STEP guide for cognitively challenged individuals

[kittytessapuppy]

I am having a hard time understanding the step guides, I can't seem to figure out how to complete many of the steps in the guide, and it's frustrating me. I have a high functioning autism spectrum disorder, I'm not stupid, but the instructions just don't make any sense to me. I'm sorry if this is on the wrong place, or if I'm just missing something. But I would really like some help with the guide of that's at all possible, thank you.

Edited March 13, 2016 by kittytessapuppy

[Greg]

If you need specific help with anything, feel free to ask.

[kittytessapuppy]

~~ I just realized that I made a typo in my post title. Is there any way to edit that to be correct?

[TechAngel85]

~~ I just realized that I made a typo in my post title. Is there any way to edit that to be correct?

Click edit post on your first post and then click the "More Reply Options" button to be able to edit the title (next to the post button).

[Bandy]

To the OP, I have no 'learning challenges' (other than getting on in years) and also found the STEP guide to be frustrating at certain points.  I should have taken notes as I overcame these hurdles to provide feedback, they mostly involved information/explanation that appears later in the procedure (usually at the patch steps) that would have been helpful to mention earlier or refer to. 

 

The guide is long, so reading the important bits from start to finish first usually means something doesn't stick when it comes to actually installing...

 

Like most instructions, they are usually written by people too familiar with the process to remember what it was like to do it for the first time.  This is not negative criticism, the STEP project is fabulous and the stable gameplay makes it well worth persisting with the install.

Edited March 15, 2016 by Bandy

[Shadriss]

Perhaps, in order to best assist, you could tell us what, specifically, you need assistance with at the moment? I'm all for helping out (my son is in the same boat as you are...), but without a specific question, it's rather hard to do so.

[kittytessapuppy]

Thank you, I actually do not have internet where I live, and only get internet access on the weekends when I visit my parents, so I'll take a look at the guide again on Saturday and find the spots where I got confused. Thank you again for your offers of help.

[Van555]

Don't feel too bad it took me at least three tries to get the step guide to work as intended you just have focus reload and say something over here.

[varulv]

Hmmm, overall it was rather easy for me, but sometimes (maybe because English is not my native language?) I feel completely dumb. For instance:

I have installed all of step core, patch fomod recognized everything and the core patch was also installed. However, I have also installed some mods from extended, so what do I need to do now? I thought that I needed the individual patches for said mods (which will result in extra .esp's, which is fine in my case) but then I see some mods that I don't have, others that I thought CORE patch covered, like AOS2 patches (realisticwater two, GDO -- which I recall reading it is redundant if I am installing WAF patch?) some mod that's not on STEP at all like Disease Descriptions.. then at the bottom I see the "Combined Plugins" and I'm like "Cool, I'll get those, then!" then I read that the only requirements for these plugins are SMIM, HF & Dragonborn, but then I see in these plugins patches for mods I haven't installed. Won't that cause problems? I decided to try them and see anyway, only to find that these STEP combined plugins are nowhere to be found for download. 

 

... help me -.- lol, yeah, I really find the STEP Patches Requirements page confusing for some reason...
 

[skanderbeg53]

I'm also finding the STEP guide both a blessing and a curse. Blessing, because as I go through and pseudo-benchmark each section, I'm amazed at how fast and stable gameplay is. One cannot help but admire and appreciate the hours and hours of testing needed to make something as complex as STEP so stable.

 

It's a curse in its arcane complexity. The biggest problem I'm having seems to be understanding Mod Organizer's organizational principals vs STEP. I end up with two big questions:

 

1) STEP is very specific about loading the mods in the prescribed order. So far so good; but then we're supposed to run LOOT at the end of things, which prescribes a different order. I know running LOOT will reorder the esp files in the right pane. Is it then necessary to try and match that order in the left pane? If so, that seems to negate the benefit of installation order. If not - what a relief! Re-ordering 200+ mods takes a long, tedious time. So after running LOOT, can I leave the left pane alone? 

 

2) The other issue that STEP seems to not mention (or mentions somewhere I haven't seen), is additional mods. STEP is a good start, but if I want a body replacer, or different eye options, or something not what STEP would deem "lore friendly," like armor mods, player homes, apachii hair, bijin mods that dare make the women attractive, etc, I assume the install order is not necessarily the preferred location. Do I alter the mod location in the left pane to attempt to match up with the LOOT order in the right pane? Do I leave the new mods where they fall in the left pane (unless they're textures that obviously need to be in a particular location to work - based on the STEP sections, maybe?) and trust LOOT to handle the ESMs for me? 

 

And what about adding an ENB? 

 

Mostly I'm puzzled by the first question the most. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!

 

PS: STEP has "Clothing and Clutter fixes" installed in (for me) Priority 12, and "Weapons and Armor Fixes Remade" at priority 28. However, MO says that "Weapons and Armor..." needs to load before "Clothing and Clutter."

 

Who's right?

Edited March 18, 2016 by skanderbeg53

[TechAngel85]

First, ignore MO's recommendations for where it wants the mods in STEP.

 

Second, install the mods in the order they are in the Guide. Be sure you have all the LOOT rules we recommend and then let LOOT sort your plugins. No need to match them to the mods in the left pane.

 

Third, install any mods you want on top of STEP, including an ENB Preset if you want. Be aware you will have to work out the conflicts for additional mods on your own. Asking for support in the support forums here is always welcomed as well.

[kittytessapuppy]

I actually have a question regarding mod managers, mainly which is the recommended manager for STEP, Mod Organizer or Nexus Mod Manager? Right now I'm sorry of using a combination of the two, where I first install a mod using mod organiser for testing purposes, then, once I'm sure it won't crash my game, I remove it from MO and install it via NMM. That way I basically have a great environment for mods that may or may not conflict. I'm actually thinking, however, that the better idea would be to have two installations of MO, one that is for main play, and the second as the testing environment.

 

What do you think?

[Kelmych]

One of the major capabilities of MO is that it supports multiple profiles. Each profile has a potentially different set of mods. This would allow you to have one profile for the main play and another for testing, and even additional different profiles for different purposes such as several different sets of mods for testing. Each mod is installed once and can be used in as many profiles as you want.

[TechAngel85]

STEP doesn't support NMM. It's not powerful or feature rich enough to be able to handle a STEP install without a lot of user intervention.

[skanderbeg53]

Akatosh, thank you very much for your quick reply, it kind of all makes sense now! Yes, I understand that adding stuff on top of the STEP list will be on me to figure out, but do appreciate your insight and information greatly. Onward through the mod!

[GrantSP]

I should qualify @Tech's first answer to @skanderbeg53

 

The order in which the mods are installed is not the same thing as the order that LOOT suggests your plugins to be.

Mods are composed of: assets (textures, sounds, scripts, animations etc.) and plugins (ESM/ESP). LOOT is ONLY concerned about plugins and therefore the order you install the assets is not touched when you run LOOT.

 

On very few occasions MO may (if the setting is not changed when you install it) suggest the order of the left-hand pane needs to be changed, this is what @Tech is referring to and is a very small subset of the entire modding installation which, if following the guide explicitly, will never be seen.