Currently i find a combination of NMM, Wrye Bash and BOSS to be the most effective.

Thanks for all the help everyone. A question please. I noticed on the Nexus site a lot of mods come in a format ready to be used by NMM. Do they often appear in a format for Wrye? That format appears to be BAIN - thanks for the link AstroCat Does it matter one way or the other what format the mod comes in i.e. is Wrye quite straightforward to use anyway?

Thanks again.

9/10 mods don't need any special set-up to work with BAIN. Only mods with multiple install options need any special treatment for BAIN use, and it's really easy to set them up, even if the author didn't do it in the first place.

BAIN can typically take any archive that can be extracted directly into the data folder in order to work. For install options, it needs a special folder structure; archives that have such a structure are typically called BAIN-ready. PISE has such an archive.

NMM is somehow the most popular mod manager right now so a lot of major mods need manual repackaging before BAIN can process them (Deadly Dragons comes to mind) but that may change. I've found that later Oblivion mods often have their archives set up in a BAIN-ready folder structure, which you need to make your way through even if you just want to do a manual install...

By the way, BAIN is the name of the installer function in Wrye Bash. It stands for Bash Installers...

No one said NMM can't change load order. It can't change installation order except by the tedious method of uninstalling everything and installing it in the order you desire. Wrye Bash anneals your installed mods automatically whenever anything gets switched around.

Same

I use NMM, WB and BOSS.

Once TES5Edit is out I will use it to create a merge, then WB to create a Bashed patch.
Then, manually check for conflicts. PITA, but it's served me well for Fallout 3, Oblivion and NV.

My system:

- Track mods(binocular icon on mod page) on Skyrim Nexus and use Tracking Center with Notifications(Premium account feature) for keeping updated. In addition, I also bookmark each mod locally, just in case.
- Manually download mods with http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/ and using Site Manager + Download Groups features to move mods from Skyrim Nexus, SKSE site, Script dragon site, etc... out of my default download folder into Bash Installers folder
- Wyre Bash to manage install order and BOSS to manage mod order.

I use this method so it's compatible with all mods, even those not on Skyrim Nexus. Before this setup, I used NMM for downloading and keeping track of updates, but not all mods are NMM download compatible and this method doesn't work with mods not on Skyrim Nexus. My current setup is both more organized and more comprehensive. Highly recommended.

I plan to use NMM for installing mods, Wrye Bash for Bashed Patch, BOSS for load order.

Wrye Bash overcomplicates things and wastes more time than I have in my opinion. Don't make it any harder than it really is (and it's super easy), I'd say, so I use NMM.

Wrye bash. It is easier than it looks. I just piled it up a couple days ago. Reinstalled everything and now I can tell how amazing it does everything. Truly a great piece of software.

Can I recommend you use wyre bash for load order too? The only way to get PISE and armoury of Tamriel to play nice is to move 300.esp to the bottom in wyre bash. nmm doesnt cut it

If anything, Wyre Bash makes things far more easier to manage everything, especially as the amount of mods you use grows. Installation ordering and uninstalling mods are not trivial tasks with NMM. Not to mention the breadth of features: save management, ini edits management, annealing(installing/uninstalling content based on installation order), directory cleaning, ability to open mod page on Skyrim Nexus based on filename, etc....

NMM's only real advantage over Wyre Bash is update tracking. If that's something you value you though, just change NMM's folder to the Bash Installers folder and use it as a download manager.

Is it possible you are just confusing learning a new interface with it actually being more difficult?

Isn't NMM able to change the load order as well? You just have to manually drag down the file where you want it.

I read a lot of the readme. And while I understand it, I think it simply overcomplicates things, forces you to do more steps to get the same result. I have way more important things to do and far too little time than to do five steps more to get the same result (= mod installed correctly). I'm talking especially about installation. It's just essentially just about putting some files into a folder and make sure you don't overwrite something else you want; why overcomplicate it?

I can manage everything else just fine that Wrye Bash does without it.

What I, however, will NEED Wrye Bash for will be the Bashed Patch, unless NMM implements something like that too.

NMM doesn't have "load order" management for non-esp. That, IMHO, is what makes BAIN so much more powerful. (Though it does take a few extra steps to set up).

Some 80%+ of mods I've used with Wyre Bash only required that I right click > install to install, just as it is with NMM. For the mods that aren't one click installs, messy file organization or complicated mods with options are to blame. In the case of nontrivial installs, just like NMM, they require a bit of effort from the mod creator to make BAIN compatible. Although, I would argue that BAIN compatibility is a relatively trivial thing to accomplish once you know the folder organization. At that point, it's just a matter of education, which will improve over time.

Considering how difficult it is to order installs and to resolve conflicts between mods with NMM, Wyre Bash is certainly more user-friendly.

Three guesses what I am using (Do you need three guesses ?) - For the OP check out my signature link, there's a lot of it only applies to Oblivion Wrye Bash (Wrye Smash needs a lot of work on Bash Tags for the Bashed Patch at the moment) .. But for installation's, we are mostly looking at dropping replacers which just means an archive with a Data folder (or even just a Texture folder - Wrye Smash will still put it into Data), and BAIN is ideal for swapping in and out loads of different textures which make up the majority of Skyrim Nexus at the moment.

Right now I am messing around with Skyrim - Textures.bsa, and DDSOpt, so its proving very useful for swapping those in and out too ...
http://www.bild.me/bild.php?file=2934523Untitled.png

I use both Wrye Bash and Nexus Mod Manager.

Thanks for the advice.
Thankfully, I've been sticking with simple mods for Skyrim until the CK is out.
Truth be told, I'm not sure I like NMM yet. I still use Oblivion and Fallout mod managers over it.

One more vote for Wrye Bash + BOSS. I could see using NMM, too, but WB & BOSS are essential for large mod list. WB is complicated because it's powerful, in the same way that Photoshop is more complicated than Windows Paint.

NMM is fine for a few mods, and might be OK with a big list, but Wrye Bash can actually fix problems (or at least tell you about them).

The load order for those matters less if you merge your leveled lists using Bashed Patch.

I'm using Wrye Bash and I'm new to TES games and modding. At first I used NMM, but that was in its early stages and was that thing buggy! Tried out Wrye Bash (looked cool), was way confused at first, but figured it out. NEVER LOOKING BACK My most appreciated feature of Wrye Bash has got to be the "Conflicts" tab. Wow. Just wow. That's a HANDY feature! For mod updates, I just use Nexus tracking. When installing into Wrye Bash, I make sure to put the mod version number along side the mod name. Easy peasy!

Edit: Oh! And I also like the ability to take a packed file and "Unpack to Project" and then modify it how I want -- even make configuration changes to .INI files for a mod and then install it. That way I can uninstall and re-install it without having to reconfigure the mod

It's annoying to the point that it's practically impossible.

Installation order of packages is not the same as load order of esps.

Right click -> Install is to complicated? WB can even install multiple mods in one step, a thing that NMM can not.

That's just not true. I did it all the time for Fallout: New Vegas.

Better Oblivion Sorting Software is clearly better, because it says so right in the name.

(That was a joke!)

Anyways, "better" means different things to different people, and all too often "powerful" and "simple" take people in different directions.

NMM has a download manager which is better than any other current mod manager's download manager, because none of the others have one. Unfortunately, in current versions managing mod overlaps is both tedious and treated as largely irrelevant by NMM.

Wrye Bash's ability to merge conflicting records is, similarly, better than that of any other mod manager's ability to merge records. Unfortunately, a lot of Wrye Bash's documentation is confusing if you have not played other games that use it. (And I see Oblivion in directories in its config for my skyrim config and I have to wonder if it is entirely ignoring that config entry or if it is editing it after reading it...) Anyways, it's a bit messy if you look at it too closely. People that just ignore the documentation maybe do not have to worry about this.

And then there's Steam Works. Unfortunately, Steam Works is pure vaporware, at least for now...

Another thing i love about Bash is that complex BAINs are riduculously easy to make yourself. I've combined many mods of the same area together with optional install parts to avoid cluttering up the installers and keep some sort of organisation. Like having a body mod, optional textures and clothing fitted for it in the same package, where each part can be installed and uninstalled with few clicks whenever i feel like it. Yes, i so love Bash