guide Skyrim SE for Beginners - V 3.2.6 (3BBB / HDT-SMP / HPH)

[Vortec]

2 hours ago, Urusaisenpai said:

@Aylis


Help Aylis help there is fire inside my house? XD
 

 Alduin left a dump in your living room

[mknn]

OK ... days of downloading done.

 

I am at 244 ESP+ESM. That ain't gonna work for me: we need more followers, we need more quests, we need more lands (I understand each of these push me away from the Aylis level stability). Looking for general advice. Should I

• Hunt for ESL-able mods and add the ESL flag?
  • If so, Wrye's VIEW ... CHECK MODS function isn't working through MO2. Unsure if that is me or expected, but it just brings up a blank window, instead of a list of mods that could be ESL flagged. I know they are in green in the Wrye window, but that was the easier way to get at 'em.
  • My understanding from research is that esp files that do not contain scripts or archives are likely to be safe to flip the ESL flag on.
• Start merging plugins.
  • I've done this successfully before, and the process seems relatively straightforward. My goal would be
    • Single and limited-item armor and weapon mods in a single plugin.
      • In doing this, I just exclude anything where mergeplugins.exe finds an error.
    • Follower combinations for "standard" followers (that is, ones without custom quests/addons/etc added).
      • Is there a recommended number to combine? I was just picking a number of a target of 10-12 per merged plugin, but I just made that number up.
• Clearly, eliminating shiny things that mean less to me is a route as well. But I trust this list, so if y'all say it's important that clams drop pearls, who am I to argue?

All advice welcome.

[lolthisis]

@mknn I think your best bet is removing some armors that are additions rather than replacers, and then mods in the override category that you don't have any need for in your intended playthrough. Most of the textures aren't plugins, and the foundation/lighting/weather stuff is all very dependent on other mods, so you'd be getting in too deep removing some of them. Mods marked (optional) are obvious candidates for removal, too.

Some examples of things I might remove if I needed the plugin space:

The housing mods, particularly ebongrove, shades of the rift (if you're not playing a stealth character), ptc's heathfire mods (each one is its own esp; I don't need chicken eggs daily).

Armor: ciri's outfit, classic morag tong, gigaduex (several esps in that), light ebony mail (if you don't need the ebony mail to be light armor), CL's rapier, Triss armor retextured. These are all good armor mods that can be safely removed if you don't want them.

Override: Heaps of little quests and tweaks in override that are either unnecessary for some playthroughs (such as tale of tsatampra xiros if you're playing a warrior), or are to fix things that can be very annoying to some and not to others. A lot of them are mods that you can safely remove if they don't fix an issue that has often bugged you (like being asked to join the thieves guild as soon as you enter riften, or saying "shall I travel to x?" instead of "do you want to travel to x?"

Audio: There are a few esps you can get rid of here that I think are worth keeping, but that won't ruin the rest of the list, like "realistic husky sounds" etc.

 

It's usually fairly easy to see, or guess, if a mod is necessary for other mods to work, but if you're still looking to trim down, you can always ask about specific ones here to see if anyone has had success going without.

[mknn]

I have a non-sanctioned mod that has a dependency on Bijin_AIO 2018.esp. I can only find Bijin_AIO.esp.

 

Any ideas?

[AGFeng]

Fairly new to modding, and I've installed a somewhat barebones list (90 mods or so) plucked from your incredible guide. However, I also installed DCL, and now I'm running into what seems to be a forever recurring issue from my searches of it, in that the Armbinder/Hobble Dress in the LAL option added don't seem to have the proper animations tied to them, instead using the default walk animation with invisible hands.

Has anyone ever found a solution for this?

If it helps, I did opt out of using the movement and jumping overhauls (and thus Nemesis) so as to not potentially break something by not managing it wrong.

[AGFeng]

1 hour ago, AGFeng said:

Fairly new to modding, and I've installed a somewhat barebones list (90 mods or so) plucked from your incredible guide. However, I also installed DCL, and now I'm running into what seems to be a forever recurring issue from my searches of it, in that the Armbinder/Hobble Dress in the LAL option added don't seem to have the proper animations tied to them, instead using the default walk animation with invisible hands.

Has anyone ever found a solution for this?

If it helps, I did opt out of using the movement and jumping overhauls (and thus Nemesis) so as to not potentially break something by not managing it wrong.

Update on this, it seems to not just be armbinders, but all 'passive' animations, I guess? Anything that would affect normal standing/walkcycles has no effects and they all use the defaults. Before someone asks. I have run FNIS after having everything installed, and used the overwrite contents to make an Output folder which is activated, and at the bottom of my installation order.
I hope this helps even a little bit.

[Aylis]

10 hours ago, mknn said:

I have a non-sanctioned mod that has a dependency on Bijin_AIO 2018.esp. I can only find Bijin_AIO.esp.

The year has changed. Just search on Nexus for the AIO (although there should be a link to it on the site of the patch).

 

6 hours ago, AGFeng said:

Has anyone ever found a solution for this?

Afaik a lot of people got problems with DCL. Also for DD some of the the physics have to be changed/converted. That's no easy task.

________________________________________________

 

I'll be replacing the other reshade presets with NOLVUS Reshade. The version for Obsidian and Rudy ENB works very well with Luminosity and this is imho the best combination so far. With the other ones some caves were overly bright but with Nolvus this seems to be fixed.

[mknn]

2 hours ago, Aylis said:

The year has changed. Just search on Nexus for the AIO (although there should be a link to it on the site of the patch).

 

< snip >

 

I'll be replacing the other reshade presets with NOLVUS Reshade. The version for Obsidian and Rudy ENB works very well with Luminosity and this is imho the best combination so far. With the other ones some caves were overly bright but with Nolvus this seems to be fixed.

Yeah, it looks like sometime in October, the modder who made the AIO's set them all to hidden. I can find the file with no year, and I can find the 2020 file, but that's it.

 

How big of a deal is changing the shader? Is it just a mod de/activation, or is there more to it?

[Aylis]

5 hours ago, Aylis said:

The year has changed.

3 hours ago, mknn said:

... I can find the 2020 file ...

There's your answer.

 

3 hours ago, mknn said:

How big of a deal is changing the shader? Is it just a mod de/activation, or is there more to it?

Neither. It's dropping an ini into Skyrim and activating it in Reshade.

[mknn]

@Aylis, yeah. The problem is the patch has the 2018 file as the master. I found a workaround--there was a prior patch that had warmaidens.esp as a master. Activating that (at the cost of the slot) and using that patch seems to be working. It seems like the other route would be to edit the patch directly and reset the master to the newer (or older) AIO esp. There are forum posts of people successfully doing both (that is, the nature of what the patch does hasn't changed across Bijin version, just the name of the master).

 

Leads to a question: is there badness in having the Bijin AIO AND warmaidens.esp active?

 

ALSO, if you haven't checked out zMerge, which is part of zEdit and you are interested in merging files, OMG, you have to go check it out. The process is dramatically easier than mergeplugins.exe, and seems no less rigorous (both approaches flagged the same problems, yadda). Down to 240!

[wollboi]

@mknn You shouldn't have AIO and warmaidens installed. You need to manually disable to the three Bijin plugins if you're using the AIO.

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/16399?tab=description

You need to do section 2A and 3.

 

When done, it should look like this for your mod list:

Spoiler

 

And this for your plugin list:

Spoiler

 

Just make sure the plugin is named "Bijin AIO.esp" (choose from the drop-down menu as you install it). I ignore any updates to the mod unless it comes from the YBMT one. I also use Serana and Valerica from that mod so they'll use my textures.

[mknn]

@wollboi , yeah, I know. The problem is this mod right here https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/38473 .

 

That mod (which for some bizarre reason I'm obsessed with getting working) has a patch that allows you to use the Bijin Warmaidens version of Lydia. However, that patch is hardcoded to the Bijin_2018 file. It has an older patch that requires warmaidens. So, what I have now is all 4 of the Bijin Mods enabled (warmaidens, wives, and NPCs plus the AIO), with the AIO and the warmaidens esp's enabled.

 

Note that if I don't install the Lydia patch, the Bijin version of Lydia goes darkface. That's what the patch enables.

 

So, warmaidens is only enabled because it is a master of the Lydia patch. Dunno' if that makes sense or if it's an ok way to solve it. If not, I can always go back to editing the patch in zEdit, but I was trying to avoid that.

[Aylis]

Prepping

Spoiler

Changes:

Splitting 'Weapons and Armor' into 'Weapons' and 'Armor'

 

 

Mods to be removed:

Foundation:

 

 

Textures:

Moss Rocks                                                                                  Redundant

 

Override:

Left Hand Rings Modified SE                                                       Redundant

Left Hand Ring Icon for SkyUI SE                                                 Redundant

 

LL:

Jaxonz MCM Kicker SE                                                                 Can be done via console

 

 

Mods to be added:

Preinstallation:

(Optional) NOLVUS Reshade

 

SKSE:

 

 

Textures:

Cork Retexture                                                                              A nice mini-mod.

High Poly Blackreach Mushrooms                                                Better looking mushrooms.

Snowberries HD Texture Option

3D Pine Grass                                                                                Finally some 3D grass (i hope there will be more)

Remiros' Dragonborn Alcohol HD                                                Nice little update for those bottles too.

 

Weapons:

Auriel's Weaponry (Primarily the bow, the rest is up to you)       Now all bows look good.

 

Creatures:

Butterflies Unchained                                                                   Not perfect but way better than vanilla.

High-Res Dartwing (Dragonfly) Texture                                        Small but nice mod.

 

Physics and Animation:

(Optional) DAR - Diverse Random Block idle                               This is more for the 3rd person players

 

Override:

Enter the College of Winterhold without joining                          Now we got a choice if and when we want to start this questline. 

Wear multiple Rings                                                                      Requires one ESP and one mod less than 'Lefthanded Rings'. 

(Optional) HD Steel Quiver (File)                                                   Replaces a lot of quivers with the steel version.

 

LL:

(Optional) ABC                                                                              The actual version works fine.

(Optional) SexLab More Nasty Critters Always Erect SE               Temporary fix for missing schlongs

(Optional) SLACS - SexLab Advanced Cum Stages

(Optional) SLACS textures replacer

(Optional) Fill Her Up Baka Edition                                               Does work without issues

Mfg Fix

PC Head Tracking and Voice Type Patch

LipSync Fix

 

Finish:

(Optional) Puffy Nipple Sliders

 

 

Uploaded files (in case someone missed those):

Skyrim Ini (File)                                                                              My modified ini files for Skyrim

Aylis skin - Puffy addon (File)                                                        In case someone wants to use puffy nipples

HD Steel Quiver

 

 

Tinkering with:

NordWarUA's Armor Variants

Immersive Speech Dialogues

 

[johnny0183]

5 hours ago, Aylis said:

Wear multiple Rings

It sounds like a nice replacement so I tried to change from left-handed rings to this but it didn't seem to work. This makes me think this mod should not be introduced in an existing play through but you need to start a new game. (haven't tried that myself, can't be bothered to start a new game again right now).

Just as a warning since the mod itself doesn't say anything about it needing a new game.

[jaeos]

7 hours ago, mknn said:

@wollboi , yeah, I know. The problem is this mod right here https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/38473 .

 

That mod (which for some bizarre reason I'm obsessed with getting working) has a patch that allows you to use the Bijin Warmaidens version of Lydia. However, that patch is hardcoded to the Bijin_2018 file. It has an older patch that requires warmaidens. So, what I have now is all 4 of the Bijin Mods enabled (warmaidens, wives, and NPCs plus the AIO), with the AIO and the warmaidens esp's enabled.

 

Note that if I don't install the Lydia patch, the Bijin version of Lydia goes darkface. That's what the patch enables.

 

So, warmaidens is only enabled because it is a master of the Lydia patch. Dunno' if that makes sense or if it's an ok way to solve it. If not, I can always go back to editing the patch in zEdit, but I was trying to avoid that.

or.. go into the bijin mod folder and rename the aio to what you need to get lydia to work.. not really the best way, but since the other mod is looking for a very specific file, it might be your only option. Or go into the scripts of the lydia mod and rename it needing the bijin_2018 to bijin_aio. Since i cant understand the scripts.. i just renamed the esp 

[Aylis]

2 hours ago, johnny0183 said:

but it didn't seem to work.

Try a rightclick on a ring in your inventory.

________________________________________________

 

Btw 'Bijin AIO 20XX' has been set to hidden. So i wouldn't recommend using mods that require it.

________________________________________________

 

Uploading 'HD Steel Quiver' to replace some of the outlandish ones with the steel version. Done

 

And now to my 270th rerun of DynDOLOD...

[mknn]

For mods from Bethesda.net, is it better to download them from the website or via the in-game UI? (The multiple rings mod is the specific example.)

[Aylis]

8 minutes ago, mknn said:

For mods from Bethesda.net, is it better to download them from the website or via the in-game UI? (The multiple rings mod is the specific example.)

I don't think it exists on the in-game site/store.

 

Btw. 'Alternative Armor - Ebony Plate' is for free atm.

[johnny0183]

2 hours ago, Aylis said:

Try a rightclick on a ring in your inventory.

Unfortunately it didnt make any difference, Left click, right click, changing cells & buying all new rings - tried it all. It is what it is, for now I'll stick with left handed rings and I'll change on a new game.

27 minutes ago, Aylis said:

I don't think it exists on the in-game site/store.

You can get them in-game. But don't go to the Creation Club menu but the Mods menu. Creation Club is for "official" mods, the other for "normal" mods.

[Aylis]

30 minutes ago, johnny0183 said:

Unfortunately it didnt make any difference, Left click, right click, changing cells & buying all new rings - tried it all. It is what it is, for now I'll stick with left handed rings and I'll change on a new game.

Hmmm, did i miss something? I'll take another look to make sure.

 

30 minutes ago, johnny0183 said:

You can get them in-game. But don't go to the Creation Club menu but the Mods menu. Creation Club is for "official" mods, the other for "normal" mods.

Ah, didn't know that (i have the Mods entry removed). Then it shouldn't make a difference what way is used.

[mknn]

I'm in a fun spot. I have this level 35 game that is, essentially, where I test and break things. And, more better, I'm about to launch a fresh game built off of this setup. Really appreciate all the input throughout, and I would assume I'll have some questions once I'm "out in the world," as--for example--I'm really unclear on the impact of the ENB stuff on the world (in the plaything save, shadows were really intense--like standing next to a building made followers take out torches--but I want to see how it goes on a fresh-from-start save.

 

A few questions remain. I'm going to post some of the separately, as that makes it easier, I think, for folks to respond. Here's a biggie:

• Is there anything else people would do before starting a new save especially?
  • I am totally lost in the CBBE/Bodyslide world. It seems like I have things to do here, but if anyone has a link to a step-by-step guide, that would be amazing.
  • My understanding is I need to go in, pick a body type, pick the things I want that bodytype to wear, and generate some files.
  • But I also want diversity in the world--I don't want all Imperial soldiers to look "the same." The process may take care of that?

The forum/Reddit threads I have found all jump in assuming clarity of understanding of the purpose of using Bodyslide. I'm pretty sure I know/can find the right buttons to click, I'm more confused about why I'm clicking those buttons in the first place.

[mknn]

I have this at the top of MO2 and I cannot seem to get rid of it. Any notions? I think this is a file created in error when I first began to integrate Wrye Bash with MO2, but I can't find it!

Spoiler

 

I also have a managed, yummy happy, bash patch at the end of the list.

[axz2]

13 hours ago, mknn said:

@wollboi , yeah, I know. The problem is this mod right here https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/38473

I might use that mod (Improved Follower Dialogue - Lydia)  if when I next play I do different games with two or more different characters.  Not sure I want to use it on my next planned play-through because it doesn't work so well with Inigo from what I hear.  Not actually incompatible in the sense of crashes or instability or anything like that but Inigo has dialogue with Lydia which supposedly doesn't work well with that mod.

[jaeos]

53 minutes ago, mknn said:

I have this at the top of MO2 and I cannot seem to get rid of it. Any notions? I think this is a file created in error when I first began to integrate Wrye Bash with MO2, but I can't find it!

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I also have a managed, yummy happy, bash patch at the end of the list.

right click, open file location. delete.

[mknn]

10 minutes ago, jaeos said:

right click, open file location. delete.

You would think, right? When I right click, here is all that appears

Spoiler