Modding Skyrim

by Sapphire

I played many, many hours of Skyrim on PS3 back in the day, but I only recently got to play on the PC. After investing 182 hours into the vanilla game over the course of four weeks, I decided to heavily mod the game and start over. But where to start? There are dozens of “Top Skyrim Mods” lists to be found, but many of them seemed to list several mods that did the same thing. Plus, most of those articles force you to scroll through pages of advertisements and screen shots. So here is a clear, concise list of how to install mods and what mods I decided to use.

Hopefully this will save you some legwork! However, I am new to modding Skyrim, and know that I may be missing some files necessary to keep the below mods from totally breaking the game. So if you see that I have downloaded a mod and it looks like I may not have downloaded something that needs to go with it, please leave a comment or contact me and let me know!

NOTE: Several mods require manual installation of DLL loaders or files if you have NOT installed SKSE64 (step 3 below). I will not be calling out these mods, as I will assume you HAVE installed SKSE64.

How To Download and Install Mods for Skyrim

  1. Create an account with Bethesda and link it to your Steam account.
  2. Sign up for a NexusMods account; download and install Vortex
    You do not need another Mod Manager, nor do you need LOOT (a tool that helps determine correct load order), as Vortex has LOOT built in. Go to the Dashboard tab, and add Skyrim to your managed games. You’ll need to authorize Vortex with your Bethesda account.
  3. Install the Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE) | Not all mods need this, but many do. There are full instructions on how to install SKSE in the Readme file, but I found it overwhelming. Here are the only parts you need to worry about:
    1. Copy the .dll and .exe files to your Skyrim directory. This is usually in your Program Files folder under Steam\SteamApps\common\skyrim\. If you see files named TESV and SkyrimLauncher, this is the correct folder.
    2. Copy the .pex files in Data\Scripts\ into the Data\Scripts\ folder of your installation.  You may need to create the \Scripts\ directory.
    3. From now on, you must launch the game via running skse_loader.exe if you want to load mods that need it. Steam must be running before launching Skyrim.
    4. Launch the game once, then close it. This creates a needed ini file.
  4. Start downloading mods! Go to NexusMods and poke around for mods you like.
    1. Most mods can be installed via Vortex, by clicking the Vortex button on the top right. If that’s the case, you can largely ignore the installation instructions.
    2. If it just has a Manual button and no Vortex button, that mod has to be manually installed. I did very little of this.
    3. Ensure you’re selecting mods for the right version of your game: Skyrim, or Skyrim Special Edition.
  5. To install mods in Vortex:
    1. In the Downloads tab, click the Install button to the right of the mod. It will run, then may pop up a window asking you to select options for the mod, or tell it what other mods it needs to play nice with.
    2. Go to the Mods tab and find the mod that you just installed. Click the gray “disabled” button to the left of the mod in order to enable it.
    3. Go to the Plugins tab. If the mod is also listed there, enable it there too.

WARNING: The opening scene is heavily scripted. Mods may cause the wagon ride to go totally berserk. The only way to ensure you avoid this is to not enable any mods until after you get out of Helgen. However, many mods say they must be loaded with a new game, or may not work properly. Also, some mods change the opening scene. So fair warning to my motion sensitive friends: you may need to listen to the wagon ride with your eyes closed. Sacrificing five minutes of visuals for hundreds of hours of improvements is totally worth it in my book!

My Choice Skyrim Mods

CRITICAL MODS | Bug fixes, stability, & usability improvements, everyone should install these!

BEAUTIFY THE GAME | These make the game prettier

SKYRIM FOR GOOD GUYS | Alters or expands quests

EXPANDED CONTENT

UTILITY & QUALITY OF LIFE IMPROVEMENTS

CHEATS

  1.  I know that sounds horrible. But don’t worry, I don’t go around Skyrim killing all the dogs. I am not a monster. There are guard dogs and other types of dogs that attack you though. And of course I loot their dead little bodies.
  2. You can skip the two Werewolf mods if you don’t plan on using that form. There are also mods that improve the Vampire experience if you want to go that route.
  3. This only seems trivial if you’ve never played. Seriously. It takes like TEN SECONDS to get back up, during which you’ll be getting pelted with arrows. So dumb. This speed up is necessary.
  4. NPCs can conceivably be killed before you do a quest for them, or during, making completion impossible without console commands.
  5. Without this mod, I would often drain every merchant in town of every last gold piece without making a significant dent in my loot pile.

HONERABLE MENTIONS

  • Legacy of the Dragonborn | tons of new content, looks amazing, but requires manual installation
  • Convenient Horses | Allows gathering & talking while mounted, plus other QOL fixes for horses. Only reason I didn’t install it is because it gives horses a max weight where they’ll buck you off. I cheat to bump my max carry weight to far beyond what I’m assuming they set the encumberance value at.
  • Hearthfire Extended | adds more rooms to cellar, plus craftable furniture (conflicts with Crossroads Cellar)

Console Command Cheats

I am a Cheaty McCheatersons, and I am not sorry! There are plenty of lists out there of all available console commands, but I’ll share my favorite and most often used here. To use console commands, hit the tilde key (`). (Under esc, left side, top of keyboard) Enter the appropriate command and hit enter. Hit tidle again to close the console. Visible items can be clicked on while in the console in order to target them (for setownership, for example).

  • set timescale to X | Default is 20, meaning 1 minute of real time is 20 minutes in-game. Will probably cause scripting issues if you set it to anything less than 2. Smaller numbers means “smaller Skyrim” as it takes you “less time” to travel between locations. Some people prefer a bigger Skyrim, but not me! I set mine to 2. Note that you should probably keep it at 10 or higher while in Helgen, so the scripts keep moving you through the story. Othewise NPCs spend a lot of time standing around before the next script executes.
  • Player.ModAV carryweight X | Some lists say this “sets” your carry weight, but it doesn’t, it adds the value. (SetAV doesn’t seem to work for carry weight?) If your starting carryweight is 300, and you ModAV carryweight 600, your new carry weight will be 900. Use negative numbers to remove.
  • Player.SetAV (stamina/health/magicka) X | sets your stamina, health, or magicka to the specified number. Changing your Stamina in this way does NOT also increase your carry weight, as it does when you boost your stamina in a non-cheaty way.
  • Player.ModAv Dragonsouls X | Adds the specified number of dragon souls that you can spend on shouts
  • setownership | open console, click on item, then use this command to set ownership of the item to YOU so you can take it without “stealing”
  • Player.additem (Item ID) X | Adds the specified item (item ID) in the specified quantity (X) to your inventory. X must always be at least 1 (cannot leave blank). Use player.removeitem to take stuff back out (also requires qty.) All leading zeroes of item IDs can be ignored, and they are not case sensitive. Example, Gold and Sapphire Ring item ID is 000877CB. So you can use “Player.Additem 877cb 1” to add one such ring to your inventory.
    Special Note: many items have several item codes. If there’s more than one, I usually go online to look up the specific code I want to use. If you use the wrong one, sometimes it ends up being an invisible, unequippable, undroppable version of the item, which will increase your encumberance, but you won’t be able to actually use the item. The only way to get rid of such items is to dump all the stuff you want to keep into a container, and then use the player.removeallitems console command to delete the invisible stuff. Active quest items can’t be removed from your inventory (either manually or with this command) so don’t worry about deleting them. Active quest items also have no weight.
  • playerenchantobject (item ID) (enchantment code) (enchantment code) | Notice there’s no period after player, as with some of the other commands. The strength of the enchantment is based on your Enchanting skill, so you can use player.setav Enchanting 100 to max it out. Boosting your skill this way does NOT give you general XP for leveling, which is what I want in this case. Bumping Enchanting to 100 by awarding XP will grant several character levels. I don’t want to be level 30 before getting to Whiterun! There’s only one thing I use this for, and that’s making obscene Alchemy/Blacksmithing gear whenever I want. So I don’t know any other enchantment codes, but you can look them up. I think they may be case sensitive. Note that this doesn’t let you rename the item, and you can only apply two enchants max. This does let you put enchantments on items that can’t normally hold that type of enchantment.
    • playerenchantobject 877cb 7A102 8b65C will create a gold & sapphire ring that boosts alchemy and blacksmithing by 100% each, assuming you’ve bumped your Enchanting skill to 100.
    • The unmodded game lets you equip up to 6 items (head, neck, body, hands, feet, right ring), so you could wear six such enchanted items, giving your potions a 240% boost (if Alchemy skill is 100 & you’ve taken the appropriate perks). Some mods allow you to equip more items, including mantle, shoulders, arms, ears, waist, back, left hand, fingernails, and toenails, for an additional 9 item slots!
    • Explanation: There’s no gear that boosts your Enchanting skill, you must use a potion. There’s no potion that boosts you Alchemy skill, you must use gear. So you make gear that gives you a bonus to Alchemy, then you make a potion that gives you a bonus to Enchanting. Some people go back and forth several times on this: make potions to make equipment to make stronger potions to make stronger equipment, etc. But in my experience, if you set your Enchanting and Alchemy skills to 100, create 8-9 pieces of 100% Alchemy gear, and then get to enchanting, you’ll find the numbers to be fine without further boost.
  • Player.advskill (skill name) (X) | Advances the specified skill by the specified amount. Most skills are named exactly as you’d expect: alchemy is alchemy, pickpocket is pickpocket, two-handed is twohanded. The only skills that aren’t intuitive are Speech (skill id is speechcraft) and Archery (skill ID is marksman). Note that different skills require VASTLY different amounts of xp to advance, then requiring more as your level with that skill gets higher. Here are the skills and approximately how many points they need to advance to the next level (at low levels). Note that advancing your skills in this way gives you general XP towards your overall character level, just as it would if you’d earned the skill XP in the normal course of the game.
    • Alchemy 506
    • Alteration 132
    • Marksman (Archery) 43
    • Block 86
    • Conjuration 188
    • Destruction 192
    • Enchanting 4
    • Heavyarmor 104
    • Illusion 86
    • Lightarmor 173
    • Lockpicking 7
    • Onehanded 110
    • Pickpocket 37
    • Restoration 197
    • Smithing ? (very low. Maybe single digits.)
    • Sneak 20
    • Speechcraft 1914
    • Twohanded 179
  • There are console commands to give yourself individual perks, but I find it tedious. Much easier to just use the Perk Book mod to give yourself perk points you can spend as you want.
  • help “search string” | The quotes are required. Gives you the item code for all items, assets, people, quests, and everything else that uses your search term. Use Page Up/Down to navigate through long lists. For example, help “sapphire” will return dozens (maybe hundreds) of items, but help “sapphire ring” will only return the (whatever) and sapphire rings, and help “gold and sapphire ring” will give you just the one item code.
  • showracemenu | opens the character creation screen so you can modify your character’s race, appearance, and name

 

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