Skyrim is a great game for modding! It's easy, it's fun, and it works!

Well, I have found through countless playthroughs that many mods have dependencies. for instance, skyui requires skse, and better vampires requires skse! It all comes down to dependencies.

So, I am coming up with the ultimate modlist and setup for a skyrim user to have for a template for modding.

tools currently required:

skse

skyui

mod organizer

steam (use default installation directory, please.)

skyrim at version 1.9.32.08 (steam will update it for you, anyways. It's always good to update.)

dawnguard

hearthfire

dragonborn

high res texture pack

all unofficial patches

hialgo boost

Let's get started. this is for win7. if you have xp, get win7, but this MAY work for you... idk.

So, you've got steam set up to c:/program files x86 (program fiels for 32 bit users). this is important for skse to function in a better way (i.e. overlay) I don't know why, but it doesn't work with steam being in c:/ first, get the high resolution flc. it is a texture pack that adds better textures. Don't worry, it works fine on my cruddy system (with hialgo and on medium)

but, before you can begin modding, you gotta actually run skyrim. if not, you can screw up the skse and have to reinstall skyrim. so, run it, get the .inis, and try to play the game a bit. skyrim put me on high graphics and my 512 meg radeon couldnt handle it. I switched it to medium.

now, mod organizer. As a noob, this might be a nightmare to you... but it is actually really easy when you learn to use it. much better than nmm imho.

put mod organizer in program files x86 (default) use installer. run it, and attempt to get skyrim to be a game you can mod. when that's done, move on.

now for the steam workshop! this is where most mods get put (by default, try the nexus. mod organizer can handle nmm links. read the mo guide for help)

so, you're using the workshop anyways because I told you to! Go to the tiop rated files of all time. The first one should be barenziah quest markers. I really like this mod! It is great. It gives you a good feature and you get to try out the workshop!

so, you subscribe to barenziah quest markers. it works. you see that skyrim is downloading the mod when you run the game again.

So, your load order is probably REALLY messed up in mod loader. You see dragonborn before dawnguard, and hearthfire before high res, and the high res is all reversed! Well, just click and drag up and down the list! (I'll provide a load order after the rest of the setup)

Now, you need to setup skse! Just download the installer (google skse and look for the silverlock link)

it SHOULD find the skyrim directory in steam. just click next and it will install easily.

Now, skse CAN run, but without an overlay!

So, you need to start tampering with files and folders...

first, go into skyrim/data (steam folder) and make another folder inside of it called SKSE

make a files called skse.ini

put this in there:

[Loader]
RuntimeName=TES_.exe

now, rename TESV.exe to TES_.exe (backup the file first!)

then, rename skse_loader to TESV.exe (backup skse_loader, too!)

so, when you run steam again and startup skyrim, it SHOULD give you the fsplash screen (NOT what happens when you run skse_loader)

however, ingame press escape and it will bring up the menu. in the bottom left, it should say skyrim version 1.9.32.08 and skse version (I don't actually know the version off the top of my head, sorry)

if not, you did something wrong! try again.

so, skse is setup (I actually know a slight bit more, but I'm not going into that right now (It's just an icon mod, and it required a few tools I don't want to explain here))

now, you need the skyui! This is another framework piece that adds an entire new ui to the items and magicka menus. it also adds mcm, a very important mod utility.

so, to get skyui, just login to the nexus (or make an account) and lookup "skyui".

it installs with mo when you get it setup for nexus (read the mo guide for more details)

it says you downloaded skyui. just double click it to install (do NOT unpack the bsa. (extra crud on your hdd))

so, it installs, but it is not enabled! just check the box next to skyui on the left side of the mod organizer.

now for the unofficial patches. they really do fix a LOT of things bethesda neglected. I'd suggest getting ALL of them. Put them in the load order I will provide.

So, you've got uskp, skse, skyui, mo, and barenziah. Now for hialgo. This makes your computer less svcky when playing skyrim. Very useful for low-end pcs.

So, go to the hialgo boost website (just google hialgo boost), download it, and unzip the contents to the skyriom ROOT folder. (this is the folder with TESV.exe inside it)

now, hialgo boost comes with a bad ini. It is annoying and ruins the immersion of the game. so, we're going to tweak it.

open up hialgoboost.ini with notepad, and scroll all the way to the bottom.

there should be something like logo opacity, beep, and show hialgo boost on startup. set the ones I mentioned that said true to false, and set the 100 to 0. If you do NOT do this, skyrim will show you an annoying message on startup, beep whenever you turn on hialgo boost, and put a logo in the upper right hand corner of your game. VERY annoying.

So, you've got hialgo boost setup. if you run skyrim now, a logo will appear in the upper right hand corner of your screen, and then fade away for the duration of the game session.

so, hialgo boost has made your computer less svcky. time to change the load order!

here's mine:

skyrim

update

unofficial skyrim patch

dawnguard

dawnguard patch

hearthfires

hearthfires patch

dragonborn

dragonborn patch

high res 1

2

3

high res patch

skyui

barenziah

this is how it should look! however, a few things need to be changed.

the high res 1 2 and 3 should be unchecked when you start a new skyrim save. this is because if you end up checking them, then you get a "content is not available" error. I don't want any of those. keep them unchecked.

now, there should be some crazy red caution triangle. go check a box to fix it in the data tab.

if you did this right, your mod order should be complete, and you should be able to play the game!

any suggestions would be appreciated so as to make this guide have more mods and tools to make modding easier.

however, do not post "use unp for compatibility" or "use boss for load order." unp is inappropriate for some users and conflicts with cbbe, and mod organizer already uses boss.)

also, uskp is VERY important. Do not post that you don't play with uskp or that is is irrelevant. the unofficial patches are good for fixing a lot of the bugs in skyrim, as well as balancing some things and making things as they were intended.

However, if I missed anything (like, a mod that a lot of mods require to function) then feel free to post it here for it to be added to the guide. until then, I hope this basic template for modding skyrim helps you out!