Modding on the Spectrum

Perhaps it's just me, but modding seems overly complicated. There are so many types of mods, plus mod managers that supposedly make life easier, yet come with manuals two inches thick.

All in aid of a gameplay loop that boils down to "go here, kill this, come back." A certain saying comes to mind- when you finish the rat race, you're still a rat.

I've found setting up Mod Organizer 2 was complicated but once everything is running, it's rather easy to handle. You may take a look at this beginner's guide about modding Skyrim: https://moddingskyrim.com/beginner-guide/

I sometimes install mods manually which means I put its parts into the Data folder. If a mod has loose files like meshes and textures, I create a .ba2 file containing these files using the Cathedral Assets Optimizer before I copy everything to the Data folder. This makes it easier for me to uninstall the mods by simply deleting the plugin files (.esm and/or .esp) and the corresponding .ba2 files.


As for your other question, there are games that focus more on the story such as The Witcher 3, Baldur's Gate 3 or Red Dead Redemption 2. If you want to stick with Skyrim, try out different quest mods. Google makes some interesting suggestions if you use these search terms: skyrim quest mods with good story

If you want to escape the rat race, you could turn Skyrim into a walking simulator by removing the aggression from creatures and NPCs like bandits. The mod Peaceful Living does that. And Jobs of Skyrim makes the game more immersive and helps role-playing it. This way you can enjoy Skyrim's beautiful landscape undisturbed and live the life of an alchemist, for example.

Thanks, Selene. I do appreciate how Mod Organizer puts each mod in its own folder; now if only Bethesda would design future games to work that way.

Is there any way short of uninstallation to get Vortex to stop popping up where it's not wanted?

You need to set MO2 as default for Nexus links. Open MO2, go to Tools > Settings. Navigate to the "Nexus" tab. Click on "Connect to Nexus" and when your Nexus account is connected to MO2 successfully, click on 'Associate with "Download with manager" links'...

I did some more research and what I wrote above may be not enough:

The Vortex default is to always handle all download-links and this is reset every time you open Vortex. To disable the resetting, in Vortex under Settings - Download disable the handling of mod manager button. The major disadvantage here is this can also disable Vortex handling downloads to games MO2 don't support but Vortex does support.

First work-around is to continue using Vortex for downloads, but point MO2 to use Vortex /downloads/skyrimse/ as MO2's /downloads/-directory.

Second work-around is, in Vortex under Extensions search for NXM Proxy, since at least in theory this should let you specify a different tool for downloads per game. If NXM Proxy works or not I've no idea.

Source: Reddit post by Rattledagger

Also as a follow up to what Selene posted. Once MO2 is properly configured it will keep an eye open for the Vortex autochange, and when you open MO2 again there will be a pop up asking if you wish to re-associate the downloads. It can be annoying, but it's a manageable annoyance.