kabepo

Use a version of LOOT which works with the current STEP guide - LOOT 0.12.5 - and use priorities as usual. And when the STEP guide has been updated for the new LOOT, then use the newer LOOT with its new groups feature.

LOOT 0.12.5 and older use priorities. LOOT 0.13.0 and newer remove priority and now use "Groups". So you need to install an old version of LOOT.

Pharros has made his mods "free to modify, expand, update, port, and translate to your heart's desire" https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/8pvp6m/all_of_my_mods_are_now_free_to_modify_expand/ So NARC could now, if desired, be integrated into the STEP Compilation Patches.

I understand what you are saying. The STEP Mandate states "STEP:Core is a comprehensive assemblage of game "corrections" with minimal potential for conflict with downstream Packs and mods." and "STEP:Core is NOT about ... mods that have a high likelihood of having "data conflicts" with other mods." The "Skyrim Project Optimization" has two main versions, the "Full Version" and the "No Homes - Full Version". The mod author created the "No Homes" version specifically "to avoid incompatibilities with mods that alter the buyable homes in Major Cities." So if you are aiming for minimal potential for conflict with downstream Packs and mods, and do not want a high likelihood of having data conflicts with other mods, then in my opinion, the "No Homes - Full Version" is the version to use.

I installed the mod "Hjerim TNF - Hearthfire" by goatk - to upgrade the Hjerim player home, and found that STEP Core is incompatible and turns some of the walls and flooring green! "Skyrim Project Optimization" uses occlusion planes which are set to work with vanilla Skyrim player homes, but do not work with player homes where the layout has changed. The solution is to install "No Homes - Full Version" instead of the "Full Version" which STEP currently recommends. I think the "No Homes - Full Version" should be the recommended version of this mod. (or at least update the STEP instructions to let people know that this mod prevents you from using some player home mods)

Forwarding USLEEP updates is usually something you can do yourself quite easily, when only an .esp is used. But script updates are much more tricky. It's fortunate that kryptopyr is still actively updating her mods. She also has plans to release updated Clothing and Clutter Fixes and CACO soon.

The current version of Lucidity Sound FX overwrites all the SKELETON sounds, so the sound option for STEP currently has no effect. So you can probably skip the sound option, or move SKELETON lower in the install order if you think the SKELETON sounds are better that Lucidity sounds.

I have not used the quick patch button, but I presume it uses the "Smash.All" setting, which will produce very different results to Wrye Bash, and probably not the results you are expecting. To use Mator Smash for STEP it may be better to start off with the more conservative "Bash.All" setting - it is more compatible with Wrye Bash, and the results will look a lot more familiar to you. Then at a later date STEP-specific Smash settings can be developed and tested to improve patching for STEP.

By loading "STEP Extended Patch.esp" into xEdit and removing the Vivid Clouds and Fogs master file entry, and any associated records.

My understanding is that the Smash functionality is completely independent to the Bash Tag system. Smash can understand and emulate Bash Tags, but you do not need to use Bash Tags at all, I don't. I use the "Smash.All" setting and clone it and edit it so it patches records the way I want them patched. Smash does have functionality for auto-selecting the mods it wants to merge and merging plugins, but it does not popup a list to notify you and ask for confirmation, unlike Wrye Bash. I've been using Mator Smash instead of Wrye Bash to produce patches for STEP Core and Extended, and find it more powerful and creates a much better patch for my load order.

For the mod "Weapons and Armor Fixes Remade". With Wrye Bash, both Weapons & Armor_TrueWeaponsLvlLists.esp and Weapons & Armor_TrueOrcishDaedricWeapons.esp are merged into the bashed patch. When I run Mator Smash, Weapons & Armor_TrueWeaponsLvlLists.esp is merged, but Weapons & Armor_TrueOrcishDaedricWeapons.esp is not merged. It looks like the mod is comprised entirely or override records, which Smash usually merges into the patch. What does it not get merged? It there a way to check why a mod is not merged?

plugin: LSFX-Audiosettings.esp The Wrye Bash, Bashed Patch does not do a good job with this plugin. It removes the plugin from the plugin list, without resolving conflicts and merging the records into the bashed patch. So effectively the plugin simply vanishes. (Mator Smash has exactly the same problem when using Smash.All. But with Smash you can create a custom Smash Setting to forward the SNCT Sound Category record changes)

If you are interested to know if the infection is on your side, or to prove that it is most probably a webserver infection, then follow this procedure and report the results. https://malwaretips.com/blogs/remove-browser-redirect-virus/

These are some sites for virus detection rates: https://www.av-comparatives.org/ https://www.av-test.org/en/ Although I think people obsess a bit too much over which antivirus "is the best". More important is being careful of what you click on, what you install, and which emails you open. Malwarebytes version 2 was not very good for real-time protection, but that was not its main focus. It was very, very good for cleaning up infected machines. Malwarebytes version 3 has improved real-time protection.

Multiple user reports is still completely consistent with a web browser infection. Web browser hijackers do not infect just one PC. A successful web browser hijacker will infect as many PCs as possible, and redirect all of them to their preferred set of websites. So multiple user reports are expected, and just confirms the web browser hijacker is successfully doing what it was created to do - to infect PCs and redirect web requests. A single user report would be the unusual event. Infecting a web browser on a local PC is a relatively easy thing to do. Especially as many end users are completely clueless. Infecting a web server is also possible, but is a bit harder to achieve. If I was forced to choose between the easy explanation (web browser hijacker) and the harder explanation (web server infection), I would choose the easy one. Especially as the OP offers no evidence that they have really considered nor investigated the possibility of a web browser infection. If the STEP web server was compromised shouldn't a much larger number of people (potentially everyone) be seeing these same problems?

Infected web browsers on the local PC commonly can cause exactly this behaviour. The OP is very premature. The first step (excuse the pun) should be to investigate the local PCs and verify they are not causing the problem.

That's interesting. What, if anything, will replace SFO in the next major release?

Dawnguard Rune Weapons FXS Replacer has only 3 records, and changes the Enchant Shader on just two weapons. It is a tiny mod which has a tiny effect on the game, yet it uses up a valuable .esp slot. I don't think the mod should be in STEP Core.

I've been looking at the Bashed Patch in xEdit. Book Covers Skyrim edits lots of BOOK records. "Bashed Patch, 0.esp" loads after BCS, edits the BOOK record, leaves all the BCS changes intact except for "FULL - Name" which it reverts back to the Skyrim.esp/USLEEP value. It looks to me like the Bashed Patch makes hundreds of unnecessary edits to BOOK records undoing many of the changes BCS makes.

The article shows "AMD Catalyst Control Centre" which is not much use if you are using the newer "AMD Radeon Settings". But the information and options described are still relevant, the options are just in different places. I tested it yesterday on my AMD RX 460 graphics card. Open "AMD Radeon Settings", Click "Display" "HDMI Scaling" - is already set to 0% for me, which is fine. "Pixel Format" - select "RGB 4:4:4 Pixel Format PC Standard Full RGB" And on my monitor's menu controls I set "black level" to high, and "overscan" to off. It works nicely for me, dark areas now have different shades of black, whereas before dark areas had no definition, and were just a black blob.

I hadn't thought about this mod before until I saw it mentioned here. Yes, it is nice to see the animation effects on barrels and chests. I agree the "stretching" sack animation looks a bit odd, and the "hitbox" for sacks seems to be off for me also. But after a while the novelty of the added animation wears off and it just gets in the way and slows down interaction with containers. So I will probably disable the mod too.

... and create a new Mod Organizer profile. For any mods that have changed or been updated, install them to a new mod folder, so not to overwrite the mod folder from the old STEP version.

Regarding the "Display & Video Card Settings" section of the STEP Guide. One shortcoming of this section is that it does not discuss pixel formats. When you connect a 1920x1080 monitor to a computer using HDMI: - Nvidia graphics drivers will often set the pixel format to "Limited Range RGB 16-235" - AMD graphics drivers will often set the pixel format to "YCbCr 4:4:4" Which is fine for watching HDTV, but not ideal for PC gaming. For PC gaming the best pixel format is "Full Range RGB 0-255", which you usually need to manually configure using the graphics driver software. Also, if the monitor has an 'HDMI Black Level', 'HDMI RGB PC Range' or similar option make sure this is set to 'Normal', 'High', 'Full' or 'RGB (0~255)' rather than 'Low', 'Limited' or 'RGB (16~235). This article "Correcting HDMI Colour on Nvidia and AMD GPUs" describes the situation well. https://pcmonitors.info/articles/correcting-hdmi-colour-on-nvidia-and-amd-gpus/

A binary search would be much, much more efficient. https://ck.uesp.net/wiki/index.php?title=User:DavidJCobb/Binary_search_(troubleshooting)

Regarding Extended Patch Requirements "Radiant and Unique Potions Poisons" is not listed in https://forum.step-project.com/topic/9370-step-compilation/ as a STEP Extended Patch Requirement. But if it is not installed, when you do the Argonian Ale quest at Whiterun you will find the Argonian Ale in the Bannered Mare is invisible. The Ingestible record 0009380D AleWhiterunQuest in STEP Extended Patch.esp refers to clutter\potions\meadARGONIANALE.nif which is part of the mod "Radiant and Unique Potions Poisons". Other Ingestibles, such as: MQ201Drink clutter\wine\COLOVIANBRANDY.nif DB03Poison clutter\potions\poisonDAMAGESKILLLOTUSEXTRACT.nif also depend on "Radiant and Unique Potions Poisons". So I think the mod should be required to install STEP Extended Patch, or the dependency be removed from STEP Extended Patch.esp