Starting using mod manager half-way through a game

[Wrangeees]

Hi folks - I'm 180 odd hours through skyrim and have just added a load more mods through steam workshop. Some of my mods have stopped working and the 'skyui' says it is not working properly as the game starts, the game still works though. I realise I need SKSE to make that work properly but the question is .....if I start using this mod manager and SKSE now am I gonna break my game after 180 hours of input. I killed oblivion near the end (so to my shame never finished it) and don't want to make the same mistake again. I am new to this as of today so shall I just finish skyrim and use it in future or will it be ok?

Thanks in advance

[GrndZero]

I say it depends. If you are adding mods, it normally will not break your save. Taking mods away will do this sometimes. Just make sure you have a good save before starting the process. If it breaks, remove any mods in question and load up that good save and try again.

[Wrangeees]

Thanks. I guess I want to continue my game with the mods I already have - can I just move them to the mod manager? Will it automatically detect them? Or do I need to remove them and then add them again? Sorry if being a bit stupid but like I say I have never used mod manager before. Thanks for replying.

[GrndZero]

To be honest, i am not 100% sure. If the mods came with mod files like .bsm's and the like and put into the load order(which you can see with the Skyrim launcher) the Mod Manager might pick up on them. Not sure if they will load in the Mod list of the program though since they were not installed with the manager. It is hard to say but if you go to upgrade to a new mod and if this mod tries to overwrite some files from a previous mod, it will come up and ask if you want to overwrite those files. Depending on if it is an upgrade to an existing mod or a completely new one, it is up to you if you choose to tell it to either overwrite or "upgrade" the mod. Some mod descriptions will tell you whether you should "upgrade" or say No to the upgrade. Stuff like apachii hair or the like that have additional files, you should be saying No to the upgrade so it installs as a seperate mod.

[AnkhAscendant]

SKSE will in no way break your game (and isn't done through NMM anyway). Since SkyUI is amazing I think you should go install it.

 

When you start using the Nexus Mod Manager you don't need to import the other mods... it will automatically see them in the load order section, because it detects all .esp and .esm files. They won't show up to be activated or deactivated in the mod list section, unless you have .rar/.zip/.7z files to import them from, but it does't really matter that much. You could either uninstall the workshop version and install the Nexus versions, if they exist, or you could do nothing, because they'll run just fine. I've installed mods from both Steam and Nexus, and actually I run the Workshop version of SkyUI since it has an .esp file and the Nexus version doesn't.

 

So because I'm long-winded, in short, it won't break anything in any way. You can just keep using the mods you have as they are and install new ones with NMM.

[Wrangeees]

Thanks for your help both of you, I really appreciate it. I will give it a go today. I still Fallout 3 from a steam sale sat untouched for two years so will manage that one from the off. This mods have made skyrim so good it's unbelieveable. Thanks again for your help.