Smile44

I use the Dawnguard esm. and RLO esp. my point was that there are no lights placed in the dawnguard areas unless you have this patch which made me wonder why the main mod needed to be DG compatible unless it has to do with the whole eclipse malarky.

Its wierd. It hasn't had this issue for anything but this mod, went ahead to More Village Animals and its no problems. With this mod it just creates a save in the overwrite folder and TES5Edit refuses to close. I have to go and use the task manager to close it, and no changes are saved. On top of that, it also causes my CPU load from the task manager to go to 10%. Not sure if thats a big deal, but it stays there until I force close TES5Edit, where it goes back to 0. I had this problem too. I solved it by saving the file in sections. It's only a problem through the first section. I did the first parts to create the esp. and then saved after I had copied the drgonborn.esm parts to it. Then I did the additions to Hearthfire Saved again and finally the last part. By saved I mean closed down TES5Edit and restarted with all esm loaded. This seemed to work. Rest of MIA went fine. Sort of glad I'm not the only one this happened to - means I'm not completely mad  - yet.

Did you know that Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Main.esm does not place lights in the dawnguard areas (I of course do mean the DG compatible version)? Apparently a patch is needed for that linked to from the description page and here. I have confirmed this with mannygt as I thought it was odd that there was no mention of this anywhere in any of the guides - perhaps there is a reason for this or perhaps we have all made assumptions in this case which is probably what happens if one spends more time modding than playing. Anyway doesn't hurt to mention it. :)

Phew you have a ton of mods in there many of which have not yet been checked with SR. Probably best to disable all the mods not currently on the pre Dragonborn install list, then check if you still have the problem - finally add the mods back in one at a time to find out which one it is. If I had to guess it would be SkyRe that is the culprit simply because it needs so much patching. The dead bodies mod itself works great. That said I did get CTDs if i tried to remove armor from a female character, which has happened to someone else before. I reinstalled some of the body mods and the problem has gone - temperamental bloody game. :)

Did you know that Lanterns Of Skyrim - All In One - Main.esm does not place lights in the dawnguard areas (I of course do mean the DG compatible version)? Apparently a patch is needed for that linked to from the description page and here. I have confirmed this with mannygt as I thought it was odd that there was no mention of this anywhere in any of the guides - perhaps there is a reason for this or perhaps we have all made assumptions in this case which is probably what happens if one spends more time modding than playing. The new esp. is easily sorted out SR style.

And if I don't have the Dragonborn DLC, from which DLC I should drag the: "0000003C" node "MHDT - Unknown entry" from Dragonborn.esm to AIMP - Antz in my Pantz.esp (and wherever other mods it apply for). Thank you! Just drag it from Hearthfires.esm - these records are generally all the same so the rule appears to be from the .esm file furthest to the right.

As far as I know ATTK has to be installed in your skyrim directory not MO, then just enable it as an executable in MO in the same way as you did for skse_loader.exe (also installed in skyrim directory). It's seems best to use the light version as there is no real need to mess with the settings. It works fine for me so far. 1. Download ATTK light installer. 2. Unzip ATTK light installer. 3. Activate ATTK light installer. 4. Open MO. 5. Click the executables button (cogs) in the top bar. 6. Type ATTK in the title bar. 7. Click the browse button for the location of attk.exe (...common/skyrim folder) and select it. 8. Click the add button (make sure the option to close MO when activated is still ticked). 9. Choose ATTK from the drop down executables menu and you should be good to go. Apologies if these instructions are oversimplified, no insult is intended - just trying my hand at writing clear instructions without assuming any knowledge of whomsoever tries to follow them.

Hi, just a quick one. in your instructions for Atlas Map Markers, at the end of the first section, you say to expand worldspace etc.. but you don't state which esp. to use and it is clearly not the current one. any chance you could clarify. Expand "Worldspace">"0001EE62" under Atlas Blackreach.esp and select the "0002D4E0" node. Right-click the column for Dawnguard.esm and select "Copy as override into...". Select Atlas Dawnguard.esp and click [OK]. Expand "Worldspace" and select the "000003C" node. Right-click the column for Dragonborn.esm and select "Copy as override into...". Select Atlas Dragonborn.esp and click [OK]. Click the [X] in the upper right hand corner, uncheck "Backup plugins", and click [OK]. Thanks, everso.

Here is an unusual one. I discovered that I was having CTDs outdoors in Helgen opening sequence at the same point each time. Then when loading through SKSE in MO I was getting some kind of bizarre window mode and freezing movement - this is with mods up to "Water" installed at the time. I was planning on a reinstall anyway but on running BOSS on just the vanilla game (no mods installed) all ESMs except Skyrim (Update, Dawnguard, Hearthfires and both HRDLC esps) came up as unrecognised. Anyone ever had that happen before? Looks a bit like I will have to reinstall everything starting with the game - something strange is afoot. That said I will be upgrading my system, currently a Quad Q6600, P5QLD board, 4gb DDR2 ram and a GT440 1gb card, to an i53570K, Z77 Sabretooth board, 8gb DDR3 RAM and an HD7970 3gb card (possibly a 4gb GTX 670 - still torn on that one) and an SSD etc... So I will need to reinstall everything anyway. Am looking forward to seeing how SR develops, I expect that every mod currently in STEP is on the SR to do list including Closer Arrows, with a few exceptions and plenty of additions, I believe there were another 100 or so to be looked at. That said if you posted a list of mods you were wanting to look at Neo, you might get a lot of advance useful feedback - not that you haven't got enough to do. I for one will not be fooling around in Skyrim for a while, until I get my new rig set up at least - then I shall be back to modding Skyrim with a vengeance or perhaps not vengeance but similar only less dramatic.

I second that, been curious about how you determine where edits need to be made and which ones to leave alone. I would imagine that reading the mod info with respect to 1.8 and using TES5Edit with the ESMs and Unofficial patches and current mod selected would highlight any errors but which ones should be changed or left alone - my brain hurts just thinking about how many nodes there are coming up red in some mods.

It is but you will play with tour heart in your mouth, the world becomes very dangerous lots of running away at low levels as a new player just doesn't have the blocking or armour skills to survive being shot with an arrow or take a hit from an NPC that really knows how to use an axe. But you learn through practice at target ranges etc.. (necessary if you turn off your cross hair) and recognising how to pick off targets and work your way in. It is all adjustable though. Wise to invest in some followers that you can get at low levels if you are impatient though as it is easy to bite off more than you can chew - all of this makes the game much more realistic. :) P.S. I seem to be plugging requiem but I don't actually work for Xarrian. As a former player of AD&D I naturally love the roleplay element - Dungeon masters could be quite harsh if you forgot to look for traps or bring food and drink with you or generally didn't try to think through a problem as though you were actually there - all good experience for playing Skyrim when the game is actually difficult where it should be.

Requiem addresses magic quite well but Xarrian is planning a huge magic overhaul for his mod to improve it further. I know at the moment you are more interested in SkyRe and I am going to check out Gopher's video myself. I think you would like what Requiem does I don't want to make more work for you but it could be more satisfying and less work for you in the long run. You would need to remove some mods like Soul Gems differ and lock overhaul but it works well with SR I have already tried it and will probably go with it over SkyRe once SR is ready to roll. Anyway I will look forward as always to your updates. By the way in the edits for DpSoB you suggest moving the head data - is that all of it where it occurs as some of it does not tie in with DG ESM and or USKP. Also in some instructions you say select a series of ESM and UF/D/H patches as well as a specific esp/s, carry out some changes then exit and save, followed by the next edit which requires the exact same selections for the next series, I am curious as to the need for this or whether we can do all of the edits at once for a specific set of selected mods. the above mod is a classic example. All the best.

Neovalen - "Totally understand your concerns and I share your need for harder and more fun gameplay. Vanilla Skyrim becomes a bore pretty quickly. I'll be evaluating many gameplay change mods in the near future, but I am one guy and testing EVERYTHING might be a bit difficult to do. I like SkyRe cause it has the reproccer, etc which helps with compatibility and really liking how it works watching Gophers latest Lets Play but looking at all options." To be honest I was surprised (in a good way) to hear SkyRe mentioned as a possible addition to SR - it would be quite an undertaking to incorporate it into SR which is already a huge amount of work". I am a fan of SkyRe as well but it's combat module is not as well developed IMO as other parts - a combination of ACE combat and Deadly Combat or Duel (meant to work together)Â work well instead and ASIS is great for AI and increasing difficulty but the AI in SkyRe does work well now so not needed. SKYTest - Harder Creatures works with SkyRe as well. But as you say alot of work for one guy - but definitely a great thing to look into.

I have actually played through the whole game a number of times with different characters and completed all of the factions etc.. and even with vanilla it's a great game. I've also played the game modded (lightly) but was more interested in the new things that the mods added, novelty value and such. The biggest let down for the game though is that it is too easy. Even on Master setting, once you are past a certain level reachable in just a few hours gameplay it just becomes retreading old ground trying to find something new with little sense of danger that the early levels had. Modding the STEP way makes the game look much better and the game works more coherently, fixes and common sense mods included, but as I have always understood it STEP is just a platform upon which to then build your preferences such as the various packs that are in the pipeline. On its own STEP does not make the game more interesting or fun than vanilla, just better. For example using Alternate start to begin on a shipwreck way out in the frigid waters of the north with Hypothermia enabled as well as SKYTest etc.. is exhilarating - just trying to survive getting to shore then reaching some kind of settlement when you literally can't see very well (severe hypothermia) to get warm. Or taking a pot shot at a bandit, maybe killing him (higher more realistic damage ala Requiem), then having to get away fast circle around to gain advantage again as they can one shot you as well. These sorts of things add a whole new element to the game, forcing you to plan, explore and think as well as react quickly - develop your skills both as a character and as a player. Sure large overhauls can change too much (probably why so many are modular) and they can conflict in many areas - lots of different mods covering the same areas are just as likely to cause conflicts with each other as to make any benefits irrelevant. I would like to see a much more hardcore game that really challenges you to think because that is how you improve by increasing the challenge and level of concentration. Important to keep it real and immersive - but definitely much harder than vanilla or base STEP, because then it is exciting. So my advice - if you haven't played the game through then there is little point going beyond the basic STEP install as the game has so much in it as is, loads to do and explore - but once the novelty of clearing out yet another Forsworn camp, or casually taking out another dragon wears off then it is time to up the stakes. Requiem does it best IMHO or a blend of ERSO, ASIS, Deadly Combat or Duel, and SkyRe (parts of) with perhaps a sprinkling of ACE can give you a similar effect. Sure it changes the game but that is the point. Since it's inception Dungeons and dragons was meant to be a game of planning and strategy as well as fun - vanilla skyrim is kind of for beginners in that respect. I personally would like to see SR go more in that direction as there is no point in it being the same as STEP. I'll shut up now.

You need to put the two .dll files and skse_loader into .../common/skyrim where TESV.exe is first but not install anything else until skyrim revisited profil section as directed. Should be in the instructions though I agree had the same confusion when I first started to work with the guide.

Fantastic if you can get it to work I really enjoy what it does but there do seem to be a great deal of patches needed, but the new SkyProc should take care of it. It is worth looking at Requiem though. There are lots of ways to make it easier if it is too hardcore but it really adds to the immersion and sense of danger. It changes a great deal more than SkyRe and affects just about everything all of which can be modified. On a side note, on reinstalling SKYTest I found that after using TES5Edit as per instructions it showed up as having switched it's masters around in WB. This happened before when I accidentally misread the instruction on Alternate Start and didn't add in the ESM masters in the Creation kit. So I put SKYTest through the same procedure before going into TES5Edit again and this fixed the problem. Of course I may have gotten something else wrong but I did try it several different ways first.

Sounds harsh!

I could be wrong but I believe that Ars Metallica is the only one in STEP that interferes in any way with SKYRE. STEP only really affects the look of the game rather than change anything that SKYRE does which is all gameplay - that said there is an alternative config.ini for categorised favourites menu that is configured for SKYRE as an optional download. I'll stop there in case I accidentally think of any more.

Reading the comments on the page it appears that there are errors in this mod and in particular he hasn't done textures for the snow covered roads which clash with his textures somewhat. The mod author has said he will correct the issues soon. It looks great but IMO it is not finished yet.

Hi I have made the changes to the ini - used the example on the guide - so much clearer now. It seems that some of the text supplied in the ini implies that changes only need to be made if necessary, so I have left the last one unchanged as my Mopy folder is where it should be and WB had no problem locating the game so all is as it should be. Thanks again. Ixian Inventor? Are you a Dune fan?

Thanks for doing that so quickly, it is a little clearer now at least I know what I'm looking for and have made the changes except for the fact that I'm not sure what you mean by ""uncomment" the following lines." ;sOblivionMods=..\Skyrim Mods My ini now has this in that section sOblivionMods=..\Oblivion Mods ;sOblivionMods=C:\Games\Skyrim Mods (the line that I changed) ;sOblivionMods=C:\Games\Oblivion Mods ;sOblivionMods=C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Skyrim Mods Should I delete the rest or is something missing - if not then job is done - and you have my thanks. That said this last one is confusing ;sOblivionPath=G:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Skyrim - Why a G:\Steam? I changed it to "C:\Games\SteamApps\common\Skyrim" which would be accurate as the Steam folder only has a couple of files in it - there is no such path as is. I think what I have done is correct. Please let me know if I goofed.

Hi it is still not clearly explained "I will add more clarity to that since you mention it; however, the intent is that you replace the blocks of text appearing in the quotes: "\Oblivion Mods" gets replaced by "\Skyrim Mods", including the backslash. If you do not include these specifics and only replace "Oblivion" with "Skyrim", you will break the variables (e.g., sOblivionMods & sOblivionPath)" In that the only parts of the ini that have "\Oblivion Mods" etc are in the General part and are also used as examples. Also there are copies for each line with "\Skyrim Mods" underneath the ones with oblivion in. [General] ;--sOblivionMods is an alternate root directory for Bash Installers and other Bash data. ; Putting it under the game's install directory can cause performance problems ; during gameplay, so by default it is placed at the same level as the game folder. ; Here are the Oblivion and Skyrim defaults, and two other examples. ;sOblivionMods=..\Oblivion Mods ;sOblivionMods=..\Skyrim Mods ;sOblivionMods=C:\Games\Oblivion Mods ;sOblivionMods=C:\Steam\SteamApps\common\Skyrim Mods ;--sBashModData is the directory containing data about your mods, ini edits, etc. ; If using MOM, mTES4 Manager, or other utility to manage multiple installs, ; you will want to change this to keep the Bash data with your saved games. ; You'll need to use an absolute path to your saved games folder, so here ; are the defaults and a few examples. ;sBashModData=..\Oblivion Mods\Bash Mod Data ;sBashModData=..\Skyrim Mods\Bash Mod Data ;sBashModData=C:\Documents and Settings\Wrye\My Documents\My Games\Oblivion\Bash Mod Data ;sBashModData=C:\Users\Wrye\AppData\Local\Skyrim\Bash Mod Data ;--sInstallersData is the directory containing data about which installers ; are installed by Wrye Bash. If you changed sBashModData above, you'll ; probably want to change this one too. Examples: ;sInstallersData=..\Oblivion Mods\Bash Installers\Bash ;sInstallersData=..\Skyrim Mods\Bash Installers\Bash ;sInstallersData=C:\Documents and Settings\Wrye\My Documents\My Games\Oblivion\Bash Installers\Bash ;sInstallersData=C:\Users\Wrye\AppData\Local\Skyrim\Bash Installers\Bash ;sInstallersData=C:\Users\Wrye\AppData\Local\Skyrim\Bash Installers Data These all appear to be examples so it's not clear what to change or where. When you mention updating any other paths or settings as neded this would mean that I need to specify where mods are installed but it is hard to spot the command line for that. Shouls all references to tes4 be changed to tes5? This may well be cheeky to ask but would it be possible to see a correctly configured ini or part thereof so that I can get an idea. The Skyrim inis as well as ENB inis are a walk in the park by comparison.

I can tell you with 100% certainty that you are suffering from a case of user error (no offense). Getting frustrated will only increase the likelihood of misunderstanding and mistakes. Read through the SIG and get your rig cleaned up and prepped. THEN, I recommend: forget about DDSopt for now. You need to better understand how to use Wrye Bash to successfully install a relatively simple modded setup.... simplify.Begin by methodically following the WBG, beginning with "Establish a Clean Skyrim Install" ... and follow that to the letter.Once you have a clean skyrim install, launch skyrim and create a new character. Save the game after creating, and you should have 2 saves to use as a base for testing purposes. This will also eztablish the INI files and prove that you have a functional install.COPY YOUR SKYRIM DIRECTORY to another location so that you can easily restore it, and reference the latest STEP Guide to help with pre-install configurationGo back to the WBG and follow along with installation of WB (v302.1) and BOSS 2.0+ (hold off on installing anything else)Carefully read about BAIN structure and the examples of BAIN package restructure (you are not repacking mods correctly if they are not showing their contents in the right-hand panes)follow the guide very carefully and Install only the Unofficial Patches, SMIM a texture overhaul and a couple of mods with plugins using WB. Ensure that these are installed and that your game directory is consistent with what you have done thus far.Run BOSS, and reference the latest STEP Guide to help with post-install configurationIf anything wierd happens, then you have a ghost in your machine, the universe is not behaving correctly ... or you did not reference and successfully interpret and implement the instructions provided in the guides I have referred to. After you get this all behaving correctly, then you can mess with DDSopt, as this may be what is ultimately making your BSAs "dissapear". (it is very easy to mess up BSA extraction and compression locations, as that application is a bit clunky in these regards). HTH Whew a very detailed and well explained answer. I would have to agree that pilot error is the likely underlying cause of my problems but in order for you to suggest an optimum solution you would need to see what I am doing with respect to packaging mods otherwise you have to assume the type of errors I am making and they are not the ones you suggest. I was talking about mods like SMIM not showing sub-packages in the right hand pane - I didn't package that. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't show up - this is because the correct panes are not showing up in the right pane in installers tab. Sometimes they are there sometimes not - I guess I may have inadvertently switched off that function but I haven't yet seen how to do that. Anyway I will follow your suggestions if only to find out what is going wrong or where at least I am going wrong. By the way in the WB guide on the wiki there is what seems to be a completely incomprehensible section about configuring WB before use, in that configuring the ini with so little to go on doesn't bear thinking about. "Configure If no previous backup of bash.ini is available, copy and then rename "bash_default.ini" to "bash.ini," and place this alongside the former. The INI defines many useful things including where WB looks for installers. Edit bash.ini, and replace the "\Oblivion Mods" directory references with "\Skyrim Mods" and update any other paths or settings as necessary. Many users prefer to keep Skyrim Mods\ on a different hard drive. Do not try to change the "\Bash Installers" directory reference, as that is hard coded, and Bash will create it inside Skyrim Mods." Oblivion crops up all over the place does the text mean to replace the word "oblivion" with "Skyrim" wherever it occurs? Is it even important? If it is then this may have something to do with the problems I am having with WB. We seem to have gotten the DDSopt discussion going again if in the wrong thread - perhaps one day there will be all the easy to use tolls both modders and users need to get lots of clean, optimised non conflicting mods working together happily. I do believe that there is a great deal of work going on to that end which is all to the good and especially for companies like Bethesda who are getting a lot of free development work done for them and as such are unlikely to fix their glitchy software. I have a clean install as per guide as well as a clean WB install with Boss and so will get to testing WB again. I have used WB successfully in the past but a deeper understanding of the software may well lead to understanding why things are not working now. Adios.

I used to be something of an IT guy, a long time ago - so I know this doesn't make sense. There is no way that WB should be in any way messing with the bsa files in the data folder. I have even removed WB and installed it again with a new download but no dice. Here's another weird thing in that there is no logic to this at all. But prior to SRO being removed I made some different graphics packs based around SRO both HD and light. I tested these packages out but my results were confusing to say the least as I had found before this that a full Step install with TPC was too much for my system with a very low frame rate, so I used a much more stripped down version based on Bethesda DLC optimised, SRO, SMIM, Better Dynamic Snow, Vurt's SFO, Water and Skyrim performance plus, I added no stretching and Ruins clutter improvement, and had a much better frame rate plus 10 to 15 fps. I sought to demonstrate this as at the time you all were (still are) working towards the next Step pack. For some strange reason when I built all my packages and tested them my frame rate didn't change at all regardless of how many graphics mod I used or how high def they were which completely defeated the purpose of my test and was confusing to say the least. Then SRO got pulled and my experiment became even more pointless. So I gave up on that and went back to my favourite group of graphics files as detailed earlier and found they had corrupted - this was the first time I started to get the missing textures - all my SRO packs were doing the same thing. So I rebuilt them - installed the individually etc.. gone back to standard 2.2a STEP install for graphics (have all the zips) but here I am struggling with disappearing textures. There is no way that SRO being pulled has anything to do with my texture issues just coincidental timing - very twilight zone. Oh well Steam has just finished fixing my game time to try again - definitely going to build packages this time rather than use individual mods, far less messy but I will be doing this all again soon when 2.2.1 comes online fully and Frostfall, Last seed etc.. Thanks for giving this some thought, I agree that it's possible that WB is not operating within acceptable parameters at least for me - I have noticed numerous glitches such as mods not showing sub-packages in the right hand pane consistently, not uninstalling mods and needing me to restart windows in order to be able to do so - definitely not right.

Hi thanks for responding to my rant. But I have done all of the above repeatedly with varying success over the last year. I do everything very carefully and am very familiar with file structures both BAIN and otherwise. I have not been placing any bsa files in WB. The Wiki DDSopt guide suggests optimising the bsa files then repackaging them as 7zip files and then placing them in WB. Which is where that idea came from but the last part of that guide is not too specific or clear so I have not done the last part, I just wanted to learn how to use DDSOpt. I am currently re installing the game for the second time this evening (don't ask about the last three days). Even with straight vanilla I'm getting purple patches. This has never been a problem for me before I started using WB to install my mods. Initially this was successful and has been for months but over the last couple of weeks it has been a nightmare. Something must be horribly corrupted in my game and I do not know what. But I do know that the game works fine at first and I can carefully install all my mods and get a working game - but of course there is tweaking involved finding the mod or mods causing CTDs etc.. perfectly normal, it's when I start removing the odd mod that suddenly I get purple patches. Today it began when I removed RLwC and replaced it with Cot. I was not messing with any graphics mods but was the last thing that happened before I lost a load of textures - this shouldn't happen of course but it has and I don't know why.