creations keeps disabling my mods

[Actual Gamer]

Every time I start up, I have to go to creations are re enable my plugins. How do I fix this?

[Mentally Unstable]

It might be due to a conflict between your mods, maybe load order or something. List the ones you have and maybe someone else who uses the same as you can advise.

[Vlad 254]

I take it you are using a Mod manager, if so which one?

[Actual Gamer]

Originally posted by Vlad 254:

I take it you are using a Mod manager, if so which one?

Vortex

[Vlad 254]

Are you using a combination of Nexus mods and Creations in your current load order?

[Actual Gamer]

Originally posted by Vlad 254:

Are you using a combination of Nexus mods and Creations in your current load order?

Yes, just a few selected ones.

[Vlad 254]

I'm not a big fan of combining Nexus mods with Creations in the same load order, this goes back to Skyrim for me but I've been using a few Creations along with my mods from Nexus for a couple of reasons. We have some decent mods that are only available via Creations and I've wanted to see how the game handles a load order with both.

So, what I have found is that once I add a Creation to my load order and I exit Creations I of course wait for the game to reorder them, you have to. But I don't want the game taking control of my load order, I want my mod manager doing that (I use Vortex).

So I once I exit Creations and get the prompt I wait for the game to reorder them by waiting until I hear the main menu music again then I completely exit the game to my desktop.

I then go to the plugins section of Vortex and check that all my plugins are enabled. Then I hit the sort button. Then I go back in game and play.

Creations only sorts your mods when you add or update a Creation so you should follow the above steps only when performing either of those tasks.

I also never ever use the "Update All Creations" function. Update your Creations one at a time following the above procedure.

Like i said I'm not a big fan of Creations and the reason is it fights with my mod manager. I think ideally we should use either an all Creations load order or an all Nexus mods load order but if we have to use both keep your Creations to a minimum. You'll find most of the same Creations on Nexus mods as well. Not all and of course not the paid mods but again, I keep my Creations to a minimum. NOT because Creations are inferior mods because they are not, but because when I combine them with Nexus mods they don't play nice with my mod manager.

I've been doing it this way and have had no issues.

[Actual Gamer]

Originally posted by Vlad 254:

I'm not a big fan of combining Nexus mods with Creations in the same load order, this goes back to Skyrim for me but I've been using a few Creations along with my mods from Nexus for a couple of reasons. We have some decent mods that are only available via Creations and I've wanted to see how the game handles a load order with both.

So, what I have found is that once I add a Creation to my load order and I exit Creations I of course wait for the game to reorder them, you have to. But I don't want the game taking control of my load order, I want my mod manager doing that (I use Vortex).

So I once I exit Creations and get the prompt I wait for the game to reorder them by waiting until I hear the main menu music again then I completely exit the game to my desktop.

I then go to the plugins section of Vortex and check that all my plugins are enabled. Then I hit the sort button. Then I go back in game and play.

Creations only sorts your mods when you add or update a Creation so you should follow the above steps only when performing either of those tasks.

I also never ever use the "Update All Creations" function. Update your Creations one at a time following the above procedure.

Like i said I'm not a big fan of Creations and the reason is it fights with my mod manager. I think ideally we should use either an all Creations load order or an all Nexus mods load order but if we have to use both keep your Creations to a minimum. You'll find most of the same Creations on Nexus mods as well. Not all and of course not the paid mods but again, I keep my Creations to a minimum. NOT because Creations are inferior mods because they are not, but because when I combine them with Nexus mods they don't play nice with my mod manager.

I've been doing it this way and have had no issues.

So I tried your way and it semi worked, opened the game, enabled the plugins and closed it, reopened the game and saw that they were all still on but when I clicked continue game it turned them all off and then prompted me to say that the games mods were changed so I went back into the load order and saw that it turned them all off again.

[Vlad 254]

OK that was step one which now that we've eliminated that we most likely have an issue in our mod list (once you get this fixed you should always use those steps going forward).

How many mods are you running? A complete list of your load order might help us.

I'm not sure how many mods you are running but if it's too many to list then we can get the list of your plugins from Vortex. But you'll need to perform the above steps to ensure Vortex reads all your plugins. Once you've complete the above steps do the following:

Go to the "Mods" section of Vortex and then up top you'll see an orange menu. Select the folder icon (located between the History icon and the Tutorials icon). This will produce a dropdown menu and from there select "Open Game Application Data Folder". Now open the plugins.txt then copy and paste it here.

By the way, how far along are you in your current game?

[Actual Gamer]

Originally posted by Vlad 254:

OK that was step one which now that we've eliminated that we most likely have an issue in our mod list (once you get this fixed you should always use those steps going forward).

How many mods are you running? A complete list of your load order might help us.

I'm not sure how many mods you are running but if it's too many to list then we can get the list of your plugins from Vortex. But you'll need to perform the above steps to ensure Vortex reads all your plugins. Once you've complete the above steps do the following:

Go to the "Mods" section of Vortex and then up top you'll see an orange menu. Select the folder icon (located between the History icon and the Tutorials icon). This will produce a dropdown menu and from there select "Open Game Application Data Folder". Now open the plugins.txt then copy and paste it here.

By the way, how far along are you in your current game?

"ShipVendorFramework.esm
ATC Ships.esm
Blep_Gore_framework.esm
CaCO.esm
doctorrosie.esm
dwn_neonsmugglerswarehouse.esm
EAANo-Tangled.esm
Easier Ship Building.esm
Exile.esm
FireFlyEngine.esm
kgcdoom.esm
KZ_AIO.esm
MJOLNIR.esm
NewAtlantisApartment.esm
OutpostShipbuilderUnlocked.esm
ProjectWarfare.esm
PXC_AmmoHud.esm
removeresearchrequirements.esm
sfbgs023.esm
shades_immersive_looting.esm
ShipBuilderCategories.esm
ShipVendorFramework-ShatteredSpace.esm
SKKCrimsonStartNewGame.esm
SKKFastStartNewGame.esm
SKKShutdownConstellation.esm
smarterspacesuitautohideoption2.esm
SpartanArmorCollection.esm
starfield_hair+beards.esm
USU.esm
weap_HVAP.esm
*xatmosPerkUpVendors.esp"
Just started playing again after a year, deleted all my old mods and then installed new ones.

[Vlad 254]

Ok give me a few minutes. You caught me in the middle of cleaning up my pc files and updating some software. Need to reboot.

[Vlad 254]

Right off the bat this jumped out at me - You're using a mod that uses an .esp instead of a .esm and esp's should not be used in Starfield so this mod was probably made before the official tools came out.

Speaking of mods that were made before the official tools were released you are also using the mod "Exile" which although it does contain and esm instead of an esp it was made before the Creation Kit was released. I never use mods that were released before the Creation Kit came out unless the were at least updated after the Creation Kit came out.

I'm going to stop right there and advise you to perform a true Clean Reinstall of the game.
I'll leave a guide at the end of my post. Follow it to the letter.

Then when rebuilding your load order make sure the mods you install have at least been updated after June 9th2024 which is when the official tools for this game were released.

Also do not install any mods that contain a .esp

And just as importantly when building your load order only install 1 or 2 mods at a time and then start the game in order to test that there are no obvious issues. Yes it might seem time consuming but compared to the issues that can pop up because of something that could have been avoided via testing properly it's definitely not. We spend more time tracking down errors in our load orders than the process of building properly in the first place takes. The worst part is that after spending the time to track down issues many times we need to completely rebuild our load order anyway. So testing as we build is essential.

Tip: it's never a good idea to remove mods that contain esm plugins mid-game. You might not see an issue right away, and then again you might, but the likelihood that an issue pops up somewhere down the line is high.

Here the Clean reinstall guide I mentioned
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3199872428

[Actual Gamer]

Originally posted by Vlad 254:

Right off the bat this jumped out at me - You're using a mod that uses an .esp instead of a .esm and esp's should not be used in Starfield so this mod was probably made before the official tools came out.

Speaking of mods that were made before the official tools were released you are also using the mod "Exile" which although it does contain and esm instead of an esp it was made before the Creation Kit was released. I never use mods that were released before the Creation Kit came out unless the were at least updated after the Creation Kit came out.

I'm going to stop right there and advise you to perform a true Clean Reinstall of the game.
I'll leave a guide at the end of my post. Follow it to the letter.

Then when rebuilding your load order make sure the mods you install have at least been updated after June 9th2024 which is when the official tools for this game were released.

Also do not install any mods that contain a .esp

And just as importantly when building your load order only install 1 or 2 mods at a time and then start the game in order to test that there are no obvious issues. Yes it might seem time consuming but compared to the issues that can pop up because of something that could have been avoided via testing properly it's definitely not. We spend more time tracking down errors in our load orders than the process of building properly in the first place takes. The worst part is that after spending the time to track down issues many times we need to completely rebuild our load order anyway. So testing as we build is essential.

Tip: it's never a good idea to remove mods that contain esm plugins mid-game. You might not see an issue right away, and then again you might, but the likelihood that an issue pops up somewhere down the line is high.

Here the Clean reinstall guide I mentioned
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3199872428

I'll give this a try tomorrow, but thanks for the help though

[Vlad 254]

I know it's probably not what you wanted to hear but unfortunately this is the best path.

And this is nothing new, it's the same way with Skyrim or Fallout modding with the exception of the .esp rule. Those games utilize esp's, Starfield does not. Other than that the principles are basically the same.

The first time i had to perform a Clean reinstall and rebuild my load order (was Skyrim years ago) I was greatly discouraged but in the end after being stubborn and doing it my way a few more times and a few more do-overs I learned the hard way.

Modding Bethesda games is fun and all the more so once you play on your modded game. Starfield is no different, I've been modding it since the tools came out and I'm having a blast.

Good luck.

[japp_02]

I have carefully read all entries in this forum about problems with mods and would like to catch the flying ball on this occasion:

I have problems with my mods suddenly not working anymore. Now I'm aware that removing mods mid-game may cause big troubles in leaving you with a savegame ready to the trashbin, creating softlocks up to crashing the game. So I should have avoided to remove and change mod order etc, but careless like I am I just did it, and now I have 2 fundamental questions, I highly appreciate feedbacks.

My mod setup:
I don't use Creations, but use Nexus mods which generally provide xxxs.BA and xxxx.ESM files which I put in the game Data folder via a simple mod manager. I have installed in that order SFSE, Address Library for SFSE Plugins, Baka Disable My Games Folder, these are mods which always come first because some mods must run with these. I have the StarfieldCustom.ini in MyGames folder andI start game with SFSE.

1)
Is this procedure a good one for removing mods and adding new mods ?
- I make a main save in the game with all the mods still loaded, then quit the game.
- I remove ALL mods, also SFSE. I remove all esm entries in the plugin.txt in the AppData folder of Starfield.
- Launch the game via Steam, load my last save and make a fresh save, quit the game.
- I install a new mod order then load my fresh save.

This should avoid trouble in most cases, is this right?

My 2nd question is related to POI mods and find a method to see if the mod works, especially the "POI Variations No More Duplicates" mod found on Nexus.

2)
To check if a POI mod does work as intended, which of these are the right procedures?

- After the mod loaded I must go in a system *which I have not already visited*, visit a planet and see if a mod POI does spawn or see if a mission board gives me a mission related to the mod.

(This method should be safe, but what about the following methods?)

- Such mod POIs will not spawn if I visit a planet which is already scanned and visited, right?

- Is it enough to land on a not already visited area of a planet (new landing point) to see a mod POI, or is this not enough and I should go in a new system / planet not visited yet?

Anyone understanding how mod work, thanks a lot to respond here !

[Vlad 254]

Originally posted by japp_02:

I have carefully read all entries in this forum about problems with mods and would like to catch the flying ball on this occasion:

I have problems with my mods suddenly not working anymore. Now I'm aware that removing mods mid-game may cause big troubles in leaving you with a savegame ready to the trashbin, creating softlocks up to crashing the game. So I should have avoided to remove and change mod order etc, but careless like I am I just did it, and now I have 2 fundamental questions, I highly appreciate feedbacks.

I don't use Creations, but use Nexus mods which generally provide xxxs.BA and xxxx.ESM files which I put in the game Data folder via a simple mod manager.

1)
Is this procedure a good one for removing mods and adding new mods ?
- I make a main save in the game with all the mods still loaded, then quit the game.
- I remove the mod (or more mods)
- Launch the game, load my last save and make a fresh save, quit the game.
- I install new mods then load my fresh save.

This should avoid trouble in most cases, is this right?

Once you make a save the data from any mod that contained a esm plugin is baked into your saves so the only way to safely remove a mod (esm) mid-game is after you remove it revert to playing on a save that you are sure that save is from BEFORE you installed that mod and then playing from there going forward.