Realistic Ragdolls and Force, XPMS Extended and UNP help

[Reize12]

Hello, first time modder and poster here. I have been following the STEP 2.10.0 guide to the letter and so far have found it very comprehensible and I greatly appreciate the work all you people do/have done to make that guide possible. Thank you.

 

I have a question regarding my decision to make a slight deviation from the STEP guide. I wish to install the UNP body and I am confused as to which version of Realistic Ragdolls and Force I should install. According to the guide I should install the main file without the esp plugin if I intend to use the STEP extended patch (which I do). However when I read the Nexusmods page I see that the mod author recommends only installing the esp plugin and not the main file if any body mods are going to be used (which I assume UNP counts as). My question is do I need to install Realistic Ragdolls and force at all? Or just install XPMS extended and the UNP body and get the esp plugin from the STEP extended patch. or should I just follow the STEP guide exactly as read and install UNP body somewhere around when I install the better males mod?

 

I apologize if this question has already been asked and answered somewhere else.

 

Thank you for your assistance.

[Greg]

XP32 Maximum Skeleton Extended requires Realistic Ragdolls and Force so you should install these per the guide in the order specified. You do not need to install the plugin for Realistic Ragdolls and Force if you are installing the STEP Patches because this plugin has been merged into the patch. The way the guide is structures, XP32 Maximum Skeleton Extended overrides the skeleton meshes in Realistic Ragdolls and Force and the body mods provide the meshes for the body but not the skeleton.

 

When you get to 2.H Creatures and Characters you should install the body mod of your choice (e.g. Dimonized UNP Female Body) after XCE - Xenius Character Enhancement. You may want to install a UNP compatible character enhancement (face, hair, and optional body textures) to resolve neck seams after the UNP body. Note that whether you install XCE is pretty much your choice but it includes textures for males and females for a lot of races. If you install XCE, you may want to ensure the UNP mods override all of the female textures.

 

Unfortunately the UNP and CBBE bodies are not compatible with the vanilla body so you'll need to install UNP armors and clothing in place of the vanilla armors and clothing in the guide. If you skip this step you'll find the vanilla armors and clothing don't quite fit the UNP body mesh and some of the ladies will have parts falling out of their clothes.

[Reize12]

Thank you so much for your reply.

 

The mod page on nexus states that the Realistic Ragdolls and Force mod is not compatible with body mods so should I just delete the plugin and wait to acquire it through the STEP patch? Or should I download the main mod and let it be overwritten by XP32 Maximum Skeleton extended?

 

Regarding Xenius character enhancement I do not see that mod in the guide but some notes near the top mention it has been removed in favor of other mods. In section 2.H After better males I installed the dimonized UNP body followed by Real Girls Realistic Body Texture for UNP, Better females by bella natural edition, the eyes of beauty and seductive lips. Are any of these redundant or conflicting? Do you think Real Girls Realistic Body Texture will resolve any neck seam issues? I did not install the Windsong Skyrim character overhaul as it clearly states on the mod page that it does not work with UNP or any other body mods.

 

Further down in section 2.H I added KS Hairdos - renewal after superior lore friendly hair. I also added ShowRaceMenu Precache Killer to prevent crashes caused by KS Hairdos but after reading the mod page on nexus again I noticed it said that its wasn't necessary if I already have RaceMenu installed which following the guide I do have. So I guess I can delete Precache killer?

 

Finally in section 2.I I installed the book of UUNP with the patches for UNP without HDT and the WAFR and CCOR patches and I am slightly concerned it may conflict with Rustic Clothing based on the mod page on nexus.

 

And that is the extent of my deviation from the STEP guide otherwise I have followed it exactly. Except I did not download Lepidoptera Of Skyrim because it is no longer available. But I don't think that will cause any issues by its absence. Of course I will not include a LOOT meta rule for it either.

 

Again thank you so much for your guidance. It has always been my dream to play fully modded skyrim since my days as a console peasant but it always seemed too daunting a task. Your guide is simply fantastic (and those amazing GamerPoets videos on youtube).

 

P.S. As I've said I'm following the guide as close as I can and have been installing all the textures at the resolutions recommended by the guide. However I have a pretty good rig (I7 processor, GTX 1080 TI, and 32 gigs of ram) and I am curious how hard I can push my machine. What do you think I can reasonably get away with while still having a playable game?

[Greg]

Oops... you're right. I had forgotten that XCE was removed from the latest guide.

 

I think the statement about Realistic Ragdolls and Force not being compatible with body mods is primarily for Nexus Mod Manager users that have no control over the order of assets used by the game -- meaning they may end up using the wrong skeleton meshes if they don't install the mods in the proper order. If you are using Mod Organizer, install the full Realistic Ragdolls and Force mod with all of the meshes. You don't need the plugin if you are installing the STEP patches, but this does install the skeleton meshes for all creatures and races and this is fine.

 

Install XP32 Maximum Skeleton Extended after Realistic Ragdolls and Force so all of the skeleton meshes in XP32 Maximum Skeleton Extended override the skeletons in Realistic Ragdolls and Force. This means the game is using the skeletons in XP32 Maximum Skeleton Extended for NPC and beast races and the skeletons in Realistic Ragdolls and Force for the creatures.

 

When you install your body mods, you need to look in the filetree to determine whether the body mod provides its own skeleton mesh and determine whether you should use the skeleton in the body mod or the XP32 skeleton. Dimonized UNP Female Body and some other body mods do not include a skeleton so you don't need to worry about it. If the body mod comes with a basic, less capable skeleton you might consider using the skeleton in XP32 Maximum Skeleton Extended instead by hiding the skeleton meshes (e.g. skeleton.nif and skeleton_female.nif) in the body mod and playing the game for a while to verify NPCs look and behave correctly.