pack A Real Explorer's Guide to Skyrim

[noobzor]

I am pretty sure none of the quest mods or extra lands have any complex dependencies in the patches.  I think you can (for the most part) just drop anything you don't want to use, with the possible exception of the stuff in REGS - Cities.

 

When in doubt, check the masters on the patches.  The only things that have any kind of patch inter-dependency will be referenced as masters on the same patch somewhere.

[CJ2311]

So, it seems the 3DNPC and EWDR patches need some fixing. Whose are those?

Ah, the error with the 3DNPC patch would be because the lights have been deleted from the esm, so it's not managing to move one of the lights. You can just delete the record in question for the moment. Even keeping it won't cause issues except for the fact that you can't merge the file if you do keep it.As for the EDWR patch, I'll have to consult Jenna about it because I don't know what could have caused it.

I noticed Lanterns of Skyrim - AIO - Dawnguard patch is not included in REGS and was wondering if it was considered for the guide.

Yeah it was considered at the start, but it turned out this patch is for an outdated version of LoS.Glory to Arstotzka!

How do you guys get around the 255 limit issue?

I don't. Had to give up on using some mods, there's only that many plugins one can merge. :(Using the guide with STEP Extended should be fine when it comes to the plugin count though. And even leave enough slots to add something like SkyRe.

Heya CJ, a quick bug report for REGS - Cities version 3.3:

Thanks, I'll have a look at this in the morning.

But I wondered... I was thinking of removing the quest related mods from REGS and the new lands ones as I haven't really played Skyrim all that much yet so I probably have tons of content to play through anyways (or do I? If I'm wrong, please tell me :)). But will this break the REGS patches?

No, it won't break them. The patches are mainly for compatibility between Interesting NPCs, Nernie's cities, Cutting Room Floor, Windhelm Lighthouse, and Skyrim Sewers anyway.

I am pretty sure none of the quest mods or extra lands have any complex dependencies in the patches. I think you can (for the most part) just drop anything you don't want to use, with the possible exception of the stuff in REGS - Cities.When in doubt, check the masters on the patches. The only things that have any kind of patch inter-dependency will be referenced as masters on the same patch somewhere.

^ 100% correct.

[keithinhanoi]

What is EWDR? (I haven't had my coffee yet)

 

Expanded Winterhold Destruction Ruins...

 

It came back to me. You still use that mod?

 

My Winterhold needs were satisfied with Jenna's version of it. I thought EWDR jumped the shark a bit with "Haunted House" and ghosts running around and such.

 

Since I'm in TES5Edit all the time lately, I have no qualms about playing god with other people's mods (purely for personal use of course).

 

This includes moving and removing things if I feel like it, including Flying Fonzie's on water-skis!

 

I mainly got EWDR because I really like the large city wall it adds, and the undergound quest bit sounds interesting too (please, no spoilers!)

 

Nonethless, the vanilla game already set the shark-jumping stage for the idea of ghosts running around...

[keithinhanoi]

Ah, the error with the 3DNPC patch would be because the lights have been deleted from the esm, so it's not managing to move one of the lights. You can just delete the record in question for the moment. Even keeping it won't cause issues except for the fact that you can't merge the file if you do keep it.

As for the EDWR patch, I'll have to consult Jenna about it because I don't know what could have caused it.

 

The thing about those errors is that they only highlight unresolved references, not other weirdness.

 

For example, looking in TES5Edit I also see three records FormIDs unique to 3DNPC patch - in other words it's adding objects, and not moving ones placed by other plugins. I'm not 100% positive, but I don't think that was the intention there, because normally the point of a patch plugin is to make edits to existing objects. The records I'm talking about are:

 

 

 

ETaC - Complete 3DNPC Patch.esp  Worldspace  0000003C <Tamriel>  Block -1, 0  Sub-Block -2, 1  000093BD <MorthalExterior02>  Temporary  08001D9EETaC - Complete 3DNPC Patch.esp  Worldspace  0000003C <Tamriel>  Block -1, 0  Sub-Block -2, 1  000093BD <MorthalExterior02>  Temporary  08001D9EETaC - Complete 3DNPC Patch.esp  Worldspace  0000003C <Tamriel>  Block -1, 0  Sub-Block -2, 2  0000939C <MorthalExterior03>  Temporary  08002870

 

 

 

The EDWR errors are just missing references to linked doors in the NavMesh Info Map, and my best guess is it might have to do with mismatched masters in the header, because the order doesn't match what I've got (BOSS-based at the moment).

 

When I say mismatched, I mean what happens when the order of masters is manually changed by right-clicking and selecting Move up / Move down on a master while viewing the header in TES5Edit, instead of using the correct method of the Sort Masters contextual menu function on the plugin in the left-hand list view pane. Again, this is just a guess - I have no way of knowing.

Edited May 5, 2014 by keithinhanoi

[CJ2311]

The thing about those errors is that they only highlight unresolved references, not other weirdness. For example, looking in TES5Edit I also see three records FormIDs unique to 3DNPC patch - in other words it's adding objects, and not moving ones placed by other plugins. I'm not 100% positive, but I don't think that was the intention there, because normally the point of a patch plugin is to make edits to existing objects. The records I'm talking about are: 

 

ETaC - Complete 3DNPC Patch.esp  Worldspace  0000003C <Tamriel>  Block -1, 0  Sub-Block -2, 1  000093BD <MorthalExterior02>  Temporary  08001D9EETaC - Complete 3DNPC Patch.esp  Worldspace  0000003C <Tamriel>  Block -1, 0  Sub-Block -2, 1  000093BD <MorthalExterior02>  Temporary  08001D9EETaC - Complete 3DNPC Patch.esp  Worldspace  0000003C <Tamriel>  Block -1, 0  Sub-Block -2, 2  0000939C <MorthalExterior03>  Temporary  08002870

 

That's actually intentional, it's because ETaC - Morthal adds a smith, and 3DNPC adds another smith to the town, but in another house, so the patch disables the ETaC smith + smithy and adds some random items there instead. (plus a navmesh, I think)

[keithinhanoi]

That's actually intentional, it's because ETaC - Morthal adds a smith, and 3DNPC adds another smith to the town, but in another house, so the patch disables the ETaC smith + smithy and adds some random items there instead. (plus a navmesh, I think)

 

That's a very creative way to bring compatibility there - makes sense.

[Eplebit]

Thanks for clearing that up, noobzor and CJ2311. Looking forward to playing this 

[phryxolydian]

Why is Moonpath to Elsweyr not in REGS? I'm just curious, I wouldn't install it on this playthrough, I'm saving for my Khajit character but I just was wondering why it isn't included, is there anything wrong with the mod?

[TheLoreSeeker]

CJ have you considered Corners of Skyrim? or Hidden Hideouts of Skyrim for REGS? They both add neat little locations to the world.

[noobzor]

In the RRR+NSUtR pach, I notice it also has ETaC listed as a master.  However, I don't see anything in the patch that actually edits anything from ETaC, and if I do a "clean masters" in TES5Edit, it removes the ETaC master.

 

Am I missing something?  Or could the ETaC master be safely removed from that patch?

[Quinnbeast]

Why is Moonpath to Elsweyr not in REGS? I'm just curious, I wouldn't install it on this playthrough, I'm saving for my Khajit character but I just was wondering why it isn't included, is there anything wrong with the mod?

 

The forum search function is your friend; enter "moonpath" at the top and you'll seem some relevant discussion, such as this from CJ (near the bottom of his post).

Edited May 5, 2014 by Quinnbeast

[keithinhanoi]

Well, missjennabee uploaded a new set of ETaC patches (v10.1), and it turned out the Expanded Winterhold Destruction Ruins patch still had problems.

 

She has decided it's easier to offer a replacement ETaC Complete plugin that doesn't include the Winterhold changes, for EWDR users and anyone else using mods which make major changes to the town (city?) And for people using the modular ETaC plugins, there won't be a compatibility patch for the ETaC Winterhold plugin.

 

So, without the patch, where the REGS guide is concerned, it seem that it's now essentially a choose-one-or-the-other decision on ETaC Complete with Winterhold -OR- EWDR with ETaC that doesn't include Winterhold.

[noobzor]

I am not sure if this is due to changes in ETaC, but I am seeing an unresolved reference in "REGS - STEP Patch.esp", for the outfit on the NPC Rustleif:

 

[00:00] Checking for Errors in [12] REGS Patch - STEP Extended.esp

[00:00]       DOFT - Default outfit -> [0100FB84] <Error: Could not be resolved>

[00:00]     Above errors were found in :Rustleif "Rustleif" [NPC_:0001361E]

[00:00]   Above errors were found in :GRUP Top "NPC_"

[00:00] Above errors were found in :[12] REGS Patch - STEP Extended.esp

 

This came up while trying to merge it.  I was able to just assign him BlacksmithOutfit02, like it was originally in Skyrim.esm.

[keithinhanoi]

 

I am not sure if this is due to changes in ETaC, but I am seeing an unresolved reference in "REGS - STEP Patch.esp", for the outfit on the NPC Rustleif:

 

<snip>

 

This came up while trying to merge it.  I was able to just assign him BlacksmithOutfit02, like it was originally in Skyrim.esm.

 

I saw the same error last night, and fixed it in exactly the same way. It is because some mod removed the replacement outfit records for Rustleif, but unfortunately I'm not sure which because I updated several mods before checking my patches.

 

Since I maintain a huge hand-made custom compatibility patch for my mod line-up that has 38 plugin masters, I've gotten into the habit of opening up everything in TES5Edit after I update any mods to at least do a Check for Errors to look for unresolved references that appear when a mod author has removed something.

 

I'm not 100% positive, but without fixing unresolved references like this one that came up, Skyrim will very likely CTD when approaching the object, NPC, etc. in question.

[noobzor]

A lot of unresolved references, the game just ignores them.  There are tons of unresolved references in the official ESM's (especially Dawnguard, it seems).  I am not sure what the line is...which ones are just ignored and which ones cause actual errors.  

 

On my last load-out, I made one huge compatibility patch, but when I went updating several mods, it got to be a pain to update.  This time I am trying a different route, merging most compatibility patches with one of the parents where possible, merging the rest of them into smaller batches, then doing one final handmade patch at the end to resolve remaining conflicts.  Hopefully, that will end up less work later when I want to change things  :-/

Edited May 6, 2014 by noobzor