Correct Place to Ask How Determine MOD(s) Stopping Compilation?

[aba42]

I should have known.  I thought I'd adhered strictly to the STEP instructions (except my BSA's are unzipped).  But, I have NO options available when attempting to install STEP Compilation Installer - Normal Resolution.  Other than starting over, is there some way to determine which specific MODs I installed are messing me up?  IF I need to start over, I will.  I want this correct.

[GrantSP]

Let's address a couple of points immediately.

 

Firstly you should acquaint yourself with the STEP Community Citizenship Guidelines found in the link at the bottom of every page. Take special note of the "double posting" point.

 

Thanks.  I put my MO up next to your image, and, of course, the FIRST discrepancy is that where you have four "Cleaned Update XXX", I have one "Cleaned Vanilla ESPs" because my idiotic system unzipped everything...so, no BSA's.  My "Cleaned Vanilla ESPs" sits immediately beneath my three "Unmanaged Dawnguard", "HearthFires" and "Dragonborn" listing.  Then you have SKSE, Papyrus, and Memory Blocks before Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch.  I don't have the first two of those files in that location.  Mine are immediately below STEP Vanilla Optimized Textures - Standard.  So:

 

1.  Do I need to inidividually re-optimze and clean the Update ESM and DLCs?

 

2.  Do I just drag and drop my Mods until they match yours?

Now to the matter at hand. Cleaning your ESMs and your belief that BSAs are being extracted are two completely different and unrelated matters. The fact you have all your cleaned DLC ESMs in on mod in MO's left-hand pane matters not one point. It is fine.

 

And, I have run LOOT against my order, but they're not in the same order as yours...go figure.

 

LOOT will order the plugins so that "NO problems will arise". The fact that the order is sometimes different is also not a problem. It just means there is more than one way to order the plugins with no issues.

 

 

Also, I do not see "Brawl Bug - Compatibility Edition" in your left pane.  Is this because the Detailed instructions state:

 

Mod Organizer allows loading the Brawl Bugs Patch without the dummy plugin.

1. Right click the mod > Information > Optional ESPs. Move Brawl Bugs CE.esp from the lower pane to the upper pane
2. Go to the Archives tab
   • Tick Have MO manage archives (probably already done)
   • Tick Brawl Bugs CE.bsa

So, is Brawl Bugs CE.bsa ticked in your RIGHT-pane Archive drop-down tab?  Since my installation unzipped all of the bsa's, I do not have a Brawl Bugs CE.bsa in my right-pane Archive drop-down pane.  I have Brawl Bugs - Compatibility Patch (apparently a marker file) in my left pane.  Is THAT going to mess up my being able to install the STEP Compilation Patch?

If the matter about "Unzipped BSAs is giving you grief just uncheck the option in MO and re-install these mods"

 

While you're gone, I've continued looking at this mess.  In your right pane, you list ViewableFactionRanksBothDLC.esp as Priority 24, Mod Index 13.  In my left pane, ViewableFactionRanksBothDLC.esp is Priority 37, Mod Index 21.  Obviously, unzipping the BSA's has had a MAJOR impact on the number of slots (of the 256) that are available for Mods to be inserted!  I need as many Mod Slots free as possible.  I do NOT believe that's going to happen as long as ever dang BSA has been unzipped.    Your Grand Total ends with Dual Sheath Redux Patch.esp ad Priority 105, Mod Index 60.  Mine ends with Better Quest Objectives.esp at Priority 119, Mod Index 6B.  So at a minimum, I've used at least 11 slots more than you with my installation!

BSAs and ESPs are very different things. Whether or not your BSAs are extracted will have no bearing on the number or order of your plugins (ESP/ESM).

 

Better Weapon Sounds bothered me with that no listing in the left pane and BWS.esp, orphan file in the right pane.  So, I changed Mod Organizer to NOT extract BSA's, and reinstalled Better Weapon Sounds.  I then moved the BWS.esp to the upper pane and lo and behold, I finally got that one BWS.esp to show up under the Archives folder, and Better Weapon Sounds showed up in the left pane...EXCEPT I got an error message, telling me that there are files in the overwrite folder.  I took a look and, for some reason,  the Smart Souls MOD's Smart Souls.ini file (which is in the Smart Souls MOD folder) got duplicated (exactly, I checked the contents) with an updated Date and Time, and put into <overwrite><SKSE><plugins>??!!!  Is it okay just to delete that entire SKSE folder from the overwrite folder?  Smart Souls.ini is the only file in there.

I think this is best course for you to take. Now that you have reset MO to NOT extract BSAs, just reinstall those mods that had them and match your setup to what is provided.

 

One last thing about the order of the mods as presented in MO's left-hand pane.

IF the mod is only providing a plugin(ESP), it MAKES NO DIFFERENCE where that mod is ordered in MO's left-hand pane. All that is doing is providing that plugin for the game and the order it is used is set in the right-hand pane and is generally managed by LOOT.

 

Another tip about the BSAs and other mods that provide textures/sounds/meshes/etc.If the BSA is not extracted then the order it is loaded is set by the 'Archives' tab or the plugin that loads it.

If the mod provides 'loose' files for those things you have greater freedom to select which ones you want or don't want. That is why guides will SOMETIMES ask you to extract them and then later ask you to hide/move/delete specific files. If you are not asked to do those things, then don't worry about whether you have loose files or a BSA.

[Nebulous112]

Check the OP in this thread for the list of mods required for the patches to not be grayed out. https://forum.step-project.com/topic/9370-step-compilation/

 

Edit: This may be of help as an unofficial reference as well: https://forum.step-project.com/topic/9568-step-extended-mo-screenshot-examples/

[aba42]

Thank you, I'm so damn disappointed after a week of putting this all together...ya can't say the words here...

[Nebulous112]

Thank you, I'm so damn disappointed after a week of putting this all together...ya can't say the words here...

Hey, buck up, Aba! You have come very far in a very short time period. I'm sure you'll make it through to the end. :-) The beauty of MO is no need to start over if you miss a single step. You can always move things in the left pane to where they should have been. And you can always run LOOT to get the plugins ordered correctly.

[aba42]

Thanks.  I put my MO up next to your image, and, of course, the FIRST discrepancy is that where you have four "Cleaned Update XXX", I have one "Cleaned Vanilla ESPs" because my idiotic system unzipped everything...so, no BSA's.  My "Cleaned Vanilla ESPs" sits immediately beneath my three "Unmanaged Dawnguard", "HearthFires" and "Dragonborn" listing.  Then you have SKSE, Papyrus, and Memory Blocks before Unofficial Skyrim Legendary Edition Patch.  I don't have the first two of those files in that location.  Mine are immediately below STEP Vanilla Optimized Textures - Standard.  So:

 

1.  Do I need to inidividually re-optimze and clean the Update ESM and DLCs?

 

2.  Do I just drag and drop my Mods until they match yours?

[aba42]

And, I have run LOOT against my order, but they're not in the same order as yours...go figure.

[aba42]

Also, I do not see "Brawl Bug - Compatibility Edition" in your left pane.  Is this because the Detailed instructions state:

 

Mod Organizer allows loading the Brawl Bugs Patch without the dummy plugin.

1. Right click the mod > Information > Optional ESPs. Move Brawl Bugs CE.esp from the lower pane to the upper pane
2. Go to the Archives tab
   • Tick Have MO manage archives (probably already done)
   • Tick Brawl Bugs CE.bsa

So, is Brawl Bugs CE.bsa ticked in your RIGHT-pane Archive drop-down tab?  Since my installation unzipped all of the bsa's, I do not have a Brawl Bugs CE.bsa in my right-pane Archive drop-down pane.  I have Brawl Bugs - Compatibility Patch (apparently a marker file) in my left pane.  Is THAT going to mess up my being able to install the STEP Compilation Patch?

[aba42]

I'm not in the correct forum again, am I?

My right and left panes are quite different from yours.  And, I believe the difference is because of the unzipped bsa's vs the zipped bsa's.  For just one example, you have Dead Body Collision Fix on the left pane.  I have no Dead Body Collision anything on the left pane.  I have Dead Body Collision.esp on the right pane.  Our right and our left panes are very inconsistent.  I cannot match yours line-by-line.  What do you suggest?

[Nebulous112]

Real life is calling. Give me an hour or so and I'll have some time to respond. The situation is not as bad as you think. ;-)

[aba42]

No problem.  Thanks!

[aba42]

While you're gone, I've continued looking at this mess.  In your right pane, you list ViewableFactionRanksBothDLC.esp as Priority 24, Mod Index 13.  In my left pane, ViewableFactionRanksBothDLC.esp is Priority 37, Mod Index 21.  Obviously, unzipping the BSA's has had a MAJOR impact on the number of slots (of the 256) that are available for Mods to be inserted!  I need as many Mod Slots free as possible.  I do NOT believe that's going to happen as long as ever dang BSA has been unzipped.    Your Grand Total ends with Dual Sheath Redux Patch.esp ad Priority 105, Mod Index 60.  Mine ends with Better Quest Objectives.esp at Priority 119, Mod Index 6B.  So at a minimum, I've used at least 11 slots more than you with my installation!

[aba42]

Reinstalled three MOD, per LOOT, and am now down to BetterQuestObjectives.esp as Priority 110, Mod Index 63.  So that's a WHOLE lot better, but not the same.

[aba42]

Better Weapon Sounds bothered me with that no listing in the left pane and BWS.esp, orphan file in the right pane.  So, I changed Mod Organizer to NOT extract BSA's, and reinstalled Better Weapon Sounds.  I then moved the BWS.esp to the upper pane and lo and behold, I finally got that one BWS.esp to show up under the Archives folder, and Better Weapon Sounds showed up in the left pane...EXCEPT I got an error message, telling me that there are files in the overwrite folder.  I took a look and, for some reason,  the Smart Souls MOD's Smart Souls.ini file (which is in the Smart Souls MOD folder) got duplicated (exactly, I checked the contents) with an updated Date and Time, and put into <overwrite><SKSE><plugins>??!!!  Is it okay just to delete that entire SKSE folder from the overwrite folder?  Smart Souls.ini is the only file in there.

[aba42]

Oops, I read the rtf file that comes  with Smart Souls, and it implies that Smart Souls.ini should actually have been installed in the <Smart Souls><SKSE><plugins> folder, not in the root <Smart Souls> folder, see below, concering how to uninstall this file:

 

Install

====

1. Extract this archive to any folder and then copy the contents to the game installation's Data folder.

Uninstall

======

1. Delete the following files/folders:

            Data\SKSE\Plugins\Smart Souls.dll

            Data\SKSE\Plugins\Smart Souls.ini

 

SO, should I take the Smart Souls.ini file in the root folder and move it into the plugins folder?  Either way, it SHOULD be safe to delete <SKSE> with its <plugins>Smart Souls.ini file, correct?

[aba42]

First, will read about Community Citizenship, especially if it helps me figure out just where the heck to post specific questions!  Second, this must be why you get paid all fhe big bucks.  You answered every question I had, and in a WHOLE lot fewer words.  I still have no options available in the STEP Compilation LowRes Patch, so it's time to continue my Poke 'N' Hope and see if I can't figure out which MOD(s) is giving me trouble.  Thank you, again!  Allen