Dread's Skyrim Build (a STEP build)

[viper37]

Quick semi-newb question.

I stumbled upon another patch hub https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/9951?tab=files'>here (Lost of T'Skyrim). There's also a CBBE

There are CBBE patches for Amidian born and Frankly HD Imperial(...  ) and I also found a CBBE version of Lustmord armor.

 

My question is: is there a difference between using such patches and generating the meshes as you are doing in your guide?  I'm guessing not... (sorry, never dealt with that before and I'm not much of an artist either).  If I do install these patches,  I guess I don't have to tick the relevant options in #7 of the Generating body[...] portion of your guide?  Same if I have CBBE versions of other armour mods I found and installed (notably, some of DX armors).

Edited September 24, 2020 by viper37

[dreadflopp]

Quick semi-newb question.

 

I stumbled upon another patch hub here (Lost of T'Skyrim). There's also a CBBE

There are CBBE patches for Amidian born and Frankly HD Imperial(...  ) and I also found a CBBE version of Lustmord armor.

 

My question is: is there a difference between using such patches and generating the meshes as you are doing in your guide?  I'm guessing not... (sorry, never dealt with that before and I'm not much of an artist either).  If I do install these patches,  I guess I don't have to tick the relevant options in #7 of the Generating body[...] portion of your guide?  Same if I have CBBE versions of other armour mods I found and installed (notably, some of DX armors).

A cbbe-patch contains bodyslides which are used to build your own meshes that fits the body preset you have chosen. I'll take a look att the Frankly and aMidianborn patches. They will be added if they are made properly. And yes, check the relevant options in step #7.

 

The Lustmord armor already has cbbe support and the mod you linked is the same as in the guide.

 

Minor change in the instructions for your next update:

 

 

I believe one of the updates remove this, since there is no such plugin in the mod.

Thanks, I will fix it soon.

 

[viper37]

Thanks for the answer, I shouldn't post when I'm tired, I got confused by another set of armor.  All is good, I'm slowly correcting my mistakes, thank you very much :)

[dreadflopp]

Thanks for the answer, I shouldn't post when I'm tired, I got confused by another set of armor.  All is good, I'm slowly correcting my mistakes, thank you very much :)

No worries. I don't know what the aMidianborn or Frankly patches do, but they aren't bodyslide patches.

 

[MetalVez]

Good friday morning! There are a few questions here and there and here is what I think.

1- Lanterns of Skyrim 2: After reading the thread in the STEP forum, I must admit that I agree with some comments. The big difference between Lanterns of Skyrim II (LoS II) and the original version of LoS MCM is in the textures and models of the lanterns used. In LoS II, many light poles are darker making them more visible and they don't seem to blend in well with the surroundings, which is why it catches the eye. Even with that in mind, I prefer the diversity for the lanterns and textures that LoS uses over the original. To me it looks more "modern" than the original mod. The fact that some lanterns can blow as if they are weightless doesn't bother me much. Pretty much all of this questioning is about textures and if the general agreement is that the original mod fits better then why not change it?

However if we continue to use LoS II I think we should check if we need the update file as it was updated towards the end of August.

2- Status of the guide: I know that there was quite a lot going on in the last few days, especially when it comes to updating the Github page (which is REALLY beautiful and easy to navigate) but is it this a good time to update or are there still changes coming?

3- Question about Relationship dialogue overhaul / Cutting room floor (CRF): There is a patch for RDO - CRF and USSEP but it is not in the list. Is it necessary? I believe this is included into the Dreads modlist patches, right?

4- Suggestions

4.1 Immersive Sound Collection: More diversity for sounds is always nice and this one goes well with Audio Overhaul for Skyrim (needs fixes). Adding an immersive sound compendium could make a few mods in the section Sounds and music that will overlap, but it's easy to test and see which sounds you prefer

4.2 Solstheim Mods: I still think this area of the game is really unloved, as there aren't any mods that cover it in the guide. There are a few mods that can add life without too much of a workaround for the city and settlements.
For the town of Raven Rock there is the mod Quaint Raven Rock (there's also a patch collection) and another one, Raven rock Reborn.

Better Tel Mithryn is an expansion of the settlement of Tel Mithryn. It add more life around the Telvanni tower and make it less isolated.

For textures, I can't recommend the mods made by author Rallyeator enough. There are five for Solstheim: Rally's Raven Rock, Rally's Riekling Outpost, Rally's Tel Mithryn, Rally's Landscapes of Solstheim and Rally's Plants from Solstheim. All of them have been on my mod list since their release and improve textures a lot.

4.3 New Beginnings Live Another Life Extension: More choices for the mod Live another life by Arthmoor. This is soooo nice for the gameplay. I really like this mod

4.4 SSE Display Tweaks: An alternative for the mod Havok fixes.

That's it for now! See ya

Edited May 30, 2021 by MetalheadVez

[dreadflopp]

Good friday morning! There are a few questions here and there and here is what i think.

 

1- Lanterns of Skyrim 2: After reading the thread in the STEP forum, I must admit that I agree with some comments. The big difference between Lanterns of Skyrim II (LoS II) and the original version of LoS MCM is in the textures and models of the lanterns used. In LoS II, many light poles are darker making them more visible and they don't seem to blend in well with the surroundings, which is why it catches the eye. Even with that in mind, I prefer the diversity for the lanterns and textures that LoS uses over the original. To me it looks more "modern" than the original mod. The fact that some lanterns can blow as if they are weightless doesn't bother me much. Pretty much all of this questioning is about textures and if the general agreement is that the original mod fits better then why not change it? would not be unhappy came out in relation to the question of textures :)

However if we continue to use LoS II I think we should check if we need the update file as it was updated towards the end of August.

 

2- Status of the guide: I know that there was quite a lot going on in the last few days, especially when it comes to updating the Github page (which is REALLY beautiful and easy to navigate) but is it this a good time to update or are there still changes coming?

 

3- Question about Relationship dialogue overhaul / Cutting room floor (CRF): There is a patch for RDO - CRF and USSEP but it is not in the list. Is it necessary? I believe this is included into the Dread’s modlist patches, right?

 

4- Suggestions

 

4.1 Immersive Sound Collection: More diversity for sounds is always nice and this one goes well with Audio Overhaul for Skyrim (needs fixes). Adding an immersive sound compendium could make a few mods in the section Sounds and music that will overlap, but it's easy to test and see which sounds you prefer :)

 

4.2 Solstheim Mods: I still think this area of ​​the game is really unloved, as there aren't any mods that cover it in the guide. There are a few mods that can add life without too much of a workaround for the city and settlements.

For the town of Raven Rock there is the mode Quaint Raven rock (there's also a patch collection) and another one, Raven rock Reborn.

Better Tel Mithryn is an expansion of the settlement of Tel Mithryn. It add more life around the Telvanni tower and make it less isolated.

 

For textures, I can't recommend the mods made by author Rallyeator enough. There are five for Solstheim: Rally's Raven Rock, Rally's Riekling Outpost, Rally's Tel Mithryn, Rally's Landscapes of Solstheim and Rally's Plants from Solstheim. All of them have been on my mod list since their release and improve textures a lot.

 

4.3 New Beginnings Live Another Life Extension: More choices for the mod Live another life by Arthmoor. This is soooo nice for the gameplay. I really like this mod :)

 

4.4 SSE Display Tweaks: An alternative for the mod Havok fixes.

 

That's it for now! See ya :)

1. Not sure about LoS, I don't have a strong opinion here and if no one else got that I'm going with whatever STEP does. The august update seems to be for Tamriel master lights only, which we don't use.

 

2. I'm slowly working through all suggested mods. There is nothing major that should prevent you from updating. Well, there is one and that is Ethereal Elven Overhaul and Diversity. I'll go through the patches and load order to fix the dark face bug and add them to the guide. NPC AI process position fix will replace Closing Time when it's bugs are fixed. I'll checkout 360 Movement Behavior SE as well as the mods you suggested now and awhile back. Texture mods takes time to test, which is why I usually relies on STEP for that. Runsbuns suggested some mods. From his/her list I have already added NARC. Scarcity won't be added (too much conflicts). Neither will SkyTest (I don't like it) or Mature Skin (very good mod but so is Bijin Skin). I will checkout Travellers of Skyrim, Racial Body Morphs or FK's Diverse Racial Skeletons (I don't think it will be added) and Interesting NPCs Visual Overhaul.

 

3. Correct, it is included in my patches.

 

4.1 Maybe, I'll check it out.

4.2 Very interesting, the next thing I'll check out.

4.3 I think I have used this one before. I used a LAL expansion that added to much high level gear in the starting cave/location.

4.4 will check out.

[viper37]

There is a patch for Immersive sounds and Enhanced Blood SSE, but for some reason, LOOT reports it's not needed. Anyway.

 

I've added a few -erm, a lot of other mods, and now I need to get the count down.  First thing to do would probably be to flag some small esp as esl, but, before I frack things up, I have a question. :)

I noticed some of your patches are esl, and others are esp.  Wrye Batch says sure, go ahead, flag it as ESL, nothing bad will happen, but if it does, don't come whining to me. ;)

 

What is the reason for not flagging a "simple" esp as esl?  Is it dependant on the master?  I can not find info on this.  So far, I've figured that older mods (<2018) who are not dependant on a master could be converted as esl if Wrye Bash says so, but I'm not sure about the others.

 

Also, do you (or anyone else reading this) know of a written guide on zMerge?  I really need to merge some of my mods, but I'm having trouble finding documentation.  Wrye Bash documentation on merging seems non existant (the old STEP instructions on creating a bashed patch serve a different purpose, I believe and I haven't touched that since before the SE came out anyway), xEdit documentation is flagged as either obsolete or refers to videos that have since been deleted.  Also, Wrye Bash is giving me headaches as it won't let me ALT+TAB to my browser so I can read doc as I go through with it. Ultra-annoying.  I found an instruction video on Youtube, but I've never been fond of these things to learn something new.

Thanks for your time, it's really appreciated.

[dreadflopp]

There is a patch for Immersive sounds and Enhanced Blood SSE, but for some reason, LOOT reports it's not needed.

 

It is probably not for the light version of enhanced blood.

 

 

I noticed some of your patches are esl, and others are esp.  Wrye Batch says sure, go ahead, flag it as ESL, nothing bad will happen, but if it does, don't come whining to me. ;)

That was a mistake, a batch of patches didn't have the flag. It is now fixed.

 

 

 

What is the reason for not flagging a "simple" esp as esl?  Is it dependant on the master?  I can not find info on this.  So far, I've figured that older mods (<2018) who are not dependant on a master could be converted as esl if Wrye Bash says so, but I'm not sure about the others.

 

Here is information about plugin files and the limitations of esl-files: https://www.afkmods.com/index.php?/topic/5079-plugin-files-and-you-esmeslesp/

There is a script (2 actually but the seem like 2 accidental copies of each other) in SSEEdit that can find files to convert to esl files. Open SSEEdit and load all your plugin. Right click a plugin and choose Apply script... and choose the script Find plugins which could be turned into esl and run it. It will tell you which plugins you can turn into esl files by just editing the header in the plugin. To edit the header, select the plugin you wish to edit, right click Record Flags (sorted) and choose Edit. Tick ESl, choose ok and save and you are done.

 

zEdit does not support esl-files, something to keep in mind. I would rather flag plugin files as esl if needed than merge them, but if you want to merge, check Lexy's guide. She merges a lot of plugins. Merging is a lot more time consuming than flagging as esl though, especially when mods get updated.

 

[viper37]

That is tremendous help!
Thank you very much! :)

[TheCounterpoint]

the images regarding xlodgen settings are not loading from postimage

[dreadflopp]

the images regarding xlodgen settings are not loading from postimage

Works fine for me, please try again to see if it works. Maybe something was up with postimage. I will move the images to the repo to avoid this in the future.

Edited October 15, 2020 by dreadflopp

[TheCounterpoint]

working fine now, thanks

[Badfrog88]

I'm returning to the game after 18 months. I've found this build very interesting and am looking forward to trying it, but I have one question.  One of my "essential" mods has been "Bosmer Armor Pack" (as I always play that race). It's not listed in your build and I'm wondering what issues I would have if I added or substituted that for one of the other armors.  I didn't include a link as I'm not sure if that is allowed.

 

Thanks.

[dreadflopp]

I'm returning to the game after 18 months. I've found this build very interesting and am looking forward to trying it, but I have one question. One of my "essential" mods has been "Bosmer Armor Pack" (as I always play that race). It's not listed in your build and I'm wondering what issues I would have if I added or substituted that for one of the other armors. I didn't include a link as I'm not sure if that is allowed.

 

Thanks.

It is allowed to post links. I'll check out Bosmer Armor Pack and add it to the pack if it isn't unbalanced. I'll let you know as soon as I have gotten the time to take a look at it.

[Badfrog88]

For Mysticism - A Magic Overhaul it says to "Install the main file and the Survival patch. Do not install the Audio Overhaul Skyrim patch."  As of today (19 Nov 2020) the survival patch is not listed.  Can I continue the build without it?