Skyrim Anniversary Mod Load Order Guide
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Part 1 - Essentials
- Part 2 - User Interface
- Part 3 - Animation
- Part 4 - Gameplay
- Part 5 - World
- Part 6 - Community Shaders and Graphics
- Part 7 - Wrapping up
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Introduction
PLEASE STOP REQUESTING EDITOR ACCESS - I WILL TAKE THIS DOWN IF I KEEP GETTING EMAILS
My current modlist. Installed using Mod Organizer 2, on the most recent updated version of Skyrim Anniversary edition. This guide is intended for players who are familiar with Mod Organizer 2. If you are new to Skyrim modding, I do recommend taking the time to familiarize yourself with the tools and frameworks used in my load order.
For a quick view of my load order including all Nexus links, click—-> here ←–
Note - Creation Club Anniversary Content is not installed in my game currently outside of the free patched content (fishing, survival etc.)
Note 2 - Admittedly, I have no clue if this load order is perfect. I’m always chatting with more knowledgeable modders and doing my best to learn good practice. If you have any suggestions PLEASE let me know on r/joov
Note 3 PSA - Modding can be overwhelming, but it can also be rewarding and fun! Learning what makes the game and engine tick…cataloging mechanics and gameplay elements etc. Try to find the fun in learning what each and every mod touches. You’ll find a lot of appreciation in what mod authors are able to accomplish and even find inspiration yourself in what you want YOUR game to be.
Part 1 - Essentials
First are the essentials. Frameworks and utilities that many mods will need. FNIS and Nemesis are unique and have a small note, but I recommend familiarizing yourself with what each of these tools GENERALLY does. You’ll be smarter for it, and make more informed mod download decisions in the future.
Mod names in order, Nexus pages can be easily found with a quick google search
- Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch
- Nemesis Unlimited Behavior Engine*
- You will need to research how to setup Nemesis as an executable, and run this program after installing animation mods. Quick ELI5 explanation - Nemesis adds your new animations into the game.
- You will also need to set up empty “output” mods for these executables to write to
- Address Library for SKSE Plugins
- SSE Engine Fixes (Part 1)
- SSE Engine Fixes (Part 2)
- Andrealphus’ Papyrus Functions
- Powerofthree’s Tweaks
- Spell Perk Item Distributor
- Papyrus Extender
- PapyrusUtil SE
- JContainers SE
- Dynamic String Distributor
- Scrambled Bugs
- Container Items Distributor
- Mergemapper
- Keyword Item Distributor
- Dylbills Papyrus Functions
- Animation Motion Revolution
- MCM Helper
- SSE Display Tweaks
- Precision Magic Trails (likely should be in a different section)
- Fore New Idles in Skyrim SE (FNIS - very important mod. Similar to nemesis, FNIS will need to be run as an executable within Mod Organizer)
- Skypatcher (Currently deactivated for me. I need to research more about its functionality)
- Trainwreck
- ConsoleUtilSSE
- FileAccess Interface for Skyrim SE Scripts - FISSES
- FISSES patch for Skyrim AE
Part 2 - User Interface
Currently my User Interface mods all mostly play off of the EdgeUI overhaul that recently came out. Some of the EdgeUI aspects are also in the gameplay section of my load order. I would suggest doing some UI stuff later if you’re new to Skyrim modding, outside of the classics like SkyUI
You will want to check the “required” mods on the Nexus page for every mod. This helps you stay on top of what you need for each of these mods. Some you’ll already have from Part 1, but some may pop up later in the gameplay section.
Mod names in order
- SkyUI (The most essential and key UI mod in all of Skyrim modding. It’s also Todd Howard’s self admitted favorite Skyrim mod ever. You can tell it means a lot to him because they really took influence from it and crushed it with UI design in Starfield)
- SkyHUD
- InfinityUI
- EdgeUI
- Compass Navigation Overhaul
- TrueHUD
- True Directional Movement - Modernized Third Person Gameplay
- Quickloot IE (Still not in love with this mod, but I’ll try it out for a few streams)
- Detection Meter
- Detection Meter AE Support (I don’t think these are working properly for me quite yet)
- Confirmed not working. Mod author has a comment on this page listed a temporary fix.
- UPDATE - FIX IS CONFIRMED WORKING. DOWNLOAD the .DLL file and replace it in the original mod folder. Do NOT use the AE Support patch.
- Better Third Person Selection (Amazing mod so far during my testing)
- Constructible Object Custom Keyword System (Untested)
- Oblivion Interaction Icons
- dMenu
- Show Player in Menus
- moreHUD SE
Part 3 - Animation
My current focus with animation is immersion, and a better feeling of OOPMH in the gameplay of Skyrim. This does lead to some jank in places, so you’ll want to keep testing till something feels right for you.
Mod names in order
- Comprehensive First Person Animation Overhaul (CFPAO)
- Retimed Hit Frames
- Precision (While janky, imo it’s the best Skyrim mod ever created and I hope there is more iteration in its future…it’s possible I’m unaware of mods people have made for it)
- Animation Queue Fix
- Better Jumping AE
- No Spinning Death Animation (Essential as fuck)
- Paired Animation Improvements
- Violens (I use this to remove and limit the melee killcams in game while keeping assassinations and arrow killcams. It’s FISSES compatible so you can save/load profiles and settings)
- Sky Idles
- Open Animation Replacer
- Puppeteer Master (This is an SE port we have of an LE mod. Non essential mod I just use this to call in animations for videos and editing)
- Immersive Interactions
- 3rd Person stagger remover (Just installed this. The camera shake in 3rd person with my current mods is a huge drag for me)
Part 4 - Gameplay
I’ve added some new functionality recently that is largely untested. I’ll mark those. Most of the new untested functionality is at the bottom of this load order
Mod names in order
- iWant Widgets (Currently inactive)
- Dynamic Activation Key (Not fully tested, gives alternate E key function in game)
- Blade and Blunt (My combat balance mod)
- Dual Casting Fix
- Apocalypse (Spells)
- Apocalypse Ordinator Compatibility Patch
- OBIS SE Patrols Add on
- OBIS (Bandit mod. Makes the game harder. Should maybe load this before the patrols add on lol)
- Ordinator (Perk tree overhaul. Again…maybe should load this before the Apocalypse patch for it lol)
- Bandit Lines Expansion
- Enemy Friendly Fire
- Obsidian Weathers and Seasons (Probably fits in the world category)
- Better Dialogue Controls
- Immersive World Encounters
- Dynamic Impact Slash FX (Pairs great with Precision)
- Improved Camera SE (Custom first person camera mod. In game settings menu)
- Grab and Throw
- Throwing Stuff
- More Interactive Objects - Throwing Things add on
- Better Messagebox controls
- NPC Infinite Block Fix
- The Dragonborn’s Bestiary (Imo this is mod of the year)
- Touring Carriages (Currently broken for me…fun as hell on stream when it works)
- Wintersun (Religion add on)
- Nethers Follower Framework
- Dual Unarmed Hotkey
- Playable Monster Mod (Absolutely not essential. It’s for streams mostly)
- SuperSecretTwitchChallenge (Again..not essential…it’s just a Kill Yourself power we used during TwitchPlays
- SkyUI SE Difficulty Persistence Fix (Crucial mod. I had an issue where difficulty was not saving. This fixed it)
- Simply Knock SE (Untested mod that lets you knock on doors, patch below)
- Simply Knock SKSE65 DLL (Required patch for SImply Knock SE)
- Take a Peek (Untested mod that lets you peek through keyholes in doors)
- Just Knock (Untested door knocking add on that’s a recommended part of the EdgeUI suite I mentioned earlier)
- Use or Take SKSE (Untested mod that’s intended to give that Fallout 76 style of eat/take usable items while they’re out of inventory in the game world)
Part 5 - World
Small list of mods adding to game world
Mod names in order
- Convenient Bridges
- Missives
- JK’s Skyrim All in one
- Skyrim Sewers
- Reliquary of myth (Daedric artifact enhancer mod)
Part 6 - Community Shaders and Graphics
Community Shaders is a mod, along with a list of add ons that I think make the game world stunning while remaining performance friendly compare to ENB. I also think it keeps the vanilla art style completely intact. I’ll also list the general “graphics” mods I have on top of community shaders. A ton of these mods can be found linked on the main Community Shaders Nexus page
Mod names in order
- Community Shaders
- Auto Parallax
- Tree LOD Lighting
- Grass Lighting
- Grass Collision
- Screen-Space Shadows
- Complex Parallax Materials
- Water Bending
- Light Limit Fix
- Water Parallax
- Water Caustics
- Subsurface Scattering
- Sky Reflection Fix
- Dynamic Cubemaps
- Skyland AIO 2k (General Graphics overhaul)
- Total Character Makeover (Hot NPCs)
- Enhanced Blood Textures (Plays well with precision and Slash FX. I think Slash FX also has an installer page with options for this mod…or vice versa..idk off the top of my head)
- Vanilla HDR
Part 7 - Wrapping up
These last few mods relate to NPCs, dummy mods that hold the outputs of FNIS and Nemesis, and the audio overhaul I use. Again, I suggest doing your own research into the dummy mods for FNIS and Nemesis. If I was to ELI5 it again, I believe these are empty folders that exist where your mods are, that are written into by FNIS and Nemesis when running those executables.
Mod names in order
- NPCs react to Frenzy
- NPCs react to Invisibility
- NPCs take cover
- Immersive Citizens AI Overhaul
- Diverse Skyrim SSE
- Swearing Mudcrabs (Absolutely fucking essential)
- FNIS Output (Not a mod on nexus. You will create this within MO2)
- Nemesis Output (Same as above)
- Skypatcher Output (Same as above again. I have this deactivated until further research if needed)
- Immersive Sounds Compendium (I love this mod. I’m going to keep it in for now though I’ve heard it may cause crashes. I don’t think it’s caused many for me though)
There ya go! That’s my current load order as I write this on October 30th 2024.
This will likely be a living document for me. I’ll probably make a copy of this document when I make changes so that you all can watch a stream or a VOD and have the exact load order from that stream/series along with some of my general thoughts on that modlist.
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