General Support Thread

[Solist]

Figured it might not be a bad idea to just start a general SR support thread for help since the feedback thread is focused on actual SR feedback. I'll start this off.

 

So was playing earlier today, then went and made today's latest changes:

 

- Updated Lanterns of Skyrim to use Realistic Lighting Overhaul optional preset.

- Added SkyTEST - Realistic Animals and Predators. Removed More Village Animals and Roosters At Dawn

- Updated Apahii Skyhair Natural Retexture.

 

I also added Grass on Steroids and it's associated INI changes.

 

I now CTD every time on the menu load. I reversed the INI changes, unloaded SkyTest and Grass on Steroids and still CTD.

 

What would be the first steps I should in debugging this?

 

Thanks!

[Ciccigomma]

As fot the freezes try disabling BFS.

[exploiteddna]

yeah you can just disable it in the MCM menu without even having to disable to ESP (which could potentially cause problems down the road)

[youtoo]

I am using MO. I have STEP installed. I created 2 new profiles per SR one for Skyrim Revisited and one for Vanilla STEP. The problem is that the profiles still leave the mods in the mod list, but dont leave them 'active'. This is unweidly to work with and keep track of. My list of active and inactive mods will get very large.

 

I am using v99.1 which allows me to set up 'groups' and if I stick with v99.1 I may do this. This way I can create a STEP group and just close the group (it acts like a folder). So I basically have an empty Mod list when I build Skyrim Revisited. This is easier to work with.

 

Here are my other options. Or do you recommend sometihng else?

1. Make a bash patch and merge all of STEP to one big bash patch. If I do this, can I uninstall all my mods other than the bash patch? I am not sure if the bash patch has all the data? How do I work with more than on Bash Patch? I would want one just for STEP? In Wrye Bash, I just see 'rebuild patch' or highlight and merge. i do nt see the ability to make more than one bash patch and to rename the bash patch.esp to something like step_bash_patch1.esp. I am not sure if a bash patch includes ALL of the data from a mod or just metadata and .esp data. Please advice.

 

2. Is there a way to merge them to 1 patch with TES5Edit? I really just want 1 file for STEP, so my Installed Mods directory in MO is empty and easier to manage.

 

3. Back up my Mods from the Skyrim install directory (do I have to backup the entire Skyrim install?), backup my profiles from MO. Then if I want to restore back to step copy back. I have plenty of space and backup software to do this,but its a bit of a hassle and time consuming to do the copies.

 

To summarize: MO profiles are nice. However, all they do is 'uncheck' the mods from the install directory. I dont want these mods to be visible to me when I work on SR. I just want SR mods visible so its easier for me to keep track of what I am doing.

[Wormheart]

In that case, you might be better off with Two installations of MO, one for STEP and one for SR. They could then share the same download folder but everything else would be separate. Otherwise, the group thing might be best, you can create custom categories in MO (from the settings page) but I don't know of a way to bulk add mods to categories yet.

 

A feature to hide mods per profile might be handy, just have a checkbox or custom filter to show hidden to allow users to see\unhide hidden. I don't know if it is something Tannin has considered or not.

[youtoo]

1. even with a separate install, I believe MO will still read the MOD directory in my skyrim install and still show them in the list of mods with a new install. Ill try this out.

 

2. Is it possible to make 1 big patch for all of STEP and then just have 1 Mod in my list? Is this some kind of merge, combined patch, or bash patch?

 

3. How do I work with more than 1 bash patch? I have a bash patch for STEP ,but I believe I need a separate one for SR? I dont see an ability to rename my bash patch.esp files.

 

4. Would it be possible to get SR: LE merge patches uploaded to NexusMods in an SR:LE mod section? It looks like all the TES5Edit stuff is the same for everyone. Then people can download the merged patches instead of doing the same thing over again. Dont know whether this requires written approval of mod authors.

[statmonster]

1. No idea but I don't think it will work.

 

2. I can't imagine this would turn out well....

 

3. It's not set up to do this, but you could probably copy each of the bash patches to a different storage directory and then just move back the one you needed depending on which profile you were using. Maybe...  Or take the two minutes to rebuild it when you switch profiles.   (Redoing the SUM patches is the time consuming step  - FINS &  WB are fast.)

 

4. This might have some IP issues... Mod authors whose ESPs are being used might not appreciate it. It also defeats the pedagogical point of SR (not that you necessarily care about that.) It might also be hard to manage version control of all the mods or allow for customization - if you are doing you own patches you know (more or less) what needs to be done when you add or remove mods from SR. This has been looked into before (i.e,. last week...) and rejected each time.

[exploiteddna]

wrye bash comes with multiple bashed patch esp files, look around the wryebash installation folder and you should find the extra ones. If not, all you need to do is copy your current bashed patch and rename it. I have 3 bashed patches, one for each of my different profiles. As far as keeping them separate from each other, you have several options. You can either create a unique mod installation folder for each patch (i.e. ..ModOrganizer\installed mods\bashed patch 1\.. ), then activate the appropriate one for each of your profiles. With this method you wont have to rename your bashed patches since each one will have a unique install folder. The other thing to note is that each time you rebuild your patch it will be dumped into the 'overwrite' folder and you will need to manually remove it and paste it into its install folder to overwrite the old one. This method does require more work to set up and maintain, but it has the advantage of not overcrowding your plugin list/load order (since the only bashed patch esp you will see is the one you have activated in the mod list). Your other option is to rename your patches and keep them all in the overwrite folder permanently. Then just activate the appropriate esp for the currently active profile. This method is easier, but has the drawback of keeping all of the bashed patches visible in the load order at all times. If you do choose this method, the names of your bashed patches should follow this format:

Bashed Patch, 0.esp

Bashed Patch, 1.esp

Bashed Patch, 2.esp

etc.

 

In terms of a huge patch for all of STEP, it would not work. In theory it does, but not in practice. You end up with way too many dependencies and an esp file with 100 master files. It's just not practical and would be far too much work to maintain and would give very little benefit. With regard to uploading SR patches, it is possible. I have actually thought of this myself before, to help save time for people. Although its good for people to learn how to do these things on their own, so there's that..

[youtoo]

@michaelrw thanks, but I have a few more questions.

 

1. STEP says has me create a bash patch at the very end. When I create this bash patch, the .esp file shows up on 'data' tab at the bottom. So I also need to highlight my overwrite on the left and move the bash patch out each time I rebuild it? I have not been doing that. I did not see it in the guide. How do I move a file out of my overwrite, When I click on overwrite, I get a popup, but did not see the ability to drag and drop.

 

I though the a bash patch was just a .esp and that appears in the 'data' tab which I believe is the load order. I didnt know I needed to do anything in the install directory. I launch Wrye Bash from MO.

 

2. If I use different directories for different profiles, do I need to change the MO .ini file each time I change folders to point at the new directory or is there a way to configure my profile to point at a new location? I dont see that.

 

3. is it possible to rename my bash patch to anything other than bash patch 1.esp such as bash patch_STEP.esp or will doing that make wrye bash not recognize it?

 

4. i saw some references that if I run wrye bash from with in MO, I need to change some settings so it doesn't do stuff I dont want. Do you know what those are? I cant find them. At the time I read this I did not understand what it meant.

 

5. do you ever add additional mods to a bash patch other than what you get when you run BOSS to get the Bash tags and then the bash patch handles automatically?

[exploiteddna]

1. If you follow the SR guide, the bashed patch.esp file usually stays in the "overwrite" part of MO. "overwrite" is nothing more than a folder that sits inside MO install directory, and anything that is in this folder will overwrite ANY and ALL files that it conflicts with. Now, lets talk about how mods are installed into MO. Basically each mod that you install through MO will go into its own unique folder. Each unique folder for each unique mod is structured just like the default Skyrim directory (i.e. ..Data\textures\plants\...). The only difference is MO omits the \Data level and starts at the next highest level.

 

(if this is confusing already, please study what a typical skyrim install directory looks like so you know where each type of game file is supposed to be. an easy way to review this is to look at the 'Data' tab on the right side of the MO window. If you click the Data tab you will see a bunch of loose files, followed by a series of sub-directories that you can click on that will further expand into more loose files and sub-sub-directories. The top level is the \Data directory and contains all of your ESP files and BSA files)

 

like the default Skyrim directory (i.e. ..Data\textures\plants\...). The only difference is MO omits the \Data\.. level and starts at the next highest structure level. So, if you were to navigate to your ModOrganizer main install folder, you will see about 10-20 folders, including "overwrite", "Installed Mods", "Profiles", etc.  When you install a mod and a unique folder is created for that individual mod, it is automatically placed in the "Installed Mods" folder i just mentioned. If you open the "Installed Mods" folder you should find a whole bunch of individual folders -- one for each of the mods you have installed. Pick one and open it. You are now in what the Mod Organizer program treats as the skyrim Data directory. That means if the mod whose folder you are in has an ESP file, it will be located right there. If it has textures and meshes, you should see one folder for textures and another one for meshes. Does this make sense? Ok, so the point of this is to show you that you dont have to actually install a mod using the MO interface.  You can, for example, create a folder titeld 'Bashed Patch - Character 1' and place the folder alongside the rest of the folders for all your other mods, then put a bashed patch ESP file inside of it, open up MO and find your new bashed patch "mod" (probably at the bottom of the mod list window since all new mods are automatically placed at the bottom - assuming your window is arranged so that 'max' priority is at the bottom), activate the new bashed patch mod, then go over to the right side of the window where you activate your ESP files and will find your bashed patch.esp waiting for you. If you want to activate it, you can now do so just like any other mod. 

Repeat this process for all of the bashed patches you have for all your different profiles/characters. The only drawback (as i said in previous post) is that when you rebuild the patch in wrye bash, MO will place the new rebuilt patch in the "overwrite" folder. All you need to do is open the folder (in windows, not MO) and move the new patch into the mod folder you made for your patch and overwrite the old one that is in there.

 

 

2. All profiles automatically have their important data separated into their own folders.  I suggest you browse through the MO install folder(s) so you can get a better understanding of how MO functions and how it keeps all your profiles/files/mods/preferences separate. More importantly you need to learn which of these things can and can not be changed from one profile to the next.

For example, you mentioned the MO ini file. There is only one MO ini file. So you can create 50 profiles, but they all use the same MO ini. Contrary to that, each profile has the capability to use their own unique skyrim ini files. Each profile can also have different mods active/inactive, different ESPs active/inactive, etc. All profiles will have the same mods available to them but they dont have to be used. Again, spend some time browsing. Pay attention the folders i listed by name ("overwrite", "Installed Mods", "Profiles") and also open up and read all of the ini/text/cfg files (in notepad/notepad++) and get an idea of how things function. This will help you when youre trying to figure out little tricks to do accomplish the things youre trying to do.

 

3. No. it needs to be just like i typed (im 99.99% sure). It needs to be 'Bashed Patch, 0.esp'  replace 0 with 1,2,3, etc.  Make sure you place a comma at the end of the word Patch. Again, just like this exactly:  Bashed Patch, 0.esp  

Otherwise it wont be recognized by BOSS and maybe not even be recognized by WryeBash. 

 

4. No idea what youre talking about. You shouldnt need to do anything or disable anything. There are some options you could choose when building your patch, but that is only for preference. Oh, and the SR guide/STEP tells you to set the crime radius option when you build your bashed patch. Read this.

 

5. No. You dont ever add mods to the bashed patch. You leave it alone. It is built using code and instructions from very talented modders and programmers. If you want to "add mods" to an ESP file, download and play with TES5Edit and have yourself a blast. But seriously, ESP files (or "mods" as youre referring to them) should remain as they are. Unless you are making a patch using the SR guide detailed instructions, then you dont need to be adding anything to anything. There is MUCH for you to learn before you get to the point of adding things to mods (or esp files or whatever).  Remember, a bashed patch achieves the exact same thing as the patches you make following the SR guide.  The difference is the bashed patch focuses on leveled lists. It does a few other things, but for the sake of this discussion (and all you should be concerned with), it simply combines the leveled lists from any and all ESP files that are in your load order, this way all of the leveled list features from all of the mods will be present in your game. The patches that Neo has you make for SR are basically the same thing except it is for all other incompatibilities/conflicts OTHER THAN leveled lists. Unfortunately there is no utility that can help with these types of patches. These need to be made by hand. Not a big deal though bc Neo gives very detailed instructions (even though it can be time consuming).

And im hopeful that there will be a utility to create the universal patch someday (were getting close with things like skyproc/skybash--but thats beyond the scope of this discussion and i dont want to confuse you even further)

 

I think thats it for now. the best piece of advice i can give you is to investigate things. dig around in your folders to see whats going on behind the scenes. most of this software and tools for modding are pretty simple and easy to figure out how they work and how they are structures, which can only help you.

[youtoo]

I added immserive creatures to STEP and I am looking at the SR guide for adding immersive creatures. Per the SR guide there is an issue with Immersive Creatures and DRagonborne.

 

 

 

Skyrim Immersive Creatures

Author: lifestorock

Version: 6.0RC (5.1.1 + 6.0RC)

 

Info-Logo.png Notice:Select "Use Integrated FOMOD Installer" in the Mod Organizer options to properly install this mod.

Warning-Logo.png Warning:This mod does not carry forward changes from the various DLCs.

To resolve the problem(s), perform the following:

 

Open TES5Edit.

Select all Bethesda ESMs, Skyrim Immersive Creatures.esp, and Skyrim Immersive Creatures - DLC2.esp then click [OK].

Expand "Worldspace">"0000003C">"Block 1,0">"Sub-Block 4,1" under Skyrim Immersive Creatures.esp and select the "0000B4B9" node.

Right-click the column for Dragonborn.esm and select "Copy as Override into...".

Select Skyrim Immersive Creatures - DLC2.esp. It should now appear on the right hand side.

Click the [X] in the upper right hand corner, uncheck "Backup plugins", and click [OK].

 

 

 

I get to this part: "Right-click the column for Dragonborn.esm and select "Copy as Override into...".

 

There is a popup. The only 2 mods that are in the popup are Hearthfire and update.esm. Immserive Creeatures DLC2.esp is already listed in the grid. Am I supposed to go to add new? and type it in add it?

 

I am not sure what this TES5Edit does. So I am unsure how to precede.

[Lauren]

See: "This mod does not carry forward changes from the various DLCs."

 

You're copying the data from Dragonborn.esm into the SIC DLC2.esp, overwriting the data there. This applies the changes made in Dragonborn to the SIC DLC2.esp.

[statmonster]

I believe that the newest version of SIC does carry these changes through from the DLC to DLC2.

[jorg]

Finally started playing this weekend.

 

I got a few problems. I have freezes in open outside spaces when I'm under attack and I use my fire spells. In villages and dungeons everything works fine. And when I just use my swords everythings works out also. I think its in the BFS effects mod. Gonna test that this week. I also read on these forums more people had freezes in the Wild. Maybe someone has an idea what to do?

 

And I got a problem with the eagle eye perk in the markmanship (archery) tree. Upgraded to it last night, but the zoom didn't work. I reassigned the block key before I started my game, because some vampire mod used the same key. Maybe it has to do with that? Maybe its something in SkyRe? I don't know.

(I found a solution online, gonna try that tonight when I level up again (could reload a save game to upgrade something else))

Is was not the BFS mod. It was deadly spell impacts. I don't have random freezes anymore.

 

I do have freezes during loading screens and random CTD's.... still haven't found out what thats all about.

[exploiteddna]

well if removing DSI solved your problems, then clearly there was some major conflict issue between it and some other mod in your load order.. could probably be solved with a compatibility patch but youd have to find out what mod its conflicting with. I can tell you right now there's nothing wrong with the DSI mod itself. It's made by a good author and ive also personally used for the past 6 months without a single issue.

[rootsrat]

well if removing DSI solved your problems, then clearly there was some major conflict issue between it and some other mod in your load order.. could probably be solved with a compatibility patch but youd have to find out what mod its conflicting with. I can tell you right now there's nothing wrong with the DSI mod itself. It's made by a good author and ive also personally used for the past 6 months without a single issue.

 

It could possibly be too many combat scripts kicking in at once. EBT, BSF, SkyRe, Duel, DSI - all those ran together may easily kill the game :)