Skip to content

Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall – Complete setup guide

I recently decided to play through all the Elder Scrolls games, one after another, starting with Arena. I wrote a blog post on my installation setup for Arena, so I decided to do the same thing with Daggerfall now that I’m starting on a playthrough of that as well.

You can get the game for free at GOG, Steam or as a standalone install. For the version that I’m setting up, I highly recommend going with the base standalone install (versus steam or GOG) for a variety of reasons.

Install locations:

  1. GOG – https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_elder_scrolls_chapter_ii_daggerfall
  2. Steam – https://store.steampowered.com/app/1812390/The_Elder_Scrolls_II_Daggerfall/
  3. Standalone (Recommended) – https://drive.usercontent.google.com/download?id=0B0i8ZocaUWLGWHc1WlF3dHNUNTQ&export=download&authuser=0

Just so you can verify it’s not a virus, you can find the original download links/specifics below which are also the same Google Drive.

https://forums.dfworkshop.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2360&p=27538#p27538

https://forums.dfworkshop.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2360

Now. Install the base standalone version of Daggerfall into C:\Games\Daggerfall and install the latest version of Daggerfall Unity into C:\Games\dfu111 – In both cases all you have to do is download both, unzip them, then dump the entirety of the folder into their two respective folders.

Note: You can install these anywhere you want. I just started using the /games folder because it’s generally easier to get in and out of when it’s not a major game with an auto-installer. All future instructions and path URLs are based on these install directories.

Once all that is done, go to the Daggerfall Unity folder and click on “Daggerfallunity.exe”. Once you do that it’ll prompt and walk you through picking the game installation folder, and various settings you can turn on and off. Note the following things.

  • A Mod Manager is built directly into this, keep that in mind for later (we’ll need that)
  • This is going to be your default folder for opening the game as well going forward, if needed creaet a shortcut on your desktop if needed.
  • Most of what we’re about to install going forward are all going to be MODS and they are VERY easy to install.

    Overall a lot of different mods can be found here: https://www.nexusmods.com/games/daggerfallunity

    You are more than welcome to use whatever mods you want, I just picked some of the ones that I felt were “Must haves” based off a bunch of research. I also may pick and choose some mods beyond this base install list mentioned here, but I just wanted to start with the basics. Also note that the installation process for almost every single mod is exactly the same.

    Each mode is a single DFU mod file that’s name ends in “.dfmod”. You simply copy and paste the mod file into the mods folder which can be found below:

    C:\Games\dfu111\DaggerfallUnity_Data\StreamingAssets\Mods

    Again assuming the same installation folder. Once the mod is installed (copied and pasted into it) then whenever you open the launched (daggerfallunity.exe) then click on the MODS tab. Once inside that, select what mods you want to use, then start the game. That’s it.

    One thing to keep in mind about load order: If two mods touch the same asset (e.g., DREAM textures + a small sprite replacer), drag the one you want to “win” after DREAM in the list. For the must-haves we discussed, the default order is fine.

Very simply, below is a list of mods that I decided to install. I just provided them as a link to each mod, and all necessary specifics can be found on the respective mod pages.

There are plenty more at Nexus Mods, feel free to install what works for you and leave the rest (or install none and do a vanilla playthrough, whatever you prefer).

Published inVideo Games

Be First to Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *