Ah, Skyrim.... my favorite game of all time. This bad boy was in my top 4 for a while, then I discovered mods last year and it quickly jumped to the #1 spot. If only the combat were a little slicker, this would be the perfect game for me.

Anyway, I've been playing with new mods for the past month and FINALLY got a stable build I love (lots of trial and error, lots of crashing, and lots of restarting midway through to fix janky mods and meshes). I threw on a bunch of slick graphics mods and took some screenshots. I'll include my mod list at the bottom for anyone still playing Skyrim ;)

MOD LIST

A few notes:

1. I'm using Oldrim w/ all expansions, not SSE. Idk if all mods are compatible with SSE or not, but I think most have been ported over.

2. My build is almost all graphics enhancements, aside from the obvious patches and bug fixes. I don't play with add-on mods like new weapons or quests, but you can totally add those to this if you want. I've also found that script heavy mods, like adding extra battles, more enemies, etc can cause some nasty bugs later on in the game, so I took all of those out. Everything below is 100% what my build looks like.

3. I've lumped everything into categories in case you're looking to pick and choose things. Load order does matter for some of these mods, so do some research if you're not familiar with modding, otherwise you'll end up with startup crashes, texture issues, or other bad side effects. Under each section, I've listed everything in the order I use and it has been stable for me so far. Make sure to read all the notes on installing mods in case you're running anything that conflicts with the ones below. **Take special care with the character enhancements. Installing these in the wrong order will result in hideous effects, like characters with colorless faces (or no faces) and red skin, or grey faces and white skin**

4. Some of the body mods are NSFW. Use discretion

5. I use Nexus Mod Manager/Vortex. Aside from the ENB, all of these should be a simple "click to download." I haven't changed anything manually in my files, I'm only loading the mods I want and putting them in a working order. Changing files in your Skyrim folder will most likely result in you needing to re-install Skyrim if you don't know what you're doing.... I've had to re-install like 10 times in the past couple weeks....

ENB

Beautification of Skyrim ENB + Climates of Tamriel. You need these to get the pretty colors

Patches, bug fixes, etc

Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition patch

SKSE

SkyUI

Fix Lip Sync

Climates of Tamriel Weather Patch

Realistic Melee Range

Gameplay adjustments (personal preference)

Quick Loot- speeds up the looting process by 100000. I can't play without this

Sovngarde font replacer- looks more like fantasy text than the font in vanilla. A small tweak with a surprisingly big effect

Quick Start- skip the opening sequence & dungeon

Face to face conversations- makes all conversations in close up mode. Highly recommended

Better jumping- lets you jump while sprinting. I'm tempted to put this in bug fixes because it's such an obvious thing to have...

Quality World Map

Characters, NPCs, models, etc

Total Character Makeover

UNP Female Body

Pandorables NPCs

Ordinary Women

Consistent Older People

Males of Skyrim (and USLEEP replacer)

Skysight Skins

Bijin Warmaidens

Bijin NPCs

Bijin Wives

Bijin Skin UNP

RSChildren

Superior Lore Friendly Hair

Seductive Lips

Eyes of Beauty

Smile in HD

Environmental changes/enhancements

JKs Skyrim all in one- huge overhaul of the cities/towns

The Ruins- adds cool old ruins and statues to Skyrim

Immersive fallen trees

Osmodius Texture Pack

Skyrim Bridges- adds and enhances bridges

Mythical Tundra

Skyrim Flora Overhaul- better grass and trees

Verdant- better grass

Forts of Skyrim

Realistic Water 2

Watercolor for ENB

Real Roads

HD reflections for armor

Nordic Ruins

Rudy HQ Nordic Ruins

Ultimate HD Fire Effects

Lean Wolf's Better Shaped Weapons

Natural Aspen Recolor

*Make sure to endorse the mods you like!

(I'll update the other links soon)

it's a text based jrpg- a little different than the normal stuff!

*Quick Crypt Shyfter update- the game is coming together nicely. It’s going to be another longer one like Limerick or Dreadnaughts, so it’s still a few weeks from being done, but I’m diggin’ the direction it’s going. Won’t say much more now ;)

Me and my buds have started playing D&D again! We’re playing a weekly game on Roll20 since most of us live in different states. It’s been about a year since the whole group played together- usually my best friend and his wife jump in a game with me on random Friday nights, but the last two weeks we’ve had the whole gang (there are 6 of us, 3 dudes and 3 chicks.

We’ve been best friends since high school and we even all moved into a house together for a few years a while back lmao. Good times were had with lots of late night video games and nerf gun wars).

We’re all in or approaching our 30s but it’s fun to see we still enjoy the simple pleasures, like playing cops and robbers with suped up nerf guns or talking about killing dragons on weekends.

So anyway, since we’ve been playing RPGs together for a while now, we all have really defined ideas of what we like and what we don’t like. As a DM this is the best thing ever because I just throw them into a situation I know will be like a powder keg and step back and watch the hilarity unfold.

But what’s really great is that none of us grew up playing tabletop RPGs and by the time we got into it we didn’t care much for gigantic tomes of knowledge stuffed with +1s and THACO and AC and all that nonsense.

Now, when I say we play D&D, I don’t mean it in the sense that we’re playing 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons. I’m just referring to “fantasy RPGs” in general. Sitting down at the table (or Roll20), rolling dice, and fighting monsters in caves.

I used to play RPGs with my roommates in college and combat would take HOURS. The games were fun, but it was such a boring slog. We don’t have the patience for that, so we home brew pretty much all the rules.

We started off by playing a mix of D&D 5e and Dungeon World to keep the combat fast, but it was still too slow and confusing. People would forget which abilities gave them +3 or which dice they were rolling for what weapon, and the games became less about killing dragons and more about figuring out what the fuck a proficiency modifier was.

So we kept tweaking and looking for new rules until we finally landed on one that’s perfect for our group. It’s a short little one page game called “Lasers & Feelings” and it couldn’t be simpler. Of course, we still hacked that one pager, and now we’ve got a system that’s perfect for us.

We can get through an entire adventure in about 2 hours with a satisfying ending and lots of laughs, instead of 4-5 hours like when we first started. This is great for a couple reasons- first, it’s fun as hell when the game is moving as fast as a movie or video game. Second, everyone is way more excited to play now knowing we won’t be dicking around with rule books for 30 minutes while someone checks to see what their ability can do.

I have a tiny little post it note with everyone’s stat number and a note for myself. It looks like this:

Sartorion- 5

Lara- 2

Grundlelore- 3

Sandals- 3

Basil- 3

MIGHT- under

MIND- over

And that’s it. That’s all I need as the DM to run a game. Anytime someone attempts something that has a chance of failure I say roll your dice. If they’re doing a might check, they gotta roll under their number. If they’re doing a mind check, they roll over. If they roll exactly their number, it’s a critical hit. SUPER SIMPLE.

Granted, this system would be way too simple for most hardcore RPG players. We do have our class abilities listed in the game, which include some of our favorite abilities from other games we’ve played to give ourselves a feeling of progress. Since the raw stats never change, getting new abilities makes it feel like we’re getting stronger, but it doesn’t confuse us with “add +2 against undead and +1 against anything else. If it’s a fire enemy you get -3 unless you’re fighting in the astral vortex, in which case the negative energy negates the flames and causes the fire beast to attack at disadvantage.”

We go much simpler, with perks like “Battle Master: If you roll a 6 on an attack, re-roll it.” Or “Advanced Healer: When you cast heal on an ally, you heal yourself as well.”

It’s also hilarious since we’ve all been making movies together for over a decade, so everyone is awesome at improv and making up ridiculous stories on the spot. This has led to some super fun games, and after finishing our latest session last night I can’t wait to see what’s in store for them.

The heroes just attacked a group of their doppelgängers at a festival in the middle of the city and have now been labeled as terrorists, so they’re in for a rough time. Their justification for attacking the doppelgängers was that “they were getting all the credit for everything we did- and besides, they captured an innocent chimera!”

What it looked like from ANY SANE PERSONS perspective was “here are 5 strangers who came to our town, launched fireballs at our honored guests, set fire to our town as the peasants fled, attacked and murdered the heroes we were celebrating, and then released a chimera from captivity.”

While the chimera was happy, I have a feeling the heroes are going to have a real tough time in the future since they’re now fugitives and outlaws. On the plus side, they did manage to steal the keys to a flying, teleporting castle, so they have a base now.

I think it’s time for an evil character to make them an offer, since they’re doing such a bang up job of being heroes....

Here it is. The post I knew I'd have to write from the beginning. The only question was: how long could I delay posting it?

8 games/stories in 8 weeks is my new record, and here is where I throw in the towel.

Tomorrow marks the start of week 9 and Crypt Shyfter: Shattershard is still a long way from being finished. By the time I post it, I'm afraid I'll have fallen behind too far to recover. Besides, the challenge was a game a week, and this week there's no game. So that's it!

Crypt Shyfter is over! Thanks for coming out, it's been fun, don't forget to check under your seats for a prize.

Heh. Just kidding.

I may not have been able to keep up the pace of writing a game a week for 52 weeks in a row, but I've still got to write all those adventures! Besides, I haven't missed a day of writing since starting the challenge and I don't intend to start now. The only difference between then and now is how much I'm writing per day.

When I started the challenge I was hitting 3-6k words a day some days- insane. My output has slowed to a few hundred words a day now, but it may pick up again soon.

Still, no matter how much it picks up, I'm unlikely to hit 52 games before my time limit expires (unless I lose my job or get a mystery inheritance or somehow find an extra 40 hours a week to devote to writing these games lol).

So what happens next? I guess now we enter phase 2 of the challenge: the question is no longer “can you write 52 games in a year?” (answer: not yet, but maybe someday!) but rather “how many games CAN you write in a year?”

43? 35? 26? 18?

I missed my deadline and blew the challenge, and so of course I'm beating myself up over it. But the show must go on! I'll just take the old rules and bend them to my will. If you have a problem with that you can fight me. Roll initiative!

Okay but seriously. This has been an extremely fun challenge, and I will likely try to top myself someday. Maybe next year I'll get 10 games in 10 weeks? All I know is now I have planted a flag in the sand: 8 games in 8 weeks is possible. A new personal best. But I know I can do better.

And objectively the games weren't terrible. For what it's worth, 7 out of 8 won daily awards here- not too shabby! So I'm glad you guys played and enjoyed them. Except Crimson Wings- you failed me, Crimson Wings. I hereby banish you to Crypt Shyfter hell!

So what did I learn from this whole experience? A lot. You can read my thoughts on that here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/i-wrote-8-games-22687908

But really, now what?

Well, the plan now is to keep writing every day, just like I've been doing, but at a slightly more relaxed pace. No need to kill myself now that I've called off the challenge. If this was my job? Yeah, that'd be a different story. I'd absolutely hit those deadlines no matter what. But this is just my hobby. I write these in my spare time after work and on my lunch breaks because I have nothing better to do and I'm a fuckin' nerd.

So more games will get posted on random days whenever I finish them, but there will be no set schedules or guarantees. Some games will take a week, just like I've been doing. Some may take a month. Others may take longer. But they'll still be getting posted. It all depends on how many hours a day I sit in my chair to write.

I'll keep that challenge page updated with all the new adventures for this year. You'll start to see those titles turning blue with links to games as they're posted. And then we'll see how many I can get between now and September 18, 2019.

I'll probably be moving a little slower the next couple weeks (or maybe months). We're entering the dark times, and so seasonal depression is on it's way. Yippee. :/

Additionally, being in creative overdrive for such an extended period of time has been surprisingly draining. I need some time to relax and re-juice my brain, so some days I'll only get a sentence or two written. That leaves more time for replaying Pokemon Blue and the original Halo campaign for the 9000th time.

But I made a promise to myself that I'd write at least a sentence every day, and I intend to keep that promise. So no matter what, games will get finished- one sentence at a time, just like all the others.

And that's it! Some months you'll see a flurry of games, other months you won't hear from me at all.

I started playing D&D again with my oldest amigos, so our epic journeys will continue and I'll be dedicating more time to creating adventures for them IRL. But home games always have a way of sparking new text adventure ideas, so you can be sure to see some of those games getting turned into Crypt Shyfter adventures somewhere down the line.

Regardless of what may come, stay badass, may your 20s always be natural, keep being creative and awesome, all that good shit.

We've got more fun ahead of us, and I look forward to sharing this wild creative journey with you weirdos wherever it may lead!

<3 kfsb

PS. Even though I failed the challenge, I kept track of everything these last 8 weeks just so I could see what would happen.

Here's what failing the challenge looked like from my point of view:

• Wrote 8 new games in 8 weeks- sick!
• Wrote a grand total of 91,762 words! Yowza! Seriously what the shitfuck that's a metric butt ton of words
• 7 out of 8 games won trophies! Badass ;)
• 3 front paged games!
• ~60 new Newgrounds subscribers
• ~50 new itchio subscribers
• 700+ new game downloads on itchio- WTF????
• Made $10.87 from purchases of free games posted on itchio. WTF!?!?!!?!??
• Gained 2 patreon subscribers (and lost 1)
• Someone made the first piece of original Crypt Shyfter fan art!
• I got a handful of messages asking for advice on how to make games or telling me I inspired them to make their own games - my favorite kinds of messages! Y'all are my biggest badasses ;)
• I got a few messages from people asking to collaborate
• I got a message from a guy who wanted to translate the games into another language

All I can say is: if this is what failure looks like then I want to fail more often! Can you even imagine what this would have looked like if I'd succeeded??? Holy fuckin shitnuts!

Get your ass out there and fail, motherfuckers!

1. Howling Flame - 9/20/18

2. Crimson Wings - 9/23/18

3. The Dinosaur Wizard - 9/28/18

4. Oathbreaker - 10/5/18

5. Pizza Quest - 10/8/18

6. Misery - 10/20/18

7. Storm Shadow - 10/31/18

8.  Warp Hounds - 11/8/18

FAILED! - I was not able to complete the challenge in time, but more games are still on the way. Click here to find out what's next!

9. Shattershard

10. Archon

11. Abandoned Universe

12. Rise of Skagg

13. Return to Shipwreck Cove

14. Rumdoodle

15. Zarkaja's Fist

16. Titanium Phantom

17. Vanishing Arcade

18. Siege of Stonehammer Hall

Crypt Shyfter: Atomic Angel: https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/717280

Crypt Shyfter: Legend of Silver Wolf, Master of the Grey Blade: https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/717281

@tomfulp has graciously agreed to share this post in the news section of the website but I wanted to share it with everyone here too- we're having a short story contest!

I'm pasting the original post below:

*inhales in preparation for a super cheesy howdy-doody announcement*

Hey there fellow Newgrounders! Are you secretly a writer? Do you enjoy sci-fi, fantasy, westerns, and stories about shapeshifting cyborgs from outer space?? (I guess that last one falls under sci-fi…)

Then have I got news for you!

I'm hosting a Crypt Shyfter short story writing contest and offering cash prizes for the best entries. Pen your masterpiece and earn some cash!

No idea what Crypt Shyfter is? Click here:https://www.newgrounds.com/collection/cryptshyfter

The rules are simple: write a story featuring evil Shyfters and heroic badasses. Anything goes!

All stories must be over 2,000 words to be considered for a prize. Your stories do NOT need to include multiple paths, but I'll definitely give bonus points if you write an adventure using Twine or another text adventure program.

The competition will be judged by@heroblowe, @thedoubleone, and myself.

Prizes:
First place: $50
Second place: $30
Third place: $20

Additionally, I'll be working with the first place author to convert their story into a full-length adventure that we will post here on Newgrounds.

Please post links to your entries in this thread so everyone can see them and giggle at your badly written sex scenes. https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1434943#bbspost26232230_post_text

The deadline for this contest is October 15, 2018. We will announce the winners on October 17. There is no limit to the number of entries you can submit, so if you write 3 totally kick ass stories then you deserve the full $100!

This competition is open to anyone. Spelling and grammar will be considered but we're mainly looking for funny stories about monsters getting killed by heroes so don't beat yourself up if you're not Bill Shakespeare. Just have fun with it!

Let me know if you have any questions. I look forward to reading your badass adventures!

”If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.”
-Edgar Rice Burroughs (author of Tarzan and the Barsoom series)

The Crypt Shyfter collection is free on itch.io today only! If you want to own the games and play them in the best possible format you can grab the bundle here: https://itch.io/s/12621/the-complete-collection-free 

Includes all 10 games in the series so far.