What is the best way to determine load order?

[yzerman19]

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[LeddBate]

Start with LOOT. (And clean where recommended to do so with TES5Edit.) However, read each mod's description thoroughly. Some mods have "intentional" dirty edits and cleaning them may break them.

 

After looting your load order, read each mod's description thoroughly (seeing a pattern here?) because some mods demand to be near the end or beginning of your load order (or before or after certain other mods) no matter what LOOT says. Tweak your order accordingly.

 

Doing these two things will get you started and should give you good results.

[NewThalos]

I'll drop some knowledge on you that I've accumulated over the years;

 

the short version is that a load order consists of a rather straight forward formula that is designed to give priority to certain mods over those that they are designed to overwrite. Simply understanding what your mod does, helps to illuminate much of those pesky unknowns.

 

the long version is that despite the best template in the world, there are always going to be complex mods that require placement in the load order that you wouldn't necessarily anticipate. Fortunately we have help from third party software such as LOOT, Wrye Bash, SSEEdit, etc.

 

Basic Template: (some broad stroke examples included)

 

1) Core Files - vanilla game files

2) Bug Fixes - Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch

3) Game Structure and UI Mods - SkyHUD

4) PC and NPC Appearance Mods - Bijin All in One-SSE

5) Mods that ADD or CHANGE Locations - JK's Whiterun

6) Mods that ADD or CHANGE Items - Immersive Armors

7) Mods that ADD or CHANGE NPCs - Immersive Patrols SE

8) Texture Mods - Static Mesh Improvement Mod - SMIM

9) Environmental Mods - Vivid Weathers Special Edition

10) Gameplay Mods - Alternate Start - Live Another Life

11) Wrye Bash - Bashed Patch

12) Dynamic Patchers - PerMa, etc

 

I want to stress a couple points about bashed patches and dynamic patchers;

 

firstly, yes, you always need a bashed patch, this is not up for debate, always make one. It not only reduces your plugin count, but you can also think about it as a universal compatibility patch. There is simply no downside to using it.

 

secondly, dynamic patchers are really neat, and most people get these wrong, which causes them a lot of grief and/or false accusations about the functionality of certain mods. At the end of the day, these are not essential mods, and are what I would consider an advanced aspect of modding. If you're just starting out, don't dabble in a dynamic patcher, best to wait til you're a bit more hands-on.

 

Lastly, the best advise on load order is from the mod authors themselves. Read every single mod description page for every little load order detail. If they say make sure it's before or after XYZ mod, then makesure you follow those instructions, even as far as to make a manual LOOT entry so that it automatically enforces the load order criteria outlined by the author.

 

Eventually once you make enough manual LOOT edits, it will work itself out. The final touch however is in Wrye Bash-- because it will tell you if you have any conflicts that LOOT (or your naked eye) can't tell tell you. And to make it all super easy, WB color codes it for you as well.

 

http://i302.photobucket.com/albums/nn91/zhalls/Nexus/Wyre%20Bash%20Color%20Codes.png

 

If everything is in green, then you're good to go. If you see anything in red, then that means the mod in question is in the wrong load order. Clicking on the red mod will give you clues as to what it's conflicting with, and the answer is as easy as moving one or the other. Sometimes you gotta move the bottom one up or down, and sometimes you gotta move the other, it really depends on if there are any reasons why one can't be moved, but the other can. Once everything is green and WB doesn't show anymore conflicts, you're pretty much good to go.

 

I hope this helps, cheers and happy modding.

 

(P.S. if you liked my answer, feel free to throw me a kudos!)

Edited December 25, 2016 by SkyrimCliff