Pinky

If you're really in a hurry to try to merge the new version, Merge Plugins Standalone is already compiled with MSTT support. It's not the most stable software ever but it seems to work (I recommend doing the merging with a minimum MO profile though, it can't yet load a subset of plugins on it's own).

Hah, of course. Why did I assume the modular version had all the patches too, silly me. Loading both the original ranaline modular patches and the complete one shows there are significant changes too, it's not just a merge. Oh well, lets try just removing the riverwood character.

Hi, I'm being foolhardy and trying to install REGS on top of SR:LE, with DoS, Solitude Reborn and ETaC subset. Cargo culting my way through porting the REGS patches will be fun (it's a shame REGS doesn't have an edit list like SR:LE, would make it easier, would also be nice to be able to look at it's history as far as the DoS series is concerned). For the moment though I'm still installing, so first a question. I assume ETaC no longer needs a RS Children's patch? Because I don't see it any more.

Half the things I was complaining about wasn't so much about what it lacked to teach, but what it teaches (ie. be anal about unnecessary files, sort the plugins all day every day). As for downloading files, it's very hard at the start of the process to judge it's scale regardless of anything else, you think you'll just plough through it a step at a time (which kinda is what the guide suggests as well I might add). It takes a while before you realise the inefficiency of going back and forth between downloading/installing for a couple hundred mods instead of doing all the downloading first, I might be a little slow in that regard but no reason to not help out slow people.

From my wet behind the ears perspective I think this guide desperately needs to be written from a different perspective. It's too much work to not teach the people first attempting it good practices, it needs to teach efficiency For instance : - First download all mods with a third party queuing download manager (I wish I'd done this). - spoiler all the removal of docs, images, thumbnail files and BSLs and explain it's not essential (I guess it might speed up MO a bit, since a lot of the docs/readmes "overwrite" eachother). - give more balanced advice over running LOOT/sorting during the install process - more attention paid to mods which can't be installed through standard means (ie. you have to copy stuff around with file explorer) and how to handle that in MO. Also on a different note, if suggested merges can't be completed without a prerequisite way down the list there needs to be a link back to the merge.

Yah I was completely reading that wrong. Another question. Does it really matter if all these screenshots, left over thumbnail files and various readmes don't get removed? Doesn't the game simply ignore them? Is running LOOT+sort really necessary after every new ESM/ESP? These two combined really take a lot of speed out of the process.

The guide at the moment suggests installing the Falskaar - Climates of Tamriel Patch AND merging it with DLC patches to install it a second time ... am I missing something or does that not make sense

It didn't quite work like described, mod organizer moved the files to overwrite and everything got a bit messy. Wouldn't it be better to make the Cleaned Vannilla ESMs mod first, copy the vanilla ESMs to it, activate the mod and then run TES5Edit? Backups would be no longer needed so you avoid the renaming and it feels more like you are working with the fundamental mechanisms of MO rather than against them. PS. I found a report from February 2013 saying the same thing ;)