Let’s find out more about the man himself!!
Hey Mihail, thanks for joining me today! Would you mind introducing yourself for people who may not be familiar with your mods?
Hi, SlugGirl, it's a pleasure to be here talking to you and doing this interview. My name is Mihail (that guy with long hair in my profile picture), I'm in my mid-40s, and I'm technically retired due to injuries in the sport to which I dedicated much of my youth, but, apart from pain, everything is fine and I can live a normal life. I'm a long-time fan of medieval fantasy (for as long as I can remember) and I've been making mods for Skyrim since 2016. I'm an immigrant currently living in South America for almost 17 years, previously I lived in Europe but decided to try a bit of tropical life when the injuries I mentioned before no longer allowed me to continue the activities I had until then. I have 5 children, in addition to a few dozen four-legged children as well, who I also love dearly. I currently have a cat shelter with over 30 "little ferocious panthers" that takes up a lot of my time but gives me immense satisfaction. I'm in the process of moving to a farm, and I want to expand to create an animal sanctuary, starting by taking in dogs as well, especially the older, blind, sick, or disabled ones that no one adopts. I take care of everything out of my own pocket, with no support whatsoever, but it's the best money I spend each month, and although it's tiring, it's very rewarding to be able to help the animals.
In short, so far this change of life has been cool, but there could be fewer mosquitoes and venomous spiders around for sure.
Honestly, the work you do is incredible, caring for the cats in your shelter and working to expand into an animal sanctuary, alongside your modding. What first inspired you to start this journey?
Although I had a difficult childhood, especially economically, it was a childhood on a farm, surrounded by nature and animals. Since I was little, I would collect frog eggs to raise in aquariums that I improvised, I would raise baby birds that fell from their nests, and my grandfather was also a crazy animal lover: we barely had anything to eat, but he also had dozens of cats, pigeons, chickens, dogs, so it's kind of in my blood. Furthermore, although I have seen considerable progress in the way animals are treated where I lived before, here I still see that things are not quite like that, which is understandable in a way since the place has several other social issues to resolve first, but I believe that everyone can do their part. I am not a very sociable person, and every day I become more of a hermit, enjoying the company of animals much more than that of people. No animal has ever betrayed my trust, stabbed me in the back or defamed me. They say we should be with those who love us, and I believe my animals love me more than most people. LOL
You mentioned growing up around nature and animals, that sounds amazing. How did gaming come into the picture for you? What were some of your early favourites?
Being a little older than most of the community, I started way back when games, in terms of visuals and even story, weren't anything special, but they were the only thing we had, and so they were fantastic and almost magical. Then there was an explosion of deep games, "intelligent" games, and niche games, and this made me feel even more fascinated by this universe. I played the first TES, the first Fallout, the first Zelda, and many others that would become the pillars of this style of RPG game, deep adventure, lots of lore, a style of game that drew heavily from the old tabletop RPGs that I loved so much, but that weren't always, or almost never, well adapted to video games. I was lucky that my father always had computers, we were poor but he was fascinated by technology, so I had access to this world from an early age. As for my favorite games, in the first place, I put TES 3 Morrowind competing with Red Dead Redemption 1 (I haven't played the 2nd yet), then TES 5 Skyrim, and then Shadow of the Colossus, but I love many other games, like The Witcher 3, Dark Souls 1, and Bloodborne. I have a special love for Zelda DX: Link's Awakening, I always have it on my smartphone.
And how did you go from playing games to making mods yourself? Was there a particular moment that sparked it?
Few things motivate me more than being told I can't do it. In 2016, I told a friend that I wanted to start making mods for Skyrim, and he said it was too hard and I would never be able to do it. I'm a very stubborn person who likes challenges, so I started making mods because it was something I already wanted, but also because I was told it was way beyond my capabilities.
I specialized in creatures because when I tried to do quests, I concluded that there weren't enough resources for creatures available, so I decided to take responsibility for not only making all the creatures I could, but also always leaving the permissions open for other modders to use them in their mods, so they don't encounter the same difficulties I did.
In addition, creatures (when implemented in a unique and appropriate way) are essential for fun, varied and long-lasting gameplay. There's no point in having a thousand armor, magic or combat mods if day after day you face the same bear or wolf.
Your creature mods are so creative. Do you ever take inspiration from myths, legends or folklore for your creations?
A lot! I love being able to bring creatures from other franchises, books, movies, games, and folklore, and adapt them to the lore of TES, for example, when I created the Dwarven Driller, inspired by the Big Daddy from Bioshock, or when I adapted the creepypasta monster Slenderman for Skyrim. It's challenging and cool, but I also like creating mods inspired by the old TES games. It's fun to reimagine creatures that appeared in the games from the 90s, making modern models for them but still keeping the basic characteristics of the old models. I also really enjoy creating animals, harmless critters like rats, bats, chickens, ducks, and other animals that give a touch of life to the world.
Sewer Rats mod
When you’re dreaming up a new creature, what usually comes first for you, the way it looks, the lore behind it, or thinking about how it fits into Skyrim’s world?
It depends. If the creature is inspired by a book, game, or movie, I start with the visuals first, because I want to be faithful to them, and then I think about how I'm going to adapt that creature to Skyrim. Sometimes, I have a lore idea, and then I create a creature around that idea that I want to make real. Finally, sometimes I create a creature because I feel like there's a gap that needs to be filled in Skyrim, and filling that gap precedes the creature's design and lore. Each case is different, but I always do everything with great attention to detail and always aim for a fun and immersive experience.
You've created so many incredible creatures over the years. Do you have any personal favourites?
For sure! I really like making golems, and small animals. I really like my Chicken Replacer, I really like my Chicks, Cow Replacer, Sewer Rats, and many other animals, and also the big golems like the Molten-Iron Atronach, Coral Atronach, Ancient Ice Golem, Storm Golem, and many others. But in general, I like everything, if I don't like it enough I won't even release the mod. Oh, I also really like traditional monsters from old TES that I re-imagined for Skyrim, like the Dreughs, the Ogres or the Imps.
What kind of tools and programs do you use to create your mods?
Making mods for Skyrim requires a few programs, especially if you're making new models. Zbrush, 3dmax, Photoshop, Substance Painter, Nifskope, Creation Kit, Audacity, TesEdit, Zedit, Nif Optimizer, Nif Healer, and many more. It takes a while for a modder to get used to everything, but it's all a matter of dedication and asking people who already work with them, and there are also good tutorials on the internet. If you're just starting out, don't let the apparent complexity of it all discourage you, take it one step at a time, it's not that hard. Persistence leads to constant improvement, if persistence is also constant.
One thing that really stands out about your work is how well it fits into Skyrim’s world. How do you balance coming up with something new and making sure it still feels like it belongs?
It's a challenge, but I like challenges. For example, it's very challenging to look at a creature from a universe like Star Wars, and then adapt it both in appearance and lore to fit The Elder Scrolls in general and Skyrim in particular. I personally established a rule regarding my mods, differentiating Canon from Lore-friendly, Canon being what is canonized in the official lore, and Lore-friendly being things that despite not having appeared in the official content, they do not disrespect any canonized lore, and make sense to exist within it, from an immersive point of view. So, not all of my mods are Canon, but they are all Lore-friendly. However, there are purists who don't accept this view, putting Canon and Lore-friendly as synonyms, but that's their problem, not mine. It's not like I'm forcing someone to use my mods while I point a gun at their head. My mods, my rules. LOL
However, I think some people should relax more and have more fun. Some people get too attached to little things, not only in relation to what I mentioned but there are people who can't play the game if the texture of the stone on top of the wall to the left of the Blue Palace in Solitude (a stone that only appears on top of that wall) doesn't have a 4k retexture. Sometimes this hobby of modding our games becomes an obsession when we stop enjoying the mods we downloaded, and we start to constantly and obsessively mess with the load order, without playing the game even once, in search of the perfect load order, but, spoiler alert, it doesn't exist.
Friends, download lots of mods but also dedicate time to playing the games with the mods you downloaded. Obsession with perfection only leads to frustration, because it's searching for an unattainable ideal.
Have you run into any big challenges while making your mods? If so, how did you get past them?
Daily. In the past, there was a bad habit of adding new creatures to the game simply by adding a new model. For example, you would make a new model of a monster, choose an animation from a monster in the original game that you thought was appropriate, put those animations on your new model, and call it a day. In the game, it would behave, move, sound, use the same abilities, have the same loot, etc., as the creature it had its animations based on. We had things like Ogres moving like Werewolves, having the same loot, the same sounds, the same abilities. There was no point in having new creatures if they were basically just a re-skin of a vanilla creature.
When I got into this creature-making business, I was looking to innovate in this sector, making it truly unique. Yes, there are limitations, and in most cases, we have to reuse a vanilla animation set as a base to animate a new creature, but there are dozens of things that can be done to get around this: animation skeletons can be modified to the point of becoming almost unrecognizable, new sounds and dialogues can be added, countless possibilities for spells and magical abilities, new loot, it is possible to modify the AI, behavior, speed, it is possible to add via script ingenious animated parts rigged in separate custom skeletons, such as wings, tails, extra arms, and much more, it is even possible to use completely new skeletons in some creatures. This and much more were great challenges that forced me to explore unknown territory, with mistakes and successes, but that allowed me to create a portfolio of truly unique creatures. Even if I use, for example, the skeleton of a Dragon Priest as a base for a Sea Witch, I guarantee that when you face her you will not have the feeling of facing a Dragon Priest re-skin, but something totally unique. This vision and this will to overcome challenges is what made possible the existence of Imps, Beholders, Sea Witches, Spider Daedras, Will-o'-the-Wisps, Centaurs, and much more.
My motivation to always find ways to overcome challenges regarding creature-making was pure and simple: if I'm going to simply release re-skins of vanilla creatures, no matter how cool the new models are, I'd rather stay home and watch funny shorts on YouTube. Unfortunately, in this scenario, other creature modders didn't try to update themselves, and those who came after didn't show any interest in making their creatures unique either, with the exception of 1, possibly 2. It's regrettable.
How do you keep coming up with fresh ideas for new animals or creatures to add to the game?
Oh, that's quite simple, I have plenty of ideas, what I wish was to have 48 hours in a day to be able to do everything. LOL
Right now my challenge is to have time to do all the mods I want to do before TES 6, but that means I probably have until 2030, or 50.
Off the back of that, are there any you’d like to add but haven’t tackled yet?
Actually, I wish I had time to dedicate more time to other types of mods like quests. But it's not just a lack of time, I actually have ADHD, and although I have it well under control in real life, when it comes to mods it affects me, and just like today I can be excited about a new project, tomorrow I won't be anymore. I started a new quest in October of last year, which was supposed to be released in November, but it was postponed to January of this year, however, I still haven't touched the mod again, because I have no desire to work on it. I've had mods that I started, lost interest halfway through, kept in a folder for 6 months, and only came back to them when I felt the hype again. I admit that I have great difficulty maintaining the hype in long projects, that's why I have dozens of folders with quests and settlements half-finished, but I want to fix that in myself and I hope to be able to release some quests this year. The community knows that I constantly postpone projects, but in the end, I always end up doing them. Nonetheless, this is a flaw and I am working to fix it. I believe that ADHD affects me so much in relation to modding, and does not affect me in real life and daily tasks, due to the fact that modding is invariably a solitary activity, long periods of hours in front of the computer, with no stimuli other than watching a project unfold, and sometimes that is not enough. Sometimes you need a little external stimulus too, something that does not depend solely on you.
Could you maybe give us a sneak peek at what this quest will be if you decide to finish it?
It's a quest that takes place in the Deadlands and in a Nordic tomb. I tried to make the Nordic tomb as unique as possible, with a good portion of it flooded, an area of complete darkness, traps, unique boss arenas, magical bridges that need to be activated and magical barriers that need to be deactivated, and several types of "draugified" creatures, such as horses, bulls, and predatory fish. Finally, you enter the Deadlands, a chance to relive the nostalgia of TES 4. The antagonist is a Dragon Priest who artificially converted himself into a Dragonborn, named Mahdok, who gives the name to the mod, Mahdok's Uprising- Reborn in Dragon Blood. He now controls a pocket realm within the kingdom of Mehrunes Dagon and must be defeated. Some very WIP videos are available on my channel, and I will certainly finish the mod, but I need to find the motivation for it first.
What advice would you give to anyone who wants to start learning to mod?
Get started, damn it! Don't daydream about what you could do. Do it! Start small, don't try to arrive already with projects to remake 4 ESO provinces in the Skyrim engine, or expand the vanilla map by 4 times. Start by making a sword, or a spell, and then you can move forward. If you're dedicated, the sky's the limit. But take one step at a time. You'll try to talk to other mod authors, seek advice, and do that, but remember, as with everything in life, many are fake, idiots, treacherous, and don't want to see you grow. Others are sincere, honest, supportive, and nice. It's up to you to have discernment.
The community is very important, always be polite, and respectful, listen to the community, but maintain your independence. You are the owner of your profile on Nexus Mods, you decide what to do, and how to do it. Advice is good to hear, it helps us improve every day, but don't let it distract you from what you want to do. Be unique, stay true to your identity, and the community will recognize that. But remember, you will never please everyone, and that's okay, that's just how life is.
Finally, do you have any last words for the community?
Thank you so much for all the support over the years, you guys are amazing! Thank you for all the kind words, thank you for the constructive criticism that forced me to improve every day, thank you for the cool ideas, thank you for every download and endorsement. I always tried to be nice to everyone, I respect every well-intentioned user of my mods, and I never wanted to have a fanbase, but rather friends. For me, every user of my mods is like those friends who played tabletop RPGs with me when I was a teenager, and you know that I'm always here for you when you need me.
I also want to thank Nexus Mods and its staff for the constant support, always kind in clarifying my questions and helping me with technicalities, thank you for everything too, you created an incredible place and community.
I also want to make an appeal that I always make in other media such as my Discord server, so that we may be more and more united, put aside petty things, treat our fellow man well, do not defame without reason, think carefully about the weight of our words, and learn more and more each day that a kind word is much more important than a contemptuous one.
If life is going well for you who are reading this, I am very happy about that and I hope that each day it will get even better, and if by chance everything seems difficult now, know that it can get better. January 30th will be 1 year since I had a serious accident. I spent the first months of last year in bed and in a wheelchair, and today, 1 year later, against all medical predictions, I am walking and leading a life almost the same as I had before. Not 100% the same, because each stumble leaves a scar, but almost the same, and certainly wiser. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel for all of us, even when everything seems lost and meaningless!
Take care of yourselves and be happy, the rest is nonsense, since in the end, we are all going to die. We can't take ourselves so seriously.
A big thank you to MihailMods for this interview, it’s been an absolute pleasure chatting with him and learning more about his modding and many cats too!
As always, if you have any recommendations for future mod author interviews, send them my way or drop them in the comments below.
77 comments
I hope he, or someone, will make a compilation pack of his mods, as well as the Monster Mod, that will integrate well without conflicts and distributed throughout Skyrim. I'm not very good at that stuff, and try to install mods that aren't going to conflict in my load order.
And lastly.
Very thankful because you have a kitty shelter, many of us would like to adopt and take care of stray dogs and cats and have them in a shelter to take care of them, but we don't have the means. I have rescued a rooster, a duck and a kitten, and it is a feeling that fills you with satisfaction, but I can no longer adopt more animals, because of the resources, so on behalf of those of us who love animals, thank you very much.
And thank you for those high quality mods.
I don't think I can play Skyrim without your mods anymore because the level of life that they provide to the game are so enjoyable. Just following and watching your creations go about their thing is joy in itself. Fighting for my life (well my characters) with some of the others is a especially fun challenge, more so when I really have to use tactic when I'm underpowered or ill equipped.
It's nice to hear that you are surrounded by loving company. I do my best for the three purring monsters I have. Breaks my heart that I can't help more, so it really warms my heart to hear what you are doing and what you have planned.
Thanks also to SlugGirl for the chat, you're really cool and it was great talking to you.
I have important news, I met a new kitten yesterday. She is a polite young girl, she stopped what she was doing (looking at some butterflies), to climb up on the wall and come greet me. Unfortunately, she is on an extremely busy street, with lots of cars, which worries me. From what I understand, she lives in the house on the corner of the street, so I can't steal her from there hehehe (but I should, because it's a very dangerous place)
Here she is:
Tropical life is sweet, I know it ;)
Thanks for this interview dear Nexus staff,
Cherish your life reader