Thanks for chatting with us. You are well known to most people on Nexus Mods for your Immersive Weapons and Immersive Armors mods, but tell us a little bit about yourself.
Well, I work in the gaming industry and love my job. I work as the “Head of Community” for my company, so we likely have a bit in common, Stefan! I’m 32 years old and have a wife and 2 kids. I consider myself a sort of jack-of-all trades and have lots of hobbies. Obviously gaming and modding, but also creating videos, building furniture, composing music, and keeping up with the latest tech stuff.
For those few that are not familiar with your Immersive Weapons and Immersive Armors mods, could you elaborate a bit on what they are?
Immersive Armors, Immersive Weapons, and Immersive Music are all mods that add huge variety to the game in their namesakes.
When I was more of a mod user than a mod creator I wanted mods that were user friendly, lore friendly, one click solutions that JUST WORKED and would radically improve my game. I modeled my mods after what I wanted as a player rather than what I wanted as a creative outlet as a modder.
Not being a native speaker myself, I had rarely come across the word “immersive” before I picked up Skyrim. Needless to say, it has become quite ubiquitous in Skyrim modding. Can you explain to us what that word means to you and the way you view your mods?
To me, “Immersive” means that if you had never played Skyrim before installing these mods – you should not be able to tell which armor or weapons came with the game or came from a mod. I want the feel of the game to be preserved, but variety and interest to be added. My mods did indeed popularize this term – and now it’s become something of a meme really. If you search for the word “Immersive” on Google Trends, you can see the day Immersive Armors was created. It’s cool to see my work and the Skyrim modding community had a real impact on the use of a word across the web!
How much time do you think you have spent on the development of your mods and what was it that motivated you to do that?
It’s hard to say. 1500 hours?
I originally created things just for myself and posted them, so others could also use them if they happened to like them. As it turns out, that was a lot of people. The more I created, the more people found and enjoyed my mods. The community on the Nexus was a huge factor to why I have spent so much time modding – that and my desire to create things.
I learned that you are a fan of the Dragon Age series. Have you ever tried to mod Dragon Age and/or have you used mods for it?
Dragon Age: Origins is my favorite RPG of all time - though the sequels were not quite of the same caliber in my mind. The way you felt like you knew your party companions and empathized with their own story in the world is what turned a great RPG into a legendary one.
I did not make mods for that game, but I did try a few. Mods that made an impact on me from that game would be Alley of Murders, and Ser Gilmore (the companion mod). The Ally of Murders stood out to me because it felt like it belonged in the game. Many quest mods try to be "more" by giving outlandish rewards, or using outlandish characters - but this mod fit right into the game world. Ser Gilmore was fantastically voiced and, like the other companions in DA:O, felt personal and interactive.
What games did you grow up with?Warcraft and Doom were my first PC games. I spent tons of time playing Asheron’s Call and other MMOs of the old days like EverQuest.
I also played a lot of Might and Magic, Settlers, and other such games growing up.
Are there any games in the near or distant future that you are looking forward to?
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord. This will be my next game for modding as well!
Cyberpunk 2077. Also, the overhaul coming to their card game, Gwent.
Though less than those two, I’m also looking forward to Metro Exodus.
Outside of modding and gaming, what are some things you like to do for fun?
I like to read and listen to audio books (really into Brandon Sanderson right now). I like to play with my kids and go to their sporting and school events. I’m somewhat of a craft beer nerd, and a sucker for computer tech. I have a 10-foot-long aquarium that I enjoy looking after (I keep African Cichlids). Camping, trying new restaurants, movies… lots of things here and there.
In terms of modding: Do you have any plans for the future?I recently did a huge update to both Immersive Weapons and Immersive Music. I’ve got an even bigger one in the works for Immersive Armors. I’ve got one other project I’m working on that I can’t talk about yet.
As a prolific mod author, what are your thoughts on our Donation Points system and the recent implementation of our DP store?
I think it’s a nice and unexpected gesture of Nexus Mods and its community to show appreciation to modders. The DP system is a pretty fleshed out feature of the site, and its integration is very fluid. It's quite a treat to find you have enough DP to buy a game you have been wanting in the Nexus DP store!
Last but not least: being a proficient mod author yourself, do you have some advice for budding new mod authors?
Start small.
Create what you love.
You can never satisfy everyone.
Try to improve a little every time you make something.
Do not be afraid to ask veteran modders for advice or help.
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Thank you very much to hothtrooper44 for answering our questions. If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to BigBizkit or Pickysaurus.
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A moderator has closed this comment topic for the time beingMy daughter and I both play Skyrim, and she feels as I do re: the realism is a welcome change!
Thank you, Hothtrooper for your outstanding contribution to the quality of the game world!!!
I have to agree with you. The armor is exquisite for female characters. It's nice to play a female who doesn't look like she goes between extremes: either dancing around a pole, or dancing around a boxing ring. Hoth's armor is still feminine while looking actually protective! I always wondered how my string bikini with a few chain-mail rings and a patch of leather somewhere on my body, with thigh high boots would be more protective than steel plate? Or even chain-mail with a gambeson? Hmmm...and why aren't any of the male followers dressed that way?
As a Christian, the way that most game developers seem to fail that 'common sense' thought is at best annoying, at worst...
And I've lost count of the amount of Female gamers who've complained about this exact kind of thing...
There are exceptions: I especially like the work of a poster, Misslexi, whose work is not only graphically stunning, but her female characters have normal physiques, and are almost always dressed realistically: check out her imagery!
I don't know how to mod, texture, or create in TES. It looks very hard and sounds time consuming. I do know that I used to voluntarily build, update, and do QA on an RPG persistant world. I used to get so angry at the engine when I was building! Some things took so very long. I was never perfectly happy when I was done. There was always something I felt needed tweaking. It took a bit to find all the bugs in QA. When the area was added to the world (for quests or GM story, etc.) I was always seeing the "things wrong".
I beg you to look at all the posts people have made thanking you. All the people you have touched with your work. Don't look at what you could have tweaked. Look at moving forward to your new projects! (we can't wait!!). See...look at all the downloads and endorsements and see your work for what it is--absolutely tremendous.
Thanks for all your hard work and your passion for nerdology.