Hello, I'm new to modding.

[PaintedDeath]

I recently picked up Skyrim for my PC because I wanted to try the game with some mods. Having poking around the forums a bit, I haven't found anything to really help me get started adding mods to the game. If anyone could point me in the direction to a good "Getting started" guide I would appreciate it.

Also, if anyone could recommend some good mods to start off with, I'd appreciate that also.

 

Thanks for any help you can give.

[cronosnake]

Hi PaintedDeath,

 

First, what modding experience are you looking for? Nexus has various categories that will help you target content you are interested in. Do you want your game to look as good as it can be? Do you want to play the game in a different style? Do you want to partake in community-made quests?

 

If I give out specific titles, you can probably take a couple keywords and type it in the search engine. You can also browse categories for general ideas; that is found here: http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/categories//?

 

First of all, check out the unofficial patches. Skyrim is a buggy game, but the patches can fix a lot of dumb errors in the vanilla (unmodded) game.

 

In my case, I had already owned the game on PS3, and was looking to explore new content. I really appreciate quest mods and hardcore mods. For quests, "Helgen Reborn" stands out as a popular favorite. For hardcore realism, I like stuff such as "Frostfall" and "Battle fatigue and injuries".

 

If you are looking to add personality, you could look at follower mods. The internet mandates that most of them are girls, but nonetheless, there are some pretty good ones out there. "Vilja" is one of the more popular ones.

 

If you want new weapons, just take a look at weapons and armor mods in the categories section. I'm not as familiar with these, but some of them are pretty cool; screenshots will tell you if you like them or not.

 

There are also a good amount of combat overhauls; SkyRe (Skyrim Redone) is one of the more popular ones, and those would also be under overhauls in categories.

 

I (as well as 50,000+endorsers) would recommend SkyUI. It makes the menu much more useful. However, it requires an extra 'installation' of the script extender, SKSE. There is a good youtube video by GopherVids that will make installation easier. Google SKSE for the files themselves.

 

In general, look at the Top Files of All time section; you'll get a good idea of what you might like.

 

I think the best way to figure out what you want is to just take notes while you play; if you think "I wish I had a mod that made my player look at others in 3rd person" during an awkward dialogue, take note and check it out later. On that topic, I think Player Headtracking is great :P

 

Sometimes, other people need to suggest mods for you to realize you want them. I find it helpful to browse the mod detectives forum at the top of this page; Something might ring a bell for you, and if you are lucky, will have been found already.

 

And, if you have reason to believe a mod does not yet exist, ask about it in the mod requests forum. I hope this was helpful!

 

EDIT: Also, read mod descriptions! They will tell you if you need SKSE, in which case you will have to install it. It will also mention mod conflicts, or mods that WILL NOT work together. Lastly, you might need to check if you need any of the Official DLC's to use the mod.

 

EDIT AGAIN: I also forgot to mention graphical mods. ENB's are presets for ENB series lighting mods, and those are pretty popular for screenshots, but may cause some lag in-game. There are also mods like Static Mesh Improvement Mod (SMIM) or 2K textures.

Edited July 14, 2013 by cronosnake

[PaintedDeath]

I've heard about SkyUI and it's one of the first ones I want to install to get rid of the horrible console UI. Secondly, I'd like to install graphical mods to make the game look nicer, and if there any good combat mods that make the combat more intense, ALA Chivalry: Medieval Warfare I'd like to check those out. Once that stuff is out of the way, I'll start tinkering around with different stuff.

Mostly though, I'm looking to find out how to actually begin adding mods. You already mentioned the SKSE, I'm not really sure what that is but I am find out through a google search I'm sure. I modded Morrowind but that was YEARS ago and I wouldn't want to bet any money that I'd remember how to do that, so I'm not new to mods or anything, just rusty I guess.