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

[jaeos]

2 hours ago, Hamakabula said:

Alright so this is my first time modding Skyrim (to this extent). I've been following this guide to the letter, downloading mods, loading mods, running FNIS, Nemesis, Dyndolod etc for several days (about 6hrs for the various Dyndolod steps alone). Game still worked yesterday (and looked markedly better) but now that I'm finally done, it just crashes on startup. I'm close to tears

 

I get no error message, there are no red flags in the LO, there's just one notification (a few form 43 plugins), all the mods seem fine (except for "ancient dwemer metal patch" and "song of the green patches" which seem to be missing something as they are greyed out). All the .esm files are at the top of the LO similar to the screenshot in the OP, SKSE, the game itself and MO2 are all fresh installs

 

I only deviated from the guide in that I did not install the weapon and creature mods (yet) and installed some bodyslide presets (disabling them doesnt change anything though)

 

Overwrite folder is empty (all the files there had been moved into mods of their own as per the guide) although the one error im getting is that the game "failed to parse plugin file: Occlusion.esp" in the original overwrite folder (it is now an activated mod file under MO2 though). Copying the esp back into overwrite removes the error message but still CTD's on startup. Disabling the mods/files I am most worried about (since it's vodoo to me), like TexGen, XLodGen, DynDOLOD and AO, similarly, does nothing...

What surprised me though was that the OP mentions disabling two .esm files created by TexGen/XLodGen, but those never showed up for me in the first place. Only one for DynDOLOD

 

Troubleshooting in the OP only pertains to possible errors ingame but I dont even get that far anymore. Any ideas what possible causes are? Did something go wrong since I did all this inbetween OP updates apparently?

 

Does de/reactivating mods mess things up? I had to clear the LO a few times and then redid it with the sync loadorder tool without reinstalling the various FOMOD mods by hand (assuming their settings were saved?)

 

----------------------------

EDIT: Managed to narrow it down to an issue with FNIS/Nemesis. After deactivating the overwrite files i made via those I can start the game at least. Not sure if Dyndolod did its magic since it doesnt look much better than before, but its a start.

 

Questions:

- Can I retrace the FNIS/Nemesis setups without having to redo/messing up everything else?

- Same question for all the other mods I guess (also if i want to add more later down the road). OP was very specific about installing and even patching things in a certain order, de- and reactivating things etc..

- How will I know if Dyndolod etc worked?

Alright, I'm not usually one to read a novella but you did seem to try to put all the info you could. 

So, to just simply answer the questions.

Yes, you can run fnis and nemesis as many times as you want (providing you are running MO2) 

You can add whatever mods you want, but think on what purpose they serve. Is it a mod house? then it needs to go up towards the AREA section. Or is it a special race you want to try, then it need to go at the bottom of PC, etc. Activating and disabling things in MO2 is just click the check box to activate, but to keep things "in order" you need to disable all mods below it then activate them one at a time to get the right pane back into order with the left.

Dyndolod is not going to look like it is doing much until you climb a mountain and look out at millions of trees in a valley and it actually looks fairly realistic at a distance dyndolod stands for DYNamic Distant Object Level Of Detail. So the further stuff is away, the more is should look like one of those national geographic photos you see of shit like the top of mt everest with a 20 foot long super telephoto lens. how well it looks 2 meters away is entirely to what resolution you installed the textures at.

[wollboi]

@bandygirl1 Huh, didn't notice that but you're right. I'd leave them. Most of it is going to get overwritten, and manually deleting it is begging for purple missing textures. Also, sorry about your recent troubles. That really blows.

 

@Hamakabula In addition to the good advice jaeos lists:

- Whenever a mod seems to be causing crashes, I disable chunks of mods (starting at the bottom and working my way up) at a time and start a new game and keep repeating the process until the game no longer crashes.Then I know which section contains the mod causing the crash and it's a lot easier to troubleshoot from there. Sounds like you figured out which mod is giving the headache though.

- The two ESMs Aylis talks about aren't created through LodGen, they come with the very first mod in the list, "xLODGen Terrain". They need to be left on, but then disabled at a certain point in the DynDOLOD install process. That's more than likely why you're getting the Occlusion.esp error. The DynDOLOD installation process in post #3 will tell you when to disable them.

- I dunno about the sync load order tool because I haven't used it and don't foresee using it. Whenever there's an update to the list, I disable all of my mods and then re-enable them top to bottom after adding the new mods where they are supposed to go. Sounds complicated, but really gives you a good handle on what needs to go where. I just make sure to pay attention to Aylis's notes as I'm going along in case I need to re-order a plugin or two. It looks like with using the sync tool, checking plugins would still be necessary.

- Deactivating mods can mess things up, or even lead to a dead playthrough. But usually running the save cleaners from the list (under Tools in post #5) will remove the missing scripts from uninstalled mods. I've only had to completely restart a handful of times, and usually that's from personal preference. Going from one version of the list to a new one when a new update comes out is usually pretty painless, just as long as you run the save cleaners after you've made the changes. You may need to watch a tutorial video on how to use Resaver (Fallrim Tools), but both tools are very easy to use.

- If you are going to add mods outside of the list, follow jaeos's advice about placement but also run LOOT to see if there is a patch to make the additional mod play nice with the list. Just DON'T use LOOT to sort, just to check if it recommends a patch. In addition to that, check the requirements list on Nexus for the mod you're adding. Check both the requirements and the "mods requiring this file" section. This is a good way to find patches that might be needed to get the additional mod to play nice with the list. Just bear in mind that if there are any issues, this thread isn't going to be the place to look for help, as if it's not on the list then buyer beware.

- It's very unlikely that FNIS/Nemesis are causing issues unless maybe something got put into the overwrites inadvertently. Make sure you clean the overwrite before running FNIS. Basically anytime you do something that will end up in you creating a new overwrite file, you want to clear your overwrite first (for instance, before running FNIS, Bodyslide, TextGen, etc.). Normally an issue with FNIS/Nemesis will just result in t-posing characters, not a CTD.

- DynDOLOD also creates an MCM. If it's there you know it was installed correctly, and if you're standing on the overworld and check it, it will tell you it is working and give you the exact location you are standing at on the map (think latitude/longitude coordinates).

 

@Aylis You've got the link for the patch for Odin/Ordinator pointing at the Odin page, but the patch is located on the Ordinator page.

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1137?tab=files

[Jessica_Degurechaff]

Should i install both as recommended? 

Spoiler

 

[ascendentkunglao]

Just a question about KS Hairdo's HDT-SMP, we scrubbed it due to the physics being out of whack?  It's really odd that I don't have any them actually reacting to physics in general.

[ralchemilla]

do we pick a predefined preset from the list? if so how do we to 'configure' sinful cbp presets/settings for a natural bounce?

[Aylis]

6 hours ago, bandygirl1 said:

 So, is that intentional, or should I manually remove the contents of the mod other than the architecture and the chicken folders?

Just keep it as it is. Pfuscher makes great textures, but his installer is not the best.

 

6 hours ago, Hamakabula said:

I get no error message, there are no red flags in the LO, there's just one notification (a few form 43 plugins), all the mods seem fine (except for "ancient dwemer metal patch" and "song of the green patches" which seem to be missing something as they are greyed out). All the .esm files are at the top of the LO similar to the screenshot in the OP, SKSE, the game itself and MO2 are all fresh installs

 

I only deviated from the guide in that I did not install the weapon and creature mods (yet) and installed some bodyslide presets (disabling them doesnt change anything though)

 

What surprised me though was that the OP mentions disabling two .esm files created by TexGen/XLodGen, but those never showed up for me in the first place. Only one for DynDOLOD

 

Troubleshooting in the OP only pertains to possible errors ingame but I dont even get that far anymore. Any ideas what possible causes are? Did something go wrong since I did all this inbetween OP updates apparently?

 

Does de/reactivating mods mess things up? I had to clear the LO a few times and then redid it with the sync loadorder tool without reinstalling the various FOMOD mods by hand (assuming their settings were saved?)

1. Greyed out mods usually means

   Missing prerequisite

   Installed incorrectly

   Broken download

2. This was a major change. And broken//missing textures can have this effect.

3. Those arn't created. You have to download them and they are only needed for the creation of the terrain LOD.

4. The tool has one drawback. It doesn't care about the LO so that one has to rechecked afterwards and some files have to be moved in there.

 

 

1 hour ago, wollboi said:

@Aylis You've got the link for the patch for Odin/Ordinator pointing at the Odin page, but the patch is located on the Ordinator page.

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1137?tab=files

Thanks. Fixed

 

 

1 hour ago, Jessica_Degurechaff said:

Should i install both as recommended? 

No, only the first one, otherwise you'd see two entries in the list.

 

Btw. go with 2K.

 

 

1 hour ago, ascendentkunglao said:

Just a question about KS Hairdo's HDT-SMP, we scrubbed it due to the physics being out of whack?  It's really odd that I don't have any them actually reacting to physics in general.

Those were wigs with physics that were treated as armor. Which was the cause of the issue.

 

On their own they are only for the PC, but combined with the other mod they were used for NPC too.

 

 

@ralchemilla

Do it manually. The presets don't help much and in the end you have to test what works best for you.

[Jessica_Degurechaff]

@Aylis Why the 2k? isnt 4k better? Im pretty sure my pc can handle even 8k

Also, its hella confusing, theres 4(?) 2k versions. The description on each file dont make it clear either. I guess either way i need the 9GB file dont i? *sobs* 

[Aylis]

Do i really have to write down absolutely everything?

 

There are four mainfiles. I said don't use landscapes so there are two left. 2K and 'High Quality'. Pick your choice.

 

I list 'Skyrim 2020 Parallax - Roads'. So 'Blended Roads Retexture' is needed.

 

I list 'Skyrim 2020 Parallax - Whiterun Streets A2'. So 'Whiterun Street - Alternative 2' is needed.

 

The rest is not in the list. Aka not needed.

[ChwX]

uh! I just noticed Fertility Mode Fixes and Tweaks was updated and explains why my Breton became suddenly vasectomized. Looking at their changelog, maybe wait till they release v 1.50?

[Hamakabula]

@jaeos @wollboi @Aylis

 

Thanks for all the help guys. After a near mental breakdown yesterday I think I'm ready to finally get this thing running today

Edit: I spoke too soon. After rerunning FNIS/Nemesis (more correctly than the first time around i think) nothing works again, even if i disable the same stuff i disabled yesterday. LOOT reports no major errors though (just says i should use either fnis OR nemesis but doing that also doesnt help)

What puzzles me is that when I disable everything, FNIS.esp and bashed patch0.esp always stay in the plugin section on the right no matter what, while everything else disappears. I cant remove them, seemingly. May they be corrupted/old versions that dont get properly overwritten?

Really at a loss at this point. Hard to tackle a bug that doesnt even tell me whats wrong. Is there a crash log somewhere?

Edit: FNIS and bashed patch also appear at the very top of the list now, above the main game .esm as "unmanaged" Non-MO mods. That supposed to be that way? Cant seem to get rid of them

 

EDIT 2: Created a new MO2 Profile in the hopes of resetting it and getting rid of those 2. That did not work, it transferred all other mods as well. However, the game itself seems to work now (so far), even though the LO is very different from the OP now (just sorted alphabetically from what i can tell). Is there any rational explanation for this?

[Aylis]

I might have to include 'Blended Roads'. 

 

I've just entered Blackreach and the roads look off. Might be Pfuschers textures (which look great in all other location) or that the mod is required. 

_________________________________________________

 

'Blended Roads' fixed it (so it seems to be a hidden requirement). Adding to the list and the last status update. Done

[jaeos]

3 hours ago, Hamakabula said:

@jaeos @wollboi @Aylis

 

Thanks for all the help guys. After a near mental breakdown yesterday I think I'm ready to finally get this thing running today

Edit: I spoke too soon. After rerunning FNIS/Nemesis (more correctly than the first time around i think) nothing works again, even if i disable the same stuff i disabled yesterday. LOOT reports no major errors though (just says i should use either fnis OR nemesis but doing that also doesnt help)

What puzzles me is that when I disable everything, FNIS.esp and bashed patch0.esp always stay in the plugin section on the right no matter what, while everything else disappears. I cant remove them, seemingly. May they be corrupted/old versions that dont get properly overwritten?

Really at a loss at this point. Hard to tackle a bug that doesnt even tell me whats wrong. Is there a crash log somewhere?

Edit: FNIS and bashed patch also appear at the very top of the list now, above the main game .esm as "unmanaged" Non-MO mods. That supposed to be that way? Cant seem to get rid of them

ok, now you borked the FNIS/Nemesis install, and bashed patch. no, it should not be at the top and unmanaged, so, open your data folder in your skyrim install and find those, and delete them. 

easiest way to find them is right click the esp and towards the bottom is says open origin on explorer

Spoiler

that will get you to where they are without searching all over your computer. once you find them, delete them. Then double check your output folder Make sure it's similar to this

Spoiler

I changed mine so that FO4 and skyyrim use different paths. But the %BASE_DIR%/ should be unchanged 

[JackalCarver]

Hello Aylis I just finished going through the install process and got it up and running (3.1.5 dropped halfway and 3.1.6 after I was finished up). When I started playing I noticed that the mod Unique Thane Weapons does not work and after a bit of testing with the beginning of the game (Axe of Whiterun) I figured out it was being overwritten by MorrowLoot Ultimate since it also replaces Thane weapons. Loading the plugin of UTW after MLU seems to do the trick but might require new game for it to take effect, other wise the Jarl will either give you nothing or the MLU version of the weapon.

The mod Believable weapons also seems to only show when wielded by unique NPCs but not the player, during inventory management or generic NPCs, after more testing I traced the textures and models to NordWarUA's Vanilla Armor Replacers SSE as it also replaces weapon models and textures, but since BW has no plugins, playing around the load order does nothing. As the PC you will never be able to use it and will never fight anyone wielding it unless they are a unique NPC, not sure if this is the intended effect.

 

[Aylis]

7 minutes ago, JackalCarver said:

...not sure if this the intended effect in the list.

It is. Thats why the mods are in this order and overwrite each other.

 

[JackalCarver]

Thanks for the reply, but wouldn't this make the Unique Thane weapon mod redundant in the current load order, I have not progressed enough to speak for the other Thane weapons but from what I can tell MLU overwrites all Thane weapons. The author of UTW also states in the compadiability section that it must be loaded after MLU for it to work. Thanks for the list btw, it really helped me enjoy Skyrim since I never really got into it when it first came out.

[dezireal]

On 3/22/2021 at 5:36 AM, jaeos said:

90-95% of the mod list as listed is any version. Anything in the SKSE folder is game version specific. So far i have only found 1 mod outside of that is version specific but it is listed for the mod version, not game version. 

Ah alrighty got ya, just was worried i did the whole installation of all the mods and the updates with new mod listings and then thought oh crap what if this all is version Specific for Skyrim xD 

But I get you on what you saying and also I haven't had issues at all relating to the version of my skyrim but just incase I have stopped steam from updating it automatically going forward just to be safe about it. 

Dont wanna lose 200+ hours just from installing mods, setting things up and playing and lose it all cause of a version difference that I wasnt supposed to be on xD 

[helied]

FWIW, I installed the entire setup two days ago, following every instruction to the letter, and have a perfectly running game with zero issues. Not a brag - I'm saying the guide works. Anyone having issues needs to follow the guide.

[Aylis]

1 hour ago, JackalCarver said:

The author of UTW also states in the compadiability section that it must be loaded after MLU for it to work.

It does work. We're only not using the meshes and textures (aka the weapons) he provided and replace them with versions from MLU.

__________________________________________________

 

Btw. 'Blackreach' looks better than ever

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

[JackalCarver]

Ok, I am sorry if I seem very hung up on this but I ran more tests with UTW only, MLU only and both on, console Dragonstone and dragon kill to prevent level up, with clean saves each time and results point to UTW completely being overwritten by MLU's model & texture (technically Nordwar since MLU uses an enchanted Steel axe), stats and enchantment, UTW is a two-hand greatsword with a modified fire dmg enchantment, MLU is a steel war axe with a modified chaos enchantment.

[Aylis]

@JackalCarver

1. Pics belong into spoilers!

2. It works as intended. If you don't like it - then change your LO.  

On 3/18/2019 at 12:28 PM, Aylis said:

Nothing is carved in stone...

I've tested quite a few mods to find the combination which i like the best. But you might disagree with some of the choices i made and i definitely don't think it is the best-of-them-all list. We all got different things we like (or not).

 

[Hamakabula]

6 hours ago, jaeos said:

ok, now you borked the FNIS/Nemesis install, and bashed patch. no, it should not be at the top and unmanaged, so, open your data folder in your skyrim install and find those, and delete them. 

easiest way to find them is right click the esp and towards the bottom is says open origin on explorer

  Reveal hidden contents

that will get you to where they are without searching all over your computer. once you find them, delete them. Then double check your output folder Make sure it's similar to this

  Reveal hidden contents

I changed mine so that FO4 and skyyrim use different paths. But the %BASE_DIR%/ should be unchanged 

Another 6-8hrs and 2 more full reviews of the entire mod list later, the game still wont start.

 

Conversely, if I create a new MO2 profile (using the exact same mods) that just jarbles all of them into an alphabetically sorted mess, the game runs. I get a bunch of error messages (because there are some overwrites i guess) but everything seems to work surprisingly ok. Which raises the question what the hell is wrong with my painstakingly handcrafted LO

 

I think i'm starting to go mad.

 

If anyone can find it in his heart to review the list (I created an csv file that shows the LO) I would be very grateful

Modlist backup.txt

[JackalCarver]

OK, thank you for your patience I honestly was just curious and might have gone a bit overboard, (since I actually prefer the Axe anyways). I'll edit out the pics, thanks again for putting up with my questions?

[Aylis]

Uploaded an updated version of the predone bodyslides for 'Wrong Body'. Sadly it looks like the screenshots got lost, so i'll add them later.

 

You can find the files in 'SSEB - Predone bodyslides for 'Wrong Body'. 

 

Updated the list to link to the new version of the bodyslides. Done

[Jessica_Degurechaff]

13 hours ago, Aylis said:

Do i really have to write down absolutely everything?

 

There are four mainfiles. I said don't use landscapes so there are two left. 2K and 'High Quality'. Pick your choice.

 

I list 'Skyrim 2020 Parallax - Roads'. So 'Blended Roads Retexture' is needed.

 

I list 'Skyrim 2020 Parallax - Whiterun Streets A2'. So 'Whiterun Street - Alternative 2' is needed.

 

The rest is not in the list. Aka not needed.

Jesus christ.   I was just making sure because, again, its not clear.

Sorry.

[dezireal]

4 hours ago, Hamakabula said:

Another 6-8hrs and 2 more full reviews of the entire mod list later, the game still wont start.

 

Conversely, if I create a new MO2 profile (using the exact same mods) that just jarbles all of them into an alphabetically sorted mess, the game runs. I get a bunch of error messages (because there are some overwrites i guess) but everything seems to work surprisingly ok. Which raises the question what the hell is wrong with my painstakingly handcrafted LO

 

I think i'm starting to go mad.

 

If anyone can find it in his heart to review the list (I created an csv file that shows the LO) I would be very grateful

Modlist backup.txt 23.89 kB · 2 downloads

I can only advise based off my own personal experience and I could be way off base but it is something that has happened to me. 

Regardless of the LO on the left the LO on the right is determined by when a mod is activated. 

Best thing you can do, is disable all mods on the left. Ctrl+A and right click and disable selected. It will turn them all off. (NEVER ctrl+a and click activate selected it will load everything in a messed up order follow the step below by activating one mod at a time from the top of the list starting in the foundation category)

Start up your game and make sure your vanilla installation is still good (which it should be)
Then go down the list on the left (active one mod at a time) it will then populate the LO on the right hand side in the same order. (Bare in mind the guide will stipulate if you need to move a .ESP/.ESL around) After each category you reactive I.E Foundation do a test run to make sure the game is loading (I happened to have a corrupted install of SMIM which rendered my game crashing to desktop when ever I entered certain shops in skyrim). 

The important thing to remember as well the order in which you active the LO on your left had side in MO2 will load the ESPs and ESLs in the correct order ( DO NOT LET LOOT AUTO SORT YOUR LO ) Aylis has mentioned that the order he intended for his guide is the way its been listed. At the end like Aylis has mentioned in his guide the one thing you will need to move around once your are done is by moving all .ESMs to the top of the LO on the right hand side in the order that it was activated. 

I hope this has helped in some manner.