Dovahlean

After my massive Secunda modding guide, I wanted to take a distinctly "vanilla is good enough” approach to modding Skyrim SE. Creativity blossoms with limitations, in the end. 

And simply put, like everyone I have hardware, space, and time constraints that don't leave a lot of room for a heavily modded Skyrkm SE. I just want to mod with as little hassle as possible to refresh this game and improve how it plays…then actually spend time playing. 

So while the aim of Dovahlean is being even more vanilla plus and performance friendly with enhanced vanilla graphics, my focus is moreso on better sound, animations, immersive details, and improved quests.

Dovahlean is built around the idea that “vanilla is good enough.” 

Meaning, this modding guide enhances what is already there instead of drastically altering things like graphics, gameplay, and systems.

 For example:

Skyrim's distinct art style is entirely preserved but the visual fidelity of the textures has been vastly improved. 

The vanilla weather system is retained but enhanced by new thunder and rain sounds, as well as new rain, lighting, and snow effects.

Existing lighting luminosity and volumetrics are enhanced, paired with a subtle, performance friendly Reshade.

No armor set retextures, additions, or overhauls are used. Rather, mods that add variance are applied to keep clothes and armors dynamic.

With this in mind, Dovahlean greatly reduces hundreds of clutter and replacer mods, compatibility conflicts, messy patches, and load order headaches for a smooth, performance friendly experience.

What are your system specs?

I don't have a fancy gaming PC and contrary to popular belief, you don't need one. I use a Lenovo Thinkbook 15 Gen 2 ARE laptop with AMD Ryzen 4500U GPU, 8 GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 6 thread CPU at 1920x1080 HD resolution. To be clear, these are not "minimum specs," just an indication.

How many mods are there?

This modding guide has 1,355 mods and 866 plugins in total.

To be clear, these are not just graphics mods! Texture mods comprise only a small portion of this guide. Dovahlean instead revolves around Vanilla Remastered (Optimized) and SMIM, and is powered by Base Obiect Swapper to provide object variety. 

You will need approximately  202gb of disc space for Skyrim SE and all these mods.

Is there an autoinstaller?

No. I am unable to get Wabbajack to compile a modlist, despite my best efforts. Additionally, I strongly advise to use MO2 rather than Vortex Collections for modding. Detailed and straightforward instructions are provided in this modding guide to make the process easier, especially for beginners.

Why doesn't this feature Community Shaders or ENB?

ENB is not performance friendly. Even using the wonderful Vanilla ENB 2 or Lightweight ENB still resulted in a 20-30fps loss. Dovahlean is aimed for low to mid-range computers and those who prioritize gameplay over eye candy.

Although I’ve used Community Shaders before, updates since then have unfortunately made them increasingly unstable and performance heavy by default, especially since frame generation is integrated now. As other users have reported, there are frequent CTDs before shaders can even compile.

So I simply stopped using them in favour of vanilla weather and shaders, combined with lighting mods and Reshade that elevate Skyrim’s look and feel.

Can you provide modding help and support?

No. Although I do occasionally check my Nexus page forums and will help if I can, I am providing this thorough modding guide as is.