So I recently downloaded the mod Skyrim Immersive Creatures by Lifestorock, but I can't install the damned thing. I tried to install using Nexus Mod Manager, and I was presented with a menu asking me to select various option (SkyRe compatability, et cetera), and that seemed to work fine. However, as soon as I clicked the "Okay" button, everything stopped responding. And I mean EVERYTHING. After five minutes of trying to get something to happen, I pressed Ctrl-Alt-Delete, and was rewarded with a two-minute delay followed by an error message reccomending a forced reboot (I did that). I tried to install the mod twice. This happened twice. Does anyone know how to fix this? I really want this mod

I've never used NMM, but with Wrye Bash it takes quite a while for the mod to install, as it is pretty huge. If the harddrive light is flashing while it seemingly does nothing just give it more time. If not, then it's probably NMM freezing.

With huge mods like Immersive Creatures the NMM can literally choke. It really isn't suitable to handle large files. I recommend using Wrye Bash to install mods.

Do you have a 32-bit operating system? NMM can have issues with large files and 32-bit operating systems, with mods failing to install.

Try downloading manually, but still let NMM install. Click "download (manual)" and save to your desktop or somewhere else you'll remember. Load NMM from the start menu or your desktop shortcut, then browse to the mods tab and select "add mod from file" (blue jigsaw icon at the top left). Browse to your desktop or wherever else you downloaded the file to, and select this. NMM will then install and manage as usual.

If NMM is still freezing, you could try closing any other running programs (including your web browser) before running NMM in order to free up some system resources. This may allow the installation to complete.

Others have also reported success by adding their NMM and Skyrim directories to their antivirus software real-time scanner exclusion list (to prevent thrashing and throttling when the files are being extracted).

Failing that - you could always upgrade to a 64-bit version of Windows

That's another option, but Wrye Bash won't inform you of updates unlike NMM...and for mods with regular updates and patches that can be a dangerous route to go down unless you're vigilant.

NMM has never failed to install a mod on my system - so I suspect it's all down to your system specs and available system resources.

Thanks for the replies, people. Tried downloading manually, as suggested by jackstarr, but that didn't seem to have much effect. The problem seems to have been related to my hard drive being almost completely full, something I had been meaning to take care of for a while, but had forgotten about. Uninstalled a bunch of stuff, freed up about 80GB, and now the mod installed fairly smoothly.