Moving On to the Amateur Level, Skyrim LE

Episode Three - Beauty and the Best Mods!

 

 

 

 

From the last episode of this particular blog ( How the hell do I mod my Skyrim LE? Series 2 ), we just installed all the basic essential mods that will work even without the other mods. There, the character we created was already decent looking although it is still far from the real goal of this tutorial. So for this particular tutorial ( How the hell do I mod my Skyrim LE? Series 3 ), I intended to show especially for the new modders/newbies/noobs in modding to move on to the next level of modding Skyrim LE. For this, we will use a more advance mods that needed to installed carefully because these mods are particularly where most issues on modding were encountered. Now that we are more familiar on the basic modding, now we can say that you are promoted to go to the next level which is the Amateur Level. This particular tutorial also contains some basic mods but also some hard to install mods that might break your game if you are not very careful on installing these mods. In short, you will just go back to where you started if you incorrectly installed some of the mods that we are going to use. So I guess, it is goodluck to everyone for now!!!

 

The Amateur Level is actually a tutorial to understand how the Mod Organizer 2 works involving mods and also how to use them to trick or should I say a Cheat the system to fully make your Skyrim LE modding works. So now let us begin to the First Trick I am talking about...

The First Trick is called the Output Overwrite folder Trick. Maybe you wonder and it is ridiculous why it is called like that, well you will just make another New Folder on the mods folder of MO2. You can rename it anything you want but for the sake of newbies in modding the Skyrim LE, I will just rename this folder as Output Overwrite. The name says it all already, it is actually an Output folder and also an Overwrite folder which will act both at the same time. Lame right? But it is actually a folder that will act as a mod as well that will trick the Mod Organizer 2 to remove all the Notifications on it. You will not understand right away what really this particular folder will do on your modding. But as time goes by, you will eventually understand the importance and use of this folder. Of course you will also understand the use of this folder if there are screenshots available as well.

 

Now that we made a new folder in the mods folder of MO2 files which we renamed as Output Overwrite, then it will automatically appears on the Mod Organizer 2 program just like what we can see below. This Output Overwrite folder doesn't need to be placed on any particular Load Order or Position in the List so it will just permanently stay there at the very bottom of the Mods List in the left panel of MO2, just above the red font Overwrite there. The Overwrite at the bottom was actually a folder as well that will contains the updates of all the mods you are going to use in your game.

On the right panel of MO2 just above the Run Button, you can particularly see an Icon which is a red triangle with an exclamation point inside. That icon represents Notifications which acts like a warning if there will be some issues on your modding using MO2. For example there is a number 1 on the side of that notification icon and when we really click it to see, it will tell us that there is a file on the Overwrite which is actually a mod folder as well on the Left Panel of MO2. If there is a file then we need to remove or place it to another folder in order to remove this notifications.

 

On the left panel of MO2 at the bottom of Mods List you can find Overwrite, right click it and select Move content to Mod... just like what you can see below.

 

A new tab will appear which looks just like below. Just scroll it down then find the Output Overwrite folder that we made previously. Select that folder then tap OK afterwards.

 

After it is done, you will notice a lot of things have changed in your MO2. It looks like it all came back to it's default form. On the right panel of MO2, the notifications icon was back to gray and no more number there anymore. While on the left panel of MO2, the Overwrite at the very bottom of Mods List was also gray and not red anymore. Also you will notice that there is no more x mark on the Output Overwrite folder we created before and the color of that font has tuned into black as well just like the other mod folders there in the Mods List.

Now you can see the importance of this Ouput Overwrite folder, right? The first trick/use is to remove any notifications that will appear on the MO2 program. So no more issues, no more conflicts on MO2 - the first trick of Output Overwrite folder.

 

Before we proceed to the next use of the Output Overwrite folder, we need to install some of the more advanced essential mods. Actually these set of mods are for the Professional modders. Why? Because it is very hard to fully undestand these mods and most modders find a lot of issues invovlving these mods. Well without further ado, let us start with the Physics Engine mods.

 

Physics Engine  known as PE mods are the mods which actually make some motions in the body parts/clothing parts/ object parts work. For example the waving of the hair, that waving of the hair is what we called motions/physics and in order for it to work we will need an engine and that is where the Physics Engine mods work. In Skyrim Special Edition, there is only one very known Physics Engine mod and that is the HDT SMP mod but in Skyrim Legendary Edition, there are three. Why three, you will say? I don't actually know for myself but maybe because Skyrim LE is an old game and there are a lot of mod testing happened back then. It is just like a history before we achieve that perfect machine, we need to undergo from basic to the next level. Back then, modders and authors alike want to achieve a perfect physics that will make motions on the body parts/clothing parts/object parts move. It will be a very impressive mods because it is just like how in the real life works. So back then at the beginning of Skyrim, if you are able to make a hair mod that move according to the motion of the head of the character then that mod was already an advanced type of mod.

 

Just like I said previously, in Skyrim LE we use three Physics Engine mods and these are the following - the HDT Physics Extensions, the SMP PE path and the HDT SMP Physics. Though in Skyrim SE,  there are two namely HDT SMP Physics and the CBPC. Some of the body parts/clothing parts/object parts still use old physics engine which is the HDT PE and SMP PE path. And why they are considered meant for Professional modders are when you edit these mods, you must have at least some programming backgrounds. To be able to edit these physics engine mods programming was already impressive enough.

We already installed the HDT Physics Extensions previously which is a requirement for the hdtHighHeels mod so we only needed to install the left two physics mods.

 

I already downloaded the SMP PE Path and the HDT SMP Physics mods from my cloud storage just like what you can see below.

 

So if you don't have these Physics Engine mods yet then it is available down below...

5+.HDT Physics Extensions-53996-14-28.7z

 

 

smp-pe path 0730-88416-0730-1540913512.rar

 

 

 

Easy Hawt HDT SMP Physics-77445-4-4-5-1619704264.7z

 

 

 

I cannot help you how to edit them because it will really require some programming skills and background. I can only share them in  their default form  that was also legally distributed from other mod sites but it is quite hard to find all the three of them at once. Then I just install the other two, SMP PE path and  HDT SMP Physics mod. You can see below...

 

After installing them, I activated the other two physics mod. They don't really produced any plugins but still they are very important mods when you like to have physics in your game. To be sure that all the body parts/clothing parts/object parts which has the physics to work in the game then we just really need to install these three physics mods.

 

Then the next one is another mod that was meant to every type of modders and most specially for Professional modders. Why this mod is meant for professional modders was because you really need to have a long experience of using this particular mod. I am talking about the BodySlide and Outfit Studio mod, which use is to make a default body shapes for your character/followers/NPCs. Not only that, it is also use to make your outfit/clothing/armor really fit that character who was meant to wear the clothing. Actually the BodySlides has no direct effect on the mods you are using specially in MO2 but it will only happen once you edit it using the BodySlides and Outfit Studio programs that comes together with it. I am not yet here to elaborate further how to use the BodySlides and Outfit Studio mod because it will also require a separate tutorial as well. So for now we will just install it as it is. 

 

You can see below that I already have it downloaded that came from my Personal Cloud Storage.

 

But for modders who don't have a copy of the BodySlides and Outfit Studio mod, you can just download it from the link below,

BodySlides and Outfit Studio LE - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/49015

 

When you install the BodySlides and Outfit Studio, the first tab you will see is just like below. You can choose on whatever body type you want which depends on what you will be using in your game. The choices are all boxed in red, you can choose among them. In my case because I am about to use CBBE 3BA body type so all my choices there are for CBBE body options. Well we already know that there are two main body types in Skyrim wether it is LE or SE, and that is CBBE and UNP. I chose CBBE 3BA because of the body physics and then the skin textures I am using right now which is from NINI Noblesse A Pack. Our focus for now was to install all the mods that we really needed for now and I will also tell you the reasons for that later on.

When you are done selecting alll your preferred options then we can go to the next tab by tapping the Next button under.

 

The next tab was already selcted for you so just leave it as it is and Tap Install afterwards...

 

Then it will install just like below.

 

There you have it, then we will just need to place this mod on it's right position in the Mods List.

 

Place it just above the Body Type and Skin Textures mod that you are using so that the mods below it, will overwrite this mod. For example in the screenshot below, I am using 11. Nini Female Body and Textures mod so this mod should overwrite the BodySlides and Outfit Studio mod. This means that the files inside the NINI Female Body will work in-game instead of the built-in body that comes with the BodySlides and Outfit Studio. If you notice carefully, we will learn that if there are mods with the same use then the mods at the very bottom of Mods Lists just overwrites or was prioritized by the MO2. Meaning, the mods at the very bottom is the one which are being use by MO2 instead of the mods above it that is if these mods usage are the same. Then just like what we did in the Mods List in the right panel of MO2, we placed the produced .esp file of the BodySlides and Outfit Studio mod which is the RaceMenuMorphsUUNP.esp just below the plugin for character creations and modifications named Enhanced CharacterEdit.esp. 

The name of the plugin is with RaceMenu so why did we install this plugin anyway? Yes we did because this plugin will not only work in RaceMenu (RM) but also in Enhanced Character Edit (ECE) which I will show you all later on. We can directly edit the body parts in the ECE with the use of this plugin as well. The more sliders/options, the better because it can at least achieve the purpose of character creation or modifications that suits ones' preferrences specially with our character being a female, of course.

 

I already made a test run or gameplay of using a BHUNP body, it is working great. My only issue with that is there are no good available skin textures for it in Skyrim LE. If only I have a choice, I will actually choose this body type but it doesn't look great in-game using the default textures we have. I already used one of the best out there which is the Diamond Skin Textures but I decided to stop from there because it doesn't look good. 

 

So now I ended up using CBBE 3BA body instead, this is the body type I used before in my Skyrim LE game and even in Skyrim SE so that it will fit the NINI Skin textures I am using. It has a very ridiculuous boob physics anyway but Oh well!, there is nothing I can do about it. I don't know how to edit physics xml files. The boobs are still moving even at steady state, Haha!

 

 

You may wonder where did I got the body type I am using, you can find it below. It is available for both CBBE or UNP type bodies. In my case I am using CBBE 3BA like I said previously. After downloading it, just install it using MO2.

 

Upon installation of the All-In-One HDT SMP 3BBB Skyrim LE Setup which is also know as the CBBE/UNP 3BA of Skyrim LE, the first tab that will appear is just like what we can see below. Mostly by default, the installer has already selected all the files that you needed so you will mostly tap Next button during the installation.

 

Then you will encounter the tab below, if you are in the European countries just select EU and when you are not then just choose Non-EU. Then tap Next.

 

Then the body type you are going to use or you are using. In my case it is CBBE, then just tap Next.

 

Tap Next again...

 

Then if you want the male characters to have a body builder bodies then just tick the options just like below. And then tap Next afterwards.

 

 

In the tab below, you can choose all or anything you want on the Addons but in my case - I only tick the Floppy SOS because I want to install the remaining addons separately not coming from this installer. Meaning, I have plans okay, then tap Next.

 

You will be ask what format of xmls you are going to use, so if belong to any European Countries then just choose EU and if not then Non EU. Tap Next afterwards.

 

The last tab is when you will decide to install evrything. Just tap Install when you are ready.

 

When the installation is done on the left panel of MO2, just place the All-In-One HDT SMP 3BBB Skyrim LE Setup mod just below the BodySlide and Outfit Studio mod. We do this so that the All-In-One mod will overwrite the BodySlide mod as I explained previously. When you activate the All-In-One mod, it prduces a lot of .esp files which are mostly use for Schlongs of Skyrim so you don't need to install the SOS mod separately later on. We will use this instead. Just place all the produced SOS.esp filed below the last of the beautifications plugin. It will look just like below...

 

The produced SOS.esm plugin must be placed together with the other .esm plugins just like below.

 

Maybe you wonder why my character skin was shining, it is the effect of the Wet Function Redux so the next set of mods we are going to install are the Wet Function Redux and it's requirement mod named PapyrusUtil. I already downloaded it before just like what you can see below.

 

 

So if you cannot find these two mods then you can just look here in LoversLab on the links below.

 

 

 

Then after the installations using MO2, place the PapyrusUtil mod above the Wet Function Redux mod in the left panel. In the right panel of MO2, place the WetFunction.esp plugin above the XPMSE.esp plugin. It is all shown below.

The Wet Function Redux can be operated in the game while playing. How to operate/control the Wet Function Redux was already discuss on the mod's description link so I don't know if I have to explain further on how to use this. Maybe while I am testing the game, I can somehow show how to use this mod.

 

It is really  beginning to look good starting from my character itself.

 

Outside the world test.

 

Now we are going to install Fores New Idles for Skyrim LE (FNIS) so that XPMSE mod will finally work. Installing FNIS was really easy but to make it work is quite tricky. That is why FNIS was also considered a mod that was meant for Professional modders but even we are considered a newbie in modding Skyrim LE, by just keeping up with my guide or steps will eventually let you learn the use of FNIS in our game. FNIS is a mod engine that manages most of the animations and poses we will install in the game. I will not tackle the full descriptions of FNIS anymore because that was already on the mod sites where it came from or even discussing the technically of using it.

 

In the link below you can download it, and also if you notice it provided a lot of files there. Two of which are FNIS namely FNIS and FNIS XXL, their  only differences are the amount of animations you can install in your game. For beginner modders of Skyrim LE, I am recommending you to use just the FNIS and not the XXL version first so that you will have enough experiences on using this mod. I directed you the the correct link so there's no need for you to have an issue if you are using a correct version of it. As we all know there is a separate FNIS as well in Skyrim SE. Also some of the files provided on the links are addons for FNIS so that some of it issues will work just fine later on.

 

FNIS LE - https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/11811

 

I already have a copy of it even before we started these tutorials so just install this normally using MO2.

 

When you install FNIS, it will say that the data folder does not look a valid format. Just leave it like that and when you try to press OK below, you cannot instead there is a separate tab above it boxed in black where you can press the green arrow representing next button. Just press the next button until you reach a tab where no more green arrow is visible anymore.

 

This is the last tab whereyou can see the " The content of <data> does not look valid." was boxed below. When you click any where on the boxed on yellow will make these disappear.

 

After that you can finally press the OK button below.

 

Proceeding with the installations of FNIS will produce another tab just like below. Just select and tap Ignore there.

 

After installation of FNIS, you can see that it is finally there on the Mods List.

 

Activate and place it under the Physics mods. There will be no .esp plugins that was produced by actiivating FNIS but that is alright.

 

Then we will proceed to the next step and that is to make FNIS work in MO2. Right click FNIS behaviour and then Open in Explorer.

 

You just opened the FNIS mod folder in the mods of MO2. You can see that there is another FNIS folder there, that is the reason why MO2 cannot see this mod as a valid data files. Just open the FNIS Behaviour 7.6 folder like what we can see below.

 

Opening FNIS folder there, you can see 2 files and a folder there. Just open the Data folder there like what you can see below.

 

Now inside the Data folder, choose all the files there by CTRL key and then Copy them.

 

Then go back to the Main FNIS Behaviour 7.6 folder, you can see that you are in the correct destination path when you see that there is a meta file there just like below. Then Paste all the files that you copied from the previous step.

 

When you are done then right click the FNIS.ini0 file and select Rename.

 

Rename it by just removing the 0 at the end of the file name. Then a notification will appear afterwards telling you that the file might become unusable but just ignore it and then press Yes.

 

You did the steps correctly if the FNIS file has changed it's icon into a configuration settings file. It must look just like what we can see in the screenshot below.

 

Then close the previous window and go back to the MO2 Program. In the left panel of MO2 above the Mods List, there are few icons there with different usage. The seventh icon which looks like puzzle pieces, you just need to select and down click it. There are options there, so just choose FNIS. It will expand again and then select Run FNIS. If you will notice, there are no icons yet representing these options meaning FNIS is not working yet. Follow my guide and it should look like what we can see below.

 

When running FNIS for the first time, a notification just like below will appear. It says there that FNIS will output to a separate mod. It is quite technical work if you select Yes but for newbies in modding Skyrim LE, I recommend you to select No for this time. One should have a lot of experiences using FNIS in order to understand how this mod works so if you select Yes, then you should have at least a background where or how FNIS will output updates, patches or more in the MO2. If you don't have any experiences using this then choosing No is the better choice.  

 

On the next notification, it says that FNIS .exe can't be found in the Mod Organizer's setting. Just select and tap OK there because we will manually find that FNIS.exe file instead.

 

Then a new tab will open where you will be able to locate GenerateFNISforUser.exe by browsing. On the list of mods in MO2, select and open the FNIS Behaviour folder.

 

Then inside this folder, select and open the tools folder there.

 

Then from the two folders you can see there just like what we can see below, select and open the GenerateFNIS_for_Users folder.

 

Then select the GenerateFNISforUsers application file. You will notice that the GenerateFNISforUsers File name was already filled for you and the tap Open there.

 

When you go back to puzzle icon above the left panel of MO2, the FNIS particularly has changed the icons of it's options. This means that FNIS will finally work when set correctly.

 

Select puzzle icon again then select FNIS. Among the three choices, select Configure FNIS Patches.

 

A new tab will appear and among the choices, by default we just select and check the first two option there - GENDER and SKELETON Arm Fix. On some modders gender specific animations was not that important for them but for me I also choose this so that FNIS will separate the animation for male or female. But it is really your choice wether you select this or not. Then Save your options afterwards. From then on, this will be the default options of FNIS every time you run or update it. After you did this, FNIS will run automatically but close it for now.

 

Go back to MO2 and in the left panel among the mods, just right click any where there. Then select All Mods and select Refresh.

 

You will notice that after Refreshing the mods, the Overwrite below has turned into red fonts again. It means that there are files inside that folder and the notification on the right panel also tells us about it. We need to remove this again just like we did from the previous tutorials.

 

Right click the Overwrite below the Mods List which is on red fonts, then select Move content to Mod...

 

In the new tab, just find the Output Overwrite folder there and tap OK. This means that the updates on FNIS will automatically goes in the Output Overwrite folder so we don't need to worry about the destination path of the updates. This is the second trick of the Output and Overwrite folder where all the updates on the mods will automatically goes here from now on. So if there will be issues upon the updates, we already know what folder to find then.

 

And then as you can see below, the Overwrite turned back to gray and the notifications icon as well.

 

On the MO2 program in the right panel particularly where you can find the SKSE executable just above the plugins list, just drop down the options there. Then select <Edit...> there.

 

A new tab will appear afterwards on the menu in the upper left side, there is a plus sign icon. Just drop it down to see the options there.

 

From those options, select and tap the Add from file...  

 

A new tab will open where you are ask to select an executable. In our case from the previous tutorial about FNIS, we will find the FNIS Behaviour folder of the mods in the MO2 folder. Select and open it.

 

Then select and open the tools folder...

 

And then just like what we have chosen from the previous steps before, select and open the GenerateFNIS_for_Users folder.

 

There you can find an executable file named GenerateFNISforUsers, just select it and the File name will be filled automatically. That executable file is what we need to run regularly to update the lists of animations and poses that we will install later on. Open it so that it will appear on  the list of executables in MO2.

 

Now you can see from the previous tab that GenerateFNISforUsers was now available to be used. If you want to place it above or below the list of executables, you can either choose up or down arrow icons. Just like what we can see below, I will move the GenerateFNISforUsers upward and the Explore Virtual Folder will go down/ beneath it.

 

You can see that GenerateFNISforUsers has moved upward and then tap Apply below to apply the position of the executables you made. And then tap OK when you are done with these.

 

When you go back to MO2 and check the executables, you can find that list was updated with a new executable there named GenerateFNISfor Users. Select that executable file so that it will be the active file on your MO2.

 

It should look just like below. Then tap drop down the Shortcut option in the right side, to see the options there. Just select the Toolbar and Menu.

 

Now a new icon will appear on the left side of the heart icon above. The F icon is the FNIS executable file so every time you want to update FNIS, you don't need to find it any where else. By just tapping the icon there, then it will run right away. Any .exe files you want to run by this way which is very accessible then just add it on the list of executables and do the steps we did previously.

 

And we just need to run FNIS for the first time, just tap the F icon there just like what I told previously then it will load before it opens.

 

Then a window will open which looks like below. If you all remember we modified the patches that will run automatically when opening FNIS, and those are the GENDER Specific Animations and SKELETON Arm Fix. From here on those two are tick on every time we run the FNIS. Then just tap the Update FNIS Behaviour button to update the list of animations and poses you have in your game. It will also configure the skeleton mod we installed before named XPMSE.

 

There are times that the notifications of FNIS will tell you that it cannot find the skeleton when you Update it. The fix for this particular issue is just by closing and running the FNIS Application again.

 

Then once you Update the FNIS again, the notification will change which looks like the screenshot below. There it tells us the number of bones in the skeleton of male and female, we have the right and the updated version of XPMSE mod when the notifications tells us that both gender got 126 bones. Less or more bones might cause some issues in your game later on so always remember this tip for you.

 

When the update is done, it will automatically scroll down and show you the result. There you can find the amount of animations and mods that was managed by FNIS. There is also a Warning in there but don't worry because that is only a warning that you didn't installed Creature Pack Patch yet in FNIS. Creature Pack is a set of animations for other creatures than human, and because we are just starting modding the Skyrim LE so this will be a normal warning from now on. Of course not unless you actually installed the Creature Pack just to remove this warning notification. You can also do the Consistence Check to see which animations or poses that have issues, conflicts or might not run in your game. Just Exit or close the window when you are done.

 

If you go back to the MO2 Application, you will see that there is an FNIS.esp plugin at the very bottom of the plugins list. Just place this FNIS.esp plugin below either Enhanced CharacterEdit or RaceMenu .esp plugins. In my case, I placed it under the very last addon slider for RaceMenu plugin.

 

Maybe you will wonder, if we can tell wether the FNIS is working now in the game? Actually there is a way to tell it, and that is just by playing the game. While you are playing Skyrim SE, press ESC to access the System Menu just like what we can see below. Then tap the MOD CONFIGURATION there.

 

On the list of Mods there, just select the XPMSE so that you can go to the menu which looks like below. It is not blank anymore because this tells us that the prerequisite which is the FNIS was now running in the game. Now you can finally choose among the options which animations you would like to have in the game. 

 

When you go to the Information menu just like  what we can see below, all the requirements are already met. It means that you are now ready to install Sexlabs, Animations and Poses mods.

 

What a sneaky move you did there? ?

 

Before we install Sexlab and other mods, lets us make the NPCs look good for now. There are three NPCs Replacer mods that I would like to recommend especially for those newbies in modding the Skyrim LE. I recommended these mods because they are mostly independent mods that didn't require another mod anymore. They will just work as is making most of the NPCs look decent. These mods are also known as NPC Replacers or NPC Beautification mods. There are a lot out there available in other mods sites like Nexus Mods so it is all up to you to use them. I am only showing an example of these kinds of mods so you will undersatnd how to use them and what it will do on your game.

 

The default base game looks/appearances of the NPCs in the game are not really ugly but I would like to show thatthere are mods that can change their appearances. So wether you want to use my recommended mods or not, or even use another one which is also can change NPCs appearances was all up to your preferrences in your Skyrim LE game.

 

The three NPCs Beautifications mods I am recommeding are the following which also comes along with the link to download them directly.

 

Female NPCs/Followers Beautification mod - The Ordinary Women LE  which body types are available on both CBBE and UNP.

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/70547

 

Male NPCs/Followers Beautification mod - Male NPC Overhaul LE which also available for a Non-SOS, SOS and SAM Body Types.

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/97349

 

Children NPCs/Followers Beautification mod - RS Children Overhaul LE which are replacers for the children around Skyrim.

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/55555

 

I already have them before so I just need to install them normally using MO2.

 

After installation them, just  group them together and place them at the bottom of the FNIS mod in the left panel of MO2. While place the RSkyrimChildren.esm plugin at the bottom of the other .esm plugins.

 

Then place all the other .esp plugins that was produced by the 3 NPCs Beautification mods just below the FNIS.esp plugin as well just like what we did previously. And then you are done with that,and so e just need to check wether these mods are working in the game.

 

First I checked the children if their looks have changed. The face have changed but since I didn't install the required hairs, brows and eyes yet so they will only use the default ones.

 

Then I went to the pub, to see the changes on the NPCs. I met with Belrand which is my husband in the game and well he changed his appearance from the default to my husband's look. So it works on the male NPCs.

 

And lastly I checked on the female NPCs, it also works but sorry on the bad lightings. I didn't installed any lighting improvement mods yet so the outcome of the screenshots are quite bad. Skyrim LE got a dark look and not as bright as the Skyrim SE so you will really need a good lighting mods to improve the screenshots.

 

And I don't know why my husband is so angry to me. What did I do?

 

 

 

 

To be continued...