clarification for 2C - Extenders part of the guide

[ceran]

https://wiki.step-project.com/STEP:2.2.9.2

 

The problem is with the second item "Skyrim Script Extender"

 

I download the Installer from the link in the Guide:

 

I install it no problem

 

I read hte "Detailed instructions" 

 

https://wiki.step-project.com/Skyrim_Script_Extender#Recommendations

 

 

Download and install the latest archive:

1. Place all *.exe and *.dll files into <skyrim>\ (not the data directory!). Should be three files (i.e., skse_1_9_32.dll, skse_loader.exe, and skse_steam_loader.dll).
2. Install skse scripts into Mod Organizer.
   • Click the Archive  button.
   • Browse to and select the downloaded skse archive.
   • In the manual installation prompt, right-click data and select Set data directory. It should say it Looks good, and not say No game data at top level.
   • Click OK

With 1. it says me to manually extract 3 files, presumably from the .7z, but both the installer and the .7z ALSO contain two additional items : the folders "Data" and "src", so I'm not sure if those are supposed to be copied

 

with 2. , I do what it says (I presume they refer to the skse_1_07_03.7z file) but when I right click data and select "set data directory" it doesn't give me the "Looks good" 

 

 

I click further and expand the archive and try right clicking the "data" folder (that I would never have installed without the installer!) .. i try right clicking that

 

 

and it works!

 

 

but was that really the correct step? 

 

[Nebulous112]

Don't copy the Data and src folders in step 1. You don't need src, and Data is installed in Step 2.

 

You got step 2 correct!

[ceran]

ah crap, what now? i can't really go back. Anyway it didn't ask to over-write anything when i ran the installer...

 

also is it true in the "left hand pane" of the mod manager am I supposed to Have a "cleaned update.esm" file because I only have the DLCs and the 3 texture packs .

 

 

 

 

(Dawnguard) This is the Official DLC from Bethesda. It should follow the Cleaned Updated.esm in the left pane modlist.

[Nebulous112]

It didn't overwrite anything because one is the main Skyrim directory and the other is the MO mods directory.

 

Cleaned update.esm is found from step 1B. The steps before the list of mods start are just as important as the steps for the mods themselves.

[ceran]

Yes thats why i wanna get everything right

 

This is what I mean: 

 

 

I cleaned Update.esm in Step 1B like you said:

 

At this point there are two possible outcomes, dependent upon how fast your disc drive is:

• In the first case (typically slower drives such as HDDs), the Update.esm is now no longer in the data directory.
• In the second case (typically faster drives such as SSDs), a cleaned Update.esm is now in the data directory (compare the filesize to your backup of Update.esm to verify that it has been cleaned--it should be smaller).

 

As you can see, Update.esm is in the "data" directory if that's the correct one

 

But in 2D ("Fixes") in the detailed instructions of the DLCs, for Dawnguard it says:

 

https://wiki.step-project.com/Dawnguard

 

This is the Official DLC from Bethesda. It should follow the Cleaned Updated.esm in the left pane modlist. If custom, optimized versions of the textures from Dawnguard are used, they should be placed directly after it. Also, Dawnguard.esm must be cleaned in TES5Edit:

 

as you can see with my ? there's no Update.esm in the Left Pane, so I'm afraid I've screwed something up... the other DLCs arent there either , they are in "overwrite" 

Edited January 13, 2016 by ceran

[GrantSP]

Ok so looking at the 2nd scenario, if you examine the Update.esm in the Data folder and it is smaller, this is the one you need to keep.

 

Now at this point you have also run ahead a little and we need to do a bit of house cleaning to get things in the same shape as the STEP guide.

After EACH cleaning step you needed to create a mod from the contents of the 'Overwrite' folder so that they can be enabled, each in its turn, after the "Unmanaged" versions. So, in an Explorer Window navigate to the MO 'Mods' folder and create folders named after each of the cleaned ESMs. Cleaned Update ESM, Cleaned Dawnguard ESM, etc. Move each of the cleaned ESMs into the folder of the same name being careful to also move the Update.esm from the Data folder.

Next you can either move all the backup copies of these folders back into the Data folder and remove the "backup" extension or just use the Steam app to verify your cache to restore the original files to their correct place.

 

If you had read the next paragraph in the STEP guide all you would have needed to do was right-click on 'Overwrite' after each clean and "Create mod..." and you'd be set. Repeating after each clean. Nevermind, the same result is had.

[ceran]

damn i had already gone ahead and just dragged and dropped the files from the overwrite folder back in the left hand panel

 

the 3 DLC .esm's are there but i still dont have the update.esm. But even the default profile doesn't have update.esm

 

So far i have been benchmarking the game (about half way through all the mods) and everything is working fine

 

The only error LOOT gives me is for  Update.esm, saying its dirty  "Contains 92 ITM records and 3 deleted references. Clean with TES5Edit."

 

 

i really dont wanna have to start over :/ am i gonna have crashes later on when i actually put some time in, is that the issue? 

 

If you had read the next paragraph in the STEP guide all you would have needed to do was right-click on 'Overwrite' after each clean and "Create mod..." and you'd be set. Repeating after each clean. Nevermind, the same result is had.

also i didn't really think i had to do this, since it only said this was necessary if Update.esm dissapeared from the "Data" panel, which it never did 

[GrantSP]

Not sure what you mean by

but i still dont have the update.esm. But even the default profile doesn't have update.esm

 

Your screenshot shows it is still in the Data folder and, from the message from LOOT, you probably missed that one during your cleaning stage.

It is still in the Data folder and it is still dirty therefore it wasn't cleaned.

 

At this point you should have three cleaned DLC plugins, each in their own mod active in the left-hand pane of MO and they will show in the right-hand pane with the name of the mod (this is just the name of the folder that contains it) in the column to the right.

[ceran]

I'm sorry i still don't understand - thanks for the replies guys btw 

 

 

 

2.B. Clean the Update ESM

To remove errors in the Bethesda master files, STEP recommends that they be cleaned with TES5Edit. This ensures maximum stability and compatibility within the Skyrim modding experience. At this time, Update.esm will be cleaned in the following manner (the DLC should be cleaned later according to instructions on their corresponding "mod" pages):

1. Make a backup of Update.esm from <Skyrim>/data directory by copying it to the desktop (or somewhere else handy).
2. Run TES5Edit through Mod Organizer.
3. Right-click the list of plugins and choose [select None].
4. Double-click Update.esm.
5. Wait for the Background Loader: finished in the right panel, and then right-click [update.esm] and select [Apply Filter For Cleaning].
6. Wait for the [Filtering done] Processed Records: message in the right panel, and then right-click [update.esm] and select [Remove "Identical to Master" records]. If the Warning! prompt pops up, click [Yes, I'm absolutely sure].
7. Wait for the [Removing "Identical to Master" records done] Processed Records: message, and then right-click [update.esm] and select [undelete and Disable References].
8. Wait for the [undeleting and Disabling References done] Processed Records: message, and then click the [X] at upper right of the program window to exit the program.
9. At the prompt, checkmark Update.esm and Backup Plugins and click [OK].

At this point there are two possible outcomes, dependent upon how fast your disc drive is:

• In the first case (typically slower drives such as HDDs), the Update.esm is now no longer in the data directory.
• In the second case (typically faster drives such as SSDs), a cleaned Update.esm is now in the data directory (compare the filesize to your backup of Update.esm to verify that it has been cleaned--it should be smaller).

In the first case, you should now do the following:

1. Restore the backed up Update.esm from step 1 to the data directory.
2. In Mod Organizer, at the bottom of the left pane modlist is the Overwrite mod, now labeled red because files have been written to it. Double-click to open it.
3. In Overwrite you will find two items: a TES5Edit Backups folder and Update.esm. Since you already restored your own backed up Update.esm to the data directory, right-click and delete the TES5Edit Backups folder and click Close.
4. Right-click Overwrite and select Create Mod..., name it Cleaned Update ESM, and click OK.
5. Drag and drop the new Cleaned Update ESM mod to the top of the left pane modlist.

In the second case, you are done! You can safely delete the backup as you shall not need it (if you wish to restore the original uncleaned Update.esm later, you can simply verify Steam cache and redownload it).

 

you're supposed to have the Update.esm in the data directory right??

 

I'm 99% sure I did everything right as well, it was clean at the beginning of the install, it was about 300kb smaller than my backup, only later on did i realize it got "dirty" again :)

 

i only got confused when it started talking about the order that Update.esm should be in the LEFT  hand pane, where i never saw that file before

 

Should i just clean it again? 

Edited January 14, 2016 by ceran

[ceran]

Ok so looking at the 2nd scenario, if you examine the Update.esm in the Data folder and it is smaller, this is the one you need to keep.

 

Now at this point you have also run ahead a little and we need to do a bit of house cleaning to get things in the same shape as the STEP guide.

After EACH cleaning step you needed to create a mod from the contents of the 'Overwrite' folder so that they can be enabled, each in its turn, after the "Unmanaged" versions. So, in an Explorer Window navigate to the MO 'Mods' folder and create folders named after each of the cleaned ESMs. Cleaned Update ESM, Cleaned Dawnguard ESM, etc. Move each of the cleaned ESMs into the folder of the same name being careful to also move the Update.esm from the Data folder.

Next you can either move all the backup copies of these folders back into the Data folder and remove the "backup" extension or just use the Steam app to verify your cache to restore the original files to their correct place.

 

If you had read the next paragraph in the STEP guide all you would have needed to do was right-click on 'Overwrite' after each clean and "Create mod..." and you'd be set. Repeating after each clean. Nevermind, the same result is had.

again i didnt notice the "overwrite" folder before (i just got it again now after cleaning Update.esm for the second time), since I understood that if Update.esm doesn't dissapear from your "data" tab, you dont have to bother doing anything else

 

• In the second case (typically faster drives such as SSDs), a cleaned Update.esm is now in the data directory (compare the filesize to your backup of Update.esm to verify that it has been cleaned--it should be smaller).

^i thought everything was fine

 

the Guide does not make it clear that you need to have 4 additional Mods in the LEFT HAND PANE (Cleaned Update.esm, and the 3 Cleaned DLC .esm). It only mentions this later during the instructions for installing the DLCs (etc https://wiki.step-project.com/Dawnguard#Recommendations ), where it suddenly says that Cleaned Dawnguard must follow Cleaned Update. This is contradictory to me because it seems the instructions say that EITHER you lose your .esm file from the Data tab in the RIGHT HAND side and have to mess around adding a "Cleaned Update/Dawnguard/Hearthfire/Dragonborne.esm" to the LEFT HAND PANE, OR you still have the .esm file in the Data tab and you don't have to worry about anything else. 

 

i spent literally all night installing only half of the mods and now I'm not sure whether or not to continue, i dont know if my installation is screwed or not. I have "Unmanaged Hearthfires" "Unmanaged Dragonborne" "Unmanaged Dawnguard" in the left hand mod list, no "Update.esm" in the left side either, yet the game still runs fine when i play it for 2 minutes during the benchmarks. 

[ceran]

LOL SORRY 

 

my mistake

 

after reading everything u guys said again I realized that the guide was referring to the actual directory (IE D:\Skyrim\Data) - where indeed the .esm files dissapear after cleaning - not the "Data" tab in the right hand pane where the .esm file was still displayed, albeit with a greyed out font that I should have recognized as meaning "it used to be there but its gone now" 

 

sorry about the confusion :)

 

restored the files and followed the instructions and created the 4 Cleaned mods like is required apparently 

[ceran]

just of course now the "unmanaged" ESMs are conflicting with the new ones. Not sure if it matters or not

 

[Nebulous112]

That is fine. They always conflict, you're just able to see it now through MO.

[GrantSP]

just of course now the "unmanaged" ESMs are conflicting with the new ones. Not sure if it matters or not

 

Success!!

[Nebulous112]

Ooh, actually looking at the screen shot more closely now, the cleaned .esm's should be interleaved with the original unmanaged. Here is an example:

 

 

My apologies, I was only looking at the red conflicts when I briefly glanced at it earlier. That's my mistake. Although more generally, my earlier statement is true.

[GrantSP]

I'm going to sound heretical here, but I don't think that makes as much an issue as we are led to believe.

Having all the cleaned ESMs in one mod still means they are listed separately in the plugin list so that each is passing on edits to records correctly.