Upload optimized BSA's from the STEP wiki

[AngryEeyore]

It's very nice to have all the instructions (

https://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Skyrim_Installation ) but a lot of this stuff using DDSopt is kind of confusing and time consuming. I think it would be nice if someone uploaded their fully optimized BSA's for the HighResTexturePack01.bsa, HighResTexturePack02.bsa, and the SkyrimTextures.bsa to go along with the new STEP guide. Or if anyone would like to donate them to me personally that would be awesome too!

 

This is what I am referring to:

DLC

Skyrims first DLC is a free High Resolution Texture Pack. It upgrades most of the weapons, armor, and clothes as well as the cities of Whiterun, Markarth, Solitude and Windhelm in the game from 512k to 1024-2048k. There are some other textures upgrades as well but they are scattered throughout the game. The DLC was released with many unnecessary and buggy files, some files were also placed in incorrect locations or given incorrect names. Even with all of these problems it is highly recommended to use the DLC and I will guide you through the installation and fixes. The exception is that if you have less than 1GB VRAM, this texture upgrade may be too much for your GPU, so apply it and the following options with cautious optimism. If you are lazy and have concerns about your VRAM, you can skip to step 8 below (if you do so your graphic improvements will be very small and will suffer only marginal performance loss).

• In steam select Skyrim, right click and select properties, select the DLC tab and click the "view available downloadable content for this game" link. Select Skyrim High Resolution Texture Pack and click "add to cart" and it will download and install.
• Download and install BSAopt - Bethesda Archive Management and Optimization and use it to extract the 2 bsa's you just downloaded to their own directories.

  NOTE: Alternatively, bsa's can be extracted using DDSopt, which includes BSAopt functionality as well as many other features. More on using DDSopt to extract and repack bsa's can be referenced in the DDSopt Guide.

• Download and extract to its own directory HD Textures DLC Fix Loose Files Version.
• Download and run Clean HighResTexturePack DLC Fix first changing the first 3 lines to the 3 paths you extracted the textures above to.
• Now download and extract to its own directory HighResTexturePack DLC - Blades Armor fix, copy the textures directory and paste it into the first directory and overwrite the HighResTexturePack0# textures.
• An optional step is to use DDSopt to optimize all of the textures before repacking them. Refer to DDSopt Guide.
• Now use BSAopt (or DDSopt) to recompress directory 1 and 2 back into HighResTexturePack01.bsa and *02.bsa, alternately if you are using a mod manager you can deactivate the esp's and create a single zip file instead. Moving it to the mod directory of your manager and installing as the second mod (USKP is first).
• If you have less than 1.5GB of VRAM and skipped the optional DDSopt optimizations then installing the Bethesda Hi-Res DLC Optimized will free up more VRAM and increase your fps. ALL of the following solutions offer increased performance with respect to the official Hi-Res DLCs whilst allowing those texture upgrades at a very slight reduction in quality. Choose the following option that best suits your VRAM limitations:
• Full 1024 (AKA Standalone): For almost no performance cost, this option will improve upon many of the standard vanilla textures without requiring the official Hi-Res DLCs.
• Hybrid + Vanilla normal maps: At a marginal performance cost well below that of the default official Hi-Res DLCs, this option will offer even more improvement.
• Hybrid (1024+2048): The most "performance-costly" option of the three performance enhancements, ultimately trading off a significant performance GAIN for an almost imperceptible reduction in quality with respect to the official DLCs.

[MontyMM]

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be legal to modify Bethesda's DLC and redistribute it.

[AngryEeyore]

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be legal to modify Bethesda's DLC and redistribute it.

 

 

Well... if someone were to accidentally send me something, I would keep it on the ultra hush hush. Actually, I am almost done with the process... I just have no idea what to do with the https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=8236 once I optimize the loose files. Do I comapact it into a .BSA or 7zip it or what? I am clueless. I would much rather DL someones completed work that knows more about this stuff than I do :P

---

 

Unfortunately, it wouldn't be legal to modify Bethesda's DLC and redistribute it.

 

 

Well... if someone were to accidentally send me something, I would keep it on the ultra hush hush. Actually, I am almost done with the process... I just have no idea what to do with the https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/downloads/file.php?id=8236 once I optimize the loose files. Do I comapact it into a .BSA or 7zip it or what? I am clueless. I would much rather DL someones completed work that knows more about this stuff than I do :P

 

*UPDATE* They get added into the SkryimHighResTexures02.bsa files.

[frihyland]

What exactly is unclear about step 7? either way will work fine

[z929669]

DIY puts hair on your chest, so , unless you are a female, I cannot fathom any argument to the contrary ;)

 

Seriously though, As Monty states, redistribution of the DLCs is not legal, however distribution of ONLY the altered portions of the DLC should be perfectly legal. Given the plethora of HRDLC stuff already on the Nexus, I'd hate to add another, but would advocate pooling ALL available options into a single mod. Unfortunately, this steps on the toes of others, so I see not simple solution other than DIY.

---

EDIT: Moved thread from Mods forum... this is NOT a mod ;)

[frihyland]

We could build a file patcher, but its way out of scope of project at the moment, and no one has close to the time required for something like this.

[AngryEeyore]

I think I got it all under control now. I just need to find out how to make a bain file and then upload it through WyreBash (reading up on it now). Also, once uploaded with WyreBash do I delete the BSA's in the data folder? Thanks in advance for the help!

[blacksol]

I would suggest not deleting as steam may try to update them. Or if you need to verify local files in future when skyrim misbehaving then steam will likely redownload them.

 

However, you can remove the 3 bsas from your ini file - should this be added to step 7a?

[frihyland]

I would suggest not deleting as steam may try to update them. Or if you need to verify local files in future when skyrim misbehaving then steam will likely redownload them.

 

However, you can remove the 3 bsas from your ini file - should this be added to step 7a?

 

 

There are no entries in your ini file, this guide is for a new skyrim installation.

[blacksol]

Good point on HRDLC, but Skyrim-textures.bsa would still be ini file and can be removed

[frihyland]

Good point on HRDLC, but Skyrim-textures.bsa would still be ini file and can be removed

 

 

It depends on your installation, there are many different possible outcomes based on your hardware and personal preferences. You would have to opt in to every optional optimization before you could start editing out default bsa's from you ini, and even then we don't recommend it.

[blacksol]

If one follows the steps on the wiki and zips up the optimized textures and installs via Wyre then I understand all vanilla textures are loaded as loose files. If that is right, what is the concern?

[frihyland]

There is no benefit and the possibility looms large that you will find out about a new bug that this behavior causes sooner or later. If there was a conceivable benefit I would chance it, but it takes .00078 seconds to process the *.bsa entries as they are, any additional speed is kinda irrelevant.

[freche]

So, packing the optimized textures as *.bsa and replacing the originals is good enough (just have to have backups in case steam wants to verify cache) ?

And I take it that the Bethesda Hi-Res DLC Optimized mod is not necessary when using the DDSopt guide for official textures?

[z929669]

So, packing the optimized textures as *.bsa and replacing the originals is good enough (just have to have backups in case steam wants to verify cache) ?

And I take it that the Bethesda Hi-Res DLC Optimized mod is not necessary when using the DDSopt guide for official textures?

 

 

DLC Optimized is still a vital add on even with the DDSopt'ed vanilla textures. In fact, I run it ALL through DDSopt, just because it will not hurt anything, and I am exceedingly anal. Some of Vano's textures ARE affected, so this demonstrates that he either missed a bunch or used different DDSopt settings than I.

[freche]

Ok thats good to know, one last question before I'm getting myself some sleep.

 

Can I optimize and replace at the same time by picking the same input folder as output ?

I'm thinking that after I have installed all STEP mods and want to optimize if I can chose from textures -> textures or do I have to optimize them into a temp folder and then copy & replace that into the original folder ?

 

I guess a temp folder is best in case something goes wrong during the process.