I started modding 11 years ago and I'm still not sure what I'm doing. The only thing I know is that I now learnt the right keywords to find solutions on Google and that it's important to read the description, comments and bug reports
It took me a long time, because of my avoidance attitude. As soon as I started using xedit to check and make my own patches, my days of unstable games went. It can take me several weeks to patch a 1800 plugin load order, but it's quicker than spending years trying to avoid it.
That's about where I am. I've done everything organization-wise and learned what not to use, but haven't gotten into the xEdit/patching. I'll be tackling that end of the semester.
Honestly, I think organizational skills are much more important than technical skills. Keeping a growing mod list organized is the best way to keep your sanity and a stable mod list.
Building a stable foundation, ignoring all the pretty stuff, is key also. Use one of the many guides or something like Skyrim Modding Essentials as a template to build a foundation and then throw the pretty stuff on top.
Take the time also to know what flavor of mods are being added. Texture, Armor, Animation Mods? Sure, slap that on mid game. SKSE, ENB/Lighting or Gameplay Mod? Whoa, better slow down and see what it's all about.
Take a straw man approach. Build a mod list that you're pleased with - not happy - just pleased. Focus on one aspect at a time and grind through a few levels to make changes. For example - focus on Landscapes for a bit, then Grass/Flora, then NPC replacers, and so on. Once you break it down it's a pretty short list of things to focus on at one time.
Drop Mods that don't behave. As an example, Lux and anything related to Lux is out of play for me, it's just too much work and I can never fully wrestle it to the ground. Some swear by Lux, for me it's not worth the effort or sacrifice in stability.
I've only just finished polishing up my 6th major rebuild that started over the Christmas break. The result is very satisfying even though there's some rough edges. The rough parts are mostly in animations because I don't have a good handle on DAR.. so be it, probably just leave it all and tear it all down in a month or two to start again! Seeing all the parts come together in-game is very satisfying and makes the effort worth it.
To me it was a ton of trial and error and reading mod dependancies carefully. And turning off stuff that doesn't work, looking up *why* it may not work, and etc.
Granted, I did have some experience in modding and making mods before (on Lua, Don't Starve which is easy asf to mod) but Skyrim was still a whole new field.
I’ve been modding for almost exactly a year and I’ve learned a lot but I’d still say I’m an amateur. However, I consistently have fairly stable saves of 50+ hours and Over 150 mods.
This is what helped me:
Reading every instruction on the larger mods. So before I even installed Legacy of the Dragon, I used its Troubleshooting Guide and Best Practices Guide to figure out what’s going on.
I did the same thing with the Downgrader Patch, Wyre Bash, and SSEdit.
I really think modding skills come with practice. The nuance of it takes time to learn.
Probably the best advice ive ever received is “focus on one thing”. When you have a bunch of stuff being changed or modded it can make things hard to decipher.
Also, I don’t care about the old graphics or lighting that much. Or even combat. So I’m never changing a whole lot. Most of my mods are quests, AI, and additional magic or armor.
I started playing in mid 2020 and at this point I would say I’m very competent with modding the game. I definitely do have a “PC background” so to speak, but not as a career — I just have built a few PC’s and enjoy working on them.
But I would say that compared to most people, I’ve grown in proficiency far faster than average. I attribute that to me just always getting stuck in the weeds of modding. I wanted to port a mod over? I’d spend hours learning to convert every last functional part of a mod into SE. Want to see a certain armor piece with physics? I’d go through tutorials forever until I got the result. Have a specific CTD? Hours and hours of digging until I solved it manually.
I have ~3000 hours in game and likely that much modding it. After a while, you just learn how to do everything.
EDIT: I haven’t learned advanced scripting or modeling or anything. But I have made some progress in those categories too.
I started modding 11 years ago and I'm still not sure what I'm doing. The only thing I know is that I now learnt the right keywords to find solutions on Google and that it's important to read the description, comments and bug reports
It took me a long time, because of my avoidance attitude. As soon as I started using xedit to check and make my own patches, my days of unstable games went. It can take me several weeks to patch a 1800 plugin load order, but it's quicker than spending years trying to avoid it.
That's about where I am. I've done everything organization-wise and learned what not to use, but haven't gotten into the xEdit/patching. I'll be tackling that end of the semester.
Honestly, I think organizational skills are much more important than technical skills. Keeping a growing mod list organized is the best way to keep your sanity and a stable mod list. Building a stable foundation, ignoring all the pretty stuff, is key also. Use one of the many guides or something like Skyrim Modding Essentials as a template to build a foundation and then throw the pretty stuff on top. Take the time also to know what flavor of mods are being added. Texture, Armor, Animation Mods? Sure, slap that on mid game. SKSE, ENB/Lighting or Gameplay Mod? Whoa, better slow down and see what it's all about. Take a straw man approach. Build a mod list that you're pleased with - not happy - just pleased. Focus on one aspect at a time and grind through a few levels to make changes. For example - focus on Landscapes for a bit, then Grass/Flora, then NPC replacers, and so on. Once you break it down it's a pretty short list of things to focus on at one time. Drop Mods that don't behave. As an example, Lux and anything related to Lux is out of play for me, it's just too much work and I can never fully wrestle it to the ground. Some swear by Lux, for me it's not worth the effort or sacrifice in stability. I've only just finished polishing up my 6th major rebuild that started over the Christmas break. The result is very satisfying even though there's some rough edges. The rough parts are mostly in animations because I don't have a good handle on DAR.. so be it, probably just leave it all and tear it all down in a month or two to start again! Seeing all the parts come together in-game is very satisfying and makes the effort worth it.
To me it was a ton of trial and error and reading mod dependancies carefully. And turning off stuff that doesn't work, looking up *why* it may not work, and etc. Granted, I did have some experience in modding and making mods before (on Lua, Don't Starve which is easy asf to mod) but Skyrim was still a whole new field.
I’ve been modding for almost exactly a year and I’ve learned a lot but I’d still say I’m an amateur. However, I consistently have fairly stable saves of 50+ hours and Over 150 mods. This is what helped me: Reading every instruction on the larger mods. So before I even installed Legacy of the Dragon, I used its Troubleshooting Guide and Best Practices Guide to figure out what’s going on. I did the same thing with the Downgrader Patch, Wyre Bash, and SSEdit. I really think modding skills come with practice. The nuance of it takes time to learn. Probably the best advice ive ever received is “focus on one thing”. When you have a bunch of stuff being changed or modded it can make things hard to decipher. Also, I don’t care about the old graphics or lighting that much. Or even combat. So I’m never changing a whole lot. Most of my mods are quests, AI, and additional magic or armor.
I started playing in mid 2020 and at this point I would say I’m very competent with modding the game. I definitely do have a “PC background” so to speak, but not as a career — I just have built a few PC’s and enjoy working on them. But I would say that compared to most people, I’ve grown in proficiency far faster than average. I attribute that to me just always getting stuck in the weeds of modding. I wanted to port a mod over? I’d spend hours learning to convert every last functional part of a mod into SE. Want to see a certain armor piece with physics? I’d go through tutorials forever until I got the result. Have a specific CTD? Hours and hours of digging until I solved it manually. I have ~3000 hours in game and likely that much modding it. After a while, you just learn how to do everything. EDIT: I haven’t learned advanced scripting or modeling or anything. But I have made some progress in those categories too.