New to mods

[Stephanitely]

I play on PC! Used to play a lot of the original Skyrim where mods seemed to work more smoothly. I have decided to play special edition Skyrim & I'm having a lot of issues getting the mods to load. (since I can't do it through Steam workshop anymore) I downloaded the LOOT program which doesn't recognize all the mods. And some of the ones it does recognize aren't loading when I start the game. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I need help.

[thumbincubation]

I may be a bit behind the times in the modding tools arena, but I would suggest getting Wrye Bash and SSEedit as well.

 

I tend toward manual installs, so I'm afraid I can't give you any insight into mod managers, but make sure your .esp files and any accompanying loose folders or .bsa files are in the proper place. Usually

 

c > program files (x86) > steam > steam apps > skyrim special edition > data > (.esp and .bsa here, then any loose files usually in separate 'meshes' and 'textures' folders.)

 

Open and run loot. All this should do is set the load order for your mods, to avoid conflicts as much as possible. Make sure you have the latest versions of the program, and of the master list. Apply and it will set the game to load your mods in that order.

 

Then open Wrye Bash and use it, instead of the game's mod tab, to make sure all your mods are checked to run. If one is unchecked, the game won't recognize it.

You can create a bashed patch which, among other things, combines leveled lists in a way that they play nicely together. For example, if two mods add an item each to a list, the most recent loading mod would win out and only that item would be in the list. A bashed patch would allow you to benefit from both items.

 

Each of these programs has various tutorial videos available. I'd check them out on youtube, or via links on their nexus pages, before using them. They can be a bit confusing at first, but will be very helpful for you in managing your mods and load order.

[Stephanitely]

Thank you. I will try this. Should I also be taking the .eps & .bsa files out of the folders they are in?

[Moksha8088]

If a mod does not have an esp (such as texture mods) it does not appear on LOOT. LOOT only concerns itself with mods that have an esp.

 

The Nexus Mod Manager is the easiest way to mod for someone new to modding. You can use the essential utilities such as LOOT, SSEdit, FNIS, Body Slide, etc... from within the Nexus Mod Manager.

[thumbincubation]

If you're using something like Nexus Mod Manager, you should be able to use them without extracting. If you're manually installing, though, yes. You will need to use something like winrar or 7zip, to extract the .esp, .bsa , and/or any loose folders from the archive you downloaded, and place them in the appropriate place in your data folder. Most mod authors, if they include loose folders, have already given you the file path from data on down to their unique folders, so it can be slipped into the Skyrim Special Edition folder. If not, you will want to make sure you put them in the appropriate path, creating any folders that you don't have.