pack A Real Explorer's Guide to Skyrim

[mattfromoz]

Just managed to get a stable install running at an ok frame rate for SR-LE with ENB myself after a number of attempts. The memory patch etc seemd to help a lot. Will start a play through as is and add this on top when/if there is a new relase. Have any of the detailed companion mods with quests been considered for inclusion?

[Nearox]

I picked exactly the wrong time to install REGS on top of SR-LE :(

Can't continue with the modding process because I don't have the 12.1 of ETaC, so I'm just gonna have to wait.

I am still waiting for Jenna to upload 12.1 to an external website so that we can link it there. In fact I'll send her a friendly reminder now :)

Just managed to get a stable install running at an ok frame rate for SR-LE with ENB myself after a number of attempts. The memory patch etc seemd to help a lot. Will start a play through as is and add this on top when/if there is a new relase. Have any of the detailed companion mods with quests been considered for inclusion?

Nope. But note that Interesting NPCs already adds like 50 or more quests and also like 20 or 25 followers. Try it out first and see if that is not enough :) But there is probably no mod that does the implementation better than Interesting NPCs. 

[keithinhanoi]

Nope. But note that Interesting NPCs already adds like 50 or more quests and also like 20 or 25 followers. Try it out first and see if that is not enough :) But there is probably no mod that does the implementation better than Interesting NPCs. 

 

Some of the potential followers in Interesting NPCs would be considered awesome just as a single stand-alone follower mod. They are that good. Now multiply that by more than a dozen, and scores more other NPCs, many of whom can actually carry on full conversations with Vanilla NPCs, and you've got Interesting NPCs. You just have to get past the fact that it is a huge mod to download.

 

It's also good to mention that because of the way Interesting NPCs was put together, it allows you to have one I-NPC follower and a vanilla follower, all without the need to install an NPC overhaul mod.

 

So, you have have a three-way. Fight. Yeah, a three-way fight.... that's what I meant. 

[mattfromoz]

Cool. I will check it out Interesting NPCs.

[Pretendeavor]

Hi. I might have some useful information for those who installed the new ETaC version on top of REGS+SR-LE and can't get their game started. As I'm new to these forums and fairly new to skyrim modding, I'll just explain my experiences:

 

So I have recently installed REGS on top of SR-LE (+ some additional mods that I felt didn't conflict much, no major overhauls whatsoever) and got it all working after 2 weeks of intense modding and reading.. (jeez) First of all I would like to thank the guys who put so much work into this to make it compatible. I now realize how many hours that must have taken..

 

So far, I haven't actually played much yet, but I took a look some of the places that REG - Cities and ETaC added. Some minor things that bothered me were the occasional floating objects like a floating torch in Dawnstar. So far I've found 2 of such objects and as I tried tracking down the cause of it I stumbled upon people reporting the same issues in the ETaC forums. After reading a lot of posts I was pretty sure it was caused by ETaC. (I did load everything involving ETaC after 3DNPC.esp, as is suggested by many including the REGS). I decided I had to deal with it, bummer.

 

Then yesterday I noticed that ETaC had updated to version 13 and decided to be brave and install it, replacing the original files and hoping it would fix the floating torches (turned out it didn't >>). I also replaced the Immersive Orc Strongholds file from the guide with the one that comes with the new ETaC installer, but haven't checked for any issues yet. I had my suspicions about Immersive Solstheim conflicting with the other mods in the guide (which were confirmed after reading previous posts) so I didn't install it.

 

I did try to install Immersive Whiterun. At first sight (when arriving at the place from the Whiterun entrance) it looked splendid, but after a while I noticed the HUGE clipping issues with REGS - Cities. Certain NPCs were also at a loss, because certain walls and fences now prevented them from entering their homes, haha. Anyway, as mentioned in earlier posts, you probably shouldn't install this.

 

I should also note that I reinstalled the required patches from the ETaC page, even though most of them are still meant for the older version. I read in the comments of the ETaC nexus page that you probably shouldn't use the ETaC - ELFX patch. I still have it installed and did notice some odd flickering in certain places, but that could have been there with the older version too, I can't tell. I feel that even with the 20 thousand patches supplied by REG, SRLE and its compatibility guide you can't completely remove all the flickering from the game. What I can say however is that this particular patch didn't cause the game to freeze, which happened after installing the new ETaC.

 

Basically what happened was that the game froze at the main menu. It would show the logo, but not 'Continue, New Game' etc. I have seen multiple people reporting the same problem. As I mentioned before I am fairly new to modding so my problem solving abilities consist of mostly extensive googling+reading, minor TES5edit changes and trial+error. With some help of the ETaC forums I narrowed the problem down to the RS Children Patches. One person mentioned TK Children, which isn't used by REG nor SR-LE, but another mentioned the RS Children ETaC Patch.

 

Anyway, there seemed to be a problem with Form IDs. The original RS Children ETaC Patch is merged into a general patch in the REG guide, then renamed to RSChildren_CompleteUSKP. I used TES5Edit to look around in this esp, comparing it to ETaC - Complete and RS - Children, and noticed that it copied certain npcs from ETaC - Complete and changed things like the Head Texture. The patch seems to be compatible with the new ETaC - Complete with the exception of 1 child: Torfi. (EditorID:MJBDarkwaterChildTorfi).

So what I did was the following (not sure if I did it exactly right, but it seemed logical and it fixed the main menu freeze):

- Opened ETaC - Complete and RSChildren_CompleteUSKP in TES5Edit

- Under ETaC - Complete -> Non-Player Character (Actor) tracked down Torfi

- In the right panel, copied the whole ETaC - Complete.esp entry as override into a new file (and named it something like new ETaC RS children Patch)

- Copied the FormID of Torfi (double click on the form Id in the right panel opens a window that allows you to copy)

- Tracked down Torfi under RSChildren_CompleteUSKP -> Non-Player Character (Actor)

- Right clicked the Form ID in the left panel and chose 'change FormID'

- Pasted the new FormID

- In the right window, all 3 entries were now be visible (ETaC - Complete, RSChildren_CompleteUSKP, the new patch file)

- I scrolled down and saw some errors in the RS patch

- Copied any changes that the RS patch makes involving texture/light to the new patch file (PNAM - Head Part, FTST - Head Texture, QNAM - Texture lighting, NAM9 - Face Morph, NAMA - Face parts and Tint Layers)

- Made the decision to completely delete this npc entry from the RS Patch by right clicking it under RSChildren_CompleteUSKP -> Non-Player Character (Actor) and removing it (because of the errors I saw, I'm not sure if my new patch would nullify these or if these errors would still have caused the game to crash..)

- Closed TES5Edit, saved both the RS patch and the new patch and checked the backup option because I'm unsure about everything I do lol.

- BUM-ruled the new patch to be after the REGS - SRLE Patch (for reasons below)

- Game didn't freeze anymore! (but didn't check for any texture errors concerning that damn Torfi.)

 

Forgive me for the wall of text, but I have a few other things to mention/ask that might be obvious to you experienced modders :P

1. REG includes the mod 'Hearthfire Chimneys' and mentions that you should pick the ETaC and Falskaar versions. BOSS doesn't load the ETaC version of this after ETaC - Complete, which bothered me.. I BUM-ruled it to be after ETaC - Complete, was this the right thing to do? Maybe LOOT puts everything into its proper place, but after following these 2 guides I feel I shouldn't use it and stick with the BOSS-BUM combo..

2. The Conflict Resolution page for REG-SRLE mentions conflicts with Bring Out Your Dead.esp. it copies entries from ETaC - Complete and then corrects them with the patch. When attempting to fix the game freeze problem I noticed some similar problems with the new ETaC - Complete file and Bring Out Your Dead. I fixed them the same way but pet them in the patch I made for Torfi. Should these fixes be included in the REGS - SRLE Patch? It concerns the following npcs: Orgnar, Ainethach, Mena and Lodvar (where Lodvar is also already included in the REGS - SRLE Patch but it seems to have changed)

3. REG mentions TES5Edit cleaning for Immersive Orc Strongholds.esp but the new esp included in ETaC doesn't seem to require it as far as I've seen..

4. I'd love the ones who could make Immersive Whiterun and REG - Cities compatible forever, lol.

 

Again, forgive me for the long post but I just felt like typing things out >>

[keithinhanoi]

JKrojmal has done it again - with JK's Solitude.

 

Downloading now, so I can't say anything yet, but compatibility with Nernie's Cities and Village Expansion and Skyrim Sewers 4, both part of REGS, is claimed on the main description page.

 

Since CJ's REGS Cities plugin provides heavily modified version of both those mods, it remains to be seen whether JK's newest city enhancement creation will have any conflicts / clipping.

 

I'll post back later when I have a chance to look at it in-game.

 

 

 

@Pretendeavor:

 

Thanks for the detailed post / report. With the change of FormID to the record for Torfi in ETaC v13.0, the reference to him also needs to be fixed in the ETaC - TK Children patch. A fairly easy fix.

 

I definitely would not recommend using the ELFX patch from ETaC 12.1 along with ETaC 13. There have been too many changes from both mods to make it useful at all.

 

I've already built a rudimentary ETaC 13 + ELFX 2.0 patch, and found most of the vanilla light they disable are the same ones. Where the real patching is needed is to go through each vanilla interior space that they both touch and decide which added lights (from either ETaC or ELFX) to keep. With the redecorating that ETaC does to interiors, obviously correct position of the light sources to match ETaC's arrangement of object would dictate how that patch is made.

 

On Hearthfire Chimneys, I can tell you right now that the ETaC / REGS version likely isn't "compatible" anymore, because there have been several major releases of ETaC since that was made. As far as I've seen, MJB add her own chimneys to any hourses that ETaC touches, so perhaps if Hearthfire Chimneys wasn't loaded, you wouldn't be missing much.

 

Then, regarding Immersive Orc Strongholds, MJB mentioned the version she included in ETaC 13 has bugfixes and navmesh "clean up". I think it's safe to assume that includes cleaning the plugin of ITM's and any vanilla records marked as deleted.

 

Finally, the patch for ETaC 12.1 + Oblivion Realms Series - Morthal Pain is messed up when used with ETaC 13. I let MJB know, and since it affects some navmesh related records, it would be a good idea to wait for her to update that patch.

 

Otherwise, I've been running with ETaC 13 for a few days and have only experienced some weirdness in (north) Dragon Bridge (see my "bug report" to MJB here.)

[CJ2311]

Alright, I'm just popping by to make some notes about ETaC 13 and the state of their patches. As I've said before, I stopped modding Skyrim so I won't be able to update any of the patches, so don't get your hopes high up just yet.

 

For ETaC v13, with the exception of the ORS - Morthal Pain patch, it should still be compatible with REGS, as long as you get the CRF patch from ETaC.

 

Here are the changes that would need to be made to the guide for it to be up-to-date :

 

- Deleting the dawn of windhelm replacer from the REGS patches (no longer needed with DoW v1.2)

- Removing Immersive Settlements - Orc Stronghold (no longer needed with ETaC v13)

- Adding the CRF patch to the ETaC v13 instructions.

- Removing the Fight against the Thalmor series, since it's not looking like it'll be updated.

- Removing Raven Rock Expanded (and its fixed esp from the patch) since ETaC now covers that.

 

I was also very interested in adding JK's whiterun to the guide and would vote for it if it's being considered for inclusion to the guide.

 

Now for the heavy hitter: I think REGS - Cities should be removed as a module, and replaced instead by the following mods:

- ETaC's Whiterun outskirts

- Skyrim Sewers (as a standalone mod)

- Windhelm Lighthouse (as a standalone mod)

- Books of Skyrim by mannyGT.

- JK's Solitude. (If it's compatible with nernies, then it should be compatible with Books of Skyrim)

- A dumbed down version of the current REGS - Cities which would only include the solitude outskirts and the windhelm outskirts. (I can make this version if need be)

 

There's also the fact that I'm unsure whether Cutting Room Floor is compatible with ETaC's whiterun, so I'd appreciate it if someone could test that.

 

EDIT: Oh and if someone could inform Jenna that the patch for Better Dynamic Snow was actually made by me (not this MidnightVoyager fella), that'd be nice. Besides, it needs a note that the patch will only work if you use SMIM and/or NSutR meshes with ETaC, otherwise there won't be any snow at all on the houses.

 

EDIT2: I am actually redownloading the game + CK for the sake of it, however I'll wait for some input from you guys before I decide what to do with REGS - Cities. Personally I think it'd be best to make it even more modular, that way if someone were to release a nice and working solitude outskirts mod, it would be easier to include in the pack.

Edited September 13, 2014 by CJ2311

[keithinhanoi]

Now for the heavy hitter: I think REGS - Cities should be removed as a module, and replaced instead by the following mods:

- ETaC's Whiterun outskirts (if it's out yet)

- Skyrim Sewers (as a standalone mod)

- Windhelm Lighthouse (as a standalone mod)

- Books of Skyrim by mannyGT.

- A dumbed down version of the current REGS - Cities which would only include the solitude outskirts and the windhelm outskirts. (I can make this version if need be)

 

There's also the fact that I'm unsure whether Cutting Room Floor is compatible with ETaC's whiterun, so I'd appreciate it if someone could test that.

 

EDIT: Oh and if someone could inform Jenna that the patch for Better Dynamic Snow was actually made by me (not this MidnightVoyager fella), that'd be nice. Besides, it needs a note that the patch will only work if you use SMIM and/or NSutR meshes with ETaC, otherwise there won't be any snow at all on the houses.

 

Hi CJ! Glad to see you are still around, even if it's somewhere in the "shadows."

 

Removing REGS - Cities is a heavy hitter of a recommendation, with all of the work you did on it!

 

ETaC's Whiterun outskirts - which is MJB's modified/updated Immersive Whiterun - is included as an optional additional plugin with the ETaC 13 installer. She's already stated that she does not intend to merge that into ETaC - Complete, so that does allow flexibility for people who prefer one of the other Whiterun outskirts offerings.

 

But, I notice you don't list Nernie's in your recommendation there. Is that because it touches many places at once and has more potential for issues?

 

And.. if you've stopped modding then why are you offering to help??? 

 

I can pass on the info about the BDS patch.

Edited September 13, 2014 by keithinhanoi

[CJ2311]

Removing REGS - Cities is a heavy hitter of a recommendation, with all of the work you did on it!

Not really, it's mostly a compilation of other people's work, and if using standalone versions of the mods that have been merged, then it's rather easy to replace. 

ETaC's Whiterun outskirts - which is MJB's modified/updated Immersive Whiterun - is included as an optional additional plugin with the ETaC 13 installer. She's already stated that she does not intend to merge that into ETaC - Complete, so that does allow flexibility for people who prefer one of the other Whiterun outskirts offerings.

But, I notice you don't list Nernie's in your recommendation there. Is that because it touches many places at once and has more potential for issues?

I did, actually. That's what the solitude and windhelm outskirts are from: Nernie's cities. 

And.. if you've stopped modding then why are you offering to help??? 

Well I'm offering to help a last time, in order to make the guide easier to maintain. I had to stop it abruptly because of health issues, but now that I'm feeling better, I thought I would at least not leave the guide in an incomplete state. Edited September 13, 2014 by CJ2311

[keithinhanoi]

 

I did, actually. That's what the solitude and windhelm outskirts are from: Nernie's cities.

 

Ahh, okay, I get it. But then what about Nernie's edits to the interior of Solitude's city walls? Not a good idea to use?

 

Also, I thought there were some navmesh conflicts that had to be worked out as part of creating the REGS - Cities merge of different mods.

 

For example, in the five Solitude "child" records for Block -1,0 / Sub-Block -2,3, I count 13 NavMesh record edits in REGS Cities.esp. There's also NavMesh edits for WindhelmWorld, MarkarthWorld, WhiterunWorld, etc. That was what I was thinking of when I said REGS - Cities involved a lot of your work. So how would that all be affected by using the original individual mods?

 

Well I'm offering to help a last time, in order to make the guide easier to maintain. I had to stop it abruptly because of health issues, but now that I'm feeling better, I thought I would at least not leave the guide in an incomplete state. 

 

Oh, man, I had no idea about that. But I am very happy to hear you are feeling better - please take care!

[darkside]

Thank you very much for a great pack. Nice to see you around here again, CJ. I agree with more modular REGS-Cities.

[CJ2311]

Ahh, okay, I get it. But then what about Nernie's edits to the interior of Solitude's city walls? Not a good idea to use? Also, I thought there were some navmesh conflicts that had to be worked out as part of creating the REGS - Cities merge of different mods. For example, in the five Solitude "child" records for Block -1,0 / Sub-Block -2,3, I count 13 NavMesh record edits in REGS Cities.esp. There's also NavMesh edits for WindhelmWorld, MarkarthWorld, WhiterunWorld, etc. That was what I was thinking of when I said REGS - Cities involved a lot of your work. So how would that all be affected by using the original individual mods?

The changes to the solitude interior would all be deleted, navmeshes included. I'm thinking that way people can install a combination of other mods such as Books of Skyrim and Elianora's solitude house (whatever its name was)The changes to the different interiors' navmeshes are all a result of Skyrim Sewers being included in REGS - Cities. Since that mod would be removed from REGS - Cities and included as a standalone instead, there would be no more need for those navmesh edits. Worse case scenario is that by using Skyrim Sewers, your followers won't be able to get in the sewers from some manholes, and will instead try to take a different route to follow you, or wait for you to come out.

[Nearox]

Alright, I'm just popping by to make some notes about ETaC 13 and the state of their patches. As I've said before, I stopped modding Skyrim so I won't be able to update any of the patches, so don't get your hopes high up just yet.

 

For ETaC v13, with the exception of the ORS - Morthal Pain patch, it should still be compatible with REGS, as long as you get the CRF patch from ETaC.

 

Great to hear from you CJ. Not great to hear you had to quit due to health issues... :(

 

Thanks a lot for this write-up. Gandaganza and I have had pretty extensive discussions via PM during the last week, and the 3 of us are largely thinking along the same lines. 

 

Here are the changes that would need to be made to the guide for it to be up-to-date :

 

- Deleting the dawn of windhelm replacer from the REGS patches (no longer needed with DoW v1.2)

- Removing Immersive Settlements - Orc Stronghold (no longer needed with ETaC v13)

- Adding the CRF patch to the ETaC v13 instructions.

- Removing the Fight against the Thalmor series, since it's not looking like it'll be updated.

- Removing Raven Rock Expanded (and its fixed esp from the patch) since ETaC now covers that.

 

I was also very interested in adding JK's whiterun to the guide and would vote for it if it's being considered for inclusion to the guide.

 

Now for the heavy hitter: I think REGS - Cities should be removed as a module, and replaced instead by the following mods:

- ETaC's Whiterun outskirts

- Skyrim Sewers (as a standalone mod)

- Windhelm Lighthouse (as a standalone mod)

- Books of Skyrim by mannyGT.

- JK's Solitude. (If it's compatible with nernies, then it should be compatible with Books of Skyrim)

- A dumbed down version of the current REGS - Cities which would only include the solitude outskirts and the windhelm outskirts. (I can make this version if need be)

 

There's also the fact that I'm unsure whether Cutting Room Floor is compatible with ETaC's whiterun, so I'd appreciate it if someone could test that.

 

I wholeheartedly  agree with everything you have said. 

 

- To me it is especially adament that we keep the Windhelm Exterior and Solitude Exterior parts of REGS - Cities.

- Generally speaking I am in favor of using Jenna's stuff over other mods, as there is a much higher chance it will remain updated.

- ETaC's Whiterun, from the looks of it, would be a decent replacer for Nernie's and since there is a CRF patch for 13.0, should be preferred as you said.

- Gandaganza and I also playtested JK's Whiterun and Windhelm and they really deserve inclusion.

- Since JK Whiterun is compatible with DoW, I want to add DoW as an optional mod (via a note/special install instruction) for those with powerful systems that can muster the FPS drop.

- JK Whiterun does have small clipping issues with BCE last time I checked ( a week ago or so)

- Removing FATT is a painful choice, but unfortunately necessary. 

- Books of Skyrim is indeed a must-have. 

 

By the way, the patch notes of ETaC say that CRF compatibility is built-in into version 13, just as CWO, and she rebuilt the exterior navmesh. 

 

I am glad you offer help with REGS - Cities. In fact, Gandaganze and I have been looking around for someone to do it, but nobody has stepped up so far. If you could strip sewers, lighthouse, solitude itnerior and whiterun exteriors, that would be absolutely fantastic! It would mean we can progress with updating REGS. Just to recompile a list, the following mods I will want to add to REGS:

 

- ETaC 13.0

- JK's Whiterun

- JK's Solitude

- JK's Windhelm

- Dawn of Whiterun (the JK compatible version)

- Books of Skyrim

- Skyrim Better Roads (does not edit navmesh, instead uses something that Arthmoor pointed out to author called 'NavCut Collision Markers' which apparently eliminated the need for navmesh edits for this particular mod. thought maybe this is of itnerest to you, or maybe you already were aware :p)

 

I can start working on their inclusion as soon as the new REGS Cities is finished. I see you already downloaded the CK 

 

I will update the REGS page with these new mods and remove the ones mentioned by you earlier.

 

CJ could you also have a look at your REGS - Patches? Since FATT, RRE etc. will no longer be included they can be removed from the installer. Also would any of the other patches you made require updates? I can assist with tes5editing, but not with CK stuff, as you know. 

 

Thanks again for this (temporary?) return to REGS! 

[keithinhanoi]

- To me it is especially adament that we keep the Windhelm Exterior and Solitude Exterior parts of REGS - Cities.

- Generally speaking I am in favor of using Jenna's stuff over other mods, as there is a much higher chance it will remain updated.

- ETaC's Whiterun, from the looks of it, would be a decent replacer for Nernie's and since there is a CRF patch for 13.0, should be preferred as you said.

- Gandaganza and I also playtested JK's Whiterun and Windhelm and they really deserve inclusion.

- Since JK Whiterun is compatible with DoW, I want to add DoW as an optional mod (via a note/special install instruction) for those with powerful systems that can muster the FPS drop.

- JK Whiterun does have small clipping issues with BCE last time I checked ( a week ago or so)

- Removing FATT is a painful choice, but unfortunately necessary. 

- Books of Skyrim is indeed a must-have. 

 

By the way, the patch notes of ETaC say that CRF compatibility is built-in into version 13, just as CWO, and she rebuilt the exterior navmesh. 

 

I am glad you offer help with REGS - Cities. In fact, Gandaganze and I have been looking around for someone to do it, but nobody has stepped up so far. If you could strip sewers, lighthouse, solitude itnerior and whiterun exteriors, that would be absolutely fantastic! It would mean we can progress with updating REGS. Just to recompile a list, the following mods I will want to add to REGS:

 

- ETaC 13.0

- JK's Whiterun

- JK's Solitude

- JK's Windhelm

- Dawn of Whiterun (the JK compatible version)

- Books of Skyrim

- Skyrim Better Roads (does not edit navmesh, instead uses something that Arthmoor pointed out to author called 'NavCut Collision Markers' which apparently eliminated the need for navmesh edits for this particular mod. thought maybe this is of itnerest to you, or maybe you already were aware :p)

 

This all sounds good, though I'm curious about a couple of things:

 

First, what happens with Dawn of Windhelm in the guide - is that to remain an option, like with Dawn of Whiterun?

 

Second, what makes removing the rest of the FATT series necessary?

 

Regarding NavCut Collision Markers - I left a note to JKrojmal about that, pointing to the Skyrim Better Roads comments thread. When I asked him whether he found them useful while making his new Solitude make-over mod, his reply was "L_NAVCUT collision markers are a Godsend!!"

 

I really wish I had more time to pick up CK and help out... 

[keithinhanoi]

The changes to the different interiors' navmeshes are all a result of Skyrim Sewers being included in REGS - Cities. Since that mod would be removed from REGS - Cities and included as a standalone instead, there would be no more need for those navmesh edits. Worse case scenario is that by using Skyrim Sewers, your followers won't be able to get in the sewers from some manholes, and will instead try to take a different route to follow you, or wait for you to come out.

 

So, in theory, if using Skyrim Sewers 4 as a normal stand-alone mod, then the load order would determine where your followers / NPCs could go.

 

Either in the new NavMeshed areas added by JK's Solitude / Whiterun / Windhelm if those load after SS4, or following into the sewers if SS4 loads later - is that right?

 

If that's the case, then (assuming one of us who's saying they'd like to learn how to make NavMeshes actually does so) a patch could be made that "merges" the NavMeshes of SS4 and whatever else, which must be later in the load order, and could theoretically be part of a plugin merge using Mator's script.