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The links  work for me, and take me directly to the downloads needed by way of a download-server menu. Are you saying that you are not seeing the download page when you follow the links? I have a premium acc on the Nexus, so this seems possible, especially if you pick Denver or Kent, as they are premium-only. I will update the links if this is the case, just confirm please. Thanks

Correct. This thread has more detail on the DDSopt INI file containing exclusions and other special instructions for water, dragons, foliage, bodies, etc. This info is accounted for with respect to the HRDLC and vanilla in general as well as some of the main community mods; however, there are many unaccounted-for mod textures that need to be treated specially or avoided altogether (e.g., Vurt's). Just use the posted settings, and all should be fine.

Sounds like a great filter you have going there if it is dependable.

@Kelmych Set 7z to compress as non-solid. This actually speeds up WB (and 7z processes) quite a bit. Reason being that archives can update in file-size chunks without having to uncompress/recompress the entire archive for a relatively small subset of changes to the archive. My TPC is 1.7+ Gb compressed as 7z, but it took me less than a minute to install and about 20 seconds to update three files within the archive by drag&drop ... this is pretty fast for such a big archive, and it is because I compressed as non solid. My next step is to DDSopt that one so that I can compare the performance between DDSopt-ed TPC, HRDLC and standard vanilla. Cumulatively, I expect this to save me a minimum of 50 Mb of VRAM with improved texture appearance (esp at mid distance).

As described in the DDSopt Guide, I recommend converting all vanilla BSAs to loose files, optimizing and compressing as 7z for WB installation (see the WBG for details on using WB). Follow my instructions in this post on the preceding page of this thread. Sure, you can do whatever you wish. If you use WB though, you will see much better what you are doing during installation though. I personally would create my entire installation (including TPC & vanilla) using unoptimized textures (no BSAs) and install/configure STEP. THEN, I would create optimized versions of all mod textures (including the now-compiled TPC and vanilla loose files) and re-compress into 7z files with same but modified name and set up in WB adjacent to the unoptimized texture mods. This way, you can test your installation with and without optimization. This also allows piecemeal control of each mod version (opt vs non-opt) so that you can better track down any weird textures (RefScope for Skyrim would be better though... wonder if something like that has been created yet??)

You can run DDSopt on your entire textures folder if you want, but I recommend running on each mod, compressing to 7z format and installing with Wrye Bash. This allows you to determine if any custom or non-standard textures were broken by optimization. Compile TPC, run through DDSopt (see OP), compress and install to test. The DDSopt wiki is a bit outdated, but largely instructive. Will update soon I hope.

First, do the following before applying DDSopt v8.0 pre III to the vanilla textures. Fri may elect to add this now that it is pretty clear that Eiwyn's mod has grown quite stale .... Download DLC tweaks 3.2. Extract to its own folder (e.g., HRDLC_Tweaks) in the working directory.Download DLC tweaks 3.1 beta. Extract to same folder as previous, overwriting all files.Download the HRDLC Fix. Extract to its own folder (e.g., HD_Texture_DLC_Fix) in the working directory.Extract HighResTexturePack01.bsa to its own folder in the working directory (e.g., HRDLC1).Extract HighResTexturePack02.bsa to its own folder in the working directory (e.g., HRDLC2).Extract the customized BAT files into the working directory (i.e., not into a sub-folder though).Run the START BAT and examine the logs as well as the resuting HRDLC1-2 folders.

I agree that STEP is a time-consuming install; however, from your post, I assume that you are not following all instructions and that you are skipping over vital information. Take special care to follow the SIG instructions regarding Steam installation and Skyrim installation. Ensure that you can run vanilla with all STEP options configured prior to installing any mods. I suspect that the pre-mod config is where you are running into trouble. patience is a listed STEP requirement

We encourage all community members to become official STEP mod testers! The only requirement is that you are a demonstrated and consistent contributor of good information to STEP or its support sites. PM any of our admin for details.

The guide is 29 pages for a reason, there is 10 pages of fluff (first 9 and very last), the rest is a dense description of how to mod Skyrim without breaking it and if you are skipping it you are gonna have problems, period. Â I think that we should work out a way to incorporate all the installation data (12 pages) into and in between the mod tables (7 pages) for a uniform experience that doesn't allow skipping. Its already there. People don't even read the page that tells them how to interpret the tables... Good idea to interleave the mod tables with the other "must-read" content. however, people will still manage to only look at the mods and install them each without giving any attention to the supporting doc. This is fine with me, as they will most certainly get a result commensurate with the time spent following the guide. The guide is only as good as the person following it, and making it foolproof is just not possible. Further, catering to the lazy costs MUCH more effort with almost no ROI :P

DDSopt 8.0 pre release 3 runs very fast (about 30 minutes for all vanilla textures I think), so be certain that you are using the correct version of DDSopt.

Don't forget that there is a hard max files size for a BSA (2 Gb I think). This may be the issue tiwh the HRDLCs. Â Proper compression format is also a factor as Fri says.

Loose files are more efficient in terms of reducing load times (since there is no extraction required). Loose files are also overwritten by other mod's loose files directly. With the BSAs, the entire BSA contents are extracted and many of these contents end up being overwritten anyway ... sort of a double-whammy waste of time.Â

I am in favor of leaving it and pointing to this post ;) Although, I am gestapo when it comes to RTFM ... no mercy. This way, at some point it becomes common knowledge that the STEP Guide is much more than a mod list.

Discussion thread: ENB Guide by STEP Wiki Link This thread is for discussion and improvement of the ENB Guide on the wiki. Thanks Staynd for getting the guide started! Thanks to anyone who as contributed to the maintenance of this Guide! Updated OP (08/15/13) ~ TechAngel85

I'd like to know more about the specific bugs with MDS as well. Can someone familiar with MDS bugs elaborate for us? @Puuloo, nobody is plotting against you Â

Thanks s4n ;)

It's a minecraft easter egg :)

A blatant collective oversight I might add :P

https://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/140752 https://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/140754 Not sure what we are looking at here. there appears to be an FPS diff, but I see no apparent quality diff.