Mods most minor: the tiniest changes to our favorite games
Good things come in small mods
Not every modder out there creates huge sprawling mods bursting with loads of new content. Sometimes, a modder just wants to fix one little thing that personally bugs them. And, while we often celebrate the expansive new worlds, the major rebalances, and the creative masterpieces of the most ambitious modders, we also want to salute those who tackle the tiniest of tasks. These are the mods most minor.
Pallegina's Portait Change for Pillars of Eternity
It may not be immediately evident, but the portrait of Pillar of Eternity's Pallegina on the right has been modded from the original on the left. A modder decided her left eye was drawn too low on her face, and that a change was needed. And it's true: once you've noticed it, it's hard not to let it bother you. Though, I honestly never would have noticed it.
Bent palm tree for Cities: Skylines
You know how trees normally stick straight up? But if they're on the coast, they're bent from a lifetime of wind? This mod makes your coastal areas in Cities: Skylines just that much more authentic with some bent palm trees. Some of you are probably thinking those bent trees are a little too thick. Don't worry. The same modder also made a slightly skinnier one. Actually, they made a whole bunch of them.
Bathe Animals Correctly for The Sims 3
Annoyed that washing a cat or a dog would often result in some negative moods, this modder made it so bath time was always happy time in The Sims 3. That has not been the case in my personal real-life experience, but I've also never been trapped in a room with no doors and wet my pants until I died. So this is probably a fair fix.
Tiny Fixes for Dragon Age
This Dragon Age: Origins mod fixes the spelling of Darvianak Vollney's last name. When the dwarf is referred to in-game, there are two L's in his name, but when his name tag floats above him, it only uses one L. Until now. Give a dwarf some respect!
Amata Smiles for Fallout 3
Remember Amata, your lifelong friend from the Vault in Fallout 3? To keep her in your mind while you're raiding the wasteland, this modder added a little wallet-sized photo of her that tucks into your Pipboy. After all, even the lone wanderer doesn't want to feel completely alone.
Post-sex conversations for The Witcher
Geralt is well-known for his skills at bedding maidens and collecting their sex-trading cards (or whatever the hell that's all about, I haven't played.) One modder decided to enhance the experience by adding brief conversations post-coitus in the instances Geralt's boning didn't produce any scripted chit-chat.
Skyrim Grammar Patch
No one knows better than a writer how easy it is for a typo to slip by. (No one except a reader, of course.) This mod for Skyrim fixes a few typos, such as the repeated word seen above. Good thing, too. What was that scribe gonna do, rip out the page and start over over?
(That was a joke joke.)
Positive Reinforcement for Dark Souls
Word on the street is, Dark Souls is hard. If your repetitive deaths are getting you down, this positive reinforcement mod gently encourages you to try again by replacing the bummer "You Died" message with the far more optimistic "You Tried" text. This mod believes in you. This mod knows you can do it.
Kitchen Sink for Fallout: New Vegas
This mod adds a kitchen sink to Doc Mitchell's house in Fallout: New Vegas. You can find it right next to, uh... his original sink. Also, you can take this sink with you, if you like, perhaps to place next to another sink in a different house. Your sink issues are covered, in other words. We're sure it's a relief.
Mass Hodor for Mass Effect 3
Didn't like Mass Effect 3's ending? I can guarantee you'll never reach it again if you make a tiny change to the game by installing this mod that changes every bit of text to "Hodor".
Seriously, it's all Hodor.
Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.