STEP guide: HRDLC + ddsopt, is it really neseccary?

[DICEROLL]

Hi, I'm at the 2.F. Conflicting Graphics. My graphics card has 2gb vram and the guide says

Greater than 1.5GB

 

        Do not download this mod, just use the full HRDLC.

So I'm downloading HRDLC from Steam right now. Meanwhile I discovered https://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:DDSopt which is a instant 'turnoff' to me, my head explodes upon reading it :D there's too much information. I am wondering if doing all that is really worth it (it is a really long process)? As I understand, the DDSOPT process is not just for people with smaller vrams for optimizing but suggested to nearly everyone..

 

Why I made the thread and have my doubts: Because I'm going to overwrite and replace a lot of other textures by following the STEP guide, and I also use SRO. My final question, is SRO going to save me from all this ddsopt process, as it's basically the same thing? Blrarahgh, I'm not very good at this

[Aiyen]

Depends on how complex a mod list you have in mind for your playthough.

If you just want STEP:Core... then you strictly speaking do not need to do it out of memory concerns when you have a 2Gb card.

there are going to be some textures that look odd, and have errors in them.. but most of those are going to be covered over by other mods anyways.

 

If you are going for a more complex list, then every bit counts.... the less memory you waste the more stable your game ultimately becomes, since you reduce data load which it all seems to come down to in the end.

 

And the DDSopt is not so complex once you have done it once. You can start with a smaller mod then the HDDLC, since they do take quite a while.

[DICEROLL]

Thank you again Aiyen, for this installation I will not go through ddsopt then (I actually want to play my new mage :Z). I'm certainly staying around STEP, and I already know that I am going to install my mods in one point over again to try something different. So that other time I'll certainly do it and share my experience.

[Kelmych]

The quick start portion of the DDSopt guide has a simplified version of the optimization process. It's still a little complicated, and you might prefer to wait until you have used Skyrim with some of the mods first. You can always do the optimization later.

[hellanios]

I have another question concerning the DDSopt and the Bethesda Hi-Res DLC Optimized. I have only 1GB of VRAM. Thus I followed the DDSopt guide and used 1024 and 512 resolution. Since I optimized the textures with DDSopt, is it really necessary to use the Bethesda Hi-Res DLC Optimized mod? Which one will give better performance and visuals?

[Aiyen]

Use the mod ... there the author spent more time on doing it then just applying an automated script etc.

[Nearox]

When I was DDSopting for the first time, I personally found the instructions in the SR guide easier to follow...

 

Also, I made another post today about 2 other performance enhancement mods that you could use on top of Hi-Res DLC Optimized while foregoing DDSopt completely. Mind you, this is my personal recommendation because it works out well for me. Highly likely that not everyone here at STEP or the people from the STEP team will agree with these 2 mods, but I found that in practice they work out really well. I'd still DDSopt other mods though if you are having vram issues.

 

https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/42360/?

https://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/43921/?