Starting a new play trough

[richardo111]

Hei to all, I have been modding for a long time trying to be the most careful possible, reading everything, looking for compatibility, reading STEP and stability guides, configuring Ini’s Very carefully… all of it….  But, you know it, Skyrim

 

My plan is to do a very long play trough and for that I have modded with many “game extensions†like – Wyrmstooth – Helgen Reborn – Moonpath to Elsweyr – Paarthurmax Dilema – Nightingale Brotherhood – Gangs of Skyrim – Evil Mansion – Windfall Island – AND Warzones Civil Unrest…

 

To add to that I have modded with Player Homes too – Breezehome FU – Tel Nalta – Windstand Mine – Buildable House – Leaf Rest – Caranthir Tower…..

 

Some combat/difficulty  improvements – Combat Evolved – Deadly Combat – OBIS – SIC – Animal Tweaks – Ranfom Encounters - MorrowLoot – Dynamic Loot – Piratelords Loot Adjustments ….

 

And of course Immersion mods like – Frostfall – RND – Real Shelter – Cot – Pure Waters – EtaC – Populated Cities – ELFX

Some NPC’s mods – Inigo – Hoth – AFT – inconsequential NPC – interesting NPC …

 

Of course a loot of textures and so on so fort SMIM – SFO – CCO ………

 

My wish and my hope is to have a long play trough without save corruptions, not to much CTD’s, and broken ..â€thingsâ€

So because there’s so many tons of Skyrim “perfect†moddings out there, “proper load orders†out there…. Do That, Don’t do this….

I wonder

 

1 – It is wise to update mods?   --- Once started the game, Some say it is not

2 – I have about 241 active plugins. It will help to the game stability to do some xEdit Script merges, reducing number of plugins?

3 – Do you know or see any incompatibility in the “not complete†mod list above?

4 – Would you give some/any advice about it?

 

Thanks in advance to anyone who say something, anything

[Greg]

I think it mostly depends on the specific mods that are being updated, so it's generally best to read through the mod's update instructions before determining whether a mod can be safely updated. If you're using DynDOLOD, you may need to follow Sheson's instructions to regenerate all the LODs after updating mods that contain LODs meshes or textures.

 

I personally tend to be conservative, so once I set up a new playthrough I tend to stick with it exactly as is until I'm finished. I usually do this in a few steps, though... say install STEP Extended and test it for a while to make sure it's stable, throw on a few mods on top and test it with a new playthrough for a while, throw on an ENB preset on top, and start a new game.

 

I know others here that routinely keep their mods up-to-date and keep the game stable while they're upgrading. You just have to be prepared to do a little spelunking after upgrading, though. Some mods may need a reset when upgrading (saving without the mod, installing the updated mod, and then continuing from the indoors save) and I think there is some risk in this because the mod order changes if only for a moment.

 

From my perspective, the best advice I can give is to go slow and test often. Install mods in small sets, check conflicts in TES5Edit, and test in game before going to the next batch. The first time I did this I installed all of STEP Extended and all of REGS, then immediately had to back and start over because the game wasn't working right and I had no idea where I went wrong. I'm not an expert at finding and resolving conflicts, either.

[GrantSP]

 

1 – It is wise to update mods?   --- Once started the game, Some say it is not

2 – I have about 241 active plugins. It will help to the game stability to do some xEdit Script merges, reducing number of plugins?

3 – Do you know or see any incompatibility in the “not complete†mod list above?

4 – Would you give some/any advice about it?

1. Depends on the mods. Some will have no influence on other mods, some will.
2. Merging is highly recommended and should always be looked at, even if you don't actually know how to merge, finding out about it helps in understanding how your mods interact with each other.
3. There may be some issues with multiple mods all affecting the same game mechanics, as in 'Combat mods'. You will need to be very observant as to what each says it changes.
4. Modding can very quickly overtake your playing. Set a task for yourself and stick to it. Many, many modders haven't 'played' the game in months/years due to constant tweaking/adding/removing/improving/breaking/fixing the game. Be strong and 'stick to your guns'.

[richardo111]

Thanks very much both of you, I think they're good advices, I will see very closely at the time of mod updating, in fact the only one that i will follow (more closely ) is that fantastic new one Immersive Citizens AI Overhaul

Guard, you give me something to think about, my mod list is done, but i will "reinstall/try" everything step by step. Do you know if there are some specially recommended "coc" for testing?

GrantSP, I suppose that when you talk about merging you talk about the xEdit Scrip, because it seems also advised that aside of that .esps merging, once finished, do also a TES5Edit merging, GamerPoets have a very good vid about it, just let me know if you talk about one or another .... or both

 

Tell you a secret GrantSP, I've been playing Skyrim for the last three years, is the only game i play, ........... and never went past level 30 something ....... Hahahahahahaha .... modding is a damn addiction, Isn't?

But this is the good one, i will stick to my guns and barrels  .... :woot: :woot:

[Greg]

You just think your mod list is done. Once you slide down the slippery slope of modding Skyrim, you'll spend far more time tinkering and playing with new mods than playing the game.

 

Which areas are good for testing depends mostly on the mods you're installing. In a general case, I think the outskirts of Whiterun is good for testing mountains, rocks, water, and the city walls and I generally go through the major cities and a few wilderness areas (like the tops of mountains around Falkreath, Winterhold, Whiterun, and Falkreath that give a good view of a lot of landscape and provide opportunities for combat).

 

I know Grant and others here are a lot more experienced at this so I'm sure they'll have better and more specific suggestions.

[oqhansoloqo]

You just think your mod list is done. Once you slide down the slippery slope of modding Skyrim, you'll spend far more time tinkering and playing with new mods than playing the game.

 

FAR more time.  Sometimes I lie awake in bed desperately saying to myself "when will it end!"  lol

[brokenpaine]

I think it mostly depends on the specific mods that are being updated, so it's generally best to read through the mod's update instructions before determining whether a mod can be safely updated. If you're using DynDOLOD, you may need to follow Sheson's instructions to regenerate all the LODs after updating mods that contain LODs meshes or textures.

 

I personally tend to be conservative, so once I set up a new playthrough I tend to stick with it exactly as is until I'm finished. I usually do this in a few steps, though... say install STEP Extended and test it for a while to make sure it's stable, throw on a few mods on top and test it with a new playthrough for a while, throw on an ENB preset on top, and start a new game.

 

I know others here that routinely keep their mods up-to-date and keep the game stable while they're upgrading. You just have to be prepared to do a little spelunking after upgrading, though. Some mods may need a reset when upgrading (saving without the mod, installing the updated mod, and then continuing from the indoors save) and I think there is some risk in this because the mod order changes if only for a moment.

 

From my perspective, the best advice I can give is to go slow and test often. Install mods in small sets, check conflicts in TES5Edit, and test in game before going to the next batch. The first time I did this I installed all of STEP Extended and all of REGS, then immediately had to back and start over because the game wasn't working right and I had no idea where I went wrong. I'm not an expert at finding and resolving conflicts, either.

GREAT Advice. You wont go wrong listening to him.

FAR more time.  Sometimes I lie awake in bed desperately saying to myself "when will it end!"  lol

 

LMAO My girlfriend hates skyrim now...she used to love it. :.(

[n0mad23]

I began modding after moving my level 50 Redguard character from my wife's dedicated Intel graphics chip laptop to my MSI gaming laptop.  While it's certainly not recommended, it seems to be doable.  By the time that character had hit level 80, I had over 150 mods installed.

 

My biggest stability issues were resolved when I got ENBoost up and running.  I really had a tough time getting ENBoost working, and probably had 1/2 dozen failures over a couple months (I'd walk away as it seemed to work fine without it) of trying to find a version that worked for me.  When I started experiencing fairly regular CTD's I really focused on getting ENBoost working and have enjoyed a really stable platform ever since.

 

My mod install approach has been to put in a single mod, and then go in to the game and do a full adventure/quest as my test.  I usually choose a smaller dungeon or cave so I can play for 1/2 hour to 1.5 hours straight for the test.  If all goes well, I'll go into an untouched building's interior (vanilla) and save.  Then I'll exit and install another mod.

 

What I really need to do now is start merging mods.  So far I've only merged textures as it's pretty easy to consolidate mods that only have meshes and texture files.  However, my plugin list is getting rather long.

[brokenpaine]

Haha cool man. Made the switch and it was successful. Awesome. I'm at 211 plugins. In my opinion I'm covering every aspect of the game and not overdoing it with overhauls, just the minimum categorically speaking. AT 211 (and a few merges) I still have some wiggle room for new mods, mainly all these huge DLC worldspace mods coming out. Also you want to keep some wiggle room for Overhaul replacements, you may be using one set of mods for perk overhauls, if you decide to switch, you may need upwards of 3-5 more plugins to accommodate. I swear with Mod Organizer, and the profile feature.....the potential is great.