Three Total Noob Questions

[Iddodd]

Please don't be mad if I ask. I never used a mod before. Ever. And I only found this site an hour ago. So, I am not just noob, I actually give noobs a bad name.

 

This being said, my first question is this. I bought and consequently installed Skyrim through Steam. Can I even use mods from the Nexus, and if so, do I have to do something special?

 

The next question is even more basic than this: How do I know, if a mod works with the four official DLCs (three expansions and a texture pack) or, for that matter, any other mods?

 

The last is, what do I do when a new official DLC comes out? Do I somehow un-install the mods, and if so, how?

 

Thanks in advance for not forming a crowd with torches and pitchforks. I am kind of overwhelmed by the whole mod thing and don't know where to begin learning to do it right.

[M48A5]

A good place to start is here: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/2235394-beginners-guide-to-modding/

[Iddodd]

Cool. Thanks. :)

[NiteBeast]

Welcome to Skyrim!

 

I would recommend looking at the topic M48A5 posted. Also have a look at Gopher's videos on YouTube, he goes over Skyrim modding extremely well. Here's his beginner modding video:

 

You can use mods from the Nexus and from the Workshop, you'll be using one of the Mod manager programs to deal with the mods. There are a lot of tools to use to really tweak your game and it is worth it to learn those. Gopher's video's again can help.

 

As for the DLC's there hasn't been anything new in quite a long time, doubt Bethesda will do anything new for Skyrim so you shouldn't have to worry about that. Most mod authors (dare I say all) will indicate what DLC you need to have. I think you'll find that most people do have all the DLC at this point. Steam has somewhat regular sales for Skyrim and it's not too difficult to get them all.

 

Modding Skyrim is a love/hate relationship. It can be very frustrating but when everything is working it is simply magical. And the option to custom the game how you want it is just really cool anyway.

 

 

Good luck with the modding, don't be scared to ask questions!

[Iddodd]

Just awesome. To be honest, I was afraid to ask, because I thought I would have to sift through a bashing. I would have never expected answers this helpful. Thanks so much.

Edited April 29, 2015 by Iddodd

[NiteBeast]

I don't think you'll see much bashing or that kind of thing around here. People are pretty respectful from the posts I've read and the general vibe I get from the Nexus, helps that's a part of modding culture too.

 

When I first found this place I was stunned. I've modded games for decades (I used to make Doom maps and yes I am that old) and most games just don't have a huge community pushing them. Unreal Tournament had a massive user created content base and I thought I'd see nothing like that again... until I found the Nexus. Without sounding like a total kiss-ass, this is the best gaming community I've ever known.

[notmyhome]

What helped me learning the ropes was this guide. They teach you how to set up your game , how to set up the utilities that make modding a fun experience, give you a list of mods that'll improve nearly every aspect of the game, and show you how to install them.

 

That being said, it's time-intensive as hell.

 

Welcome to the community!

[cowgirl1776]

Aw, you're so cute. I remember when I first tried modding. I was petrified of breaking my game after I failed the first time. I downloaded a few mods for Morrowind that were supposed to replace the legion with all Romanized gear and add new monster. Instead the only things that changed was that all the legionnaire shields turned into Roman scutum and high leveled dragons spawned all over the place. They slaughtered Seyda Neen and made me live in terror no matter where I went. I had no idea how to revert the mess I created. Back in those days we just dropped lose files into our data folder and hoped it didn't overwrite something vital. More often than not we would accidently overwrite one mod with another to make all sorts of interesting problems. That remained a big concern until quite recently when Mod Organizer changed a lot of things.

 

 

 

Can I even use mods from the Nexus, and if so, do I have to do something special?

 

 

 

Yes, Nexus is where I think the great majority of people go to look for mods. In my humble opinion it's far more organized and easier to use than Steam Workshop. In a matter of speaking you’ll need two extra two steps, but they are so simple that it should come naturally to you. First you'll need to download a manager that handles mods. Nexus Mod Manager is used by a lot of people but Mod Organizer has gained a tremendous amount of popularity since it released and is my personal preference between the two. There isn’t a wrong choice here. Mod Organizer is packed with a lot of very useful features that I can’t recommend enough. More importantly you can’t overwrite other mods on accident with it because each mod is stored in its own folder. Nexus Mod Manager is slightly easier to use for a beginner, so you might want to start with that, though I'd highly recommend switching to Mod Organizer when you feel comfortable.

 

Once you have your choice downloaded and installed it’s time to look for some mods. I'd recommend starting small, maybe texture mod; something you can see working right away when you start your game up. There is very little that can go wrong with a texture pack and installing one has identical steps to installing 99% of the mods out there. It would be a great way to ensure you have an idea of what you’re doing before moving onto bigger things.

 

Always be sure to read the mod description page - especially the incompatibilities list. You’ll save yourself a lot of trouble if you do. Even if it’s a simple mod it’s best to read about it.

 

 

The last thing you need to do is open them with the manager and activate them. There are two ways you can do this. Manual Download and Download with Manager. When it comes to Mod Organizer, manual download prevents certain features such as notifications when a mod is updated. It’s also slightly more involving.

Gopher has done two amazing tutorial series that I’d highly recommend watching. The first modding in general. It walks you through every step involving downloading, installing, and playing mods. The second is how to use Mod Organizer. It’s really great stuff and explains it far better than I could.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE7DlYarj-DdhDG41roBVJfNCqvO5MmKP

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE7DlYarj-DcLS9LyjEqOJwFUQIIQewcK

 

 

 

The next question is even more basic than this: How do I know, if a mod works with the four official DLCs (three expansions and a texture pack) or, for that matter, any other mods?

 

 

 

This is both an easy and tricky question. Most mods will have a list of incompatibilities on the mod description page. Most conflicts are relatively minor. If you download new textures for the same item one texture will overwrite the other, for instance. Others are quite significant. If you download Realistic Lighting Overhaul and Enhanced Lighting and FX and try to enable them at the same time then you’ll have a very unusual experience. They both modify the same files, to say the lighting. Reading the mod description and getting an idea of what the mod does is critical to foreseeing conflicts. If mods alter the same thing then there is a high chance that they will conflict with eachother and prevent either mod from acting correctly. The most fatal conflict is when they crash your game or render it unplayable. A while back I had downloaded a few mods that changed the AI. Unknown to me until I was far into the game did I discover that it prevented many companions from following me.

 

Sadly apart from using some sense there isn’t really an easy way to detect conflicts. Mod Organizer does a fantastic job in telling you what files are overwriting which files but it’s not infallible. Some mods have compatibility patches available for them. Maids II: Deception, my favorite quest mod, has a patch for Interesting NPCs. In my experience the worst that happened without the patch is that a few NPCs would be someplace where they are not supposed to be. It was a minor conflict but the patch corrected it.

 

As for the DLC that is a much lesser problem. Most mods I’ve seen are fully compatible with DLC. The bigger problem is getting a mod that requires DLC to function. Downloading a mod that relies on DLC content, without actually having the DLC, will cause your game to crash as soon as it starts. This is true of any mod that relies on another mod that isn’t there. If the master file is missing then it will crash to the desktop upon starting. It’s another important reason to read the mod description page.

 

 

The last is, what do I do when a new official DLC comes out? Do I somehow un-install the mods, and if so, how?

 

 

There is an incredibly low chance of new DLC coming out, so I don't think it's worth worrying about. If you need to uninstall a mod then it will depend on how you installed it. If you manually dragged files into your Data folder then you're in a world of pain. You'll need to search for each and every single file the mod added and delete it. If you used a mod program such as Nexus Mod Manager or the Mod Organizer then it's even easier than installing mods with them. Just disable them from the displayed list.

Edited April 29, 2015 by cowgirl1776

[jimjimjimjaboo]

cowgirl1776 definitely has a good set of info for you there.

 

I'm reasonably new to modding, and I'm starting to make a few mods myself. I haven't uploaded anything yet, but I'm getting there.

 

Anyway, I can give you a bit of my experiences so far with Nexus and the community.

 

A note about mod types, there generally are two main types of mods, content-based mods that will usually only exist in your data folder (generally are quests, armor, weapons, followers and NPCs) and function-extending mods that require special installation methods (ex. SKSE and ENBoost or ENB presets).

 

Each mod on the Nexus generally have very detailed info on how it's installed, what they do, how to remove them on their description page.

 

If you're browsing through Mods on the nexus main skyrim site, and you have a question about a specific mod, each mod page has it's own posting section. You can search through the posts quickly by clicking the "view forum thread" link (it's to the top right of the first post you'll see) and it will bring you to the forum site for it which has a search bar at the top right. This can help you find info you want really quick as you won't necessarily need to wait for someone's response as there's always a chance a question you might have, is a question someone else has had. I mention this because some very good mods have very long post threads and reading through it all takes a bit of time.

 

I started using mods first through the Skyrim launcher and subscribing to them through steam, then used the Nexus Mod Manager and then finally started using Mod Organizer as well as completely restructuring my Steam/skyrim folder structures.

 

Mod Organizer lets you virtually (literally, not figuratively) organize your mods and allows you to not have to overwrite anything which is really a god-send. It's definitely an app you'll want to use eventually. It's at this link: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1334/?

 

I started really getting into modding with this guide: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/56894/?

 

It's a great starting point after you've have some experience with how the Data folder is structured, after you find info on what .BSAs, .ESPs, and .ESMs are, and what the difference is between a .BSA and a loose file structure are. I don't want to overload you of course but you'll find that the more you learn, the more fun you'll have.

 

Modding Skyrim is actually a rather involved process. It's almost a game in itself because you are effectively tinkering with Skyrim, which is really fun and rewarding.

[WightMage]

Just awesome. To be honest, I was afraid to ask, because I thought I would have to sift through a bashing. I would have never expected answers this helpful. Thanks so much.

 

"Sift through a bashing."

 

Ha ha, no, the only bashing you'll be receiving are from bandits in-game. The people here are pretty chill.

 

Welcome to the community, and don't forget to click the "Endorse" button on a mod after you've tried it some and decided to keep it.