- Preamble
- Installation
- Updating
- In Game MCM Options
- How to start playing
- FAQ
- Removing the Modlist
- Credits and Thanks
- Contact
- Contributing
- Changelog
Aldrnari (ᚨᛚᛞᚱᚾᚨᚱᛁ) is my project to make a Skyrim I want to play. It is an ode to my love for folk music; in fact, the idea came when I began listening to Yggdrasil Music and SoundFX Overhaul and started listening to folk music all together.
Aldrnari means "the nourisher of life" and is one of the many ways to say "fire" in Old Norse. The idea came from the Heilung track Elddansurin (it means The fire dancer) because it represents how folk helped heal my soul and how, in Dark Souls, fire is extremely important. Because yes, this list is heavily inspired by the Souls Games in the combat and gameplay mechanics, as you'll see further below. This list is made to be challenging, rewarding, and, eventually, you will become an overpowered Dragonborn who goes against terrible and fierce enemies. It is deeply inspired by games like Dark Souls and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, while having an artistic direction that comes close to screen-archery.
If you have any questions regarding the list, feel free to ask in the Official Wabbajack Discord or on the Elysium and Aldrnari Community Discord.
This project started as a collaboration between Althro and I on Tinvaak 2. Over time, however, we realised our end goals were different, and he gave permission for me to use the base that had been created. Aldrnari would not exist without Althro and the work he put into creating and patching Tinvaak 2. Go show him some love and play Tinvaak 2. Permission proof
Due to being in programming studies, I (Sovn) will be updating the list less than some more active list developpers, but this list isn't going to die soon.
The art for the list was made by Crithion/m.vlad, a fellow Modlist Developer (author of Narsil, a VR list), and artist. I commissioned him and he did an amazing job!
READING THIS README IN ITS ENTIRETY IS REQUIRED FOR THE LIST TO WORK. IT WILL NOT WORK IF YOU DON'T READ. THIS ISN'T ROCKET SCIENCE SO BE PATIENT AND READ CAREFULLY. THE README DOESN'T END AT "HOW TO START UP THE LIST".
THIS LIST MASSIVELY CHANGES THE GAME, IT HAS BEEN TAILORED IN A CERTAIN WAY THAT YOU WOULDNT HAVE THE SAME EXPERIENCE IF YOU MODDED THE GAME YOURSELF WITH THE SAME MODS; THUS, DO NOT REPORT ANY BUG/ERROR/ISSUE/PROBLEM TO MOD AUTHORS BUT ONLY TO ME THROUGH WABBAJACK'S DISCORD.
Any changes that is not written in this readme breaks the rules of the Wabbajack Discord you're expected to join when seeking support for the list, thus avoid such behaviors and help will be provided.
An entire document has been made to give you as much information as I could without going too deep in analysis of mods. This document is called Modified Gameplay.md and acts as a second readme for the core gameplay and questions about what to expect. So go read it!
Aldrnari is meant to use every single inch of my computer, and here are my specs:
- I7-7700k
- 1080Ti Zotac - 11GB of VRAM
- 32GB of 3200mhz DDR4 RAM
Full PC Part Picker setup is here. I would recommend atleast 8GB+ of VRAM for 1080p, and for 1440p you will need a minimum of 10GB of VRAM, although more is highly recommended. There are tweaks at the bottom of this readme for 6GB of VRAM users, but they void support. I do not have stable 60FPS on 1440p everywhere with my setup because, frankly, I do not care about framerate if combat is fluid and I can take sexy screenshots. The average is 60FPS with dips in 50FPS in very few areas at 1080p because my screen is a 3840x1080p (no I don't play in ultrawide, that's pointless and no support will be offered for that either).
TitansBane, author of Elysium has stated this: "When using Zangdar's ENB, the one within Elysium that doesn't fit the weather mod used in this list, I had more FPS than with Elysium, reaching a steady 60 FPS with a 3080, unlike Elysium which would dip to 50FPS. The key here is that the recommended ENBs, suited for NAT III, are even heavier resulting in dips at 45FPS at times, all of this at 1440p."
If you want to join the community Discord; click here!
No performance options are available for now. There are some directions at the bottom of this readme but they're directions; you're on your own.
Disclaimer: Any questions regarding the specs and performance of the list will be redirected to here if you're asking me. I cannot stress how much I will not change the performance of the list. It is primarily made for screen-archery with innovative gameplay. You are free to modify the list once you have it to fit your frames dream, but I will not support you in doing so.
Aldrnari is a big list, but it is in a constant evolution. Check the Wabbajack UI by simply hovering your mouse on the card for the list to check it's size. It is atleast 350GB+ so you will NEED an SSD, for the game. You can always put the downloads folder on an HDD, it'll only make the installation slower.
These steps are only needed if you install the Modlist for the first time. If you are updating the Modlist, jump straight to Updating.
Installing Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Package - You do not have this on your computer natively!
I doubt you need to do this since you likely already have this installed. This package is required for MO2 and you can download it from Microsoft. Download the x64 version under "Visual Studio 2015, 2017 and 2019". Direct link if you can't find it.
Please ensure you have .NET v5.0 installed. Download the desktop app installer and console app x64 from Microsoft here https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/5.0/runtime.
FAILING TO INSTALL MICROSOFT VISUAL C++ AND MICROSOFT .NET 5.0 WILL RESULT IN CTDS WHEN LAUNCHING THE GAME. PLEASE INSTALL THEM.
If you have your Steam library in Program Files, read this to put it somewhere else.
I will not provide support to people with Skyrim in their Program Files folder.
Locations like Documents, Downloads, Desktop, or OneDrive are NOT fine. The best location would be C:\SteamLibrary if you have a single drive, or whichever Drive Letter you have on your main Games drive. Such a location is also called the "root of the drive."
SSE is still being updated by Bethesda (they only add Creation Club content). Whenever the game updates, the entire modding community goes silent for the next one or two weeks because some mods need to be updated to the latest game runtime version.
To ensure that Steam does not automatically update the game for you, head over to the Properties window, navigate to the Updates tab and change Automatic updates to Only update this game when I launch it. You should also disable the Steam Cloud while you're at it.
Just do it. This entire Modlist is in English and 99% of all mods you will find are also in English. I highly recommend playing the game in English and I will not give support to people with a non-English game.
Open the Steam Properties window, navigate to the Language tab and select English from the dropdown menu.
I highly recommend uninstalling the game through Steam, deleting the game folder, and reinstalling it. You should also clean up the Skyrim Special Edition folder in Documents/My Games/ by deleting the contents in it.
THIS is approximately what a clean Skyrim install should look like after shredding or cleaning it manually.
Skyrim got an update on the 11th of November, with free Creation Club content. We use this update for ease of installation, despite downgrading the .exe through Wabbajack and not using any Creation Club Content. This list does not require the Anniversary Edition Upgrade, if you have this version installed Wabbajack should still recognize your Skyrim installation; it will simply not use any Creation Club Content installed.
After you have done everything above and got a clean SSE installation ready, just start the game to main menu and close it back. The options set in Vanilla Skyrim won't be used and your resolution will automatically be set by Wabbajack.
Start the game and exit once you're in the main menu.
Download the release to a working folder. This folder must not be in a common folder like your Desktop, Downloads or Program Files folder. It's best to create a Wabbajack folder near the root level of your drive like C:/Wabbajack.
Grab the latest release of Wabbajack from here and place the Wabbajack.exe file in the working folder.
Wabbajack will not work with Windows 7, I will not offer any kind of support for users of that operating system.
The following files are NOT going to download themselves through Wabbajack. Yes I know, it's annoying, but there is nothing I can do for now about it. So since taking down the list would be even worse, ensure that those are downloaded somewhere; the next step is the creation of the folders for Wabbajack to function, and you will place those files in the "Downloads" Folder you will create.
- All the problematic files are in the spreadsheet here
If you do not download those, Wabbajack will not complete!
The download and installation process can take a very long time (10+hours) depending on your system specs. Wabbajack will calculate the amount of threads it will use at the start of the installation. To have the highest amount of threads and thus the fastest speed, it is advised to have the working folder on an SSD.
The BSA creation is an extremely important step to avoid the list being over 500GB in size and gain performance. It will take over 10hours for some people and that is normal. Avoid closing Wabbajack during it. Complaining about it in support isn't going to make it faster so please avoid doing so.
- Open the Wabbajack.exe and select "Browse Modlists".
- Scroll until you find Aldrnari, you can make it easier using the filter at the top for Games, in it select Skyrim Special Edition.
- Create a folder for the List at the root of your drive (like the Wabbajack folder) called "Aldrnari".
- Select the created folder in 3. as your installation folder.
- Go back to your drive, and create a new folder, called "Wabbajack Downloads Folder". This specific folder can be on a different drive if you wish.
- Put the files downloaded in the prior step into this folder AS IS. Do not extract the archives.
- Select the created folder in 5. as your downloads folder.
- Click the Go/Begin button.
- Wait for Wabbajack to finish.
This is the biggest list on Wabbajack at the time of writing this, so it is normal that it takes an incredibly long time the first time you install it, users have reported downloading and installing for more than 10h, without Wabbajack ever erroring, thus, it is highly recommended to leave it over-night.
The BSA creation is an extremely important step to avoid the list being over 500GB in size and gain performance. It will take over 10hours for some people and that is normal. Avoid closing Wabbajack during it. Complaining about it in support isn't going to make it faster so please avoid doing so.
There are a lot of different scenarios where Wabbajack will produce an error. I recommend re-running Wabbajack before posting anything. Wabbajack will continue where it left off so you lose no progress.
Could not download x:
Some files are required to be downloaded manually:
- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ouhJioGEfyNdpBbNU874-0zKjG_Q8Z3Xr57P4-2maMw/edit?usp=sharing - Spreadsheet with the remaining files
x is not a whitelisted download:
This can happen when I update the modlist. Check if a new update is available and wait if there is none.
Wabbajack could not find my game folder:
Wabbajack will not work with a pirated version of the game. If you own the game on Steam, go back to the Pre-Installation step.
Unlike regular Skyrim installation or some other Wabbajack Lists, Aldrnari comes with the Stock Game Feature, basically, it's a copy of a Skyrim installation located within your installation folder, cleaned and with everything in it, even an ENB! It allows you to not worry about conflicting files with Vortex or other Wabbajack lists. Thus, after Wabbajack completes, you need not to move anything to your regular Skyrim Installation.
There are more steps though, so please keep following the next steps to setup the game optimally.
Bigger Skyrim modlists need a lot of memory, and when there is not enough available it may fail allocating more. To fix this, you'll want to have a bigger pagefile. A pagefile is a file on your disk Windows will use when there is not enough RAM available. Never disable the pagefile - this may lead to various issues on your system, such as this Skyrim crash.
If you've never touched the pagefile, perform the following steps to prevent from memory crashes:
- Press Windows + R on your keyboard and enter
sysdm.cpl ,3 - Under the Performance section, press 'Settings'
- Go to the Advanced tab at the top, and at the Virtual memory section press 'Change...'
- Disable 'Automatically manage paging file size for all drives'
- If you have more than one drive, try enabling it for at least one more drive as a backup (make sure it has a decent bit of free space, like 15GB). Set the size to 'System managed size'. Otherwise, set a custom size for the drive it's currently on and increase the maximum size to be at least 20GB.
Here's my setup, for example.
Aldrnari has to be ran with an ENB.
By default; Aldrnari comes with Berserkyr ENB which is probably the best look for the list. You cannot remove the ENB as per NAT-ENB's modpage:
"NAT-ENB.esp PLUGIN IS NOT MEANT TO BE USED WITHOUT THE NAT.ENB preset, NEITHER THE ENB PRESET CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT THE NAT-ENB.esp PLUGIN.""
If you want to try other stuff, check out PRT XII, the ENB that is a cinematic suite of effects. It is also made by L00ping and requires NAT.III so no worries on that side.
You can make it do anything, fantasy? check. Clear? check. Grim? check. It does everything and looks absolutely wonderful! In the "ENBs" folder of the Installation folder, you'll have all the presets available on the modpage; you will have just 3 steps to install any of them:
- Delete the following: the enbseries folder, the enblocal.ini file and the enbseries.ini file and enbcache folder if present; in the Stock Game folder located in your installation folder..
- copy and paste THE CONTENTS OF THE FOLDER named after the preset you want to use to the Stock Game folder located in your installation folder.
- Untick the mod
Berserkyr ENBunderStuff I like at the bottom
Please re-do this steps every time you want to swap a preset! PRTX XII ENB Presets are extremely customizable, so go look up on it's modpage on how to do so if you're into tinkering the look of your game!
Head over to the installation folder and locate an executable named ModOrganizer.exe and launch it. Once it's launched, there will be a dropdown box on the top right and a big run button next to it. Ensure it is set to SKSE by selecting it in the dropdown box and then hitting the run button.
If a message Registry Key does not match appear, press Yes.
Upon pressing New Game, you will be in a little room, with a dragon in front of you. This means the game is modded and you can go to MCMs; after a little note on updating the list.
If this Modlist receives an update, please check the Changelog before doing anything. Always backup your saves or start a new game after updating.
Wabbajack will delete all files that are not part of the Modlist when updating!
This means that any additional mods you have installed on top of the Modlist will be deleted. Your saves will be kept, but please check each update changelog to see if the update is save compatible. Your downloads folder will not be touched!
Updating is like installing. You only have to make sure that you select the same path and tick the overwrite existing Modlist button.
An entire document has been made to give you as much information as I could without going too deep in analysis of mods. This document is called Modified Gameplay.md and acts as a second readme for the core gameplay and questions about what to expect. So go read it!
Before this, you will be prompted with character customization. You can change your appearance at any time with the showracemenu command, but be warned that you cannot change race and/or sex after the initial choice.
You may want to use the command player.sae idlestaticposeastart to stop your character doing animations when using Racemenu. Just jump when you've got the control of your character to reset it.
Once the game has loaded, wait until there are no more messages on the top left corner.
- The difficulty in this Modlist is quite harder (more info on that in Modified Gameplay.md) so I highly suggest not using Legendary. I personally play on Expert. Adept is also fine.
You will be able to edit the percentage of damage taken and received through Custom Difficulty UI's MCM, so don't hesitate pumping the difficulty high when you're op.
The MCMs have been automated thanks to MCM Recorder.
But you should check that Timing is Everything doesn't display the default values, if it does, go to it's last panel and load the preset twice
Aldrnari has a multitude of new keys, here are the main changes:
- TK Dodge: the Dodge key is on C
- to modify that key, open the mod in explorer and go to
\SKSE\Pluginsand open theTK Dodge RE.ini
- to modify that key, open the mod in explorer and go to
- Smoothcam: Shoulder camera swap is on C aswell
- Modifiable in MCM
- Simple Horse: H to call the horse
- Modifiable in MCM
- SWL Toggle: L to light the lantern on when equipped
- Modifiable in MCM
- True Directional Movement: G to use target lock
- Modifiable in MCM - Highly recommended to be put on a mouse button.
- Hotkey Potions: Y for Healing potions, U for Stamina Potions
- Modifiable in MCM - Highly recommended to be put on a mouse button.
- Campfire: N to create an item, B to build a campfire, H to harvest wood
- Modifiable in MCM
If you cannot modify a keybind in a MCM; do the following:
- Save and close the game.
- in
SKSE Based Mods(a separator, on the left panel of MO2), untick "Skyrim Souls RE - Updated" - Load back the game, and end the MCM setup.
- Save and close the game again.
- Tick it back on.
Once done with the MCMs, talk to the Dragon in front of you and choose a start. Or use the door to be welcomed in a lively Helgen.
In order to start the main quest, you will need to visit Helgen and rent a room at the new inn there with the dialogue option "I'd like to stay for a while. (Start Intro (XX gold))". Once you sleep in the room, a familiar scene unfolds before you..... IMPORTANT: Please sure you start the intro during the DAYTIME, not at night!! It will not work otherwise!
You may want to use the command player.sae idlestaticposeastart to stop your character doing animations when using Racemenu. Just jump when you've got the control of your character to reset it.
Please Note: Do NOT change sex or race with showracemenu after first confirming your character.
If you want to join the community discord; click here!
You can just remove the MO2 folder and be done with it. Aldrnari uses the Stock Game system, which copies a game installation within it's installation folder, thus, it is entirely self contained.
There isn't one at the moment. Feel free to test anything and come back to me.
Check under the "Generated FIles" Separator in the left panel of MO2 and tick Underwear for NPCs, it'll dynamically add underwear to everyone as you loot them.
I have an ultra-wide, but it's just not worth the hassle of setting Skyrim up for it, in my opinion. You can try using this but I will not offer any kind of support regarding HUD/UI problems to you.
Ask it in Wabbajack's Discord, link here. But make sure you're using the Aldrnari support channel and not a general channel!
The 5th Facepart is a lie. Known and unsolvable. | Make sure to have selected a High Poly Head under Face Part, some hairstyle will remain bugged but it is known and I do not know how to fix them. The mod they're from doesn't only offer those bugged hairstyles so it remains for the rest of what it proposes.
Some NPCs have a neck seam, that's known, I'm waiting for an update of EasyNPC to solve them, I talk to the author so don't worry, it'll come. Play with them for now.
Yes; Arena Movement and other combat mods listed in the gameplay readme, this is not a bug, it is intended. Git gud.
- Rapiers get sword perks
- Pikes get greatsword perks
- Halberds get two-handed axe perks
- Quarter Staffs get war hammer perks
- Claws get dagger perks
- Whips get mace perks
If this is upon loading your savefile, that is normal.
If it's constantly; cap your framerate, either with BethINI, SSE Display Tweaks, or ENB.
"I am bothered by the way NPCs look in the game!" and "How do NPCs look?? Are they rugged? Are they supermodels? Are they vanilla?"
I really do not care and won't take your opinion into account. I've scoured a lot of NPC overhauls (from Eeekies', Northbourne, to Bijin, Pandorable or the Re-imagined Series) and handpicked them for the list so it fits MY tastes.
If you wonder how they look, here's a document which lists what overhauls who (for vanilla NPCs).
If you do not find someone, they're either from Pride of Skyrim AIO if a male, or Courageous Women of Skyrim if female. If neither of those have an overhaul, it'll be from Modpocalypse.
Any criticism on that is NOT welcome, and it is, in fact, the only aspect of the game I do not take ANY criticism from. Hearing complaints about this stuff gives me an instant headache. I cannot please everybody, so I decided to please myself.
New armors and most of the game is designed around humans and mers, not beast races. I cannot patch all armors so it'll remain that way.
Wabbajack cannot edit the Skyrim.ini to fill a new path for screenshots that make sense on your computer. FIll in a new path in the Skyrim.ini.
No, I don't like them.
CC Content isn't considered like DLCs (Dawnguard/Dragonborn/Hearthfire) and will never be treated as such.
Using them with Aldrnari would be like installing your own mods: Support is forfeited and they will NOT work without patching.
Modified Gameplay.md has the answer, use Ctrl+F in there.
Oh my fucking god the very far mountains are so low poly... Isn't it supposed to look 4K everywhere?
No it isn't. The inis used are based on medium and optimized for the best of extreme and performance. The graphics are stunning at close range and that's what I care about; not lods.
If you REALLY want those to be better; slap uLargeRefLODGridSize to like 21 in SkyrimPrefs.ini; the one located in your profiles folder.
I have 2 tips one that voids support, one that doesnt:
- Regenerate DynDOLOD with other settings, not High
- Current DynDOLOD uses High and Ultra Trees, those are known to be FPS Heavy
- Follow this set of instructions to put your ENB in a more performance mode:
- In Enbseries.ini; change those values:
- [EFFECT]
- EnableDepthOfField=false
- EnableNormalMappingShadows=false
- [SSAO_GAME]
- AOAmount=0.0
- AOAmountInterior=0.0
- [SSAO_SSIL]
- UseSelfIntersecting=false
- SourceTexturesScale=0.25
- SamplingQuality=1
- [COMPLEXFIRELIGHTS]
- EnableShadow=false
- [COMPLEXPARTICLELIGHTS]
- EnableShadow=false
- EnableNormalMappingShadows=false
- [REFLECTION]
- Quality=-1
- [UNDERWATER]
- HighQualityCaustics=false
- [WATER]
- EnableTessellation=false
Those are the easiest tweaks you can do. Editing DynDOLOD voids support, editing the ENB does not.
I have a Patreon but please, consider donating to Wabbajack too!
- YOU for actually reading the readme. Thanks a ton!!
- Halgari and everyone in the Wabbajack Team - Wabbajack is awesome and so are you for contributing to the project in the past or future.
- Special thanks to certain of my friends in the Wabbajack Team, namely Lively, JTK, Xanza, Jdsmith, Tate Taylor, Dylan Perry, Total, Luca, TitansBane, Unnoen, Fantastigasmical Alice, Patchier, Tsukino, cacophony, Wartortle, KFC, Chanka, TheSpaniard, Chris, Derryl, JanuarySnow, and Crithion - My life wouldn't be the same if I didn't join Wabbajack; this project has been influenced in one way or another by each and everyone of you.
- Althro for the creation of the base. None of this work would simply exist without you.
- Crithion aka m.vlad for the art; trully amazing, I never spent my money so well.
- Every each of my Patreons for supporting me, and with the Special Folks of my discord, for helping with the development.
While I'm always available on the Wabbajack Discord, I would advise checking the Discord. The same goes for Enhancements or Feature/Mod Requests. DO NOT DM ME ON DISCORD. I WILL NOT PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR YOU IN DMS AND I WILL BLOCK YOU.
See Changelog.