thommaal

If you love the third one the most, we need to have a private talk about life choices. But, seriously, Bethesda could learn a thing or two from Bioware when it comes to compelling characters, voice acting (and here), drama and humour. Of course, it's far more likely they have learned all the wrong lessons.

You can always delete them, of course. But you could also click the Mod (in the left window of MO) with the right mouse button and choose the entry "information" in the window. A new window pops up. Go to "Optional ESPs" and move the esp via the arrow from "Available ESPs" to "Optional ESPs". The original ESP is still installed but not active any longer.

Let's make sure that Java 32bit is installed: 1. If Java is also enabled in your browser, simply go to this website to verify your installation: https://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp 2. If Java is disabled in your browser (as it is in mine), that won't work. Instead, go to the command prompt (cmd) and type java -version In case you don't know how to open the command prompt window: Click the Start button. In the Search box, type cmd A "cmd.exe" will be your search result, click it with your left mouse button (you don't need administrator privileges in this case). A small window will appear. Type java -version and hit "enter". 3. If this fails, you'll likely have no Java installed or the installation has been damaged and isn't recognized any longer by your OS. Still, you might want to check if Java was installed, so .. [the next steps may vary depending on your windows version] a. Go to Start b. Click "Control Panel" c. Click "Programs and Features" If you don't find Java from the Oracle Corporation, it's definitely not on your system. If you find one, something is wrong with the installation. Try to deinstall it. A nice tool to make sure that Java is deinstalled properly and a new one easily installed can be found here: https://singularlabs.com/software/javara/ But you don't really need it. Just .. 4. Go to: https://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp and download the version that fits your OS. But don't choose a 64bit version, Mod Organizer needs the 32bit executable. 5. A few people have reported problems with the current version 8 while using it with some patchers. You should still install it first because of some security issues with version 7. But if version 8 should not work properly, deinstall it and get Java 7.

And, of course, I forget to mention that one.

Damn. Okay. 1. Can you start a vanilla game from the corresponding MO profile without trouble? 2. Please, check once again that SKSE is installed properly (even veteran modders have misplaced the SKSE.ini on occasion). 3. Could you post your LO? There might be a problem that you just don't see, because you have looked at it too often. 3. Did you disable all the automatic save options? 4. Did you install higher resolution textures than STEP recommends - for that matter, what graphics card do you use? 5. Delete the old inis, copy the vanilla ones into the MO-profile you created for STEP and make the suggested changes. 6. Of course, you can always play without the mod, but IIRC it's part of the STEP patch, so I'd adapt the patch with TES5Edit to delete the culprit from its contents. Then you can use the patch without BOYD. 7. If you want to use BOYD, you could also try to reduce the load on your system by unchecking some of the texture mods.

While the games look much prettier nowadays, combat intelligence, well all adaptive behaviour routines are still abysmal. If I could wish for one thing, it'd be a challenge. Added: Yeah, I do realize that games sometimes provide a fun challenge; Mass Effect 2, e.g. (since we are in SF territory here, I dare mention it), was quite difficult in a good way on its Insanity level (at least for a while). But I can't think of any RPG that was difficult without being tedious.

Sounds like the infamous Infinite Loading Screen; hishutup's guide might help you solve this problem. Added: Some players could not solve the problem with the feature in SKSE and used the older Safety Load instead with success.

No, there is no such feature - and there shouldn't be one. A new version of one mod might be incompatible with another mod in your LO that was previously no problem at all; new optionals could be necessary on occasion or new patches might be needed from other mod authors, the inis might need adaptations and so on and on and on .. Any automated system that doesn't pass the Turing Test could not do it, any that does, should not do it.

True enough. So, to elaborate a bit further: MO allows you to easily (re-)order installed mods in two ways: In its initial setting, the window on the left lists all the mods in the order in which they were installed. You can also order mods by name or flags etc., but when you click on the column "Priority", you'll see the installation order. Usually, installation order is set by the order in which you install mods, not so in MO. Since no Mod physically overwrites files from another mod in MO (unless you specifically allow it to do so) you can switch the installation order any time by changing priority numbers - the lower the number the earlier the place of the mod within the installation order. So, files within mods are usually just virtually overwritten, prevalence of one file over another can be changed any time (though it's generally not advisable to do so mid-game). The plugin-window on the right allows you to order the position of esps and esms. This is the often mentioned Load Order (LO). As Tannin mentioned, not all mods include an esp or esm. Which means, that they are not plugins and therefore ignored by LOOT or BOSS. Installation and Load Order determine dominance of one file over another. If two or more mods change the same file, the last one in the order is going to be loaded into the game. Ordering mods and plugins is the basic step of conflict resolution. The STEP Guide and the additional or alternative packs give you an order that has proven to resolve conflicts among the installed mods as much as possible. It's not enough, but it's the foundation of more elaborate efforts done later (see here for an example).

Well, you can access a printable version of the STEP guide under TOOLBOX in the Wiki - but that just contains the information that didn't help you in the first place. You could install Neovalen's Skyrim Revisited instead. His pack doesn't depend on a STEP installation but is an alternative. And his guide is usually considered one of the best (it was the foundation of my first modded Skyrim experience). However, he uses different mods (which might not be to your liking) and the hardware required to run his load order needs to be more potent. But to answer your initial question wrt. "Distant Decal Fix". I just downloaded it to see what it contains and there's only a mesh-folder. Since there is no esp or esm, LOOT ignores it. If you want meshes or textures included in one mod to overwrite other mods (or be overwritten by other mods), you use the priority list in MO to place the mod where you want it to go. And the STEP guide tells you where to put it: Added: And that's why "Distant Decal Fix" is placed even before the Unofficial Skyrim Patch in the table that contains all the mods that you install when you follow the STEP guide. Basically, the table tells you when and how to install the mods included in STEP. Of course, it's easier to just install mods via the STEAM Workshop. The problem is: plenty of mods overwrite files from other mods or don't agree with each other. That's why you need conflict resolution. And the STEP guide and all the additional packs that can be found here put a lot of effort into this essential step toward a smooth gaming experience.

It is. And it usually works quite well. But not everyone prefers verbal information, and some people have an easier time to process new knowledge (audio-)visually.

And since I have done this wrong time and again: Whenever you merge a mod with patches and/or optionals, make sure that you can check at a glance what was changed. I usually adapt the name of the folder accordingly.

There is a whole series of videos on how to install, set up and use Mod Organizer and the most important third party tools within it (including LOOT). They might do a better job to help you than any verbal explanation. You can also access GamerPoets whole S.T.E.P. video series on youtube.

Of course; and just in case someone got the wrong idea: My question was not meant to push Mator but to find out when it's time to give what kind of feedback and when it's time to let him work in peace. Looks like it's time for the latter. When a focus shifts, feedback on previous plans is more likely pointless and the time he spends to answer it a time-consuming distraction. Thanks for the update, Mator. Smash is already quite the useful tool.

I have seen Mator's general plan but does anyone know if he has a timeline published somewhere to tell us when to inform him about bugs/curiosities? Usually, there is a deadline for any input prior to the release of the next version, so .. any idea?

Looks like Neovalen advises everyone to unpack all BSAs, so it doesn't matter whether you take the BSA or the loose files. If you unpack everything, it's a good idea to use a SSD. Usually, Neovalen is very precise when he asks you to add optionals, so, I'd say, you're right in your assumption (but I'm just guessing here because I don't use Climates of Tamriel.)

The downloaded optional "All vannila miscItem basket text by White Shadow-61605-.7z" must be installed in the SKSE/Plugins-folder, but the file itself doesn't contain such a hierarchy of folders within it. There's just the file. That's why you either add the file manually to the correct folder that's already present when you install Blocksteal Redux under the directory "mods" or create manually a mods/Blocksteal Redux - All vannila miscItem basket text by White Shadow/SKSE/Plugins folder to keep the file separately or unpack the filecreate the correct directoryput the file therecreate a new 7-zip file that now contains the correct directory information to install the file via MO whenever you need to do it again in the future.

The Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE) is at version 1.7.3. SkyUI is at version 4.1. Here's how you install SKSE properly with MO: 1. Download the 7z archive of SKSE from silverlock.org. 2. Open the downloaded "skse_1_07_03.7z" with the tool you use to deal with archived files (7zip, Winrar, etc.). 3. Copy three files to your Skyrim root folder (usually, you'll find it at "SteamLibrary > SteamApps > common > Skyrim"): skse_1_9_32.dllskse_loader.exeskse_steam_loader.dll4. Open MO. 5. Click the button that installs new mods from an archive (it's the first one on the left at the top of the MO-window). 6. Navigate to the folder that contains the downloaded "skse_1_07_03.7z" and open it. You'll see this window open in MO: You can't install SKSE like that, however (MO is telling you, that it can't find any game data on top level). Navigate to the DATA-folder, selct it with a click on the left mouse button, click the right mouse-button to open a window, where you can click with the left mouse button the entry "Set data directory". 7. After you have done that (make sure that your window shows the folder structure that you see in the following picture), you can change the name of the folder (if you want to) and then click "OK". Now you have added the scripts of SKSE to the folder structure of MO, so that the manager can access them properly. 8. You still need to add a "SKSE.ini", but this deals with steps you do after the initial installation. 9. Once you have installed SKSE, download SKYUI from Nexus and install it like any other mod within MO.

I am currently re-installing Skyrim + mods. I still needed to do it twice with TEs5Edit v3.1.1. Yeah, I was expecting MO to behave differently too, but I hadn't touched MO for almost half a year and wasn't sure if I was remembering the procedure correctly. Anyway, v1.35 and v1.36 move the files the way I described in the previous post.

It's quite possible that you did nothing wrong and that there is a problem beyond your control. But it'd be much easier to find a solution if it's just some mistake you made. Besides, why should you be the exception while we blunder through life? ;) Seriously, follow the guides and see if it makes any difference.

This should not happen if you followed GSDFan's advice. DID you install SKSE as described in the STEP guide? You might also be interested in the Mod Organizer Guide; it explains the basics of the Mod Manager and helps you set it up properly.

Mod Organizer is not misplacing the vanilla esms after you've cleaned them with Xedit, it's moving them into the Overwrite folder within the folder structure of Mod Organizer. 1. Why is it doing that? The Skyrim Data folder is placed beyond the mod folder structure of MO, so there is no pre-defined place where MO could put the esms within its own folder structure - apart from the overwrite folder. The goal of Mo is to NOT change your vanilla Skyrim game at all, neither its folder structure nor its data. So, it would be quite counter-productive if Mo overwrote your original files in the Skyrim Data folder. That's why it copies the cleaned and the backup file of the original, untouched esm into "Overwrite". 2. What are you supposed to do about it? a) Close MO. b) Create a folder under "Mod Organizer > Mods" to place the cleaned esms there (you can name it whatever you like, "Cleaned Vanilla esms", e.g.) c) If you created a backup of your original esm (something like "HearthFires.esm.backup.2015_05_31_11_37_42") move it from the MO overwrite folder back to the Data folder of Skyrim. Rename it to "HearthFires.esm". c) Open MO and place the cleaned esm into the newly created folder within MO's folder structure. d) Rinse and repeat. That way, you retain a pristine Skyrim installation, yet use the cleaned files while playing. Added: Just in case you don't already know it: the Dawnguard.esm must be cleaned a second time to remove all duplicate records. If you placed the once cleaned Dawnguard.esm into a mod folder within MO, Tes5Edit will use that file for the second round, of course, and not touch the original one back in your Skyrim Data folder. Added 2: The "Cleaned Vanilla esms"-folder (or whatever name you consider appropriate) should be the first one after the Non-MO entries within the left window that lists all the available mods in MO. Unless you use optimized vanilla game textures; I'd place them right beneath their Non-Mo counterparts. So, it might look like that:

Looks like it's working now. So, .. what suffered more, your head or your desk? ;)

Yup, installation of SkyUI is failing with v3.6.

Vaportrails, when your system is already sweating at the start, the 2k-textures are indeed too much for it to handle. The 1k-, or - if available - 1k/2k-packages will reduce drastically the load on your machine. Instead of an ENB, you could also use SweetFx and one of its various presets. Some of them rival performance ENBs in looks while costing you pretty much nothing in FPS. However, shadows look much better with an ENB even if it's "only" a performance variation. And you'd need to adapt other mods in the Skyrim Revisited LO as well, so, it might not be what you are looking for .. Regardless, if your system is straining already, you might want to think about getting rid of some of the more script-heavy mods as well. They might become a problem when you get into a fight with larger groups of enemies. Because then, "Burn Freeze Shock Effects", "Deadly Spell Impacts" and "Enhanced Blood Textures" will be active all at once while "Footprints" and some other mods might still be adding their scripts to your load. Since everyone considers other mods beneficial, I doubt that we'd all agree on mods that could be cut out. I didn't miss any of the mentioned ones in plenty of playthroughs, though I usually add quite a lot of other (sometimes script-intensive) mods that make combat larger and harder. Essential mods are always the ones that add something valuable to the gaming experience you seek. Whenever a mod has a performance cost, but doesn't benefit the game you want to play, get rid of it. Example: When I played with "Winter Overhaul", I had little use for mods that worked on the flora or added bugs etc. But in that playthrough, "Footprints" were essential. And when I play a magic user, "Frostfall" is worse than useless since such a character should be able to withstand any adverse weather conditions with ease, while "Burn Freeze Shock Effects" and "Deadly Spell Impacts" add some appropriate effects. If a mod doesn't sharpen or, worse, weakens your focus, don't install it. Though, if you want to use Neovalen's premade conflict-resolution-patch, you need to install all the mods that are added to it. OTOH, you could always make your own patch, since Neovalen has published a great Conflict Resolution Subguide to his LO.