Here’s How To Hide Your Helmet in Skyrim

Armors are an extremely important part of Skyrim, naturally, as they are your first line of defense when it comes to many dangers that roam Skyrim’s wilds. However, not all parts of the armor are cosmetically appealing, and sometimes players are looking for ways to keep the protective stats of the helmet while omitting its visual appearance altogether. Plenty of RPGs have “toggle helmet” features, but is something like that possible in Skyrim?

It’s not possible to hide a helmet in Skyrim

Skyrim has several types of armor spread across several tiers, the two main ones being light armor and heavy armor. The issues of bulky helmets aren’t necessarily related to light armor, but when it comes to heavy armor, be prepared to wear basically a metal casket for your face all the time. 

And you can easily unequip the helmet, yes, but you will forfeit both the stats and the item set bonus, so plenty of players are looking for a way to keep that bonus and protection while not hiding their character’s face that they’ve presumably spent hours hand-crafting. 

The only options currently that allow you to toggle the helmet on and off are with mods naturally, as Skyrim’s modding community never sleeps and is mostly a go-to place when it comes to solving such trivial but persistent issues. So, let’s see what our options are. 

1. Read the Room 

If you’re looking for an immersive and “lore-friendly” way to hide a helmet in the game you should look no further than ‘Read the Room.’ As the creator puts it, this mod was created with two goals in mind: to enhance immersive role-playing and to showcase the potential of slavicpotato1’s Immersive Equipment Display (IED) as a hassle-free alternative to ALLGUD. 

The mod dynamically manages helmet-wearing based on the player’s location, distinguishing between ‘safe’ areas like cities and ‘hostile’ zones such as ruins or caves. Configurable options allow automatic helmet equip/unequip animations upon entering or leaving specific zones, reducing the need for constant menu interactions. Users can disable automation and manage helmets manually by setting the option ‘Only with toggle key’ in the MCM menu.

Installation is straightforward with a mod manager, and the mod integrates seamlessly with IED, requiring no additional preset application. Compatibility is high due to IED’s versatility, though potential conflicts may arise with other mods featuring helmet-equipped animations. An optional file provided addresses conflicts with Immersive Equipment Displays – Mura Presets, and a patch for Immersive Equipping Animations resolves double animations during Read the Room’s playback. 

Overall, the mod offers a user-friendly approach to balancing helmet usage in different environments, enhancing immersion without extensive manual intervention. You can check out Read the Room on this link.

2. Helmet Toggle 2 

If you want an uncomplicated system to manage your helmet toggles, then Helmet Toggle 2 is most likely your best bet. 

This mod allows helmets or hoods to be visually shown or hidden without actually equipping or unequipping them, utilizing Dynamic Armor Variants (DAV). The enchantments and armor ratings of the items still apply during this process. Animated transitions accompany the showing or hiding of helmets or hoods. 

The mod is specifically designed for helmet and hood items, featuring optional animations for NPCs/Followers via a Spell. Requirements include Dynamic Animation Replacer or Open Animation Replacer, Dynamic Armor Variants (DAV), powerofthree’s Papyrus Extender, SkyUI for MCM, and optional integration with Immersive Equipment Displays, Keyword Item Distributor (KID), Spell Perk Item Distributor (SPID), and FormList Manipulator – FLM for enhanced functionality.

3. Sokco’s Helmet Hider (SHH)

Sokco’s Helmet Hider automatically hides your headgear upon activation and provides a “Show Helmets” spell to reveal it again. The spell transforms into “Hide Helmets” after use. The mod requires SKSE and is compatible with both vanilla and mod-added headgear. However, if headgear is equipped through a script or quest, Helmet Hider may not recognize the new helmet until you open and close your inventory.

4. Lazy Item Hider – Toggle Helm Weapons and More

If you’re looking for a mod that hides both helmet and other bulky pieces of armor, look no further than Lazy Item Hider. Lazy Item Hider addresses the frustration of spending time on character creation only to have the face covered by a helmet throughout the game. To get started, install the mod and wait for the SkyUI message confirming menu registration. Optionally, bind the toggle key if you don’t want to use the auto-hide function exclusively.

The mod automatically detects helmets and gauntlets, removing their armor rating and enchantment effects when unequipped. Weapons are visually scaled to 0 while remaining active, supporting various nodes like weapons, shields, quivers, and more. Note that activating NPC support increases script load, and a toggle hotkey allows quick enable/disable when not adventuring. 

The mod is tested with vanilla and XPMSSE skeletons, with conditional triggering for lightweight script execution. It’s designed to manage bulky gear during adventures, rehiding equipment on game load, and accommodating changes in node size caused by other mods. If using modded headwear, adjustments to “HeadSlot” or the HelmOverride option may be needed for proper detection.

And this is it when it comes to specialized mods, but there’s another option if you really don’t want to add additional scripts to your game. You can always install armor packs that have “invisible helmets.” One such mod is ‘The Tera Armor Pack,’ which has invisible pieces of armor that add to the bonus without showing up on your character. 

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