johnnywatts

If you're using MO, you can do the merges whenever you fancy it, since you can just reorder mods till kingdom come. Just make sure to match the Integration guide as much as possible. Otherwise funky things happen.

No bashed patch required. Wrye Bash is used for other purposes (such as retargeting masters). As for merging: 1) Make sure your mods are arranged in the left pane of MO according to the Integration guide. 2) Arrange all the .esps you are trying to merge according to instructions. Best practice is to arrange them on the very bottom of your load order. 3) Fire up Merge Plugins. Right click, unselect all, then select just the .esps you are trying to merge (use Shift+click to select multiple .esps). Hit Spacebar to activate them. Then right click on the selected .esps, and select "Activate Masters". The "OK" button should turn into color now (it was grey before). If still grey, scroll up the list of .esps and activate the red ones. 4) Select profile. Go to settings and make sure they follow the guide. 5) Follow remaining instructions for merge (name of merge plus name of plugin etc.). Go to Merges tab and right click on the new merge. Select "Check plugins for errors". Then "OK". Right click again, "Build merge". Wait until the cmd prompt window that pops up goes away. Hit "OK", then close Merge Plugins. 6) Refresh the left pane of MO (right click -> All Mods -> Refresh). At the bottom you will find a new mod that is your merge (named whatever you named it in Merge Plugins). Move it to the appropriate position according to Integration page. Voila. Done. Probably. Open Cities is an especially problematic mod to integrate and play well with other mods, since it makes such massive changes to the world.

Diana, JD: What are the odds of both of you making a downloadable profile of Mator Smash instead? In theory, this will eliminate the tedious updating of patches every single time mod authors update their work. Basically, we'd just update the mods ourselves, and then use Mator Smash to remake the patches for the new versions.

Word of warning: This is likely to result in some really weird missing asset issues with some mods. I have personally encountered this a few times already, with two occasions standing out: The ECTV mods, and my own personal merge of NPC replacers (Bijin series, UNO, etc.). For some reason, if you merge just the .esps, Merge Plugins might think that these mods have no additional assets, and are just plugins. So it merges them, and then changes some references around while the original files keep their original names. e.g., in the case of merging Bijin series + The Ordinary Women, Grelka will end up with a grey generic face. If you compare the .esp of the merged mod in TES5Edit, and the original Bijin mod, you'll notice that Grelka's records reference entirely different assets in the merged mod. I noticed this because I generally practice "keep everything in their own folder" like in the Reqtified guide. So, with Bijin Wives, there was a patch for fixing some texture paths, and this patch was in a separate folder that just has an .esp named exactly the same as the unpatched. I guess the author meant for it to replace the original. But as far as Merge Plugins was concerned, Bijin Wives was in a folder that had no textures or meshes, so it just merged and renamed some references without carrying over the original files. Therefore, you end up with grey face, even if you subsequently activated the original unpatched Bijin without the .esp file (since the asset names were changed). tl;dr - best practice with Merge Plugins is to just merge the entire mod like in your 2nd option. Saves a lot of hair pulling.

Yes. The way the SMC guide works is that you finish the guide, and then go back and re-do the Finish Line page. That includes the Reqtificator, etc. In any case, it's too late now. I nuked the install after getting pissed, and am currently running the Ultimate Skyrim build. It's much more stable, but also much uglier compared to even the base Reqtified build without SMC. I'll be messing around with it for some time, but I'll hang out here if anyone needs help with the Reqtified build.

Okay, having fully built the SMC guide, I went in to play, and guess what? CTD on save again! Except this time the "kill yourself" solution posted earlier doesn't work. It will CTD even on manual save pre-character creation.

Probably a pretty major one for your To-Do list: The SMC guide is out of whack. Major parts that need addressing include EnhancedWetnessandPuddles.esp, which doesn't get a mention anywhere in the guide. As such, the load order does not include where it should go. The same applies to the patches installed as part of the SMC process, namely the ewp__cowi.esp, ewp__dbm.esp, ewp__usleep.esp, and zz ewp__dbm__cowi.esp patches.

This makes literally no sense whatsoever. I had the same CTD on save issue, and this solution actually works! But why? It'll be pretty silly to have "kill yourself" in the guide's instructions.

Just a heads up, The LoTD Patch Central page has been updated. If you download the latest version of the main file, the CRF and MAS patch options are nowhere to be seen. EDIT: Sorry, found the options. The CRF and MAS patch options have been moved into the Items list, instead of a separate page. They're not included in the optional files either. Additionally, the Notice Board and ETaC patches are now merged under the optional. No more individual files.

I've put at least 10 hours into either builds, so I guess I can contribute. Requiem - Do you like an ass kicking? If so, choose Requiem. With Requiem, you need to be prepared for every battle, especially in the area of stamina, and recognizing what works against each particular enemy. For example, arrows do little except piss off guys in heavy armor. If you have just started out, odds are even a fight with a lowly wolf will kill you. It is incredibly hardcore, and even at higher levels, you will die often. Perks are extremely important, so you need to plan your character around that. Vampires, especially vampires who wear Ebony Armor, will wreck your day no matter what level you are. Also, prepare to read the Requiem Guide, because without it, odds are you will die horribly. YASH - Do you like an ass kicking, but in a gentler way? If so, choose YASH. With YASH, you need to plan your character well. To defeat your enemies, you need to have gear and weapons that line up appropriately with your skill levels. Your character will also be "debuffed" if you don't have sufficient skill in a particular weapon or armor. e.g., if you wear Ebony Armor with no skill points in Heavy Armor, your character will move slower, and the armor rating will be lower than even Leather Armor with decent Light Armor skill points. Same goes to weapons. Damage and armor rating is deeply related to your skill levels. I find it easier than Requiem. Also in general, the YASH guide gives you a setup that plays fairly well with other mods. I have maybe 20+ mods on top of the YASH guide, and have not encountered a single instance of mod conflict yet. With Requiem, there are a ton of patches out there for the various mods, for good reason. Compatibility is a pain.

I am running YASH, and I have run the bash patch. I'm talking about the "preview" you get in the crafting window. All three hide armors look exactly the same, until you put it on your character, then you see the difference. I take it from your post that you don't get the same issue then?

Hey Paul, I know Book of UUNP isn't in the guide, but I'd figure I'd ask you about using it with this build anyway. So I read on the mod page that it is supposed to have menu objects, so you can tell which part is which during crafting. Problem is, I do not see them in my menu. So I'll see 3 hide armors, but all 3 look identical. I end up having to craft all 3 and then test them one by one before selling the ones I don't use. It's a little annoying. Do you see the menu objects?

What's your load order look like?

Er, maybe just an error on my end (I'm using SMC-Lite), but I don't think this is correct? This was found in front of Alvor's blacksmith smelter in Riverwood. I would honestly redo the WLSO merge. Doesn't take much effort. Less plugins = more room for train mods and the like. EDIT: The plugin sos-thedungeons__relighting-skyrim.esp requires RelightingSkyrim.esp as a master though. However I'm going to assume that we can use Wrye Bash to change it to the merged .esp.

Merge instructions for Relighting Skyrim says to include RelightingSkyrim.esp. However, post-merge, the Integration Guide says to leave Relighting Skyrim activated. But that .esp has already been merged into Relighting Skyrim Patches Merged.esp. Doesn't make any sense. The load order will have that entire .esp become redundant anyway after being overwritten by the merged one. Additionally, if Relighting Skyrim is now just one .esp, it makes no sense for users to download the mod from Nexus only to replace the one .esp with your file anyway.

Found a very minor error with textures in Riverwood: I think the textures are incorrectly assigned to the sign post?

It was yash2__cloaks.esp that requires Book of UUNP.

Just tested the new procedure. Deleted all my ECTV stuff, then reinstalled according to updated guide. It works! No more grey-face bug. EDIT: Just a note though, Corianna's cookshop in Riverwood still has an issue where the sign outside the shop has some messed up textures. I'll see if I can set up Shadowplay and capture some images. Also, Vilgar in Riverwood (another NPC added by ECTV) is naked for some reason. He carries his clothes in his inventory, but just doesn't wear them. Hey, I think this procedure will result in Delphine in Riverwood looking walking around with a vanilla face. Don't know why. I separated my Bijin+Seranaholic+Valerica etc. merge from the NPC Retex merge, and moved the Bijin merge below NPC Fixer ECTV.esp. That way Delphine doesn't have the ugly face issue. Don't know what in NPC Fixer or NPC Fixer ECTV is causing it. EDIT2: Also, Book of UUNP is still not in the guide. As noted earlier, one of the compatibility patches requires it as a master.

Okay, after tearing my hair out from trying to figure out why the guide's ECTV merge .esp introduces the grey-face bug, I finally figured it out. It is straight up "missing" some textures (facetints) and even mesh files. In the merged package I did myself, there is a whole extra folder in "++++ ECTV Merged\textures\actors\character\facegendata\facetint" called "ECTV Merged.esp". In this are a pile of .dds files. The same thing happens with meshes under "++++ ECTV Merged\meshes\actors\character\facegendata\facegeom\", where again it is missing a folder called "ECTV Merged.esp". I know this folder is the culprit, because upon copy-pasting this ECTV Merged.esp folder into the ETAC install folder, lo' and behold, the problem goes away. I think the best solution for the guide is to simply direct users to perform their own merge in full, and then simply replace the ECTV Merged.esp file alone with one you provide (so you can get around the NAVI rebuilding monstrosity). Unless you can somehow get the permissions from the mod authors.

After rebuilding the Bashed Patch in the YASH guide, do we re-enable the various plugins that Wrye Bash disabled post-patching? I don't see it mentioned anywhere in the guide.

Hey guys, So I'm looking for the following mods for SMC (I can't find them anywhere): 1) Natural Maple by Renthal311 2) Renthal311's Old Texture Pack 3) Shovels by Nanoman2000 I was able to make a functional SMC build earlier without them, but I've noticed some really ugly textures being left in. It'd be great if someone can PM me with those mods!

More YASH patch merge errors. yash2__craftable-horse-barding.esp is missing from the Core and Optional packages. EDIT: Same goes to yash2__wic.esp EDIT2: Aaaannnddd also zz yash2__ambca__wic.esp

In merge section for YASH again, yash2__cloaks.esp requires Cloaks - Dawnguard.esp and Book of UUNP Iron and Steel.esp as masters. The Cloaks - Dawnguard.esp was deactivated earlier in the guide (and obviously can't be reactivated just for this merge, since then it will include that as a master in the new merged .esp). Book of UUNP is nowhere to be found in the guide.

Minor omission error in YASH Finish Line page, merge part. Under the merge instructions for LoTD patches, the .esps dbm__rhdb.esp and zz dbm__rhdb__yash2.esp are missing from the list. I'm assuming it goes in alphabetical order for now. EDIT: Also the file dbm__cloaks.esp is missing its master (Cloaks.esp), which was merged and thus removed earlier in the guide. Nevermind. Found the mistake.

Hey slightly dumb question: How do you stop Merge Plugins from connecting to that server? I recall there's an argument you can use in MO.