How do you play Skyrim?

[Lord Ariakas]

Hi all,

 

I just had another crash with Skyrim and I spent the last two days (my only off days) with fixing Skyrim, just the usual problems, but I had the following problems in this order:

 

-burnt textures on women (LSAR conflict)

- dark faces (women) (Npc overhaul mod had been overwritten)

- purple body (my char) (forgot that disabled racemenu plugin)

- CTD on load (mod conflict, corrupted saves)

- CTD on normal gameplay (conflicting mod or script latency problems)

- CTD on combat start (possibly ultimate combat, or locational damage or both)

- CTD on pressing a key (any) (?)

- CTD opening menus (?)

- delayed animations (animations mod)

-flying horse (me on the back) (no clue)

- attacking npcs (no clue)

- on new game 3 imperial archers spawned, killed all stormcloaks at Helgen while I was in the cutscene therefore nobody got executed. Ulfric had bleedout state, then he was all right when he needed to comment on Alduin. (god knows what caused it)

- Main quest got bugged, no new quest become active after unbound (it was Skyrim Unbound)

 

Now after all of these fixed except CTDs, I just came to a conclusion that my current setup is seriously...well...f...not working anymore.

 

So I went back to another (older) profile in Mod organizer and swapped some mods and started a new game again.

 

Why I made this post?

 

Because I bumped into a post on the web saying that heavy scripted Skyrim can be very bad, and can cause 90% of CTDs.

The other 10% can be caused by too big textures or badly written mods.

 

They say Frostfall and Wet and cold + AFT already stretching the game script engine to the limits.

 

I have installed Falskaar, Wymstooth, Wheels of Lull, Moonpath to Elsewyr, Interesting and 3D NPCs, and further 50 mods (at least) or more with scripts.

Also I have replaced/installed all the textures in game, rocks, water, trees, grass, animals, enemies, houses and on the top of it I have K enb on top of it.

 

I always had problem with Skyrim CTDs sometimes, mods not working (properly) so every 2 hours I need to stop and fix something, google it up, what is going on, find the culprit.

 

I just got tired of it.

 

But Skyrim won`t let me go. I can`t play with other games, as in that I won`t have this freedom to what I want, to find a mod for everything, change my body my skin, my hair, my eyes, customize my armor, the strenght and number of my enemies, the loot. Won`t be waiting for new mods, new possibilities.

 

So I was kinda clueless, what should I do, and I just became curious how you, people on the other side playing this game with mods.

 

Are you have 250+mods?

Are you have the same problems?

How do you play? Are you spending most of you time with fixing your game like me?

 

Someone said I need to install all mods what I want to use in a playtrough, and don`t change anything.

If I install everything, the game will overload.

If I change on the fly (I want to play Falsikaar I install it and then remove when I finished to reduce script load )Skyrim get borked.

 

What is the solution?

 

How do YOU play Skyrim?

[Lord Ariakas]

About me, and how I play:

 

Using MO, when I reached the limit of mods (255) I started using merged patches.

Now I have 5 profiles (mage, old warrior, orc warrior, archer, and demonologist.)

All the profiles contains different mods, but I am working with at least 200- 220 mods which are the same for all the profiles.

Then I have like 30-50 mods which are different. Of course they come with different reproccer data and FNIS data (separate folders in MO for each profile)

I am using Skyre, Asis, and Dual Sheath Redux.

Using a lot of HDT mods, lot of immersion mods, almost all the top mods are installed.

Using Loot and save game cleaner tool and bashed patch.

Playing at least 30-40 hours a week, but sadly I spend at least 25-30 hours with tinkering with the mods and solving problems, which are emerging during gameplay.

 

spec:

 

MB: ASUS hero

CPU: i7 4770k

memory: 8gb

GPU: 2X R9 290X sapphire TRI-OC

SSD: Samsung EVO

[~magic~]

I do everything manually.

 

I have never had a CTD.

 

 I install everything by hand, even if it tells me not to. 

 

I have two desktops. I modify the game, especially with swapping textures, while I play it, by modifying with one desktop and playing the game on the other.

This allows me to do things like switch a clean plate armor texture with a filthy damaged-looking one mid-game, for immersion. 

 

If I don't like the way something is, I mod it. 

[Darkwisdom]

I do everything manually.

 

I have never had a CTD.

 

Same here. I switched to Mo a little while ago and use loot, but organise most things manually. Those tools are only a guide in my opinion. It's bad to rely on them to sort it all out for you. They're not designed to organise 255 esp/esm plugins and all of your textures. Save yourself some hassle and do it yourself. I write things down on paper too. 

[~magic~]

 

I do everything manually.

 

I have never had a CTD.

 

Same here. I switched to Mo a little while ago and use loot, but organise most things manually. Those tools are only a guide in my opinion. It's bad to rely on them to sort it all out for you. They're not designed to organise 255 esp/esm plugins and all of your textures. Save yourself some hassle and do it yourself. I write things down on paper too. 

 

 

I do not keep many mods. My limit is around 120. If I am not using or noticing a mod, I remove it. 

 

Because of this, I have settled on a good-looking body with low armor support, Dream Girl. When I used UNP, and had many armors installed, I only ended up using two or three. So, I simply adapted those two or three to Dream Girl using Blender and NIFSkope, and moved on.

 

I avoid LOOT, BOSS, and other such mod organizers. I have too many self-made mods that the plugins do not understand how to sort. 

[Mailamea]

Made a carefully made installer of my Skyrim Ultra Realistic Run burned to a disc so when i F*ck up my skyrim i just install it.

 

Carefully handpicked realism mods + minimal scripting

 

Requiem Survival Experience

Duke Patrick's Realism Mods (Configured to be compatible with requiem "Took 3 days of my time to make")

Hypothermia - Cuz frostfall f*cks up papyrus

Ineeds - Cuz RND F*cks up papyrus

Mhia Summers Race - Mia Summers from morrowind - oblivion - fallout3/nv now on skyrim

 

And enb.

 

thats about it

[Lord Ariakas]

Wow...amazing. And I thought I am advanced using mods. So how you can have two desktops?

Also this is good...just to use some mods, and remove those what are not being used.

How about quest mods, or mods what you plan to use for end game or later? Are you adding them and removing them gradually, on the fly?

[Lord Ariakas]

Mailmea, and I thought I am obsessed with Skyrim:)

Thank you I will swap frostfall and RND.

Teach me a bit more, mighty gods of skyrim:)

Seriously it is really good to see what kind of tricks and methods do you have.

I think we can profit from it to see how others play.

 

Thank you all:)

[Lord Ariakas]

I have my Mo folder saved on a HDD.

All the mods, plugin, mod order and saves in it.

The problem starts when you realize that the problems what you are experiencing come from your saved mastercopy.

[~magic~]

Wow...amazing. And I thought I am advanced using mods. So how you can have two desktops?

Also this is good...just to use some mods, and remove those what are not being used.

How about quest mods, or mods what you plan to use for end game or later? Are you adding them and removing them gradually, on the fly?

 

I have two desktops, side-by-side. Two keyboards, two mice, connected to one another directly.

 

I do not have any quest mods installed. I have not found any I find to be an acceptable quality. I am overly critical of voice acting and one badly acted line will make me cringe for the rest of the day.

 

I will often remove them on the fly.

 

For example, I was going through my smithing menu, and felt that it is rather cluttered. I noticed there were a lot of entries under ebony for some vampire curiass I installed a week prior and thought it looked silly and ridiculous. I saved right there, typed qqq, removed the mod from the game, then reloaded. Then, my menu was no longer cluttered.

 

Installing things manually is not a thing of skill. It is much easier than people imagine, and it gives you a fine control impossible with mod organizers and managers.

 

For example, if you want to install a mod that replaces meshes for a specific body, but you only want to replace one mesh in particular, installing manually means you simply install the mesh and texture for the armor you want, and ditch the rest, no fuss. 

[Lord Ariakas]

I am using MO because it keeps my Skyrim tidy, there is no real 'overwriting'.Also I am in total control which mod will be the winner of a conflict.

Mods can be activated/deactivated with a single click.

However I do edit them manually going into the mod organizer/mod/files, when it is neccesary.

I edited countless followers / meshes, textures this way.

Some quest mods are excellent quality like Helgen reborn or Wheels of Lull.

I just wondering : Would you remove big mods with scripts as well if you need to? (If you would use one)

 

If you would how you would avoid problems baked into the save?

 

Save cleaner tool seems good enough, but I am not totally convienced that it will remove everything.

[Lord Ariakas]

Also with this desktop side by side setup you won't loose performance? If you remove a mod on the fly Skyrim on the run will recognize it?

I know it is working with textures and meshes but what about scripts or/and esps/bsas

[l33tMan]

I've never used a mod manager or bashed paches'n'stuff. I got by reading all there is to know about the mods I'm adding to my collection, and the trusty "fail and try again" method. After getting a hang on how heavily scripted mods affect my PC's and Skyrim's performance, I've prooven to myself I can organise plugins perfectly. Now I only have problems with long load-in times for scripted mods such as my SexLab suite when starting a clean, modless, character level 60+ save. Clean starts work fine, it's that just Spouses Enhanced invariably fails when loading a save where I have a spouse and I'm in the same cell. Changing gender through racemenu while pregnant is also a sure way of creating a bug-filled save, when using BeeingFemale, but you should generally not do that anyway.

 

The surest way for me is to read all there is available regarding the desired mod and start a clean NEW GAME, as loading a save with certain quests being already completed can screw things for some mods just like it does with Spouses Enhanced.

[Lord Ariakas]

Well, I can see now that I need to rethink the whole modding thing. I never cared about script latency before.

What is what Skyrim papyrus can handle?

How many scripted mods?

The cpu has any impact on it?

[Lord Ariakas]

I just got home, and I tested the script latency with conv. horses.
I got 50- 70 ms everywhere, which is low. So despite all those like frostfall and RND etc. my latency is still good.
I had a look at my pap log and...WTF?

 

 

 

 

So, there are dumps stacks in my papyrus, but my latency is low. I don't get it.

[Dubhorizon]

Using MO. Got 390 files that are around 300 mods with around 90 patches, a lot of merged esps (I have merged 30 into 1, the max I've done), latency never goes above 90 ms. Can load any save game BUT only by starting new game, quickly making a random char and then loading the savegame I want (too many mods running). Other than that no ctd or freezes. Using stable ugrids to load, Racemenu (with built in better disable facegen cache), Safetyload, Latest EnB binaries that solve graphics related crashes (ENboost), skse latest and have maxed out the memory patch in there too. Running everything that is script and graphically intensive, including the Entire Combat drama overhaul series, frostfall, wet and cold (with enabled shelter and heat detection), animations, immersive armors/weapons/patrols/beds and many many many more. Using bashed patches as well.

 

In order to start a new game on my setup, I make a new character, wait 4-5 minutes for everything to finish initializing, then save and load. After that choose a new life and THEN activate the mods that need activating.

 

 

[ElvinG]

 

I have never had a CTD.

 

 

 

I don't believe that. I've had CTD's even with no mods installed. It's just what Bethesda games do.

 

[l33tMan]

Using MO. Got 390 files that are around 300 mods with around 90 patches, a lot of merged esps (I have merged 30 into 1, the max I've done), latency never goes above 90 ms. Can load any save game BUT only by starting new game, quickly making a random char and then loading the savegame I want (too many mods running). Other than that no ctd or freezes.

People of the TES community,

modders and players alike,

realismwhores and godmoders,

get-killed-n-die people

and get-killed-and-be-raped-as-a-slave,

Stormcloak Stormblades and Legion Legates,

Heimskr killers and Nazeem assassins,

Tremble!

Fall to your knees before your God,

the One true and mighty!

 

now seriously

I don't understand where one can get so many mods that fit together to create a playable experience, but glory to this dude for getting THAT to work.

[Dubhorizon]

 

Using MO. Got 390 files that are around 300 mods with around 90 patches, a lot of merged esps (I have merged 30 into 1, the max I've done), latency never goes above 90 ms. Can load any save game BUT only by starting new game, quickly making a random char and then loading the savegame I want (too many mods running). Other than that no ctd or freezes.

People of the TES community,

modders and players alike,

realismwhores and godmoders,

get-killed-n-die people

and get-killed-and-be-raped-as-a-slave,

Stormcloak Stormblades and Legion Legates,

Heimskr killers and Nazeem assassins,

Tremble!

Fall to your knees before your God,

the One true and mighty!

 

now seriously

I don't understand where one can get so many mods that fit together to create a playable experience, but glory to this dude for getting THAT to work.

 

 

Btw, just started a New Game, chose a new life (owner of a farm), fast traveled to Riverwood, helped the guy in the cave, returned to riverwood, did the entire golden claw quest (fast traveled twice before completing it), returned the claw, run to whiterun, helped companions with giant, entered whiterun and temple of Kynareth, saved and exited, no ctd.

 

[Rayblue]

I've never used a mod manager or bashed paches'n'stuff. I got by reading all there is to know about the mods I'm adding to my collection, and the trusty "fail and try again" method. After getting a hang on how heavily scripted mods affect my PC's and Skyrim's performance, I've prooven to myself I can organise plugins perfectly. Now I only have problems with long load-in times for scripted mods such as my SexLab suite when starting a clean, modless, character level 60+ save. Clean starts work fine, it's that just Spouses Enhanced invariably fails when loading a save where I have a spouse and I'm in the same cell. Changing gender through racemenu while pregnant is also a sure way of creating a bug-filled save, when using BeeingFemale, but you should generally not do that anyway.

 

The surest way for me is to read all there is available regarding the desired mod and start a clean NEW GAME, as loading a save with certain quests being already completed can screw things for some mods just like it does with Spouses Enhanced.

 

You may be right but TBH manual installation and configuration is a fucking pain in the ass unless one's a masochist. Which is why I am using MO and it makes the job of debugging mods easier.

[Lord Ariakas]

Mo is a neccessity in my opinion. Different profiles, separate saves and inis.I could not live without it...

 

Is it possible to separate mods by profiles somehow?

For example I have profile 1 for a female character, and I have 125 mods total, globally. Is it possible to assign like 65 mods to THAT profile, so when I switch to it I can just see those 65 which are assigned instead of all the 125 mods?

[有限な]

 

 

Using MO. Got 390 files that are around 300 mods with around 90 patches, a lot of merged esps (I have merged 30 into 1, the max I've done), latency never goes above 90 ms. Can load any save game BUT only by starting new game, quickly making a random char and then loading the savegame I want (too many mods running). Other than that no ctd or freezes. Using stable ugrids to load, Racemenu (with built in better disable facegen cache), Safetyload, Latest EnB binaries that solve graphics related crashes (ENboost), skse latest and have maxed out the memory patch in there too. Running everything that is script and graphically intensive, including the Entire Combat drama overhaul series, frostfall, wet and cold (with enabled shelter and heat detection), animations, immersive armors/weapons/patrols/beds and many many many more. Using bashed patches as well.

 

In order to start a new game on my setup, I make a new character, wait 4-5 minutes for everything to finish initializing, then save and load. After that choose a new life and THEN activate the mods that need activating.

 

 

 

Damn dude. I wouldn't consider that an enjoyable experience - looks too trivial. I try to keep things minimal - unofficial patches, some basic mesh edits for specific mobs, and fixes that should've already been in the game. I don't even use armors anymore. I have them all hidden, but still showing the nude body. Saves me from clutter and batch building outfits in bodyslide. Oh, and realistic lighting overhaul. The bare minimum helps enhance and deliver my smooth experience. 

[ao2thend]

Well I've found that using MO profiles helps immensely by limiting my mod list.

 

 My biggest profile is only 180+ esp mods (I think there are around 70+ texture/mesh replacer mods that don't have an esp in that profile) and most of which contain no scripts (things like armor mods) but that's because it's for taking screenshots only, and I maxed out what I could put in my Skyrim and still take shots.  That profile can crash, but that's because of all the higher quality meshes and textures I use.  My normal profile only has around 120-140 mods and that one will almost never crash.  I say almost because Skyrim can always find a way to crash but even then, that profile is rather solid.  But there are so many variables that can cause instability and there's never a truly crash free experience in any game.  To summarize, Skyrim is like a house of cards, and modded Skyrim is like trying to make a house of cards on top of another house of cards.  

 

[Guest]

Real life demands far more of my spare time than I'd like, which means I have to be smart with what little of it I can devote to playing Skyrim. I enjoy modding every bit as much as playing, and I've learned a lot over the last 3 years, enough so that I can maintain a reasonably stable game with an average 200 plugins, 90% of which I personally consider all but essential - that from an engine that isn't even stable out of the box suggests I must be doing something right.

 

But If I took the spartan approach to modding the game and plodded along doing everything strictly manually I definitely wouldn't still be playing some 3 years later. This game, in anything resembling vanilla state,  just isn't good enough for that imo. 

 

It's all about changing things up, keeping it all relatively fresh. So whenever I start a new game, I go out of my way to make at least something about it significantly different from last time. For me that's what modding is all about. 

[Dubhorizon]

Well in the process of making all these mods stable, which took around 8 months of only being occupied with Skyrim everytime I had some free time, I have almost lost my appetite to actually play the game entirely. I've started so many new games, done the initial quest so many times, that from start a new life till I complete all Whiterun quests, I've learned all the dialogue lines, even the silent ones that are only subtitles.