Mousetick

@z929669 maintains the STEP patches so it would be best for him to answer these questions.

This is vanilla + USSEP + WACCF + CCOR + AMB Content Addon for CCOR (I don't have a pure STEP setup to compare, but this is close enough in this case): So this look definitely comes from aMidianborn Book of Silence. Yeah, it's not like vanilla. I have no idea what the reasoning and intent were for this change, it's a bit strange. From what I understand, this particular model was added late to the collection and its textures were not created by Cabal (the main Book of Silence MA) but by another MA, EmeraldReign.

This mod is not a creation, it's just a repackaging of 2 old LE mods ported to SE: Masque of Argonian Vile and Masque of Khajiit. Reporting bugs is not going to change anything, as the original MA is not involved. You're all reacting like you're discovering Masque of Argonian Vile for the first time. It's been in the STEP SE Guide since the beginning, and it's been in the STEP LE Guide before from way back when. It's had this same different neck texture all along. Perhaps you should consider dropping the Masque of Argonian Vile mod from the guide, and ignore this one, if you find it's no longer up to the STEP standards. Including such singular, niche mod in the guide is weird - IMHO, similar to Lucien Lachance. I suggested to replace it with this mod so that there would be a Khajiit version too, for consistency and balance of weirdness.

Some quick screens. Using vanilla + USSEP + WACCF (+ ASLAL). Bare head > Without this mod > With this mod It looks fine to me but I honestly care very little. The Argonian version doesn't use the same texture for the neck as vanilla. I like the "winglets" on top of the Khajiit version for the cat ears. Nice detail. This is a really niche mod (of a unique item for users who play as a beast race in 3rd-person, may not even encounter it in their playthrough, may never wear it). The game didn't crash and burn, so I guess it's good?

I replaced this mod with the combined mod in my load order but have not been playing with or can vouch for either, and probably never will. These mods are for the very few users who play as a beast race character, typically in 3rd-person view, or who want to make their beast race followers wear the masque, and not look deformed. I have no interest in any of those things. I'll give the combined one a quick smoke test and post screenshots next time I run the game. Since it's now in my load order, might as well give it a spin.

To use the optional ESL-flagged version: install main file first to get all the assets then merge/overwrite with the optional ESL-flagged plugin.

I never paid attention to this mod. I finally learned what it is about: it's a custom model of the Masque of Clavicus Vile for the Argonian race. There is an alternate and arguably better version of this mod: Masque of Clavicus Vile for Beast Race SE. It includes this mod, and combines it with another mod ported from LE that takes care of the Khajiit race.

player.additem 35369 1 For reference, this is vanilla + USSEP: The orb and tail end are greenish blue and glowing. There is a swirling effect around the orb. The appearance is the same whether the staff is charged or depleted. Side note: I don't think the OP is running pure STEP. Staves on back is not a feature included in STEP AFAIK.

Try MO2 > Tools > Settings > Select Paths tab > Managed Game field at the bottom > Click on the [...] button > Browse to the Steam installation folder (containing Skyrim.exe) > Select Skyrim.exe > Click Open. I don't know if this will work. I've never attempted this operation. I have no idea if you can safely create a new instance pointed toward the correct path and maintain all installed/configured mods. I've never attempted such operation before either. You could try it, as MO2 lets you choose an existing instance folder instead of the default one during instance creation ("Select a folder where the data should be stored").

Your MO2 instance and profile are still configured to use C:\Skyrim Special Edition. You need to fix that to point to the Steam installation path. If you're new to modding, simply follow the STEP guide exactly as instructed and everything will be fine. In the introductory system setup steps, the guide clearly explains where to install the modding tools, that is in a dedicated folder outside the game folder. It doesn't say anything about moving the game installation folder, which is unnecessary. If there is any doubt or question about what the guide tells you (or omits to tell you as the case may be), simply ask for clarification and help here in this forum. Do not second-guess it by seeking or relying on advice from other sources, which may or may be valid and are most likely irrelevant / out of context.

No thanks I've got all the information I needed. BTW you username shows in the first 2 screenshots. If this bothers you, you may want to edit them. It looks like you have 2 separate installations of Skyrim SE: One in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim Special Edition (the default Steam installation location) Another one in C:\Skyrim Special Edition (which I assume you created specifically for modding) The tools in your setup, like SSEdit and LOOT, are looking at the Steam installation instead of your custom installation because the Windows registry entry which specifies the installation location of Skyrim SE is currently set to that location. The best fix depends on your setup and how you're intending to use it: Does the Steam installation location still contain the original game files? Does C:\Skyrim Special Edition contain a duplicate installation intended for modding? If yes, how was it created? If yes, are you planning to continue using the Steam installation side-by-side alternatively with your custom modded installation? If you answer yes to all questions, you'll need to manually configure the modding tools to use your custom installation, bypassing the Windows registry. I can give you more details as needed. Otherwise, you need to choose which installation you want to keep using and stop using the other one altogether. Then you need to update the Windows registry to specify the location of the correct installation to be used.

Defined in / Last changed by "Unknown" indicates the entity was not statically defined or overridden by a plugin, but was dynamically created or modified at runtime, by a Papyrus script, or by the engine itself. Or possibly by a SKSE plugin (such as Base Object Swapper) but I'm not sure about that. MIC has some bugs where it erroneously reports "Unknown" in some cases while it should not, but according to the MIC MA it only affects NPCs. You can always tell an entity was created at runtime because the load order index of its Form ID is FF. Hence there can only be up to 253 "fat" plugins in the load order: index 00 is Skyrim.esm, index FE is reserved for "light" plugins, and index FF is reserved for the engine. 256 max theoretical limit - 3 always reserved = 253 available. In any case, the engine is completely oblivious to overwritten DDS texture files or NIF mesh files, so changing the overwrite order of those files cannot be detected by the console and reported as "Unknown". If you're seeing "Unknown", it's caused by something else.

Nothing. - Went to [profiles] - clicked "Step SkyrimSE" - clicked [copy]; named "STEP SkyrimSE expanded" - copied the modlist.txt and loadorder.txt from the old profile folder and pasted/replaced in the new profile folder. You don't need to do that. - ran loot. You need to switch to the new profile before working on it. Mods should initially be enabled and sorted exactly as they were in the original profile, so running LOOT should have no effect. It depends on what you intend to change between profiles. See the article Z linked above for details.

Show us the following with screenshots: MO2 Instance configuration: MO2 > File > Manage Instances... > Select [current instance] e.g. "Skyrim Special Edition" MO2 Paths configuration: MO2 > Tools > Settings... > Select Paths tab SSEdit Paths configuration: SSEdit > Select Skyrim.esm > OK (Let it load...) > Select Messages tab, scroll up to the top > Capture the messages from top line down to and including "Loading active plugin list: ...". Like this: Provide your active load order file: MO2 > Open Profile Folder > Browse folder, find plugings.txt file. Attach it to your post. To open MO2 profile folder:

I'd wanted to point a small but important detail and then I forgot, so here it is better late than never: Do not let folders and files hanging in MO2's overwrite folder forever. Move them out of there and into their own mod folder* ASAP. The overwrite folder should always be kept empty. The reason for promptly sweeping the overwrite folder is so that MO2's important warnings are not missed. Having things in Overwrite is typically benign. A master plugin being missing or a plugin being in the wrong format are serious issues. MO2 treats them on an equal level by hiding them behind the same warning icon. If you leave stuff in the overwrite folder indefinitely, MO2's warning icon will always be highlighted, and you won't know when new, potentially serious, warnings pop up. MO2's warning icon should normally always be OFF (grayed out) so that you can easily notice when it turns ON. The overwrite warning pitfall can be avoided once and for all by redirecting the SKSE launcher output to a dedicated mod folder*: Tools > Executables > SKSE > Create files in mod instead of overwrite > Pick an existing mod* you created specifically to receive folders and files created while running the game. * Name the mod as you wish, e.g. "SKSE Output". Sort the mod at the bottom of the list on MO2's left side, above Overwrite.

If it had worked on the first try you'd have been extremely lucky. The problem with that approach is that if something doesn't work, which is bound to happen, you inevitably need to backtrack. So you don't really save time. Since you never tested anything at any point till the very end, we have no idea what that "something" might be. It could be anything: stuff you installed at the beginning, or stuff you added very late, like the merged patches. In this case, you can try to go back to square one and see if the game can even launch without any mods. Are you using DLLs installed directly in the game folder? They could crash the game at startup. You need to find one good working configuration to rely and build upon, as barebones as it might be. You don't need to backup, uninstall and re-install anything. You can just disable and enable stuff in the mod manager. Additionally you can use MO2's built-in features to backup or restore left-side or right-side load orders: they take simple snapshots of their sort order and enable/disable state, they don't save the actual mod files. Also heed Greg's advice above about verifying merged and/or bashes patches in xEdit.

If you merged those patches, LOOT doesn't "see" them since they are now parts of merged plugins with a different name. If you're 100% sure you have them but they are merged, you can ignore the related warnings. Otherwise, if they're not merged, you may want to triple-check the correct ones are installed. But patches are likely not the real problem that could cause the game to crash at startup. Yes that may be right in order to get the intended results in-game, or to avoid patching. But that is irrelevant at this point, as the game can't even boot up. For the game to start at all, it doesn't matter if mod A is placed before or after mod B. What matters, assuming the mods are valid and not corrupt, is that all requirements and dependencies must be satisfied (e.g. if plugin B requires plugin A as a master, plugin A must be present) and sorted in the correct order (i.e. if plugin B requires plugin A as a master, plugin A must be sorted before plugin B). MO2 checks that plugin dependencies are satisfied and puts up warnings if that's not the case. LOOT ensures plugin dependencies are correctly sorted. So at this point it's better to simply sort with LOOT and not to sort manually. Do not make unnecessary changes that don't directly help for troubleshooting. Does the Skyrim icon show up at all on the Windows task bar? Does the game window (initially empty/black) open? Disable all plugins except the CC modules and unofficial patches on MO2's right side. Launch the game. The more mods you add to the LO, the more chances that something goes wrong. The risk goes up pretty much exponentially with each mod you add. Did you put together this huge LO all by yourself or did you use an existing list used by other players? Are you only testing the build now at the very end, or did you build incrementally, testing from time to time before adding more stuff on top?

The game has crashed. Ensure there are no warnings in MO2 regarding your LO. Ensure there are no errors in LOOT. Look carefully at all the warnings in LOOT - typically they're pretty benign but some of them may require taking corrective action. What does it mean to "place them correctly post loot"? Just sort with LOOT only, don't manually reorder afterwards. Does the game start properly?

I ought to follow up with a more accurate answer: xEdit duplicates a record only within the same parent group. For CELL records, it means within the same Block > Sub-Block parent group. The Block > Sub-Block parent group of a CELL record is based on its Form ID. Once a CELL is duplicated, the duplicate record has a new Form ID which may put it into a different Block > Sub-Block parent group. As xEdit only creates duplicates within the same parent group, the operation is not allowed. If the record to be duplicated refers to other records that are not accessible from a destination plugin, the operation is not allowed into that destination plugin. For example: mod A defines a SPEL record that refers to a magic effect MGEF that is also defined by mod A. If mod A cannot be a master of mod B due to load order, it is not possible to duplicate that SPELL record into a new mod B because mod B doesn't have access to the MGEF.

Unless things have dramatically changed in Starfield compared to earlier games, CELL records are unique in their parent worldspace. You can't have more than one copy of any given CELL inside its worldspace. So xEdit doesn't allow you to duplicate. How did you determine that it's "a copy of a new record of an existing cell"? It's probably not what you think it is or it was not created the way you think it was.

Assuming you're using the latest version of both these 2 mods, their plugin should be ESL-flagged (aka ESPFE, aka light plugin). Merging ESL-flagged plugins is unnecessary. It's unlikely you have more than ~4000 light plugins in your load order, so you don't need to merge light plugins to go under the limit. AFAIK zedit doesn't support light plugins (see https://github.com/z-edit/zedit/issues/94). The issue is likely caused by zEdit botching the merge. But you don't need to use it with these 2 mods. Regardless, see also https://dyndolod.info/Help/Merged-Plugins about using DynDOLOD with merged plugins.

One of the plugins being merged is bad or zEdit doesn't merge correctly. I'm not familiar with zEdit. You could try one of these things: Open each plugin to merge in xEdit and Check for Errors. Omit one of the plugins from the merge, and redo the merge until it's good. Seek help from the zEdit community. If you find one or more bad plugins, fix them before attempting to merge them.

How was this merged plugin created? Read and follow the advice given by https://dyndolod.info/Messages/Duplicate-Form-ID to fix the problem.

You're supposed to COC into Riverwood from the game's main menu. Don't start a new game. Or you can start a new game, but don't COC until you have completed the character creation and the main quest has started. Otherwise the game keeps running the intro scene. Edit: But at that point in Helgen you've already completed the smoke test, COC'ing to Riverwood would be superfluous, so you can skip that.

USSEP doesn't have separate string files. If you want to see the differences you need to load its plugin in xEdit and compare with vanilla masters for each record containing text. Needless to say, this would be very time-consuming. The text changes that the English language version of USSEP makes are mainly corrections to punctuation, grammar, spelling, typographical errors and naming style inconsistencies. They affect the form, not the content. In some cases they correct or clarify the content such as wrong NPC or location names being used, or words missing. I don't know where you got the idea that USSEP deviated from the game's original intentions or from the story Bethesda released. That is completely false. I initially thought you were trolling because this topic has already been hotly debated to death and the questions you asked have already been answered many, many times over in the past years. I appreciate your asking for others' opinions on the matter, but frankly we are very tired of this debate and all the BS surrounding it. I'd suggest you do some more research online to get different views and opinions, from various sources, not only from reddit. I'd also like to point out that solely focusing on one single mod (USSEP) is missing the forest for the trees. If you're concerned whether a mod preserves, or deviates from, the creators' original intent, you should consider all mods you're using. For example, ETAC is not faithful to the original game. Inigo is not faithful to the original game. WACCF, AI Overhaul, CACO, CCOR, Trade and Barter, RDO, etc. (all parts of STEP) are not faithful to the original game. Almost any mod(ification) by definition and by its very nature deviates, in some way or other, to some extent or other, from the original game. If you really want to experience the game in its purest (and its buggiest/jankiest) form, you should play it vanilla. USSEP is probably one of the mods making broad* changes to the game that improves it the most while remaining closest to the original. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll leave this discussion. * Not to be confused with deep.