Are there any precompiled mod packs that are 100% safe?

[stormfrog]

I've played Skyrim A LOT! Since it was released Ive probably installed and removed it 50 times and each time played the game until about half of the main quest until the game was so broken it was impossible to play (CTDs every 5 minutes).

 

The beauty with Skyrim is the mods and the modding community, I couldn't even imagine playing the game without my 100 top favorite mods. But thats also seems to be its greatest fault since the game becomes so unstable you cant play it. So the cost of getting all these versatile mods is that most mods are broken and created by amateurs who according to me have no business creating mods in the first place.

 

Is it a pipe dream to be able to do a complete playthrough of modded Skyrim? Ive tried STEP and STEP is just an overly complicated time consuming way (hell it takes about 3 days to configure and install, its insane!) to break your game. Cause my game always end up broken and unplayable even with STEP.

 

With all that in mind. Is there any tested 100% safe mod packs that are precomplied (with maybe Mod Organizer in mind) and prepared so that you can just download the whole thing, unpack and play without hours and hours of configuration?

 

I really want to play Skyrim again. But I just had to scrap 50% completed current series of Save games (STEP install) because of broken save games. This particular time it was the "player becomes the horse" bug which has no solution apart from starting over. Time before that I got CTDs in dustman's cairn. Time before that I got CTDs whenever I walked outside.

 

I JUST WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME FROM START TO FINNISH FOR ONCE!!! :( (No, I will NEVER play vanilla)

[Surilindur]

Thinking about it - very briefly - a mod pack has at least the following issues:

• most likely it would be impossible to get permissions, so distributing it would be a huge middle finger to all mod authors whose work would be included without their permission
• if author X updates mod Y, but some random dude does not update mod pack that includes that mod, then why would an author give permissions to include the mod in the pack when updates will never reach the end user?
• if mod X from author Y requires special procedure for updating it, that involves savegame editing, then users of a mod pack will never ever be able to update the right way, and will risk a broken savegame, since the one who made a mod pack cannot fix the users' savegames
• if mod X from author Y is included in mod pack Z, and users have issues because mod pack Z is just rubbish, then users will end up going to author Y to get help on mod X when the author had nothing to do with the issues, so why would an author give permissions to include a mod in a half-assed "mod pack"?
• massive amount of knowledge required to assemble a mod pack
• keeping the mod pack up-to-date would mean a ton of work
• updates to mods could cause severe issues (already mentioned this), could potentially be huge (if the idea is to just download + unpack a mod pack and do nothing else) and would still most likely fail
• the selection of mods is never going to please everyone
• if someone knows enough about mods, then that someone most likely also understands all the issues related to "mod packs", and that someone will not try to assemble and distribute a "mod pack" - as a result, the ones who do not know enough about mods, and do not know know that the issues outweight benefits by a huge margin, will be the ones who make mod packs, and the users looking for an easy mod pack are the ones that get screwed

Some people have tried to make mod packs, but they have really just ended up being horrible smoking piles of stuff thrown together with no idea how mods work, with permissions from authors missing, and probably just ruining people's savegames. If you value your gaming experience, and want to build a mod setup that works, then downloading a 10+ GB "mod pack" made by some random dude on the Internet is probably the worst thing you can do. :tongue:

 

I have no tips on how to go about learning things, people recommend the STEP guide so if that does not work, then I am not sure. Have you tried starting with just a few mods, like the USLEEP and some other ones you want the most? Learning, testing and all that, working one's way through it little by little, gaining an understanding of how mods work, why and why not, seeing the big picture and learning the little bits and pieces of information as you go. Wanting to play the game is understandable, but if you want mods, there is no easy way, really. At least not one that would be free of any issues. Well. Just the base Skyrim + DLC + USLEEP would be pretty great for a palythrough without issues. With all the scripted installers and tools, installing mods already is relatively easy. Making it easier is quite challenging.

 

Hopefully that helps. The biggest issue about mod packs are permissions. People who have made them have not had permissions to include the mods. And even if they did have permissions, and the mod packs were allright, then I still would not touch them with a long sticky myself. If someone is stupid enough to make a mod pack, then that someone is also stupid enough to make it one that is guaranteed to not work.

 

Edit: Typos. No can do English. Need edit. Ugh. Me go hunt mammoths. :facepalm:

Edited November 10, 2016 by Contrathetix

[TeofaTsavo]

I've done complete playthroughs of Skyrim many times since I established a stable play through.. which I did adding one mod at a time after saving a back up of my current stable game to fall back to. I would never consider adding a big pile of mods at one time.

 

A mod pack may work only on the system that particular user had as well. Even texture resolutions can impact a system.

 

You have to have a backup. Uninstalling some types of mods isn't good enough. It is a process, takes a bit, but is worth it.

Edited November 10, 2016 by TeofaTsavo

[Novem99]

Is it a pipe dream to be able to do a complete playthrough of modded Skyrim?

 

No. But YOU have to know what all these mods do with your game. If you don't it's very likely you get the result you experienced.

 

 

 

Is there any tested 100% safe mod packs that are precomplied (with maybe Mod Organizer in mind) and prepared so that you can just download the whole thing, unpack and play without hours and hours of configuration?

 

No.

[dragonchris152]

the only mod packs that are around are either armor and weapon packs or gameplay overhauls. If your expecting a 100 mod in one that works perfectly, your expecting far too much.