Best way to start a 2nd playthrough

[indycurt]

Hello!

 

I'm thinking about starting a 2nd play through of Skyrim. I have completed all quests in current play, and have over 1,800 hours of play time in the first play through.

 

I'd like somebody to give me their opinion on these questions:

 

1. What's the best way to start a new game? There is a mod out there that let's you choose a new life. Is that the way to go?

2. What should I do with my 100+ mods that I have loaded for this current game? Do the mods I have now work in the new game?

3. Should I remove mods I don't want for the next play through and leave the ones I do?

 

I guess that's my biggest question. What about my existing mods and what do I do with them when starting a new game.

 

Any advice would be so appreciated!

 

Thanks!

[Shadeybladey]

1. What's the best way to start a new game? There is a mod out there that let's you choose a new life. Is that the way to go?

 

Anyway you like.

Yes, Arthmoor's "Alternate Start - Live Another Life" is a very good mod. There is another, similar one, but I have never used it.

 

 

 

2. What should I do with my 100+ mods that I have loaded for this current game? Do the mods I have now work in the new game?

 

Whatever you like.

Yes, of course they will work on a new start - in fact, a fresh start is the best way to ensure stability whenever you change mods. I would suggest you check for updates, though, and also make sure you have USKP and all the unofficial patches for all the DLC you have.

 

 

3. Should I remove mods I don't want for the next play through and leave the ones I do?

 

Yes, that would be the most sensible approach. If you used a mod manager, remove the mods you do not want, or remove them manually, and if you used Wrye Bash, make a new Bashed Patch for your new mod set. I always keep a copy of unzipped mods in my Mods Folder and install manually so I can remove every component when I want to remove a mod. I have had some disasters with mod managers, but many people swear by them. I prefer to actually learn to know what I am doing, rather than rely on a third party program to get it right every time.

 

Of course, if you want to reload your original character, those removed mods will then be missing from those saves. But if you have finished with that character, that would not be a problem.

 

I seem to recall coming across a Multiple Mod Configuration Manager, where different mod sets could be used on different saves, but I never used it. If such a thing exists and works correctly, that would be an ideal solution for many people.

 

 

Good Luck.

[Shadeybladey]

PS also use LOOT to sort your mod list, of course. Also, TES5Edit is very useful for cleaning mods with conflicts.

[notmyhome]

1800 hours on a modded save file? That's impressive, usually even with a small load order games become unplayable after the 300 hour mark due to problems piling up.

 

If you have the time I'd recommend to completely start over using Mod Organizer. Although you seem to know your ways around modding, I've found it invaluable in terms of conflict resolution, and the "profiles" function is very useful, too.

There's a great guide over at Skyrim Total Enhancement Project, they have links to mods that fix most of Skyrim's bugs and replace most textures.

 

Other than that - go wild with mods, you've earned it.

[Mebantiza]

When I start a new playthrough, I often times do a new install to clear up any possible problems and re-install all my mods. I double check and make sure all mods(I run about 170 or so) are all up to date and current. I also created a new clean start file with all my core MCM enabled mods settings already set the way I like so I don't have to redo them every single time. Thats really about it. I start in the keep with Hadvar with my save game and skip the execution part-its already done.

[indycurt]

1. What's the best way to start a new game? There is a mod out there that let's you choose a new life. Is that the way to go?

 

Anyway you like.

Yes, Arthmoor's "Alternate Start - Live Another Life" is a very good mod. There is another, similar one, but I have never used it.

 

 

 

2. What should I do with my 100+ mods that I have loaded for this current game? Do the mods I have now work in the new game?

 

Whatever you like.

Yes, of course they will work on a new start - in fact, a fresh start is the best way to ensure stability whenever you change mods. I would suggest you check for updates, though, and also make sure you have USKP and all the unofficial patches for all the DLC you have.

 

 

3. Should I remove mods I don't want for the next play through and leave the ones I do?

 

Yes, that would be the most sensible approach. If you used a mod manager, remove the mods you do not want, or remove them manually, and if you used Wrye Bash, make a new Bashed Patch for your new mod set. I always keep a copy of unzipped mods in my Mods Folder and install manually so I can remove every component when I want to remove a mod. I have had some disasters with mod managers, but many people swear by them. I prefer to actually learn to know what I am doing, rather than rely on a third party program to get it right every time.

 

Of course, if you want to reload your original character, those removed mods will then be missing from those saves. But if you have finished with that character, that would not be a problem.

 

I seem to recall coming across a Multiple Mod Configuration Manager, where different mod sets could be used on different saves, but I never used it. If such a thing exists and works correctly, that would be an ideal solution for many people.

 

 

Good Luck.

Thank you very much for your point by point response (and your PS). I really appreciate that! I started playing Skyrim around April and have had very little trouble up until now with save files. I have always made a new save file each time I quit the game. I think my last save file is numbered 740. I've been using LOOT ever since mid July. I've started to notice some "eternal screen" loading and long loading times, and I figured that since I've done "everything", I should maybe start thinking about starting a new game. I hate to think though that I'm going to have to start over after all the work I've put into some things in Skyrim. For example, I found that one of the vanilla areas "Forebears Hideout" never resets after the quest ends. It is a huge open ruins of a castle in a cave. I always thought that it would make a great "house" so I spent hours using Jaxons Positioner and IWant mods to make it a home. My "house" is amazing (if you'd like to see pictures go look at the user photos I submitted on the IWant mod Nexus mod page.) Most of my mods are either house/castle mods, quest mods, or dungeon mods. I don't use ENBs because my computer is a medium sized rig plus I was never good at downloading manually (ENBs require manual download). I also don't use texture modifiers because I'm one of those rare people who think that Skyrim looks pretty good by itself. I never understood why people would care what "woodpiles" or "eyebrows" looked like enough to download a mod to fix them. :huh:

 

So one last question that you made me think about. . .When I start a new game, I know everything "vanilla" will reset, but will the installed mods also "reset"? I guess I can't get my mind around how mods are affected with a new game start. To clarify the question, for example, if I have a house mod installed (the kind that doesn't automatically show a map marker) will the map maker still be there or will I have to discover it again? Will the things I changed in the house still be changed, or does it ALL start over. That would be a very helpful answer.

 

Anyway, thank you again for taking your time to help me out with your great first answer. Hope you are having a merry Christmas (if you celebrate).

 

Best,

Curt

[indycurt]

1800 hours on a modded save file? That's impressive, usually even with a small load order games become unplayable after the 300 hour mark due to problems piling up.

 

If you have the time I'd recommend to completely start over using Mod Organizer. Although you seem to know your ways around modding, I've found it invaluable in terms of conflict resolution, and the "profiles" function is very useful, too.

There's a great guide over at Skyrim Total Enhancement Project, they have links to mods that fix most of Skyrim's bugs and replace most textures.

 

Other than that - go wild with mods, you've earned it.

Thanks for responding! I appreciate it very much!

 

As I stated in the reply to the first reply above, I started playing in April and every time I stopped playing I would always create a new save. I never "over wrote" a previous save, so my last save was numbered around #740 or so. I exclusively used NMM to download my mods, and I always diligently used LOOT to maintain the order of my mods, and didn't download the more "complicated" mods. Most of my mods are dungeons, house, and quest mods. There are others I have too like OBIS, and Dynamic Loot. I never used ENBs or major re-texturing mods. I always liked the look of Skyrim right out of the box.

 

Anyway, maybe that was my formula for having over 1,800 in my first game. But I had started noticing just this week that I was getting some "eternal loading screens" and slow loading screens when fast traveling. So I figured my habit of trying and deleting mods I didn't care for during my first play through was starting to catch up with me.

 

Again, thanks for your reply. I appreciate it very much!

 

Best,

Curt

[indycurt]

When I start a new playthrough, I often times do a new install to clear up any possible problems and re-install all my mods. I double check and make sure all mods(I run about 170 or so) are all up to date and current. I also created a new clean start file with all my core MCM enabled mods settings already set the way I like so I don't have to redo them every single time. Thats really about it. I start in the keep with Hadvar with my save game and skip the execution part-its already done.

Wow! You really go all out for a new game! :blush: I like the idea of re-installing the mods. So do you use NMM to do your mod installs? If so, do you completely delete them and then re-install? Also, I have no idea what you mean when you say you "created a new clean start file". I wouldn't begin to know how to do that or what that is for (I'm a simple guy when it comes to all of that).

 

Thanks for your input! I really do appreciate it.

 

Best,

Curt

[CherryBelle]

What is this mythological "end" you speak of. I'm still obsessed with role playing and just the entire game world. My highest level is like.. 16. lol

[Mebantiza]

Well, I have a backup 'base' skyrim

 

 

When I start a new playthrough, I often times do a new install to clear up any possible problems and re-install all my mods. I double check and make sure all mods(I run about 170 or so) are all up to date and current. I also created a new clean start file with all my core MCM enabled mods settings already set the way I like so I don't have to redo them every single time. Thats really about it. I start in the keep with Hadvar with my save game and skip the execution part-its already done.

Wow! You really go all out for a new game! :blush: I like the idea of re-installing the mods. So do you use NMM to do your mod installs? If so, do you completely delete them and then re-install? Also, I have no idea what you mean when you say you "created a new clean start file". I wouldn't begin to know how to do that or what that is for (I'm a simple guy when it comes to all of that).

 

Thanks for your input! I really do appreciate it.

 

Best,

Curt

 

 

 

Well, you see, I keep a base Skyrim install-TESedit cleaned with SKSE and few other core fixes on standby, just in case something goes really bad. That doesn't happen much these days, but its there if I need it. I dont have to re-DL the client from steam. That saves most of the time. And yes, I use NMM and have repacked as many mods as I could, mostly non-esp texture replacers and such. Installing what used to be 8 mods with one rar helps speed things along for example. That also cuts down in install time. Its doesnt really take all that long now for me to do a full re-install even with NMM, providing you do some leg-work before hand to speed it up. As for the clean start, it has literally no mods active on the save, except for my favorite preset, so possible corrupted saves are not an issue. As for the clean saves themselves, I was thinking of releasing my clean start saves as a mod, along with some presets, but -haven't done that yet.

 

I cant speak for others, but unless you totally confident you mods are clean, conflict free and not gibbled in some hard to spot way, a clean install on a new playthrough is never a bad idea. You can get a corrupted game basically two ways. One is from the client itself, the way the mods are installed, or not installed. The second, and more likely, is from corrupted saves. Since Skyrim never forgets a script, or uninstalled mod-ever, saves themselves can be problematic. Thus-the clean save+full on re-install is really your gold standard for a clean playthrough, even if it does take a little time to set up, it pays off in stability and everything working (more or less) correctly. I used to crash and run OOM and have all sorts of problems before I figured out how to run Skyrim properly. Now, all I get is the odd CTD(we all get those), usually while zoning.