Playing a little Control just trying to shut my brain's Skyrim-modding compartments for a while. Just got em all installed. Now, I'm looking at the conflicts... and I've got a ways to go...
I was pretty close with my guess of 500! 460's not far off. I'll probably cut the conflicting mods down to ~200... mostly texture packs and replacement meshes, many of which will completely cancel-out.
It won't be over after this. There are still plenty that can't work together, that Vortex can't know of. Others have to work in a very particular way. I know of a handful that I will have to rig up. I actually remember what I had to do with them before. The trials and tribulations are branded to the inside of my braincase. There are some things you never forget.
Undergoing this is sort of like becoming a stripper. Either you don't love yourself at all, or a whole lot. Otherwise, you just don't do it. Or you don't do it for long, if you do. All sorts of things are gonna come at you... great and terrible things that'll make you question what is good in life. No matter what, it changes you. It's a lot. Here's just one pack's conflicts.
Peep that scrollbar right quick... ...if I had to guess it's at least... 50 conflicts for just this one? Though to be fair, I use it as a base, so pretty much everything goes over top of it - easy enough. Plenty more mods like this in the load order, though. I may budge a few textures up individually. Thank god Vortex does that. You can override a texture or mesh from any mod active in your load order on the fly. Part of why I toss on so many clashing textures. If I'm playing and I see a particular texture/mesh that I don't like, or find one that's bugged/doesn't match a swapped mesh/UV, I can dig it out of this list and pick a different one. The categories baked into the folder structure are pretty intuitive and self-explanatory. All I want for with this is the ability to preview the textures...
And then, at some point much later down the line, when I've fully settled, I can take all of the loose textures and meshes that are actively being deployed, and just pack them into a handful of BSA archives. From there I can do away with all of this and have one 7z file that holds all of my textures, which I can keep as a backup... or for installing on another machine. I'm thinking about making a 'super-mod' with a couple of archives. One that's as I described, another with heavy-duty ESP mods that do things like modify NPC's, lighting, weather, worldspaces, etc (and the bashed patch merging them,) and yet another that contains setup stuff like SKSE, ready-made ENB/ReShade setup, game exe, ini files, cleaned masters, and things like that. Why the exe? Game updates break mods relying on SKSE... SKSE, the mods, and the game exe all need to match or the memory entries won't and none of it will work. For those who don't know, SKSE is basically the keystone of Skyrim modding. It revamps the script engine in order to greatly expand its function and optimize it. Many mods need it, but it needs a new version for every game update. Huge pain in the ass, honestly... especially considering most updates are just CC plus some meaningless shit. Every now and again they add something nice to the engine (things that actually HELP with modding and using modding tools,) but usually I think they do it just to break yer mods.
So basically, ultimate setup that can be deployed in as long as it takes to unpack the archives in a mod manager. 15-30 minutes of letting it do it's thing and you get a totally kitted-out Skyrim SE. With the way Vortex manages mods, I can drop-in literally every part of the mod setup save for anything that replaces original game files, which isn't much... even the ini's, I don't need to overwrite or even line-up the ini paths... I can use a plugin file that activates custom ini's when the game starts. Save me from ever having to worry so long as I keep those files. Maybe keep a master list alongside them. Just get it where I want it and preserve it forever. Only downside is... it's still 100gb+ of files. Okay... just checked... 99.2gb
It would be cool to be able to distribute something like that. I dug up so much good stuff that will take some time, effort, and know-how to set-up. Skyrim SE is the only game I know of that looks better every year
They're even adding complex particle lighting n' shit now!
I won't even stray far from vanilla. I'm betting other people would enjoy it. It'd be worth sharing. It's just an across-the-board visual upgrade and some slight stat/gameplay tweaks. Too bad I can't just hand something like that out, for so many reasons :/ People try to write these epic "modding guides" doing the same thing. But it's impossible to guide somebody through setting up a few hundred mods... even if they fully know what they're doing. Plus they all have issues with getting the information across in a way that actually conveys what you need to do for things to work, broken links, etc. And then you still have to download/install them one by one, set your load order, mess with all of this shit... and I don't think anybody ever replicates the result you see in the screenshots. I've never read one worth following. At best you scan for obscure mods, or use it to build your own skillset. If anything, following one is more tedious than starting from scratch yourself... as you'll often spend much of your time troubleshooting it when either the directions fail you, or you fail them.
But unfortunately I'm pretty sure that Bethesda wouldn't appreciate someone dishing out one of their game's exe's. ENB and ReShade are the same. Compilations of mods probably wouldn't be kosher either. I mean... I could try to get in touch with every single mod author and hopefully get permission from each one... and then I'd *just* need to credit them. How hard could that be? Just a couple hundred people scattered across the internet. Really a shame it has to be like that. The modding community is needlessly divided on stuff like that. Many, I'm betting would be totally happy to get featured in a curated compilation, alongside other good mods, where it can really shine. But then there are those ones I swear would rather people use their mods exclusively, unaltered, as laid out in the ancient tenets... because they think people are too dumb to figure out what they know, let alone surpass it.
For some, their mod is their baby and they're just letting you use it. They giveth and taketh away... you take it as it is and they ain't doin nothin else for you. Others see it as a group effort, where they want people to take their mods and make things with them and lay everything out.
Kinda don't like the first group. I could be curious about what they're doing and how it works, but for them it's like I'm putting them down, stealing their thunder or something. I don't get being so annoyed at someone who appreciates something you did so much that they want to know more about what you're up to, but they're out there! They're really out there. They tend to get most nasty when anybody offers the slightest constructive criticism. They'll be the ones to say to you "Well why don't you do it then? Figure it out. I'm TIRED of this" when you ask about them adding a feature or point out a problem and even spoon-feed the solution. Ask them if you can 'do it yourself' with their mod and release a patch and they'll get twice as pissed. They'll take a majorly alarmist tone, saying you don't know what you're doing and you'll break your game and it'll just be such a terrible plight - best save it for the big-brain modder guy. If you start doing things he doesn't want you to do, you might ask him for help understanding what's going wrong, and he'll hop on the defense before his mod's precious reputation is tarnished. Of course, they'd fix it if they had time... but it's not easy. Modding games is totally high-level shit. Too hard for you and me. It's not like anybody can just download the tools for free and dive into it themselves. Heh.
I say "So what?" It's a
game. Can't win with those sensitive, stifling weenies. Most of them are pretty smart... but equally socially-retarded. Unfortunately some of the best ones have been that way. And they tend to rage-quit and pull mods because they're tired of the "entitled community" always offering suggestions and trying to understand problems with their totally perfect mod that definitely works fine for everyone... (to which you'll get "You screwed something up. It can't
possibly be my mod. It's because you're using
their mod. Don't use their mod. Problem solved." Melodramatic little bitches, they are. Basically, we are not worthy and if one person says the wrong thing, they want to tear the mod directly from everyone's undeserving load orders, because truly we'd all be nowhere without them and we won't in fact just be like "...well that sucks :/" and move on. And people will definitely never try to replicate/do it better than you at some point. Why make stuff and put yourself out there like that if you hate dealing with people? Might as well just keep it for yourself if you don't care for others... but then nobody will praise you, which is all anybody who does anything really wants, right?
It's all good. The few times I've seen one go full bitch and pull their mod out of apathy, somebody who still has it will later use it to make something that fixes all of the problems it has. And the best part is the OC isn't around to bitch anymore! I get it. Sometimes people don't even try to figure things out for themselves and instead nag you with 101-level questions. And then people on reddit spread rumors about problems with the mod that aren't actually related to the mod. Other times, people might rip your work and never credit you.
But those things don't happen super-often. Most people are just trying to get the most out of everything available... and they may do things you didn't consider from your corner. I dunno. Deal. Or don't - just ignore it. The levels of neuroticism among those types is hard for me to comprehend sometimes. I wonder if they even enjoy what they do... or recognize that it's totally open to anyone and there's nothing you can do about that... as in, anybody can come in and do what you did. You're not necessarily that special, being a modder. People respect the work put in. They appreciate what it adds to their experiences. But that is to say that if what you do is of value, someone can and will replace you when you go. Once people know something can be done, they're gonna put thier heads together and do more with it, whether you want any part of it or not. Very few are on that level where nothing else will ever be like it. These people are fuckin squirrely as hell, I'm telling you.
Second group is awesome. In Bethesda modding lore, it's called the cathedral philosophy or something like that. There's a nebulous group going by that same name doing stuff for Skyrim now. You get much more quality stuff when people work together, because it's not like there's a guidebook and most people have jobs and lives. It's also art, where healthy competition and collaboration is a good way to elevate everyone to new levels. You kinda have to combine skills and knowledge to ramp it up past a certain point. Nobody knows everything. What I'm seeing, between 2017 and now is that group A has dropped off drastically in output, while group B has been bringin the heat. They borrow, they share, they talk honestly and openly about what is good and bad with their mods. Personally, I think if everyone is in it for the same thing, and we can all recognize that we're making silly mods for an old, buggy game (bethesda legally owns everything you do with thier assets, btw,) we'd all have better game folders set-up. I get that a lot of effort goes into the work you do making mods and assets, but it's such a strange thing to have an ego about, considering nobody cares about you. They care about mods. The whole point of the Nexus is that everybody constantly wants better mods, not the 'prestige' of being the best at it...
The bethesda modding folks are a special bunch. All of the different kinds.
But I digress ...mental health, man. It's important. Take it from me. I know a few things about it. I'm gonna go have a beer and play Control now...
Perfect for absolute ton of fun with guns and powers.
