How to ask for help

[bben46]

In order to help, we actually need some information from you.

 

Why do we need all of this stuff? It looks like a lot of work. - Yes, it can be. But if you would rather spend several days going back and forth you will eventually give us all or most of this anyway. There is NO magic bullet fix, and most fixes will require some part of this info. So why not tell us all of it up front and save us both a lot of time? :thumbsup:

First, A short description of your problem - not a long rambling wall of text - save that for later. Just a line or two stating your basic problem.
Example: "My game crashes when I do X but only at Y location. But not too short as we do need to know what the problem really is and Not another "It's broke, fix it" type post.

Now, we need to know if your game can actually handle what you are trying to do - so tell us a little bit about your computer.
CPU? CPU speed? Graphics card? Video RAM ( on the graphics card) System RAM? Hard drive free space?

Is it a laptop? or have an integrated graphics board? Don't worry if you don't know what all this means, because we do. You can find most of it in the Windows 'control panel' then 'System' - and a lot more in the 'Device manager'. Don't worry if you can't find all of it - if we need more, we can tell you where to find it later.

 

Other stuff you need to let us know
Where is the game located ( Windows Path) typically C:\program files(x86)\steam\steamapps\common\Skyrim But if you installed it somewhere else it will be different,
Game version?
Any DLCs?
Are you using NMM or any other mod manager? What version?
Are you using SKSE? what version?
Any other helper programs? BOSS? LOOT? Tes5Edit? Wrye Bash? anything else?


Then, if you have mods - we really do need to know what mods and what the load order is. We very much prefer to see the LOOT log on your game as that tells us a lot ( and just running LOOT may even fix your problem - or tell you what the problem is)

How to post a BOSS log ( obsolete as BOSS is being replaced by LOOT and is no longer being updated)
http://s1.zetaboards.com/bbenlibrary/topic/5441874/1/

 

BOSS: http://boss-developers.github.io/

 

Note: BOSS is being supplanted by LOOT - by the same people but uses a different sort method.

LOOT: http://loot.github.io/

 

How to post a LOOT log

http://s1.zetaboards.com/bbenlibrary/topic/5617233/1/

 

Now you are ready to post a request for help.
Some other suggestions:
Always be polite, even if the suggestions you get are not what you want or expected. Not everyone here speaks perfect English and sometimes they didn't understand exactly what you were asking.

 

Profanity will be penalized and could get you banned. There is a time and place where profanity may be appropriate - this isn't it. If you cannot comment without profanity, learn to.

 

Please try to use punctuation capitalization and standard English - we are not going to grade you on this, but it does make it easier to understand what you are trying to say.

 

Using SMS shorthand is not recommended - this is not your cellphone where you need to abbreviate everything, and not everyone will know what your abbreviations mean.

Using abbreviations for mod names can be confusing as not everyone may be using that particular mod or even abbreviate it in exactly the same way - suggestion, the first time you use it put your abbreviation - then put the full name inside of parentheses - Example SKSE ( Skyrim Script Extender)

Always thank the people that help - No one is required to help and they do it of their own free will.
Post back to let us know what worked - or didn't work, and include any new information that you find. :thumbsup:

 

Don't be afraid of being seen as a n00b. We all were at one time and someone was kind enough to help us. Now we are passing that on. :cool:

 

If you have a problem, please do not hijack this topic - make your own topic - it's FREE, and besides we don't charge anything for making a new topic. I WILL delete any post that is asking a please fix my problem question and sticking it in this pinned information topic.

[Georgiegril]

Thank you for pinning this!

[camaro_69_327]

also ..nice, ..thanks for a place to point others to have an explanation on what is need to get help.

 

Things to add??

 

Are you Administrator ? or have you tried "Run as Administrator?

Did the Game work , then stop, or has it never worked.

Did you first run the launcher, ( to create the INI files) then try with SKSE?

Have you tried Verify Game cache > Steam

IS UAC ON (in case of having Skyrim in the default location) IE: program files.....

Have you deleted the INI files in the "MY Docs" MY Games folder ( to have the game generate new ones)?

DO you have "Hide known file extensions " enabled ?

 

Any way thanks for pinning a thread like this!

:)

[eternum]

Many, many times I was wondering why such topic doesn't exist :) . TY Ben.

 

BTW, any chance this same topic to be pinned on the "Skyrim Mod Troubleshooting" sub-forum?

[Lord Garon]

Epic.

 

Now I have a good use for my sig.

 

EDIT: How about a suggestion to post in the Troubleshooting forums and not General Discussions?

Edited April 11, 2014 by Lord Garon

[Skyrabbit]

@ Eternum and Lord Garon.

 

Good idea about using the signature option.

Bben is my current 'Hero of Skyrim'! :thumbsup:

Edited April 16, 2014 by Skyrabbit

[bben46]

Please actually READ the first post - where it says NOT to post your problem here. :rolleyes:

[bben46]

For those who just don't bother to read - I WILL remove posts asking for help in this topic!

[MDeckman]

Thank you bben46. very insightful as I'm going to be hopefully posting a help topic (if i don't figure it out first)

[AaronOfMpls]

Are you Administrator ? or have you tried "Run as Administrator?

[...]

IS UAC ON (in case of having Skyrim in the default location) IE: program files.....

Or, alternatively, do you have Full Control permissions on the game folder?

 

I have Skyrim installed to the default Program Files location, and I did that rather than move all my Steam stuff. (The Steam folder might get this by default, actually, but I'm not sure.)

Edited July 30, 2014 by AaronOfMpls