[ Nexus | Installation | Changelog | Modlist | Ko-fi]
- Initial Setup
- Overview
- Core Mods
- Crusader and Leveling Changes
- Enemies
- Graphics
- New Lands, Quests, Content
- Lines Expansions
- Audio and Music
- Followers
- Creation Club Support
Before reading this guide, please follow the readme as it will answer the vast majority of technical questions related to getting the list setup and running.
The following summary is not a list of every single mod in the modlist, rather a detailed overview of some of the highlights. I just simply can't list everything here as much as I want to (that is what Load Order Library is for).
Winds of the North is a lightweight modlist that focuses on improving Skyrim’s gameplay and adding new content to experience, while also preserving the aesthetic of the original game. It also supports many of the Anniversary Edition creations via integration, rebalancing, and quest overhauls to make it feel like it all belongs. Unsupported creations will be disabled by default.
Essentially, its my own personal modlist I play with that I just really wanted to share.
Winds of the North is built with the Simonrim Suite of gameplay overhauls at its core. Almost every part of the game from perks and magic to survival mechanics and combat have been overhauled to bring you a challenging and cohesive experience.
Simonrim can be a bit more challenging than the vanilla game until you "figure things out". If you are new to Simonrim, I suggest starting no higher than Adept difficulty.
Winds of the North 2.0.0 utilizes Blade and Blunt's "Level Based Difficulty" setting to bring additional challange to the game. As you level up, the game will automatically adjust the difficulty settings in the background to keep things challenging.
Crusader is SimonMagus' work-in-progress skill uncapper preset. Though it may seem small, it has some of the most profound effects on the overall feel of the game among all the mods in WotN.
Since there is not a mod page for this yet to serve as documentation, I have included a write-up below that details the changes Crusader makes. (this is a slightly modified version of Simon's summary on Discord).
It's pretty important to understand the changes this mod makes when making your build, so I highly suggest giving this a read. (expand thes tag below)
Crusader Details
- Crusader is designed to slow the pace of the game significantly, especially at earlier levels, so that players don't breeze past specific areas of the game.
- This is intended to make the game feel slower-paced.
- Leveling speed tweaks have been designed with Rested/Well Rested AND Fed/Well-Fed in mind; the player is intended to prioritize these buffs at all times.
- Leveling speed tweaks have been designed with Reading is Good in mind; the player is intended to acquire skill books to speed mid- to late-game leveling.
- Crusader is designed to avoid forcing the player to level up "alternate" skills to reach their desired level; the soft cap (level 50) can be reached by leveling only 6 skills.
- This mitigates some of the other-wise drastic leveling speed changes that the mod makes.
- Leveling will be much slower throughout the game, but especially in the early game
- You will no longer rocket past your fist ten levels faster than you can blink
- The reduction to leveling speed will be lessened as the player levels up (to prevent getting stuck at level 81 for 6 days)
- The general range is from 80% reduction (at skill level 5) to 50% reduction (at skill level 85)
- Spells will now receive an XP bonus when dual casting
- The contribution of skill level to player level is increased for skills above 50
- Leveling four skills to 100 will result in the character reaching level 40
- Leveling six skills to 100 will result in the character reaching level 50
- Leveling twelve skills to 100 will result in the character reaching level 75
- Leveling eighteen skills to 100 will result in the character reaching level 100
- Leveling crafting skills will give much less progress towards your character level, for crafting skills below 40
- Leveling crafting skills will give much more progress towards your character level, for crafting skills above 60
- This prevents the player from power leveling early with crafting, and discourages players from interacting with crafting purely for the early levels
- This also protects the character from having their character level inflated by leveling a skill that contributes little to nothing to their power at low levels
- The total contribution to your character level for reaching 100 with a crafting skill is identical to all other skills
- You will receive 20 Health, Magicka, or Stamina at level 2, based on your choice on level up
- You will receive 2 perks for reaching level 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, and 45
- You will receive 3 perks for reaching level 50
- Level 50 is the "soft cap" for character level.
- After level 50 you will gain 1 additional perk point at level 55,60,65,70,75,etc... until level 100
- The total number of perks you can receive from leveling is 70
- You will continue to receive 10 Health, Magicka, or Stamina from levels 51 to 100, based on your choice on level up
- Level 100 is the "hard cap" for character level. You will no longer receive stat bonuses for leveling up, nor will you recieve perks after level 100
- The total number of stats you can receive from leveling is 500 (at level 50), and 1000 (at level 100)
- You will start with 200 Carry Weight
- You will no longer receive Carry Weight for leveling Stamina
- There are many sources of Carry Weight in Simonrim; use them
- With Candlehearth, every inn has safe storage when renting a room.
There are a couple of things I think are worth keeping in mind when playing this list with Crusader.
- The slower leveling speeds are meant to incentivize maintaining your needs bonuses from Starfrost and Gourmet.
- Keep your Rested/Well Rested/Lover's (5%/10%/15%) Comfort bonuses up to increase your experience gain.
- Fed/Well Fed/Lover's Cooking will grant you 5%/10%/15% extra experience gain.
- Between these two buff sources you can maintain a max increase of 75% extra experience gain which is quite substantial.
In Winds of the North, there are several mods that add or change existing enemies. With the exception of Dragon War and Humanoid Dragon Priests, enemy mods in WotN 2.0.0 are mostly additional aesthetic rather than rebalance.
- Dragon War by Delta. Dragon War makes dragon fights much more difficult, as befits Skyrim's primary source of boss fights.
- DEAD - Draugr Enemy Asset Diversity by TateTaylorOH. DEAD utilizes some of the "Plague of the Dead" assets to bring visual changes to mainland Draugr. A lesser known bit of Skyrim lore is that some Draugr locations are supposed to be "Dragon War" era Draugr, and other crypts were supposed to come into being much later after the Dragon Cult had already fallen. Despite this, the visuals between all of the Draugr remained the same. DEAD takes the zombie assets and uses them to rework post war Draugr.
- Cannibal Draugr on Solstheim by opusGlass. Similarly to DEAD, Cannibal Draugr reworks Draugr visuals but on Solstheim. Draugr there have been redisigned to more closely resemble their counterparts from "Blooodmoon", the Morrowind DLC that also took place on Solstheim.
- Humanoid Dragon Priests by Magink. Makes Dragon Priests much more difficult by converting priests into floating humanoids rather than creatures. This avoids a lot of the vanilla priest AI issues.
Winds of the North is not primarily a graphically focused mod list. One of the main goals is to try to preserve the general feeling and atmosphere of the vanilla game.
However, it does utilize quite a few graphical mods to make things look a bit better.
These include, but are not limited to:
Community Shaders, better vanilla textures with HD Vanilla Landscapes, improved snow with Nordic Snow, Xavbio’s awesome armor/weapon retextures, and much more.
I found the atmosphere of Skyrim’s vanilla weathers to be essential to maintaining the original feel of Skyrim. The main exception here is storms, which Winds of the North does improve via True Storms.
Winds of the North includes several new lands, dungeons, and quest mods to provide you with plenty of extra content. I was very careful to not include any mods that felt too out of place:
- Wyrmstooth by Jonx0r
- Siege at Icemoth by RoastGorilla439
- Extended Cut - Saints and Seducers by ECSS Dev Group
- Morthal Barrow and Taarengrav Barrow Penrutet
- Most of Jayserpa's "Quest Expansion" series provides new ways to complete many vanilla quests.
- Destroy The Dark Brotherhood - Quest Expansion by Jayserpa
- Infiltration - Quest Expansion by Jayserpa
- Extended Encounters by jonx0r adds many new world encounters that help make Skyrim feel more alive.
- Environs Series by Siberpunk adds a dynamic aspect to some locations, such as the repair and resettling of the whiterun farmhouse.
Due to the added difficulty that the core gameplay and enemy mods provide, Radiant Requirements and an unreleased mod called "Arena Quest Requirements" delay some quests to later levels.
I have listed the details below.
Arena Quest Requirements is a work-in-progress mod by SimonMagus616 and DeltaRider. Do not redistribute this mod without explicit permission
Arena Quest Requirements
| Quest | Level |
|---|---|
| Hearthfire Letter | 15 |
| Dungeon Delving (Markarth) | 15 |
| The Forsworn Conspiracy | 15 |
| Kill the Giant (The Pale) | 15 |
| Kill The Vampire (Solitude) | 20 |
| Unfathomable Depths | 20 |
| The Black Star | 20 |
| Ill Met by Moonlight | 20 |
| The Break of Dawn | Usually in Arena Quest requirements this would be level 20. But in WotN, Meredia's Beacon is available in Rielle from level 1. Getting to it before level 15 would be a difficult endevour. |
| A Night To Remember | 20 |
| The Mind of Madness | 20 |
| Dawnguard | 20 |
| The Wolf Queen Awakened | 25 |
| A Daedra's Best Friend | 25 |
| The Cursed Tribe | 25 |
| The House of Horrors | 25 |
| The Taste of Death | 25 |
| Waking Nightmare | 25 |
| Boethiah’s Calling | 30 |
| Discerning the Transmundane | 30 |
| Pieces of the Past | 30 |
| The Only Cure | 30 |
| The Whispering Door | 30 |
| Dragonborn (Requires the completion of the Horn of Jorgen Windcaller too) | 30 |
| Deathbrand | 30 |
| The Ebony Warrior | 40 |
After years of playing Skyrim you tend to hear the same lines over and over. Winds of the North utilizes all of Jayserpa's excellent mods in the "Lines Expansion" series to help shake things up a bit.
Jonx0r's Extended Bandit Dialogue, Extended Guard Dialogue, and City Bag Checks mods are also used.
With both of these series of mods you should hear many more voice lines from the denizens of Skyrim.
Winds of the North includes Audio Overhaul Skyrim, as well as DylanJames’ other excellent audio mods.
There is also a custom music mix that contains hand picked tracks from:
- The Northern Diaries
- Chapter II - Jeremy Soule Inspired Music by Dreyma
- Additional Music by Leon van der Stadt, who also composed the music for Wyrmstooth.
I made absolutely sure that the music added does not feel out of place next to the original soundtrack. Northern Diaries’ music is composed by Jeremy Soule himself, and Chapter 2 was created using Jeremy Soule’s composing techniques.
I have also included a high definition restoration of vanilla Skyrim's music from Unofficial High Definition Audio Project to vastly improve the quality. Vanilla SSE's files have pretty bad compression issues.
As of now Winds of the North contains two animal followers, TateTaylorOH's Gladys and Merlin.
Although Winds of the North requires the Anniversary Edition of Skyrim, not every single creation has been utilized. There are over a dozen mods used for CC integration. They have been listed below, some with additional details.
- Integration for many of the Creation Club items.
- Survival Mode has been completely overhauled by "Survival Mode Improved" by...me! and Starfrost by SimonMagus.
- The Alternative Armors creations have all been integrated into most of the leveled lists by a very heavily modified version of Oreo's CC Alternative Armors - Quest Removal Enchanted Variants and Proper Distribution for Thaumaturgy
- Many of the Creation Club houses have been overhauled to some degree
- Crossbows are integrated using a combination of "Tamrielic Distribution", "Kachunk", "Thwack" and "Rare Curious Bolts Expanded".
- "Press H to Horse" overhauls vanilla horses as well as the Creation Club's "Wild Horses" and Horse Armors.
Items that are labeled as "NOT SUPPORTED" simply means that the creation will not be enabled in the list, but the list still requires the Anniversary Edition content to be installed.
Items labeled as "Unchanged" means that they are enabled and active in the list, but they are left in their vanilla state.
| Creation | Integration Mod/Mods | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Survival Mode | Survival Mode Improved, Starfrost | |
| Arcane Accessories | NOT SUPPORTED | |
| Arcane Archer Pack | NOT SUPPORTED | |
| Chrysamere | Creation Cave | 1. Quest removed, The Sword of Paladins has been lost within Bleakcoast Cave, a troll den off the coast of Winterhold. 2. The Sword of Paladins has been lost within Bleakcoast Cave, a troll den off the coast of Winterhold. |
| Divine Crusader | Knight of the North - Divine Crusader Reworked | |
| Plague of the Dead | DEAD | Utilizes Plague of the Dead zombie assets to give some more visual diversity to Skyrim's undead based on the context of their resting places. |
| Ruin's Edge | Extended Cut: Saints and Seducers | Moved to the Asylum |
| Staff of Sheogorath | Extended Cut: Saints and Seducers | Moves the Fork of Horripilation and the pieces used to craft the Staff of Sheogorath to the Asylum. |
| Stendarr's Hammer | Creation Cave | 1. Quest removed 2.Stendarr's Hammer is rumored to have been smuggled into Skyrim from the ruins of Morrowind to Mara's Eye Den in Eastmarch. |
| Dwarven Armored Mudcrab | NOT SUPPORTED | |
| Lord's Mail | Morihaus' Refuge | 1. The quest involving Redguard thieves has been completely removed. 2. A new dungeon, amongst some Ancient Imperial ruins. 3. A moderately challenging boss who will use the full force of both their armor and their weapon against you |
| Adventurer's Backpack | Schoolsacks of Simonrim - A CC Backpack Overhaul | |
| Camping | Unchanged | |
| Nix-hound | NOT SUPPORTED | |
| Shadowrend | ECSS | Moved to the Grove of Reflection |
| Tundra Homestead | Homes Under the Warhammer, Tundra Homestead Exterior Cleanup | |
| Myrwatch | Homes Under the Warhammer, Myrwatch TnE | |
| Nordic Jewelry | NOT SUPPORTED | |
| Pets of Skyrim | NOT SUPPORTED | |
| Rare Curious | Rare Curios bolts Expanded, Curated Curios | |
| Bone Wolf | NOT SUPPORTED | |
| Staff of Hasedoki | Creation Cave | The Staff of Hasedoki was once wielded by the Gilgar's of Vvardenfell before being claimed by the Nerevarine. Over the years, it has had many wielders, with the current holder being the Dunmer necromancer Vals Varen. |
| Wild Horses | Press H to Horse | |
| Civil War Champions | NOT SUPPORTED | |
| Elite Crossbows | CC Crossbows Thaum patch, Kachunk, Thwack, TD | Crossbows are distributed into the world in a similar fashion as vanilla bows. |
| Forgotten Seasons | Unchanged | |
| Saturalia Holiday Pack | The Gift of Saturalia | |
| Sunder and Wraithguard | Sunder and Wraithguard - Arniel's Endeavor | |
| Vigil Enforcer Armor Set | Wotn - Custom CC Integration | Vigilants have a chance to spawn with the enforcer armor (may still spawn with robes,steel and steel plate gauntlets and boots), Tyranus and Carcette spawn with Veteran Armor. Krev the Skinner spawns with the silver hand armor |
| Arms of Chaos | Creation Cave | 1. Quest removed 2. The Arms of Chaos are scattered throughout Skyrim, with each being wielded by powerful warlocks and mages of ill repute: Silvia of Darklight Tower holds the Arm of the Moon; Sild the Warlock wears the Warlock's Mark; Naris the Wicked wields the Arm of the Sun; and The Caller bears the Sovereign Band. |
| Shadowfoot Sanctum | Homes under the Hammer | |
| Spell Knight Armor | Warmage of Shornhelm, Swords of the Sanctum | |
| Umbra | Unchanged | |
| Alternative Armors - Dwarven Mail | CC Alternative Armors - Quest Removal Enchanted Variants and Proper Distribution for Thaumaturgy | |
| Alternative Armors - Stalhrim Fur | CC Alternative Armors - Quest Removal Enchanted Variants and Proper Distribution for Thaumaturgy | |
| Dawnfang & Duskfang | Bloodthirst - Creation Cave, CC Dawnfang and Duskfang - No Forced Quest | 1. Bloodthirst: This bloody sword of the Tsaecsi, once thought lost, has been claimed by the Vampire Ancient Vighar, arisen ancesotr of Dengeir of Stuhn. 2. Dawnfang/Duskfang quest no longer automatically starts upon entering the ratway |
| Expanded Crossbow Pack | CC Crossbows Thaum patch, Kachunk, Thwack, TD | Crossbows are distributed into the world in a similar fashion as vanilla bows. |
| Netch Leather Armor | Morrowind Threads | 1. Jenessa and Ralis Sedarys start with netch leather 2. Netch Leather may spawn on Solstheim instead of normal Leather |
| Alternative Armors - Daedric Mail | CC Alternative Armors - Quest Removal Enchanted Variants and Proper Distribution for Thaumaturgy | |
| Alternative Armors - Dragonscale | CC Alternative Armors - Quest Removal Enchanted Variants and Proper Distribution for Thaumaturgy | |
| Alternative Armors - Elven Hunter | CC Alternative Armors - Quest Removal Enchanted Variants and Proper Distribution for Thaumaturgy | |
| Alternative Armors - Ebony Plate | CC Alternative Armors - Quest Removal Enchanted Variants and Proper Distribution for Thaumaturgy | |
| Alternative Armors - Steel Soldier | CC Alternative Armors - Quest Removal Enchanted Variants and Proper Distribution for Thaumaturgy | |
| Dead Man's Dread | Pirate's Life for Me | Original quest removed. Gear is distributed to various NPCs. |
| Goblins | NOT SUPPORTED | |
| Saints & Seducers | Extended Cut - Saints and Seducers | |
| Hendraheim | Hendraheim - Tweaks and Enhancements | |
| The Gray Cowl Returns! | Creation Cave | The Gray Cowl has been lost since the end of the Third Era; however, cultists of Nocturnal believe that Her Nightingales have reclaimed the cowl and placed it within the Twilight Sepulcher. |
| Alternative Armors - Daedric Plate | CC Alternative Armors - Quest Removal Enchanted Variants and Proper Distribution for Thaumaturgy | |
| Alternative Armors - Dragon Plate | CC Alternative Armors - Quest Removal Enchanted Variants and Proper Distribution for Thaumaturgy | |
| Alternative Armors - Dwarven Plate | CC Alternative Armors - Quest Removal Enchanted Variants and Proper Distribution for Thaumaturgy | |
| Alternative Armors - Iron | CC Alternative Armors - Quest Removal Enchanted Variants and Proper Distribution for Thaumaturgy | |
| Alternative Armors - Leather | Tamrielic Distribution | |
| Alternative Armors - Orcish Plate | CC Alternative Armors - Quest Removal Enchanted Variants and Proper Distribution for Thaumaturgy | |
| Alternative Armors - Orcish Scaled | CC Alternative Armors - Quest Removal Enchanted Variants and Proper Distribution for Thaumaturgy | |
| Alternative Armors - Silver | CC Alternative Armors - Quest Removal Enchanted Variants and Proper Distribution for Thaumaturgy | |
| Bittercup | Creation Cave | The Bittercup has been squirreled away by a former follower of Clavicus Vile within Rimerock Burrow; meanwhile, a former champion of the Imperial City Arena has been reduced to a drunken mess of a bandit chief within Lost Knife Cave. |
| Bloodchill Manor | Homes under the Warhammer | |
| Bow of Shadows | Bow of Shadows - Reduced Cut | |
| Farming | Creation Club Farming - Tweaks Enhancements and Quest Expansion | |
| Fearsome Fists | NOT SUPPORTED | |
| Fishing | Simple Fishing Overhaul, Fancy Fishing | |
| Gallows Hall | NOT SUPPORTED | |
| Ghosts of the Tribunal | Ghost of the Tribunal - Reduced Cut | |
| Goldbrand | Catir Club | |
| Headman's Cleaver | Creation Cave | The Headman's Cleaver has been lost since the dissolution of the kingdom of Bloodfall; it has since found its way into the hands of Ghunzul, leader of the Orcish marauders of Cracked Tusk Keep. |
| Horse Armor - Elven | Press H to Horse | |
| Horse Armor - Steel | Press H to Horse | |
| Nchuanthumz: Dwarven Home | NOT SUPPORTED | |
| Necromantic Grimoire | NOT SUPPORTED | |
| Redguard Elite Armaments | Redguard Elite Reintegration | |
| Staves | CC Staves - Mysticism Consistency Patch, Vendor Inventory Adjusted | |
| The Cause | The Cause - Reduced Cut | |
| The Contest | Catir Club |