Pajeezy

All mods have been set up, running all texture mods I have come across (everything from the S.T.E.P. guide plus a few others, one being Skyrim Ultra HD Texture Pack), Climates of Tamriel, and Enhanced Lights and FX (I have other mods too, ~160 in total). So anyway, everything is installed, BOSS'd, TES5Edit'd and ready to go. Started a new game, went all the way until a couple minutes out into the wild where you're free to do whatever, and I got it all on SPM. Below is a screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/B5BNUP7.png My VRAM was nearly capped the whole time, and when I did a little pre-testing before in Solitude on an old broken save, my VRAM was usually at its cap, but still holding 60 fps, only dipping down to 50 in certain instances. Only noticeable disturbances are slight stuttering when turning fast or loading into different areas. Otherwise FPS is smooth. Other notable factors - GPU % (which I don't fully understand) went up to 99% at several instances, GPU temp capped at 81 C, which I believe is good and safe, not sure what role the total memory (in yellow) serves though, or really any of the rest of it. So basically, does it look like I can green light this and start the show? Or should I be expecting crashes? Any insight would be awesome. EDIT: Running on a GTX 670 2GB if that helps.

One bump

I have downloaded a plethora of mods, mostly mods for S.T.E.P., and I've noticed for several mods, on their description page at Nexus, it says that for installation with Wrye Bash a conversion file is necessary. Now, I know how to use BCFs, and have had to for a couple (since the mod will show up greyed out in the Installer tab). However, for most of the mods that say "You will need a Wrye Bash conversion" and provide instructions on how to do so, they do not actually seem to require them. When I take the NMM download (manually dled) of that mod, I just slip it in the Wrye Bash Bash Installer folder and it works like normal. They install correctly, load correctly with BOSS, no conflicts or anything. Am I missing something? Are these actually good to go or am I going to have some sort of weird hidden complication? :/

One bump

Okay cool. Whilst waiting for a reply I researched SkyRe a little more, and while it is quite the impressive project, I think I'm going to avoid it for now, as it seems like a massive headache-inducer. However, I do still need a magic balancing mod to complement Apocalypse. It's basically come down to Balanced Magic, Better Magic, or Mighty Magick. I'm actually leaning more towards Mighty Magick at this point (It's also the most recently updated as the other two haven't been updated in a long time), but I have only one big concern. ASP was made to be balanced with Vanilla, but MM changes scaling to make spells stronger the more you level up. Would this conflict with ASP's balance and make the spells associated with it too powerful later on? Thanks for any input on this or with Better Magic/Balanced Magic as well.

Interesting. I'll check it out. On another note, would anyone recommend SkyRe? I have pretty much all of the S.T.E.P. mods downloaded, along with a few others (Deadly Dragons, ASIS, Amazing Follower Tweaks, DUEL, Immersive Armors/Weapons/Creatures etc). Would I need to have a bunch of compatibility patches for it?

I had originally thought to implement Balanced Magic as it had the most endorsements for a mod of this type, it seemed to do a lot of things well, and it had a lot of praise from the community. However, I realized that I overlooked that it has been abandoned and hasn't been updated in over 7 months :( There are a lot of unanswered posts under the comments section, a lot of them about bugs... So now I'm in need of a different mod similar to that one. Not a complete overhaul really, just something that tweaks the magic system to make it more balanced and variable, and so mages aren't weak in the endgame like vanilla. Also, I will be installing and using the Apocalypse Spell Package as well, so it'd be nice if it could be compatible with that and complement it. I was looking at a mod called Proper Magic. Though it doesn't have many endorsements, it seems to do what I'm looking for, and has good responses from the community. Thanks for any suggestions.

Thank you for the suggestion. I will look into the textures thing. However, I do use BOSS and the load order isn't the problem. It's the install order :P If anyone else has any knowledge on the subject, I'd be grateful.

So I installed only S.T.E.P. mods (about 4/5 of them) via Wrye Bash and ran boss just to test them out. I loaded a previous save that I'd already used to test other mods (so I admit it's probably quite messed up from doing this alone). Everything did go smoothly, but then I fast traveled to a random location in the wilderness and a dragon came down. During the fight, I noticed one or two of these big bright squares (it was during night) on the ground (essentially they WERE the ground). I failed to take a screenshot as the game CTD when I Alt+Tabbed out to check the forums about it. But, as stated in the title, they were about the length of my character (height and width) or maybe a little bigger, they were perfectly square, and they were a light blue/teal/white color mix. Anyone have any idea on the subject? Texture bug or something? Also, off topic, can anyone enlighten me on certain install orders? I was okay with the S.T.E.P. mods since the guide had them in the correct order, but I have a few other mods where I don't know where to fit them in. For instance, Deadly Dragons, DUEL, Apocalypse SP, CoT, Enhanced Lights and FX, Dragon Combat Overhaul etc. I've done extensive searching to find out, but any place only mentions load order, or in the case of the descriptions on their respective Nexus mod page, it tells me what mods they are compatible with. Nothing about install order anywhere. Thanks for any help! EDIT: The weird bug pertains to a dragon's breath hitting the ground. Also, it's not always in a square shape. The ground textures just bug out and turn that bright color when a dragon's breath hits it. Still, any ideas?

I have NMM, SKSE, Wrye Bash, BOSS and TES5Edit. So far this is my planned route. Please educate me if there's a better system. I have already downloaded all of my desired mods via NMM before I found out about these other lovely programs, so I don't really feel like doing the same thing for Wrye. Anyway: -Downloaded and installed all mods via NMM like I said. -Next, open up Wrye Bash and run BOSS through it. -Find dirty edits and bash tag suggestions via BOSS. -Run TES5Edit and fix dirty edits. -Run BOSS again to make sure all is good. -Check and make sure Wrye has the order correct for all mods via BOSS. -Order all other unrecognized mods above Bashed Patch (except for ASIS...why is this again?) -Edit Bash Tags for mods requiring it. -Create Bashed Patch (with leveled lists if applicable?) ALSO: Does EVERY mod I'm running need to be part of this bashed patch??? -Run Skyrim This all is to my current understanding, and need your help to solidify it. I'm a neat freak in a way and I won't even start up the game until I know I have the best chances of the game running smoothly. I know CTDs happen, but I simply want to mitigate them. Something else important I need to know that I can't find elsewhere. Install order. If I have multiple texture packs, and I install both of them, chances are I get the "this file will overwrite this one" message. I hear that certain mods need to be installed and overwrite others (as opposed to THEM being overwritten) for their best impact on the game. This also leads into my last question. I hear Wrye Bash does a good job of seeing these conflicts and alerting you. Now, since I have my mods in the NMM and NOT in the install area of Wrye, can I still see these conflicts? Or do I have to install these mods via Wrye Bash? And regardless of that answer, how else can I know/figure out which mod files need to overwrite others? Thank you anyone, this is it. No more posts from me. Would appreciate any more help I can get :D

Okay, I just recently got off of work and have done some more research on the subject. This is all way more complicated than I had anticipated. I have NMM, BOSS, just recently installed Wrye Bash, and TES5Edit. If anyone could give me a reasonably simple step-by-step for these programs it'd be awesome. I'm not sure when to use TES5Edit, although I believe I know how, at least to clean dirty edits for mods and the main esps (update, dawnguard etc). Is it advisable to use NMM in conjunction with Wrye Bash? I like how NMM keeps mods updated and is simple to use, but Wrye does more for the mods and is cleaner in the end. And I need some help further understanding bashes and how they work. And lastly, how in the world do I know what mod should override other mods?? Does Wrye Bash figure that out/fix it for me? For instance, some texture mods (when installing) will say "Would you like to overwrite this file with this one?" I hear that it's best for certain ones to override others to have the best effect. But other than that I'm lost D: Essentially, I understand for the most part how to work every part, but not how it all comes together or what it means. :/ I've looked at several different guides but I'd prefer a dumbed down version (if possible). Thanks anyone

Thank you for the feedback. The 3.1gb memory cap scares me a little. The 2k Texture packs alone add up to like 3-4 gb o_O How do I know which mods affect this cap and what's the easiest way to make sure I don't hit it? Just keep checking in and loading up Skyrim and see if it insta-crashes? If I want to test a mod, I can just save my game, make another save after that one and use the latter save to test out new mods i want to incorporate into my already-modded game, without hindering my ACTUAL former save, correct? It's okay if I ADD mods to a game, I just can't REMOVE mods and continue, as it would be crash-prone, yes? Should I keep DCO disabled for now, then? And can I just activate it at a later time in the game? And thanks about the info on BOSS, will research that now and watch his tutorial. Also, I'm using a GTX 670, so running any mods won't be a problem.

Let me preface this by saying; wow, amazing job to this modding community and website, I couldn't believe the treasure trove I'd stumbled upon when I found this place. I'm an avid gamer and have had Skyrim since the day it came out, and have been playing TES since Morrowind, and yet I've only just now truly discovered modding. I have no idea how I've been playing this/these game(s) without them. Also, I apologize, but this post will probably be pretty long. So onto my inquiries. I spent the entire day yesterday researching and downloading mods from here to enhance Skyrim. I primarily acquired visual mods as I still want to fully explore the game before I change any big content (I'm starting over as well because of these mods). I do have a few mods that change gameplay though a bit, and have questions on those as well. First off, I need to know if I'm missing any big/important visual mods to complement the ones I already have. I will say beforehand that I don't plan/care to use ENBs, as I don't want any fps drops and I don't care for the fantasy bloomshine they all have. Anyway, here's a list of the visual mods I currently have (in no particular order): -101 HD Bugs -No Spinning Death Animation -The Dance of Death -Visible Windows -Improved NPC Clothing -Birds and Flocks -Enhanced Distant Terrain -Moss Rocks -W.A.T.E.R. -Realistic Ragdolls and Force -The Eyes of Beauty -Enhanced Lights and FX (after testing a bit, chose this one over RLO) -Ultimate Lighting Overhaul (to enhance ELFX etc) -LIAT -Splash of Rain -Wet and Cold -Super Realistic Ore Textures -HiRes Legible Road Signs -Radiant and Unique Potions and Poisons -Book of Silence (all 3) -Book Covers -Enhanced Night Sky -No More Blocky Faces -Ruins Clutter Improved -Skyrim Flora Overhaul -Skyrim 2k Textures -Ultimate HD Fire Effects (Looks nice, although has a little bug where a very thin black ring is around the fire source) -Xenius Character Enhancement -Climates of Tamriel -Ethereal Elven Overhaul -Quality World Map -iHUD -SkyUI -Better Dynamic Snow -Enhanced Blood Textures -Footprints -Realistic Smoke and Embers -Static Mesh Improvement Mod -Towns and Villages Enhanced (looking to get all of them, however only one or two are on the Nexus) That was long, sorry. Those are all the key visual mods I have going right now. If there is anything missing, or conflicting, or something I should worry about with certain mods, please let me know. Now, as far as my second question. As I said before, because of these mods, I've decided to just start over. I got to level 21 with a pure mage in Vanilla just recently, beat the main story and all that, and while I do enjoy the gameplay as a mage, it seems a bit lacking. So I stumbled on Apocalypse Spell Package and Balanced Magic. I read that these 2 mods in conjunction with the mod ASIS bring a really good, balanced and variable experience to the table for mages, and make spells viable end game as I also heard those are a bit weak for a pure mage. What are your thoughts on this? Will it ruin the game for me? And would I need other mods as well? I also downloaded Duel, ACE and Enhanced Enemy AI. Third question. Dragon mods. Also part of the reason I want to start over and experience. Best ones? I downloaded Deadly Dragons, Dragon Combat Overhaul, Bellyaches New Dragon Species, and Enhanced Mighty Dragons. These 4 are supposedly compatible and add many nice, new, detailed dragons to the mesh. Anything else I'm missing to complement these? LAST QUESTION. Crashing. I haven't done extensive playing yet, haven't started my new game yet, and I have a lot of mods downloaded. Should i expect any constant CTD? I have Skyrim SKSE and I have been using BOSS every time I activate a mod, and so far nothing is conflicting, everything is green lighted. However there are a few messages telling me about "dirty edits"? And to use something to clean them with. Idk what that is, haven't looked into it. So that's it. Once again I apologize about the lengthiness of my post, I'm just really excited and avid about this "modding" thing and I want to make sure I cover and understand everything :P Thank you for any input you may have towards any of my concerns!