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123keelos

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123keelos

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About this mod

My personal guide on overhauling Skyrim SE/AE graphics.

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Description

This guide is a list of mods that I use (or used) to remaster Skyrim's graphics.

Check out the 'Videos' tab to see a preview on what the mod lists looks like on an actual save.


Computer Specs and Performance

Ryzen 5 3600, RTX 2080 Super 8GB, 16GB 3200Mhz RAM, SSD. Running on 2560x1440 resolution.

With these graphical mods, I get around 55-65 FPS in outdoor heavy areas, such as cities, and around 70-80 FPS in light outdoor areas. In interiors, I get 80-100FPS
  • Running 1k textures (I play in 3rd person so I don't care about super high quality textures)
  • BethINI High Preset

If you want more FPS on top of these visual mods, check out my FPS Guide


Getting Started...

  • This mod guide assumes that you already have a stable load order with all the bug fixes, engine fixes, etc. 
  • This is not a wabbajack mod lists that is plug-n-play. 
  • You will need user configuration and tweaking to get everything to your flavor. If you install everything here, your Skyrim will most likely not look 1:1 with mine.
  • You cannot download every single mod on here as some will be incompatible with others in this lists, I will state such information so make sure to read everything.
  • Some of the mods mentioned have requirements that I have not listed, be sure to also read the specific mod description just in case it requires another mod
  • There will be none/minimal installation instructions for mods, refer to the mod page on how to install the mods properly.
  • Any mentions of which mod is better is simply my opinion. Any mod I've listed on here is great anyway. Any mod I have not listed is also probably great as well :P

Core
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This guide will use Community Shaders and its extensions.



Fixes
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These are mesh fixes that we want to load pretty early.



LOD
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We are going to need these for generating LOD later on in the guide



Weather
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Pick ONE weather mod.

Both really good weather mods. I find myself switching back and forth because I cannot decide which one is better and I want to switch up the visual flavor a bit. I think objectively NAT3.CS looks better but Azurite has a minimalist look to it, which I love. Keep in mind NAT3.CS has support for Cloud Shadows, Skylighting, and EVLaS. You can use those mods with Azurite, however, Azurite Weathers III does not keep them in mind as of yet. The other weather mods I have not tested yet.

Pick ONE mists mod.

I do not like the look of either mod. It covers distant objects with heavy mists, with Azurite Mists being the heaviest. On top of that it takes too big of a performance hit so I do not use a mists mod. Adding them here for reference in case you would like to add these to your load order. I think the visual flavor looks better without either of these mods.

The files below can be installed no matter what weather or mist mod you choose.

Additions:


Trees
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Pick ONE tree mod.
  • Nature of the Wildlands + NotW Cut ; Trees have nice variety, from being dense and sparse. Truly make you feel like you're walking through a forest. The author has a grass mod and it blends well together.
  • Traverse the Ulvenwald ; It is similar to NotW, however the trees look worse and it is less dense. Could be less performance taxing if NotW is too much for your system. On my system, they are about similar.
  • Trees of Iduna
  • Fabled Forests ; The vanilla option has perfectly sized trees for my taste. Only gripe is that there is not much variety with the trees.
  • Happy Littles Trees ; Probably the most performance-friendly I have not yet tested
  • Enhanced Vanilla Trees ; Similar to vanilla trees. I use the lush trees version. If you need more performance, use the basic. Only grip about this is the branches are very low quality. Not sure if it is an option I selected but it is very noticeable compared to the other tree mods.

EVT can be used with PBR textures. If you do not care about PBR textures and DO NOT want a vanilla-style look, I would choose Nature of the Wildlands. Another great choice is Fabled Forests.

Additions:
  • City Trees ; very aesthetically pleasing but also can take a performance hit, especially with city overhaul mods. To get a good middle ground, there are the less trees options for each of the cities/towns. For my set up, I do not use the less trees version and I skip on city overhaul mods.
  • Immersive Fallen Trees + IFT Patch ; Adds fallen trees, I think looks best with EVT
  • Diverse Downed Logs ; Similar to IFT


Grass and Flora
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Pick ONE grass mod. Some of the mods on this list do not have comments because I have never used them before but they look really good from the screenshots.
  • Cathedral 3D Landscapes + 3D Solstheim Grass ; Great looking grass mod with a mix of flat and tall grasses. I get somewhat of an FPS hit but not as much as FFF.
  • Freak's Floral Fields + Freak's Floral Solstheim ; Best looking grass mod I've used so far, but some areas are way too dense/tall that they are covering small animals and also half of my character's body. Even with the short grass options, I still find they are way too tall for my taste. On top of that, I take a significant FPS hit when using this mod.
  • Wildlands Renewal ; Grasses are nice and flat, while still looking lush. I enjoy this mod the most as I am not a huge fan of tall grasses. This is great for normal gameplay. Blends very well with NotW as it is made by the same author. I get very good performance using this mod
  • Skoglendi Reimagined
  • Sacred Garden ; Looks very nice but my system takes a hard FPS hit
  • QW Grass Patch 2 ; Patches multiple grass mods to work together but the overall look was not for my tastes.
  • Folkvangr ; Best looking grass mod if the assets were in 3D like the ones above. Since the assets are in 2D, this may be the best performing grass mods out of the ones above.

Mods below can be installed no matter what grass mod you choose.

Additions:


Lighting
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Pick ONE from Outdoor/Indoor subcategory. The additions can be installed no matter your choices in the previous categories.

Outdoor:
  • Lux Orbis ; You can also pair this with Lux Via. Do not forget to also check out the patch hubs for both mods
  • Placed Light (see link below) ; The exterior option could conflict with Lux Via, Northern Roads, or any other mods that add clutter along the roads

Indoor:
  • Lux
  • ELFX Shadows ; A good lighting mod but it not as patched as Lux for other mods. I prefer the look of Lux though compared to this
  • Placed Light + Window Shadows Ultimate ; I use the Dark template option. This makes dungeons nice and dark without making it pitch black meaning I can still traverse through without needing a light source. This lighting mod looks really good with PBR textures. It also comes with a Synthesis patcher that patches according to your load order.

Additions:


NPCs
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Pick ONE. I am sure there are other good mods that overhaul NPCs, however, I am very happy with how vanilla NPCs look already so this section of the guide is limited
  • Nordic Faces + all of its requirements ; This is my favorite. It stays vanilla-like and looks better than Cathedral plus having physics support
  • Faithful Faces ; Have not used extensively, but the NPCs differ quiet a bit from my taste
  • Cathedral NPCs + all of its requirements ; Lesser requirements but I think looks worse than Nordic Faces.


Water
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Pick ONE
  • Simplicity of Sea ; Super compatible and it looks visually pleasing
  • Water for ENB ; I think this is the best looking water mod. Despite the name, it is compatible with Community Shaders (I use Shades of Skyrim option The author said it might look too saturated if using this option with CS but it looks great to me. Also to note, I like to pick the less transparent option)
  • Natural Waterfalls ; Comes with an a water overhaul. If you skip this water overhaul, this mod can be used in combo with the other water mods.

My choice for water is Water for ENB combined with Natural Waterfalls as I think that mod handles waterfalls way better.
Additions:


Base Textures
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Basically the core of this guide. Covers a lot of textures. Some are conflicting but we will go over that in the load order section of this guide later on. Install as many.


Alternatives:


Physical-Based Rendering Mods (PBR)
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This is my favorite part. PBR textures look really nice compared to regular textures and breathe an entirely new life to Skyrim. These mods require Community Shaders to function and ParallaxGen. We will be going over how to do that later on in the guide.

You can install as many as you like, but keep in mind some of them conflict. We will adjust load order later in the guide



Load Order
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Load order is entirely preferences on which textures you want to see in-game. This is my personal load order. I've also removed some of the .esps in some of these mods as I want other mods to take priority. Check the 'Files' section for my exact load order and mod lists.

  • <LOD>
  • Better Dynamic Snow
  • <Core>
  • <Fixes>
  • Skyking Textures
  • Cathedral - 3D Series
  • Rudy HQ Silverware
  • Fantasia Landscapes (I prefer Skyland landscapes so I have Skyland landscapes first)
  • Pfushers Mod AIO
  • Skyland AIO + its other mods (I prefer this over Pfusher so I have it on higher priority)
  • ERM + Parallax
  • <Base Textures>
  • <Trees>
  • <Grass>
  • ElSopa Series
  • Frankly HD Series
  • Cathedral PBR
  • Desvanillier PBR Series
  • Persartom's PBR Series
  • Rudy HQ Silverware PBR
  • Faultier's PBR
  • <PBR>


User Patches
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Now that we have made it to the end of the guide, we are going to need to generate some user patches that will tailor to our load order. In order to ensure all textures work properly, we need to run these in order (top to bottom starting with Grass Cache and ending with DynDOLOD). The outputs of these mods will go at the end of your load order. If the instructions are unclear, refer to the instructions in the original mod page.

Grass Cache:
1. Follow this guide as it will explain it the best

Synthesis Patcher:
Some of the mods in our load order require Synthesis in order to function properly. Specifically, Cathedral 3D Landscapes and Placed Light. If you use these mods, follow the steps below, otherwise this step can be skipped but I still highly recommend you don't.

1. Download Synthesis
2. Open Synthesis and search for the following plugins and add them to your patcher:
- GridTransitionCrashFix
- GrassFPS (can be skipped if you use another grass mod that Grass FPS Booster supports. Might have to run GrassFPS patcher first before generating grass cache)
- Z-Floor-Patcher
- Placed-Light-Patcher (skip if you are NOT using Placed Light mod)

3. Run the patcher and wait
4. Done!

ParallaxGen:
A lot of the mods in our load order require ParallaxGen to generate parallax textures and allow PBR to work.

1. Download ParallaxGen
2. Open ParallaxGen with MO2
3. Follow these settings then select 'Start Patching'
4. Done! Install the output in your mod organizer

TexGen:
Refer to Grass Cache portion for TexGen instructions

Grass LODs take a chunk of performance that I am not willing to lose so I keep it unchecked. For the most performance, the default settings will suffice. The direct and ambient are personal settings that adjust the brightness. I personally use 125 and 50-55

DynDOLOD:
Refer to Grass Cache portion for DynDOLOD instructions

These are my DynDOLOD settings

  • Occlusion Quality should be set to 3 for the best performance, however, this takes my LOD generation from 20min to 1.5h. When I had a lot of new lands mods, it took 3h so keep that in mind
  • You can enable Ultra Tree LOD + Large for better tree LODs at the cost of a performance hit
  • Reduce 'Max tile size billboard' to 512 for more performance
  • After changing all these settings, my preferred preset is LOW


Suggestions

You made it at the end of the guide. After reading, is there anything I should add? Leave it in the comments. Be sure to check for updates and don't forget to endorse if this helped you. THANK YOU :)

~123keelos