This morning, I've read that patch 1.3 breaks some modding for the game. That's not going to be permanent, is it?

I just installed the retail version on my kid's laptop. I'm having trouble finding a download for the patch. Plenty of articles about it, but no downloads. There's a forum thread about it, but no links for downloads. Are the patches going through automatically with Steam?

There are still many mods that do work, and sometime soon the Creation Kit will be released.

Yes, Steam automatically updates the game for you. Concerning the modding: it definitely is allowed, and that some mods are not working properly after a patch is quite normal. Usually the creators of the mod make an update quite soon after patch-release (for example skript-extender). Bethesda does not want to break the mods, but since they update some files, which are also used by mods, they get some problems.

Patches make changes to the base game. Those changes are often incompatible with certain mods, breaking them. The mod creator just needs to update their mod to take into account the changes and their mod will usually work just fine.

When a patch "breaks" mods, it is because the mods were created using the older executable file. If the new executable file changed that specific area, then the mod will no longer function until whoever made the mod updates the mod.

Mods aren't broken permanently unless the author just doesn't bother updating it. This is really no different than at any other point in modding history.

That's good news. Remembering how GTA IV had its modding shut down by Rockstar made me fear this could happen to Skyrim, perhaps as a sacrifice upon the altar of Steam. Can't imagine a Bethesda game without mods, though. Who else will fix all the bugs, if not modders?

Anyway, we're trying to get it to run well enough on the Acer Aspire 5830TG. It's sporting a not-so-amazing GT 540M. Installing Nvidia's newest beta drivers as I type this on another PC.

Installing the beta drivers and turning off the AA & AF allows the game to run on High settings. For a $700 laptop, that has to be good enough. It runs Oblivion on Ultra, however. Alas....

I am avoiding mods until the official editor comes out myself. Plus, with the initial patches breaking some mods or introducing weirdness with some mods, it is just not worth the bother. There are a few minor things about the game I want to change, but I would prefer a mod that is made on the real editor after the patching has subsided. Also, I have seen what happens to saves on previous games with dirty mods. Not that I am saying all mods out there are dirty or junk or anything, I just want to err on the side of caution. Besides, the vanilla game is quite awesome as currently patched.

imho, nothing wrong with already using mesh and texture replacers.

I'm playing on a laptop too. Here's some tips.

Get this mod for your game. http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1323303-tesv-acceleration-layer-thread-4/
Turn on the FXAA option and lower the resolution, but keep the AF at 8x or 16x.
Most of the graphics sliders in the advanced settings can be raised to max without hurting fps badly. Keep the grass slider where it is though.
There should be a number of places online to look at how to tweak shadows, as they are the biggest performance hit.

Most of the mods that do break are ones that require script extenders like SKSE. Luckily the SKSE team are quick to update their scrip extenders within hours of Beth's patches.

As was pointed out, replacers such as textures and meshes cannot break anything because they are purely visual (unless Beth releases new meshes or textures in a patch, but I don't think they've ever done such a thing).

Also, Beth and Valve are working together to support the user modding community through the Creation Kit and Steamworks, and Beth has publically stated that their games really need to be experienced on PC due to the modding community being so integral to the full game experience. Beth and Firaxis are two of the most supportive companies as far as their user communities are concerned, so there is nothing to worry about as far as being able to mod the game regardless of patches.

There's an option to keep your Steam games updated all the time in the options menu, you can uncheck it if you want. Mods are built on code that is available at the time of it's release, patching a game can change this code causing some mods to "break" If the author is good about updating their mods, this isn't usually a problem.

The patch just broke some mods because those mods were made for a certain version of the game. It's not Bethesda's fault, and as soon as the respective modders update their mods to work with the latest version they will all function just fine again.

yea , bethseda actually likes that we mod the game, they go out of there way to give us the tools to mod, they don't HAVE to give us the creation kit, but they do.