Lots of beginner question about mod recommendations.

[luiccazar]

I am about to play Skyrim through for the first time (So [[[*** NO (UNNECESSARY) SPOILERS PLEASE ***]]], thanks).

I don't have any experience adding mods and there's lots of old information that seems to keep changing. I've already made a few mistakes and I've only downloaded a couple of things.

Would anyone be kind enough to help me build a list of all the mods I should install (and any install-process details I might need to know).
There's many mods that look interesting, but I don't know which ones are best, or which ones conflict.

 

Here is what I'm after, mostly:


Basics:

Firstly, I should use an automated mod tool, right? (pretty sure they'll work fine on VMware) - which one should I use?

I have SKSE and SkyUI and a few others, but I think I should probably start from scratch again in case I've done something wrong.

Is there anything else I should do before I start adding mods?


Adult stuff:

Nude females - which models are the best quality at the moment, and which mods do I need? - I'm not a fan of big breasts, but it'd be cool if there was lots of variation amongst NPCs.
Also, what mods will I need to make the gear fit properly with the above?

I need a skeleton mod too, right? And skeleton physics?

SexLab - this is what I think I want:

• Defeat.
• I prefer female/female so I might need equipment (eg: strapon) mods also - (NOT keen on herms/futa, but males having their bits is not a problem if its necessary for the mods).
• As many female creature interactions as possible.
• And perhaps lots of other varied adult interactions (esp female/female).

Any tips on which mods I want for these?


Non adult things:

• A minimap.
• Anything that makes the game prettier without hurting performance too much.

A few other random wants:

• Is there a way to make _male_ humanoids always wear shirts and pants even when fully unequipped?
• I saw some mentions of people wanting mods that might turn underwear into separate removable clothing items - is there anything like this yet? especially for NPCs?
• Is there any way to make most random NPCs female? including animals?

 

System:

 

If it matters, I'm using Steam via WinE on linux x64, but I am going to download the content in VMware windows and then copy the data folder across once I've added the mods (so that I can use FNIS on windows as it won't run on WinE).

Gfx = Radeon R7 370.

 

 

 

I hope you don't mind the huge question, but I would probably burn most of a day trying dumb things and making many mistakes.

I plan to play through the game properly, but I'm just looking for ways to make the journey more fun and prettier.

Thanks.

[Sidereel]

First, go to Nexus and download Nexus Mod Manager. It doesn't have as many features as Mod Organizer, but Mod Organizer takes a while to learn, NMM you can just jump right into using, and the time spent learning MO could be used actually plaing Skyrim (read: Banging NPCS)
Next download LOOT and let NMM know it's file path so you can use it within NMM, you'll be using it a lot.

Then download and install Wyre Bash.
You'll want Tes5Edit, too. there's a bunch of videos on youtube on how to use it, and you should learn, it makes everything a lot easier.
For the most basic of things you are going to need SKSE and SKYUI. Pretty much everything else relies on these two.

If you want to add any mods that add animations you'll want FNIS. If you want to add creature animations you'll need FNIS Creatures.

After every mod you install that adds animations you need to run FNIS.
You'll need Bodyslide and Outfit Studio, as well.
For body mods, Download Schlongs of Skyrim, and All-in-one HDT pussy. Those two together pretty much provide everything you need to replace the bodies. Run SOS first, the AIO, and install AIO's included skeleton and let everything overwrite.

You'll then want to install Sexlab Framework and any of its requirements. Read the description before installing

Then you'll probably want Sexlab Aroused Redux, since a lot of mods use it.

You'll want to download ZazAnimation Pack. Remember to run FNIS after these.

Then download Defeat, make sure to check what the requirements are first.
Sexlab comes with a strap-on for the animations, anything more than that I don't know, I play as a male character.
I also suggest getting Sexlab Romance or Sexlab Eager NPCs, Sexlab Solutions, and Amorous Adventures, and Sexlab Matchmaker. The first two are mods that allow dialogue systems for consensual sex and create relationships. The second 2 create new questlines with several NPCs, Solutions adds sex as a reward for quests, Amorous Adventures creates whole new quests, with fully voiced lines using vanilla dialgue, it's pretty amazing. Matchmaker is a mod that adds spells to engage random sex. 

If you want sex with creatures you'll need to download More Nasty Critters. I believe it should have everything you need to actually get nude creatures and engage sex with them, though this is where Matchmaker comes in handy as well.
To get MNC to work, you need to first install FNIS Creatures like I said earlier, then you need to go into Sexlab's options and enable creatures.
 

After all that is done, go onto Nexus and look at the top files. most of the mods that make graphics better are going to be performance heavy, so you'll just have to check them out. I use Skyrim HD, Vurt's Flora Overhaul, SMIM. I use Enhanced Towns and Cities, JK's Skyrim, which build onto the towns and cities, and are huge performance hits. You can also get an enb like realivision, which comes with a whole other set of requirements,and make sure to follow along the description for ini changes or it won't work. You'll want an enb if you want your game to look anything like the screenshots you see here. Make sure to download Immersive Hud, too.
There's a bunch of the top files you'll want, there's too many to name here.

You'll want some NPC replacers. The Bijin mods were the gold standard for this, but I think the author is still hiding them, so you're fucked. You'll have to find alternatives.

You could also install NPCVisualTool. It replaces NPC faces with any face you want. I downloaded a couple hundred of the best followers, and replaced almost every female in the game with it, so my Skyrim is full of hot women. It's extremely easy to use.

After all that, now you have to find outfits for the body you chose in All-in-One. CBBE seems to have a larger selection so I always go with that body, but UNP has a big big selection too, and Loverslab has a pretty big conversion crowd either way. There's a mod on Nexus that converts the vanilla armor to HDT physics, so you'll want that.
Then just search through the armor and clothing categories and see what you like, paying attention to what body it's for. If you find one you like and it's for a different body, search here, more than likely someone has already converted it.

 

After you have downloaded and installed all the mods you want, run Wyre Bash and make a bash patch, it will seriously save you a lot of frustration over CTDs.

Remember to run Loot often to re-order your Load Order whenever you add new mods.

I forgot to mention Sexlab Animation Loader. Download that and the packs that have been made for it, and follow the instructions for how to load them into Sexlab, they add a lot more animations.

You might also want to check out 0Sex on Loverslab, though i think right now it's only male/female, it's pretty damn good.

[Rpgamer123]

It can be difficult at first but you will get it. I watched a lot of youtube vids when i first started out they were very helpful. And READ like a LOT always make sure you install in the proper order and have all the requirements.

[luiccazar]

Wow, tyvm Sidereel that should be a huge help - I'll get started after bed I think, and I'll tell you how I go.

And yup I'll read a lot, it does sound like a hugely complex beast. I hit order issues earlier with only 3 mods .

 

Thanks again guys.

[Varithina]

If you are going to do a fresh install, I would go mod organiser from the start.

 

Not that I have anything against nmm, I used it myself for a few years, but mo, removes the need to bother about what order you install mods, and most of the guides assume you are using it.

 

Admittedly mo does have quite learning curve to it, but there are several guides here about settings up it up for skyrim.

 

This being one of them, though be aware it is quite a bit out of date, but it will give you some ideas if nothing else http://www.loverslab.com/topic/47360-anatriaxs-guide-to-an-immersive-skyrim/

 

Another potential useful guide and info source is this http://www.loverslab.com/topic/43043-skyrim-modding-guide/

 

STEPS is always a good place for info, even if you do not want to install it all, they do have good info on installing various utilities and such. http://wiki.step-project.com/Main_Page

 

 

[luiccazar]

I had a look at mod organizer, but I don't think I can use it properly as I need to copy the Data folder from my VM to WinE "prefix" dir (pretend C:\).

Mod Organizer wants to install things in special places and have you run the game from within it, which will be (for me) a lot of work every time I change something, even if it I could get it working.

 

What makes it worse is the VM I'm installing on can't run even Skyrim as it has no 3D (because my linux gfx drivers don't have 3D VM support yet). I even have to copy my skyrim.ini to the VM.

[pipdude]

I think that trying to run modded Skyrim with that configuration is going to be a headache at every turn.

 

You might be able to get some initial combo of mods going. But, you'll find out very quickly that the more mods you get working, the more additional mods you will want to add, replace, remove, update, modify yourself, etc. That's why you need Mod Organizer to handle that file swapping without messing up the base files of the game install.

 

You really should find a way to install it with MO on a proper Windows machine.

 

From there, the first thing I recommend is following the steps to get an ENB in place. That isn't necessarily best modding practice. But, I think it will provide you with the biggest wow-factor. A good ENB really transforms the game visually to something that is competitive with (or better) than 2016 games.

[Nazzzgul666]

Although you probably don't want to hear it... pipdude is probably right. At least, i don't think many ppl here can help you if you run Skyrim in a VM, and if you mod it, there WILL be problems, maybe even without modding. I wouldn't say ENBseries is a must have, but without ENBoost Skyrim isn't able to use much VRAM (not sure where it's limit without), and even slight changes like 2k textures for a better looking Skyrim will probably cause crashes. I really have no clue if ENBoost is able to work in a VM as expected.

 

And i also suggest MO. Yes, you have to learn to use it, but i don't think it'll be hard for you if you already managed to run Skyrim in a VM, and after the first steps, it saves A LOT of time.

For  Sidereels other suggestions: If you don't want M/F animations anyways, you don't need SoS or any other nude male bodys. NSAP (Non Sexlab Animation Pack) provides several more animations including some F/F & F/C, you have to disable M/F animations in sexlab after that manually.

There are 2 problems though:

First females are able to use M/F animations just by equipping a strapon, sexlab do so automatic. There are a few animations for F/F only, but not very much, and you won't see the others even for F/F if you deactivate them. I'm not sure...  i think defeat has an option to deactivate M/F sex, that would probably be better than diabling M/F anims but i have no clue if it works. At least with human partners and defeat, that would solve it.

Second imho the only animations for female creatures are in Forunners Funnybizness pack for SLAL (Sexlab animations loader). And as far as i remember, even those are only for Trolls and Giants where you rape them. Sexlab has an option to make creature gender fitting, i never used it and i'm not sure what it does. But since there just aren't any animations for most female creatures i know you probably have to decide if you want creatures OR lesbian only. 

[luiccazar]

A small update - as you guys expected I had trouble installing on a VM then moving to WinE. I think some of the tools were getting some settings from the VM which didn't transfer - although I'm not 100% sure what was going wrong.

 

I really want to avoid using Windows - mainly for snooty prejudiced superiority-complex reasons (seriously though, they're becoming an OS-level data miner in addition to all their uncompetitive behaviour) - see, superiority complex

 

I figured I don't need to install on the VM though, as I was only needing it for FNIS, and it turns out that I can just run the VM, share my skyrim folder with the VM, and run FNIS on the shared folder.

 

I can't use NMM, Mod Organizer, Loot, TES5Edit, or Wyre Bash on WinE though (at least, it would be a lot of work to get any of them running properly it seems). But I'm going to give manual installation a go. Wish me luck

 

Installing on Linux is quite a pain, as nobody bothers to have consistent capitalization in windows files. But that can be remedied.

 

What I'm doing is:

• Backing up the original "skyrim" install folder.
• Running a script to make all directories and files in "skyrim" fully lowercase.
• Downloading the mods to a "zips" folder.
• Extracting each mod to a separate folder inside another folder named "extracted".
• Running the lowercase-ing script on the whole "extracted" folder.
• Copying (merging) the contents of selected mods from the "extracted" folder to "transfer-[NAME]" folders (the [NAME] varies). Making sure to extract mods into the "data" subfolder unless they specify elsewhere.
• Copying (merging) selected "transfer-[NAME]" folders into the "skyrim" install folder.
• Getting annoyed at mods that don't tell your their prerequisites, install requirements, or load order requirements - haven't had any problems yet though.
• (EDIT): Opening my VM (VMware player free - VM = Win8.1 64bit) and running FNIS on my shared "skyrim" directory.
• Testing (often).

 

So far it's working well. I think if I compartmentalize, backup, and test often I should be able to keep it working well.

 

Haven't tried ENB yet. WinE does add a small performance hit - although I'm getting decent framerates with ultra settings. I do get a few microfreezes though when new stuff needs to load. I'm gonna try that soon.

 

I'll post later on when I get a bit further in, or if I'm digitally defeated, either way.

 

Thanks again for all the help (even if I'm skipping some of it).

 

EDIT: edited (see EDIT).

[pipdude]

Making Windows 10 upgrades free seemed like a pretty friendly move. As far as data mining goes, just set up a gaming machine. Pretty harmless if Nabisco finds out how many times a day that you play Skyrim, right?

 

On PC, it's just kind of impractical to run modern games without Windows let alone mod them.

[LadyAneka]

A few more recommendations for you, based on what I couldn't live without after 300+ hours of play!

 

The unofficial patch(es) are pretty much compulsory. If you have the legendary edition, there's a combined patch called "USLEEP" (unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition patch), if not then there are individual versions for the original game and the official DLCs. They need to be at the top of the load order (their nexus pages will tell you exactly which order to use if you're going for the separate versions).

 

For immersion, I recommend: the various "Sounds of Skyrim" mods (configurable to pick the sounds you want to use), Cutting Room Floor, Dawn of Skyrim and Enhanced Towns and Cities. Immersive Armours is good too, and Immersive Patrols adds a good number of wandering groups of NPCs in the countryside.

 

It's a bit of a cheat, but Skyrim Weight Improvement will save you getting overburdened in the first five minutes! Complete Crafting Overhaul Remade lets you smelt down tat into useful ingots to craft your own armour, and has an excellent MCM menu that lets you configure options in terms of crafting, mining and firewood. KenMOD Lockpick Pro will save you hours of frustration too!

 

Dungeon Quest Awareness alerts you if a location you discover has a quest related to it and where that quest originates, to avoid the risk of breaking a quest by visiting somewhere too early. Quality World Map with Roads combined with Cartographers Map Markers makes finding places, and the way to them, much easier.

 

For making things look better, I love Realistic Ragdolls and Force, Purity, and Static Mesh Improvement Mod.

 

In terms of making attractive, sexy female characters, a body replacer is essential - I prefer CBBE and Bodyslide, but it's personal preference. The key is to pick one and stick with it, then look for outfit conversions to match that type. Eyes of Beauty, KS Hairdos and ApachiiSkyHair give you much better options than the vanilla ones. I like TERA armour - there's a good CBBE bodyslide conversion available. HDT Physics Extension and the XPMSE skeleton are used in lots of animation and armour mods and enable you to use HDT Breast & Butt Physics.

 

At some point you'll need the save game script cleaner, especially if you're uninstalling mods.

 

One final point is that some mods don't play nice until you've gone through the starting sequence at Helgen and you're properly in control of your character. If you have problems, it's worth playing the initial few minutes, including the character creation, with no mods other than those geared at making an attractive character until you get to the point of having to choose who you follow, save the game and then add all the other mods in.

 

Above all, have fun! Oh, and cancel all your social commitments for the next few weeks - you'll be too busy playing Skyrim

 

Aneka

 

 

 

[luiccazar]

Thanks Aneka.

 

I added USLE(E?)P, Sounds of Skyrim.

I'm using HDT physics, realistic ragdolls, XPMSE, due to them being prerequisites.

 

I'm currently using Dimonized UNP, it looks the best to me and there were a few mods that suggested it for compatibility. However, it seems there's tradeoffs either way.

I might look into hair, but as characters go I think I'm otherwise happy.

I aim to play the game so I'm not worried about getting good looking gear as I'm guessing I'll be swapping it out often.

 

I'll probably add Quality World Map, and see if I can get ENB going on Linux.

 

 

I'm currently stalled on JContainers - it seems the dll doesn't work under WinE (just added a forum question about this here: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/1321452-jcontainers/page-37&do=findComment&comment=34762150). Unfortunately that does block a few mods, like creatures.

 

 

After that I'm probably about done - I'll throw up a detailed explanation here once I'm done, and then I can finally get started...

 

 

@pipdude: Linux isn't that bad for games these days - most games seem to run well under WinE with very small performance hits and native Linux games are also increasing (thanks due in a big way to Steam). And it's so much better for everything non-game-related - plus no malware.

 

[cirk2]

ENB works, but you need winetricks for d3dx9_36 and d3dcompiler_36, also set d3dx9 to native,buildin in winecfg (else the d3dx9 dll of enb will be ignored).

Your JContainers problems can be fixed with winetricks vcrun2013.

 

ModOrganizer works well in wine (it's actually mostly written in python). what doesn't are the FINS, bodyslide and LOOT tools. But when you use ModOrganizer you only need to move the MO folder to an VM to run those tools (or use a shred folder for it). Forget NMM, it's an .net abomination.

 

You seem to use POL, so you will have to find your wineprefix to install the needed winetricks.

 

Does HDT work good for you? I'm getting terrible lags when moving the mouse, even in the title menu, when it is enabled.

I'm using wine-1.9.5-17-gfa6c255 (Staging).

 

Something more advanced: If you find yourself in need for Performance you can look into wine-staging with CSMT (activate in winecfg). But you can't take the most recent version, since CSMT got removed because of conflicts with the beginning upstream implementation.