Should I restart the S.T.E.P - Help

[MitchellKrever]

Hi so I recently just completed the Step: Core and I've come to the patches now but I am not sure if I should just restart from the beggining again becuase when I first started I was going to do the extended but half-way through I decided to do the Core instead becuase alot of the instructions were some-what confusing. I benchmark with base-line to all the mods at 60FPS and when I first see the gate of Helgan drop to 35-40 FPS. I didn't set any of the Meta Rule Prioritys either... I also didn't save a back-up of the uncleaned Update.ESM and DLC.esms I just cleaned them and didn't back them up. I don't have any plugin conflicts though or at least MO/LOOT isn't showing any... a couple of mods that didn't show me an ESP when S.T.E.P declared there should be an ESP.

 

SO... Should I restart the guide now I am more familar with the tools MO/LOOT/TESEDIT etc and if I do should I do the extended 2.2.9? What is the benift of doing Extended over core becuase it just seems to be more confusing.. Or restart and do Core first and upgrade later to Extended once I get everything right? I don't mind restart as I saved all the downloaded mods and apps into one location.... or should I just continue with the guide since I am getting 45-60 FPS anyway and start the patches?

 

Thanks,

Mitchell.

 

[Nozzer66]

Ultimately it's your call. 

 

But it's easier to do the full extended first, and then copy that to another profile, deactivating the non core mods. That way you have an Extended profile and a Core profile, with all the patches etc that go with them.

 

As for your issue with mods not having esps when STEP says there should be, what version of MO are you using, cause 1.2.10 had a bug with an installer that could cause esps to not load.

[Member121]

But it's easier to do the full extended first, and then copy that to another profile, deactivating the non core mods. That way you have an Extended profile and a Core profile, with all the patches etc that go with them.

 

 

 

This what I did. STEP2.2.9 is the first STEP I've ever installed. Yes it's confusing. Read carefully. There is no irrelevant info in the STEP guide.

 

Another thing I did was to start the game after each section. If the game gets to the character creation menu then you know you're on the right track. (There is a section where one mod depends on a master that has not been installed yet [according to the STEP installation order] and you will not be able to start the game. Just keep going with the install or disable that mod [The name of that mod is on the tip of my tongue but I can't remember. It seriously bugs me when that happens.] and try starting the game. If I recall correctly I did that and it worked.)

 

However, starting the game after each section allows you to see the changes as you go along. (HQ Trees, for example. Or Cloaks of Skyrim. A lot of the Imperial officers are wearing cloaks when they try to execute you.)

 

All in all I think it's best to jump right in. I kept a vanilla copy of my Skyrim directory on my desktop and used it to reinstall my Skyrim from scratch and start over 3 or 4 times. 

 

I now have three profiles. My main stable Extended profile; My experimental profile where I troll for new mods, install them and see if I like them; and a third profile that is my playthough profile (I have disabled some STEP mods and added mods I liked when I experimented with them.)

 

One of the things I have benfited from using STEP is to learn how to set my own unique mod list and have a personalized, stable and (nearly) bug free game that I really enjoy.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Member121

[MitchellKrever]

Thanks for the info I decided to restart ALL the way from scratched Reinstalled my OS, driver and everything and optimised my computer. I did this for Oblivion and I was dumbfounded on how much better everything ran after doing this. 

 

I am up to clothing section but setting up is much slower becuase I didn't understand the systems I didn't back up my mods so I have to redownload everything which is a pain becuase nexus is being really friggin slow I have premium and im getting around 60kbs. Manually downloading multiple files speeds it up alots though and when I am downloading 8 files i get 480kbs still dissappointing but oh well.

 

My second build is perfect so far though as I am being VERY particulur, taking it slow, and I mostly understand how the diffrent utulites work now.