Pre-Install Question

[Badfrog88]

I'm am about ready to begin my third attempt at installing Skyrim Revisited.  I believe I understand the mistakes I made previously, but I have a general question I would like clarified before I begin again. Admittedly, I haven't read the guide through completely, but I do plan to before I start. I'm not sure if this will be answered there or not.

 

Should I completely install the project before I attempt to run the game (aside from the first start to create the .ini files, etc.)?

 

 

Thanks. 

[RonHiler]

Well, there are others that are more of an expert than I am, and maybe they have a different answer than I do.

 

But my feeling is, no, you should not wait until a complete install to run. You should run the game after each section at the very least, just to make sure everything is working okay up to that point. Otherwise, if you wait until the very end to run, and it crashes on start-up, you are going to have no idea where to look. Whereas if you have the same scenario after installing just a few mods, you have a pretty good idea where to look to find the problem.

 

Note that I ran Loot and sorted my esps prior to each run, but didn't do any other special processing. In certain situations this may cause a crash or an error message to appear (e.g. for a while there if you remove your character's clothes, you will crash because the skeleton isn't set up yet, or you will get an error message opening up the map because you haven't turned off the check in the MCM settings yet). That kind of thing is expected and normal, but in general, the game runs pretty well even with only a partial install, as long as your esps are sorted, and you turn off any esps with missing masters.

[DarkladyLexy]

I am similar to Ron I would run the game at the very least at the end of each section and if it crashes you know something is wrong. It usually crashes because either a prerequisite mod further down is not installed (but you can just disable the plugin until then) or there was a issue with that section of you install this will help with troubleshooting

[Badfrog88]

Thanks for the replies. My thinking also was to run the game after each section, until I couldn't figure out my CTD yesterday.  I was thinking it had something to do with a missing prerequsite, my my Vanilla profile would also CTD.

 

@RonHiler: I was following your YouTube guide, along with  Neovalen's written guide, but the differences between the two only made me more confused.  I am was using the most current guide, dated 25 August 2016.

 

Should I try with with the 8 March 2016 revision or the current 25 August one?

 

Maybe I'm just in over my head... I have no modding experience ATM.

[RonHiler]

Thanks for the replies. My thinking also was to run the game after each section, until I couldn't figure out my CTD yesterday.  I was thinking it had something to do with a missing prerequsite, my my Vanilla profile would also CTD.

 

@RonHiler: I was following your YouTube guide, along with  Neovalen's written guide, but the differences between the two only made me more confused.  I am was using the most current guide, dated 25 August 2016.

 

Should I try with with the 8 March 2016 revision or the current 25 August one?

 

Maybe I'm just in over my head... I have no modding experience ATM.

Yeah, that's the big problem with the video series, it's static, while the guide is continually updated, so it's gone out of date. I would say watch a few episodes. It gives you an idea of how to install mods, what to look for, etc. Then use that knowledge to install the most recent version of the guide. Go back to the vids if you are confused about some aspect of the install (presuming there is a corresponding vid for that part of the guide).

 

I would for use use the most current version of the guide though. Neo, Darth, Lexy, and Paul (and others) put a lot of work into them, and they are constantly improving. The new landscape stuff is pretty neat (I can't install it, since I've started my playthrough, and therefore have locked it to that version, but I have another profile that I mess with and keep an eye on changes, and it's pretty good stuff, hehe). So yeah, stick with the most current version you can.

 

As for crashes, make sure you keep an eye on the right panel. If you have any mods with exclamation signs on them, that means they are missing a master. Turn them off before running. I've found that's the most common cause of crashes during a test during mid-install of the guide. Do keep in mind, the CR patch isn't installed until the very end, so you will have a bit of inherent instability in your game because of that (conflicts between mods can cause CTD). But that's relatively rare, you shouldn't be constantly crashing just because you don't have in the CR patch yet.

 

As for vanilla crashing...Did you also turn off your ENB when you ran vanilla? Remember that is done outside of MO. What was the last set you installed before the crashing began?

[Badfrog88]

 

 

As for vanilla crashing...Did you also turn off your ENB when you ran vanilla? Remember that is done outside of MO. What was the last set you installed before the crashing began?

Aah!  No, I did not turn off my ENB. I didn't know I needed to. I thought I could run vanilla without making any changes.  The last thing I installed before crashing was Wiseman303s Critter Fixes.  I hadn't run the game since after creating the Skyrim Revisited profile.

[RonHiler]

Yeah, give that a try and see if Vanilla works. In theory, the ENB shouldn't cause vanilla to crash, but you never know.

 

So the last section you installed was "Other Fixes". I'd turn off each mod, one by one (starting with Critter fixes, then working your way up), running the game each time, until you no longer crash. That will give you the exact offending mod that is causing you issues (and be sure to check for those missing masters!). Also carefully reread that section of the guide and make sure you didn't miss anything. It's surprisingly easy to skip over some little thing only to have it bite you in the backside later on :)

[Badfrog88]

I have done a clean reinstall and after completing 3.8.3.5 Shadows Tweaks I ran Skyrim and received a CTD when starting a new game. It does not occur when ENB is turned off.

 

I found this thread that seems to be the same issue I'm currently having and I have posted to that.

 

 

[twiztedmongoloid]

SRLE base and especially extended definitely require some previous experience. They use a lot of advanced methods and pretty much every tool out there. 

 

When installing base just do EXACTLY as the guide says and take your time. Use the integration guide from extended as a reference (particularly on what to merge and not to merge). If confused or unsure about any steps just use Rons videos as a reference. He covers most of the complicated stuff and majority of it is still applicable. 

 

Take your time and dont rush. Definitely test as you go. With or without guide i always tell people to test test test. 

 

One thing you might want to watch tho is your VRAM. 2gb i dont think is gonna be enough. After installing SFO in the base guide i was already hitting over 2gb peak....averaging around 1.5 usage. And that is using all 1k textures. 

[Badfrog88]

 

 

One thing you might want to watch tho is your VRAM. 2gb i dont think is gonna be enough. After installing SFO in the base guide i was already hitting over 2gb peak....averaging around 1.5 usage. And that is using all 1k textures. 

With my limited VRAM, do you think it would be a good idea to go back and replace all the 2k and higher files with 1k? A new video card is not in the budget anytime soon.

[richardo11]

I am almost to the end of the installing, I have been installing for 20hours in a row, but i couldn't finished it in one go :)

 

In my experience i do one thing whilst installing this guide, every 10 mods or so (less if there is a "big" mod in between), I run LOOT and fire the game, i play for about 15 or 20 minutes, then with the help of usp.net, I coc four or five places, trying no to pick the someones every time, and time to time, I also go to console and type: tgm/tcl and player.setav speedmult 1500

 

So far (just installing the last stretch) the game looks amazing (better than ever in fact) I am also hitting very hard VRAM over the 3+++ strong, but i don't crash.

 

Surely you will come to things that you will not get straight the first time you read it, read it again and again, try to figure out what Neovalen wanted to say, ask and be patient, the list works, I can tell you that.

 

One thing more to prevent you to waste your time  in my opinion, with 2gb vram i thing you are short and running from a HDD is also not ideal for this install. I have 4gb ram and all the time, absolutely all the time, i am well above the 3gb vram

Edited September 4, 2016 by richardo11

[twiztedmongoloid]

With my limited VRAM, do you think it would be a good idea to go back and replace all the 2k and higher files with 1k? A new video card is not in the budget anytime soon.

Yes. Thats what i do and with only 2GB i would definitely recommend you do the same. The visual difference is hardly noticeable. 

 

Monitor your VRAM usage with skyrim performance monitor. 

 

I am almost to the end of the installing, I have been installing for 20hours in a row, but i couldn't finished it in one go :)

 

In my experience i do one thing whilst installing this guide, every 10 mods or so (less if there is a "big" mod in between), I run LOOT and fire the game, i play for about 15 or 20 minutes, then with the help of usp.net, I coc four or five places, trying no to pick the someones every time, and time to time, I also go to console and type: tgm/tcl and player.setav speedmult 1500

 

So far (just installing the last stretch) the game looks amazing (better than ever in fact) I am also hitting very hard VRAM over the 3+++ strong, but i don't crash.

 

Surely you will come to things that you will not get straight the first time you read it, read it again and again, try to figure out what Neovalen wanted to say, ask and be patient, the list works, I can tell you that.

 

One thing more to prevent you to waste your time  in my opinion, with 2gb vram i thing you are short and running from a HDD is also not ideal for this install. I have 4gb ram and all the time, absolutely all the time, i am well above the 3gb vram

Completely agree.

 

There are a couple posters who claim to run these guides on weaker cards but i dont really buy it just based on my own experience. I have a 970 and reduced texture sizes wherever possible and with the FULL LoTD installed i was peaking around 3.3

 

So the guys claiming that i think are full of crap. 

 

You need a 4GB card to use these guides. At least if you actually wanna play and enjoy the game not just have a pretty mod list to stare at. 

 

Also i have installed SRLE - Base about 4 times now and it usually takes me about 3 days to install. I dont have the focus to blast through in a day working on it all day lol.

 

I installed both SRLE and SRLE LoTD over the course of a week......took me all night almost just doing all the merges alone for LOTD......lots and lots of work......

Edited September 5, 2016 by twiztedmongoloid

[Badfrog88]

I just installed Skyrim Performance Monitor and the results didn't look good. Just standing by the Skill Improvement Stones my GPU was maxed at 100%. 

 

I'm beginning to think I need to go with a lighter mod, but I'm not sure how best it would be to proceed.  I don't mind reformatting the drive and starting clean. I look at it as a learning experience. 

 

When I am able to get better  hardware I will try again. 

 

Any suggestions?

[Kelmych]

I find my GPU is almost always at max in Skyrim; it doesn't usually cause a major problem at least for me. Did you check the VRAM loading?

[Badfrog88]

Standing at the Skill Improvement Stones: RAM: 1,968(BM), VRAM: 1,926(MB), CPU: 22%, GPU:99%, GPU: 136 F, THREADS: 43, FPS: 30

 

In the Embershard Mine: RAM: 1368(MB), VRAM: 1,490(MB), CPU:10%, GPU:99%, GPU: 159 F, THREADS: 40, FPS:36