Bealdwine

Yes I've been tracking this one for a while planning to use it to decrease levelling speed slightly when I get back to playing properly again. I already use Sliders to give me a 5:1 timescale (quarter vanilla speed iirc). I like mods that allow me to 'live' an RPG rather than just play it, and the TES series have always been perfect for that (living as a hunter in Oblivion was great fun and well supported by mods). Just need to figure out which is the best (least intrusive) mod to sort out the weak upper level NPC/mob issue.

Great work after a huge effort on your part... much appreciated and let's just hope that texture modders realise how (relatively) easy it is to optimize their work prior to release :)

Agreed, I think that most players who want a truly immersive and 'honest' game are more than capable of simply not using unbalanced items. They're still good for the show case and wall displays ;) I'm very much an explorer type in RPG games so this would suite me very well. Also a definite +1 on the quality of review Mad :D

Good points Monty. It's been discussed before about the pros and cons of sticking to one set/version of mods that are known to be stable and work together - which is possibly the major selling point of STEP. But there will always be bug fixing updates with mods so we need to not just offer one solid STEP version but also take into consideration improvements to the recommended mods. However it's not a bad thing to get users used to the idea that constantly updating the mods used can be counter productive and cause more issues than it's worth. "If it ain't broke don't fix it" works pretty well as a rule of thumb.

Thank you for noting this, I did mention it on the forum some time ago. The issue then was finding a way to get it working when other mods also use the d3d9.dll, in the case of STEP at the time it was iCCC by TheCompiler. Obviously one solution is to rename the .dll file, but if it is being referenced there should also be an entry in an .ini file for the new name. Example. This enbseries.ini addition works for running injectFXAA alongside an ENB series mod (note the renamed d3d9.dll): [PROXY] EnableProxyLibrary=1 InitProxyFunctions=1 ProxyLibrary=d3d9injFX.dll

I do rate OpticShooter's work so will check this out. A great pity he didn't cover the dreadful icicle meshes as well.

Interesting. I currently use the Portable Campsite (Lite version) mod, but have been considering adding a survival mod as well. This seems to cover both options so I may test it out and save a load slot ;)

Have to agree, this is a wonderful little mod :)

Thanks fri, I had proper length arrows sitting waiting to use in the next install but hadn't heard of the conflict issue so this is a good call. I also have been testing the OP mod and had no problems, as I use Cloaks of Skyrim it does seem more natural not to have the quiver constantly on... but then my char is primarily 'sword and board', if he were an archer I wouldn't use this mod.

Thank you Torm I will try that once this weekend of work is over ;) I hate to remove details... very anti-step, lol, but these shadows are just too distracting.

Just an added question on this topic. While I have learnt to live with (ignore) the terrible object shadows in the world one of the most intrusive problems I encounter is with self-shadowing. By that I mean the shadows on my character that are cast from the model or objects being carried (shield, helm, etc). These are very blocky and have a tendency to 'shimmer' in a distracting way in 3rd person view. I can't recall seeing this in any of the many posts I've read on shadow tweaking but is there a way to disable only self-shadowing rather than all shadows displaying on the player character (so as not to lose shadow effects from other objects like buildings and trees)?

@Starac Thank you. some very interesting points that show some of the difficulties and balances that complicate the texture modding process, you obviously know your stuff :) I'm not sure I agree about the roads vs. rocks issue though, although I understand and respect your view. Roads are either man-made or created by the passage of man/animal and time. Either way they often display a similarity to the local earth ('dirt' in American english) and don't always represent the colouring of the natural rock underlying the area. A road, track, or path seen in the countryside is often quite distinct from the natural environment. That said, from the point of view of texture creation, too great a distinction will look strange and undesirable where the textures meet and I understand that you prefer to aim for a more 'seamless' look in your choices for texture. One question. It has been noted in Windhelm that there are small patches of ice with light reflection - do you know if these are part of the underlying texture or a form of 'decal' overlaying it? If the latter could something similar be used to improve smaller snowy/icy rock textures?

Dammit! Yet again I'm working through that whole period :P My son is insisting I get it as he grew up with us playing the Diablo series together :) (he was too young and impatient for 'proper' RPGs back then, lol).

Just a couple of points - surely the 'correct' colour for mountain rocks generally depends on the nature of the rocks involved. To me Staracs choice reminds me of the sandstones of the cotswolds (an area in the English midlands) while the colour choice in SHD is more like granite or shale rocks. Basically, unless there is a geological map available for the Skyrim highlands neither can be said to be incorrect ;) Likewise there definately was a colour cast to the vanilla game and I agree with zMan and Patim that it appeared to favour the green tint. But the effects of light passing through the atmosphere does tend to give distant objects a bluish hue so that mountains, distant trees, etc would not be incorrect if they carried a blue tint although that would mostly impact the LOD texture rather than the main object texture. My final comment would be about the 'snowy rocks' texture in PatimPatam's screen shots. I have to say that SRO is the most effective at trying to blend differing textures together to avoid the rather jarring and obvious 'edges' however in succeeding in this it also diminishes the attempted effect of the texture. The rocks no longer look especially snow/ice/frost covered. This must be one of the biggest challenges in the whole process of modding textures and I'm not even sure that a 'perfect' solution is possible. As always a huge kudos to all the texture modders out there for the hours of work and the care they put into these mods - most grateful :)

I have used Killmoves+ and then Advanced Kill Moves and both are very good, i just felt at odds with my low level character being able to perform some highly skilled kill moves. Simply for that reason I will switch to DoD during the next STEP reinstall.

Duke Patricks - Heavy Weapons Combat Afraid I'm just throwing this one out here as a 'realism' option without testing as I am short on time... however it was one of my favorite mods in TESIV and if it has enjoyed a successful port there should be few if any conflicts. It makes combat significantly harder but far more interesting ;) The mod author has many years experience of actual combat with the SCA (The Society for Creative Anachronism) which makes it fairly authentic.

That is a fascinating set of figures, and even more so the comparrison images. I keep flipping back and forth with them and trying to decide if I prefer the harsher 'grungy' look of HD - 2K, or the cleaner (and slightly more detailed (?)) look of SRO. It's a difficult one - but a great way to do subjective comparrisons, thank you.

Good catch skware I hadn't seen this one but it seems fairly comprehensive and well thought out.

An interesting perspective thank you. I think many of us already understood the market pressures, pretty much the same ones that always plagued the PC games market when it was the foremost platform, and led to game releases that were 'incomplete', buggy, and poorly tested. It remains a great shame that the platform with the greatest potential for the most impressive games is now constantly cursed with the stunted children of the console genre. But the simple facts are that the accountants rule the world and you can't argue with the bean counting. From my personal point of view I count myself lucky that the game genres I most enjoy are those gaining most prominence for the PC as you point out, I really don't have the reflexes to shine in an FPS anymore ;) and I could never get the hang of those controllers anyway :P As has been shown vividly in Skyrim through the modding community the shortcomings of a 'consoled' game can still be overcome by the dedication of the end users. However the industry should beware that there are diminishing returns to inflicting this sort of strategem on paying customers... none of that "half a million" is getting into the pockets of the Mod makers, and we are more than aware of the shortcomings of the 'vanilla' games they are releasing. They may well have duped the console crowd into putting up with high priced 'throw-away' games but this is not the general calibre of the PC game population. In the MMORPG market I am aware of a huge number of 'mature' gamers who are basically sitting on the side-lines, full of ennui at the laclustre offerings of recent years and the move within the industry to pamper the audience demanding 'immediate gratification'. Many MMOs have been corrupted, and those of real promise left to flounder, and yet still money is being made. How much more could be made by a product of greater scope and integrity is a moot point, but my years in that community suggest to me that the answer is a substantial amount, and I suspect the same is true of the solo RPG as well. Short sightedness in business reaps its own rewards. Let us hope that we consumers of the PC gaming world are not the ones to suffer the consequences. I guess the warning is - lower your expectations and business will be happy to lower their standards (but never their prices, lol)

Sounds good Torm :) Luck with the testing and I for one look forward to seeing your results. I'm still waiting for the next nVidia driver release but as I'm still on an old 8800 GT I don't expect to see that '20%' performance boost, lol.

The Dance of Death - A Killmove Mod for Update 1-5 As (almost) always I am not sure this is a STEP valid suggestion ;) However I have just started testing this as an alternative to AdvancedKillMoves which I know a number of STEP'ers use. I have been using AKM for some time but what attracted me to this mod was: which seems more natural and lore friendly than simply having the skill to pull off these moves from the early levels. Still in testing mode but if I hit any problems I'll edit here with details.

Not wishing to throw a spanner in the works ;) but which version of Skyrim HD - 2K are you testing with zMan?The author appears to have split his pack not only into a Full & Lite option in version 1.5 but also into seperate downloads for Dungeons, Landscape, Misc., and Towns. Due to my system limitations I generally use the Lite versions.

Reading through there are a number of interesting ideas being developed in this mod. However it would take some extensive testing to see where or if these might conflict with currently recommended (or popular non-STEP) mods, especially in the area of crafting I suspect. It has the potential to be a definite 'One To Watch' mod even though it doesn't fully lie within the 'scope' of what STEP attempts to be. The author appears to have thought very carefully about the balance aspects of the changes he makes and the Archery changes are very welcome. If he continues to develop this as only a gameplay altering mod then it may very well be a perfect partner beside STEP, but I can't see the two integrating because although they do have complimentary goals, STEP retains users choice in game style while this may impose it's own style 'vision' too much. Personally I am drawn to mods that increase 'realism' and make the whole experience more difficult because that is: a) the type of RPG I grew up with and b) the exact aspect of MMORPGs that has declined and forced me back to playing solo games again :P So for my part I will probably investigate this with further testing.

Good work Torm, look forward to seeing your results.