GUIDE Skyrim Installation Guide

[frihyland]

Many updates, just need to do the graphics now and I can finally put this baby to bed.

[Besidilo]

Skyrim -> Configure - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Tweak Guide link doesn't seem to work.

[frihyland]

Skyrim -> Configure - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Tweak Guide link doesn't seem to work.

Fixed, they reorganized their site without a forward, so annoying.

[Fereval]

Hi,

 

 

First of, thanks for all the hard work you guy's are putting here.

I've been walking arround here, and your devotion to a high-quality and accessible Skyrim modding is remarkable !

 

 

 

I'm in the actual process setting up a clean Skyrim installation, and I've got few questions and one suggestion :

 

 

-Even if I usually play games in french, is it preferable considering STEP to install the game in it's original English version ?

 

-Is it preferable to install all required textures files (of the combiner) in their best quality, and then optimize them ? Or I'd just download directly the 1034 / lite versions

 

-By the way could you advise me which of the different optimizing tools/settings available I should  use in order to make things properly ? (I have an 5770 ATI card which if I don't mess has more or less 1gb vram.)

 

 

-I'd suggest for the wiki installation guide making shortcuts to different parts of the wiki : for instance, when I click on Mod Organizer from the installation guide, it could redirect into yours to MO guide, and then to Skyrim Nexus page. -> In order to make people aware that their is further content/guide available for various tool.

 

 

I'm glad the 2.2 release is coming ! And I hope the beta will be successful ! 

[geeee785]

hey have a question, the vanilla base mod back-up is that making a compression of just the folders interface, strings, and video that are located inside the data folder?

[frihyland]

hey have a question' date=' the vanilla base mod back-up is that making a compression of just the folders interface, strings, and video that are located inside the data folder?[/quote']

• Install 7zip.
• right click your skyrim directory and select 7zip > add to Skyrim.7z
• Play skyrim with peace of mind.

[geeee785]

I did that, but according to guide it looks like im supposed to do compression of the skyrim folder (which i have completed) then it says to do a compression of the my games folder, and finally the next tab says vanilla base mod, where it says to compress the inside of your data folder, and use it as my base mod.  So my questions is I should compress just the 3 folders that come in the data folder from a vanilla install(strings, video, interface).  Is that right or am I just misreading sorry about the confusion

[frihyland]

Yep that will do it. 

browse into \Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\Data and select all the folders (not files) right click and select 7zip > add to data.7z

interface, strings, and video are the only folders from vanilla so you understand perfectly.

 

I'll eventually add another section for the really anal people that says to uncompress all your bsa files and zip them up as well, but thats for another day.

[Selway]

First, I would like to say thank you for the countless hours of hard work you have put in to make our Skyrim experience far easier and better.   This guide is one of the few things on the internet that has made me smarter and not dumber!

 

After reading these forums and this thread for a while, it seems like more feedback from a noob might be helpful.   If not, just shoot me a “get lost†post!  So, while going through the SIG, these are just some small roadblocks I had, and thus perhaps other beginners might have.  Please remember, overall, the guide was/is immensely helpful and that my desire is only to attempt to give something small back for all that the STEP team has given us. 

 

Introduction -  I know it is meant to be a general guide, however, I would have greatly appreciated much more integration into the actual step process.  It would have been nice to have known how each of these sections ties in with STEP and what doesn’t.  I know STEP is constantly changing, but this kind of information would increase a beginners conceptual understanding.  I would have also liked more editorializing on what the author preferred as the section on Wrye Bash was so good it gave me the motivation to start learning it. 

 

Steam/Skryim - I would have found it helpful to have had a guide on how first to cleanly uninstall both Steam and Skyrim.  This may seem obvious to some, but just using the provided uninstall functions, especially with Steam, do not seem to perform a truly clean uninstall.  This step is necessary for everyone who has previously installed Skyrim in the default directories and/or has yet to follow the backup instructions.  Yes, there is help on Google, but it’s littered with fishing sites to sell bogus uninstall programs.   A guide by you or linked by you would be trusted.

 

The link to Steam Mover is dead.  It looks like it has been moved slightly.

 

DLC/Mods – The DLC section is perhaps the most clear and helpful of all the sections.   The breakdown by how much VRAM one has is extremely user friendly.  It might be made even more user friendly with the use of a table.This information from the DLC section might also be carried over to the Mods section as it pertains to what texture quality should be used for other texture mods.  This is also a great place for some integration with the STEP guide as I suspect it probably will cover this in the texture optimization section.

 

Another tip to add in somewhere is to emphasize planning.  From what I get reading these boards, one really needs to download all the mods they are going to use, install everything at the same time, on a fresh install, and then go play a new game without changing too much for a long time.  

 

The final comment I have for this section, or maybe even in STEP, is to provide a section on how to generally integrate non STEP mods during the STEP process.  Everyone installs more mods after they are done with STEP.  Some tech on how to integrate those mods as one goes through the STEP process would be very helpful.  I remember reading a post by someone on these boards about this sort of thing pertaining to the general mod type install order.  Something like, in general, first install texture packs, then etc etc.  Obviously STEP cannot test or guarantee this sort of thing.  However, any general advice or tips in this area, I suspect, would be very helpful. 

 

Hack - This section is a bit confusing to a beginner.   There are so many it is unclear which one’s we need, which ones overlap, which ones are mutually exclusive etc..   

 

SKSE – Some information like “Most commonly required injector.  You most likely will need to install this.â€Â  Or “If following STEP, you will need to install this.â€Â 

 

Script Dragon.  Are there any incompatibilities between Script Dragon and SKSE?   Also, this seems to be a very rarely required injector and thus probably not needed.   Some information like, “You are unlikely to need this as it is rarely used.  If needed it is/not compatible with SKSE.â€Â  Again, Im a beginner and I don’t know if the new STEP will require this or if it’s compatible with SKSE or not. 

 

Skyboost  - Perhaps remove this from the page.   A lot of beginners will see that huge FPS gain and install it without noticing it’s no longer supported.  If it’s for some reason it is still beneficial, then information stating this would be helpful.

 

The section on External Compilers is a bit confusing.  First, I would recommend moving the hyperlink from "Wrye Bash" to "CBash."  From a format and ease of read point of view, Cbash comes off at first as some sort of subheading to Skyproc.  Nitpicky yes.  However, for a beginner, this was confusing at first.

 

Mod Managers – REALLY great section on Wrye Bash.   The only nitpick would be to consider revising the wording to better communicate that the benefits of Wrye Bash far outweigh the drawback of the learning curve.

 

Hardware/OS – Very clear and helpful .  The linked hardware guide was very nice too.   One small suggestion would be to provide a link to an external page that keeps an updated hardware “sweet spot†guide.  You know the ones that tell what the current best bang for your buck system is.  Also, it would be cool if there was a summary section that pulled all the information into perhaps a table to show what kind of system would generally be needed to Run full STEP at different texture levels and settings.  Just a few different setups would be enough for people to get the idea.

 

Skyrim Editor – Great information but some of the terminology is over the head of a beginner.  A little more information on the practical use by a beginner would be nice.

 

Graphics Editors – Again, a lot of this is over the heads of a beginner.  At some point, especially if using the STEP guide, some sort of optimization is required so some more information would be extremely helpful.  More information on how these all relate to each other would be a nice starting place.    Also some more information like, if they are mutually exclusive, why they work, when to use one or the other, and advantages and disadvantages of each would be extremely helpful.    For instance, my limited knowledge is that I DDSopt is the best for optimizing texture packages but it is harder to use and takes a lot more time.  Optimizer Textures does not optimize textures as well but is better to use when one is looking to quickly and easily optimize or re-size textures.  When or what would I want to use SMCO for?   This is also an extremely nice place to integrate into the STEP guide more.

 

Utilities – Same goes for this section.  I think a user would especially like more information on Skyrim Unplugged.  My first question was, why do I need this if I already clicked the option for Steam not to do automatic updates?  A short explanation of this in the description would be great.  Also, perhaps tying this back in to the STEAM section might be nice.

 

That’s all and sorry for the wall of text.  Please take this all in the context that I think this guide is extremely nice and helpful.   Also, as a beginner, there are no doubt some mistakes and misconceptions.  Perhaps those too will give you clues on how to better help us beginners. 

 

*Edit* Yikes, had to fix some crazy changes in formatting when I posted the first time.

[Kelmych]

By the way, Steam Mover is at https://www.traynier.com/software/steammover . The download link is on the line after Version History.

[frihyland]

First' date=' I would like to say thank you for the countless hours of hard work you have put in to make our Skyrim experience far easier and better.   This guide is one of the few things on the internet that has made me smarter and not dumber![/quote']

Thanks much Selway for the compliment even moreso for the lovely wall of text.  I have been waiting for this kind of feedback for months!

[MilesTeg]

Great guide!

 

Some ideas to make the hardware chapter more userfriendly:

 

I would try to mostly adress people who are in search for a new PC that (also) can handle a modded skyrim. People with deeper knowledge get the idea of the performance even without infos like PCIe 2.0 x16. For more information they can look into the seperate hardware guide.

 

- point out laptops and consoles are a no-go for a modded, high quality skyrim - you need a desktop windows 7 pc

- most people aren't very familiar with the internal naming of cpus (Sandy/Ivy Bridge). Better talk about: "new pc", 2011 minimum, quadcore, i5 (3rd Gen), i7, Phenom II X4 / X6, "gamer pc" - nothing below!

For advanced information you already linked to the hardware guide (that could be fleshed out later)

- the motherboard part can be removed (-> advanced guide)

[Selway]

First' date=' I would like to say thank you for the countless hours of hard work you have put in to make our Skyrim experience far easier and better.   This guide is one of the few things on the internet that has made me smarter and not dumber![/quote']

Thanks much Selway for the compliment even moreso for the lovely wall of text.  I have been waiting for this kind of feedback for months!

My pleasure.  Hope it helps some.  I would love to help in any other way if needed as well.  Thanks again!

[z929669]

We should update this to better follow the new STEP categorization. Meaning that we whould group many of the existing header tabs under "Extensions" or "Utilities" and update the links.

 

In general, I think it would be good to reorganize the flow, update the links and improve the markup (leaving most of the content as is). This resource is a bit daunting as it stands regarding ease of accessing info relevant to setup and testing.

[frihyland]

yeah its a bit daunting for me to rewrite big chunks too :P I agree though, I'll make an effort while I'm working on the testing guide.