Hi folks, I am new to this game, but would proper love to get into the modding scene but I find it all overwhelming. You look through this site and there's masses of top-end mods, which would make me jump in head first and be far too ambitious for my skill set and aim too high, lose my temper with the mod and end up binning it and start crying! What I wanting to know from you like minded folks is what kind of mods would be best to wet my whistle so to speak? simple but effective mods that catch the eye. I love playing Skyrim on the PC with nearly 70 hours in it with another 100 to go so I would love to theme something around this? Any suggestions would be fantastic including best tools for the jobs...
Cheers for the reply matey. What sort a tools would you recommend? am guessing the dremmel? which version though, because theres loads a versions. Been told not to bother with the wireless ones though.
Hi Chatsicle it's great to see people looking to delve into the world of modding I have t agree with jamsand on my first 2 points but here is my top 5 simple mods to get started 1. Lighting! Quite possibly the simplest mod you can do. Kits are available from most online PC stores such as Scan, OCuk, CCL and come in a variety of shapes and sizes from cold cathodes to led strips. Any of these kits will just plug straight into a spare connector from your power supply and off you go with funky lighting and your first mod 2. Add a case window So you have added your lighting but now you want to do something a bit more manly... yes power tools! Adding a window so you can see your components is a great step and something that is surprisingly simple See Bill Owen of MNPC-tech demonstrate this Here For your clear acrylic I highly recommend Hindleys range of cast acrylic. 3. Start designing! Most of the greatest mods and builds you see will have inevitably started life as a sketch or a 3d model. You really have two options here when your starting out, either graba pencil and a paper and start roughing out ideas or download Google Sketchup Sketchup (or SU) is a free 3d modelling program provided by Google, it's fantastic for quickly mocking up ideas and getting a feel for what could be possible. What's more is that Jezmckean has developed a website solely for the purpose of holding models of computer components here . This makes the whole process 10 times easier as you can concentrate on the case or mods rather than having to design each component. 4. Painting A lot can be achieved with a little lick of paint. Pop down to Halfords or your local hardware store and grab a few cans of spray paint in your favourite colour. There are thousands of spraying guides on the Internet so I won't link any but just follow the simple steps and give your case a new lease of life. You will find that most cases have holes all over the place most of which your not using so ou can also increase the over all look of painting by using a little filler on these pre spraying. 5. Bits and pieces This can be as easy or in depth as you want to make it, here are a few examples. Swapping out all of your silver fixings with another colour ie black screws and blue thumb screws to hold components in place. Replacing your power / reset switches with bulgin push buttons. Changing your fans and grills from stock to something a bit more fancy. The list is endless and once you start searching for new things to change and mod you will quickly develop the skills and knowledge to move on to the more complicated stuff As for the Skyrim (awesome game!) theme, you can apply these basic mods. for instance; Look at the basic colour scheme of Skyrim and use this when selecting your paint and any replacement parts Create a stencil of the Skyrim logo or words of power by printing them out and then cutting it from card. After painting your base layer colour use your new stencil to add some flare to the design. Anyhow I hope this helps and you take the plunge into a fantastic new hobby Happy modding
Excellent points made. Do you have any tools or own have access to some. If yes but lacking experience then grab some plywood and practise. Everything goes easier with practise then use above posts to plan a project and do one project to completion then onto the next. If you ever need assistance post back, as there is lots of people ready to help.
Just been looking into the materials and that for the window mod I am looking into, but can't seem to find that #4010 scotch clear tape for sticking windows to the panel. Only found it on American sites, which will take an age to come.
Because I never actually plan anything like this I usually just wing it! am going to get all the measurements done then build to case in 3DS max. That way I can see how everything will look. I love the idea of spraying the case with Skyrim colours and using the shouts as stencils. Defo going to be having a bash at that. Cheers editor 22 for those tips. Any ideas where a could get a that clear #4010 scotch tape locally on the interweb? Take about a week to come from the US.
I'd give B7Q a shot Chatsicle, if they don't stock it then any good quality double sided tape will work just fine #4010 is just recommended as its the best
Just to answer the first question dremel 300 is a good mid ground between performance and cost in my eyes(but then again it;s the one i have so might be bias lol) I would recommend a jigsaw for any large cuts as it will save you an age of cutting with the discs
