MacSuibhne

Thank you for taking the time. After i posted this i went to Gopher's videos and by laboriously going through several of them and peering intently at certain scenes, I was just barely able to see that he had more or less the same load order. It was Gopher that suggested that esm's come before esp's...but I guess I must have missed the exceptions to that rule--the patches. Anyway thanks again.

So...just installed Falskaar and NMM put the Falskaar.esm below the Unofficial Skyrim patch.esp. "No problem," I thought "I'll just run LOOT." But Loot left it that way. I know that as a general rule esm's should come before esp's. So how do I get the Falskaar.esm ahead of the Unofficial Skyrim Patrch.esp? Or can it stay where it is?

Well, I kind of hoped I was with this thread. But I guess I don't know how to give them my suggestions directly...and, truth to tell who am I to be telling them how to make mods? I've never made a mod in my life. Maybe some of what I'm talking about can't be done...I dunno.

I posted this in response in another sub-forum but I got to thinking maybe it needed to be here... I've looked at W.A.T.E.R, Pure Waters and Realistic Waters 2. None of them really improve all that much on the Vanilla game. I've fished for years in mountain rivers and streams. I can "read" water...tell you where sunken boulders are and where the fish will lie. I'm not sure that the people who write mods for water have really looked at fast flowing water. For instance, in every one of the above mods, there is no "pile-up" of water in front of boulders...as there should be...no wake at the sides, no slick behind. As there should be. Almost as important is that there is no line of detritus where the water meets the shore. Friction slows water, and material caught at the edges tends to get hung up on the gravel or sand. I hate the way every single one of these mods makes the water sort of disappear onto the land. It's not real or immersive. In fact, it's kind of disturbing. I can't "read" the water in Skyrim and I think most water mods make it worse. Is the bottom of the river smooth? Most of the mods make it seem so. If there were sunken boulders, or even just larger rocks you'd see signs of them in the current and on the surface. You'd see it in the way the water behaved as it flowed over and past them. Running water is slowed and pushed up as it runs over these obstacles. It often creates moving or transitory "windowpanes." And, again, it slows as it get nearer the bank. Where are the "tail-outs" in these rivers--Vanilla or modded? Where are the "seams"? Where are the eddies and whirlpools and "frog water" that occurs even in brawling streams? More foam and more transparency is not...not, not, not...the answer.

I've fished for years in mountain rivers and streams. I can "read" water...tell you where sunken boulders are and where the fish will lie. I'm not sure that the people who write mods for water have really looked at fast flowing water. For instance, in the above example, there is no "pile-up" of water in front of the boulder, no wake at the sides, no slick behind. I can't "read" the water in Skyrim and I think most water mods make it worse. Is the bottom of the river smooth? If there were sunken boulders, or even just larger rocks you'd see signs of them in the current. In the way the water behaved as it flowed over and past them. Running water is slowed as it runs over these obstacles. And it slows as it get nearer the bank. Someone that can read water (and I'm not as good as some) can accurately describe the river bottom without ever seeing it. Where are the "tail-outs" in these rivers--Vanilla or modded? Where are the "seams"? Where are the eddies and whirlpools and "frog water" that occurs even in brawling streams? More foam and more transparency isn't the answer.

Thanks for that. Does using the install tool circumvent the problem I described above? It doesn't seem to put the files in a different place or anything. You mentioned you had a channel. Does it cover the same material, step-by-step, as Gopher covers? I am a little ambivalent about Gopher's tutorials--very good so far and no glitches. But, for instance, I might choose Realistic Waters 2 over W.A.T.E.R. or Pure Water (just from the descriptions and the compatibility information). Thinking maybe Gopher's vids might be slightly dated?

I followed gopher's vid and installed SKSE. In the vid he lines out how to start Skyrim with SKSE active. I followed those instructions correctly, but... Sometimes when I click on the icon that executes skse_loader.exe, Steam will say that it's updating. When Steam gets done, Skyrim opens but without SKSE loaded. ( I don't know how it can do that....the shortcut points to skse_leader.exe, nothing else. I've checked it.) In any case, I have to back out of Skyrim and click again on the icon which executes skse_leader to get into the game properly. What's up with that? Am I missing something? Any thoughts?

Thanks for your reply. Will deactivating it and then re-activating it give me the small configurator window again? Seems like Gopher got a shot at that window several times during the vid.

Once you install this mod (the only mod I have installed so far...except for the unofficial patch and SKSE scripts) how can you configure it? I thought I had installed and configured it correctly but I'm still seeing clouds. Followed Gophers vid. Absolute newbie to modding...

Thank you again. You've been very helpful...much appreciated. Although, now I'll be obsessed....wondering what SUM is. :laugh:

What is SUM? I've seen a few of Gopher's videos...they're very good. I want...and am determined...to watch them. In the past...not yet being ready to install mods because of the weakness of my rig...i have not watched them closely--it sometimes seems you can get more time into watching videos (Gopher's included) than you've got in playing the game. I watched the TES5Edit video and while not understanding a lot of it (no context) I suspected I'd have to come back to it. I don't have the DLC's yet...I've only got one playthrough on the vanilla game (@300 hours)...might not get Heathfire or DawnGuard. Vampires and cannibalism aren't my cuppa and I don't need another house--I've already got stuff scattered between the Mage's College, Riften, Breezehome and Kodlak's old quarters. I even refused to become a thane in Ulfric's court despite the nasty comments of his courtiers. I do want Dragonborn and I was looking at some of the mods that add quests and/or new lands--like Falskaar. So...not right this minute but maybe this weekend...I'll sit down and start watching videos and reading tutorials. What we go through for Skyrim...maybe there's a mod to erect a statue of the Dragonborn in some city to commemorate his sacrifices.

I suppose some people take to this like fish take to water. But for me, at least, it's so very hard to know exactly where to begin and what sequence to go from there. I have already installed NMM and the Unofficial patch. I suppose the next step is to install Loot. And then SMIM. And then, slowly,one at a time, any mod I want , running look after each installation. Does that sound like a good plan? I like all your recommendations but don't know why a person would choose the CaBal120 mods as opposed to Skyrim HD2K. From what you say they are compatible with each other but what good does it do...other than burden your vram...to run both or even bits and pieces of both? I'm looking for insight and advice... Complicating all this is the video about TES5Edit (and here I'm probably showing what a clueless newb I am )...when do you need to install and use that? Does it, or is there another mod/download that can, correct bad saves or files in the Vanilla game? I have about four quests that I cannot complete and am wondering if this is something that has been or can be addressed?

Thank you, again. One other question...what about...I hope I get the name right...HD 2K Textures?

Thanks for the reply. What about Loot? Do I need it? In paragraph one of your reply you say "Both of which are extremely simple to install..." but before you said that you had only mentioned one mod by name SMIM. So that confused me a little?? Also, did I read somewhere that SMIM can cause problems?

I think I may have posted this in the wrong forum, yesterday...hoping for a better response today... So...I have my rig upgraded--8GBddr3 sram, i7 870 quad core, Gigabyte Radeon 280x Windforce--3GBvram. Of course, I want to add a few mods...and I have bookmarked a number of tutorials and so forth in preparation for adding mods. But I'm innately conservative...I want to add mods slowly and probably not too many. I am not interested, at least at this time, in armour mods or mods that change the gameplay to give me more or less of an advantage. I am interested in visual enhancements--trees, water, etc. Immersion. So...what I'm looking for is a short list of mods for mod newbies that will blow my socks off but not put a strain on my system or cause CDT's and glitches. AND, which I don't have to be a wizard to install and configure. And oh, BTW, that will be compatible with Dragonborn and perhaps a few non-glitch-y mods that add quests ("I've been everywhere, man"). I have NNM and the Nexus Unofficial patch. I know...this has probably been asked many times before but I appreciate your patience.

So...I have my rig upgraded--8GBddr3 sram, i7 870 quad core, Gigabyte Radeon 280x Windforce--3GBvram. Of course, I want to add a few mods...and I have bookmarked a number of tutorials and so forth in preparation for adding mods. But I'm innately conservative...I want to add mods slowly and probably not too many. I am not interested, at least at this time, in armour mods or mods that change the gameplay to give me more or less of an advantage. I am interested in visual enhancements--trees, water, etc. Immersion. So...what I'm looking for is a short list of mods for mod newbies that will blow my socks off but not put a strain on my system or cause CDT's and glitches. AND, which I don't have to be a wizard to install and configure. And oh, BTW, that will be compatible with Dragonborn and perhaps a few non-glitch-y mods that add quests ("I've been everywhere, man"). I have NNM and the Nexus Unofficial patch. I know...this has probably been asked many times before but I appreciate your patience.

Well, I pulled the trigger...hoping for the best.

I took the Stormcloak side (proudly) and Maven's still Jarl of the Rift.

90 celsius, right? What technical forums are you referring to?

I don't know if these are glitchs or not but I am assuming they're "features." I have a skill level of 100 in heavy armour and archery. Now it seems that I cannot improve or apply perks to that skill. Is this a glitch or what? Also I am offered the option to go "Legendary" on those skills. If I do, does that mean I start over and all my individual skills...like Fists of Steel (?), lost? Additionally, I am beginning to see caves and dungeons that I know I have visited and even cleared showing up black on my map. Brucca's Redoubt and Chillwind Depths are two that just recently went from white markers on the map to black. No mods except NMM and the unofficial update.

is 78 degrees Celsius (172 degrees Fahrenheit) hot for a gaming card? I was talking to a person who owns a Gigabyte R9 280x (three fans) and he cited that temp when he was running at 98%.

but where do I find Requiem or Skyre...so that I can read the author's description? I see mods for bits of Requiem but not the original mod/overhaul itself.

I see a whole slew of mods for Requiem but I don't know what it is...?

About two years ago I stopped playing Skyrim and deleted everything except my save games from my hard drive. While I was playing Skyrim I had little or no problem with it. Never installed any mods and didn't try to push the game or performance beyond what my computer could handle. Just last month I decided to get back into it and reinstalled everything on the same box...and, as before, let the game/steam configure my settings. Steam updated the game and then I installed NMM and the unofficial update. And then I picked up where I left off in the game. Since then I have been experiencing random CDT's,although not frequently. Nothing in my hardware has changed. And I run a pretty tight ship/clean computer. I don't remember any CDT's when I was playing before...in fact, I didn't even know what a CDT was until just recently Except for the unofficial update/patch, I don't have any mods installed and am running Skyrim on low to medium setting. Anyone have any ideas why this might be happening?

Wow! Again, you make the point! I guess the 280x is the way to go. I'm looking at a Sapphire card--3GB 384 but I don't know what a "reference cooler' is. Is that just saying that if the card is from a reputable maker the cooler will be OK, even good? I'm not doing any overclocking. thanks...