With over 4,000 mods carefully curated into a single cohesive package, LoreRim has become one of the most ambitious Skyrim modlists to date with over 1.5 million downloads. Created by YouTuber and modding enthusiast Biggie_boss, the project aims to modernize the game’s visuals, systems, and immersion-while staying true to the spirit and lore of the Elder Scrolls universe.
With version 4.0 just releasing earlier today and dubbed the “Final Chapter,” we spoke with Biggie about the origins of LoreRim, the technical hurdles of modding Skyrim at this scale, and what comes next for both the project and its creator.
For Those Unfamiliar, What Is LoreRim and What Kind of Experience Does It Offer Compared to Playing Vanilla?
I’d say LoreRim tries to accomplish 3 major things:
First, it brings Skyrim to a modern standard. The cities are larger, the NPCs are more varied, the graphics have been completely revamped, the animations are more fluid. But it does this while trying to stick to the original theme of the game. In general, everything is Scrolls-like in its aesthetic. I try to use cutting-edge tools and am constantly scouring the Nexus for new mods and updates to old mods. I’m incredibly picky about making sure everything looks and feels as it should both in a Nordic environment and also in the Elder Scrolls Universe generally speaking.
Second, LoreRim tries to make Skyrim more of a roleplaying game akin to previous titles. Character customization is much deeper with players being able to choose starting traits, equipment and birthsigns. There’s a class skill tree that further enhances your build and makes it feel more complete. Weapons, armors and relics from previous titles have been added back. Requiem is in LoreRim and for those unfamiliar with it, Requiem makes each skill feel more varied. Examples: you can bash locks, heavy armor is difficult to cast spells in, sneak requires you to be either unarmored or wear light armor, most skills are useless without a perk invested, etc.
Finally, immersion. By far, immersion mods are my most favorite mod category, and it’s super fun to see people discover new things. NPCs will have tons of new voicelines you’ve never heard before. Cows can be milked, cats and dogs can be pet, you might find hidden buried treasure in a rock. Survival mode is more streamlined and should feel like a fluid and integral part of the gameplay. Eating food is necessary both for not starving but also to provide powerful buffs to stats or even warmth. Camping gear is incredibly useful not just to recover your tiredness but also to set a respawn point should you die in a dungeon.
What Inspired You to Create Your Own Modlist, and How Did Those Experiences Shape Your Vision for LoreRim?
Making a modlist was largely influenced by my YouTube community. When I first started reviewing modlists at the start of 2023, I have absolutely no intention of making my own. I got requested repeatedly to make a modlist but I was pretty hesitant at first. There was a big stigma within the Wabbajack community that YouTubers tend to make subpar lists because they’ll focus on the production value of their videos to promote the lists rather than properly creating and patching a curated experience. Part of me wanted to break this cycle. I had a lot of great teachers, such as Althro and Ylikollikas who made some really good modlists.
Honestly, I originally kept everybody’s expectations low as I had no idea what I was getting myself into. So, LoreRim didn’t originally have a big vision other than trying to stick to lore-accurate/lore-friendly content and modernizing the game. As the modlist has grown and the community around it has grown, I’ve tried to challenge myself with each big update to make it better looking, better performing and more content-rich than the one before. So ultimately, the community is what makes LoreRim the modlist that it is.
How Do You Balance Adding New Content While Preserving Elder Scrolls Lore and Feel?
Well I think there are a lot of talented mod authors who are just as obsessed with Elder Scrolls lore. Pulcharmsolis is the author of various armor mods such as Armors of the Velothi Part 1 & 2. These mods, while modern looking, are heavily inspired from Elder Scrolls lore, previous games, concept art, etc.
Mihail and 4thUnknown are well-established authors of armors, weapons and creature mods. While not every mod made by them is lore-accurate, plenty of them are. Sea Giants and the Ice Tribe are established in ESO and TES Travels: Dawnstar. Mihail has a Sea Giant mod which fits perfectly with this lore.
Ultimately, I try to do my best to research the lore surrounding the Elder Scrolls universe to make every mod I add feel authentic as a true part of the world.
Regarding gameplay itself, I think TES has gradually shifted towards being more action-oriented if you compare Skyrim to Arena, Daggerfall or even Morrowind. I still think Elden Ring is a good example of how roleplaying elements and modern combat can fuse together to provide a cohesive experience. So there is definitely some inspiration from modern RPGs.
What Technical Hurdles Did You Face When Assembling and Testing a 4,000-Mod Build?
Oh man, that’s a great question because these issues almost made me quit back when I first started. Some folks might remember how Skyrim LE (Legendary Edition) had a 254 plugin limit. When we got Special Edition, the plugin limit is still 254 for regular plugins, but we also got 4096 plugin slots for “light plugins” (which are essentially plugins with less than 4096 records). Well, each plugin also has its own plugin limit of 254. This means that any one single plugin can only rely on a maximum of 254 other “master” plugins. Without getting too technical, this was a major challenge for me early on. I essentially had to completely rethink how Requiem’s own “Reqtificator” tool should be used to avoid hitting that limit.
Beyond that, Skyrim has other limits such as a maximum of 1,048,576 total active references. Adding large quest mods or mods that place tons of objects in the game causes this limit to go up. Another big one is optimization. Contrary to some people’s belief, LoreRim uses very few large texture sizes. Almost every texture is reviewed to make sure it’s an appropriate size relative to the object that the texture will be applied to. So no 16k apples but you might see 8k dragons. I’ve learned to avoid meshes with too high of a poly count for what you get out of visually. I’ve learned to run tools such as Papyrus Profiler to remove mods that were causing script pileup. Honestly, there are so many moving parts with Skyrim that you just kind of learn as you go along.
Pulling Big Overhauls Like Requiem and Ordinator Together Is a Huge Feat. What Was Your Process for Merging Those Two Systems?
Honestly, it goes to show how moddable Skyrim is. It was done fully in Xedit using Matortheeternal’s Edit Scripts. I removed any Ordinator records touching vanilla records and then I added Ordinator perks as appendages to Requiem’s perks.
I think the beauty of modding is that just about anything is possible. LoreRim is often classified as a Requiem list, but it’s honestly a Requiem-EnaiRim hybrid. EnaiRim meaning the mods created by EnaiSaion such as Ordinator, Wintersun, Growl, Sacrilege, Apocalypse and Triumvirate. All of which are in LoreRim.
You’ve Streamed Much of LoreRim’s Development Live. What’s It Like Opening Your Work Up to an Audience in Real Time?
It can be challenging for a number of reasons. You need to have thick skin whenever you’re putting your work out there to be scrutinized. Most users are super supportive and appreciative though.
Streaming really provides a positive creative outlet for me to share ideas as well as for people to make recommendations on things that could be improved. The downside is that it’s probably faster to just develop a modlist without streaming it, but this way provides learning experience for others since modding guides feel few and far between.
How Has Viewer Feedback and Suggestions, Both On and Off Stream, Shaped the Direction of LoreRim?
It has for sure. There’s the occasional user who comes in making demands and that sort of thing will just be dismissed. However, a ton of what you see in LoreRim is based on user feedback. Many folks said endgame was too easy so I incorporated damage sliders (Requiem doesn’t normally have any), buffs to endgame enemies, more postgame content, etc. When people reported that mages are too strong I went through and balanced each of the over 1,000 spells in LoreRim. Some said early game was too hard so I provided more usefulness to food early game as well as adjusted starting stats. Of course, I also say no to suggestions if I feel they don’t fit the overall vision of the modlist.
Furthermore, I think playing your own list (even if not streaming it) is essential to giving people an enjoyable experience. I’m not sure how I could gauge whether something is actually balanced or implemented correctly or even FUN if I don’t test it myself.
With LoreRim 4.0 Being the “Final Chapter,” How Do You Feel About Wrapping Up the Project?
Well originally I was planning to step away from modlist making and streaming in general at the end of the year due to the anticipation of my wife and my 2nd baby. With 4.0 LoreRim is getting more content, fully rebalanced gameplay to be more consistent than ever, a custom museum for collecting items and much more. Unless some crazy large project comes out that hasn’t been announced, I don’t see there being enough new mods for Skyrim SE in the near future to warrant a “5.0” release. Still, I plan on continuing LoreRim with smaller 4.X updates as new stuff releases and old stuff gets updated.
What I would really like to do, assuming I even continue working on modlists, is branching out into other games such as Oblivion, Fallout 4, Cyberpunk 2077, Baldur’s Gate 3, etc.
What Can Players Expect From LoreRim 4.0, and Which New Features Are You Most Excited to Share?
There are a lot of goodies in 4.0 and 4.1 coming. Magic and alchemy is completely rebalanced. I went through every spell and made sure every non-Requiem spell lined up with Requiem variants. Alchemy should be much more viable and I’ve undone many Requiem nerfs. There are tons of new traits and the entire character creation is overhauled.
Regarding 4.X content there is Sleepwalking Into a Nightmare, The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal 10th Anniversary Edition as well as VIGILANT. These mods add Vaermina, Nocturnal and Molag Bal-related content respectively. There is also eventually a custom-made museum for collecting items. It will be similar in concept to mods such as Legacy of the Dragonborn but will be more focused on collecting rather than having an overarching questline.
There will also be plenty more clothes, weapons, armors, followers and more.
What Lessons Have You Learned From LoreRim, and What Advice Would You Share With Aspiring Creators?
I think for any aspiring modder or content creator the main things are the same. Be genuine, be creative and try to do it for the right reasons. Both modding and content creation are about sharing your creative work with others, opening yourself up to criticism but ultimately trying to provide some form of entertainment to people. The people I see make it are the ones who are trying to do things the correct way and are trying to do something unique. The first version of LoreRim was almost as bad as my first video I published on YouTube. Self-improvement is key.
Is There Anything Else You’d Like to Add?
All I can say is hopefully people have fun and enjoy the new update!
LoreRim 4.0 has released. For players looking for where they can download LoreRim, check out both the LoreRim website as well as the Nexusmods page for Lorerim.
You can also find more of Biggie both Discord, YouTube and other platforms:
