Advice please which mod manager is best? : V

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:57 pm

I've only just got round to thinking about which mods to install and wondered which mod manager people are using. I've come across Nexus Mod Manager I don't know if there are other ones I haven't seen any yet.

Any help appreciated, thanks.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:46 pm

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1338421-relz-wrye-bash/.
That and the Nexus Manager are, afaik, the ones that exist for Skyrim right now.
Which one's better - depends.
The Nexus Manager has the integration with the biggest mod site, and probably provides easier installation.
Wrye Bash is stronger when it comes to managing mods - solving conflicts, updating savegames, rollback of mods, that kind of things.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 2:52 am

I personaly use the Nexus Manager because I am a very lazy person. With one click you can download a new mod and have it installed at the same time wich is just very easy.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:47 am

I don't use a mod manager; I install them manually. It's a good way to learn how things work.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:07 pm

I use the nexus manager. But only to change load order and because of it's integration with the Nexus mod database. It shows mod versions and whether the mod has an updated version on the Nexus. Which is a neat feature that saves me time looking for updates.

Other than that I don't really have a use for a mod manager.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:06 am

Doing things manually is fine if you never want to delete a mod or have conflictings mods. lol.
NMM is fine if you never want to change the installation order of mods. lol.

That leaves us with Wrye Bash. Btw, you can still use the update feature of NMM if you set it up correctly.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:35 pm

Doing things manually is fine if you never want to delete a mod or have conflictings mods. lol.
...

Like manually uninstalling a mod is difficult... :huh:

; and, you generally do not install mods that are confilcting with each other. Mods builders provide advice about that; you just have to read what they write.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:12 am

Ever tried to uninstall one of three or four medium to large texture mods?

Of course it's possible; it's just a pain in the ...

No mod author can possible check for conflicts with every other mod out there. And then there's the unavoidable conflicts - there's some good information in the Oblivion forum on why mods probably will conflict, even if you don't use several doing the same thing.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:06 pm

ninja'd by Varana

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:54 pm

Bash is better as it allows more control and is way more flexible. NMM is based off of OBMM, which had many issues of its own.
One such issue is that if you install something, install something else that overwrites the files, then uninstall the last you are left with those files missing without even knowing it. The BAIN component of Bash allows you see all this info at a glance and will take care of replacing files if you uninstall something. There are also a lot more benefits to using Bash in general. The only use for (x)xMM is for BSAs and shaders.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 11:28 pm

One such issue is that if you install something, install something else that overwrites the files, then uninstall the last you are left with those files missing without even knowing it.

NMM can handle this. But it can't change the installation order. If you update a mod that is partially overwritte by other, you have to reinstall all those other mods.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 12:30 am

One such issue is that if you install something, install something else that overwrites the files, then uninstall the last you are left with those files missing without even knowing it.

AFAIK this statement was true for OBMM or FOMM but NMM keeps backups of overwritten files and can rearrange these after uninstallation of a mod that has other mods' files overwritten.

I use both, NMM and Wrye, NMM for installation, Wrye for the rest (order, save-organisation, bashed patch, etc).

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:54 pm

Ever tried to uninstall one of three or four medium to large texture mods? :smile:

...

Yes, not a problem. All I had to do was remove the "texture" file it added to the game. Anyway, how are you that sure that the mod manager you use does the work properly, removes everything it should remove, etc.? If you don't do it by yourself, you'll never know how these things work.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:15 pm

NMM can handle this. But it can't change the installation order. If you update a mod that is partially overwritte by other, you have to reinstall all those other mods.

However, BAIN handles it all just fine. Hopefully, soon the differences between the programs won't even matter anymore.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 1:57 am

Wrye Bash, no contest. But it does have a learning curve. Managing mods with BAIN is so ridiculously easy and screw-up free that it feels almost like cheating :hehe:

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 1:10 am

Yes, not a problem. All I had to do was remove the "texture" file it added to the game.

You had a mod that added only one single texture file? Srsly, I don't want to go through every file of an HD mod.

Anyway, how are you that sure that the mod manager you use does the work properly, removes everything it should remove, etc.? If you don't do it by yourself, you'll never know how these things work.

Bash tells you which mods match with installed files. So if you don't trust its deinstallation, just hit refresh. If you don't trust that either, you can still look into the folders. Besides, Bash has thousands of users and is quite mature at this point. Finally, I would like to see how you do things like mod cleaning or the bashed patch manually.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 11:15 pm

I use both. NMM for its version check feature and Bash for it's Patch features.

would like to see how you do things like mod cleaning or the bashed patch manually.

It's actually pretty easy with Snip or (once it's out) TES5Edit. You just need to look at the record conflicts and resolve them as you see fit.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 4:35 pm

It's actually pretty easy with Snip or (once it's out) TES5Edit. You just need to look at the record conflicts and resolve them as you see fit.

Easy on a technical level, but extremely annoying.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 5:17 pm

Easy on a technical level, but extremely annoying.

Certainly not worse than uninstalling Qarl's by hand.

You implied that it was impossible, which we both agree it's not, so I'm not sure what's going on. :ahhh:

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:43 pm

I'd recommend learning and using Wrye Bash, definitely worth it. This threads will help you get going: http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1338606-wrye-bash-simple-mod-installation-for-smarties/page__p__20166898__hl__wyre%20bash__fromsearch__1#entry20166898

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 1:01 am

It's actually pretty easy with Snip or (once it's out) TES5Edit. You just need to look at the record conflicts and resolve them as you see fit.

I always check the Bashed Batch with TESEdit after WB creates it, sometimes there are conflicts it just can't resolve correctly. Or rather, the way i want

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:34 pm

I use NMM's version-checking to keep everything up-to-date, but use Wrye Bash for installation and management.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:10 pm

If mods have conflicts I will always opt to resolve those conflicts manually. (Once we have the proper tools for that I suppose.)

An automated conflict resolver, a bashed patch, doesn't necessarily resolve all conflicts, nor does it necessarily resolve all conflicts properly or the way I want it.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:41 pm

An automated conflict resolver, a bashed patch, doesn't necessarily resolve all conflicts, nor does it necessarily resolve all conflicts properly or the way I want it.

Indeed, but with huge load orders that would be an enormous PITA. So i make WB do the legwork and just check what it screwed up. It is mostly correct.

» Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:20 am

Doing things manually is fine if you never want to delete a mod or have conflictings mods. lol.
NMM is fine if you never want to change the installation order of mods. lol.

That leaves us with Wrye Bash. Btw, you can still use the update feature of NMM if you set it up correctly.

I don't understand the statement that you can't change the load order with NMM. There are arrows that allow you to move an esp and it indicates that the load order has been changed. What am I missing?