twowolves80

This system is already in place in constructing homes--Lake View Manor comes to mind. First, you have the schemata which you hand pick from, and then you have to build the components, such as nails, hinges, etc, and then you have to combine the parts to build the actual house. Why not apply something like this to the guild? The first things they would probably turn out would be siege engines. Catapults, ballistae (which are already in the game), and perhaps cannons...? Grenades might be a little advanced while they explore the science of pyrotechnics...I can see cannons on the ships, though. And from that, they would undoubtedly expand into fireworks for celebrations... I can also see different cities having different technological pursuits. I could see Markarth pursuing ballistae, and Solitude going for cannons, while Windhelm I can see pursuing geothermal technology. These are examples. Not only that, the engineering guild would naturally be funding expeditions into dwemer ruins to recover more artifacts to reverse engineer, especially steam powered technology. That would give storylines for more quests and more ruins would need to be created for this, of course, so there may be some collaboration, or possible rivalry as you suggest, with the College. And of course, you would need a Fizban-esque character--a crazy old hermit working on some pie-in-the-sky project, like building a steam-powered carriage on rails to cross Tamriel or something. Something that no one gives any crediblity to, but occasionally pops up in the story line. (I am willing to write story lines, if you need--I have many years experience as a DM for Dungeons&Dragons... :D )

I would, but I have no idea what a base game marker is...lol I'm more the logistics guy...but that seems like it would save some work. The hang drum is played sitting down, though. Plus, here's another idea to build on that. There could be a story line where some human bards are trying to acquire a hang drum from the Khajit and learn to play it. The bardic college for instance.

There's already a model for a sitting Khajit, so really, it's just the arms and the upper torso that need to move a little...let's hope people see the value of the music in terms of immersion, though. I could totally see getting the Elsweyr mod and traveling across the desert wastes with this type of music in the background...

Here's another idea for a mod: I have permission from Daniel Waples, a hang drum musician, to use his music in a mod for the Khajit. The song in particular is called Hang In Balance part 1 & 2, found here and here, and would be perfect for the Khajit found when traveling across Tamriel. The way I view the mod, it would be an animation to have a Khajit sitting in or near the tents they use, playing this music on a hang drum in the background, perhaps accompanied by a tambourine. Not too loud. The style of music just seems to fit them, though, and there could be other songs, too, that the player could request. They could talk about how the drum is a part of their culture, etc, and kind of expand on the lore, too. So far, SalZone said he's on board, and I'm willing to try to help as much as I can, though I really don't know much about modding, but I did manage to secure permission to use this music. Let's not let it go to waste! This would be a really cool mod. And as agreed, Mr. Waples, here is the link to the homepage.

Aduniel: As for the pulling the bra out, I was thinking of the gag they do in audiences where people will run into the audience from the stage during the commercials for game shows (this actually happened to my grandmother on the Price Is Right in the 60s) and joke with the guests. One guy ran up and "pulled out" a fake bra out of my grandmother's blouse that was huge. lol Just bawdy jokes and whatnot. The same could be done for males, too, where the bard runs up and pulls a bra out of a male character's shirt or armor, then cracks a joke. But since animations are a bit more complex, I will try to come up with some limericks for you that aren't too bawdy...lol No Man From Nantuckets here. :P

I have a great idea, though I'm not sure if it's a) possible, or b) too memory-intensive...why is there no alpenglow for the mountains in Skyrim in late afternoon or early morning? By alpenglow, I mean the orange-yellow glow of light reflecting off the distant mountain ranges as the first/last rays of light hit their slopes, as in this picture here and here. I've been doing the whole Ansel Adams nature photography (screenshot) thing around Skyrim, and noticed this was missing as all mountains in the distance are dim shadows regardless of the sun's position on the horizon. Of course, I know this would have to be scripted to match the timer in Skyrim for the sunsets and sunrises, and probably would need to be made compatible with the Realistic Lighting Overhaul mod...Unfortunately, I do not have the skills to do it myself, but I just thought this would be a cool idea for a mod for someone looking for a new project as it would be subtle and dramatically increase the immersive feel of the game. If someone knows of a mod that does this already, I would love to hear about it as I've tried Bing and Google, and got nowhere fast. Nothing seems to come up for this type of mod.

Not sure if this has been brought up (I'm barely keeping my eyes open here)--how about simple stuff, too? A bard doesn't just sing. How about juggling? I know that would take more animations, but it could be a future patch. Also, how about limericks, bawdy and otherwise? Just simple lines and whatnot. One-liner jokes, pulling a bra out of someone's dress, simple prestidigitation, and whatnot. Bards were entertainers, not just singers. Just thinking out loud. Love this idea, though--looking forward to seeing it.

I know that laptops are intrinsically unfriendly towards enthusiasts...i.e., modding, so I'm wondering if it would even be possible to plug in more RAM. Now I finally know why ENBoost does not work for me. That is worth it's weight in gold. As far as adding mods that don't increase RAM usage, do you have some examples? It's running pretty stable right now, averaging between 40-50 fps, and the CPU isn't hot for a change. Honestly, I have most of the mods I want, though I wonder if the optimized vanilla texture mods would help decrease RAM usage further...? Texture refinement mods are an obvious no-no, but ones that "cheat" the resolution and give the illusion of greater detail might work, I think... The only mods I could conceivably want to include are ones like the Pelagius Wing add-on (to turn it into a private home), or ones like you mention, increase the playable areas by expanding storylines, etc. And RS Children Overhaul is a definite no, but what about Convenient Horses? That adds a few small options, but nothing too serious. See, that would be a suggestion for another thread--have all mods start including stats like estimated RAM, CPU, and GPU impact so we could better calculate which mods would work together better. The mods I really want to add are big NOs: The airship mods that actually let you fly them around. I know those are RAM hogs, though, so...c'est la vie. Any mods, though, that you can suggest that won't increase RAM usage, would be greatly appreciated. I know you said the Elsweyr mod might be worth it, too. I'm still not even finished with all the stuff in the vanilla Skyrim, though! lol I've been playing for over a year, too, and that's why I love Skyrim. The sandbox is huge.

There it is. This was using a clean save with the above mods active (the stripped-down list). Seeing this, HiAlgoBoost, or no? Do you still think ENBoost is needed when my VRAM is bottomed out? Or does this thing even have VRAM? lol Ran around Riverwood, then went and started a fight in the middle of Whiterun with a handful of guards. The lowest FPS drop was when first entering Whiterun (24, I think). Also, seeing these results, how likely is it that if add any other mods, no matter how small, it will crash the game? http://i1383.photobucket.com/albums/ah302/twowolves80/Screenshot_1_zps9b06cc1c.jpeg

I will be downloading that tonight and reporting my results tomorrow. Hopefully, the set up as it stands now is stable and low-impact enough to sustain past the 35th level... Does having too many missions checked as active in the Journal put strain on the game? Or does it matter whether they are checked or not? For safety purposes, I'm going to limit it to 8-10 quests active at any time just to be sure. I'll let you be the judge of the results of the tests to determine whether HiAlgoBoost will be needed. (I'll start a fight in Whiterun with the guards so five or six of them come running. That ought to strain the system.)

How do I measure FPS? MFG console? I took all those mods out (per the above list) and ran the clean save point. The fan is going, but it's barely warm, not like before, and the system doesn't feel laggy. I still have the clean save to test, though, to be sure. That's without the HiAlgoBoost...I want to benchmark the clean save first, then the clean save with HiAlgoBoost. Those tests I'll run tomorrow and post the results. Just tell me how to do them. And I almost took Better Dialogue Controls out until I remembered, it doesn't add to the game, just allows you to use the mouse to click on dialogue.

I've done the install-from-scratch twice in the last three days. I've run the ENBoost from Modding Beginner's Guide. I should have said ENBoost in the beginning, my mistake. The point is: DOES NOT WORK. If it's videocard deterioration, then I'm !@#$%^ anyway. I have no problem getting rid of some of the mods on that list. The Optimized Vanilla Textures mods seem to have the opposite effect on my computer, and I still haven't figured out why the help command refuses to work. I could pare down the mod list further, and this should just about do it. If I can't run it after this, then there is no hope on this computer. I'm still debating on HiAlgoBoost...Oh, hell, I would probably have that, too, just to try to reduce strain on my system. Skyrim.esm Update.esm SKSE SKSE.ini (unlocking Sheson's Memory Patch) Optimized Vanilla Textures RSChildren Overhaul Unofficial Skyrim Patch Optimized Dawnguard Textures Unofficial Dawnguard Patch Optimized Hearthfires Textures Unofficial Hearthfires Patch Optimized Dragonborn Textures Unofficial Dragonborn Patch Non-Essential Children Hearthfires Multiple Adoptions (Keep or no?) Better Vampires 6.6 RaceMenu Guard Dialogue Overhaul Audio Overhaul for Skyrim 2 Immersive Sounds-Compendium Enhanced Better Sorting SkyUI XP32 Maximum Skeleton Enhanced Character Edit Calientes Beautiful Bodies Edition Decrease That Grass One Mountain To Rule Them All Remove Interior Fog Bloodthirst Customizable Camera Immersive HUD Make Any Child Your Follower New Children Mindi Badewyn a Nord Follower Cloaks of Skyrim Cloaks of Skyrim-Dawnguard Patch Simple Multiple Followers Jaxonz Positioner Skyrim Coin Replacer Redux Better Dialogue Controls Knocked Up Knocked Up-ProLife Patch Sexy Mara Statue Edhildil's Sexy Azura Statue Edhildil's Winterhold Mage Statue Sevenbase Dibella Statue SM Drop Lit Torches Deathstar Moon-Secunda Free Hug Mod Humorous Naked Comments Telescope FNIS (Not sure if I would need this anymore...) ShowRaceMenu with Precache Killer Dawnbreaker II (a private mod from GrandBulwark that upped the damage of the Dawnbreaker by like 5) Bashed Patch, 0.esp How much of a strain would the remaining mods really put on my system? There's not a lot there, especially if CBBE is set to Low-Res in the installation. I would like to try to get away with Hearthfires Multiple Adoptions and the Enhanced Character Edit. The Hearthfires one doesn't add much considering it just changes the tags of what is already there. The ECE, though, I'm not sure of. I'm not even going to mention Convenient Horses...And would I even need the skeleton with any of these? If not, that would be one more that could go.

I've run more than ninety mods at one point, inclucing Climates of Tamriel with Minty's Lightning Mod and Real Shelter. I had all the above mods at that time. Now, however, it wants to crack. As far as ENB goes, I've gone round and round with ENB with tony971, along with the whole Sheson's Memory Patch, DDSopt, and everything else, and that very negative experience makes me avoid them like the Bubonic Plague. If I can't run texture mods, fine, but if I can't run mods that add more material to the game, such as lands, story lines, and whatnot, then what is the point of playing? I could play the b.s. version and be bored on my PS3. That will just have meant that I wasted $40 on the pc version, along with hundreds of hours of trying to get it to work. I want to know what changed since I was running all the same mods before, but ever since playing with that stupid !@#$%^ ENB and skse.ini from the Modding Beginner's Guide, I've had nothing but instability and CTDs as far as the eye can see. I don't want a game that looks like a damned cartoon, and that's exactly what happens when you lower the resolution or mess with the shadow settings in the configurator. So unless I can figure out something quick, I'm done playing skyrim for a very long time as I do not have the money for even 2GB of RAM for my laptop. Yes, I am that broke, with no future in sight. Skyrim is pretty much the only joy I have aside from my fiancee, who is 7000 miles away right now. So, I gues, thanks, but no thanks. That's the end of skyrim for me.

Update: Painstakingly reinstalled everything but the optimized textures mods on NMM. Still crashes. Uninstalled Audio Overhaul, crashed at the logo. Uninstalled Immersive Sounds Compendium, crashed at the load screen. ~!@#$%^&!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am literally moments from smashing my laptop and calling it quits forever! Nothing I am running works, and no mods I am running should be causing this big of a !@#$%^ headache! HiAlgoBoost is not going to stop crashing at the load screen. Moreover, I used the Skyrim Configurator mod, and I dialed back the shadows, the resolution and anything else I could to help, and nothing works. So either, there are mods conflicting that I don't know about (Nothing showing in LOOT or WryeBash) or I am just destined to be forever stuck with this @!#$%^&. I'm so pissed off right now I can't even see straight. I AM WILLING TO PAY SOMEONE TO OPTIMIZE THOSE MODS FOR ME!!!

Yes, but will HiAlgoBoost work on my paltry system? I tried it once before with no results...I mean, is that mod list really that bad? I didn't think I was asking too much of my system with the handful of mods I want to run. As for removing shadows, is there a way to reduce them drastically without eliminating them entirely? And how do I reduce, and what is, draw distance? I'm getting the configurator, too, thanks!

WARNING: This thread contains references to mods that are NSFW. Also, this is kind of lengthy, so I apologize ahead of time. Background Information: The System: IBM-Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E350 Intel i5-3230M Quad-Core @ 2.6 GHz 4GB Ram (3.58GB available) Intel HD-4000 Graphics Approx. Total Memory: 1,638 MB Display: 1366 x 768 (32-bit) 60Hz Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OS All drivers up-to-date The Game: Legal copy of Skyrim Legendary Edition (of course) The Problem: Well, besides the fact that I am rather dumb (the avatar is not meant for irony, here. It's a warning), I have tried to mod Skyrim, following such things as Modding Beginner's Guide by tony971, and Skyrim Stability Project by GrandBulwark, along with Gopher's Machiavellian videos on YouTube (Machiavellian to me. By viewing my avatar, you agree that you were fairly warned). So I was able to run about 90 plugins or so, including some adult animation ones which I no longer bother with, having gotten bored with the novelty. I've experienced CTDs, broken saves, Matrix-like slow downs of NPCs (which makes for great theatrics, but not really great playability), stuttering, and even console failure. Impossible, I know--I've heard it all before, but there it is. The "help" command in the console refuses to work no matter how many ways I write it out. Example: help lydia. help lydia 0. help "lydia" 0. And other iterations. All result in the Filters: 0-..., 1-..., 2-... etc pop up. Page Up and Page down do nothing. I've run as high as 90 plugins before, but the game would always get so glitchy by the mid 30s levels that it becomes unplayable (I've yet to be able to play past level 35 because of that), with constant CTDs. I've pared down the mod list to what I want the most, and without these, I might as well not even play it on the computer and just stick to my PS3. I've tried the ENBoost, and the SKSE.ini to unlock Sheson's Memory Patch, and none of it works for me, resulting in my frustration, and that of the Vampire Dante, Millenia, and MotoxxScorpioxx as I annoy the chatroom mods and guests with my ignorant questions because I am...say it with me...A MORON when it comes to modding. And no, I don't have enough money to upgrade to a better computer, or build one myself. I am stuck with my laptop. Thus, being on the verge of rage-quitting my favorite game forever, I've decided to submit myself to the public forum, risking ridicule I'm sure, and ask for your help in determining the following: 1. The correct load order, if it is wrong, for these mods I've listed; 2. Anything that will help save VRAM and boost performance while making it more efficient; 3. A setup that will help me play the game completely through with a minimum of fuss I'm not asking for immortality, here, just playability so I can enjoy my game. That's all. The Mod List: (shown in current load order) Skyrim.esm Update.esm SKSE SKSE.ini (unlocking Sheson's Memory Patch) Optimized Vanilla Textures RSChildren Overhaul Unofficial Skyrim Patch Optimized Dawnguard Textures Unofficial Dawnguard Patch Optimized Hearthfires Textures Unofficial Hearthfires Patch Optimized Dragonborn Textures Unofficial Dragonborn Patch Non-Essential Children Hearthfires Multiple Adoptions Better Vampires 6.6 RaceMenu Guard Dialogue Overhaul Audio Overhaul for Skyrim 2 Immersive Sounds-Compendium Enhanced Better Sorting SkyUI XP32 Maximum Skeleton Enhanced Character Edit Calientes Beautiful Bodies Edition Decrease That Grass One Mountain To Rule Them All Remove Interior Fog Bloodthirst Customizable Camera Immersive HUD Make Any Child Your Follower New Children Mindi Badewyn a Nord Follower Cloaks of Skyrim Cloaks of Skyrim-Dawnguard Patch Simple Multiple Followers Jaxonz Positioner Skyrim Coin Replacer Redux Better Dialogue Controls Knocked Up Knocked Up-ProLife Patch Sexy Mara Statue Edhildil's Sexy Azura Statue Edhildil's Winterhold Mage Statue Sevenbase Dibella Statue SM Drop Lit Torches Deathstar Moon-Secunda Free Hug Mod Humorous Naked Comments Telescope FNIS ShowRaceMenu with Precache Killer Dawnbreaker II (a private mod from GrandBulwark that upped the damage of the Dawnbreaker by like 5) Bashed Patch, 0.esp Solutions Attempted: I have cleaned everything that should be cleaned with TES5_Edit, rebuilt the bashed patch using WryeBash, re-ordered some masters in some mods that WryeBash pointed out, ran LOOT extensively, spent hours and hours tweaking the ENB files and finally got rid of them, only after tony971 sent me one tweaked for my system, nagged, pleaded and begged for help in the chat rooms, pored over everything I could find, watched Gopher's videos without falling asleep more than twice, and followed all installation instructions that I could understand. And yes, I have a clean save that is CLEAN. I understand that my system is underpowered, but I am not trying to run a lot of mods. Just these. If there are others that would make my system use its resources more efficiently (like Remove That Grass), I would love to know that, too. I apologize for the length of this post, truly. I want to be as thorough as possible, though, because I really don't understand what is going on, and don't know what information someone might need to be able to tell me, hey, dummy, you have to change this. Thank you ahead of time for your patience. twowolves80

Judassem: Found the way to do it. If you want to download something, download it manually as a zip file, then open MO, and click on the little icon in the top left corner that looks like a cd in front of a box. It will open a dialogue box asking you to open a file. Just point it to the zip file you just downloaded no matter where it downloads to (most people leave the default location as their Downloads folder). Worked for me. I finally got CBBE installed.

When I try to install a new mod from an archive, the masters are shot. The BodySlideOutFitStudio, for instance, doesn't want to set a data directory, no matter how many times I right-click it and select Set Data Directory. TES5 seems to place files in the overwrite folder, too, when I run it (a folder called TES5Edit Backups)...I had to import CBBE from NMM to get it to install, and wound up with the MO not recognizing the version number, so I get the harmless ! in the triangle next to it in the downloads tab. (Couldn't tell you how I did it, either, or do it again if my life depended on it! lol)

Hi. I just got done following the tutorial to install mod organizer (Modding Beginner's Guide), and everything was moving along. I was installing all my mods, and then I got to CBBE. When I tried to download it, it kicked back an error message, saying the server denied the download and said it was a 202 error. Although I am not sure it is material to the problem at hand, I have two error messages in MO, which keeps putting files in the overwrite area that are not mods: Tools, Scripts, Meshes, Docs. I don't know how that happened, but it occured when I installed FNIS for a certain 18+ animation that shall remain unamed. I can't figure out why CBBE won't download, though, and I need the CBBE body for several other mods. Please help!

XD lol Meanwhile, back at the Legion of Doom...(mwa ha ha ha...)

How about starting with small stuff first to kind of reflect how the people of Tamriel are slowly integrating the Dwemer technology? That's more realistic. Stuff like stoves, hot water heaters, working toilets, sinks--practical stuff--with the occasional oddball scientist who swears he's invented a way to fly to the moon on an airship, but it never really works. People would adopt stuff that has immediate use first, but you could also have schools spring up where there are people working to reverse engineer the technology, sort of like in the Wheel of Times series where Rand did that.