Mod list for potatoe computer

[urdli]

Hello everyone,

I played really simple modded Skyrim many years ago and it was a great experience, now that my nephew has the age I want to offer him a go in this fantasy world.
My computer is not very good for complex modding, the cpu can't even run community shaders and the gpu is just good enough to run some simple Enb effects without fans going crazy.

I'm working on a list for two weeks on my spare time but I keep getting nasty bugs and mods not working properly or not at all. I understand how mods work and I read descriptions every time, I also try to avoid mods that need patching and stuff.

I really need a helping hand to guide me through the myriad of mod in nexus if someone can spare some time.

I copy my actual simplified list in next message.

Thank you 

 

Gpu Radeon Rx6600, Cpu G4560.
Anniversary edition Gog version 1179 with mod organizer 2

 

Edit : I start back from the beggining, too many conflicts. I got rid of Enb too, my computer can't handle it without going crazy.

Edited Tuesday at 01:35 PM by urdli

[urdli]

Base to start with :

DLC

Spoiler

DLC: HearthFires
DLC: Dragonborn
DLC: Dawnguard
Creation Club: _ResourcePack
Anniversary Edition Content Picker
Visualize Vanilla

A - Base mods

Spoiler

Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch FRENCH - Traduction Francaise + cutting room floor intégré
Address Library for SKSE Plugins
PapyrusUtil SE - Modders Scripting Utility Functions
powerofthree's Tweaks
powerofthree's Papyrus Extender
JContainers
SSE Engine Fixes (skse64 plugin)
Base Object Swapper
Lightened Skyrim - Base Object Swapper edition
Sound Record Distributor

B - Base Game

Spoiler

Alternate Start - Live Another Life - SSE
Alternate Start - Live Another Life - SSE - French
SkyUI
SkyUI - Traduction Francaise
SkyUI SE - Difficulty Persistence Fix
MCM Helper
TrueHUD - HUD Additions
TrueHUD - HUD Additions - French version

C - Base textures and models

Spoiler

Skyrim Landscape and Water Fixes  patchs à controler
Cathedral - Water Overhaul and Bug Fixes
Happy Little Trees
SMIM - Lite
JK's Skyrim
JK's Skyrim (FR) patchs à controler
Skyland AIO
Skyland Bits and Bobs - A Clutter Overhaul
Lux trad fr
Lux Via - resources pack
Lux (patch hub)
Embers XD  patchs à controler
Embers XD - French translation  patchs à controler
Rustic Weathers and Lighting
Rustic Weathers and Lighting - presets
Better Dynamic Snow SE

D - Base Animation

Spoiler

Project New Reign - Nemesis Unlimited Behavior Engine

 

Edited Tuesday at 01:41 PM by urdli

[urdli]

reserved

Edited Tuesday at 01:35 PM by urdli

[urdli]

reserved

Edited Tuesday at 01:35 PM by urdli

[Indio21]

I do like your cause, and am in somewhat the same possible situation as yourself. I am dealing with a ten year old mobile GC as my bottleneck. First, you do not say what kind of system resources you do have, just its a potato pc, nor what MM you are using. A well known member of the modding community is Gamerpoets, and he has a youtube channel. You will find it an invaluable resource to doing your build. So why is that bit info important, because he recommends one does NOT start a build with an ENB. To roughly sum up his recommendation, and as he shows in the video, an ENB will change the look of mods in game, on top of cost resources that could be used to have more mods. He says a mod could look very good but because of the use of the ENB, it makes it look different and one might pass on exactly what they want and or need for that area of the build. This is the advice I have taken concerning an enb. It is easy enough to change some settings for mods, and or add a couple mods to get an enb working. Then I know I got what I like and what is working the best for my system and can choose an enb that works with it, if I still have the resources. I am willing to trade some visual quality for more adventures any day, but that is me.

Next, again going back to the "potato pc", if that is the case, mods like High Poly Project and high texture resolution mods are probably not going to be the best to start with. My build is almost back to the 300 mod mark and I just added HPP a few days back now to try. It uses enough resources of mine it is now deactivated in my MM. Like the enb, when I am closer to done, I will turn it back on and see how it all the numbers looks then.

On top of reading the mod page descriptions, ALWAYS read, or skim over at the least, the first page or two of the mods posts section! MAs will pin notes there with more info about said mod, plus people will post problems there, and usually the reply for a fix too.

To get some more GC resources available, look for mods with 1 or 2K textures. Personally, I been using mostly 1K and on this monitor I see no difference from 2K. Except for big distance things like mountains, which I test between 2 and 4K. Also, you can use mods to replace the vanilla textures with cleaned and or performance optimized ones. Again, personally, I went with the potato performance series ones. Most that insignificant stuff in the game I don't care about more than adventures and such. Plus, most gets overwrote by my mods like SMIM and Noble Skyrim. Those objects are what I want to look good, so cheapened out on the misc vanilla textures to save performance. Noble Skyrim makes look good what I want and it has a performance version too. Links below to the replacement vanilla textures.

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/38775 - Cleaned

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/58801 - Cleaned AE content

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/68055 - Cleaned/Performance Optimized

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/68264 - AE content for C/P Optimized

Another resource you may find helpful is the Skyrim Step guide here https://stepmodifications.org/wiki/SkyrimSE:2.2.0 As I have found some outdated info in it, for my game version, just research its recommendations for mods (mod descrip. page & posts). Another to know about is Lexy's LoTD guide here on nexus. With that, it too walks you through a whole large LO build. One I started with, because of my AE build, and am still referencing (just harder now with a different MM) is here https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2944593951 Again, this author is also another known community member. Vlad also has several other guides for LO builds big and small for different game versions. Just click his avatar and look over his page. There are more guides available than what is shown on his avatar page, just have to look for the link iirc. These guides will lead you to any other game fix mods you need.

Also, IDK why one would want to remove the alternate start mod, personally. IDK if it still exists with newer game updates from my last go at learning modding, but then one couldn't do the vanilla start with mods activated. One would have to do the game start until leaving Helgen, and then could stop, save, and activate the mods. Even with ASLAL, one can do the vanilla start, but with mods on, just select "caught crossing border" iirc. Right now I am doing so much testing I pretty much always use patron at an inn to start in a city, so not recalling back to when I first added it and tested it fully. BUT.......do know there is a LOT of patches that exist to use it. Seems like a good percentage of mods I want always need patches back to ASLAL. ASLAL does not need them, but other mods, to work with it, does. They are easily found just reading the mod page's Requirements section and the "Mods Requiring this mod" below it. So you cannot, or do not want to 'avoid' patches. Patches are great things, and the ONLY way to make a decent sized, to above, LO, otherwise might want to consider yourself about done with your build now. One can only go so far and mods WILL need patches to be able to work together. Its inevitable unless you only want a smaller LO. So again, patches are a great things. What is very bad about them, is NOT finding them!!!

I got to get back to my own LO issue now and not much else coming to mind now that I can give you for info based off what I know from your post. Feel free to pm me if you have any questions, but some very knowledgeable people help in this forum, so you will get more feedback posting right here, and more is always best in my book. Hope it helps and your a nice aunt or uncle!

[urdli]

I just added the specs of my computer.

I wanted to use community shaders but the processor G4560 doesn't have the feature to make it work 
I tried a few Enbs and this lightweight one doesn't impact my fps at all compared to not having one as long as I don't use complex enb effects, I disabled them in the ini so I can still have a clearer image, nice looking water and small stuffs, it modernize the game a lot, you should try it if you are in the same case as mine, press shift + f12 to see the difference. Just don't forget to suppress some options, maybe some more can be suppressed I'm not sure.

I put here 2 screenshots with and without Enb.

I turned my reflexion different than yours, I compiled a base of mods for the base game to look modern enough and make additions to it checking if they put my computer in difficulty. High poly project doesn't change a thing for now. I always use 1k textures since my screen is not a big one, no need for bigger ones. The problem I have now with this mod is the pile of logs sometimes sinking into the ground and some side textures not showing, I don't know why.
Ulvenwald Lite - Vanilla Replacer is the type of mods I'd like to change since he needs a lot of ressouces, I just need one that replaces vanilla trees to something more realistic than vanillas.

I checked many guides and followed Gamerpoets tutorial on youtube but they add too many outdated mods and lots of non optimized combos for a potatoe machine. Even if I had a gamers computer I wouldn't follow them again, it was a waste of time and source of many pain bugs.

I try to go on mods that "simply works"  even if they are not popular, many mod creators make better things than the usual ones that we find in these tutorial but they are hard to find them in the multitude.
Just check TMBE Enhanced Body for SSE, I tried many body mods but this one has no problems out of the box, doesnt need patch to work with other mods, looks nice and works with physics. Combined with TMB Vanilla Armors and Clothes SSE you can redo all female characters in a vanilla friendly way or not in a few clicks and without adding other mods.

I still have many ugly things around and the perfect goal would be to be able to suppress High poly project, smimm and forgotten retex.

Today I'm going to try unmarked locations pack, Children of the Pariah - An Orc NPC Overhaul, SIRENROOT - Deluge of Deceit, Animated Carriage, ELAF POI Restless and Shipwrecks (Points of interest Two). I think they could add a bit of life in the game without being too much.

 

Edited March 26 by urdli

[Indio21]

NIce tips, thank you. I will remember them when and if I make it to adding an enb. I did not mean to follow up on GP's videos for references to mods. I meant it for learning to use the tools, etc to build a LO. This is the same with the guides. They are fairly updated resources to all kinds of fix mods, etc, and a lot of other good mods. Plus there is usually tips for getting them to work.

Ugh, IDK anything about the COG version and now hesitant to advise, so hopefully another member using that version will get involved now that you have it posted. Some of your added notes I can comment on but do realize it is only my experience with SSE AE.

• Lightened Skyrim (I wonder if this is really usefull, i didnt see a difference )
  It works well for me and I do see noticeable differences
• eFPS - Exterior FPS boost (I wonder if this is really usefull, i didnt see a difference and it uses patch)
  Same as above for me, but I question it some. Right now I focused on getting my ini settings established and get the best mods I can that work with my system. At the end I plan to turn them back on again and decide
• SMIMM - Static Mesh Improvement Mod (i wonder if this is still usefull, it seems outdated and not so nice)
  Still a good base mod to fix a lot, most times it is just overwrote by other mods that look better with textures, but this addresses the bad meshes. Which the pretty mods cover with their nice textures. Some do not come with meshes.
• Lux (needs patching for a lot of stuff, usefull ?)
  I researched compared to ELFX and thought with the video reviews it looked much better. As mentioned before, patches are not bad. Plus it is the latest and most popular out for support, etc
• Lux - Via ( I think i'll get this one out, I have problem with the roads I don't know where it comes from)
  This one did not impress me. I like the look of blended roads and skyrim bridges better. But it is needed to use Lux and Lux Orbis, so I just use the required resource pack to make the others work
• Particle Patch for ENB (noticeable for a normal playthrough ?)
  As I have read, pretty much a requirement with an enb.....or at least highly recommended
• Cathedral Weathers and Seasons (this stuff is annoying, i get to much rain)
  I am not updated on this one, but if like Seasons of Skyrim, it is script heavy and they warn about that with large LOs corrupting saves. From what limited research I have done, it is more a concern with a lot of script type mods.
• Obsidian Mountain Fogs (usefull  or not noticeable ?)
  Another I been avoiding. My weather mod looks great and clear and why not having an enb, thus far, is not concerning. Mods like this, and weather, can be taxing on resources.
• Cathedral - 3D  (multiple files for flowers and stuff, i don't think the list would be usefull, they are a bit to much but i found no others)
  Personally, these and Mari's mods I don't think I could ever go without, especially with the one mod author making the swapper mods for the various designs. They really make the flora come alive in game. So if you do not like these options, look up Mari's page. Unless you don't like flowers, you most likely will enjoy her work. She has several mods so just go her page and find them all there is my advise.

That sums up what I can give you feedback on, based off my own experience with SSE AE. One last tip though, if all your "bugs" are not worked out, I do not think it is in your best interest to keep adding mods, unless they are patches needed for what you have.

Some other mods you should consider adding, if usable with your game version, are:

-Landscapes and Water Fixes; Cutting Room Floor (for WAY to many reasons); Scrambled Bugs, with their various fixes; Unofficial Skyrim Modders Patch; and I can just keep going on and on........OR, in that steam guide I pointed you to, it lists a lot of them Judging a book by its cover is never good. I take, and research, every pointer I come across. Just food for thought, blessed be!
 

Edited March 26 by Indio21

[urdli]

Thanks for your time taken for the answers 

I had a high doubt on lightened and efps, now I know it might help me install a bit more complicated mods, for now i dont see the difference because my machine has more power then yours I think. It's a good point to know.

I will try to replace lux-via today with the ones you just pointed.

I'll get rid of cathedral weathers and obsidian fogs, you're right, not necessary for a playthrough.

I didn't find Mari's mods when I was searching for plants, Mari's flora pack looks great, I'll try to replace cathedral with it and that will be a huge improvement in my list if it works  It even has grass, I couln't find one that works properly, I hope this one do.

I had cutting room but it was messing around my game, too many patches.

 

 

[urdli]

My nephew came to say hi and so I wanted to show him the game, what a disapointment, he noticed that characters and objects didn't cast shadows in the outside, only inside. Only buildings and trees did cast shadow.
I didnt see it before but it made the npcs and objects look flat like 2D. 

I found the guilty mod, it's Enhanced Volumetric Lighting and Shadows (EVLaS).

I also added UseOriginalPostProcessing=true in enbseries.ini, it gave a gray layer in front of everything when it was deactivated.

Kids have better eyes than us 

[Indio21]

Your just looking at everything else of importance and missed a little thing. If you are set up with Bethini, shadow controls can be adjusted there. That is a possibility with my pc. My issue is the graphics card, everything else runs less than 45% on the #s.

Yes, I too like Mari's flora and plants. I'm confused as you said in the same sentence you couldn't find it, then possibly did. Here is her page https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/users/19071859?tab=user+files just in case

You can keep and use both Cathedral and Mari's. I do and then use the base object swapper mods so the various designs they did are distributed around the game. I really like it because I don't have to pick one out of various designs they did for one plant or flower.

EDIT: Ok, I am curious, why the avoidance of patches. See CRF is a mod and a patch, technically by my understanding. I am curious if the terminology of "patch" has influenced perception of it. CRF is actually the game. It is just what Bethesda never finished or turned on. They just left it in the programming. So, at the very least, all those small villages will never appear in game if you are not using CRF. IIRC, you already have something for Arthmoor's villages, which is the mod that uses some of what CRF turns on and or fixes and finishes, the villages in this example, to make changes to. So, in essence, every mod is a 'patch' to the game to make it do something different than programmed to.

A program is no different than a machine basically. Each can only do what they are built to do. So when we throw in mods, the initial program just needs direction on how to use them together, patches. Otherwise the game will never know what to do with them. As a hypothetical example, because I haven't made it back to installing them yet, if you use the blended roads and skyrim bridges I spoke of. I 'think', iirc, they need a patch to work together because the game was never programmed to use them together.

IF you are just going into game for a "test", and not using a tool like xedit to see conflicts, most likely even now, let alone keep adding mods, you are not seeing all the conflicts of not having patches. You could make it to level XXX and then suddenly not be able to complete a quest and have a pile of corrupted saves with no way to back up. Among various other possible problems along the way. So, why avoid patches?

Edited March 28 by Indio21