This guide will take a substantial amount of time and a large amount of hard drive space (approximately 160 GB, not including your base Skyrim install). It also involves the use of more advanced modding concepts. Prior to beginning the installation, I suggest giving the entire guide a read-through to be fully aware of everything you will need to do to complete the installation. Remember that the end goal of the guide is to actually PLAY the game and enjoy it. This will take several sessions to install from scratch.

This is not your father's Skyrim, kids. Be warned: It is a much more difficult game, especially until level 30. The quests you used to do at level 1 aren't going to be do-able until much later on unless you are a very experienced solo player or have a number of followers trailing behind you. Even dedicated solo players have adopted follower usage trying to play this guide. You'll likely want a follower or two to carry all the glorious LOTD Museum loot around anyhow.

To have a fully working installation of this guide, you MUST pay attention and follow the posted instructions TO THE LETTER. Experiences on both the Support Forums and the Discord have shown that 98% of reported problems are the results of user error, with the remaining ones being mistakes on Lexy's part (that are quickly corrected). It is imperative that you have at least some knowledge and familiarity with Mod Organizer 2, Cathedral Asset Optimizer, LOOT, Nemesis, The Creation Kit, xEdit, zMerge, Wrye Bash, zEdit, xLODGen, and DynDOLOD prior to starting the guide. The mod list can be used as a base to build or remove from, but it is strongly advised that you install and play-test the entire guide (with nothing omitted or added) to ensure it is stable before doing so. The guide itself is very stable and rivals Requiem in scope since the inclusion of the OMEGA and Experience mods. Again, if you complete the installation and the game isn't working, it is far more likely that you made an error in installation than that Lexy made a mistake in her instructions.

There is a Discord Community that has an unwritten rule of tolerance towards those new to modding (within reason), but self-help is preferred and appreciated. The Discord is friendly, helpful, and has a knowledgeable staff.

As the guide is frequently updated, you will, at some point, have to stop modding it and just play or you will be caught up in a never-ending loop of restarting with new characters. Most users create two separate installations of MO2, one for playing and one for updating. Those who are OCD about always keeping things up to date will find this helps sooth the itch.

The guide is very demanding on hardware. You can use it if you know your computer system, are smart about what texture resolutions you use, how many of them you use, and scale back some of the settings of (or simply just don't use) xLodGen, DynDOLOD, and/or ENB/ReShade. The guide has been bench-marked, and currently uses an approximate 8GB of VRAM on Darth's and Lexy's system during the Cart Ride to Helgen. The system specs of these computers are found below. I recommend at the bare minimum a GPU with 6GB of VRAM.

With that said: It's time to get into the wonderful world of Skyrim Modding. We hope you'll find it pleasant, and good luck.