The 20 Best Skyrim VR Mods in 2024

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The best Skyrim VR mods have made The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim more immersive and harder to escape than ever before. Almost a decade post-release, Bethesda is still porting their premier open-world RPG, and the modding scene is as strong as ever. That’s great news for VR gamers, as the entire Skyrim experience is available to play in its entirety on modern VR hardware.

Despite not officially supporting mods, the VR version is compatible with a significant number of them. It may involve a little jury-rigging to get your favorite mods running, but early VR adopters are no stranger to the legwork required for the best experience. It’s definitely worth the effort. 

New to modding? Wondering which mods best compliment your HMD? Let’s check out the very best mods for Skyrim VR, starting with mods meant to improve the experience. 

Some mods may have interactions or require unique load orders when used with other mods (I’ve done my best to highlight the prominent ones). You may wish to download LOOT and follow the instructions for getting it working with Skyrim VR.

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The Best Skyrim VR Mods: An Overview of the Must-Have’s

Let’s begin with a quick look at our top 20 best Skyrim VR mod list.

1. True 3D Sound for Headphones
2. No Stagger Mod
3. The Notice Board
4. Realm of Lorkhan – Freeform Alternate Start
5. Bandolier – Bags and Pouches Classic
6. Vrik Player Avatar
7. Skyrim 2020 Parallax by Pfuscher
8. Static Mesh Improvement Mod (SMIM)
9. Onyx – VR Weathers
10. Enhanced Lights and FX
11. JK’s Skyrim
12. HD Road Signs
13. Book Covers Skyrim
14. Skyrim Flora Overhaul SE
15. Enhanced Blood Textures SE
16. Spellsiphon – Immersive Combat
17. Locational Damage SKSE VR
18. Smilodon – Combat of Skyrim
19. Weapon Throw VR
20. MageVR

Prefer a closer look at each option? We’ve grouped the mods into three different categories: gameplay mods, graphics mods, and combat mods.

Best Skyrim VR Gameplay Mods

First, let’s see how you can improve the vanilla experience with slight gameplay tweaks. These are the best mods to improve Skyrim VR vanilla.

1. True 3D Sound for Headphones

The mod leverages Head-Related Transfer Function (HRTF) technology to provide complete immersion in Tamriel’s environments. Coupled with the right headphones and the fourth-wall-shattering abilities of VR, you’ll feel like you’re actually there. 

2. No Stagger Mod

It may sound like a simple thing, but let me restate it here for clarity: VR is not compatible with most traditional game design paradigms. It’s a wholly unique, ground-breaking experience that demands developers throw out old playbooks and relearn what it means to design a game in this new space. Unfortunately, Bethesda still has a thing or two to learn about developing for VR. 

The No Stagger Mod is a lifesaver that may prevent motion sickness and make the overall experience more consistent and less frustrating. Slap this mod into your Skyrim installation to smooth over one of the rough edges Bethesda left when porting it from the traditional experience. 

3. The Notice Board

Tired of wandering Tamriel until a quest crosses your path? Now you can make like a true adventurer and search the “Help Wanted” boards outside the inn in every town. The Notice Board mod makes the process of finding your next adventure as easy as reading the morning newspaper.

The best part? In addition to working with all vanilla Radiant Quests, it adds a few unique quest varieties of its own. 

4. Realm of Lorkhan – Freeform Alternate Start

“Hey, you. You’re finally awake.”

If you have PTSD from the sounds of a horse and a rickety old cart, have I got a mod for you. The Realm of Lorkhan mod offers an alternate starting point for your adventures in Skyrim and is genuinely an interesting location in its own right. Create your character, craft a few items to set yourself up for success, and choose the ultimate location for your epic quest. 

5. Bandolier – Bags and Pouches Classic

Whether you’re playing in VR or not, one of Skyrim’s biggest challenges is managing your inventory — especially if you’re like me and loot everything that’s not nailed down. Bandolier – Bags and Pouches Classic adds a whole slew of bags, book holders, pouches, and bandoliers to remedy this problem. Maximize your potential carry weight and never make the agonizingly slow walk back to the nearest town ever again. 

6. Vrik Player Avatar

For the very best in immersion, you must be able to see and interact with your own body. And thanks to Vrik Player Avatar… you can! This mod displays your character’s body and animates it to match your movements. And rather than navigate a system of menus to equip weapons, you can keep your gear on up to 14 holster hotspots around your body!

Input gestures complete the package, allowing you to bind certain gestures as hotkeys to perform eight configurable actions. This is one of the most complicated mods in the list, but it’s well worth your time to get it set up. 

This mod requires SKSE for VR and SkyUI.

Best Skyrim VR Graphics Mods

Skyrim released nearly a decade ago, and the graphics simply aren’t up to par with today’s VR capabilities. The following mods improve the graphics for a more immersive, seamless experience.

7. Skyrim 2020 Parallax by Pfuscher

Give this aging game’s textures the overhaul they need to shine in VR! The Skyrim 2020 Parallax texture pack goes over all of the environments, layering on the polish and TLC as only a modder can. Everything from the wilderness to the cities starts to shine after applying this mod. If you have a high-resolution HMD and the rig to run the game at the highest settings, this is a must-have. 

8. Static Mesh Improvement Mod (SMIM)

SMIM redoes most of the item and object meshes in Skyrim to ensure quality and clarity, even when examining them up close (something you’re quite likely to do in VR). Pair this with a good texture overhaul mod to complete the visual experience. 

9. Onyx – VR Weathers

Weather is vital for immersion in non-VR and VR games alike, especially in an open-world setting like Skyrim. The Onyx – VR Weathers mods takes special care to tune all the weather effects for the best possible presentation in VR. 

10. Enhanced Lights and FX

You might be noticing a theme here: most of the recommended mods are all about adding atmosphere. The goal for playing any game in VR is complete and total immersion. Enhanced Lights and FX makes great strides to that end, turning every inn, castle, and sunset into a gorgeous work of art. You’ll smell the smoke hanging thick in the tavern, or your money back. 

11. JK’s Skyrim

Games have grown larger and more detailed in the years since Skyrim first released. JK’s Skyrim seeks to address this by performing a lore-friendly and script-free pass over Skyrim’s cities and towns. Each town has an enhanced and unique atmosphere that distinguishes it from the others, and new locations and shopkeepers have been added to fill them with more life than ever before. This mod even interacts with the ongoing civil war questline, showing how cities and towns change hands while the war rages. It’s an excellent mod for immersion and that extra special something that makes Tamriel seem tangible. 

JK’s Skyrim can have a high-performance impact and could potentially introduce other non-gamebreaking but annoying bugs. Only recommended for high-end machines.

12. HD Road Signs

From end to end of Skyrim, you’re going to be seeing a lot of road signs. And in VR, the 2011 texture quality is especially noticeable. Upgrade your road signs with high-definition textures to ensure you always know where to go.

13. Book Covers Skyrim

Like the HD Signs mod, the Book Covers Skyrim mod is an essential addition for VR. You’re going to have a lot of books all up in your face before long, and to be frank, the vanilla textures aren’t up to the high-fidelity challenge of VR. Add a bit of immersion and reduce your eyestrain with the Book Covers mod, and never wonder what book you’re pilfering again!

14. Skyrim Flora Overhaul SE

The ancient forests of Skyrim are still beautiful to behold nearly a decade after their creation. But as with all things, it could be better. The Skyrim Flora Overhaul SE mod takes an artist’s paintbrush to the trees, bushes, flowers, and nearly every other green thing growing in Skyrim. It adds more color, variation, and whispered memories drifting on the wind between branches and leaves. Snow-laden trees receive special attention in the mod, with some even bowing beneath the burden of Winter’s icy touch. This mod is a must-have for adventurers who plan to stray from the beaten path. 

15. Enhanced Blood Textures SE

I’m not exactly a bloodthirsty guy. But when questing in Skyrim, you’re going to be seeing (and producing) a sizable amount of blood. It might as well look its best, right? The Enhanced Blood Textures SE mod ups the resolution and detail for blood, whether it’s part of the environment or the result of your deft attacks. 

We recommended using the LITE version of this mod, as additional scripting increases the change of incompatibility or issues with Skyrim VR.

Best Skyrim VR Combat Mods

Prefer more significant changes to combat and overall gameplay? Scope out the fantastic mods below.

16. Spellsiphon – Immersive Combat

Take Skyrim’s combat to the next level with Spellsiphon. This mod adds combos, systems for changing weapons and spells without menus or hotkeys, and much more. Certain weapons now work in conjunction with your spells in natural and lore-friendly ways. This mod also comes with a balancing pass to ensure all this awesome new power doesn’t come with game-breaking ramifications. If you’ve been making do with the vanilla combat mechanics, try Spellsiphon — and never look back. 

17. Locational Damage SKSE VR

You deserve a reward for your headshots. 

Locational Damage SKSE VR adds a hefty layer of skill over the ranged combat in Skyrim. Now when you land that oh-so-satisfying headshot, you won’t be left wondering whether the arrow hit at all. Become the deadly assassin that the game is practically begging you to become. Their heads won’t know what hit them. 

This mod requires the use of Skyrim VR Tools to work.

18. Smilodon – Combat of Skyrim

The immaterial “feel” of combat is fundamental to your experience with any game that includes it. Fortunately for Elder Scrolls fans, you have many combat overhaul mods to choose from. Smilodon is another combat overhaul mod like Spellsiphon, adding improved combat AI, combat styles, and a more natural feel to melee combat. Battles resolve more quickly, blocks require actual strategy and timing, and if you find an opening in your opponent’s defense, you can drop them in mere moments.

This mod may not be compatible with Spellsiphon, or may introduce unexpected conflicts.

19. Weapon Throw VR

This mod does exactly what it says on the tin. It’s tailor-made for VR, enabling you to throw your weapons by holding a button, launching your arm, and releasing. You can even enable Auto-Return and Auto-Aim, to complete your God of Thunder fantasies. Note that it doesn’t add any content other than the throwing mechanic, and is compatible with any vanilla or modded melee equipment.

This mod requires the use of Skyrim VR Tools to work.

20. MageVR

Ready to cast spells like a real wizard? MageVR puts the magic of Skyrim in your hands like never before. While this mod requires more effort than others to get working, it’s well worth it.

Once it’s up and running, you’re granted the power to cast spells via “active gestures.” Draw glyphs in the air and watch in awe as they translate into the arcane bursts of magical energy you would otherwise have to equip and cast traditionally. You can even use gestures to manage specific menus and other game features! Pretty neat.

This mod requires SKSE for VR.

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