- Nov 30, 2010
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Greetings all, so since you are reading this tutorial that must mean you want to learn how to mod Skyrim. If not... Well I suppose you should read before clicking on articles then.
Just a PSA: This article is not meant to be a huge all encompassing article that teaches you every little thing, this is more of the inexperienced members that need a kick start in a short and simple fashion, I know when I am reading things I get flustered when there are 50 pages of instructions just to install a couple mods.
If you are a huge modder, this guide is not for you, feel free to point out mistakes and things I should add in but don't knock me for not teaching you the more in-depth things such as how to optimize textures to get every ounce of performance.
Well lest just hop into it then. Here is a table of contents:
1... Modding basics (Good practices, base requirements for mods, etc)
2... Load order
3... Bashed patch
4... etc (If I think of anything I missed, I'll post it here)
1 - Modding basics -
So the basics of modding come down to these simple rules with one optional though highly recommended rule.
Also download these programs as you will need them for 99% of mods.
LOOT, WRYE Bash, SKSE,
The first couple are easy.
1. Know what you are downloading and ask yourself am I actually going to use this? You can download hundreds of graphical mods but are you really going to see the difference between a 256 bumble bee texture and a 1024 bumble bee texture? (the answer is no)
2. SKSE, download the latest version and use it. Can't mod without it, no if ands or buts.
3. FNIS, This one is really easy, if you have a mod that needs FNIS you will know, it will tell you in the "required mods" section. A general rule is if you are using a custom animation (player, npc, skeleton, etc) then you likely will need FNIS.
4. Steam workshop sucks, it doesn't let you choose load order easily and some mods have trouble being removed.
5. Once a mod is in your save file the scripts will always be there for the remainder of that save, there are programs that can help you get rid of this problem but I haven't found many of them to be worth there salt. (a script is basically like an instruction for a mod, say you have a mod that casts a spell after you jump or something, that would be accomplished by a script so when you get rid of that mod the game will keep calling that script each time you jump. Normally this wouldn't be an issue but some mods go crazy with the scripts and can really slow down your game.)
6. Don't install to many script heavy mods, I know most of them look amazing but having to many can be just as detrimental as having to many graphics mods.
7. Speaking of graphics mods, the Vram on your GPU is paramount to the size and amount of graphics mods you can have. Same with ENBs. I won't talk about ENBs or graphics mods here since that can go hugely in depth when doing extra things like tweaking ENBs and optimizing textures etc.
8. You will almost always need to remake a bashed patch when adding mods and definitely always when removing mods, get into this habit.
9. Please please please use a mod loader, I highly recommend Mod Organizer but Nexus Mod Manager is acceptable aswell. (this was the not required but recommended rule I was talking about earlier) (more on why I recommend it in the "ETC" section)
Alright now onto the load order part of this guide, for that you need a program called LOOT and a bit of brain power.
2: - Load Order -
Firstly download LOOT, install it.
-Mod organizer instruction start-
If you are using mod organizer then you are going to have to run the program through it for it to see the mods you have installed.
To do so hit the gears icon then name it whatever you like in the title field.
and in the binary field find where you installed loot and choose the loot.exe file.
Then when you want to use loot you simply select it from the drop down box and hit Run.
Then hit sort, let it finish working, hit apply.
-Mod organizer instruction end-
So you might be thinking well what a load order and what does it matter, the answer to that is simple yet complex at the same time. A load order is the order in which mods get loaded, like the name implies, and as for why that is important is because of the way skyrims mods get loaded. If you have multiple mods that change the same thing then the one loaded last wins.
Now I know what you might be thinking, when would I want to have multiple mods that change the same thing? Well the High Res DLC is (technically) considered a mod, if it didn't work this way you wouldn't be able to change anything that that changed.
So with this knowledge in mind its important to check whether LOOTs load order makes sense to you the load order should go Main file then any files that depend on that file to work. Your bashed patch will 99% of the time want to be the very last thing in the load order despite where LOOT puts it.
TL: DR If not using Mod Organizer just run loot, hit sort, wait for a bit, hit apply on the new window, done. But make sure the load order makes logical sense.
3: - Bashed Patch -
To start explaining why a bashed patch is needed I first need to explain what a leveled list is. A leveled list is basically the list of loot a mob/merchant has on them. This includes the things vendors sell you. Now remember the thing I mentioned early about mods overwriting changes the lower they are in the mod list? That includes the leveled list. You can have 40 sets of modded armor but if they all change the leveled list and you don't have a bashed patch then only the last file that changed the leveled list will be used.
A bashed patch is always necessary if you do anything that changes the leveled lists.
To make a bashed patch, first run LOOT to get your load order sorted and it helps tell WRYE bash what to do, then run wrye bash and after you get a new screen that should look like this:
Right click "Bashed Patch, 0" then hit "Rebuild Patch" then untick the "merge Patches" button if it isn't already then "Build Patch".
Put the new patch at the end of your load order and activate it.
-Mod Organizer Instructions Start-
Follow the guide for LOOTs Mod Organizer setup but replace LOOT with WRYE BASH
-Mod Organizer Instructions End-
I think that covers the basics of modding skyrim and common problems people have. If I missed anything feel free to point it out.
Just a PSA: This article is not meant to be a huge all encompassing article that teaches you every little thing, this is more of the inexperienced members that need a kick start in a short and simple fashion, I know when I am reading things I get flustered when there are 50 pages of instructions just to install a couple mods.
If you are a huge modder, this guide is not for you, feel free to point out mistakes and things I should add in but don't knock me for not teaching you the more in-depth things such as how to optimize textures to get every ounce of performance.
Well lest just hop into it then. Here is a table of contents:
1... Modding basics (Good practices, base requirements for mods, etc)
2... Load order
3... Bashed patch
4... etc (If I think of anything I missed, I'll post it here)
1 - Modding basics -
So the basics of modding come down to these simple rules with one optional though highly recommended rule.
Also download these programs as you will need them for 99% of mods.
LOOT, WRYE Bash, SKSE,
The first couple are easy.
1. Know what you are downloading and ask yourself am I actually going to use this? You can download hundreds of graphical mods but are you really going to see the difference between a 256 bumble bee texture and a 1024 bumble bee texture? (the answer is no)
2. SKSE, download the latest version and use it. Can't mod without it, no if ands or buts.
3. FNIS, This one is really easy, if you have a mod that needs FNIS you will know, it will tell you in the "required mods" section. A general rule is if you are using a custom animation (player, npc, skeleton, etc) then you likely will need FNIS.
4. Steam workshop sucks, it doesn't let you choose load order easily and some mods have trouble being removed.
5. Once a mod is in your save file the scripts will always be there for the remainder of that save, there are programs that can help you get rid of this problem but I haven't found many of them to be worth there salt. (a script is basically like an instruction for a mod, say you have a mod that casts a spell after you jump or something, that would be accomplished by a script so when you get rid of that mod the game will keep calling that script each time you jump. Normally this wouldn't be an issue but some mods go crazy with the scripts and can really slow down your game.)
6. Don't install to many script heavy mods, I know most of them look amazing but having to many can be just as detrimental as having to many graphics mods.
7. Speaking of graphics mods, the Vram on your GPU is paramount to the size and amount of graphics mods you can have. Same with ENBs. I won't talk about ENBs or graphics mods here since that can go hugely in depth when doing extra things like tweaking ENBs and optimizing textures etc.
8. You will almost always need to remake a bashed patch when adding mods and definitely always when removing mods, get into this habit.
9. Please please please use a mod loader, I highly recommend Mod Organizer but Nexus Mod Manager is acceptable aswell. (this was the not required but recommended rule I was talking about earlier) (more on why I recommend it in the "ETC" section)
Alright now onto the load order part of this guide, for that you need a program called LOOT and a bit of brain power.
2: - Load Order -
Firstly download LOOT, install it.
-Mod organizer instruction start-
If you are using mod organizer then you are going to have to run the program through it for it to see the mods you have installed.
To do so hit the gears icon then name it whatever you like in the title field.
and in the binary field find where you installed loot and choose the loot.exe file.
Then when you want to use loot you simply select it from the drop down box and hit Run.
Then hit sort, let it finish working, hit apply.
-Mod organizer instruction end-
So you might be thinking well what a load order and what does it matter, the answer to that is simple yet complex at the same time. A load order is the order in which mods get loaded, like the name implies, and as for why that is important is because of the way skyrims mods get loaded. If you have multiple mods that change the same thing then the one loaded last wins.
Now I know what you might be thinking, when would I want to have multiple mods that change the same thing? Well the High Res DLC is (technically) considered a mod, if it didn't work this way you wouldn't be able to change anything that that changed.
So with this knowledge in mind its important to check whether LOOTs load order makes sense to you the load order should go Main file then any files that depend on that file to work. Your bashed patch will 99% of the time want to be the very last thing in the load order despite where LOOT puts it.
TL: DR If not using Mod Organizer just run loot, hit sort, wait for a bit, hit apply on the new window, done. But make sure the load order makes logical sense.
3: - Bashed Patch -
To start explaining why a bashed patch is needed I first need to explain what a leveled list is. A leveled list is basically the list of loot a mob/merchant has on them. This includes the things vendors sell you. Now remember the thing I mentioned early about mods overwriting changes the lower they are in the mod list? That includes the leveled list. You can have 40 sets of modded armor but if they all change the leveled list and you don't have a bashed patch then only the last file that changed the leveled list will be used.
A bashed patch is always necessary if you do anything that changes the leveled lists.
To make a bashed patch, first run LOOT to get your load order sorted and it helps tell WRYE bash what to do, then run wrye bash and after you get a new screen that should look like this:
Right click "Bashed Patch, 0" then hit "Rebuild Patch" then untick the "merge Patches" button if it isn't already then "Build Patch".
Put the new patch at the end of your load order and activate it.
-Mod Organizer Instructions Start-
Follow the guide for LOOTs Mod Organizer setup but replace LOOT with WRYE BASH
-Mod Organizer Instructions End-
I think that covers the basics of modding skyrim and common problems people have. If I missed anything feel free to point it out.
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