Enderal is amazing, but familiar Skyrim elements can break immersion. There are great mods on Nexus that remove/change many of the Skyrim elements but one thing I wanted to remove was the ever-present, very distinct Skyrim goat.  It sent me back to Tamriel every time I saw it...

I also found it odd that both Skyrim and Enderal, with their diverse biomes, have only one type of goat —wild and domestic, differing only by a bell. I wanted variety: bighorn sheep, real mountain goats, ibex, domestic goats that look distinct…     The only existing mod I could find had an animal more suited to a petting-zoo, so I started with models/textures from **"GOATS and CO.SE"** by gg77 ([Nexus Link](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/24189)), originally created by RoboBirdie for ["New Creatures."](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/94833)  

Features:
- No ESPs, conflicts, or performance impact (simple texture/mesh replacer).  
- 2K BC7 textures, optimized meshes for EnderalSE/SkyrimSE.  
- Easy install—just drop it in and go.  
- Some customization available: Choose from 4 wild goat models/animals and 2 domestic goat models (with or without a bell). All have multiple textures (11 total) that will work with any of the models.

If you are happy with my choices for the wild and domestic goats then just install and you are done.

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If you want to change up a goat - The filenames and locations may see unintuitive but they **MUST** stay in the same locations as they are embedded in the models AND  require no code changes to Skyrim/Enderal:

Customization Guide:  
1. Change Wild Goat Model  
   - Go to `meshes\actors\goat\character`. Delete `goat.nif`.  
   - Choose from Bighorn Sheep (M/F), Mountain Goat, or Ibex (default). Copy and rename your choice to `goat.nif`.  
     
2. Change Wild Goat Texture  
   - Go to `textures\actors\wild_goats`.  Delete `wildgoat.dds`. Pick a skin (**black, brown, dark brown, light horns, or winter pelt**).  
   - Copy and rename it to `wildgoat.dds`.  

3. Change Domestic Goat Model  
   - Default has a bell. To remove that pesky bell, go to `meshes\actors\goat\character assets`, delete `goatwithbell.nif` rename `goatwithoutbell.nif` to `goatwithbell.nif`.  

4. Change Domestic Goat Texture  
   - Go to `textures\actors\goat`, choose from one of the 5 textures best suited to domestic animals, delete `domestic_goat.dds` and rename your choice to `domestic_goat.dds`.  


Done! You can mix & match textures with any goat model. Just remember: only one wild and one domestic goat at a time.  

Notes:  
- Mountain Goat (I wish I could constrain it to the snowy and mountainous areas) → Rename `mountain_goat.nif` to `goat.nif` and `wildgoat-winterpelt.dds` to `wildgoat.dds`.  
- Default wild goat is an Ibex, resembling some depictions of the goats of Norse mythology (Tanngrisnir & Tanngnjóstr) while staying realistic and IMO fitting.
 
Regrets:
Scaling these models breaks animations in Nifscope (actually turns them into body horror), so I couldn’t make wild goats 120-140% larger. No manner of normal maps looked good.  I gave up on those also.   I’d like more goat/sheep variety across Enderal but don’t have time to place them manually.  If anyone has some modelling tips or would be willing to code a randomizer so the different goat types could be randomly placed during gameplay that would be great!

I almost named this mod *Goats SE*... but then considered the potential Google search results.  

Bye-bye Skyrim goat. Enjoy!