Is it possible to still manually download mods on Anniversary Edition?

[Sally]

As the title says. I'm sorry, I'm way too stupid to be able to wrap my head around Vortex or whatnot and I just find it easier to do it. I chatted with a few people in a discord over whether it's possible, and I just want actual confirmation if it can be done.

And if it can be done, is it basically the same as doing it on the old skyrim? Pretty much dropping what you need in the data/skyrim folders themselves?

[sdack]

Originally posted by Sally:

Pretty much dropping what you need in the data/skyrim folders themselves?

Pretty much yes.

But do make sure to read the installation instructions and be very careful with it. The use of mod managers has made things a lot easier for many, but you should in return expect manual installations to be more complicated than before and to be possibly more prone to errors.

[Tao314zdin]

Possible - yes. Procedure is simple:
-place files where they belong (most in Data, read fomod-xml when applicable)
-activate plugins in plugins.txt located in your local-folder/Skyrim (load-order top to bottom)

Fully manual becomes a bit tedious when you a beyond few dozen mods though, so you might consider at least some automated assembly procedure to rebuild the game when necessary.

I myself do not use mod-managers, but I had to implement some simple scripts to move files around automatically just so I do not have drop things by hand.

[th]

Why bother with plugins.txt? Isn't it simplier to use in-game menu Mods and its functions to activate/deactivate mods and to change a load order?

[HazakTheMad]

Originally posted by th:

Why bother with plugins.txt? Isn't it simplier to use in-game menu Mods and its functions to activate/deactivate mods and to change a load order?

Perhaps, but that will auto disable skyui unless you use an esp replacer to add Skyrim.esm as a master to that plugin.

[Tao314zdin]

Originally posted by th:

Why bother with plugins.txt? Isn't it simplier to use in-game menu Mods and its functions to activate/deactivate mods and to change a load order?

Isn't the in-game menu for cc-content only and also require bethesda-account registration? Or which one are your referring to?

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by Tao314zdin:

Originally posted by th:

Why bother with plugins.txt? Isn't it simplier to use in-game menu Mods and its functions to activate/deactivate mods and to change a load order?

Isn't the in-game menu for cc-content only and also require bethesda-account registration? Or which one are your referring to?

Do people actually read what's in the menu?
You have the Creation Club and a section called "Mods" which isn't the same at all, but yes it requires a Beth.net account.

[Tao314zdin]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Originally posted by Tao314zdin:

Isn't the in-game menu for cc-content only and also require bethesda-account registration? Or which one are your referring to?

Do people actually read what's in the menu?
You have the Creation Club and a section called "Mods" which isn't the same at all, but yes it requires a Beth.net account.

Well then unless you actually create the account how would you know;)?

[alexander_dougherty]

Originally posted by Tao314zdin:

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Do people actually read what's in the menu?
You have the Creation Club and a section called "Mods" which isn't the same at all, but yes it requires a Beth.net account.

Well then unless you actually create the account how would you know;)?

Because the menu labels are "Creation Club" and "Mods"..... ok you wouldn't know about needing the account until you tried to use those sections of the launcher menu, but the fact one is called "Mods" is a huge clue....

[Tao314zdin]

Originally posted by alexander_dougherty:

Originally posted by Tao314zdin:

Well then unless you actually create the account how would you know;)?

Because the menu labels are "Creation Club" and "Mods"..... ok you wouldn't know about needing the account until you tried to use those sections of the launcher menu, but the fact one is called "Mods" is a huge clue....

It is a clue but it does not really tell you what it does, but thanks for clarifying! Also it requiring bethesda-account is a clue in the opposite direction to be fair.

On the other hand, still not very useful as full-manual without at least automatic assembly cuts short way to fast in terms of usability. And with automatic assembly there is not need to do manual plugins.txt editing anyway.

[Ilja]

You know, it would be easier, if you would just ask us to help you out with Vortex.

It is very simple for new users, which is both it's strength and weakness. You would basically just need us to explain the UI and how tool links work. That's it.

You can manually install mods, but why bother going through the effort of fixing files, replacing loose files manually and checking all the mod updates manually?

Each their own, but it really would not take long to figure out.

Basics:
You have two main views. Mods view, where your mod folders are and resource conflicts are solved + Load Order view, where your plugins are and record issues are being solved.

You can download mods directly through mod manager. Alternatively (which what I do with both MO2 and Vortex) you can download mods manually to specific location and use Vortex to install files from had drive. It comes with browser.

Vortex pretty much sorts order on it's own - in good and bad. For most cases it gets it correct. You might still want to run LOOT, because it's report in UI gives a horde of information about potential issues and available patches.

Content is not actually installed in to your Data folder. Instead Vortex installs all content in to another folder and deploys links to Data folder. That way your folder always remains mostly clean, save from xSE and ENB files that you might have thrown in to it.

Then hit "Play" (or SKSTE64 launcher) and start playing.

[Roccondil]

Yep. Vortex is actually very N00B-friendly. And Nexus does have a series of videos to go through the basics of it. So does the Youtuber Gopher.

And overall, it is NOT recommended to manually mod Skyrim. You technically can do it, it's just not something you really should do.

[bLaCkShAd0w]

Best reason to not use the in game mod manager:

If you ever install something that causes crashing, you can no longer load the game to fix your mistake.

Previous Bethesda titles were at least smart enough to put that feature in the launcher and not the game, for that very reason.

[🖤Lyra🖤]

it is however it's something that shouldn't be used for every mod you install in some cases you will have to manually install a mod but by no means should you manually install all your mods this way as you have a higher chance of messing things up or you may forget what mods you had installed and it's a entire guessing game on what you had installed 3 months ago and not only that but if you have a mod conflict then you are going to be wasting time trying to figure out what's conflicting and it's just a mess. So manually installing mods should be used in cases when a mod tells you in the description that you have to install some files manually into your game files. All of your mods should be installed via Mod organizer or Vortex one of the two or else you will be in the forums crying and raging that you can't mod skyrim without having issues.

[Tao314zdin]

Originally posted by 𒈒Asura𒈒:

All of your mods should be installed via Mod organizer or Vortex one of the two or else you will be in the forums crying and raging that you can't mod skyrim without having issues.

Not really. There are plenty of space between full-manual and mod managers.

Full-manual is indeed only viable for a few mods in general (although I do not buy the "forget what you installed" sentiment as only a clinical imbecile would drop mods in without having their mod-assembly being stored somewhere separately).

However with a tool as simple as automatic assembler (a simple script to take whatever mods you placed somewhere and copy them where they should be in correct order + create plugins.txt) mod-managers are not really needed for anything.

Except of course tools like Loot are always good to consult with at least, as re-implementing that is quite not as easy.

[jancawa55]

Originally posted by Sally:

As the title says. I'm sorry, I'm way too stupid to be able to wrap my head around Vortex or whatnot and I just find it easier to do it. I chatted with a few people in a discord over whether it's possible, and I just want actual confirmation if it can be done.

And if it can be done, is it basically the same as doing it on the old skyrim? Pretty much dropping what you need in the data/skyrim folders themselves?

Well, that is how I do it, and have been for ten years. I run 200 mods now with no SKSE or SKYUI, every time I try those it screws up. I am my mod manager. If it messes up, reorder mods or swap some out to get a satisfactory result. You will be the judge of how it works.
GO FOR It.