So I'm sitting here, drooling over ApolloDown's mods, Civl Wr Overhaul and Dragon Combat Overhaul. His writing style is witty, and his mods are ambitious. As near as I can tell from the description, they deliver their promises. They also say "start a new game. No, seriously, START A NEW GAME."

Questions for the masses:

1. Do these mods seriously not break my game? I mean really for real? Honto ni honto ni?

2. Do I actually have to start all new games, or can I get away with installing mid-flight so long as I haven't started the Civil War or am not in the middle of a dragon fight?

3. Are there any other mods like these I simply must have? By this I mean major overhauls and completions of stub quests and such for various other factions, such as making the College quest line last a little longer, spacing out the Thieves Guild main quest to allow extra jobs in between, and so on? I'd love to get my modding done so I don't have to keep deleting and restarting games.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/14157/

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/14509/

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/22650/ (disclaimer: my mod)

http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/47327/

Thanks! I've grabbed Theives Guild Requirements and the Companions mod. Localized Jobs feels more like a convenience mod than an actual improvement, and I don't think I really need it. And the Cutting Room Floor download link made sure to remind me to get the Unofficial Patch... which I already have, and no other mod has specifically made this request. Did it fail to detect the patch, or is it just among the few that really really need the patch to work?

I also grabbed College Entrance Requirements, Missing Apprentices, and Research Thief.

EDIT: Also, Archmage Tolfdir. It just feels right.

While I do think it's always nice to support the modders who made the mods first, I should make sure you're aware that Cutting Room Floor includes both the Missing Apprentices and Research Thief quests.

The Nexus prerequisite system isn't smart enough to check to see that you've already downloaded a mod labeled a prerequisite; so yes, it's just that Cutting Room Floor absolutely requires the Unofficial Patch and Arthmoor wants to make sure downloaders realize that, while the other mods don't have that requirement.

1. You must start a new save for CWO. I've played CWO version 2 beyond the civil war several times with no issues. (Stormcloak side, with a new game) Version 3 is coming out March 28th -- In version 2 at least, it was best to do the Civil War questline first -- far fewer bugs that way. Currently there is a bug with Season Unending if you try to do it during the Civil war (you can't progress the quest), but Apollodown is working on this issue.

2. I don't know about the dragon mod since I don't use it, but I will stress again -- You must start a new game for CWO. People who don't do this run into major bugs -- game-breaking bugs. Save yourself the headache, and start a new game. It's totally worth it.

Consider the latest EGO 2 preview video i.e. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB0p5VvngpI&feature=youtu.be

...showing Esbern lecturing the Greybeards in High Hrothgar, Apollodown no doubt figured out some way to mix dragons with the Civil War quest. The chance for loading DCO v10 and CWO v3 without starting a new game is pretty much zero.