Smile44

Sounds interesting, Requiem does have elements of this in that wooden bows and weapons can be destroyed in combat certainly they get knocked out of your grasp if your level / skill isn't high enough but "Weapons and Armor Degradation and Repair" is more of an immersion mod than anything - if it works without too much hassle then great otherwise I wouldn't worry too much - it works with IA and IW and SkyRe apparently. :)

You are probably correct, Azirok has made one and he's testing it now, so will be ready soon, probably should have left Wyrmstooth off for now. It doesn't start until you are level 10 or until a certain point in the main quest is reached. All it means for now though is if you were to go to Wyrmstooth without the patch then it would be too easy perhaps considering the increased damage and armour values. I will add the patch in as son as it is out. :)

I figured you would have considered it but it is better to make sure all are aware of possible pitfalls etc. early rather than not at all. As long as this issue is in hand then I am happy with it. :)

This is a suggestion for a STEP pack based on Requiem. This mod changes a great deal of things in the game to make the game more challenging and to encourage role-playing. Almost everything in the game is touched from AI, to merchants to Dragons and enemies etc.. Requiem - Guide This is meant as a WIP so if anyone wants to chip in ideas or thoughts and suggestions then go right ahead. The Pack idea would be to just detail the mods and information you would need to add Requiem into your game but I feel it is more important to give a more complete list and order as there are many mods in SR and or STEP that are obsolete with Requiem and need to be left out or can cause conflicts. There are many more mods that could enhance this build such as something like SkyXP, but so far it looks really good and works really well on my machine. This guide is based on Skyrim Revisited Legendary Edition both versions. So follow the latest one adding or or removing mods as required in the install order shown here. Then a variation of mods from the previous version, i.e animation, behaviour, face and body mods. I have made some changes such as using 'better males' (need to follow original SR for this). More importantly I have left out a great deal that I feel are not necessary for a great gaming experience. (May have forgotten a few but hey if I don't miss em then maybe I don't need em). A note about optimizing - because of the limitations of the game engine using mods that make big changes in terms of spawns and scripts can cause CTDs and ILS, Freezes etc.. So in order to get a stable game something has to give. I choose the resolution of the textures as suggested by that splendid @Garfink fellow. This is that for every texture in the game including the HRDLCs I have reduced to 1024 x 1024 for all *.dds files and 512 x 512 for all *_n.dds and *_msn.dds normal files. This is laborious and time consuming but definitely worth it - the impact on visuals is minor IMO, but the impact on stability is huge. Of course if you don't use SkyTEST and Skyrim Immersive Creatures or similar then you could probably get away with higher resolutions. I run the game on Ultra with the performance version of RealVision ENB for CoT and ELFX as well as the latest binary from Boris. (Note - do not DDSOpt WATER / RW2 and Skyfalls bad idea, apparently) The list I am including here shows a complete working modlist and install order as well as the all important load order. Because Requiem affects so many things in the game it needs to be lower in the load order than BOSS would suggest so I tend to place Requiem.esp after any and all content mods but before any follower based mods as Requiem will affect the stats on weapons and armour mods. Requiem - Dragonborn fixes some changes made to races by some mods and so needs to be much lower in the list. More detail about Load order is shown below. ASIS and AV could be used in this build (Just increased spawns and potions from ASIS also important to manage the number of spawns in the 'increased spawns.ini') I am not using either because of the increased load on the game engine. Modlist and install order is included here. Order reversed as you can see - not sure how to change that - easily anyway - Just work from the bottom up, simples tsk!). NOTE files with Opt at the end show just the optimized textures placed after the original mod where that mod has more than just textures in it. Where a mod only has textures then just the optimized version is listed. To save space on SSD drives it is probably a good idea to only keep the active mods installed in MO/mods folder and certainly no duplicates, that's what the big HDD is for. The LOAD order is included here. This guide works and is stable but is also intended as a starting point for building a fully accepted and correctly formatted etc. STEP - Requiem Pack. This guide such as it is would not have been possible without the hard work of certain people - the list is probably extensive (mod authors, STEP team etc..) but for now I'll just give a shout out to two key individuals whose work I have referenced and used unashamedly and of course the Requiem mod authors for their brilliant work. Neovalen for SR and SR:LE Garfink for his work on getting stability in the game, which has made all the difference in reducing those pesky script/spawn induced CTDs etc.. Xarrian and Ogerboss for Requiem Azirok for all these brilliant Requiem Patches. All I have done is type this up and add a bit of copying and pasting and of course spent more time mucking about with modding STEP style than playing for the last couple of years (ish) and hopefully I can start to address this balance for myself at least. All the best, :)

Just to chime in on this, I did try all of this out before all the discussion began, seemed to work at first but then didn't anymore - I have no evidence that it does anything useful at all. What it does do if you follow the guide is give lots of opportunities to download lots of different utilities all of which have free but so much better if you pay versions. I saw this as a hard sell disguised as a way to make skyrim work - the language used by the people who push these types of software and I include ATTK in this is all hard sell but no real "apparent" substance. Especially in all their arguments on this forum. So I have no interest in any of these so called quick fixes. The game engine can only handle so much no matter how powerful your system is so there is a simple choice when looking for game stability - either use high res graphics for a "beautiful" skyrim but no or very limited scripted gameplay / content / spawn mods OR lower res graphics max 1K for a tougher more immersive gaming experiece and then carefully chosen content / gameplay mods with limited spawns. As soon as you increase the load on the game engine you run the risk of stability issues. Unless somebody rebuilds the game engine completely to be 64 bit and probably other stuff then well there is going to be very limited options and or tweaks that can be done to improve stability but certainly no quick fix such as Cleanmem - which does nothing useful IMO. I'm not accusing anyone of lying here and or on the Nexus in order to make a commission of some kind but IMHO it really just looks and sounds like that and that kind of hard sell presentation almost always = little / no substance and definitely something I don't need. :)

Of course these packs are going to include STEP extended and STEP Skyrim revisited? Or are these packs going to be based on one or other or as complete alternatives? I would assume that some of these packs would either need to work together otherwise each will tread over the same ground in many areas or would need to be based from STEP extended. I would suggest that a pack could have the same format and sections as extended or SR, and then detail the necessary changes, mods removed / added and relevant instructions in each section. That way the format stays consistent and there is less work for each pack compiler/s. Otherwise we will end up having to string various packs together to get what we want. CORE + Graphics + Lighting + Weather + Sounds + Content + Gameplay + Survival etc... I think that this would be a nightmare for people to bring them all together to work as each separate pack that focuses on a different feature will likely be put together by different people. Then there will be loads of enquiries of how to make X pack work with Y. I think STEP extended should cover all of these areas following the usual mandate but with perhaps some more artistic license - improving on vanilla but not overtly changing it and it should also include lighting and weather etc.. Then using this as a base the packs can be produced. A user then installs CORE + Extended and finally the pack of choice making the required changes or even better each pack could be a clone of extended but incorporating the necessary changes to each section demanded by each pack. Any tweaking after that would be limited and down to personal choice - but the user would have pretty much the Skyrim experience they were after complete and working. If this has already been discussed then great but otherwise it is an important point to be aware of. :)

I have to agree, there is no reason to include these in CORE at least - this is much more of a specialist mod - you know for dentists or other toothy aficionados. :)

It's not a whole game fix in that sense (would be cool if it were) the ideal is to resize and optimize every texture mod by mod, but set the *.dds files to 1024/1024 and the normals *_n.dds and *_msn.dds files to 512/512. Do this to everything (except water files). Long and boring I know I'm currently doing this to try it out but I am using Skyrim Revisited Legendary Edition (latest edition) - far less mods. It is working well and no real drop in quality (sure it is there but not in any way obvious). The plan is to add mods (textures and environment mods at first) to build up a very stable and workable skyrim that is well under any strain on the creaky old game engine before adding companion and gameplay mods - these are more important to me than extra butterflies / birds etc... Anyway sorry but there is no easy fix. The optimization guide on the new (unfinished guide) is very clear and easy to follow. :)

Good to know, I already assumed with ABT that it would not be necessary but did not think about the ini tweaks. Cheers Bud. :) Edit: I've got the ball rolling on a Requiem Pack based on an up to date mod list (SR:LE or version thereof). LINK

If you look closer you will see that the warnings are then followed by instructions to fix said mod - it's all about making mods play nice with each other. No dangerous mods, all of these work and this set up works well. An as yet unproven but highly probable fix for the whole game is to DDSOpt all textures (*.dds) to 1024 x 1024 and all Normals (*_n.dds and *_msn.dds) to 512 x 512. Not really needed for SR as it stands but necessary if you are thinking about adding more script intensive mods later. :)

Already done buddy. :)

Skyrim Realistic Texture Overhaul Dragonborn - LINK I am suggesting this as it appears to be the only texture mod for this part of the world and it ain't bad. "Here is a retexture for Dragonborn, Second part of: Skyrim Realistic Texture Overhaul - LINK I'm not much for introduction so I go to mod description right away. I wasn't happy about the landscape textures Skyrim had. So I decided to make all the textures high quality and lore friendly with a realistic look. Many other modders forget to optimize their textures causing unnecessary Vram loss. Some even don't know how to make alphas/normal maps at all. Some textures looks repeatable which is not good either. This is where this mod comes in. Quality made textures with both 1k and 2k textures. Baked in AO and Quality normal maps without compression artifacts." For your perusal. :)

Probably best to use this instead as the current file is not available. :) Thinks - should probably start a thread for this mod.

Well the cursor fix then, perhaps but windowed is an option and in that case probably best to stick with the original, for now and have the one tweak mod as an option. If Racemenu is used then One Tweak becomes more viable but Racemenu has it's own fix for the CTD with the ShowRaceMenu command so then still no need for the borderless window mod. I guess you do cover all the bases with OT but I probably wont use it. Not using Double Cursor fix either - don't seem to need it. :)

I don't use either, I have tried them but I get no real benefit from playing in windowed mode. So not sure if it should be any more than a recommendation for those who might get some benefit from it rather than a CORE mod. :)

Better Toenails? sounds like a great idea - I can't believe no one has done this yet! Seriously though, any texture mod should not be in Core unless vanilla is broken or such an obvious eyesore that it might as well be broken. Often that is not the case. All I care about is that they are not pink and I can read the buggers. :) P.S: I voted for Legible over Redone because the latter do seem more painted but only for extended.

Yes the profile is the place - handily titled 'modlist' file. I am keen to see the list as well. :)

Shiny hair is not the point. My nitpick is non-clumpy hair with sharp, brush-like ends. Just add some specularity to the vanilla normals if that is the issue ... I'll go to my grave disagreeing with the lot of you :P ... however, if I had to pick something other than vanilla (and AOF), it would be the ragged version of Superior I suppose I wish TC would comment! I have to agree - shiny hair is not the point. The point in fact is that a hair mod should be considered only on how it looks not on whether or not the hair looks wrong for the time due to an assumption of poor hair care. The better hair is likely to come from a combination of mods. There is a notable improvement on vanilla with superior whereas AOF basically just seems to darken the colour a little bit, otherwise it is the same. :)

I will repeat a point I made a while back. You DO NOT need "product" to get shiny hair - washing with water will do that just as well. Hair and scalp produces natural oils that make the hair glossy. Of course these oils are suppressed by shampoo and conditioner etc.. How do you think other mammals coats stay so shiny? Not "Head and Shoulders" that's for sure. People only have unkempt hair if they do not wash and groom their hair, hell even apes do that for each other. But I guess if apes had money then we would be selling them hair care products as well. I think the advertisers have got nearly everybody conned with that one - all anyone needed in the middle ages to have good hair was access to water and some kind of brush or comb (not new inventions) - I believe they had combs thousands of years ago - why? Unless they looked after their hair somehow. I think we should be looking at which hair looks the best or closest to real hair as a criteria for CORE and superior hair does do that, better than vanilla and no esp. A no brainer really. :)

Actually I got that effect with Unreal ENB so I now use Skyrim Sunglare to tone it down to more manageable levels - so works great for me. :)

Also agree - it has to go in Extended if it goes anywhere. It's a good mod but potentially too problematic (patches etc..) to be a CORE mod. Besides I thought we were only adding textures to CORE where they are needed for fixes etc., not to make Skyrim more pretty. That is a job for... STEP EXTENDED (said in old fashioned Superman announcer voice). :)

Hi, you can find it here. It is far from complete but works really well and is very stable as is. You can play it and your skyrim will look amazing. Very little patching needs to be done and that is just for OBIS - these patches also come with the mod itself but the idea is eventually to build all the patches into one new .esp file. It is a solid base upon which to try different mod builds but don't expect much support from Neo or Will, as it is labelled as do not use. Neo is taking a break (as much as he is able) so it will progress in it's own time. :)

Yep definitely the way to go - my Skyrim looks great and the atmosphere with Unreal is fantastic and it comes with it's own night-eye. (Well turning it off so I can see when I forgot to bring a torch ha -hum). It is a fantastic base upon which to build a game based around Requiem or Yash etc.. and due to the low mod count it is way easier to spot incompatibilities in any added mods. In my Added graphics build I have added Ruins clutter improved, AMidianBorn Caves and Vivid Landscapes Dungeons and Ruins, Skyrim Sunglare V4 and Aetherian Sky which is not from the nexus you can find the link on the Phinix ENB page. I use the sunglare because the sun is frequently blinding at dawn and dusk and this just takes the edge off it. Looks fantastic, caves are really creepy. Very dark and scary world when and where it should be. :)

Though SR:LE (current build) is effective and works well and as such I am basing all my mod builds on it as a base. It uses Unreal ENB which is growing on me (did not like it too much at first). :)

Mine is based of of SR LE at the moment - all will be simpler when it is done. I think the form of these packs will be relatively simple. Each can reference which ever main pack SR or STEP Extended and for each sub-section state if any mods need to be removed and then relevant instructions for installing the mods that are added - install order / load order / BUM instructions -overrides, patches etc.. which for Requiem or YASH would not be too many. It's hard not to get a little excited about the possibilities for how STEP will work in the future. :)