How to mod Skyrim

Skyrim is a good game but a lot of people prefer to use one or two mods to make it better. In fact, a player will install, one, two, three mods, and continue to install more and more, until his game crashes.
For that, there are two solutions :

- reinstall the game each time.
- install mods without creating problem.

In this article, I will explain you how to do the second option.

The programs needed

First of all, you need to have a legal copy of Skyrim. I won't explain how to crack this game. It deserves to be bought.

Nexus Mod Manager

So, the first program you need is Nexus Mod Manager. This program will help you to install your mod. It will does few things :

- extract .zip you will download (because all the mods are zipped).
- Create a backup for your data.
- install the mod without help (in fact, it will install all the files in their respective folder).

After that, you will be able to change the load order (if you have to), update your mods etc...

It's THE PROGRAM you must have if you want to mod your game.

BOSS

B.o.s.s. is a little program that will change and optimize the load order of your mod, to prevent conflict. It will warn you if problems are detected, and explain you how to correct them.

You must use it all the time when you install more than one mod.


You don't need other program. I mean to download and install mods, not to create them. I will do another article for that.

How to mod 

Now, we will see how to mod Skyrim. It isn't hard, but you need to know :

- Never use more than one mod which change the same thing in the game (one armor replacer, one body mod, one ENB (light mod) etc...)
- Read the Readme.txt can be very helpful.
- You must create a backup of your game before.
- Check if there is not patch for mods that you use.

So, now, we will do the installation, step by step. Follow the pictures !

First of all, go on Nexus Mod website :

Note : if the mod has optionnal files, you must click on Manual Download and choose them after.

Now, go on Nexus Mod Manager (NMM). Don't worry, NMM will search and find Skyrim alone.

Now, your mod is activated and you will see it in your game. As you can see, it's not difficult. If you have downloaded mod on another website than NexusMod, you must load it as if it was a Manual Download.

You can now install all the mods you want. It's over for today. We will see later wich mods are important, and, after, I will give you a list of few mod for each kind of them (graphics, body, armor...)

Good game !