How reliable is LOOT? Do you always depend on it?

[Vendayn]

LOOT is definitely better than BOSS in one way (seeing half my mod list being unknown is too annoying, no matter the accuracy. That and still have to rely on LOOT to say what mods need cleaning or not, since BOSS isn't accurate anymore on that part). But it isn't perfect either. I still have to manually move mods myself. A lot of mods get out of order of where they are supposed to be.

 

And I question the stability it provides...since I started using it...it seems I actually get MORE ctds and LESS FPS. Could be the mod lists I've tried...but BOSS gave me a more stable game more often...I barely had to uninstall and redo Skyrim with BOSS and I do more of that with LOOT.

 

The bad part is I don't know if its the mods or LOOT...in any case...I do know my overhauls (compilations) with NO scripts (or very little script mods) at all and only 150 mods (a 4th overhaul had only 100 mods, another had 130 mods) gave me far worse performance than my BOSS made overhauls with TONS of scripts (sexlab+frostfall+wet and cold+ton of sexlab stuff+ton of other stuff) with a near 250 mod limit...my FPS is higher and I'm not getting any CTDs at all.

 

Maybe a mod was broken in my small 150/100/130 mod setup. Maybe I did a better job with my overhaul using sexlab stuff...dunno...don't think I'll ever know. I just don't understand why my hugely scripted game performs better and plays amazingly than my overhauls I did afterwards using less and no/very little scripts. All my overhauls using LOOT were broken , my two overhauls (both very script heavy, one used a TON of sexlab stuff, the other was just random shit) I did with BOSS were not.

 

Is it a coincidence? Mod I chose that broke it? Maybe I'm using scripts from a mod that actually optimize the game and I don't even know...all my overhauls I only used skse memory patch/ENBoost and safety load (used them in all 5 of my overhauls)...never got anything else...''

 

Heck, maybe using script mods actually make Skyrim run better for me.

 

Don't know...

 

With that said...funny enough...I still use LOOT for the most part. But, I do have to go through TES5edit and sort mod orders on each .esp that shows up orange (out of order) in Wrye bash. Does it do anything? Dunno...I just like it all 100% green.

[Sdesser]

LOOT has been good to me. Pretty much the only thing I have to change after running it is my own WIP mod, just because I want to keep my bat files for testing active (they're written with my mod at load order slot 36).

 

Then again, I don't have mods that have that many conflicts with each other and I don't use multiple mods that deal with the same area of the game, so that keeps it nice and neat. Overall, I'd recommend LOOT to anyone. It's simple to use for your everyday casual gamer and yet powerful to grant power users the flexibility they need. 5/5 would download again.

[Spikes]

I play with Requiem on. LOOT puts requiem and it's patches in completely wrong and bad places in load order. So i Loot once,then use TES5edit to see what conflicts with what. Then reorder about 70% of all the esms/esps with the right load order.

 

I use as few mods as possible, that change the same thing or mechanic, for minimum major conflicts between them.

[Sdesser]

I play with Requiem on. LOOT puts requiem and it's patches in completely wrong and bad places in load order. So i Loot once,then use TES5edit to see what conflicts with what. Then reorder about 70% of all the esms/esps with the right load order.

 

I use as few mods as possible, that change the same thing or mechanic, for minimum major conflicts between them.

Good that you pointed this out. I had completely forgotten about about overhauls.

If you're using overhaul mods, especially PerMa, you'll need to be cautious since they work a bit differently from normal mods, so LOOT can get confused with those.

 

Those who run without overhauls can pretty much completely relay on LOOT, but if you do use them, you'll need to use your own head a bit or follow instructions on the mods page.

[Morferous]

You can of course make exceptions for LOOT, if it sets certain items to silly places. I did so to Real Shelter files. User runs RSPatcher scripts and sets master files him/herself with TES5Edit (sounds more complicated than it is), so LOOT has currently hard time to understand that they should load last: unless you have ReProccer files that should load after RS files.

 

I simply made exceptions for RealShelter.esp to load before RSPatch.esp and that to load before Pre ReProccer WARF IA7 IW UU  Patch.esp. LOOT now arranges them accordingly. End of hassle.

[Dubhorizon]

You can of course make exceptions for LOOT, if it sets certain items to silly places. I did so to Real Shelter files. User runs RSPatcher scripts and sets master files him/herself with TES5Edit (sounds more complicated than it is), so LOOT has currently hard time to understand that they should load last: unless you have ReProccer files that should load after RS files.

 

I simply made exceptions for RealShelter.esp to load before RSPatch.esp and that to load before Pre ReProccer WARF IA7 IW UU  Patch.esp. LOOT now arranges them accordingly. End of hassle.

 

You're right, I've got that too with LOOT. Sorts everything else right except Realshelter and RSpatcher. With MO I just lock those two load order, run LOOT, they still get place a bit higher, so I unlock and drag them to the right place. Didn't know you can add exceptions to LOOT, thanks for that.

[Morferous]

 

You can of course make exceptions for LOOT, if it sets certain items to silly places. I did so to Real Shelter files. User runs RSPatcher scripts and sets master files him/herself with TES5Edit (sounds more complicated than it is), so LOOT has currently hard time to understand that they should load last: unless you have ReProccer files that should load after RS files.

 

I simply made exceptions for RealShelter.esp to load before RSPatch.esp and that to load before Pre ReProccer WARF IA7 IW UU  Patch.esp. LOOT now arranges them accordingly. End of hassle.

 

You're right, I've got that too with LOOT. Sorts everything else right except Realshelter and RSpatcher. With MO I just lock those two load order, run LOOT, they still get place a bit higher, so I unlock and drag them to the right place. Didn't know you can add exceptions to LOOT, thanks for that.

 

 

Gopher shows how, starting from around 7:50 in this video.

 

http://youtu.be/SzoyWugzZAw

 

[AlmightyDeity]

   It depends on your load order. LOOT can't match the person that installed the mods one by one. For beginners it's a godsend but for someone who's had to reinstall Skyrim more than a few times, I'll tell you that I've learned from my mistakes, but LOOT will still CTD every time it messes up.

 

As Plumber has said here, common sense over anything.