AAF Guides - Official Thread (PDFs + web link) by RitualClarity and forgets

[forgets]

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RitualClarity and I, with a  little  lot of help from our friends, have been working together on two different general help/informational guides to AAF. My guide is a simple quick-and-dirty thing that spells out the basic installation, troubleshooting, and save cleaning process visually, using flowcharts. RitualClarity's guide is a more in-depth textual manual introducing a user to AAF, its functions and general usage with reference to existing AAF-compatible mods. It also covers installation, load order, save cleaning and updating. Our feeling is that the two documents complement each other, and so should be available for download in the same place--so here you go.

 

RitualClarity also has a live weblink to the latest version of his guide. Note that only a certain number of users can access it at any given time, so if you have trouble viewing it, maybe just look at the PDF for now and try the link again later.

 

Those of you who use RSE, and I know there are very many of you, will be excited to learn that Paeantrix is in the process of making a guide specific to AAF + RSE. As I understand it, it should be published quite soon, and what I have seen of it is excellent. Look for it soon in the RSE forum post and/or join the RSE Discord if you are interested.

 

-forgets

 

This is not a support thread for AAF, RSE, or any other mods.

Please keep questions and comments here related to the guides only, and post your mod support requests in their relevant forums.

 

UPDATE October 9, 2018 - Nexus has released the public beta of the Vortex mod manager. And upon doing so they immediately broke FOMOD installation. Those of you who have tried using the current Vortex release may be having install problems with AAF and other mods with FOMOD installers. NMM support is not being dropped from AFF until Vortex actually works, so don't panic. For now MO2 remains the recommended mod organizer.

 

 

• Submitter
  forgets
• Submitted
  10/04/2018
• Category
  Other
• Requires
  Fallout 4, AAF

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[RitualClarity]

From time to time I might have an update or some added info.  This is a place to double check the most recent update I might have if you find you are confused or have questions. To check if I have something new because you don't want to open another web page... lol

 

Lets thank @forgets for offering to keep these updated and organized.

 

[forgets]

How is it that I only notice dumb mistakes I've made after I publish something publicly? I updated mine too. Going with dates in the filename to keep versions straight, like you.

[tjuebussen]

According to this guide, all of us who has been updating, installing/reinstalling and deleting mods with NMM are screwed. Am I understanding this correctly? If it is as you say that NMM slowly eats your game away, which by the way certainly is my own impression too, which mod organiser is recomended? Vortex is not released yet, and I am not comfortable manually installing all of my mods.

[RitualClarity]

6 hours ago, tjuebussen said:

According to this guide, all of us who has been updating, installing/reinstalling and deleting mods with NMM are screwed. Am I understanding this correctly? If it is as you say that NMM slowly eats your game away, which by the way certainly is my own impression too, which mod organiser is recomended? Vortex is not released yet, and I am not comfortable manually installing all of my mods.

I am not saying that.  

 

Historically however, it has been reported that people need to reinstall and clean up their system after prolonged use of NMM. More support has been given to NMM users and frankly they haven't done anything wrong, it ended up being NMM messed up somewhere and they (the user ) had to reinstall and do some other works. Doesn't happen all the time but way more than reported for MO. MO support issues end up being the user did something wrong...

I have been using MO for a long time and never had to reinstall or clean up anything in the game folder. I also have archives from previous favorite characters and setups to play when ever I want to. 

 

to answer your second question, I suggest using MO as it is the only main stream supported mod manager that has been out for long enough to iron out most if not all the bugs and issues. Vortex I hear good (great from some) but even those that praise the manager state it isn't ready for main stream mods (complex frameworks and such) Hopefully it will be shortly. 

 

 

[forgets]

6 hours ago, tjuebussen said:

According to this guide, all of us who has been updating, installing/reinstalling and deleting mods with NMM are screwed. Am I understanding this correctly? If it is as you say that NMM slowly eats your game away, which by the way certainly is my own impression too, which mod organiser is recomended? Vortex is not released yet, and I am not comfortable manually installing all of my mods.

You understood correctly. And yeah, it is a lot to swallow: NMM is the most popular mod manager, and it is basically a slow cancer. Because of the way it handles its database, there are always remaining traces of mods that have been uninstalled. Over time, this junk data builds up until it becomes too confusing to parse and your game chokes. CG! is more knowledgeable about the actual process of how this happens "under the hood". But if you or anyone is going to use NMM, just be aware of this.

 

The recommended mod organizer is Mod Organizer. At least until Vortex is released publicly (ETA end of year-ish).

[RitualClarity]

On 10/4/2018 at 9:04 AM, forgets said:

How is it that I only notice dumb mistakes I've made after I publish something publicly? I updated mine too. Going with dates in the filename to keep versions straight, like you.

Those reading this...note the web version linked.. is always the most current version (for me Ritual Clarity) The PDF is close if not exactly what is on the link (*for those that might not be able to access it due to restrictions of Google)  Newer ones (with actual details added updates and such) would be in the second post while @forgets goes through his process.

 

[Tentacus]

On 10/4/2018 at 9:30 AM, tjuebussen said:

According to this guide, all of us who has been updating, installing/reinstalling and deleting mods with NMM are screwed. Am I understanding this correctly? If it is as you say that NMM slowly eats your game away, which by the way certainly is my own impression too, which mod organiser is recomended? Vortex is not released yet, and I am not comfortable manually installing all of my mods.

Mod Organizer 2. Got off to a rough start before others took it over from Tannin but now it works great and I could never go back.

[RitualClarity]

4 hours ago, Tentacus said:

Mod Organizer 2. Got off to a rough start before others took it over from Tannin but now it works great and I could never go back.

Yes there were some major issues that had to be resolved before it could be ready for prime time in Fallout 4/ Skyrim SE.  However, the old MO (for ol' rim and fallouts) worked flawlessly (Tannin's version) Now MO2 is my preferred for both the old Bethesda games as well as the newer ones.

 

[mikey1979]

Okay.....I admit it. I am nitpicking here, but the screenshots that you show for the "Cleaning and Updating AAF" section reference the AAF.esp file. It has been a really long time since AAF used an .esp file and this may really confuse a lot of users.

[RitualClarity]

18 hours ago, mikey1979 said:

Okay.....I admit it. I am nitpicking here, but the screenshots that you show for the "Cleaning and Updating AAF" section reference the AAF.esp file. It has been a really long time since AAF used an .esp file and this may really confuse a lot of users.

The screenshots were given to me by CG! and are the only source I have. (it was likely taken from the dev source or early on) I haven't had a need to clean the AAF so I don't have any screenshots.. the choice was either go with that or not give any screenshots for that section and just describe it. At least ... with those... someone has a better reference to what is being talked about.

 

Edit: I was able to tweak the guides (SFW and NSFW) to address the concern of @mikey1979

Spoiler

 

Short of reworking the entire section (when the only choice that shows up for the common user would be the AAF.esm) I added the above highlighted entry. (note. it isn't highlighted in the guide.. ) which should cover any questions or issues that occur. Thanks for the feedback @mikey1979

 

[loen999]

Thanks... I never know that clean save tool has the function to select one esp or esm to clean....

[Grabacr646]

I must be tarded as hell or I did something wrong but I can't quite get creature anims to activate using RSE assault encounters or any other means. Any ideas on what I could've done wrong/goobed up?

[RitualClarity]

9 hours ago, Grabacr646 said:

I must be tarded as hell or I did something wrong but I can't quite get creature anims to activate using RSE assault encounters or any other means. Any ideas on what I could've done wrong/goobed up?

Can you use the manual option (using AAF alone) to get those animations?  (towards the bottom of my guide also might have some info on @forgets guide on how to use AAF to manually call animations) This is the first step I do when testing animations to be sure they work.

 

I assume you have proper animations installed and all the other requirements.

 

If you can get it using AAF then I'd check the RSE thread as there might be some settings to turn on or off on that mod that is causing your issue.

 

Also there is a link to the Discord server for more live support if you tried the above and cant' get it to work .

 

[Grabacr646]

10 hours ago, RitualClarity said:

Can you use the manual option (using AAF alone) to get those animations?  (towards the bottom of my guide also might have some info on @forgets guide on how to use AAF to manually call animations) This is the first step I do when testing animations to be sure they work.

 

I assume you have proper animations installed and all the other requirements.

 

If you can get it using AAF then I'd check the RSE thread as there might be some settings to turn on or off on that mod that is causing your issue.

 

Also there is a link to the Discord server for more live support if you tried the above and cant' get it to work .

 

I can use the manual option to get poses and I think a twerk animation to start by selecting my character but other than that it doesn't give any options to start other animations even though I have Mutated Lust, Atomic Lust, SavageCabbages animation along with pre-requisites required for each module.

Also, is Leito, FO4 rigs needed for animations to work properly as well or is that something just to create animations?

[RitualClarity]

1 hour ago, Grabacr646 said:

I can use the manual option to get poses and I think a twerk animation to start by selecting my character but other than that it doesn't give any options to start other animations even though I have Mutated Lust, Atomic Lust, SavageCabbages animation along with pre-requisites required for each module.

Also, is Leito, FO4 rigs needed for animations to work properly as well or is that something just to create animations?

If you can use the manual option to get the animations you desire and can't using RSE or other mods, It has to be something to do with those mods and not AAF as far as I can ssee. I'd check with RSE to be sure you have everything setup and the settings (most likely the issue? ) are correctly done.

 

Not sure about Leito's rig question.

[Olmech]

According to Leito, his latest update to his animations need to be loaded after compatibilty patch and Polistiro patches. If so, this would mean flowchart should be updated correct? Does this apply to any of the other animation packs?

[AlphaScorpion96]

The Discord Server link is invalid. Can someone update it or is the server dead?

[MrCruelJohn]

On ‎12‎/‎22‎/‎2018 at 11:44 AM, Olmech said:

According to Leito, his latest update to his animations need to be loaded after compatibilty patch and Polistiro patches. If so, this would mean flowchart should be updated correct? Does this apply to any of the other animation packs?

I have to admit this is where I get lost... when one says load the file after the patch... been loading patches after the files (not necessarily for animation stuff) for so long, that the terminology is cumbersome.  It also would be easier if the MA would update the file page and not have postings in threads about the updates and then find out that the posting is now old but if you only read later pages, it has been updated.  I have found reading backwards in the threads is the only solution.... but I blame age and an OCD as an engineer looking for structure... haha... anyone for engineer jokes?

 

John

[Olmech]

6 hours ago, MrCruelJohn said:

I have to admit this is where I get lost... when one says load the file after the patch... been loading patches after the files (not necessarily for animation stuff) for so long, that the terminology is cumbersome.  It also would be easier if the MA would update the file page and not have postings in threads about the updates and then find out that the posting is now old but if you only read later pages, it has been updated.  I have found reading backwards in the threads is the only solution.... but I blame age and an OCD as an engineer looking for structure... haha... anyone for engineer jokes?

 

John

I could only make everything work by following the flowchart in spite of what was suggested on Leitos page. Loading Leito after the patches resulted in oddities.

[RitualClarity]

5 hours ago, Olmech said:

I could only make everything work by following the flowchart in spite of what was suggested on Leitos page. Loading Leito after the patches resulted in oddities.

Great! that is the reason there are different guides provided for. Some are easier for those that need flow charts and others have a easier time with more text   leito's should be loaded before patches. Patches should be last installed. (or with MO the last in the order to overwrite) unless an author or Dagobaking etc, states differently. (might be the patch is older at that time)

[RitualClarity]

There hasn't been any issues or complaints about accessing Google docs so I won't (as of this time) be posting PDFs so that the info that is provided is as new as possible only the link will be available.

 

Please feel free to report back here if there are issues accessing the link to google docs

[RitualClarity]

New updated info on the link...
mostly format and readability, no actual new procedure of info, or links.

 

Please feel free to give feedback to this. 

[tjuebussen]

On 10/4/2018 at 11:04 PM, forgets said:

You understood correctly. And yeah, it is a lot to swallow: NMM is the most popular mod manager, and it is basically a slow cancer. Because of the way it handles its database, there are always remaining traces of mods that have been uninstalled. Over time, this junk data builds up until it becomes too confusing to parse and your game chokes. CG! is more knowledgeable about the actual process of how this happens "under the hood". But if you or anyone is going to use NMM, just be aware of this.

 

The recommended mod organizer is Mod Organizer. At least until Vortex is released publicly (ETA end of year-ish).

Would you in your expert opinion say that Vortex have solved the cancerous problems NMM was suffering from? In my humble opinion it has not. Is Mod Organizer still the standing recomendation? I gave it a shot but quickly found it annoying, but then again I am old, and according to some, smoke alot, so I am a slow learner.

[RitualClarity]

6 hours ago, tjuebussen said:

Would you in your expert opinion say that Vortex have solved the cancerous problems NMM was suffering from? In my humble opinion it has not. Is Mod Organizer still the standing recomendation? I gave it a shot but quickly found it annoying, but then again I am old, and according to some, smoke alot, so I am a slow learner.

Not to get off the subject too far.. Vortex is being developed (at least partially) by the person that created Mod Organizer.  It is very possible that it will grow and develop into a very good stable and usable mod manager in the future. One that most may start to recommend. I for one at least hope it becomes stable and solid alternative to Mod organizer. Something that is easy and quick to use for those that don't like Mod Organizer. I prefer to have more than one choice for such things in life.