If you’ve ever felt that Skyrim’s orcs just didn’t have appealing enough mouths, one modder has got you covered. The mod scene for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a bustling place filled with everything you could dream of, from simple convenience to outright deviance and everything in between. While some of the grander offerings for the RPG such as the unofficial Enderal total conversion mod and the ability to transform the game into a city builder might garner the most attention, some modders are more content to set their sights on simpler fixes for issues that have been bugging them.
One such person is mod creator Fireapple, whose delightfully named Orcodontist mod focuses on fixing the look of the mouth and teeth for the Orsimer race. In their own words, “The vanilla orc mouth has many problems… the mods that do cover orcs have carried forward the same texture mistakes since Skyrim was released.” Fireapple says that they aimed to strike a balance between a cleaner shade and a rough aesthetic to suit as many people’s preferences as possible.
Among the features are the removal of “the fake extra two teeth in the lower front of the mouth” to better suit the lower teeth on the 3D models, whitening of the teeth to eliminate the “rotting look” while maintaining the realistic look of weathered teeth, shader and mesh fixes, custom cubemaps to improve the look of saliva and enamel, an adjusted gumline, and retexturing of the tongue to improve its look.
It’s admirable the lengths that some modders will go to in order to solve issues that many players may never even have noticed. Fireapple simply states that “I saw it and could not unsee it.” Thankfully, their hard work means that you shouldn’t ever have to fear running into any unsightly-textured orc teeth as you wander the lands of Skyrim.
You can get your hands on these spruced-up orc chompers over at Nexus Mods. If you’d rather not go sifting through the thousands of Skyrim customisation offerings yourself, be sure to check out our list of the best Skyrim mods for some good places to start. If you’re looking for the best RPGs on PC right now, we’ve got you covered there too.