Dragonstone - A Skyrim Overhaul at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community
Skyrim Special Edition
  • Popular games

File information

Last updated

Original upload

Created by

grVulture

Uploaded by

grvulture

Virus scan

Some manually verified files

About this mod

Races, Horses, Animals, Loot, Dragons, Dragon Priests, Encounters, Encounter Zones, Vendors, Trainers, Combat, and Civil War OVERHAULED.
2,400 new NPCs, new Civil War battles and patrols, new random events, new townsfolk, workers, travelers and adventurers.
+ thousands of little immersive tweaks and fixes...

Requirements
Permissions and credits
Translations
  • German
Changelogs

+200 new dungeon music tracks and 8 new ambient dungeon sounds

RACES
======
Races now offer much more specialization, so the choice of race is important to the development of your character.

* Altmer fix: Male height: 1.15 Female Height: 1.12



* Bosmer fix: replaced one-handed skill boost with alchemy. Male height: 1.01 Female Height: 1.03





* Khajiit fix: replaced two-handed skill boost with alchemy.



* Orsimer fix: replaced light armor skill boost with enchanting. New magicka: 80 (-25% regen). New stamina: 145 (+20% regen).


* Redguard fix: New skill boosts +10 one-handed, +5 archery, block, smithing, heavy armor, light armor.
New magicka: 70 (-30% regen). New stamina: 150 (+25% regen).


ENHANCED ANIMALS AND MONSTERS
================================
Animals: Animal behavior has been overhauled. Now every animal has a more rational behavior (there are predators and prey, with a bit improved AI) and every animal has better stats.
Monsters: All the monsters are more powerful (werewolf and vampire NPCs included).
Some animals and monsters (i.e. giants, mammoths, dremoras, bears, sabre cats) are a bit bigger.











There are many random events and radiant AI added in this mod.
I will list here the scripted ones, without revealing what they are.
This way you'll look forward to experiencing them in-game.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  • Dragon vs. Dragon
  • Blades vs. Dragon
  • Blades vs. Thalmor
  • Blades vs. Forsworn
  • Imperials vs. Stormcloaks (Large Battles)
  • Imperials vs. Stormcloaks vs. Dragon
  • Forsworn vs. Stormcloaks
  • Forsworn vs. Imperials
  • Forsworn vs. Thalmor
  • Forsworn & Dead Merchants
  • Forsworn vs. Dragon
  • Forsworn vs. Bandits
  • Forsworn War Party
  • Vigilants vs. Daedra Worshippers
  • Imperials Ambush Stormcloaks
  • Stormcloaks Ambush Imperials
  • Officer Assassins
  • Agents of Penitus Oculatus
  • Synod Agents
  • Protecting the Hold
  • Tavern Brawl
  • Village Mob
  • Makeshift Execution
  • Werewolf Skirmishes
  • Werewolf Hunters
  • Vampire Hunters
  • Remnants of the Morag Tong
  • The Silver Hand
  • The End Times
  • Break for Paarthurnax
  • Thorald's Wrath
  • Amren's Adventure
  • Mjoll's Adventure
  • Freydis's Sword
  • Golldir's Wanderings
  • Erik's Adventure
  • Whiterun Adventurers
  • Riften Adventurers
  • Solitude Adventurers
  • Riverwood Adventurers
  • Markarth Adventurers
  • Dawnstar Adventurers
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On top of those, other Radiant AI is happening along with NPC interactions based on factions, relationships, location, etc.
Please read this article about features added to v3.0 also.
There are also many travelers, adventurers, patrols, guards, battles, and generic NPCs that are not connected to the above events.




All enemies (humans, humanoids, animals, undeads and monsters) have an enhanced combat AI. Now they are smart and dangerous, for a more challenging and engaging game. You'll experience exciting duels and battles!
Enemies will use spells, bashing, wards, power attacks more often. It makes the base combat styles in-game more intensive and responsive. Rather than adding new complex scripted combat AI, it makes the base combat styles a bit more interesting and powerful. It's quite light and yet more intuitive than the default styles. No scripts.

All enemies have improved combat style, giving them the intelligence they were lacking. Warriors bash, parry and power attack more often. If you're too defensive, they'll be more aggressive and if you're too aggressive, they won't hesitate to push you back. Mages use more spells, especially defensive spells. Animals adopt a more realistic behavior, being more or less aggressive depending on their species.

As this mod only edits combat styles, it's compatible with 99% of all Skyrim combat mods.




  • Dragons have been retextured.
  • Dragons have become mighty Dragons! Mighty Dragons are stronger than vanilla and Dawnguard dragons. 
  • All random dragon encounters are unleveled, so that you may find high-level Dragons or low-level Dragons at each character level. 
  • Better Dragon AI, plus new shouts. Every dragon has different nature, powers and weaknesses. Now they are the real enemies of all! 
  • 16 new kind of dragons have been added.
  • The time between random Dragon encounters has been increased.
  • A "holy" book that tells about Mighty Dragon secrets has been added to the game. You will only find it in few secret (and dangerous) locations.
  • It has been written by Ancestors of the Dragonborn.




  • Skyrim has been turned into a real unleveled World.
  • Your enemies (and random loot) don’t grow anymore around you.
  • Now there will be situations where you will have to flee to save your life.
  • You can feel the growth of your character, from a poor and inexperienced man or woman to a mighty hero, in a world harder and more realistic than vanilla Skyrim.




There are ~2,400 new regular and random NPCs added to the world of Skyrim, in a thoughtful way as to not affect performance or make places too crowded.
A lot of these NPCs are soldiers involved in battles and patrols. Battles may affect performance, depending on your rig and your mods.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  • Each city, town and village in Skyrim has new respawnable (with different faces and clothes) generic NPCs, with own AI packages and daily actions. They walk, sit, go into shops, temples/Halls of the Dead, explore, interact, work and so on. For lunch but more often during night, a lot of them populate taverns and inns (all this without using scripts). These NPCs have and use PERKS!
  • Lands, roads and paths are populated by Adventurers, Merchants with Body Guards, Travelers, Pilgrims, Assassins, Horsemen, etc. (all this without using scripts). These NPCs have and use PERKS!
  • Mercenaries have been added to some of the Holds of Skyrim.
  • Populated prison cells with guards, prisoners, and... a surprise!
  • Seven unique NPC travelers have been added, who travel by horse.
  • Each hold (only exception Whiterun hold, according to lore) has own Imperial or Stormcloak patrols guarding the borders and entering into cities/villages to search for spies, enemies and bandits. Some patrols go over the borders to spy and attack on enemy soldiers. Some single soldiers (as explorers) travel on enemy territories to spy.
  • There are four great battles along the border of two factions, where more than 200 soldiers fight to the death.
  • In addition, 4 more civil war battles have been added to locations in Skyrim. When a battle is complete the winning faction will head to the nearest fort and either fortify or capture it. When the losing faction returns the two sides will duke it out again.
  • Additional Stormcloak, Thalmor, Imperial, and (some) Hold patrols make sure each hold is under control. When the Civil War is over, the patrols are disbanded.
  • Soldiers are able to heal themselves.
  • Stormcloak soldiers and commanders wear new armor.
  • A lot of random NPC events have been added.
  • Two new factions have been added to the game: Witchhunters which are enemies to all necromancers, and Dragon Cultists which are enemies to the Dragonborn and all who oppose the Dragons.
  • Children are ESSENTIAL.




  • An alternative level progression curve is used: the initial growth level is hard, but level progression is more linear, and from level 35 the level cap is less high than vanilla.
  • So you must gain more xp than vanilla for every level-up for level 1-34, but after level 35 your needed xp for levelling up progressively goes down.
  • A better Expert level is also provided.




  • Vendors, trainers, and quest-givers are PROTECTED! This means you can kill them so be careful!
  • Training costs 2.5x the vanilla cost.
  • All vendor item lists have been deleveled.
  • Vendors have more money (for buying your items) and renting rooms in Inns costs more.
  • Vendors have only empty very rare soul gems to sell. Weaker soul gems are more common than high-end soul gems.
  • Vendors have more animal parts from weak animals. Stronger animal pelts are rarer.
  • Vendors have less minerals/ingots, if any.
  • Vendors don’t have high-end (glass, elven, dwemer and ebony) enchanted weapons and armor to sell. 
  • Vendors don't have a lot of weapons and armor to sell, especially high-end (dwemer, elven, ebony and glass) pieces.
  • Armor and weapons are unleveled, but more powerful stuff is rarer.
  • Enchanted weapons and armors over 3th level of enchantement are not available for sale.
  • Vendors restock every 15 days (vanilla is 2).

  • Speech overhaul: At skill 0 player buys any item at 400% its value and sells it at 25% its value. At skill 100 player buys any item at 200% its value and sells it at 50% its value. (Vanilla is 330% / 33% at skill 0 – 200% / 50% at skill 100).




Skyrim is divided into 276 Encounter zones.
In vanilla Skyrim most of them have a dynamic level of difficulty, so that they are always at the same (truly a bit under the) level of player.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This has been overhauled to:
  • 21 zones (7,61%) with level of difficulty (and random loot) 1-5
  • 30 zones (10,87%) with level of diff. (and random loot) 6-10
  • 26 zones (9,42%) with level of diff. (and random loot) 11-15
  • 38 zones (13,77%) with level of diff. (and random loot) 16-20
  • 36 zones (13,04%) with level of diff. (and random loot) 21-25
  • 32 zones (11,59%) with level of diff. (and random loot) 26-30
  • 26 zones (9,42%) with level of diff. (and random loot) 31-35
  • 25 zones (9,06%) with level of diff. (and random loot) 36-40
  • 42 zones (15,22%) with level of diff. (and random loot) 41+ (these zones are uncapped)




Edits to 11 perks:
  • Old Treasure Hunter Perk is now Treasure Reaper (+30 carry weight +15 stamina)
  • Old Golden Touch Perk is now Traps Resistance (5% resist poison +10 health)
  • Extra Pockets Perk now requires 60 skill and give +50 carry weight.
  • Fire Enchanter (30 skill) Fire enchantments 15% stronger / Advanced (60 Skill) 30% stronger
  • Frost Enchanter (35 skill) Frost ench. 15% stronger / Adv.d (70 Skill) 30% stronger
  • Storm Enchanter (40 skill) Shock ench. 15% stronger / Adv.d (80 Skill) 30% stronger
  • Insightful Enchanter (35 skill) Skill ench are 15% stronger / Adv.d (70 Skill) 30% stronger
  • Corpus Enchanter (40 skill) Health, magicka and stamina enchantments are 15% stronger / Adv.d (80 Skill) 30% stronger
  • Extra Effect = as vanilla (double enchantments) but you must have Fire/Frost/Storm/Insightful/Corpus Adv.d and 100 Skill
  • Soul Squeezer (40 skill) Soul gems provide extra magicka for recharging (soul gems recharge twice as much magicka)
  • Soul Siphon (80 skill) Death blows to creatures, but not people, trap 10% of the victim’s soul, recharging the weapon
New Perks:
  • Twin Souls: You can have two atronachs or reanimated zombies.
  • Fire Enchanter Advanced: Fire enchantments on weapons and armor are 30% stronger.
  • Frost Enchanter Advanced: Frost enchantments on weapons and armor are 30% stronger.
  • Storm Enchanter Advanced: Shock enchantments on weapons and armor are 30% stronger.
  • Insightful Enchanter Advanced: Skill enchantments on armor are 30% stronger.
  • Corpus Enchanter Advanced: Health, magicka, and stamina enchantments on armor are 30% stronger.




Unique Armor and Weapons have been overhauled.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DIVINE AMULETS:
  • Kynareth Amulet = +25 stamina
  • Arkay Amulet = +25 health
  • Julianos Amulet = +25 magicka
  • Stendarr Amulet = +75 armor
LEGENDARY WEAPONS:
  • Dawnbreaker = fire damage increased to 25
  • Ebony weapons = physical damage increased by 3
  • Mace of Molag Bal = spell changed into absorbing 25 health, stamina and magicka;
  • Mehrunes Razor = causes 40 health points by poison damage, 12 physical damage (instead of 11)
  • The Rueful Axe = physical damage increased by 4
  • Staff of Magnus = absorbs 50 magicka and health points per second
  • Volendrung = physical damage increased by 6
  • Wuuthrad = physical damage increased to 30
  • Ghostblade = 8 spiritual damage (vanilla 3)
LEGENDARY ARMORS:
  • Archmage’s Robes = spell cost reduction to 20% for every school
  • The Gauldur Amulet = +75 health, stamina and magicka
  • Morokei Mask = +25 magicka; 25% magicka regen; 5% resist magic
  • Masque of Clavicus Vile = +30 barter, +15 speech
  • Necromancer Amulet = +75 Magicka, -50% health and stamina regen
  • Savior’s Hide = 20% resist magic and 80% resist poison
  • Shield of Ysgramor = 25% resist magic, +75 health
  • Spellbreaker = Magic Ward increased




  • Apprentice Stone = +100% Magicka Regen; +75 Magicka; 75% Magic Weakness
  • Atronach Stone = +300 Magicka; 33% Spell Absorption; No Magicka Regeneration
  • Lady Stone = +20 Speechcraft, +15 Illusion, 12.5% faster Shout Recovery
  • Lord Stone = 15% Resist to Fire, Frost, Shock, Poison, Disease
  • Lover Stone = +50 Health; +25% Health Regen
  • Mage Stone = +50 Magicka; +10% Magicka Regen and Magic Resist
  • Ritual Stone = Raise all dead to fight for you once a day for 900 seconds (Dark Souls Perk required)
  • Serpent Stone = Paralyze a target for 10 sec. and do 125 damage. Once a day
  • Shadow Stone = Once a day invisible for 900 sec.
  • Steed Stone = Wearing armor does not affect speed, +100 Carry Weight, Equipped armor is weightless
  • Thief Stone = +10 Lockpicking, Pickpocket and Sneak. +20 Stamina
  • Tower Stone = +75 Armor, +10% Stamina Regen and Health Regen rates
  • Warrior Stone = +5 melee damages, +15 One-Handed and Two-Handed skills




Dungeon, Blackreach, and Dwemer Music and Audio
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  • Eliminates the cave/mine/dungeon/fort and ruin (terrible) loops
  • Adds a short silence between 2 different music and sound effect tracks
  • Vanilla music tracks are partially replaced and new tracks have been added
  • New sound effects added
  • All new music and sound effects are differentiated depending on location.




Improved necromancy spells:
  • RAISE ZOMBIE = 180 sec. (vanilla 60) level cap 8 (vanilla 6) cost 125 (vanilla 103)
  • REANIMATE CORPSES = 240 sec. (vanilla 60) level cap 18 (vanilla 13) cost 200 (vanilla 144)
  • REVENANT = 300 sec. (vanilla 60) level cap 30 (vanilla 21) cost 285 (vanilla 183)
  • DREAD ZOMBIE = 360 sec. (vanilla 60) level cap 40 (vanilla 30) cost 400 (vanilla 303)
  • DEAD THRALL = level cap 50 (vanilla 40) cost 1.000




DRAGON PRIEST MASK OVERHAUL
Dragon Priest Mask Overhaul changes the effects of Dragon Priest Masks.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEVNORAAK’S MASK
ARMOR: 25 points
POWERS:
+100 magicka
+75 illusion skill
Wearer may command 25 followers at the same time
WEAKNESSES:
-100 destruction skill
-100 conjuration skill
-10% resist magic
VALUE: 1.000 gold
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
KONAHRIK’S MASK
ARMOR: 50 points
POWERS:
When health is low, has a chance to heal wearer and damage nearby
enemies, having a fire cloak or summoning a Dragon Priest to fight for you.
WEAKNESSES:
no weaknesses
VALUE: 5.000 gold
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
KROSIS’S MASK
ARMOR: 24 points
POWERS:
100% resist to poison.
100% resist to disease.
Poison Cloak ONLY when character is in combat (10 damage per second to enemies).
WEAKNESSES:
-25% resist to fire ONLY when character is in combat.
-25% resist to frost ONLY when character is in combat.
-25% resist to shock ONLY when character is in combat.
VALUE: 1.000 gold
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
MOROKEI’S MASK
ARMOR: 5 points
POWERS:
+250 magicka
+25% resist to magic
WEAKNESSES:
-100 stamina
-75 health
-50 carry weight
VALUE: 1.000 gold
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
NAHKRIIN’S MASK
ARMOR: 25 points
POWERS:
+25 points to archery skill
+25 points to one handed skill
+25 points to two handed skill
WEAKNESSES:
-25% resist to magic
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
OTAR’S MASK
ARMOR: 26 points
POWERS:
25% resist to fire
25% resist to frost
25% resist to shock
25% resist to poison
25% resist to disease
WEAKNESSES:
-25 stamina
-25 health
-50 magicka
VALUE: 1.000 gold
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
RAHGOT’S MASK
ARMOR: 27 points
POWERS:
20% faster Shout Timing
+20% Magicka Regen
WEAKNESSES:
-4 stamina points per second (normal regen is 5 points per second)
VALUE: 1.000 gold
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
VOKUN’S MASK
ARMOR: 30 points
POWERS:
invisibility
waterbreathing
WEAKNESSES:
-4 health points per second
VALUE: 1.000 gold
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
VOLSUNG’S MASK
ARMOR: 20 points
POWERS:
+100 stamina
+75 health
+50 carryweight
WEAKNESSES:
-100 magicka
-20% resist to magic
VALUE: 1.000 gold
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
WODDEN DRAGON PRIEST MASK
ARMOR: 2 points
POWERS:
special (quest related)
WEAKNESSES:
no weaknesses
VALUE: 100 gold
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *




Arrows and bolts have been overhauled:
  • +75% speed
  • +25% damage
  • 50% chance to recover arrows/bolts from a dead corpse
  • Increased values.

Because of this, I recommend adding these lines to Skyrim.ini:
[Actor]
fVisibleNavmeshMoveDist=12288.0000
[Combat]
fMagnetismStrafeHeadingMult=0.0
fMagnetismLookingMult=0.0
f1PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7
f3PArrowTiltUpAngle=0.7
f1PBoltTiltUpAngle=0.7
f3PBoltTiltUpAngle=0.7




Other Overhauled Stuff...
-------------------------------------
  • Stamina Drain while running. If your Stamina falls to 0, your Magicka is drained as well.
  • "Stamina Drain while running" stops during combat, to simulate the Adrenaline rushing through your veins.
  • Stamina is drained normally while bashing or power attacking.
  • You won’t find gold, gems and similar objects in animal corpses anymore.
  • All Dragon Priests are truly mighty and have different resistances related to their nature (fire, frost or shock).
  • Music doesn’t warn you  of enemies nearby anymore. The music starts when you’re already in combat and  enemies are close.
  • More realistic alert distances for detecting crimes.
  • Cell respawn rate: 15 days exterior and 180 days interior.
  • Falling is more dangerous, both to you and to NPCs.
  • Better Enemy AI enhances all humanoids', animals' and monsters' combat AI.
  • NPCs might be able to detect you only when looking towards you, while sneaking. They will hear you, but must turn towards you to see you.
  • Clothing adds a little bit of (hidden) armor rating
  • Horses have been retextured and cost more.
  • Bump Reaction Delay Time Decreased
  • Bump Reaction Moving Distance Increased
  • Follower Spacing At Doors Increased
  • Reaction Distance to Dead Bodies Increased
  • NPC Social Conversations Increased
  • NPC Greeting Distance Decreased. There is an MCM menu with 5 options, ranging from "No Greetings" to "Vanilla".



Dragonstone was made with compatibility in mind, so you can add more specialized mods on top of it if you want. Exceptions are listed under "Incompatibilities". I wanted to create an overhaul mod to replace the many small mods I had in my load order, but still make it simple enough to be able to "overwrite" my changes with other mods if I want to.

It's based on the excellent (old) work of Erkeil and team, expands and bugfixes it, and renders mods like Immersive Patrols and the Populated series redundant.

INSTALLATION
============
Dragonstone works properly with a new game. If you upgrade an existing game, I suggest sleeping in a bed for 3 days straight or you might experience some minor issues. Also make sure to level up first, distribute your perk points and that your "Level" bar in the Skill Interface is (almost) empty. Then save the game and install this .esp. This should make sure that there are no problems with gaining levels later on.

If you are starting a new game through the vanilla sequence, do not enable this mod until you reach Riverwood.

INCOMPATIBILITIES
================
Skytest: Partly compatible. If you're satisfied with SkyTEST's animal behaviors, load Dragonstone before SkyTEST. If not, load it after.
Wildworld: Possibly compatible as per SKYTEST instructions. Needs testing.
RS Children: Partly compatible. Dragonstone children in the orphanage have black faces.
The Populated series, except for Populated Dungeons & Populated Dawnguard are already included.
The Immersive Patrols series are already included.
Adventurers and Travelers - Revised Edition is already included.

CREDITS
=======
Erkeil Team
AlinaHalo
Opaj
TheLoneWarrior
Kitaring
Scrabbulor
No_Aardvarks_Allowed
FraGGy
UnNamed
Guardian 300
Foxia
Exeter
Dimon99
lumps

Shout out to my Patron tester:
Travis Chadwell

Join me for exclusive content: