[Request] Tested mod list for full playthrough

[DzOnIxD]

I want to run a full devious playthrough in Skyrim, with Sexlab, and DD mods. The biggest problem is that in time the loading and saving becomes a pain because it takes so long. And the game itself feels way less stable and the frames drop significantly even with no graphics enchanting mods. The crashing surprisingly isn't the biggest issue. Can anyone supply a tested list of mods that will provide a safe and stable (most importantly fun) vanilla main quest playthrough. For the record I don't mind any fetish presented on this forum.

[daedal]

i heard the super booty body was completely stable 

[DzOnIxD]

6 minutes ago, daedal said:

i heard the super booty body was completely stable 

It's a nice body, but I don't think my character will be stable with all that thiccness

[Nazzzgul666]

On 23.12.2017 at 6:27 PM, DzOnIxD said:

Can anyone supply a tested list of mods that will provide a safe and stable (most importantly fun) vanilla main quest playthrough. 

Pretty sure the answer is no. There are just so many other variables than just the mods installed that even if all LL members would post what works for them, chances are most still won't work for you. Even with exactly the same hardware it still wouldn't work in many cases.

Most important things (no special order, though):

1. stop any other running software, AV, browser etc before playing.

2. make sure at least the main stability mods are installed and configured properly, there are crash fixes, SKSE memory patch (or the crash fixes version) and ENBoost. Especially ENBoost must be configured to your very own system.

3. Start with default papyrus settings. You may tweak them a little bit, but the border between "more stable" and "breaking your game beyond repair" is fluent and easy to reach. Since that's rather a "sacrifice performance for stability" thing and you don't have problems with crashes, better don't touch it at all.

4. Whenever possible, use MCM settings to reduce script impact. Don't underestimate that, it makes a big difference if a mod runs a script every 5 or every 50 seconds and another big difference between every 50 seconds and not at all, even more so if you have several of them. Use what you're still comfortable with to have fun with that feature, if you really want that feature. For example i always disable the option to use SL aroused in the creature framework, i'm fine with creatures beeing always horny.

 

Aside from that, don't uninstall any script mods midgame (that includes upgrades), don't change load order midgame and make sure your load order is fine. Combined that's pretty much "know exactly which mods you will use from start to end". If you really really want to add a mod badly you can risk to install it and change load order accordingly and chances are good it will be just fine, but keep a save and be prepared to go back to that save, even after several hours or even days of playing.

 

I know that's really hard, especially since a load order that works totally fine at start can still break later because making progress in game, discovering places and doing vanilla quests increases stress on your system and it can break later.

Something i'm not sure if it works because i've never tried, just came to my mind: use a save game with pretty much everything solved/discovered. Download one if you don't have one, pretty sure there are some somewhere. Then add all the mods you want to have, load that save, make your MCM configuration and play for a while. If everything seems fine after a couple of hours, that might give you a good hint that it would also work if you play that far with the same mod list.

During those tests (or any tests) i'd recommend to enable the logging in papyrus. Especially after a longer session, check that log for "stack dumps" and other errors. If you get stack dumps, your mod list is too script heavy and will cause problems for sure, even if everything seems fine so far. Since logging decreases your performance but only slighty, you can tell that if it works fine when enabled it'll be fine without and even have at least a little bit space.

 

Finally, i would not recommend to add much quest mods if you want to play the vanilla game. The point here is that pretty much all quest mods on LL can be played just fine with a lvl1 character without doing any vanilla quests, no need to play them and the vanilla quests in the same playthrough. The only real exception that comes to my mind is Shout like a Virgin, it will make you play several vanilla quests (the daedra stuff especially) during it's progress and is really meant for a long playthrough, you'll need quite some time to see it all. So if you want to play that mod i'd recommend to add it to a vanilla playthough.

 

[DzOnIxD]

4 hours ago, Nazzzgul666 said:

Pretty sure the answer is no. There are just so many other variables than just the mods installed that even if all LL members would post what works for them, chances are most still won't work for you. Even with exactly the same hardware it still wouldn't work in many cases.

Most important things (no special order, though):

1. stop any other running software, AV, browser etc before playing.

2. make sure at least the main stability mods are installed and configured properly, there are crash fixes, SKSE memory patch (or the crash fixes version) and ENBoost. Especially ENBoost must be configured to your very own system.

3. Start with default papyrus settings. You may tweak them a little bit, but the border between "more stable" and "breaking your game beyond repair" is fluent and easy to reach. Since that's rather a "sacrifice performance for stability" thing and you don't have problems with crashes, better don't touch it at all.

4. Whenever possible, use MCM settings to reduce script impact. Don't underestimate that, it makes a big difference if a mod runs a script every 5 or every 50 seconds and another big difference between every 50 seconds and not at all, even more so if you have several of them. Use what you're still comfortable with to have fun with that feature, if you really want that feature. For example i always disable the option to use SL aroused in the creature framework, i'm fine with creatures beeing always horny.

 

Aside from that, don't uninstall any script mods midgame (that includes upgrades), don't change load order midgame and make sure your load order is fine. Combined that's pretty much "know exactly which mods you will use from start to end". If you really really want to add a mod badly you can risk to install it and change load order accordingly and chances are good it will be just fine, but keep a save and be prepared to go back to that save, even after several hours or even days of playing.

 

I know that's really hard, especially since a load order that works totally fine at start can still break later because making progress in game, discovering places and doing vanilla quests increases stress on your system and it can break later.

Something i'm not sure if it works because i've never tried, just came to my mind: use a save game with pretty much everything solved/discovered. Download one if you don't have one, pretty sure there are some somewhere. Then add all the mods you want to have, load that save, make your MCM configuration and play for a while. If everything seems fine after a couple of hours, that might give you a good hint that it would also work if you play that far with the same mod list.

During those tests (or any tests) i'd recommend to enable the logging in papyrus. Especially after a longer session, check that log for "stack dumps" and other errors. If you get stack dumps, your mod list is too script heavy and will cause problems for sure, even if everything seems fine so far. Since logging decreases your performance but only slighty, you can tell that if it works fine when enabled it'll be fine without and even have at least a little bit space.

 

Finally, i would not recommend to add much quest mods if you want to play the vanilla game. The point here is that pretty much all quest mods on LL can be played just fine with a lvl1 character without doing any vanilla quests, no need to play them and the vanilla quests in the same playthrough. The only real exception that comes to my mind is Shout like a Virgin, it will make you play several vanilla quests (the daedra stuff especially) during it's progress and is really meant for a long playthrough, you'll need quite some time to see it all. So if you want to play that mod i'd recommend to add it to a vanilla playthough.

 

First of all I'm really thankful for this high effort post. Until today I thought that someone knows the secret formula for the perfect Skyrim.

 

What I find problematic in the mods I'm using is that they pack a lot of features. With every update they get a ton of new features so something is bound to go wrong. For example the defeat scenario, so many mods are fighting each other for the priority and the game ends up glitching out. I know I can disable those features but it would be really nice if they could be disabled in fomod or selective download. It's really frustrating when I want defeat to trigger in combat, dangerous nights in sleep, and cursed loot when I'm at night unarmed for example. I was definitely curious about Shout like a Virgin, I ran it once and it destroyed my game so I was scared to go back.

 

I just want a playthrough that will be a bit dangerous, for example opening chests when arousal is high is a little nervous, but not unfair and broken. The default settings for a lot of the mods are so crazy (I'm looking at you CL), that I can not progress 1% without being in a position where I have to reload. I will test things out and try to make a decent playthrough.

[Nazzzgul666]

Yes, CL is infamous for it's default settings.  Unless you're willing a LOT of time beeing bound, that's one of the mods that i wouldn't recommend for a long vanilla playthrough although it's not really a quest mod either once because of this, and another point is that it's rather script heavy. It's a... middle mod, imho^^

Great to play with for quite a while if you don't really have a goal you want to achieve, like finishing quests.  Or if you're fine with going to the MCM and disable a couple of features when you want to do quests. On the other hand it offers really a lot of features and it's not impossible to play it long and stable, chances are that it's better to use CL than 5-8 other mods if you want all or most of those features. But then you should limit yourself and not use much other mods.

 

There are quite a couple of mods offering some kind of "defeat in combat", depends on which one you're using but you can easily run 4-6 at once without any problems but you really have to make your settings carefully. Another thing where a pure mod list doesn't help at all. While there are exceptions, in general you must turn off any similar features in different mods and only use this specific feature only in one of them, regardless if it's defeatment in combat, changed prices for traders, or whatever. Most popular exception here is Death or Alive + Defeat, these two at least have a chance to work together very nice, but it still depends on settings if they really do so.

In my experience the descriptions on LL are much more accurate in this respect than those on Nexus, so check the incompatibilities sections here carefully, run brain.exe and be very careful if you add mods from Nexus if you don't know exactly what they do.

 

My last run with Virgin was quite a while ago, but as far as i can say the mod itself is stable as hell. But even aside from any conflicts you can easily break any game by just adding too much script load, that this happens doesn't tell anything about the quality of the single mods you're using.

[DzOnIxD]

5 hours ago, Nazzzgul666 said:

My last run with Virgin was quite a while ago, but as far as i can say the mod itself is stable as hell. But even aside from any conflicts you can easily break any game by just adding too much script load, that this happens doesn't tell anything about the quality of the single mods you're using.

I understand what my main problem is, I want to sit on 10 chairs at once. I start with a fresh Skyrim install, and tell myself that I shouldn't download a lot of mods that I end up not using at all. And then I download a lot of mods that end up not being used and forgotten. That's probably a guilty pleasure of mine. For example I always download Captured Dreams, most of the time I forget that I have it active, and the rest of the time I get bored of repetitive quests and the ones that glitch the game.

 

I think I figured out a list of mods that I will run, but I'm curious about running SD+. What's your take on that mod?

[Nazzzgul666]

Personally i don't like it very much. I enjoy quests & stories, SD+... imho it becomes quite boring quite fast, but that's just my taste. If you ask for a long playthrough, not recommended either, it is quite script heavy. With your habits you possibly should reconsider your goal to do such a playthrough, though^^

I had those plans too for quite a while and was frustrated when i had to start a new game. It became a lot more fun when instead of changing my habits, i changed my goals and just played some quest mods and started new games when finished instead of the vanilla story.  After a year or two i actually played it once... 

[DzOnIxD]

On 12/25/2017 at 11:22 PM, Nazzzgul666 said:

Personally i don't like it very much. I enjoy quests & stories, SD+... imho it becomes quite boring quite fast, but that's just my taste. If you ask for a long playthrough, not recommended either, it is quite script heavy. With your habits you possibly should reconsider your goal to do such a playthrough, though^^

I had those plans too for quite a while and was frustrated when i had to start a new game. It became a lot more fun when instead of changing my habits, i changed my goals and just played some quest mods and started new games when finished instead of the vanilla story.  After a year or two i actually played it once... 

Just tried a "lite" modded Skyrim main quest run, with Shout like a Virgin. I have to admit you were right, the outcome was basically horrible. It lasted until the Greybeards quest (probably because that's when I learn shouting so Shout like a Virgin starts scripting). It really sucks that it's almost impossible to play the vanilla quest with SL mods. I'll just stick to alternate start and short side quests or SL quests.

[Nazzzgul666]

On 31.12.2017 at 12:10 PM, DzOnIxD said:

Just tried a "lite" modded Skyrim main quest run, with Shout like a Virgin. I have to admit you were right, the outcome was basically horrible. It lasted until the Greybeards quest (probably because that's when I learn shouting so Shout like a Virgin starts scripting). It really sucks that it's almost impossible to play the vanilla quest with SL mods. I'll just stick to alternate start and short side quests or SL quests.

Actually vanilla quests & virgin should be totally fine, since it's somewhat made to be played with vanilla quests. Basically horrible isn't very specific and it's been a while since i've played it, so i can't help here... 

[DzOnIxD]

55 minutes ago, Nazzzgul666 said:

Actually vanilla quests & virgin should be totally fine, since it's somewhat made to be played with vanilla quests. Basically horrible isn't very specific and it's been a while since i've played it, so i can't help here... 

Like you said you can install identical mods on two PCs and the game would be different. The game was rock solid while playing. The problem was loading saved games. It probably has to do with to many animations installed, because footlk was crashing the game. Either way SLV is a really fun mod with tons of contents and never failed to surprise me.

[Nazzzgul666]

1 hour ago, DzOnIxD said:

Like you said you can install identical mods on two PCs and the game would be different. The game was rock solid while playing. The problem was loading saved games. It probably has to do with to many animations installed, because footlk was crashing the game. Either way SLV is a really fun mod with tons of contents and never failed to surprise me.

While that is true, SLaV with minimum requirements (+ better graphics and body etc) should work totally fine on any PC. Where it becomes difficult is if you add more script (heavy) mods.

On the other hand... i'm always playing with pretty much every single SLAL pack (around 11k in FNIS) i could find and i've never seen this footlk bug, although it seems common knowledge that it is caused by too many animations. No idea what i'm doing "wrong". My PC is far away from high end, medi class i5 and pretty much weakest video card that has 4GB VRAM.

[DzOnIxD]

6 minutes ago, Nazzzgul666 said:

While that is true, SLaV with minimum requirements (+ better graphics and body etc) should work totally fine on any PC. Where it becomes difficult is if you add more script (heavy) mods.

On the other hand... i'm always playing with pretty much every single SLAL pack (around 11k in FNIS) i could find and i've never seen this footlk bug, although it seems common knowledge that it is caused by too many animations. No idea what i'm doing "wrong". My PC is far away from high end, medi class i5 and pretty much weakest video card that has 4GB VRAM

Maybe it's FNIS sexy walk that is causing the crash, I will try it with sexy walk disabled.

[Nazzzgul666]

9 minutes ago, DzOnIxD said:

Maybe it's FNIS sexy walk that is causing the crash, I will try it with sexy walk disabled.

Might be an option, i didn't use that in quite a while and it indeed has some impact on script load. Besides that, imho there are better walking/running animations out there, HerAnimations is what i'm using for a while and what i like a lot, feminine but not exaggerated.

If you don't want to replace it, try to disable it for NPCs, that's what's checking NPCs every two seconds.