Total NooB

[SpikeWLD]

Hello all,

 

I hope this is the correct place to post.  I just picked up Skyrim, Dawnguard and Hearthfire.  This is my first - GASP - Elder Scrolls game.  I've been following Skyrim since it's launch, and finally - now that I'm retiring, (yes I'm an old tymer) and I built myself  a dream rig that can run anything anyone can throw at me with Nvidia surround on 3 ASUS 24" monitors; decided to score Skyrim to see what all the hoopla is about.  

 

BUT that's not my question.  I was turned onto STEP by a colleague and I like the thought process behind the project.  My question is... yeah you thought this was gonna be a TLDR...

 

Since I've never played TES before but want the ultimate experience that STEP offers, should I set up my fresh install the STEP before I ever create my first character?

 

So there you have it STEPers.... I await your replies.   

 

ps, I've never modded before; however, I am in IT support and I own a web hosting and design company so i'm not techno crippled. That being said, any pointers in the mod installation department would be appreciated.

[Farlo]

I definitely recommend getting STEP set up entirely before you begin. Adding (and even worse: removing) mods to current saves can introduce a lot of errors. The PDF should say this, but before you begin make sure to go through the Skyrim Installation Guide so you have a backup and all that. Also, I encourage you to learn how to use either Wrye Bash (more complex, more powerful) or Mod Organizer (simpler, less powerful) to handle your mods and stay away from NMM; it will make the whole maintenance/update process a lot easier.  I also recommend you start the game and run through the introduction sequence (at least up to character creation) after every dozen or so mods, just to make sure everything's still running by the time your finished.  

 

I'm really excited to hear that STEP is being passed around by word-of-mouth even in the real world and I wish the best of luck in your modding endeavors!  Congratulations on the retirement and if you really like the game we'd love to have you stick around and contribute whenever you can.

[SpikeWLD]

Thanks Bro!!    I did follow the Installation instructions last nite and have downloaded all of the utilities recommended.  I was a bit confused tho by WB, NMM and MO...  I assume that I really only need WB??  and that MO (I've heard enough not good comments on NMM to leave it be), is only necessary to keep the mods updated?

 

I've been reading the WB manual and from what I can glean, it's really all I need - OR am I not understanding the process.

 

I feel I will enjoy the game.  I currently play Eve Online for the social aspects of it.  I have enjoyed various RPG's in the past, so I think Skyrim will top my list.

[Farlo]

Thanks Bro!!    I did follow the Installation instructions last nite and have downloaded all of the utilities recommended.  I was a bit confused tho by WB, NMM and MO...  I assume that I really only need WB??  and that MO (I've heard enough not good comments on NMM to leave it be), is only necessary to keep the mods updated?

 

I've been reading the WB manual and from what I can glean, it's really all I need - OR am I not understanding the process.

 

I feel I will enjoy the game.  I currently play Eve Online for the social aspects of it.  I have enjoyed various RPG's in the past, so I think Skyrim will top my list.

You essentially only need WB, I just like MO because of the folder virtualization.  It creates a private "data" folder for each mod so nothing actually gets overwritten, it's all done virtually by MO when you launch Skyrim.  I actually don't use the updating/downloading capabilities of MO either, although from the few times I've tested it it works fine.  In the end though, WB is all you need and if you can learn to use that there's no reason to use anything else (unless you don't like visiting the Nexus to find mod updates).  

 

I tried Eve a few times, but after a couple months it started getting really boring as skills took forever to train.  So instead I'm playing Dust514 at the moment, it's really fun and unique but still feels very Eve-esque.  It has a lot of potential and I hope it's a successful project when it actually launches.

[SpikeWLD]

Good news then, I'll just uninstall NMM and MO and stick with WB. Thanks for this tip as well.

 

Cool on Dust... hope you enjoy it.. I'm not a PS3 user but several of my Eve Corp mates are and bounce between Dust and Eve.

 

Should you ever decide to try Eve again, let me know and i'll send you a 28 day pass.  Also, I am a Personnel Officer for Eve University.  The new Retribution update should be interesting!  I agree on the Skill Training time but I've gotten accustom to it and see why CCP runs the game that way.  I played WoW for a few years but quickly grew tired of the people "buying" their way to the top.  With Eve, that's very difficult to do because of the skill training mechanics.

 

Nice to meet you man, quite a friendly atmosphere here already.

 

 

Bill

[torminater]

Well, I would recommend starting the game without mods. At least until you have a level 20 character. And THEN you can install step on top of it. It won't hurt your save. Also you can try out various "gimmicks" like ini tweaking on a vanilla skyrim to see, where exactly the limits of your uber rig lie. PLUS you'll appreciate the modded experience a lot more since you know what vanilla was like. You might as well start a new game with STEP installed and keep your "vanilla save" in a backup.

Make constantly a new save, even if you end up with 300+ that's no problem. Every time you decide to add a new mod, backup your last save in a specific folder indicating which mod (and it's version number) was added, and when this was. This will help you, to revert to a "clean" save should you encounter any serious problems with the new mod.

Also, go out to skyrim nexus and check the top mods listed there. Try to find a play style that suits you well. If you like anime style characters in your game there are thousands of mods which will never even get touched by STEP, since it is not considered to be so-called "lore-friendly" which means nothing else than: "it doesn't fit in the game's universe"

Since this is your first elder scrolls game, read books in-game. Just do it. Try to learn about the world you're playing in, it'll help to understand what's it all about. If you have any questions as to why this and that happens/appears somewhere in the game check this wiki: https://www.uesp.net/wiki/Main_Page

 

There is lots and lots to tell about TES and modding, but I hope this short statement will do. If you have any explicit questions which cannot be answered by the STEP guide or uesp or google, be free to ask them. There are many here willing to help you out.

[SpikeWLD]

Thanks man for your input as well.   I'm not a fan of Anime but thanks for mentioning that.

 

I guess I'm too new to edit/have a signature; but, here is my rig, I've been trying my best to bog it down... LOL

 

Case -Cooler Master HAF X

CPU - Intel Core i7-3820 OC 4700

Cooling - CORSAIR H100

Data Drive - (1) WD Caviar Black 1TB

GPU - ASUS GeForce GTX680-DC2O-2GD5

Keyboard - Microsoft SideWinder X4

MoBo - ASUS Rampage IV Extreme

Mouse - Saitek GM3200

OS - Win 7 Prof 64

PSU - OCZ ZX Series 1000W 80 Plus

RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4 x 4GB)

System drive - (1) OCZ Technology 128GB Vertex 4

Displays - (3) Asus VE248H 

Gameboard - Logitech G13

[Farlo]

Thanks man for your input as well.   

 

I guess I'm too new to edit/have a signature; but, here is my rig, I've been trying my best to bog it down... LOL

 

Case -Cooler Master HAF X

CPU - Intel Core i7-3820 OC 4700

Cooling - CORSAIR H100

Data Drive - (1) WD Caviar Black 1TB

GPU - ASUS GeForce GTX680-DC2O-2GD5

Keyboard - Microsoft SideWinder X4

MoBo - ASUS Rampage IV Extreme

Mouse - Saitek GM3200

OS - Win 7 Prof 64

PSU - OCZ ZX Series 1000W 80 Plus

RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4 x 4GB)

System drive - (1) OCZ Technology 128GB Vertex 4

Displays - (3) Asus VE248H 

Gameboard - Logitech G13

Weird, according to the Admin CP you should be able to do those thing... hard refresh perhaps? Or maybe it just takes a few minutes to update?

 

That's quite a rig you got there, I look forward to seeing screenshots when you're all done :P

[Sairven]

Here is my number one Skyrim modding tip:

 

80% of the issues you might face can be solved by doing a "clean save. A clean save is very (ridiculously to be completely honest XD) easy to do:

-Load up game

-Make a New Save

-Load the New Save

-Done, time to play!

 

It sounds very simple, and it is. But it's one of those small things that go a long way in fixing an issue you might be having. Example: I recently discovered an issue with Immersive Hud ( https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/3222 ) where the Compass Toggle Key would not work. A clean save fixes the problem permanently for that character through all saves.

 

Edit: Thought of another. It's all ready been stated but honestly it can't be stated enough:

 

SAVE OFTEN. For the love of the Nine Divines, save often. A Crash To Desktop (CTD) can happen at any time. Usually it decides it wants to happen at the worst possible moments.

 

Another tip:

Don't be afraid of making new saves. Actually, I encourage it. Making new saves protects against save corruption. You can easily get rid of your humongous excess of extra saves by going to:

C:\Users\(Your user name)\Documents\My Games\Skyrim\Saves

Just try not to delete your important saves! Luckily, the format of the save can help determine what character and when the save happened, just in case.

[Ellis]

You may find that after creating several hundred unique saves, it takes a little while to load the load and/or save menus in Skyrim. Then just move your saves somewhere else, but still keep them just in case. So you'll have clutter/lag free menus without losing the saves :)

 

Anyway, it's really up to you whether to play Skyrim vanilla for a bit. Personally I rarely like to mod a game that much at the beginning... I played about 120 hours of Skyrim before really starting to think about modding it. If you get 10 minutes in and decide that you want to mod it, do so. If you get 10 hours in and decide it's time to mod it, start modding it then instead. Installing mods onto an existing save doesn't, in my experience, have any negative impacts, but some people have reported it does, so make a backup of your saves before installing any mods.

 

The STEP guide made this pretty clear to me, but in general when modding: backup! Especially when it comes to save games :)

[SpikeWLD]

Well I got WB installed and all of the mods downloaded last night. So my weekend is full of getting them all properly setup and loaded. I am looking forward to character creation!

 

Hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend.

 

Bill

[Gyro]

Good luck!

[SpikeWLD]

Howdy,

 

Man, what an awesome game. I got STEP all setup and running however, I have an issue with Lanterns Of Skyrim. The game just will not launch with this enabled. Took some trial and error to find out this was the culprit. I am using CoT, I also have Dawnguard and Hearthfire DLC's, both enabled as well. I did get the Lanterns Dawnguard version.

 

Anyone have any ideas? this is the only mod that is not working.

 

Bill

[ath3nos]

Lanterns comes with multiple esps. Check to make sure you only have the esm and only one of the esps active.

 

Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk 2

[SpikeWLD]

thanks ath3nos.... will do when I get home... figured it had to be something simple.