Need Basic Help for Skyrim SE and Using Loverslab Mods for the First Time

[YojimboRatchet]

hi,

 

i am a regular PS4 user. i do not play PC games, like ever, but today i finally caved in and bought Skyrim SE for Windows via Steam, for the simple reason that i would like to enjoy and try out various mods, regardless of content restrictions, considering the PS4 does not have the freedom to enjoy them as PC users do.

 

Now, i will state and freely admit, i am not that knowledgeable when it comes to these things. i have tried reading the many guides here, and after a while, my head starts to hurt lol. what i am hoping for, is some help, but with the assumption that, when explaining things, that you're do so to someone who doesn't understand the language and is a total noob when it comes to these things.

 

i have some basic questions to start:

 

1. do i need to use a mod manager or can i simply keep to manual downloads ?

2. if i need to use a mod manager, why ? and which one would be the most recommended for Skyrim SE ?

3. when running the game, at the main menu, where would i be able to access all of these mods, and how ?

4. is there a way to access mods when you're actually in the middle of gameplay ? how ?

 

that's it for now. i do have many more, but i want to start simple, basic and easy. and i apologize ahead of time for my lack of knowledge and understanding, but i am hoping that the simpler the help given, the easier i can understand, and perhaps, others like myself can also benefit when doing this for the first time.

 

once i have my answers and depending on what they are, i will move onto the next batch of questions.

 

thank you for your help and your patience

[donttouchmethere]

19 minutes ago, YojimboRatchet said:

1. do i need to use a mod manager or can i simply keep to manual downloads ?

2. if i need to use a mod manager, why ? and which one would be the most recommended for Skyrim SE ?

Mods have a multitude of files and folders. You will loose overview what you have installed in no time.

Also often mods come with variation of the same files as other mods and you need to decide wish one you want to overwrite.

If you do something wrong there it can get painful to remove those files and try again.

In the beginning (and later too) you will try a lot of different mods, so installing/uninstalling happens often.

A mod manager basically remembers what is installed and what gets overwritten, so you can easily add and remove mods. In addition they help you to keep the overview what is installed and what could be installed. This is especially true for mods that don't come with an esp/esm/esl and will not show up in the skyrim launcher (wish you don't want to use anyways anymore if you mod Skyrim).

 

If I would start modding SE I would look into this one first:

 

 

[donttouchmethere]

28 minutes ago, YojimboRatchet said:

3. when running the game, at the main menu, where would i be able to access all of these mods, and how ?

No need to do that. You organize all mods via your mod manager before you start a game.

 

30 minutes ago, YojimboRatchet said:

is there a way to access mods when you're actually in the middle of gameplay ? how ?

Any changes you do on your mod setup will be done via the mod manager.

You can't change any mod installed during gameplay.

Everything you change is done in your Mod Manager.

 

Some mods come with an MCM, an ingame menu, where you can modify certain settings of those mods.

[YojimboRatchet]

20 hours ago, donttouchmethere said:

This is especially true for mods that don't come with an esp/esm/esl and will not show up in the skyrim launcher (wish you don't want to use anyways anymore if you mod Skyrim).

 

not familiar with the "esp/esm/esl" abbreviations and what they are. and and i don't understand what you mean by this comment either, could you explain ?

 

20 hours ago, donttouchmethere said:

Any changes you do on your mod setup will be done via the mod manager.

You can't change any mod installed during gameplay.

Everything you change is done in your Mod Manager.

 

Some mods come with an MCM, an ingame menu, where you can modify certain settings of those mods.

not sure i follow. so the mod manager is where you turn on and off mods and not in the game itself ? and MCM ? how is the ingame menu accessed  for the mods that can be adjusted during gameplay ?

[donttouchmethere]

8 hours ago, YojimboRatchet said:

so the mod manager is where you turn on and off mods and not in the game itself ?

yes

8 hours ago, YojimboRatchet said:

and MCM

ingame menus of the installed mods to do further configuration

8 hours ago, YojimboRatchet said:

how is the ingame menu accessed  for the mods that can be adjusted during gameplay ?

via the MCM! =D

MCM = Mod Configuration Menu = framework for all mod configuration menus

 

Basically you organize your mods in mod managers => install/uninstall (and more)

Some of those mods add a menu ingame via the MCM framework so you can configure them in detail in game

 

Watch some vids about MCM in youtube to get an idea.

 

8 hours ago, YojimboRatchet said:

not familiar with the "esp/esm/esl" abbreviations and what they are. and and i don't understand what you mean by this comment either, could you explain ?

It gets clearer if you start modding your game.

My problem is how to keep it easy to explain, while the actual modding process it a lot more complex.

The best approach is learning by doing and to follow guides and watching youtube vids to get a visual idea.

 

There are two good guides I saw for SE I know of here on LL:

The one I posted already explains how MO works.

This one give you an idea what mods are available and how to install them:

https://www.loverslab.com/topic/118460-skyrim-se-for-beginners-v-216-3bbb-and-hdt-smp/

 

The base idea is:

> install the game

> install a mod manager

> grab a few basic mods

> install those mods with that mod manager

> check out what happens ingame and see how MCM work there too

 

This way you would get a good impression how the modding process works.

 

[YojimboRatchet]

ok thank you. i am slowly going through the mod manager 2 one you linked. it is very time consuming to say the least. once i am done with those, i will look for the other links you mentioned. and ask questions then as i get more. thanks

[SilverBl00d]

35 minutes ago, YojimboRatchet said:

ok thank you. i am slowly going through the mod manager 2 one you linked. it is very time consuming to say the least. once i am done with those, i will look for the other links you mentioned. and ask questions then as i get more. thanks

It is time consuming for sure, especially at first. I just came back to modding skyrim from a 2years break and oh boi I feel lost, even if I did mod other games in between. If it is your FIRST time modding anything, apart from what donttouchme said, I would suggest avoiding what I did, which is installling a 100 mods in one go and trying to figure out my mistakes afterwards. Texture mods are the safest place to start. I would suggest you install a bodyreplacer next with all its requirements (like CBBE or UNP) and make sure it works.

You should learn how to use Bodyslide and Outfit studio through YT and then the world is you oyster. Mods usually have pretty clear installation guides included in their page, and what you will notice is that at some point when you got the hang of it, you stop looking at them and just download the files and install them without worry and come back to the guides only when something doesn't work which will happen often at the start.

[donttouchmethere]

2 hours ago, SilverBl00d said:

which is installling a 100 mods in one go

We've all been there. ?

With all those juicy mods to choose from... how to resist ?‍♂️

[YojimboRatchet]

ok then i am confused now. i am following the mod manager 2 instructions and it says to install that huge mod list. i am only working on the ones marked as "required" and ignoring the "optional" ones for now, but it's still a huge list. do i need to install them all then or will i run into the same issue of bulk installs if i run through that list using only "required" mod installs ?

 

also, the very first on that list, the optional marked MG Fix, now requires 2 SKSE files instead of just 1 to be installed. the extra one is a SKSE library file, but i do not see this listed anywhere as having to be installed with SKSE when i followed the instructions. do i ignore this new supposed required file ? or is this a new file that should be added to the mod manager tutorial ?

 

and my Mod Manage 2 shows flags on the SKSE pre-download and the fuz ro d'oh. something about endorsing. what's that and is it necessary ?

On 5/30/2020 at 7:34 PM, SilverBl00d said:

You should learn how to use Bodyslide and Outfit studio through YT

YT ?

[SilverBl00d]

1 hour ago, YojimboRatchet said:

ok then i am confused now. i am following the mod manager 2 instructions and it says to install that huge mod list. i am only working on the ones marked as "required" and ignoring the "optional" ones for now, but it's still a huge list. do i need to install them all then or will i run into the same issue of bulk installs if i run through that list using only "required" mod installs ?

 

also, the very first on that list, the optional marked MG Fix, now requires 2 SKSE files instead of just 1 to be installed. the extra one is a SKSE library file, but i do not see this listed anywhere as having to be installed with SKSE when i followed the instructions. do i ignore this new supposed required file ? or is this a new file that should be added to the mod manager tutorial ?

 

and my Mod Manage 2 shows flags on the SKSE pre-download and the fuz ro d'oh. something about endorsing. what's that and is it necessary ?

YT ?

YT=YouTube

You can find the skse library in nexusmod....just type skse library.

[YojimboRatchet]

thanks.

 

so after spending the last 48 hours following the full Mod Manager 2 guide, and testing it as directed. things seemed to be working. and then i started downloading a few of the mods and the required mods to go with them (primarily cursed loot and devious devices), and then things went downhill from there.

 

1. CBBE is not importing anything into the game, no matter what i do, when i do a new game and it goes into the character creation screen, the CBBE tab doesn't show my presets nor do any of the sliders work at all. so even though i follow the instructions given, nothing works. i have searched and read at least 20 or 30 different threads on this and tutorials on YouTube, and still nothing. i have even tried running CBBE / FNIS and LOOT in different orders before running SKSE in MM2, and nothing (yes i did do the CTRL + Build way too many times to count at this point)

 

2. LOOT doesn't seem to order anything at all. i have had to manually order some things according to screenshots here in various threads. so i have no clue at this point is the load order generated by LOOT is even correct or working.

 

3. anytime Devious Devices is called in the game, and restraints are attached, they remain invisible as does my body. again, i read dozens of threads about this issue, and followed many various "solutions", and still nothing works.

 

i am at the point now where i am ready to give up, and either delete everything and spend 3 days doing it all over again (which case i will most likely run into the same damn problem), or just resigning to the fact that i am not knowledgable enough to understand, and give up the mod thing completely. i would rather not go that option, as i really would like to have an enjoyable experience playing this game as others here have. but right now, this is not even close to being a good experience.

 

so any detailed help as to what i am doing wrong, and why, would be appreciated. i feel like a total idiot right now, wishing i understand computers like people here do...

[Illana]

2 hours ago, YojimboRatchet said:

thanks.

 

so after spending the last 48 hours following the full Mod Manager 2 guide, and testing it as directed. things seemed to be working. and then i started downloading a few of the mods and the required mods to go with them (primarily cursed loot and devious devices), and then things went downhill from there.

 

1. CBBE is not importing anything into the game, no matter what i do, when i do a new game and it goes into the character creation screen, the CBBE tab doesn't show my presets nor do any of the sliders work at all. so even though i follow the instructions given, nothing works. i have searched and read at least 20 or 30 different threads on this and tutorials on YouTube, and still nothing. i have even tried running CBBE / FNIS and LOOT in different orders before running SKSE in MM2, and nothing (yes i did do the CTRL + Build way too many times to count at this point)

 

2. LOOT doesn't seem to order anything at all. i have had to manually order some things according to screenshots here in various threads. so i have no clue at this point is the load order generated by LOOT is even correct or working.

 

3. anytime Devious Devices is called in the game, and restraints are attached, they remain invisible as does my body. again, i read dozens of threads about this issue, and followed many various "solutions", and still nothing works.

 

i am at the point now where i am ready to give up, and either delete everything and spend 3 days doing it all over again (which case i will most likely run into the same damn problem), or just resigning to the fact that i am not knowledgable enough to understand, and give up the mod thing completely. i would rather not go that option, as i really would like to have an enjoyable experience playing this game as others here have. but right now, this is not even close to being a good experience.

 

so any detailed help as to what i am doing wrong, and why, would be appreciated. i feel like a total idiot right now, wishing i understand computers like people here do...

1. You need to use bodyslide to build a body and make sure "build morphs" on the bottom left is ticked. The bodyslide nexus page has a tutorial linked on the posts page I believe.

 

2. Are you launching LOOT through MO2? Whenever you need to launch some kind of tool for the game 95% of the time you need to actually run it in MO2. If you are doing this already then you might not be actually sorting anything using LOOT, it's not enough to just open it, there's a "sort plugins" button at the top of the program. Something else that should be very apparent should you have read the documentation that it comes with.

 

3. This means you have not built the devices in bodyslide, once again something that is detailed in the instructions of the mod.

[YojimboRatchet]

so after some extra tinkering, and uninstalling / reinstalling all the plugins that i downloaded -after- the Mod Manager 2 tutorial. it finally worked. my assumption at this point, that something was initially corrupted during the first installs somehow, but at this point, doesn't matter, it's working. found out a few new issues, but i am still experimenting with MCM settings to figure out what i like and don't like. trying to find settings for a long enjoyable and fun gameplay so that these plug-ins enhance when called, as opposed to playing only to have these mods active in gameplay constantly, is challenging.

 

my laptop isn't good enough to run Laura's Bondage at the same time as Cursed Loot, Simple Slavery and Devious Followers sadly. and about to test a ported version of Simple Slavery i found in a tech thread here, since the 6.01 version is not working at all, but i am also finding that some thing are meant for quick gameplay as opposed to long term realistic slavery and bondage. a lot of stuff missing or that could be done much better with much better options. but for now, it's fun. and addictive lol.

 

also found out that City Bondage for LE, actually works in SE with Cursed Loot, Devious Devices, Simple Slavery and Devious Followers turned on lol. have had no issues to date, or conflicts.

 

thanks for the help.

[gurugeorge]

On 6/5/2020 at 6:35 PM, YojimboRatchet said:

so after some extra tinkering, and uninstalling / reinstalling all the plugins that i downloaded -after- the Mod Manager 2 tutorial. it finally worked. my assumption at this point, that something was initially corrupted during the first installs somehow, but at this point, doesn't matter, it's working. found out a few new issues, but i am still experimenting with MCM settings to figure out what i like and don't like. trying to find settings for a long enjoyable and fun gameplay so that these plug-ins enhance when called, as opposed to playing only to have these mods active in gameplay constantly, is challenging.

 

my laptop isn't good enough to run Laura's Bondage at the same time as Cursed Loot, Simple Slavery and Devious Followers sadly. and about to test a ported version of Simple Slavery i found in a tech thread here, since the 6.01 version is not working at all, but i am also finding that some thing are meant for quick gameplay as opposed to long term realistic slavery and bondage. a lot of stuff missing or that could be done much better with much better options. but for now, it's fun. and addictive lol.

 

also found out that City Bondage for LE, actually works in SE with Cursed Loot, Devious Devices, Simple Slavery and Devious Followers turned on lol. have had no issues to date, or conflicts.

 

thanks for the help.

Great stuff.  The main thing to remember about MO2 is that each profile is sort of a "virtual installation" of the game, which gives you tremendous power and flexibility, but also has its own learning curve that can lead to levels of confusion as deep as when you're using an ordinary mod manager or no mod manager at all.  A few top tips related to MO2 quirks to help you understand what's going on:-

 

1) Override is shared by all profiles, so never leave anything in Override; when you're done with one profile, if there's anything in Override make a mod of it (r click, option comes up) and activate it for that profile (at the end of the list on the left), before moving on to another profile.  Preferably also try and understand why stuff was dumped in there and where it came from.  This is the greatest source of confusion for new MO2 users, because sometimes alterations will be dumped there that are irrelevant to other profiles and may screw them up, because the user hasn't noticed that Override had something in it when they switched profiles.  Related to this:-

 

2) Always make sure that heavy-duty mods like FNIS or Bodyslide that alter a lot of things and have to be re-run when extensive changes are made, should have their own "output" mod made out of Override specifically for the alterations relevant to that  given profile (again, if you have lots of profiles, you'll end up with lots of "FNIS output" mods, only one of which should be active with each profile).  i.e. the first time you run FNIS, it will dump stuff in Override, so immediately make a mod of that, and call it "FNIS output for profile x" or something like that.  Each time you run FNIS anew, untick the old FNIS output mod before you run it, then make a new output mod from Override and replace the old one with it.  (You can also just keep leaving the profile-relevant FNIS output mod as the mod where FNIS dumps stuff for that profile, but I've run into trouble with that before, I think it's better to do the FNIS operation per profile clean each time - it's a little bit more time consuming but it knocks out one possible source of uncertainty when things are getting really complicated). The instructions are there in the guide, but this can't be emphasized enough, it's really important.

 

3) If you start getting into making a lot of profiles with very different setups, be aware that you'll often have to make copies of big complex mods (e.g. your Water mod) that are set up specifically for the combinations of things in that given profile.  So you might end up with several copies of (e.g.) your Water mod that are relevant to different profiles (with only the copy of it that's set up relevant to mod x active with profile x).  This adds to the footprint on your hd but it's worth it to save confusion.

 

4) A really important but often-overlooked thing to be aware of is the "Data" tab on the bottom right pane.  What this does is show you what the game "sees" as it's firing up.  When you're looking at the stuff in the data tab, you're literally looking at the "virtual installation" for that profile.  Also, if you hover over entries there, you can trace what mods have been overrriden to get to the mod that the game ends up "seeing."  This can be incredibly useful.  There's a similar functionality in the Left pane, with r-click "information" where you can see what's overriding what under the tabs there, but using the Data tab and the hover function is often a quicker way of discovering what's actually "operative" in a given profile.