Thief modbuild

[Spelly]

Disclaimer: I am new here, and I have spent 3 days just learning to navigate the wiki, and the forums. So if I break any laws or regulations, it was completely unintended.

 

Background: I am looking to construct a mod-list to accommodate an amateurish narrative playthrough. The general concept is that the "hero", called Gjestur, starts out as a nobleman who avoids physical conflict. In fact, he is rather scared of sharp blades and faces reminiscent of his disproving mother. As such, he has to employ sneaking as a mode of surviving. Avoiding all conflict, yet somehow being recognized as a hero. Our sad sap finds himself battling dragons and all manner of no-no's, nuh-hu, and Yaaarg stayawayfrommeyoulunatic. As his surroundings start to expect more an more of him, he breaks down and bolts far away. All the way into being conscripted as a vampire-battling rank-and-file dawnguard. Being a fairly skilled marksman (Better to keep people far away), Gjestur stiffens with horror as the Dawnguard hands him a hitherto unrivaled Darwin-awards nomination. The dawnguard send Gjestur into the clutches of smiling vampires who luagh as our poor ex-nobleman draws his last mortal breath.

 

Purpose: I am looking to find a stable build not directed at a specific playstyle per se. Rather, I need to combine some script-heavy mods, praying that it will not melt my new computer. I have yet to receive the computer. But I felt it was prudent to turn to the community and ask for help in preparation of that day-o-plenty.

Quick systemspeccs: i5 quad, 8gig ram, 560 1gig gpu, 128gig 550Mb/s SSD. 

 

MOD list: according to current plan

Step:core - baseline
And some other mods that I have yet to rediscover on the nexus. (will be updated)

 

ENB - low impact
SugarSweet ENB

      or

Abise - An ENB
 

Gameplay

Better Vampires

Blackjack - a thief weapon mod

Sneak Tools plus Sneak tools patch

Stealth Skills Rebalanced

 

Items
Contractor armor plus reskin

Scoped bows

 

I have not been able to find anything here about the mods I have listed (particularly the script-heavy ones under gameplay). And that is the reason I am starting this thread. I am looking for input, advice, and general guidance from you: the fantastic, super, friendly, intelligent, great, friendly (did I just repeat myself?) modders an mod-stabalizers.

 

I know that the Blackjack mods creates alot of unattached to item responses in a papyrus dump. But I do not know if this should cause CTD's or not. I have no idea what judgement is passed on these mods, by the STEP community. But I would love to find out.

I will update with my progress as soon as I start the project (which should be sometime this week 29->)

 

Thank you

Spelly

 

[Garfink]

Scope bows just didn't work for me, looks silly.  I was attracted to it because I can turn off the crosshair... then I realize you can't aim spells or crossbows... so it became a little pointless.

 

Note:  You don't need Sneak Tools if you plan to use SkyRe as its integrated into the perk system.  Only reason to install these together is if you want access to the shop.  But if you plan to use Stealth Skill Rebalance, its not going to be an issue.

 

Better Vampires is excellent a must for any vampire playthrough.

[Spelly]

Thank you for the respons. I was wondering about SkyRe, is there any way to turn off the delevel? Since I am following a (badly written) script, I do not want to be hampered by me not being high enough lvl, in where I can go.

 

Also, I am hoping to learn something about blackjack mod, stability and issues reported.

 

Oh, and about scoped. Yes, it is only for bows. The author has stated that thon wont be adding more to the mod. So I am working on something similar (but different). I have sent a message to the athor asking if I can take the concept and run with it. However, it will take some time (months at the very least). Since I need to relearn 3dsmax: Modeling, texturing, animation. Creation-kit: implementing, leveled lists, and conflict resolving.

 

I was thinking that maby you could turn the sights into conjured weapons type spells. But I lack the understanding if you can have that in conjunction with a twohanded, or spells. The current sollution applied to crossbows, I think, will need an edit of how the crossbows are held. Otherwise the sight will look like a tentacle.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Spelly

[DocClox]

I like the way you think, Spelly. I tend towards the Harry Flashman School of Adventuring myself :)

 

I'm not sure the sneak tools wouldn't make life a bit too easy on my setup, although the Deadly Combat mod the author recommends probably goes some way to offset that.

 

The blackjack is a nice find though. I've been looking for something along those lines for a while.

[Spelly]

Ok, update. I removed thief-tools in favor of Skyre, since it also makes sword-combat fun in addition to including theif tools.

 

And I managed a 10 hour run without any stutter (only pcb once) before CTD. And now I see missing textures, ctd, and that even though I have made a fresh install.

 

I am currently in the process of redoing the entire procedure (this time I will back-up the cleaned .esm), and I will update with my modlist once that is done. Play for a while, and update with papyrus dump.

 

<Edit>

Installed RCRN and ENBseries 2,17 without FPS loss. I am flabberghast to be put midly

Edited May 3, 2014 by Spelly

[redirishlord]

Scope bows just didn't work for me, looks silly.  I was attracted to it because I can turn off the crosshair... then I realize you can't aim spells or crossbows... so it became a little pointless.

 

Note:  You don't need Sneak Tools if you plan to use SkyRe as its integrated into the perk system.  Only reason to install these together is if you want access to the shop.  But if you plan to use Stealth Skill Rebalance, its not going to be an issue.

 

Better Vampires is excellent a must for any vampire playthrough.

I find scoped bows works well with Oblivion style Sneak Crosshair (the "detection eye" is relocated to the bottom of your HUD between the health & magicka gauges) and iHUD (allows customization & hiding of HUD elements). This setup allows for aimed spells & crossbows when not in sneak mode, and stealthy scoped bow use.

 

For general stealth / thief play I recommend ACE (subtley reworks perk trees for better gameplay, modular / buffet style), Deadly Combat (locational damage and other combat tweaks that make marksmanship more dangerous & rewarding) and Stealth Skills Rebalanced (more difficulty in thieving functions & thoughful / balanced changes to perk trees). These three mods are compatible with each other (patches included) and make for great gameplay, especially for stealth focused characters.

[Spelly]

Working on ENB optimization

 

1. Extracted the clean install backup, including modlists, but not including skyrim and skyrim prefs (I would type the same things anyways)2. Installed RCRN anniversary edition v214-1875-ae-2-1-42a.(ran the game and chose highest settings in RCRN customizer) configured the game to not autosave, at all. Ran through Helgen, and used "save"command in console. Also changed the resolution to 1600x900, because I am old, and used to 640x400. Also, I need glasses but don't use any, so my natural occlusion helps.3. installed skse 1.07.00 using executable4. Installed ENB wrapper version 2.17 using RCRN menu (deleting injector submap from zipfile beforehand)4a. Ran the game to check compatibility, tested with "set timescale to 20000" and noticed that no rain-texture apparead, though sound was heard.Also noticed no FPS drops. But microstutter while turning 2 times during 2 minutes of running around.5. Installed zENB - Data Files v1 using Nexus Mod Manager 0.49.65a. Ran the game with SKSE shortcut to test the FPS. No drop to report, tested with set timescale to 20000.6. Installed z-ENB - ENB Files - All Performance Presets-40588-1-2, chose High Quality. Installed directly to Data folder, realized mistake and cursed,removed files as listed in zipfile. reinstalled the zip to correct Skyrim root-directory6a. Ran the game with SKSE, noticed FPS drop, and what seemed like resolution-reduction. Skyrimprefs.ini shows no drop. Installed Balanced Quality from z-ENB, overwriting existing files.6b. Ran game with SKSE. atleast 30+ fps while playing, considered acceptable. Tested performance option for comparison, installed it to the wrong directory of Mygames/skyrim.Overwrote some files. checked with back-up. Unsure what was overwritten, so leave as is. Installed it to the correct directory, and ran the game with SKSE6c. The game seems stable, at 1920x1080.7c installed fps Counter by Pharago to check framerate.

 

 

Above spoiler is changelog so far

[DanielCoffey]

It might be appropriate to ask a Mod to move this thread to the Tamriel Traders - Skyrim sub-forum to get the correct discussion going.

[Spelly]

Reply to redirishlord: I agree. However, I also prefer being a little dude, and many other changes to skeleton (3rd perspective player when using swords or sneaking).

 

When it comes to oblivion style sneak crosshair, I use Less intrusive HUD Since not only can I change the crosshair position. I can also remove the annoying updates, make crosshairs smaller, and much much more. But I am not sure if this adds too much to the mod-list-complexity.

 

Any thoughts?

 

<EDIT>

I will send a message. thank you DanielCoffey

 

<EDIT>

Sadly I cannot find any names. I only spent a few minutes searching. If anyone can do it faster than I can, I'd appreciate it.

 

EDIT

Manually switched forums. Hope some enterprising Moderator fixes my snafu

Edited May 3, 2014 by Spelly

[Glanzer]

I use the same combination of stealth mods as Thane and I really love it, plus I use I Hud to remove the cross hair and you can remove the cross hair for distance weapons only and keep the cross hair for hack and slash which might also work for spells. I also use less intrusive hud to move the sneak meter to the bottom of the screen.