Time modding vs Actually Playing?

[KoolHndLuke]

 How much time do you actually spend playing Skyrim vs the time you spend modding it? I spend roughly 40% of my spare time modding it and the rest playing. I have a couple of projects that I'm working on. But, I seem to always come across something else that I want to change/improve. Right now I am trying to find and use mods to improve the lakes in Skyrim. You know, more wildlife, more plants in the water, more kinds of bugs- that kind of thing. Once in awhile, I spend a whole day modding/fixing things and then force myself to get some sleep. Rarely do I spend a day just playing.

[Guest]

110% modding, -10% playing. Not just Skyrim.

"Playing" for me is the equivalent of "Testing a mod I am doing".

[Cynical Misanthrope]

I'm not a mod creator so I say it's roughly 50/50. I actually wanna play the game I mod. That's why I mod it 

[Guest]

Just for the sake of precision.

110% modding means 110% of time I run Skyrim is to "create" mods.

[KoolHndLuke]

14 minutes ago, CPU said:

Just for the sake of precision.

110% modding means 110% of time I run Skyrim is to "create" mods.

So, you never just play the game to enjoy your work- not really testing anything? Or do you like modding and making mods that much? Think I agree with Cynical in that I need to just enjoy things in the game sometimes. Of course, I'm usually looking for how something might be better- It's hard not to, I must admit.

[The First Lady of Hats]

40% o' the time installing mods, 30% o' the time actually playing, 10% of the time arguing with mod organizer/Wyrebash/Proccpatchers/xedits, 20% of the time rerolling new characters because character felt too overpowered/Something broke/wanted a new playstyle.

 

One day I'll actually play a full game and finish it :3

[KoolHndLuke]

1 hour ago, The First Lady of Hats said:

One day I'll actually play a full game and finish it :3

Not bloody likely! Since I started modding some time back, I have never gotten more than 200 hrs on one character before I either have to or want to start a new game. There's something I like about the start when you have nothing and are nothing.

[The First Lady of Hats]

5 minutes ago, KoolHndLuke said:

 There's something I like about the start when you have nothing and are nothing.

Precisely that. When yer've no coin, yer dressed in iron or fur and the whole world wants to bash yer noggin' in, hell, I've had starts where even finding food an' water's been an issue. Tends to last untill around level thirty or so when you just become godly, I try gimping myself, using weapons or spellschools I have no skill in, but then I start straying from character concept.

 

It's happening even now, my aldmeri battle mage is feeling compelled to start up some sneakery because she's looking at her museum and noticing the thieve's guild and brotherhood galleries are somewhat vacant, but once I start that she's not a sorcerer any more, just a thief. :3. So I go prowl for more mods to reinvigorate the playthrough and the 40/30/10/20% cycle starts happening all over again xD.

[Grey Cloud]

Playing and prodding and poking Skyrim are the same thing to me. The game itself is shit, it's the mods which make it worth playing so I am always looking for the 'perfect' combination of mods.

[SmedleyDButler]

I don't see an option for "time spent browsing Skyrim forums and mod sites"... >___>

[KoolHndLuke]

21 minutes ago, SmedleyDButler said:

I don't see an option for "time spent browsing Skyrim forums and mod sites"... >___>

Would fall under time spent modding- I would think. So my revised estimate for time modding vs time playing would now be about 60-40.

[Kimy]

23 hours ago, CPU said:

"Playing" for me is the equivalent of "Testing a mod I am doing".

Same here. I can't even tell you when I last played the game for the sake of playing it. I actually never finished Skyrim. Despite I "played" it for a four-digit number of hours.

[KoolHndLuke]

15 minutes ago, Kimy said:

Same here. I can't even tell you when I last played the game for the sake of playing it. I actually never finished Skyrim. Despite I "played" it for a four-digit number of hours.

So, the joy is in creating mods and "testing" them? Not ever just playing the game? I guess I can understand that. I still enjoy playing the game myself.

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, KoolHndLuke said:

So, the joy is in creating mods and "testing" them? Not ever just playing the game? I guess I can understand that. I still enjoy playing the game myself.

Last time I played for real the game was in 2014. Completed Skyrim, two times, and Dragonborn. Never completed Dawnguard or Hearthfire (actually I NEVER did anything for playing with Hearthfire.)

After that just testing mods.

 

I have about 2100 hours on CK, and about 1300 hours on Skyrim.

[Trash Metal Barbie]

my time for the most part goes into modding , i eventually got curious with the ck and threw together some pretty basic mods and followed some guides on stuff, i often think "i miss skyrim" then end up spending a week on a mod hunt then get to play for 40 mins , then life hits me an i get busy again

[KoolHndLuke]

I played vanilla Skyrim for about 3 yrs. Have played it modded now for over 2. Still enjoy making a new character, getting drunk or stoned, and just playing the modded game exploring new mod quests and lands. Maybe when I actually take the time to learn more about making animations, I will spend most of my spare time doing that.

[Tirloque]

Actually I'm not a modder, and my mod selection evolves very slowly. No, what's taking me time is to create stories : you have to think it over, screenshoot, write, photoshop it, insert the dialogues in a comic-style... Hopefully the characters featured are also the ones I play, so I still continue both activities alongside. Sometimes I do comics more than I play, sometimes I do play more... Overall I'd say comics do take 40 to 60% of the time invested in Skyrim, playing being the other 60 to 40% left. Depends on how much free time I've got in fact.

 

So I've got one character that actually finished vanilla's MQ, plus Dragonborn's one. Another two who are doing Dawnguard. Some who are doing the civil war. The thing is none of them will ever do everything : only one is the dragonborn ; plus I haven't got time for that (nor interest for two playthrough that would be too similar). but I'm slowly but surely completing the experiences one might get of the game... Nearly as slowly as I get my comics done in fact. ^^

[Trash Metal Barbie]

I always wanted to create a story but the time sink vs playing time is actually unreal especially when it comes to finding suitable lighting , poses , then the narrative , i always sorta rp it as i play and have a theme as i go , but i think my current character whos been around on and off and through a few restarts due bugs or mod updates is now around L70, ive found if i play on legendary and avoid smithing as a talent then the game stays relatively challenging other than i could probably buy half of skyrim if i chose to now im that rich

[KoolHndLuke]

9 minutes ago, Tifa Lockheart said:

i could probably buy half of skyrim if i chose to now im that rich

You could always gamble it away in a casino. Oh wait, this isn't FNV!

[Trash Metal Barbie]

i never managed to get into FNV only 3 / 4

[Tirloque]

On 20/05/2018 at 2:57 AM, Tifa Lockheart said:

i never managed to get into FNV only 3 / 4

You've missed something then. You've got some real choices, with direct consequences on many factions in FNV. I would recommend to upgrade the textures though, but the role-play part is amazing in FNV, and much more consistent than the one track play of FO3 (even though heavily modded, it was pleasant to play).

 

As for the time consuming aspect of doing stories, you're right. But doing it little by little, although reducing publications rates very heavily, is a work-around I found acceptable. That way you can still play, and create/share something that will last afterwards.

[leizar]

Let's just say it like this. I still didn't finish Dawnguard, Dragonborn and Heartfire DLC's. Main quest and guilds I finished about once or twice. To add more form this winter I am building load order for new playthrough, currently sitting at 1097 various different mods (I am doing it in spare time after work so it takes little bit longer). Lot of them just replacers, but still about 400 esp. Now I just merge plugins and test for conflicts. I will probably start playing in summer

[SkyAddiction]

I have about 1,500 hours in Skyrim, and I've played it vanilla for about... 100 of that? About 300 went into SFW modded Skyrim, then I discovered this site. Add about 300 more testing mods to figure out what they do and which don't play nice together. Now add about 300 in the Quest for the Perfect Modded Skyrim. (This I finally managed to find.) Then tack on about 300 learning to use various tools, learning CK basics, and dabbling in Skyrim-related projects with toys like Substance Painter and ZBrush.

 

So... I've played NSFW modded Skyrim for about 200 hours, and half of that I'm still thinking, "Oh, now that's a cool idea. I wonder if I can do something with it in the CK/xEdit/<insert tool here>?"

 

Now if I can just find the time to raise my skills in any one area beyond Experimenting Newbie, I'm sure I'll never seriously play the game beyond mod testing again. 

[noodles1976]

I've probably spent equal time modding & playing Skyrim since it released in 2011...my Steam account clocks me in at 2,132 hours of Skyrim & 81 hours of Skyrim SE so far. That 2k+ number seems like a lot, but it's actually the equivalent of only 88 days spread out over many years. I tend to build my mod installs around a theme or character design, so if I can't find a ready made mod to use or adapt/edit, I'll make my own. Lots of testing time and then a fresh start new character for however long I feel like playing it.

[Ernest Lemmingway]

75% playing, 24% installing new mods and making sure everything's in the right order and/or fixing issues that crop up, 1% working on a custom plug-in so I can cheat my guts out after playing through so many times there's nothing vanilla or DLC I haven't tried yet. That's not including the tens of hours I've spent on the tweaks, fixes, and edits over six-plus years a heavily modded Skyrim needs to simply be playable. Before I finally got ENB to work. 2,352 hours with Scream Steam online, likely another 100 with it in offline mode just to squeeze that extra bit of performance out.

 

I'd probably still have only 500 hours of play time if I hadn't discovered LL almost three years ago.

 

For SSE, a grand total of one minute of play time because I ran it once so it would be registered. If not for this site I might have switched over. Too many of my must-have mods from LL won't work on SSE for various reasons and Oldrim is finally stable enough that it's pointless to bother.