First thing first before we start. DO NOT USE A TORRENTED COPY OF SKYRIM please or you will automatically fail using this guide as you must have Skyrim updated to it's current Version Number or Skyrim Script Extender WILL NOT WORK AT ALL. Plus you are about to mod and make the most beautiful game ever made, even better than it was EVER intended by them lazy pricks at Bethesda. Bethesda is an amazing company and well worth the price of any game they have ever or will ever release, now go BACKUP you copy of Skyrim on a portable drive or somewhere SAFE and please keep all of this in mind as we move on to the fun shit
1. Install Skyrim to a root directory. do not install in Program Files. sorry if you are using Steam and have Steam installed in Program Files but you will have to move that to a new spot like C:\Games or somewhere other than Program Files. if you do not do this first, do not keep reading this guide, this step cannot be skipped. this is done now move to step 2
1b. get Creation Kit,
http://www.creationkit.com/ without it your game might not work correctly when modded. This has been known to be a problem for me and many others and not so much for some people that mod the game, probably best to get it anyway to be safe guys and gals.
2. get SKSE,
http://skse.silverlock.org/ i recommend the installer and nothing else, it is far too complicated to install manually the first time around
3. get BOSS,
http://boss-developers.github.io/ again get the damn installer and let it do it's thing it's just easier
4. get Wrye Bash,
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/1840/? get the file and use the full installer and let it do everything it needs to do, go for the standalone version, while you do this, sign up to Nexus Modding site, there is no better or more supportive community for modding any PC game on the market, plus it will help later on when we have to use the account to get certain mods not available to just.. anyone..now that you installed Wrye Bash, view the Readme and BOOKMARK the site so you can quickly come back to this and learn how to do things cuz i aint about to hold your hand through this whole thing lol you know you want me holding your hand.. right?
5. get TES5Edit
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/25859/? this will make your game run properly and is good to get even if you NEVER mod the game at all. This will be used to fix many things wrong with the game to begin with and mods that are dirty which we will get to later in this guide, please get this and save yourself a huge headache later down the road in game.
Also get NMM, Nexus Mod Manager,
http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/modmanager/? and use it to install your mods when possible, almost all mods can be installed using it and there is no good reaon not to use it that i know of unless the mods requires a manual install which i highly recommend not using unless it is required by a mod you just HAVE to get. Yeah there are some of those too.
6. NEVER MOD THE SAME AREAS OF THE GAME TWICE! This is how almost ALL modded games get completely broken, so if you absolutely love reinstalling your Skyrim then go for it, ignore this step lol it's fun
7. If you are an adult there are some things we can get from Nexus modding community that will allow us to get the coolest looking armours in the game period. Bethesda has some very good designers but they could have done way better given the right amount of time and patience that our modding community has been given without pay.. ok i won't lie our modding community did it in less time and with probably much more ease but still without pay so thank them dearly and enjoy
8. Research everything, there is no reason to add mods that you do not like so read stuff. Nexus site has many tabs for each and every Mod and the first one is always the decription of the mod itself, along with recommended and required mods. Make sure you have enough space on your computer for all this crap because you will need it. There is almost nothing that has not been modded in Skyrim from the bread to the Dragons it all has been changed in some way by some modder and been praised by thousands of people world wide for doing so. Your mod list can grow in one sitting from 10 mods to 100 in a matter of minutes just because you wanted a new sword. Don't be afraid to break your game if you followed the first part of this post.
9. Go to Skyrim Nexus, on the top of the window ther is a button called Files, mouse over it but do not click
move the mouse down to Top Files
now go to Most Endorsed Files of all Time (non Adult)
this list is mostly safe to install each and every file one by one but be careful not to mod the same thing twice. Climates of Tamriel is not good to have with Realistic Lighting Overhaul. that is one example of double modding, they will conflict unless you have compatability patches and work arounds to make them work together which gets complicated and it really a pain in the ass so pick one and go with it please. I prefer Project Reality: Climates of Tamriel and all mods associated with it. They are a huge group of people that dedicated a major part of their time to making the mod.
10. When modding Skyrim it is best to make sure you get the Unofficial Patches form Nexus, they are in the list mentioned above. Install them first as they may help you with other mods working properly. May help is a huge understatement though. I highly recommend having these, they are what the modding community fixed that Bethesda was too lazy to fix in the first place.
11. TES5Edit and you: you will run this great program, probably get confused a bit but that is to be expected as it is a very complicated program but very simple if the video guide is followed. Before running it please be sure to run Boss first. Make sure this is the last time you EVER use Steam to start Skyrim with the Skyrim loader. If not then forget this step for now and move on but do not forget to come back and read this over. After you run TES5Edit and have done everything to the game that needs to be done to make it great, please keep in mind that you have to do it all over again if you Verify the Integrity of the game cache through Steam or ever run the game from the built in loader.. both may be nessecary at some point so be warned your game might run like shit afterward unless you remember to do these simple edits to the game. It gets very easy with practise, trust me.. but it is worth it, very worth it. Here is the Video Guide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOQO2S6HDBw please watch it in full screen on highest settings, and pause it regularily and follow it STEP BY STEP untill you know how to do it very well, there is no shame in doing it right the first time, every time.
12. Using Boss, WryBash and NMM to make your game work properly. Hopefully you did not bypass my mentioning of bookmarking the Redme Website for WryeBash.. on the bottom of the Screen on Wrye Bash there will be some Icons now. SKSE launcher, Boss and Creation Kit should ALL be there and if not, skip this step and return to step one, figure out where you went wrong and fix it, nothing has been broken.. yet.. ok now we can move on. Click Boss on the bottom of the Wrye Bash Window. You will get a Browser Window pop up and it will show you all your mods nicely ogranized and put in order according to the Google Repository of Mod Load Orders. now things will not ALL be in order. this is where it helps to have some experience and organization with the mods you have installed and are activating in Wrye Bash. first of all you are done with Boss now that it has sorted your load order for you, unless there are RED NAMED MODS. These must be removed. If Boss says your nose does not match your face, well it must also be removed, if you deny Boss the privilage of telling you what is wrong with your game or do nothing to fix what it says to fix, you will be playing a very unstable game, IF it loads at all. PLEASE go fix anything that it tells you to fix and read the summary word for word. No speed reading will work here a lot of it looks the same but sometimes there are changes that need to take place before you can move on. Once you have finished that, go back to Wrye Bash and move mods that were placed in the Load Order AFTER the Bashed Patch and move them to the most likely or same type of mods above it. Armour and clothing with likewise mods, quests with quests, races with races. Boss will always put the unrecognized mods after the Bashed Patch. They still have to go in the right order or they may not function properly. Dual Sheath Redux is one that is best left after the Bashed Patch and unless Boss says otherwise, leave it there, unless for some reason Boss moved it to above the Bashed Patch. Now assuming you have read this guide and followed all the steps properly, and you have made it this far without completely losing your mind wandering the halls of Nexus staring at every mod they have to offer, Right Click the Bashed Patch and rebuild the Bashed Patch. Follow the warnings. say yes, say no, agree to disagree and do what it wants. after it is done.. you get a message that asks you if you would like to activate the Bashed Patch. Yes of course..now scroll up.. make sure you have no Green Check marks, if so they might be Mergable Mods with green names too, just uncheck those ones and they will get a + sign, if not then refill the spot with a check mark, once you are done the should be no problems. You should also have no Red ones. They are game breakers. if they are red but you know they are installed properly and have been sorted by Boss, rebuild the patch one more time maybe you missed something the first time around, if this does not work, delete that red named game breaker.
13. Click SKSE Launcher...
