The year is 3025. Real life recieves a patch which renders you able to see every item you own with such fidelity that your eyes basically become microscopes. This is cool, your friend says, we’re now only a little bit behind the level of detail Skyrim modders have kitted out 2011’s finest lizard yelling simulator with.
If you’re wondering what’s inspired me to reach for my crystal ball, it’s the emergence of yet another Skyrim mod which takes the RPG one step closer to featuring as many dynamically moving parts as our own reality. It allows folks across Tamriel to look at a calendar and decide they need a fresh hairdo without any input from your character, who’s then left playing catch-up on all the new trims like a distant aunt at a family gathering.
Modder JaySerpa’s become a load order go-to for works like this which help make the game’s world feel a lot less static, and their latest mod’s called Dynamic NPC Hairstyles. “I love radiant story telling, I love when NPCs have a will of their own and I love when the world evolves as you play,” they wrote. “These three concepts will go hand-in-hand as part of this mod.”
So, they’ve created a system which’ll automatically swap non-Argonian NPCs’ hairstyles for another appropriate one with each change in the game’s seasons. So, if you run into Mikael the bard from Whiterun, during Evening Star, he might have slightly bushier locks reflective of the need to keep warmer in the cold. Or, if you run into him during Sun’s Height, he might be rocking a shorter chop to maximise the summer vibes. They’re little changes, but done subtly like this, they’re the sort of thing that can help spice up a long playthrough.
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Hold up, you rightly declare, will this result in canonically bald or balding characters suddenly having their hairline bounce back in a fashion usually only afforded to vain 21st century businessmen? Fear not. Jayserpa’s added in the option to make baldies automatically exempt so you’re not risking having to rationalise things by pretending there’s now a hair transplant clinic hidden in Riften’s sewers. The modder’s also deliberately left more out there hairstyles like mohawks out of the list used for the changes, so the switches won’t be too drastic.
If you fancy, you can also make the likes of followers and Jarls exempt, which might help ensure compatibility with other mods. Meanwhile, some existing voice lines have been re-spliced to allow you to walk up to friendly characters and change their hairstyle manually, in case you don’t think their fresh one suits them.
In order to get the mod working, you’ll need to grab Spell Perk Item Distributor, Keyword Item Distributor, Hair Colour Sync, and Vanilla Hair Remake with its optional wigs file.