Conflicting Graphics section of STEP guide

[Slartibartfast]

Hello, I've spent the last couple days on a complete fresh start, doing quite a bit of reading and installing and whatnot.  So it is with some chagrin that I post what I feel must be a really dumb question.  I know, I know, no dumb questions, only dumb people, right?

 

The section "Conflicting Graphics," where it says, "Graphics mods that cannot be listed within their respective categories because they must be overwritten to achieve the desired result. "

 

That's my confusion there, I have some trouble understanding that bit.  Not so much with the words themselves, as with the particular meaning in that particular combination.  Could anyone elucidate for me?  I guess my question is, overwritten with what, and when?  or how

Edited March 16, 2015 by Slartibartfast

[Xaviien]

1. VERY limited support will be provided if you are using NMM. The guide assumes you are using MO.

 

2. Let's just say mod A provides 150 files, and mod B provides 50 of the same files, only better. You install mod B after mod A, so those 50 files are provided by mod B, and the other 100 are provided by mod A. Mod B overwrites mod A, where necessary.

 

3. High Quality 3D Map and A Quality World Map provide different parts of the map, to give the effect desired in STEP.

Once you have them both installed you could check which files are provided/overwritten by each mod using MO. Not sure if you can check that in NMM as I have never used it, and I likely never will.

[Xaviien]

Files loaded first, or at the top of the load order, will be overwritten by files loaded later.

For example Dragonborn is very high in the list, then it is overwritten by the Unofficial Dragonborn patch, and mods which alter Dragonborn textures.

 

To find out which mods are overwritten by other mods, you can check in MO once they're installed. Right click a mod, then open the conflicts tab. This will show which specific files are overwritten by which specific mods. It also shows how many files are not overwritten, or overwriting and other mods.

[Slartibartfast]

  On 3/16/2015 at 7:32 AM, Xaviien said:

Files loaded first, or at the top of the load order, will be overwritten by files loaded later.

For example Dragonborn is very high in the list, then it is overwritten by the Unofficial Dragonborn patch, and mods which alter Dragonborn textures.

 

To find out which mods are overwritten by other mods, you can check in MO once they're installed. Right click a mod, then open the conflicts tab. This will show which specific files are overwritten by which specific mods. It also shows how many files are not overwritten, or overwriting and other mods.

Thank you so much for your prompt reply.  I get that part, I guess what confused me was that it says they must be overwritten to get the desired effect.  Like, not overwriting them will leave me with bleh, I don't know, I am too tired to express myself clearly.  In the detailed information for those mods, it doesn't say anything about other mods overwriting them, so do I just make sure they are higher in the load order, so that something can overwrite it if it wants to?  Sorry, I should mention that I am using NMM not MO... 

As long as someone is answering my noob questions... I am confused also with using both High Quality 3D Map and A Quality World Map.  Though neither of those is in the must be overwritten section, it seems that they do similar things, but... I mean they can't both be active at once, right?  there's only one map..??  I see on A Quality World Map it recommends using HQ3D's meshes, is that what is being accomplished?  HQ3D Meshes and AQWM textures? 

[Nozzer66]

The idea behind the conflicting graphics part is that you load them early to give you a good solid graphical base. Mods may come later that overwrite small certain parts of these mods. You may find with NMM you'll run into possible confusion if/when the guide suggests hiding or not installing certain files.

 

And yes with the map question. You're getting the best of both worlds in essence. 

[Slartibartfast]

Well thank you both for your help.

 

I use NMM partly because it's what i am familiar with, but also because one of the modders (can't remember who/which mod) was quite adamant that the only people who had problems with his mod were MO users who didn't understand enough about how to use it.  I figured I would likely be one of those people, so I stick to what I know.  It sounds like this is one of those issues where people feel very strongly on either side.

[Xaviien]

All the support for MO is provided here at STEP. If you do run into any problems using MO, we'll be able to help.

If you run into problems using NMM, we won't be able to help so much, and as Nozzer mentioned, there will be issues or at the very least some confusion, if you're using NMM and following the STEP guide.

[Slartibartfast]

Yeah, you had me at VERY

I'm starting over.

One strange thing, this happened before when I went to revert to a clean SKYRIM install.  It won't let me delete enbseries.dll

Says it's being used by Firefox?

[Xaviien]

That's weird. Try closing Direfox and try again.

If that doesn't work, restart your PC, then you should be able to delete it.

[Slartibartfast]

That was weird.  Closed Firefox, it STILL said the .dll was being used by FF.  So I opened task manager, and there are several copies of FF running, using only a few hundred K of memory...  Should I be concerned?  Or maybe my knee was on the keyboard again?

 

After I closed them all, it DID let me delete it finally though.  Now to learn all about this newfangled MO hooliganism here, eh?

Edited March 16, 2015 by Slartibartfast

[Xaviien]

I wouldn't be concerned. Stuff like that happens to me all the time, which is why I suggested a restart.

A PC running for hours/days/weeks will build up all kinds of crap, which is why a restart is usually the first troubleshooting step, for just about everything.

 

You'd be surprised how many problems with mods are fixed when a user tries rebooting, AFTER trying a hundred other things.

[TechAngel85]

NMM is not only just not supported by STEP, but you actually can not use NMM with STEP at all. There's a warning for this in the Guide for a reason. This has been the case for years, now. NMM had never been supported bc it's just not capable of modding Skyrim in a complex and advanced way that STEP requires.