MontyMM

Yes - I have a whopper on my stove right now, too! Might be a good task to ask of the community though, if we quickly prepare some instructions on how to present it. An ideal wiki project.

We could have the best of both worlds - include every update on the table (linked to a post in the mod thread with details), and also highlight those updates that we have tested and recommend be applied to the current STEP setup. I tend to agree with Beald's view, that stability and compatibility are high priority, and wouldn't want STEP to be in a constant state of 'update flux'. I would suggest that the aim of recommended updates should be: - To fix any conflicts or problems discovered in the STEP implementation itself between releases (hotfixes, if you like.) - To prevent the guide becoming obsolete between releases (particularly if Beth throws a curve ball that necessitates a wave of mod updates, eg. the chaos that's due when/if the navmesh fix arrives.) - To fix significant bugs in the mods. It's all good info for TC as he compiles the next version, too. I also wonder if it might help him to start our own list of 'fix' mods absorbed by the unofficial patch. Community scouts could be helpful with that. BTW, I've noticed that Kranazoli on the nexus is very good at tracking and posting about updates - he might enjoy being invited to help keep the mod threads on here up to date.

Might be worth seeing if the community would like to help compile such a list, and keep it on the wiki.

Lush Trees doesn't add more trees - it makes them bushy and full. I can't go back to vanilla now - they look like half-dead christmas trees by comparison!

It's here . Boris calls himself "ENBseries" on there. Tread carefully - he can be little... sensitive.

+1 My PC doesn't seem to care very much if it's running high or low res textures, until it runs out of VRAM...

Good catch on the icicles. Those watery ones look much nicer to me than vanilla, and can be downloaded independently of the main mod. I find it hard to choose between "Real Ice" and "That's Ice", overall.

Yes - Better Dynamic Snow is in good shape now. Optic and Brumbek have done loads of work on it, and have elected to leave the default snow effects on problematic meshes, while the majority of places get the benefit of the improved version. I'm also a fan of Lush Grass and Trees, though they definitely deserve the red FPS warning. We should give each of these mods their own thread - Z will be in here chopping us up! I'll start topics for the Lush mods and BDS.

This is something I've looked at with regard to the automatic downloader. My preferred solution, if TC is comfortable with it, would be to keep a table of all current STEP mods on the wiki, and allow the team to test and sanction updates to the included mods. The table would kept updated with important fixes between major updates, and the community could help to monitor and test the changes. I would not put the full guide on the wiki, as I think there are many benefits to having STEP as a popular download on the Nexus.

This is worth adding to the troubleshooting section, I think. Everybody loves playing with their uGrids, and there will be problems with people following the dodgy guides that involve the saveini command. So we're suggesting alt-tabbing out of the game, editing the ini, back to the game, refreshini, then save?

The ENB series can cause those very long loading times, but it's a bug unrelated to any other aspect of performance. One workaround is to press Shift - F12 to disable ENB during loading, and press again to re-enable once it's done.

This tracking page for the Unofficial Patch project may be helpful.

The gameplay content is completely out, maybe to be spun off into something else. The aesthetic 'water-related' features, like the wet rocks and the bullrushes, are optional. I think it's the ideal setup now.

I know the existence of this mod is not news to anyone, but there are a couple of developments to note. The quality of the water improvements is well established. In the current version (1.3), a fair amount of additional gameplay content, in the form of treasure and NPCs, was included with the aesthetic modifications. While I defend any mod author's right to make such decicions, it certainly was not ideal for STEP. This additional content is being removed from the next version (due soon), and the mod will again be 'pure' in its purpose. It also includes new riperian flora as an optional extra, along with OpticShooters other 'water' mods - Get Wet and Kerplunks Rocks. I would recommend taking all the extras. One other small point of note is the installer, created by Wr_Berg. It is a complex BAIN packaged with an FOMOD installer, making it both NMM and Wrye compatible. I think this is an excellent solution.

LOL. I've a nasty suspicion that we're careening in the Fallout 3 direction, and not the bucolic idyll of Skyrim! With regard to PC gaming, the evidence would suggest that the future's bright, and it's the consoles that ought to be looking over their shoulders. The quoted figures do not tally with my understanding of what's going on in the industry. EA CEO: Consoles today are 40 percent of the game industry Forecast for PC Gaming Looks Rosy PC games market grows to $18 Billion

Good work gentlemen. Death to spurious anecdotal evidence!

Ah, that's no so good. That could get very messy.

Well, I think that puts it firmly in the 'not recommended' category, then. Missing textures is a common complaint on the Nexus, and people often talk about reverting to previous versions of patches - I bet many of them are only changing the exe. Could be some connections. Might be wiki worthy...

Very nice - looks like a win to me.

Technically, no, because a few other files are often modified by the update. Many people do what you describe and get away with it, but in the ideal world it would be avoided, as the interactions between an older exe and the other updated files is unknown.

Alexander has stated that he is working on Skyboost 1.5.26. Just take my word for it, because reading through the comments section on his site is not healthy for well-adjusted human beings. :facepalm: This is very welcome, and I hope he won't be discouraged. The fundamental changes that have occurred since his last version have made staying on the old version less viable.

I'll try that it happens again. Cheers. Do you have any more details on it? Might be worth putting in the Troubleshooting text.

Earlier on today, when I visited here, I got a message telling me that the server was overloaded and I should try again later. Probably just a glitch, you're not getting that sort of traffic are you?

For clarity, I haven't noticed an overall FPS drop yet - just that one occasion where the game slowly dropped to 1 FPS and stayed there. I've never seen that anywhere before!

I installed the latest Nvidia beta, and for some reason my Z-fighting has markedly improved. Whether this is due to the driver (yes please!) or whether some settings have been altered by the installation, I'm not sure. I'll have a thorough look later. I've had one strange anomaly with the new driver, though. Wandering around outside Whiterun, looking for Z-Fighters, my FPS counter suddenly started to drop like a bomb counting down to zero! It got down to 1 FPS and stayed there, still running quite happily as a slide show. What fresh hell is this?