Could you all perhaps name them something unique to your mod? As in, if your mod is the "Nuclear Weapons for Skyrim" mod, then name your readme file as Nuclear_Weapons_For_Skyrim_Readme.txt or maybe NWFS_readme.txt or something similar? Because I just went and installed some eleventy-three mods, and probably close to ten of them said something like "There's already a file named DATA\readme.txt Do you want to overwrite?"

Just a little request from a first-time mod user.

I've been saying this for years.

Also, I think readme's should have their own folder. I don't like a thousand scattered readme's in the Data folder. I just delete them the moment I install them.

Problem?

I wouldn't so much have a problem if the NMM allowed me to rename the new readme to something matching the mod I'm installing at the moment - but all it allows me to do is to overwrite the old one or not.

I keep the mod zip files so that i can reference what files to manually remove when i want to uninstall. (if thats why you keep the readme's at all)

I agree with unique readme names, as for a special folder for them i have the mod "A Quality World Map" that puts its readme and changelog in a folder named "Readmes" in the data folder as well as actually names them.

Getting annoying having the nmm overwrite thing pop up for every mod asking if i want to overwrite another mods readme. But speaking of nmm and readmes, i wish the guys over as nexus who are in charge of the manager would add a readme feature to the manage itself that pulls the readme from the mods download page. Only problem with this though is almost no mods actually use the readme thing on their mod page, same goes with the built in changelog. They instead flood their description with all this stuff.

Advantage: Wrye Bash. BAIN will already automatically rename a generic readme file when this happens, and properly keeps track of the renamed file when uninstalling as well.

I've been saying it for more years than you have. Nyah nyah nyah.

No, but seriously. My readme problem is that a great many Skyrim modders seem to never have heard of the concept of the "readme" at all. I thought we'd gone beyond the 2002-era of readme-less mods. Apparently not. I'd say about 1/4 of my mods have no readmes. I routinely have to go back to the Nexus page to remind my self what a mod does, or how to get a mod started, or where the items added by a mod are located, ect.

This sort of amateurish presentation would not have been tolerated for long in the Oblivion or the later Morrowind modding communities. I can recall many people saying they would not download or install a mod that did not come with a readme. I guess those days are gone.

Exactly. A 'ReadMe' folder. So convenient. All in one place.


Ohhh, it's terrible! You've hit the nail on the head with your big heavy hammer. Of course, one could describe this readme fiasco as inconsiderate, but it's not too big of a deal. A minor peeve really. You are the only person in the world who will ever had a readme, for this game only.

Yeah, it's definitely not a major issue, especially with having NMM around to uninstally and such, but it would be nice to have all the readmes - and I don't know how I can even get them all since NMM won't give me the option to rename the readme as I install each mod.

And holy crap, I just looked at the readme file for Wrye Bash - how long does it take to figure that program out? Is using Wrye Bash the only way to use a bunch of different mods?

I want to say yes, but technically I'd be lying. Having a Bashed Patch (the merged esp file that Wrye Bash is capable of generating) used to be very important for Oblivion modding, but most of the changes people have been making to Skyrim are compatible with each other through simple changes in load order. The benefit of using Bash earlier rather than later in your modding career is that you can avoid finding out that you need a Bashed Patch the hard way and discovering that your savegame is corrupted by messed up leveled lists. Another thing to point out is that learning how to do things in Bash making the process of modding your game a lot easier to understand.

Using BAIN (Bash's installer feature) allows you to install mods through the program, but it also shows you which files are going to be added, which files are expected to be incompatible with your load order, and what parts of each mod conflict with each other. It's great for doing stuff like managing texture replacers because you can easily see which mod will be replacing the textures of a mod already installed into the game. It also makes it easy to uninstall/reinstall mods because it will show you which files are missing if you uninstall a mod that previously overwrote files from a different mod.

Long story short, you SHOULD try to figure it out, but if you can't or don't have time, don't worry about it. But just keep in mind that it's there if you think you might need it. Hope that helps!

Yeah, to be honest, I looked at the pictorial guide and my jaw dropped. I could learn the thing, I guess, but I admit that I'm not looking to learn an entire piece of software or get that deep into the guts of modding just to use some mods. I don't have that kind of time available to play a computer game, much less learn an auxiliary piece of software.

Don't get me wrong, the program looks like a stellar accomplishment in itself; taking a bunch of mods from different people and making them play nice with each other is no mean feat, I'm sure. But I guess I'm just gonna have to keep my fingers crossed that I don't have any mods that absolutely require Wrye Bash to work together.

I'd like to second/third/fourth/fifth this request.

To add to this, any questions about any part of the program you're not sure of can be posted the Bash thread. People there will be glad to help ya

To alleviate one concern, Bash is not nearly as complex as it looks. Out of the many, many options, most Bash users will only ever use a handful of them. Slightly off topic.