Hey everybody,

I had several questions about adding mods. Been playing like 2 weeks now and i've only been using a few mods, just visual stuff nothing too complicated. I had a question about what sources to use and how Hearthfire is affected by mods. I have the steam app, so with the workgroup feature i've subscribed to a few mods. Nothing fancy just stuff like infamousronins Lydia overhaul, Camilla/Delphine/Gerdur , and Aela (couldnt get Aela to work so i disabled it though). Along with those i use the recommended mods like apachiiskyhair, ENB true vis, CBBE, Caliente Vanilla outfits, Better Fems by Bella. I was also looking at a new one enhanced character editor and fores new idles but i'm wary of messing with animation mods. Anyways nothing too complicated right?

I've done some searches and there is a known issue with Hearthfire and CTD whenever mods are installed. Something to do with Hearthfire replacing the navmesh in Breezehome. I tried a breezehome CTD fix from nexusmods but i still couldnt get it to work. I wasnt sure if i was putting stuff in the right order or not. Any advice for the load list order? I think i read that skyrim.esm should always be at the top, then i'm guessing dawnguard, hearthfire and dragonborn can come after CTD fix after, then my NPC overhaul mods, then last misc mods.

My other question was about mix and match mods. Can i subscribe through the steam app for 1-2 mods and then get recommended mods from nexus mods and use the NMM toolkit to install it? this was what i did before and it seemed to work ok. I was just having minor problems with manually downloading mods and putting them in the game folder. I wasnt sure if i was doing it right cause it wasnt showing up on the load list and i couldnt tell in game the mod was in effect.

My main issue is trying to get rid of the Breezehome CTD with hearthfire installed and my mods running. For mix and match mod sources from the steam app and nexus mods, i dont seem to be having issues but i just wanted some confirmation.

thanks!

I've had no issues with Hearthfire/Breezehome/mods. You should use the unofficial patches for Skyrim and the DLC:s. Also, use BOSS to handle the load order and follow its recommendations, especially about cleaning plugins with TESVEdit. You can use both Steam and NMM for mod installations, but I'd recommend using NMM for everything except those ones you can only find on Steam. NMM keeps track on its installs so if it overwrites something from one mod with resources from another, it will reinstall the overwritten ones if you decide to uninstall the latter one. So you can try out say a texture replacer without hassle.

EDIT: The Breezehome CTD seems to be old news if we're talking about http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2963860. It's fixed in later USKP releases, so no need for a separate fix for that.

You can mix and match mods however you like, however if you're at all planning to be serious about using mods I would strongly recommend to not use the workshop. By downloading and installing mods yourself you understand exactly what's being done to your game, and you have more incentive to read more about the mod on the nexus and posts to see if others are experiencing any issues. Usually new users start with a few mods like you're doing, and before long you will want to change more and more of your game. WIthout doing lots of reading you won't get far before coming back here and asking for help about CTDs.

Edit: For load order you really should be using BOSS, which automates it for you.