So from Skyrim nexus I've downloaded about 50 tweaks and mods that look helpful. I've downloaded and installed them using the Nexus Mod Manager.

Given the amount, I suspect that I will need to BOSS and/or Wrye Bash to order them correctly and handle any possible conflicts or redundencies (I am being careful not to install mods that achieve the same thing, but conflicts or redundancy does occur).

It would be great if someone could provide a basic noobs guide to how to use the three in concert with each other, or if I only need one or two of them. My goal is just to install and order the mods in the smoothest way possible.

I do have SKSE and Dragonscripts already in my Skyrim directory, for whatever that's worth, and have installed BOSS and used it once to order my mods.

I downloaded but didnt install WryeBash, mainly b/c it warned me about installing it into the Program Files directory. I know this was an issue w/ Oblivion pre-Steam, but I have Skyrim installed in the standard Steam folder and prefer not to change its location...so is isntalling Wrye Bash into the Programs File location okay?

Thanks.

If you have several mods that modify leveled lists, it is necessary to merge the changes into a single list. Otherwise, only the last mod in the load order will take effect. Wyre Bash will be able to do that for Skyrim soon. (It can't right now. )

This still applies, as long as you have any OS later than XP. UAC will cause problems for any mod manager in this case - sometimes not always obvious, because it may work at first, then fail on specific files or specific folders. Either way, your best bet is moving your Steam install to something like C:\Games

As for the rest:

BOSS: Will manage your load order for minimal conflicting of records. This is a much easier way than opening all the plugin files in TESSnip (TES5Edit eventually) to see what order they should be loading in - because the BOSS team has already figured that out for you.

NMM: Mod Manager, use it to install/uninstall mods. This includes both plugins (ESPs and ESMs), as well as replacers and data files. NMM also provides update/download abilities.

Wrye Bash: Mod Manager, use it to install/uninstall mods.

Be sure to only use NMM or Wrye Bash, not both (unless you keep specific track of those cases), to manage your mods. Both track the files in the data folder and check them against their list of what they expect there, based on what they have installed. So mixing the two will confuse each other. BAIN will give you more information about what files are installed and if they are as expected, NMM will hide that from you in an effort to make a cleaner interface.

In either case, eventually you will need Wrye Bash to create a Bashed Patch. The Bashed Patch further alleviates conflicts by intelligently merging records from your mods. This way you don't have to hand-merge your plugins and pick the winning parts yourself.

@ Lojack or whoever can answer:

I'm considering doing just this thing - moving my Skyrim install out of the Programs x86 directory (Windows 7) to my C:\Games directory. However, I bought it and downloaded it through STEAM (no install discs).

Is there a way to do that? Because I will definitely want to use Wyre Bash.

~ Dani ~

There is a way (I'm not sure how, maybe someone else knows. Some sort of software program.) but the best thing IMO would be to just reinstall Steam itself at C:\Games. Getting all your games out of the program files folder is a good idea.

You should be able to copy over your games from the steamapps folder so you don't have to download them again.

Backup your steamapps folder somewhere (like perhaps your desktop), then uninstall Steam. Reinstall Steam in another place (ex: C:\Games\) and then replace the new steamapps folder with the one you backed up. This should do it, I believe. If there's another method, anyone's free to suggest it.

I found a http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/16226/complete-guide-to-symbolic-links-symlinks-on-windows-or-linux/ that may help you to do this. Then you can move the game files to another directory, or even another drive. This is useful for people who like to play the game on a SSD or the like.

A short and simple version is this: Copy and Move your Skyrim Install to C:\Games\Skyrim or whatever, then open command prompt as an administrator and type the following (With Quotes). The First is the old location of your Skyrim install. The second is the directory you've moved it to.

mklink /J "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim" "C:\Games\The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim"

I think you need to uninstall both Steam and Skyrim.
Reinstall Steam, but choose your Games directory instead of the default.
Then reinstall Skrim. You'll be good to go!

Don't need to reinstall Skyrim if you backup the steamapps folder beforehand, or so I think...

This is the easiest way possible to do it: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7418-YUBN-8129

Very easy, minimal downloading of new files, so re-installing necessary. The only thing that doesn't get updated with this method is shortcuts (like in your Start Menu).

That works as well, however this is one thing to look out for: If one of the paths Wrye Bash (or NMM) is looking for is a relative path to the game directory (i.e. 'Skyrim Mods'), then if the Junction occurs between that relative path, it will have unexpected results. Example:

You junction "\SteamApps\common\skyrim" to "D:\Games\skyrim". Whey Wrye Bash tries to access 'Skyrim Mods' by going "one directory up from the skyrim directory", the filesystem could either return "D:\Games\Skyrim Mods" or "\SteamApps\common\Skyrim Mods". Easiest way to avoid that is to Junction the 'common' folder, instead of the 'skyrim' folder.

Can anyone confirm this works with no problems.

I think that's how I did it, but it was a while back, so I don't recall for sure.

In theory it should work no problem.

Edited my post to be correct. There we go.

I haven't tried that, but I can say that the built in Steam backup works for me moving between computers.

I'm gunna go down the route you linked too, if that's how easy steam say it is.

FWIW, I always go back to my common folder when browsing up one level from Skyrim, by default even though I've symlinked to the folder. I'm pretty sure as long as Wrye Bash is installed to the steam directory, (which is sym linked) it will go into the common folder looking for the mod folder. I don't want to move all my steam games, but this hasn't failed me yet. You know more about this than I do, but I've not run into any problems thus far.

My install is linked from the Steam folder to S:\, a Skyrim dedicated 34mm ExpressCard 24GB SSD using http://Junction and the below .bat.

@Echo OffEcho This .bat should be in your desired Skyrim\ directory when run. Said directory must be NTFS formatted. Create Skyrim symbolic links?PauseMD "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Steam\SteamApps\Common"MD "%CD%\Link'd\%ComputerName%"MD "%CD%\Link'd\Saves"Move "%UserProfile%\Documents\My Games\Skyrim\Saves\*.*" "%CD%\Link'd\Saves"RD "%UserProfile%\Documents\My Games\Skyrim\Saves"Move "%UserProfile%\Documents\My Games\Skyrim\*.*" "%CD%\Link'd\%ComputerName%"RD "%UserProfile%\Documents\My Games\Skyrim"Move "%LocalAppData%\Skyrim\*.*" "%CD%\Link'd\%ComputerName%"RD "%LocalAppData%\Skyrim"Junction "%UserProfile%\Documents\My Games\Skyrim" "%CD%\Link'd\%ComputerName%"Junction "%LocalAppData%\Skyrim" "%CD%\Link'd\%ComputerName%"RD "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Steam\SteamApps\Common\Skyrim"Junction "%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Steam\SteamApps\Common\Skyrim" "%CD%"Junction "%CD%\Link'd\%ComputerName%\Saves" "%CD%\Link'd\Saves"Pause@Echo On

It does work. Futhermore, that install works on both my rigs while sharing saves, yet keeps the .ini files PC specific. It's great if you play on more than one rig yet you don't want to maintain multiple installations. The only caveat, really, is that you have to settle on a uGridsToLoad setting both rigs can handle or your saves will only load on one rig or the other (without a bunch of console finagling).

http://www.traynier.com/software/steammover
It is very easy to use, you just have to select the place where you want to move a game in "Alternative Folder" then click on the blue arrow. You can put each of your Steam game in different folders or drives.

Not saying it wont work, and it is a very nifty tool for easing hard drive usage, I'm just saying that when accessing the 'Skyrim Mods' folder, Wrye Bash might think it's in a different location than you actually have it. It'll work fine, you just may have to move the Skyrim Mods folder around. Also, actual filesystem behavior depends on the underlying filesystem (and version). Vist/7 use a decently recent NTFS, which responds the way you describe (usually), but that's not always the case (don't have specifics), so it's just something to double check when setting up.

I use http://www.gamesave-manager.com/ to move my folders around, it has a feature called Steam spreader, you can select a default game profile or custom folders to move, it can also move them back should the need arise.

I have been using Wrye Bash for Skyrim in the steam folder in Program files without any trouble so far... I have 178 mods installed and I often uninstall/ reinstall them and do updates.
Like I said, so far, no problems... but I guess that could change!

This is on Windows 7 home premium. I expect the problems are on Vista...

Pretty much the same for me. I did right-click on the steam folder and go to properties and then security and allowed all users full control.

That's the method I always use and it works perfectly. An additional tip, though: if you're low on hard drive space and can't fit a copy of your steamapps folder (in my case for example, my steamapps folder is around 550GBs these days; however, I always keep a backup of my steamapps folder now on a separate partition. However, if my drive was smaller I wouldn't be able to fit two copies of the thing on the same drive), you can cut/paste it elsewhere (make sure Steam isn't running first!), then cut/paste it back when you reinstall Steam.

How does that effect your registry though? As far as i can tell Skyrim has it's own registry entries which will persist if not uninstalled proper. I learned how to deal with UAC years ago and my install is already good(C:/Steam) but was just wondering about the registry anyway.

The registry will be fine if you SymLink just your Skyrim directory, but not if you move the whole Steam directory.

The below as a .reg file will set the install path to C:\Games\Skyrim for Win x64 so stuff can find it after the move or you could just use RegEdit to do it manually. Of course, change the path to match your new install location before running it.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Bethesda Softworks][HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Bethesda Softworks\Skyrim]"Installed Path"="C:\\Games\\Skyrim\\"[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Bethesda Softworks\Skyrim\1.00.0000]