Just a compiled list of what's the different between two for people who is not able to decided buying it or not. Also a little list for the Bethesda to see what is missing in Hearthfire

Hearthfire:
* Can hire Steward
* Can hire carriage & bard
* More internal individual items (chest/furniture) building for customization. You can have better control having more or less stuff in your house.
* Can have your own family
* Can have some pets
* Easier for building and gathering materials
* Much bigger space
* Can have oven
* Have Trophy room
* Have green house

Build Your Own Home:
* Can set your own theme (Hunter/Mage/Assassin). Quite surprised Hearthfire don't have option like this, as we only get Nordic style
* No random encounter that randomly assaulting you. (I actually don't like those)
* Can changes theme if you don't like the previous one (Just remember to remove your items placed inside before you change)
* More creative in term of design (I love those waterfall scaffolding )

I think the main thing missing in Hearthfire is to set your own theme and change design. Overall it is a nice addition to have. One of my main complain is the customization is a bit restrictive as I can't demolish building to rebuild it.

Be good for Build your Own Home mod to remod from Hearthfire maybe?

I disagree. By choosing the 3 towers (alchemist, enchanter, library, you are shooting out loud ''I'm a mage'')
Likewise, if you choose armory-trophy-strorage ... I bet you are a warrior

then of course the jack of all trade may want to build 3 houses with different focus

myself, my problem isn't there.
It's more the poor design of the towers,
which are really small compared to other choices (but have 2 floors)

I think they should have gone for size, since the landscape footprint is already reserved
and make them big 2 level towers with spiral staircases
like the nice tower in caldera mage guild in morrowind,
or better than that



I sort of like them, but our friends should get out of the way, especialy with giants
what's odd is that giant encounter seem scripted,
because the local giants are friendly
I teamed up with them against dragons


those waterfall thingy were nice yes, I saw the video
maybe bethesda should have picked better spots ? more scenic.
Anyway I'm a bit surprised, because markath/solitude/etc are verry scenic
and in really nice locations
not sure what went wrong

I thought at first the dawnstar one would be at the top of the glacier 8D

I don't know about theme.
but what they should have done is for every space, like the armory for example,
have a number of layout that can be applied to it

and same thing for the main hall,
cut it down in a bunch of area and allow to choose
because for example I don't just want to remove the alchemy lab
(since I got the alchemy tower)
I would like something to replace it.

in fact someone should be allowed to set emphasis in each zone
for example, maybe I want 3 bookshelves there
or maybe I want a few manikins

when It said entrance hall, I sort of expected to be flanked by two rows of manikins or something,
maybe 2-4 at least just like a real castle
and I really thought the main hall would be more like vyndrell hall (best design of all houses)

the main bedroom is verry clumsy with the large bed barely fitting there
and being hard to run arround the house

As you seem to have not played the mod, so i think you seem to misunderstand the different. The theme provided by the mod is more like how decoration of the interior compare to other theme. e.g. Assassin theme got a torture chamber with blood, theives den got a cupboard with some expensives decoration in it, mage theme got some containers with scroll (they are decoration only, not a real scroll) ...etc. Also you can make different theme for your house and basemant (I made a mage style in house with assassin torture chamber in basemant.)

Furthermore you can add vampire lair, werewolf lair into a secret basemant chamber for extra role play elements. The combination and variations provided by the mod is much greater than Hearthfire

Which ultimately means nothing since Hearthfire was mostly intended for those on consoles who don't have access to mods.

and how is that related to a comparison between Hearthfire and mod?

If I'm not mistaken, the Build Your Own House mod relies on message boxes to get things done. I *hate* (with a capital "HATE") message boxes. Hearthfire uses the menu system to build and it's better.

Has Build Your Own House been updated to handle things this way?

Please give a break with "build your own home" mod. Tundra defence is the SHOT!
Building your own city along with Hearthfire house is a lot better.

Oh yea I hate that as well

I look at videos extensively. He goes for a full redecorate (like the kid bedroon in town houses was suppose to work)
I think the various wings, for the average gamer, give enought of a theme
of course for a vampire or assassin ....
I guess the assassin already got the sanctuary
and the thief can claim the master thief quarter
but myself I would rather have claimed mercer's house with the secret basemant and private entrance to the underworld 8D

Don't know, I started with Morrowind, I would rather have Bethesda make it easier
for player to make their own decoration than someone else dictate what my style should be
being a thief or a mage is .... verry personal, depending on what it means for you

even a warrior tend to have some personal, what kind of a warrior is he ?
some warrior could swear solely by sabretooth tigers, and flood the house with it
trophy head, floor covered in fur, even full scale replica at every corner
and totaly ditch the armor manikins because he only wear sabrethout tiger fur fashion style
maybe he even wield the first dual assault sabrethooth fang daggers

as you can see, someone can go verry extreme with their personal style,
and what they want their house to look like.

maybe bethesda will listen more for the next house thing, or the next game
for sure flexible containers like the (unused) potions containers would do wonders
imagine just placing whatever you want in a shelf and it organize itself in a believable way
most importantly it doesn't fall !!!

you could have things like wine racks, potion racks, scroll racks,
a special holder to show your gem collection, another one to show your gold (think disney's uncle scrooge)
shelves to show off collectibles ...

by the way, as a thief, I would rather have a legitely stolen statue of Dibella, outside of guild duty 8D
Nothing speak louder that that 8D
If you didn't do it, it's not roleplay, it's a lie

I prefer to collect, and ideally DISPLAY, stuff I really found myself in game
just that compared to morrowind, the physic engine gets in the way
and prevent anything fancy from happening
things fall down too easilly, they got no inertia, can't stand still.
maybe they forgot to model friction, that must be it.

morrowind : piles of 20+books = no problem
oblivion/skyrim = don't try that at home, it will fall
best I got was 4 books, and they are the easiest objects


hearthfire seem to have a ''lead in'' in the basemant that look like a door
currently it's unused but got skull on top of it

It look like a door frame, except there are no door inside it
and a wall behind it

hearthfire update ?
or meant for modders ?
or maybe it's meant to be the origin of the skeever attack ?