This Skyrim cities overhaul mod took over three years to make
After three-and-a-half years, Skyrim mod Holds: The City Overhaul has been released.
This Skyrim cities overhaul mod took over three years to make
As the the mod's title states, it overhauls the cities of Skyrim and adds some new settlements, architectures, outfits, books and more to the mix.
It even has named characters with their own backgrounds, homes and daily routines, the mod's description reads.
New settlements, Amber Guard and Black Moor for example, have been placed "far out of the way and hidden from view," so you will have to trek around the forests and countryside to give them a visit.
The holds of Falkreath, Winterhold and Dawnstar have been rebuilt from scratch and each with their own designs. Other holds, Whiterun and Solitude haven't been neglected either.
New books which flesh out the land and lore of Skyrim have been added to select libraries and bookstores and future plans for the mod include adding Quests step-by-step as completed, new Guilds, more outfits and systems such as banking, "alternative transportation with radiant events, and more."
"The aim of all of this is to create a more memorable and diverse experience, making the cities actually feel like cities hopefully without ruining the natural and realistic design of the vanilla game," said the mod's creator Galandil. "This is not a botanical garden mod, nor is it a beautification mod.
"Holds aims to stay as lore-friendly as possible and at the same time expand on the backgrounds and stories for its locations."
At some point, Galandil plans to release a guide to the mod, but he wants players to explore it for themselves for the time being.
Instructions on how to apply the 4GB mod to your game along with the extras you'll need to run it are listed on the Nexus Mods page.
Reddit user Thallassa offered a comprehensive, two-part review of the Holds mod, if you're interested. It talks about compatibility with other mods, which is useful.
Now, before hitting that download button, you might want to give Thallassa's review of the mod over on reddit. The mod has been updated since its release on April 2, so it's possible some of the issues noted in the review have been addressed.
Missing meshes, textures and some compatibility issues have already been attended to. Other hiccups are being looked into as well.
A video of the mod is below. It sure looks lovely.
