It’s hard to believe that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released nearly four and a half years ago. That’s an eternity in the realm of PC gaming but the fact that people are still playing it is a true testament to the power and dedication of the modding community.
Anyone needing proof of said dedication need look no further than Holds The City Overhaul. As the name suggests, this 4GB mod overhauls the cities within the game – an area its author feels is a weakness of Skyrim compared to older Elder Scrolls titles.
Falkreath, Winterhold and Dawnstar have been rebuilt from scratch with their own unique designs, creator Galandil notes. The mod also adds a bundle of new settlements including Amber Guard and Black Moor. The author purposefully placed most of the new settlements far out of the way (and hidden from view) as to not ruin the expansive wilderness theme of the core game.
If that weren’t enough, Galandil and another community member also added a variety of new books that further detail the land and history of Skyrim.
Galandil insists that Holds is not a botanical garden mod, nor is it a beautification mod. Holds aims to stay as lore-friendly as possible and at the same time expand on the backgrounds and stories for its locations.
Perhaps more impressive than the mod itself is the amount of time it took to build it. Galandil started work on the project in November 2012 and has devoted an average of two hours a day ever since.
As of writing, the Holds mod has been downloaded more than 66,000 times and has 880 endorsements on Nexus Mods.
https://www.techspot.com/news/64490-massive-skyrim-mod-took-three-half-years-build.html
