164 replies to this topic

[Sharlikran]

Well, I've already cleaned the Update.esm, and I don't yet have hearthfire, so all I need to clean is Dawnguard. (by itself, of course) Have I already gone in the wrong order?

No that's the right order but I thought you might have Hearthfire. After you clean the masters, or esm files, then clean your plugins. If you cleaned the plugin then install the original again and then clean it after you have cleaned the esm files.

[chickenbrothel]

@Sharlikran: Gotcha. Thanks for the tip. For the few mods that I've already (stupidly) cleaned at once, which you don't recommend, is there an easy way to go to those backup files and change them back to esp's and delete the newly cleaned esp's so that I might go about cleaning them the right way - one at a time? Because I'm almost certain I've at least screwed one of them up. I just don't remember exactly which mods I cleaned when I cleaned a few at once, so my plan was just to go into the Data folder, find the backups that were created, and re-install those, then clean them again the right way. But I can't find any backups in the skyrim data folder.

[phaydon1976]

@chickenbrothel : out of curiosity, what were the mods you cleaned, "Build your own Home" ? Did it cause any problems ? And shouldn't mod authors do so themselves, instead of each individual user? I think there should be an easy way to report dirty mods on the Nexus, at least to notify other users.

[thedark1337]

@Chicken my backups were located at data/TES5Edit Backups

[chickenbrothel]

@phaydon1976: I don't have build your own home installed, so no. I cleaned the Update.esm, Dawnguard.esm, and several esp's. Let me check....SavaGhost's pack o tests.esp (from The Arena III Coliseum mod), which had over one hundred UDR's, a few player homes: Ranger Ridge.esp, Rayeks End.esp, Evil Lair of Hydra.esp, Unlimited Bookshelves.esp (had a crapton of UDR's), Prides of Skyrim.esp, Companion Valfar.esp, Skyre_Plugin_NicoroshiCreations.esp, Hideout.esp (another player home), Dragons Diversified.esp, Skyrim School of Witchcraft and Wizardy.esp (which had 44 UDR's, despite many complaints from the community regarding CTD's and other issues, and despite the mod author stating that he had thoroughly cleaned it), Skyrim Bigger Trees.esp, Fleetford, Elvenwood, Pinewood, and The Undercity (all new towns/cities, all with UDR's), and to be honest, that's all I remember, though I think there were more. Yes, I believe it's obviously the responsibility of the mod authors, but to be fair, this would be the tool that would make that task easiest for them, and it was just released, though some mod authors are either a: new to modding, and haven't learned about cleaning or how to make a very polished mod or b: just want to get it out there and don't care too much if it screws things up/lazy. But, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that most, if not all, mod authors want to create a clean, well polished, completely safe and functional product that everyone will be able to enjoy without conflicts, and they just haven't had a great tool to do that with thus far. We'll (hopefully) see cleaner mods from hear on out. But it's nice to be able to do it myself, if I get a download a mod that's dirty. I only hope I'm doing all of this right, and haven't severely screwed up my game. Sorry for the long response.

[tgirlshayna]

I've been on a Morrowind kick lately, but got a few Skyrim mods yesterday and started playing again, more interactive items, placeable statics and decorator assistant, one of the mod authors mentioned TESVEdit in the comments. After running BOSS I got a message to clean update esm via TESVEdit. I've only been PC gaming since Skyrim came out, so mod cleaning while I have heard of it, is pretty new to me, but I'm not a total noob when it comes to modding. I did a little checking around on TESVEdit and most of what I read hinted at if I didn't know about this tool, it's best not to use it. However, I can't help but feel that 51 items pertaining to update esm can be a good thing. So I was wondering what's the best place to read up on this tool, what it does and whatnot, so I can be assured I don't go breaking my game or some mods. I did look at the cleaning guide wiki, but decided not to install and use just yet, even though I DL'd it. Thanks for the help

[Kizude]

i cleaned some mods i did for my personal use with ease because i know what those mods did and a mod, Reserch Thief, that edited an actor Brelyna without reason. But now i read that i have also to clean the Skyrim.esm, dawnguard.esm, heathfires.esm... I don't think i can do that, so i ask: will somebody put a cleaned version of these masters on nexus, or will somebody make a video on how to clean them... or something? Because noob users such myself can't possibly clean such huge masters

[Sharlikran]

i cleaned some mods i did for my personal use with ease because i know what those mods did and a mod, Reserch Thief, that edited an actor Brelyna without reason. But now i read that i have also to clean the Skyrim.esm, dawnguard.esm, heathfires.esm... I don't think i can do that, so i ask: will somebody put a cleaned version of these masters on nexus, or will somebody make a video on how to clean them... or something? Because noob users such myself can't possibly clean such huge masters

I'm almost certain that the Bethesda masters can't be hosted on the Nexus.

As for Skyrim.esm, no you don't clean that. You load Skyrim.esm, Update.esm and clean Update.esm. Then Skyrim, Update.esm and Dawnguard, then clean Dawnguard.

One of the previous posts has links to CK Wiki pages. The official forum, which you don't need to register to read, also has links to places to see cleaning guides and tutorials.

[Sharlikran]

I've been on a Morrowind kick lately, but got a few Skyrim mods yesterday and started playing again, more interactive items, placeable statics and decorator assistant, one of the mod authors mentioned TESVEdit in the comments. After running BOSS I got a message to clean update esm via TESVEdit. I've only been PC gaming since Skyrim came out, so mod cleaning while I have heard of it, is pretty new to me, but I'm not a total noob when it comes to modding. I did a little checking around on TESVEdit and most of what I read hinted at if I didn't know about this tool, it's best not to use it. However, I can't help but feel that 51 items pertaining to update esm can be a good thing. So I was wondering what's the best place to read up on this tool, what it does and whatnot, so I can be assured I don't go breaking my game or some mods. I did look at the cleaning guide wiki, but decided not to install and use just yet, even though I DL'd it. Thanks for the help

For now the CK Wiki pages you already read are the best that is available for now. I'm having to adapt all the old wiki pages for Skyrim and it's going to take me some time. We will also have html documentation soon. WrinklyNinja is working on it as we speak, although he is just tidying it up for me and I will have to make the rest of the major editing that needs to be done.

If you go to the OP on the Bethesda forums I have a link to FO3Edit documentation which is practically the exact same program just for a different game. Also the author of this video has a video tutorial on FO3Edit or FNVEdit that will give you a good idea of what the tool does, and how to use it. Since you are, as you put it, new to this tool but not a noob those resources should work for you perfectly. If after you use those resources you would like to ask questions, post in the official forum, the Nexus Skyrim forum, PM, or post here or whatever and I'm happy to help or direct you to where you can get answers to your questions.

[Sharlikran]

Wow! I cleaned all the ESM files in the order I mentioned and I made it to Riverwood in record time with no crashes. I have never had such a smooth running game. I am also running the Beta as well, but with a clean untouched data folder for testing and no SKSE.