gt 60gig SSD) -- holy fucking shit. Like ridiculous performance boost. This is all due to the textures being loaded about 100x faster from the SSD.

Also, trash the DLC texture pack, TRUST ME. I share the same sentiment that about 99% of other modders do as well, so just go and get the 2k HD texture pack. It is MUCH, MUCH better than the DLC, and is more noticeable, and is easier to run (I have tried both.) They put a lot more work into this one than the DLC. It's 2 something gigs to download, but 110% worth it.

So my recommendation - Get a SSD asap (at least you have sata 3 on your board, my board, the EVGA P55 FTW 300 didn't, so I had to get a Rosewill raid card, no biggy cuz it's an insane mobo... I HIGHLY recommend the Corsair Force gt 60gb - When I say you'll notice about 100% performance boost all around, I mean it.

Also, check whatever other mods you have one by one (this is made easier with the nexus mod manager) to see which one is causing the crash if it isn't a hardware or DLC issue.

Getting the touchpad to work with Skyrim is actually really easy. You can use http://www.DS4Windows.com to remap the touchpad to various keyboard inputs. Then I used this mod to change the button mapping to where all of my favorites are on the Dpad with the left bumper as a modifier so you get all 8 favorites accessable. After that, you follow the direction on the mod you linked to allow the keyboard and controller to be usable at the same time. You can't use both mods at the same time because they both edit the same file so you'll need to take the first mod and edit its file with the directions on the second mods page.

What I ended up with is all 8 favorites on the Dpad and I bound the various swipes/actions on the touchpad to keyboard commands.

• Swipe Up - Perks
  
• Swipe Down - Map
  
• Swipe Left - Magic
  
• Swipe Right - Inventory
  
• Left side press - Realistic Needs and Disease status
  
• Right Side Press - Frostfall menu
  
• Top Press - Weathersense
  
• Two finger press - Quicksave(I use this mod for better quick saves)
  
  After that, I set DS4Windows to use the PS button as a modifier key adding even more buttons to the controller.
  
  
• Swipe Up - Drink from streams
  
• Swipe Down - Turn Wearable Lanterns on/off
  
• Swipe Left - Skyrim Tycoon Influence
  
• Swipe Right - Skyrim Tycoon Supply
  
• Left Press - Wearable Lantern Fuel
  
• X - ENB Screenshot
  
• Square - Uses a macro to open console, Toggle the menus and free cam
  
• Triangle - Same as square but pauses the game world with TFC 1
  
• Circle - Turns my ENB on and off.
  
  Works perfectly! The only thing you really have to do is when you are rebinding keys in the DS4Windows program is make sure that the 'Scan Code' box is checked otherwise they don't work in the game for some reason. Also, when you are binding keyboard keys ingame to various mods, your controller still has to be off otherwise the game doesn't pick them up.
  
  The versatility of the touchpad alone makes the DS4 hands down waaaaay better than the XB1 controller. The only thing I'm missing now is a mod to change all the buttons in SkyUI to the PS4 buttons. The mod on the workshop unfortunately doesn't work anymore. That or a mod for the controller itself to change the buttons to Xbox buttons since I don't use my PS4 all that much.
  
  Also, I suggest modding your PS4 controller to use Xbox One thumbsticks. They are by far superior and it is actually really easy to do. Both controllers get their thumbsticks from the same manufacturer so they are interchangeable. Here are the thumbsticks I bought off Amazon. And here is a really awesome video showing you how easy it is to do.
  
  Good luck buddy! If you have any questions feel free to ask and I'll do what I can to help!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LOP8EZC/ref=s9_top_hd_bw_b710gst_g63_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-1&pf_rd_r=776Q3960QM31YQFGWJYP&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=04a5c22f-e81b-50bd-ab92-d44ae8c8f7f5&pf_rd_i=6427871011 COnsoles are 400 dollars, yeah thats a pro but the standard one was 400 dollars on release too and for a long time.

Games are so much cheaper on pc, like up to 90% cheaper. PC games works most of the time and you don't have to pay for MP, driver updates have become streamlined in windows 10 and tbh you should know that stuff anyway if you have a pc, it's quite easy, and easier imo than navigating the shitty menus on consoles (But thats just my opionon and not a hard fact)

You can use big picture :) to make it very easy to play pc games from a console viewpoint :).

Sorry if i sounded kinda agressive, i didn't mean to sound that way :). BUt yeah you are right it's a bit harder to get into pc gaming, but its a couple of night of work and then you should be able to have quite the grasp on it. And having knowledge of pc's helps in the rest of your work life. COnsoles games require installation for the most part today don't they? Steam streamlines that process.

But the only way i can see consoles being cheaper is if you really don't own a pc at all or use a 6 year old pc, or if you only buy 1 or 2 games for the lifespan of the consoles.

I think most of the good consoles arguments come from people not knowing a lot about pc gaming, and thats fine :) It should be a little bit easier to know your options on pc, because it has gotten a lot easier in the last 5 years

If you have the money, i would really recommend getting a pc, but if you are very tight on money and already have a console you enjoy, and don't really need a pc for anything else, it dosen't make a lot of sense

Sorry for the delayed response: Yeah, step one is to usually invest in a decent cardioid mic and an audio input. Here are the ones I'd recommend for getting started. Good enough quality to be just under professional tier, though capable of producing professional quality sound, but not so expensive as to offer you features you don't need for years to come:
Mic: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002QAUOKS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Audio Interface (to be able to plug that or any other professional mic into [XLR input]): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E6T56CM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and this is optional but can be helpful to understand the true sound of your recordings, monitors:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075QVMBT9/ref=twister_B07NDRK282?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
(either the 3.5 or 4.5 would be totally fine)

Aside from t hose t hings, the only other things you'd need to get set up would be soundproofing foam, either putting panels up around your space, or around the mic itself. Conversely, you could set up inside a closet full of clothes and accomplish the same task for free, cable length and space permitting.

Good luck!

Reuse of Enviroments
I think the key difference lies in designer intent. Are the enviroments being reused to increase playtime, or to help drive the narrative? Reusing enviroments is a really (relatively) cheap and effective way to show the passage of time & the influence the narrative has had on previous enviroments. The player's familiarity helps draw emphasise to the changes made.

If I were to pick out one game that does this really well it'd be the original two Doom games. As a rough example, imagine the player enters a square room. The corners of the room are blocked off, so the room forms a sort of + shape. The player clears this area of baddies, but as they cross the room the walls blocking off the four corners lower revealing more monsters. Its a simple 'gotcha' design used to great affect during the earlier 'tutorial' levels, while the player is still learning the game. However after a while this design is altered. Imagine the same trap set up, this time though the player crosses the room and nothing happens. They exit and carry on till they are given reason to return - perhaps a key was later in the level. The trigger was hidden elsewhere in the level, so when the player returns the monsters have already been revealed and are waiting for them. The player isn't aware of this and expects an empty room.

Seligman
I studied psychology for 4 years. So I'm pretty well read up on a lot of the main theories & approaches. Its turned into a surprisingly useful tool when designing enviroments or narratives. I actually studies under one of Zimbardo's students and was surprised to find he is still quite active on the lecture circuit, even today.

If you're looking for more reading among similar lines I would strongly suggest taking a look at Nature via Nurther, Influencing Attitudes... and The Psychology of Attitude Change. I would also take a look at the theories behind Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. as there is a lot of very interesting work in that field. I would strongly suggest looking for an introduction to the cognitive & humanist approaches to psychology. They're a bit more modern than conditioning which has been shown to be incapable of predicting human behaviour.

I will mention that I'm by no means an expert of Seligman. I know of this research enough to know that I don't support it, but I've not read too far in that direction. I was mostly aimed in the psychobiological & cognitive directions. The main take away: if it works for you, keep at it until something better comes along.

Moonpath
Moving back to moonpath, I feel the questions you've asked are useful during the concept/pre-design phase but are not really useful once you've entered the sprint cycle (I'll be covering that in tomorrow's article).

without getting a new motherboard:

CPU

Upgrade to A-10 Series: $150.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113359

This will be a ton better than what you have. However, it's worth mentioning, that this CPU is 1 tier slower than any modern intel i3 series CPU - and those run between 30-50 dollars cheaper than this, but you will need a new motherboard.

If you want a better AMD CPU than this, you'll have to upgrade your motherboard anyways, and with the dominance that intel has had in the last 5 years in CPU's, you are way better off going with a cheap i3 haswell, or even better, an i5 which is a monster for gaming.

i5 intel CPU. $180.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117302&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=6146996&SID=i6wj8kelid0035wt00053

Here's a very cheap, yet excellent motherboard that would go with the i5. $70.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157547

GPU

Lower end upgrades:

$120 r7 260

http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GDDR5-1GB-2xDVI-Graphics-GV-R726XOC-1GD/dp/B00H707TI2/?&tag=bom-tomshardware-20&ascsubtag=[site|thaus[cat|[art|[pid|B00H707TI2[tid|14255830839495497[bbc|LEPRIX

$140 Nvidia 750 ti

http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-NVIDIA-GeForce-PCI-Express-ZT-70601-10M/dp/B00IFZ547Q/?&tag=bom-tomshardware-20&ascsubtag=[site|thaus[cat|[art|[pid|B00IFZ547Q[tid|14255830864215193[bbc|LEPRIX

With either one of these, you could probably mod skyrim at 1020x600 to 1400x800 resolutions with 512k and 1k textures on low/medium settings.

Midrange Upgrades

ATI r9 280x $250.00

http://www.amazon.com/XFX-RADEON-1000MHz-Graphics-R9-280X-TDFD/dp/B00FSC5N66?SubscriptionId=AKIAIEF7KZG4SSIJ7QQA&tag=toms_shopping_rev-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00FSC5N66&ascsubtag=[site|thaus[cat|[art|[pid|B00FSC5N66[tid|14255832819923788[bbc|LEPRIX

With this card (and a cpu upgrade) you could mod up skyrim with an ENB at 1440 x 800 to 1920 x 1080 resolutions, on middle to high settings, with 1k textures, potentially some 2k textures.

upper range upgrades

Nvidia 970 $340.00

Ati r9 290x $340.00

http://www.amazon.com/Zotac-GeForce-DisplayPort-Graphics-ZT-90101-10P/dp/B00NNXVPS2/?&tag=bom-tomshardware-20&ascsubtag=[site|thaus[cat|[art|[pid|B00NNXVPS2[tid|1425583462529244[bbc|LEPRIX

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HJOXUKC/?tag=bom_tomshardware-20&ascsubtag=[site|thaus[cat|[art|[pid|B00HJOXUKC[tid|14255834657447771[bbc|LEPRIX

With either of these, you can run and mod skyrim at 1920 x1080 and sometimes above resolutions, with enb and 2k and 4k textures, at ultra settings (you of course need a cpu upgrade, probably requiring a i5 intel cpu).

Thanks for the heads up -- I'll definitely look more into Hassabis, sounds like an incredibly interesting guy with his plunge into neuroscience.

Thx, I went to a few universities and picked up several graduate coursebooks on AI, and also went through some online and conventional book sources. On Intelligence really opened my eyes to the power of hierarchical learning, and the mechanics of cortical hierarchies. Absolutely fascinating stuff.

Hahaha and yeah, I agree that the point of games is not to just kill the player. Despite the "adversarial" nature of most AI enemies, they're actually teachers, gently guiding the player towards more nuanced strategies and better reactions.

If anyone's curious about getting an XLR setup, I can direct you to some pretty good starting gear! I personally use the Audio Technica AT2020 cardiod condensor microphone and a Focusrite USB audio interface. You'll also want to buy a male to female XLR cable of some kind. A pop filter is also a good investment! And, of course, you'll want a stand of some kind for the microphone. I personally use this but it limits your ability to move the microphone away from a desk.

If you want studio quality, be sure to record in 24-bit 48k, with an uncompressed format like a wav. That's the standard both Hollywood and indie productions have been using for years.

Oh, and if anyone's curious about credentials, I mix and record audio for commercials.

Thanks for the lengthy reply, I really appreciate it and will look into those mods! I guess I should have clarified but I got the 6GB version of the 1060, not the 3GB so this should be a pretty big upgrade from my 660 ti. Is the card you have the 6GB or 3GB version? You mentioned mods being "performance friendly" with the 1060, were you saying that as the card wasn't able to handle more graphically intensive mods?

Better Deal

Take the Elder-Scrolls-Anthology to Best Buy or you local electronic/game dealer the takes Amazon prices, and get every elder scrolls game & DLC/EP's for $20.

I did this today and now finally "Own" the DLC for Skyrim along with copies of Oblivion and Morrowind on Steam.

I know you asked for stuff that works for vanilla so I'll at least put in some that I know such as Moonpath to Elsweyr and MadFrenchies mods but I really would recommend getting the DLCs. On Steam they cost a whole bunch at the moment but you can find them elsewhere like on the Humble Bundle or even Amazon's disk copy.

Yup, $400 CAD smackeroo's for it. ($450 when all is said and done) It was my first big flashy gpu upgrade (last card was a GTX 750Ti, not bad, not great) and was so excited to buy it that I overlooked getting a better deal xD Not my proudest moment, but I don't regret it. That 400 bucks is in the past now, and my new GPU is in the present :P

https://www.amazon.ca/Gigabyte-GeForce-1060-WINDFORCE-GV-N1060WF2OC-6GD/dp/B01JNUO6BG

I tried SSE and I absolutely love how with only a few mods you can achieve the same results as a heavy-ish load-order in Classic. Only shame is that we don't have SKSE64 yet :( There was supposed to be a beta in.. april?? Hoping that means that SKSE64 isn't too too far away yet.

You sure they didn't just renew it for the huge boxed set that they released? Remember that? They had a huge package deal with all the TES games in one box. Had collectibles and all sorts of stuff. Redguard was in there. Might have been why they renewed it.

EDIT: It's called the Anthology: http://www.amazon.com/The-Elder-Scrolls-Anthology-Pc/dp/B00E9I1FPI

EDIT: I don't think Redguard is in there, actually. Weird.

Much better and cheaper to buy the legendary edition from amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elder-Scrolls-Skyrim-Legendary-DVD/dp/B00CJ8X24C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525690409&sr=8-1&keywords=skyrim+pc

Remember guys, physical still exists

Thank you, I was planning on upgrading to this:
https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GeForce-1060-WINDFORCE-GV-N1060WF2OC-6GD/dp/B01JNUO6BG/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1485178210&sr=1-1&keywords=GEFORCE+GTX+1060