Some modding directions?

[Myst42]

Hello. I'm sorry if the information I request is already somewhere, which I'm sure it is, but I'm on short time and I'm feeling lost as usual among the myriad of tutorials and long books of modding which have been written on the internet.

 

First of all, I'm not entirely a "noob" (maybe). I've been an Oblivion modder for a long time and I used to have a very modded Skyrim, also a long time ago. But now a lot of time has passed, things have changed a lot, and I'm not sure if I have the neccesarry skills to mod Skyrim again.

 

I saw ritual's post on installing MO and SKSE, and also the modding guide among the pinned posts, but as I said, I'm on short time and its a lot to read.

I just want to make sure I'll read something that will help me continue on my way instead of teaching me a thousand little tips I already knew from before or that I can easily find on my own by simply experimenting.

 

My doubts actually can be summarized to a few I believe...

 

1. Back when I had Skyrim, I didnt have a functional ENB, so I should ask for tips on what are pple using these days for graphics.
2. Also back in the day, I used NMM to mod Skyrim. Nowadays everyone is like "Use MO dammit!" So I should consider installing it. But I'm not sure of how compatible it is with other stuff, like... Should I never use NMM again? Will NMM become insane because MO uses different folders? Does MO launch the game from a special route? (Stupid question I know... should be answered once installed... but again... precautions and doubt)
3. Probably the most important things for me in gaming are pretty landscapes and pretty characters. Which brings me to the next question. I used to have a very complex char I made with ECE (And the vertex editor thingy). But now I see that RaceMenu has completely overtaken Skyrim modding scene and now has vertex editor too. But... if I want to change to RaceMenu... Is my char lost? How about custom companions? If they require one or the other, will they look weird or crash the game if I try them with the "wrong" mod? Should I forget the idea of rescuing my char, and make her again instead, this time in Racemenu? And if so, will she look inevitably different or RaceMenu's features allow to achieve the same results as the ones I used to get with ECE?. Long ago i heard of a way of mixing the 2 and porting chars, but is it stable? And how does one do that? Is there a step by step guide or something?

 

My mod task list goes for something like

1. Install SKSE
2. Install SkyUI (At this point I'm frozen because If I'm going for MO, I guess I should base the entire operation on MO and forget I ever had NMM before even attempting to install SkyUI)
3. ENB: The "which one" and "how" ... Probably Skyrim Reloaded too
4. Figure out how to install beauty mods, ECE vs RaceMenu or both etc...
5. Extra beauty mods (Fair skin?) Hairs etc...
6. Investigating the now complex world of body mods (UNP? CBBE? Does CBBE now allow custom bodies? Does clothing work on that weird bodyslide thingy I dont yet know how it works?) I used to like UNP better because it was more "normal" and realistic but if CBBE is the dominating one now and it's completely customizable, as I heard... maybe I can get the same type and make it even better?)
7. Clothing and armor... Again, having solved the previous doubt, does clothing relate in anyway to the custom body? Cause that would certainly be new to me...
8. Then I guess I'm free to install any other thing I like... like landscaping or dungeon mods... custom gear, quests etc...

[ButchDiavolo]

Well, I will try to answer some questions for you:

 

About MO: Yes, MO is (in my opinion) far superior than NMM. But, eventhough everyone seems to be saying that, it is a matter of personal preference. If you are more familiar with NMM and strapped for time, go with that. But be aware that NMM CAN (and most likely will) screw up your Skyrim install at some point. Investing a little time in how to use MO, can go a long way. There are many video tutorials out there to show you the basics if you prefer viewing to reading. (i.e. Gopher's). A good website to read about MO is the official wiki at STEP. But again, it is ultimately your decision which mod organiser you choose.

 

Installing SKSE is of course essential. You mentioned you would be frozen at point 2, but really you would already be frozen here, since SKSE is installed a little differently in MO. Once again STEP Project has a lot of information about it. STEP is basically written based on using MO. So if you go for that, bookmark the site. Further more, STEP uses a whole list of mods to "beautify" Skyrim. You don't have to download and install ALL the mods they suggest. I picked and chosen the ones I thought essential. Each mod that requires it also has easy to use detailed instructions on how to install it properly to go with the STEP-program. It might be worth checking out. Yes, it is a wall of text, but really helpful.

 

As far as your other questions, I unfortunately can't help you. I don't use CBBE, ECE or an ENB (other than ENB Boost, which EVERYONE should use). But I am sure others will chime in with their advice.

 

Just one last tip/ advice: do NOT rush your skyrim install and modding. You will inevitably forget something minor, which could screw things up and will take ages to find and correct. Take your time and pick the mods/ embellishments you want with care.

I hoped this helped at least a tiny bit.

 

Good luck and above all, have fun!

 

Moo.

 

P.S. Click the "Follow this topic" button at the top right, so you will get notified when you get replies

[theotherperson982]

ill chime in here about the cbbe mod since ive had no luck with unp. but cbbe does have quite a list of custom bodies to download plus conversions to about anything you can think of at this point just need to dig for those or make your own.

[Myst42]

Hmm... one thing I like to do is keep a "stable" group of mods while I use other instances to experiment and have mods that can be easily disabled if needed or if I'm not using them anymore.

 

I'd say SkyUI is primary and neccessary, no intereest in disabling it.

I went ahead and tried everything, so  I have NMM, MO and Wrye Bash too

As the most versatile tool is apparently MO, i would keep the "stable" mods in other installers and use MO for experimentation...

Currently I used NMM for SkyUI and MO to test ECE for the first time...

SKSE is probably the most primary of all needed mods so i didnt even bother and went with manual install... But that was before reading about MO

It definitely works as MO recognizes it, but it's not installed with it.

Hope this setting of "stable/moving" mods is possible with further modding...

[ButchDiavolo]

hmm, it is probably not a wise idea to use both NMM and MO. One of the main selling point of MO is that you can create different profiles with it. So you can have a profile with the stable mods and a completely seperate profile for experimentation. It literally takes one mouse click to switch between profiles.

 

To install SKSE with MO, you install the main files manually as always. However you should install the scripts (and the skse.ini) as a mod through MO. Detailed instructions as per STEP. It is really easy to do. You just have to know how to do it. Which is why I keep hammering on using the STEP Project as a guide. It has a wealth of useful information, even if you decided not to install all the mods they suggest. It has many, many detailed instructions on how to set up the bare bones of a Skyrim install, such as LOOT, Wrye Bash, Skyrim.ini settings etc etc.

[Myst42]

Did more experimenting... managed to port my char from ECE to RaceMenu... still like a few things better from ECE during sliders... But at least now I know how to alternate between both

Still a long way to go with ENBs and other stuff...

 

However the more present matter is bodies.

As I said, i used to like UNP because it looks believable and pretty

CBBE is way more curvier but still within the boundaries of reality

But I heard something about body sliders and... UUNP maybe?

Ideally I would make some kind of hybris custom body...

But I dont even know where to begin

 

And then it's the rest of it... meaning armor and clothing...

I mean.. Do I need a specific replacer? or the body slider thing is that magical that it lets me edit armors too?

 

Also back in the day I only had to deal with CBBE and UNP... now its all HDT, HTS, TBBP, BBP,  UUNP, UNPB, CHSBHCWhatever...

*sigh*

Seriously people... what the fuck...

[myuhinny]

UUNP (unified UNP) is the body that is used in bodyslide there are many types to be found in bodyslide go with the HDT one if you want bouncy boobs butt and pregnancy capable belly. There are many bodies to choose from as well as imitation oblivion body types. http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/49015/?

HDT is the new one TBBP, BBP are old and no longer being used as HDT is way better.

 

I would say use whatever mod manager you want to use. I still use NMM for skyrim though I stopped updating a long time ago.