SmegmusMagnus

I appreciate your response-you're always so quick! ...in for a penny, in for a pound; I don't suppose you happen to know if the 560 ti has the same measurements as that 670? If you don't know, please don't bother to find out (it can't be that hard for me to track this info down)-I just figured I'd ask since I was here. ADD: also; I saw the 3GB 660 recommended above, as well as the 2GB 670. Can you tell me why you recommend the 2GB card over the 3GB card? BTW; the system I have is 4x 2.9 GHz w/ 4GB RAM and a 560 ti 1GB. Thanks, as always, for your always helpful responses.

Okay-this will likely sound very naive, but I'm comfortable with my self, so what the hell; ...do I read correctly that a motherboard that fits a 560 ti will not be able to fit a PCI 3.0 card? Thank you.

Got it. I agree with your point concerning armor, even though every (rare) now and then I see one I like.

@frihyland Do you mean that you consider UNP, or LadyBody, anime-inspired? Just curious, 'cuz I don't understand how, but am willing to have the scales ripped from my eyes.

...whereas I find only reaffirmation.

@frihyland I believe that I've made a fairly solid case that it is a form of cheesecake. You have to admit, there is a certain lyrical, logical, delightfully revolting symmetry to the name Lady Smeg'Ma Placentia. It sort of languidly rolls off the tongue (which is probably preferable to its staying there. Iullus Cornelius Smegmus Magnus Pantocrator

@MadWizard25, I don't speak Latin, but through academia I've been exposed to a lot of it-plus I am a Roman history junkie (have been for many, many years). Also, I thoroughly enjoy playing w/ words. I get 'cheesecake' from combining 'smegma', which is a cheese-like substance found in/on peoples naughty bits, with the (a?) Latin word for cake-'placenta'. I just learned that about the word placenta the other night when writing that post-I decided to google 'Latin for cake'; when I realized how beautifully disgusting and thematically consistent the term was, I knew I had a new cognomen for the Lady Smeg'Ma. BTW: A cognomen was a 3rd (or 4th, or 5th, etc.) name added to a Roman's praenomen (first name) and gens (surname) name. Placenta being the Latin for cake also works nicely for me in another context; whenever a woman tells me that she uses a natural childbirth method, I enjoy asking if she's planning on eating the afterbirth.

In truth, the mere presence of cheesecake is enough to curry favor. I saw my sons eating mini cherry topped cheesecakes at a buffet the other night, and I swelled (no untoward jokes, please) w/ pride.

So, first I'll list my favorite games that I can remember: Alice, Age of Empires (all), Caesar III, Thief (all), Hitman: Silent Assassin, Total War (all, period), Deus Ex, Half Life 2, GTA (3, VC, SA, 4), Witcher (both), Divinity: Dragon Knight Saga (this game rules-no matter what experiences you may have had w/ its imperfect predecessors, this re-vamped anthology rules!). Secondly, there are games that I thoroughly enjoyed, but didn't stick w/, for a variety of reasons: Age of Conan, EVE: Online, Europa Universalis (3, Rome, Vae Victus), Crusader Kings 2, Portal (1, 2), Alice: Madness Returns, Civ 5 (played 4 also, but not until after 5), various city building, various political simulations. Of course there are games that I've forgotten that could be on either of these lists; these are just off the top of my head. I'd be interested in reading lists of games people have hated, such as Fable 3, or Stronghold 3.

Oh bless yer heart. Lady Smeg'Ma Placentia

Ave, MadWizard25, Actually, as I play a female Wood Elf, I cannot use that form of my name: The gens name Cornelius would need to take the female form of Cornelia, while the praenomon would need to be something like Iullia; also, as my character is not actually me (in the mundane world), I cannot use any of the cognomens which I have personally earned. Thus, my character-name would need to take a form similar to Iullia Cornelia Smegma (preserving this single cognomen in due reverence to an illustrious line of ancestors [noted for a particularly tasty physical characteristic, as you have undoubtedly surmised], the imagines of which are all stored for use during funeral processions, of course). Therefore, as I retain a slight ability to recognise the differences between the mundane world and that of Tamriel, I have felt myself (loosely) bound by these, admittedly, prosaic concerns; thus, my Elf is called The Lady Smeg'Ma (which may point to a mingling of the bloodline w/ Kajiit or Redguard in the distant past). I did, though, play the Imperial side in the Bellicus Civitae; I will likely play the Stormcloak side someday, but when I don't know, as I tend to keep one character for very long periods of time. Vale,   Iullus Cornelius Smegmus Magnus Pantocrator PostScript: In light of the designation awarded me by z929669, I am considering adding the cognomon 'Cheesecake' to the Lady Smeg'Ma's name, though I will need to ponder a more appropriately dialectical form; perhaps 'the Lady Smeg'Ma Placentia'?

I am, in fact, the sweetest of cakes. Iullus Cornelius Smegmus Magnus Pantocrator

thank you for your reassurance.

Howdy community…     …so; when I installed STEP 1.9.1 or 3 a (?) I followed the guide meticulously and absolutely loved the result. While it’s true that there were some problems, I chalked that up to 3 factors: 1) I used saves from heavily-modded pre-STEP installs; 2) I added many non-STEP mods to the basic STEP alignment; 3) I freely, w/out care, added mods to my basic, STEP-based, install-w/out care or caution. The end result was (wait for it…)-fantastic, and largely, bug/glitch free!     …so, when I decided to install STEP 2.1.1b, I made a resolute commitment to be very meticulous in following both the STEP guide and the Skyrim installation guide, tempered by the Skyrim STEP Wrye Smash guide. Maybe it is a result of the non-integration of these 3 guides, or maybe because I was just impatient, but I did something different, instead-something I didn’t want to do, yet now want to ask the community what it thinks is the likely result…     …I followed the STEP 2.1.1b guide meticulously through the section covering the must-be-in-order graphics/texture mods, and then simply used Smash to install every other mod in the guide w/out any care or consideration other than ensuring that all mods w/ options were rendered into simple form. Other than that-nothing. This resulted in BOSS recognizing, and ordering, everything w/out warnings, and all Smash tik-boxes are uniformly colored. The game loads beautifully. I only surrendered scrupulous attention to modding detail because I began to wonder if I had been too anal when using the previous STEP process (1.9. 3 or whatever), and wondered what would happen if I threw caution to the wind…     …so my question is: Although my game seems to be running nicely w/ my half-haphazard install method, is there likely any serious problems endemic which cannot be identified by the fairly short running-around testing which I have done so far (I have made it to Whiterun stables and surrounding areas without taking a single quest since leaving Helgen) or is it actually the case that one can install STEP rather cavalierly so long as anal-ness is observed throughout initial set-up and the order-specific texture mods?     …in other words; given my partial adherence to procedure-have I opened myself up to bugs/glitches that are easily avoidable by patiently, and tediously, installing STEP in a more measured manner?     Plus: Could somebody please provide a basic guide to using ACH? Either I’m just too stupid (very possible), or it is just not very easy to ascertain. – (or it is still in testing, and not ready for general use, I suppose). Thank you.   Iullus Cornelius Smegmus Magnus Pantocrator

Thank you for this. Since these are essentially early days, yet, I at times am unsure whether I am looking at an opinion of best practices, or the consensus of best practices. Hell, often it seems figuring out the guides and processes is at least as much a hurdle as implementing the steps (if you will) is. Not that I'm complaining, though; whatever doesn't kill my brain (-s remaining cells) only makes it smarter...or something. Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

...or that. Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

EDIT: I owe you an apology; I forgot that when I tried to follow the link that I reference below I ended up at a STEPWiki page that said 'Bad Title' and some stuff about invalid links. Nevertheless, there is a DDSopt page somewhere on STEPWiki, unless it is down temporarily for updating. Either way, I reckon the link in the 2.1 guide will be fixed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- saw that, too. I believe that it was likely supposed to link to the DDSopt Wiki guide. I don't know the proper link off the top of my head, but I do know that I accessed that guide earlier today by following a link posted in the 'STEP 2.1 Release' placeholder thread somewhere on this site.Enjoy

I know that your first observation is correct; Bash no longer actively intimidates me, it just makes my sphincter instinctively tighten. Regarding your second observation; regret is a moot point, as I feel compelled to plunge in head first, in the knowledge that I will ultimately emerge both more knowledgeably and playing my beautiful game triumphantly.

Thank for your response; I figured that there was a strong likelihood that any response might take a while, as people would probably be busy downloading/installing. I am going to explore your advice; I like the idea of control, but I am enough of a philistine that even though I have been using mods extensively since Oblivion, I still experience serious trauma when dealing with learning new tools/utilities-even after the eureka moment when it all clicks, I feel a physical dread when the next utility I should probably learn comes along for the new result I should probably benefit from. I'm still experiencing Bash as a wary outsider, and I successfully ran 2.0.1a using it! Thanks again. BTW: When coming here to see if there were any responses yet, I realized that I should have begun my original post by thanking He What Compiles this Stuff all Goodly for Us, as well as all who, like you, provide so much help; I am going to edit that first post momentarily. In the meantime-thank you for all your work, all of you that have helped my game along so much. Iullus Cornelius Smegmus Magnus Pantocrator

THIS IS AN EDIT: Before posting my question, I ought to have given thanks where it is due; I apologize for my self-centered oversight. To He What Compiles this Stuff all Goodly for Us-thank you very much for all your astute compulsivity, tempered by altruism. Additionally, thank you to all who help us to understand, and utilize, that boon. Now; the original post- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wow; first question after the drop of 2.1!...and when I woke up this morning I had no idea such glory awaited me. Anyhoo: I have decided that I would like to be as efficiently anal as possible regarding my upgrade to 2.1; therefore, I have purged my system of all remnants of Skyrim, STEP, and Wrye Bash (which, BTW, I have a question about, too-why after I uninstalled and reinstalled Bash last time did it 'know' it had been installed previously [evidenced by its query as to an 'alternative' location path]); therefore, I want to optimize the textures as part of the process. However, while reading through various posts on this board and STEPNexus, I realize that there are some alternative methods/tools towards this end. I had decided to follow the DDSopt method, per the guide provided from the link given in the STEP 2.1 release placeholder thread on this board, until I read through the 2.1 guide; the method prescribed by He What Compiles this Stuff all Goodly for Us seems much easier and less cognitively-intensive, but I wonder if there are opinions as to its efficacy vs. DDSopt, or other tools. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. If it helps, my card is an nVidia GeForce GTX 560 ti 1G DDR5; I have 4G RAM (DDR3, I think), an Aesus motherboard w/ an AMD Athlon II X4 635 Processor 2.90 GHz, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit. I was able to run full STEP 2.0.1a w/ approx. 20-30 additional mods, and having replaced RWT 2.1 w/ WATER (invisible waterfalls be damned!), and also replacing RL w/ RCRN; I did this w/ low-medium res. packs where provided and the result was a very fluid, smooth game w/ lag only in instance transitions, and very rare CTDs. I also use IObit GameBooster (though I have reduced my page-file size back to recommended [by Windows] levels). I hope all the tangential information didn't obscure my actual question; what's the best route for texture optimization? Thank you

@z & stopping by I will get back to you concerning greater specifics on my rig. Also; do I read you correctly that having my pagination allocated the way that I do likely creates performance problems? Thanks Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

@MontyMM, You're right on both counts. I've been using 1.4 for the duration, and am very much looking forward to the 1.5.26; quick question-when I let Steam update, but then swap out the .exe files, does that negate everything pertinent to the update? ...also; I believe that the comments on Alexanders site may just be the most juvenile flap-a-doodle-doo I've ever had the misfortune to mine for information. Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

Alexander has posted that he has begun work on Boost for 1.5.26. I have had fantastic success w/ Boost, so much so that I am still using the 1.4 exe, and STEP 2.01 (w/ about 30 other mods as well); I also use Gamebooster. I'm running a 4x 2.9GHz w/ 6g RAM + the 1g GTX 560 ti; I also dedicated around 400g of my terabyte HD to act as memory. The balance of all these manipulations is that my game runs with almost buttery smoothness. Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

I appreciate it, but I seem to have actually figured it out. Although I have done nothing more than loading an early save occasionally to make certain of no CTDs, so far it looks good. The real test will come when I try loading my real saves made with the last STEP iteration. Thank you for your willingness to help: Being a husband, father, and grad student, I can appreciate that real-life does not always let us do all that we want to. Enjoy Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

Wow; you guys are a fantastic help to me-I appreciate it! While going through the guide to prepare the texture mods which must be ordered I have run into another perplexing situation: I have come to the point where I am on the verge of being able to install the BAINified mods; a problem has arisen wherein the ordered packages do not match that which is shown in the exemplar provided in the Wrye STEP guide. Specifically, my package-group numbers ascend sequentially, but the numbers in the 'Order' column descend sequentially-I do not understand why. I also do not understand why the installation order pictured in the exemplar picture in Wrye STEP does not match the order given by the Compiler in the STEP 2.01a guide for Step 2 sec B1. If I need to assist WryeSmash in correctly ordering some specifics within a larger correctly ordered process, that would be okay by me-yet, I need to understand why my anal following of the WryeSTEP guide did not result in a parity w/ the predicted result(s). I am sure that there is a nuance that I must have missed; if any of you knowledgeable veterans have an insight into where I likely went wrong (I understand that you can't know for certain), I would appreciate the pointer(s). Thanks again for all the help. Enjoy