After going through trial and error, at modding games, I have found a few things that helps me to mod games. First, NEVER allow the installer to install to Program Files, or (x86). Instead, create a clean directory, and install your game there. This gets you out of having to go through UAC crap when you want to mod a game, at all. I have my UAC turned off, but changes in the program files or x86 directories will have you going mad at some point or another, due to wanting permission to do things there. Best to avoid this mess. That is my first, and foremost, rule of thumb.
Second thing, when you install your game, patch it up. After the patch is done, make an archive of the game folder as it stands. Then move that archive off to somewhere else, but handy, nonetheless. This will help in a ton of ways. You can recover quickly and easily, rather than having to reinstall the game. I am, currently, I believe, on my 4th reinstall of TSL, and RCM, and this time, making my archive copy. Ugh. Okay, once the archive is done, then it's time to do a little house keeping, and start modding. You will want to run the game, and make sure it runs. at least to the menu. This is important, I always do this first. After that, you will want to edit your ini file, as needed, to run in wide screen, etc. After that, well we can start modding
With the advent of good mod managers, and Vortex especially, you may want to avail yourself of it. However, I do want to caution you in it's use. While it is a good program, I recommend caution in using it to install mods. Any mod with a setup, you will want to extract it elsewhere, and run it outside of Vortex. One nice thing about Vortex is that you can manually add your mods to it. You can drag and drop them into Vortex, right from your download folder. And Nexus does have a few decent mods there, and I do recommend supporting that site, as well, by signing up for a free account, and downloading to your heart's content from there. Okay, before going to far here, let's take a look at Vortex, and under it's hood. What you want to do is add in TSL to it. After that, you want to go to settings. I hate how this are set, so I change my stuff up. And it helps to save space. Okay, once you are done setting it up, now you can mod. And that, I am going to say look for the guides on modding, and follow their instructions after installing the game.
Remember, Program Files, and (x86), like to ask your permission to make changes, so don't put anything there that you want to make changes to. And also, have fun.
