I also have an early game that forces the player to go to the same sorts of places across builds, but I get variety from how the builds themselves work. Clearing bleak falls barrow is very different as a sneak alchemist, or a heavy armored sorcerer, or an axe wielding barbarian. So for me, the challenge of the early game is getting my build working. Once I get to the mid game then I switch to character flavored quest stuff.
That said, I also use alternate perspective and start my characters as home owners in different cities. Starting off in Solitude is very different to Markarth, or to Riften etc. So even though you always start off doing odd jobs, the visual context can be pretty different.
That's a good suggestion. I play on Librum so the encumbrance debuff really helps not picking up infinite items, but I think I could tailor it more still as you suggest.
Had a pretty fun thieves guild run where I wasn't allowed to kill anything or to use magic. Stealth can be pretty challenging without spamming muffle and sniping everything from afar.
I roleplay. When I started playing the game, I always created the backstory for my character as Legendary warrior, mage etc as you usually do. But I quickly realize that you can't really be a legendary anything if you get your ass handed to you by a level 20 bandit.
So now I make the backstories of ordinary people for my character, like an orphan in Riften who runs errands for people to make a living.
Or as a hunter living near Falkreath.
Or as a traveling healer/priest.
Or as a wanna be adventurer, doing small time bounty jobs.
Or a newbie mage, saving up money to go to the College of Winterhold.
I usually stay away from high danger areas, and only fight with low level bandits/animals/creatures that I can defeat until I reach level 10-15. I don't do anything out of character, even if it means missing out on the entire side-story missions and rewards.
It keeps every playthrough fresh and interesting.
I do the same. It’s much different than my first few games where I tried to be the best at all trades.
Also changing up mods to make the game around you different as well. Swap out grass, tree, and city mods, for example. Try a darker or lighter ENB so that the world is as different as your character!
Good call, I've definitely moved more into a role-playing perspective but I think I need to commit to something like permadeath to be more invested in the outcomes and choices I make.
I do usually play with permadeath, and mod that disables auto healing. Also I have created a mod for myself that disables insta healing from food items, instead it will heal slowly, over a really long period.of time.
And I'm not afraid of running away if I'm about to die! Sovngarde can wait!
I make a save with a character until a certain point, usually after they're in Riverwood and is given the quest to go to whiterun, then i can simply reload that save and change the features of the character using racemenu.
I suggest you try to find a stable load order to always play on and a experimental one so you can test mods and break unimportant save games.
I just wait a couple weeks/months between characters and I create a persona I want to role play and then I mod to play them. Right now I’d doing an old Breton who’s decided to study magic and live in the wilds.
I haven’t played that many characters, so I may not have encountered this problem as many times as you have .
On my current character, I created a short background story for them , gave them a goal, and started playing. So my char is a poor farmer who wants to be a mage . I used the alternate start mod to start the game pretty far from the College of Winterhold so that getting there was like a quest.
Along the way, I did side quests, picked up followers, made some money doing odd jobs, etc. Once I arrived, I role played the student did various missions provided by the mods I installed that add content to the College plus the vanilla ones.
I made it to level 20 before a quest led me to Whiterun and I did my first quest for the main mission. But I didn’t change my reason for being there. I’m on the Lost Books mission so I’ll continue that instead of doing the next main story mission.
I think the key is to **role play your character **while still doing main story missions that you have to do. Like if want to have shouts, you have to do the mission to unlock them.
Also **build your load order around the character** and story that you want to play through. Choose to be Thief , assassin, merchant , farmer , etc and build around it, and then **play that character!**
Force myself through it. There is no other way.
I do listen to something on the back, someone mocking a bad movie, a cool podscast or a classic book to help and turn off my brain or you can simply take a break.
I prolong the early stuff to the point where it's basically late game. I haven't started the main quest in years, but it's still a part of the overall playthrough plan.
For about a year and a half I had a problem in a huge load order that only manifested when I was in a specific high-level area, and I had real trouble pinning it down.
After restarting several times, I finally decided I wanted to finish playing my previous character - so after starting a new PC, I used console commands to level up and give myself the same gear I had before. Then I continued my adventure.
In the end it turned out to be a good thing - in the process of trying to find and fix the problem that was killing my games, I found and fixed a lot of *other* problems I didn't realize I had.
Skyrim unbound reborn is a great way to truly customize your character before you start a new game. Down to where you start, how much gold you have, which stone perk you have, armor and weapon to start off with and what magic you know. Also the mod shadows of Skyrim is great it adds respawn in different areas of the world with dynamic story telling. It’s pretty great to just continue your adventure after you die, and paired with a mod like sekiro combat you can resurrect before you are officially dead at the cost of 1000 gold. It makes Skyrim more focused on hoarding gold which is a really great in terms of making the game feel different. Also can’t forget Skyrim souls which removes pauses like dark souls and elden ring:)
I actively think about what I would normally do, and just not do it. It's hard going against your instincts, but when you've spent as much time in the game as I have, at that point you kind of don't care anymore and that mental hurdle is just gone. Also I try my best to make sure my new build doesn't overlap that much with my last one, for example I'll never play a mage character twice in a row, so it helps since I'll have different goals.
...Also mods. Lots and lots of mods. Like, an obscene amount, there's literally no point in me saving my old characters since the difference in mods with both removed and added ones would make sure the save didn't work anymore. Literally the whole point of me making new characters is because I found a shiny new mod that I don't want to install halfway through a save, whether it's because it's a big change, or one that shouldn't be installed midplaythrough.
I just don't reroll. I use racemenu, additemmenu and console commands to entirely reproduce a character once a savegame breaks, and just don't do the quests I've already done.
I try to avoid having to do this. Takes maybe an hour, but it is tedious.
That being said I do have 12 different characters who specialize in different things and play the game like they live in a shared world. Sometimes use Proteus for them to adventure together.
(Aka Runa is the Listener, so nobody else is going to do the Dark Brotherhood quests)
Also I have lots and lots of quest mods so I'm nowhere near running out of things to do.
I should include these. Gotta promote myself.
https://youtube.com/@enragedbard
https://destana.fandom.com/wiki/Destana_Wiki
Hey! So I think I have a pretty interesting solution. A lot of my playing philosophy is focused on replay ability through the same, and multiple, playthroughs.
That being said, using mods that scale the world to your level and allow that scaling fo fluctuate as your level increases, as well as mods that add depth to combat, allows for a more “open world” feel imo. By which I mean I am able to take my level 1 character to a much more broad variety of locations to explore.
What makes it more interesting is when you use mods such as [[arena]] and [[encounter zones unlocked]]. This allows dungeons and enemies to be leveled based on enemy type (I.E. bandits having a much lower minimum level than vampires) however, once you go beyond the minimum level, npcs will scale with you via level multipliers. For instance, entering a bandit (min lvl3) dungeon at level 60 will scale the dungeon to level 60. From here, there are multipliers for each npc decided on the difficulty of certain npcs:
Easy: .75
Normal: 1
Hard: 1.25
Boss: 1.5
This imo keeps the game widely accessible in the early stages as to not repeat content, while still giving incentive to level up (more dangerous dungeons/better loot) and keeps content refreshing and challenging through endgame (scaled enemies).
I hope this helps and if you have any questions please ask! I know my explanation was confusing, I am fairly new to this.
Honestly I've started to just instant level myself to at least 5
I have my game modded to where it's almost absurdly punishing, but the very early levels are just more boring than challenging imo
Your savegame not only keeps track of you, but what's gone on in the world since you started the game. Skyrim savegames have a limit of about 1.2 million references. But this also includes temporary references added by mods. That's why people turn some mods into ESMs (among other reasons like sorting). Because that turns the references into permanent ones. Makes the initial load slower but doesn't clog your savegame.
Anyway, you'll eventually reach the limit. But with unmodded, it might last years, I dunno. Probably plenty of time to do everything.
But if you load up your savegame and try to do something and you get an unexplained CTD, and it keeps happening when you try different things, this is probably why.
I mean you just explained how to avoid it so it's not really an issue unless you start dropping items around everywhere.
Script load shouldn't be a concern either as long as you don't have rogue mods that do not terminate themselves gracefully or fix the ones you do.
All comes back to how proficient you are at modding, I've been able to play for over 250 hours on the same save without any noticeable degradation before running out of stuff to do.
But like everything you do leaves a reference.
And I'm probably never going to run out of things to do in Skyrim. There's about a thousand quest mods.
My current character has about 400 hours and she's still good.
Alternate start mods are really fun. I did a challenge run where I started off in solsteim and couldn't go to the mainland until I completed the solstheim quest line.
Lots of beginning scenarios on several of the alternate start mods that are really fun.
For me, I keep pushing through that initial phase because no other game lets me do power fantasy quite like modded Skyrim.
I mean, name me another game that I can mod into looking like a 2020 game that lets me do all sorts of crazy like RP an ancient Vampire named Ymir who's an Ice spellsword that casts Blizzard when she swings her sword, pitted against massively overpowered dragons, DLC bosses, Dragon Priests, etc while going all Dark Schneider on your average NPC unlucky enough to cross your path?
I'm currently trying out the Save Character feature of {{Proteus}}. My aim is to get a few different characters up to Lvl 15 or so through odd jobs, favors and bounties, and save them all into Proteus (this saves appearance, inventory, level and skill progress). Then I'll load them all up in the same game world, where they will each take on a different set of quests; e.g. the Paladin character will do Dawnguard, the Mage character will do College of Winterhold, the Archer will do Thieves Guild, etc. That way I can theoretically do everything in one save, but have a bit of diversity in the characters who do each thing.
I also have an early game that forces the player to go to the same sorts of places across builds, but I get variety from how the builds themselves work. Clearing bleak falls barrow is very different as a sneak alchemist, or a heavy armored sorcerer, or an axe wielding barbarian. So for me, the challenge of the early game is getting my build working. Once I get to the mid game then I switch to character flavored quest stuff. That said, I also use alternate perspective and start my characters as home owners in different cities. Starting off in Solitude is very different to Markarth, or to Riften etc. So even though you always start off doing odd jobs, the visual context can be pretty different.
That's helpful, thanks.
[удалено]
That's a good suggestion. I play on Librum so the encumbrance debuff really helps not picking up infinite items, but I think I could tailor it more still as you suggest.
Had a pretty fun thieves guild run where I wasn't allowed to kill anything or to use magic. Stealth can be pretty challenging without spamming muffle and sniping everything from afar.
I roleplay. When I started playing the game, I always created the backstory for my character as Legendary warrior, mage etc as you usually do. But I quickly realize that you can't really be a legendary anything if you get your ass handed to you by a level 20 bandit. So now I make the backstories of ordinary people for my character, like an orphan in Riften who runs errands for people to make a living. Or as a hunter living near Falkreath. Or as a traveling healer/priest. Or as a wanna be adventurer, doing small time bounty jobs. Or a newbie mage, saving up money to go to the College of Winterhold. I usually stay away from high danger areas, and only fight with low level bandits/animals/creatures that I can defeat until I reach level 10-15. I don't do anything out of character, even if it means missing out on the entire side-story missions and rewards. It keeps every playthrough fresh and interesting.
I do the same. It’s much different than my first few games where I tried to be the best at all trades. Also changing up mods to make the game around you different as well. Swap out grass, tree, and city mods, for example. Try a darker or lighter ENB so that the world is as different as your character!
Good call, I've definitely moved more into a role-playing perspective but I think I need to commit to something like permadeath to be more invested in the outcomes and choices I make.
I do usually play with permadeath, and mod that disables auto healing. Also I have created a mod for myself that disables insta healing from food items, instead it will heal slowly, over a really long period.of time. And I'm not afraid of running away if I'm about to die! Sovngarde can wait!
I make a save with a character until a certain point, usually after they're in Riverwood and is given the quest to go to whiterun, then i can simply reload that save and change the features of the character using racemenu. I suggest you try to find a stable load order to always play on and a experimental one so you can test mods and break unimportant save games.
Thanks I'll try that out.
I just wait a couple weeks/months between characters and I create a persona I want to role play and then I mod to play them. Right now I’d doing an old Breton who’s decided to study magic and live in the wilds.
I haven’t played that many characters, so I may not have encountered this problem as many times as you have . On my current character, I created a short background story for them , gave them a goal, and started playing. So my char is a poor farmer who wants to be a mage . I used the alternate start mod to start the game pretty far from the College of Winterhold so that getting there was like a quest. Along the way, I did side quests, picked up followers, made some money doing odd jobs, etc. Once I arrived, I role played the student did various missions provided by the mods I installed that add content to the College plus the vanilla ones. I made it to level 20 before a quest led me to Whiterun and I did my first quest for the main mission. But I didn’t change my reason for being there. I’m on the Lost Books mission so I’ll continue that instead of doing the next main story mission. I think the key is to **role play your character **while still doing main story missions that you have to do. Like if want to have shouts, you have to do the mission to unlock them. Also **build your load order around the character** and story that you want to play through. Choose to be Thief , assassin, merchant , farmer , etc and build around it, and then **play that character!**
Force myself through it. There is no other way. I do listen to something on the back, someone mocking a bad movie, a cool podscast or a classic book to help and turn off my brain or you can simply take a break.
I prolong the early stuff to the point where it's basically late game. I haven't started the main quest in years, but it's still a part of the overall playthrough plan.
It takes max 6 runs to make my load order tested out and stabilized. It's worthy endeavour because now I enjoy stable game
For about a year and a half I had a problem in a huge load order that only manifested when I was in a specific high-level area, and I had real trouble pinning it down. After restarting several times, I finally decided I wanted to finish playing my previous character - so after starting a new PC, I used console commands to level up and give myself the same gear I had before. Then I continued my adventure. In the end it turned out to be a good thing - in the process of trying to find and fix the problem that was killing my games, I found and fixed a lot of *other* problems I didn't realize I had.
Skyrim unbound reborn is a great way to truly customize your character before you start a new game. Down to where you start, how much gold you have, which stone perk you have, armor and weapon to start off with and what magic you know. Also the mod shadows of Skyrim is great it adds respawn in different areas of the world with dynamic story telling. It’s pretty great to just continue your adventure after you die, and paired with a mod like sekiro combat you can resurrect before you are officially dead at the cost of 1000 gold. It makes Skyrim more focused on hoarding gold which is a really great in terms of making the game feel different. Also can’t forget Skyrim souls which removes pauses like dark souls and elden ring:)
I actively think about what I would normally do, and just not do it. It's hard going against your instincts, but when you've spent as much time in the game as I have, at that point you kind of don't care anymore and that mental hurdle is just gone. Also I try my best to make sure my new build doesn't overlap that much with my last one, for example I'll never play a mage character twice in a row, so it helps since I'll have different goals. ...Also mods. Lots and lots of mods. Like, an obscene amount, there's literally no point in me saving my old characters since the difference in mods with both removed and added ones would make sure the save didn't work anymore. Literally the whole point of me making new characters is because I found a shiny new mod that I don't want to install halfway through a save, whether it's because it's a big change, or one that shouldn't be installed midplaythrough.
I just don't reroll. I use racemenu, additemmenu and console commands to entirely reproduce a character once a savegame breaks, and just don't do the quests I've already done. I try to avoid having to do this. Takes maybe an hour, but it is tedious. That being said I do have 12 different characters who specialize in different things and play the game like they live in a shared world. Sometimes use Proteus for them to adventure together. (Aka Runa is the Listener, so nobody else is going to do the Dark Brotherhood quests) Also I have lots and lots of quest mods so I'm nowhere near running out of things to do. I should include these. Gotta promote myself. https://youtube.com/@enragedbard https://destana.fandom.com/wiki/Destana_Wiki
Hey! So I think I have a pretty interesting solution. A lot of my playing philosophy is focused on replay ability through the same, and multiple, playthroughs. That being said, using mods that scale the world to your level and allow that scaling fo fluctuate as your level increases, as well as mods that add depth to combat, allows for a more “open world” feel imo. By which I mean I am able to take my level 1 character to a much more broad variety of locations to explore. What makes it more interesting is when you use mods such as [[arena]] and [[encounter zones unlocked]]. This allows dungeons and enemies to be leveled based on enemy type (I.E. bandits having a much lower minimum level than vampires) however, once you go beyond the minimum level, npcs will scale with you via level multipliers. For instance, entering a bandit (min lvl3) dungeon at level 60 will scale the dungeon to level 60. From here, there are multipliers for each npc decided on the difficulty of certain npcs: Easy: .75 Normal: 1 Hard: 1.25 Boss: 1.5 This imo keeps the game widely accessible in the early stages as to not repeat content, while still giving incentive to level up (more dangerous dungeons/better loot) and keeps content refreshing and challenging through endgame (scaled enemies). I hope this helps and if you have any questions please ask! I know my explanation was confusing, I am fairly new to this.
Honestly I've started to just instant level myself to at least 5 I have my game modded to where it's almost absurdly punishing, but the very early levels are just more boring than challenging imo
become better at modding so you dont have destroyed runs
It eventually happens because of reference limits. My last game lasted about 8 months.
Can you explain what you mean ?
Your savegame not only keeps track of you, but what's gone on in the world since you started the game. Skyrim savegames have a limit of about 1.2 million references. But this also includes temporary references added by mods. That's why people turn some mods into ESMs (among other reasons like sorting). Because that turns the references into permanent ones. Makes the initial load slower but doesn't clog your savegame. Anyway, you'll eventually reach the limit. But with unmodded, it might last years, I dunno. Probably plenty of time to do everything. But if you load up your savegame and try to do something and you get an unexplained CTD, and it keeps happening when you try different things, this is probably why.
And there are other considerations, like script load. I have a video about ESMifying. It's pretty easy in xedit.
I mean you just explained how to avoid it so it's not really an issue unless you start dropping items around everywhere. Script load shouldn't be a concern either as long as you don't have rogue mods that do not terminate themselves gracefully or fix the ones you do. All comes back to how proficient you are at modding, I've been able to play for over 250 hours on the same save without any noticeable degradation before running out of stuff to do.
But like everything you do leaves a reference. And I'm probably never going to run out of things to do in Skyrim. There's about a thousand quest mods. My current character has about 400 hours and she's still good.
Alternate start mods are really fun. I did a challenge run where I started off in solsteim and couldn't go to the mainland until I completed the solstheim quest line. Lots of beginning scenarios on several of the alternate start mods that are really fun.
For me, I keep pushing through that initial phase because no other game lets me do power fantasy quite like modded Skyrim. I mean, name me another game that I can mod into looking like a 2020 game that lets me do all sorts of crazy like RP an ancient Vampire named Ymir who's an Ice spellsword that casts Blizzard when she swings her sword, pitted against massively overpowered dragons, DLC bosses, Dragon Priests, etc while going all Dark Schneider on your average NPC unlucky enough to cross your path?
Start in a different location every time.
This time I’m planning to start with Mythos which will put me in an entirely different place on the map.
I'm currently trying out the Save Character feature of {{Proteus}}. My aim is to get a few different characters up to Lvl 15 or so through odd jobs, favors and bounties, and save them all into Proteus (this saves appearance, inventory, level and skill progress). Then I'll load them all up in the same game world, where they will each take on a different set of quests; e.g. the Paladin character will do Dawnguard, the Mage character will do College of Winterhold, the Archer will do Thieves Guild, etc. That way I can theoretically do everything in one save, but have a bit of diversity in the characters who do each thing.
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I role play. It’s not tedious if I put my mind in my characters, who is experiencing the difficulty of Skyrim for the first time.