Skyrim Redone Se

[Lilly Solo]

Ever thought you could do a better job than Legolas at the Battle of Helm's Deep? Well now you can prove it, as the final version of this incredible Lord of the Rings Skyrim mod has just been published.

The Elder Scrolls V Middle-Earth began back in 2014 and has seen several updates, but Maldaran told me the Redone version adds new content, solves bugs, re-works the portal corridor and streamlines all the past versions into one neat package.

The remarkable one-person project, made by 26-year-old Maldaran from Germany, allows PC players to explore many of the most famous locations in Lord of the Rings, including The Shire, Lothlorien and Rivendell. You can re-enact the Battle of Helm's Deep, fight goblins in the mines of Moria and even battle the Balrog. Players can also craft Mithril armour, and Maldaran told me the latest version introduces even more craftable items, along with new spells to learn.

So, how do you get to Middle-earth? You have two options: either grab a Middle-earth teleportation spell from Farengar in Whiterun, or simply walk there by finding the "Lord of the Rings" door in the west of the map. After encountering a couple of technical difficulties with the teleport spells, I found it easiest to take the fast-travel option.

Once in Middle-earth, you'll find yourself in a long corridor full of beautifully-crafted doors leading to various locations from Lord of the Rings. Naturally, I went straight to The Shire, and was welcomed by a charming birthday party with lanterns and classic round-door hobbit homes. A little walking will take you to the town of Bree - suitably dark and foreboding - while the hobbit homes feel small and cosy.

Having relaxed in The Shire, I then explored Moria, and got absolutely wrecked when I poked my nose into the lower depths and encountered dozens of goblins. I did not learn my lesson, and went back down again to tango with the Balrog. Guess I still did better than Gandalf, though.

The elvish locations, meanwhile, were simply stunning. After stumbling through an orc-elf skirmish, I explored the arches of Rivendell, while Lothlorien's tree buildings have been beautifully recreated with twinkling lights.

But this mod isn't just about locations: there are interactive elements too. In one of my nerdiest moments ever, I re-enacted the Battle of Helm's Deep (role-playing Legolas) with the official Lord of the Rings soundtrack thundering away in the background. Players can activate the battle in three separate stages using stones inside the grounds of the fortress. Things get very intense, very fast.

Although I did encounter the occasional problem - such as floating foliage, the occasional place name that wouldn't disappear, and a few lurking snippets of German, the mod is seriously impressive and really captures the feeling of being in Middle-earth. The Shire, one of the newly-added locations, feels particularly well-crafted, and Maldaran describes this as their "masterpiece".

The mod has certainly come a long way from its roots: Maldaran told me The Elders Scrolls V Middle Earth began as only three areas "which were not much bigger than normal dungeons" - and the love and attention put into the mod really shows.

"I started modding over 10 years ago, firstly for the old Star Wars Battlefront 2," Maldaran told me. "When I began modding for Skyrim, I worked around three to four hours a day on the project, but that was when I went to school."

"For five years I worked on [the mod] and added many interesting things... not only the big worldspace the mod offers now," Maldaran added. "But since the engine is now very old and many bugs of the creation kit are never fixed... modding for skyrim became a bit exhausting.

"I have plenty more ideas for worldspaces I havent covered in my mod. The retexture of Bree's buildings and the implementation of the mumakil was definitely preparation for Minas Tirith and a battlefield.

One final concern I asked Maldaran about was the risk of getting in trouble with Warner Bros. This previously happened with another Lord of the Rings-themed Elder Scrolls mod (known as MERP), which had to stop development in 2012 when it received a cease-and-desist letter.

"Firstly I still work with Skyrim objects and put them together to [create] new content. MERP recreated stuff from the movies in 3D software. I think that was a point Warner didnt like, I think they saw this as direct copying.

"Secondly the MERP project was a team [effort] by gamers all around the world and they were looking for more members, had a Facebook page, Twitter accounts, fansites and all this advertising stuff. Maybe this was in Warner's eyes some kind of 'founding a company'.

If you want to install this mod and role-play Frodo yourself, you'll need the latest version of Skyrim and all its DLC (Hearthfire, Dawnguard and Dragonborn). Unfortunately Skyrim Special Edition owners will need to make a few adjustments before playing: as suggested by Zeridian in the mod's forum, it can be converted using "SSE Asstes Optimizer/SSE Nif Optimizer and the Creation Kit to resave the plugin", along with using xedit 4.0.2 to manually give it a clean.

Although Maldaran isn't planning on adding further areas to The Elder Scrolls V Middle Earth Redone, other modders are welcome to create their own versions - and potentially add quests and new locations (given they ask Maldaran's permission first). Maybe we'll see some epic quests added in, although this mod is already fantastic. My precious.

If you need a quick refresh on how to get skyrim mods, it's fairly easy. Just hit up the official site and filter by your platform of choice. From there you can download to your console (provided you have a Bethesda.net ID).

But what mods to choose? We've trawled through the 5700-plus available mods for consoles and found a wide range of additions to improve the base game. Some fix problems, others introduce new magic and weapons or make life just that little bit more convenient for the adventurer. A few introduce entirely new locations and quests.

The Apocalypse mod ads 140 spells to Skyrim, from everyday basics to terrifying destruction-based hexes. Each spell comes with its own little bit of lore and adds a bit of pizazz to Skyrims otherwise fairly vanilla spellcasting.

Not a magic fan? Then check out the Immersive armour and weapons mod. Each item comes with its own lore and there are a bunch of new sets and individual items you can add to the game. This mod is perfect for those of who you have already smithed the top armour sets about 200 hours ago.

Bored of the repetitive NPC chatter? The Interesting NPC mod adds a tonne of new NPCs with unique dialogue, quests and lore. The voice-acting is of a high standard, with the odd funny line here and there.

Updated regularly, this mod aims to fix as many bugs and glitches in Skyrim Special Edition as possible, from text and NPC bugs to quest and gameplay problems. You can read a full changelog here and it's huge, which is why the authors are asking you to help them by reporting any bugs to them. They're doing you a massive favour with this patch, so let's all get involved and spread the love.

Returning to Skyrim isn't just about returning to familiar places. In fact, if you've trampled around Skyrim for hours in a previous console life, why not visit an entirely new area and try original quests?

The Forgotten City mod is an award-winning expansion to Skyrim offering up 8 hours worth of new adventures. Full of puzzles, dilemmas, great storytelling, an original score and multiple endings, it's a fantastic and worthy addition to The Elder Scrolls world. You only need to be level 5 or above to experience it, so we recommend checking it out at the very least to see what a dedicated modding community can build.

It caters to 85 craftable scrolls and creates a player dungeon in the College of Winterhold, which brings with it a new perk system, complete with inscription table and chest to keep your scrolls and materials safe. Oh, and there's the ability to create paper rolls for scroll crafting and a crafting book to ensure you have everything you need to cook up a batch of magic for your adventures.

There's a fairly decent chance that you could be playing Skyrim: Special Edition having played in the world of Skyrim many times before. This is a best-selling PS3 and Xbox 360 game, after all - and if that's the case, you may want to give yourself a leg up. For that, there's The Cheat Room - which does pretty much exactly what you'd expect it to do, to be honest.

The cheat room keeps things nice and simple - this Xbox One exclusive mod gives you access to a single room and gives you access to a spell that you can cast to teleport yourself in there. Inside you'll find every item in the game, plus triggers that can let you duplicate items, level yourself up, learn every shout, add money - all that good stuff.

On top of that, the room even offers you access to special triggers that'll let you modify the game in ways similar to how PC users with console access can - change levels, spawn characters, change relationships, change your character's appearance - whatever you want. Useful!

Destruction magic is the main damage-dealer for mages in Skyrim, but the base game only comes with three different types: fire, frost and shock. If you're building out a pure magic character for your adventures, you're going to want a little more oomph to your open palms.

Which is where the Elemental Destruction Magic mod comes in. It adds 30 Earth, Water and Wind Destruction spells to the game, along with three weapon and three armour enhancements and a Dragon Priest mask for each element.

You don't get all of this for free though. You'll need to level up your destruction skill to get the better magic, and all spells need to be bought or found. Faralda at the College of Winterhold sells all the spells but there's also a chance you'll find enchanted weapons with these new spells as loot. Be warned though; enemies will also have the ability to use these spells too - they're not strictly for the player.

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