PC User of Oblivion...Skyrim Modding Questions

[L0neWolf117]

Okay, to make a long story short: I used to play Oblivion LOTS and loved all the mods. Never made any myself, but was amazed at the improvement between the PC and console versions. Flash forward a few years and now we have Skyrim.

 

I own (and love) it on Xbox 360. Remembering my modding days of Oblivion got me thinking about all the possibilities Skyrim could offer. But then...I heard about Steam.

LOTS of bad stuff about Steam.:sick: :down:

To the point I decided not to even buy the PC version...which made me VERY sad/angry.

 

So I'm wondering:

How easy/difficult is it to install/use mods in Skyrim?

Is Steam really as bad as it seems? Is there any way around it?

 

Lastly, I've been "out of the modding loop" as it were, for what I consider "a long time". Back in the day with Oblivion, I needed several separate tools to manage and implement mods (BOSS, Wrye Bash, TES CS, etc.)

The "new" mod management tool came out AFTER I had stopped modding, so I've no experience of what tools I'd need to mod Skyrim, or if anything else is needed in addition to the "new" program.

 

What are the MINIMUM required downloads to be able to mod Skyrim? Links help greatly. I'm mostly interested in the tools and other "bare bones" needed to use mods.

As an example: For Oblivion I would have listed Wrye Bash, OBSE, BOSS, TES CS, NifScript, Pluggy, and a few others I'm not remembering. After those were running, you could start adding mods to the game.

 

Recap:

1. Is PC Skyrim worth buying (from the standpoint of a mod user, not creator)

2. Is Steam really that bad/is there a way around using it?

3. What tools/programs are needed to actually start adding mods?

 

Thanks very much to everyone for the help, and I look forward to (hopefully) having even more fun with Skyrim than I had with Oblivion!! :wub:

[Roarian]

Recap:

1. Is PC Skyrim worth buying (from the standpoint of a mod user, not creator)

2. Is Steam really that bad/is there a way around using it?

3. What tools/programs are needed to actually start adding mods?

 

1. Yup, since there's already quite a variety of great mods out there, and more are bound to come. Installing via steam is a hassle, I think, but you have the nexus to just install stuff like you did in morrowind/oblivion. Let's face it, you probably have some idea of what to expect given that you evidently played previous TES games - there's a ton of stuff out there and much of it is rather amazing.

2. Eh, I use SKSE because of SkyUI and you basically don't have much to do with steam, then. Haven't had too much trouble with it anyway, thankfully, though others have.

3. At least the Creation Kit, obviously. Wrye Bash to get levelled lists and the like to agree - there's other stuff around but I haven't personally used it. I do know external stuff is used to generate heightmaps and the like since the native stuff in the CK is broken, and the same is true for textures and models obviously. It depends on what you want to do, I imagine. Adding dungeons and the like doesn't require much more than the CK, when you start generating new outdoor areas you probably do.

[BuffCareBear]

1.) Yes, countless mods now available for anyone. Ranging from houses, armor, armor re textures, weapons, weapon re textures, horse mods, magic overhauls, realism overhauls, vampire and warewolf overhauls,and things like lighting mods plus lots and lots more.

2.) No, I've yet to have any problem while using steam in excess of 2 and a half years. The service has made my experience much easier, and the sales have saved me enough money to in a way upgrade my PC.

3.) To start all you need is the Creation Kit. However if you want to get into modeling and texturing I would recommend getting some programs like Photoshop, GIMP, MAYA, etc etc.

 

Have fun :)

Edited April 9, 2012 by BuffCareBear

[flobalob]

1) Yes loads of cool mods already.

2) IMHO Yes / just make sure you keep Steam in offline mode until you know you want to pick up the patches. I'm still running v1.4.27 as there still seem to be issues with 1.5

3) For basic hose mods/dungeons etc. all you need is the CK, everything else is optional. I'd recommend Notepad++ for the scripting side but there are other options on the CK wiki here

[nivea]

1. I like it more then Oblivion on most things, its harder to mod but their are some really nice carry overs from FNV features I enjoy in the CK.

 

2. I hate it, burn it...burn it with fire. Make sure you BACK UP your game so if/when steam updates without your permission you have the back up.

 

3. The creation kit, nifskope (for nif work) and a texture program (for texture work). Its pretty much the exact same as Oblivion tool wise (minus a few things you need to do to get the items in game and blender) the only major difference is the new scripting... which scares me lol.

[scrivener07]

1. PC is best for mod users because its the only platform that supports them.

 

2. Steam isnt bad at all. It has saved me countless reinstalls with its handy verify game cache. Downsides are I cant install to my favorite directories such as D:/games/skyrim but instead D:/games/steam/steamapps/common/skyrim. Nothing a shortcut doesnt fix. The other downside is auto patches.

 

3 For a mod user try

Nexus Mod Manager

http://skse.silverlock.org/

Wrye Bash