How necessary are Wrye Bash, BOSS/LOOT?

[Fereed]

I just got into modding, so I have been reading up on and installing several mods recently. Lately I downloaded the Skyrim Immersive Creatures mod and after reading about it the author mentioned the programs Wrye Bash and BOSS/LOOT.

 

So I looked up those programs and after reading about them I understand what they for, but my question is how necessary are they, in general and in the particular case of the Immersive Creatures mod? If they are necessary, where is the best place to download them?

[DoctorKaizeld]

do not use BOSS, use LOOT. LOOT is not necessary if you know how to do load orders perfectly... so in your case you want to get it. it helps a lot even telling you which mods need cleaning and if a mod requires another that you don't have.

 

for wrye bash though it is optional you don't need it, but it is highly recommended. though it is required when you reach the 150-244 mod range.

 

LOOT: https://loot.github.io/

 

Wrye bash: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1840/?

Edited February 6, 2015 by qwertyzeldar

[Oubliette]

Short answer: Necessary. That increases with the number of mods you're using.

 

If you've got a very small load list of say thirty five mods and you are an experienced user who really knows the ins and outs of using mods you can get away without using LOOT but you'd probably still need Wrye.

 

Wrye's ability to merge several changes to a single reference into a cohesive whole is still essential for anyone that wants to play with more than one or two mods that modify similar things, a function a lot of people overlook. So say you've got a beauty mod that gives everyone in the game new hair, but you've also got a mod that modifies a few merchants inventory and another one that adds new dialogue to NPCs, these mods don't conflict but if you load them all together without Wrye only the mod that loads last's changes will stick (so you might end up with the updated inventory but outdated hair and nothing interesting to say) Wrye merges those references so that all three changes will appear. It's particularly essential with mods that add to leveled list items including creature drops and various dungeon loots.

[Shurah]

If you know how to use TESVedit. LOOT and BOSS are useless.

Even If you know how to use LOOT or BOSS, TES5edit is still mandatory to mod your game properly.

TESVedit is more hard to master compared to LOOT and BOSS (hence their popularity), but TES5edit will save you a lot of time, specially if your game is strongly modified.

Wrye Bash is optional, but not required to mod your game properly.

[myztikrice]

LOOT is still useful for a load order baseline and it's a quick way to see which mods have dirty edits, so it's not useless even if you know how to use TES5Edit.

 

Regarding a basehd patch, it's entirely possible to have a large load order with multiple mods and have none of their leveled lists conflict and require a bashed patch.

Edited February 6, 2015 by myztikrice

[Artasdmc]

As everyone mentioned LOOT is to sort your mods. But it doesn't always work. Not with new or unknown mods anyways.

That's where Wrye Bash comes in to play, you can see yourself which mods conflict or their masters are wrong so you need to switch them up yourself.

 

Wrye Bash is the best tool hands down to manage your mods, it was the best in Oblivion and it's the best in Skyrim.

Props to people who develop it.

[lofgren]

How does wrye bash tell you what conflicts? As far as I know the best tools for that are TESVEdit and Mod Organizer.

 

Here are the most useful functions of each tool. I recommend all of them. In the long term they will only save you time and energy.

 

LOOT: Sort .esp load order. Not strictly speaking necessary since you can do it by hand if you know what you are doing. Most people do not know what they are doing. It will take you months to years to learn, and in the end you'll have a load order very similar to what LOOT gives you.

 

Wrye Bash: Merge leveled lists. Necessary if you have more than one mod that affects leveled lists (e.g. immersive creatures, immersive armors, immersive weapons, to name some of the most popular). Also allows you to pull item names and stats from separate mods so highly recommended if you have any thing that renames items or adjusts their stats.

 

Mod Organizer: For seeing what conflicts in bsas and loose files, and of course for activating and deactivating mods. Not totally necessary but highly recommended because knowing this affords you better customizability, even for a novice.

 

TESVEdit: Allows you to see what conflicts in plugins. Not really necessary since there's nothing you can do about it unless you really know what you are doing. Usually it's not recommended to go editing other people's mods anyway, since you can break something without even knowing it. Least necessary of these tools. For advanced users approaching the mod limit you can use it to merge mods but both MO and Wrye Bash offer options for reducing the number of plug ins you load so by the time you are getting into merging with TESVEdit you should already be using the other three tools on this list.

 

Some mods also require you to run scripts in TESVEdit in order for the mod to work. In addition TESVEdit is good tool for learning the structure of plugins and thus becoming better at managing mods. TESVEdit is recommended for advanced users but isn't really useful to anybody who just wants to install mods and play, unlike the rest of these tools.

[Fereed]

Thanks for the quick responses!

 

Can I get the latest version of Wrye Bash on the Nexus?

 

In regards to LOOT, how safe is version 6.1?

I read on the LOOT page on github.com that version 6 had a security issue and that is one thing that made me nervous about installing LOOT.

 

Another program I saw mentioned while browsing mods was ENBoost. Do you recommend this program?

Edited February 6, 2015 by Fereed

[DoctorKaizeld]

LOOT 6.1 is currently stable and works fine.

[samih3h]

do i can use wrye bash and requiem together ?

 

requiem telling that its not recommended to use wrye bash with requiem

what shall i do

 

you have any idea

>>>