A wary newcomer approaches- Plugins, Mods, and errors?

[Knuckle87]

Greetings!

 

I am new to the modding scene and completely addicted to enhancing my Skyrim experience. I have a few newbie questions I hope the veterans can address, and I apologize for any redundancy as I went through each forum looking for a FAQ.

 

• In my Nexus Mod Manager, I downloaded the Textures 2017 modification and it only shows under the Mods tab after being fully installed. It appears to be working but can anyone explain why it doesn't show up under plug-ins like my other mods after installing inside the Nexus Mod Manager?

 

• I'm confused about load order and is there a current load organizer that is recommended for Skyrim SE? I will include a screenshot of my current load order to see if I'm making any mistakes.

 

• On the same screenshot I'm uploading, I've highlighted USSEP as it is giving me a red warning sign stating "i have file extension .esp, but the file header marks it as an esm" . I am concerned this may be causing issues with my USSEP mod to not work properly, what I've searched on the web has left me more confused with technical jargon on previous or different versions of the game, talking about programs I don't use.

 

• Is the FPSBoost mod I'm using still recommended? I think it's one of the few mods I installed early on and forgot about.

 

• As I add more Mods to the game, will I be able to continue playing my current games as I go with the new mods installed?

 

 

 

 

Thanks in advance for any help you folks can provide!

 

edit: I included an additional screenshot to address question number 1 if it helps with a visual.

 

-Knuckle the Wood Elf Bandit

Edited August 16, 2017 by Knuckle87

[nightscrawl]

Welcome to the dark side. Modding is addictive!

 

 

1 Plugins are mods that have an esp plugin file. Texture replaces and the like don't have a plugin, they are just straight replacers. A replacer being a replacement for the default texture, new grass texture overwriting the default grass.

 

2 Read this post on load orders. You will want to look into getting LOOT. But LOOT is only intended to be used as a guide as it can't determine what your load order should be if you start getting into the hundreds of mods. It relies on user input as well.

 

3 That specific warning for USSEP is of no concern and is a problem with NMM itself. Don't worry about it at all. Arthmoor, creator of USSEP, calls it a "needless warning" that "hasn't been a valid warning since 2008."

 

4 I don't know what the fps boost is. It's generally not advisable to remove plugin mods during a play because they can leave artifacts in your saves. But as I said, I don't know what that one does, so can you link to it?

 

5 You normally can just add mods as you go, but try not to remove them. My suggestion would be to keep your current save and experiment with mods you want to try out. Don't plan on keeping this character. Let's say you want to try out a few different weather mods, or crass mods. Try out a bunch and find one you like. After you've experimented, scrap that save and then make your forever character you plan to keep and use, and then start the game with those mods. (Again, this doesn't apply to most texture mods, and many mesh mods, since those are replacers and can be swapped around willy-nilly at any time.)

 

Some mods, like Alternate Start - Live Another Life obviously requires a new game. Installing that in the middle of a play won't do anything. Other mods such as Cutting Room Floor can be installed in the middle of a play, but it's not recommended since certain content may be missed. You'll have to read the description of the mod to see. But generally, a standard mod is fine to install in the middle of a play. For example, I recently installed and started using the Camptire mod and was able to just start camping.

Edited August 16, 2017 by nightscrawl

[Knuckle87]

Thank you for the help, that provided alot of reassurance on things I wans't 100% about, and gave me some good stuff to read on load order, here we goooo.