When it comes to the most complex modding projects that FTMGAME has handled, three undertakings stand out for their sheer scale, technical ambition, and transformative impact on the base games: the Elder Scrolls Renewal Project: Skyblivion, the Fallout: London mod for Fallout 4, and the Enderal: The Shards of Order total conversion for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. These are not simple mods that add a new sword or a follower; they are essentially full-scale, professional-grade game developments executed by dedicated communities of volunteers, often taking nearly a decade to complete. They push the boundaries of what’s possible with existing game engines and assets, requiring expertise in level design, voice acting, scripting, 3D modeling, and narrative writing that rivals the original developers.
The Elder Scrolls Renewal Project: Skyblivion
This project represents one of the most ambitious goals in modding history: to fully recreate The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion within the more modern and powerful engine of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This isn’t a simple port; it’s a ground-up rebuild. The team, comprising hundreds of volunteers, isn’t just copying and pasting assets. They are meticulously recreating every aspect of Cyrodiil—the landscape, cities, dungeons, and characters—using Skyrim’s Creation Kit, but with a fidelity and artistic vision that honors the original while significantly enhancing its visual quality.
The complexity is staggering. Consider the data: Oblivion’s world space is approximately 16 square miles. Recreating this requires:
- Landscape Sculpting: Hand-sculpting terrain based on height maps and original design documents to match the geography of Cyrodiil, but with Skyrim’s more detailed topography.
- Asset Recreation: Oblivion’s original 3D models and textures are too low-resolution for modern standards. The team has to create entirely new, high-polygon models for every piece of armor, every weapon, every architectural piece, and every creature, a task involving thousands of individual assets.
- System Overhauls: Adapting Oblivion’s game mechanics, like its spellcrafting system and class structure, into Skyrim’s framework, which often requires complex script extender (SKSE) plugins and custom DLL files.
The project has been in development for over a decade, a testament to its monumental scale. The team operates with a professional pipeline, including quality assurance testers and project managers, to coordinate this massive effort. When released, it will offer players a seamless, massive new/old world to explore, effectively giving them two classic games fused into one enhanced experience.
Fallout: London
While most Fallout 4 mods add content to the Commonwealth, Fallout: London is a standalone DLC-sized expansion that transports players to a post-apocalyptic version of the British capital. Its complexity lies not just in its size but in its complete departure from the established lore and setting of the base game. This requires creating a wholly original identity.
The mod introduces a new world space comparable in size to the base game’s Commonwealth. The density and verticality of London, however, present unique level-design challenges that surpass the more open, suburban landscapes of Boston. The team is building iconic locations like the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace, requiring immense attention to architectural detail. Beyond the environment, the mod features:
- New Factions: Completely original groups like the aristocratic “Gentry” and the resourceful “Tommies,” each with their own questlines, ideologies, and unique assets.
- New Gameplay Systems: Introducing mechanics not present in Fallout 4, such as a fully functional, drivable double-decker bus, which requires custom physics and animation work.
- Voice Acting: The mod boasts over 70,000 lines of professionally recorded dialogue with British voice actors, ensuring authenticity and a high production value that matches Bethesda’s own work.
The following table illustrates the sheer volume of new content compared to a typical large-scale DLC:
| Feature | Fallout 4: Far Harbor (Official DLC) | Fallout: London (Mod) |
|---|---|---|
| New World Space Size | ~40% of Commonwealth | ~100% of Commonwealth |
| Main Quest Duration | 10-15 hours | Estimated 20-30 hours |
| New Voice Lines | ~5,500 | ~70,000+ |
| New Weapons/Armor | ~20 | ~100+ |
This data underscores that Fallout: London is not a mod in the traditional sense; it is a fan-made sequel in everything but name, requiring a development cycle and resource commitment similar to a professional studio’s project.
Enderal: The Shards of Order
Enderal stands as a testament to what is possible when a modding project transcends its source material to become a critically acclaimed game in its own right. Developed by the German studio SureAI, Enderal is a total conversion for Skyrim. This means it doesn’t just add to Skyrim; it replaces nearly everything: the world, the story, the gameplay systems, the music, and the characters. It is, for all intents and purposes, a completely new RPG built using Skyrim’s technology.
The complexity here is foundational. Instead of building upon Skyrim’s mechanics, the team designed their own from the ground up:
- Narrative Depth: Enderal features a complex, philosophical, and dark storyline that is often cited as superior to many commercial RPGs. It’s a fully voice-acted narrative with branching dialogues and morally ambiguous choices.
- Gameplay Overhaul: The team scrapped Skyrim’s leveling system. Instead of increasing health, magicka, and stamina directly, players earn “Learning Points” and “Crafting Points” to invest in a intricate classless talent tree system with over 70 unique abilities. This required extensive scripting and UI redesign.
- World Building: The continent of Enderal is entirely original, with its own history, cultures, and geography. Creating a cohesive and believable world of this scale is a challenge that even full-time development studios struggle with.
SureAI’s previous total conversion, Nehrim for Oblivion, served as a prequel, demonstrating a long-term commitment to building their own universe. Enderal was released for free, but its quality was so high that it was later released as a standalone game on Steam, meaning users could download and play it without owning Skyrim Special Edition. This official recognition by Valve and Bethesda is a rare honor that highlights the project’s unparalleled complexity and achievement. The development cycle for Enderal spanned approximately four years, involving a core team of about a dozen people and numerous contributors, showcasing a level of sustained effort and vision that is exceptional in the modding community.
Each of these projects illustrates a different facet of extreme modding complexity. Skyblivion shows the challenge of faithful recreation and technological translation. Fallout: London demonstrates the ambition of creating a massive, lore-independent expansion. Enderal proves that a modding team can conceptualize, design, and execute a wholly original game that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with commercial products. The common thread is the incredible dedication of these volunteer teams, who pour thousands of hours into these labors of love, pushing the game engines far beyond their intended limits to deliver experiences that enrich and extend the lives of their respective games for millions of players worldwide.