So in my quest to use more mods stably, I was looking around both the Nexus and the Workshop, and I came across a strange theory. (To me at least)

I found quite a few examples of people claiming and having people agree with them that using the NMM and Manual Install for mods allowed them to use more mods and use mods more stably than using the Workshop as their primary mod source/manager.

Is there any validity to that? I use the Workshop as my primary source because I feel the Workshop has a vastly superior search, display and browsing setup for Skyrim mods, and because it has the auto-update feature.

Will using NMM as the primary actually allow more mods to be used with better stability? Or is it just a placebo effect that people think it works better?

The only positive thing(s) about the Steam Workshop is how incredibly simple & easy it is to use, but that also potentially bite you in the a** later on. There is no control over when you choose to download an update, and also there is little documenation behind the vast majority of mods that I've seen. The Nexus has far more content and in most cases far better documentation & discussion about mods, conflicts, and problems.

Using a program like "BOSS" in combination with proper load-order know-how is a good way to ensure a healthy load order. Regardless of which distribution method you decide to take. However, it is much easier download, install/uninstall, troubleshoot, and organize mods through the Nexus Mod Manager than it is the Steam Workshop. At least when you begin to use more than just a handful of mods.. If you only use, say, less than a dozen mods, then there isn't much need to go use a program like the NMM.. But when you start to download & use many mods (even if they're just texture replacers) the Nexus and it's managing program is the way to go.

I'll be bluntly honest, if you intend to do anything more than some extremely minor modding to the game, there is no reason not to use the Nexus & the NMM.. There's more content, more control, more organization, and more knowledge behind the user base (in most cases, not all). That's not to say you should ignore the Steam Workshop, there are a few mods on there that are not hosted on the Nexus, but not many. Think of the Workshop as a gateway, with the Nexus as the playground. However, we all have our preferences, to each there own.

P.S. Something that everyone needs to learn before using automated tools like the NMM is how to install things manually, that way you get a basic idea of what files go where, and can properly look into the right directories to make sure things are in order when problems arise.

As l2edShift said, there's no control over when you download an update. This causes existing saves to automatically lose items if a container is removed. Many updates should be postponed until reading the readme/changelog/description to make sure you perform the necessary steps before updating, but the Steam Workshop does it automatically.

One thing l2edShift didn't mention, and may have changed since I last used the Workshop, is that the Workshop doesn't delete files when you unsubscribe. This means that some mods can continue to affect the game after deactivation/unsubscription. Additionally, the Nexus allows optional files and old versions which can help to facilitate greater compatibility.

NMM shows you when an update is available but doesn't force you to update. Many Workshop files require you to download antiquated editions from Nexus to restore items lost due to automatic updating.

Besides making updating manual, and removing items entirely on uninstallation, the Nexus and the Workshop are just different methods to acquire mods. Personally, I'd reserve the Workshop for texture replaces, and use NMM for anything else. But I'm a Nexus fan.

Edit: Struck-out misinformation. Slight edits for clarity.

It's placebo effect. How you acquire the mod has no bearing on its stability in the game.

While the workshop doesn't delete files when you unsubscribe, it DOES deactivate the plugin file when you do so. The nature of Workshop downloads means the resources won't load since they come in a BSA file and those only load when their mods load.

Plenty of Nexus mods ship the same way too. For instance, all of mine. It's just plain easier to deal with. Deactivate the mod, all the stuff that goes with it ceases to function. Want to delete it? Two files later and it's gone.

Actually there's a button to delete all files that come with a subscribed mod on Steam Workshop, under the Data Files option.

Personally, I just use Steam workshop for basic things I know are small tweaks (toggleable Night Eye for example), and still prefer to use Nexus, because of some form of transparency with the option of using non-BSA versions of mods, or texture replacers. Installing with either NMM or Wrye Bash (which I just started to learn to use for installation), lets me see exactly what files are being overwritten and decide which parts of what mods I want to overwrite or not. Stability wise, it lets me see and note easier what certain scripts or files could be cause of instability or texture corruption in my games.

Also, I don't benefit from the auto-updating feature of the Steam launcher because I need to use the skse_loader.

So I've decided to try my Skyrim from the start again with a bunch of new mods that I found and trying to stick to NMM as much as possible (I was actually shocked when I saw a good chunk of my mods had updated versions on Nexus, or Dawnguard-improved versions), however because they change so much I'm doing a completely clean install of Skyrim to make sure everything goes according to plan as much as can be. However, I'm always open to new suggestions for mods, and I actually have a few questions/requests in that area.

1: I currently use Balanced Magic to improve the base magic experience in Skyrim. However, I've heard rumors that there are far better mods for making Skyrim's default magic system better; what is generally considered the best improvement for the default magic system?

2: I was really fond of a mod from the Workshop that made the basic economy of Skyrim a bit more realistic - it made it so that things like Inn Costs and Food reflected a more realistic, acceptable price that person would need to charge in order to be able to make a living - IE: A night at the Inn cost 160 gold, not 10. Any there mods like that on the Nexus, since the mod is no longer on Steam.

3: Another mod that is no longer on the Workshop but that I absolutely want a replacement for was the "No Perk Trees" mod. It removed the perk requirements from different perks, meaning you could take any perk you wanted as long as you had the skill required to take it. IE: It made it so that I could skip Fists of Steel and still take Cushioned, etc.

4: In an effort to make my game looks as good as possible, I use mods like WATER, the High Res DLC, Bella, etc. Are there any other mods I could be using to significantly improve my experience, while still maintaining an acceptable framerate and few CTDs? The biggest limiting factor here is my VRAM - my computer is fairly beefy, but I only have 1GB VRAM, so I can't push it too too hard, even though I run Crossfire (or whatever AMD calls it) with my double GPUs.

5: Home Improvements. I tend to like the basic houses in Skyrim because they're sensible locations and tend not to be overpowered/too fancy. However, the houses can be a bit bland...particularly since I've put 262 hours into the game. Any nice, tasteful home improvements, say, along the lines of Voidcraft's Breezehome mod?

6: I was wondering if there is a Combat Overhaul along the lines of Duel: Combat Realism for Bows and Arrows, or even a more hardcoe version of Duel. I really like this mod, and its made the game a ton more fun to play, and a better version of it would be great.

7: Weapons - I use Immersive Armors, and its pretty great - the people clearly put a lot of time and effort into it. However, I've been looking for a similar Weapons mod, and I've yet to find one - most of the weapons mods I can find give you some nice ideas for weapons, except they're these horribly cheesy, plastic-y things that look really out of place. Any help here?


For reference, these are the major mods I use that I feel could cause conflicts/issues with mods you might suggest. They are: Morrowloot, Frostfall, Imp's More Complex Needs, RCRN 3 - Realistic Colors and Nights Legacy, CBBE, Killer Kleo's Armor for CBBE DAWNGUARD, Ultimate Follower Overhaul, Unofficial Skyrim Patch, Character Creation Overhaul.

I do know how to use BOSS and Wyre Bash, so that isn't an issue.

Thanks for the help.

I use a combination of both the NMM and Steam. Only reason is that I like the advlt mods from NMM yet some mods are not on the Nexus site so I find them on Steam.
I only go for cosmetic mods as most of the weapon spell and armour mods are usualy over powered.

Do bear in mind this policy only works if you're unpacking every BSA from every mod. Loose files trump BSAs as of Patch 1.4.27, as it should be, so you need to be pretty careful about this. In some cases mixing policies can lead to unexpected results like mods not having the edits you might expect if more than one attempts to edit the same vanilla script. Or texture mods that didn't process the way you hoped.

Skyrim has fixed the loading system up enough that it's no longer necessary to install via loose files now that BSAs can actually overwrite the contents of other BSAs in an expected manner.

I use http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/1943 by ClassicalNoodle. Despite being a pre-CK mod I have not experienced any problems with it.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/19538 is another mod that does the same thing. However I can't vouch for it because I've never used it.

Thanks for that.

If you launch Skyrim from the Script Extender link, it doesn't check for updates to Workshop subscribed mods. I added skse as a shortcut in Steam and it works great; if I want to upgrade subscribed mods I can use the launcher.

Searching for mods is pretty awful from Steam Workshop, bearing on impossible. But it has its share of buggy, illogically packaged mods too. A little care by the creator can go a long way regardless of distribution.

If I was a Skyrim modder, I would put small, simple mods (that work well in collections) on Workshop and Nexus, and put more complex ones solely on Nexus and other sites. Apart from the size restructions, it wouldn't be worth the support hassle from people who just click things and then complain/badmouth when something beyond my control breaks.