Redwater Castle is a heavily fortified residence located on Lake Geir to the west of Riften. The design uses a mixture of vanilla and custom assets but should feel true to the look and spirit of the original game. Various options are available for customising the home as well (see CONFIGURATION below).

The castle comes with mannequins, displays, and weapon racks; linked, named, and generic storage containers; the usual crafting stations; bathing facilities with water features; stables and gardens; and around twenty Hearthfires planters. There is also living space for up to nine followers, depending on whether you would like to hire guards and a blacksmith, and whether you want dorms for up to four children. Note that as with other custom homes, you will need mods in the vein of Hearthfire Multiple Adoptions and / or My Home Is Your Home (MHIYH 2PLUS) to rehome your followers and family here.

Redwater Castle has been fully navmeshed, cleaned with SSEdit, and thoroughly tested.

Xbox version available as well, with many thanks to c1056.



LAYOUT

Redwater Castle is grand and spacious without being oversized or labyrinthine and has been designed with flexibility and ease of use in mind.

• Exterior with gatehouse, two towers, curtain wall, main building, gardens, planting area, stables, smithy, jetty with fast travel options for Riften and Ivarstead. Access to:
• Ground floor with great hall and throne area, kitchens, dorms, bathing area
• First floor with master bedroom, shrine, sitting area
• Attic with enchanting and alchemy equipment, armoury, study area
• Undercroft with dorms, treasury. Access to:
• Secure undercroft jetty with fast travel options for Riften and Ivarstead
  

* ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ *

CONFIGURATION

Several aspects of the castle can be configured to your tastes. Want to move your family here? The ground floor bedrooms can be converted for children. Committed vampire hunter? Raise the banners of the Dawnguard. Fan of the White-Gold Concordat? Switch out the shrine to Talos and the statue in the bailey for something less heretical. Find the book on the desk in the attic to explore your options:

• Five different settings for the interior brightness
• A range of banners for the interior and exterior, or remove them altogether
• The statue of Talos in the garden can be exchanged for a statue of a mage, or replaced with a chair and table
• You can choose to hire a blacksmith and up to six guards
• Replace the two follower beds on the ground floor with four for children
• Tweak the shrine on the first floor to honour any of the Nine Divines
  

* ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ *

ACCESS

Redwater Castle is located on the eastern shoreline of Lake Geir, east of Ivarstead and west of Sarethi Farm. You can access the castle by activating the noticeboard in the gatehouse archway, which will give you the option of acquiring the castle in a lore-friendly way: becoming Thane of Riften and purchasing Redwater Castle for 30,000 Septims. If you would prefer to simply be gifted the castle, you can click on the 'Alternative' button, which will give you the option of acquiring the castle without any further requirements. No judgement either way.

* ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ *

COMPATIBILITY

This player home has been tested across a number of characters, and is compatible and recommended for use with Hearthfire Multiple Adoptions. You may also wish to use one of the many excellent follower mods out there, such as My Home Is Your Home (MHIYH 2PLUS), to rehome your favourite followers in the castle. Multiple Floors Sandboxing should encourage more natural behaviours for anyone you do relocate.

The castle is unlikely to be compatible with other mods that alter the same cells. Let me know if you encounter conflicts, or indeed if other nearby mods work fine.

• Users of Skyrim versions pre-patch 1.6.1130 may wish to try installing Backported Extended ESL Support if you find that the mod does not appear in-game
• A patch is available in the Files area to address a minor conflict with Ryn's Merryfair Farm
  

* ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ *

INSTALLATION

Install in the usual way: I recommend using Mod Organizer 2 or Vortex for ease and transparency. Be very wary of uninstalling mods mid-game - even lightweight player home mods like this one - as unintended behaviours can result. My advice would be to hold onto a save from before you installed a given mod, allowing you to revert if you don't like the changes in-game.

* ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ *

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• The tutorials provided by the magnificent DarkFox127 (YouTube channel here)
• The Creation Kit forum here on the Nexus
  

* ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ *

FEEDBACK

Please let me know in the comments if you encounter any bugs or have any other feedback.

* ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ *

MY OTHER SKYRIM MODS

Kynesgarde
Yngol's Spear
Heartwood Castle
Kyneswatch