Skyrim Mod:Modding

This article is about creating mods. For information about using mods, see Modification.

Basic Info

Mods are user-made add-ons or "modifications" for the game. These mods are made available via websites like Steam, Planet Elder Scrolls, and the Nexus. These downloads are not offered on this site, nor is there a very large database on said mods. Please go to the websites referenced if you want a larger database.

• Skyrim mods have now been made available for download on the Steam Workshop.

Mod Projects

Several current projects include:

• S.T.E.P., or the Skyrim Total Enhancement Project, a guide to enhancing Skyrim with the best, and most up-to-date mods.
• Project Legacy, a revolutionary mod that allows player-aging, a life expectancy, and much more.
• The Westeros Project, a full game conversion mod.
• The ElderScrolls Renewal Project, otherwise known as Skywind. It is a non-commercial, fan made modification for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that seeks to merge the amazing world of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind with the enhanced graphics and capabilities of Skyrim's engine.
• Beyond Skyrim, a project that seeks to add all the provinces of Tamriel to a timeline contemporary to Skyrim for the player to explore and interact with.
  • Beyond Skyrim: Bruma is a prerelease of Beyond Skyrim: Cyrodiil that allows you to cross the border of Skyrim into Bruma. It even has Frostcrag Spire!
• Ordinator, an entire perk overhaul, including tons of new perks, from summoning skeletons with bones from different races to planting a deadly cursed coin in an unsuspecting victim's pocket.
• Gray Cowl of Nocturnal is a mod that takes you outside Skyrim to a desert, where the long lost Gray Cowl of Nocturnal calls you. This DLC-sized mod has up to and over 8-10 hours of gameplay!
• Inigo is a follower mod featuring Inigo, a fully voiced Khajiit follower with over 7,000 lines of dialogue and a main quest! He also integrates with several other follower mods.
• Lucien is a follower mod featuring Lucien, an Imperial from Cyrodiil who'll hire you to help him do some research. He also has a main quest, including a dungeon. You can train him, or have Inigo train him, if Inigo is installed. Lucien also has integrations with other follower mods.
• Odyssey of the Dragonborn is a sequel to the famous Legacy of the Dragonborn, in which the story happens after the downfall of Alduin. The mod includes a new world, too.
• Dyngir is not really a mod. Dyngir is a complete overhaul of Skyrim used to create an entire new game, replacing the old one. It uses Skyrim as a game engine to make the game.

If any more important, or large mod projects come up, they can be put here.

Modder Info

• Reserved Space

Toolmaker Info

• File Formats

Outdated Tech

The following articles have been outdated by technical advancements, but may still have some useful information in them.

• Not Applicable

Tools

Tools for Players and Modders	Description
7zip	A tool to extract or create archives (7z, zip, tar...).
NMM	Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) allows users to download, install, update and manage their mods.
TES5Edit Still considered experimental	A tool to clean mods. Can also be an alternate modding tool but you can't see the world with it.
Wrye Bash Experimental	Wrye Bash allows users to install and manage their mods as well as resolve conflicts between them.
Tools for Modders	Description
Bethesda Skyrim Creation Kit	Tool used by Bethesda to create Skyrim.
Bethesda Archive Extractor	A tool to see or extract the content of .bsa and .ba2 archives of all Bethesda games from Morrowind to Fallout 4.
JSkyRoom Currently in Development	JSkyRoom is a SkyProc wrapper that allows to work with the mod records as objects.
SkyEdit Currently in Development	SkyEdit is a third party replacement for the Creation Kit.
SkyProc Currently in Development	SkyProc is a Java library that offers easy to use Java API for importing, manipulating, and exporting mods.
TESVSnip Skyrim Edition Currently in Development	TESVSnip is a fork of the TESsnip utility bundled with Fallout Mod Manager for Skyrim.
Tools for Modellers	Description
GIMP	The free GNU Image Manipulation Program allows you to modify images with lots of tools.
GIMP DDS Plug-in	An add-on for GIMP, allowing to open and create .dds images used for Skyrim textures.
NifSkope	A tool allowing to see .nif files and modify shapes, texture paths, but not really for 3D modelling.
Tools for Translations	Description
Skyrim Strings Localizer Obsolete	To make translations and multilingual mods. With a multilingual mod, you can't save the mod in the Creation Kit or you'll lose all your translations. So that's better to make a mod multilingual only when it's finished. Be sure to add strings for all 11 languages or other languages won't be able to play with your mod. There are Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
TESVTranslator Obsolete	Similar to the Skyrim Strings Localizer. It can also decompile and translate Pex papyrus scripts files.
xTranslator Currently in Development	xTranslator is a comprehensive text editor and translation tool designed for Skyrim, Fallout 4, and Starfield. It allows users to edit esp/esm/papyrusPex files with advanced functionalities and data analysis.
ESP-ESM Translator Currently in Development	Utility for translating mods. Supports Morrowind / Oblivion / Skyrim /Skyrim SE / Fallout 3 / Fallout New Vegas / Fallout 4 / Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 ... Can read, decompile and translate scripts files (pex). Can modify scripts without recompilation needed (All Games). Can translate MCM. Can translate fomod files