Leto

Hi SSConvert, I have a bit of a story to tell. Several people suggested I try ICBNE2 (I Can't Believe It's Not ENB 2) instead of the default SweetFX. When I did, the snow became blindingly white so I installed the darker snow version. Then, I decided ICBNE2 was too colorful and saturated for my tastes so I went back to the default SweetFX and no longer needed the darker snow. I also studied ICBNE2's SweetFX_settings.txt and incorporated curves and dither into Ambitious Skyrim. As for Fort Dawnguard Overhaul: In vanilla Skyrim Fort Dawnguard is properly lighted. When I installed ELFX, it became way too dark and gloomy so I tried Fort Dawnguard Overhaul. The mod instructions say to disable ELFX for Fort Dawnguard because the engine can only handle so many lights and when you go over that the lights turn on and off as the player turns and moves around. I think it renders the four closest shadow producing lights. The problem was that left Fort Dawnguard dark and gloomy just like the screenshots for the mod. So then, I left the ELFX lights in place. This lit the fort up nicely. Only problem was that as soon as I ran LOOT, the fort became dark again. Today I took another crack at the problem and discovered in TES5Edit that Cloaks of Skyrim was overwriting Fort Dawnguard Overhaul lighting. Once I added a loot rule to put Fort Dawnguard after Cloaks of Skyrim everything worked and I published the change. There is one more piece to this puzzle. According to the Nexus forum for Fort Dawnguard Overhaul, it is possible to use the Creation Kit to change the lighting template in the mod to WindhelmInterior. That will light it up nicely without the need for ELFX lighting and solve the problem of too many light sources. I tried doing that in the Creation Kit but it was throwing errors and crashed before I could figure it out. Cheers, Silvermane

Glad to hear it. Thanks for letting me know.

Thanks, I needed to update the Content Add on and remove Iron and Steel. The latest content addon combines 3 separate .esp's which is nice too.

I decided to remove Gemling Queen Dragon Claws and add a few other simple texture replacers. Removed Gemling Queen Dragon ClawsAdded Barenziah's GloryAdded Bloodstone Chalice RebornAdded Book Covers SkyrimAdded Rustic Clutter CollectionAdded Rustic Cooking StationAdded Rustic Potions and PoisonsIt would be a lot of work to list all the mods I didn't include and why. If there is a particular mod you'd like to know about, just ask.

Good catch. I think I'll just get rid of it. It's a trivial mod and not worth all that hassle. I've recently added Knapsack Backpacks which should make up for the weight. Thanks for helping test and debug this mod list.

Thanks for letting me know. I'll definitely add that.

Distant Decal Fix - sounds good. I added it. Improved Closeface Helmets: Strike 1: Compatibility issues/patches with Weapon and Armor Fixes, AmidianBorn Content Add On, Apophysis Dragon Priest Masks, and anything else that mods helmets. A lot of confusing steps on which .esp to use from where. Strike 2: A known bug reported by SRLE: "Using helmets dropped from the skeletons added by Skyrim Immersive Creatures results in odd visual glitches due to not having the slot changes of the Improved Closefaced Helmets mod. Workaround is to not use the helmets dropped by the skeletons on the player or companions." Strike 3: I put Lydia in a Dwarven helmet and it looked awful, just like the thirteenth image on the Nexus page. I balance what a mod offers against the risk and hassle and ICH fails that test for me. It looks like Smart Souls is better than Acquisitive Soul Gems because it doesn't require and .esp or to be updated when the USKP changes. Added Skyrim Distance Overhaul because it adds value. Not installing Waterfall Effects (like SRLE) or Morthal Swamp Trees (like STEP) because I've read about them causing significant FPS hits. Vivid Landscapes - Tundra Region - Matching LOD Textures - Terrain Noise was completely overwriting HD Enhanced Terrain so I decided to go with a matched set for Vivid Landscapes. I added Enhanced Distant Terrain to The Ruffled Feather. The blindingly white snow was caused by SweetFX. The CoT Weather Patch was insufficient to fix it. Visible Windows - Read the comments on their Nexus forum to see what the issues are: "Hey, this was a great mod, when it was made, but now, not so much. I see that in most cases only the glass texture is changed, or at least within the frame. But window textures include a lot more like the frame itself and other textures surrounding the window. This mod bases its textures on old vanilla ones, that makes hd-dlc windows have better textures on the stuff outside the frame or that isn't glass. I suppose it would be quite easy to update though. " "It didn't play well with the ENB+ELFX, turning interior window's glow color to orange." "These are awesome retextures; however, I am not going to use them unless I can use vanilla tints for all of them. The tint of the indoor windows do not match the interior lighting, which breaks any aesthetic gain that this mod provides for me." Added Skyrim Delarpification for axes. Lock Overhaul - a quick look at the Nexus forum shows too many problems for me; especially since I don't need to bash or spell locks open. Wet and Cold - I don't know if it will spam hoods into your followers inventory. You'll have to check that for yourself. As for script lag, I've read conflicting reports. Some say it causes too much script lag, others say it doesn't. I'm skipping it. I use Ultimate Combat for enemy AI. Check out the description on Nexus, it's by far the best.

Having gone through the process of comparing them, I realize now that they really are quite different. I make a lot of different design choices. It might be best to just pick one instead of trying to create a hybrid.

Removed

I use the full edition. None of the new dragon types seemed out of place to me and some of them are quite challenging and fun.

I started with just Deadly Dragons and they stomped me hard. I was getting one-shotted by breath attacks and bites. It makes sense that if you just stand there a dragon will kill you with it's breath or by biting you. You're supposed to attack it from range and use cover. But I don't want to hide behind a tree while everyone else is beating on the dragon and getting slaughtered. It feels cowardly. The player is supposed to be heroic. So I complained on their Nexus forum and they suggested installing Ultimate Dragons after it. Apparently, that's the standard answer for people who find Deadly Dragons too hard. So I tried it and it worked great! I adjust the dragon melee and magic damage so they two shot me - that way I have time to retreat and heal. I don't like being one-shotted in general.

Thanks. I'll add that to Ambitious Skyrim.

Thanks for letting me know about Bijin Wives. I'll definitely give that a try. Deadly Combat increases lethality causing me to be one-shotted too much. Duel Combat drags the fights out too much. Combat Evolved goes overboard with poison turning spiders into death machines. Ultimate Combat spices up vanilla combat nicely, uses scripts to do more than just changing combat styles (I like when the enemies run away, I like when the wolves try to surround me, I like when the humanoids dodge), and has no negative side effects - it feels natural and just makes combat better. Better Vampires was screened out based on feedback from Jonocat25 and Ilja on the Steam forum for Skyrim: https://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/610573751148067177/?tscn=1425420266#p2 I didn't include human female facial overhauls because I wanted to stay lore friendly and avoid glamazons. I have Bijin's Warmaidens for good looking followers. The females wound up looking better than vanilla anyway (eyes, brows, hair, higher res textures) so I'm happy with it. Example: https://cloud-4.steamusercontent.com/ugc/38618308278261606/6C278541066479D42F3D34C9DAC3F227378B3EC1/2048x1280.resizedimage I tried the mod The New Serana - Vanilla Hair - Normal Yellow Eyes but ran into the black face bug so I uninstalled it. Thanks for the feedback.

I'm using a parallax only ENB plus those effects that don't require deferred rendering and aren't too expensive. EnableDetailedShadow=true EnableSunRays=true EnableSoftParticles=true EnableWater=true EnableUnderwater=true The shadows really benefit from the ENB and the Sun Rays look great too. Thanks for telling me about that conflict. I think I'll keep Lanterns of Skyrim and get rid of ELFX Exteriors.

I created a comprehensive guide and mod list for Skyrim based loosely on STEP: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=401821540 Feel free to incorporate any good ideas you might find there into your game. Cheers, Silvermane

You don't want to use the enemy AI from ASIS. Even the author said it has been surpassed by other mods. As for ASIS increased spawn points, I guess you are referring to the spawn randomizer. That is disabled by default. I don't use it myself. If you decide to use ASIS, make sure you also use the ASIS Improved INI's https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/53047/? I also had to manually update the INI's to prevent ASIS from spawning additional dragons: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/articles/789/? Good luck!

ASIS does the following things. First, it increases the number of enemies in existing spawn points. Second, it gives enemies perks. Third, it gives enemies spells. Fourth, it gives enemies potions. Fifth, it makes it so followers benefit from enchantments that normally only apply to the player. Because ASIS uses a skyproc patcher, it will look through all your mods and add support for new enemies, spells, potions, perks, and enchantments. It's also configurable via the MCM and customizable via INIs. That's a lot of value powerfully applied. ASIS is simply outstanding and I'm not sure I'd want to play Skyrim without it. On the down side, ASIS is script intensive because it runs scripts on every spawn and every enemy. Turning the spawns up too high will cause your game to crash, especially running around outside. I never heard of Sands of Time. It looks really cool. The first thing I notice is that it is incompatible with the following mods I normally use: Skyrim Flora Overhaul, Footprints, Run for Your Lives, When Vampires Attack, Dead Body Collision Fix, Realistic Ragdolls and Force, any and All High Resolution Texture Packs. Skyrim Flora Overhaul really makes the plants look better. I'm concerned that their alternative to Run for Your Lives, NPC's Protected Redux, might break scripts or cause problems by making NPC's protected when in some cases they should not be. Their alternative to When Vampires Attack, No Vampire Attacks, removes something from the game that I enjoy. Any and all high resolution texture packs! This seems like a deal breaker to me. There is one other consideration. Random encounters sounds cool in theory, but in practice, sometimes I just want to get from here to there without fighting for my life every step of the way. Plus, I get a sense of completion by clearing out an area or a road that is lost if random encounters keep popping up. Immersive Creatures adds random encounters too. I like the increased spawns at night because it makes night travel noticeably more dangerous. If I don't want the hassle, then I can make camp and travel when it's light out. Combat Evolved looks cool. I didn't go with it because it increases lethality and I don't need to be one-shotted any more than my current mod list provides. Animal Tweaks looks cool. Not sure about fully level scaled animals. That can cause problems not just for the player's sense of progress but for the survivability of NPC's. Immersive Detection of NPC's had too many complaints in the Nexus forum for me. I only use stealth with ranged attacks and never really had a problem with vanilla detection. https://youtu.be/AIC1uuIFO6A Cheers, Silvermane

Hi ssconvert, I've moved on to a more stripped down "bang for your buck" mod list described the Steam forum for Skyrim because I want smoother combat and fewer problems: https://steamcommunity.com/app/72850/discussions/0/620700960485230296/?tscn=1420675061 Hope you find something in there to improve your game. Cheers, Silvermane

I figured out how to use SkyUI favorite groups. This let me map the weapon switching to F1 - F8 freeing up the hotkeys 1-8. Now, I can do a lot more during combat without pausing the game. F1 Sword & Shield F2 Axe & Shield F3 Mace & Shield F4 Two Handed Sword F5 Bow F6 Heal Self & Heal Other F7 Axe & Ward F8 Axe & Torch 1. Health Potion 2. Stamina Potion 3. Magicka Potion 4. Destruction Spell 5. Alteration Spell 6. Conjuration Spell 7. Shout 1 8. Shout 2 I had to remap quicksave to the question mark key. I also disabled the Wet and Cold rain gear and cold gear for followers because it was interfering with the AFT only wear helmets during combat.

This video shows one of the best fights I've had so far: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puybXwz3IOE

I tried to recover Grimsever today but ASIS generated some deadly bandit archers at the entrance to Mzinchaleft. They never missed and were one shot one kill. After the tenth reload I wound up running in circles desparately trying to get a hit in while avoiding the incoming arrows. Sooner or later I'd get hit anyway and die. If I tried to charge the archers I'd get hit and killed. If I charged using a zig-zag pattern they'd miss a few times but it also increased the time required to close the distance so I'd get hit and killed anyway. If I reached one archer, another one would kill me before I could kill the first. There were also several bandits with two handed weapons I had to deal with. I'd also like to point out that my exquisite glass bow fired paralyzing orc arrows with the triple damage from stealth perk only do 20% damage to them while they constantly one-shot me. I've been looking for a poison resistance disenchantable item since the beginning of the game with no luck. The only thing that worked was to hang back and let the followers constantly get downed and recover until they eventually ground their way through the battle - which sucks. Bringing more followers wouldn't help because as soon as I try and join the fight, I die. Other tactics that might work such as luring a few of them way out of the ruins spoil the fight. Shawn Driscoll recommended Difficult Archery and I decided to give it a try. It makes NPC archers (both enemy and followers) less accurate. It also makes some spells less accurate. Finally, it disables the cheap ninja sidestep that NPC's do. It comes in 4 levels from slightly innacurate to most innacurate. I tested #4 and archers had a hard time hitting me even when I was standing still. Shawn recommends #2 Difficult Archery so that's what I'll try. I'm using the Auto Aim Enabled version because I have no interest in making archery harder for the player. [Edit] After many tries I was able to win this fight. I also tweaked the .ini settings to reduce stutter in this battle. I'm currently using Slightly Difficult Archery with an .ini tweak that lets enemy archers run out of arrows. =============================================================================== I got to the first fight inside Mzinchaleft and there were 7 to 9 bandits. I didn't live long enough to get an accurate count. I know from past experience that there should only be 2 or 3. There is something wrong with the ASIS weights to spawn more enemies because the chance of that should be less than 5%. I re-ran the ASIS patch disabling increased spawns and there were only a couple of bandits in each group. After a lot of play testing, I recommend the following settings for ASIS Spawns: Weighting to have No Spawns: 30 Spawn Weight for 1 Spawn: 40 Spawn Weight for 2 Spawns: 20 Spawn Weight for 3 Spawns: 10 Spawn Weight for 4 Spawns: 0 Spawn Weight for 5 Spawns: 0 The weights add up to 100 so they can be considered percentages. I learned in one of the Dwemer ruins that adding 5 spawns to any reasonably challenging encounter makes it unreasonable and spoils the fun. I briefly considered taking 6 followers but instead decided to just eliminate the excessive spawns. If you want to make the game harder, I suggest Immersive Difficulty. This will make the enemies tougher instead of just having more of them. Too many enemies at once will bog down and crash the game. With the spawns under control, I want to improve the enemy AI. I chose the mod Enhanced Enemy AI because it is lightweight, limited in scope, and has no scripts. It didn't really affect the difficulty of the game because it applied equally to my followers and the enemies. It did seem to wake the followers up. I noticed more one-handed power attacks and taking cover when casting spells. I had to remove Conjure Familiar from the followers standard spells because they were spamming it too much. It's still a tweak spell at 75% health which occurs much less frequently and not all at the same time. I tried a dodge mod but it didn't dodge fast enough or far enough to be useful. I didn't choose Dual Combat Realism because it ruins stealth play. I didn't choose Deadly Combat or Ultimate Combat because I don't want to make the game too hard.

I'm already using Expanded Towns and Cities, JK's Riften, and JK's Solitude to add smelters. Have you tested Long Lost Smelters of Skyrim with those mods?

I thought about that too. It's a nice idea, but it might be pushing the game a bit too far.

I noticed some problems on the way to Falkreath. First the game was feeling sluggish, second I noticed big FPS drops in fights with lots of bandits, third I started getting CTD's. I turned on the script latency tester of Convenient horses and noticed it going way over 100. To improve the situation, I uninstalled the Burn Freeze Shock mod because it is confirmed to cause problems and I have three followers using destruction magic. Then I added the following to Skyrim.ini [Papyrus] fUpdateBudgetMS=1.6 The default is 1.2, the Skyrim Stability Guide recommends trying 1.6 up to a maximum of 2.0. I tested 1.2, 1.6, and 2.0 during a fort assault and found 1.6 provides the best balance between script latency and FPS.

Sorry to hear about your hard drive. Rebuilding Skyrim from scratch is a lot of work. I'm glad your reporting the things you find while going through the installation. I removed The Beauty of Skyrim Dungeons and moved Vivid Landscapes Tundra Moss - SMIM Compatibility patch after Vivid Landscapes - All in One.