Burn or Embrace? Should you wait a bit before modding a game?

[SkyEmerald]

Hi guys!

 

I've played through Skyrim a few times (well about half of it in total, kept getting side tracked making and adding mods). :confused:

 

When I first played through half the game, it was vanilla. Then I started adding various mods and the game was fresher and more enjoyable. I couldn't imagine playing the game modded from the start through, I feel I would have missed out on the originality of the game. As in what Lydia looks like, how she walks as a man, all the little charms and oddities to love and hate about a game when it's just come out.

 

I haven't played Morrowind yet and my hubby tells me not to mod it too much, I agree with him. If I don't know what the game is like, how can I decide for myself what needs changing?

 

A final word. I've noticed that Fallout 4 has a ton of mods to its name already. So the question remains, should people play (at least half of the game) vanilla before deciding to make changes. How do you know you wouldn't love the game as it is if you don't give it a chance to captivate you with its awesome vanilla flavours?! :laugh:

 

[ironbender800]

Should definitely play the game vanilla first. Will give much better idea of what youd like to see added by mods or improved by mods.

[cdcooley]

If you didn't play the game first how would you know what mods you would want to use? I first started playing Skyrim a few months after it had been released. I spent about 20 minutes playing without any mods as a test run. Then I installed the unofficial patch and an early version of SkyUI. But I waited until my second character when I had a much better idea of what things I didn't like about the game before adding more.

 

It's been a long time since I've actually played Morrowind, but I suggest starting your first game with any bug-fixing patches you can find but wait for the other things (except possibly NPC appearance mods since the bodies and faces in Morrowind were terrible even when the game was new.)

[Moksha8088]

When my son originally loaded Skyrim onto my computer, he used the NMM I was using for FNVegas to add several mods including SkyIU to the mix before I ever tried the vanilla game. His rationale was that the vanilla game would seem less user-friendly that the modded game.

 

I suppose you could start it just to see if it worked, then once out of Helgen, quit the game and then install some of the essential mods. Just google Skyrim essential mods and you will see numerous lists. Make sure you first downloads include LOOT, SKSE and SkyIU. After you add any mods besides those two, run LOOT. Repeat the LOOT process after any single or multiple batch of mods you fancy.

 

Some other must have mods are the Bethesda hi-res patches and the unofficial patches (now known as USLEEP from famous modder Arthmoor).

 

Enjoy the game.

 

Wait a minute, I did a shoddy reading of the first post. I've only seen Morrowind on a Youtube video. After playing Skyrim, the graphic quality of Morrowind would make it seem to be like joining an archeology expedition and deciding to use stone implements to assist in the digging process.

 

The enhanced presets mod and the Eyes of Beauty mod would make your FO4 experience nicer from the outset.

Edited November 14, 2015 by Moksha8088

[Stargazer09]

Vanilla first. Then add mods according to taste :D

[TheSpaceShuttleChallenger]

There are a few mods I recommend to people right off the bat. Namely, the unofficial patches, and a standard set of graphics and environment mods. I mean, you don't really need fifty hours in the game to know that not-grainy textures are better than grainy textures and water that looks like water is better than water that doesn't look like water.
But as far as gameplay and content mods go, it's important to play before you choose. You can't have all the mods, so you've got to play through the game and decide what matters to you rather than simply downloading mods right and left without a clue if you really need them.

[strawbqwerty]

I played to about level 50 then got into modding the game. By that level I knew what i liked to improve. That siad I have butchered a couple of play throughs trying different mods. Just like a kid in a candy shop when it comes to mods. Trying deperatly to not tinker with this play through as the game is suprisingly stable at the moment.

[LeddBate]

I didn't buy the game until it had been out for nearly a year, so there was lots of mods and advice on how to use them already available. After reading up a bit on the forums, I decided to start with a limited number of mods from the "top 100 of all time" selection here at the Nexus. Best decision I ever made. Even though I've already bought FO4, I'm waiting for the team that brought us SKSE to get their version for it ready, then I'll get that and the common-sense mods that will be based on it, then start playing.

[Toft]

Depends on the mod. Bethesda traditionally hates people daring to use a mouse with their left hand, so a hotkey mod is always a priority for me to shift WASD -> ArrowKeys, and 1-8 hotkeys to the KeyPad. Mods that change the "game rules" or encounters can come later (as people said above)

Edited November 29, 2015 by Toft

[Cladonia]

I personally think you should start in between the two, as I did. Start with vanilla, and begin to install small, harmless mods that add stuff like new NPCs or items, nothing big. Then as time goes on, add more, and bigger mods. Do this right and at around 350+ hours you will be downloading any and all bizzarre s#*! until you've got hundreds installed and your game just keeps getting new crashes and bugs.