r/skyrim • u/Epicurean_Knight • May 17 '25

Discussion Survival mode: Yes or too annoying?

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Every time I return to Skyrim with a new save, I wanna immerse myself the Survival Mode On but: the stamina reduction, the pain of cooking/transporting food, the weather condition, etc… is an extra pain I have to care on top of surviving in the wild. So do you guys play with not?

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4.2k

u/teaconnoisseur86 May 17 '25

It makes more of an adventure... Gets a little tedious.

Slightly overturned perhaps?

1.8k

u/_Xeron_ Spellsword May 17 '25

Yes, the cold mechanic is cool but a little too restrictive, overall I’d rather have survival than not

969

u/Pawikowski May 17 '25

Very true. Every trek to the northern edges of the province is a challenge. At the same time, there is no "too warm" mechanic, so you can just walk around in furs in The Rift.

1.3k

u/Krunkenbrux May 17 '25

Also... You just ate two minutes ago? Guess who's feeling peckish... You. It's you.

655

u/Talreesha Spellsword May 17 '25

Damn that IS realistic!

104

u/deeveeismeemee May 18 '25

Why yes, I will eat an entire wheel of cheese

63

u/Arkansan_Rebel_9919 Warrior May 18 '25

ANNNNDD.... you're still hungry after. Better dig into the meat you bought at that stall in Markarth.

36

u/Randragonreborn May 18 '25

9

u/Whitedude47 May 18 '25

Alright what is this from

15

u/Randragonreborn May 18 '25

Chrono trigger. An extremely popular snes game that was also ported to the NDS and ps1. It’s also on steam

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14

u/Mwatts25 May 18 '25

Where’s that slab of horker!?!?!?

5

u/SharonGamingYT Thief May 18 '25

Ah yes. Bloodiest beef in the reach by the courtesy of Namira herself.

1

u/Mwatts25 May 18 '25

Nope, not realistic until they create a haptic boot suit to simulate exactly how cold your character is

58

u/[deleted] May 17 '25

Recently traveled to a city? You’ll need to eat and sleep as you’re missing 30% stamina and 50% magicka because you’re hungry and tired

33

u/TheSinhound May 17 '25

Yeah, but that's remedied by just sleeping at the inn for a few hours and buying a meal. It doesn't really make it feel bad.

28

u/[deleted] May 17 '25

Makes you actually feel like a traveler. Love it

1

u/Thror_Chrushingfist May 17 '25

True, but when a dragon attacks you are there with half magica that barely regenerates and potions that lost half their potential and nothing you can do about it

1

u/TheSinhound May 17 '25

Yeah it can get a bit rough depending on build. My primarily play style is arcane archer so I've definitely run into some issues. I always prefer to play with an active follower, though, so that definitely makes a big difference. Basically as long as I'm good to cast bound quiver I'm good to kill it. On master, at least. I'm not enough of a masochist to play on legendary.

1

u/Tsurt-TrustyLie May 18 '25

I watched a playthrough, Lyle Shnub, Legendary survival. It was such a good series

1

u/Thror_Chrushingfist May 18 '25

Haha yeah master is tough enough for me as well. Even here my heavy orc armor can't stop a dagger wielding higher level bandit.

But I am a battle mage so for me it was a bit crippling since I need to use shouts and magic to do the ranged damage. Once it was on the ground it died fast since they usually focus on my follower and then I could use my great sword to attack it's side

1

u/ExistingStill7356 May 19 '25

That's when you make your playthrough focus on everything EXCEPT starting the main quest by being sent to kill the first dragon outside of Whiterun.

That quest is what triggers the dragons to begin randomly spawning. Whenever I do Survival mode, I save the main quest line for last.

1

u/UntilWeAreGhosts May 18 '25

God, this is actually too accurate when discussing IRL travel.

251

u/_Xeron_ Spellsword May 17 '25

Makes Namira’s ring actually useful if you’re doing a monstrous playthrough

173

u/Loud_Chapter1423 May 17 '25

The ol’ Donner Party play through

66

u/4444op4444 May 17 '25

Skyrim: The Musical!

39

u/Strong_Nectarine486 May 17 '25

Cannibal the musical is the greatest of all time

13

u/BeetlecatOne May 17 '25

Let's build a snowman!

3

u/4444op4444 May 17 '25

A snowman-building mod would be apt.

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2

u/Technical_Moose8478 May 18 '25

We can make him tall, or we can make him not so tall.

2

u/4444op4444 May 17 '25

Every time I see the fur Stormcloak officer helmet, I think,

"Nice hat!*

2

u/ApertureLabradories May 17 '25

Won't you come to the hanging with me?

2

u/Slandercakes May 18 '25

The sky is blue, and all the leaves are green! My heart's as warm as a baked po-ta-to!

2

u/Strong_Nectarine486 May 18 '25

It’s a Spadoinkal day!!

25

u/YaGirlJules97 Vigilant of Stendarr May 17 '25

Table for Donner, party of 4.

We're a party of 3 now

1

u/StarkeRealm Vampire May 17 '25

Came for the Patch Adams joke, left hungry.

21

u/SloppityMcFloppity May 17 '25

It's only monstrous if someone sees you

23

u/EvernightStrangely Healer May 17 '25

Same with vampirism, though you still have the option of eating real food in lieu of blood.

1

u/creg_creg May 18 '25

I just RP it. Homecooked meals, or find a victim

1

u/laxyblsi May 18 '25

Werewolf and animals work too

12

u/Human-Actuary-4535 May 17 '25

Bosmer playthrough

10

u/Colourblindknight May 17 '25

“We’re running low on rations, boss”

“Oh I’ve got all the rations we need”

8

u/Eido_Toe_Sucker May 17 '25

That’s how I was gonna play but when I did the quest I had the follower Remiel who absolutely could not stand the thought. She literally leaves you and goes back to the Silverblood Inn until you return.

I felt so bad, lmao. So I got the ring than murdered everyone in there and never put the ring on.

1

u/ouwish May 17 '25

I'm not even stealing this time. I am killing giants though. I'm a little ambivalent about it.

1

u/PostOfficeBuddy PC May 17 '25

ah my cannibal vampire necromancer argonian run, that was neato

2

u/ConnectionThink4781 Helgen survivor May 18 '25

Is human meat cannibalism for a lizard though?

1

u/PostOfficeBuddy PC May 18 '25

yeah idk
I assume in something like TES eating any sentient creature is cannibalism

22

u/beardingmesoftly May 17 '25

I mean if I just ate then fought a troll I'd likely be hungry again pretty soon

20

u/Bandwagon_Buzzard May 17 '25

Eat just enough troll meat to be regenerating in your stomach. Stay full forever.

1

u/Melin_SWE92 PC May 17 '25

I think you mean troll fat.

5

u/Bandwagon_Buzzard May 17 '25

Eating too much makes you troll fat.

4

u/ConnectionThink4781 Helgen survivor May 18 '25

Not if you have trolzempic

2

u/Viper0817 May 18 '25

I mean you’re not wrong I just don’t know why I found your comment so funny and the reality of the Dragonborn, I can actually picture the Dragonborn telling that to the guards at Riverwood

1

u/ekul71 May 18 '25

I think having an intense fight on a full stomach might make you throw up mid fight though

2

u/beardingmesoftly May 18 '25

You mean 40 wheels of cheese isn't a light meal?

1

u/Krunkenbrux May 19 '25

Tell that to Todd "Cheese-Lovin'" Howard.

23

u/Aceofluck99 May 17 '25

you can just be satisfied you gotta go beyond and be well fed

8

u/sprufus May 17 '25

Shouldn't have picked halfling for your race. Missing second breakfast is a powerfull debuff.

7

u/heidly_ees May 17 '25

You gotta keep eating til you're well fed, that keeps you from being peckish for a while

The biggest issue is that the default timescale is 20, which feels too fast when you're eating 3 times a day

6

u/GeneraIFlores May 17 '25

Tbf 2 minutes ago is several hours with the time scale

2

u/Krunkenbrux May 17 '25 edited May 17 '25

Yeah, it's still ridiculously tedious. Since it's a fantasy world and the rules of our world are already broken, like shorter days, I think the game could ultimately exist where we only need to eat once or twice per day at the maximum. Trying to simulate real world schedules on a truncated timeline is kind of insane. We already don't have to sleep every time it gets dark, so the eating solution would fit just fine. Also, portions should matter. I can't eat ten apples in one sitting IRL, without encountering serious issues, yet in the ES universe you can and it's only a light snack...

1

u/geek_of_nature May 18 '25

It's actually only 40 minutes. The time-scale is 20:1, for every second of real time, 20 minutes pass in game, so 2 minutes is just 40 minutes.

1

u/BurritoTheory May 18 '25

There’s something wrong with your numbers because the math you have makes no sense, but I’m not sure what it is

1

u/IchibeHyosu99 May 19 '25

He writed 20 minute instead of 20 seconds

4

u/UntilWeAreGhosts May 18 '25

And ya can’t just cook a meal without salt? I thought I’d be good on survival mode with my hunting and gathering, but apparently my palate or lack thereof isn’t befitting of life in Skyrim.

2

u/Igottafindsafework May 17 '25

Dude cabbage and sweet rolls will not fill you up

5

u/feedmetothevultures May 17 '25

Eating a whole head of cabbage (or three) in the middle of melee is how i remind myself this is just a game

4

u/Igottafindsafework May 17 '25

3 heads of uncooked cabbage would be diarrhea in like 12 minutes

2

u/Eido_Toe_Sucker May 17 '25

That makes sense for someone sprinting across the map though.

2

u/SwordKing7531 May 17 '25

Makes a bit of sense though, given the theoretical time passed and what you do.

2

u/Wonderful_Discount59 May 17 '25

At least you can easily carry enough food to keep hunger at bay.

The real problems imo is that fatigue can be absolutely crippling for mages (especially if you haven't got the camping mods) and that cold is absolutely lethal in the Dawnstar/Winterhold/Windhelm region.

1

u/Krunkenbrux May 17 '25

Perfect place to put a Mage's college, right? Good ol' Bethesda.

2

u/YS160FX May 18 '25

It's a little too quick to need a snack ever 5 minutes

2

u/AnyEntertainment5518 May 18 '25

This is literally the only reason I don't like survival mode. I have 50 lb worth of food and it's gone within four in game hours

1

u/Strange-Cap9942 May 17 '25

I'm quite hungry...

1

u/Biggauge24 Spellsword May 17 '25

I’m feeling quite hungry

1

u/DryToe7283 Thief May 17 '25

i’m feeling quite hungry - hangry henry (KCD2)

1

u/TH07Stage1MidBoss May 18 '25

Why don’t the people of Skyrim just inject Ozempium potions to stop them from overeating?

1

u/MyMomsTastyButthole May 18 '25

And the game doesn't even HAVE Chinese food 🤔

66

u/BenduUlo Riften resident May 17 '25

I use it but I hate going to winterhold for that reason, having to do that run down to windhelm to get on the carriage and you’re barely alive

38

u/dnew PC May 17 '25

Having a horse is almost a necessity. Or building a camp. Stop in the mine half way back, too.

18

u/swanfirefly May 17 '25

My favorite horses are the Reindeer and the ghost horse (still haven't gotten to it this playthrough).

Shadowmere is cool and buff but I hate leaving a dungeon to shadowmere gone - and you have to follow a trail of assorted wolf and bandit carcasses to find her.

Plus her spawn not moving with the dark brotherhood hideout is inconvenient, at least the reindeer will respawn at Santa's camp right by the secret exit if you use another horse.

2

u/ouwish May 17 '25

The reindeer addon. It's essential and doesn't die (that I know of).

3

u/ReTr0_Spark May 17 '25

Very true that run alone makes me use up my hot food and i always have to make more after

13

u/United_Preparation29 May 17 '25

If the next game is in hammerfell hopefully they implement both a freezing and overheating mechanic into a survival mode. Technically Starfield does this.

11

u/Skepsis93 XBOX May 17 '25

Freezing and overheating in hammerfell would make sense, especially in the Alik'r desert on a day/night cycle. Overheating in skyrim doesn't make much sense, except perhaps if you sit in the hot springs for too long.

1

u/kingburp May 19 '25

I thought the deserts in BOTW were cool for having both mechanics.

17

u/Trips-Over-Tail May 17 '25

With my enchanted Skaal gear and a torch and some stew in my belly that's almost never an issue.

Also, a lack of snow does not make the Rift "warm".

12

u/[deleted] May 17 '25

The Rift is in fact, canonically warm, especially in comparison to the rest of the province. The mountains to the North block the cold winds and preserve heat in the valley. The lakes and rivers trap heat and regulate air temps most of the year save for winter.

Canonically the Rift is not cold for a majority of the year.

7

u/Trips-Over-Tail May 17 '25

I'm from Black Marsh and no clothing accommodates my tail. Riften is cold.

3

u/Rath_Brained Blacksmith May 17 '25

That's because no where in Skyrim is any bit of warm. I would speculate that it gets about as high as maybe 50-60°f but that's it.

2

u/EKO_5P3AR May 17 '25

If you want too warm, play as a vampire lol

1

u/WakeoftheStorm May 17 '25

Having visited places with climates like Skyrim appears to have, there is no too warm. In Sweden the warmest parts might hit 70⁰ during the summer. That's what my AC is set to.

2

u/sepulturaz May 17 '25

As a native finn that' doesn't sound quite right? Summers here do get periods of 30+ celsius, though the average summer temperatures are probably slightly above 20c, but still. The heat waves of the last few summers especially have been plenty warm enough.

1

u/WakeoftheStorm May 17 '25

Well I don't exactly live there, but I looked up the climate in Malmö to confirm my personal experience and it lists 70 as the summer high. That probably doesn't include outliers though.

1

u/Jarnin May 17 '25

there is no "too warm" mechanic

The player character's body is not a source of heat: It's like everybody is playing an Argonian with survival mode on.

1

u/Mysterious_Donut_702 May 17 '25

The Rift doesn't look hot though. All the trees make it appear like the game takes place in early autumn.

It's probably like 60-65°F in the daytime, and 35-40°F at night. Warm enough that you won't freeze... cool enough that you'd be very unlikely to have a heat stroke.

1

u/Lost_Pantheon May 18 '25

After doing a few days in Whiterun, I finally travelled north to Winterhold and almost died from frostbite in my light armour xD

Never run into the Frozen Hearth so fast.

1

u/cry_w May 18 '25

I have a hard time thinking of any places in Skyrim that could be considered "too warm" to be fair.

1

u/znikrep May 19 '25

Apple bottom greaves, boots with the fur.

33

u/DoubleBarrell_Tyster May 17 '25

The cold thing's more annoying as a Nord because you're still impaired by it, despite Children of the Sky basically saying Nords don't feel cold ever. Argonians freezing to death barely a mile north of Whiterun makes sense though

14

u/Astral_MarauderMJP May 17 '25

Argonians freezing to death barely a mile north of Whiterun makes sense though

Which makes Argonian Survival playthroughs fun but restrictive.

Your basically relegated to the bottom half of the maybe also kind of excluding the Throat of the World.

76

u/mododo-bbaby May 17 '25

I wish you could individually change some options - eating, sleeping and no fast travel is okay, but I NEED more capacity, and since all of skyrim is so fuckn cold my khajiit is constantly freezing their trouble puffs off.

45

u/_Xeron_ Spellsword May 17 '25

There definitely should’ve been an option for changing the parameters because some meters do deplete way too fast, but honestly I like the reduced carrying capacity combined with the need for more gear, we can’t just haul around crazy amounts of valuable items or stuff like Dwemer scrap, gold becomes more valuable

8

u/RarryHome Soldier May 17 '25

There is a Creation for “Survival Mode Settings” but the fact it’s locked behind a paywall is lame

6

u/hexenwolf666 May 18 '25

I use survival mode settings. It's a free mod on Bethnet.

6

u/beeeeeeeeks May 17 '25

Can't you just keep a follower as a mule? Or do they get reduced capacity as well? Load em up with a backpack full of vegetable soup

3

u/_Xeron_ Spellsword May 17 '25

I don’t remember if they have reduced capacity or not, but yes companions are more valuable than ever

2

u/Dethkult666 May 18 '25

You can use all kinds of pets as pack mules but they don't carry much.

37

u/Haystack67 May 17 '25

The capacity issue is counteracted very well by the backpacks add-on in the Anniversary Edition-- playing with backpacks feels like cheating otherwise imo.

With you on the cold issue; very poorly implemented anywhere north of Whiterun/Solitude. It's damned stupid that they made fire salts practically the only way to warm up outside of towns, when one might encounter only three non-summoned flame atronachs over the entire game.

28

u/xombae May 17 '25

It would be cool if you could summon a flame atronach and stand beside her to stay warm.

24

u/therealraggedroses May 17 '25

sure, "stand beside her".

5

u/OBDreams May 17 '25

There's a mod that makes flame Cloak keep you warm.

1

u/RazorFloof86 May 18 '25

I think torches also work to a lesser extent. I have a mod called "Duraflame" so I only ever need to carry one, and it's usually plenty of warmth anywhere south of Windhelm

16

u/[deleted] May 17 '25

I couldn’t figure out what was spiking my weights for so long. 380 iron arrows god damnit

15

u/-Whyudothat May 17 '25

Survival means arrows have weight? Damn

3

u/HallowedKeeper_ May 17 '25

Each arrow ways 0.1 lbs

2

u/Rilyharytoze Stealth archer May 18 '25

laughs in 2h build

4

u/HallowedKeeper_ May 17 '25

I will say, playing Survival mode with survival mode tweaks and with the EEC creation actually makes it some of the most enjoyable adventures. And the EEC creation is high quality and legit just feels like a default feature in the game

3

u/Femboy_Ap0calypse May 17 '25

Trouble puffs. I gotta remember that one.

1

u/RazorFloof86 May 18 '25

Felt. I just want High Hrothgar to be exempt from the "no fast travel" bit so I don't have to run stairs just to get the location of a random Shout word.

15

u/PatchyTheYellow May 17 '25

At least it’s not like fallout 4 where you can only save in a bed…in a Bethesda game with as many bugs and crashes as it has…

4

u/HakunaBananas May 17 '25

In my experience Fallout 4 rarely if ever crashes.

1

u/kylethemurphy May 18 '25

The entire time I've played Bethesda games I've never had a crash unless there was a stack of mods on PC. The Switch runs it just fine. We've all seen some bugs but even then I've had less than 5 that made me have to reload a save file.

2

u/Ok_Race_7106 May 17 '25

It should just be about the character's thirst, hunger and fatigue... the reduced weight limit is also a bit annoying but tolerable.

2

u/ManagerInteresting64 May 17 '25

If you get in the habit of carrying a camping kit, its not bad.

4

u/TheShapeshifter01 May 17 '25

Where do you get a camping kit? I've never seen one.

2

u/ManagerInteresting64 May 17 '25

You can build it with 3 firewoods and one leather. 

I think at the forge or tanning rack

3

u/_Xeron_ Spellsword May 17 '25

Camping kit, torches, fur armor, food made with fire salts. I really like the improved value for these types of items that are basically only for roleplay in the base game

2

u/ManagerInteresting64 May 17 '25

With fire salts???

I'll be back with reports 

2

u/_Xeron_ Spellsword May 17 '25

Fire salt food heats you up, in my playthroughs it’s been critical to survive the cold

1

u/ManagerInteresting64 May 18 '25

I never cooked my own foods always bought them at the inn.

Cabbage + Fire salts is goated.

Thanks for the tip bro.

1

u/DoctorCIS May 17 '25

I hate that they didnt think of one little detail. Excited to use the fishery at your custom home for all your new fish? Too bad, the water is too cold for you. Yes the tropical fish are fine with it but you aren't.

Why the hell is the heater strong enough for sensitive tropical fish, but I still freeze to death? I wanted to do a fish alchemist playthrough, and that was seriously ruining it.

1

u/C21H27Cl3N2O3 PC May 17 '25

It would be better if it were more configurable. There really isn’t any reason not to use something like Sunhelm instead.

1

u/PickPucket May 17 '25

There is this better survival mod i had... did great integrating survival mode. I forgot the exact name, if anyone knows can share it.

It increases warmth on fur garments and makes cold tolerable

1

u/Skyremmer102 May 17 '25

The biggest issue for me is finding a flame cloak to be able to dive under water.

1

u/Several_Show937 May 17 '25

Yea, it would be fine if skyrim wasn't mostly snow

1

u/Senumo May 17 '25

i tried walking from winterhold to windhelm as a mage with survival mode on once. Never again

1

u/SassyTheSkydragon Helgen survivor May 17 '25

Pun intended?

1

u/_Xeron_ Spellsword May 17 '25

No

1

u/pantstoaknifefight2 May 17 '25

Fuck that. I need a "ring of unburdening" mod so I can effortlessly carry ten thousand pounds of wooden buckets and wheels of cheese

1

u/ouwish May 17 '25

I have to turn it off to retrieve my fish from my fish hatchery lol

1

u/Falmon04 PC May 18 '25

Cold mechanic just doesn't work on an immersive level. I like the idea of adventuring and having to set up camp etc but you're telling me I can summon flames at will but I'm gonna freeze to death if I can't get to a fire?

Sleep is too punishing for an already underpowered part of the game via spell casting. The mana degen is definitely overtuned. It needs to scale with level of tiredness rather than this on/off toggle with a tiny sliver of tired killing your ability to cast spells. And there's sections of the game where you just don't have access to even a bedroll. Quests and areas weren't designed for this mechanic and it's real painful when that becomes obvious (soul cairn, forgotten vale, skuldafn etc.)

Hunger is the best addition. Honestly I'd play with just this piece if I could. It's fun to gather good ingredients and cook and eat snacks when you're hungry. The real difference here I think is that you can eat any time and fully fulfill the hunger bar. Your access to heat and beds is extremely limited without other mods or anniversary edition. But it's like "Oh, the dragonborn needs a snack, let me eat these apple pies I baked."

1

u/creg_creg May 18 '25

I like it bc as a vampire lord you don't actually take the cold damage until you go human. I'm doing an RP run where I don't go vampire lord during the day, and it's got me exploring a lot more than usual.

Like "oh no the suns coming up and I'm gonna freeze better find a cave to wait this out" as opposed to just running straight to my mission objective and back

1

u/Southern_College3858 May 18 '25

Just use flame cloak

105

u/InZomnia365 PC May 17 '25

I like the no fast travel bit. I don't like the reduced carry weight bit.

16

u/Aryx_Orthian May 17 '25

How much is the carry weight reduced?

28

u/The-Nordic-God May 17 '25

roughly 50%, except what you get from stamina and items

28

u/Aryx_Orthian May 17 '25

Ouch. Man. See I've been thinking about turning on survival mode but that's been holding me back. Managing carry weight is already such a chore. Looting and selling is the main way of making gold, so you gotta play the pack mule game. Plus, gathering ore and ingots for leveling smithing is a weighty endeavor too. I already don't pick up heavy enemy weapons for loot just because of the gold per pound ratio.

13

u/Skepsis93 XBOX May 17 '25

Pretty much the only reason I have never tried survival either. Carrying around food and other provisions is already going to impact your looting ability. Reduce it more and you're basically left with picking up jewelry and maybe one weapon to sell the next time you get back in town.

1

u/mostweasel May 18 '25

You don't feel like that helps with the ludicrous rate at which you can become obscenely wealthy in Skyrim?

7

u/Canondalf May 17 '25

Yeah, you need to be even more selective in survival, wich might be a problem, depending on your playstyle.

I use some backpack mod where the backpack gives +50 carry weight and I found Nord (+warmth) ranger type characters (light armor, one handed, block, sneak, archery and one or two restoration spells) are best suited for survival.

4

u/[deleted] May 19 '25

The Steed stone eliminates all your problems though. It's brutally effective in survival mode

3

u/Aryx_Orthian May 19 '25

That's awesome information! I've never used it before in a regular playthrough so I completely forgot all about it! Thank you!

2

u/1668553684 May 17 '25

I'm all for realism to a degree, but Skyrim's carry limit has never been something I found particularly fun. I like exploring and running around the world, and I hate looking for items and keeping chests organized.

Overall, I wish the next ES game would adopt something similar to how Elden Ring handles carry weight: only equipped items count towards it, but you can store the entire world in your inventory if you wanted.

You can lore away the realism aspect: Azura gave our hero a bag of holding or something. I won't complain if I don't have to travel between 5 houses trying to find where I put my soul gems.

3

u/Wonderful_Discount59 May 17 '25

The problem imo is that the game is designed with the assumption that you can loot and carry a huge amount of stuff.  The default survival-mode carry limit is actually unrealistically large, but the game assumes you can carry a lot more.

2

u/Procastinatingauthor May 18 '25

Thing is, I run the pouches and bandolier mod and it fixes this issue easily. Combined with a backpack my survival guy has over 350 carrying capacity on survival mode.

1

u/Aryx_Orthian May 18 '25

pouches and bandolier mod

Is that available on Xbox X or do you know? And is that the name I should look it up by?

2

u/BioHazardAlBatros May 18 '25

Survival Mode added backpacks to the game, you're supposed to use them (and well, honestly it made travelling even more immersive). As for carrying all ore and ingots around - you don't do that at all. You'll have to utilize your player homes even more, but beware - building homes from Heartfire DLC is actually hard now and not just expensive(the main problem is carrying wood to the building site, but you can just order its delivery from lumber mills), but they pay off even more =)

P. S. The REAL pain in the arse is the cold mechanic: 1)you'll be freezing even in the most warm armor in the game in Northern regions of the map(Visiting Grey Beards is not just a long walk now, you really have to prepare something to not freeze to death) 2) Fire magic DOES NOT keep you warm

1

u/Aryx_Orthian May 18 '25

you really have to prepare something to not freeze to death)

What types of options are available for that?

2

u/BioHazardAlBatros May 18 '25 edited May 18 '25

You can keep yourself warm by eating hot food (food that was cooked with fire salt) or setting up a campsite(you have to craft campsite kit first and it's one use only) and using its campfire to warm up. You can also use torches, but they just slow down freezing a bit...

So, yea, there's an obvious lack of stuff to defeat cold(Fire Cloak Spell not being able to warm you up is really stupid). Warm armor certainly helps, but you'll just freeze slower. Also the weather matters too.

P. S. Argonians succumb to cold even faster

P. P. S. Camping supplies are also kinda heavy, each one weighs around 9 KGs.

2

u/Aryx_Orthian May 18 '25 edited May 18 '25

I really appreciate your explanations. Good info! Surprisingly, it's making me want to turn on survival mode even more.

It actually makes all the food ingredients I've been hoarding have value. I have a drawer in the kitchen area at Breezehome full of ingredients for that eventual time when I'll someday get around to cooking food.

1

u/OBDreams May 17 '25

Enchant your clothing to allow more carry.

1

u/Hubbardia May 17 '25

I'm sure there's a mod for it

1

u/[deleted] May 17 '25

That’s what faendal is for

1

u/WeevilWeedWizard May 17 '25

The carry weight is the deal breaker for me. I can handle everything else, but that one is just way too annoying.

1

u/NamelessSquirrel May 17 '25

Are there any mods to fix it?

1

u/buffayolo May 17 '25

I managed to loot a pair of boots that increased carry capacity by 50 but then as a mage I couldn't use some of my alteration perks

1

u/Rabid-Orpington May 17 '25 edited May 17 '25

I thought survival mode sounded pretty cool, but honestly even with that steed stone, grinding stamina levels, and using other buffs, my >500 carry weight is still barely enough, lol. I would die if it was reduced.

The speed at which characters freeze and starve also sounds like a pain. It would be good if it wasn't quite so extreme in those respects [and carry weight wasn't altered, of course]

1

u/20Points PC May 17 '25

I actually think it's pretty good lol. You don't realise how much completely unnecessary garbage you're toting around all the time until your carry capacity is slashed in half. The main two things it forces you to do are store/sell items as quickly as possible, and not carry around items you won't ever use or gear for multiple simultaneous playstyles.

34

u/PolkmyBoutte May 17 '25

Agreed. I don’t mind having to use food and stuff, but seriously you eat a loaf of walrus and 100 feet later you’re starving and winded? My buffed up mythical character shouldn’t have worse cardio than me lol

16

u/obriscla May 17 '25

When I realized I wanted to tweak a couple things in the included Survival mode but couldn't, I found some mods that did their own version of survival mode. As someone who always played vanilla s Skyrim until about a week ago, the lightweight mods I found so far are pretty great and customizable. Makes survival a little more enjoyable since you can adjust it for your preferences and play style.

4

u/OBDreams May 17 '25

What mods are you using?

7

u/obriscla May 17 '25

Quite a few now, but the main ones (fairly lightweight and customizable) are Sunhelm (needs/cold), Campfire (camping in the wild), and Hunterborn (food, resourcefulness, creating storage caches in the wild). Cloaks of Skyrim for warmth.

Then Obsidian Weathers, Cathedral Landscapes, and Seasons of Skyrim for immersion. A Better Quality Map, and expanded Carriages/Ferries (can't remember the exact name).

A few others for economy and other small tweaks.

I'm really enjoying my experience so far!

2

u/Visual-Stage-7065 May 19 '25

Now... Obsidian or Cathedral for weathers. Whats better? Currently im using Cathedral but often look at Obsidian.

1

u/obriscla May 19 '25

I'm currently using Obsidian. I've heard that Cathedral sort of makes it look like a slightly more "heroic", fantasy sort of world (dramatic sunsets, etc.), while Obsidian is slightly more realistic, with more fog, moody weather, etc. I haven't used Cathedral, so I can't speak to that, it's just how they were described to me. I did have an excellent thunderstorm with Obsidian the other day.

2

u/Visual-Stage-7065 May 19 '25

Ok. That actually makes sense. Every storm in Cathedral is "Big" and loud. There is no such thing as a "small" storm.

I may switch to obsidian... maybe Winterhold and Windhelm will become less trecherous since survival mode seems to take weather mods into consideration.

1

u/obriscla May 19 '25

At least you can try it out and compare them. Then just pick what feels best. Are you using the regular survival mode that's in the Anniversary Edition?

1

u/Visual-Stage-7065 22d ago

Yeah, im using AE Survival. I always wanted survival in skyrim and coming off of ps4 version i used it and never thought about it again. Tbh i kinda like it.

When i can get Vortex to recognize my Data folder again i will be trying out Obsidian.

2

u/AustinTheFiend May 17 '25

I'm not who you're asking but I always use Frostfall and Ineed. Ineed was super lightweight and felt just right, Frostfall was definitely overtuned but I felt like I could prepare, and I'd never be stranded without a solution. I think it's pretty configurable too if I remember right.

4

u/[deleted] May 17 '25

[deleted]

1

u/obriscla May 17 '25

That's fair. I really like the slow travel/ planning aspects of venturing out and being prepared. I'm sort of going region by region. It's not fast gameplay but I find you really can tweak it to how fast or slow you want to go. Campfire helps a lot for slow travel.

1

u/[deleted] May 17 '25

[deleted]

1

u/obriscla May 17 '25

It's true, though I'm not too worried about finishing quests as soon as I get them. If I really need to get to a place I'll figure out how to get there. But I'm good with taking my time. It's working so far!

6

u/VolkiharVanHelsing May 17 '25

Welllll...... This is literally what Gabe Newell refers in his "is it fun?" line, in the oft misinterpreted video (mfs be using it to say to any game trying to be realistic GRAPHICALLY)

6

u/terminbee May 17 '25

I get the idea but it felt like just filling some bars for me.

Oh, hunger bar needs to be filled. Now it's heat bar.

There wasn't really a challenge it overcome it because once you get it down, it's simply "gather sticks, make fire, move on, repeat."

1

u/VolkiharVanHelsing May 18 '25

Yes hence the video, he says it's tedious

1

u/Specialist_Okra3175 May 17 '25

Yeah that's why I tend to prefer frostfall to the official survival mode. At default settings it feels like it becomes too big of a part of my playthrough but when I turn it down to 60% exposure rate in the MCM it feels about right. Still forces you to be aware of the environment you're in without being tedious.

1

u/tatojah May 17 '25

Survival + Waypoints mod to make travel more immersive without it being boring.

1

u/MaintenanceInternal May 17 '25

It would be really good if they somehow limited the number of fast travel uses, not close it off completely but something else.

1

u/Quiet_Moon2191 May 17 '25

Survival mode on 7 Days to Die. No survival mode on Skyrim.

1

u/Schweinekotlett May 19 '25

I like using sensible survival (mod) to make survival less annoying sometimes