Various newby questions I can't find in a FAQ

[Pinky]

The guide at the moment suggests installing the Falskaar - Climates of Tamriel Patch AND merging it with DLC patches to install it a second time ... am I missing something or does that not make sense

Edited August 21, 2015 by Pinky

[Nozzer66]

That's not what it's saying at all. Not sure where you get that idea from.

[Pinky]

Yah I was completely reading that wrong.

 

Another question. Does it really matter if all these screenshots, left over thumbnail files and various readmes don't get removed? Doesn't the game simply ignore them? Is running LOOT+sort really necessary after every new ESM/ESP? These two combined really take a lot of speed out of the process.

Edited August 21, 2015 by Pinky

[GrantSP]

Anything installed by a mod, that has no bearing on the actual game, ie. screenshots, readmes, etc. can safely be removed to gain some HDD space back, but it will make no change to how the game runs.

 

MO's 'Sort' is a stripped down version of LOOT. It simply lacks the report window and the ability to edit metadata. There is no reason to run both tools. If you don't want/need those extra features, then simply use 'Sort'. If you want, or are instructed, to use LOOT, use it by itself.

[Nozzer66]

What I typically do is add a section of Mods, then use LOOT. 

[Pinky]

From my wet behind the ears perspective I think this guide desperately needs to be written from a different perspective. It's too much work to not teach the people first attempting it good practices, it needs to teach efficiency

 

For instance :

 

- First download all mods with a third party queuing download manager (I wish I'd done this).

- spoiler all the removal of docs, images, thumbnail files and BSLs and explain it's not essential (I guess it might speed up MO a bit, since a lot of the docs/readmes "overwrite" eachother).

- give more balanced advice over running LOOT/sorting during the install process

- more attention paid to mods which can't be installed through standard means (ie. you have to copy stuff around with file explorer) and how to handle that in MO.

 

Also on a different note, if suggested merges can't be completed without a prerequisite way down the list there needs to be a link back to the merge.

Edited August 21, 2015 by Pinky

[GrantSP]

This guide, and indeed all the guides hosted on STEP, should not be viewed as 'teaching resources', though a lot of skills are taught by following them.

 

Basics such as 'downloading files', 'the concept of overwriting files in mod managers' or 'how to use tools such as LOOT' are assumed to be known by the user, in the same way a secondary school teacher assumes their students have the fundamentals of language and mathematics.

Modding a game is to be viewed as an advanced task, not a simple "plug'n'play" step like installing the game.

 

Those concepts are discussed in other guides here and elsewhere or on the tool's own documentation page(s) and users are always encouraged to read those.

 

 

ps. The extra files often installed by a mod such as 'readmes', 'screenshots' etc. will have no performance impact on the game whether it is run from MO or outside of MO. They are completely ignored by the game engine.

[Neovalen]

They do have a cleanliness and drive space impact however. :)

[Pinky]

Half the things I was complaining about wasn't so much about what it lacked to teach, but what it teaches (ie. be anal about unnecessary files, sort the plugins all day every day).

 

As for downloading files, it's very hard at the start of the process to judge it's scale regardless of anything else, you think you'll just plough through it a step at a time (which kinda is what the guide suggests as well I might add). It takes a while before you realise the inefficiency of going back and forth between downloading/installing for a couple hundred mods instead of doing all the downloading first, I might be a little slow in that regard but no reason to not help out slow people.

[Nozzer66]

Nothing stopping you from downloading everything first.

 

However, be aware that not all the downloaded files will be immediately obvious as to what mod they belong. They dont all have nice convenient names. That's why it's easier to do it the way the guide sets out.

 

Additionally, STEP guides are not really designed to be a beginner sort of thing they are written pre-supposing a little knowledge.