User:Eberkain/SystemSpecs
User:Eberkain/Benchmark Testing
THE FOLLOWING IS NOT COMPLETE
I am going to use this page to document what mods I use that are not a part of the current STEP release, how to make them compatible with each other and STEP, and give the reasoning behind each choice. This is a personal list primarily gathered from the excellent GEMS site, not everyone will agree with all the choices or changes. I am doing this really for myself and since I so love the STEP experience, I felt this would be a good place to catalog what I am going to use. The criteria by which I select mods are as follows...
- Increased immersion and realism, but not breaking with the Skyrim world
- Enhancing the gameplay to be more engaging and difficult to the player
- To conflict with STEP as little as possible, I would like to keep every step mod
Go down the following list and install them in order after a finished STEP setup. You should run BOSS and Wyre Bash after installing any mods just to be safe. I recommend jumping in and playing for a bit after each section to ensure things are working correctly still. The following sections are presented with tables of information, this is a breakdown of what it means.
Mod Name |
Conflicts |
Patches |
Notes
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The name of the mod with a link to Nexus |
Disable these downloaded mods to make this addition compatible, my goal is to have nothing here. |
Download and enable these patches to make this addition compatible, place directly after this mod unless otherwise stated |
this will detail any install notes or suggested options
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SECTION A - VISUAL ENHANCEMENTS[edit | edit source]
For visual enhancements I am looking for a set of mods that both enhance the game's appearance and keep the computer system from slowing to a crawl. This is a very subjective topic, and each person will have their own likes and dislikes. After much testing I have determined that ENB is really just not worth the performance hit. The things that make the most difference in the appearance of a scene are, AO, Bloom, DOF, AA, Contrast, Saturation, AF. I can only speak to Nvidia users, but you can enable AO->Performance, AFx16 and FXAA using the hardware and all with very little performance impact. The following mods cover the remaining items and I think the screenshots below demonstrate best. Personally I feel the mods look more interesting, and also consider you have the flexibility of drastically changing the settings in game. This coupled with the superior performance make the choice simple in my opinion.
Mod Name |
Conflicts |
Patches |
Notes
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Realistic Lighting Overhaul |
Lanterns of Skyrim - All In One - Default Preset |
Lanterns of Skyrim - All In One - RLO Preset |
Use Custom Install
- Major City Interiors - No Homes
- Major City Exteriors
- Minor Cities
- Dungeons
- Dawnguard
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Climates of Tamriel |
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Lightning during Thunder Storms - Patch |
Install all four files...
- Main File
- Dawnguard
- Dragonborn
- Sounds
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Grass on Steroids |
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Set skyrim.ini [Grass] iMinGrassSize=75
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Dynavision |
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Settings are changed in-game and must be set after creating character, for each character. Suggested settings are...
- Mode -> Dynamic
- Strength -> 1.0
- Dialogue Strength -> 1.3
- Type -> Soft
- Speed -> 0.5
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Imaginator |
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Settings are changed in-game and must be set after creating character, for each character. Suggested settings are...
- Bloom -> Medium
- Sky -> Increase x1
- Sun -> Increase x1
- Contrast +40
- Brightness +10
- Saturation +20
- Preset -> Warm Desaturation
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Hialgo Boost |
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I recommend this even if you have a powerful system, will keep your gameplay smooth.
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Automatic Variants |
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SUM |
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A utility to batch run all the SkyProc based mods at once. Every time you make mod changes it is best to play things safe and run BOSS, rebuild a bashed patch, and then run SUM.
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SECTION B - GAMEPLAY REALISM[edit | edit source]
The goal of the following mod selections is to make the game a more immersive experience. Giving the player a sense of mortality and
SECTION C - NEW GAME SYSTEMS[edit | edit source]
SECTION C - CHARACTER OPTIONS[edit | edit source]
Knapsack Enhanced
Greatsword Sheaths and Scabbards with Thinner Blades
SECTION D - WORLD ADDITIONS[edit | edit source]
Mod Name |
Conflicts |
Patches |
Notes
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Placeable Statics - Move Anything
Interesting NPCs
Glowing Ore Veins 300
Unread Books Glow
Improved Container Names
SECTION E - LOOT EXPANSION[edit | edit source]
Mod Name |
Conflicts |
Patches |
Notes
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Immersive Armors
Immersive Weapons
Heavy Armory - New Weapons
Winter Is Coming - Cloaks
Cloaks of Skyrim
Left Hand Rings
SECTION F - CONTINUING THE ADVENTURE[edit | edit source]
The following mods are not currently recommended.