beej175560

Thanks cdcooley. I'll try it (if I ever decide on a finalized loadout, that is) and report back if I discover anything one way or the other.

I came here looking for info about compatibility with Civil War Overhaul. Can anyone comment?

The install instructions should tell the user to manually create the C:\TES5LODGenOutput directory. I didn't, and later got a slightly cryptic error from the DynDOLOD TexGen script about a problem with the -o option.

I guess we should keep the mod for the time being. Is the .esp redundant?

I believe this mod no longer has any purpose. Its functionality is completely replaced by DynDOLOD + SMIM (with the SkyMills "compatibility" opton ticked).

I've followed the instructions on the STEP 2.2.8 page, section 3.A.2 "Create the Bashed Patch", to the letter. Unfortunately, after examining the resulting patch in TES5Edit, it looks like it would do more harm than good. This is with a completely fresh STEP Core installation. Things the Bashed Patch does right: 1. It includes the Timescale and iCrimeAlarmRecDistance changes that I selected in Wrye Bash. 2. It correctly incorporates the edits from moveitLWT.esp, allowing me to remove that mod from my load list. Things the Bashed Patch does wrong: 1. It tries to incorporate the changes from Traps Make Noise.esp, but it subtly changes the data from that mod in a way that might be erroneous. (A FormID is moved from a "FormID" to an "Unknown" field, leaving the "FormID" field set to zero. Perhaps this is an old Oblivion convention, but who knows if it works to restructure the records like this in Skyrim?) 2. It reverts several item names that were enhanced in WAF back to the original names. Example: the four "Fur Armor" items, which were nicely renamed by WAF, all go back to being "Fur Armor". (I know I can turn this off in Wrye Bash; my question is why this setting is on in the first place? To make the game worse for me, I guess?) 3. It does not succeed in fixing any problems with Leveled Lists, and introduces additional problems of its own. Most of the Leveled List entries it generates make no changes to the furthest-down .esp's version of the List, so those entries have no purpose. A few Leveled Lists are mysteriously made empty, which is completely wrong. And the small number of Leveled Lists which had genuine problems are not actually corrected by the Bashed Patch, because their problems require human intelligence to solve -- e.g. WAF adding a Fire enchant to the Dwarven Greatsword FEAR enchant list, or War Axe enchants appearing in the Dwarven WarHAMMER enchant lists (a bug corrected by USKP, but reintroduced by WAF). For these truly bugged Leveled List entries, Wrye Bash can only generate a partly-fixed but still mostly-wrong result. In summary, for STEP Core, I see the Bashed Patch messing things up and not solving any real problems. I understand the Leveled List merging is valuable with a more highly modded setup, and I'll report back after I finish installing STEP Extended. But the merging logic looks iffy -- why are some Leveled Lists becoming completely empty? So, between that and the other problems, I'm leaning towards Wrye Bash doing more harm than good. Let the flame wars begin... *ducks for cover*...

After several tedious evenings of modding, I've installed the STEP Core as closely as I could to the recommended instructions. Afterward, I reviewed all of my .esp files in TES5Edit with a goal of auditing STEP Core Patch.esp. I'll start by saying that this patch is very impressive, and corrects many possible issues between STEP Core mods. What few problems I've found are most likely due to updates in various STEP mods that haven't yet been reflected in the Core Patch. CAVEATS: 1. This is only Core mods and the Core patch -- no Extended mods were installed. 2. All mods were downloaded sometime between June 6th and 10th, 2014. 3. I'm using LOOT for load order, since BOSS has been branded "end of life" and LOOT is where STEP 2.2.9 is headed anyway. (I made sure the STEP Core Patch was last in my load order, of course.) COMMENTS ON THE STEP CORE PATCH: Soul Gems Differ is now compliant with USKP, but the STEP Core Patch conflicts with USKP for the Petty, Lesser, Common, and Greater soul gems (by incorrectly removing the "drop" sound). The only other Soul Gem entry in the Core Patch is Wylandriah's Soul Gem, where the data is now identical to Soul Gems Differ. I suggest removing all Soul Gem data from the Core Patch, as Soul Gems Differ now handles these changes correctly. Fixes from WAF to various characteristics of the following weapons have not been forwarded into the STEP Core Patch: Elven Dagger, Elven Greatsword, Daedric Greatsword, Daedric Battleaxe, Daedric Dagger, Dragonbone Mace, Orcish Dagger. The following weapons are missing from the STEP Core Patch and need data merged from multiple mods: Elven Sword, Daedric Sword, Dwarven Dagger, Daedric Dagger of Devouring, Elven Dagger of Fire, Ebony Dagger. (A few of these apparent conflicts depend on the load order.) The NPC Runil (1364D) needs merging from Consistent Older People and Diverse Priests. In the Quest "Innocence Lost" (1EA50), NonEssentialChildren.esp overwrites fixes from the USKP. This entry needs merging. Under the Projectile heading, changes to the speed and gravity of the six exploding bolt projectiles (0x00F1B0-A and 0x010D8E-F) are not forwarded from WAF into STEP Core. This looks intentional, but I couldn't see why. I'm ignoring Sound Descriptor, Cell, and Worldspace edits because the extremely minor conflicts aren't worth fixing. IN ADDITION: One mod in the STEP Core list stood out in TES5Edit: Distant DetailHF.esp has a very large number of ITM edits, and its cleaning is complicated by the presence of a wild edit and non-adherence to the USKP. It doesn't look like the author will ever clean and fix this mod, so its inclusion in the STEP Core list gives me pause. Some users report on this forum that cleaning this mod without fixing its bugs has caused CTDs. At the very least, the complex cleaning instructions should be displayed prominently, and USKP compliance should be forced by adding overrides to the Core Patch. Very happy to be able to contribute to this amazing project. Keep up all the wonderful work!