dstansberry

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it would appear that the .esp for Better Embers is not necessary.

I'm afraid I've gotten a little lost between the postings here, and here, and here. What I'd like is to configure the soul gems to look like what the wiki describes as "Color Option 5" which doesn't seem to match any of the color options in the Best SGD Options thread (unless it would be #6 - the variation in lighting makes it hard to tell). The wiki describes a variety of color "options", but doesn't seem to supply the formulas to actually attain the options described (other than the STEP default). Admittedly, I don't use BAIN, so I apologize if I'm making this harder than it has to be - but are the installation formulas for the color options available somewhere? And should they be linked to the actual color options depicted within the wiki?

try to right click on right hand side and uncheck "hide non-conflict rows"That took care of it! Thank you for the insight!

I'm having a spot of difficulty with the instructions for Blood Barrels for Vampires - though they've worked for me in the past. Specifically, the editing of the content count in the second set of instructions: Expand "Container" and select the "03002F9B" node. Under "Items" look for "DLC1BloodPotion" right-click the "Count" record and select "Edit". Type "3" and click [OK]. Repeat this for the "03002F9C" node. The problem is that selecting the 03002F9B node yields...well...nothing at all in the right hand side, except the words "[03] TS_BloodOmNomNom.esp". No count records. No DLC1BloodPotion. Nothing at all. I've re-downloaded the file multiple times, including manual downloads from 4 different servers, and the result is always the same. I was hoping someone might verify that I'm not completely bonkers.

Files are 1024x1024 diff and norm, and no size options. Interesting note that these are 8 times larger then vanilla.Thanks and small detail mods like this that are really high resolution is ridiculous. 512x should be the max and even that is pushing it, IMO.There's a low resolution 512x512 option available as of a couple days ago. The file size between this one and Brumbek's is fairly significant - the high resolution of this one is only 294k. Realistic Teeth comes in at 128,000k (compressed!)

I'm not sure that it's altogether true to say that it wasn't intentional. There's a quote from Elys in the forum thread that confirms the function:    "Close as in end the game. It will also allow keyboards with volume control and such to work with Skyrim." Who knows? Maybe it was a happy accidental discovery, or maybe Elys just didn't think it was as important as the Alt+F4 thing. Either way, until I installed it, I had no keyboard volume controls inside the game when playing from my desktop PC (laptops - mine included - often use a different method of controlling volume from the media keys - one that doesn't require windows-based driver software to function. It enables them to play media files outside of the O/S). At any rate, accident or not, it seems to work perfectly for me, and for the price of a single .dll file, I can't think of any real negatives. Those lucky enough not to need the volume and mute controls still benefit from the quick exit provided by Alt+F4. And of course, installation is completely optional in any case.

The guide lists the following instructions for Distant Detail Hearthfire Edition, under the topic regarding bringing forward changes from the Unofficial Skyrim Patch: Expand "Worldspace">"0000003C">"Block -1,-1">"Sub-Block -1,-2">"00009B78">"Temporary" and select the "000F964E" node. Drag the "Record Flags" from Unofficial Skyrim Patch.esp to Distant DetailHF.esp. Click the [X] in the upper right hand corner, uncheck "Backup plugins", and click [OK]. However, neither Block -1,-1 nor any of the sub-nodes or records listed, appear to be present in the DistantDetailHF.esp. Mine doesn't appear to contain any block other than 0,0 under Worldspace 000003c. Am I overlooking the obvious? [Edit] I re-downloaded the file and looked at it more closely. The referenced blocks ARE present, until the file is cleaned by TES5Edit. The ITM scrubbing removed all references other than Block 0,0 - so on the surface of things, it would appear that the second half of the instructions at that point in the guide may no longer be necessary? At least, that would be my exceptionally inexpert interpretation. :o)

Is there a particular version of this mod that's recommended by STEP? The current version appears to have a dramatically different interface than that found throughout the rest of the game, and feels out of step (to me, at least - I'm sure it's perfectly agreeable to most everyone else!) I chose not to use it personally for that reason, but perhaps I've not given it a fair shake. So, my questions are: 1) Is there something in the installation routine that lets you opt out of the retexturing of the interface? 2) Is there something later on in the STEP installation process that overrides the interface, while leaving the functionality intact?

Oh, no worries! No offense taken. I'm often enough wrong that it's easiest for me to just assume that I am, so I tend to be less direct than I really should. *LOL* Besides, your approach works best! Anyway, all is well. Thanks for the input!

Thank you for your response! It's certainly possible that I am in over my pay grade. I'm definitely no expert, but I do actually know the basics. I'm fairly comfortable with the Construction Kit, Wrye Bash, TES5Edit and BOSS (though Mod Organizer and BUM are both new to me). I've played with Gekko and LODGen and OMOD and managed to survive the whole FCOM Convergence for Oblivion. I'm sorry if I've given you the impression that it were otherwise. In as non-confrontational a manner as possible, I was attempting to point out that there is an apparent error in the guide that indicates .ini tweaks will be found in a location where they clearly are not found. I took this to be indicative of either of two scenarios: A) The guide inadvertently omitted some additional .ini tweaking information, or B) the indication that the "next steps" contained .ini tweaks was erroneous. Either way, I thought the author would like to know. (Sorry - it's a bad habit. I used to be a web development QA guy. I sometimes butt in where I'm not wanted, but I try to do it tactfully). Anyway, I do realize that section 5.1 contains .ini tweaks - and if it had contained all or even most of the tweaks found in STEP (which it clearly isn't required to do), I'd have ruled out scenario A altogether and just reported the erroneous text. Personally, I use a mix of some of STEP's ini tweaks and some of these - and a few I've curried from other sources as well (like FOV settings - they're simple enough - I wonder why they are so seldom included?). The same goes for the mods themselves - I skip a few that don't interest me, swap a few with ones I like better, and add a few new ones as well. It's arguably more fun than the game itself! :o)

Well. Silly me. I neglected to tell Steam not to update Skyrim, so I'm now the proud user of 1.9.32. Hopefully, things will work out pretty well overall. That said, I've reinstalled Skyrim and am starting over with the guide. In so doing, I noticed something I had meant to bring up before. At the bottom of "Configure Mod Organizer (Part 1) there's a little note that reads: "Mod Organizer has made a local copy of the current Skyrim.ini and SkyrimPrefs.ini to be used when running this profile. The next steps will be modifying these local copies." But it rolls right into using the NVidia Inspector and doesn't seem to mention any sort of .ini configuration at all until waaaaaay down at the bottom in Step 5.1. I've been using the .ini configurations found in the STEP guide when I get to this part. Is that correct?

I'm not sure I quite understand what this does that BOSS itself doesn't do. BOSS has a userlist manager with a drag and drop interface for sorting unknown mods before or after other mods - no typing or learning the language required. It stores the userlist separately from the masterlist, so I don't have to re-create my rules each time the masterlist is updated. It also tells me when a custom mod rule isn't needed any longer because the mod is now identified, and disables the rule automagically (I can still turn it back on if I want to). And yet, both STEP and Skyrim Revisited recommend it, so there must be something more to it. What am I missing out on? Or is it one of those, "Just try it! You'll never go back!" sort of things?

That makes sense to me - it's what I would assume the overwrite folder was for! However, further up the instruction guide, under the heading "Clean the Bethesda ESM's" is this instruction: "Select all the ESM files in the /Data folder except Skyrim.esm and move them to the /overwrite directory." Following that instruction is how the DLC's came to be in the overwrite directory in the first place, and I don't remember seeing any instruction to take them back out again (though I could easily have missed it). Should they be removed? Leaving them there would seem to negate any changes affected by additional mods. Or do I still not quite get it? For me, when cleaning the base Bethesda ESMs MO leaves the cleaned base files in the main Skyrim directory. Obviously I'm trying to keep my install vanilla so I manually move them to overwrite. Now of course I'm missing those 4 vanilla ESMs so the next instruction is to restore them from TES5Edit backups. This is explained in the guide. Note: If you are re-cleaning then delete the corresponding ESMs in the overwrite folder and repeat. *sigh* I guess I still don't quite get it. I'm sorry to be so dense, but I'd really like to understand the why's and the wherefores. Perhaps if I approach this a different way, I'll be able to grasp it correctly. 1) I understand that the instruction to move the files from overwrite into the Atlas folder is erroneous. 'nuf said on that. 2) At this junction (the installation of the Atlas Map Markers) my overwrite folder contains the following files: Update.esm, Hearthfires.esm, General Patch.esp, Dragonborn.esm, and Dawnguard.esm - and the TES5Edit Backups folder. Is this as it should be? 3) I may have muddied the waters for Redferne when I mentioned that the overwrite folder contained "the older DLC esm's". I didn't mean to imply that they were the original files - just that they were dated incorrectly to have been the result of patching up the Atlas Map Markers. The versions of the DLC's and Update.esm that are contained in the overwrite folder are the cleaned versions. The original, pre-cleaning versions are in the skyrim/data folder, having been restored to that location from the TES5Edit Backups folder. Ergo, the vanilla version of Skyrim remains in its original form. So far so good? 4) If, as Redferne suggests, the overwrite folder overwrites everything, then I'm at a loss to understand why the cleaned DLC's would be there, as they would overwrite any mods designed to change them, thus nullifying the change, wouldn't they? 5) Or could it be that the contents of the overwrite folder only overwrite the identically named file in the data directory, leaving their original place in the load order intact? As if to say, "Hey, when it's time to load Dawnguard.esm, be sure to use THIS one instead of the one in the data directory." Any mods that come afterwards, of course, will supersede the contents of the overwrite folder. Whew! It's amazing how complex I can make a simple question! If you think that's bad, you should see the contents of my poor befuddled brain! 2/3) Yes, good. The TES5Edit Backups folder should also be empty since the contents moved back to the data folder. (I.e. it can be removed) 5) Correct all references to let's say update.esm will go to the overwrite folder to use the clean one. The overwrite folder is king. If a file is here then no matter what is installed via mods or data folder it will use this one. I think I've got my head around it now (maybe they should change the name from "overwrite" to "override" for people like me. LOL) Anyway, thank you for your time - and for all your efforts with the guide!

That makes sense to me - it's what I would assume the overwrite folder was for! However, further up the instruction guide, under the heading "Clean the Bethesda ESM's" is this instruction: "Select all the ESM files in the /Data folder except Skyrim.esm and move them to the /overwrite directory." Following that instruction is how the DLC's came to be in the overwrite directory in the first place, and I don't remember seeing any instruction to take them back out again (though I could easily have missed it). Should they be removed? Leaving them there would seem to negate any changes affected by additional mods. Or do I still not quite get it? For me, when cleaning the base Bethesda ESMs MO leaves the cleaned base files in the main Skyrim directory. Obviously I'm trying to keep my install vanilla so I manually move them to overwrite. Now of course I'm missing those 4 vanilla ESMs so the next instruction is to restore them from TES5Edit backups. This is explained in the guide. Note: If you are re-cleaning then delete the corresponding ESMs in the overwrite folder and repeat. *sigh* I guess I still don't quite get it. I'm sorry to be so dense, but I'd really like to understand the why's and the wherefores. Perhaps if I approach this a different way, I'll be able to grasp it correctly. 1) I understand that the instruction to move the files from overwrite into the Atlas folder is erroneous. 'nuf said on that. 2) At this junction (the installation of the Atlas Map Markers) my overwrite folder contains the following files: Update.esm, Hearthfires.esm, General Patch.esp, Dragonborn.esm, and Dawnguard.esm - and the TES5Edit Backups folder. Is this as it should be? 3) I may have muddied the waters for Redferne when I mentioned that the overwrite folder contained "the older DLC esm's". I didn't mean to imply that they were the original files - just that they were dated incorrectly to have been the result of patching up the Atlas Map Markers. The versions of the DLC's and Update.esm that are contained in the overwrite folder are the cleaned versions. The original, pre-cleaning versions are in the skyrim/data folder, having been restored to that location from the TES5Edit Backups folder. Ergo, the vanilla version of Skyrim remains in its original form. So far so good? 4) If, as Redferne suggests, the overwrite folder overwrites everything, then I'm at a loss to understand why the cleaned DLC's would be there, as they would overwrite any mods designed to change them, thus nullifying the change, wouldn't they? 5) Or could it be that the contents of the overwrite folder only overwrite the identically named file in the data directory, leaving their original place in the load order intact? As if to say, "Hey, when it's time to load Dawnguard.esm, be sure to use THIS one instead of the one in the data directory." Any mods that come afterwards, of course, will supersede the contents of the overwrite folder. Whew! It's amazing how complex I can make a simple question! If you think that's bad, you should see the contents of my poor befuddled brain!

That makes sense to me - it's what I would assume the overwrite folder was for! However, further up the instruction guide, under the heading "Clean the Bethesda ESM's" is this instruction: "Select all the ESM files in the /Data folder except Skyrim.esm and move them to the /overwrite directory." Following that instruction is how the DLC's came to be in the overwrite directory in the first place, and I don't remember seeing any instruction to take them back out again (though I could easily have missed it). Should they be removed? Leaving them there would seem to negate any changes affected by additional mods. Or do I still not quite get it?

A follow-up question, if I may? What is the purpose of the "Overwrite" folder in the first place? I'm new to Mod Organizer, and it isn't very clear to me what happens with the files contained within it. It's position at the very bottom of the mod list shown by Mod Organizer seems to indicate that it's even more maximum than maximum priority, implying that files contained within will take precedence over any files added later - but surely that isn't correct, since it contains copies of the original DLC's. If it's to be overwritten by any files that come afterward, why would the General Patch be kept there? Or perhaps all will be made more clear as I progress with the installation?

I wondered why I would have to move anything, under the circumstances. Thank you for the explanation!

I'm sorry if this is a stupid noob question (although I'm not precisely a "noob" per se, I make no claims regarding the "stupid" part). I'm attempting to follow the guide and have come to the Atlas Map Markers piece. Following the instructions regarding TES5Edit, all is well until I get to this part: "Go to /overwrite and move the new files(s) to /mods/Atlas Map Markers" The only files in the overwrite directory are all of the older DLC esm's (and Update.esm), and the General Patch.esp created earlier in the process after the cleaning of the DLC's - but I'd assume these are not the files I'm expected to move. I've launched TES5Edit from within Mod Organizer (which, I thought, was intended), and have saved the files without creating a backup, as instructed. In fact, when I reopen TES5Edit and repeat the steps indicated, I find the changes are already in place. Can you shed some light as to what I may be doing wrong? What files should I be seeing within the overwrite directory?

Ah, that explains it! Thank you for the explanation. Oh look! A turnip! :o)

According to the Nexus site, this mod has a prerequisite: ---REQUIREMENTS--- FemFeet by Phygit https://www.skyrimnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=3666 which, unless I'm missing something, is not actually included in the STEP guide. Can this mod work without the prerequisite? Or did I just take a tumble off the turnip truck again?

I wonder if this has been considered as a possible replacement for Better Dialogue Controls - or if there's a reason that I should change to the original instead? I've been using it since before I discovered STEP without issue. It incorporates the original Better Dialogue Controls, but adds an extra couple of things I personally prefer: 1) It hides the conversation tree when the NPC is speaking, and 2) it moves the NPC's name down to the bottom of the screen instead of floating it directly in front of him.

Discussion thread: SKSE -Elys- AltF4 by Elys Wiki Link I discovered this quite by accident once, and have been using it ever since. The whole AltF4 thing doesn't really make my day any brighter, but the mod includes a hidden gem that isn't even mentioned on the main page: it enables my keyboard media controls (volume and mute, most notably) to function in-game. That alone is worth the price of admission for me, and I consider it an essential part of my load. Besides, it's from Elys, who, near as I can tell, can do no wrong. :O) Added for STEP v2.2.5

As someone who has SRO, if I wanted to give TPC a try, would you suggest i combine everything on the TCP list, or only those mods already included in STEP?