Newbie - basic question (or two)

[vladmand]

Hi,

 

I'm totally new to modding. I downloaded the Nexus Mod Manager, read around to understand what it does and have downloaded and installed (activated) a few mods. I came across Gopher's YouTube videos and watched a few and want to install a few mods he talks about.

 

First question. I used to start the game by loading Nexus Mod Manager first, making sure all mods were up to date, then clicking the button to Launch Skyrim (from NMM). Then, one of the videos (or some other tutorial, I don't remember) talked about installing the SKSE "thing", which I did (successfully). Since I installed that, I launch the game using the file skse_loader.exe. What I don't really fully understand is if all my mods (installed using NMM) are still "active" if I don't first launch NMM and launch the game through it. I tried that, but then the SKSE isn't active.

 

I also have a feeling some of my mods (regardless of if I launch the game through NMM or using the skse_loader.exe file) aren't active (for example, Better Snow - I think my snow still looks the same), even though they all show as activated in NMM and I have no error messages when launching or closing the game.

 

Another thing I'm confused about is which mods can be combined and run in conjunction with others. For example, I wanted to use the FXAA Post Process Injector, but already have the official High Resolution Texture Pack, and have also installed the Skyrim HD - 2K Textures mod. I installed the FXAA Post Process Injector, but got an error message when trying to launch the game. I saw there was a warning about error messages and how to fix them, but I didn't attempt that, instead I uninstalled the whole thing before things got too messy, and before I can say I understand how this whole modding thing is supposed to work - hence this post.

 

Hope someone can clarify at least some of this for me.

 

Many thanks!

[Aliera Caine]

@vladmand: As far as SKSE and NMM, two things. 1. If your boxes were checked in NMM before you exited the program, they will still be checked when you activate the SKSE loader. 2. While you are in NMM, you can choose the option to launch your game through NMM. A button in the top left corner has an arrow beside it. Click on that and choose the SKSE launch option. Edited October 30, 2012 by Aliera Caine

[vladmand]

2. While you are in NMM, you can choose the option to launch your game through NMM. A button in the top left corner has an arrow beside it. Click on that and choose the SKSE launch option.

 

I missed that! Super-useful! Thanks for the quick reply! :)

[AnkhAscendant]

I cant help with the FXAA thing myself, but I can tell you that your mods are still active if you don't launch through NMM. You can activate and move around mods at least two other ways I'm aware of, so it doesn't really depend where they came from, if they're activated they'll stay that way no matter how you run the game. (Unless you have mods that require SKSE and you don't launch it through that, then they won't work right.)

 

A mod being 'active' is really just a matter of telling the game to load it. If you want to test whether, for instance, Better Snow is really active, try deactivating it and then loading a save game that had it on. It will almost certainly tell you "this save relies on content that is no longer available", which really just means you turned off a mod (something to worry about if you have quest mods or overhauls or something, but the purely cosmetic, not so much). Honestly I can't say I've ever noticed much of a difference with Better Snow myself, but I haven't really paid attention; when I have graphical improvements on I just sort of assume they're working, because I'm unobservant and don't remember how it was before.

 

Edit: Sorry for repeating information, I got distracted while I was typing and took a while to post so I didn't see the answer ^^;

Edited October 30, 2012 by AnkhAscendant

[vladmand]

Thanks Ankh, I'll give that a go.