STALKER with Metro elements, continuation of Half-Life 2, new mods for Skyrim and much more
Major projects of recent years often disappoint players. And even when not , a lot of them can still be improved or expanded with mods. Fan creativity sometimes even surpasses the work of developers in quality or scale. In this compilation, we have collected 20 of the most interesting modifications at the moment for old and new popular games.
Large and complex modes
Let’s start with large-scale modifications that pull on individual games or greatly expand the world with new large locations. We have selected 4 of the most interesting ones released since the end of last year.
Project Mojave для Fallout 4
The authors of this modification decided to recreate the Mojave Desert from New Vegas on the engine of the fourth part. This is not a full-fledged remake of the 2010 game, but a reconstruction of old locations with new content. Many assets are taken from Fallout 4 , and all the characters’ lines are voiced by the synthesizer. But in early access, you can already wander around the southern part of the map and a little around New Vegas itself, where the Strip and several casinos with working slot machines are available.
Work on the modification began last year, but it is not yet known when it will be completed (hardly soon).
Alone in Windstorm for “STALKER: Call of Pripyat”
An unusual independent project on the STALKER: Call of Pripyat engine , the plot of which takes place in the Metro universe . However, the gameplay is not at all a mixture of the above two games. Rather, Alone in Windstorm is more like The Long Dark .
The main character is a polar explorer who worked at a weather station with a partner. Once the connection with the big world was cut off, and the partner disappeared somewhere on the way to the radio tower. The hero will have to find out what happened, surviving in the middle of the wild nature of the Arctic. The game has a lot of crafting and very little shooting – only wolves, foxes and bears appear as enemies.
Entropy Zero 2 для Half-Life 2
The end of the story of the Alliance civil defense servant, which began in the first part of the mod. In the Entropy Zero dilogy, we play as a metrocop who showed a special zeal in the fight against the rebels and even cloned him for great merits, creating a special detachment of privileged officers. However, the hero was betrayed, and he decides to take revenge on the Alliance.
The Entropy Zero dilogy is interesting not only for its look at the events of Half-Life 2 from the side of the “bad guys”, but also for the fact that it tries to complete the plot of Valve’s games instead of the studio itself, which still won’t release HL3 and Portal 3.
We talked about the modification in more detail in our review .
“Chronicles of Myrtana: Archolos” for Gothic 2
While everyone is waiting for a remake of the first part of Gothic from Alkimia Interactive, and the creators of the original Piranha Bytes are experiencing a protracted creative crisis, fans of the franchise have been delighting with new content for many years. During this time, countless unofficial fixes and additions for Gothic 3 were released, but unexpectedly at the end of last year, fans released a full-fledged game in the same universe based on the second part (the best in the series).
Chronicles of Myrtana: Arholos tells the story of a refugee who traveled to the island of Arholos, away from the war with the orcs. Like the Nameless Hero, he needs to settle in a new place and win his place in society. The gameplay is almost identical to Gothic 2, and the plot in its depth and non-linearity, according to many players, even surpasses the original.
Just at the end of September, a full text Russification was released for the mod.
Visual improvements
In addition to major modifications, graphical improvements and everything that is generally connected with the visual are always in great demand. Therefore, in the second chapter we will talk about new items from this category.
Proper Dynamic Weather для Dying Light 2
In the “vanilla” Dying Light 2 , there are only 7 types of weather, which also change not always smoothly. This modification expands the variety of atmospheric phenomena up to 25 types and makes various changes to their conditions.
NaturalVision Evolved для GTA 5
This mod should not be confused with Natural Vision Remastered released in 2018. Razed’s previous work was exactly a graphics remaster in Grand Theft Auto 5 with new lighting and tightened textures. And this time the author swung at a full-fledged visual remake with new shader technologies like parallax, reworked weather, updated architecture and vegetation, and many other changes.
A great reason to replay the game while waiting for GTA 6!
Vanilla HDR for TES 5: Skyrim
In games of past generations, often not everything was in order with gamma and color correction. Therefore, modifications like ENB or SweetFX, which improve the tone of the picture, have become popular. However, they often reduce performance significantly. The solution may be to use HDR, but not everyone has monitors that support this technology. However, a similar effect can be achieved programmatically. Vanilla HDR is just a software implementation of color tinting in Skyrim , which makes the image more saturated and contrasty.
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Oblivion Reloaded для TES 4: Oblivion
The successor of the project called OBGE (Oblivion Graphics Extender). However, now it is free from old technical limitations and significantly transforms the rendering of the game. Graphics began to support more current technologies, which made the picture more modern. And in addition to graphics improvements, Oblivion Reloaded makes a lot of changes to the gameplay, making it more responsive and convenient.
Normal Maps for Morrowind – Tamriel Rebuilt – OAAB – Skyrim HotN – Stirk and Other Mods для TES 3: Morrowind
If today you can still play Oblivion without the risk of blindness, even without graphical mods, then Morrowind looks very old. The scenery seems to be cardboard, and the characters from a couple of dozen polygons cause pain in the eyes. To fix all this disgrace, you will have to install a dozen other mods, but you can get by with just one complex one. This modification with a long name (see above) has collected the achievements of the best graphical mods: from the normal map for greater depth of textures to a complete reworking of entire locations.
Gameplay modifications
Not a single graphic. Many popular games lack some features, or some of the mechanics are unfinished. Mods aimed at improving the gameplay are designed to fix this.
Seamless Co-op для Elden Ring
Games from the Japanese studio FromSoftware are famous for their complexity. And Elden Ring is also famous for its huge world, which has finally become open. It is proposed to master all the content alone, only occasionally it is allowed to call a random (or not quite) partner for the next boss battle. Thanks to the Seamless Co-op mod, you can go on an adventure through the Inter-earth with a friend and go through the whole game just like in a real co-op mode.
Spider-Aiden для Dying Light 2
A lot of people didn’t like the limited parkour in the Dying Light sequel. You constantly have to monitor the stamina bar, and the cat hook has become almost useless, since it no longer pulls the main character. The Spider-Aiden mod not only removes most of the restrictions, but also gives the player character the abilities of Spider-Man, such as ultra-long jumps and no fall damage from a great height.
Live in Night City для Cyberpunk 2077
A mod that increases immersion in the virtual life in Night City by adding hunger, thirst and fatigue to the game. Now food and drink are necessary for survival, and after the next adventure, you definitely need to get enough sleep. If you ignore V’s vital needs, then he will become worse at shooting, and also lose some of his health and stamina bars.
Metro System for Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 has a very beautiful and large-scale city. However, it is proposed to move around it only on foot or by car. Public transport is only a decoration. The author of the modification decided to correct this flaw in the game world and created a fully functioning elevated metro system. In elevated trains, you can not only quickly move from one area of the city to another, but also admire the streets from a height.
Arena Overhaul для Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord
Extends the arena features from Mount & Blade 2 . With the Arena Overhaul mod, it turns into a good place to train your own squad – even rewards are received by all participants, and not just the player. In addition, the arena menus have been redesigned so that all ongoing tournaments are visible in one window.
Stealth Overhaul for The Witcher 3
Poor stealth implementation is a problem for many action-RPGs. Most tasks are easier (and more convenient) to complete by killing all the enemies in the location. And this applies even to the critically acclaimed The Witcher 3 . If you need to get something in the bandit camp (which sometimes is a whole fort), then you first have to exterminate all the inhabitants under the root. With the Stealth Overhaul mod, such tasks can be completed quietly, as Geralt will learn to hide in the shadows and silently eliminate the guards.
Skyrim Together Reborn для TES 5: Skyrim
A remake of the Skyrim Together mod that made a splash a few years ago. The developers have redesigned the modification from scratch, fixing most of the technical problems, so now you can not only travel the world and fight mobs, but also complete quests. And besides, the mod began to cope with a large number of players (up to 30 people!), but it is recommended to play together or in a small company of up to 8 people.
EVG Animated Traversal для TES 5: Skyrim
Skyrim can be improved truly endlessly. There have already been many mods for the graphics or the combat system, but what about moving in space? With the EVG Animated Traversal mod, the player character will be able to jump over low obstacles, squeeze through tight spaces, climb ledges and even… climb ladders!
Dynamic Weather and Time Based Detection для TES 5: Skyrim
Another stealth mod, but this time for Skyrim. In “vanilla” night and darkness do not help to go unnoticed. This mod fixes this misunderstanding.
Stealth and Detection System для Fallout 4
And another stealth mod, but for Fallout 4. It removes incredible awareness of the player from all enemies at once in the location, as soon as one of them notices the “guest”. Thanks to this, the camps of raiders or super mutants can be cleared out carefully, eliminating enemies one at a time and without making too much noise.
Dynamic Ghoulification для Fallout 4
There are a hundred ways to get exposed to radiation in Fallout, from mutant bites to many contaminated areas. However, this only reduces the maximum health. What happens if radiation sickness is not treated? According to the canon, the character should begin to turn into a ghoul, but this does not happen. The Dynamic Gholification mod makes it harder to remove radiation from the body and enhances its effect, which is why the main character risks becoming a ghoul after a few hours of playing.
That’s all for now. Write in the comments for which of the popular games you would most like to see a separate selection of modifications.