Making the Switch from Oblivion to Skyrim and Feeling Overwhelmed

[caradas1030]

So between seeing HDT and Bodyslide 2.0, and it going on sale on Steam, I've decided that it's time to make the jump to Skyrim, and I'm drowning in modding possibilities. I just have a few questions that I'm hoping you guys can answer to help me get on my feet.

 

1) For modding purposes, should I grab a non-Steam version?

2) How is modding Skyrim compared to Oblivion? 

2) How difficult (or necessary) is it to port armors from Oblivion to Skyrim? 

3) Where's the Skyrim equivalent of Lovers compared to Oblivion's, and how hard is it to use?

4) Where is HDT in terms of support and usability? 

5) Are there any must haves? Like the Unofficial Patches for Oblivion? 

 

I'm sure I have more questions, but these are the major ones that come up off the top of my head.

[criswolf09]

Hello there, I've been playing Skyrim with mods for some time there are many things you should know:

1) The Unofficial Skyrim Patch (USKP) and if you will get the DLCs you can get the Lgendary edition which has the lates patch plus all of DLCs. The DLCs have their unofficial patches which you should use along the USKP

2) The non-Steam versions are not recommended because they may have hidden bugs when they were crack or pirated, so many mods may not work because of this,

3) About porting armors from oblivion, I can't help you because I'm not a modder, I just translate some mods.

4) For SexLab, the equivalent of Lovers, you can obtain it here in the forum in the SexLab Downloads section and you can read the installation instructions to make it work, it is very easy to do it.

5) Modding in Skyrim is pretty much the same as Oblivion, it is always recommended using a mod management utility like Wrye Bash, Mod Organizer, but don't use Nexus mod manager, while it's the easiest to use, it has a lot of problems such as breaking installations or random crashes.

6) If ya are looking for something Skimpy/Adult: Caliente's CBBE mods, or UNP mods are good body replacers for females, while Schlongs of Skyrim have animated male genitalia and a lot of scripts so the light version of that mod is recommended. Also better males is a good option. All this mods are in www.nexusmods.com/skyrim

I hope this info helps you

[Rokabur]

Hello there, I've been playing Skyrim with mods for some time there are many things you should know:

1) The Unofficial Skyrim Patch (USKP) and if you will get the DLCs you can get the Lgendary edition which has the lates patch plus all of DLCs. The DLCs have their unofficial patches which you should use along the USKP

2) The non-Steam versions are not recommended because they may have hidden bugs when they were crack or pirated, so many mods may not work because of this,

3) About porting armors from oblivion, I can't help you because I'm not a modder, I just translate some mods.

4) For SexLab, the equivalent of Lovers, you can obtain it here in the forum in the SexLab Downloads section and you can read the installation instructions to make it work, it is very easy to do it.

5) Modding in Skyrim is pretty much the same as Oblivion, it is always recommended using a mod management utility like Wrye Bash, Mod Organizer, but don't use Nexus mod manager, while it's the easiest to use, it has a lot of problems such as breaking installations or random crashes.

6) If ya are looking for something Skimpy/Adult: Caliente's CBBE mods, or UNP mods are good body replacers for females, while Schlongs of Skyrim have animated male genitalia and a lot of scripts so the light version of that mod is recommended. Also better males is a good option. All this mods are in www.nexusmods.com/skyrim

I hope this info helps you

 

I did have a non-steam version just to see what Skyrim was like before i bought it. You can actually use mods with a non-steam version? Anytime I tried the Data Files option when you launch Skyrim without SKSE was always greyed out.

[myuhinny]

One difference between oblivion and skyrim bodies is that oblivion all you needed was set body and you had all the bodies you ever wanted skyrim though has many different versions and many like UNPB BBP TBBP all need certain skeletons to work or you'll get a CTD on startup.

 

Modding skyrim things are a bit different then oblivion in oblivion you have 1 nif while skyrim has 2 nifs per item so a cuirass will have 2 nifs and if you change anything in one of those nifs you have to change the same thing in the other nif as well or what you did will not show up in game. Glossing the skin is also different with oblivion you can change the ini file for glossmax to 1000 and get super oily with skyrim you have to do that manually with nifskope and it's under bslighting and doesn't have skin like it does for oblivion.

 

HDT should be pretty stable now that they are no longer adding anything to skyrim or updating skyrim as much so there is now a less need for SKSE to update as much to keep up with skyrim updates. Oblivion's heel system seems more buggy to me and I usually remove the dependency from .esps that need it but I still have the main heel systems so that I can cast the change height spell. There is also now HDT for dresses as well.

 

I still use the NMM with my game but mine is a older build that I never update anymore like who needs all that shit they were cramming into it anyway all they did was break more stuff with each update then fixed.

 

With any adult mod be it lovers sexlab sexout the main thing you have to remember with any of them is to read read read follow the instructions check and beware of what conflicts with things as many will have it on their main page if there is something that it conflicts with.

[caradas1030]

Thanks guys, you all have been a great help. Is there a sort of de facto default body, skeleton, and animation people use, like HGEC and BBB? And is there much in the way of conversions for vanilla equipment to different body types? 

 

Bodyslide and HDT are the two things that sold me on the switch (that and Legendary Edition for $20), so those are the things I'm most interested in. 

[Veladarius]

The common skeleton it the XPMS skeleton as it supports almost everything. For bodies there are several types with the most common being CBBE, UNP/UNPB and SevenBase and most armors are available in these types. There are 3 levels of body animation (breast and butt movement) - (1) Normal, (2) BBP (breasts) and (3) TBBP (breasts and butt), the XPMS Skeleton will support all three and there are versions of the bodies for them as well.

[myuhinny]

There is UNP  lots of variations CBBE lots of variation CHSBHC with variations and many others. UNP and CBBE will use standard skeletons anything with BBP/TBBP will need specific skeletons. There's lots to choose from it all depends on what you want size wise.

[icladel]

I can answer Q3 and Q5 as a mod user

Im not a mod maker so not sure about the rest

 

Q3: SexLab as someone pointed out earlier. http://www.loverslab.com/forum/49-sexlab-framework/

 

Q5:

Important mods that fix a lot of issues in the stock game:

-SkyUI (Because the default interface is horrible lol)

-Unofficial Skyrim Patch

-Unofficial Dawnguard Patch (dlc)

-Unofficial Dragonborn Patch (dlc)

-Unofficial Hearthfire Patch (dlc)

-Skyrim Project Optimisation

-Static Mesh Improvement mod

 

Some really good immersion mods:

-Realistic Needs and Diseases

-Frostfall Hypothermia and Survival

-Populated Cities Towns and Villages

-Climates of Tamriel (Though it isn't compatible with some of the really nice ENB settings)

-Lanterns of Skyrim

-Interesting NPC's (simply awesome mod. Voice acted quest(s) mod with incredible dialogue and options. Very immersive you wont even realise its a mod)

-Mighty Dragons (More variety of dragons with a nice look to them. http://erkeilmods.altervista.org/skyrim/enhanced-mighty-dragons/)

-Weighted Items (If you like more realism, weights gold, keys, small items so you can no longer walk around carrying 50,000 gold)

-Immersive Patrols (More enemies/Friends on the road/wilderness)

 

Overhaul mods:

-Skyrim Redone (Vastly improved perks and overall awesomeness) 

-Ultimate Follower Overhaul

-Civil War Overhaul

-Dragon Combat Overhaul

 

Textures and "Cool Look good" mods:

-Enhanced Blood Textures

-Enhanced Character Edit (More versatility when it comes to making a character)

-WATER

-aMidian re-textures (Nice looking armours and weapons)

-Various body replacers

-Dual Sheath Redux

-Skyrim Flora Overhaul

 

Item additions:

-Immersive Armors

-Immersive Weapons

-Jaysus Swords

 

 

These are some of the mods I use and think are worth having but there are more alternatives out there.

[ossku]

 

2) The non-Steam versions are not recommended because they may have hidden bugs when they were crack or pirated, so many mods may not work because of this,

 

 

Every mod ever has worked fine for me.

Yes, i am a dirty pirate.

 

Im currently at 100 mods trough NMM plus some mods manually installed.

[caradas1030]

So BBP is giving me all kinds of greif. I have the CHSBHC body physics mod, UNBP, and CBBE. I though you installed them in that order, and then use body slide to make a body with the BBP animations, but when I'm not CDT I'm getting no animations. Can anyone help me?