Adding mods, removing mods, and changing load order mid-game

[DoctorKaizeld]

Sort of. In some cases moving a mod isnt necessary. For example a standalone armor mod will never affect a ENB mod. As such it wouldn't matter if it was above or below the ENB.

[cdcooley]

Removing mods is the most dangerous and that's why the game itself warns you when you do it and try to use an old savegame file. Generally you should avoid it. When you feel the need to remove a mod it's a sign you should think about starting a new character.

 

Adding mods is generally safe, but if the specific mod needs to be loaded when you start a new game (like Alternate Start - Live Another Life) then trying to load it later will cause problems. And of course when you add a new mod there's a chance it will conflict with your existing mods. If you want to try a mod and aren't sure you'll like it or that it will be compatible make a standard save, then add the mod and try it out. If you decide you don't like it then uninstall it and delete all the saves you made while it was installed. When you add a new mod it can go anywhere in your load order, not just at the end.

 

Generally you can reorder mods, but only to the extend that there aren't mod dependencies. And if there are conflicts between mods loading them in different orders will have different effects because ultimately the last mod loaded wins any conflicts. So while you can add new mods and insert them into your load order at any point you shouldn't shuffle existing mods around relative to each other. That's why LOOT now gives everyone different orders for their mods. It tries to avoid moving mods in ways that would cause problems.

[Deadsun]

That's why LOOT now gives everyone different orders for their mods. It tries to avoid moving mods in ways that would cause problems.

 

This is my only real concern; adding mods mid-game then running LOOT only for it to cause a catastrophic change to my load order but it's good to know LOOT has that over BOSS.

[DoctorKaizeld]

Yeah generally you'll be fine running loot. I add and remove mods all the time. At some point i will typically have to restart but that takes a while.

[Albertinella]

I found, that here in the second sticky post by Arthmoor under point 3, clean saves - there is said the truth about it.

 

Resorting load order or deleting a mod in mid game may cause one thing I hate most, because there is no real solution to fix it when it happens:

 

the grey face bug.

 

A factor is how much and how often you do changes on mods during game. But as said in the link, everything that has esm/esp will leave its traces in the save, something won't bug something will.

 

Or in other words: every mod you delete will be missed on next start by the game. This - the game even tells you. But not like a dog, that misses his food because of a feeling, Skyrim misses things because it has records of them in the save.

 

So everytime the game reports something missing, be shure the save is corrupted. How much corruption of saves the game can stand - I think this is like lottery. Impossible to forecast.

Edited September 15, 2016 by Albertinella

[NexusComa]

I toss em out re-loot go into the game console PCB save then reload ... done it 1000 times if not more ... never had a problem yet.

[DoctorKaizeld]

yeah same here, and i dont even have a Nexus coma either. the whole face bug is caused by changing textures and stuff typically only those that change the NPCs or PC cause that issue and LOOTs better organizing system seems to help prevent this unlike its predecessor BOSS.

[dpgillam]

Guides and instructions I've read over the years modding usually quip how you shouldn't add, remove, or change your load order mid-game. Beyond the .esp warning you get from TES/Fallout when you remove content I've never seen any documentation anywhere (I've looked) elaborating exactly why doing this is harmful. Specifically changing your load order and adding mods is what I'm interested in.

 

Can anyone elaborate on this further?

I dont know how much of a computer exopert you are, nor in what areas, so I will try to explain this as best I can, given its in software, which isnt my AoE.

 

A mod changes the game in some way; we all know that. You want to take an unstable system (vanilla Skyrim), that was further made unstable by mods, and then even further destabilize it. Ok, its possible. Lets look at why it might break:

 

Scripts: These tell the program how to run. Some cause bad problems. The reasons for that are either 2 scripts are giving contradictory orders, or one doesnt end when not needed and takes up all the memory so nothing else can work. Either can result in CTD, though the second can result in a freeze instead.

 

Just as bad, removing a mod can (or might not) remove scripts. Sometimes this is silly and harmless; Ive done 3 rebuilds of my whole skyrim software package and there's still a script hiding somewhere that names everyone on the screen. But some of those floating scripts are very bad.

 

In general, any mod with scripts shouldnt be removed unless your going to delete that play-through.

 

Mods that add nifs or textures are only a problem in that you may forget what mod over-wrote what and end up with "invisible part" or "purple part". Annoying, and tedious but easy to fix.

 

Using Loot to change load order just makes the program think you did all this again; the adding, removing, and over-writing of the game. You can do the "clean save" and run loot. Sometimes it works; sometimes not. Your call if its worth it.

 

As a side note, and addressing the adding your mostly interested in, unless its a major overhaul, like PerMa, Requiem, CACO, etc, its usually not a big deal to add unless your over the 200 mod mark. Then things start getting risky, as its hard to know what all is interacting how, and how the new will affect everything.

[pksky]

 

Mods that add nifs or textures are only a problem in that you may forget what mod over-wrote what and end up with "invisible part" or "purple part". Annoying, and tedious but easy to fix.

 

Can you explain what the easy fix is? Quite a long time ago I noticed that some rocks near water appeared to be missing textures and were showing up shiny and purple. I can't remember if it was something I installed or uninstalled, but I still see some of these rocks in certain places and because I know it's just a missing texture I've ignored it, although I'd like to fix it. Can't remember which mod may have been involved. I notice in my load order I have "realistic water stream fix" and "realistic water patch-58960 trmountainsandrocks" which are turned off. I probably had these on before. Perhaps the had overwritten textures and now that I've turned them off, they're gone? Is it as easy as turning the mod back on?

Edited September 16, 2016 by pksky

[NexusComa]

I guess I do however go back to a save before I adding the mod I'm removing ...

I also back up the whole Skyrim folder just so I don't have to ever start all over with my modding.