HELP!

I feel, as I did in my first blog post, like some disclaimers are needed. This time I'm going to keep them simple though.

#1) There is no such thing as a right way to solve modding issues. This is mine. Many other people with good intentions and more sense may do this another way. I say, "more power to them." 

#2) This post, like this blog, is LoversLab (LL)-centric. There is nothing that I am doing here that could not be done on other sites (such as Nexus) although the particulars will be different.

#3) This post is not meant to minimize the value of a Google search. My experience in using Google Search with Skyrim is that its algorithm brings back a very broad range of results. Sometimes it will have just the thing for which I have been searching. More commonly, I feel like I need a search engine to go through the search engine results for the things that are truly relevant. If you want to use Google that is your prerogative and once again I say, "more power to you."

#4) This blog post is intentionally about the easiest case in solving problems. That is, the problem is with a single mod and that mod can be easily identified. I did this in order to put the emphasis on the techniques (which will be needed for more complex issues later). I have also chosen for my example a well-known and well-worked-out issue. Most of you reading this post will scream out "the answer" as soon as I pose the question. Please remember, this post isn't about solving an issue for anyone but for helping people discover a path by which they can solve their own issues.

With all that in mind let's tackle a perennial question, "why is/are my character/NPCs invisible when I put Devious Devices on them?"

Step 1 - Reread (or read for the first time) the modpage.

I have mentioned this in other posts on this blog but it deserves to be reemphasized. Most of the common questions eventually wind up either corrected by the mod author (where that is possible) or addressed on the mod page. Simply go to the page where you downloaded the mod and read the text. In this case (from Devious Devices - Integration, specifically) you will find, about halfway down, this line:

IF THE DEVICES ARE INVISIBLE IN GAME, YOU FORGOT TO RUN BODYSLIDE AND BATCH BUILD THE DEVICES!!!

The emphasis is the author's, not mine. Here the solution is noted and the "fix" is clear cut. All that needs to be done is to follow the instructions.

But what if there was nothing on the modpage to explain the issue. Then you go to the next step.

Step 2 - Search the Mod's Support thread.

When you are on the modpage (in LL), in the upper right hand corner is the green "download" button. Directly below it, and much more humble in appearance, is the gray "get support" button. Click on this. As of the time I am writing this, there are currently 436 pages of support thread for DDi. In many cases, finding your answer is as simple as looking through the LAST several pages (say 430-436). There is a reasonable chance that the issue that you are experiencing will be mentioned there. However, the thought of going through over 400 pages to look for a solution is understandably intimidating. So, instead, this is where the Search function comes in.

Go to the top right hand corner of the page to the box that says Search. Choose what you want to put in, I chose simply "invisible". Then, don't search, rather look at the drop down menu and choose "this topic". Failure to perform this simple step is likely to result in an overwhelming number of hits. However, when I did it I still got 212 hits over 9 pages. Fortunately, scrolling down the list I discovered the sixth entry looked like exactly what I wanted to know:

As a result, I, once more, discovered that my problem was a failure to run Bodyslide.

But what if it isn't available here either? What if this question is neither addressed on the modpage or answered in the mod's Support Thread. Then you have to cast a wider net.

Step 3 - Search the Skyrim Support Thread

I'm going to go through this a step at a time. For those of you familiar with this I apologize for wasting your time. 

Go to the "Forums" button found at the top of most pages that include the LoversLab title. Click that and choose "Skyrim". You will have several choices but only the last two count. If you are using Skyrim LE (Oldrim, Legendary Edition) go to the next to the last listing "Skyrim Technical Support" and click on it. For Skyrim Special Edition Users (SE, Newrim) go to the last listing. Carefully choose the "Technical Support Thread" listing subforum found within the larger forum.

Once there (in either case) go back to the handy Search box in the upper right hand corner. Enter whatever you like to discover your issue. When you type it, again, don't hit search. From the drop down menu carefully select "This Forum" and then hit Search. When I did this with "invisible" I got 107 results over 5 pages. Once again, I was fortunate in that my third result was the issue for which I was looking and it was marked [Solved].

And so, once again, I found that I needed to build my DD items in Bodyslide before use or face this issue.

As I said at the beginning, the problem I chose was simple and well-known. However, I hope that the reader now has some tools for discovering their own answers to issues that they might have with mods. The mechanics are different, but I promise that you can do the same thing elsewhere (I've done it on Nexus - which makes me grateful for LL). I hope to try using these tools with a more difficult issue in a future blog post.