Beginners guide to modding

[NeM4D]

I´m having trouble with body mods lately. It´s not my first attempt to modding, but I have no idea what the problem is.

So, I installed cbbe, bodyslide, and created some presets but after installing immersive armors there´s another body overriding Caliente´s.

I have no other body mod, and the only thing I´ve installed lately is immersive armors. Wheter stripped naked or through less covering outfits,

there´s this vanilla underwear skinny body showing. It´s not a double body like in those dirty armors edits - it´s like something in immersive armors

overrides the naked body I use to make it´s other pieces fit. I cant find out why or how to remove this, please help guys.

Thanks in advance

[luskan89]

I'd like to say a very big thank you to you for your guide, it has helped me to enhance my game so much. I uninstalled everything and started afresh, following your guide.

Taking the time to read mod descriptions instead of just scanning over them, actually looking and finding out about Loot, Wrye Bash and Tes5edit, what they do and how they work. I have a better understanding now instead of just pushing a load of mods together and then wondering why they don't work properly and all the ctd's.

My game now plays better than ever, loading is shorter, its just smoother all round. I'am still very new to all this and am still learning, but your guide put it all into perspective.

What i will say to people is read and then read again, follow instructions from the people who know. Don't just download lots of mods and expect everything to work from the off, i now have 83 mods playing nicely together. Thank you :laugh:

[Musecrafter]

Thank you, gromulos! This is incredibly helpful. Many kudos to you!

[scarecrowofsin]

Hello folks. I'm new here.

I'm a 50 year old, old school gamer. I started playing Skyrim on console back when it was new, and got pretty far. Level 55, had a lot of perks at 100, lots of spells, armor, etc. Loved the game, even with the glitches and bugs.

My file got corrupted somehow and I lost the save, then the console died, Then the disc got scratched, eventually I just gave up.

 

About a year ago, I noticed Skrim was on my sons Steam account. So I had him share it so that I could play it. I found out about mods by accident when my character was approached by a My Little Pony npc. What?!? lol

My son showed me how to shut the pony mod off, and how to get more mods. So I played around with a bunch of mods. New cities, houses, npc's, items, etc. Which made the game even more glitchy and buggy, but it was fun to just mess around with.

Then I discovered Nexus Mod Manager and went crazy. I tried many mods. Played around and just had fun with it.

 

Now I have decided that I want to restart and actually play through the game. But with some reasonable minimal mods. Trial and error has brought me to where I am, and it's not good. All the old mods, I have changed body mods over and over and I think I've messed up some important files along the way. A lot of stuff doesn't work correctly now, and I can't get the results I want. At level 18, I already have a lot of broken quests, half of my follower is invisible, I have items that float in the air, and dragons are no longer in my world for some reason. So I can't really continue as is anyway.

 

I want to delete all my mods, clean it all out of my system and start over. Then load only the mods I want to get the desired results.

I'm not quite sure how to do all that.

My old man brain is having a hard time trying to figure out all the lingo and the proper steps to take.

I downloaded LOOT in hopes of it fixing my problems, but it didn't. It helped, but so many of my mods that were downloaded and the deleted, and a lot have overwritten others...it's a mess.

 

I am NOT tech savvy, so I basically need someone to hold my hand like a baby and walk me through the process, so I get what I want without a lot of overwrites and conflicts junking up my system.

 

First question is, how do I start clean? Can I just uninstall Skyrim through Steam and make sure the file folders all get deleted as well?

 

Second question...how do I figure out which mods will give me the results I want with the least amount of downloads and conflicts? I read the descriptions and stuff on the mod page, but I don't understand half of it. I'm best at one click things. It seems like every mod has other required mods to go with it, and I don't know what goes with what. I think that is where I run into most of my problems.

 

If someone that knows a lot about mods, and has a vast knowledge of the available mods could help me compile a list based on what I'm looking for, that would be a huge help.

If anyone is interested in helping me out, here is what I'm trying to do.

 

First, I will obviously have to re download the game, it's update, the DLC expansions, plus the unofficial patches for all them.

(I liked the high res texture packs, but if necessary, I will forgo them to get the following stuff to work properly.)

 

I think that SKSE is pretty much a necessity for things I am trying to accomplish. So correct me if I am wrong, but I'm pretty sure I will still need that.

 

Next, I want to be able to completely edit characters easily. (Which I did have partial control over at one point, with some slidebar type thing, but it broke too, and some parts of it didn't work any more and parts of my character were invisible.)

 

I'm a bit pervy, so of course I want nudity, but I also want to be able to change breast size, butt size, legs, arms, basically everything. (I want to make a midget character and an incredible hulk style character.)

 

I also would like the jiggly and wiggly bodies, flowing hair, flowing capes, and realistic rag doll effects to go with it. (I would like as much realism as possible.)

 

I want the stand alone follower Sophia, because she is just awesome and funny. But I think her model conflicts with some of the other body mods, because stuff went wrong with her too. And I don't know enough about mods to figure out what conflicts with what.

 

I also like SKY UI.

 

Feel free to suggest mods that will give the results I seek. Especially if I can get several of them in like a bulk download to avoid conflicts and dirty edits (something I just learned about in this forum). :)

 

So if anyone can help me get these results without too much headache, I would really appreciate it. Keep in mind that I know nothing about editing or code. Like I said, I am NOT tech savvy at all.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this. And thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

( I also apologize for the length of this post.)

[gromulos]

First question is, how do I start clean? Can I just uninstall Skyrim through Steam and make sure the file folders all get deleted as well?

 

Go here and delete the skyrim folder - C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common

 

and here also - C:\Users\*************\Documents\My Games

 

Second question...how do I figure out which mods will give me the results I want with the least amount of downloads and conflicts? I read the descriptions and stuff on the mod page, but I don't understand half of it. I'm best at one click things. It seems like every mod has other required mods to go with it, and I don't know what goes with what. I think that is where I run into most of my problems.

 

For this you should sit down and go through the mods individually, there are hundreds of mods that are all stand alone and don't require other mods

 

If someone that knows a lot about mods, and has a vast knowledge of the available mods could help me compile a list based on what I'm looking for, that would be a huge help. If anyone is interested in helping me out, here is what I'm trying to do.

 

1 of my own load orders :) - http://pastebin.com/1DkV5We6 - be warned, this is not an easy play through, you WILL be challenged lol

 

I think that SKSE is pretty much a necessity for things I am trying to accomplish. So correct me if I am wrong, but I'm pretty sure I will still need that.

 

you will need BOTH SKSE and SKYUI

 

I can not comment about any of the adult mods that you mentioned, against Nexus TOS

 

there are some excellent other followers besides Sophia

 

Vilja

Viconia - yes she is back from baldur's gate lol

Cerwiden - combat healer

 

Let me know if you need more help and PLEASE follow my guide STEP by STEP lol

[scarecrowofsin]

Thanks for the reply Gromulos.

 

When I tried to delete the file folders I got an error. Then I couldn't download Skyrim again.

So I put them back and just deleted the mods from Nexus. But I must have done something wrong. Because my characters are still nude even though the mods are gone. I tried to just redownload the files I wanted, hoping they would overwrite the old ones. But that didn't work either.

 

I downloaded HDT physics, and that also didn't work.

 

So I am going to try deleting Skyrim through Steam, then see if i can safely wipe out the folders and clean my drive. Testing as I go and backing up, just in case. Then start over.

 

I have read soo many mod pages. Most of it might as well be in Japanese for me. lol But I am learning a lot as I go.

 

I really need help from someone that is familiar with body customization mods, and physics mods. As those are the two most important ones for my project.

I'm also looking for a mod that would allow more than one companion or follower at a time. That would be ideal.

[gromulos]

rename the folders to this

 

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim = change skyrim to SkyrimBAK

 

and

 

C:\Users\************\Documents\My Games\Skyrim = SkyrimBAK

 

then redownload the game through steam, it SHOULD work as steam will not recognize the folders anymore with BAK attached to them

 

as for the multiple companions I suggest http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/31581/? it's simple and easy to use and if your follower happens to get lost it has a nice teleport feature built into it :smile:

 

Also, 1 other thing, if you are using NMM or MO you should delete all files ( mods installed ) and start over, otherwise all you're going to do is duplicate the same problem again

Edited November 15, 2016 by gromulos

[kurecore]

Thanks alot,this will help me i always forgot something and do it then mid game and destroy my saves .. today i go install again :D

I will try to do something with wrye bash and tes5 to sort my problems,but last time i ruined whole instalation :D

 

Is needed to have other version of those programs if im using Legendary?

thanks alot (y)

[gromulos]

no, the new versions at the bottom are for the SPECIAL edition only, anyone else should use the links farther above

[LSswappedSupra]

Hi!

 

So I understood that removing mods mid playthrough is definite no-no, but what about adding mods mid playthrough? Is that okay, or should it be avoided as well?