I remember coming here and downloading mods back in Morrowind, but things appear to have changed.

I've been referred to a number of different sites to grab mods from but I'm looking for which site is generally the most trusted (that the mod reviews are legitimate and that all you're getting is the mod and not some terrible computer aids with it). Any recommendations? I've been referred to nexus mods so far. It looks like a winner but I just want to verify with the community that would know best. I've also been advised to download the nexus mod manager which likewise seems perfectly legitimate.

skyrim.nexusmods.com is generally one of the better ones.

TES Alliance is another good one.

Also, I don't recommend NMM but Bash instead.

Edit:

Whoops, linked to the MW/OB section instead of the Skyrim one. Fixed now. >_>

I take it that NMM is the nexus mod manager. Where could I find Bash?

Tes Alliance doesn't seem to have very much to choose from.

You didn't ask for quantity.



http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1356741-relz-wrye-bash/

First page of this board.

Fair enough, I also guess that greater quantity increases the chance of bad things slipping through.

Any particular reason why you wouldn't recommend the NMM or why you'd recommend bash over it?

I've never had any issues downloading mods from the Nexus, so you should be safe from any nasties finding their way onto your pc. DarkOne and his merry men do a pretty good job of making sure nothing malicious crops up there.

Can't much speak for the other sites as I've not used them very often, and I've never dl'd any from Steam and I'm not going to...but that's a different topic altogether.

You have a lot more control with Bash and things are easier to see. You'll also probably need the Bashed Patch somewhere down the road. There are other reasons, but those are my main ones.

Just a note, though: At the moment, only the SVN version of Bash properly works with BOSS and the new load order system set in place with the 1.4 patch. You can still use BOSS, but you just can't mess with the load order in Bash right now.

Thanks for the responses. Basically, I'm just looking for a handful of mods I don't have time to write myself. Anti-bloat, perhaps a UI and textures, etc. I'm not going to heavily mod it otherwise. Anything else I want will be done via the creation kit.

Unless you've already found them, here are a few links for some UI/font replacement mods.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=3863
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=479
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=2596
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=95
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=98 (This one is pretty handy to have)
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=3545
http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=4210

With these, and one of the font replacement mods linked is probably about as close to a DarNified UI as we will ever get, since he's gone and disappeared on us again.

also for anti bloat this is probably the best bet for most of it.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=4528 Possessive corpses

IIRC http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1362032-beta-unofficial-skyrim-patch-thread-4/ accomplishes this and more already

Nexus is the number one place for mods, and is more than reliable. You do find yourself sifting through alot of anime and fetish mods which have clogged up some of the mod categories, which is the only real let down. Assuming you're not into that stuff(i'll give you the benefit of the doubt) you'll still find more than enough mods to keep you happy.

Nexus Mod Manager is also a very useful tool for managing your mods, and keeping track of whether they are up to date.

Thanks for all the responses, great information. I just played a lot last night for the first time since ps3. You guys have no idea how much better the plain unmodded PC version is than the ps3 version.
Haha, no, I'm a boring married man. Not that married men can't have weird desires, I guess. I'm just placing more emphasis on the "boring" part where this stuff is concerned.

Thanks, I think I'll try out the NMM first.

I wouldn't rule out Steam Workshop either. You'll find mods there that don't appear on Nexus.

This is my first time on Steam, I've heard only good things. I assume it's just as reliable because of the name, is that accurate?

Yeah, i've not had any trouble with mods there, and i haven't heard of anyone else who has. It's not full of viruses, if that's what you mean.

Anybody can create and upload mods to any of the sites - and anybody can theoretically create mods that can mess up your game - so it's not so much trusting the sites, but trusting the authors/reviews of the individual mods uploaded there.

The Nexus has been around for years and years under various guises, and allows much more complex mods than those uploaded to the Steam Workshop (those that use Script Extender or Script Dragon, etc.).

I prefer the Nexus, as it allows me to download manually (or you can use the NMM if you prefer - I prefer complete control over what goes into my folders).

Wrye Bash will be a must to install and organise mods (and created "bashed patches" to make otherwise incompatible mods work nicely together), but it's still a work in progress and the latest version doesn't yet work with the latest method of game load order.

In some ways, as Steam workshop is so easy to upload to (can be done directly from the creation kit), novice modders tend to upload there more often - and many of the more experienced modders use the Nexus.

Other modders prefer to use neither! There's other sites - TES Alliance, House Fliggerty - and others such as Piratelord prefer to host their own, so some mods you can only find from the mod forums here!

Exactly. That's why I asked for sites that had both reliable mod reviews and virus free content. I'm not going to download something that has 3 fans and I'm not going to go to someone's backalley website to download something.

A good rule of thumb is that if somebody posts a link here on BGSF, it's a safe site to go to. The moderators won't put up with any shenanigans regarding posting links to any sites which contains malware, after all, these are Bethesda's official forums and that wouldn't look good for them if they gained a reputation for allowing such links here.