Obscure's College of Winterhold

The College of Winterhold as it existed in November of 2011 is very different from the one that lives in my memory. When I returned to Skyrim to try out the Special Edition, I immediately dove into the wealth of amazing mods, which came packed with imaginative and fascinating new features.  As time went on I grew nostalgic for the vanilla College, so I went back to basics.  Imagine my shock when I saw what I had forgotten: a small, lonely place, with hay and barrels everywhere.  I opened up the Creation Kit, (which I had only a rudimentary understanding of at that point) with a simple intention: clean the place up.  As I was working, I got in touch with the author of Immersive College NPCs, and a plan was hatched which evolved into:

To further develop of the College of Winterhold with additional and modified content that enriches the experience in ways that line up naturally with the intentions of the original design.  My objectives and self-imposed constraints are as follows:

▪  Balance between further developing existing content and introducing totally new content.

▪  Make all changes and additions blend into the game and feel completely contiguous.

▪  Maintain navigability and ease of orientation in light of the expanded scope.

▪  Ensure compatibility and offer integration with many other mods.

▪  Add quality of life features but eschew content that makes the game easier.

▪  Enhance and further develop the choices made by BGS's designers; never outright contradict them.

▪  Balance between removing "rustic" elements (bales of hay and barrels of food) while keeping the College "Nordic" by nature.

Version 1. 5 is here! This update dramatically overhauls the interior of the great tower. Please read the updated Installation and Compatibility Guide, especially if you are updating from an older version or from any game in progress. Here's an excerpt from the new Features document.Version 1. 5 brings an entirely new Hall of the Elements to Winterhold. It has been re-imagined as a lecture hall with an entirely new lower floor featuring multiple amenities, such as stations to practice offensive and defensive spells, a spectral sparring partner, laboratory, and a recovery area if your practice got a little too deadly.

Version 1. 5's proudest feature is the Arcanaeum, which has been rebuilt from scratch. It now spans multiple stories, filling the height of the College's great tower.  An upper level has been added featuring the Arcanaeum's private collection, which is only accessible to those who have passed the rank of apprentice. Within you may find the rarest books in all of Tamriel. The collection is incomplete, however. The vanilla quest "Fetch me that Book!" now puts each book you recover on display, allowing Urag to finally call this collection complete.