Help a Newbie

[Nitrohell]

Hello guys, new member here looking for some help.

I've been wanting to go back to Skyrim for a while now, stopped playing 1 year or so ago when my desktop started having some problems and haven't played it ever since.

Today I started looking for some mods, I'm not very interested in the complete overhaul mods that give a new game experience, I didn't finish my first playthrough before, but even ruling these out, there are so many mods to choose from it's a bit overwhelming, until I found this project.

 

This is a truly amazing work you guys have here, having a detailed list of mods that are compatible with each other and have been tested by countless members will provide many new modders, like myself, an amazing Skyrim experience with relative ease.

 

Even though this helps alot, I'm still having some doubts, hence why I created this thread.

For starters here's my spec:

 

Windows 7 Pro 64 bit

Intel i7-2600 3.4GHz

NVidia GeForce GTX 650Ti 1GB

4GB RAM DDR3 1600MHz

Regular 7200 rpm Hard Drive

1920x1080 Monitor

 

I know it's not that good, especially the GFX, I used to have a GTX 460, which apparently runs Skyrim better than the one I have now, but it started having some problems and since it was still on warranty, I got this one in return. For what it's worth, my MoBo was also exchanged at the same time and the one I got have PCIe 3.0.

 

As you can see my specs are far from great, no Extreme STEP for me, but I was hoping this was enough to run at least a Baseline STEP installation.

 

But what does a Baseline installation means exactly?

In the guide the Baseline description says: "Core and non-Core mods; performance/quality and balanced options wherever possible.".

Does this mean, I should install all mods, Core and non-Core, following the instructions found on the Baseline and Notes?

Can I have a more or less smooth gameplay with all those mods installed, around 30+ fps, with the specs I've posted? 

 

Another, simpler, question, what are those "BCF Available" links on some mods?

I suppose they are meant to be used after the installation of the mod to replace some files, just want to be sure about it.

 

Final question, after installation, the recommended course of action is that I don't update my game, i.e new patches, nor update/remove my mods until I'm done with that particular save file, am I correct?

 

For now that's it.

I may need further help when I start installing, I've seen many things on the installation guide that I'm not familiarized with, but most of them also have guides and I haven't looked at those yet.

 

Thanks in advance for any answers you can provide.

[Nitrohell]

I'm using version 1.6.3, which should be the latest stable version.

I'll give the 2.0 beta a try.

 

EDIT: It works with the beta version.

I'll try with 1.6.2 now.

 

EDIT2: Version 1.6.2 doesn't work either.

I suppose this could be some problem with the 2010 Visual C++, both the 1.6.2 and 1.6.3 versions use the 2010, which I already had, while the 2.0.0 beta version uses the 2012, which I had to install.

Tried uninstalling the 2010 version and reinstalling it again, but it kept having the same problem, I'll try doing it again later, can't reboot the computer right now so it's possible the uninstallation wasn't 100% successful.

 

In case I can't use the 1.6.3 version for good, is it better to use the DDSopt, assuming it will work, or is the BSAopt beta version just fine?

 

EDIT3: False alarm. I'm truly ashamed of myself now.

A closer look at the mod page in the Nexus and the problem was solver:

"If you have UAC enabled, you have to "Run as administrator"."

I wasn't running it as administrator therefore it wasn't "working", it was running and I could even unpack the files but the convert option wasn't working.

The beta version worked without running it as administrator though.

 

Totally my bad, sorry.

[TechAngel85]

Glad you got it worked out! :)

[ivy21jaw]

System Specs:

Ivy Bridge Intel i3 3220 @ 3.30 GHZ

8gb ddr 2 sdram

windows 7; 64-bit system

nvidia GEForce GTX 650

 

Okay, I need advice.  I'm basically at the end of my rope, I think.  I posted in another forum about the trouble I'm having with DDSopt optimizing the HRDLC1,2, and 3.  Haven't even started on the DLC yet.  Because, I can't get a patch created. THEN I notice that every single mod you add which uses texture files or the DLC has to be pulled into loose files.  Does this mean you can't use them with BOSS or Wrye Bash or if you run Skyrim Redone you aren't able to use the patcher?  Heck, I'm not even sure I know how to do this as I think this is beyond me at this point.  So, I've got lots of questions and when sites said STEP was uncomplicated if you read, I'm not so sure they meant 40+ dudes who are somewhat computer literate but not at all with programming or file creation or modding.  Up until 6 days I used NMM and loaded mods then played the game.   If someone is willing to assist me or tell me "you're over your head, give it up."  I'd appreciate it. 

[Aiyen]

Okay it is really hard to figure out what you are asking.

DDSopt have a good guide here on the wiki, with pictures showing you all the settings you need to use, and a detailed guide for how to extract the BSA archives.

Once you have extracted the files there is not really any need to recreate the BSA archive again since loose files takes precedence over BSA.

 

Having your textures as loose files should in no way interfere with any patchers, BOSS , etc.

The only relevant information for the game engine is the folder structure. If there is a texture in \textures\clutter\fryingpan.dds (Thought up example) and the same texture is also in a BSA archive, then the loose file will overwrite the content of the archive and be used instead.

 

Hope that helps a little bit. But again I do not entirely follow what you are asking! :)

[ivy21jaw]

Okay it is really hard to figure out what you are asking.

DDSopt have a good guide here on the wiki, with pictures showing you all the settings you need to use, and a detailed guide for how to extract the BSA archives.

Once you have extracted the files there is not really any need to recreate the BSA archive again since loose files takes precedence over BSA.

 

Having your textures as loose files should in no way interfere with any patchers, BOSS , etc.

The only relevant information for the game engine is the folder structure. If there is a texture in \textures\clutter\fryingpan.dds (Thought up example) and the same texture is also in a BSA archive, then the loose file will overwrite the content of the archive and be used instead.

 

Hope that helps a little bit. But again I do not entirely follow what you are asking! :)

 

It was a bit of a breakdown.  I'm in the process of redoing the texture files and it has been so difficult (yes, I've read and re-read the wiki and am doing so again in 3 minutes), that I'm tempted to simply give up.  If I optimize the HRDLC files but don't mess with the DLC files, then my thought is I won't have to create loose files for every single texture mod that I download.  I don't want to have to do that as I think it would be too complicated for me.

[Aiyen]

Well if you need any specific help, just throw me a pm with it and I will help as best I can.

 

But if you just follow the wiki it should be rather straight forward for both the vanilla, and DLC BSA archives. If you can do it for one of them then you should be able to do it for all since the process is identical.