Question about what mods to use?

[DarthMann94]

So I just bought a gaming laptop and it is my first PC so I am new to mods. On Nexus there are "Skyrim Mods" and then there are "Skyrim SE Mods" can I download regular skyrim mods not from the SE section and still run them on the SE edition of the game that i bought?

[JimmyRJump]

So I just bought a gaming laptop and it is my first PC so I am new to mods. On Nexus there are "Skyrim Mods" and then there are "Skyrim SE Mods" can I download regular skyrim mods not from the SE section and still run them on the SE edition of the game that i bought?

Skyrim, aka 'Oldrim' is a 32-bits game and the Special Edition has been upgraded to 64-bits which means that in theory all mods made for Oldrim can be used on Skyrim SE but mods made for Skyrim SE can NEVER be used on Oldrim (64-bits can read 32-bits files but not the other way round). In theory. In reality, 90% of the mods made for Oldrim will work on Skyrim SE but WILL cause problems at a certain point because of the difference in formID used for files for the two versions of Skyrim. Oldrim uses 'FormID 43' while Skyrim SE uses 'FormID 44'. I've been using a few very small plugin-less mods in Skyrim SE that were made for Oldrim without a problem for hundreds of hours.

 

So, to answer your question properly: it is best to NOT use mods made for Oldrim in Skyrim SE as you can never tell beforehand what will happen, especially with mods that have a plug-in. 75% of mods made for Oldrim have been converted to work in Skyrim SE anyway so there's no real need to use Oldrim mods in Skyrim SE. The difference between the two versions of Skyrim is the reason why Skyrim Special Edition has its own mod pages. If everything would work properly for both games then there wouldn't be a separate section for Skyrim SE mods. The latter answers your question right there.

 

You can compare it to a 64-bits operating system. Thet 64-bits OS will be able to use 32-bits programs but a 32-bits operating system will not be able to run 64-bits programs because of the difference in file structure and the larger amount of instructions a 64-bits OS can use. A game is like an operating system and the mods are the programs that work on it.

 

For a more thorough explanation of the differences, here's a topic on Reddit where the changes from Oldrim to Skyrim are laid out.

[wackoj94]

Word of advice: before installing mods, be sure to clean your master esps and install all the relevant modding utilities, i.e. SSEEdit, Beth.ini, LOOT, Wrye Bash, etc.

Use beginners modding guides and you'll save yourself many a headache.

Also the advice given above is very sound on why SSE is superior and more stable.

[JimmyRJump]

Also a little need-to-know about mods. First of all most mods for Bethesda games have plugins. You plug the mod into the game, so to speak. Those plugins come in different variations: esm (Elder Scrolls Master), esp (Elder Scrolls Plugin) and esl (Elder Scrolls Light). A maximum of 256 plugins can be used on a game, minus the main game's esm. That leaves 255 mods with a plugin that can be installed. This is in fact a 32-bits restriction but also a limit for the Creation Engine on which the game is built.

 

There's ways to use more plugins by using esl plugins. Esl was 'invented' after the Creation Club was created for both Fallout 4 and Skyrim Special Edition. Since the Creation Club came to be years after the launch of the games, there was a fear that Creation Club mods wouldn't do well because most die-hard gamers would be sitting near the maximum plug limit and so the esl was developed. An esl is a plug that is seen as such but doesn't get counted towards the total used plugins.

 

Another variation is a 'light' esp. That's an esp that is flagged as an esl. The reason this is done is for load order purposes (check Nexus Mod Manager and LOOT, for installing mods and sorting plugins). Mods need to be loaded in a certain order and ESM (master files) always get loaded first, esp are loaded after that but esl are always loaded after esm but before esp and can not be added elsewhere in the load order. However, an esp flagged as esl can be added among the regular esp plugs. This is interesting for patch mods so that the patches don't get loaded before the mod they need to patch.

 

There's loads of mods that don't have a plugin. They only replace existing textures to make things look better and don't add anything to the game. There's no install limit on mods without a plugin although you should watch out to not install too many textures of 2K, 4K, 8K; etc, depending on how powerful your GPU (Graphics Processing Unit, aka video card) is and in what resolution you play. Mods that do add new things to the game need a plugin; mods that only replace existing files don't need a plugin.

 

This may sound a bit confusing, but it'll all make sense once you start using mods. I advise you to read the descriptions on the mods you want to use and also look what files are in a mod before downloading (click on 'preview file contents' underneath the download button). You can do as Wackoj95 says and read modding guides. Just don't follow them because you'll end-up with someone else's preference and you'll make the same mistakes they made.

 

Besides a mod manager and LOOT, you'll probably also need SKSE (Skyrim Special Edition Script Extender), FNIS (Fores New Idles In Skyrim, for animation mods), xEdit and BodySlide (for adapting the body you want to use and then adapt the clothing and armour from mods to that body). xEdit has a quick autoclean function now for cleaning files of unwanted stuff (the cleaning Wackoj95 mentioned). Have fun and when in doubt, don't hesitate to ask questions. Ich spreche auch Deutsch :wink:

[Gorsha]

And you better use Vortex for installing your mods. It has a little learnig curve, but actually it is not very hard to do, and it is more save, and flawless then the Nexus mod manager.

[JimmyRJump]

And you better use Vortex for installing your mods. It has a little learnig curve, but actually it is not very hard to do, and it is more save, and flawless then the Nexus mod manager.

Not true. Vortex has too many errors, too many useful features that are there but hidden and adds conflicts by forcing you to choose which mod to load first which cannot resolve anything when you use more than two mods that change the same items and you want to use files from all three mods. NMM has its faults, but it's the simplicity that makes it an outstanding mod manager.

[anjenthedog]

 

And you better use Vortex for installing your mods. It has a little learnig curve, but actually it is not very hard to do, and it is more save, and flawless then the Nexus mod manager.

Not true. Vortex has too many errors, too many useful features that are there but hidden and adds conflicts by forcing you to choose which mod to load first which cannot resolve anything when you use more than two mods that change the same items and you want to use files from all three mods. NMM has its faults, but it's the simplicity that makes it an outstanding mod manager.

 

In all fairness Jim, although I realize you run an "overloaded" game (or maximally loaded if you prefer :wink: ) and use MO2 because it works best for you, Vortex only requires user input when it can't figure it out on it's own.

 

In hundreds of mod installations, I've only had a few dozen that required me to choose between a pair of contending mods, and in most cases, there's a suggested order offered. I think the number of ones where I had to guess is less then a dozen in ~400 mod installations.

 

For a newb who has no experience with Skyrim or modded games, Vortex *may be the best option. You're one of the folks around here I'd consider expert-level, so (afaik) that doesn't apply to you, but for me, I'd have been lost had I had to go "low level" with MO2 or NMM. Even IF MO2 or NMM provide a better degree of control.

 

idk. Just sayin. I do agree though, that Vortex isn't flawless. When I attempted to load the alternate grass mod you suggested, my load order got humped. Not your fault, (still looks like the one I'll choose to replace Verdant when I update the game to 1.5.97...), it's Vortex's fault. And it took me a while (around an hour) to get things sorted out again...

 

But.... Vortex still made the difference between me playing Skyrim and walking away. I'm not a gamer, I don't have loads of time to crawl up the learning curve, and as I've noted in the past, the last game I played (aside from a few hands of solitaire) prior to this was FFXI, which I uninstalled in ~2009 or 2010.

[JimmyRJump]

I've been using NMM for around ten years and it had its ups and downs. The latest version (0.71.1) is quite stable and hasn't crashed or did anything funny since its release. I have only a short amount of experience with Vortex (never used MO2, so can't say anyting about it) from begin December last year until early January of this year and I had nothing but trouble with it, both with its interface (overly cluttered on some tabs and features tucked away in sub-menus of a sub-menu) and with the way it adds mods and how it resolves 'conflicts'. I have nothing against the system as such, because the feature where you can choose which mod needs to be loaded first in case of overwriting the same files is a good feature. Except when, like I said, you use more than two mods that want to overwrite the same files and you'd like random assets from all three. Then you are forced to choose a load order and lose out on some textures. Like I use three mods that add trees to Whiterun. Can't use 'em all three with Vortex but I can with NMM because there I can choose which files I want overwritten and which files I'd like to keep.

 

Vortex has been out for general use for three years now and it still has too many flaws to be used properly, especially by folks who never modded a game. It was released prematurely and hadn't properly outgrown its Alpha state and for some reason the folks working on it can't seem to iron-out the wrinkles. I'll have a go at Vortex again, maybe in another three years. I wouldn't be surprised however if by then they haven't started from scratch on a new manager. That's what I would do anyway, instead of shoving Vortex down everybody's throat and acting like Nexus Mod Manager never existed. Too many Vortex fanboys also, who will keep defending Vortex despite the poor state it is in. Alltogether Vortex has been in development for almost four years. You'd expect more after all this time. At least, I expect more.

 

I don't consider myself an expert. Half of what I do is on intuition. The rest is stumbling around in the dark until I see a ray of light. For me, Vortex sadly shows no light at all. Maybe I'm too harsh. Maybe I'm too angry because I had to re-install all my mods six times over. That's over 3000 mods in all. Whatever the case, I don't think Vortex has a bright future.

 

I will keep advocating Nexus Mod Manager, however. But in the end, it's a matter of personal choice. What gets on my jollies is A) people dissing NMM from hearsay and without factual proof of it being 'broken' and people treating Vortex like it's the next World Wonder just because it's what they've been told and because it works flawless with the dozen or so mods they've installed. You just need to take a look at the Vortex fora and you know from which direction the wind is coming.

 

In the meantime, we've hi-jacked poor Darthmann94's topic. With a bit of bad luck, he sells his laptop and games instead of using one single mod.

[anjenthedog]

Sorry NMM. my mistake

 

 

 

In the meantime, we've hi-jacked poor Darthmann94's topic. With a bit of bad luck, he sells his laptop and games instead of using one single mod.

 

 

idk I think he might learn from the discussion, in any case, yeah I suppose it's sidelining his query. My apologies to all.

[kthompsen]

Go to TESGeneral to get a good guide/feel on what to use. Oldschool, but still updated for SE and one of the best fan sites imo.

 

http://www.tesgeneral.com