So I just got Skyrim on Steam...

[ChocoboDreams]

I'm curious, Steam Workshop is kind of a new thing for me. Do I have to choose between Steam Workshop and Nexus Mod Manager, or do both work neatly together? If I do have to choose, which is better? I do know the Workshop has some mods that aren't available anywhere else. 

[gvman3670]

I wou;d suggest learning to use Mod Organizer. It's THE best tool for adding mods to Skyrim. By far. YouTube can teach you to use it.

 

I don't even mess with Steam or NMM. Both can break your game.

[Thulas]

First of all, don't use NMM at all. You'll have less tears if you get rid of it. In theory though they'd work together with each others, just like Mod Organizer works together with the steam workshop aswell. Or only use the workshop, that somewhat is the best idea actually.

[ChocoboDreams]

I have heard a lot that MO is better than NMM, and I don't doubt or deny that, but I already have a current game of Skyrim running successfully with 230 or so active mods. If I was having issues with NMM, I'd use it. I also don't really like the idea of -only- using Workshop, I doubt it'll have anything from this site for instance. Whatever the case, maybe I'll give mixing the two a shot, if it doesn't work I'll just stick to what does work. 

[Guest]

Use Mod Organizer, plain and simple.

 

If you are just a player this is the best solution for you, no questions asked.

If you are a modder, then it is a little bit more complex, but still awesome result when you learn (I can provide help if you are a modder.)

[dork42]

The trouble with Steam Workshop is it has too many features that can break your game, especially if you're planning a heavy mod load order. Like its auto-update feature which on the surface seems good, except too many mods interact with each other, compatibility can often be a problem and require add'l patches. But if your mod manager updates one mod without telling you 9as Workshop does), compatibility no longer is working and game crashes. Yesterday, fine - gaming marathon. Today, nothing but CTDs and you have no idea why.

 

If you got a game up to the 200+ mod mark, you obviously know how to mod, learning Mod Organizer will be a piece of cake and Oh so worth it.

 

Pros

Keeps your Skyrim pure, actual loads in mods virtually, so the actual game data is never truly written over (as in Workshop/NMM).

Profiles, though new NMM has something like this, but not sure how well it works, but different load orders for each or several characters. Like different bodytypes for different characters. A super survivalist one, a crazy silly one, etc. etc.

[Guest]

If you got a game up to the 200+ mod mark, you obviously know how to mod, learning Mod Organizer will be a piece of cake and Oh so worth it.

 

Pros

Keeps your Skyrim pure, actual loads in mods virtually, so the actual game data is never truly written over (as in Workshop/NMM).

Profiles, though new NMM has something like this, but not sure how well it works, but different load orders for each or several characters. Like different bodytypes for different characters. A super survivalist one, a crazy silly one, etc. etc.

 

Use Mod Organizer (MO), I started using it only two weeks ago but it solved all my problems.

It is not hard to learn (at least for basic options) but it is the far best you can have.

 

I used NMM for about 1 year and half, not bad, but for sure nothing comparable to MO. If you have about a dozen (12) mods, NMM is ok, but then it will be a mess, anlso when you do upgrades of "bad developed mods".

Mod Organizers: nothing to worry about, just do it and it will work.

NMM: simple, but doing an upgrade of a bad mod can make you have all possible incompatibilities.

[ChocoboDreams]

Alright, I'm convinced, I'll download MO, though it might be a bit hard to transfer everything I had on NMM over (or not). My main issue is there are some mods exclusively on Steam Workshop that I don't want to miss out on, really. Not like a super huge amount but more than I expected. Can I just download the Workshop mod and then use it with MO? That I'd be happy to do. 

[gvman3670]

MO uses a virtual /data/ folder outside of the Skyrim root folder. This means Skyrim is left clean.

 

This also means it's easier to find what Steam has added to your Skyrim/data folder. You can then drag and drop them into a new folder, zip that folder up with 7zip and install it into MO's virtual directory. Sweet and clean and you still preserve the integrity of your game install. And it takes maybe 2 minutes to do it.

[Molevalence]

Like everyone says, use MO. It will leave your Skyrim folder clean and you will in most cases never have to re install it if things take a turn for the worst. I personally have a 128 gig flash drive and save a copy of my Mod Organizer fully modded the way I want so if things do take a turn for the worst I have a backup ready to go.

 

Mod Organizer may be intimidating at first, but it's well WELL worth the investment. Once I figure out how to take care of overwrites I will be set.

[ChocoboDreams]

Is there that pesky 250 mod limit even with MO? I imagine so, sadly even MO isn't as intimidating as Wrye Bash is. 

[Killing Joke]

Yes the limit is hard coded into the game.

[Gumihoyah]

But the moment you feel comfortable with everything u can read up on how to combine mods into one esp. Really not that difficult. Because when you are an outfit horder like I am its beneficial to collect them all into one esp or else I would have like 250 esps that are outfits alone hahahaha xD

[gvman3670]

Is there that pesky 250 mod limit even with MO? I imagine so, sadly even MO isn't as intimidating as Wrye Bash is. 

 

You can thousands of mods MO. But any one profile can still only have up to 255 activated esm/esm files.

[ZetsuboSeishin]

I wou;d suggest learning to use Mod Organizer. It's THE best tool for adding mods to Skyrim. By far. YouTube can teach you to use it.

 

I don't even mess with Steam or NMM. Both can break your game.

 

I second this