Transforming Tamriel - The Best Skyrim Mods for PS4

Skyrim on PS4 doesn't get a lot of love for modding thanks to Sony's restriction on using external assets. Fortunately for everyone, the Skyrim modding community is an incredibly tenacious and talented group of people and they continue to support the PS4. Over the past several months, a number of utterly transformative mods have been released that can change nearly every aspect of Tamriel. So, if you're interested in another playthrough, here are a few of the mods that I recommend to make it an even better experience. Each time I mention a new mod, I will link it to their Bethesda.net page and at the end of the article, I'll list all the recommended downloads in a row.

Project Hippie completely transforms Whiterun

Weather and Lighting

Surreal Lighting revs up every, single color

First off, you're going to need one of the major weather/lighting overhauls. This is basically a must-download as it completely enhances the way that the entire landscape of Skyrim looks, sounds and feels. There aren't a lot of choices for this on PS4 but, fortunately, the choices we do have are excellent. To start, there is Surreal Lighting, a fantastic alteration of outdoor lighting that makes every color pop, vividly brightening the every landscape. If you decide to go with Surreal Lighting, I highly recommend picking up the Supreme Storms mod as well since Surreal Lighting doesn't actually alter the vanilla storms and is compatible with it. Then we have Dolomite Weathers and Lighting Overhaul which changes both the weather and lighting significantly. Everything becomes more colorful, like Surreal, but with a more naturalistic focus, and while adding a variety of new elements during weather such as actual snowflakes and raindrops.

The clouds though, dear divines, the clouds

However, for my money, the best weather/lighting overhaul is the Dolomite Weathers - Natural which organically and seamlessly melds into the world of Skyrim. The skybox in particular has never felt so alive with wispy cirrus clouds scattered above the slowly migrating cumulus giants. Along the horizon, the lighter indigo and white colors in the sky differ from the deep, royal blue center and that persistent change of color lasts through both sunset and sunrise. And rather than unrealistically dialing up the colors of the world, this mod accentuates the existing color palette, with the dull oranges and light browns and straw yellows becoming beautiful in their own right. All of this doesn't even touch on the superb updates to the weather systems that it shares with Dolomite Weathers and Lighting making every storm, every squall an event that feels like an actual weather system.

Dolomite Weathers - Natural truly makes the game look incredible

Water and Foliage

Dense Grass said ALL THE GRASS!

Alright, so now I've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about other ways to aesthetically improve this world and let's start with the basics: water. There really only is one mod to consider to make water better and that is WATER - Water and Terrain Enhancement Redux. Combining a myriad of features such as varying water flow, differing opacity based on the type of water, and lapping waves at the shores, this mod captures a ton of little improvements in one, neat package. But lets not forget that the majority of time you'll be spending in Skyrim, you will be adventuring across vast stretches of land and there's one surefire way to make land better: add more trees grass. Introducing Project Hippie and Dense Grass which, just as their titles suggest, carpet the world in a thick layer of region-appropriate trees, foliage, and grass. Honestly, I never knew that these mods would be some of the most important ones in my game but it's hard for me to even go back to vanilla now because it feels so barren. Now, with so many new objects on the screen, it's important to conserve frames per second in any way you can which is why it's valuable to get the Underwater Grass Deleted mod. There's not much more to say except that it deletes underwater grass and it helps performance in a minor way.

Specific Aesthetics

The Foggy Scrolls 5: Fogrim

Looks like it's time to round out the aesthetics with a couple of specifically targeted mods that make a huge difference on a relatively small scale. First off we have Supreme and Volumetric Fog which considerably thickens vanilla fog in a noticeable and definable way. Next up, let's get Rain and Snow FX so that our character's armor and body actually react to weather phenomenon making snow actually crystallize on the armor and become slick in the rain. Finally, have you ever noticed how, despite the frequent wind and storms, trees and shrubs and grass don't move? Well, no more with Skyrim is Windy which adds rustling animations to tree branches and waving animations to shrubbery whenever wind picks up. Don't expect trees to blow around like the Witcher 3 but it's a nice, subtle addition.

I wish this screenshot did ELE ILO justice

So with all the love for the outdoors in Skyrim, how about some indoor beautification with the ELE Interior Lighting Overhaul! The mod is deceptively simple, turning down all the ambient lighting anywhere indoors which, in turn, allows the other embedded light sources actually, properly illuminate. I cannot stress how drastically this changes even the most well known locations. Each torch sconce, each dwarven light fixture, and every ray of light takes on new importance. All of the dungeons somehow become more treacherous and locating a chest off the newly darkened beaten path, one that you would have easily seen in vanilla, becomes a major success. Make sure you bring a torch or a staff of magelight with you when you venture out but, trust me, it's worth it. A quick note about this mod is that it will noticeably decrease visibility in the Hearthfire homes which is why I recommend picking up Improved Hearthfire Lighting in addition to this overhaul.

Immersive to the Max

So if it wasn't yours, whose dildo was it?

Are you ready to immerse yourself in the immersively immersive! I know that word gets thrown around a lot but let's take a look at some quality mods that will make your game world, dare I say, more immersive. Kicking things off, we've got the major Immersive Citizens mod that rewrites many of the behaviors throughout Skyrim. NPC's will now actually behave like living, breathing humans eating meals, relaxing at the various inns, carrying on love affairs, and even buying things at shops, just like you. Combine this mod with the Realistic Conversations mod that enhances lip syncing and stops random citizens from shouting at you as you walk through town and you'll have a Skyrim citizenry unlike you've seen before. Now, while there are a ton of mods in this same vein, a couple of smaller ones that I recommend for immersion purposes are Lampposts of Skyrim, Feminine Females (though note that this only works on women you have not already met so it's best if you activate this during a fresh playthrough), and Magical College of Winterhold, which not only completely overhauls the visual aspects of the college but adds a bunch of new features such as a scroll creation table and the ability to gain bonuses from studying in the Arcaneum.

Quality-of-Life

You get a decaptiation and you get a decapitation and every...

Next up on the list are the quality of life mods, mods that enhance the ease and flow of gameplay. First off, I simply can't imagine playing Skyrim anymore without Rich Merchants of Skyrim, a mod that simply gives every merchant in the vanilla game a thousand gold allowing you to actually sell all of your stuff every time you go out adventuring. Then we have the double whammy of Weightless Dragon Bones and Scales and Alchemist's Respite which, as their titles might suggest, reduce the carry weight of dragon bones and scales, and potions and ingredients respectively. Personally, I also like to use a more divisive mod that some may argue unfairly levels the player too quickly but Rebalanced Level Lists makes killing dragons and opening the final chest in dungeons actually exciting. Finally, just for flavor, everyone should check out the BIG series of mods that can alter various aspects of combat such as BIG: More Kill Moves and Decapitations.

The Only Homes You'll Ever Need

Necrosis in all of its morbid splendor

Well, it's time to delve into the much more subjective territory with the home and quest mods. For home mods, if you're looking for a sprawling and detailed mansion that's not so big as to be cumbersome, complete with an indoor waterfall, a walled and furnished grounds, and all of the storage you could ever want, then you should check out Volgon Estate. If you're into a darker themed home and player space that takes you across dimensions and startles you with the meticulous placement of every static object, I implore you to investigate Necrosis in all of it's otherworldly glory. On the other hand, if you just want a reliable home with an abundance of convenient, labeled storage that can last you for a whole play through look no further than Draven Manor or any of the same mod author's homes. Personally, I just like the Whiterun aesthetic more than that of Solitude or Windhelm. Before I leave, here are few other homes that I have installed just to have installed: Hrothgar Tower, a tiny player home in the High Hrothgar courtyard complete with a unique shrine and helmet; TNF-Whiterun, a significant alteration of Breezehome, adding an impressive tower with trophy bases, a forging basement, and a detailed set of alchemy and enchanting tables; and Bear Peak Cottage, a sizable home with a gorgeous view and a fair amount of scantily clad pool-goers.

[Update]: About an hour after posting this article, I downloaded one of the best home mods on PS4 and I would have felt remiss not to update this post. After completing the Discerning the Transmundane questline, I highly recommend checking out Breggan's Retreat. It is a dwarven themed home complete with a decked-out armory, crafting stations of every stripe, a shrine to Nocturnal, an interactive dinner table that grants special effects, all of the standing stones, fully voiced ghostly dwemer stewards to whom you can sell various items, and even a tiny talking packhorse to help you move. I moved in yesterday and I suggest that you give this home mod a chance.

Kind-of, Sort-of "Quest" Mods

The Midden Expanded expands the Midden

For our last chapter, let's talk about quest mods. Now quest mods on PS4 are not the same as on either Xbox or PC since modders are unable to port in assets. Therefore, PS4 quest mods are much more along the lines of 'exploration' mods and have no quest markers. Regardless, some of these mods are comparable if not superior to most of the vanilla dungeons found in Skyrim. First up, we have EasierRider's Dungeon Pack PS4 which consists of four fully fleshed out, multi-level dungeons that, in my opinion, exceed the quality of many of the dungeons in Skyrim. In particular, the Nordic ruin of Vallaskr literally took my breath away and was stunning from start to finish. Next up, there's the mod that actually got me into checking out these dungeon mods in the first place and that's the incredibly detailed and well integrated The Midden Expanded. Seamlessly expanding the vast stretch of caves below Winterhold, The Midden Expanded was an absolute blast to explore complete with tragic side stories, mysterious cults, and the college observatory ruins. Finally, it's hard not to mention one of the grand daddies of quest mods on PS4 that adds nearly 400 new spells in a variety of new archetypes like darkness and holy. That's right, it's Phendarix's Magic World DLC and it not only comes with a plethora of new spells and arrows with those spells' abilities but also three new areas that are ripe with secrets and legendary enemies. Unfortunately, the locations are still a bit buggy but the mod author is constantly updating and the vast majority of spells and arrows work perfectly.

No joke, this is an actual screenshot from one of the dungeons in EasierRider's Dungeon Pack. Simply Amazing.

There are a ton of modding opportunities to make your next return to Skyrim a fun and original experience. If you do end up enjoying some of these mods, be sure to head over to their Bethesda page and show some love, these guys and gals are doing all of that work for free because they love it. Below I've listed a complete list of my current load order. Thanks for reading!

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