Grouping mods installed after completing STEP

[VoltronGreen1981]

I've gone through the entire setup for STEP and everything is up and running great. I now want to start adding some mods that weren't included in STEP guide and wanted to know if I should use a separator group to keep them away from the previous installs?

 

[ButchDiavolo]

5 hours ago, VoltronGreen1981 said:

I've gone through the entire setup for STEP and everything is up and running great. I now want to start adding some mods that weren't included in STEP guide and wanted to know if I should use a separator group to keep them away from the previous installs?

 

Yes, I would. Separators are great to keep mods, well, separated. They really help you remember what section they belong to, especially if you have been playing for a while.

However do keep in mind that the "output files" (Lodgen, texgen etc) should always come last. Nothing should override them.

Also keep in mind that when you put extra mods into the modlist and they overwrite mods included in STEP, you will have to decide which mod will win. This is all down to your personal preference.

Example: if you decided to add the extra mods below the standard STEP install, all those mods will overwrite the standard install (if applicable). In some cases the added mods will make the standard STEP mod redundant (signified by the grey lightening bolt icon in the left window) and may cause unexpected results (quests not starting, black-faced NPCs etc). So pay very close attention to which mods are overwriting each other. It can take quite a bit of "fiddling" with mods and load order to get everything to work together.

Finally: xEdit (and Wrye Bash if you want to go that route) is your friend. If you get unexpected results, load your complete load order up in xEdit, and check which records are changed. Then adjust your load order (left pane in MO2) accordingly.

Hope this helps.