MagnusMcMullet

This mod is not compatible with STEP anymore since SMIM 2-7 and RCI 2.9 share the same candle textures which require RCI's enchanting table meshes to work. Which btw are not included in STEP, leaving users with a broken enchanting table texture on a standard Step install as by the guide. RCI Enchanting table meshes should be part of the step compilation. There's really no smooth way around this problem making Enchanting Candles Improved mod working again. You can hide dungeon/candle textures in SMIM as well as the Step Compilation, this makes the enchanting table look like intended again, however other SMIM assets require the same textures (i.e. candlebras, candles in lanterns etc). Candles will have black bars on them with regular textures. You can use the candle textures of an older version of RCI which is compatible with Enchanting Candles Improved and let it's candle textures overwrite the Step compililation, but you run into the same problem. Hiding all the assets in SMIM that use these textures is tedious and probably not worth the trouble for the little change that this mod makes.

Speaking of SRO, I think there's a little alpha issue going on with the ratway walls... This is still the original unreduced SRO. No problem with the vanilla textures. Hopefully Starac will take notice. https://postimg.org/image/kt0ff51p1/ https://postimg.org/image/eqssond91/ https://postimg.org/image/s6fte3lqt/

Here's another qupte from the DDSOpt guide: I don't understand that sentence "even then it may be better to avoid additional optimization if possible." So how do I reduce texture size without additional optimizing?

I've recently ran into my first Out-Of-memory message from the CrashFixes Plugin on this machine and this is after I added SRO 1.7 to my game. This is especially disappointing since I own a relatively new, powerful rig and I only play in 1080p. I can only blame Microsoft and their very needless memory limitation for DX9 in Windows 10. (Yes, I have ExpandSystemMemory set to TRUE in enblocal.ini and OSAllocators=1 in crashfixes.ini). I can't play a ten year old game with full 2K textures on a i5 7600K @4.5GHz with a 6GB GTX 1060 @2Ghz and 16GB 3200Mhz DDR4 and the only reason is Windows 10. I can't however go Windows 7 on this machine because it won't run on Kaby Lake! And I thought now I get to really mod the hell out of Skyrim which was barely possible on my old potato. Not only that there's no way you can get Old Skyrim to not have annoying lag spikes and landscape popping on cell transitions even in vanilla state, no I have to go 1k with everything to have enough headspace for modding and enb... /rant Anyway, in the STEP guide it is mentioned that this mod should be reduced using DDSOpt by users with average performance (sigh). I have found the DDSOpt guide but I'm still pretty at loss on how to go about reducing the SRO textures, specifically which ones and with which settings. Especially since the guide mentions this: Well, in the Table it says no. I realize it is for an older version. But then here in this thread I find two other red flags... Sooo... even the mod author himself doesn't recommend downscaling with DDSOpt. And I run out of memory with SRO textures installed. My VRAM usage with STEP Core and Hires textures outside of Whiterun is already ~3.5GB without enb enhanced graphics. Does this mean STEP 2.10.0 isn't playable in 2k on Windows 10 at all? I'm not limited by hardware here... I'll try going 1k with everything but SRO, but it does have a highest impact on my VRAM usuage, so a reduced version would be greatly appreciated. I kow it's a shame, I'd love to fully experience these gorgeous textures without having to fear to run out of memory when fighting multiple foes or dragons...

I think this should be part of STEP. Not only does it show useful information for objects selected in the console, but also it gives the player character's eyes the ability to blink. https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/44596/?

Hmm, that's not like what it looks like for me. https://postimg.org/image/hvp1w0y51/ Granted it is still stretched, but I can't see how this would be fixed since this texture is used on different objects, so this looks like they chose the middle ground here (texture is distorted vertically on the pillars and horizontally on the wall panels). But your texture looks more like the SMIM replacement which is double. SMIM seems to edit the mesh to compensate for the stretching and put two textures over another, so both wall and pillar are the same. Because one important thing I forgot to mention is that I also chose the "vanilla" option for the carvings in SMIM. I still think it looks better than amidian WR or SMIM. I don't mind the stretch so much as I do the motif. I guess it all comes down to personal taste anyway. It's all a comprimise of sorts. Meanwhile I've found some more offenders. On a radiant dawnguard quest I found these textures in Bloodlet Throne. https://postimg.org/image/cmu0y5fpx/ https://postimg.org/image/puter3d91/ https://postimg.org/image/xv7pfku6t/ https://postimg.org/image/6bothqehh/ https://postimg.org/image/8rqmvkwk5/ Ugly plasticky looking textures on the wood furniture. Not really the kind of furnishing style you'd expect in a Vampire's lair. Tried to find these somewhere in my data folder, but I guess I have to look again more closely. I don't have creation kit yet, it would make localizing these things much easier. If anyone knows if there is a proper replacement for those it'll be greatly appreciated. Another thing, this is how the blue butterfly wing ingredient appears in the inventory (looks really nice): https://postimg.org/image/6semhwrmd/ And here's the yellow Butterfly Wing. Bleh. https://postimg.org/image/4mkbneo5x/

Great, can't edit the wrong quotes. :(

Hello theblackman, There you go. https://postimg.org/image/rahht5gb9 I just wasted half an hour of my life trying to figure out how to take screenshots which don't look discolored. I've tried enboost, smaa, afterburner and in my despair even the games' feature. all resulting in the same discolored images. Until I was smart enough to open one of these in Photoshop. Appearantly the issue is with Irfanview ignoring color management. I feel even more stupid. To me that is exactly what the texture from SRO does. Like vanilla, but more realistic and prettier than the alternate options in SMIM. I think it would be a far more suitable choice in respect of the aim of STEP to value improval over change. No worries. This could be a general bitching thread for all I care. I ended up not using SFO+TreesHD altogether. I have no idea why it is that STEP requires this ancient version of SFO. It has lots of issues, mainly the one that it's totally oversaturated and looks like crap with any enb or weather mod. You stand there in rainy weather with dark skies and the grass still glows like flooded with sunlight. Some of the tundra bushes are just large grasses. Means they don't have a proper mesh. This makes them disappear way too early when moving passed them. They just pop out of the screen in the corners. It makes me nauseous. Even more noticable with FOV>65 or in 3rd person. I just can't live with that, it's very dominant when running through the tundra near Whiterun. Pop pop pop. I'll look into alternative solutions for vegetation, possibly Improved Vanilla Trees + Simply Bigger Trees + Verdant or Unique Groundcovers, whatever suits me better. I might be going with ELFX for Lightning and Vivid Weathers too. Lots of compatibility issues to figure out though. But so far STEP has been a good learning experience and gives a very good baseline to improve on. Some of the things would've taken me months to figure out, getting all the right patches and whatnot.

Hello Forum, I just finalized my STEP Core clean install. I think I've followed the Guide to the T, yet some minor issues remained with textures. 1. (Big one) The enchanting table texture isn't displayed correctly at the back section where the candles are placed on. I believe this is because of a compatibility issue between the SMIM 2.07 and RCI 2.9 textures and meshes for candles. The fix I use is installing RCI2.9 sort of as a patch after the STEP compilation, with only the candle option in the FOMOD checked. Then hide everything else not candle related in the RCI mod's filetree (ESPECIALLY the meshes/furniture folder if you wanna use Enchanting Tables Improved, or it's changes will be reversed). This overwrites all the candle meshes and textures with compatible ones (Maybe the STEP Compilation needs to be updated there.) 2. Barrels. Step 2.10.0 uses the barrel textures from Skyrim Realistic Overhaul. While they do look really nice, the metal fittings don't quite line up with the mesh from Animated Clutter (barrel01.nif). There's a ridge at the top. I suggest using SMIM's mesh. It lines up perfectly. I didn't like those ropes on the lid anyway. 3. These might come down to personal taste. Amidian Born Whiterun textures look fantastic, but the first thing I noticed were those replacement textures for the carvings on the woodwork in Dragon's Reach (wrcastlecarvings.dds) which I personally find very hideous. They're distorted, stretched and only faintly reminiscent of wood carvings. I think the textures from SRO are much closer to vanilla and give the true "nordic" feel. They go well with all the other textures too. The mouldy venison, cheese and rotten looking cabbage from High Quality Food and Ingredients... well I don't use those. Hi Res Vanilla looks better imho. Canopic jars and Urns, I find SRO is superior to RCI's textures contained in the STEP compilation. These are just my 2 cents on how to improve.