Introduction

Steam Lord began as a personal project when I became bored with the plain stone textures of the Dwemer dungeons, which were stone like the rest of Skyrim. Further, I think we can all agree that as we move into 2023, Skyrim’s Dwemer dungeons are starting to show their age due to the simplicity of the machinery (or lack thereof). Notably, we would expect a 2023 game featuring steampunk dungeons to have far more vents, air ducts, equipment, and clutter than is seen in Skyrim. I am an amateur photographer and thought it would be fun to use photographs to reimagine the Dwemer as a modern civilization with technology following the laws of real life physics, bringing a modern human-like civilization into Skyrim, while still maintaining the basic lore that the dungeons are the remnants of a civilization that disappeared, leaving their buildings to ruin. The textures were made from real life photos taken of structures in the USA, Canada, and Vietnam, and a few minor elements generated with AI art programs.



Purpose/Explanation

I did not want to manually add clutter to dungeons. I wanted a way to quickly transform ALL Dwemer dungeons in my modlist, vanilla and modded, into something new and fresh that was less boring for me to traverse. Working with textures and NIF files was the easiest way for me to do this. For the most part, I simply added textures to the existing NIFs. There are far, far, more textures composing the Dwemer dungeons in my mod, meaning you may experience a framerate drop. In addition, in a few isolated areas, I added some TriShapes using only NifSkope. These are minor additions (manholes, air vents, picture frames etc) with no clipping data so they will not block your way although they may be visually blocked or cropped by clutter, edges of walls, etc. 
My methods of doing this likely do not conform to acceptable practices by the modding community. Please understand I am mainly a user of mods, and not an active creating member of the modding community, I made this for personal use originally and am offering it as-is with no expectations of perfection, or anything even close to it. It is a simple texture mod, you can try it out, and then delete it without hurting your save games, etc. I only decided to post this mod because I have been shocked at how few non-lore-friendly mods are available in the Nexus. To me, the fun of modding is to, as the name implies, modify the appearance and experience of the vanilla game. My goal was to have fun, not seek perfection. If you don’t like something I did, feel free to change or improve upon it, repost it as a mod of your own making, etc, this is the beauty of modding.

 

All my textures are made from my own photographs with minimal post-processing. Source material ranges from the United States (mostly rust belt cities) to Vietnam. My intent was also to expand on the slight variations between the Skyrim dungeons and the DLC Solstheim kit to provide vastly different appearances for each kit. The original Skyrim kit is largely complete and most clutter has been retextured to match. This kit focuses on a theme of industrial concrete and modern vents complimented by gold art deco ornaments. For the Solstheim kit, I went with a more ornate, colorful appearance, with hints of Asian influence. The Solstheim kit is a bit less finished, notably I never finished retexturing the clutter and some of the kit as well. Both kits include modern style air vents. My intent with the vents is to create the feeling that all the machinery missing in the relatively bare rooms must be hidden behind the walls and not visible to the player (much like with real-world buildings). 


Above: Solstheim Kit

By default, my mod includes real-life insulated steam pipe textures with a corrugated sheet wrapping found on real-world high pressure steam pipes. My intent was that the pipes be utilitarian in appearance, and all decoration and ornamentation be transferred to the walls, floors and ceilings, akin to human-made buildings. This leads to a problem with the design of Dwemer dungeons. The vanilla game uses pipes that are not logical, as they are variously used to power machinery and also heat the spaces. In real life, steam pipes that power machinery are under high pressure, insulated by jackets wrapped in sheet metal, and can not be simply vented to heat a space. Basically, the developers should have provided air ducts for heating and pipes for machinery. But back in the day, games did not have this much clutter, so they probably did this to save game resources. I ended up compromising, and I offer insulated steam pipes that look like real-world high pressure steam pipes, while also retaining the “air vents” that the developers put in. If you do not like my pipes, you could delete those NIF files and use the golden Dwemer pipeworks, which look fine in my mod too!


Above: Solstheim Kit

Mod Requirements

As indicated, I started this as a personal project and initially I did not pay full attention to my use of other mods. I believe I have properly rearranged this mod's use of other resources prior to posting here, so as not to step on anyone else's toes and conform to the proper method of using other people's mods and intellectual property. As such, despite being a simple texture/model mod, I have very specific mod requirements and a specific load order is needed that includes these other mods if you want to see the game as I see it on my computer. I am unsure if the mod will work or look decent if you skip the required mods. Some of my NIF files reference textures in the other mods so you might get purple textures in some places if you skip requirements. I used Dwemer Pipework Reworked 4 in my development. I tested on Dwemer Pipework Reworked Version 5 and didn't notice any problems.



Required Load Order

These requirements will ensure you don't get purple textures, for things that I did not personally texture, the bright/shiny Golden Dwemer Pipeworks textures match the modern, Art Deco textures I used.

• Dwemer Pipework Reworked
• Golden Dwemer Pipeworks Redone
• Glorious Doors of Skyrim (GDOS) (Soft Requirement, Use With Golden Dwemer Pipeworks Patch For Best Look)
• Improved Dwemer Glass
• Steam Lord
• 3D Dwemer barriers and shelves (Optional but recommended for VR, using the Golden Dwemer Pipeworks Redone version in the Files Tab)
  

Technical Issues / Compatibility

I exclusively play Skyrim VR. Running the game in VR is like viewing the world through a magnifying glass and you see details easily missed on the flat screen. As such, I worked in 4K almost exclusively. You may see a reduction in framerate depending on your system and modlist. I strongly recommend using Lux when viewing my mod since it makes Skyrim look better to begin with, and also makes any imperfections less noticeable. 

I have noticed that the textures seem way too bright and washed out in the outdoors when it is sunny. I am not sure if that is due to VR, ENB, my use of Lux during development, or its just how the game handles brighter colors. As indicated, I am a novice modder just having fun. But the photos I used were not brightened and are “normal” looking photos that I used. Your mileage may differ, particularly on SE/AE, since I developed on VR. Consumption of skooma, mead, ale, or wine (or a combination) is encouraged prior to gameplay as this may improve your experience and lessen any critical opinions you have.
I am offering ALL of my photographic textures in this pack as modders resources, without restriction other than a simple credit line.


Above: Markarth

Modder's Resource / Reuse of Textures

If someone wants access to my original photos to recreate textures that line up nicer I would make the photos I retain available to anyone with a serious interest. This was my pandemic project, and now the pandemic is over I lack the time to work on it. If you like my idea but are bothered by the imperfections of my mod, feel free to improve it and repost. I will be excited to try out your revision in my modlist! Alternatively, you may use the textures in any other mod you have or even other games like Starfield, where some of my textures might seem more appropriate!

Thank Yous

Thank you to the authors of these outstanding mods, which are required mods to view Steam Lord as intended. 

CALEB2 - Creator of Dwemer Pipeworks Reworked.
IWantATardis - Creator of Improved Dwemer Glass.
hype1 - Creator of Glorious Doors of Skyrim
CloudBird - Creator of Golden Dwemer Pipeworks Redone