Lessons from previous installs

[wayra]

I think everyone's been there, you start a new skyrim game, install a couple hundred mods, and before you know it you accidentally install the most popular mod in skyrim. This mod doesn't have a name, but that doesn't matter. You try your best to unistall this mod, sometime you succeed, but this mod is so good, you just have to accidentally reinstall it again. You repeat the cycle, but one day you give up, nothing you do can fix it.

 

So you reinstall skyrim, start a new game. This time...this time it's gonna be different. Here are some things I learned this time around, what are some things that you learned or rules you created to have a stable modded skyrim?

 

Here's mine:

 

-Mod manager creates uses separate .ini files (had to play without any type of anti-aliasing for 3 months or I am not a smart man)

-I am gonna keep a mod log, detailing what I installed and unistalled and make notes.

-Do not install Sanguine's Debauchery. (it's marked as broken now, thankfully)

-Do not install locational damage.

-When installing a quest mod, make sure to finish the quest and then unistall it. Use clean script tool...console command disable any active quests.

 

[Guest Ragna_Rok]

biggest lesson: automatic mod install sux, manual mod install rulez!

 

and a modding god even wrote a noobs-guide to that here... oh, wait, it was me who did that

[Aliris]

The original Sanguine's Debauchery is broken, but SD+ has been regularly updated, and is working fairly well.

[bytion]

Here is one lesson, if u want to install mods, always keep a skyrim folder backup, use sync app to keep it updated, every time when are sure those mods u installed are good, sync to your backup, if u break something and can't find a solution, roll back to your backup.

 

That's how I play skyrim for 2 years and only reinstall 3 times.

[anominous]

It isn't the best lesson ever, but it is something I've learned.

 

You're going to need a Good Lydia:

 

Regardless of whatever else you do, you are at some point going to end up doing those Same first batch of Whiterun Quests again, and again... You don't want to be saddled with Vanilla Lydia even long enough to dismiss her to Breezehome, let alone drag her around with you. Fortunately this seems to be (One of, if not) THE first thing anyone ever thought to do with Skyrim, so options abound to solve this issue. 

 

 

[hryh23k9823u]

Here is one lesson, if u want to install mods, always keep a skyrim folder backup, use sync app to keep it updated, every time when are sure those mods u installed are good, sync to your backup, if u break something and can't find a solution, roll back to your backup.

 

That's how I play skyrim for 2 years and only reinstall 3 times.

 

Or simply use Mod Organizer and install all your mods in a separate, virtual, data folder.

 

[gvman3670]

 

Here is one lesson, if u want to install mods, always keep a skyrim folder backup, use sync app to keep it updated, every time when are sure those mods u installed are good, sync to your backup, if u break something and can't find a solution, roll back to your backup.

 

That's how I play skyrim for 2 years and only reinstall 3 times.

 

Or simply use Mod Organizer and install all your mods in a separate, virtual, data folder.

 

 

 

That is by far the best alternative. It really is. I've done all the other things and MO is so much better than any other options that it's not even funny. Other managers and manual installs are pointless at this time. We have MO, so we should use it.

 

I now look in mod folders and see what it's in it before installing it. If there are scripts out the wazoo I probably won't install it. If it's an awesome quest mod, like Maids II, I'll play it then remove it and roll back to an older save to avoid the orphaned scripts.

 

There's a thread here in the LL forums about setting up a stable and smooth Skyrim. If you set up MO then follow those steps you'll literally have the most stable game possible and it will literally stay that way forever, barring any hardward breakdowns of course. This is because MO doesn't put anything into you cleaned and tweaked Skryim folder.

[ToJKa]

 

Here is one lesson, if u want to install mods, always keep a skyrim folder backup, use sync app to keep it updated, every time when are sure those mods u installed are good, sync to your backup, if u break something and can't find a solution, roll back to your backup.

 

That's how I play skyrim for 2 years and only reinstall 3 times.

 

Or simply use Mod Organizer and install all your mods in a separate, virtual, data folder.

 

 

 

I still rather use Wrye Bash, and see exactly what mod installed what files and with what mods they conflict with. And adjust install order while the program makes sure said files are correctly overridden.

[hryh23k9823u]

 

 

Here is one lesson, if u want to install mods, always keep a skyrim folder backup, use sync app to keep it updated, every time when are sure those mods u installed are good, sync to your backup, if u break something and can't find a solution, roll back to your backup.

 

That's how I play skyrim for 2 years and only reinstall 3 times.

 

Or simply use Mod Organizer and install all your mods in a separate, virtual, data folder.

 

 

 

I still rather use Wrye Bash, and see exactly what mod installed what files and with what mods they conflict with. And adjust install order while the program makes sure said files are correctly overridden.

 

 

You mean using Mod Organizer, which does that but way better than Wrye Bash, right...? (Wrye Bash can be hooked into MO btw, still useful for bashed patches tho.)

 

[ToJKa]

I don't know. I never learned to use it

 

Well, i didn't really try, since i already was familiar and comfortable with WB.

 

Though MO does know how to handle NMM installers, right? That would come handy with some mods, as converting some of the more messy ones into BAINs is a pain.

[Guest]

Biggest lesson: Don't update mods mid playthrough...

[Princessity]

I do manual installs since Morrowind, always examine the assets and plugin file before enabling the mod and I keep the archive in a separate location so i can refer to it later if i want to uninstall. I also never install or *uninstall* scripted mods in the middle of a playthrough (both things can mess up savegames no matter how careful the modder was, it's just the way skyrim works).

 

And before starting a "serious" game that I'm planning to play for a long time I do a test run first and try all the new mods and new versions I installed.

 

I also learned to only play with things I really want and turn off things I won't use. If my character isn't going to wear armour, bows and axes I don't need to have armour, bows and axes mods enabled, if I'm going to play a vampire I don't need RND and Frostfall and so on.

 

But I think the most important thingy is reading readmes! Even if the mod's description is like 100 pages long I read it from beginning to end. Spending a few minutes reading mod documentation is way better than losing hours of gameplay to a badly installed mod or something I may not even like!

 

 

 

 

I think LOTS of paranoia and being a control freak is the key to safely modding skyrim ^^

[gvman3670]

I don't know. I never learned to use it

 

Well, i didn't really try, since i already was familiar and comfortable with WB.

 

Though MO does know how to handle NMM installers, right? That would come handy with some mods, as converting some of the more messy ones into BAINs is a pain.

Yup. MO handles NMM installs, can download and install straight off Nexus, shows conflicts and suggests fixes, allows multiple profiles with different mod sets, warns of missing files, allows complete control of overwrites, keeps your Skyrim directory clean and fresh by not putting anything in it, can determine proper load order, and so on and so forth.

 

Plus MO can launch and run WB as well.

[FurryPornForLife]

Back up everything you care about in Skyrim before installing new mods.

[quin666]

biggest lesson: automatic mod install sux, manual mod install rulez!

 

and a modding god even wrote a noobs-guide to that here... oh, wait, it was me who did that

This.

[gvman3670]

 

biggest lesson: automatic mod install sux, manual mod install rulez!

 

and a modding god even wrote a noobs-guide to that here... oh, wait, it was me who did that

This.

 

 

Not this. I've installed manually since Morrowind and there is nothing that works as well for modding as good ol' Mod Organizer. Honestly. Manual installs and NMM are both bad jokes in comparison. There's not one good reason to not use MO actually. It's all positives.

 

[LaEspada]

Don't forget merged patches from TES5edit. They do a TON of more stuff than bashed patches do.

[blabba]

NMM is the devil, it's actually more destructive than any other type of installation known to mankind.

After I tried to uninstall all my mods with that thing at 2 GB worth of leftover mod crap was still in there, so I had to nuke.

 

MO + Wrye Bash + TES5Edit(with merge scripts) is the match made in heaven, as now I can install ALL the mods I want and make 'em run at the same time. And use MO's profile system to make 'debug' profiles that I can then later fix up conflicts with TES5edit.

 

MO's independant .ini system sucks (at least for me) though as I need to copy over my modified ini's to any new profile.

 

Let's see, general mods to stay away from:

1. BBLS luxury suite - This thing will destroy you and cause more headaches than it's worth, it doesn't help that the mod author refuses to support it anymore and just flames users.

2. Levelers Tower - Don't run this along with many other mods, too much scripts UNLESS, you use the up&coming unofficial patch for it:http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/51089/?

3. Armed to the Teeth - Not worth the trouble on larger mod installs

4. Economics of Skyrim - Completely outdated and replaced with other mods.

5. Probably tons more....

[Pinute]

 

 

I do manual installs since Morrowind, always examine the assets and plugin file before enabling the mod and I keep the archive in a separate location so i can refer to it later if i want to uninstall. I also never install or *uninstall* scripted mods in the middle of a playthrough (both things can mess up savegames no matter how careful the modder was, it's just the way skyrim works).

 

And before starting a "serious" game that I'm planning to play for a long time I do a test run first and try all the new mods and new versions I installed.

 

I also learned to only play with things I really want and turn off things I won't use. If my character isn't going to wear armour, bows and axes I don't need to have armour, bows and axes mods enabled, if I'm going to play a vampire I don't need RND and Frostfall and so on.

 

 

But I think the most important thingy is reading readmes! Even if the mod's description is like 100 pages long I read it from beginning to end. Spending a few minutes reading mod documentation is way better than losing hours of gameplay to a badly installed mod or something I may not even like!

 

I think LOTS of paranoia and being a control freak is the key to safely modding skyrim ^^

 

This. Reading readmes and either the last few pages or weeks of forum posts for mods you're interested in is far more important than the installation method.  No manager is going to give you a good, solid install if you just slap mods into it willy-nilly. However, MO >> NMM ≅ manual

[Skyrimfloo]

I've learned that no matter what system I use to manage my mods, I always end having to reinstall everything from scratch.

 

I use MO, and while it helps to keep my mods easily manageable, I can't usually bring myself to delete as many mods as I should from playthrough to playthrough. I usually start games with around 150 mods, and from those I keep adding and sometimes even disabling mid-game till I reach over 200. When I start over, I found that I cleanse my mod list more efficiently if I just reinstall a new instance of MO and add only the mods I can remember I've used. It also doesn't help the fact that it can't manage the "Skyrim" folder itself, which means that I still gotta install crap that I won't remember how to clean when using ENB presets.

 

Another problem I have is caused from my habit of tweaking mods by myself when I'm not too comfortable with them (and my skills are up to). For example, I love the Tame the Beasts of Skyrim II mod. But I can't stand the voice-acting (specially the female shout) and it's full of typos and text format errors. When stuff like this happens, I spend an afternoon tweaking and fixing stuff, but then I don't keep too good track of how, where and what the changes where. I know I should just make some patch and add it as an extra mod that I can reinstall in new occasions, but since most of the time the changes are just a dialogue line, an item name, etc, I don't deem them too relevant to make a patch. Then shit gets built up and I notice that of the 200 mods I use, 100 or so have little tweaks made by me.

 

Finally, I keep accumulating crap in MO's download folder that I don't care for cleaning everytime I update stuff, and ends building up a sizable chunk of junk I don't need and it's too bothersome to tidy.

 

I'm just starting a new playthrough, and this time I'm trying to solve these things, but I'm sure this summer or so, when I'm done with the playthrough I'll have to do the same.

[arkanae]

OK, a few lessons of my own...

 

1. If it's fucked up, nuke it.

If you have a bad install, it's going to take you longer to figure out what's wrong and fix it than to reinstall from scratch. Yes, even your whole TES install, although... you might not have to, see 2 and 3. I did that 3 times before learning 2, as a result of many fruitless hours trying to fix crashes.

 

2. If you needed confirmation, NMM sucks. Use MO.

Oh sure, NMM is better than Beth' standard installer, or even manual install (yes, I did that too for a while) but at >250 mods installed, keeping track of what comes from where and what overrides what can only be done with a tool designed for it.

 

3. Keep separate profiles with clean saves.

MO makes it easy to setup base profiles with your core mods for different experiences, and keep the related clean saves synched.

If a profile gets broken, wipe the profile and copy back a base profile. This is especially useful with script-heavy stuff like SL, that gets easily broken beyond recovery by an update.

 

4. Duplicate mods install in MO to keep separate configs.

As an example, FNIS with the bestiality extensions doesn't play nice with MO. Fine, I just keep two installs of FNIS with distinct names and generated overrides.