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submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by snakesnakewhale to c/[email protected]

Redirecting novice modders away from bad resources and towards good alternatives seems like the neighborly thing to do, as well as guiding question-askers toward the convention of using Load Order Library or Mod.watch, and Pastebin, for questions about load order or crash reports.

My thought is that such a list could eventually be stickied somewhere that's easy for newcomers to find.

I'll start with a small handful, in no particular order, and hopefully others will chime in with their suggestions. If this gets any traction I'll edit/polish this text body with all recommendations.

I got your beginner's guide(s) right here

So you've decided to mod Skyrim. You are strong and wise, and I am very proud of you.

Maybe you like to read. Here are the three indisputable kings of written guides on the subject, in (my own, subjective) ascending order of complexity.

Note: these guides assume that you'll be following them to the letter, and depending on your level of experience that isn't an awful idea. However, know that when it comes to graphics mods the choices shown in these lists are their authors' own, and you can substitute as you like.

The S.T.E.P. Modifications Guide

The granddaddy of modding how-to lists. The STEP guide will hold your hand through the entire modding process, from the first launch of your game all the way through finishing touches like running DynDOLOD.

STEP is designed by committee to be accessible to readers of any experience level. The site is rudimentary and simple to navigate.

The Phoenix Flavour

A more retail-ready suite of guides, with several versions ranging from "bare necessities" to "modded out the wazoo." TPF is an established walkthrough that has, with the advent of Wabbajack, branched out into fully downloadable modlists. As such, the lists' installation instructions are tailored to Wabbajack users, but the list "The Phoenix Flavor" itself is still a useful reading reference (despite a header that declares itself out of date at the moment).

The site is a little more whiz-bang than STEP's, and I find it a bit unintuitive to navigate if you don't know what you're looking for.

Lexy's LOTD SE

"Lexy's guide" has been around for as long as I've been modding the game, and it remains the best deep-dive walkthrough for those who want to set up their modding environment by thoroughly following a written guide. As it says on the tin: "It is strongly advised that new modders install everything without deviation."

If you'd like something a bit more conversational, and a bit less click-thru, than STEP, and if you aren't interested in using Wabbajack, then I suggest using Lexy's exhaustive guide. It may take you a day or two. The familiarity that you will have with your modding environment on the other side is worth it.

The site is slick, with a logical start-to-finish structure that makes it easy to stay oriented.

Tome of xEdit

xEdit, known as SSEEdit to Skyrim SE players, is the most important tool you can undertake to learn in order to make your modding journey as painless as possible. My own knowledge of SSEEdit is admittedly wafer-thin and I'm not equipped to provide any information about it.

Those who are may be found at Tome of xEdit and they will be pleased to take you through The Method.

It cannot be overstated that SSEEdit is the tool that will enable you to answer for yourself many, if not most, of the questions that will arise on your modding journey. Learn it and love it more than I have; I wish I understood it better.

xLODGen, DynDOLOD, Grass LODs and how to avoid losing your mind.

The author of DynDOLOD, Sheson, is a helpful fellow who is much, much smarter than me. I believe /u/yausd when he has said countless times on reddit that the official documentation is the absolute best resource for those with questions about the DynDOLOD tools and generating LODs.

But I also agree with every user I've seen gripe to /u/yausd that Sheson's prose is dizzyingly, even impenetrably detailed. My long-term suspicion is that /u/yausd is Sheson, and that he is simply operating on a level beyond that of mere mortals, with (it must be said) godlike patience for our questions.

Gamerpoets, as always, has an instructive video on the topic that will get you up and running in no time. For those of us who prefer a written guide, however, the absolute best that I have found is LivelyDismay's, located here on github. This is a very well put together walkthrough, accessibly written with logical steps, plenty of illustrations, and plenty of hyperlinks in the text for fast navigation.

Like all the other inclusions here, it's not just my personal recommendation to use LivelyDismay's guide; it has been recommended by other users many times over.

Sharing your mod list

Load Order Library and Modwat.ch are two easy-to-use hosts for posting your whole modlist, including your game .ini files. It's helpful to use these instead of copy/pasting your entire modlist as comment text, because other users will be able to see your load order and still be able to navigate the comments here without a wall of text smothering their answers.

I'd love to be told that I'm just misusing Modwat.ch, but in my experience it only seems to post your modlist in descending order, and without a clear presentation of any custom separators that you're using. Load Order Library otoh posts your list in ascending order with separators intact.

Here is my list on both sites as an example. If you click "show inactive/disabled" you can even see all my disabled graphics mods, because I'm running a plain-Jane vanilla game atm:

My list on Modwat.ch

My list on Load Order Library

Both sites are free to use. Modwat.ch requires you to install a small uploader; LOL does not. For the several reasons I've mentioned, I prefer LOL.

Sharing crash reports & papyrus logs

Pastebin is the best way to share any kind of lengthy text document without copy/pasting directly here. Again, this is recommended for ease of navigation by other users who will be trying to answer your questions. A free account is not required to use the site. May I also wholeheartedly recommend using this to post crash logs on Nexus.

Help, I need a video tutorial

You want to watch a video about all this stuff, and somehow in 2023 you've still managed to find yourself in front of a Sinitar guide.

Stop.

Please, please navigate to Gamerpoets' YT channel instead, and bathe yourself in the healing waters of Michael's dulcet voice. In case it needs saying, I am not affiliated in any way.

Disclaimer: right this second Michael seems to be updating a number of his videos, so quite a few are wearing an "Archived" banner. Don't be discouraged. Gamerpoets is the most oft-recommended, universally beloved modding channel on YT. He will get you where you want to go.

How tf do I use BodySlide

We see this one a lot, for good reason. My personal favorite guide that I've found is the HIMBO Installation doc on Nexus, but it's been so long since I've needed it that there may be a far better alternative at this point. LMK if there's one that you like!

So that gets the thread seeded. There's obviously room for many, many more. Hopefully some others will weigh in. :)

edit: added the written guides. Revised the title to make it more obviously useful. Removed some editorial snark about Sinitar.

Thank you @[email protected]

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submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

We're remaking Morrowind as a total conversion mod for Skyrim. We've been on Mastodon for a while now, and today seems as good a day as any to also start sharing on Lemmy. Looking forward to seeing this community grow!

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submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Hi everyone, I've run into an odd issue that I've been trying to fix for about a week now. Four of the mods I use don't seem to load when I run the game. I've reinstalled them and the visual redistributable stuff multiple times. I've even gone so far as to uninstall Skyrim and MO2 for linux and redownload everything. I can load into the game just fine and the mods appear in MCO but i cant adjust the settings and they dont function. If anyone could help I would be very grateful.

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submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Here are some mods I can recommend that directly affect game balance, feel free to suggest more. For the most part I've listed only things that directly affect the basic variables in simple ways, not including survival mode stuff, combat overhauls, perk tree changes, the paraglider, and many other things that obviously do also affect game balance but aren't only about that.

*Skyrim Skill Uncapper for SE and AE - Adjust rate of level up for each skill individually. I like level-ups to be way slower than the base game, like 10 times slower, but with skills where tedious grinding is already the only way to train them left closer to normal but contributing less to character level advancement. Enjoy being level 1 for a meaningful amount of time.

*Armor Rating Overhaul - Makes early-game armour not completely useless. Getting some should be the priority it normally is in such games. The base game armor rating algorithm seems weirdly broken, any of this mod's options is better.

*Yet Another Difficulty Mod - Adjust damage dealt/damage taken, optionally changing it automatically as you advance. In my current game it's set to start with 1.0/2.0 at level 1 and smoothly progress to 0.5/5.0 at level 30 (compared to 0.25/3.0 for default legendary mode) and so far that seems good.

*Extra Encounters Reborn - Encounter more problems when wandering around the world.

*High Level Enemies - Make those you encounter more dangerous. Many of the people and animals who live only to murder passing strangers scale to higher levels than previously possible.

*NPC Regen Nerfed - Taking away their infinite magicka supply makes things a little easier.

*Simple No Health Regen - If you don't go full survival mode, maybe at least have no health regen.

*Smart NPC Potions - They might use two or three healing potions during a fight. Also they might poison you.

*Maxsu Combat Escape - When fights are actually difficult you might want to be able to run away without that stupid ogre continuing to be angry at you forever from the far side of a mountain.

*Simply Better Movement Speeds - My current choice of movement speed mod.

*Encounter Zones Unlocked - Probably helps if you're going to have a playthrough that goes on for a while.

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submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Coming to Skyrim from The Witcher 3, and two things I really feel the absence of is realictic lighting that makes the whole world look flat and boring, and hard to look at for too long, and that quest markers show you the direction of the quest, but not the path to get there on the minimap.

What mods that work well with playing on Linux through Proton do you recommend (and how to install them)?

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submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Why didn't anyone tell me that Papyrus Tweaks NG is mandatory once you have too many other mods?

Too many being probably about four hundred in my case. Script lag was getting ridiculous and then it started locking up, and now suddenly with that one addition, it's smooth and solid again. With that I guess my personal version of Skyrim is pretty much done, or at least ready for play testing.

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submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

I have been through many playthrough using both Simonrim and Enairim, and have enjoyed myself thoroughly. But I now want to branch out and see what else is out there.

So far, tjhm4 seems to be a good bet, with Master of One for overhauling perks, Acolyte for religion, Legacy for races and Curse of the Firmament for standing stones. I already use his Exercise, Exhaustion and Geometric Stat Growth mods.

Are there any other mods you think would pair well with these? Either alternatives to the above, or additional overhauls for Magic, Alchemy, Enchanting, Cooking, or any other systems? Look forward to hearing from the hive mind!

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submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Been banging my head against the wall with this.

All I want is some animation mods for different combat stances for all the vanilla weapon types. I don't use MCO or anything like that and don't plan on it.

I currently been using stuff like Vanargand, Leviathan and Goetia for my base animations. But I would like High, Mid and Low stances to have completely different animations than the base/neutral.

Tried to find mods preconfigured for stances, but they either require other frameworks and shit, or have no OAR configs.

I have the AMR Stance Framework to use as a template. I understand you need to place the anims in all the correct folders. But I am having trouble wrapping my head around the numbers and whole structure. Especially with trying to go from DAR folders to the OAR ones. Like trying the Elder Souls anims for some stances. But the numbers are a bit different and it is throwing me off.

Any help would be nice. Or better yet, a complete pack/list of stance compatible animations that you peeps use.

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submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Oblivion remade in the Skyrim engine. Thats our goal. With our planned 2025 release date we’re showcasing gameplay systems, a part of the world map, a new city, Ayleid dungeons and much more.

Despite our progress, we can’t do this alone: we hope with your support to finish the final steps in completing Skyblivion. Does that sound like something you can do? Then please visit our website to apply: https://www.skyblivion.com/volunteer/

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submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

nexusmods.com is blaming their current outage on Fallout:

We are experiencing much more traffic than usual due to the popularity of the Fallout TV series [...] this extra traffic could cause a degraded experience across the website and our applications.

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submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

I'm not a fan of most of the current list of popular grass mods for a couple reasons. First, they are often just too tall. Second is that they often put what, to me, are unimmersive plants in the wrong biomes. In particular, I don't like waist-high oceans of wheat on the tundra of Whiterun.

I've been using just the grass meshes from the venerable Skyrim Flora Overhaul. I really like the low ground cover it provides for Whiterun. However, in an age of 3D\parallax meshes, a lot of these meshes don't look that great.

So I'm just curious if any of you are really happy with the grass mods you use and, if so, why.

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submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

I also check Smim patch on ELFX fomod

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submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

The only way I found so far is SKGE but it make water lod seam more obvious and make ocean lod purple and it's too distracting

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submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Hey everyone, got a release to show off today!

The mod is called Painted Torment, and centres around Vane, an aspiring painter who is attempting to make his magnum opus. The player will be tasked with retrieving certain alchemical ingredients for Vane so he can mix the required pigments together.

While a simple premise, the mod features a rich and unique story, with a backstory not touched upon in vanilla Skyrim. It always draws some parallels from A Brush with Death from Oblivion, so fans of that quest should hopefully enjoy the mod!

Here's a showcase of the voice acting: https://youtu.be/X9YOR7fv_d0

Here's the actual mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/113177

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy!

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submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Hey everyone! I've just released a new mod called The Serpent's Covenant!

To put it simply, the mod centres around one main NPC, Alexia. She is a travelling mercenary who seeks to end the titular guild by killing its leader as she believes they seek to end all civilised society. Along the way, she'll be meeting a rather interesting member of this guild who will guide her to the head of the organisaiton, and inform her of the true motivations of the faction.

This mod delves into some topics not talked about in the base game and should make the player question their morality and if they agree with the cause of the guild. The mod is the largest I've made in a while, it features over 300 lines of well written dialogue voiced acted to an incredible standard, at least seven new points of interest to explore, consequences to your actions, and much more!

A showcase of Alexia's first encounter can be found here: https://youtu.be/3yw6G2lB03w

The mod can be found here:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/111911

Thanks for reading, hope you all like the mod, took me quite a bit to make haha

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submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

I am setting up a new modlist, and testing as I go along. Last mod I installed was The Great City of Winterhold (which is great BTW) but when running around it, I noticed a few naked NPCs.

Then I coc to Whiterun, to do more testing and Aela, Farkas and Ria were fighting the Giant on the farm with nothing on, and no weapons (they were fighting unarmed!)

I opened Aela on SSEDIT and she has no issues - otft record, inventory with weapons all seem in order. Wondering what is causing this and how I can fix it.

https://loadorderlibrary.com/lists/purush

Edit 1: see NSFW pic (because they are all naked) with More Informative Console here - https://i.imgur.com/p4kAD2B.jpeg

Is it a bad sign if the Base and the Ref are referring to different ESPs?

Edit 2: I worked it out. I had the first version of this mod - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/109152. It was applying to NPCs, and they were naked because they were too low level for their gear. Because it is all script injected, it wasn't clear that there were any issues when looking at SSEEdit. The dangers of runtime-patching, manifest!

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submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Title

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submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Hey everyone, just released a new quest mod, The Price of Art!

To put it quite simply, The Price of Art is a quest mod inspired by the story and life of Vincent Van Gogh. It features a travelling poet named Gaius, who seeks to heal the damage that he has sustained in the past. He will travel all over Skyrim in an encounter-based format, with each encounter you'll learn more about his incredibly interesting but tragic life.

The mod has some really high quality voice acting which can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/MT9yJ0k6Rkw The whole mod has a total of 148 voice lines which I think is the most for one of my single NPC-centred mod!

Thanks for reading, here's the mod link! https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/108516/

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submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

I've spent most of my gaming time for the past year gradually applying more and more mods to Skyrim, and finally got around to trying Chanterelle last week.

It doesn't have much in the way of quests or npc dialogue, but everything it does have is top quality. Lots of wilderness to explore, a couple of dungeons to crawl. Somehow the landscapes feel more realistic than most of Skyrim. Recommended for those who enjoy walking around in the woods. There are many wonders to discover. Next new game I'm going to try starting there.

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submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

It allows older versions of Skyrim to handle files with the new plugin version number. Removes any temptation I might've had to install the update any time soon.

If you reverted to 1.6.640 for example and it was still crashing (as some reported) it's probably because they snuck a new .esl file in that you didn't notice, and this mod should fix that as well.

Even if we never get another Elder Scrolls game worthy of its legacy, Skyrim modding will continue.

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submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

In the unending quest to extract money from the mod scene, an update has arrived. Make sure to take a backup before you next launch the game from Steam. There's already a new release of SKSE but who knows what else might be freshly broken.

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submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/17023069

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submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Hey, guys. I was on medical leave for three months last year and spent a good portion of that time modding the absolute hell out of my game. I made several merged mods via zMerge, have a plug-in called zPatch.esp which I can't recall the purpose of, an inactive (unchecked) Bashed Patch, and an active Smashed Patch.

The game would have been good to launch and go as it was, but I have better hardware now and installed Nature of the Wild Lands, subsequently deleting Happy Trees, Aspens Ablaze and Enhanced Vanilla Trees from my former mod list. In addition, I installed four of JK's Outskirts mods (Markarth, Riften, Solitude, Windhelm) that had released since I last played.

To keep my plug-ins under 250, I trimmed the fat by removing KS Dragon Overhaul, as well as Civil War Refugees Redux due to clipping incompatibilities with the JK's Outskirts mods.

So to make certain everything still plays together nicely, I believe I need to remake the Bashed Patch (leveled lists only), then include it in a Smashed Patch, and leave only that Smashed Patch active near the bottom of my load order? Is this the correct order?

And if so, any idea what I may have made that zPatch.esl for? I had following Sinitar's guide for a good portion of the mods before moving on to the endless acquisition of others, but primarily referred to GamerPoets videos for the more complicated things like merging, bashing, smashing and DynDOLOD.

Any help sparking my memory here would be greatly appreciated. I've already properly ran TexGen and DynDOLOD, and checked my merged mods to rebuild and relink scripts, so that much is sorted out.

Thanks!

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submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Hey everyone! I just released another quest mod, The Breathing Abyss!

It's an ocean-based mod centred around finding out what a mysterious entity is, where it's from, and how it can be stopped. It has high quality voice acting and features multiple new locations, the main and largest being an underwater cavern.

Here's a showcase of the mod: https://youtu.be/evjKnD0oaws

To go into more detail, the mod revolves around a mysterious entity who lives in an underwater cavern. Your goal is to uncover what the thing is, why it is there, and if there's any way to stop it. This will involve you speaking with a researcher of the paranormal, Manias.

He will require you to gather samples of the creature and its victims in order to learn vital information about the entity. The quest is heavily inspired by Lovecraft and his works, and it will delve into many of his notorious themes. I won't say anymore to prevent any spoilers :))

Here's the actual mod:

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/104547/

Thanks :))

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submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

I've only just started my career as a bard, but playing the flute badly any time I want to is the most fun I've had in Skyrim for years. I don't know how much more there is to this mod, but I'm already sure it's among the best.

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