Bushranger

Looking at my profile November 1st is when I joined Step Modifications forum so I assume that's about when I started this attempt to modify Skyrim, my memory in general is terrible so I had to look that up to remember how long I've been trying to get this done. One month and I'm back to almost where I started because after trying, and failing, to work out what was causing the repeatable CTD I just disabled and removed all the mods. I deleted all of the cleaned masters, replaced them with copies of the vanilla ones from the backup folder and have started from Step 3: Plugins & Considerations... It's now 3am on the 29th of November and I'm up to 04-Foundation. I'd tried to disable what I could to work through the crash but it always repeated in the same place at with the same events, just differing logs. If I left the Abandoned Prison elsewhere I could walk around a town or travel the roads and fight some wolves without a CTD, but there were no dragons to test against like Alduin taking off at that moment in Helgen. I might have crossed my fingers and tried to ignore it but there are two reasons I'm starting again; the first because I'm nervous that there will likely be another CTD if I don't get it setup properly, and the second being that I want to start the play-through going through Helgen and to try and get a game as good as I can since recovering from brain surgery a few years ago. I did try to look through the Step CR Patch in xEdit and I've taken notes of all the ForumIDs and EditorIDs of the Book Cover Skyrim it's working on and if I use CRF I've got notes on what to do to use Savros Aren's Regrets Restored as well. Hopefully that's not a problem. I really should just be following the Steps and not trying so hard to remove a few mods from it and add a few mods to it when I get confused daily on everyday activities in general.

Trying to! Sheson helped with the confusion I had when generating DynDOLOD and I've installed a couple of patches to cover DynDOLOD TexGen Fixes in Extended Cut of Saints and Seducers and the Finding Derkeethus Duplicate FormID Fix. I thought, when I remembered to save and exit to keep the DynDOLOD and Occulance esm and esp, things had gone well. Unfortunately there has always been a crash in Helgen. Every time I leave the burning inn to meet with Hadvar, Gunnar and Haming there is a CTD. Crashlog, and SkyrimCrashDecoder.com, linked it to Gunnar at HelgenExterior03 through Skyrim.esm -> Update.esm -> unofficial skyrim special edition patch.esp -> MajesticMountains_Landscape.esm -> DynDOLOD.esm -> Vanilla Landscape Corrections.esp -> Occlusion.esp. I was also a little suspicious of Unofficial High Definition Audio Project because I had a lot of trouble downloading that and there are reports of corrupt downloads in it's posts and the timing was just when Gunnar was going to speak. I disabled UHDAP and the Guard Dialogue Overhaul Patch and tried again. The second time the crashlog linked the CTD at the same time and place to a landscape\mountains\snow\mountaincliff02.nif through Skyrim.esm -> MajesticMountains.esp. Maybe I forgot to pick the AE version when I installed Majestic Mountains so I reinstalled it and recreated xLODGen, TexGen and DynDOLOD. The third time is was CTD in Helgen meeting with Hadvar, Gunnar and Haming crashlog has linked it to a bandit at WhiteRiverWatchExterior01 through RelightingSkyrim_SSE.esp -> SmoothShores.esp -> Landscape Fixes For Grass Mods.esp -> Embers XD.esp -> Fires and Embers Clipping Fix.esp -> Occlusion.esp. So I disabled DynDOLOD and tried again. Each time I've tried I've started a new character. Set the MCM settings in the Abandoned Prison then started in the wagon. The fourth time it was the same CTD in Helgen after jumping into the burning tavern through the roof and going down to meet Hadvar, Gunnar and Haming. This time the crashlog has linked it to Skyrim.esm -> unofficial skyrim special edition patch.esp -> Navigator-NavFixes.esl -> RelightingSkyrim_SSE.esp -> Ambiance.esp -> HLIORemi.esp So it's Remiel-Custom Voiced Dwemer Specialist and Companion? No idea now. Too many mods? I thought 94 full plugins and 246 was reasonable. Edit: Added the full modlist: https://loadorderlibrary.com/lists/skyrim-apocrypha I'll see what I can do to work it out but I might have to start from scratch again! crash-2025-11-25-12-23-47.log crash-2025-11-26-03-25-08.log crash-2025-11-26-07-09-08.log crash-2025-11-26-08-12-24.log

I've found that Skyrim Crash Decoder is an excellent tool that vkukko123 has made. Go to the website, paste the crashlog into it so it can generate a report that is much easier to read and understand. I couldn't decipher the crash report I got tonight while going through Helgen but this tool helped a lot.

Thanks. Third time then. I should not be doing this at 3am.

Having finally gotten around to running DynDOLOD 3 with that load order I did end up with a so many mismatched texture warnings that I was confused. (Though to be fair I'm usually confused). Here is an example but there were a lot and it was showing up everywhere from MajesticMountains.esp to Skyrim Extended Cut - Saints and Seducers.esp With that and several other types of warnings I got some help from sheson on the DynDOLOD 3.00 Alpha 196 forum discussion so I disabled Additional DynDOLOD Resources (by Phlunder) and ran DynDOLOD again to find all of those warnings no longer appear. I haven't checked in game one way or the other (mostly because I screwed up and deleted the files from the first time running DynDOLOD and the second time did not generate plugins). Have to see about fixing that now to get DynDOLOD.esm and DynDOLOD.esp

DynDOLOD log and DynDOLOD Debug log in 7z I installed DynDOLOD TexGen Fixes to help fix some of the warnings with the Extended Cut Saints and Seducers mod and I disabled Additional DynDOLOD Resources then I redid the LODGen, TexGen and DynDOLOD. I can confirm most of the https://dyndolod.info/Messages/Textures-Do-Not-Match warnings are related to that (with a few concerning dwemer roads that with some looking into after learning from what you've directed me to I believe can be attributed to Far Object LOD Improvement Project SSE) Unfortunately I might have done something wrong here because I'm just as confused as I was last time. I deleted the files I had moved into the MO2 Mod folders before moving them from the xLODGen_Output, TexGen_Output and DynDOLOD_Output folders but this time DynDOLOD did not create the esm and esp plugins. Do the esm and esp plugins not get generated each time DynDOLOD is run?

That makes sense now. I'm using Additional DynDOLOD Resources since STEP is going to be replacing Gacier LOD Meshes with it in the next update of the Guide. I had gone through this with STEP to sort out the load order in a forum post Replacing Glacier LOD with AdditionalDynDOLOD Resources & Icy Mesh Remaster - Ice Glaciers - LOD but it isn't a verified mod in the guide. I'll disable Additional DynDOLOD Resources and run it again to check and I'll update the post about it for STEP to know about testing that mod. Also I have had an idea for the DynDOLOD log and debug log. Instead of truncating them, since I'm just using notepad and it takes too long, I'm going to move that text out of the logs folder and after I run DynDOLOD I'll copy that and attach it to the bottom of the master log. Then I'll rename and move that individual log outside the logs folder.

Thankyou for helping and making it clear Sheson I really appreciate that. I forgot all about the debug log, I've been working to truncate it to just the last entry but that's been me holding the right mouse button in notepad for more than half hour and pressing delete and I'm not done yet. Also too large to put on pastee so I'll zip it and put it up when I've finished truncating and returned from dinner. It was going through the instructions trying to find out how to get things sorted and finding these answers in many places that are what I think got me started to become so confused. That and staying up till 3am trying to work it out until I posted the message here on the forum. https://dyndolod.info/Messages/Property-Not-Found-In-Scripts There are no conflicts with the mods in MO2. I'll try to remember to check on them in the game and I've made a note to test them. https://dyndolod.info/Messages/Duplicate-Reference and https://dyndolod.info/Messages/Reference-Attached-to-Wrong-Cell Thankyou for the clarification here. I might attempt it if the fix is a script in xEdit but I do feel nervous about doing anything to a mod like Worldspace Transition Tweaks I'll have to see how I feel when I get back from dinner. https://dyndolod.info/Messages/Potentially-Wild-Edit-Reference That is good to know, thankyou. https://dyndolod.info/Messages/Textures-Do-Not-Match I am not using ERM, I didn't know what ERM was until I looked at the link you provided to ERM - Enhanced Rocks and Mountains - DynDOLOD Add-On and then I found that ERM is hidden on Nexus. I've been following the Step Guide and using Majestic Mountains and reading the top sticky that's the one mod that is not fully compatible with that DynDOLOD Add-On. So I'm not sure what is happening. Thankyou for pointing out If and only if there are obvious differences of the textures between full models and LOD models, the log messages can aid in quickly finding the reason. I haven't checked in game yet so I'll have to look and see I'm jumping ahead here.

DynDOLOD_SSE_log I have no idea what is wrong. There are many, many warnings when I ran DynDOLOD 3. I've spent the last several hours trying to look over things and I am more confused now than I was when I started. I've tried to follow the instructions on this thread where I've read https://dyndolod.info/ and searched through this discussion. I've gone over my mod list and load order to check everything is set and that Majestic Mountains has the correct DynDoLod V 3.0 Lod pack. I've also gone searching through the mod's pages on Nexus and it's just left my head hurting. One of the instructions is not to ignore DynDOLOD warnings. Four of the warnings are "Property Not Found * In Scripts", 3 of them reference 000FCBathOutfitTrigger in ForgottenCity.esp and one of them references secondsetofrocks in Ascend - Hidden Peaks of Skyrim.esp. I've no idea about scripting, there is nothing to find out about the Forgotten City but it is mentioned in the 'bug reports' of the Ascend - Hidden Peaks of Skyrim mod where it has been labeled 'not a bug' and the mod author jayserpa instructs that not all properties in a script need to be filled so ignore DynDOLOD. So I'm confused. Do I ignore it? Some of the warnings were "Duplicate Reference" which the LOD will not duplicate and some were "Reference Attached to Wrong Cell" like the one I found referencing Environs - Tundra Farmhouse.esp that was mentioned in the mod's 'bug report'. Are these essential to fix or just something at would be good to fix for a cleaner game? I'd rather not try to clean it myself as I've spent three weeks and I'm too confused to try these things just to tidy up some when it can be reported to the mod's authors for a patch. There are also fourteen "Potentially Wild Edit Reference" warnings all of them in the Sleepwalking Into A Nightmare - New Daedric Prince Quest and mentioned on their 'bugs reports' again where it is instructed to disable the mod when running DynDOLOD. Again something I would rather not have to fix myself if it's just some trees floating in hell. I am mostly confused by the many, many "Textures Do Not Match" warnings because I'm using DynDOLOD Resources SE 3 Additional DynDOLOD Resources and DynDoLod V 3.0 Lod pack (all versions) so I've no idea what is going wrong? Also for 'Filename * Does Not Adhere To File Naming Conventions' most of them are in Skyrim.esm or Dawnguard.esm. Should I ignore these warnings? It's possible but at this stage I'm just too confused to know anything for sure anymore. There is a lot that is wrong here and it's so much I'm not sure why or what to fix, what to ignore or what to remove. I really need some help even to know where to start from.

Seems I should edit the title of this discussion because it looks like I will be using the Step CR Patch. I think I've managed to remove the need for the most of the Creations leaving just Survival and Saint's & Seducers. At Your Own Pace - College of Winterhold, Vrokii - Minimalistic Perks of Skyrim and Odin - Skyrim Magic Overhaul have also been cleaned from the patch after going through looking through it closely. Fingers crossed it'll hold up! I was planning to clean more but I learnt more about Atlas Map Markers so with the settings and a patch came to a way to use it. I also saw that with Alternate Start there is still an option to begin the game on the Wagon into Helgen... so if that's the case why am I trying to work to remove it just so I can start my next game that way? So far almost everything is Step Guide v2.3, except for a few skipped mods and none of the optional choices, and I loaded the game everything seems to be working. It is before Step 5 so there is no grass cache but everything looks good. I think the next steps before that are to now finish setting out the mods I'm going to use that come from outside the Step Guide, when that's all set up and my collection of Step Apocrypha is done and working together nicely I'll move on to Step 5.

Thankyou. Since I've deviated from the Guide and needed to clean the Step CR patch I didn't install any of the optional mods and so hadn't thought of the extension patches they would add to it.

Is Improved Closefaced Helmets a Master for the CR Step Patch? It is marked as such on both SkyrimSE v2.3 and Skyrim v2.4 Guides but I've been going over the CR patch in xEdit a lot working with the Masters today and I've noticed that imp_helmet_legend.esp does not show and without the plugin active the CR patch will still load. Edit: Actually it is. My mistake. It's not long after I post this comment I can see it's because I've cleaned the CR Patch of something else that it did the work for the Improved Closefaced Helmets without me remembering. Just glad I keep records of what I do and that I've been hitting save on notepad because it closed and lost a couple hours work last night.. my mistake. Edit Again: Actually I should have asked Why is Improved Closefaced Helmets a Master for the CR Step Patch? Take a clean Step Patch - Conflict Resolution and Apply Script Report Masters for imp_helmet_legend.esp and you will get nothing so it does not matter what you mod you are cleaning from the patch as a master as soon as you click on 'Clean Masters (=Remove All Unused Masters)' then you Improved Closefaced Helmets will also no longer be a master because there is nothing that needs to be cleaned.

I'm blaming x929669 that my whole weekend has gone to going over what I've now named Step Skyrim SE v2.3 Apocrypha because how much I'm deviating from the guide has put me many hours researching all the mods I'm using, skipping, cleaning from Step Patch - Conflict Resolution and looking for patches for holes that will be left. Not to mention loosing a few hours work when notepad closed before being saved! Or how Voices EN - Part 1 keeps aborting the download at around 40% because of an internal server error (401) and Nexus support email instructing me to instead open a forum discussion about that. These two short and direct YouTube guides from biggie_boss along with those forums threads have been helpful! Now I'm trying to alter things as well because even with Odin cleared as a Master for the Step Patch it is still referenced in a lot of places with Audible Overhaul... Honestly Thankyou to x929669 as much as it has given me headaches and confusion over the weekend it has helped me remember some of these things and learn some new ones. Also Thankyou Mercury71 for reminding me it's not just the CR patch I'll have to look over. This is the most work I've done since I had brain surgery a few years ago and it's taken quite some time to recover. I don't think I'll ever be able to do what I used to but it's good to try.

When I was looking over what SkyPatcher could be put to use for I was very impressed with SkyPatcher - NARC Remade - No Animals Report Crimes. Replacing the CrittersAintStitches.esp with an ini and the FOMOD offering a few interesting choices that all seem good lore choices I'm going to use it so Bandits won't report crimes except for werewolf crimes, the Companion Circle won't report werewolf crimes and the Dremora Merchant won't report any crimes when I summon them into a mansion so I can sell them the things I've stolen from the noble I've just killed.

Mod updated: Version 2.39 Added 2k resolution option. Edit: Just adding I haven't completed the new installation of this collection yet so I'm not sure how the 2k option looks. It'll probably take some time but I'll pick it and visit those trees to see when I get everything sorted.

There really are a lot of masters that I'm removing, especially that I'm also removing most of the creations that Anniversary Edition has added, so I'll be clearing the Step Patch - CR of more than half. I do see what you are saying that it's too much to ask for a quick overview of which conflicts those mods will give to a list of mods I'm still putting together. I'll skip almost every mod that is a Step Patch - CR master and I'm reading up on everything I am including. By reading the forum discussions I've found things like ELFX Fixes Ragged Flagon Fix.esp that have been included into the Step Patch which is why it's instructed to disable in the guide, but because I won't be using it I'll keep enabled. I'll see what I can do on the weekend then because the Step Build is amazing Anyone who is reading this I strongly recommend to follow the instructions on the guide!

Thankyou for this! With the discussion threads linked to mods in the Step Guide it is so helpful to see what and how things are being done with them. Because I'm deviating from Step's SkyrimSE v2.3 from 10-17 I won't be able to use the CR Patch from what I've read here I'll keep ELFX Fixes Ragged Flagon Fix.esp active.

Step Modifications is excellent! I definitely want to say that first because not following the guide may not be the right way to start a post. Step has brought me back to putting together a collection of mods and reading the guides and the forum threads has helped me remember what I had done and taught me what to do next. Hopefully I'll have a nice modded Skyrim that I can play for a few years more. The Step Patch - Conflict Resolution has some really neat things that it solves. I really like that it fixes the conflict between the Cutting Room Floor and Savros Aren's Regret's Restore - Cut Content mod. There are many other things in the Conflict Resolution patch that I find attractive about Step's SkyrimSE v2.3 guide that I would love to use it. Unfortunately there is just too much I personally don't like to play with requiring the patch to cleaned of masters. I'm not a fan of having every creation piled into the game all at once and so remove most of them and just have the ones I would like for each playthrough just like any other mods. I prefer vanilla spells and perks so I don't want to play with Odin - Skyrim Magic Overhaul or Vokrii - Minimalistic Perks of Skyrim. Consistent Older People requires an AFK Mods account but I saw in the forum thread that it would be optional which I thought sounded great. (Thought I did end up downloading it.) At Your Own Pace - College of Winterhold has conflict with Improved College Entry - Questline Tweaks and then Obscure's College of Winterhold and I have been hoping to play with that mod. Atlas Map Markers SE is the complete opposite of a mod I would much prefer personally Undiscovered Means Unknown - Map Markers (by Brin_aSair) as I enjoy exploring! I also just start each Skyrim game in the wagon, I have used Alternate Start - Live Another Life back in Legendary Edition but it doesn't appeal to me. Starting in the wagon brings me back to 11/11/11 playing the first time with the Dragon Statue staring at me after installing the game. I tried to clean the Step Patch - Conflict Resolution but the last time I did anything serious with xEdit was several years ago, before i had brain surgery, and I've forgotten a lot. Step Modifications forums has helped A LOT! Thank you! I read several threads and tried to detach all those masters a few times but it's just too much for me and I end up confused with a migraine. So I've removed everything and am starting with a fresh wipe. I'll follow the Step Guide but not closely as I won't be using Step's Conflict Resolution Patch I would like to use all of these mods from Step's Guide but as they are all on the Conflict Resolution patch's list can you tell me which conflict with the other? That would help. USSEP Worldspace Transition Tweaks - Skyrim To Solstheim Cathedral Landscapes Better Dynamic Snow Book Covers Embers XD Realistic Water Two AI Overhaul Better Stealth AI for Followers Realistic AI Detection SE Hearthfire Extended I've also never done anything to mod Skyrim's audio sounds before but looking over the list, reading the forums threads and the mod pages that are listed it is interesting. I would like to try them as well but they also have some conflicts. Ah well, it's never been easy putting together a list like this when I don't follow it exactly.

Perhaps I'm aiming higher than I can reach? When I read in some of the forum threads that some mods could be cleaned as masters from the Step Patch - Conflict Resolution I've set plans to do that but we'll have to see how it goes. Fingers crossed this isn't too much trimming: Consistent Older People, Relationship Dialogue Overhaul Lite, Alternate Start - Live Another Life, At Your Own Pace - Winterhold College, Odin - Skyrim Magic Overhaul, Vokrii - Minimalistic Perks of Skyrim, Atlas Map Markers SE - Updated with MCM and also the creations Arcane Archer Pack, Tundra Homestead, Myrwatch, Alternative Armors - Elven Hunter, Hendrheim, Bow of Shadows and Gallows Hall... edit: also Goldenhills Plantation, Bonechill Manor and the Necromantic Grimoire. Forgot those had to go too.

Discussion topic: Stockades of Skyrim 3D by wSkeever Wiki Link I came across this mod while installing others and it caught my attention as I plan to play as an orc with the next list of mods. The pictures of the improvement it makes to the orc's stockades are great: The only conflict against 06-Models and Textures is \meshes\clutter\stockade\stockadetower01.nif - Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch USSEP. There are 15 meshes\clutter\stockade that nothing else has touched so I'm definitely going to be using this

I've not used Embers XD before but because I am often in 1st person for combat I've also checked Reduced Actor Flame because it recommends that's better for 1st person visibility. Anyone seen the difference between it being checked or not?

Yes... Because the only creations I've included in the somewhat modified Steps v2.3 I'm putting together is Camping and Goblins this mod will need cleaning They say in the notes if I use Version 2 and SkyPatcher I wouldn't need to clean it!

I've noticed that there is also Realistic Boat Bobbing - Fishing CC Patch (by chrisgreely1999) that was put up 2023 and nothing about the fishing supplies on one of the boats has been mentioned in the changelog of this mod. Is it the Fishing CC patch required?

What I like about the location of where the author of this mod, Dr Mabuse, placed the Dynamic Treasure Map Journal is that it is in a tent with a few other books where the bandits that drop Treasure Map 1 are. I used this mod in my last Skyrim play and picking up the treasure map from the bandit's corpse and then the Treasure Map Journal from the tent next to them made it seem like it was their journal and lore friendly in my eyes.

When I saw this file in the 'Testing Mods for Step SkyrimSE Guide' it reminded me to fill in the Favourite Mod(s) part of my profile. I used it to quickly look at Dynamic Treasure Map Journal by (by DrMabusetheRambler) and other maps while searching for treasure. It also works perfectly with Sweeping Organizes Stuff - Use Broom to Clean Mess (by wSkeever) so using the broom to clean an area is wonderful! Definitely a mod I'll add to the Step Skyrim v2.3+ that I'm putting together