obi636

Should I be merging patch files and optional files with the main mods or loading them separately as their own mods? I don't see any instructions indicating which to do on either the STEP guide or the Mod's web page. Any help, much appreciated. Thanks.

Never mind. I'm starting from scratch. No use building a house on a faulty foundation.

Yes. I saved the plugin. Put it in the mod folders and then replaced the cleaned esm with the backup I made at the beginning of the process. I did clean Dawnguard twice. I re-cleaned Dragonborn and Dawnguard twice once more and no effect. Still reporting that they need cleaning.

I ran loot to check my load order and both Dawnguard and Dragonborn are still registering as needing a clean even after I cleaned them. So I repeated the process with both files and again it still says I need to clean them. Any suggestions?

Hi again Double, Thanks for the input. I somehow copied Dawnguard.esm into the Cleaned Dragonborn ESM mod. So it was being completely overwritten. All fixed now. New to these tools available in MO. Very handy! All of the cleaned files only have the Overwrites Files symbol and not overwritten now.

Hey guys. Just what it says. I've done the cleaning process with Dawnguard and cleaned it twice like the instructions say but MO is telling me that the mod is redundant. It appears in my LO right between Dawnguard and the Unofficial Dawnguard Patch. Not sure what is going on here. Any help is much appreciated.

This is great guys. Awesome responses, EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thanks so much. I'm going to get started right away with S.T.E.P. Sounds perfect for what I want to do. My hat is off to the community and the modders. Thanks for making this as painless as possible.

Hi Double, thank you for the reply. "It serves as a stable base for adding existing or creating new Packs." The passage above is where I have some questions. A stable base for what? Adding only S.T.E.P. approved mods/packs? Is it a stable base to go ahead and add any mod that I would add without having gone through the STEP guide? I guess I want to know what my potential is after completing the S.T.E.P. guide. The whole idea of having a much higher quality starting point intrigues me but I have some trepidation about going through this extensive process if it will limit what modifications I can install in the future. Will I have to wait for packs to be released by the community or will I just be able to install a hodge podge of mods on my own?

Ok, I know the question sounds terribly noobish, but what exactly is S.T.E.P. for? As I peruse the mods that are included with the guide I notice that perhaps they are not the most well known or even the best quality. For instance, why use the Serious HD 1k texture pack instead of the 2k? Why use Serious HD at all if it has only replaced 80% of the textures? Why not use Skyrim HD? I guess I just want to know, how did the creators of the guide decide which mods to include and which to exclude? Is S.T.E.P. merely a starting point to bring Skyrim up to PC standards before adding more heavy duty mods? I'd really like to give this a shot and see how it comes out, but I am concerned with putting in a great deal of time with little return. Can someone help allay my concerns or perhaps explain some misconceptions I might be having about S.T.E.P.? Thanks in advance for prompt replies. Cheers guys!