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Start with mod organizer though. NMM is just an annoying, sharp, and slimy stepping stone to MO.
Edit:
NMM= Nexus Mod Manager
MO= Mod Organizer
Thanks to /u/Faggot_Mother_Fucker for pointing out that I should have included this info.
I suggest you don't spend too long with NMM. It's miles better than installing all mods manually, but still has its problems.
Mod Organizer is your friend.
Don't get Nexus Mod Manager. Get Mod Organizer. It takes more time to get used to and understand, but it will save you time and frustration in the long run.
There are plenty of tutorials on reddit, Nexus and YouTube to help you figure it out.
You will add mods to your game. Mods are an unstoppable force in Skyrim. When you add mods (because you will, you won't be able to resist), save your future self a LOT of trouble and use mod organizer instead of nexus mod manager or the steam workshop.
Q: Is mod organizer more complicated to use than nexus mod manager or the steam workshop?
A: Short term, yes. Long term, so many no's
I would advise not installing any mods until you feel that you have adequately experienced the vanilla game, with two exceptions.
- SkyUI - Makes the user interface tolerable on PC
- Unofficial Skyrim Patch - This is a must have. Fixes so many bugs.
Steam workshop? no no no not how you mod skyrim. Mod Organizer is the best mod manager you can get. With steam workshop your capped at 50 mods which is ridiculous. With anything else you can have up to 255 plugins(not including merged plugins). Also check out the stickied guide on r/skyrimmods if your new to modding.
Sure you can, if you're downloading them elsewhere. Word of warning though. USE MOD ORGANIZER. Trying to trouble shoot mods when you can't be online would be a nightmare without it. With Mod organizer, you can easily deactivate (most) mods as if they were never installed. Much easier to deal with than manually weeding them out, or Nexus Mod Manager's method.
If you take an extra few minutes to learn how to use Mod Organizer, it will handle mods just as well as NMM just a thousand times better. With Mod Organizer, your data folder will remain untouched so you never have to worry about overwriting textures and ruining your game when trying to replace them and such. It's very much worth it and I very highly recommend it.
/r/skyrimmods Read the sidebar for the beginners guide. I highly recommend Mod Organizer over NMM (nexus mod manager).
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?
Mod Organizer is what most of the more serious folks have ended up using as of late. Blows NMM out of the water.
I don't have a solid answer to your last question, but I really, really doubt it.
A mod over at /r/skyrimmods made this fantastic guide to players new to modding, I recommend checking it out. Another guide for more specific mods to get can be found here: http://wiki.step-project.com/STEP:2.2.9
A must is to use this tool to install mods (rather than the Nexusmod's own app). It got an incredible amount of extra features.
You started off on the wrong foot bud. Generally speaking, the Steam workshop is a bad place to get your mods from.
The Nexus is where you want to get them using Mod Organizer to help you manage those files.
I suggest unsubscribing all of your mods you've got from the Steam workshop, deleting your Skyrim folder, then redownloading it to get on the safe side.
Once you've done that, check out the Beginners Guide and the other guides located in the sidebar or whatever (the name escapes me lol).
If you start over and take my advice, you'll save yourself a world of trouble rather than trying to troubleshoot Steam workshop mods. Most of them should be on the Nexus anyways. If they aren't, try to find an external download for them. Or you can package them up yourself and put them with the other mods MO designates as your download repository.
Hey, before you get too far, everyone around here highly recommends using Mod Organizer to manage your mods. The Workshop can be very hard to work with. If you're early on in a playthrough, I suggest you uninstall the Workshop mods, install MO, install mods through MO, and go from there.
I would advise against that, just go with the Mod Organizer. Extra features and better interface, also isolates game and mod data, so uninstalling things is easier.
Mod Organizer! http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?
Allows you to create profiles, and has mod isolation (basically, prevents mods from writing to the main Data directory). I don't trust it myself but theoretically that is what you're looking for.
I would avoid Steam for your source of mods, however. Pretty sure those mods aren't compatible.
Get Mod Organizer It's a mod manager that keeps your mods out of your installation. This way you can turn mods on and off. and if you turn them all off your skyrim is like a default installation all over again!
Get a mod manager, like Mod organizer and don't use Steam Workshop for getting your mods. Download mods from the Nexus instead.
You could use Mod Organizer as your mod manager instead of Nexus Mod Manager or Steam Workshop, and it allows you to create multiple profiles for your characters so their save files are separate. It also has the added benefit of allowing you to have separate mods lists for each profile that a save manager could not do.
Here's my obligatory evangelism for Mod Organizer. Sorry in advance for not answering the question. I am trying to help by prevention.
You should try Mod Organizer. It keeps every mod in a separate directory, outside of skyrim if you want, and then creates a skyrim/data structure in memory when you run the game. Your dir stays clean, and you don't have file overwrite problems.
It may have taken hours and hours to fine tune your setup with NMM, but I WILL GUARANTEE that it will only take several minutes to drag n drop files into the right order in Mod Organizer.
In this situation, you would be unchecking boxes until you found the culprit.
Personally, I HIGHLY recomend using Mod Organizer to install all of your mods. There are several good guides that show you how to use it, you can find one on /r/skyrimmods or the STEP guide. STEP is a great way to learn the basics on modding Skyrim, and it has several mods that are essentially required to make Skyrim run right.
As a preface, I don't use STEP, but I have. My Load Order is based heavily on STEP, but does not use all of the mods therein. That having been said:
Yes, it is definitely worth it.
Also, to address /u/WolfDGrey if you're using Mod Organizer (which you should) you can overwrite any of the STEP textures by assigning them a higher priority than the mods provided by STEP.
The mod is not just meshes and textures and comes with an ESP, so just dumping the archive's contents into the Data folder and expecting it to work won't work. You need to enable the ESP (3DNPC.esp) in Data Files in the launcher. Also, I highly do not recommend manually installing mods manually as it's tedious and there's a much higher probability of something being messed up resulting in completely reinstalling the game. You should really consider a mod manager like Mod Organizer (MO) or Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) at least.
Pro-tip: If you use a lot of mods use Mod Organizer instead of the Nexus Mod manager. it'll actually sort the load order for you with loot (you have to press the button but yea).
Considering you only have a few mods, it's not to late to tell you to use:
MOD ORGANIZER
(http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?)
It's superior to NMM in almost everyway and you should definitely consider using it instead.
> nexus mod manager
That is the second worst way to manage mods (only Steam Workshop is worse) - use Mod Organizer instead, it's much, much better. For more information on modding, read this Beginner's Guide, courtesy of /r/skyrimmods.
Not to be mean, but you should start using Mod Organizer over NMM. At least, you should start using it over NMM before you start doing heavy modding. MO is a bit more complex and a bit harder to use, though, so I suggest watching Gopher's tutorials on it.
I haven't played Skyrim in a while but everyone is saying to use this over Nexus Mod Manager:
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?
As for overhaul mods, it's been a long while since I played. SkyRe is one of the largest game-changers that fundamentally alters a lot of the game. Honestly you need to head over to /r/skyrim and ask them.
>What mod manager everybody use? Anything similar in power to WryeBash?
I use Mod Organizer. Nexus Mod Manager is also an option, but MO has some great features NMM lacks. WryeBash can be used with Skyrim.
>Is BOSS and bashed patch a thing?
BOSS has now been superseded by LOOT. Made by the same authors as BOSS. Bashed patch is still a thing.
>Everybody use ENB or is there other ways to add or change post-processing effects?
There are other options besides ENB. Imaginator is one.
>"not mods" things what are must-have (ini tweaks, dlls to make game crash less, or increase performance - again, I don't know if stuff like this is still a thing)?
I got the lion's share of my .ini tweaks from the STEP guide. STEP also has a huge list of lore-friendly mods and guides for just about everything.
>General advices or ready loadorders? Up-to-date guides also will be handy.
LOOT will take care of your load order. STEP guide linked above is generally up to date.
Use Mod Organizer (MO) instead of Nexus Mod Manager. MO allows you to create separate profiles for your character containing separate mods lists and save files. The STEP Wiki has comprehensive documentation on how to use it, and Gopher has an excellent series of video tutorials if you would prefer that.
btw, if you're going to be installing that many mods, I recommend using Mod Organizer. It installs mods in a separate directory from the actual game files so you can easily reorder and organize your mods.
any modded files that is installed by NMM when you uninstall in steam will still be there.
the right way to do a 100% clean install is to delete the game install (steam folder: \Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim) and delete the ini files in your documents. (\Documents\my games\skyrim)
vanilla BSA files can stay since they are so large
you can follow this guide if you want
also, you should start using the Mod Organizer instead of NMM
Use Mod Organizer (link). And a good guide on using MO: http://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Mod_Organizer
MO takes a bit to get used to in the beginning, but once you understand how it works, it is like modding magic. All the headaches that can arise even when using NMM are washed away by MO. I can go on and on about all of its advantages, but in a nutshell, it has saved me countless hours in getting my latest Skyrim install running flawless (240 mods, no CTDs), compared to the headaches back when I used NMM.
First things first, download Mod Organizer, NOT NMM, and don't, for god's sake, try and install them manually. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?
The UI is handled by SkyUI and Mod Configuration Menu.
You're going to want Immersive Armors for more diversity but some of it isn't great, most of it is fine though. As for weaponry I use Nock To Tip, Archer's Armory, and some I can't think of right now, but Weapons of the Third Era gets a mention.
My favourite houses are Elisdriel, a Bosmer treehouse between Markarth and Rorikstead, (if you get this also get the Elisdriel Bridges mod to make it easier to get to), and Tel Nalta II, a mod that allows you to grow your own Mushroom house in the style of the Telvanni, and then turn it into a small hamlet with a wizard, blacksmith, and general store. It get's put in lake Ilinata.
I also HIGHLY recommend Expanded Towns and Cities, as well as JK's Skyrim, plus the compatibility patches. They're both essential for me, to be honest. Makes everywhere look much prettier.
Interesting and Uninteresting NPC's are good too. Interesting NPC's adds a bunch of cool people, Uninteresting NPC's adds people who don't really care that you're Dragonborn, but they have pretty high requirements.
I can post my full load order when I get home if you'd wanna read that.
Just a heads up, if your going to have more than 1 or 2 mods it's best to use something like mod organizer to manage your mods. It will make installing mods and solving potential conflicts much easier and keep your data folder completely clean.
You can use this guide to completely remove all mods from your Skyrim installation.
Oh, and do try out Mod Organizer. It's much better than the abomination that is NMM. Just saying.
Manual install, automatic install, and updater for 1.3.5->1.3.9 to 1.3.10 are available.
No, you don't need to pay for the Nexus. Go to this exact page and download the latest manual installation file. If it comes up with a donation pop-up, you can skip it.
Nothing on the Nexus requires payment, they only politely ask for donations.
Excuse me, do you have a moment to talk about our lord and saviour Mod Organizer? It takes slightly longer to learn how to use compared to Steam Workshop and Nexus Mod Manager, but it is well worth it. Mod Organizer works nearly identical to NMM, lets you download and install mods straight off the Nexus. The difference being though, none of the mods you install are placed in your Skyrim, Oblivion, Fallout, etc folder. This means that if you download a texture pack or anything similar, and decide you don't like it. All you have to do is uninstall the pack and you're good to go. You no longer need to worry about reinstalling Skyrim due to mods that deleted vital files like textures or meshes. Mod Organizer uses some sort of devil wizardry that makes the mods load up in a make believe data folder when you launch. This also means you can very simply have multiple different types of Skyrim playthroughs going on at once. Want a dark fantasy themed mage playthrough? Go for it, create a separate profile in Mod Organizer and all the mods you choose to use will be there. Want to make a crazy colourful springtime playthrough as an archer? Make another profile and use it when you load into that save file. It's incredible and as someone that's been modding TES games for a long time, I'd strongly recommend it.
Just want to point out if you are planning on modding any Bethesda games your best option would be Mod Organizer over Nexus Mod Manager. It has a separate load order to make installing/uninstalling mods easier, also keeps your game clean by not placing the mods directly in the game folder avoiding having to reinstall if something gets completely messed up. It also supports downloading off the nexus, so you can use it the same way. Just with more control. Here is a good video of it I definitely recommend watching Gopher's extremely amazing tutorials he has on YouTube, will teach you the basics and some more advanced stuff when it comes to modding. Gophers Channel
Since you haven't invested much work into NMM yet, think about starting with Mod Organizer (MO) right away.
The learning curve is a bit steeper than for NMM, but it pays off.
Your Skyrim directory is left untouched. You launch Skyrim from MO and your mod configuration is dynamically linked to, but your Skyrim directory never changes.
It can automaticaly sort mods.
It supports multiple profiles. Especially when you start modding, chances are you play around. This allows you to have multiple sets of mods that you can easily switch between.
Since mod-data (like skripts) is saved in your save games, these can also be linked to mod profiles. Even ini-files (skyrim.ini / skyrimprefs.ini) are linked to profiles.
Likewise, if you plan to use ENBs, I highly recommend using ENB manager and changer. When you try out ENBs to see which one you like, being able to switch between them with the press of a button is heaven sent. In this case, I personally think installing ENBs via this helper is easier than to do it manually. It's a JAVA program, so you need to install a JAVA runtime environment.
You should definitely switch from using Steam Workshop to Skyrim Nexus to get your mods. Nexus allows you to use a mod manager to install and manage your mods. I recommend Mod Organizer (MO), but even Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) is more powerful and offers more control than Workshop. However, I highly don't recommend installing mods manually as it's slow, tedious, and risky. STEP has detailed documentation on how to use MO. Alternatively, Gopher has a video tutorial series on YouTube if you prefer videos to reading.
Read all of this.
Use Mod Organizer by the way. It's just a better program.
Your load order is off. It should go something like this:
Skyrim.esm Update.esm Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp Dawnguard.esm Unofficial Dawnguard Patch.esp Hearthfire.esm Unofficial Hearthfire Patch.esp Dragonborn.esm Unofficial Dragonborn Patch.esp HighResTexturePack01.esp HighResTexturePack02.esp HighResTexturePack03.esp Unofficial High Resolution Patch.esp ... other plugins
Check out LOOT for automated load order optimization.
In addition to that, you might want to use a better mod manager than NMM. Mod Organizer is better and safer.
think before you install something
read the hole mod page before you install a mod.
if the mods you have at the workshop is on the nexus you should unsub from them and delete the ESP/ESM/BSA files in your Data folder (your Data folder should only be for vanilla files and SKSE/ENB) and install them again with MO.
I'm going to start off by saying that my opinions of the Workshop are a bit biased because of the community's opinion of it. I've never used it for Skyrim myself, but it does seem a bit restrictive.
You'll probably want to go for downloading the mods online. However, Mod Organizer is much better than NMM. One of the largest advantages to it is it installs mods to a separate folder instead of your data folder, which makes for a much easier time uninstalling mods and keeping your game stable.
So, use Mod Organizer as apposed to NMM, and just forget about the Workshop. If you need help with it there's plenty of video guides on Youtube. One guy in particular that helped me transfer from NMM was Mark Hollis (just google it with another keyphrase like "Mod Organizer"). He has a few MO videos that are very informative and should help you get started.
I think I'll also direct you to the STEP guide, as it has proven to be an invaluable resource for me. Also /r/skyrimmods.
Use Mod Organiser
It doesn't install anything to your skyrim folder so you don't have to worry about overwritting files. Also you can customise and save multiple presets of mods. So you can jump between your Skyre Frostfall Hunter character to your Requiem Mage just with one click.
I made the move to MO last month and I have no complaints. Took me a little while to get the basics but it's awesome
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?
and a little guide
While you can install them manually, fomods are meant to be installed with a mod manager, like Mod Organizer for instance.
You really shouldn't install mods manually, though. If you're getting started with modding, you should follow Beginner's Guide for a more stable experience.
Mod Organizer is the only way to fly.
It stages your install, so you can always go back to fresh by disabling your mods.
It also shows you mod conflicts on a per-file basis, and allows you to choose which mod's version gets used.
It may be slightly harder to learn, but it is by far the best mod manager for all Bethesda games.
The contents of the mod-added house and any changes you make to it with your mage will stay in your mage's save file. The house will exist in your skeever hunter save file as well if you keep the mod enabled, but it will stay in its default configuration until you make changes to it with your skeever hunter.
You can have a modded game and a vanilla game by utilizing Mod Organizer's profiles feature. You can even have several modded profiles, each with their own mods lists and save files separate from each other if you use Mod Organizer as your mod manager.
Steam Workshop is console-level tech
You are a member of the PC master race, where is your damn pride?? Skip NMM and go straight to MO. Do things right. Insult plebians.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?
I highly recommend switching over to Mod Organizer. It will make your life a lot easier in the long run.
S.T.E.P. Core would be good for what you want. I recommend following every single step up through 2.C. After that you can pick and choose which of the suggestions you want to download. After you have gone through S.T.E.P Core, you can go ahead with your overhauls.
You should use Mod Organizer instead. It has LOOT built into it, which automatically sets up a load order for you. Mod Organizer also installs the mods to its own directory, so your Skyrim installation remains untouched and doesn't get messed up. You may have to watch a video or two on it though. I refuse to use NMM because of it.
This can go really deep, so fair warning. Back in the day with Oblivion there were mods that would take DAYS to configure just right and install, and you'd be looking at a content extension of 20 gigabytes and completely new worlds. Fuck, like FCOM which was a compilation of an incredible amount of content.
The process has been refined to the point now, that it's ridiculously simple. Much more simple than it used to be anyway.
Check out gophers vids.
I, personally, couldn't imagine settling even with the workshop to this day. Much better off with the nexus and their mod manager.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/?
And, once you get super addicted to modding, get mod organizer instead of nexus's version as it doesn't overwrite or change your main files. Much safer.
check out /r/skyrimmods too.
You're not too late, out of literally thousands and thousands of mods, 19 are now paid for. And most of those 19 are still available free. It sucks, we're pissed, but the modding community certainly will not die.
So... what is it that you want to know? Instal Skyrim on Steam. Install Mod organizer browse the Nexus for some mods you want, and download them and install them. Then Play.
The beginner's guide is an excellent resource too. Just ask if you need explanation on anything. :)
I think you're confusing Mod Organizer (MO) with LOOT. LOOT is not a mod manager, so it doesn't install or manage mods for you. All it does is manage load order.
No it doesn't. Mod Organizer keeps every mod in a different folder and they can be on a separate HDD as well (the dude above doesn't have space for another 12 GB of mods on top of Skyrim installation on his SSD).
If you use MO your installation folder is clean, you don't overwrite anything, mods are super easy to enable/disable/delete/update and you can set up profiles (different combinations of mods for different characters).
Replace Nexus Mod Manager with Mod Organizer.
Replace BOSS with LOOT.
Replace The Dance of Death with VioLens.
got only my vanilla game there with an ENB and SKSE. (18.4GB) (thats vanilla game with all DLC with all the files unzipped from the BSA files)
tho my MO mod folder is at 68,4GB ATM http://puu.sh/bsQdX/95d40154ec.png
could have been alot larger TBH.....
if anyone wants a list of what i have on my system ATM: here
I suggest using this as your mod manager, its what i use. Used both SMM and NMM, this one is better.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?
It's way more powerfull then NMM. It has LOOT integrated to sort your load order, (a better version of BOSS.) and it keeps your skyrim folder clean.
I Also suggest checking out S.T.E.P and G.E.M.S.
I currently run about 350+ mods with 270 ESP and it runs perfectly fine.
(yes i merged over 20 .esp's because of the 256(FF) mod limit on the skyrim engine.)
If you plan on playing through the game from the beginning, I would definitely just start from scratch to make sure you get all the patches you need.
I don't know if you have any experience with Mod Organizer, but if you are starting from scratch, you should give it a go. It will make stuff like this a lot easier in the future since it prevents mods from physically overwriting each other so it's a lot easier to manage/swap out mods.
It also has LOOT (replacement for BOSS) built in, so you don't have to worry about that. Simply click the "Sort" button in the plugin tab and you're good to go.
I don't know how to solve the problem, but if you are about to uninstall NMM, I would recommend you to change to Mod Organizer. You will find that it has all the features of NMM and so much more, making modding much easier. Good luck!
Yeah no problem at all! And take a look at the Realvision mod page, the author has a extensive and detailed guide to making your game look like his videos and screenshots. Ive pretty much followed that he has there with a few deviations.
Mod Organizer is far far superior to Nexus Mod Manger imo. MO allows you to keep your Skyrim binary completely clean. Meaning you can go into it and run the TESV.exe and youll get vanilla skyrim without any mods. No more actual overwriting of game files. It will take a little more effort to set up but it is worth it.
Also look up how to use BOSS and TES5Edit. BOSS makes it so you dont have to worry about load order at all bc it does it for you and TES5Edit help stabilize your game but cleaning up some files. Again it will require some learning to use correctly but it will pay off when you dont crash randomly.
This is a Classic-only mod for the time being, unfortunately. However, DS4Windows is compatible with everything since it's essentially just a translator, and totally usable for both classic and SE.
For the loadout, Nexus Mod Manager for the new kids who don't know any better, but if you're willing to deal with program crashes every now and then (note: the crashes don't happen during play), there's the Mod Organizer 2 beta on the STEP forums. Significantly better across the board than NMM even with the crashes.
I recommend checking out this post on getting SkyUI 2.2 to work with SSE, too, because no script extender on SSE yet means cluttery configuration powers and shitty menus! Hooray! :D... :(
For Classic, the original MO 1.3.11 is the undisputed victor. Anyone who says otherwise doesn't know what they're talking about.
Yeah definitely still supported. Actually it is currently under development and have brought on the creator of the popular Mod Organizer to help with development. We should be getting an exceptional new version of NMM in the future.
For now I highly recommend Mod Organizer for Skyrim. But as the other commenter said, if your looking to stick with NMM keep trying, it may have been a server issue.
Check this out if you want to learn more about the future of Mod Organizer
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/news/13257/?
And for Mod Organizer
If it's using the same My Documents folder, then it would be using the same skyrim.ini and skyrimprefs, which would have been overwritten when you first launched your new install. You'll need to reconfigure them for your modded install. If you're using Mod Organizer (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?), you can just create a new profile for a vanilla game - it will make a new set of ini files for each profile.
Yes its a great game that you can play for hours. The best part is that the modding community is still active and there are about 50,000 different mods on skyrim nexus. (If you do buy skyrim, I suggest downloading mod organizer (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?) and then getting mods off of this website: (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/?)). For prices check isthereanydeal.com and buy according to your budget. I'd still recommend steam since it makes managing your game files more easy.
Sounds like you need to learn a bit about load orders and masters.
1nivWICSkyCloaksPatch.esp is a compatibility patch that allows Winter Is Coming (1nivWICCloaks.esp) and Cloaks of Skyrim (Cloaks.esp) to work together. 1nivWICSkyCloaksPatch.esp lists 1nivWICCloaks.esp and Cloaks.esp as master files, because it can't work if you don't have the two mods it's supposed to work with. This means that your game won't launch unless both of the masters for 1nivWICSkyCloaksPatch.esp are present in your load order and above 1nivWICSkyCloaksPatch.esp.
If you don't want to use Cloaks of Skyrim, then just disable 1nivWICSkyCloaksPatch.esp and you won't be missing out on anything. If you do want Cloaks of Skyrim, then make sure reactivate 1nivWICSSkyCloaksPatch.esp and put it below Cloaks.esp.
And if you're going to be installing that many mods, you really should be using Mod Organizer. It would have automatically pointed out for you that 1nivWICSkyCloaksPatch.esp was causing the problem.
Mod Organizer: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?
Cloaks of Skyrim: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/12092/?
Dude, install Mod Organizer. It's the best mod manager available.
As for the jacket, you'd have to rip the model from mass effect and port it to skyrim using nifskope and some 3D software, like Blender.
And another tip: if you want to pause the game (I assume that's why you set timescale to 0) it's better to use 'tfc 1'.
Go to /r/skyrimmods and check out the sidebar, they've got a lot of useful info.
I know you've probably heard this before, but you really shouldn't use the workshop, even with a few mods it can cause problems for you. Plus, if you start off using Mod Organizer (http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?) with only a few mods you'll be able to pick it up fairly quickly. That way you either get:
a stable game with only a few mods
realize you want to mod more intensely and you already have the skill set for it
What is the best mod manager to use for Oblivion?
Years ago when I played Oblivion, I used Oblivion Mod Manager (OBMM), but with Skyrim and New Vegas I've been using Mod Organizer, which to me is a much more sane option, since you don't modify the actual game install directory.
Does Mod Organizer work well for Oblivion?
I've messed around for a long time, right now I would advise you to get to know about Mod Organizer, SKSE and ENB first. Set them up nicely, that's a start.
Some already linked you too /r/skyrimmods, so start from there. Google a lot because you won't be able to ask all the time. Must do the research yourself for maximum efficiency.
Anyhow, after you got it. I'd recommend you some good stuff from my experience (there should be a lot of other good stuff too)
First, if you're new, get SkyUI, various bugfix such as:
- Unofficial patches
- Proper Aiming
- Better Message
- Better Dialogue
For ENB: (only ONE of them, you can't run two at the same time)
- K ENB
- Vividian ENB
- Somber series ENB
- Opethfeldt ENB
- polo ENB
For texture:
- Stunning Statues
- Vivid Landscape
- Immersive Roads
- aMidian Book of Silence
- Lorkhans Night
- Pure Water
For NPC:
- Facelight (this should be essential)
- Pretty Face
- UNP Body
(I don't know about others, but for me Pretty Face + UNP is already godlike, I don't need any other stuff for body or skin)
- Eyes of Beauty
- SG Hair
- Apachii Hair (with natural texture, it's a different mod)
- Precache killer (so the game won't stutter when you get too many hairstyles)
For mesh:
- Static Mesh Improvement Mod
There are a lot more of course, but I can't list them all here.
Here is the link: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?
Under "Features" it supports: Oblivion, Fallout 3, Fallout NV and Skyrim currently. I used it for Skyrim a couple of times and fell in love with it, would love to use it for Fallout 4 eventually!
First if you're not using it I'd highly recommend you learn about Mod Organizer.
Mods stay separated from each other and no overwriting of files.
You can also have different profiles, and only use certain mods on each one, as well as keeping saves visible only to that profile.
Suggest using Mod Organizer instead of NMM. NMM is okay, but MO won't modify ANY game files, so if you have a mod that is game breaking, you can remove it without fucking anything up too bad.
Make sure you check out Grimy's post about the plugin. He's the maker of GUISE!
Welcome to Skyrim modding, by the way. As of now you don't 'play' Skyrim anymore. Now you play WITH Skyrim!
You may want to take a look at the S.T.E.P. guide and the beginner's guide directly to your right. You're also gonna want some essentials:
Your load order follows the Rule of One. That is, the mod that is loaded last will overwrite all mods before it. That's why, in order for some mods to play nice with each other, you may need compatibility patches and Wyre Bash for Bashed Patches.
You will also need TES5Edit to clean your mods and the original Skyrim ESMs. There is a guide for cleaning mods and TES5Edit on YouTube made by Gopher. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOQO2S6HDBw
Do yourself a favor and go download Mod Organizer. There's a bit of a learning curve, but there's no better way to manage your mods. I have over 300 mods playing nice on Mod Organizer.
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?
What's nice about Mod Organizer is that the window on the right is your ESPs and ESMs and their order, then on the left panel is your actual mod load order. This includes everything that isn't an ESP: meshes, textures, sounds, scripts, all that stuff that makes Skyrim more interesting. By moving mods up and down in your left panel you can choose which mods overwrite other mods. For example, if you really like aMidianBorn textures but different meshes you can put aMidianBorn below your armor replacer and you'll get aMidianBorn textures with the other mod's meshes.
It'll make more sense when you actually start doing it.
Unofficial Patches - Make sure you get the DLC ones for the DLCs you have. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19/?
There are also various performance patches and INI tweaks, but remember that not all tweaks are created equal. There's a lot of misinformation around about Skyrim modding, so if you're unsure just ask!
Good luck making your perfect game!
You could backup your save and reinstall everything from scratch, or you could open this guide, select the files from Step 5 and cut them to a temporary folder, then compress and backup what's left in the Data folder, as well as your save.
If you opt for reinstalling from scratch, I recommend switching to Mod Organizer. It installs mods outside of the Data folder in their own individual environments, making it easier to back up and maintain.
That would be Mod Organizer by Tannin, it works for FO3, FNV, and Skyrim. It can downloaded from the Nexus: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/? It takes some learning but it is much more powerful. It would have told you at a glance what master you were missing
Yes, Mod Organizer is what you want. It has profiles that can load different mods, in different orders, and freely switch between them since it soesn't overwrite anything. I'd recommend checking out Gopher's great Mod Organizer tutorials to get a better grasp of the differences between NMM and MO.
Mod Organizer is really great and versatile. It's the first "mod manager" I've used and after some video tutorials it works great for me. The best thing in my opinion is that I don't have to worry about installing things in the "correct" order, or uninstall to change the order.
Are you using the memory patch .ini file? If not, go to SteamApps/Common/Skyrim/Data/SKSE and create a text file with the these lines:
[General]
EnableDiagnostics=1
ClearInvalidRegistrations=1
[Display]
iTintTextureResolution=2048
[Memory]
defaultHeapInitialAllocMB=768
scrapHeapSizeMB=256
Then save it as skse.ini. Make sure you select the all files option so it's not saved as a text file.
Also, I'd really recommend switching to Mod Organizer instead of NMM. Gopher has a great tutorial playlist on why you should use it, how to set it up and how to use some of its advanced features.
Good luck.
Yes, MO allows you to download mods with the "Download with Manager" button as well. MO can check your mod list for updates but you'll need to download them yourself.
If you want more information on what features are present, take a look at the Nexus page of the Mod Organizer.
Getting SkyUI will also require getting SKSE, which is a must-have for many complicated mods that dig in deep into the functionality of the game.
While I do recommend using Skyrim Nexus Mods for your mod source, instead of NMM I recommend Mod Organiser for keeping track of your mods for you.
Do you use Loot to sort your load order? if not then I strongly recommend that you do, will solve most of these problems hopefully. Also if you can use ModOrganizer, it has an easy way of showing you what overwrites each other!
Edit: sorry if this is old news, there just wasn't a lot of info in your post :)
It installs mods outside of the skyrim dir using a temporary, memory based file system built from the mods you want to install. That means that no files are overwritten and your skyrim dir stays clean.
The only problem I've ever had using it is when I exceed the 255 mod limit that skyrim has.
It is simply, seriously, just a better program than NMM. And since it can convert from an NMM setup, there's no reason to not give it a try.
Also worth mentioning: once you get into more and more mods, or if you're one to have many playthroughs, it just makes more sense to start using Mod Organizer, which lets you assign mods to saves. This means you don't have to sift through NMM, disabling all your magic mods when you want a warrior build, for example.
Back on a computer now, so I have some information I didn't have on the ride home that you should be aware of:
NMM version 0.60 does support mod profiles, but it's currently in alpha, and there have been several reports of bugs in the new build. Still, if you wanna stick with NMM, it looks like it has the functionality you want.
Mod Organizer is still the gold standard in mod managing (although it doesn't support as many games as NMM, it does support Skyrim). Beware, though, that there is a bit of work making the switch from NMM to MO, but there is ample information about switching between the two-- the best single video is probable Gopher's tutorial on how to switch from NMM to MO without having to redownload all your mods. I would recommend this over updating NMM, but the amount of work to carry over is non-negligible.
Nota Bene: I was wrong about MO having to be installed from a 7z archive. It has its own standalone executable installer as well (the "installer" version of the files).
First of all get yourself a mod manager. It's a 1000x better than Skyrim's launcher. I recommend Mod Organizer. You'll need to make a nexus account to download, but no worries it's free. Once you got that installed (instructions in the side bar under 'Beginner's Guide'), download and install all your mods through Mod organizer, it's much more reliable than what you're doing now. Plus the nexus has more graphical mods.
>I'll be getting Nexus when I get payed
Why don't you get a nexus account now? It's free. Then download Mod Organizer. You need to use a mod manager when installing mods, end of story. The beginner's guide explains how to set everything up that you need to get going.
On to your problem, you're missing a master, (which is very easy to fix if you're using a mod manager) i.e. one or more mods in your load order is relying on a mod that you don't have. So you either have to install that mod, or uninstall the mod that's needing that mod.
The only question that pops up in my head is Are you running the last version of skyrim ? My suggestion is : you do the update, you start using Mod Organizer, and you say goodbye to problems like that.
Use NMM. It makes life 100 times easier. Doesn't matter if you use 1 mod or 1000 mod organizers are a must.
Better yet, install Mod Organizer. Guaranteed to make your life 1000 times easier.
I would recommend not using all of these at once, I have a pretty high-end pc; gtx780, fx8350, 16gb ram, ssd If you don't already have this, get Mod Organizer from Nexus and load the mods with this. The mods range from light to extremely heavy. So I honestly can't recommend any specific specs.
If you use NMM, it will install all of your mods to the game folder, even if you install NMM on another drive.
If you want to have your mods on a separate hard drive, I recommend using Mod Organizer as your mod manager instead and install it on your hard drive.
I have my doubts about the Alternate Start problem and your issue being connected. Sounds like a corrupted AS installation.
As for your problem, did you try running the game without mods? It might be an issue with the game itself; also, since you are running the abomination that is NMM, you might have some leftover files from other mods. I suggest making a switch to Mod Organizer before it's too late.
It is also possible that you are experiencing the bug called Infinite Loading Screens. You can check if you have it by using Memory Blocks Log, and SSME should fix it for you in that case.
neither. Use Mod Organizer. Gopher made a youtube series that will help get you started its the most powerful and versatile
Go with Mod Organizer. It's the best mod manager, hands down, largely because it operates in a way completely different to other managers. While NMM and the like copy mod files directly into your game folder, Mod Organizer creates a virtual file structure every time you launch the game, leaving your Data folder pristine.
With other mod managers, if you have messed up the uninstallation of a mod, you don't have any choice but to try and remove its files manually (and pray that it didn't overwrite vanilla files), or to re-install Skyrim altogether. That problem just does not exist with MO.
If you have NMM installed in program files it's possible that causes issues as program files is notorious for causing issues with programs inside them regarding permissions and crap.
I really don't know what could be causing the issue though, maybe check windows update, or else reinstall NMM or something.
You can also try using Mod Organizer, it's what I, and many others use, and honestly once you get use to it, while it's a bit more complex at first than NMM, it's an awesome program for modding once you get use to it, and much easier to use than NMM in my opinion once your use to it.
You don't have to if you don't want to, just my recommendation.
BOSS is deprecated. There is a newer project called LOOT in active development that comes pre-built into Mod Organizer, which I strongly recommend people use instead of the Nexus Mod Manager.
MAKE SURE YOU BACK UP YOUR SAVES. DON'T TRUST STEAM CLOUD ALONE.
38 mods is a fairly reasonable number to work with. Your best bet would probably be to carefully note your active mods and the order in which you installed or activated them. Then forget about NMM and use Mod Organizer. With MO, you can have different mods active in different playthroughs. You can consider the installed mods as a pool of mods and for each profile you can have a different set of them active.
I'd recommend a clean install of Skyrim for all of this. There are many great resources for MO like Mod Organizer a Beginner's Guide [33:58]. Once you use MO, you'll never look back. Each character can have his or her own mod list easily and seamlessly. Nothing is installed, so your Data folder remains pristine. Enabling and disabling mods is as easy as checking and unchecking a box. If you need to adjust the order in which you installed your mods, there's no reason to reinstall Skyrim. Simply change the install order within MO.
The easiest way is to use Mod Organizer (MO) as your mod manager. It lets you create separate profiles with separate lists of mods and save files, so you can keep the save files of each character in different profiles. However, if you already use another mod manager like Nexus Mod Manager (NMM) and are satisfied with you mod setup, it's quite an undertaking to migrate your setup as it's ideal to start again with a fresh installation of the game and reinstall all your mods with MO. If you don't want to do that, there are several save managers on the Skyrim Nexus, or you could keep the save files of each character in a different folder and them move them in and out of the saves folder when you want to switch characters.
Steam Workshop and the launcher are basically a rudimentary mod manager, but with many limitations. As such, I don't recommend using them unless there are mods that you really want but can't get anywhere else, and there are ways to install Workshop mods with other mod managers anyway, so there's basically no reason to use it.
I highly recommend using Mod Organizer as your mod manager over Nexus Mod Manager. It doesn't install mods directly into the game files, so they stay clean and no file overwrites happen, making the installation, uninstallation, and reordering of mods easier and faster. Gopher has a video tutorial series on YouTube and STEP has a comprehensive guide explaining how to use it.
It might be possible, but also might be complicated. Since the game needs Steam, the only way I can think of is to have 2 sets of the game's file and to move one set into the folder whenever you want to switch setups. However, this isn't really very practical as the game files are several GB in size and moving them around will take a bit of time. Also, there might be a few complications with your mod manager as well as it might get confused by the different mod setups in the same directory.
Honestly, the easiest way would be to use Mod Organizer as your mod manager instead. It has a profiles feature that lets you have different profiles with separate lists of mods and save files, so each profile is basically another installation of the game.