Skyrim Modding: Essential Tips & Tricks

[@somaskyrim]

it took me just about 2 years of trial and error to really get my list to a point where i'm finally 'playing the game' haha. great advice brother, keep it up!

[@AugnierCalyenin]

I played Skyrim 2 years ago and used your modding recommendations. I forgot what your channel name was and looked for it for 2-3 months, unable to find it, now, FINALLY it pops up on my recommendations again and I'm ecstatic, now I can finally mod Skyrim again. I'm gonna pin a tab to your channel so I can never forget it ever again. You make the absolute best Skyrim modding videos.

[@maubraymzoma6616]

Thank you for this, preparing to start modding Skyrim and I'm watching every tutorial I can get my hands on.

[@IndyGuest]

This is great! I just got back into Skyrim after about three years and found a good bunch of my essential mods are obsolete. Plus Im on a new hard drive so this is the freshest Skyrim build and playthrough Ive done since I first started downloading mods a decade ago. Thank you for helping to keep this community thriving! :D

[@thehunattila1]

I've been modding this game on and off since Oldrim and have had extensive mod lists across multiple versions. I want to thank you, Soft, for tutorials like this though because little things, like hiding the annoying Nemesis prepackaged mods, can slip the mid of even a veteran modder. It sure did for me and Nemesis is going to be a lot less annoying for me to read through checking only my mod behaviors now. haha I'd like to contribute to the general rules of adding a mod and dealing with Load orders. 1. If a mod has a plugin, load it at the bottom (before sorting) in xEdit along with the rest of your load order 2. Alt+Click the plugin to expand all entries and look for conflicts with other plugins (make notes if necessary) 3. Use LOOT to sort 4. Reload xEdit and check it again to see if it is 'winning' the things you want it to. If it is and you don't need any patches, you are done. 5. If LOOT didn't put it in the correct place, go back into LOOT, right click on the mod plugin, and add user metadata. (You can give it custom rules to load after certain plugins or change the metadata of plugins you want to load after it) I use loot metadata per plugin extensively to increase the intelligence of LOOT, so I don't have to manually do it every time. Set the rules, and make your LOOT smarter. I do give LOOT a chance to get it right first though, because it often does. I know this method means you have to know your way around xEdit, but you should really do yourself a favor and savvy up as xEdit is invaluable if you plan to mod much.

[@Archangelgamer1997]

It’s worth noting that a new modlist came out on Nexus recently called Baseline which has a lot of the necessities for modding included like: Stock game, cleaned plugins, bug fixes, modding tools (xEdit, Nemesis etc) UI mods and the foundations for animations

[@maciekdagreat]

Thanks bro I have followed ur guides (and some of Cptn Panda ones so shoutout to him aswell) while creating my own modlist and now everythings works great. ENB, LODs, Parallax, custom anime style fighting etc. I could use wabbajack for that but I think modding Skyrim by yourself is waaay better. Currently at 400~mods in MO2, started december 2024. So you earn a new sub. Also like someone above said don't use Nemesis. Pandora is better and faster.

[@the_pootisborn]

Wish i had this video when i modded skyrim last year. That period was also the reason i found your channel. Great Video, the hidden files in MO2 was new to me. You could have added as extra tip about how to keep the override folder orderly in MO2.

[@emken0206]

I have another tip regarding Nemesis: dont use it, especially if your animation loadorder isnt finalized. The engine takes a lot of time to run especiallly with many animations. Use pandora instead it is way faster and unlike Nemesis also 100% compatible with all animations that required FNIS.

[@Shade5]

I wouldn’t recommend using Pandora just yet, since it’s still relatively new

[@slowdown7x]

@@Shade5 works just fine, very smooth. Nemesis already feels dated.

[@emken0206]

@Shade5 its available for almost three months on Nexus even longer if you count the time pre Nexus release as well. So when exactly stops a mod being "too new to be used"?

[@NexusPain]

Last I checked Pandora still had a few issues when using Precision. Other than that yes it's super fast but it not like Nemesis takes ages. I can run 10000+ anims with Nemesis in under a minute.

[@SCSAsJorts]

⁠​⁠@@NexusPainthere’s been a recent patch for precision and Pandora to mesh a bit better but I have to say since my modding days started on Pc i gotta say Pandora is much more a peace of mind as opposed to Nemesis

[@SharmatLorkhan]

Thank you sooo much ❤❤❤ I also recommend ReSaver to clean your save in game due to uninstalling mod/s in playthrough.

[@uteausmunchen7235]

Great tips as always. Thanks a lot. Especially for the explanation how to hide certain textures. Super helpful.

[@edwardpike3386]

Excelent video. I've been waiting for something like this tutorial since 2020.

[@AZ_M0MMA]

Been building my mod list from scratch for over a year…..no end in sight yet where I actually get to play the game 😂 but guides like this make it less overwhelming and give me the inspiration to keep going! Spot on about it becoming an addiction lmao!!!! 🤣

[@M_KHF]

I started modding Skyrim for the first time(!) last week and your modlist seems interesting to me and I'm using them (so far +500) except I'm on the AE version and I hope everything goes well. So thanks for the tips and videos.👍

[@massoli7898]

very underated channel. Nice videos bro! If u dont mind, pls do a controller tips & tricks too.

[@Wolveri435]

Could you possible make tip/guide for controllers ? It seems most of the info I seen is either outdated or missing information/links and not well written steps/guide. The 3 methods i found so far 1. changing the inputs in the ini. file 2. controller mod (usually breaks game or outdated) 3. change buttons settings on steam. Oh and thanks to your videos i was able to make an organize set up that made it let intimating to add my first time extra moves/animation.

[@robertfrant7229]

When are you dropping, how to mod Skyrim 2025 ?

[@SoftGamingOfficial]

Wasn't planning on it haha but maybe..

[@AZ_M0MMA]

@@SoftGamingOfficialOmg please we NEEEED IT!!! 😂❤

[@Tube4life679]

Modding Skyrim instead of playing it, this is so damn true. I've modded this game for awhile but haven't actually started a new game since like 2019

[@Grzlybjrn]

im new to moding skyrim and i love how your game looks, can you make a video going through all your mods and how you set them up?

[@acep3452]

Can you also use the mod called Save Unbaker It helps stop your game saves from corrupting, when you add and/or remove mods mid game.

[@OverlordMalarkey]

I use a similar mod, FallRim does roughly the same. Cleans out old scripts from removed mods

[@FlashX212]

2K textures, a lightweight ENB is all I need for graphics. I’m not gonna stare at water, the ground, the texture of food or anything else as arbitrary lol. GAMEPLAY, NEW SPELLS, NEW QUESTS and HARD AF BOSSES is what is more important to me

[@AkaiAzul]

What are the pros and cons between AE and SE? What are some general tips / tricks / pitfalls to avoid to prevent CTDs?

[@maulressurected4405]

Nice tutorial, very useful for people that want to try wabbajack lists who haven't yet. I need make a stock game folder so I don't keep copy and pasting my skyrim folder when downloading wabbajack lists. That and I need learn how to use root builder for mod organizer 2 I never figured out how to set up enb binary with root builder.

[@sverniumsy1827]

So it it fine to grab the skyrim sale on steam now

[@michaelloring3599]

Nice! I'm going to start modding the game when I get a better rig! Is that your mod list in the description?

[@SoftGamingOfficial]

Yes it is but I will be updating with a new one I made soon

[@michaelloring3599]

Cool! I'm looking forward to it!

[@JanoschNr1]

There is also a mod that tells you if you de-install/miss diffrent mods, can't recall what is was called tho. : /

[@qifaysniduay]

Anyone know what's the armor at the "play game" chapter?

[@SCSAsJorts]

Soft quick question what’s the UI mods you have/settings you use to get your menus to look that way, I have Edge/untarnished downloaded but still kinda has that old Skyrim Ui to it if that makes sense.

[@SoftGamingOfficial]

I use Nordic UI for the aesthetic

[@SCSAsJorts]

@ 😭 looks like I got some reformatting to do lol cause I’ve been trying to tinker with it for months now 😂

[@BlueLight-]

It's been 10 days, that I'm try to sort my 130gb mods... someone save me...

[@buramukan5961]

What ui mod do you use to make the player healthbar look like that?

[@SoftGamingOfficial]

TrueHUD

[@nappim11]

I’ve been following your guides and it’s been great. I’m struggling to get MCO to work. I’ve installed it and all the prerequisites. My character still can’t attack. He just freezes. I’ve uninstalled, done a clean install. Is there something I’m missing? I have Skyrim SE on steam. I’ve been using vortex as my mod manager. Can other people get it working?

[@SoftGamingOfficial]

Have you run nemesis?

[@nappim11]

@@SoftGamingOfficial Yes! I watched some videos on NEMESIS and I was even able to get the 'Crouching Slide' mod to work (by updating and launching the engine). I'm wondering if I need to give up on Vortex and try MO2? I really like how your combat works and it's killing me that I can't figure it out. I removed all Mods and just did a bare bones install to see if I could isolate the issue. I have: Address Library for SKSE plugins, AMR, Attack+MCO-DXP+V1.6.0.6, Crouch Sliding Main (for testing purposes), DAR, MCO Universal Support, NEMESIS, Payload Interpreter, and SKSE64. Update: un-equipping my weapon and re-equipping it fixed it.

[@quietandsimple5134]

Any advice on save games? I installed "project skyrim" together with Lorerim lately and now I can see both save games in both games... oopsie x.x Guess I screwed up my inis too maybe

[@mhamad3ntar26]

Quick questio do you advise using pandora

[@Zepbus1]

I use pandora I remember having issues with idle animations not playing properly thats all.

[@slowdown7x]

works just fine.

[@maulressurected4405]

I use it now and have no problems with it. Worse case try it out. It's easy to use and faster. Just read the instructions on the it's nexus page. I redid my list and swapped CGO with MCO and nemesis with Pandora. I have bcfo downloaded as well but waiting for more animations. I had switched due to the fact I was close to the red warning for animations on nemesis and don't have that issue with Pandora. Pandora is quicker only the mods you have show up in Pandora unlike nemesis.

[@X862go]

Degmods is probably better now in 2025.

[@theamazingbatboy]

You're up late dude! Fighting the good fight :)

[@Tay_hach_exe]

soft the bigBoss

[@Paultimate7]

Its hilarious you tell people to right click the skyrim exe, goto properties ect ect ect when in your own video all you have to do is hover your mouse over the exe to see the version. kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3jHhGCwZppmoqM