New to Skyrim, need mod recommendations

[PlasmaR]

Hi, I'm pretty new to Skyrim (got it on Steam and have been playing for about a week), but I've seen some of the cool mods around and want to get some of them. But there's just so many different mods available I don't really even know where to start, so I could you some help and recommendations on that front.

I'm only on my first playthrough of the game, so I don't want to change the vanilla experience that much, I really just want to get some of the graphical improvement mods and maybe a few minor things (or whatever people think are must haves). I have a brand new high-end PC (only a few months old), which plays normal Skyrim on Ultra-High settings with no problem, so I should be able to go further on the graphics front.

But I've got a few questions about getting mods...

* Firstly, will modding my game interfere with my progress in any way? i.e. I assume you don't have to start the game over again or something, right? Cause I'm like 70 hours in and I don't want to have to start from scratch.

* Can you explain the procedures for installing mods? I have some experience in modding games (though not this one), so I'm fairly ok with all the file and folder jiggling, but I'm wary of doing something wrong and screwing up my game. I've read a bit about some mod manager program and "load orders", but I don't entirely understand it all. Is there a full explanation somewhere detailing everything you need to know, if so I'd accept a link to that.

* Do I have to use different versions of mods depending on the DLC I have? I currently have the Hearthfire and Dawngaurd DLC, but not Dragonborn. Oh also, should I use the Steam Workshop for mods, or just download them from here? Is there a difference?

* And lastly, what mods specifically do you guys recommend? I know there's lists of the most popular mods on this site, but it's kind of hard to know which one to get, like there's 3 or 4 popular environmental mods, but which is the best? Which should I go for? What are the "must haves"? Is the unofficial patch still recommended and needed? (I haven't encountered any bugs in my game so far, or at least nothing I noticed).

 

Thanks.

[BrotherBob]

1) Some mods require a clean install. Most are more "plug-and-play"; you can install/uninstall as you please.

2) With the NMM, most mods on the Nexus can be installed/uninstalled without much hassle.

3) Some mods may require that you have certain master files (DLCs, for example). Some, including mine, have multiple versions available based on what combination of DLCs you have.

4) Must-haves? Well, mine, of course! Just kidding. To each his own! Look at screenshots and determine what you like, and try starting at the top 100.

[GrimyBunyip]

http://www.skyrimgems.com/

^^ this is a good place to start, if you're new to modding.

 

But once you go through that list, you'll probably want to start manually sifting through the mods on Skyrim Nexus.

There's always good mods that go unnoticed afterall.

 

It sounds like you're probably straying away from overhauls so perhaps you'll consider these two:

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/33395/

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/34767/

They don't make any changes until you choose the specific changes to make.

And uninstalling them will set your game back to normal.

So it's very safe to install and uninstall as mods go.

 

I really recommend the nexus mod manager.

It makes updating and installing your mods so much easier. Endorsing too i guess.

Edited April 18, 2013 by GrimyBunyip

[PlasmaR]

Yeah thanks guys, but I'm looking for more specific recommendations. A wall of like 500 mods doesn't really give me an indication of which of them are any good (and don't have bugs, etc). I want to get an indication of what people are using, you know what I mean? I get that there's lists of the most popular mods, but it's kind of hard to know whether some of those top ranked mods got there just because they were released first, or whether they're really the best and most up to date ones.

Like, should I use the Unofficial Patch? Are there any "all round" improvement mods, or do I just have to install several separate mods?

Some of the mods I've been looking at on the site are: Skyrim HD - 2K Textures, WATER - Water And Terrain Enhancement Redux, Wet and Cold, Enhanced Distant Terrain, High Quality 3D Map. So if I start by installing them, will I have to reinstall my game or restart the campaign or anything, and are those mods compatible with each other?

 

Should I backup my game files before modding? And is there any general beginners guide explaining the use of Skyrim mods?

Edited April 18, 2013 by PlasmaR

[GrimyBunyip]

Yeah thanks guys, but I'm looking for more specific recommendations. A wall of like 500 mods doesn't really give me an indication of which of them are any good (and don't have bugs, etc). I want to get an indication of what people are using, you know what I mean? I get that there's lists of the most popular mods, but it's kind of hard to know whether some of those top ranked mods got there just because they were released first, or whether they're really the best and most up to date ones.

 

Like, should I use the Unofficial Patch? Are there any "all round" improvement mods, or do I just have to install several separate mods?

 

Some of the mods I've been looking at on the site are: Skyrim HD - 2K Textures, WATER - Water And Terrain Enhancement Redux, Wet and Cold, Enhanced Distant Terrain, High Quality 3D Map. So if I start by installing them, will I have to reinstall my game or restart the campaign or anything, and are those mods compatible with each other?

 

Should I backup my game files before modding? And is there any general beginners guide explaining the use of Skyrim mods?

Good is subjective, and I'm not sure what your idea of good is other than "not buggy".

I see you've picked several graphics mods.

Is that what you're after? or are you just tending to them because you're afraid of bugs and you think graphics mods are less buggy?

 

As for information on bugs, there's very little.

Either you can live in fear of that fact or you can learn how to spot and troubleshoot bugs.

Honestly, you'll enjoy modding much more when you're willing to dive right in.

The water isn't that cold, I promise.

 

As for the GEMS list, yes it feels long at first glance, but it really isn't.

It may seem like a lot, but remember that Skyrim Nexus alone has over 35 thousand mods.

So it's already been narrowed down extremely.

Also remember that a lot of players play with several hundred mods.

A list with less than a few hundred mods, would simply be too small in the context of Skyrim.

 

Unofficial patch is a must have yes.

And yes you should backup your game files before modding.

 

Any texture mod is generally fine, it won't cause bugs besides well... weird/ugly textures?

Water, enhanced distance, and high quality map should be fine too.

Although you may want to consider allocating more memory to your scripts and to skyrim if you're running so many resource intensive mods

 

I think Wet and cold uses cloak based script distribution.

In fact all mods with graphics affects applied to nearby NPC's use cloak based script distribution most of the time.

Problem with distributing scripts with cloaks is it's dangerous though.

If the modder wasn't extremely thorough to insure that all scripts terminate eventually

Excess scripts will pile up and bloat your saves.

 

That being said, Wet and Cold is pretty popular.

So maybe it's one of the mods that managed to pull off cloak based script distribution properly.

 

But I don't use graphics mods so I've never spent the time to check for sure if that's the case.

Edited April 18, 2013 by GrimyBunyip

[BrotherBob]

You're right that you should always backup your save prior to installing a new mod. Definitely get Skyrim HD - 2K Textures, SMIM, and WATER. They are so great and make Skyrim beautiful. Since you have a pretty good rig, you should consider some ENBs. I know that there is a page that compares all the popular ENBs, but I'm not sure where it is. Another must-have is SkyUI, not just because it gives you a nice new interface (in my opinion anyway), but also because it has the Mod Configuration Menu which is used as a new feature in a lot of mods. I would also recommend Come together N Out of the way - Nausicaa-S Tweaker for general functions like easily modifying your health, carryweight, etc, among other features.

[PlasmaR]

Ok, I've tried installing several graphics mods, but I'm already running into compatibility issues. I got the Nexus Mod Manager and successfully installed several mods with it, at least I'm sure I installed SKSE and the UI mod properly. I'm not sure about the others. The Skyrim HD mod has conflicts with both the W.A.T.E.R and the SMIM mods, in that you have to choose to overwrite one set of files in preference to the other. So I'm not really sure they're fully working. I also followed the advice from the Nvidia article Five Fast Skyrim Tweaks Guaranteed To Make Your Game Look Better.

 

It's kind of hard to tell whether all the mods and tweaks are really working as they should though and I've definitely seen some odd things in my testing. Some objects and places look clearly better, whereas other things seem unchanged and there're a few graphical glitches popping up that didn't exist before. Like some sort of aliasing on background objects (shows up as little geometric lines and dots on things like mountains).

 

I don't know what I'm supposed to do with the load orders though. And can anyone give me a breakdown of how exactly I should have my .ini file setup?

 

 

Any texture mod is generally fine, it won't cause bugs besides well... weird/ugly textures?

Water, enhanced distance, and high quality map should be fine too.

Although you may want to consider allocating more memory to your scripts and to skyrim if you're running so many resource intensive mods

 

I think Wet and cold uses cloak based script distribution.

In fact all mods with graphics affects applied to nearby NPC's use cloak based script distribution most of the time.

Problem with distributing scripts with cloaks is it's dangerous though.

If the modder wasn't extremely thorough to insure that all scripts terminate eventually

Excess scripts will pile up and bloat your saves.

 

That being said, Wet and Cold is pretty popular.

So maybe it's one of the mods that managed to pull off cloak based script distribution properly.

 

But I don't use graphics mods so I've never spent the time to check for sure if that's the case.

 

Ok, well I don't really know what to tell you on that front. I installed Wet and Cold and it seems to be working as it should (NPCs wearing coats and stuff and dripping characters when wet). You mention increasing the memory allocated to Scripts and to Skyrim, what does that mean and how would I do it?

I noticed a definite performance loss when I tested with all the mods I got (though it was small, just a bit of an increased sluggishness in movement and mouse look, etc), though when I checked the Task Manager it said the system was only using about 40% of CPU power and about 3 to 4 GBs of RAM. I have 16 GBs so if there's any way I could get the game to use more that'd be great.

Edited April 19, 2013 by PlasmaR

[antzpoiss]

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/3863/?tab=3&navtag=%2Fajax%2Fmodimages%2F%3Fuser%3D0%26id%3D3863

i kinda liked thisone

[PlasmaR]

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/3863/?tab=3&navtag=%2Fajax%2Fmodimages%2F%3Fuser%3D0%26id%3D3863

i kinda liked thisone

 

Yeah, I already said I got that one.

 

Can anyone give me some answers to my above questions?