Hidden Hideouts of Skyrim
A collection of small hideouts scattered across Skyrim.
Hidden Hideouts of Skyrim is designed to provide your characters with immersive areas in the wilderness for rest, storage, and the occasional amenity. They are intended to be small camps and caves a hunter, survivalist, criminal, or hermit might inhabit while adventuring across Skyrim. Each location had to meet certain criteria, such as being far away enough from towns to provide a sense of living in the wild but close enough that a player could easily find a main road back to one. Also, the entrance had to be relatively hidden to avoid unwanted visitors.
HOW MANY HIDEOUTS ARE THERE?
There are a total of 21 areas spread across Skyrim. All hideouts are available as individual plugins (so that you may pick and choose which ones best suit your play style) or merged together into a single file. Dragonborn and Dawnguard hideouts are available separately and not included in the merged files. Pictures under the Images tab are labeled to show the map marker, exterior, and interior of each location.
IMPORTANT: Please be aware that most hideouts are NavMeshed but some are not. Some interiors are just too small for more than the player or are too difficult for followers to access. However, a Merged NavMeshed file is available that addresses this issue and includes only hideouts that are follower friendly. You can view which hideouts are follower friendly by referring to the amenities list under the ReadMe tab or during mod installation.
DO THEY COME IN DIFFERENT FLAVORS?
Yes! Hideouts, both merged and modular, come in three different versions: Standard, No Map Marker, and Deep Immersion.
Standard: Features at least two safe storage containers, a fire with a cooking pot, and a place to sleep. Other amenities such as tanning racks, grindstones, workbenches, or alchemy and enchanting tables, are only available if it made sense to the setting. You can view what amenities each hideout has under the ReadMe tab or during mod installation.
No Map Marker: Simply the Standard version without map markers, thus preventing any fast travel to them and making them more challenging to find.
Deep Immersion: An interpretation of what the hideouts were like when your character first discovered them. There are no map markers, camping equipment and storage may or may not be present, and many of the hideouts are occupied by who knows what!
IS THERE ANY IN GAME HELP TO FIND THE HIDEOUTS?
Yes! The Merged – Standard and Merged – No Map Marker files offer a rare book owned by Lucan Valerios at the Riverwood Trader to help guide you to all of the hideout’s… approximate locations. The DLC hideouts offer missing chapters of the book that are located in the Riverwood Trader as well. This guide book and it’s excerpts are not available if you choose a Deep Immersion version or the Modular file. Note that Lucan does not sell the guides; they are upstairs on his dresser among his other books.
INSTALLATION
If using a mod manager, download your preferred file, activate, and choose the version(s) you wish to install. If activating the DLC files after installing the main files, or vice versa, when prompted to overwrite a detected duplicate or upgrade the current mod, select ‘No’ to install the mod normally.
If installing manually, open the .7z file with an archiver program (WinZip, WinRar, 7zip, etc.) then extract and place the desired .esp file(s) into your Skyrim/Data folder. Only use one version of any single hideout at a time; No filename suffix is Standard version, ‘NMM’ filename suffix is No Map Marker version, and ‘DI’ filename suffix is Deep Immersion version.
UNINSTALLATION
Deactivate through your mod manager or manually remove the .esp file(s) from your Skyrim/Data folder.
RECOMMENDED MODS
I highly recommend any of the following mods for a more solid appreciation of having a safe area close by. The last thing you want is be caught out at night, dying of hunger, freezing to death during a thunderstorm or blizzard, and suddenly realize the nearest safe shelter is half a region away!
Frostfall by Chesko: Hypothermia mechanics. [Personal Favorite]
Wet and Cold by isoku: Miscellaneous weather mechanics and graphics.
Realistic Nights by MountainFisherman: Darker nights.
Purity by Laast: Weather overhaul with darker nights and more severe blizzards/thunderstorms. [Personal Favorite]
Supreme Storms by MannyGT: Severe and blinding blizzards and thunderstorms.
iNeed – Food Water and Sleep by isoku: Hunger, thirst, sleep, and sickness mechanics. [Personal Favorite]
Realistic Needs and Diseases by perseid9: Hunger, thirst, sleep, and sickness mechanics.
Imps More Complex Needs by Imp of the Perverse: Highly detailed hunger, thirst, sleep, and sickness mechanics.
If you are using a Deep Immersion hideout version, I further recommend any of the following mods to help you set up your hideout since many locations will not have basic camping equipment.
Campfire – Complete Camping System by Chesko: Camping equipment (required for Frostfall). [Personal Favorite]
Camping Kit of the Northern Ranger by The Northern Ranger: Camping equipment.
Camping Lite by McGuffin: Camping equipment.
Craftable and Placeable Havok-enabled Bedrolls by Neuroliquisity: Exactly what it says.
Lanterns and Candles by Mentilreq: Craftable and placeable light fixtures. [Personal Favorite]
ANYTHING ELSE?
If you’re looking for hideouts in Skyrim’s major cities, check out Hidden Hideouts of Skyrim City Edition.
Compatibility list and changelog can be found under the ReadMe tab. If you’ve had to download the Modular file for any reason, you can merge the individual .esp files together using the Merge Plugin application to help save space in your load order.
