MGO 4.0 is a big rebuild. About 70% of the list carries over from 3.8.8.1, and the rest is new: a performance and crash-fix foundation, updated shaders, a modernized VR UI, many more VR interactions, reworked combat, a revised set of gear, NPCs, creatures, and audio, and a step-by-step setup. Optional AI tools are included, too, but they’re off by default. Here’s the full rundown, category by category.
Still a beta
4.0 is still in beta, so adding your own mods to it isn’t recommended. See the note on the home page for where to find the beta builds.
Performance & stability
- A new engine and performance core: Skyrim Performance Solution (SPS), Engine Fixes VR (and its Part 2), Hitch Hunter and Fixes, Faster Decompression, Faster Cell Lookup, and Faster Objects.
- New crash fixes and loggers: Havok Solver Crash Fix, Collision Sentinel, and Tullius CTD Logger.
- Troned’s Community Shaders fork is now Community Shaders Expanded (CSX). It also replaces the separate Community Shaders add-ons the list used to carry, and comes with Performance, Balanced, and Quality presets. (See Community Shaders.)
- VRAMr optimizes the list’s textures.
- VR Performance Kit and VR FPS Stabilizer are gone.
Setup
- A new step-by-step setup flow right in MO2: startup notes, then your choice of VR runtime ( OpenComposite Unleashed or SteamVR), then performance options. Onboarding walks through it.
- Controller binding options for SteamVR: Kvite, VRIK Standard, and VRIK Easy Shout.
- Optional Quality versions of Grass Density and LOD Distance.
VR UI & navigation
- New UI frameworks: Prisma UI, SKSE Menu Framework, ImGui VR Helper, and NL_MCM.
- NavigateVR’s new map framework with a whole stack of map packs, plus Palm Compass VR, Compass Navigation Overhaul VR, and an overhauled world map.
- Font Overhaul and Spell Organizer.
VR interaction
- VR Climbing, SpellBender VR, Pull Arrows VR, Throwing Things VR, Interactive Torches, Interactive Waters, Interactive Instruments, Immersive Harvesting, and Immersive Lockpicking.
- Immersive Gathering replaces Realistic Mining, Immersive Tree Chopping, and VR Refit.
- Combat with more physical heft: Lethal Unarmed VR, Physical Collision VR, and Immersive Weapon Penetration.
Combat & difficulty
- Skybane (an armor and resistance overhaul), Accuracy (localized damage), Valorbound (replacing Arena), Encounter Zones Unlocked NG, Blade and Blunt Adjusted Difficulty Scaling, and Fluid Motion.
- Animations: Animated Armoury (OAR), Goetia Conditional Shouts, and Neutral VR Animations. The Leviathan and Vanargand packs are trimmed down.
- Out: Combat Pathing Revolution, Pseudo Physical Weapon Collision, Auto Sneak and Jump VR, and Simple Beheading.
Magic
- Magicka Surge, A Guiding Light, V.A.E.R., Master Spells Runes, and 3D Casting FX.
- Fourteen older spell packs are gone, including Winter Wonderland, Wildwaker, Obscure, Elemental Mastery, Constellation, Necrom, Necrotic, Inquisition, Arcane, and Abyss.
Gear
- The armor and clothing set is largely swapped, with Styles of Skyrim, Faultier’s PBR Armors and Clothes, and Cathedral Armory.
- New weapons and forges: Vanilla Weapon Replacer, LeanWolf’s Better-Shaped Weapons, Zenithar’s Anvil, and Smelters of Skyrim.
- Many older armor retextures are gone, along with Sons of Skyrim, Moon Monk, and the Authentic and Heavy Legion packs. ( New Legion stays.)
NPCs & characters
- A new NPC lineup: Exquisite NPC and Exquisite NPC 2, Children of the North, the Hist, and the Pariah, Cuyima’s Interesting NPCs, and the Legacy of the Dragonborn NPC Overhaul. Together they replace Modpocalypse, NITHI, Northbourne, and BB’s NPCs.
- New skins, high-poly head variants for beards, brows, and hair, HIMBO V5 refits, and Realistic RS Children.
Creatures & dragons
- New dragons: Dragon Races of Skyrim, Next Gen Dragons, and Dragons Use Thu’um.
- New animals and critters: Better Animals, Canidae wolves, Bellyache’s pack, Witcher Horse, zzjay’s Horse Overhaul, butterflies, moths, and Rustic Daedra and Spriggans.
World & visuals
- Azurite Weathers III now has HDR, Darker Nights, and Alluring Sunsets add-ons, and Weather of World joins it.
- Restructured PBR landscapes: Vanaheimr’s mountains, mines, and farmhouses, TomatoRim PBR Landscapes, split-up Faultier’s packs, Happy Little Trees 4k, and DrJacopo’s 3D plants.
- New and reworked locations: Fortified Whiterun, Imperial Forts Remake, Crossroads of Skyrim, the Great City of Rorikstead, Drengin’s Blue Palace Terrace, and Markarth updates.
- Lux and Lux Orbis are updated, with a newer main plugin and variants.
- Terrain Shadows and Seasonal Landscapes are gone.
Audio
- A new sound overhaul: Bleeding Edge, Lucidity, Airgetlam, Skullbreaker, Bulwark, and Immersive Sounds Compendium.
- New voice packs for NPC Situational Reactions, and Skyrim Revoiced.
Alternate starts
- Alternate Perspective and its add-ons replace A New Dragonborn, Live Another Life, and the Bruma start. (See Alternate Start.)
- Relic Hunter is still here, as a different mod ( Relic Hunter- Guildmaster Start).
AI (optional, off by default)
Now enabled by default
- Immersive Smithing, Gift by Hand VR, Conduit, Spell Auto-Aim VR, Stop Trigger Unsheathing, NavigateVR’s Dynamic Compass, Minimal Enemy Healthbar VR, and the Chapter II and LORKHAN music mods.
Removed
- Bruma (both Beyond Skyrim’s and CleverCharff’s), the Enigma Series quest mods, Terrain Shadows, Arena, Dynamic Torches NG, and Mantella.