Please, would you experienced folks please help this old guy?

[derrinred]

I'm new to PC modding. I'm playing Skyrim SE and I downloaded a bunch of mods including directly from Bethesda. My mods are all from Nexus. I tried using Vortex as my mod manager, but someone told me to use Mod Organizer 2 because it's simpler. So I switched. I made sure to download all required files for each mod. But I have no clue what order they need to be in, how to resolve conflicts or any of the other complex issues that I'm being faced with. I tried going through the tutorials, but they make a lot of assumptions like a person has a good working knowledge of the mod world. But I'm an old guy who's never used mods before. Bethesda's mods all work perfectly. All I have to do is load them. No glitches, but also very boring as far as the look and much less personal. I want to try more risque mods.

Please, would someone be willing to hold my hand and guide and treat me like a fifth grader?

My email address is [email protected]

[gnarly1]

<snippity>

Vortex and MO2 do more or less the same thing but in slightly different ways. For the novice user, I would have recommended Vortex as it tries to stop you from doing silly things and is a bit more hand-holdy than MO2.

 

Many people have a preference for one over the other and some can get rather heated in their defence or criticism of one or the other.

 

In the end they're just tools and both are perfectly competent mod managers.

 

In terms of modding your game, I recommend starting with STEP which is a curated list of mods containing all the 'essential' bug & engine fixes and QoL enhancers with step-by-step instructions on how to install them whilst still remaining as true to vanilla Skyrim as possible. And an active community if you need help.

 

Best of luck...

Edited August 1, 2022 by gnarly1

[derrinred]

Thanks so much, but what are QoL enhancers? Also, I don't want vanilla Skyrim anymore. I've been doing that for many years. I want spicy crazy stuff to play with. But I know I need to learn modding first. I hope this STEP works for the imbicile that is me. I really appreciate you pointing me in the right direction.

With regard to Vortex and MO2, I didn't know which is better and still kinda don't for my uses. But I'll figure it out. I also didn't realize people were that passionate about Organizers. Being a rank amateur, I rely on you experts to help me learn. I truly do appreciate all the help you've given me. I did look at STEP, it's going to take weeks to go through it and the forums. I'm looking forward to it. Thanks!

[gnarly1]

Thanks so much, but what are QoL enhancers? Also, I don't want vanilla Skyrim anymore. I've been doing that for many years. I want spicy crazy stuff to play with. But I know I need to learn modding first. I hope this STEP works for the imbicile that is me. I really appreciate you pointing me in the right direction.

With regard to Vortex and MO2, I didn't know which is better and still kinda don't for my uses. But I'll figure it out. I also didn't realize people were that passionate about Organizers. Being a rank amateur, I rely on you experts to help me learn. I truly do appreciate all the help you've given me. I did look at STEP, it's going to take weeks to go through it and the forums. I'm looking forward to it. Thanks!

QoL = Quality of Life enhancers. Mods and utilities that save time or relieve you from some of the more mundane aspects of the game or modding it.

 

The beauty of STEP is that because it is generally limited to 'essential' stuff, you can use it as a base on which you build out your preferred Skyrim experience.

 

Vortex and MO2 both allow users to create profiles, which means you can have different modding setups and swap between them. So once you've completed the STEP install, you can save that profile as (say) "STEP Foundation", then copy that profile and continue to add other mods.

 

If you muck things up you can always revert back to the original profile and start over.

 

Happy days!

[papakat420]

everything gnraly1 said is true but ... i learned how to mod through Bethesda myself and tried Vortex but ended up switching to MO2 because its more inline to how your LO works on console. as far as the LO you just need to read the mod page and it usually lets you know where it goes. PC moding is quite different than console for the simple fact you have to organize and solve conflicts yourself. but im 50 years old and able to learn how so i have faith in you just be patient and ask questions sometimes you get an answer sometimes you dont.

[derrinred]

Thanks papakat, sorry it's taken so long to write back, I was deathly ill and almost lost my life right when I was really starting to get into this modding. I use a PC only and until recently, I've been to ill to play or learn mods. I have to go through STEP again soon and learn. You're a decade or so younger than me and believe me when I say that that decade makes learning new things that much harder, but I'm up to the challenge. I think between STEP, Vortex and MO2, I should get a good handle on it. Thanks again for your encouragement!

[HeyYou]

Thanks papakat, sorry it's taken so long to write back, I was deathly ill and almost lost my life right when I was really starting to get into this modding. I use a PC only and until recently, I've been to ill to play or learn mods. I have to go through STEP again soon and learn. You're a decade or so younger than me and believe me when I say that that decade makes learning new things that much harder, but I'm up to the challenge. I think between STEP, Vortex and MO2, I should get a good handle on it. Thanks again for your encouragement!

Glad you are feelin' better. :)

 

Use MO2, OR Vortex, do NOT use both. That can create some truly interesting problems. :D

[Pagafyr]

Welcome.

 

Load order? There are tools that do it for you. One such is for Load order called LOOT. Load Order Optimization Tool.

 

It's my fav because it works with MO2: Mod Organizer 2 as part of your installation equipment. LOOT https://loot.github.io/

 

The two have been updated to keep with the latest trends and still do get attention from their creators.

 

I hope your journey leads to leaning to make a mod of your own. Being a creator is so much fun. Some of the mod makers ( at least one I remember who posted in his thread his thought about modding said) I thought modding was the part was playing I just used the game to test it to see if it worked. ) Some of the great modders and gamers over 75 still hang around and even post once in a while.

[derrinred]

I figured out the hard way how right you are papakat about using both Vortex and MO2,a few years ago. It got so bad that I had to uninstall every mod and start over 5 or 6 times to date before I got some wisdom to teach out and ask for help. So as soon as I come off of the road or maybe sooner than that, I will re read STEP and then try to use MOD2 the proper way.

[HeyYou]

I figured out the hard way how right you are papakat about using both Vortex and MO2,a few years ago. It got so bad that I had to uninstall every mod and start over 5 or 6 times to date before I got some wisdom to teach out and ask for help. So as soon as I come off of the road or maybe sooner than that, I will re read STEP and then try to use MOD2 the proper way.

Vortex is written by the same guy that wrote MO2. :) It automagically deals with load order, and if you need to do some shuffling, it isn't too difficult.....