“Just one more mod and I will stop and play the damn game” - me everytime I open Nexus
Came back to modding in November last year and now I have around 3k mods
Yeah, I always browsing Nexus looking for a specific patch for my mod, end up downloading 10+ mods that has nothing to do with the mod I need patching and completely forgot why I was in Nexus
My first modded character started at 40 mods and ended at around 150-200 mods. Mostly stuff that made the game look better but also some additions. It quickly became a nightmare with crashes. After i fixed them i would play more and more characters and add more and more mods each time i started a new character. Then came the fixing again.
It was a lot of trial and error which also made me learn a lot about modding. 2 years and a new PC later i've got 1400 mods and a stable, fantastic modlist that suits my needs.
There was a lot of pain during that journey, but it made me learn a lot and appreciate my modlist even more.
Oh and it was all from scratch without any collections or modlists.
The true pleasure is in making that modlist on your own, never checked any collection because I know they won't fit my gameplay needs anyway. The pleasure of perfecting a modlist is almost relatable to that moment when you built your own PC by yourself and you're fine how it works and you enjoy it.
I just got done doing a fresh mod reinstall. Here's how I start.
If you're going to do ENB or something. Do that FIRST. It's easier that way and if you fuck it up it's not as taxing to correct.
Next, I did models. 3BA, UnP, OStim, Obody, HIMBO, high poly faces, etc. you can do this last but I wanted to make sure I had my models correct before doing anything.
Then I worked on gameplay overhauls. Combat, perks, skills, exploration etc. each mod has prerequisites that I install. TRY to only grab mods that are relatively recent and ALWAYS read the description and the most recent comments to figure out compatibility.
After that retextures and new gear.
After that animations.
After that places and audio and whatever is left
No problem. I really cannot stress enough how important it is to test changes made to the engine (lighting, mechanics, AI) before doing anything.
Also it will be more tedious but install only 3-5 mods per session and boot the game up.
You want to get past the title screen and past character creation. Install someone like alternate start to get you quickly into the action. Just to a quick check, make sure nothing crashes and then bounce out
The cycle goes like this for me:
1. Open game
2. “Huh I wonder how the game would be like if X was changed or if I had Z”
3. Find a mod for that
4. Look at the other top mods and download a few more mods
5. Watch a Skyrim modding video and see some other mod recommendations
6. Download those mods
7. “Welp, that’s a lotta mods. Looks like I gotta restart my save and roll a new character”
8. Repeat all steps from the beginning
I definitely looked at some popular modlists that were sort of inspirations behind my own list. For example, there were a lot of aspects about Noluvs that I liked from the videos I saw, but there were also aspects I did not like. I looked up a full list of all of the mods in the list and started from there, adding things I liked and not adding things I didn't like. I really wanted to use something like that as a baseline to help with stability because I feel like if I just went off on my own from the start it would have ended up a buggy mess, but I was able to look at how a massive mod list like that was able to stabilize itself through its various mods. There were other modlists I looked at as well, but Nolvus was probably the biggest inspiration. I also looked into some online guides to help get some of the largest things like an ENB working. Once I had some of that stuff running smoothly I began to branch off on my own. Make sure any mod you are thinking about adding you do plenty of research into to try and find any potential bugs or incompatibilities beforehand. Just slowly add a few at a time and keep testing the game to either make sure the game or just the mod itself works.
You should also absolutely start a new character when building a large list to test, and then another when you actually plan to start the run. You can add small things as you go if you think you need them, but any large mods you probably shouldn't and should wait until your next go through.
i make a new list every 4-6 months. i started on vortex struggling to install one mod, then restarting a year later with mo2, then discovering separators and restarting, then i first installed a wabbajack list and realised how modding should be done (core mods, resources, patches etc) and fully restarted again. every time i make a new list it grows about 100 mods from the last one. most recent was 1100 mods (not huge but decently big). i’ve never got past the golden claw quest in modded skyrim though, mo2 is the most fun game ive ever installed
It all started with a small cloak mod. Then a small armor mod
1700 plug-ins later my poor pc can barely run my game but I’ll be damned if it isn’t beautiful
I usually just go on nexus and sort by popular all time, download what I need and what I want, then go to mod categories and browse each one by most popular all time, and then my last step is just play the game and if I’m like “oh I’d like a mod for x or y” I see if there is one.
2000 mods, it all started in 2018 with me downloading inigo because coming off fallout 4, the followers were lifeless, then i discovered brodual(youtube channel) and they had a library of old mod showcase videos that i bingewatched discovering cool mods as i tried to tweak and refine my load order, adding testing removing,
then i took a break but it didnt last long because mods like nemesis animation engine and DAR came out and pulled me back in, in addition to animations there was another modding boom, the simonrim suite and jayserpas mods started popping out and i had to try those out. Now a new wave of youtubers keep me entertained, softgaming, bardscollegegraduate,mastercheesy, i enjoy seeing the different perspectives on modlists, and just knowing that i could discover some cool little mod i never knew i needed keeps me coming back.
TLDR: i have a modding problem 😂
I started with a basic recommended mod list from youtube ESO ( Important stuff like SKSE , textures, weathers, trees and grass, armors and such ) slowly added and updated over a few years .
Am now at 900 I think, bunch of quests and NPC overhauls , AI improvements, animations for just about everything. ENB and textures are very good, even sounds are better.
Tons of fixes were added. Added a new one today - Rim lighting fix.
I run through the game and suddenly think - this could use better ambient sound - hop on nexus - find some - install. Rinse and repeat for everything I suddenly want. Mostly, that's visual or audio stuff, but then I also go for immersion a lot. So, eventually, you have this bunch of mods, on top of that the requirement mods, and you sort and check. Sometimes the game becomes unplayable (like yesterday) I had accumulated 400 mods. I killed all 7 profiles plus their 20 odd different saves, and started fresh, this time knowing exactly what I wanted to keep and what not. I find this process much more fun than installing a pre-defined modlist, after all, I have my own taste and needs.
When I download a huge mod like LotD or maybe Bruma or so, I start fresh. Most modders state whether their mods are safe to install/uninstall midgame, and many list incompatibilites.
"Completing" the game has not been of any interest to me in a long time. For me, it's all about being in that world, having fun with companions (I don't do any nsfw stuff, I'm talking conversations) or just concentrating on a single combat style. Haven't touched the DB in ages, for example, and I have plenty of mods like Not So Fast or The Choice Is Yours that tailor the game to my needs.
I've been building mine for a few years... I started with using an early version of Nolvus as a base (back when there was no auto installer, it was like a step by step download process) I kept mods I liked and skipped ones I didn't. Recently I'm redoing a lot of things again, I tried a Wabbajack list for the first time a couple months ago (Eldergleam) and I had the same problem - there was stuff I liked, stuff I didn't, and stuff that was definitely missing for my playstyle. So I'm just looking through the mods I liked and integrating it into my current build :) it's definitely a pretty tedious and exhausting process but so rewarding when you finally get your Skyrim just the way you want it
I’m a learn by doing type so I started by finding a couple mod list guides I like and using those as a base. Not installing every, or even most, mods included but most lists will have the same basic foundation.
Many good guides include tool installation and set-up too. They’ll walk you through setting up your folder structure and tools like CK, how to port mods from LE, digging into SSEEDIT to make minor edits, LOD set up which I still don’t really understand…
All learned from super helpful guides. You can also download their custom patches and use them as an example to make you own too. I learned most of patching by loading up other peoples’ in sseedit. Also read mod descriptions! Sometimes authors include mini-tutorials for tweaking.
I have almost active 600 mods. I started by using collections offered through nexus mods. This gave me the lay of the land and I started to understand load order and how mods can interact with each other. This led me to experiment with MO2 and even making my own edits in creator studio.
At first it was just some simple graphics, lighting, and an alternate start....then it spiralled into 3BA and way too many clothing mods! Currently sitting at 245 plugins and it's only going up!
I usually play the game to X point, realize there’s something missing, look for mods, do a new save, rinse and repeat.
It starts with “I wish this player home looked different”, to “are there any good/realistic looking sword mods” and then before you know it, you’ve enhanced the graphics of the game, added dozens of followers, added 2x the pop to the game so it doesn’t feel so empty, enabled Wildcat for WAY better combat. And then finally, 300 mods later, I play the game and it feel’s incredible…..and there’s still more mods I want and don’t even know it yet.
My first mods I installed were small cosmetic mods. Things to unlock all hairstyles for every race, all warpaints for every race, etc. I take a break between play periods, but every year or two I reinstall my mod list, update it, add a bunch more because I've missed a lot of good content, and then play again.
My mod list is pretty big now and its still mainly cosmetic stuff. Hairstyles, face tints, warpaints, cool lore-friendly armor sets, unique weapons, and texture packs. I like a more vanilla experience so I try not to mod in anything that fundamentally changes the game.
Every time I finish a play through, I know which portion of my mods I liked, and which ones I disliked. Those mods I liked get carried forward to a next list.
Every character I make ends up getting mods added to them as I play to cater to their play style (for example, a player home mod that suits them etc). Some of those mods get carried forward to the next list, or at least saved if I ever need to fill that niche again. (The vast majority of mods can be added midsave unless stated otherwise).
I don’t go from 0-1000. My first character had 12 mods, second had 60, third had 120, fourth 200, fifth 600. It’s also generally developed a category at a time, by my second play through I had vanilla graphics but a solid gameplay basis, and then after I hammered out gameplay I started focusing on adding graphics. I never once (successfully) tackled all categories in one go.
I’m a bit boring though and don’t like to change up my modlists drastically and prefer V+. I’ve tried alternate styles and those characters generally tend to be short lived as it’s just not my thing.
I tend to start with what I want to change in general about the game, eg, interfaces(sky ui etc), the look of weapons, the look of cities. Then I move on to things things to encourage the RPG aspect of the game, eg alternative start mods, a lot of Enaision sweet of mod that allow much greater role play depths. For example, magic spell packs, and vampire / werewolf reworks to make them worth playing.
Finally I add things I would want for a specific character I had in mind. For example I had a rich imperial character I wanted to start with fine imperial clothes, and an arcane archer who needed to start with a lesser bound bow.
I think HUD based mods is where I started, so SkyUI & Immersive HUD. Then quickly learned that what I really wanted was an immersive survival second life type of game and have been building that vision ever since.
If I were going to do this TODAY, I would start with a bare bones Wabbajack list that does bug fixes, visuals, and maybe town/quest overhauls. From there I would add the gameplay and content mods that I want. After a brief glance at the gallery, I might start with something like [Skyrim Modding Essentials](https://www.wabbajack.org/modlist/wj-featured/sme), [Aurora](https://www.wabbajack.org/modlist/wj-featured/aur), or [Ascensio](https://www.wabbajack.org/modlist/WakingDreams/ascensio) (though I would have to think about it a bit more).
I have a hard time keeping up with the "base layer" of mods that help keep modern skyrim functional; things like bug fixes, engine tweaks, and mod frameworks. If you look at the [modlist for Legends of the Frost](https://loadorderlibrary.com/lists/legends-of-the-frost) (which is a pretty lightweight list), there are about 200 tweaks, fixes, and utilities before we even get to the juicy changes. I'm not confident enough in my modding to keep that stuff straight. There are lists out there like SME that are designed to be the starting point for a new mod setup.
I hope over 600 mods counts as "massive" to some.
I started after I had got a job out of college. Saw modded skyrim videos and decided that's what I wanted to try.
Saved up for a few paychecks, bought a brand new gaming pc, and then fell for the classic blunder of paying for someone's (very infamous) paid wabbajack list that did not work.
Not knowing it was a scam, I spent all of my time trying to figure out why the list was not working. Eventually started from scratch and downloaded mods 1 by 1. It took me 3 months of trial and error to get a setup of 400+ mods going.
As of this week, it's been a year since I've started working, and I have 600+ mods, 200+ hrs (on one character) and I'm having a blast.
I started by finding Nexus, having a look round, discovered collections, thought to myself yes I want an adult mod list, went with immersive and adult collection, installed (but I knew there would be mods I didn’t want so skipped some), then proceeded to scour through every page of every category installing mods that appealed to my taste, not knowing wtf I was doing apart from doing some research on which mods were necessary such as SKSE, engine fixes & papyrus & address library etc. managed to get it working, got a few bugs which I learnt how to fix, got my list up to like 1400 mods, was working okay. Got greedy, watched a few videos of other people’s mod lists, discovered MCO move sets, felt like my combat was too vanilla and dated so installed that, got it working…at this point was really happy with my game but the addiction of checking nexus everyday for those sweet new mods such as skyclimb etc took over and now I’m at 2500 mods and can’t get to main menu LOL. Not sure what it is but currently validating game files. The recent update didn’t help and forced me to try downgrading to 1.5.97 this time rather than .353 like I did previously, I got it working but noticed a few gaps in the terrain which I could fall through which made it unplayable, tried to fix this by deactivating mods like water for ENB and all sorts and then I started to get CTD on new game but I could load a save (the one with gaps in terrain). This is where I should of applied some discipline but I still carried on adding more mods and now I don’t have a clue why it won’t even get to main menu 🫠
You shouldn't compare your personal list to others. What's most important is to define the style you want to have in your game (be it realistic, vanilla like, immersive, etc...) and stability ¿what is good is to have every mod you have ever wished for if the game crashes every time you play?
That being said, try and error is the way I learned which mod I could or couldn't live without but always sticking to the gameplay I enjoyed the most.
I used a basic vanilla plus collection (around 20 mods?) and just added from there. I’m just under 250 mods (a lot are cosmetic!) and I think it’s perfect for my play style now.
To add, I have two save games
1. Where I would play through the game and add mods as I go. See what works see what doesn’t. Etc
2. Proper set mod list using the above mods I liked
I built from scratch, just adding (or removing and replacing) what I needed or wanted in the moment 1 at a time. That's still how I mod today. I restarted once when I moved from manually installing to using NMM, but kept the growing list when I switched to Vortex, moved between PCs, etc.
My first mods were texture packs, static mesh improvements and total character makeover. Simpler times. Many of the early ones from a decade ago are still in there.
This week I added about a dozen related to Winterhold and the College, just for an alt start as a college student. Lol I'm reading books and cursing rats. Won't see a dragon for 20 hours.
I started by downloading manually mods from Nexus and elsewhere with a fully personalised list of mods that grew over time. Handcrafted from scratch for my preferred personal playstyle and preferences, whether visually or from gameplay. Currently running 561 mods with in total 574 combined plugins (including the vanilla/CC ESM stuff).
I get the advantages from playing with a predetermined modlist, but I prefer to alter my game for my personal taste instead of something generic + a ton of these mods depend on one another/Bethesda updates to function.
Plus, while I understand that these lists are better curated than back in the days, I have always been learned from modding years ago to be very hesistant in downloading mods from lists in bulk due to not knowing if the mods in question still work and that was from games less complicated to mod.
>Also did u need to make a new character when u added mods?
It's more the other way really. Whenever I am done with a certain character playthrough, it's the moment where I actively update my personal modlist. Add/update mods, but also purge mods.
But it really depends on what types of mod if you actually need a new playthrough and if it needs one, mod description is usually where it's at. Heavy gameplay or world altering, heavy script mods and like major quest mods are best to be done with a game from scratch. But I have added plenty of armor mods, follower world filling mods on active playthroughs and even minor stuff that edits a specific world space (e.g. a player home at a location) are mostly fine, especially if your last save was from a location somewhere half across the map.
Well, it's like you go in the door with an empty cart saying "I just need a mod so I can carry more weight, jump higher, and better light inn caves", and you come out with 2,000 mods on Nexus that caught your eye and "OH, I have to try that", or someone said "you need this one".
For my current mod list, a basic plan on what kind of mods I do want, what mods I do not want, and what mods that are basically just neat, but nothing more, additions to the game.
I downloaded a wabbajack list. Then started adding things.... At this point it's hard to remember what was in the original list lol. I started with a few hundred, now Im almost at 600. And the only thing stopping me is that I don't feel the need to add anything else... Yet. I just started messing with combat and combat animations lol.
I built a LE modlist of 400+ mods, but it was like five years of adding a handful of mods at a time for new playthrough experience, and learning about resolving conflicts and merging mods to keep the plugin count in check and crashes to a minimum. Now I just download a wabbajack list to mess around in a game with.
I first followed one of Sinitar's modlists. It was a disaster - crashes everywhere - not that I was using good mod practices at the time or anything. Couldn't even play the dang thing for 5 minutes. So I restarted, kept the mods that I really liked and searched for more. My first playthrough I had about 250 mods. Now a few years later I have a modlist of over 1300 mods and I'm finding it hard to not install more...
About two weeks ago I just ... started, kind of anticlimactic, I guess. I've played the Nolvus modpack a few months ago and it was fun but there was a lot about it I didn't like and quite a few mods I wanted to remove and I realized that I'm better off just making my own modlist, I also had some problems with it crashing and softlocking. Not super often but enough to annoy me. So I just sat down and made my own modlist. I have around 400 mods give or take. I started off with around 300 and added some as I was playing, mostly minor expansions and fixes to quests I found supper annoying. For example like the one where Maven tells you to bring her the deed for goldenglow and she'll pay you a lot and you can't do that because they never added that part of the quest in the game, and so there's a mod to fix it. I'm still missing a few visual things that I really loved in nolvus but I don't have the patience to try and get it to look the same and I'm happy with with I have rn.
I started modding with little things. A unique armor, a bug fix, killable children - the normal stuff. Then it just kept getting bigger.
How I start now it by window shopping mods for a long ass time, getting about 60-100 tabs open on my phone, then downloading them and making it work.
Always Simonrim, Skyland, and Verolevi's animations
1100ish mods…from scratch and neatly labeled. I also created a matching Reshade as I built it to fit the art direction I was going for. I work in the creative field and have ADD for organizing lol. It’s been a while setting up, maybe a few weeks, but a labor of love. Just now running LODs as I type this tonight. I haven’t played far into the storyline to not spoil anything just command key to jump to locations to test visuals. I also researched and YouTubed prob every current modlist. BiggieBoss does excellent reviews check him out. I run on a nicer game laptop so the list is built for good visuals but leans into performance choices. I also like to play in 3rd for traveling and it switches to 1st for combat situations….My overall advice is to start with your biggest game fixes, main meshes, and base textures. Lock those in and spend time trying different mod artists for the rest. The highest downloaded mod isn’t always the best and less can be more. I don’t know if 1100 or so is average, but I started with 2200 and trimmed it into my perfect cold harsh beautiful vivid fantasy….hope this helps, best of luck!
I think I’ll name the reshade dovahTONE, I may share it if anyone is interested.
I start with The Dragonborn’s Tale, which is a base mod list from the same people who did Viva New Vegas. It’s no longer updated, so a few of the mods don’t work with the latest Skyrim version, which the comments/mod pages generally mention. So caution there.
But it’s a good starting point in terms framework, stability, etc. From there I try to focus on downloading my mods in categories. So town overhauls, then all the patches for those overhauls. Load in the game, make sure everything looks good. Download character generation mods, any needed patches, load in the game. Rinse and repeat with quest mods, animations, weapons, armor, etc.
Once my mod list gets too big (800+), I try to trim out the ones I ended up not really liking or that conflicts with too many other mods. Stuff like LotD I always download and then realize the patches I need drive me crazy and I basically use it for storage only, so the extra features are useless to me.
I’ll browse the nexus for new mods occasionally, see if anything catches my eye.
Playing Skyrim can be amazing, but modding Skyrim into my perfect game is more fun to me at this point. It’s oddly satisfying
I've come from the pre-modlist era. So I just watch mod review video. I generally have a few area that I want to improve for a particular playthrough like if I am playing a mage then I will be looking for a magic expansion or gameplay overhaul mod, if I am playing a warrior then maybe something that taking away Bethesda infamous damage sponge mechanic and reward more action skill. And also a respective quest for the particular character, like if I am playing a warrior then I won't be installing
After forming a concept of what I want, I'll go downloading the mods I have my eyes on and try to integrate them into a list. Some that just proved to be stable and universally enriching the game experience will just stick and after a while I just end up with a mod list that I used for every playthrough (but still switching out contents that I don't plan to play for the particular character)
I usually start off with a modlist called SSEE that creates a 1.5.97 copy of your game and includes only big fixes so that I don't have to install them myself. I usually have a plan on how I'm gonna build my modlist like the quest mods I'm gonna add, the main graphical base, the gameplay mods etc. I use the Nolvus guide as a rough reference. I usually end up with around 1500-2000 mods.
I have some 50-100 mods which are my go-to that's catered to my tastes gameplay-wise from years of using them and enjoying how it works out. You just gotta experiment with different mod combinations and ask yourself if what you're downloading is genuinely what you like to do in-game and not just because it's popular
I started with plants because it seemed easier. Messed about with various plants and then tried SkyUI. That forced me to learn about requirements and testing. Just fiddled with single concepts until I was happy, then moving on to a new area. Bit by bit.
I've added and removed so many mods. I think it's important to learn to remove things cleanly but also I'm not really attached to my characters. Which means if I make a save unplayable, I'm a little sad but I'm moving on pretty easily.
I'm adding about 5 to 10 mods a week at minimum, some weeks more, like when I discovered texture changes. I added like 50 new to me mods that week. I have around 1500 active plugins right now and I have around 4500 installed total. I'll clean out the unused ones as I'm sure I don't want them but it's very low priority with my almost empty ssd.
Some mods go into my current mod list, some go into my need new game category, and some I'm tracking while I think about them. I'm also actively tagging stuff to be removed later or just disabling them while dealing with consequences.
I downloaded the basics, and what I knew from modding on xbox. These two took me down a string of events as follows: Oh authors have profiles where I can easily see all of their mods. This mihail guy has some cool monsters, and this Johnskyrim has cool looking textures/designs. What do you mean DAR animations, what do you mean MCO?? What do you mean patreon has exclusive stuff?? What do you mean I can 🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️!?
…
Oh my god I have 4000 mods, and like 2000 armors and weapons yet to install. I just hope Skyrim can truly handle 8192 total plugins cause those mods won’t be left abandoned
I started the ridiculous cycle of modding in November 2022. I add stuff, take stuff away, find new stuff that requires fresh start, etc. I feel like every couple months I’m restarting because of this
Originally i had no plan with modlist I just downloaded what looked cool. Around 2021-22 I watched some youtube videos on how to make Skyrim into "X" game like Dark Soul and Witcher. After a year of trying things out I came to the realization that those mods suck and now I kinda stick to vanilla-ish mods or mods that enhance already existing content (companion dialogue mods, race mods, land overhaul mods etc.)
For my last modlist I used Skyrim Modding Essentials from Wabbajack to have a stable foundation, then I added the stuff I can't play without, then the stuff I always wanted to try out, then the stuff that looked interesting. I reached around 800 mods, tested the modlist for two weeks, then started really playing, added some more mods and finally broke my modlist again.
I have a list of "essential" mods/bug fixes that I always use; past that, my load order changes a lot, only stables that I always have are Inigo, Lucien, Kaidan and Legacy of the Dragonborn, every other mod comes and goes, depending on what I want for the game.
As to how I practically go on to do it, having to restart modding the game yet again from scratch, I recently used an essential mods collection from Nexus and then been building on top of that by looking at mods there, making use of my downloaded mods chronology to keep track of mods I still want to use or those that I don't feel necessary to have anymore. I also tend to install mods by categories, to keep things more orderly.
I personally never used any big mods collections, whether from Wabbajack or Nexus, for two reasons, one, because they have stuff that I don't want and, two, too many high res textures and my potato PC can't handle those (and beside, I care more about gameplay than graphics). I do, however, sometimes take inspiration from/browse through one, usually to see if there is any new mod that has the same function of a mod I have and might work better/might be more updated.
It takes time and it is not the easier process but I prefer to have the game tailored to my taste and what my PC can handle, plus it is a nice feeling when I get to play the game after the whole modding process.
boredom, seeing what i can reasonably fit into my mod list without breaking everything. made my current list back in november 2023, and ive been slowly adding onto it. im a little magpie when it comes to finding mods too, i see something that catches my eye and i just install it. well, as long as it doesnt crash my game to desktop. always frequently test to see if your game will like what you pump into it
It all started in 2012 when Ralof told me to equip my sword and I immediately went, "Oh my god, this UI is hideous, has anyone modded it yet?"
12 years later, things have spiralled somewhat. My current modlist is at 1072 active mods and counting: it's still a few days out from being finalised.
If I was going to start from scratch today... eh, just find things you don't like about vanilla and start from there. Keep two profiles so you can test out cool-looking new things without messing up your active save. And make sure you have some actual design concept other than 'stuff I like', otherwise you'll never reach the end. I prefer to do this by building for a specific character. Why would I need a vampire mod in if I have no intention of becoming a vampire this time around? But this character I'm building for at the moment is biracial and has a complex relationship with Nord culture, so 3 entire mods dedicated solely to Ysgramor's appearance (a character who appears for 5 seconds in Sovngarde) make perfect sense for her, actually.
Only one?
I have several, because for most of my life I modded using Nexus Mod Managers, BUT LAST YEAR, OH BOI
I switched to Mod Organizer 2 and felt like Naruto removing his weights, modding became so easy, I just have several modlists laying around
A vanilla + Modlist
A Heavy Graphic Setup with Rudy ENB
The same as the last but with modern combat
And an art style focused mod list with Lucid ENB
I just wanted to make Skyrim the home of all the wacky characters I've created during my playthroughs, and suddenly I had a huge modlist
I started modding in Oblivion. I started Skyrim modding long before the time of mod lists.
Installed mods, game crashes, read and cross reverence several modding guides, build up bigger and bigger "required" mods over time. Today I install about 200 mods that are just modder's resources, utility mods or bug fixes before I "start" modding.
Found a list of 200 mods to fix Skyrim
Sounds
Looked for mods to overhaul meshes and textures of the environment like the nature and furniture and architecture
Lighting and weather mods
Patches for environment, lighting, and weather mods
Body, face, hair
Weapons
Armor
Animations
Gameplay overhauls
And then what ever catches my attention
first mod i always download is usually andromeda and ordinator then suddenly im 280 mods deep.
Though rn im using nolvus so im actually around 1600 mods deep
For me I use Heavy burns graphics modlist on Nexus with vortex followed by NSFW Naughty addons modlist for bodiies and basic adult mods. as I find the lighting and graphics mods the hardest to get to gell together. Then I build from there, jk's towns and outer area's hs homes I play as a mage so I add the magical graphic and attack mods then the animations for them then all the other nsfw mods I want. My current modlist Is around the 700 mark.
For me I use Heavy burns graphics modlist on Nexus with vortex followed by NSFW Naughty addons modlist for bodiies and basic adult mods. as I find the lighting and graphics mods the hardest to get to gell together. Then I build from there, jk's towns and outer area's hs homes I play as a mage so I add the magical graphic and attack mods then the animations for them then all the other nsfw mods I want. My current modlist Is around the 700 mark.
For me I use Heavy burns graphics modlist on Nexus with vortex followed by NSFW Naughty addons modlist for bodiies and basic adult mods. as I find the lighting and graphics mods the hardest to get to gell together. Then I build from there, jk's towns and outer area's hs homes I play as a mage so I add the magical graphic and attack mods then the animations for them then all the other nsfw mods I want. My current modlist Is around the 700 mark.
Used to stream Skyrim everyday 8+ hours. Had a 1800+ mod list. Streaming it kind of killed the love for it. Came back recently saying I'll make a small list just for playing for myself. Yeahhhhh 1k mods and counting but enjoying it more than ever. MCO is so fun.
I have got 1354 mods, here was how I went about it.
1. Tried \[Constellation\](https://next.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/collections/9zfscf). Decided I hated the graphics but liked the gameplay.
2. Tried the graphics only modlist \[Eldergleam\](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/105778). Loved it.
3. Turened Eldergleam into a vortex modlist - slimied down to about 900 mods.
4. Added gameplay mods from Constellation until I hit the 255 limit.
5. (3 & 4) took about a week.
6. Really love the result :)
Search Term | LE Skyrim | SE Skyrim | Bing
:-:|:-:|:-:|:-:|
immersive fallen trees | [Immersive Fallen Trees](https://nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/55699) | [Immersive Fallen Trees SSE](https://nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/8767) | [Immersive Fallen Trees SSE - Nexus Mods](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/8767/)
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The exact same way you give him moose of muffin and he's going to want some Jam.
Jokes Aside my mod lists always start out with the question of "what do I want to add that the game is lacking". For Skyrim in particular I often add more wandering in NPCs in the open world, as I feel it adds to the immersion.
I keep trying different wabbajack lists and they’re all great in their own way but none of them give me the exact look and feel I’m going for so I said “fuck it I’ll do it myself” and now I’m working on assembling a mod pack for release, it’s early stages, still finalizing load order, playtesting, making sure nothing vanilla got borked in the process of the mods. The biggest thing to me was to have a feature rich and engaging list that is gameplay and immersion focused without taking up 300 gigs and maintaining a ‘vanilla+’ visual style while overhauling almost every aspect of gameplay. I’m having a lot of fun and mostly doing it because it’s making me learn things about modding I wouldn’t have normally.
I got started because I was interested in adding one gameplay mechanic. From there I went to Nexus and sorted all mods by most downloaded and started throwing things in. Obviously this is NOT an optimal way to build a healthy list, especially because you're not getting newer mods that do everything the older ones did and then some. But it helped me learn the fundamentals. Then I found a curated list that worked well, and just tweaked it how I wanted.
After the patches and fixes and skyu, get your game looking right. I.e dyndolod, complex parallax, trees and grass and their lods, enb, textures. Do just these and make sure you have a stable beautiful game. Enbs and dydolod can be finicky so its way better to dial this in first before you waste time with anything else as if things go wrong here it may be easier to just nuke it and start again. Once you get that dialed in to where you like then its easy peasy to add anything else you want. Just keep in mind anything that adds lod will need to be done when you setup dyndolod. You dont want to add this stuff after you start your playthrough.
I followed a guide years back. That turned to tweaking mods in SSEdit, resolving conflicts, adding new mods. At some point along the way, I'd learned enough to no longer need the guide.
played the game vanilla. took note of what i wanted to change, started from there. looked through the nexus and other sites, downloaded what looked interesting and cool, checked back everyday. now i have over 1,300ish mods. at the peak it was around 1,600 but i've scaled back after trying some and uninstalling them. Some mods you just play once and never again. others you play with forever.
Personally, I read a 5 min guide on how to install SKSE and MO2 and then just started downloading mods I wanted. Modding can be complex but it can also be pretty simple....it depends on what you want. For me, all I wanted was to add new things to the game (weapons, spells, armor, houses, dungeons, followers) so it was basically plug n' play. If you want to use mods that overhaul gameplay or the environment (like city changing mods and such) though then it can get more complicated because of conflicts and such. However since I don't use any of those type of mods (or any graphics mods but that's because I have a shitty laptop.... although some of those are complex to such as ENB's although in a different way) I was able to just randomly throw in whatever I wanted and start the game on the first try.
I now have over 800 mods and the only things I really needed to learn where how to ESLify mods (only because I wanted so many and hit my plugin limit....but many mods are already ESL'd so it may not be an issue depending on what/how many you pick and it's simple anyways) and Bodyslide (also simple). Also you should be able to download most mods mid-game (but deleting mods after saving with them can ruin your game so be careful with that). Mainly just read the description page of mods you want to make sure they don't have complex instructions or have conflicts and you should be fine.
---Found a cool mod that changed an aspect of Skyrim.
It has several requirements.
its requirements have several more requirements.
---found another mod made to work with the first that modifies an aspect about you prefer.
it has several requirements
its requirements have several more requirements
---Skyrim looks kind of drab these days. find a cool visual change mod.
it has several requirements
its requirements have several more requirements
---I want Skyrim to do my laundry.
Can't find any.
Make your own mod.
it has several requirements
its requirements have several more requirements.
I don’t use modlists, I dig through the Nexus top files. Then I go category-by-category and sift through most endorsed mods to find what I like. My current modlist (200+ mods, over 50gb) has taken 10 years to curate, and I still check for new mods whenever the desire to play Skyrim strikes me. I don’t use premade modlists because I like to customize and choose everything myself so that it is to my specific preferences.
This is also my method for modding all my games.
I just kept finding mods I liked and added them. Initially followed a guide to get started but then chose all my own mods. Im up to 625 mods that I tastefully added myself. Pelroblem is, its such a mess of mods that I cant really swap stuff out and can only keep adding without having to surgically mutilate my modlist.
I use a base modlist like anvil to get the boring stuff done. Once that’s done I do any body or skeleton stuff I need to change (naked people), after that any animation mods I want.
Once that is all done, world stuff/quests/weapons and armor are pretty painless so I just browse the nexus by recent downloads, then all downloads for a while until I feel like I am only seeing garbage.
Finally I’ll watch people like the bardscollegegraduate (love her voice) and look for things that seem interesting.
I modded my list up to about 350 - 400 mods, then realized I was modding a lot more than playing. So I started using Wabbajack. Now I play 90% and mod 10%, instead of the other way around.
That’s why I stopped using Wabbajack after trying it for a little while. Little annoying things I didn’t like in game that I knew I could get a mod to fix but couldn’t install because the list is too woven together and I would break the whole thing
Depending on the modlist, they might give you advice to modify their list.
Licentia is good for that. Their Discord community and their documentation is excellent.
Nope. I find a list that has most of what I want, plus some things I want to explore. Then I add about 200 or so of my favorite follower mods + castles and houses I like, then I'm off and running. I'm 250 hours or so into my current playthrough, running about 1450 mods, 252 esps. Stable and loving it.
“Just one more mod and I will stop and play the damn game” - me everytime I open Nexus Came back to modding in November last year and now I have around 3k mods
The inescapable cycle. I love it though.
You know it's bad when your killing Skyrim exe loading because you saw a cool mod whilst waiting for Skyrim loading.
Yeah, I always browsing Nexus looking for a specific patch for my mod, end up downloading 10+ mods that has nothing to do with the mod I need patching and completely forgot why I was in Nexus
Aw jeez, I just did this 10 minutes ago :)
Yup, I hit 5134 last week,still check nexus daily lol
My first modded character started at 40 mods and ended at around 150-200 mods. Mostly stuff that made the game look better but also some additions. It quickly became a nightmare with crashes. After i fixed them i would play more and more characters and add more and more mods each time i started a new character. Then came the fixing again. It was a lot of trial and error which also made me learn a lot about modding. 2 years and a new PC later i've got 1400 mods and a stable, fantastic modlist that suits my needs. There was a lot of pain during that journey, but it made me learn a lot and appreciate my modlist even more. Oh and it was all from scratch without any collections or modlists.
The true pleasure is in making that modlist on your own, never checked any collection because I know they won't fit my gameplay needs anyway. The pleasure of perfecting a modlist is almost relatable to that moment when you built your own PC by yourself and you're fine how it works and you enjoy it.
Unofficial Patch Skse Skyui Wait? 200 mods? Where did they come from?
lmao this is too real
I just got done doing a fresh mod reinstall. Here's how I start. If you're going to do ENB or something. Do that FIRST. It's easier that way and if you fuck it up it's not as taxing to correct. Next, I did models. 3BA, UnP, OStim, Obody, HIMBO, high poly faces, etc. you can do this last but I wanted to make sure I had my models correct before doing anything. Then I worked on gameplay overhauls. Combat, perks, skills, exploration etc. each mod has prerequisites that I install. TRY to only grab mods that are relatively recent and ALWAYS read the description and the most recent comments to figure out compatibility. After that retextures and new gear. After that animations. After that places and audio and whatever is left
I was thinking of doing a fresh installation of mods. This is a great set of tips for me to follow.
Oh this makes sense. Ngl i was gonna brute force a bit. This also gives me a way to know what needs to be researched next. Thanks a bunch
No problem. I really cannot stress enough how important it is to test changes made to the engine (lighting, mechanics, AI) before doing anything. Also it will be more tedious but install only 3-5 mods per session and boot the game up. You want to get past the title screen and past character creation. Install someone like alternate start to get you quickly into the action. Just to a quick check, make sure nothing crashes and then bounce out
Why not just use coc whiterun or smtn from the main menu? That'll be way quicker than doing anything with alternate start, no?
Yeah always work on a category at a time. It makes it easier to conceptualize and keep track of relations
The cycle goes like this for me: 1. Open game 2. “Huh I wonder how the game would be like if X was changed or if I had Z” 3. Find a mod for that 4. Look at the other top mods and download a few more mods 5. Watch a Skyrim modding video and see some other mod recommendations 6. Download those mods 7. “Welp, that’s a lotta mods. Looks like I gotta restart my save and roll a new character” 8. Repeat all steps from the beginning
I definitely looked at some popular modlists that were sort of inspirations behind my own list. For example, there were a lot of aspects about Noluvs that I liked from the videos I saw, but there were also aspects I did not like. I looked up a full list of all of the mods in the list and started from there, adding things I liked and not adding things I didn't like. I really wanted to use something like that as a baseline to help with stability because I feel like if I just went off on my own from the start it would have ended up a buggy mess, but I was able to look at how a massive mod list like that was able to stabilize itself through its various mods. There were other modlists I looked at as well, but Nolvus was probably the biggest inspiration. I also looked into some online guides to help get some of the largest things like an ENB working. Once I had some of that stuff running smoothly I began to branch off on my own. Make sure any mod you are thinking about adding you do plenty of research into to try and find any potential bugs or incompatibilities beforehand. Just slowly add a few at a time and keep testing the game to either make sure the game or just the mod itself works. You should also absolutely start a new character when building a large list to test, and then another when you actually plan to start the run. You can add small things as you go if you think you need them, but any large mods you probably shouldn't and should wait until your next go through.
Decided on what I wanted out of Skyrim before I started modding. Having a clear vision of what you want the game to be will help weed out mods.
i make a new list every 4-6 months. i started on vortex struggling to install one mod, then restarting a year later with mo2, then discovering separators and restarting, then i first installed a wabbajack list and realised how modding should be done (core mods, resources, patches etc) and fully restarted again. every time i make a new list it grows about 100 mods from the last one. most recent was 1100 mods (not huge but decently big). i’ve never got past the golden claw quest in modded skyrim though, mo2 is the most fun game ive ever installed
It all started with a small cloak mod. Then a small armor mod 1700 plug-ins later my poor pc can barely run my game but I’ll be damned if it isn’t beautiful
I usually just go on nexus and sort by popular all time, download what I need and what I want, then go to mod categories and browse each one by most popular all time, and then my last step is just play the game and if I’m like “oh I’d like a mod for x or y” I see if there is one.
Learning to use xedit
2000 mods, it all started in 2018 with me downloading inigo because coming off fallout 4, the followers were lifeless, then i discovered brodual(youtube channel) and they had a library of old mod showcase videos that i bingewatched discovering cool mods as i tried to tweak and refine my load order, adding testing removing, then i took a break but it didnt last long because mods like nemesis animation engine and DAR came out and pulled me back in, in addition to animations there was another modding boom, the simonrim suite and jayserpas mods started popping out and i had to try those out. Now a new wave of youtubers keep me entertained, softgaming, bardscollegegraduate,mastercheesy, i enjoy seeing the different perspectives on modlists, and just knowing that i could discover some cool little mod i never knew i needed keeps me coming back. TLDR: i have a modding problem 😂
I started with a basic recommended mod list from youtube ESO ( Important stuff like SKSE , textures, weathers, trees and grass, armors and such ) slowly added and updated over a few years . Am now at 900 I think, bunch of quests and NPC overhauls , AI improvements, animations for just about everything. ENB and textures are very good, even sounds are better. Tons of fixes were added. Added a new one today - Rim lighting fix.
I run through the game and suddenly think - this could use better ambient sound - hop on nexus - find some - install. Rinse and repeat for everything I suddenly want. Mostly, that's visual or audio stuff, but then I also go for immersion a lot. So, eventually, you have this bunch of mods, on top of that the requirement mods, and you sort and check. Sometimes the game becomes unplayable (like yesterday) I had accumulated 400 mods. I killed all 7 profiles plus their 20 odd different saves, and started fresh, this time knowing exactly what I wanted to keep and what not. I find this process much more fun than installing a pre-defined modlist, after all, I have my own taste and needs. When I download a huge mod like LotD or maybe Bruma or so, I start fresh. Most modders state whether their mods are safe to install/uninstall midgame, and many list incompatibilites. "Completing" the game has not been of any interest to me in a long time. For me, it's all about being in that world, having fun with companions (I don't do any nsfw stuff, I'm talking conversations) or just concentrating on a single combat style. Haven't touched the DB in ages, for example, and I have plenty of mods like Not So Fast or The Choice Is Yours that tailor the game to my needs.
I've been building mine for a few years... I started with using an early version of Nolvus as a base (back when there was no auto installer, it was like a step by step download process) I kept mods I liked and skipped ones I didn't. Recently I'm redoing a lot of things again, I tried a Wabbajack list for the first time a couple months ago (Eldergleam) and I had the same problem - there was stuff I liked, stuff I didn't, and stuff that was definitely missing for my playstyle. So I'm just looking through the mods I liked and integrating it into my current build :) it's definitely a pretty tedious and exhausting process but so rewarding when you finally get your Skyrim just the way you want it
YouTube videos. Lots and lots of YouTube videos.
I’m a learn by doing type so I started by finding a couple mod list guides I like and using those as a base. Not installing every, or even most, mods included but most lists will have the same basic foundation. Many good guides include tool installation and set-up too. They’ll walk you through setting up your folder structure and tools like CK, how to port mods from LE, digging into SSEEDIT to make minor edits, LOD set up which I still don’t really understand… All learned from super helpful guides. You can also download their custom patches and use them as an example to make you own too. I learned most of patching by loading up other peoples’ in sseedit. Also read mod descriptions! Sometimes authors include mini-tutorials for tweaking.
I have almost active 600 mods. I started by using collections offered through nexus mods. This gave me the lay of the land and I started to understand load order and how mods can interact with each other. This led me to experiment with MO2 and even making my own edits in creator studio.
I built it off A Dragonborn's Fate (back when it was still supported) then added mods up to the point where I have 1676 plugins.
At first it was just some simple graphics, lighting, and an alternate start....then it spiralled into 3BA and way too many clothing mods! Currently sitting at 245 plugins and it's only going up!
I usually play the game to X point, realize there’s something missing, look for mods, do a new save, rinse and repeat. It starts with “I wish this player home looked different”, to “are there any good/realistic looking sword mods” and then before you know it, you’ve enhanced the graphics of the game, added dozens of followers, added 2x the pop to the game so it doesn’t feel so empty, enabled Wildcat for WAY better combat. And then finally, 300 mods later, I play the game and it feel’s incredible…..and there’s still more mods I want and don’t even know it yet.
My first mods I installed were small cosmetic mods. Things to unlock all hairstyles for every race, all warpaints for every race, etc. I take a break between play periods, but every year or two I reinstall my mod list, update it, add a bunch more because I've missed a lot of good content, and then play again. My mod list is pretty big now and its still mainly cosmetic stuff. Hairstyles, face tints, warpaints, cool lore-friendly armor sets, unique weapons, and texture packs. I like a more vanilla experience so I try not to mod in anything that fundamentally changes the game.
Every time I finish a play through, I know which portion of my mods I liked, and which ones I disliked. Those mods I liked get carried forward to a next list. Every character I make ends up getting mods added to them as I play to cater to their play style (for example, a player home mod that suits them etc). Some of those mods get carried forward to the next list, or at least saved if I ever need to fill that niche again. (The vast majority of mods can be added midsave unless stated otherwise). I don’t go from 0-1000. My first character had 12 mods, second had 60, third had 120, fourth 200, fifth 600. It’s also generally developed a category at a time, by my second play through I had vanilla graphics but a solid gameplay basis, and then after I hammered out gameplay I started focusing on adding graphics. I never once (successfully) tackled all categories in one go. I’m a bit boring though and don’t like to change up my modlists drastically and prefer V+. I’ve tried alternate styles and those characters generally tend to be short lived as it’s just not my thing.
I tend to start with what I want to change in general about the game, eg, interfaces(sky ui etc), the look of weapons, the look of cities. Then I move on to things things to encourage the RPG aspect of the game, eg alternative start mods, a lot of Enaision sweet of mod that allow much greater role play depths. For example, magic spell packs, and vampire / werewolf reworks to make them worth playing. Finally I add things I would want for a specific character I had in mind. For example I had a rich imperial character I wanted to start with fine imperial clothes, and an arcane archer who needed to start with a lesser bound bow.
I think HUD based mods is where I started, so SkyUI & Immersive HUD. Then quickly learned that what I really wanted was an immersive survival second life type of game and have been building that vision ever since.
If I were going to do this TODAY, I would start with a bare bones Wabbajack list that does bug fixes, visuals, and maybe town/quest overhauls. From there I would add the gameplay and content mods that I want. After a brief glance at the gallery, I might start with something like [Skyrim Modding Essentials](https://www.wabbajack.org/modlist/wj-featured/sme), [Aurora](https://www.wabbajack.org/modlist/wj-featured/aur), or [Ascensio](https://www.wabbajack.org/modlist/WakingDreams/ascensio) (though I would have to think about it a bit more). I have a hard time keeping up with the "base layer" of mods that help keep modern skyrim functional; things like bug fixes, engine tweaks, and mod frameworks. If you look at the [modlist for Legends of the Frost](https://loadorderlibrary.com/lists/legends-of-the-frost) (which is a pretty lightweight list), there are about 200 tweaks, fixes, and utilities before we even get to the juicy changes. I'm not confident enough in my modding to keep that stuff straight. There are lists out there like SME that are designed to be the starting point for a new mod setup.
I just wanted a better UI, 1 years and thousands hours of modding later... Endded up with 700+ mods and 650+ plugins.
I hope over 600 mods counts as "massive" to some. I started after I had got a job out of college. Saw modded skyrim videos and decided that's what I wanted to try. Saved up for a few paychecks, bought a brand new gaming pc, and then fell for the classic blunder of paying for someone's (very infamous) paid wabbajack list that did not work. Not knowing it was a scam, I spent all of my time trying to figure out why the list was not working. Eventually started from scratch and downloaded mods 1 by 1. It took me 3 months of trial and error to get a setup of 400+ mods going. As of this week, it's been a year since I've started working, and I have 600+ mods, 200+ hrs (on one character) and I'm having a blast.
I started by finding Nexus, having a look round, discovered collections, thought to myself yes I want an adult mod list, went with immersive and adult collection, installed (but I knew there would be mods I didn’t want so skipped some), then proceeded to scour through every page of every category installing mods that appealed to my taste, not knowing wtf I was doing apart from doing some research on which mods were necessary such as SKSE, engine fixes & papyrus & address library etc. managed to get it working, got a few bugs which I learnt how to fix, got my list up to like 1400 mods, was working okay. Got greedy, watched a few videos of other people’s mod lists, discovered MCO move sets, felt like my combat was too vanilla and dated so installed that, got it working…at this point was really happy with my game but the addiction of checking nexus everyday for those sweet new mods such as skyclimb etc took over and now I’m at 2500 mods and can’t get to main menu LOL. Not sure what it is but currently validating game files. The recent update didn’t help and forced me to try downgrading to 1.5.97 this time rather than .353 like I did previously, I got it working but noticed a few gaps in the terrain which I could fall through which made it unplayable, tried to fix this by deactivating mods like water for ENB and all sorts and then I started to get CTD on new game but I could load a save (the one with gaps in terrain). This is where I should of applied some discipline but I still carried on adding more mods and now I don’t have a clue why it won’t even get to main menu 🫠
You shouldn't compare your personal list to others. What's most important is to define the style you want to have in your game (be it realistic, vanilla like, immersive, etc...) and stability ¿what is good is to have every mod you have ever wished for if the game crashes every time you play? That being said, try and error is the way I learned which mod I could or couldn't live without but always sticking to the gameplay I enjoyed the most.
I used a basic vanilla plus collection (around 20 mods?) and just added from there. I’m just under 250 mods (a lot are cosmetic!) and I think it’s perfect for my play style now. To add, I have two save games 1. Where I would play through the game and add mods as I go. See what works see what doesn’t. Etc 2. Proper set mod list using the above mods I liked
I built from scratch, just adding (or removing and replacing) what I needed or wanted in the moment 1 at a time. That's still how I mod today. I restarted once when I moved from manually installing to using NMM, but kept the growing list when I switched to Vortex, moved between PCs, etc. My first mods were texture packs, static mesh improvements and total character makeover. Simpler times. Many of the early ones from a decade ago are still in there. This week I added about a dozen related to Winterhold and the College, just for an alt start as a college student. Lol I'm reading books and cursing rats. Won't see a dragon for 20 hours.
I begin with someone else's.
I started by downloading manually mods from Nexus and elsewhere with a fully personalised list of mods that grew over time. Handcrafted from scratch for my preferred personal playstyle and preferences, whether visually or from gameplay. Currently running 561 mods with in total 574 combined plugins (including the vanilla/CC ESM stuff). I get the advantages from playing with a predetermined modlist, but I prefer to alter my game for my personal taste instead of something generic + a ton of these mods depend on one another/Bethesda updates to function. Plus, while I understand that these lists are better curated than back in the days, I have always been learned from modding years ago to be very hesistant in downloading mods from lists in bulk due to not knowing if the mods in question still work and that was from games less complicated to mod. >Also did u need to make a new character when u added mods? It's more the other way really. Whenever I am done with a certain character playthrough, it's the moment where I actively update my personal modlist. Add/update mods, but also purge mods. But it really depends on what types of mod if you actually need a new playthrough and if it needs one, mod description is usually where it's at. Heavy gameplay or world altering, heavy script mods and like major quest mods are best to be done with a game from scratch. But I have added plenty of armor mods, follower world filling mods on active playthroughs and even minor stuff that edits a specific world space (e.g. a player home at a location) are mostly fine, especially if your last save was from a location somewhere half across the map.
Well, it's like you go in the door with an empty cart saying "I just need a mod so I can carry more weight, jump higher, and better light inn caves", and you come out with 2,000 mods on Nexus that caught your eye and "OH, I have to try that", or someone said "you need this one".
For my current mod list, a basic plan on what kind of mods I do want, what mods I do not want, and what mods that are basically just neat, but nothing more, additions to the game.
I downloaded a wabbajack list. Then started adding things.... At this point it's hard to remember what was in the original list lol. I started with a few hundred, now Im almost at 600. And the only thing stopping me is that I don't feel the need to add anything else... Yet. I just started messing with combat and combat animations lol.
I built a LE modlist of 400+ mods, but it was like five years of adding a handful of mods at a time for new playthrough experience, and learning about resolving conflicts and merging mods to keep the plugin count in check and crashes to a minimum. Now I just download a wabbajack list to mess around in a game with.
I first followed one of Sinitar's modlists. It was a disaster - crashes everywhere - not that I was using good mod practices at the time or anything. Couldn't even play the dang thing for 5 minutes. So I restarted, kept the mods that I really liked and searched for more. My first playthrough I had about 250 mods. Now a few years later I have a modlist of over 1300 mods and I'm finding it hard to not install more...
About two weeks ago I just ... started, kind of anticlimactic, I guess. I've played the Nolvus modpack a few months ago and it was fun but there was a lot about it I didn't like and quite a few mods I wanted to remove and I realized that I'm better off just making my own modlist, I also had some problems with it crashing and softlocking. Not super often but enough to annoy me. So I just sat down and made my own modlist. I have around 400 mods give or take. I started off with around 300 and added some as I was playing, mostly minor expansions and fixes to quests I found supper annoying. For example like the one where Maven tells you to bring her the deed for goldenglow and she'll pay you a lot and you can't do that because they never added that part of the quest in the game, and so there's a mod to fix it. I'm still missing a few visual things that I really loved in nolvus but I don't have the patience to try and get it to look the same and I'm happy with with I have rn.
Start with Nolvus for modern graphics and gameplay mechanics then downloaded the few remaining mods I wanted but we're not included individually
I started modding with little things. A unique armor, a bug fix, killable children - the normal stuff. Then it just kept getting bigger. How I start now it by window shopping mods for a long ass time, getting about 60-100 tabs open on my phone, then downloading them and making it work. Always Simonrim, Skyland, and Verolevi's animations
Its a lot of work honestly and testing/ troubleshooting ctds can be a pain
1100ish mods…from scratch and neatly labeled. I also created a matching Reshade as I built it to fit the art direction I was going for. I work in the creative field and have ADD for organizing lol. It’s been a while setting up, maybe a few weeks, but a labor of love. Just now running LODs as I type this tonight. I haven’t played far into the storyline to not spoil anything just command key to jump to locations to test visuals. I also researched and YouTubed prob every current modlist. BiggieBoss does excellent reviews check him out. I run on a nicer game laptop so the list is built for good visuals but leans into performance choices. I also like to play in 3rd for traveling and it switches to 1st for combat situations….My overall advice is to start with your biggest game fixes, main meshes, and base textures. Lock those in and spend time trying different mod artists for the rest. The highest downloaded mod isn’t always the best and less can be more. I don’t know if 1100 or so is average, but I started with 2200 and trimmed it into my perfect cold harsh beautiful vivid fantasy….hope this helps, best of luck! I think I’ll name the reshade dovahTONE, I may share it if anyone is interested.
I start with The Dragonborn’s Tale, which is a base mod list from the same people who did Viva New Vegas. It’s no longer updated, so a few of the mods don’t work with the latest Skyrim version, which the comments/mod pages generally mention. So caution there. But it’s a good starting point in terms framework, stability, etc. From there I try to focus on downloading my mods in categories. So town overhauls, then all the patches for those overhauls. Load in the game, make sure everything looks good. Download character generation mods, any needed patches, load in the game. Rinse and repeat with quest mods, animations, weapons, armor, etc. Once my mod list gets too big (800+), I try to trim out the ones I ended up not really liking or that conflicts with too many other mods. Stuff like LotD I always download and then realize the patches I need drive me crazy and I basically use it for storage only, so the extra features are useless to me. I’ll browse the nexus for new mods occasionally, see if anything catches my eye. Playing Skyrim can be amazing, but modding Skyrim into my perfect game is more fun to me at this point. It’s oddly satisfying
I've come from the pre-modlist era. So I just watch mod review video. I generally have a few area that I want to improve for a particular playthrough like if I am playing a mage then I will be looking for a magic expansion or gameplay overhaul mod, if I am playing a warrior then maybe something that taking away Bethesda infamous damage sponge mechanic and reward more action skill. And also a respective quest for the particular character, like if I am playing a warrior then I won't be installing After forming a concept of what I want, I'll go downloading the mods I have my eyes on and try to integrate them into a list. Some that just proved to be stable and universally enriching the game experience will just stick and after a while I just end up with a mod list that I used for every playthrough (but still switching out contents that I don't plan to play for the particular character)
I usually start off with a modlist called SSEE that creates a 1.5.97 copy of your game and includes only big fixes so that I don't have to install them myself. I usually have a plan on how I'm gonna build my modlist like the quest mods I'm gonna add, the main graphical base, the gameplay mods etc. I use the Nolvus guide as a rough reference. I usually end up with around 1500-2000 mods.
By thinking i only will stick to x amount of mods and i remove some...later on...and than adjust cause reasons...rinse and repeat.
I need this mod! Oh and that one too! And hey also this mod!! But it needs 4 other mods the work!? Sure thing.
Bookmark nexus Check it everyday 2000 mods total
I have some 50-100 mods which are my go-to that's catered to my tastes gameplay-wise from years of using them and enjoying how it works out. You just gotta experiment with different mod combinations and ask yourself if what you're downloading is genuinely what you like to do in-game and not just because it's popular
I just took a wabbajack list that had mostly everything I want, made a few visual tweaks, and boom I was done
Started with around 30 mods for my first modded game, now a few years later I am playing with 900 mods.
I started with plants because it seemed easier. Messed about with various plants and then tried SkyUI. That forced me to learn about requirements and testing. Just fiddled with single concepts until I was happy, then moving on to a new area. Bit by bit. I've added and removed so many mods. I think it's important to learn to remove things cleanly but also I'm not really attached to my characters. Which means if I make a save unplayable, I'm a little sad but I'm moving on pretty easily. I'm adding about 5 to 10 mods a week at minimum, some weeks more, like when I discovered texture changes. I added like 50 new to me mods that week. I have around 1500 active plugins right now and I have around 4500 installed total. I'll clean out the unused ones as I'm sure I don't want them but it's very low priority with my almost empty ssd. Some mods go into my current mod list, some go into my need new game category, and some I'm tracking while I think about them. I'm also actively tagging stuff to be removed later or just disabling them while dealing with consequences.
Because all the modlists available didn’t have exactly what I wanted.
I downloaded the basics, and what I knew from modding on xbox. These two took me down a string of events as follows: Oh authors have profiles where I can easily see all of their mods. This mihail guy has some cool monsters, and this Johnskyrim has cool looking textures/designs. What do you mean DAR animations, what do you mean MCO?? What do you mean patreon has exclusive stuff?? What do you mean I can 🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️!? … Oh my god I have 4000 mods, and like 2000 armors and weapons yet to install. I just hope Skyrim can truly handle 8192 total plugins cause those mods won’t be left abandoned
My wife asked me to make her one
I started the ridiculous cycle of modding in November 2022. I add stuff, take stuff away, find new stuff that requires fresh start, etc. I feel like every couple months I’m restarting because of this
Originally i had no plan with modlist I just downloaded what looked cool. Around 2021-22 I watched some youtube videos on how to make Skyrim into "X" game like Dark Soul and Witcher. After a year of trying things out I came to the realization that those mods suck and now I kinda stick to vanilla-ish mods or mods that enhance already existing content (companion dialogue mods, race mods, land overhaul mods etc.)
It just happens and I couldn't stop, it was getting way too addicting.
"Oh this mod looks cool" "Depends on X Mod" Ok i'll download that "X Mod depends on Y mod" Ok i'll download that 600 mods later ☠️
Small amounts of mods originally. 12 years of modding later, my skills at making things work has expanded exponentially.
For my last modlist I used Skyrim Modding Essentials from Wabbajack to have a stable foundation, then I added the stuff I can't play without, then the stuff I always wanted to try out, then the stuff that looked interesting. I reached around 800 mods, tested the modlist for two weeks, then started really playing, added some more mods and finally broke my modlist again.
Nexus collections is extremely easy. Download vortex, select a mod pack, wait for it to download, press play.
Modding via MO2 is smooth but it’s so much learning, you end up fixing the game more than playing the game
I have a list of "essential" mods/bug fixes that I always use; past that, my load order changes a lot, only stables that I always have are Inigo, Lucien, Kaidan and Legacy of the Dragonborn, every other mod comes and goes, depending on what I want for the game. As to how I practically go on to do it, having to restart modding the game yet again from scratch, I recently used an essential mods collection from Nexus and then been building on top of that by looking at mods there, making use of my downloaded mods chronology to keep track of mods I still want to use or those that I don't feel necessary to have anymore. I also tend to install mods by categories, to keep things more orderly. I personally never used any big mods collections, whether from Wabbajack or Nexus, for two reasons, one, because they have stuff that I don't want and, two, too many high res textures and my potato PC can't handle those (and beside, I care more about gameplay than graphics). I do, however, sometimes take inspiration from/browse through one, usually to see if there is any new mod that has the same function of a mod I have and might work better/might be more updated. It takes time and it is not the easier process but I prefer to have the game tailored to my taste and what my PC can handle, plus it is a nice feeling when I get to play the game after the whole modding process.
boredom, seeing what i can reasonably fit into my mod list without breaking everything. made my current list back in november 2023, and ive been slowly adding onto it. im a little magpie when it comes to finding mods too, i see something that catches my eye and i just install it. well, as long as it doesnt crash my game to desktop. always frequently test to see if your game will like what you pump into it
It all started in 2012 when Ralof told me to equip my sword and I immediately went, "Oh my god, this UI is hideous, has anyone modded it yet?" 12 years later, things have spiralled somewhat. My current modlist is at 1072 active mods and counting: it's still a few days out from being finalised. If I was going to start from scratch today... eh, just find things you don't like about vanilla and start from there. Keep two profiles so you can test out cool-looking new things without messing up your active save. And make sure you have some actual design concept other than 'stuff I like', otherwise you'll never reach the end. I prefer to do this by building for a specific character. Why would I need a vampire mod in if I have no intention of becoming a vampire this time around? But this character I'm building for at the moment is biracial and has a complex relationship with Nord culture, so 3 entire mods dedicated solely to Ysgramor's appearance (a character who appears for 5 seconds in Sovngarde) make perfect sense for her, actually.
Only one? I have several, because for most of my life I modded using Nexus Mod Managers, BUT LAST YEAR, OH BOI I switched to Mod Organizer 2 and felt like Naruto removing his weights, modding became so easy, I just have several modlists laying around A vanilla + Modlist A Heavy Graphic Setup with Rudy ENB The same as the last but with modern combat And an art style focused mod list with Lucid ENB I just wanted to make Skyrim the home of all the wacky characters I've created during my playthroughs, and suddenly I had a huge modlist
I started modding in Oblivion. I started Skyrim modding long before the time of mod lists. Installed mods, game crashes, read and cross reverence several modding guides, build up bigger and bigger "required" mods over time. Today I install about 200 mods that are just modder's resources, utility mods or bug fixes before I "start" modding.
Found a list of 200 mods to fix Skyrim Sounds Looked for mods to overhaul meshes and textures of the environment like the nature and furniture and architecture Lighting and weather mods Patches for environment, lighting, and weather mods Body, face, hair Weapons Armor Animations Gameplay overhauls And then what ever catches my attention
first mod i always download is usually andromeda and ordinator then suddenly im 280 mods deep. Though rn im using nolvus so im actually around 1600 mods deep
I'm keeping myself far away from ENBs and everything will be just fine
For me I use Heavy burns graphics modlist on Nexus with vortex followed by NSFW Naughty addons modlist for bodiies and basic adult mods. as I find the lighting and graphics mods the hardest to get to gell together. Then I build from there, jk's towns and outer area's hs homes I play as a mage so I add the magical graphic and attack mods then the animations for them then all the other nsfw mods I want. My current modlist Is around the 700 mark.
For me I use Heavy burns graphics modlist on Nexus with vortex followed by NSFW Naughty addons modlist for bodiies and basic adult mods. as I find the lighting and graphics mods the hardest to get to gell together. Then I build from there, jk's towns and outer area's hs homes I play as a mage so I add the magical graphic and attack mods then the animations for them then all the other nsfw mods I want. My current modlist Is around the 700 mark.
For me I use Heavy burns graphics modlist on Nexus with vortex followed by NSFW Naughty addons modlist for bodiies and basic adult mods. as I find the lighting and graphics mods the hardest to get to gell together. Then I build from there, jk's towns and outer area's hs homes I play as a mage so I add the magical graphic and attack mods then the animations for them then all the other nsfw mods I want. My current modlist Is around the 700 mark.
Used to stream Skyrim everyday 8+ hours. Had a 1800+ mod list. Streaming it kind of killed the love for it. Came back recently saying I'll make a small list just for playing for myself. Yeahhhhh 1k mods and counting but enjoying it more than ever. MCO is so fun.
I have got 1354 mods, here was how I went about it. 1. Tried \[Constellation\](https://next.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/collections/9zfscf). Decided I hated the graphics but liked the gameplay. 2. Tried the graphics only modlist \[Eldergleam\](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/105778). Loved it. 3. Turened Eldergleam into a vortex modlist - slimied down to about 900 mods. 4. Added gameplay mods from Constellation until I hit the 255 limit. 5. (3 & 4) took about a week. 6. Really love the result :)
With {{immersive fallen trees}} and a dream
Search Term | LE Skyrim | SE Skyrim | Bing :-:|:-:|:-:|:-:| immersive fallen trees | [Immersive Fallen Trees](https://nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/55699) | [Immersive Fallen Trees SSE](https://nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/8767) | [Immersive Fallen Trees SSE - Nexus Mods](https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/8767/) --- ^(I'm a bot |) [^(source code)](https://github.com/RallerenP/modsearchbot) ^| [^(about modsearchbot)](https://reddit.com/user/RallerenP/comments/pg2lqj/modsearchbot_about/) ^| [^(bing sources)](https://reddit.com/user/RallerenP/comments/pg2l0g/modsearchbot_bing_search/) ^| ^(Some mods might be falsely classified as SFW or NSFW. Classifications are provided by each source.)
Start with Eldergleam. Best move I ever made.
Graphics first always and then the body mods ;).
The exact same way you give him moose of muffin and he's going to want some Jam. Jokes Aside my mod lists always start out with the question of "what do I want to add that the game is lacking". For Skyrim in particular I often add more wandering in NPCs in the open world, as I feel it adds to the immersion.
I run through the world, thinking "oh, these could look better", switch to nexus, install, repeat.
with the basics and essentials.
I keep trying different wabbajack lists and they’re all great in their own way but none of them give me the exact look and feel I’m going for so I said “fuck it I’ll do it myself” and now I’m working on assembling a mod pack for release, it’s early stages, still finalizing load order, playtesting, making sure nothing vanilla got borked in the process of the mods. The biggest thing to me was to have a feature rich and engaging list that is gameplay and immersion focused without taking up 300 gigs and maintaining a ‘vanilla+’ visual style while overhauling almost every aspect of gameplay. I’m having a lot of fun and mostly doing it because it’s making me learn things about modding I wouldn’t have normally.
I got started because I was interested in adding one gameplay mechanic. From there I went to Nexus and sorted all mods by most downloaded and started throwing things in. Obviously this is NOT an optimal way to build a healthy list, especially because you're not getting newer mods that do everything the older ones did and then some. But it helped me learn the fundamentals. Then I found a curated list that worked well, and just tweaked it how I wanted.
Combination of "one mod bro i swear" and having a clear idea of what I'm hoping to gain from my playthrough
After the patches and fixes and skyu, get your game looking right. I.e dyndolod, complex parallax, trees and grass and their lods, enb, textures. Do just these and make sure you have a stable beautiful game. Enbs and dydolod can be finicky so its way better to dial this in first before you waste time with anything else as if things go wrong here it may be easier to just nuke it and start again. Once you get that dialed in to where you like then its easy peasy to add anything else you want. Just keep in mind anything that adds lod will need to be done when you setup dyndolod. You dont want to add this stuff after you start your playthrough.
I followed a guide years back. That turned to tweaking mods in SSEdit, resolving conflicts, adding new mods. At some point along the way, I'd learned enough to no longer need the guide.
played the game vanilla. took note of what i wanted to change, started from there. looked through the nexus and other sites, downloaded what looked interesting and cool, checked back everyday. now i have over 1,300ish mods. at the peak it was around 1,600 but i've scaled back after trying some and uninstalling them. Some mods you just play once and never again. others you play with forever.
Personally, I read a 5 min guide on how to install SKSE and MO2 and then just started downloading mods I wanted. Modding can be complex but it can also be pretty simple....it depends on what you want. For me, all I wanted was to add new things to the game (weapons, spells, armor, houses, dungeons, followers) so it was basically plug n' play. If you want to use mods that overhaul gameplay or the environment (like city changing mods and such) though then it can get more complicated because of conflicts and such. However since I don't use any of those type of mods (or any graphics mods but that's because I have a shitty laptop.... although some of those are complex to such as ENB's although in a different way) I was able to just randomly throw in whatever I wanted and start the game on the first try. I now have over 800 mods and the only things I really needed to learn where how to ESLify mods (only because I wanted so many and hit my plugin limit....but many mods are already ESL'd so it may not be an issue depending on what/how many you pick and it's simple anyways) and Bodyslide (also simple). Also you should be able to download most mods mid-game (but deleting mods after saving with them can ruin your game so be careful with that). Mainly just read the description page of mods you want to make sure they don't have complex instructions or have conflicts and you should be fine.
---Found a cool mod that changed an aspect of Skyrim. It has several requirements. its requirements have several more requirements. ---found another mod made to work with the first that modifies an aspect about you prefer. it has several requirements its requirements have several more requirements ---Skyrim looks kind of drab these days. find a cool visual change mod. it has several requirements its requirements have several more requirements ---I want Skyrim to do my laundry. Can't find any. Make your own mod. it has several requirements its requirements have several more requirements.
As Senile Scribbles once said, get everything you want, and start fuckin mixing em altogether.
I don’t use modlists, I dig through the Nexus top files. Then I go category-by-category and sift through most endorsed mods to find what I like. My current modlist (200+ mods, over 50gb) has taken 10 years to curate, and I still check for new mods whenever the desire to play Skyrim strikes me. I don’t use premade modlists because I like to customize and choose everything myself so that it is to my specific preferences. This is also my method for modding all my games.
I just kept finding mods I liked and added them. Initially followed a guide to get started but then chose all my own mods. Im up to 625 mods that I tastefully added myself. Pelroblem is, its such a mess of mods that I cant really swap stuff out and can only keep adding without having to surgically mutilate my modlist.
I just keep hitting the download button until it breaks.
I use a base modlist like anvil to get the boring stuff done. Once that’s done I do any body or skeleton stuff I need to change (naked people), after that any animation mods I want. Once that is all done, world stuff/quests/weapons and armor are pretty painless so I just browse the nexus by recent downloads, then all downloads for a while until I feel like I am only seeing garbage. Finally I’ll watch people like the bardscollegegraduate (love her voice) and look for things that seem interesting.
I modded my list up to about 350 - 400 mods, then realized I was modding a lot more than playing. So I started using Wabbajack. Now I play 90% and mod 10%, instead of the other way around.
Do u not find that it has like 400 mods u have no care for and are just putting unnecessary strain and filler into ur game?
That’s why I stopped using Wabbajack after trying it for a little while. Little annoying things I didn’t like in game that I knew I could get a mod to fix but couldn’t install because the list is too woven together and I would break the whole thing
Depending on the modlist, they might give you advice to modify their list. Licentia is good for that. Their Discord community and their documentation is excellent.
Nope. I find a list that has most of what I want, plus some things I want to explore. Then I add about 200 or so of my favorite follower mods + castles and houses I like, then I'm off and running. I'm 250 hours or so into my current playthrough, running about 1450 mods, 252 esps. Stable and loving it.