Skyrim Revisited Pre-Release Feedback

[Smile44]

I played for 2 hours last night with no crashes or bugs and a 100% stable 60fps. Tested script latency also and looks good. Hope you find where you went arwry... let us know. Don't be discouraged even I messed up a few times and had to find issues that I had to redo.

 

On another note, I am seriously considering SkyRe... opinions?

Fantastic if you can get it to work I really enjoy what it does but there do seem to be a great deal of patches needed, but the new SkyProc should take care of it. It is worth looking at Requiem though. There are lots of ways to make it easier if it is too hardcore but it really adds to the immersion and sense of danger. It changes a great deal more than SkyRe and affects just about everything all of which can be modified.

 

On a side note, on reinstalling SKYTest I found that after using TES5Edit as per instructions it showed up as having switched it's masters around in WB. This happened before when I accidentally misread the instruction on Alternate Start and didn't add in the ESM masters in the Creation kit. So I put SKYTest through the same procedure before going into TES5Edit again and this fixed the problem. Of course I may have gotten something else wrong but I did try it several different ways first.

 

[thalastwon]

Thanks for the recommendations everyone. I just got home so Ima try to check what could be wrong. I noticed the out of order Alternate Start and corrected it. Same with Skytest. I think there might be some issues with the order I did the changes in though. Im pretty sure there were a few mods that I went and edited first, before putting into 1.8 format. I believe that may be affecting it.

 

@Neo I would love to see Skyre set up with this guide. As I was setting it up, I actually found myself lamenting that I wouldn't be able to use it with Skyre.

[Neovalen]

I'll look into SkyRe compatibility tonight if I have time. Obviously going to be one hell of an undertaking.

[kryptopyr]

While I do like many of the changes made by SkyRe' date=' it changes too much for me to have much interest in actually using it. In particular' date=' the changes SkyRe makes to the stealth skills are definite deal-breakers for me, but I play almost exclusively stealth-oriented characters so these changes might carry much less weight to someone not as concerned with this aspect of the game.[/quote'']

 

Stealth is quite busted in Vanilla IMO... what changes in particular turn you off?

 

Oh, I absolutely agree that stealth is incredibly broken in the vanilla game. You won't get any disagreement from me on that point. But for me SkyRe really didn't address this issue. I felt that it made some half-hearted attempts to fix detection (which is an improvement), but otherwise just avoided the issue by making two useless perk trees into a single useless perk tree and creating Wayfarer in it's place. I admit that Wayfarer has some interesting features, but much of it feels a bit forced.  I don't really like the combined perk tree, but this is probably mostly due to my preference for staying relatively close to vanilla.  If I felt that SkyRe had also made significant improvements to Sneak, Lockpicking, and Pickpocket than I would probably be willing to accept the combined perk trees. But as it is, I feel that those skills were left unimproved and remain unbalanced.

 

These are the changes I liked...

+ Longer detection and search times (I felt the changes to these values were the biggest improvement that SkyRe made to stealth, but you can also get the same changes from other mods like SkyRealism)

+ Crime report distance has been greatly reduced (definitely an improvement, but these changes can be found in other mods)

+ Sneaking in heavy armor is more difficult (good but implemented a bit oddly...via spell if I remember right)

+ Sneak attacks deal less damage if the enemy is searching for you

+ Increased sneak attack multiplier for unarmed

~ Light & movement have more influence on sneaking (true, but I found this to be only a very minor improvement over vanilla. Except for running in fairly brightly lit areas, everything else felt about the same)

 

These are the changes I either didn't like or felt could have been done better...

- Dagger sneak attack damage (dagger sneak attacks are already very powerful in vanilla, why double it?)

- Reduced detection view cone (this was changed from 190 to 130 degrees. 130 just feels much too narrow to me and in certain situations actually seemed to make stealth even more broken than vanilla).

- Increased sneak experience gain from bow sneak attacks (again this felt more overpowered than vanilla)

- Equipment weight has greater influence on sneaking success (not really noticeable beyond the separate penalty you receive for heavy armor)

- Sound has less impact on sneaking success (true, but this isn't an improvement over vanilla)

- Fortify Fingersmith still suffers from the fortify pickpocket bug

- No attempt was made to correct the problems within lockpicking or pickpocket or to make these skills any more interesting.

 

Anyway, that's obviously just my opinion, and I don't mean to completely knock what is obviously a very good mod overall. For me, it just makes too many changes to the game while not really addressing the issues that I find most important. In general, I have found that I've been much happier using a collection of mods, each focusing on just one area or aspect of the game, rather than the huge overhauls that try to accomplish everything within a single mod and are much more hit or miss on how well they cover specific aspects.

 

EDIT: I should note that it's been a couple of months since I tried SkyRe, and although I don't think any of the latest updates have done much to alter stealth, I could be mistaken. Also, when I did try it, I did so with the specific intent of testing the changes it made to stealth (so I haven't really played 'causally' using the mod, only play-tested it to compare the stealth features).

[justjr]

I use almost all of your guide mods, plus others ones and SkyRe. I love it and think it works amazing. :)

I would strongly encourage anyone to use it. Feels like more a proper game.

[Daagar]

kryptopyr: Check out SPERG - it might adjust the perk trees in ways you find better for your playstyle if Neovalen ends up going the SkyRe direction. (My unconfirmed suspicion is that SPERG will be easier for people to add on their own to a Revisited build instead of SkyRe, which might require more magic by Neovalen to accommodate).

[Neovalen]

I'm not at home so I can't look but what mod patches come with SkyRe?

[Daagar]

Here's a link to SPERG since I keep bringing it up: https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/24445

 

It has some nice benefits over something like SkyRe - you can import an existing character, for example. And quite possibly fewer conflicts with other mods, since this limits itself to a perk overhaul. Worth a look, even if SkyRe wins :)

[Zhel]

Can't help much with Skyre since I haven't tried it yet (debating between it and SPERG this playthrough). Looking at the page for compatibility, I only really see the ReProccer for auto gen'ing weapon/armor mod compatibilities. Towards the bottom there are a list of recommended mods, but no mention of any needed patches.

 

On the guide side, for Langley's Wood Metal and Stone Workshop, the /Windhelm/ and /Whiterun/ textures mentioned in the 'if SRO installed, exclude' list are all in the general 'exclude' list. Either I'm reading that one wrong or it's redundant. =\

[PCG4m3r]

Black armors? No I haven't seen that. As far as ToL... it should only pop up if you equip the "Ancient Silver Ring" item that was added to your inventory (maybe you did that).

You're right Neovalen. I'm sorry. I must have clicked that ring by accident. Appreciate the help.

 

Regarding the black armors, I'm now thinking it may be related to a VRAM issue. I happened to notice last night that armor turned black right before my game crashed. I have a GTX 580 1.5GB (using 2048x1280 res) and chose pretty much 2048K textures for all mods (where applicable), but haven't reran DDSOpt upd3 on anything except the Vanilla/HRDLC textures yet. I will work on that tonight and hopefully all will be better...or I'll just reduce to 1024K. :)

 

I also would be interested to have SkyRe with your setup!

 

As a couple, minor mod suggestion, have you tried/considered the following?

 

Closer Quivers and Longer Arrows V3 (choose only Main QCv3 file + CBv3 Crossbow Bolts UNP + CQv3 Dawnguard DLC Arrows)

https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/5711

• With the UNP body the quivers noticably float in mid-air and looks odd
  • This mod fixes that and also the longer arrows look nice (version 3)
  • Version 2 of this mod moves the quivers, but doesn't have longer arrows
• Also has fixed arrow recovery, which I believe the Unofficial patches fix, but I don't know if there's any conflict to be corrected via TES5Edit (you're the master at that -- I'm just the padawan :)) 
• Clipping could be an issue with some armors since it moves the quivers closer to the body, but may look better than floating in air to some

Icebreakers Improved Reverb

https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/16907

• Improves reverb where it counts and doesn't seem too overdone IMO

• Gives a nice echo type effect in Dungeons and some other indoor locations -- adds to realism

[thalastwon]

Just an update, I've whittled the issues down to:

Automatic Variants - when booting skyrim, black screen comes up, and 1 second later ctd

Alternate Start - Can continue from a save just fine, but starting a new game causes the menu words to disappear and spinning emblem forever.

Non Essential Killable Children - Causes the Emblem to come up, and thats it. No menu text, no spinning at all.

 

Gonna redo these mods and the patches for them and try again.

[Neovalen]

Just an update, I've whittled the issues down to:

Automatic Variants - when booting skyrim, black screen comes up, and 1 second later ctd

Alternate Start - Can continue from a save just fine, but starting a new game causes the menu words to disappear and spinning emblem forever.

Non Essential Killable Children - Causes the Emblem to come up, and thats it. No menu text, no spinning at all.

 

Gonna redo these mods and the patches for them and try again.

I had a similar black screen start with Alternate Start - Live Another Life when I didn't do the CK portion of the patch. (pasted here for reference)

 

 

 

Open the Creation Kit and select File > Data.

Double-click Skyrim.esm,Update.esm,Dawnguard.esm, and Hearthfires.esm to select them.

Double-click Alternate Start - Live Another Life.esp to select it, click [set as Active File], and then click [OK].

When prompted select [Yes to all] to disable all Warnings.

Once loaded, select File > Save.

Close the Creation Kit. This will add Dawnguard and Hearthfire as masters and fix a few problems on its own.

 

 

 

I suspect once you redo those three mods you'll be fine.

[Neovalen]

I played for 2 hours last night with no crashes or bugs and a 100% stable 60fps. Tested script latency also and looks good. Hope you find where you went arwry... let us know. Don't be discouraged even I messed up a few times and had to find issues that I had to redo.

 

On another note, I am seriously considering SkyRe... opinions?

Fantastic if you can get it to work I really enjoy what it does but there do seem to be a great deal of patches needed, but the new SkyProc should take care of it. It is worth looking at Requiem though. There are lots of ways to make it easier if it is too hardcore but it really adds to the immersion and sense of danger. It changes a great deal more than SkyRe and affects just about everything all of which can be modified.

 

On a side note, on reinstalling SKYTest I found that after using TES5Edit as per instructions it showed up as having switched it's masters around in WB. This happened before when I accidentally misread the instruction on Alternate Start and didn't add in the ESM masters in the Creation kit. So I put SKYTest through the same procedure before going into TES5Edit again and this fixed the problem. Of course I may have gotten something else wrong but I did try it several different ways first.

 

I just checked my files, don't see any switched masters... odd... wonder if this is some TES5Edit quirk.

Here's a link to SPERG since I keep bringing it up: https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/24445

 

It has some nice benefits over something like SkyRe - you can import an existing character, for example. And quite possibly fewer conflicts with other mods, since this limits itself to a perk overhaul. Worth a look, even if SkyRe wins :)

I'll take a look. :) So many mods not enough time to get through them all...

Can't help much with Skyre since I haven't tried it yet (debating between it and SPERG this playthrough). Looking at the page for compatibility, I only really see the ReProccer for auto gen'ing weapon/armor mod compatibilities. Towards the bottom there are a list of recommended mods, but no mention of any needed patches.

 

On the guide side, for Langley's Wood Metal and Stone Workshop, the /Windhelm/ and /Whiterun/ textures mentioned in the 'if SRO installed, exclude' list are all in the general 'exclude' list. Either I'm reading that one wrong or it's redundant. =\

I'll check that out.

Black armors? No I haven't seen that. As far as ToL... it should only pop up if you equip the "Ancient Silver Ring" item that was added to your inventory (maybe you did that).

 

You're right Neovalen. I'm sorry. I must have clicked that ring by accident. Appreciate the help.

 

Regarding the black armors, I'm now thinking it may be related to a VRAM issue. I happened to notice last night that armor turned black right before my game crashed. I have a GTX 580 1.5GB (using 2048x1280 res) and chose pretty much 2048K textures for all mods (where applicable), but haven't reran DDSOpt upd3 on anything except the Vanilla/HRDLC textures yet. I will work on that tonight and hopefully all will be better...or I'll just reduce to 1024K. :)

 

I also would be interested to have SkyRe with your setup!

 

As a couple, minor mod suggestion, have you tried/considered the following?

 

Closer Quivers and Longer Arrows V3 (choose only Main QCv3 file + CBv3 Crossbow Bolts UNP + CQv3 Dawnguard DLC Arrows)

https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/5711

• With the UNP body the quivers noticably float in mid-air and looks odd
  • This mod fixes that and also the longer arrows look nice (version 3)
  • Version 2 of this mod moves the quivers, but doesn't have longer arrows
• Also has fixed arrow recovery, which I believe the Unofficial patches fix, but I don't know if there's any conflict to be corrected via TES5Edit (you're the master at that -- I'm just the padawan :)) 
• Clipping could be an issue with some armors since it moves the quivers closer to the body, but may look better than floating in air to some

Icebreakers Improved Reverb

https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/16907

• Improves reverb where it counts and doesn't seem too overdone IMO

• Gives a nice echo type effect in Dungeons and some other indoor locations -- adds to realism

I'll take another look at these two... trying to resolve all the clipping with pretty much everything on the back is difficult. (daggers, shields, backpacks, cloaks, bows, quivers, staves, etc. etc.)

 

Edit: Fixed the Langleys section, working on re-ordering Alternate Start patches now per comments previously.

[Neovalen]

Alternate Start patches have been re-ordered/renamed. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

I just had a thought about wrongly ordered masters, run BOSS before doing any compatibility patches so they are correctly ordered prior to making the patch.

[thalastwon]

So I re-did all 3 of those mods. Redownloaded them from the site, reinstalled them with MO and edited them as necessary.

Non Essential Children works fine now.

Alternate Start and Automatic Variants still give the same issues as before.

Game runs just fine otherwise. I can do without Alternate Start just fine, but I'm really looking forward to trying Automatic Variants.