Need help returning to heavily modded Skyrim in 2020

[sikiji]

Its been a while since I booted up Skyrim. Last time Vortex had just been released and wasn't properly functional enough to replace NMM yet. Bethesda was constantly spamming Creation Club updates that would break SKSE and we would all have to update not only that, but any associated mods as well. And good mod authors were dropping out of the scene left and right, some even taking their mods with them sadly. It was the right time to take a break after half a year of fun with mods.

 

I'm no beginner to the modding scene, I never run with less than 200 plugins and I even built a pretty great mid tier gaming computer so my poor laptop wouldn't explode. I had all the tools, extensions and cleaners to keep things from breaking too badly and generally knew what to do whenever I had a problem.

 

But now I find myself at a bit of a loss. Having left at a time when big changes were being made, several things are different or just gone now. Nexus Mod Manager is gone and while I still have it and all my old mods and tools on my hard drive, I doubt they will work right after Steam inevitably forces Skyrim to update.

 

So I figured I'd just ask here where I should start. What mod manager should I be using now and can I transfer all my old mods from NMM? Do I still need LOOT and SKSE or have they been integrated with managers? Do I still use SSEEdit and Fallrim Tools to clean things or are there better options now? Are there any major patches or changes I need to get? And does Bethesda still break SKSE on the regular and if so how do I prevent their automatic updates?

 

Sorry for the wall of text, I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things, I'm just not sure where to start.

[anjenthedog]

I can answer a couple of your quesitons but not all (since I uuse Vortex, not NMM or MO2 or whatever)

 

1) yes SSEEdit is still used

2) yes Falrim is still a goto for cleaning saves.

3) SKSE is still required (the 64 bit version)

4) yes you need a bunch of updates. Skyrim itsel;f is up to 1.5.97, and the corresponding SKSE is 2.0.17. Any SKSE dependent mod must have been updated accordingly.. LE mods are not advised, and they must either be converted/updated or a replacement version that's already updated installed instead. I think there are exceptions but I'm not going to split hairs.

5) Bethesda still periodically updates Skyrim, so yeah, it temporarily breaks things until SKSE is updated and any SKSE dependent mods are updated. We just had an update about a month ago, and one back in June

 

6) blocking updates requires setting steam for offline play.

 

 

7) back to Vortex, for moment... IF you were to use it, loot is handled internally. For other managers, I think you still need to use it as a self contained application.

 

FWIW, vortex is pretty seamless, and mods can either be installed via the Nexus interface, kinda directly, or mods can be installed from locally archived compressed mod files (I suppose you can also manually stuff things into their correct places but for me anyway, it's generally far easier to just allow Vortex to handle it. I have only been involved with this game for ~10 months) but I realize that many "leet skyrim players prefer the more mature applications more elder players are familiar with. each to his her own.

[sikiji]

Awesome thanks. Sounds like Vortex ended up becoming the new NMM after all. Never liked the micromanaging of manual downloads either. Guess I'll update everything and see if Vortex can use my old mods. Starting from scratch and hunting down all my old mods would be such a time sink.

[anjenthedog]

Again, any of the mods that requires SKSE will need to be paired with a given version of SKSE. ie, if you update Skyrim to the latest version, you'll need the latest SKSE and any SKSE dependent mods will need to be the updated version for that version of SKSE as well. (I know I'm harping, just don't want to see you frustrated unnecessarily)

 

At least you have a list of your mods, so, you can check for current versions pretty easily by typing (or cut pasting) in the names to Nexuses' search engine...

 

AND fwiw, installing directly from Nexus, rather than local archive allows Vortex to track changes. Locally installed mods (ie from a locally stored file) are not tracked, so if there is an update, Vortex won't show it for the mod that has one at Nexus...

 

I install *some mods from other sites directly (ie, download archived file, install from local directory). Vortex doesn't track them. For anything I *can get here, I generally install using the "vortex" link button in a given mod page, (which are tracked) although there are some Nexus mods I download manually to archive them for fear a mod author is going to pull them and retire from modding.

[JimmyRJump]

Vortex became the new MO2. Avoid it if you want a smooth modding experience. If you used NMM in the past, just update it and you'll stay sane a longer while.

[c0ax599]

Vortex became the new MO2. Avoid it if you want a smooth modding experience. If you used NMM in the past, just update it and you'll stay sane a longer while.

 

I still use NMM. Like I did in Skyrim. I started playing Skyrim SE in oct. 2018. I like using stuff I know if possible. Once I found out NMM was still being updated by the "community" i went for it. If you have multiple installs, it can be done, but it's prolly not the best in that case. For someone just playing Skyrim SE with a single install, it works great! As time has gone on, there seems to be more and more community updates. I still like it. It's pretty easy to use. Can add some standalone tools to it like "loot" etc. which i guess is integrated into the others. NMM is totally doable! :smile:

 

I prefer to use the "mod manager install button" on nexus when installing mods. NMM fires up, loads the mod, you "activate it" and it's all good.

 

Also tho, NMM, is the closest thing to a manual install too, and can kinda work with that. If you say, drop a .esp into the data dir, along with meshes and textures in their respective dirs by hand, you can fire up NMM, put a check by the .esp, use loot to sort your modlist and you're good to go!

c0ax599

Edited January 21, 2020 by c0ax599

[kthompsen]

Personally I don't even bother with xEdit. I used to, but I'm not convinced that it makes much difference.

 

Then again, I kind of do "vanilla +" mod setups, so it's not exactly demanding.

[JimmyRJump]

 

...()... If you have multiple installs, it can be done, but it's prolly not the best in that case...()...

Doesn't work on multiple installs because of the rather unfortunate way different profiles work (or don't work) in NMM. That's why I started using Vortex for the second install and NMM for the original install. Frankly, I opened a can of worms the size hitherto unseen as I forgot that both installs would access the same folders for modlists and savegames. Which had Vortex and NMM engaging in a back and forth fight over plugins like a rancunous divorcing couple over their kids.

In the end I wound up with ALL mods in NMM which amounted to 385 plugins... Threw the old game install in the bin, along with Vortex and loaded a previous profile in NMM and NMM borked it by merging the two profiles and I had then 333 plugins. Gave up and started from scratch on a fresh install. Huzza. Am level 37 now with 522 mods (285 plugins of which 253 are esp/esm and the rest esl/light). Took three weeks and six complete mod re-installs to get where I am now. I'm getting the occasional CTD but nothing irrevocable. Am now deviding my time between playing and solving problems by deleting mods that seem to conflict too much. I'm running almost as many patches as mods these days.

[Deleted67173466User]

I don't know which mod manager to use, all I know is that NMM is messing up every time I turn it on. Crashes on startup for no apparent reason, I've had to resort to completely uninstalling EVERYTHING and then reinstalling EVERYTHING in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, NMM will actually open without instantly "encountering a problem and needing to close."

 

I've also had to avoid updates for this same reason. If I get a stable version and it updates... crash on startup. I keep getting this "value cannot be null" stuff. I'm sick of it.