Modding Skyrim for Sex Magic
- November 29, 2023
- 4:02 pm
- Skyrim SSE
Level Up Your Game: Skyrim Modding Best Practices
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In This Article...
What This Guide Does (and Does Not) Cover
This guide assumes several things about its readers. It is written for a game modder with mid level experience. While some terms and processes are explained in this guide, most are not. If you feel like this guide is more advanced than your modding experience, feel free to contact me for help.
This guide also does not go into detail about creating your own mods. Basics of creating packs, merging plugins, and texture conversion are covered. Topics like Creation Club and tools advanced modders use to create their own mods are likewise not covered.
For additional information on modding guides as well as links to several other guides, please see our “The Art of Skyrim Modding” page.
What to Expect When Modding
If you choose to go forward with your modding overhaul, there are several things to remember.
Be Ready to Dedicate Time
If you’re doing a fresh installation, be ready to commit quite a bit of time. At a bare minimum, you will need 50-60 hours of work to get the mods working. The less experienced you are in modding, the longer the process will take. This is normal.
Expect a LOT of Reading
Not only will you need to read the individual mod pages for directions, but you will also need to complete research to be able to tailor your game without conflicts and game issues.
The mod pages are just a start. They do not cover all the necessary information as you mix and match your mods to create the game that inspires you the most. This means that you will need to conduct research to understand things like
- how your mods fit together
- errors and fixes
- learning how to use new tools and utilities, etc.
Know that there WILL be Issues
You will experience problems with mods appearing in the game as you go through the process. Expect to experience issues like Crash to Desktop errors (CTD), the dreaded T pose for your characters, disappearing body parts (especially male genitalia), and more.
These issues are normal to experience and are typically caused by missing mod requirements or load order. Some issues will be resolved as you go through the guide and load additional required mods.
Throughout the process, give yourself time to take breaks. Completing an ultra-modded game can take days to organize and load. So grab yourself a drink, settle in, and remember that the process of modding is also a part of the magical process. There are no wasted efforts.
Be Realistic (Even to Yourself)
OlivierDoorenbos, author of Concise Skyrim Modding Guide 2020 phrases it best:
Avoid unrealistic expectations:
“Modding is easy and quick. Anyone can do it”
“You can have 200+ mods installed that are 100% free of bugs and glitches”
“My 100+ graphics mods and ENB make Skyrim look epic, with no performance loss”
“Mods fix and improve every aspect of the game”
“If you follow all instructions and use common sense, you won’t run into problems”
While the above statements are sometimes true, they are also very misleading. Modding takes time, usually has some bugs, and will affect performance. Even today in 2020, there are still many things mods don’t fix or improve. Sometimes things go wrong, whether you carefully follow this guide or not.[1]
General Modding Guidelines
Be Creative
This guide lists many mods that are required or recommended. But the Skyrim LS Project by design means that you will need to tailor your game to your own tastes and skills. The more you individualize your game, the better your magical skills and focus will increase.
Know the Mod’s Size and Complexity
In later troubleshooting stages, it helps to know ahead of time which mods could break your game.
In general, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.
- PROBLEM: Larger file sizes and/or many scripts will tax your computer more than small, simple mods.
- SOLUTION: If you have slow load times or hiccups when interacting with the world, check to see if any of the larger mods can be replaced with something less taxing.
- SOLUTION: While we encourage supporting new modders, sometimes the mods include additional (and unnecessary) code. You may need to clean the mod files using tools like XEdit and then reinstall.
- PROBLEM: Loose file versions of mods (like BSAs) will make startup and loading times longer.
- SOLUTION: Unpack and repack BSA files using a tool like Cathedral BSA extractor.
- PROBLEM: High detail graphic mods require more RAM and a higher video card than lower-end graphics.
- SOLUTION: Optimize your mods using a tool like XXX.
- SOLUTION: Choose lower graphic settings mod versions (like 2K or 4K instead of the 8K versions).
Remember Load Order Throughout
One note of import, any ESM, ESP or ESL (master file, plugin, light master or light plugin) that has an esp as its master will cause the game to load the master esp before the plugin.
This basically means that if the file is an esl then the master esp WILL load before the esl ignoring plugins.txt. Not as big a deal for light plugins. However, this could alter load order in a negative way by moving the master esp higher in the load than intended thereby negating dependencies.
A good way to avoid problems such as this is to download, install, enable master files before their respective patches. Which brings us to the last point….
Load Mods in Groups
Keep your ESLs near the ESPs (or ESMs) that they relate to whenever possible, but for the most part your LOOT programs will assist with this. If you install them together, however, you are less likely to experience conflict issues (such as the dreaded T pose) later.
Do Status Checks in Game
You will need to run status checks on the game throughout this process. Advice from advanced modders states that how many mods you can install between checks depends on how large the mod is.
For large mods, load only 5-7 mods between checks. For small mods, you can load 20. If you discover that your game has broken between loads, you will be able to narrow down the list of what the potential problems are more quickly.
Important Tips
As you read through this guide and mod the game yourself, there are several things you should keep in mind.
Remember the Goal
The Skyrim LS Project is a large long-term series of objectives and Phase 2 of the project is the engine that powers the rest of the experimental data and collection.
Read This Entire Guide
Part of this guide consists of general modding instructions but other, later, parts will discuss ways that you can increase your modding potential on your own. And this is just the beginning.
By becoming more aware of the game potentials, you will be able to think and plan more creatively in your mod research. Hopefully, then, you will also be more creative and immersive.
Think Before You Mod
Research first. Plan second. Then work on your mods. While this guide will point out several that have notices like “Highly Recommended” or “Common Files,” much of the content is up to you.
During your mod research, be aware of mods that could be merged or converted to ESLs. This will allow you to add more mods (and more variety) to your game.
Research Before You Download
Go through the numerous mod sites and save the mods you are interested in before you decide to do your final downloads.
Creating an organized list of Bookmarks in your web browser will help you be able to mentally organize your mods as the modlist gets longer.
Keep Records of Your Research
Before starting your new magical game, you will have compiled upwards of 400-500 mods to complete your game. To find those final mods to install, you will end up researching thousands of mods. As the list grows, it will be increasingly difficult to know what mods, textures, patches, etc. you have installed and enabled.
Keeping records along the way in either a document or spreadsheet (recommended), will save time later and help avoid confusion with mod conflicts.
Relax!
Advanced gameplay modding, loading and coordinating large amounts of mods, requires some actual mod creation skills.
This guide will walk you through many of the main strategies and troubleshooting techniques. You will be asked to do things like alter the main game’s configuration files (a prospect daunting to most new modders), and run modder’s resource tools to create your own patches, or unpack and repack BSAs to merge plugins to save space and increase compatibility.
For even those of us in this group who have spent time in the last months learning to mod and resolve issue, the directions in this guide will no doubt seem daunting. Read this guide. Take a breath. Have a glass of wine. Then dig in.
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