How To Install Skyrim Mod

How To Install Skyrim Mod Organizer
How To Install Skyrim Mods On Xbox 360
How To Install Skyrim Mods From Bethesda.net
How To Install Skyrim Mods Xbox One

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR is finally here for Rift, Vive, and Windows VR owners! What was originally released as a PSVR timed-exclusive late last year has made the transition to the older, more powerful, and more feature-rich PC VR platforms.

How to manually install, partially install, use and test Skyrim mods downloaded from Nexus or other locations

Because these mods are technically Skyrim SE it'll say it can't find Skyrim SE and ask if you want to install for Skyrim VR, click 'Install for Skyrim VR'. After you've installed, go to the 'Mods' pane on the left.
I've been modding skyrim for quite a while and took a break from gaming on computer and reset my computer. I have decided that i want to start modding games again but i cannot install SkyUI using the NMM, i haven't tried any other mod manager or organiser.

Welcome to my latest hub on Skyrim, the fifth game in my favourite series the Elder Scrolls. Today, I am going to look at how to best install mods manually. Mods allow you to enhance the original game, fixing bugs, add new content and upgrade the graphics. You can add new land masses, quests, in fact pretty much anything you could possibly think of can be added, changed or tweaked using mods. You can see an example of how mods can improve the look of Skyrim in the picture below.

Manually installing mods gives you a number of advantages over using Mod Management tools:

Using my system, it is more accurate
You can install parts of mods rather than the entire mod (you may for example, really like the iron armour from an armour replacement mod but not like the rest)
You can pick and choose what you use from mods, installing just the parts you want to use
You become more familiar with how mods work by installing them manually

The best place to find mods is the Skyrim Nexus website which can be found here: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim. A good place to start is the Top Files section which can be found by clicking on the Files button and select Top Files. It will give you an idea of what is popular and also show you some of the best mods made.

Preparing your Skyrim mods for installation

Before you install mods, it is a good idea to organise the mods that you have and any that you download. This is true whether you use Mod Management tools or choose to install your mods manually.

How To Install Skyrim Mod Organizer

Ensure that the mods are renamed if the original zip file has a name that doesn’t match the mod itself. So for example, Sounds of Skyrim has patches for popular mods. The zip file is called Compatibility Patches-20193-1-02 so I renamed it Sounds of Skyrim – Compatibility patches. Otherwise in a few months time you may have no idea what the mod is
Next, create a folder and copy all your correctly named mods into it. Also create a folder called Installed and a folder called New. We will use the folders during the mod installation process.
If you are using Skyrim Nexus, it is also a good idea to mirror their categories to make mods easier to sort and also to find
Finally, and most importantly copy your entire Skyrim folder so that you have a backup. That way if something goes wrong you can roll back without re-installing the game.

How to check mods for patches, dependencies and conflicts when installing Skyrim mods to make your game more stable

Now that we have all our mods appropriately named and tidied into one folder, we need to check for any conflicts, dependencies or patches for our mods. Again, this is a step that you should perform for all mods regardless of the installation method. First:

On Skyrim Nexus, read the mods description (Desc) tab thoroughly for any installation advice from the modder.

Next, on the Files tab, check for any patches that the modder has created to allow the mod to run well alongside other mods that may conflict with it
You can also message the mod creator and also talk to other gamers playing Skyrim and discuss or ask questions about the mod on the Posts tab
Finally, check the readme files that come with the mod, looking for conflicts, installation recommendations and also where in the load order the mod should go

It is important to always read the instructions closely. Even mods that you wouldn't expect to cause issues can and will cause problems, including the dreaded Crash to Desktop (CTD).

An example is ApachiiSkyHair by the talented modder Apachii. This mod can cause CTDs when you change hair, sex or race when selecting your character at the beginning of the game. The modder on the Description tab in Skyrim Nexus tells you exactly how to fix this problem (install Show Race Menu Options by MojoDaJojo and voila, no more issues with this mod).

How to Manually install Skyrim mods

Installing mods manually once you have checked the installation instructions and downloaded any patches is fairly straightforward. Even if you use a Mod Manager, installing mods manually gives you a greater understanding of how the files fit together and what they do.

Cut and Paste the zip file into the New folder we created above
Open the zip file of the mod you are about to install (I have expanded the folders so you can see the folders in the mod structure below)

Now open your Skyrim game folder and have the Data folder so you can see it

Collapse the tree view and drag the folder (or folders) below the Data folder from the zip to Data folder in your game installation folder.

Typically, you will copy one or all of three folders:

Textures - add detail and surface texture to all objects you see in game
Meshes - control the shape of all the objects in game
Scripts - changes how things behave in the game

There may also be other files .bsa, .esp in the Data folder. Copy all of these to your Data folder. Windows may ask you to overwrite files in the game directory, typically you would say yes, unless there is a reason that you don’t want a specific file overwritten (for example, overwrite a larger (and more detailed) texture file with a smaller one).

Once you have installed the mod, continue to install mods until you have installed five to ten mods (depending on the type of mod). If you are installing texture replacers or mods that add small amounts of new content such as new weapons or armour, you can install more mods at once. If the change game play or make more significant changes to balance or objects in the game then install fewer.

How to test your installed Skyrim mods to reduce bugs, glitches and crashes

The next and most important phase is testing. You need to make sure that the mods you have just added have not introduced bugs, crashes or other problems. The reason that you install them in small batches is that this way it is easier to determine which mod is causing the problem. If you look at my load order below, imagine if I had installed them all at once and then I found there was a problem! I would never be able to figure out which mod was causing it.

If I only installed five to ten mods, it is much simpler to find that out. If you do introduce a bug to your game, deselect all the mods you just added and add them back one at a time (testing the game before adding another mod) until you come to the one that causes the issue.

Important:If you find a mod that causes issues, immediately install it and move the mod to another folder so you don’t accidentally install it again later on.

Testing itself is simple enough.

First, load up BOSS. If you don’t have this tool installed or are unsure how to use it, check out my hub that introduces this excellent tool:

BOSS does a number of things that are crucial to keeping your game stable

It checks mods for any missing dependencies
BOSS ensures that you don’t have the problems with the mods you have installed
You will be advised if you need to clean any mods using TES5edit (also introduced in my hub on BOSS)

Most importantly, it fixes your load order to ensure that the mods are loaded in the optimal order

Most game crashes occur on loading new areas into the game (or when the game starts). So to test this, start a new game in a city and go to some shops and fast travel a few times. Also check out how the mods you just installed look in game. If you just replaced all the armour sets in Skyrim, go to a place with lots of soldiers and check out how the armour looks. If you are happy and the game is stable it is time to install some more mods!

Before you do; some final steps.

First, empty the New folder you created moving the mods into the Installed folder
Now, copy the Skyrim game folder so that you have a backup of your current stable game

How to partially install Skyrim mods

Suppose you are surfing a website looking at mods and you see a screen shot of a particularly cool object that you really want see in your game. The trouble is, the rest of the objects included in the mod you really don’t like. If you are using a Mod Manager, this is a problem as you can only install the whole mod. You could try to removing the parts that you don’t like, but this could cause instability or game crashes.

To manually install specific parts of a mod, you need to identify where they are in the mod itself. To do this:

Down load XnView from www.xnview.com
Install using the simple installer
Click OK on the Configuration Menu (below)

The main application window looks quite complicated, but never fear, we are not going to use any of the buttons or options

Before beginning, a couple of limitations with XnView

First, the mod needs to be extracted (use WinZip or WinRar)
Second, XnView cannot look inside .bsa or .esp files (this is not an issue as it is not recommended to split these)

Click File and then Open and browse to the location of the mod. Choose the Textures folder you are interested in, select all the textures and click OK

XnView will load each texture and display it on screen

To view them, you can either click through them, or click on the Browser button on the left hand end of the tool bar to see them all in tiles

When you click the Browser button, you see all the files in the directory as small tiled icons (below). You can see a small preview in the bottom grey pane. To see this full size, double click on the icon.

Now I know the name of the texture file that corresponds to the plant I like (load_49), I can copy this from the mod into my Skyrim textures folder enabling this beautiful loading screen to be seen in game.

Note:Pay particular attention to the folder structure of the mod. You can see from the screenshot below that the Load Screen textures from the VictoriaG Load Screens Skyrim mod go into the folder:

/Textures/interfaceLoadScreen_Textures

How To Install Skyrim Mods On Xbox 360

So ensure that you mirror the folder structure in your Skyrim game folder to ensure that they install correctly. If you are installing new content such as this mod, install any .esp files contained in the mod folder.

Conclusion

Mods are synonymous with the Elder Scrolls series. The best decision that Bethesda made when making the Elder Scrolls III Morrowind, was including the Construction Set which was used to create the game itself. This gave modders unparalleled access to the game and allowed them to make mods to change literally anything in game as well as adding tonnes and tonnes of new content.

In my hub today, I looked at installing mods manually. We covered:

Preparing mods for installation

Checking the readme documents and the Skyrim Nexus site for information on load order advice, installation instructions, dependencies and also mod conflicts

We then looked at how best to manually install mods

Then we examined mod testing

Finally, we looked at partially installing mods using XnView to identify individual textures

Following through my system, you will be able to install all the mods you like (I currently run 250+) and the game should be stable and perform well. Of course, manually installing mods is not for everyone. I review two excellent Mod Organiser tools, Nexus Mod Manager (designed for beginners to modding with a simple to use interface and one click mod installation) and Mod Organiser (a more advanced tool with features such as profiles and a more granular installation process).

My hub on Nexus Mod Manager can be found here: http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-use-Nexus-Mod-Manager-to-download-install-uninstall-and-manage-Skyrim-Oblivion-Morrowind-and-Witcher-2-mods

My hub on Mod Organiser can be found here: http://robbiecwilson.hubpages.com/hub/Mod-Organizer-an-advanced-Skyrim-utility-to-manage-install-detect-and-fix-mod-conflicts-and-update-all-your-mods

Many thanks for reading, I do hope that you have found this hub useful and informative and you are enjoying your heavily modded but stable Skyrim game!

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It’s been over five years since The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim landed in gamers’ eager hands, and we don’t seem any closer to a true sequel than we were back then (no, The Elder Scrolls Online doesn’t count). Bethesda is content to port the old game to every new platform possible, but the modding community is picking up the slack, adding tons of new, professional-level content to the original version of the RPG.

RELATED:The Best Skyrim Mods That Actually Add Gameplay

The most ambitious of these projects is Beyond Skyrim, which plans to eventually add all of the sprawling fantasy continent of Tamriel to the base game. The going is slow—this is a team of semi-professionals and volunteers, after all, not a company with hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue—but the first small slice of the project is now complete. Beyond Skyrim: Bruma adds the titular city from Cyrodiil, last seen in Oblivion, as a new and huge expansion for the standard in-game explorable area.

Getting this massive mod installed and working is something of a chore, however, and it’s definitely more complicated than your average mod. Here’s how you do it.

What You’ll Need

For this, you’ll need:

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for PC: Only the PC version of the game is supported by the developers of Beyond Skyrim, at least at the moment. The Special Edition of Skyrim is supported, and the mod should be ported to the Xbox One at some point.
A good Internet connection: …or a lot of time for the massive download. Either works.
All three official expansions: the mod uses resource files from Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn. If you don’t have all three expansions, you can’t use it. (The Special Edition includes the base game and all three official Bethesda add-ons.)
Nexus Mod Manager: It’s possible to manually install Beyond Skyrim: Bruma, but there’s really no reason to do so. We recommend using Nexus Mod Manager, the de facto standard for third-party Skyrim mods. Install it now, because you’ll need it for this guide. You can check out our guide here to get acquainted if you aren’t already.

RELATED:How to Install Skyrim and Fallout 4 Mods with Nexus Mod Manager

If you aren’t familiar with the process of installing Skyrim mods with Nexus Mod Manager, you might want to brush up with our guide before you get started on the process below. Installing mods can be tricky, and this one is extra tricky, so it helps to not go in blind!

Step One: Back Up Your Save Files

The creators of the Beyond Skyrim: Bruma mod have instructed users to back up their save files if they’re only trying out the new lands, because the mod saves new files in ways that may corrupt them after Bruma is uninstalled. Skyrim save files are located in your Documents folder by default: DocumentsMy GamesSkyrimSaves or DocumentsMy GamesSkyrimSaves or DocumentsMy GamesSkyrim Special Edition. Simply copy and paste your save files to another folder to back them up, and restore them to this folder after uninstalling Bruma.

Step Two: Install Skyrim Script Extender (Not Necessary for Special Edition)

The Skyrim Script Extender is a mod that allows quite a lot of other mods to function, including much of the content of the Bruma mod. You’ll need to download it and install it, either manually from the SKSE website, or via the handy Steam Workshop version (sadly, there’s no way to install this particular mod with Nexus Mod Manager). Using Steam is definitely the easiest way: just head to this page, log in with your Steam account, then click “Install now.”

If you prefer a manual installation, go to this link, click “installer” to download it, then double-click the installation file and follow the on-screen instructions.

Step Two: Install Skyrim Startup Memory Editor (Not Necessary For Special Edition)

This is an easy patch that will force Skyrim to load up more system memory at startup, preventing some common causes of crashes as the game goes on. Though the patch is hosted on the Nexus Mods website, it’s a manual installation only. Go to this page and click “Download (Manual).” Then click the first link in the “Files” list—it should be labelled “SSME – Skyrim Startup Memory Editor.”

How To Install Skyrim Mods From Bethesda.net

Inside the ZIP folder are two files: ssme.ini and d3xd9_42.dll. Copy both of those files into your main Skyrim game folder; the default Steam installation location is at C:Program Files (x86)SteamsteamappscommonSkyrim. Replace files in the folder if Windows warns you of duplicates.

Step Three: Download Skyrim Unlimited: Bruma

Now you’re finally ready to install the mod itself. Head to this link for the standard version of Skyrim, or this link for the Special Edition. Click “Download (NMM)” to download and install the mod through Nexus Mod Manager.

The mod is huge—around 2.5GB—and the Nexus servers aren’t exactly lightning fast, so feel free to go and do something else while the Nexus Mod Manager fetches the files.

Once the download is finished, click on the “Mods” tab at the top of the window, then click the folder expansion button under “New lands” to see the Beyond Skyrim expansion. Right-click the entry, then click “Install and activate.”

Step Four: Set the Load Order

In Nexus Mod Manager, click the Plugins tab and look at the list on the left of the window. You want to find the following entries:

BSAssets.esm
BSHeartland.esm

Make sure both of them are checked, and that they load in the above order. You can adjust the load order by clicking one of the entries and then the green up or down arrow to the left.

Step Five: Enter Bruma!

Start Skyrim via Steam in the usual way, and load up your current game save or start a new one. You can enter the region of Bruma one of two ways. You can go through the official Cyrodiil gate, the Pale Pass, at this location:

How To Install Skyrim Mods Xbox One

Or try to smuggle your way into the country via a hidden dungeon, the Serpent’s Trail, at this location:

Getting through the gate is straightforward enough, but the Imperial guards won’t let just anyone through—you’ll have to be a VIP in the land of Skyrim before they’ll allow you to pass. Serpent’s Trail doesn’t have any customs to deal with, but you might find that the bandits infesting the place aren’t too keen on you using their back door to Cyrodiil. Either way, if you can get through by various means you’ll find yourself in a new land (or a familiar one, if you’ve played Oblivion) with lots of new stuff to explore.