seth1983

I follow your point. As fun as the Dev Aveza sounds, I think I'll pass. Probably the same for the castle, though the collector inclination in me is crying. Haha. Thanks ripple. So much. Sincerely. You've helped make my game personal to me, a world made to fit my own ideal vision of the "perfect Skyrim". Without your help I honestly believe I would have uninstalled Skyrim in frustration and, if ever playing again, would likely have done so on console. This game is incredible, and people like you actually make this growing population of modders really feel like a community. If there's something I can do just to show my gratitude, please let me know. Whether it's an endorsement for a mod, a good word regarding your efforts for the community, or even a donation toward a project you're working on, I would not only happily accept but in truth very much want to give back for all the help and time you've given me. I don't know how often you hear it, likely a lot, but you're quite honestly one of those few people who makes interacting with others online truly feel like a community. Thank you.

I just locked the position of the additional plugin after the original plugin using the lock position feature in MO. Is this okay? Just seemed a little easier, but if I should do it in BUM instead I will. I just played for almost 3 hours without freezes or crashes after the changes to wet and cold. I am now at the list of mods I want to use for my game, except for just 2 more mods. I have narrowed down my list of house mods to just two that I'm interested in. - Airship Dev Avexa: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/24234/? - Sjel Blad Castle: http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/41612/? But I know that house mods might well have been the issue for me last time, so I'm trying to be very careful. Do you think these mods will be safe? They're both very popular, and as I read through I didn't see anything to be wary of, but you're the pro. Haha. Thanks ripple. I'm so close to just being able to play Skyrim my own PERSONAL way. :)

He replied to my question about load order (see below), saying it can be put anywhere after its masters. I'm about to try... wish me luck. :smile: hothtrooper44's answer to load order:

In effort to reduce FPS issues, I'll be disabling most of the effects of Wet and Cold, as it's always ranked high on other users' lists of game resource hogs. Note I won't be removing the mod (learned enough about that), but just disabling it's constantly running effects in game. The other issue I've run into is that hothtrooper44 just released Immersive Armors v7. It looks AWESOME, but (likely because it's new) it's a nightmare for all of my most trusted third party mod software. I sent the following to hothtrooper44... Email to hoth: He replied with: So now I'm not sure what to do, or even what load order to use. I have already removed v6 and now I'm stuck in a removed mod problem and I'm really paranoid that I've already ruined my game...

Okay, so in looking for an answer to my own question (I like to do that) I found a video by a guy on youtube who offered the first "bsa for morons" explanation I've ever heard, and it may be linked to how I can solve my problem, IF I understand it correctly. The video is here: Anyway, he explained that if I keep it as BSAs the only thing I'm achieving is saving my computer's disk space, whereas I'm losing load time because if I unpacked them they'd already be on my drive and thus faster access for the game. Is this true? Should I unpack all BSA files? Will this reduce the load/FPS/freeze delays I'm experiencing? Thanks again.

Okay, so it looks like we have a fix for the missing textures (it worked, with the add-on that was provided on the mod's page, as described above), and no CTD after a 2.5 hour session of play. There is CONSIDERABLE freezing, though I'm a little forgiving of that given that my previous game was crashing and that makes any other errors look minimal. Haha. Still, I am noticing freezing (is the better term FPS loss?) for about a second, and this occurs once every 5-10 seconds, and I think this coincides with entering a new cell. The freezing was easy to notice in Whiterun, and it felt that the "stuttering" frames didn't go away until all of the actors had been encountered and fully loaded. All in all, once an area is fully loaded, I can usually play for about 5-10 minutes before I notice any freezing again. Any ideas on what is most likely the source for the most FPS loss? Maybe the bigger textures?

Just had my first crash. I was playing for about 15 minutes when it happened. Note that I've been playing crash free now for about 8 hours. The only mod that was running and did not finish looks to be either Frrostfall or Convenient Horses. Here's the end of the papyrus log... I had just been killed in a fight against a monster added by the Monster Mod, a variant of the drake that is not see-through. It was the red one, instead. The game crash on the reload screen, shortly after the mist started to rise and a 3d asset had appeared. I'm going to try playing again (as I know rare crashes still do happen in a normally fine modded game), and if it crashes again I'll send fuller details...

I think I found them, they're actually in an optional file from aMidianBorn I grabbed due to a STEP suggestion, didn't have it in previous installs which was why this was my first case of seeing it. Looking in the downloaded rar file in MO I can even see that there are meshes for a steelshield, a steelbow, and a steelshieldunique, but when I jump over to the textures there's no listing for these items. It's in aMidianBorn Weapons. I can see the folder labelled skyforge, can see the etxtures and whatnot inside, but not sure what to do to fix this. Uninstall/reinstall? Just replace the files from the skyforge folder (maybe a new download, just in case)? UPDATE: The last option, to just add the textures manually, actually isn't possible. They're missing from the mod files entirely (confirmed with a manual download), not just after installed in MO. UPDATE 2: I respond too quickly. I guess I get excited when I find a clue. He has added a file to nexus that adds the missing textures. Issue solved, I imagine. Adding them manually now...

Thanks for the tips on "'Weapons of the Third Era', and moveitLWT.esp. If that's the case then I definitely want to remove it. Any advice on safely removing them, without danger to my save file or papyrus getting angry forever more? As for WarchiefsMight.esp Active, checked in MO and that's actually from a mod called "Axestaff Weapons". http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/19536/? It's also by hothtrooper44, and a great mod, the polearms look incredible. I really think the issue is Book of Silence. Here's my logic... 1. Searching for these items (the 3 I listed) always takes me to a discussion on aMidianBorn assets. This discussion (link below) in particular mentions that the items certain Companions carry are rare, and uniquely added (sounds like why it's such a rare case). http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/955713-amidianborn-wolf-armor-and-skyforge-weapons/page-71 2. The discussion is found under a mod name that matches this mod on nexus... http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/34147/? BUT, the screenshot is EXACTLY the same as the one that pops up during one step of the Book of Silence mod install. And I recall choosing a texture I wanted for it, but it only mentioned armors as I recall. I've sent him (I think it's a man?) a message asking about this, maybe he'll get back to me. 3. It's only ever happened on the Companions, and only those select few. Any way to quickly determine what it is I'm missing? Maybe reinstall the mod, or is that a bad idea (see previous question about uninstalling mods above) I'll grab a screenshot to attach the next time I'm in Whiterun. Thanks.

Okay, added more mods today, mainly targeting new armors and some NPCs. Played for 3 hours without a CTD, but did experience a minor loss in FPS while in well-populated areas like Whiterun. I also noticed the load screen takes about 20 seconds longer than it did with my last posted mod list. Here's the new list, according to BOSS: You'll notice that one of the plugins, hothtrooper44_ArmorCompilation.esp, has dirty edits. When I ran it through TES5edit a bunch of the matches targeted actors, certain cells, etc. I've attached a screenshot of the results in TES5edit after a filter for cleaning was added. Lastly, I found Aela and did aas you suggested, pickpocketed her and discovered that 3 named items she carried all appeared as the light blue color, looking as if missing textures (maybe?). The objects were: - Aela's Shield - Skyforge Steel Arrow (in this case the quiver) - Skyforge Steel Bow So my guess would be it's a mod that's replacing the skyforged equipment. Your thoughts? Tomorrow I'll be testing the last few mods I really want in my game, but I feel are script heavy, and just big mods. This includes things like AFT, some spell packages (Phenderix and Midas for example) and some of the more elaborate single companion mods like Hoth and Julien.

Okay, so as an update, I now have a "starter" list of mods. Mainly cosmetic, a few utility, and most recommended by STEP. I've played for roughly 2 hours - no CTD, and papyrus log isn't even being created. I'm not sure if this is an error in and of itself, or if papyrus only logs if there are issues. But, no logs. Here is my current Mod list according to BOSS: Thus far I've noted only one quirk... When I first encountered a group of Companions (Vilkas and Aela the Huntress I identified, the third one's identity was lost to me as he moved out of sight as I listened to the dialogue from Vilkas to be exact) certain items they carried were just a plain uniform light blue color. It was Aela's weapon (a sword I think I recall) and the nameless fellow carried a shield that was the same. I recall from my reading that this is likely an issue with the game just not being able to find the textures, and is likely not a big deal at all, I just need to change where they're placed in the folders. Any suggestions on doing that properly? I'm about to try adding a few more mods - Interesting NPCs, Inconsequential NPCs, Wearable Lanterns, Bandolier, Immersive Armors, and Immersive Weapons.

That... actually made sense to me. I don't know how or why, but somehow I understood that. I guess the last few months of taking your advice and spending hours trying to fix my Skyrim taught me something after all. Haha. Thanks, I'll give that a go...

Ok. That's what I thought. I've started by downloading 22 of the STEPS mods. I've got about 1/2 installed and I've run across my first puzzle with the new manager. When I tried to install SKYUI, I received a warning that SKSE scripts are missing and I need to install them. But I already installed SKSE into the skyrim folder, AND I followed the MO steps to add it as an executable from within MO. So not sure what that means... I just hit the "install" option at the bottom right of the warning window and it just went ahead and installed. Not sure if this will end up being a missing master issue??? Secondly, when I tried installing Quality World Map with MO I received a message that there were no data files. I was able to open the readme through the window MO displayed, and it advised that the files had to be in the data/interface directory... so within that MO window that had popped, I created a new directory beneath the default "data", named it Interface, and then MO said it looked good. The red turned green and it let me install, but I have no idea what I actually did... ahem. I'm worried I'm creating errors, but so far MO still says "looks good" when I hover over the warning symbol at the top right.

*Deep breath* Ok. Here I go then... MO and a fresh install it is. Wish me luck. :tongue: Update: Question about MO then... Should I never run into the issue of a corrupted save due to adding and removing mods in the future? Or is using MO really just making the return to a "pristine vanilla skyrim" easier when things mess up again?

After just accepting that I'm starting over last night I'm feeling a little more optimistic today, even eager to have a fresh start and avoid the mistakes I made both in my regular gameplay and my modding. :smile: I think I'm going to go the route of using the STEPS and GEMS approach, and see which of my mods overlap with theirs and use that to narrow down my list. I won't mirror their mod line-up but I think that should give me a stable place to start. Thanks for the link to the "back to pristine" process for Skyrim. I'll follow that exactly as written. I agree that I really need to discover which mod is causing the issue, but at this point I don't know what else to try to narrow it down. My game is crashing rather reliably (within 5 minutes) seemingly regardless of my loaded mods. I don't even have time to experiment much, so I'm thinking blackbox testing just isn't going to cut it. I feel at this point that I would need a knowledge of scripts and reading through each line of my files that far surpasses my own by miles, just to get to the bottom of this. My approach will be a start from the STEPS and GEMS lists, and then a methodical test for each mod to see which causes my papyrus to go crazy, performance to drop (though that has never been an issue for me, my game never stutters or freezes) or CTDs (shudder) to occur. I have also read that Skyrim (if you want to mod it) should not be placed in the Program Files (x86) folder that Steam defaults. Is this accurate? What should I do instead if I want to remove future issues with this? I also want to apologize for my reaction to switching to this MO solution. My first modding attempts with NMM ended in disaster but I think the bulk of the blame for that rests with my adding and removing too many on one save, regardless of my following the advised methods of doing so. I was clinging to NMM because I feel I've made my mistakes with that program, so I can move forward into a more informed modding with it. But... I think I need to have faith in your suggestions, you've kept me from going completely mad thus far, so I'm willing to give your ideas a try. As the first step to doing exactly that, do you have links to resources you'd recommend? The correct download source, maybe a help guide, some videos that maybe teach the newbie modder how to use it intelligently? Edit: I found MO on Nexus, along with a link to a guide to use it provided on the STEP page. Is it ok if I ask you questions about using it, and post them here? For example, I don't understand what this quote from the Compatibility section is telling me... Does this mean it won't work with Wrye Bash (which my mods require to work together)? I don't follow the python reference. And I do use SKSE to load my game so how will I be affected? How do I know if something is an SE plugin?