New to modding; where to start?

[koinuchan]

Hi!

For the past number of years, I've envied Skyrim PC users and have anticipated getting a PC that can handle Skyrim + mods. I finally have a rig that can handle it, and now so many mods have come out I don't know where to start. Any time I read about a mod, it seems like I need 5 other mods to use that one; which is great, but I'm just hoping someone can point me to a good starting point.

 

To cut to the chase, I'm highly interested in anything furry/scalie or creature related(werewolves, horses, etc.).  I've seen videos where people used mods to have argonians being mounted by dogs and so forth.  I also saw one video, where a human was banging a khajit, and was able to view in first-person; I can't remember if that was actually in the game or if it was simply an animation.

 

If it exists, it would be great to have a mod where I can approach an NPC and develop a  relationship with him/her leading up to sex (0sex mod sounds like it's meant to do that). Whether it involves a spouse or otherwise, it's all good.  I married an argonian in the 360 version and wished I could take it further.

 

TL;DR New to modding (and PC skyrim in general) and want to know where to start.

[serenity_]

Welcome to the modding world. Do you have a pool? Because that's what you'll need for all the tears falling from your eyes because of endless hours seemingly wasted for nothing for the umpteenth time.

 

Well, that was enough encouragement for now.

 

First off I give you an advice: Do not use sexlab modifications for now. I recommend to learn how to mod Skyrim first and after a while - if you've developed a sixth sense of skyrim modification -, you should be ready for the dirty stuff. Why is that? Sexlab mods tend to be very large and complex and therefore can cause problems if you don't know what you're doing. 

 

The bare essentials for modding Skyrim are:

 

Mod Organizer

ENB Organizer

 

You'll love these two - at least I do. ENB Organizer is good, but Mod Organizer (MO) is gold. On top of being very useful, because now you don't have to manually install/deinstall mods on your own, you can also create profiles to play different characters with different mods, just by selecting the profile for your character. Back in the day you'd have needed different Skyrim installations. Also MO provides you with a lot of information and other tools you'll find very useful.

 

SKSE

ENB (With of without actual presets, just the ENB itself will improve the performance)

 

Crash fixes (Very important, aside from ENB itself this SKSE Plugin will improve the performance a lot)

Unofficial Patches (Depends which version of Skyrim you're running. Most probably legendary)

Better Dialogue Controls

Better MessageBox Controls

 

 

After that you'd take a look at LOOT, TES5Edit and Wrye Bash.

 

LOOT is for sorting your load order (The order in which your plugins / mods are going to be loaded) and basic analysis of each mod (dirty, etc.). It'll make your life easier for not having to worry so much about it yourself.

You should still keep an eye on mod requirements / installation guides. Some need to be loaded after a specific mod to work correctly. This is because of conflicts which occour if different mods edit the same ressource. The last one in the order will always win that conflict. For example:

You have two different mods installed to change the appearance of a NPC. The first one will give the NPC a heavy armor, the other and latter one in the load order will dress the NPC

in simple clothing. In this instance, the clothing will be used because it's a higher priority than the mod with the heavy armor, just because it is further down in the load order.

 

TES5Edit is something you should absolutely learn how to use. If you're using a lot of mods, some of them will definitely end up overlapping themselves. You then need to manually fix the conflicts. Additionally TES5Edit will let you clean up mods very easily. Usually LOOT will tell you if a mod needs some adjustments.

 

Wrye Bash can be used for different things but in my opinion it's best to just use it for patching leveled lists. Leveled lists exist to adjust Items, NPCs, etc. according to your level. To keep everything consistent (You might install weapon or armor mods) within your game, you should patch these lists with Wrye Bash.

 

 

That was it for now. Pretty simple, eh?    Don't worry, you'll get there. Skyrim is out for several years now and there are a LOT of ressources out there to help you modding your game, there is even a whole community dedicated to it (STEP) and a lot of youtube videos are out there to teach you how to use nearly every tool out there for Skyrim. 

 

As for STEP, I'd advise to check this one out: http://wiki.step-project.com/User:Neovalen/Skyrim_Revisited_-_Legendary_Edition

You don't have to use the mods but there is useful information in there. 

 

Have fun modding Skyrim and don't be afraid to ask for help.

 

 

[Guest]

what they said ^

[JobiWanUK]

My tip would be something I wish I'd have been told when I started out.  Don't uninstall mods mid game if you can help it, it usually messes a lot of other stuff up. I started with the Nexus Mod Manager and recently converted to Mod Organizer which is infinitely better IMO.

 

Watch Gopher's videos on YouTube on how to install it and use it, they're priceless.

 

I would start small with a few texture mods and the basics like SKSE and SKYUI. Then FNIS which is required by a lot of Sexlab stuff and non-SL stuff.

[ppp]

Are you playing Skyrim Special Edition? If you are, SKSE doesn't exist for it yet, so you won't be able to use many of the more involved mods.

 

SkyUI is considered by many to be mandatory, and is required for anything with a MCM (Mod Configuration Menu), including SexLab.

 

For SexLab you need also need FNIS, be sure to install the Creature Package, since you've indicated you're into that kind of thing. You also need to enable SexLab's creature animations separately in the MCM after activating it.

 

On the in the SexLab Framework - Downloads subform there's a sticky thread listing most of the current plugins, and is a good place to start, but for some suggestions:

 

Creature Framework (CF) and More Nasty Critters (MNC) add a large number of animations, and gives most creatures genitals. It's got a number of addons, as well. Install Creature Framework second, as the one included with MNC is out of date.

 

HDT Werewolves gives female werewolves breasts, and male werewolves penises.

 

If you want to be randomly mounted, or have NPCs randomly mounted by creatures, you probably want SexLab Aroused Creatures.

 

Schlongs of Skyrim (SoS) gives males (and females, if you install those addons) a random penis from a list of installed plugins. Leito and Bad Dog have each produced a plugin that gives Argonians and Khajiit more animalistic penises.

 

For more vanilla stuff, there's SexLab Romance and Spouses Enhanced.

[koinuchan]

Oh wow; this is a lot! :-)  But do I have to pay for a Nexus mod membership to download MO and ENB?

[Sladen2019]

Oh wow; this is a lot! :-)  But do I have to pay for a Nexus mod membership to download MO and ENB?

No, you don't have to pay Nexus anything. They offer a premium membership which has additional download servers and supposedly faster speed, but its not needed. I download stuff from Nexusmods often and I get fast speeds.

ENB is free also. You can sign up at Nexusmods for free.

[Demonhunter]

i thought you meant modding as in making stuff

[koinuchan]

Welcome to the modding world. Do you have a pool? Because that's what you'll need for all the tears falling from your eyes because of endless hours seemingly wasted for nothing for the umpteenth time.

 

Well, that was enough encouragement for now.

 

First off I give you an advice: Do not use sexlab modifications for now. I recommend to learn how to mod Skyrim first and after a while - if you've developed a sixth sense of skyrim modification -, you should be ready for the dirty stuff. Why is that? Sexlab mods tend to be very large and complex and therefore can cause problems if you don't know what you're doing. 

 

The bare essentials for modding Skyrim are:

 

Mod Organizer

ENB Organizer

 

You'll love these two - at least I do. ENB Organizer is good, but Mod Organizer (MO) is gold. On top of being very useful, because now you don't have to manually install/deinstall mods on your own, you can also create profiles to play different characters with different mods, just by selecting the profile for your character. Back in the day you'd have needed different Skyrim installations. Also MO provides you with a lot of information and other tools you'll find very useful.

 

SKSE

ENB (With of without actual presets, just the ENB itself will improve the performance)

 

 

 

Alright, only just getting around to some of this.  I just started using MO.  Went through the tutorial and it walked me through a first installation. I have SkyUI and a mods that lets you knock on doors.  Do I use MO and ENB Organizer both? Or do I use one or the other?  

 

I'm guessing ENB organizer is meant to be used with the following link?  http://enbdev.com/download.htm

 

I went to the Download page, do i need all of those?  Or do I only need those in the tools section?  What does ENB stand for? Looking at the site, it seems like it's a graphic enhancer, or at least makes graphic processing more efficient?

[serenity_]

 

 

 

 

[...]

 

Check out the STEP Wiki page link I referred to last in my post. It covers mostly everything you've asked about. You only need the newest ENB version, which is the one with the highest number (currently that is 0.308). 

 

MO and ENB Organizer don't mutually exclude each other. You'll run them each seperately (In MO you can add tools, don't add ENB Organizer there). MO only covers mods, thereas ENB only covers ENB binaries and presets (ENB presets may have data folders though, which end up in MO again). 

[koinuchan]

....

Thanks a bunch!  

I've been making a lot of progress!  I have immersive 1st person perspective and schlongs of skyrim working very well!

Now, what actual sex stuff can I do without Dawnguard?  I've tried "Animal Sex" http://www.loverslab.com/files/file/1056-beta-sexlab-animal-sex/ as well as More Nasty Critters, but both seem to require Dawnguard even though none of them mention that as a requirement. Do I really have to buy it?  

[ppp]

Are you using a Mod Manager like Wrye Bash or Mod Organizer? Among other things, they let you see dependencies.

 

I'm looking at MNC and SexLab Aroused Creatures with Wrye Bash, and none of them require Dawnguard. MNC has plugins for Dawnguard and Dragonborn, but you don't need to install those if you don't have the DLC. I'm not sure if HentaiCreatures requires the DLC, because I don't have it in my Data Folder, but I suspect it does. Again, you don't have to install it. I'd recommend you use a Mod Manager of some sort, but worst case, you can install your mods and try to start Skyrim. If you crash before getting to the main menu, you are missing a master somewhere. Crude, but it works.

 

If you want to play a Werewolf, I'd recommend getting Dawnguard if you can afford it, if only for the Werewolf perk tree.

 

Also, the most up-to-date Unofficial Patch (Legendary) requires all three DLC, but the older one is still up on the Nexus. A lot of mods require one or more of the DLC, but you can wait for a sale. It's bound to happen eventually. Near the release of ES VI, for example.

[koinuchan]

Are you using a Mod Manager like Wrye Bash or Mod Organizer? Among other things, they let you see dependencies.

 

I'm looking at MNC and SexLab Aroused Creatures with Wrye Bash, and none of them require Dawnguard. MNC has plugins for Dawnguard and Dragonborn, but you don't need to install those if you don't have the DLC. I'm not sure if HentaiCreatures requires the DLC, because I don't have it in my Data Folder, but I suspect it does. Again, you don't have to install it. I'd recommend you use a Mod Manager of some sort, but worst case, you can install your mods and try to start Skyrim. If you crash before getting to the main menu, you are missing a master somewhere. Crude, but it works.

 

If you want to play a Werewolf, I'd recommend getting Dawnguard if you can afford it, if only for the Werewolf perk tree.

 

Also, the most up-to-date Unofficial Patch (Legendary) requires all three DLC, but the older one is still up on the Nexus. A lot of mods require one or more of the DLC, but you can wait for a sale. It's bound to happen eventually. Near the release of ES VI, for example.

Yes; that's exactly it! I'm missing a master!  I use Mod Organizer.  Before starting skyrim, it tells me I'm missing a Master when I have the creature mods installed.  Dawnguard.esp or something like that if i remember right.  It makes Skyrim crash before I get to play.  How do I fix this?  I'll get Dawn guard at some point, I suppose, but would rather not spend money now.

[JobiWanUK]

There's only two options. Get Dawnguard or don't use that mod.

[ppp]

I don't use Mod Organizer myself, but can you see the individual .ESPs before you install them or just the archive? According to Wrye Bash, the files in the MNC archive:

Mandatory:

Creature Framework.esm - Does not require Dawnguard.

MoreNastyCritters.esp - Does not require Dawnguard.

SexLabNudeCreatures.esp - Does not Require Dawnguard.

 

Optional:

SexLabNudeCreturesDB.esp - Requires Dragonborn.

SexLabNuceCreauresDG.esp - Requires Dawnguard.

HentaiCreatures.esp - Requires Dawnguard and Dragonborn.

 

Other:

SexLab Aroused (Redux) - Does not require Dawnguard.

SexLab Aroused Creatures - Does not require Dawnguard.

 

Unless I'm missing something, only optional ESPs require any DLCs.

Remember to download the latest Creature Framework from it's page, as the one included in MNC is outdated, last I checked.