Vampire Mod Opinions

[YLJH]

There was a reddit thread on the same question for which Vampire overhaul etc most people use, i wasn't too happy with the reasoning for the agreements that Better Vampires is the best. This despite the fact that i myself am a long time BV user since version 5.x days.

 

I recently experienced a Vampire Lord form change bug, but fortunately i believe i took care of it by taking out some of the mods in my game and re-ordering the game's load order. I.e Some of the scripts in BV probably broke because i had a couple of bloated save games, so cleaning that was very useful as well as taking out a few more than script heavy mods.

 

Noting this i realized BV 7.95 makes a ton of changes including allowing the player in Vampire Lord form to activate mostly everything, except crafting and sleeping.

 

Therefore i'd like the opinions of people as to which Vampire mod they use and why (however long or short a reasoning) as well as if people don't mind, their general experience with bugs and these mods. Lets face it, any mod that does something to Vampire Lords(which were already glitchy in Vanilla Dawnguard) is bound to have issues but.....

 

My personal reasoning for using BV was 1) Its the most well known of the overhauls, 2) i like having alot of options as a Vampire combat wise

3) frankly i enjoy grinding 1000 kills to become a highest ranked vampire, fits the whole Alucard-Hellsing style of vampire i like.

 

Off-point, Somehow my character has always looked sexier as a Vampire, dunno why, to me its just true. This is on a heavily-modded Skyrim and a weak computer to say the least.

[thesteve812]

When I'm in the mood to be a vampire. I seem to always go back to BV. I have had the feeding animation sometimes stick when using all, except BV. I have read that's it an issue with Skyrim. When I do stick I feed again and tap wasd keys until I unstick. If I can cast a spell I cast matchmaker on self. That's a hassle I don't need. When I feed using BV I never get stuck. I know it depends on where I'm standing with the others, but not BV. The support is also there, updates or answers.

Anyways, I always seem going back to BV.

 

If anybody knows how to fix animation stick, let me know.

[TheOniNinja]

I use Vampiric Thirst on my vamp character just because I like having the animated combat bite hotkey it adds, which lets you bite people with low health in combat without being a vampire lord or by sneaking up behind them. I'd actually kind of like to use a different overhaul as the rest of the mod is pretty outdated, including the "Redone" version, and there are some compatibility issues but I haven't been able to find another one that let's you bite people like that (that I can find skimming descriptions anyway) so I put up with it for now because I just like the mechanic so much.

Also, not an overhaul but Bat Travel is pretty nifty for that Stoker vampire feeling when getting around.

[DocClox]

I've been using VT,  Royal Bloodlines and Bat Travel. And, uh, PAHE to keep a stable of cattle in the basement at Lakeview Manor.

 

I didn't realise there was a "redone" version of VT. I may have to experiment.

[Zebot]

BV all they way

 

In my opinion its the most complete and well made mod if you want to go Vampire mode and with the latest version its even more stable than before.

 

(plus, you can use it together with VT and other vampire modes)

[myuhinny]

I haven't played one for awhile but I use to use one that as soon as you left the fort at the start of the game there was a statue that you could touch and become a insta vamp.

[skyfrost077]

May I ask what the bug is when becoming Vampire Lord? Do you have any mods that change the Vamp Lord form?  I play vamp with BV almost all the time, but I rarely use the Vamp Lord form...usually by the time I get to Dawnguard I am much more powerful without the form so to be fair I have never had an issue...the only time I am a vamp lord is when Harkon first gives me the form...I never use it after.  I am not trying to be a dick...maybe I am missing on an element of gameplay that I did not see the use for before.  

[karlpaws]

I can't comment much on VT since I only used it a bit, didn't like something or three (that I've now forgotten) and went back to BV.

 

Pretty sure BV has a combat bite attack but it might not be the "animated" one VT has? Not sure.

 

I also rarely used the VL form since flying was such a hassle in small spaces like caves, mines, dungeons, or pretty much anywhere that isn't outside. Between working on Destruction and Illusion or Illusion and Stealth / Onehand / Archery I could be powerful enough anywhere, and not just where I could see around my PC model taking up the middle of the screen. I would clear out the exterior of bandit forts in VL though or any camps out in the wild where I had movement and didn't need stealth, just to power up some of the added perks that affected both forms.

[Zebot]

I can't comment much on VT since I only used it a bit, didn't like something or three (that I've now forgotten) and went back to BV.

 

Pretty sure BV has a combat bite attack but it might not be the "animated" one VT has? Not sure.

 

I also rarely used the VL form since flying was such a hassle in small spaces like caves, mines, dungeons, or pretty much anywhere that isn't outside. Between working on Destruction and Illusion or Illusion and Stealth / Onehand / Archery I could be powerful enough anywhere, and not just where I could see around my PC model taking up the middle of the screen. I would clear out the exterior of bandit forts in VL though or any camps out in the wild where I had movement and didn't need stealth, just to power up some of the added perks that affected both forms.

 

BV has a combat bite as an option, but i think its not animated since i almost never use it

 

And VL transform in skyrim its kinda bad imo, altough there are mods that improve the way you look and some other tweaks but it can mess with mods like BV, so i also avoid using VL transformation.

[YLJH]

May I ask what the bug is when becoming Vampire Lord? Do you have any mods that change the Vamp Lord form?  I play vamp with BV almost all the time, but I rarely use the Vamp Lord form...usually by the time I get to Dawnguard I am much more powerful without the form so to be fair I have never had an issue...the only time I am a vamp lord is when Harkon first gives me the form...I never use it after.  I am not trying to be a dick...maybe I am missing on an element of gameplay that I did not see the use for before.  

 

Well, sometimes the form changing glitches, though in my cases it seems to have been the scripts bugging out.

 

I had probably improperly removed an earlier BV version and this was what was causing it, in my current cases, i get a bit of save game bloat when i save in VL form but not in indoor cells, just outdoor ones.

 

I use Royal Bloodline besides this, and probably misordered in my load order, wasn't an issue before though.

 

In fact Vampire Lord form is quite weak on its own, especially if playing on Legendary difficulty, or using any kind of overhaul mods like SkyRe , or even ASIS. Fortunately with the current BV version, if you open a chest or loot something you can view your inventory, and from their Shift equip any armor you like and a sword if your not floating off the ground. Its quite useful to equip a sword, cuz it makes your melee atks equal to your normal atks, otherwise they're basically weak unarmed dmg, at least Werewolf claws atks cause stagger or send ppl flying, vampire lord claws, are weak.

 

I used a mod that overhauled alot of VL values to make them really high, did nothing. Only get about 500 armor, which under ASIS and SkyRe conditions, is an obsolete value. I have 2000+ armor on my normal character with my lightest armor, still take chunks of damage.

 

What i'm getting at is VL isnt very useful for late game highest difficulty, but if you can equip your own armor and sword etc, its much more viable.

 

Notes for anyone wanting to try this, do not over equip when VL this is what may have also glitched my game, u can equip up to 10 rings and 2 amulets as well as multiple circlets, almost every piece of armor you can think of and so on. I'd say only equip what you would normally equip, so, gauntlets, boots, cuirass, 1 ring,1  amulet, a cloak. Hoods will bug your head and make you bald btw.

 

 

To respond to Karlpaws, its seems Vampire Lord has been much better handled with BV's current version, and i was able to scale down my Vampire lord so she fits through dungeons etc.(I think with the Custom Vampire lord appearence mod here on loverslab).

 

I personally like Vampire Lord for the feel of being able to dominate and intimidate everybody (Rpg-ing it), i like harmlessly taking arrows and just nonchalantly walking up to the bandit shooting me and just slice him. BV does animate the combat bite and Vampiric Drain spell at least in 7.95( i think its the BV mod doing this, im not sure). A kind of Alucard from Hellsing tank-combat style thing, after all, the guy is one massive unkillable tank.

 

I wanted opinions on the other mods cuz i wasn't satisfied with the reasonings so far i had seen elsewhere, keep them coming, and thank you to those who responded.

[srayesmanll]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the newer vamp mod Sacrosanct by EnaiSaison (sp?) - maker of Ordinator, Aurora, etc.  I switched to it recently from BV and really like it.  While regular vampirism is closer to vanilla, it seems to have balanced the vanilla issue of fully fed being weaker than starved (basically there are both benefits and deficits at each stage of vampirism).  And some of the VL perks it has (similar to the variety/complexity of Ordinator) can apply to both VL form and humanoid vampire form.  In HV form, you also have access to some new destruction spells called Hemancy - basically blood-based spells.  Personally I would prefer they be in Restoration rather than Destruction, or an option to choose which one, but still the spells are pretty cool.  It still has some issues to work out, and Enai seems to have gotten frustrated with it.  He had been hounded for yrs to do a vamp mod, and as soon as it was released people immediately started jumping on to basically turn it into an add-on for BV (and VT) rather than actually trying the mod on it's own.  Typically, there's no satisfying some people.  Anyway, he's basically said that Sacrosanct so not a priority at this point (and it's soured him on doing a werewolf mod - would have liked to seen his version of that).  It's too bad, because again - it's pretty good take on Skyrim vampirism.  (Oh, and Brenahan (again, sp?) has done a patch for BV and Sacrosanct, and someone has done a VT/Sacrosanct patch as well, so people can enjoy the "best of both worlds" with Sarosanct as a BV/VT add-on...)

 

Just to note, I do still like BV.  It's flexibility is astounding and I love a lot of the features.  1 thing I hated was turning on Vamp hunters, and those bastards showing up at inopportune times.  Yet when I switched to Sacro, first thing I missed was those damn vamp hunters.  What added to the fun was using Immersive Patrols as well, which has Dawnguard patrols roaming around.  Not usually a problem, because just like every other DG character, they wouldn't recognize a vampire (until it bit them    - except those damn DG dogs.  They seemed to know I was a vamp while the DG humanoids just ignored me).  However, if one of those Vamp Hunters showed up and one of the DG patrols was near, they would actually join the VH (or hunters depending on how many you set in the preferences) in hunting you down.  So now you have 6-10 NPCs (and dogs - those damn dogs) designed to hunt and kill vampires hunting your Vamp ass!  Makes for some interesting fun...

[Kain82]

I just heard about Sacrosanct recently and it sounds interesting.  I haven't tried it yet, but am looking forward to it.

[Zebot]

Sacrosant is an excellent alternative for the ones that want to play vampire as vanilla as possible and still giving a good amount of features.

 

As far as other mods beyond Sacrosant and BV, unfortunelly there isnt much to choose from, since both of these can give the best options possible to the vampire gameplay like no other.

 

As for "addon" mods that can complement you gameplay as a vampire, if you use sexlab, you can go for sexlab deadly drain wich makes you character more like a "femme fatale" and complements well with other vampire mods ( even better if you play with female character ofc ).

 

But this is just mod for gameplay and not talking about other mods that change looks and etc wich there are a good amount of them and can give you a good personalized vampire