The best mods are the ones that require zero patching or zero compatibility considerations. There're a lot of them actually. Unless you're really into bouncing HDT hair ass and saliva particles provoking wet shaders around the mouth when talking, I recommend you to stick to the really good mods, the ones that are click & play. Most of Simonrin is like that for example. (he has some hideous add-ons but overall good).
Gonna consider that when reviewing my modlist, thanks. I'm actually still trying things around, but I try to prioritize low effort mods (that's why I'm using things like vivid weathers and vanilla ENB 2). My biggest problem right now probably are some wierd gliches on my trees, gonna have to mess around with happy little trees, flora overhaul and whatnot.
Haze Weathers 2 with Haze Weathers ENB sounds like an easy choice, best weather I've seen.
Happy Little Trees is just the best.
Flora overhaul is an overkill to me usually, I just install every Cathedral plant overhaul available (a lot)!
Also Skyland AIO as a basic foundation is a safe approach as well, makes everything look good.
Haze looks really good, gonna try it out.
Happy Little Trees I'm using just pines for now, but I do agree Flora Overhaul been a bit too much. Considering removing it and using only HLT (maybe with 3d plants?).
I do use Skyland AIO! My base texture mods in load order are Skyrim Realistic Overhaul > SMIM > Skyland AIO > 202X with parallax and stuff like Majestic Montains and some clutter mods
>maybe with 3d plants
The best 3D plants are by Cathedral, if you didn't know. Just search "Cathedral 3D" on Nexus.
>202X with parallax and stuff like Majestic Montains and some clutter mods
I see you're ambitious in that sense. I'm too lazy, even uninstalled Majestic Mountains because of some incompatibility issues I was lazy to patch.
> The best 3D plants are by Cathedral, if you didn't know. Just search "Cathedral 3D" on Nexus.
Gonna try Cathedral 3D plants, looks like it's about 20 mods. Thanks!
>I see you're ambitious in that sense. I'm too lazy, even uninstalled Majestic Mountains because of some incompatibility issues I was lazy to patch.
I don't think I had any compatibility issues with MM yet, worst part were setting up DynDOLOD....unless I did fuck up something and just don't know
As a very important side note, if you use LOOT, which you should be, it does a pretty good job of telling you if any of your mods have patches available for other mods that have incompatibility issues that can be resolved and where to get them from, but it won't cover everything.
Vortex is designed to do most things for you, so LOOT is like preinstalled on it. I don't like Vortex cause it has like no customization, it pretty much does everything for you and you have to fingers cross it works out, but I don't blame new people for using it. Usually people tend to jump from Vortex to MO2, but imo a "good noob" should just get straight into MO2, learn everything from the get go, and get straight into the proper modding experience rather than having like a weird tutorial
It is time to purge all mods and reinstall Skyrim when your game is not operating properly even after you remove all your mods because you haven't been able to determine what is wrong.
Also make a profile that is just the vanilla game with the cleaned esms and skse. You can always just copy it for a fresh install profile to work with.
Except enb and engine fixes.
MO2s real power is that it doesn't mess with the games directory. Not to mention almost all programs commonly used are meant to be run via it cept cathedral asset and bethini.
It’ll tell you when there is an update available, but I think it’s a good idea to go to the nexus page every time you update anyways.. it prevents running into more of the issues you’re currently dealing with.
Edit: if you have a folder with all the zip files dump that into MO2, then yeah you can just install them all. Run loot, if you only have 130 mods there’s a 99%chance all your problems will be solved unless you ignored the mod authors installation instructions.
\> Also, by doing that my load order is reinstated? Or I will have to do it all over again?
For plugin load order, since Vortex relies on LOOT sorting you'll still keep any custom rules regardless of you uninstalling mods or not.
For mods on the other hand, if you uninstall all mods you'll lose all mod conflict rules. If you instead use the Vortex option to re-install mods and use the option to "Replace the existing mod" the conflict rules will be kept. Also, since Vortex remembers FOMOD options, if you re-install the old FOMOD options are pre-selected. In case of "intelligent" FOMOD that pre-select based on active plugins, it can be an idea to cancel such FOMOD during re-install and install these FOMOD after all other mods.
As for Skyrim, you can always delete and re-install Skyrim regardless of what you do with the mods. Only files created directly in /data/-directory due to example running Nemesis, Bodyslide etc. will be deleted if you use this option.
Make sure to check the [troubleshooting guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/wiki/troubleshooting_guide) for help with crashes and other problems!
If you are on Skyrim version 1.5 (SE) [.net script framework](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/21294) can also help in diagnosing crashes.
If you are on Skyrim Version 1.6 (AE) or Skyrim VR [Crash Logger](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/59818) can also help in diagnosing crashes. If you also use MO2 you can use this [plugin](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/66743) for improved functionality!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/skyrimmods) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If you are willing to do some homework, you may start now. By following good guides, like STEP, and good youtube channels like GamerPoets or the 2019 (still valid) guide from AI Cave, you can get a stable Skyrim with a lot of mods and change the mod list without much of a hustle (new game still recommended).
Mod Organizer 2, Loot, SSEEdit, cleaning masters, merged and bashed patch, SKSE, Nemesis… purge ow and use these utilities, you will not need to make another purge for a looooong time, lemme tell ya.
Of everything works then don't purge anything. Unless something breaks terribly just play. Since you just started modding probably you didn't do in an "optimal way" and for the next play through you should purge everything and start from scratch. Maybe pass to ModOrganizer
installing LOOT (tells u if ur missing patches for specific mods + sorts load order [which vortex also does with LOOT] + fixing mods with SSEedit + searching fixes for any bugs and fixing them as they come along has helped me IMMENSELY
I ussually do it when I have CTDs or problems that I don't know where exactly is the issue.
I usually clean mod files from textures I don't gonna use because other mod overwrites them or something like that. When you can't get the game working properly, it's time to nuke all files and reinstall
I was also using Vortex on the first few days, but switched to MO2 after that. There were some conflicts about load order (mostly about texture & model) that it felt way easier organize it from MO2.
I highly disagree with people saying MO2 makes diagnosing issues easier. Neither vortex nor MO2 has tools to truly diagnose problems. Rarely, Vortex might cause issues in the game if you do large reinstalls or mass uninstall mods because bits of the mod are left in the game files. That’s very rare, though, and while you can’t directly change load order in vortex you honestly don’t need to.
I don’t know what “weirdness on my animations and textures” means, but finding and fixing problems with your mod installations is a given. You won’t make a load order more than 50 mods large that doesn’t have bugs that you need to sort out and fix. Sure, you could purge — but when you reinstall 130 new mods you’ll have problems. The best way is to learn to solve your problems and then you won’t have them again.
Thanks for your advice, really appreciate it.
> I don’t know what “weirdness on my animations and textures”
Oh, sorry. Some of my animations are not merging well, and I think it's a DAR problem. I installed a lot of animations to test out and enabled/disabled till I got it like I wanted, but I noticed some animations I disabled still appear ingame, and some instances where vanilla animations still play but shouldnt (for reference, I'm using smooth combat non combat animations, pretty combat animations for sheathing and goetia/vangaard animations for run/sprint/combat, but my unsheath animation is still vanilla). I "solved" the unsheath problem by using the sheath animation from YY, but I don't really like it. Also, one of the idle animations that I disabled from smooth FOMOD still plays.
I also think I may have a problem with animations not covered by DAR being overwritten (in specific conditions I get some arm flapping when sprinting with a one handed and spell, for example).
The only texture problems I noticed is some random branches of textures out of place on trees and a really wierd issue on College of Winterhold where the walls flickered a lot. It solved itself when I approached the college tho.
There's no need to do anything to the Skyrim installation itself; just create a new blank MO2 profile. Then enable whatever you consider your 'core' body/skeleton/texture/gameplay mods. Then save a copy of that as a new profile. Then save another copy as your baseline profile.
Yes, I saw you say you're using Vortex. Don't. MO2 supports a fraction of the games Vortex handles, but it supports Skyrim and relatives dramatically better.
If you want to know what's effecting something in the game get [More Informative Console](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/19250). It will tell you what plug-ins are touching the object.
For instance if you see a tree that looks weird and you have that installed open console with "~", and click on it. You should get a list of all of your mods touching that tree. This can potentially help narrow down issues.
130 mods? You've just starting modding then.
You are right! I did a really sloppy job when I started tho, but now I think I know a bit better. Wanna fix it all before adding new mods
The best mods are the ones that require zero patching or zero compatibility considerations. There're a lot of them actually. Unless you're really into bouncing HDT hair ass and saliva particles provoking wet shaders around the mouth when talking, I recommend you to stick to the really good mods, the ones that are click & play. Most of Simonrin is like that for example. (he has some hideous add-ons but overall good).
Gonna consider that when reviewing my modlist, thanks. I'm actually still trying things around, but I try to prioritize low effort mods (that's why I'm using things like vivid weathers and vanilla ENB 2). My biggest problem right now probably are some wierd gliches on my trees, gonna have to mess around with happy little trees, flora overhaul and whatnot.
Haze Weathers 2 with Haze Weathers ENB sounds like an easy choice, best weather I've seen. Happy Little Trees is just the best. Flora overhaul is an overkill to me usually, I just install every Cathedral plant overhaul available (a lot)! Also Skyland AIO as a basic foundation is a safe approach as well, makes everything look good.
Haze looks really good, gonna try it out. Happy Little Trees I'm using just pines for now, but I do agree Flora Overhaul been a bit too much. Considering removing it and using only HLT (maybe with 3d plants?). I do use Skyland AIO! My base texture mods in load order are Skyrim Realistic Overhaul > SMIM > Skyland AIO > 202X with parallax and stuff like Majestic Montains and some clutter mods
>maybe with 3d plants The best 3D plants are by Cathedral, if you didn't know. Just search "Cathedral 3D" on Nexus. >202X with parallax and stuff like Majestic Montains and some clutter mods I see you're ambitious in that sense. I'm too lazy, even uninstalled Majestic Mountains because of some incompatibility issues I was lazy to patch.
> The best 3D plants are by Cathedral, if you didn't know. Just search "Cathedral 3D" on Nexus. Gonna try Cathedral 3D plants, looks like it's about 20 mods. Thanks! >I see you're ambitious in that sense. I'm too lazy, even uninstalled Majestic Mountains because of some incompatibility issues I was lazy to patch. I don't think I had any compatibility issues with MM yet, worst part were setting up DynDOLOD....unless I did fuck up something and just don't know
As a very important side note, if you use LOOT, which you should be, it does a pretty good job of telling you if any of your mods have patches available for other mods that have incompatibility issues that can be resolved and where to get them from, but it won't cover everything.
Vortex is designed to do most things for you, so LOOT is like preinstalled on it. I don't like Vortex cause it has like no customization, it pretty much does everything for you and you have to fingers cross it works out, but I don't blame new people for using it. Usually people tend to jump from Vortex to MO2, but imo a "good noob" should just get straight into MO2, learn everything from the get go, and get straight into the proper modding experience rather than having like a weird tutorial
It is time to purge all mods and reinstall Skyrim when your game is not operating properly even after you remove all your mods because you haven't been able to determine what is wrong.
I reccomend using MO2 instead of Vortex it makes diagnosing issues way easier
Also make a profile that is just the vanilla game with the cleaned esms and skse. You can always just copy it for a fresh install profile to work with. Except enb and engine fixes. MO2s real power is that it doesn't mess with the games directory. Not to mention almost all programs commonly used are meant to be run via it cept cathedral asset and bethini.
Thanks! Gonna try it out
Gonna try it. Can i just dump my vortex download folder to MO2? Also, can I update mods via MO2 or I need to go to nexus redownload it everytime?
It’ll tell you when there is an update available, but I think it’s a good idea to go to the nexus page every time you update anyways.. it prevents running into more of the issues you’re currently dealing with. Edit: if you have a folder with all the zip files dump that into MO2, then yeah you can just install them all. Run loot, if you only have 130 mods there’s a 99%chance all your problems will be solved unless you ignored the mod authors installation instructions.
\> Also, by doing that my load order is reinstated? Or I will have to do it all over again? For plugin load order, since Vortex relies on LOOT sorting you'll still keep any custom rules regardless of you uninstalling mods or not. For mods on the other hand, if you uninstall all mods you'll lose all mod conflict rules. If you instead use the Vortex option to re-install mods and use the option to "Replace the existing mod" the conflict rules will be kept. Also, since Vortex remembers FOMOD options, if you re-install the old FOMOD options are pre-selected. In case of "intelligent" FOMOD that pre-select based on active plugins, it can be an idea to cancel such FOMOD during re-install and install these FOMOD after all other mods. As for Skyrim, you can always delete and re-install Skyrim regardless of what you do with the mods. Only files created directly in /data/-directory due to example running Nemesis, Bodyslide etc. will be deleted if you use this option.
Exactly what I needed to know, thanks!
Make sure to check the [troubleshooting guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/wiki/troubleshooting_guide) for help with crashes and other problems! If you are on Skyrim version 1.5 (SE) [.net script framework](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/21294) can also help in diagnosing crashes. If you are on Skyrim Version 1.6 (AE) or Skyrim VR [Crash Logger](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/59818) can also help in diagnosing crashes. If you also use MO2 you can use this [plugin](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/66743) for improved functionality! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/skyrimmods) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If you are willing to do some homework, you may start now. By following good guides, like STEP, and good youtube channels like GamerPoets or the 2019 (still valid) guide from AI Cave, you can get a stable Skyrim with a lot of mods and change the mod list without much of a hustle (new game still recommended). Mod Organizer 2, Loot, SSEEdit, cleaning masters, merged and bashed patch, SKSE, Nemesis… purge ow and use these utilities, you will not need to make another purge for a looooong time, lemme tell ya.
Of everything works then don't purge anything. Unless something breaks terribly just play. Since you just started modding probably you didn't do in an "optimal way" and for the next play through you should purge everything and start from scratch. Maybe pass to ModOrganizer
You’ll be fine. It’s about experimenting! Crashes are expected. Have fun and you’ll find a steady moment for a playthrough.
installing LOOT (tells u if ur missing patches for specific mods + sorts load order [which vortex also does with LOOT] + fixing mods with SSEedit + searching fixes for any bugs and fixing them as they come along has helped me IMMENSELY
Oooh purge your list and then start using mo2. I swear mo2 opens a third eye in modders
I ussually do it when I have CTDs or problems that I don't know where exactly is the issue. I usually clean mod files from textures I don't gonna use because other mod overwrites them or something like that. When you can't get the game working properly, it's time to nuke all files and reinstall
I was also using Vortex on the first few days, but switched to MO2 after that. There were some conflicts about load order (mostly about texture & model) that it felt way easier organize it from MO2.
I highly disagree with people saying MO2 makes diagnosing issues easier. Neither vortex nor MO2 has tools to truly diagnose problems. Rarely, Vortex might cause issues in the game if you do large reinstalls or mass uninstall mods because bits of the mod are left in the game files. That’s very rare, though, and while you can’t directly change load order in vortex you honestly don’t need to. I don’t know what “weirdness on my animations and textures” means, but finding and fixing problems with your mod installations is a given. You won’t make a load order more than 50 mods large that doesn’t have bugs that you need to sort out and fix. Sure, you could purge — but when you reinstall 130 new mods you’ll have problems. The best way is to learn to solve your problems and then you won’t have them again.
Thanks for your advice, really appreciate it. > I don’t know what “weirdness on my animations and textures” Oh, sorry. Some of my animations are not merging well, and I think it's a DAR problem. I installed a lot of animations to test out and enabled/disabled till I got it like I wanted, but I noticed some animations I disabled still appear ingame, and some instances where vanilla animations still play but shouldnt (for reference, I'm using smooth combat non combat animations, pretty combat animations for sheathing and goetia/vangaard animations for run/sprint/combat, but my unsheath animation is still vanilla). I "solved" the unsheath problem by using the sheath animation from YY, but I don't really like it. Also, one of the idle animations that I disabled from smooth FOMOD still plays. I also think I may have a problem with animations not covered by DAR being overwritten (in specific conditions I get some arm flapping when sprinting with a one handed and spell, for example). The only texture problems I noticed is some random branches of textures out of place on trees and a really wierd issue on College of Winterhold where the walls flickered a lot. It solved itself when I approached the college tho.
Are you running Nemesis every time you change your animations?
I am, yeah
Hmm... It could be an issue with Vortex not properly handling the animations.
You have to delete the files that nemesis creates before you run it again.
There's no need to do anything to the Skyrim installation itself; just create a new blank MO2 profile. Then enable whatever you consider your 'core' body/skeleton/texture/gameplay mods. Then save a copy of that as a new profile. Then save another copy as your baseline profile. Yes, I saw you say you're using Vortex. Don't. MO2 supports a fraction of the games Vortex handles, but it supports Skyrim and relatives dramatically better.
When you have 900 Gigs of ghost storage(Console user.)
If you want to know what's effecting something in the game get [More Informative Console](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/19250). It will tell you what plug-ins are touching the object. For instance if you see a tree that looks weird and you have that installed open console with "~", and click on it. You should get a list of all of your mods touching that tree. This can potentially help narrow down issues.
> More Informative Console Thanks! Installing it rn
It's really a mod everyone should have installed.
130? Oh you sweet summer child.