-Mod Management-

[Deleted3765355User]

So, within the next 3 weeks I will be obtaining the parts to build a Desktop I've designed. After it's all put together, I'll be downloading Skyrim, as well as Dawnguard & Dragonborn. MY question is as follows;

 

What is the most effective way to install massive amounts of mods, that is safe and will create the least issue when I go to test them?

 

I categorize mods in a few ways,

 

Re-Texture & Lighting (Re-texture's of the map/cities/armor's/weapons/character/NPC, and Lighting & ENB Mods fall here.)

Custom Area (New homes, and new locations fall here.)

Systems (Game changing systems like Combat Overhaul, Character Creation Overhaul, Sneak Tools, Killmove Control, etc fall here.)

SkyTools (HUD Changes fall here.)

Sounds

Animations

Small Game Patches

New Weapon's & Armor

 

What types should I install first? How often should I re-load the game to check that everything is in order? Any recommendations on load order based on my categories, and not on individual mods themselves?

 

Thank's for any help you guys might give!

Edited January 25, 2013 by Guest

[ripple]

Use the Mod Organizer to install your mods. It doesn't install mods into the game data folder and keep mod resources separate in their own folders, so you don't need to worry about installation order and overwrites. You can adjust installation order of mods through a window just like adjusting load orders, in cases of conflicting resource files. It will also allow you to tag mods you install (which the NMM will not).

 

Use BOSS to automatically sort your load order, TES5Edit to clean esp's when informed by BOSS to do so (and also to check records of esp's not recognized by BOSS, so you can determine if they conflict with other esp's), Wrye Bash to generate a Bashed Patch that will merge conflicting leveled lists (mostly from custom armour/weapon mods that use leveled lists to distribute the items to NPCs).

[Deleted3765355User]

Thank's for the advice. There's a few tools you listed I wasn't aware of, I'll make sure to put them to good use.

[ArtMurder]

What is the most effective way to install massive amounts of mods, that is safe and will create the least issue when I go to test them?

 

Well, probably not what you want to hear, but carefully, and one at a time. I have an insane amount of mods in my game, well over 100 (in fact I lost count at 100) and they work well together because I took lots and lots of time making sure every one I wanted fit together, and if one didn't fit with another, I looked for an alternative that did.

 

As for order, this doesn't really matter that much, but still, I'll give you some advice.

 

Re-Texture - Doesn't matter. At all. I have probably around 70-100 texture mods IN ADDITION too my 150-200 mods, these have almost no effect on the game whatsoever, though I do suggest installing them ONE AT A TIME and double and triple checking that everything hit it's mark in game, if you see anything our of place and purple, it means you broke something. You do these one at a time to make it easy to track down the culprit if you break something. If you install 20 of them at the same time, jump in game, and there's giant purple blocks flying in the sky around white run, you're going to have a bad day.

 

Lighting - ENBs are best installed either first, to make sure everything you install works with it, or last, to pick one that works with everything you installed. If you use something like CoT be VERY careful, as most ENBs will not work with CoT and similar mods. lighting/weather mods do NOT play nice together 90% of the time, and that few that do say they do.

 

Custom Area - almost irrelevant, install them all at the same time so you don't goof and put two things in the same area. if any of them are close to one another, install them one by one, and double check in game between each one.

 

 

Systems - FIRST. FIRST. FIRST. This matters. I have Skyrin Redone installed in my game, and I had to do a total reinstall because I installed it to lat ein my game and it got really buggy. Install anything that overhauls game mechanics BEFORE YOU EVER STARTS YOUR FIRST CHARACTER (Or any character you want to use/save/keep/etc) once installed, do EXTENSIVE testing in game to make sure everything worked well. This are the most likely mods to break your game. Lastly, NEVER uninstall mods like Skyrim Redone, this rips your characters to shreds, and for the most part makes them unrecoverable, no matter how carefully you go through the process. Basically, make DAMN sure you have the one you want before you continue on and install other mods, that is why you do these kind first.

 

SkyTools - whenever works, these have minimal impact on game mechanics.

 

Sounds - again, whenever works, though sounds can be glitchy, I'd double check that they work when you install them or risk having 'dud mods', as some sound mods simply don't start working when installed for some reason.

 

Animations - not to important, as long as they are installed before you start your character everythign should run smooth, most issues with animations come from getting them to work properly, I personally use FNIS, PCEA, and maybe 3 animation mods, the more you have, the more they lag, and the more often you get the 'flying T' pose for a split second when an actor changes animations.

 

Small Game Patches - Right after you install big patches and system overhauls, install these, again, check check and double check that things worked right in game. The 'unoffical' patches for skyrim, dawnguard, etc. all are in great working shape and conflict with ALMOST nothing, so if those are the only ones like this you are installing, then simply popping in the game one quick time to make sure the sky isn't purple or something random and stupid should do the trick.

 

New Weapon's & Armor - last. Not really important, but physical additions to the game should be done last. THOUGH it's important to note that anything that edits any leveled lists should be installed as early as possible, (like SkyMoMo or Immersive Armors) and should ALWAYS be carefully watched to not edit the same lists, if two mods edit the same list, things can get wonky. Mostly, one just overwrites the other, but that's still an issue. If you install anything that adds more then just a few items, pop in game to check that everything looks right and isn't invisible, or purple. Really, you could just install 40 mods like this and check them all at once, as long as they don't touch the leveled list.

 

 

One last reminder, every single mode in your load order slows your game down, it doesn't matter how tiny it is, but every single one of them has to be scanned, read, ordered, etc, and the more you have, the longer it will take to bring up your game on the initial load. despite having basically instant load screens in game, it takes me about 2 minutes to load up my game when I first load up a character. So avoid mods that add TONS of esp files if possible, and and lean towards ones that bundle everything up into one simple easy esp.

 

And if you find yourself wondering when to check in game, picka number, say 5, and install 5 mods, and keep the zips for those mods in a special place separate from all the others installed and uninstalled, and then after you hit the number you picked, go in game, check the mods, if everything cleared, move them to your 'installed' folder. It's always great to have a folder with the zips of all your installed mods, I use to delete them, and this turned out to be pretty stupid on my part. :whistling:

 

 

Anyways, hope my rambling helped!

Edited January 25, 2013 by ArtMurder