JamesRook

Thanks for the reply. So basically, because of the way mods and patches are written and the abilities/knowledge/skill of the author, it's a complete crap shoot whether any particular update will bork your game. You've pointed out an issue I've had crop up several times where an update to a MOD invalidates all the patches written for it so the MOD would play nice with other MODs. I use Vortex (I'm old and MO2 is beyond me) and you can't leave MODs/patches with no master in the load order - so another new game. I actually want to play the game and see what the MODS actually do but it seems like after getting hours into a playthrough, some new MOD or patch will come along and totally corrupt your game. Just me ranting I guess. I'm on new game, I don't know, 10? for December and now trying to find out what is causing a CTD when I get close to Dawnstar. Will I be able to find out which MOD/patch is causing it? Probably not. It could be something installed or something missing. No way to find out for me.

I never know when an update to a MOD will cause problems. On rare occasions an author does indicate that the MOD is safe to update, but mostly not, just notes that the update or reposted updated MOD fixes certain things. Then there are the MODS that get an update and the author has changed the name or version or some aspect of the MOD and all the patches and dependant MODS (and their dependencies) no long work, the game can no longer find the masters and broken saves and CTDs result. Are the patches no longer needed? And what do you do about patches that are for a particular MOD but there are several versions of the MOD, say the full MOD and a lite MOD and the patches only recognise the full version? I don't know what to do about these issues except to never update a MOD until a new playthrough and then go through a rebuild of all the old MODs and a new load order, which seems pretty stupid when a MOD needs updates and fixes. Comments? Suggestions? Fixes?

I've been looking through posts on the forum to get a handle on why mods are marked redundant. Some things I understand, like installing the same mod twice or an updated version of a mod and not clearing out the first, but I don't understand why some Hot fixes or updates register as redundant. For example, I have Riften Docks Overhaul 2.0 installed and then the update 2.3. Vortex complains 2.3 is redundant. 2.3 should overwrite 2.0 and is not redundant. Very confusing to me.

In my preferences settings I have blocked all those languages that I do not use, but the mods still appear on the download pages. It's a minor irritation since normally the mod title appears in English, my chosen language, but the mod will be in another language. I have nothing against other languages, I just don't use them, and they clutter the page. What am I missing? Why even have the option to block other languages if it does nothing?

I have no idea if this is even remotely possible and it would probably be a massive job, but here's the request. I'd like a mod that extinguishes all the torches and etc. (artificial to light sources) in unoccupied dungeons and caves, forcing the player, and for even better immersion, companions, to ignite them. I know many torches can be extinguished and then relit so why can't they start off unlit? Possibly using a spell of some kind. Perhaps you could enter a dark room and cast a fireball that lights all the torches. Or maybe a pressure plate or switch that "magically" triggers all the torches and fires. The eternally burning torches and fires in a cave no one has been into in hundreds of years is just wrong.

I know this is a fantasy game, but I do like things a bit more sorta kinda realistic here and there. I see mods to make giants bigger and spells to make individual NPCs bigger or smaller but I'd like something that makes the entire giant race a little smaller. If I remember correctly, they are supposed to be between 8 to 12 feet tall. I'd like them to be more like 7 to 9 feet. If there is a mod or if someone could tell me what to change in SSEdit I'd appreciate it. TIA.

Recently I used the "Avoid the Wait" mod to create a female character since something (I suspect Racemenu) would CTD if I selected a female. That worked fine and now I am progressing along. Would it be safe to disable or delete the "Avoid the Wait" mod? I know it's generally not recommended to delete mods midgame but this mod does nothing now and I'd like to keep any script load it may have from affecting my saves.

If I downloaded and installed a mod, say it's version 4 of the mod and then installed an option for the mod the author has included, if the mod is then updated to version 5 should I keep the option or discard it? I seldom see any info on the mod page about the optional files or patches. In addition, if a different mod has patches to get the two to work together, will the update break them?

There's a fix available: Sofia follower bsa patch at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com)

I'm confused about body textures. Should you only use one? Am I correct if I assume that if I install more than one they will conflict and the lowest in the load order will be the one that works and the other{s} will be ignored?

Thanks everyone that replied. I've got Scrap Everything as the very last mod and Amazing Follower Tweaks and patches above that and it seems to be working fine although I do get a CTD after a short session. No rhyme or anything reproducible. Most likely a mod conflict somewhere since I've flagged so many mods as ESLs. Time to start disabling I guess. Thanks again.

I can't seem to find an answer about what to do when 2 or more mods specify that they be last in the load order. For example, Scrap Everything "Put this file at the absolute END of your load order" and Amazing Follower Tweaks "Make sure AFT is at the BOTTOM of your load order" In addition there are patches that must be loaded after AFT. Where do you place mods that all want to be last? Is there any way in LOOT you can mark them to maintain a particular order? Thanks for any info you can give me.

I'm having a strange glitch with Heather Casdin's body. She is semi-transparent. By that I mean you can see a shadow of her arm or leg through her body from the other side. I installed Dragonjoe's physics bodyslide files and things went bad after that. I've removed the mod, rebuilt her body in bodyslide, used different bodies, replaced the textures and meshes with the originals, uninstalled and reinstalled all the mods. Anybody able to point me in the right direction to resolve this? Very weird!

Is it possible to merge or somehow combine an AWKCR compatibility mod with its target mod so there is only 1 esp instead of 2?

I've been starting to convert several of my smaller ESPs to ESLs with the CK ( thanks to everyone for the great tutorials posted to Nexus) and so far, so good. I'm using NMM 0.63.19 and was wondering why the active plugin count doesn't change after I enable a converted ESL and un-check the ESP on NMM's Plugin load order tab . I am not disabling the ESP on the MOD tab. Am I doing something wrong here or is it just the way NMM counts ESPs? Thanks for any answers.