Suggestions Regarding Mod Organizer and Running Oldrim in General

[RexxingFlex]

Hi there folks! First time I did one of these and judging by the various topics that constantly see going around, I though I'd finally ask some things that have puzzled me regarding Mod Organizer and the stability of the game in general!

 

First things first! I've been using Mod Organizer for a long while now, and exclusively for Skyrim too! For the most part it's been a very good experience, and has been an especially helpful tool for installing and maintaining complicated mods such as Sexlab and various others! However there have been moments where I experienced instability that I could not explain even later on when I gained somewhat more experience with running modded games! I would agree that most of the problems caused were due to my own inexperience with modded games in general at the time. But sometimes I would read the odd article/blog/comment online that would suggest that some problems might be caused by Mod Organizer itself! The "Hows" and "Whys" would vary greatly and for the most part that info was more confusing than actually helpful in any way!

Now I'm not exactly someone that actively develops mods, and for the most part I've stayed away from mods that are too complicated IMO! Like: Graphical Overhauls, ENBs, Bodyslide and so on!

Also I find that those mods are meant for bigger rigs than my flimsy little laptop that I like to use! Although it can handle Skyrim and even Fallout 4 to a certain degree! I don't like to push any further due to cooling problems that Laptops have after a while, also due to the fact that I REALLY love playing games on this little thing! So that is also another reason I tend to stay away from bigger mods, relatively speaking of course!

 

And at last my questions:

What are your experiences with Mod Organizer and running the game in as much of stable way as possible while using mods such as Sexlab and their like?

And of course, do you guys believe that there is any merit to the suggestions that Mod Organizer might cause serious problems with stability in some instances?

 

I am aware of the fact that I am being a little too vague here, but I would honestly like to see as many different opinions as possible!

 

Thank you for your time.

[SleepyJim]

I can only speak from personal experience, but I've never had any stability issues that I could trace back to MO. I've been using it for years without any noticeable problems. While I used MO2 for Fallout 4 I've always stuck with MO1 for Skyrim.

 

The only problem it seems to have at the moment for me is reporting some kind of "look up failed" at the message window at the bottom of the interface every now and then. As far as I can tell that's only relevant if you hook it into your Nexus profile and download mods through MO itself. As I've never done that - always manually downloading everything and storing the archives in a mod directory on my PC, then adding them from there - it seems that's harmless for me.

 

I have, on occasion, switched to test other managers. That's allowed me to see how the same load order and mod set-up works with different software. I never saw anything during those times that suggested to me that MO was any less stable than the alternatives, and so I always went back to MO1 quickly due to personal preference. I've never found reason to be anything other than very happy with it.

[GenioMaestro]

Skyrim is totally stable today with the correct configuration. I not have any CTD this year in my stable config.

Have some while testing new mod's and configure it correctly in load order and in the MCM, but not more.

I run more than 200 mod's, half of them from this site, in a 4 years old machine i5-4460 with gtx 660 2g.

 

The manager is indiferent, simply you must make the correct things.

I use NMM because i not like the complexity that MO add to the moding process. You can call me old, but i preffer make the moding as i make it for years in a lot of games, instaling files in the game folder. 

[RexxingFlex]

5 hours ago, SleepyJim said:

I can only speak from personal experience, but I've never had any stability issues that I could trace back to MO. I've been using it for years without any noticeable problems. While I used MO2 for Fallout 4 I've always stuck with MO1 for Skyrim.

 

The only problem it seems to have at the moment for me is reporting some kind of "look up failed" at the message window at the bottom of the interface every now and then. As far as I can tell that's only relevant if you hook it into your Nexus profile and download mods through MO itself. As I've never done that - always manually downloading everything and storing the archives in a mod directory on my PC, then adding them from there - it seems that's harmless for me.

 

I have, on occasion, switched to test other managers. That's allowed me to see how the same load order and mod set-up works with different software. I never saw anything during those times that suggested to me that MO was any less stable than the alternatives, and so I always went back to MO1 quickly due to personal preference. I've never found reason to be anything other than very happy with it.

I'm actually glad to hear that, because I really like Mod Organizer and would prefer to keep using it! And it also seems that we have a similar way of managing our mods, the fact that I used MO maybe once or twice to download a mod is proof, and even that was just out of curiosity! I may even go a bit further by giving most mods their own folders and also saving the descriptions and some images alongside said mods so I can remember what they are and what they do! Who would have thought that playing modded games is a lot like an office job LOL!

 

Anyway while I have you here! Is there any suggestions or trick you would like to share for maintaining a stable enough game (under these circumstances of course)? I'm not suggesting anything too detailed here, just something along the lines of:

Do you prefer building up your game before actually starting a new game, and then refrain from adding additional mods after, or has that not been too much of a problem for you and you do add mods regardless of game progression?

Personally I do know that ESM type mods are a big "IF" for installing after you've started your game, and of course mods that contain complicated scripts are pretty much in the same boat. And removing them after you have saved is even worse.

Or are there any other things that I don't even know about?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

 

 

[RexxingFlex]

5 hours ago, GenioMaestro said:

Skyrim is totally stable today with the correct configuration. I not have any CTD this year in my stable config.

Have some while testing new mod's and configure it correctly in load order and in the MCM, but not more.

I run more than 200 mod's, half of them from this site, in a 4 years old machine i5-4460 with gtx 660 2g.

 

The manager is indiferent, simply you must make the correct things.

I use NMM because i not like the complexity that MO add to the moding process. You can call me old, but i preffer make the moding as i make it for years in a lot of games, instaling files in the game folder. 

Thank you for joining!

Do you have any specific tricks or suggestions that help you yourself maintain stability in your game? Anything that you can think of? Like off the top of your head?

[GenioMaestro]

1 hour ago, TheAwesomeTRex said:

Thank you for joining!

Do you have any specific tricks or suggestions that help you yourself maintain stability in your game? Anything that you can think of? Like off the top of your head?

If you play with 200 mod's you need the stability tools.

Google a bit and install this if you not have it:

SKSE Memory patch

Crash Fixes 12

ENB in Boost mode

 

If you play with 300 mod's or more and have merged plugins and/or bash patch you need install the SKSE Plugin Preloader for activate "UseOSAllocators=0" in Crash fixes 12.

Aditionally, download, install and execute BethIni. Some parameters in the ini files are too related to stability.

 

In last, not install mod's that your machine can't handle.

Is not recomended play with CPU and/or GPU at 100% constant ussage.

Is better have some free power reserved for some critical moments for reduce the probability of CTD.

In a game all is made in miliseconds. If your machine are at 100% need more time for make some things and that can derivate in a fail of sync that end in a strange and random CTD.

[RexxingFlex]

2 hours ago, GenioMaestro said:

If you play with 200 mod's you need the stability tools.

Google a bit and install this if you not have it:

SKSE Memory patch

Crash Fixes 12

ENB in Boost mode

 

If you play with 300 mod's or more and have merged plugins and/or bash patch you need install the SKSE Plugin Preloader for activate "UseOSAllocators=0" in Crash fixes 12.

Aditionally, download, install and execute BethIni. Some parameters in the ini files are too related to stability.

 

In last, not install mod's that your machine can't handle.

Is not recomended play with CPU and/or GPU at 100% constant ussage.

Is better have some free power reserved for some critical moments for reduce the probability of CTD.

In a game all is made in miliseconds. If your machine are at 100% need more time for make some things and that can derivate in a fail of sync that end in a strange and random CTD. 

And this is why its a good thing to sometimes ask a dude! For instance I knew about the first 3 download suggestions you gave! I've been using them for a while and the differences in performance are staggering. The game runs better than ever!

But yet I would get the odd CTD, like out of nowhere BAM! And I'd swear the PC wasn't even close to its 100% mark!

Than I find out about BethIni, and it all makes sense! Also I will be trying to keep my load order below 200 by merging mods either manually via TES5edit, or merge plugin which I already use for Fallout New Vegas due it's more limited load order!

Also while I haven't been using many heavier mods, the truth is I did use a lot of the smaller ones in great numbers! Which I thought was my main mistake, although I can't say I was entirely sure! I'm glad to have this confirmed at least.

 

Thanks a lot man! And have a good one!

[SleepyJim]

I use ENBoost (as part of a full ENB, though it can be used on its own) plus Crash Fixes, Bug Fixes and Continue Game No Crash. Until I installed that last one I would always have to make a save in the Live Another Life starter cell after setting up all my MCMs at the start of a new game. Loading that would always work, and from there my latest save could be loaded without issue. But with CGNC selecting Continue from the main menu has always worked without crashing at the moment the load finished, as tended to happen in the past (with any mod manager.)

 

For load order I clump mods together by type. I have gameplay overhauls first, followed by player homes, NPC mods, armour/clothing, weapons, adult mods, body/skin/cosmetic mods, animations, assorted extras, skeleton, and finally anything that specifically says it needs to be as low down the order as possible. And I match the priority list (left window) with the load order (right window) in MO as closely as possible. I don't use LOOT to sort the order, despite many people claiming it's required. In my experience LOOT's suggested order has always produced a less stable, less smooth game. I find that following mod installation instructions and using common sense has always been preferable to letting a piece of software just stick most things in alphabetical order and hoping for the best.

 

Generally, when starting a new game I make a merged patch with TES5Edit, then a bashed patch with Wrye Bash/Smash, then run FNIS. From then on I don't change that load order at all for the life of that playthrough except for sometimes adding some light mods to the end of it and re-running FNIS if necessary. Adding small mods on has always been all right, but as soon as you take some mods out/switch orders around it's asking for trouble.

 

The only problem I ever generally get any more is the occasional crash when I seem to run out of memory. If it's going to happen, it almost always happens in the area around Whiterun, where the farms and meadery are. It's a notorious CTD hotspot due to high VRAM usage. If I have more high-res textures than my system can handle, that's how the game tells me. So when it happens I cut back on some textures, test it out, then play on once the crashes have stopped. The Optimized Vanilla Textures mod helped a great deal with that for me.

[RexxingFlex]

12 hours ago, SleepyJim said:

I use ENBoost (as part of a full ENB, though it can be used on its own) plus Crash Fixes, Bug Fixes and Continue Game No Crash. Until I installed that last one I would always have to make a save in the Live Another Life starter cell after setting up all my MCMs at the start of a new game. Loading that would always work, and from there my latest save could be loaded without issue. But with CGNC selecting Continue from the main menu has always worked without crashing at the moment the load finished, as tended to happen in the past (with any mod manager.)

 

For load order I clump mods together by type. I have gameplay overhauls first, followed by player homes, NPC mods, armour/clothing, weapons, adult mods, body/skin/cosmetic mods, animations, assorted extras, skeleton, and finally anything that specifically says it needs to be as low down the order as possible. And I match the priority list (left window) with the load order (right window) in MO as closely as possible. I don't use LOOT to sort the order, despite many people claiming it's required. In my experience LOOT's suggested order has always produced a less stable, less smooth game. I find that following mod installation instructions and using common sense has always been preferable to letting a piece of software just stick most things in alphabetical order and hoping for the best.

 

Generally, when starting a new game I make a merged patch with TES5Edit, then a bashed patch with Wrye Bash/Smash, then run FNIS. From then on I don't change that load order at all for the life of that playthrough except for sometimes adding some light mods to the end of it and re-running FNIS if necessary. Adding small mods on has always been all right, but as soon as you take some mods out/switch orders around it's asking for trouble.

 

The only problem I ever generally get any more is the occasional crash when I seem to run out of memory. If it's going to happen, it almost always happens in the area around Whiterun, where the farms and meadery are. It's a notorious CTD hotspot due to high VRAM usage. If I have more high-res textures than my system can handle, that's how the game tells me. So when it happens I cut back on some textures, test it out, then play on once the crashes have stopped. The Optimized Vanilla Textures mod helped a great deal with that for me.

Thank you very much man!

 

And yes I agree with your assessment of LOOT! Hell I've recently talked to someone that basically considers it malware...LOL! Although I can't say that I fully agree I can certainly see his point, that thing has caused me major headaches in the past! However I did find it's error checking feature rather useful, so in the future I'll stick with using it just for that and not letting it touch my load order.

 

Also another mistake I always seem to do is installing smaller mods, while playing! A thing that I really need to stop doing now that I know what certain mods I like and the ones I don't like. I guess I wasn't entirely sure how bad that actually can be for the game, but I guess you kinda have to test out certain things.