Help With Mods

[Ashazara]

So I've played Skyrim before but never had to set it up. Where should I go to get some mods and which are going to be the most helpful?

[Wolfsun]

www.nexusmods.com

[Luminary]

mods are based on personal choice... if you want to start easy, make sure to look at the "requirements" section of each mod, some of them require other mods to work and that can be challenging for a new modder.

A good rule of thumb, newer mods will require lost of other mods and tweaking to work, where as older simple mods (like adding a new piece of armor or a new sword will be easier to use.)

Manual vs mod manager? I do all my mods manually, meaning I download them and add them directly to the directory. so I can speak to that approach.

download a mod and then open it with a zip file manager like 7zip and then copy and past the files into your game folders using windows explorer at the location below.

Note: sometimes you will see a main file located in the "data" folder and sub files located in the "meshes" or "textures" folder. just copy and past or drag and drop, so that you game files match the zip files. Then, once you have copied the files you need to open the game, go to the "creations" area, and click 'load order" to activate the mod, so it will work. A good plan is to activate mods 1 at a time. so activate, test, and then if it works, do the next mod.

(C:/Programfiles86/steam/steamapps/common/skyrimspecialaddition/data

good luck

[Kenny]

TL;DR: modding requires time and attention, you download mods from NexusMods, use ModOrganizer 2 to mod the game, NO "manual modding", NO Vortex, watch tutorials and read everything on mod pages. If you just want to play a stable, modded game by only having to click a couple times give a look at Wabbajack website, not NexusCollections.


Like Wolfsun said, NexusMods is the right website for mods. At 99% the only source where you will ever need to download from, if you are not interested in advances s*x mods, the weird kind, or you know what you are actually looking for.

About the approach to modding itself, please ignore what Luminary said about "manual modding". You "manual mod" Skyrim and you will hate life. This is not The Witcher 3, you mess with Data folder and chances are you are gonna have to reinstall the game, especially if you are new to this. Look up how to install Mod Organizer 2 and how to set it up to get started. Plenty of both text/video tutorials on web.

Even if it's one of your first times playing the game I still HAVE to suggest some essentials mods that do not alter the original experience, like Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch (aka USSEP), SkyUI, SSE Display Fixes, SSE Engine Fixes.. the kind of mods that make the game playable in 2024 by fixing bugs, preventing crashes and improving the game, without making any actual modifications to gameplay or visuals. The majority of mods require Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE), again plenty of tutorials out there.

IMHO, this is not a good time to start modding from scratch since the new game patch broke a lot of mods and a new one is on it's way, breaking them again. If I was you I would wait till the next patch, which should be out this month, that tries to fix the whole F*ck You situation Bethesda creates every once in a while with updates, which break mods.

In the meanwhile, if you want to play the game anyway, you can get thousands of mods in a couple clicks using a tool called Wabbajack, which will also install and configure a whole ModList automatically, for FREE (looking at Creation Club right now...). A ModList, in simple terms, is usually a collection of mods already configured and tweaked to be stable and playable, made by unofficial authors (most of the time expert modders that do NOT work for Bethesda). There are various ModLists on the official Wabbajack website, from kitchen-sink approaches, to HUGE game changing ones in terms of both gameplay and visual, to more specific smaller ones that change only the gameplay OR the visuals, some more, some less. Really, there are all kinds of ModList, you will find something you like.

Wabbajack is the ultimate tool for people who don't want to invest a large amount of time, needed to properly learn how to mod; for people who do not have that time; or simply for people that just want to download a ModList and play the game. Thanks to Wabbajack, and ModLists authors, you are gonna be able to try a lot of uniques ModList and choose the ones you like better, while in the meantime you can slowly learn how most things work and look forward to building your own, once you have the required knowledge.

There is something similar to Wabbajack, named "Nexus Collections", which revolves around the same principle but does it in a different way, and using Vortex instead of ModOrganizer 2. Stay away from those. Right now, Wabbajack and ModOrganizer 2 >>> NexusCollections and Vortex, by far. I do not mean to hate on NexusCollections or Vortex, good idea and I'm sure they will keep improving in the future, but right now they are simply inferior.

If you need something I would gladly help, even tho as I said there are tons of great tutorials for everything. Everybody started from here, nobody was born with all the knowledge and skills to mod.
Sorry for the wall of text, and no offense to Luminary.

Good luck and enjoy the game.

EDIT: fixed typo.

[UsernameTaken666]

Originally posted by Ashazara:

So I've played Skyrim before but never had to set it up. Where should I go to get some mods and which are going to be the most helpful?

Did you try searching, reading, or anything really before just posting?

[Wu Shu Skittles]

I can help install DDD2 if u want

[Luminary]

Originally posted by UsernameTaken666:

Originally posted by Ashazara:

So I've played Skyrim before but never had to set it up. Where should I go to get some mods and which are going to be the most helpful?

Did you try searching, reading, or anything really before just posting?

? what are you trying to punish someone who is asking for help? this is the place for the best advice