Adding stuff like ETaC, Immersive Weapons/Armors, Skyrim Immersive Creatures and more

[seneschall]

I'm starting Step: Extended, but I also want to add other mods, like in the Title, as well as Bandoliers, Cloaks, Falskaar, SPERG and a few Player Homes (I have a thing for player homes, so I definitely want a few of them!).  

 

However, The step guide always says to leave those options UNCHECKED.  

 

Option One:  Download the mods, install & check anyways.

 

Option Two:  Follow the guide strictly, then go back & reinstall those mods. (but what do I do about the ones I left unchecked?)

 

Eventually I have to get down to Wrye Bash & DynDolod.  How do I work these extra mods with them, in order to keep my skyrim relatively crash free?  What's the best option?  Or is there a 3rd?  

[Kelmych]

Option Two is the best choice. Make sure you get the STEP Extended mods installed and working properly, then activate the extra mods. Create a STEP Extended profile in Mod Organizer that has only the STEP Extended mods activated. If there are problems it is a lot easier to fix them with only the STEP Extended mods activated since there is a large experience base in getting these working. Once you activate other mods then it is difficult to know whether any problems are caused by these mods or your initial installation of STEP Extended. 

 

Once the STEP Extended mods work you can create one or more additional MO profiles that include the additional mods you want to add. You will find comments about a lot of the additional mods that interest you in the forums on the site, by the way. With each profile you will create a different bashed patch and different DynDOLOD plugin and associated files. It's easy to do this for the bashed patch since it a single file; it's slightly harder for DynDOLOD since it uses files in several folders. With several profiles you can switch profiles when you find problems to see which profiles have the problem.

[Greg]

I recommend keeping the FNIS generated files separate in each profile as well. This way you can regenerate the FNIS animations or add new animations to a profile without it affecting the other profiles.

[baronaatista]

you also might want to take a look at SRLE/Extended

 

https://wiki.step-project.com/User:Neovalen/Skyrim_Revisited_-_Legendary_Edition - SRLE by Neovalen

https://wiki.step-project.com/User:Darth_mathias/SRLE_Extended - SRLE Extended by Darth Mathias/Lexy

 

SRLE Extended has pretty much everything you're talking about and more (except it uses Arthmoor's city mods rather than ETaC)

In my experience, unless you really know what you're doing, following a guide for all this stuff is the best way.  

 

My first couple encounters with STEP were - I built my STEP profile, and then would proceed to just jam the extra gameplay mods I wanted on top, trying to find patches where I could.  To say the very least, this is not a great way to do it.  Your game may even load up and play in such a setup, but I wouldn't count on much more than that.  Many others have come before you and through trial and error have come to certain paths.  That's not say others don't exist, they're just not easy to find (again, unless you really know what you're doing). 

 

To throw it out there, my setup is based off Dreadflopps' packs and install;

 

https://wiki.step-project.com/User:Dreadflopp/Dreadflopps_Modular_patches

 

It combines STEP Extended (most of) with most of SRLE, parts of SRLE Extended, and SRLE Explorers, with a few additions of his own.

 

All of these guides have conflict resolution patches available that you can either make yourself, or in the case of SRLE/Extended, available for download.  Dreadflopps' conflict resolution has to be merged in Merge Plugins.  

 

Also I've played with SPERG and wasn't a fan.  I'd recommend Ordinator or TTRSO

I'm playing with Ordinator right now and loving it, there's just tons of potential for builds in it.  Really well done, yet still simplistic perk overhaul.

That being said, my previous install was SSR with SPO, CACO, EA, and TTRSO to fill in the rest.  Result being a really close to vanilla (other than enchanting awakened) perk overhaul with much more versatility.

Edited May 30, 2016 by baronaatista

[Kelmych]

I use ETAC and it works fine for me with STEP Extended; the modular version is needed and some towns/cities need to be excluded. I prefer ETAC to the equivalent set of mods by Arthmoor; I do use some of Arthmoor's place mods in addition since there are ones that don't conflict with ETAC. If you try to directly use SR:LE or SR:LE Extended along with STEP Extended there is a major problem. The lighting mods used for STEP Extended aren't compatible with the ones used in SR:LE, so the patches provided with STEP Extended and with SR:LE aren't compatible. As mentioned above, Dreadflopp has created patches that allow for compatibility with many of the SR:LE mods in addition to STEP Extended.

[seneschall]

Not sure I've ever seen Arthmoor's.  Might have to check it out.  

But before I start deviating away from the main Step (on the last download before bashed patch), I reckon I just copy the main Step install profile, and experiment from there, correct?  And this is safe to do AFTER the DynDOLOD section?  If I don't have to go through the entire Step Extended bit, and just experiment with some new mods, I'll be happy to build and experiment for weeks!  (I probably won't play much due to the actual experimentation, but I'm like that I guess.)

[baronaatista]

Well the question is what is your end goal.... If you really like the look of STEP: Extended, Kelmych seems to be saying ETaC works for it, and for the rest of what you said you wanted you could likely use Dreadflopps packs + patches to sort out any issues.  In that case, definitely install STEP: Extended and make sure everything is working correctly first, then proceed to tweak - and as others have mentioned, create a new profile in MO for your additions (yes by copying your STEP profile).  That would have saved me many a headache in the beginning.

 

However SRLE/SRLE Extended are their own separate guides from STEP, which are thoroughly tested and maintained by their authors and the community, and thus are quite stable to use as well.  If they look appealing, you would essentially have to do a completely separate install from STEP.  Unless of course you're crazy like me and want to essentially pick and choose what you want from it all (more or less) and toss some more on top - this is the Dreadflopps' install.

 

To keep it simple, STEP:Extended + few small mods is a great way to go.

 

*sorry I keep saying Extended, you seem to be planning to install STEP:Core only.  I'm sure that works just as well - the Dreadflopps patches I mentioned have variations for STEP: Core, Extended, and SRLE.

 

*to clarify - if you think you might be installing a LOT of mods on top of STEP:Core, using one of the larger guides is probably the best idea.  A couple small additions is mostly easy to manage, but larger installs can become quite tricky.

 

*also, I had the same thinking when I was first going through STEP - I'll save some time, just install Core.  As I went along though, I kept realizing the value of more of the Extended mods, and wound up having to go back and install more mods.  That really is a solid, vetted list of excellent mods that all work together quite well - most which you will also find in SRLE/Extended.

Edited May 30, 2016 by baronaatista

[Kelmych]

In addition to the STEP Extended mods I use most of the SR:LE mods, some of the SR:LE Extended mods, a lot of the mods from the Real Explorers Guide to Skyrim pack (not currently being updated but still very useful), and a few other mods that seem useful. However, as baronaatista mentions, picking and choosing mods is more complicated because of patching. I've been doing a lot of my own custom patches, but this isn't something you want to do until you have tried sets of mods where patches are already available. With Mod Organizer you can even have a profile for STEP Extended and a different one for SR:LE, once you become more familar with using mods and then creating or editing patches.

[seneschall]

I've created a couple profiles already, just to make sure I don't have to start over.  One before Wrye bash, and I'll make another one in like 3 hours, whenever Dyndolod is finished.  My profiles folder is going to be HUGE!  At least once I start adding more stuff like the above.

This'll be the first time I've ever gotten to the very end of STEP.

[baronaatista]

To throw it out there, there's really no need to create a separate profile for your bash patch, DynDOLOD, etc.  The best idea is to include those in your STEP profile (they are part of STEP after all) You will then want to create a new bashed patch, Dual Sheath Redux Patch (depending if you add weapons/armors) and possibly a new DynDOLOD (depending on what you add - ETaC would almost certainly require re-generating DynDOLOD) for your STEP Expansion profile(s).  That way when you switch profiles the old ones are deactivated and the new ones are activated.  Easy peasy.  

Edited May 30, 2016 by baronaatista