Domovoj

I'm back on the hunt for the perfect Lydia and Aela again. For the past few months, the "Bijin" replacers have been the staples in my load order, but lately, something about them just doesn't feel right anymore. Let's just blame it on getting older, I guess! 😂 This time, I’m going to change things up and run some playtests with the versions by AlenVexx and SerketHetyt.

"Heart of the Mountain". Some screenshots...

Continued experimenting with "Heart of the Mountain" today (the new large-scale Creations quest mod). As it turns out, if you manually force the weather - for example, by using Phenderix Weather Changer - the visuals actually look pretty nice and clean! Hopefully, someone will step up and make a proper compatibility patch soon so the correct weather loads natively.

My new boy. Red (redguard). I'm not good in character creation. But I like some exotic armors and weapons.

Following a youtube subscriber's advice, I added a waterfall to Ivarstead. It actually completely fixes Bethesda’s water current glitch there!

However, this made me take a closer look at waterfalls across Skyrim, and honestly... they don't look great. I spent some time testing various mods: Natural Waterfalls, Water for ENB - Particle Waterfalls, and TMD Epic Waterfalls. Some caused weird landscape issues, others had terrible flickering.

Let’s be real from the start - it’s not going to magically transform him into a deeply fleshed-out, complex custom follower with thousands of lines like Kaidan or Inigo. It doesn't rewrite his character completely.

However, if you have a sentimental soft spot for this guy since that iconic Helgen cart ride, it's definitely a solid addition. Structurally, the mod first gives you a set of dialogue options to expand his lore, and after that, he periodically drops random idle lines, sometimes even commenting on your current location or quest stage.

Another cool detail: during the Stormcloak initiation quest at The Serpent Stone, he actually unlinks from you as a follower and stays behind to wait for you to complete the trial. It's a really neat immersion touch.

While Skyrim Underground always gave me pure claustrophobia and anxiety, this one actually makes me want to take my time and explore every single tunnel, hidden corner, and enemy group. 

Sure:

Dawn of Skyrim

City Trees

Alternative Riften - Revived and Optimized

RYFTEN DOWN - 2A Dawn of Skyrim

RYFTEN - Make Your Riften

Riften Gate Restored

Better Mistveil Keep

3D Riften Trellis and Roofs

Riften Docks Overhaul

JK's Riften Outskirts

Riften Extension - Southwoods District

Riften Extension - Northshore District

JK's interiors (different mods)

Snazzy Riften AIO