Skyrim mod help

[sdhdok]

So i've tried my hand at modding skyrim before it turns out i'm terrible at it, i'm hoping someone with very similar specs to mine  can recommend what mods i'll be able to handle.
I'm aiming for about 40 fps eye candy and lore friendliness are the most important factors. I'll be running the game at 1440p so please keep that in mind when recommending mods.

My specs are: Intel i5 4670k (not overclocked)
                       AMD R9 290 (Tri-X)
                       8 gig  G.skill 1600 ram 
                       samsung evo 250 gig ssd


FOR THE LOVE OF TALOS PLEASE HELP ME!

[Tycho]

Gopher masterrace 

[Firearm2112]

Gopher, Gopher, Gopher, GOOOOO GOPHER!

[sdhdok]

Gopher masterrace 

I've seen gophers guide before but i'm asking for help on the mods to choose for what i'm targeting, not a general guide.

[VincentiusIV]

With my fx 8320 and r9 290 i get 40-60 FPS. Installed the whole realvision enb mod list. Search on nexusmods for realvision enb. Pick the most endorsed one. There is a big guide on that page in which order you have to download them. Take your time though, this will take you a good 2-3 hours and you don't want to overlook anything.

[JoshK]

I am a very experienced modder and mod author so heres my own professional opinion. Pretty much any mod will run perfectly fine on your system, except for some ENBs which will absolutely crush your FPS no matter what system you run them on. Here are a few tips:

 

1) Any texture mods (Skyrim HD 2k, Amidianborn Book of Silence, Skyrim Mesh Improvement Mod etc.) Will run fine, but to gain a few more FPS which is very valuable when it comes to modding, get the middle-ish resolution option because in actual gameplay, youre not going to notice the higher resolution textures. For example, the lite version of Skyrim  HD 2k retexture looks fine and I dont notice any difference between 1024 and 2048.

 

2) As far as ENBs go, there are plenty of them out there and installing them is quite easy once you do it a few times, many videos are out there to help you install them. For performance, dont expect to not lose plenty of FPS. Finding the right ENB comes down to just trial and error and finding which one runs on your system the best (dont forget to try the performance options) and which one you like the look of the best. I am currently running the Seasons of Skyrim ENB with no SSAO and I get around 50 FPS with a 770. Here are some pretty popular ENBs that look good: Seasons of Skyrim ENB, SharpShooters ENB, RealVision ENB, and Project ENB

 

3)If you get too many heavily scripted mods, it will slow the scripts down and you will get constant crashes and error messages in-game

 

4)If you get a CTD (crash to desktop) right after the bethesda logo, dont get discouraged just download boss-developers.github.io/'>BOSS (load order organizing tool) and run that and then try again. Although most of the time boss will fix your problem, it doesnt always work as expected so you will have to manually organize your load order. Youtube will be your friend for that

 

Have fun modding! Its a lot of work, but in the end the reward is amazing and you will find yourself playing Skyrim for years to come.

[sdhdok]

I am a very experienced modder and mod author so heres my own professional opinion. Pretty much any mod will run perfectly fine on your system, except for some ENBs which will absolutely crush your FPS. Here is a few tips:

1) Any texture mods (Skyrim HD 2k, Amidianborn Book of Silence, Skyrim Mesh Improvement Mod etc.) Will run fine, but to gain a few more FPS which is very valuable when it comes to modding, get the middle-ish resolution option because in actual gameplay, youre not going to notice the higher resolution textures. For example, the lite version of Skyrim  HD 2k retexture looks fine and I dont notice any difference between 1024 and 2048.

2) As far as ENBs go, there are plenty of them out there and installing them is quite easy once you do it a few times, many videos are out there to help you install them. For performance, dont expect to not lose plenty of FPS. Finding the right ENB comes down to just trial and error and finding which one runs on your system the best (dont forget to try the performance options) and which one you like the look of the best. I am currently running the Seasons of Skyrim ENB with no SSAO and I get around 50 FPS with a 770. Here are some pretty popular ENBs that look good: Seasons of Skyrim ENB, SharpShooters ENB, RealVision ENB, and Project ENB

3)If you get too many heavily scripted mods, it will slow the scripts down and you will get constant crashes and error messages in-game

4)If you get a CTD (crash to desktop) right after the bethesda logo, dont get discouraged just download BOSS (load order organizing tool) and run that and then try again. Although most of the time boss will fix your problem, it doesnt always work as expected so you will have to manually organize your load order. Youtube will be your friend for that

 

Have fun modding! Its a lot of work, but in the end the reward is amazing and you will find yourself playing Skyrim for years to come.

Thanks for the advice i forgot to mention that i don't have the official bethesda texture pack installed. Should i ignore it and just download texture mods or should i download it to?

[JoshK]

Thanks for the advice i forgot to mention that i don't have the official bethesda texture pack installed. Should i ignore it and just download texture mods or should i download it to?

Personally I would go with Skyrim HD 2k textures because some of the textures are changed to look better not just having the res ramped up.

 

Also I forgot to mention to get the Unofficial Patches for Skyrim, Dawnguard, and Dragonborn off of the Nexus. These patches fix a lot of bugs that were in the game and they are definitely a must have. 

[TheMail]

Personally I would go with Skyrim HD 2k textures because some of the textures are changed to look better not just having the res ramped up.

 

Also I forgot to mention to get the Unofficial Patches for Skyrim, Dawnguard, and Dragonborn off of the Nexus. These patches fix a lot of bugs that were in the game and they are definitely a must have. 

+1 for the patches

 

Also, give this particular collection a try, the performance hit isnt too bad and it looks gorgeous.

 

Linkage

[JoshK]

+1 for the patches

 

Also, give this particular collection a try, the performance hit isnt too bad and it looks gorgeous.

 

Linkage

+1 for Towns and Villages Enhanced Collection

[Kevinkt]

I use all these for eyecandy/removing dragonborn stuff http://i.imgur.com/kDCI12R.png

 

and this is what it looks like http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/40857439193931680/E345E19321245F0FC1FA94C18CC9DB0B9561C74C/

 

http://i.imgur.com/R796SYV.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/HTvqweg.jpg

 

it's not the best looking but it looks pretty good for a 6670 and i can play with all these mods around 40-50 fps no problem.

 

here one more. my weak ass gpu hates me http://i.imgur.com/az7OzHh.jpg

[TheBaken]

I am a very experienced modder and mod author so heres my own professional opinion. Pretty much any mod will run perfectly fine on your system, except for some ENBs which will absolutely crush your FPS no matter what system you run them on. Here are a few tips:

 

1) Any texture mods (Skyrim HD 2k, Amidianborn Book of Silence, Skyrim Mesh Improvement Mod etc.) Will run fine, but to gain a few more FPS which is very valuable when it comes to modding, get the middle-ish resolution option because in actual gameplay, youre not going to notice the higher resolution textures. For example, the lite version of Skyrim  HD 2k retexture looks fine and I dont notice any difference between 1024 and 2048.

 

2) As far as ENBs go, there are plenty of them out there and installing them is quite easy once you do it a few times, many videos are out there to help you install them. For performance, dont expect to not lose plenty of FPS. Finding the right ENB comes down to just trial and error and finding which one runs on your system the best (dont forget to try the performance options) and which one you like the look of the best. I am currently running the Seasons of Skyrim ENB with no SSAO and I get around 50 FPS with a 770. Here are some pretty popular ENBs that look good: Seasons of Skyrim ENB, SharpShooters ENB, RealVision ENB, and Project ENB

 

3)If you get too many heavily scripted mods, it will slow the scripts down and you will get constant crashes and error messages in-game

 

4)If you get a CTD (crash to desktop) right after the bethesda logo, dont get discouraged just download BOSS (load order organizing tool) and run that and then try again. Although most of the time boss will fix your problem, it doesnt always work as expected so you will have to manually organize your load order. Youtube will be your friend for that

 

Have fun modding! Its a lot of work, but in the end the reward is amazing and you will find yourself playing Skyrim for years to come.

Great advice, and I appreciate it; one followup question about the CTD. I've put on Realvision and a handful of other mods, but am getting a CTD during the first cutscene after you gain character control around the dragon, and am trying to isolate what's causing it. Do you have any recomended debugging techniques to help figure out what is causing it to crash? It boots fine, character creation is fine, but when the dragon lands and breathes fire over my head I CTD, and I can't figure out what mod it is that is doing it.

 

Do you recommend just disabling everything and re-enabling mods one by one until I get it to work, then and then avoiding the one that causes it to crash? Is there a more efficient way of doing this?

[Valkexia]

A more efficient way is to use Mod Organizer. It's easier to install, uninstall, and rearrange mods.

 

The best way is to follow a guide. Skyrim STEP is one of the most detailed http://wiki.step-project.com/STEP:2.2.9

The most advanced and detailed guide is http://wiki.step-project.com/User:Neovalen/Skyrim_Revisited_-_Legendary_Edition It includes graphics, stability, and some gameplay. Follow this guide and you can say goodbye to most CTDs.

 

If you just want some mods:

Skyrim Realistic Overhaul is overall the best texture pack. There's a link in the guides.

SMIM for meshes

Skyrim Flora Overhaul

Tamriel Reloaded is a series of mods that deviates from vanilla. It includes textures, new trees, and new grass. It's my favorite series of graphic mods.

Book of Silence

Serenity ENB is one of most best-looking ENB preset. It's also one of the most taxing, though it can be tweaked to be less taxing without losing too much quality.

These are my personal choices but following the Skyrim Revisited: Legendary Edition guide is still the best way to go. Also, wiki.step-project.com and forum.step-project.com have a lot of resources to learn from.

 

I don't recommend Skyrim HD 2k, even the lite version. It uses too much VRAM in a lot of interiors. Skyrim Realistic Overhaul is the way to go.

Install as little mods as possible. I, myself, have at least 200 mods I can't play without but I'd rather have less if possible.

 

Other relevant info

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50244/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/55921/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/50214/?

[JoshK]

Great advice, and I appreciate it; one followup question about the CTD. I've put on Realvision and a handful of other mods, but am getting a CTD during the first cutscene after you gain character control around the dragon, and am trying to isolate what's causing it. Do you have any recomended debugging techniques to help figure out what is causing it to crash? It boots fine, character creation is fine, but when the dragon lands and breathes fire over my head I CTD, and I can't figure out what mod it is that is doing it.

 

Do you recommend just disabling everything and re-enabling mods one by one until I get it to work, then and then avoiding the one that causes it to crash? Is there a more efficient way of doing this?

Ya, but if you have a lot of mods, you can do it in batches of about 5, but if you only have a few, one by one would be better to isolate the problem.