New to S.T.E.P. and have some questions

[zombiecurse]

First, I apologize if this isn't the right forum to post this in. I just got here . . .

 

I just have a few initial questions here before I get started on STEP. I had been using the REALVISION ENB mod order list before I found STEP, and I noticed that when using Skyrim Flora Overhaul and its dependents (Grass on Steroids, Lush Trees and Grass) along with TreesHD, my game slowed down quite a bit when out in the wilderness. I disabled these mods and the game sped up quite a bit.

 

I'm wondering if I can leave Skyrim Flora OVerhaul and TreesHD out of the core STEP install and still use the core patch, or if something bad will happen if I do this?

 

My plan is to use the core STEP setup, an ENB, and the Explorer's Guide pack, along with some of the more popular Vampire and Werewolf mods (Better Vampires, Moonlight Tales, etc.). Is anyone using any of these and have you experienced any major conflicts?

 

Also, does anyone have any issues using some of the more popular spell mods (Thunderchild, Apocalypse, Midas Magic Evolved) on top of the core setup and the Explorer's Guide setup? What about Deadly Dragons?

Edited June 3, 2014 by zombiecurse

[phryxolydian]

I suggest you test your performance first with all the Core files installed except SFO and take note of your performance loss (if any) after installing it. In any case, SFO isn't a master for any STEP patch so yes, you can still use the patch.. As for Trees HD, it is just textures so you can install/uninstall at will.

[TechAngel85]

As far as I know, the SFO ESP is not merged into the STEP Patch and TreesHD is just textures so you should be good if you want to leave those out.I don't use either of the other mods you asked about.EDIT: Ninja'ed

[rootsrat]

Just to add to the above - textures don't matter for FPS, so you can leave Trees HD in. It's meshes that cause the loss, and visual effects like ENB.

[phryxolydian]

Moonlight Tales is fine, just read the mod page and  don't enable NPC to NPC stuff etc and you should be OK. DD is also fine and imo a rather essential mod in any setup. Only keep in mind that Run for Your Lives won't work in dragons spawned by DD, at least, AFAIK.

[zombiecurse]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I think Run for Your Lives may have fixed the DD problem, but not too sure. Not too concerned about it.

 

I was really glad to find the Explorer's Guide pack, btw. I had a lot of those mods installed, but wasn't sure if they would conflict with Enhanced Towns and Villages and all that kind of stuff. As I said above, my plan is to install the core pack and the explorer's guide pack, then an ENB, and then carefully install the vampire, werewolf and spell mods on top of it. Also planning on putting some player houses in there (Snake Pit, Dovahndor, Hassildor, etc.).

[zombiecurse]

So, considering the amount of mods I'm looking at installing here . . . how do you guys keep all of this under the 255 limit? Like, what type of mods are generally safe to merge together? I note that here in this thread it notes that most armor mods and weapon mods should be mergeable, so that would definitely be good if I could just put all of those under one file. I also note that in the guide here on this site that immersive patrols is generally mergeable.

 

Is the prevailing wisdom on this to err on the side of caution and merge smaller mods, while staying away from merging the big overhauls and script-heavy stuff?

Edited June 3, 2014 by zombiecurse

[EssArrBee]

255 limit is for plugins only not for all mods. A mod may or may not have a plugin. Also, we do a few things to remove the amount of plugins by making a big patch that includes a some smaller ones.

[zombiecurse]

255 limit is for plugins only not for all mods. A mod may or may not have a plugin. Also, we do a few things to remove the amount of plugins by making a big patch that includes a some smaller ones.

Right, so some texture mods may not have .esp files, correct? Like, 255 is the limit for esp files is basically what you're saying?

[EssArrBee]

Yes that is correct. You can replace assets like textures and meshes without adding a plugin.

[zombiecurse]

Alright, that's good to know. But, if I did want to create an esp that combined all the files for say, all my armor mods into one, this would be possible through the TES5edit automerge script, correct? For example, I'm a big fan of Zerofrost's work. If I wanted to take his Contractor Armor, Nosferatu Armor and Evil Mastermind Armor mods and combine the .esp files from all these into one, would this be possible through the automerge script in TES5edit?

[phryxolydian]

Yes, in theory, it's possible. Things to keep in mind is not to go crazy with this stuff i.e., I wouldn't recommend merging Immersive Armors with any other armor mod. Also, always uncheck "Renumber Form IDs" unless you know what you're doing and Check for Errors after merging, then saving, then loading your new plugin and check for errors again (sometimes TES5Edit won't recognize there are errors until after you've loaded it again). If you are also using Wrye Bash then add the Relev tag to your armor mods when you build your Bashed Patch.

[zombiecurse]

You would need to add a Relev tag to the merged armor .esp file even if the original armor mods didn't require it? Why?

[phryxolydian]

Because they're adding new items to the game and, if the armors use Leveled lists, it is important you do so.

[EssArrBee]

Because they're adding new items to the game and, if the armors use Leveled lists, it is important you do so.

Why would you add a relev tag? That is for items in the leveled list that already exist and you are re leveling the stats.

[zombiecurse]

Why would you add a relev tag? That is for items in the leveled list that already exist and you are re leveling the stats.

This was my understanding as well. I haven't gone EXTREMELY indepth with the bashed patch, but I do use it and my list generally consists of unofficial skyrim patch, deadly dragons, immersive armors, and a few other mods. It was my understanding that you only needed to add relev and delev tags if the mod added new NPCs or items (or whatever else) to an existing list and it conflicted with another mod that did the same. When I've built my bashed patches before, it has just automatically applied the relev and delev tags to the mods that need them.

Edited June 3, 2014 by zombiecurse