Removing CR-Patch relevant mod from load order

[Morath]

( Apologies in advance if this is maybe the wrong place to post, if so please point me towards the correct place. But since the issue is with the 3.0.0 STEP of LE, I though this could be correct )

 

After a couple of years of absence I have started to fiddle around with Skyrim (still with LE) again. I've followed the 3.0.0 STEP Guide and with only minor hiccups arrived at a nicely looking result which seems to work like a charm, kudos and thanks to all on whose shoulders I am standing now .

 

However, there is one issue now - I would like to add a couple of other mods "on top" now and one of them refuses to work when "Non-essential Children" (called NEC from now on) is installed. Now, my heart is not set on NEC, I would happily remove it from the load order, but the problem is that it is a "red" mod, that the Step CR patch depends upon :-/

 

I've  searched on the Forum and there was some talk about a year ago about removing NEC from the STEP 3.0.0 guide for LE, but it seems that hasn't happened yet, not sure if that is still on the table. I've found a similar issue in a STEP SE Thread, where someone asked about removing "Live another live" and according to an answer from someone there it would be possible to remove the CR patch dependency on LAL by using XEdit on the CR patch.

 

Now I have a little modding experience, but I know next to nothing about XEdit, though I would be willing to dig into that topic and learn it and try to modify the CR patch on my own to try to remove the dependency to NEC. Before I start with that however I would kindly ask if someone more knowledgeable than me could give me a quick estimate about the feasibility of this, whether it

a) should be trivial to do and/or should not have any side effects or

b) is somewhat tricky and/or might cause problems in the long run or

c) is extremely complex to implement or even not possible at all because the CR patch is  "too tightly coupled" with NEC

 

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[z929669]

It's actually pretty easy. You just need to:

1. load up the Step LE mod list in MO
2. sort with LOOT
3. run xEdit from MO
4. when prompted, right-click to select 'none'
5. select only the CR patch (TIP: type 'step' in the filter)
6. Wait for it to load (if prompted about mod groups, it doesn't matter ... press 'OK')
7. expand the plugin master you want to eliminate
8. click each record to evaluate if it should be removed from the CR patch*
9. once finished, right click on the CR patch in left col, and select 'Apply Script'
10. Choose "Remove Unused Masters"
11. exit xEdit, and the plugin should be saved into the xEdit Output mod (or overwrite if guide instructions were not followed)
12. move that into the CR patch mod with overwrite (TIP: right click any mod, and select "Open in Exlporer")
13. disable the offending mod in MO

This is from memory but more or less accurate. If you mess up, you can always reinstall the CR patch or whatever else you edited by mistake)

* Click on every record in Non-essential Children and you'll see one or more columns in the right pane with names of the plugins these records are from at the top. If the right-most column is the Step CR Patch, right click on that column and select Remove to remove this record from the Step CR Patch. If the right-most column is Non-Essential Children or some other plugin, leave it alone and move on to the next record.

[Greg]

Just to clarify Step 8. inspect every record in Non-essential Children and you'll see one or more columns in the right pane with names of the plugins these records are from at the top. If the right-most column is the Step CR Patch, right click on that column and select Remove to remove this record from the Step CR Patch. If the right-most column is Non-Essential Children or some other plugin, leave it alone and move on to the next record.

Also verify you sorted your load order with LOOT before using xEdit to ensure all the plugins are in the correct order.

[z929669]

Good point. I edited my post with that info. Devil is in the details