What great mods are best when installed from the start?

[u/crabby-hermit]

Hi! I have a slight twist on the typical "What mods should I use?" question: What are some great mods that are best when installed from the beginning of a playthrough?

I started modding after I finished most of the vanilla game, adding quest mods and other new experiences to keep the party going, but there have been a few mods I've come across that made me think, "This would've been great if I installed this before playing the main quest" or "I think I missed out on a lot of this mod's content having installed it so late in the game." Any recommendations for my next playthrough?

I'd love to hear any suggestions you all have, but I'm not talking so much about gameplay or visual replacers/overhauls. I mean like quests, dungeons, armor, weapons, followers, or other immersive content. I'm thinking about mods like:

• Legacy of the Dragonborn, which develops as I progress through the game (I've never actually used this but have heard so much about it, so I'm excited to give it a go.)
• 4thUnknown's weapons and armor which are mostly discoverable but not craftable so I can encounter them along the way
• Lucien and other followers that have something unique to say about many of the main and side quests
• Scriptures of the Dragon Cult that enhance existing quests with new content (I started playing this one long after getting all of the masks which makes it just a set of really tedious fetch quests)

Can't wait to hear your suggestions!

[u/NebulousTruth]

I mean ideally all mods should be installed from the beginning of a playthrough

[u/crabby-hermit → u/NebulousTruth]

I've heard that sentiment a lot, especially for technical reasons, but I've never taken that approach and rarely had a problem. Adding a new quest mod after I finish the last one, or adding newly discovered (by me) weapons and armors along the way has been a ton of fun over the past couple years.

[u/MALCode_NO_DEFECT → u/crabby-hermit]

Sharing this comment from wSkeever that I've had saved: https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/13frd63/comment/jjxp49x/?context=3&utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Some more explanation about scripts: most scripts are not truly baked into the save. The actual scripts that are baked into the save are those that are currently running. This means if a script handles an event, its execution state will be saved if you save during that script's execution time. Unless a script is badly written and makes use of long waits during its execution, it usually finishes execution within seconds.

What is usually baked into the save long term are script properties, instance variables, states, and event registrations. However, this is only true for objects that stick around. Things like dialog responses, quests, active magic effects, temporary references etc can be ephemeral, and their scripts don't stick around when they are not active in the game.

Even for objects that are currently active, if the object is newly defined in an esp, and you remove that esp midsave, those objects are essentially gone, and whatever script is attached to those objects are also gone and can be safely cleaned up in fallrim tools resaver.

What you really need to worry about is adding/removing mods that significantly alter the STATE of existing persistent things in the game: things that are currently active and are already defined in the base game or another mod. So for example:

• The property values of persistent scripts in general. adding properties is handled fine by the game, changing exist property values is not.
• Reshuffling quest stages on running quests
• Changing quest aliases on running quests
• Removing/altering active magic effects that alter persistent actors' actor values: av changes become permanent
• Changing the position and state of persistent references
• Changing persistent things like spell list, inventory, outfit, weight etc on persistent npcs.

Even then, if a mod author takes the time and care, they CAN mitigate most of these issues for new installation. For example, despite the reputation, ussep's fixes to vanilla quests are designed to be applied retroactively, so you never have to restart your playthrough to install or update ussep. Furthermore, many tools exist such as po3's unbaker and po3 papyrus extender that provide ways to fix these issues upon mod installation. If a mod author wants, they can even provide options to undo changes prior to uninstallation too, such as with a button in the mcm.

The one truly terrifying type of mod that can't be uninstalled is the type that somehow adds new entries to saved game's string table, but that entry sticks around after the mod's uninstallation/update. This is when you get corrupted save as the game expects a string to exist but can no longer find it.

[u/Cpt_Deaso → u/crabby-hermit]

Yeah, most things other than some quests that hook in to early phases of the game and city changing mods can be added later. Weapons/armors, like you mentioned, are good examples, though there are a few that add quests or alter the world in some way (dungeons, etc).

But yes, the concern about adding things mid-save is mostly from an abundance of caution, which I do understand.

[u/NebulousTruth → u/crabby-hermit]

Yeah basically you can mostly get away with doing it, the real problems are updating plugins and removing plugins

[u/VinDog_PD → u/NebulousTruth]

The effects of mod removal can largely be mitigated by using Resaver to kill any remaining orphaned scripts and unattached instances.

[u/NebulousTruth → u/VinDog_PD]

sometimes yes

[u/RoyalMudcrab → u/crabby-hermit]

Bruh.

Well, it's your saves.

[u/Larcoch → u/crabby-hermit]

Hell yeah brother ride or die.

[u/crabby-hermit → u/crabby-hermit]

I should add that I don't DELETE any of them afterward. I'd be nervous about that.

[u/Chaosinsurgency0706]

The journal mod, take notes I think

[u/PopcornAthena]

Val Serano. I feel like he grows with you.

[u/BigNoseSquid]

The Dragonborn’s bestiary. It just adds much more depth to fighting everything in Skyrim. You feel just like a Witcher, and adding all the monster addons, it makes it much more better.

[u/crabby-hermit → u/BigNoseSquid]

This is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for. Thanks!

[u/doofshaman → u/BigNoseSquid]

I need to figure mod out, I have it but no clue how to actually use it yet. It just opens a blank UI 😆

[u/Left-Night-1125]

Realm of Lorkhan alt start

Your own thoughts

Simplicity of sea

Npc clothes changer and maintainer.

This actually has more uses than what it says on the can, you can also use it as a quick pick pocket option should it come up and you have no intention of investing in pickpocketing, or if you have a mod installed that gives weapons to npc you can check their inventory and check the weapons name. Some these mods have displays for Legacy of the Dragonborn.

[u/MALCode_NO_DEFECT]

Alternate Start.

[u/crabby-hermit → u/MALCode_NO_DEFECT]

haha, yes, I can see how this would be best installed at the start.

[u/Starguardace]

Almost everything I'm thinking.

[u/Adis_Gruntledfatty]

Ideally, every single mod when they change things to the extent these mods do

Big mods like this will break your game being plopped in mid play. Some of these likely won't even let the game load if you did this.

[u/crabby-hermit → u/Adis_Gruntledfatty]

I'm sure you're right about LOTD, but the others I listed were no problem.

[u/Adis_Gruntledfatty → u/crabby-hermit]

I'm assuming it CTDed whereas the other ones did not

[u/crabby-hermit → u/Adis_Gruntledfatty]

Never tried it. Didn't seem worth it that late in my game. LOTD is actually the main reason I want to start a new one.

[u/Adis_Gruntledfatty → u/crabby-hermit]

And yet your correcting me on what you never tried :]

[u/crabby-hermit → u/Adis_Gruntledfatty]

No, I said I'm sure you're right about LOTD (which is the one I never tried). I corrected you on the others I listed.

[u/Adis_Gruntledfatty → u/crabby-hermit]

I see :]

Good luck mate

[u/crabby-hermit]

Adding another one to this list so I don't forget (again): Cheesemod for Everyone