How do box owners download/install mods from Steam Workshop?

[Neyjour]

Hi all. :)

 

I just recently ordered the boxed Legendary Edition. It hasn't arrived yet, but I've been browsing the mods here and making a list of what I want to install when it does. Seems simple enough with the Mod Manager, however, there are some mods I'd like to get that seem to only be available at the Steam Workshop, and I'm confused about how download and install them...

 

Is it even possible to do that if you didn't purchase the game via Steam? Or will I never be able to get the Workshop exclusives?

 

I registered at the site and have been poking around, trying to figure it out, but no luck. I was hoping there might be a way to register my game with them (once I have my key), but I don't see any kind of option like that. Or do I need to install Steam first, and then I'll get a register option? I haven't tried installing it yet because I wanted to check here first and see what's what.

 

TIA!

Ney

[Oubliette]

All legal copies of Skyrim require Steam. When you get your disk, it will install steam first - then the game, then the updates. Once you've installed Steam, registered the game and created your account, it's a simple matter to get Steam Workshop mods, just click "subscribe" they will* be installed (and updated) the next time you open Skyrim from the steam launcher.

 

Oh - and make sure to tell Steam to install someplace other than C/Program Files - if you're on a Vista or above machine.

 

*I do my best proofreading after I hit enter :facepalm:

Edited August 7, 2013 by Oubliette

[Neyjour]

All legal copies of Skyrim require Steam. When you get your disk, it will install steam first - then the game, then the updates. Once you've installed Steam and registered the game and your account it's a simple matter to get Steam Workshop mods, just click "subscribe" they be installed (and updated) the next time you open Skyrim from the steam launcher.

Oh good! That's such a relief...there are quite a few I want that are Workshop exclusives, and I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to get them. Thanks very much! :D

[Neyjour]

Oh - and make sure to tell Steam to install someplace other than C/Program Files - if you're on a Vista or above machine.

I have Windows 7, and I usually install games and such to C:/Program Files (x86). Will that be okay?

[Domas]

You won't want to install to C:/Program Files (x86) iirc. It has something to do with User Account Control causing issues when you run skyrim.

[DeltaWulf]

Install it to Program Files (x86), that's the default run location for Steam and you're going to get major issues with programs finding Skyrim until you manually assign its location to all of them. Sometimes Steam won't even let you run a program unless it's in the appropriate Program Files(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common folder, regardless of if you run it through Steam or from external software.

If you encounter permissions issues, simply run as administrator. Make sure you always start Nexus Mod Manager or any other modding software as administrator. You shouldn't get any problems.

About Steam Workshop mods, you don't have to necessarily install Skyrim with Steam to get them, but it'll automatically add it to Steam anyways. However, otherwise, you'd simply open up the Steam browser (the software you download for it) click on the "Games" tab at the top which will bring up a drop down menu and click on "Activate a Product on Steam" which will let you manually enter Skyrim's product code (included on usually a plastic sheet inside your disc case).

Once you've done that and have Skyrim registered with your Steam account, you can download mods for it.

Personally, I would not advise you to install mods with Steam Workshop, though. If that's the only place you can find them, then wait for them to download, find the mod's .esp/.esm/.bsa files inside your Skyrim\Data folder and move them outside of it somewhere, maybe a desktop folder. Also remove any textures, meshes, scripts, etc involved with the mods which shouldn't be hard to find, provided you've not yet installed any other mods with Nexus Mod Manager or any other programs. Then, when you're ready to install all of your mods together, manually place those mods into their appropriate folders (.esp/.esm/.bsa in the Data folder, the files themselves should already have self-explanatory folders) and install other mods with a manager or whatever you're using. This way, you get the least amount of overwrite and/or don't overwrite any important files from other mods you'd rather use instead of those (for instance, when using multiple texture packs).

Edited August 7, 2013 by DeltaWulf

[Neyjour]

Thanks for the replies! :)

 

Install it to Program Files (x86), that's the default run location for Steam and you're going to get major issues with programs finding Skyrim until you manually assign its location to all of them. Sometimes Steam won't even let you run a program unless it's in the appropriate Program Files(x86)\Steam\steamapps\common folder, regardless of if you run it through Steam or from external software.

 

I'm a bit confused by this... Program Files (x86) is the right place to install Skyrim, but I WILL have problems with other programs finding it if it's installed there. Am I understanding that correctly? And what other programs do you mean, and will they prompt me to find the correct location?

 

If you encounter permissions issues, simply run as administrator. Make sure you always start Nexus Mod Manager or any other modding software as administrator. You shouldn't get any problems.

 

I've gotten into the habit of always running programs as Administrator, so that should be no problem! :)

 

About Steam Workshop mods, you don't have to necessarily install Skyrim with Steam to get them, but it'll automatically add it to Steam anyways. However, otherwise, you'd simply open up the Steam browser (the software you download for it) click on the "Games" tab at the top which will bring up a drop down menu and click on "Activate a Product on Steam" which will let you manually enter Skyrim's product code (included on usually a plastic sheet inside your disc case).

 

I'm a bit confused by this as well... At the moment I'm only registered at the Steam website, but haven't actually installed it (via the button at the top of the page that says: Install Steam). Once I get my discs, will I be automatically prompted to install Steam, register my key/code, etc?

 

Personally, I would not advise you to install mods with Steam Workshop, though. If that's the only place you can find them, then wait for them to download, find the mod's .esp/.esm/.bsa files inside your Skyrim\Data folder and move them outside of it somewhere, maybe a desktop folder. Also remove any textures, meshes, scripts, etc involved with the mods which shouldn't be hard to find, provided you've not yet installed any other mods with Nexus Mod Manager or any other programs. Then, when you're ready to install all of your mods together, manually place those mods into their appropriate folders (.esp/.esm/.bsa in the Data folder, the files themselves should already have self-explanatory folders) and install other mods with a manager or whatever you're using. This way, you get the least amount of overwrite and/or don't overwrite any important files from other mods you'd rather use instead of those (for instance, when using multiple texture packs).

 

Oh boy... At the moment, I really don't really have a proper understanding of how this all works. I'm extremely confused about pretty much everything. LOL!! Like, how do I even launch the game? With the default Skyrim icon (which I assume will be a shortcut automatically placed on my desktop?), or via Steam, or via the NMM? And what about SKSE? I saw a tutorial on YouTube that I think said, in order to run SKSE you have to launch the game via that program instead? (I could be wrong about that, though...I've been on a bit of information overlaod these past couple days!). And as for Mods...from reading a lot of info/instructions on the various Mod pages, I understand that you can either place files manually or install them with the NMM (which most people seem to recommend), but you have to be careful about load order and such (I need to read a tutorial about that). But if you're placing files manually, how can you control load order if you're just dropping files into the folders yourself, since they'd just be sitting in there in alphabetical order... And I've already been adding a few Mods (using the Subscribe button) from Steam Workshop, but haven't seen anything about how to control load order with those. Or is that something that will show up after I've actually installed Steam?

 

Urgh! Sorry for all the questions, which I'm sure are really stupid and newbish! This is going to be my very first single-player RPG (I've only ever played MMORPGs before) and the whole thing with adding Mods is completely alien to me. I'm having a tough time wrapping my head around all of it, and I'm really scared I'm going to do something wrong and screw up my game... :confused:

[ripple]

Ideally, you should install mods using a mod manager. The problem is that the Steam Workshop is not a mod manager. It's a simplified tool for downloading mods that treats mod users like morons, and will automate a number of things without user consent, such as updating of mods, and other more invasive things that may cause permanent damage to your save games. You might not be familiar with some of the basics of installing mods, but that does not mean you are a moron. If you find a mod on the Steam Workshop that you want to download, you should try and see if that mod is hosted somewhere else (e.g. the Nexus). But if you must install mods using the SW subscription, you should follow DeltaWulf's advice, which will basically allow you to 'repackage' Steam Workshop mods, unsubscribe them, so the Workshop can no longer do stuff to your game data folder without your consent. You can then install the repackaged mod via a real mod manager like the NMM or the Mod Organizer.

[Neyjour]

Ideally, you should install mods using a mod manager. The problem is that the Steam Workshop is not a mod manager. It's a simplified tool for downloading mods that treats mod users like morons, and will automate a number of things without user consent, such as updating of mods, and other more invasive things that may cause permanent damage to your save games. You might not be familiar with some of the basics of installing mods, but that does not mean you are a moron. If you find a mod on the Steam Workshop that you want to download, you should try and see if that mod is hosted somewhere else (e.g. the Nexus). But if you must install mods using the SW subscription, you should follow DeltaWulf's advice, which will basically allow you to 'repackage' Steam Workshop mods, unsubscribe them, so the Workshop can no longer do stuff to your game data folder without your consent. You can then install the repackaged mod via a real mod manager like the NMM or the Mod Organizer.

Thank you ripple! :)

 

Okay, I'll definitely do that for all Steam Workshop mods! I've already been checking each one, to see if it's a SW exclusive or not, so I'll continue to do that and get them from Nexus Mods whenever possible.

 

Even though I had planned to use the NMM for everything I want at Nexus Mods, I've also been creating a "library" of folders for each individual mod I want, and downloading the zip files to keep as a back-up, just in case. Now, I was under the impression that you could only use the NMM for files that had the green "DOWNLOAD WITH MANAGER" button. Or can you actually run the NMM and "import" your own repackaged files? If so, do those files need to be zips, or just a folder (containing the relevant files)?

[ripple]

I was under the impression that you could only use the NMM for files that had the green "DOWNLOAD WITH MANAGER" button. Or can you actually run the NMM and "import" your own repackaged files? If so, do those files need to be zips, or just a folder (containing the relevant files)?

 

You can do either. You can use NMM to automate the download, or you can download manually and place the mod archive into the folder assigned to stored downloaded mods by NMM, and it will show up in the mod archive tab. Yes, mods do need to be archived in order to be installed via the NMM.

Edited August 13, 2013 by ripple