Greg

While you are playing the game normally... Press ESC to get to the menu. Click Mod Configuration and you should see a list of mods that have MCM menus. Scroll through the list to find iHUD and then click iHUD. In the iHUD settings, you should see an option near (or right at) the top to toggle the compass. Once you find it, click it so it has a funky X in the box. ESC, ESC, ESC to get back to the game. You may see a message indicating Skyrim is saving the settings. Now press X and the compass should stick.

If you are running Skyrim without Mod Organizer, you are correct that loose files always take priority over BSA archive files. Mod Organizer is a bit more intelligent in that it can allow files in a BSA archive to take priority over loose files. I'm not sure where the instructions you quoted come from and I don't see them in the STEP 2.2.9 instructions (unless this is in an older version of STEP somewhere). With STEP 2.2.9 you should not have HighResTexturePack0*.bsa in the INI files. Instead, you should deactivate HighResTexturePack01.esp, HighResTexturePack02.esp, and HighResTexturePack3.esp in the mod list (the right pane in Mod Organizer). Finally select the Archives tab, check "Have MO manage archives", and check HighResTexturePack01.bsa, HighResTexturePack02.bsa, and HighResTexturePack03.bsa. This way the files in BSA archives are more or less treated as loose files and you don't need the dummy esps. https://wiki.step-project.com/High_Resolution_Texture_Pack#Recommendations

The Wiki standard reserves the H1 heading for page titles so all content within the page should start with H2 headings. This actually makes a lot of sense because the page title should be the biggest element at the top of the page and in some ways is like a chapter title. I think mediawiki lets you use H1 (=title=), but I have used at least one wiki system that doesn't recognize a single equals sign as valid markup. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Wiki_markup

If you are installing STEP Core+Extended and REGS, I recommend keeping a separate list of at least the REGS mods somewhere (spreadsheet or text editor) and then install STEP Core+Extended 2.2.9 in the order listed and note which mods have patches or options for mods in REGS. I think the big one is SkyFalls and SkyMills in which you need to select Dawnguard, Dragonborn, Falskaar, and Wyrmstooth. Realistic Water Two has a Wyrmstooth option. These are the only two in my notes, but best to check the file list on Nexus and the pay attention to the options in the mod installers to see if there are any others since some mods have been updated or vanished into thin air since I installed REGS. EDIT: I think Realistic Water Two actually has both Falskaar and Wyrmstooth options for new lands and waves.

I am also using STEP Core+Extended 2.2.9 and this is how I got it working: Extract skse_1_9_32.dll, skse_loader.exe, and skse_steam_loader.dll into your Skyrim folder (C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/SteamApps/common/Skyrim). From this point foward you should be running skse_loader.exe (not SkyrimLauncher.exe or TESV.exe) to play the game. Manually install SKSE with Mod Organizer. When you get the folder list in Mod Organizer, expand the folders until you get to the Data folder (this should be something like skse_version#/Data, right click Data, and select Set data directory. If you double click on SKSE in the left pane after it's installed, you should see the scripts directory containing a bunch of pex files. Follow the directions to create the SKSE folder and the skse.ini file with the appropriate settings. Run the game to make sure it works properly without ENB. I think you're already here so this may be redundant... I'm including it just in case. And make sure you run skse_loader.exe in Mod Organizer to start the game. If everything is good so far, install ENB 0.264: With Windows Explorer, browse to the Wrapper folder and copy d3d9.dll, enbhost.exe, and enblocal.ini to the Skyrim folder (C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/SteamApps/common/Skyrim). Edit enblocal.ini in the Skyrim folder per the instructions (https://wiki.step-project.com/ENBoost#Recommendations) to install ENBoost. As mentioned earlier, set VideoMemorySizeMb=10240. After you save the changes, you should be able to start the game by running skse_loader.exe from Mod Organizer. Don't run TESV.exe or ENBHost.exe. At some point after Skyrim starts, you should see a message in the upper-left stating ENBhost blah blah so you can see ENB is actually working. You should see this just as Skyrim brings up the Continue/Load/New/Quit options if I remember correctly. If Skyrim still crashes, try the Injector version as Nozzer suggests. I think for the Injector version you just copy the same three files from the Injector folder. I should caution that I've never used the Injector version, so I don't know if it needs ENBInjector.exe. Just in case it helps, this is my complete enblocal.ini file:

It sounds as if this may be the vanilla Summoning Karstaag quest, although it may be a bit subtle because the quest itself doesn't appear in your journal. Here's a brief walkthrough of the quest with a picture of Karstaag's skull in Glacial Cave and a picture of the throne with Karstaag's skeleton in Castle Karstaag. When you activate the throne the first time, it places the skull on Karstaag's skeleton. After he's defeated, the action on the throne reverts to the default (sit throne). https://www.uesp.net/wiki/Dragonborn:Summoning_Karstaag

Is this a mod or vanilla? In the vanilla game, you pick up his skull in Glacial Cave then place his skull on the throne in Castle Karstaag. Once the skull is in place, you get the "shake 'n bake" while he is being summoned, and then he knocks your butt across the room when he stomps his foot. He's also immune to frost and paralysis with a slight weakness to fire. This isn't the only fight sequence that's a bit of a letdown, though. I've actually been in several fight sequences that just blow my mind. I mean right in the middle of getting my butt handed to me on a plate by horde of Draugr or Forsworn, they sheath their weapons and walk away. Or they just stand there looking like idiots while I pound them with arrows from five feet away.

You can find the answer in this thread and it's pretty easy to do. https://forum.step-project.com/topic/6517-backing-up-mods-mod-organizer/

Yes, I think you should check Falskaar and Wyrmstooth when installing SkyFalls and SkyMills. I just double checked and I have "SkyFalls + SkyMills + DG + DB + FS + WT.esp" so I had both checked. Install everything in the same order as in the REGS guide such that all mods in REGS are below the mods in STEP Core+Extended. The difficulty is keeping track of everything that needs to be installed because you may have to do some backtracking if you want to test everything at the "Benchmark" points. If nothing else, learn from my idiocy.... I installed all of STEP Core+Extended then all of REGS and then spent hours trying to figure out what the bloody ^##$@#$ I mucked up. I think the biggest problem is that I didn't note which patches/optionals needed to be installed (like the Falskaar and Wyrmstooth patches to SkyFalls and SkyMills) so I ended up with a huge pile of mess that didn't work. When I went through this the second time (after starting from scratch) I created a spreadsheet that listed every mod to be installed by STEP Core+Extended and REGS in Column A. As I installed each mod, I noted in Columns B+whatever which patches/optionals need to be installed for this mod but I did not install these patches/optionals just yet. When I reached the Benchmark point (at the end of each section), I installed the patches/optionals for mods in previous blocks for the mods in this block. (In other words, don't install Falskaar and Wyrmstooth patches until after you install Falskaar and Wyrmstooth). I then started a new game with a new character, ran through the Helgen sequence, and walked to each city to make sure everything looks good. It is a lot more time consuming and (painful) to do it this way, but at least you'll know with some certainty that any issues you run into are limited to small block of mods. I think it took me pretty much an entire weekend to install STEP Extended+REGS this way and I haven't noticed any significant issues yet. When you get to REGS, treat each heading as block of mods and test thoroughly after installing all mods in each heading (Cities, Outskirts, Settlements, ...).

Make the REGS Patch - STEP Extended.esp priority some value larger than STEP Extended Patch.esp. Given that STEP Extended Patch.esp has priority 989000, you could make the REGS Patch - STEP Expended.esp something like 989100 or 989500. I don't think the actual value really matters that much. The other REGS patches should sort correctly in LOOT without any additional rules.

I thought I remembered seeing some discussion on this but all I found in a quick search through the forum are these comments:

Did you start a new game with a new character after removing all the mods or did you load an existing save? The reason I ask is because Skyrim may be caching data from the removed mods in the save.

Thanks for the information. I noticed these two conflicts when I looked at the mods in TES5Edit last weekend, but I'm in the middle of a playthrough and I suspect the data is baked into the save. I haven't really found it annoying so I'll wait to do the edits after I finish this playthrough. I know Skyrim doesn't like it too much when mods change.

I traveled to Karthwasten and the door on Karthwasten Hall looks normal to me, but I started this playthrough using ETaC 13.4 and haven't updated to ETaC 13.4.1 yet (if this is relevant). The only odd thing I've seen so far is that I can't activate the door to enter the Penitus Oculatus Outpost in Dragon Bridge, but I think this is because ETaC 13.4 moves the door and then Nernie's City and Village Expansion (later in the load order) moves it back to the vanilla location. I just noticed this yesterday and worked around it by floating around (with TCL) to activate the backside of the door to complete a Dark Brotherhood quest. This is the only time I've needed to enter the Penitus Oculatus Outpost, so I'll probably leave it alone for now.

Yes, you'll need something like My Home is Your Home or one of the follower tweak mods that can accomplish much the same thing. For example, Amazing Follower Tweaks lets you tell your one or more of your followers to "dismiss but stay here" so they enter sandbox mode at the current location but don't leave this location. I used Amazing Follower Tweaks for a while earlier last year and it works fairly well for managing multiple followers. I don't use followers anymore because I finally settled into being a sneaky archer using long-range stealth techniques and followers were more trouble than they are worth. It seems every time I cocked the bow for a nice shot, one of them would shout "I thought I heard something!" and storm in swords blazing. Yeah, gotta love those followers...

The easiest solution is to install TortoiseGit. With this installed, you can right click the repository folder in Windows Explorer, select Git Sync from the context menu, click Pull in the dialog that pops up, and then close the dialog. Sending a pull request is just as easy with TortoiseGit, but you need to commit your changes to the local repository (right click on the folder and click Commit) before sending the pull request. The one caveat is the TortoiseGit needs MSysGit installed.

It sounds as if this is referring to some mod that alters Lakeview Manor, but it's not clear whether this refers to https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=261946753 or perhaps any mod that alters Lakeview Manor.