Thank you STEP! [Automatic Variants and Other Problems]

[phryxolydian]

Moved on request of Poster Original Title "Thank you STEP!"

 

Like the title says I wish to thank this great community in helping me out. A bit corny, I know, but I was literally about to throw the game away for good before I came here for help and I really owe you guys for your guidance. Thanks to Aiyen and  EssArrBee specially for your help!

 

I went on and uninstalled everything and followed STEP's guide and it has massively improved my game experience. I got rid of HiAlgoBoost and installed enb with a fresh game and it worked out fine this time around and it even improved my default settings from Medium to High! It's amazing that I can go through (some) loading screens in just a few seconds using High settings, which would have been unthinkable before! I'm currently running 72 plugins and I only suffer from minor stutters every now and then, which go away if I quicksave and launch again. Although stuttering does increase quite a bit if riding a horse, I thought this was being caused by Improved Horse Step Sounds but I uninstalled and the stuttering persisted so I installed again. Oh and I've had only 1 CTD since I re-installed the game and I currently level 20, pretty sure it was cause of the memory limit. All in all, a huge improvement!

 

Moved on request of Poster [Automatic Variants and Other Problems] from here

 

However, I still come here with some questions and hopefully you guys can help me once again. In the process of starting fresh, I basically ditched NMM and I'm using MO now. Only thing I installed with NMM was SKSE's scripts which I couldn't intalled with MO for some reason.. But amm, I can't figure out how to install Automatic Variants through MO. I also want to ask your opinion about installing it in the first place, AV really is a fantastic mod and it was one of my favorites since I'm very much immersion oriented but I don't know if it is very script heavy and I don't want to increase stuttering and make my game more unstable. Same question about Sounds of Skyrim, are those really script heavy? I love those. Well, mostly the Wilds, the other two I can live without but I didn't install any yet.

 

I recently installed EBT and I don't get any blood pools, I just read EBT's FAQ and it says it may be an install issue with MO.. I had no error while installing and I did get the activation message when I first installed it. I haven't tried the "reset cloak spell" suggestion so I'll get back to you on this.

 

And finally some issues with shadows, I'm attaching some screenshots so you see what I mean. First one is at the Winking Skeever. makes me wanna puke! Second one happens outdoors, see those lines across the columns? They go away as I get closer but for example when I'm on a snowy terrain they are much thinner and much closer together lines and they are REALLY immersion breaking! The third one is a huge black strip in the horizon which I've no idea what it's causing it. I'm using CoT and the Snow patch, if it helps.

 

Well, that's it! Thanks again, you guys are awesome!

---

Hmm, maybe I should have posted this in the Support forum after all?

[Uhuru]

Right now your post is here first to repeat SkSE info I put in PM to you (Benefit of Other Readers) and better explained now I'm not working.

 

SkSE Scripts need to be a separate mod.

Open SkSE Archive and create either .7Z, .Zip or .RAR from the contents of it's Data folder, which is the "Scripts" folder.

Naming suitably, for Example;

SkSE v1.6.16 Scripts.7Z

Saving the Archive if you want to, in case it's required in the future.

Install Scripts archive as normal mod.

Delete the SkSE's Data folder, as it's not required now it's a Mod.

Rest of SkSE goes in Skyrim main folder as usual, Default is;

C:\Steam\SteamApps\Common\Skyrim\

SkSE is then installed, Mod Organized Style.

 

Automatic Variants

SkyProc Mod so Java dependant. It does work but needs more care than average mod.

wolverine2710 our resident AV SkyProc Guru (He's made a few AV mods himself) has said of AV.

 

There is a very easy way to create an executable for Skyproc based programs like Automatic Variants (AV), ASIS, WTF< Reproccer, RBS etc. Example for AV, goto the data tab in the right windows. Goto the skyproc patchers/automatic variants directory, select the automatic variants.jar file, right click and select 'add as executable'. MO the fills everything in for you. Same for ASIS etc. Works like a charm.

If after running AV you get an Overwrite warning, or you just dont know where the new AV made files are they almost certainly  will be in Overwrite Folder (Mod Organizer Temp Folder).

They get left here if Mod Organizer isn't told where to put them, You must then move them manually to correct Mod Folder (The AV Mod you patched). Do this and all should work.

 

 

The above answer is basic "How to fix only" for those who want Technical Answer (Still Ordinary Language explanation which only assumes good practical Knowledge of PC) See;

MO's Overwrite Directory -- Behavior and Technical Details

I know the Author and am confident he knows as much about the subject as I do.

 

EBT is I assume

Enhanced Blood Textures by dDefinder 62-Visuals and Graphics-60

Check for New Update

EBT (Enhanced Blood Textures) v3·5c by dDefinder [12th November 2013] 62-Visuals and Graphics-60

Is latest it has just been updated and no mention of Mod Organizer in FAQ's.

EBT (Enhanced Blood Textures) v3·5a by dDefinder [9th June 2013] 62-Visuals and Graphics-60

Checked this ReadMe and no mention here.

So try updating if this is mod you mean.

[phryxolydian]

Right now your post is here first to repeat SkSE info I put in PM to you (Benefit of Other Readers) and better explained now I'm not working.

 

SkSE Scripts need to be a separate mod.

Open SkSE Archive and create either .7Z, .Zip or .RAR from the contents of it's Data folder, which is the "Scripts" folder.

Naming suitably, for Example;

SkSE v1.6.16 Scripts.7Z

Saving the Archive if you want to, in case it's required in the future.

Install Scripts archive as normal mod.

Delete the SkSE's Data folder, as it's not required now it's a Mod.

Rest of SkSE goes in Skyrim main folder as usual, Default is;

C:\Steam\SteamApps\Common\Skyrim\

SkSE is then installed, Mod Organized Style.

That was my procedure but I got an error when running SKSE. No matter, I did the same but using NMM and it's alright, it's the only thing I'm using NMM for and I don't mind it too much.

 

Automatic Variants

SkyProc Mod so Java dependant. It does work but needs more care than average mod.

wolverine2710 our resident AV SkyProc Guru (He's made a few AV mods himself) has said of AV.

 

There is a very easy way to create an executable for Skyproc based programs like Automatic Variants (AV), ASIS, WTF< Reproccer, RBS etc. Example for AV, goto the data tab in the right windows. Goto the skyproc patchers/automatic variants directory, select the automatic variants.jar file, right click and select 'add as executable'. MO the fills everything in for you. Same for ASIS etc. Works like a charm.

If after running AV you get an Overwrite warning, or you just dont know where the new AV made files are they almost certainly  will be in Overwrite Folder (Mod Organizer Temp Folder).

They get left here if Mod Organizer isn't told where to put them, You must then move them manually to correct Mod Folder (The AV Mod you patched). Do this and all should work.

Much appreciated! Do you mean to move it from the overwrite to each texture package folder or from overwrite to the AV folder? I got it working that way first but everytime I run AV I have to move the files from the overwrite to the AV and I merge the folders. Now I can only see the normal maps and no textures :-S

 

EBT is I assume

Enhanced Blood Textures by dDefinder 62-Visuals and Graphics-60

Check for New Update

EBT (Enhanced Blood Textures) v3·5c by dDefinder [12th November 2013] 62-Visuals and Graphics-60

Is latest it has just been updated and no mention of Mod Organizer in FAQ's.

EBT (Enhanced Blood Textures) v3·5a by dDefinder [9th June 2013] 62-Visuals and Graphics-60

Checked this ReadMe and no mention here.

So try updating if this is mod you mean.

Nope, I already had version 3.5c but thanks anyway, I've tried resetting the cloak spell but no blood pools for me. In the EBT Nexus page he mentions a possible issue with installing with MO but he doesn't mention what exactly is the possible issue.

 

Thanks a lot Uhuru! Do you by any chance know a possible fix to the issues with the shadows, an ini tweak maybe? and that horrible black strip in the horizon?

[DoubleYou]

To install SKSE:

1. Download the 7z archive.

2. Manually copy the loose files at the top of the archive to the Skyrim directory where TESV.exe is located.

3. Now in Mod Organizer click the Archive button and select the skse archive.

4. Right-click on the Data directory, select "Set data directory"

5. Press OK to install

6. Enable it in the Left Pane for all your profiles.

 

To fix Automatic Variants:

1. Ensure your overwrite directory is empty

2. Reinstall the Automatic Variant textures as AV tends to delete them in Mod Organizer. If you've been merging the overwrite folder with the original mod, you may simply want to remove it and reinstall Automatic Variants itself to get everything back to normal. I suggest you keep Automatic Variants installed as a mod separate from its texture packs, despite the fact that its included packages tend to want you to install them to it.

3. Run Automatic Variants and patch

4. Once finished patching, overwrite will be full of files, including Automatic Variants.esp and a SkyProc Patchers folder, etc. Right-click Overwrite and select "Create mod" and name it something like Automatic Variants Creation. This way you should have Automatic Variants installed as cleanly as possible.

 

On EBT...

I don't use Enhanced Blood Textures, but MO is not at fault, because I've used it before without trouble in MO. Check for a script conflict, and if so, change the priority order so that all its scripts are available.

 

On the Shadow problem, could you please use a spoiler and code tag and copy the contents of your Display section of your SkyrimPrefs.ini here? iShadowMaskQuarter might be at fault I'm guessing, but I'd prefer to see all your shadow settings than just guessing.

[phryxolydian]

I got SKSE working with MO now, thank you both. :-)

 

I'll get back to you with Automatic Variants, I can't do the procedure right now but I got a question, once I create the new mod from Overwrite, do I disable either Automatic Variants' original or any of the texture packs? I do keep the packs separate and each is its own mod.

 

Here's the Display from MO's skyrimprefs.ini

 

[Display]

fShadowBiasScale=0.5000

fInteriorShadowDistance=3000.0000

fShadowDistance=2000.0000

iBlurDeferredShadowMask=0

bFloatPointRenderTarget=1

iShadowMaskQuarter=4

iShadowMapResolution=512

bFXAAEnabled=0

iMaxAnisotropy=1

fLeafAnimDampenDistEnd=4600.0000

fLeafAnimDampenDistStart=3600.0000

fTreesMidLODSwitchDist=0.0000

fGamma=1.0000

iShadowFilter=3

fDecalLOD2=1500.0000

fDecalLOD1=1000.0000

fSpecularLODStartFade=830.0000

fShadowLODStartFade=200.0000

fLightLODStartFade=200.0000

iTexMipMapMinimum=0

iTexMipMapSkip=0

bTransparencyMultisampling=0

iWaterMultiSamples=0

iMultiSample=1

bDeferredShadows=1

iShadowMode=3

bTreesReceiveShadows=1

bShadowsOnGrass=1

bDrawLandShadows=1

bDrawShadows=1

bFull Screen=1

iSize H=1024

iSize W=1280

fMeshLODFadePercentDefault=1.2000

fMeshLODFadeBoundDefault=256.0000

fMeshLODLevel2FadeTreeDistance=2048.0000

fMeshLODLevel1FadeTreeDistance=2844.0000

fMeshLODLevel2FadeDist=3072.0000

fMeshLODLevel1FadeDist=4096.0000

iScreenShotIndex=19

bShadowMaskZPrepass=0

bMainZPrepass=0

iMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame=0

iMaxDecalsPerFrame=0

sD3DDevice="NVIDIA GeForce 210 "

iAdapter=0

iPresentInterval=1

 

 

While I was at it I noticed something that may be the reason I don't get blood pools from EBT. Surely the Decals aren't supposed to be this way? I don't know why they're like this though. When running SkyrimLauncher I'm sure I had decals set to High quality.

 

[Decals]

uMaxDecals=0

bDecals=0

bSkinnedDecals=0

uMaxSkinDecals=0

uMaxSkinDecalsPerActor=0

 

[DoubleYou]

Glad you got SKSE working.

 

Keep Automatic Variants and its packs enabled always.

 

Your ini is somewhat messed up :(

Based on the fact that your ini shows you being on a GT 210, I suggest you make the following changes:

 

[Display]

fShadowBiasScale=1

iBlurDeferredShadowMask=3

bFloatPointRenderTarget=0

iShadowMapResolution=1024

bTreesReceiveShadows=0

bDrawLandShadows=0

bShadowsOnGrass=0

iMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame=3

iMaxDecalsPerFrame=10

 

[Decals]

uMaxDecals=100

bDecals=1

bSkinnedDecals=1

uMaxSkinDecals=35

uMaxSkinDecalsPerActor=20

bDecalsOnSkinnedGeometry=1

 

 

 

Please read why I suggest these values and modify accordingly:

 

 

fShadowBiasScale=1 because 0.5 will create more shadows than necessary or even default, and your system will benefit from less shadows

 

iBlurDeferredShadowMask=3 You have this set to off, which will create sharp shadows that will look glitchy, and is probably the main reason for your problem. This introduces blurring of the shadows a bit. Default is 5.

 

bFloatPointRenderTarget=0 Because I doubt you are using an enb and STEP says to set this to off to increase system performance as well as eliminate some glitches when not using enb or similar.

 

iShadowMapResolution=1024 You might want to ignore this suggestion at first, as I don't know how your system will respond to higher shadow resolution, but use this if it doesn't decrease your performance, as it will make shadows look much better than at 512

 

bTreesReceiveShadows=0

bDrawLandShadows=0

bShadowsOnGrass=0 These values disable some shadows that are not very noticeable and may increase performance.

 

iMaxSkinDecalsPerFrame=3

iMaxDecalsPerFrame=10

[Decals]

uMaxDecals=100

bDecals=1

bSkinnedDecals=1

uMaxSkinDecals=35

uMaxSkinDecalsPerActor=20

bDecalsOnSkinnedGeometry=1

You need to turn decals on! Otherwise you won't see any decals.

 

 

[phryxolydian]

Thank you, DoubleYou! Will make the changes accordingly except bFloatPointRenderTarget, bTreesReceiveShadows, bDrawLandShadows, bShadowsOnGrass because I do use ENBoost and it is mentioned that these are needed for it to work. I don't use any ENB mod though, just ENBoost.

 

Again, thank you very much for your help! I'll comeback and share my results with your suggestions.

[wolverine2710]

I´m a week in Germany visiting Rosi,so no Skyrim PC and limited time. DoubleYou already answered most of the AV questions. I have a few remarks. AV is very script friendly and light, the scripts run only when an creature is spawn to change the skin. After that AV does nothing. Removing AV is safe, the creatures get their default skin back. When AV is run and it detects new AV packages the files are moved from data/Automatic Variants/AV packages/ to data/textures/AV packages (or somethinglike that). For me files were never deleted. The latest AV does not move files around but uses hardlinks. Some ppl report problems with this. Independent of MO is used or not. The latest 1.6.x does not use hardlinks. It doesn´t matter in which mod you put the textures because MO assembles them all in the virtualized directory. See advanced tab of MO wiki section "the virtual filing system". Use free commander to check what all programs started by MO see as filing system. See third party tabs in the MO wiki. Made is much clearer for me to see it in action.You can also check if files like normals are in place. If you are really interested in  what is going on use Directory Monitor 2 to see what happens on the filing system (move, copy, delete, modified).

 

A mod is a directory in the /mods directory. the overwrite directory is located in /overwrite. If you feel more comfortable with the windows explorer you can use that to move files around.

 

Like DoubleYou said its best to place all the textures (after AV has moved all files) in one "mod" and have this always enabled. If you are using multiple profiles a would create a "AV profile " mod and put the automatc variants.esp there. Remember that just as with Wrye Bash (bashed patch.esp) in principle when you add/remove a mod you have to create a new AV patch. Same when switching profiles where different mods are enabled.

 

Before I forget Deathneko11 has made a video about using skyproc based programs with MO.AV is discussed in detail.

[phryxolydian]

Late response but yeah, I worked it out thanks to you guys. I was having problems when I would have to patch again and the textures would be lost but I just needed to have both the original and the patch (which contains the textures) selected, run AV, patch and create mod again then delete the previous patch. This way I found that it was in the patch where the esp was located so all one needs to do is move it to the original mod and then you can just patch as many times as you want, right?

 

DoubleYou, shadows have improved a lot with your changes and even the black strip in the horizon is gone! I notice only a small performance lost with iShadowMapResolution=1024, however they still look quite pixelated and not very nice to look at so.. I mean I know I can't, because of my gear, have beautiful realistic looking shadows so it's no biggie, I can live with that but I did tried making them more blurry so they look less like squares and I changed iShadowFilter from 3 to 5 but this was not at all a good idea so which setting is the one I have to tweak for blurriness? iBlurDeferredShadowMask?

 

I have two new minor issues: first, sometimes, since updating enb, whenever the game loads for the first time, it minimizes to desktop for some strange reason. I can just maximize it back and everything is fine but this didn't use to happen, any ideas?

 

Second, I've noticed some ugly splitting textures that didn't use to be there. I've posted some images so you can see what I mean. Does this have to do with parallax or something like that? I've really no idea why this has been happening now... Hmm, apparently I've used my 1000kb quota :)

 

Oh and does anyone know of a fix to the hideous texture that appears when a dragon lands? I think it's fxdirtmound01.dds, not sure but no texture packs include a "fix". :(

[phryxolydian]

Also, I just remembered this cause it just happened again. I don't remember this happening like this before but every now and then actors appear out of thin air, as if they were Psijic monks or something. Literally I can walk up to a khajit tent where there is no one around and then pop there they are, Kharjo, Ri'saad or whoever. Or I would be wandering around and right before my eyes, 3 cultist appear out of nowhere. What's causing this?

[DoubleYou]

iBlurDeferredShadowMask=5 should make the shadows look decent.

---

As for the textures and enb trouble, I have no idea.

[phryxolydian]

Thanks DoubleYou, it made little difference I think but no worries.

 

Can somebody please take a look at the last posts on the first page? I still don't know what to do.. Oh and another quick question about Automatic Variants using MO: how do you use AV with different profiles if one of the masters from one profile is not going to be used in the other?

[phryxolydian]

Like DoubleYou said its best to place all the textures (after AV has moved all files) in one "mod" and have this always enabled. If you are using multiple profiles a would create a "AV profile " mod and put the automatc variants.esp there. Remember that just as with Wrye Bash (bashed patch.esp) in principle when you add/remove a mod you have to create a new AV patch. Same when switching profiles where different mods are enabled.

Could you please elaborate on this point? I have created another profile were Civil War Overhaul isn't a master but I'm not sure I understand how to have AV on both profiles. I mean I have a few ideas like copying the esp were CWO is a master and place it somewhere else, then run AV, create an esp without CWO and then create a mod with that esp selected and create another with the esp were CWO is a master and have that selected for that profile. It's very messy, I think, and I don't know were the textures would be placed so I need some help with this, if possible.

 

I checked and deathneko doesn't mention having several profiles for SkyProc patchers on his MO Advance Guide video. Hey, perhaps he can hop in here and help with this? Thanks in advance!