The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim



Making a mod for Skyrim actually isn't that hard, and Bethesda are making it even easier with a series of 15 minute video tutorials. This is part 2 - if you're just joining us, see part 1 of the Skyrim Creation Kit video tutorial first. We'll be posting part 3 this time tomorrow.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim



Making a mod for Skyrim is easier than you might think. The Creation Kit, released this week, lets you create new monsters, quests, buildings, landscapes and weapons without having to take up programming. Grab it by selecting 'Tools' in your Steam games library - it's under C for Creation Kit rather than S for Skyrim.

Best of all, the developers themselves are doing a great series of video tutorials on how to use the Creation Kit, aimed at absolute beginners. They're in easily digestible 15 minute chunks, so we'll be posting a new one every day. Until Bethesda can't keep up, of course, at which point we'll start calling them and asking "Is it out yet? Is it out now? How about now?" until they do. Part 1 is above.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim



This video is from Todd Howard's speech at the DICE 2012 keynote in Las Vegas, spotted on Eurogamer. It shows the results of a week-long Bethesda game jam, in which developers were given one task: "Do anything you want, and add it to the game." The results were impressive. Enormous crab monsters, a lycanthrope skill tree, seasonal foliage, moving platforms, adoption and house building were just a few of the ideas the team came up with.

Our first reaction to most of them is "why didn't you just PUT THIS IN THE GAME?" Watching spear-fighting work for five seconds on a demo reel doesn't sum up the number of bugs that it might cause over the course of 50 hours, of course, but surely some of them could be slotted in without too much trouble.

Todd Howard mentions in the video that these features could appear in future updates. If they're not, Skyrim's modding community is bound to take up the challenge. The release of the Skyrim Creation Kit yesterday has given even more encouragement to Skyrim modders. There are now more than 700 mods currently listed on the Steam Workshop, check out our round-up of the best and weirdest Steam Workshop creations for highlights.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Skyrim Steam Workshop Mods
Last night, the Steam Workshop was updated to support Skyrim mods. It's a central repository for community made content, from tiny tweaks to total overhauls. After one night, there are already 459 mods up that you can add to the game with a click.

Steam handles downloading, installing and activating them in-game, and will even automatically update them when a new version comes out. But the sheer volume is kind of daunting right now, so we've trawled through to find you the highlights, divided into three categories that broadly reflect the trends in what people have made so far.


Fun stuff

Useful mods

Oh God Oh God Oh God

 
Fun stuff
 


Posh mudcrabs
Gives all Mudcrabs a tophat and monocle. Commenter Coward Duck: "This mod changed my life."

Valve's Space Core
Valve themselves have added the space-obsessed personality core from Portal 2 into Skyrim, who now rockets down from, yes, space, just outside Whiterun. You can kick him around, pick him up or Fus-Roh-Dah him, while he mutters Skyrim-appropriate things about space. "Also, since Skyrim was the only major release of 2011 without Nolan North in it, you should consider this mod a patch to fix that problem."

Less Condescending Guards
At last. Guards no longer comment on your skills unless you have over 75 points in them. I don't know about you, but when they'd comment on my Destruction magic when it was only level 32, it would rend my soul.

Pickupable Forks
Not sure how we lived without this one.

Lusty Argonian Maid teaches one and two handed
"Lusty Argonian Maid vol.1 teaches one handed, vol.2 teaches two handed." Bethesda wish they'd thought of this.

Rabbit Rage
Gives rabbits the voice and ultra-aggressive AI of the Dremora demons. They still have no attack.

Bigger giants
Makes giants bigger. "V1.1 Now BIGGER!"

Clam Chowder
"There's something distinctly wrong when there are clams in the world but nobody knows how to make clam chowder. "

Blackreach Cheese Pack
"Supplements your Skyrim experience with four addtional sacks of mammoth cheese, convieniently located outside Sinderion's shack in the depths of Blackreach. A must have modification for gamers who hunger for additional content."
 
Useful ones
 


Midas Magic
An incredible suite of new abilities, including a spell to cause huge chunks of ice to fall and crush your enemies, and one that causes plant life to erupt from the ground and walls wherever you point it.

New: Relentlessly Unrelenting Force
Commenter Alphasim points outs this awesome version of the Unrelenting Force shout: it's now a spell, and it fus-roh-dah's people for as long as you hold the key.

Lydia no longer says "I am sworn to carry your burdens"
87% less sass.

Dwarven Robot Spider Follower
"He cannot be killed and his name is Skittles."

All NPCs Killable
Lets you kill even quest-essential NPCs.

Mark & Recall
Two super-handy teleportation spells last seen officially in Morrowind. Mark saves your current location, Recall summons you back to it later.

Open Cities
Integrates cities into the general landscape of Skyrim, which means there's no loading screen when you wander into them.

Ice Island
Someone's made a whole island out of ice, with a village on it and everything.
 
Oh God Oh God Oh God
 


Spiders turned into Spidermen
Or more specifically, 'pidermen. Spider removal mods are generally for arachnophobics, but it's hard to imagine anyone finding this replacement less terrifying. Copyright infringement is the least of this mod's worries, this infringes the human body.

Sir Dwarf
"Adds a dwarf follower in High Hrothgar. Not really a dwarf, more of a small nord." The picture is priceless.

Killable children
Warning: the image for this one is pretty horrible. Equally disturbing is the unrestrained enthusiasm in the comments for it. Remember, making it possible doesn't make it acceptable.

Argonian Skin Shoes
Does it bother you when there are creatures in the world whose skin you can't use as footwear? This mod is apparently for you.

Found any other fun/useful/ohgodohgodohgod ones? Let us know in the comments.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim
Last week Bethesda mentioned that the Skyrim Creation Kit would arrive with a "special surprise." Rumours immediately appeared which hinted at an official high-res texture pack, rumours which turned out to be entirely true. You can download it now from Steam.

It could tax your machine a bit. Bethesda recommend the mod to those with "a minimum of 4GB of system RAM and a DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with at least 1 GB of RAM and the latest drivers."

The pack adds three gigabytes worth of sharpened surfaces, which should hopefully clean up some of Skyrim's smeary walls and blurry rock textures. I quickly booted it up to have a look, but was stabbed by a barbarian while I was busy pushing my face into a wall :(
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim



The Skyrim Creation kit is live! The Steam Workshop is already filling up with dozens and dozens of mods, some of which are quite mad. Not enough goats? Download the goat summoning mod. More dog eyebrows? Mod some in. Giants not big enough? Download the bigger giants mod. Skyrim is going nuts. In a very good way.

If you'd rather help stock the Steam Workshop with new mods, you can download the creation kit now from the Tools section of your Steam library. Check out Bethesda's series of Creation Kit tutorial mods on the Skyrim YouTube channel for a guide to getting started. and take a look at Bethesda's list of best practices for new modders.

Bethesda level designer Joel Burgess has written a blog post that explains how to upload new mods to the Steam Workshop, and how to install mods you like the look of.

"Bethesda is committed to supporting Skyrim for years to come," writes Burgess. "This includes supporting our already-thriving mod community. It’s our hope that Workshop provides the perfect meeting place for mod-makers and players — even those who have never tried a mod before."

It's an exciting time for Skyrim fans. If you haven't picked it up yet, it's on sale on Steam to celebrate the release of the mod tools. Which mod will you install first? What mods would you like to see made? What do you think of the Creation Kit?
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Skyrim
A tweet from Bethesda's VP of PR, Pete Hines, on Friday announced that the long-awaited Skyrim Creation Kit will be out tomorrow. TOMORROW. The tools will let modders create their own campaigns using the same tools that Bethesda use to create their environments. Take a look at last week's Creation Kit trailer for an idea of what's included.

The tools will tie use the Steam workshop, which means the huge Skyrim community will be able to vote for their favourite mod creations, making it easier to sort through the many, many mods that are sure to be uploaded. The Steam Workshop will also make it easier to download and install mods directly through Steam without any need for .ini tweaks or a separate mod manager.

If you're new to modding and fancy a meddle, Bethesda are releasing a wiki alongside the tools, written by developers. To top it all, Hines teased a "special surprise" to be released with the Creation Kit. In search of an answer, I headed over to Random Word Generator (PLUS!) which gave me these words: "turning Macintosh regret knife science." I think the message there is clear. What do you think?
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Skyrim Chapel
There's a spring in my step as I prepare to make my way to back to Riften to get married, because my future, once uncertain, now holds many treasures. A home to live in. The love of a wife whose name, I'm pretty sure, begins with a Y. The realization that I no longer have to interview NPCs and help them solve their problems. Best of all, I feel like I've cheated Skyrim, a world intent on throwing adventure in my path, by getting engaged without any bloodshed.

Marriage in Skyrim begins with deeds, the priest told me, and deeds in Skyrim generally involve killing people. Not murdering them, necessarily, but fighting them, scores of them, while completing a favor for your intended life-partner. My engagement, however, came about by simply buying a mammoth tusk and handing it to a woman. Take that, Game Filled With Adventure! I got a bride with zero casualties! Unless you count the mammoth, which I didn't even kill. And, it's not like I'm going to kill a lot of people on my way back to Riften, right?

The first person I kill on my way back to Riften is a bandit woman. Jasper and I are taking the route south of the tallest mountain in Skyrim. We made it to Riverwood last night without incident, spent the evening ignoring the locals and their troubles, and continued on this morning. This is new ground for us, so naturally, when I spot a mine on my radar, I walk over to check it out, and this bandit woman charges at me with a mace.



A little later, we come across what appears to be the remains of a Khajiit caravan. It looks like they were ambushed, possibly by the four bandits that are running right at me. A few moments after dispensing with them, three more bandits arrive, apparently a little late for some sort of bandit convention, and we have to fight them, too. My new ceremonial Dwarven wedding armor is definitely being put to the test, and Jasper's ceremonial dog fur is getting filled with arrows.



We barely finish killing the seventh and final bandit when two wolves appear. Jeez! I haven't even had time to catch my breath. Annoyed, I hit one wolf with my axe, and curiously, it doesn't immediately die. I try again. No luck. Turns out, they're ice wolves, which are apparently 700 times tougher than regular wolves, and not only are they not dying but they are actually sort of killing the crap out of me. My health has suddenly spun down to nearly nothing and my heartbeat is pounding in my ears. Jasper is hunched over, unable to fight back. This is bad. I use my Battle Cry, which scares the wolves off, I chug a few potions, and finally kill one wolf with a poison arrow and another with my poisoned axe.

We continue walking, well into the night, and eventually find a place to sleep: a small, empty shack on the far side of the mountain pass. Shockingly, it's not full of bandits or monsters or the gruesome remains of a former resident. After sleeping until morning, I find a journal on a table that tells me the shack used to belong to an alchemist. Poking around a bit more, I find a live butterfly in a jar, which I decide to take, because it's kinda cool. I don't considered it stealing, because, let's face it: finding someone's journal and not finding them usually means they're dead, possibly killed by the giant spider that scuttles over as we leave.

We continue on. More bandits are slain, two of them, at some ruins near an Imperial camp. More wolves. Then, a bear.  Then I come across a stronghold filled with incredibly rude orcs, but as mean as they are, and as much as they badmouth me, at least they don't try to kill me. They don't even complain when I defuse the tension between us by sleeping in one of their beds for eight straight hours.



In the morning, though, a friggin' giant attacks the stronghold, and suddenly all of those grouchy orcs are nowhere to be seen. Honestly, I'm in no way, shape, or form prepared to handle a giant on my own, but luckily, for all his size and strength, the giant seems baffled by the fact that I'm standing on a platform next to the stronghold walls. He stomps around menacingly, but only makes one swing at me. Weirdly, he and Jasper completely ignore each other, too. I don't know how many arrows I put into him, but he finally dies, and I immediately eat his toe.



I know, it sounds gross, eating a dead giant's filthy toe, and it means that I'll have giant-toe breath on my wedding day, but it's an alchemy thing. If I kill a thing and cut off part of it and I've never had that part of that thing before, I have to eat it. It's alchemy! DON'T JUDGE ME.

Anyway. By my count, my wedding trip took the life of ten humans, a bear, a giant, a couple spiders, and a bunch of wolves. So much for the for that zero body count: I guess Skyrim is making me pay for my wedding in blood after all. I finally reach Riften, spend the night in the inn, and head over to the Temple of Mara to arrange my wedding. The priest tells me the wedding will happen tomorrow, which gives me the whole day to live it up, crazy bachelor style! So, I spend the day making potions and crafting boots. That's about as crazy as I get.

The next morning, I get up and head to the church. This is it! My wedding! I have butterflies in my stomach because yesterday I ate a couple of butterflies (alchemy!).

I had intended to take my helmet off before the actual ceremony, but the second I walk into the church, the wedding begins. I can't really do anything but watch as I walk to the altar while the priest starts talking, so I guess I'll be getting married looking like a full-on robot. My bride is already here, the one whose name I'm always forgetting, though the moment I see her, something magical happens: I remember. Call it fate, call it love, but I actually do remember. Not her name, but the spot in my notes where I wrote her name. Ysolda. It's underlined, even. Because I keep forgetting it.



It's a magical ceremony. With the priest jabbering on about Mara, and with Jasper barking and snuffling continuously, and a couple of NPCs I don't know watching us, we are wed. Ysolda do you take this slow-moving, toe-eating Mechano-Man as your husband? She does! Weird Robot Man, do you take this woman you've had two conversations with as your wife? I do! As soon as soon as I say the words, though, I'm somewhat alarmed to see my new wife turn and start walking away, even though the priest is still talking and the ceremony isn't complete. Um, honey? Sweetums? Pookie-bear? We're not quite finished. This is our wedding day, don't you want to maybe stick around for the end of it? Don't you want to share in our first kiss through my terrifying robot mask? Do you know how many people died so we could be standing here together? Honey?

I can't even really turn to see if she's actually leaving: since the ceremony is continuing, I'm firmly rooted in place (with love). I do, however, hear the sound of the temple doors closing behind her as the priest gives me a ring and ceremony ends. Well, great. It appears I may have married an inconsiderate asshole. Now that I can finally move again, I turn to see that not only has my bride left, but the wedding guests are scattering as well. I manage to speak to one of them before he leaves, and it appears he did quite enjoy watching a disinterested woman marry a sulking robot, something you probably don't get to see every day.

I step outside. My new bride is nowhere to be seen, so I clonk through the streets looking for her for a couple hours, then give up and head to the inn to spend the night with my idiot dog.

And there you have it! Marriage in Skyrim. One day an ugly young man is giving part of a deceased elephant to young woman, the next day he's committing mass murder to get to the church on time, and before you know it he's clomping slowly through the streets of Riften like a horrible Amber Golem, searching for the wife who didn't even stay for the entire ceremony. That's marriage in Skyrim. That's love.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls Skyrim - dragon fights bear
Wabbajack-loving Skyrim players will know that there's nothing worse than a Wabbajack you can't equip, which is why it's vital that Skyrim players log into Steam immediately to download the full release of patch 1.4. It fixes a "rare issue" in "The Mind of Madness" that would leave players burdened with a Wabbajack that they'd be unable to wield. A fate worse than death.

Now we've won search ranking for the Word "Wabbajack," we can move on to the full list of patch notes, which will be familiar to those who road tested the beta version. The patch will apply automatically through Steam, and adds some behind the scenes support for the incoming Skyrim Workshop. According to yesterday's Skyrim Creation Kit trailer, that'll be arriving soon.

NEW FEATURES

Skyrim launcher support for Skyrim Workshop (PC)

 
BUG FIXES

General optimizations for memory and performance
Improved compiler optimization settings (PC)
Memory optimizations related to scripting
Fixed issue with dangling scripts not properly clearing from memory
Fixed crashes related to pathing and AI
Fixed crash in “Haemar’s Shame” if player had already completed “A Daedra’s Best Friend”
Fixed rare crash with loading saved games
Fixed issue with accented characters not displaying properly at the end of a line
Fixed issue where dragon priest masks would not render correctly
Fixed issue where quests would incorrectly progress after reloading a save
Fixed issues with placing and removing books from bookshelves in the player’s home
Optimized bookshelf script in player-owned houses that would occasionally block other scripts from properly firing off
Fixed issue where weapon racks and plaques would not work correctly in player’s house if player immediately visits their house before purchasing any upgrades
Fixed issue where the player house in Windhelm would not clean up properly
Fixed crash related to giant attacks and absorb spells
Fixed issue with ash piles not cleaning up properly
Fixed occasional issue where overwriting an existing save would fail
Fixed memory crash with container menu
Fixed infinite loop with bookshelves
Fixed issue where transforming back to human from werewolf would occasionally fail
Bows and daggers will display properly when placed on weapon racks
Fixed occasional audio issue that would play sound effects louder than intended
Fixed bug related to hitching between cell boundaries
Master Criminal achievement/trophy unlocks properly in French, German, Spanish and Italian
Fixed issue where traps in Shalidor’s Maze would not work properly in French, German, Spanish and Italian versions

 
QUEST FIXES

The Unusual Gem that was inside the Thalmor Embassy is now accessible after finishing “Diplomatic Immunity”
In “Breaching Security”, the quest token is no longer required to receive a fortune reading from Olava the Feeble
Fixed issue where Galmar would not complete Joining the Stormcloaks properly if “Season Unending” was an active quest
Fixed issue where starting “Season Unending” after finishing “Joining the Stormcloaks” would prevent “The Jagged Crown” from starting properly
Fixed issue where progressing through “Message to Whiterun” while “Season Unending” was still open would block progression for both quests
In “Arniel’s Endeavor”, fixed issue where a quest journal would trigger multiple times
In “Forbidden Legend”, the amulet fragment can no longer disappear after player leaves a dungeon without taking it
Fixed rare issue in “Forbidden Legend” where killing Mikrul Gauldurson while sneaking would make his corpse unaccessible
In “The White Phial”, the phial can no longer disappear if player leaves dungeon without taking it
“The White Phial” will now start properly if player already has a briar heart in their inventory
Player can no longer get stuck in Misty Grove after completing “A Night to Remember”
Fixed issue where leaving Riften during “A Chance Arrangement” would prevent quest from progressing
In “Darkness Returns”, a door in Twilight Sepulcher will properly open if the player leaves the dungeon for an extended period of time before completing the quest
In “Revealing the Unseen”, if the player leaves the Oculory for an extended period of time after placing the focusing crystal and returns, the quest will proceed correctly
“Onmund’s Request” will now start properly if player has already found Enthir’s staff before receiving this quest
Fixed instance where Tonilia would stop buying stolen items and also would not give Guild Leader Armor
“Repairing the Phial” will start properly if player already has unmelting snow or mammoth tusk in their inventory
Finding Pantea’s Flute before speaking with Pantea no longer prevents her quest from updating
In “The Break of Dawn”, fixed rare instance where a quest object would spawn incorrectly on the Katariah during Hail Sithis
Fixed rare issue in “The Mind of Madness” where player is unable to equip the Wabbajack
Fixed issue in “Pieces of the Past” where Mehrunes Dagon’s Razor will not trigger properly if player leaves the cell for extended period of time before activating it
“Blood’s Honor” will start properly if you visited and completed Driftshade and an extended period of time passes before starting the quest.
Fixed rare issue where “Dampened Spirits” would not start properly
Fixed issue where player would be unable to become Thane of Riften if they purchased a home first
Fixed issue where killing guards in Cidhna Mine would block progression for “No One Escapes Cidhna Mine”
Fixed numerous issues with “Blood on the Ice” not triggering properly
In “Blood on the Ice”, Calixto can now be killed if player owns a house in Windhelm
In “The Cure for Madness”, killing Cicero then resurrecting him no longer impedes quest progress
Fixed rare issue in “To Kill an Empire” where an NPC would fail to die properly
Clearing Knifepoint Ridge before starting “Boethiah’s Champion” no longer prevents quest from starting.

 
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim



Here's a video Bethesda just sent over showing off the Creation Kit for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The video mentions extensive wiki documentation written by Bethesda staff and shows how Skyrim mods will integrate with the Steam Workshop. It's exciting to contemplate the astonishing things that modders will make with the kit in the coming months. They've already been hard at work making massive changes to the game, as you can see in our round-up of the top 25 Skyrim mods.

But what's this at 1:12, on the left of the centre row? Mudcrab armour? A familiar sight for readers who reached the back page of PC Gamer UK issue 232, drawn by the lovely Marsh Davies. The mod tools are due to arrive soon, which isn't soon enough.
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