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

[buxxuc30]

4 hours ago, alaunus01 said:

@buxxuc30 It is not that unstable either. Just do what everybody else should do. Take your time building this modlist. Make a quick 'does it work' check every time you finish one of the categories (i.e. Foundation / SKSE extensions / UI). Then once you finalize this you make a larger spotcheck (visit all the cities at least).

Now you have a working install, and when you take a scenic walk around you probably have a good idea how your system is handling it. Does it still feel fluid? When your FPS goes down is the game still responsive or do you have stutters? How long are the loading screens? All this gives you a basic idea if you still have room to put mods on top of it. It would not be a good idea to add another script heavy mod when you are already seeing CPU stalls.

 

Anyway, make sure to save the current modlist and loadorder in MO2, and only then add 'unsupported' stuff to it. Most common mistake is to add too much stuff in too large chunks and then having to figure out which one of the dozen mods you added at the same time is the one fessing things up.

 

Thank you so much for your advise! I'm new to modding so these tips really help.

 

 

Also, may I ask another noob question please? I see there are a few mods that require a "New Game". Does it mean I have to start a completely new game or a clean save works?

The escape Helgen part (the tutorial), especially the cart at the beginning seem to be really sensitive with mods and are always advised to play through it without any mods installed, so I'm a little bit confused. Would Alternate start solves all these issues and let mods installed right off the bat on a New Game?

[alaunus01]

As you guessed correctly Alternate Start avoids the vanilla start issues with sensitive mods. Just stick in the starting cell until mods have loaded and you configured the MCMs. Throw in an additional save and reload for the odd mod that only starts up after you load the game a second time (that one throws a lot of people)

 

New game vs clean save: It depends. Knowing when a mod really needs a new game and when a clean save would be sufficient is a matter of experience. Some stuff gets baked into your savegame from the start. Do not worry about that. Once you finished customizing your skyrim to your liking (and sorted out what does not work exactly as you expected it ?) you can start your real playthrough. The only thing you need to worry about is resisting the temptation to fiddle with it once you started playing for realz.

[Aylis]

@alaunus01

Very good post! I'll add that one to 'Installation' on page #1. ?

 

I only added: 'The ini files at the end of the list got some added multicore settings which should help with this'.

 

 

@Kalthen

Got to agree. A few screenshots (in spoilers) would be nice. Like for example entering or leaving a shop (first person and using the console command 'tm') would make a comparison a lot easier for me and others. I could then even use your pics for a post where i could add my screenshots.

 

I tried LUX before and wasn't that impressed. But maybe i had too many of the old mods still in there (or had missing patches)...

 

 

@buxxuc30

A good example is the change to Windhelm. If your old PC was never in the area around that city then it might work. Otherwise you will have a lot of issues (floating objects, redundant walls, messed up textures, etc) as a lot gets baked into the savegame.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Aylis

[wollboi]

@buxxuc30 I still use all creature mods. To answer your question, De-installing the creature animations is just going to delete them and allow FNIS to recreate them. Sometimes when I don't click the button I get a lot of t-posing humanoid creatures. You aren't permanently getting rid of your animations, you're just telling FNIS to basically clear a cache (I'm almost assuredly getting this wrong, but that's what it seems to me).

 

As for creature mods, here is what I am using and where I'd place them in the list. The only issues I've ever had is sometimes no boner is present, but that's usually not something I really care about so I haven't tried to tweak it much. Other than that, I've never had any problems, other than configuring Aroused Creatures can be very intimidating with all of its features.

Spoiler

Creature Framework v2.0.2 - After Sexlab Defeat Baka (I also use Baka's DAR Motion Pack from that mod, so I would place it under that if you want to do the same)

More Nasty Critters v12.6 - Right under above mod

Sexlab Aroused Creatures v4.08 - Right under above mod

Sexlab Aroused Creatures Tweak - Right under above mod. Skip if you don't want creature-on-creature

Aroused Creatures RIA (DAR Version) - Right under above mod. Optional

BakaFactory Animated Beast Cocks - Right under above mod. Doesn't seem to work all the time

MNC Husky - Right under above mod. Optional

Babo Animation - In the list's Additional Animations subgroup. Optional

Horny Creatures of Skyrim - Ditto. Optional if you want creature-on-creature

Anub C - Ditto

SLAL Nibbles Animation - Ditto

Funny Bizness - Ditto

3ijou-SE - Ditto

K4 Anims - Ditto

Lord's Creature animations - Ditto

Psyche Animations - Ditto

Creature Animations by Sailing Rebel - Ditto

(Note: If you are using more animations than FNIS can handle, you'll have to switch to FNIS XXL. You can look through the post history here for how it differs and how to configure it. It's easy.)

Monster Facial Animation (MFS) - Under Sexlab Light Me Up. Ignore if you have no interest in the mod below.

HDT Werewolves Overhaul - Right under above mod. Optional for if you want more anatomically correct werewolves. Make sure to get the Overhaul version

FNIS Creature Pack - Under Final, right under FNIS Behavior. Leave this activate always, meaning no need to disable it when you're running FNIS or Nemesis.

 

 

 

[Varithina]

5 hours ago, buxxuc30 said:

 

Thank you so much for your advise! I'm new to modding so these tips really help.

 

 

Also, may I ask another noob question please? I see there are a few mods that require a "New Game". Does it mean I have to start a completely new game or a clean save works?

The escape Helgen part (the tutorial), especially the cart at the beginning seem to be really sensitive with mods and are always advised to play through it without any mods installed, so I'm a little bit confused. Would Alternate start solves all these issues and let mods installed right off the bat on a New Game?

 

Another option is to either run through the start till you are about to exit the Helgen escape tunnel, then make a save there and use that every time you want or need to start a new game, then just use racemenu to change around what you want, the other option would be to go to nexus and find a save game in the same location and load that then just go into racemenu and set your character up, if you set those save games to read only, you are then safe.

[Kalthen]

17 hours ago, Aylis said:

Got to agree. A few screenshots (in spoilers) would be nice. Like for example entering or leaving a shop (first person and using the console command 'tm') would make a comparison a lot easier for me and others. I could then even use your pics for a post where i could add my screenshots.

 

I tried LUX before and wasn't that impressed. But maybe i had too many of the old mods still in there (or had missing patches)...

 

 

Will add some interior screenshots soon. Just updated Dyndolod and need to regenerate an old profile.

[Kalthen]

23 hours ago, ascendentkunglao said:

You got any screenshots?  

Here you go: 

 

What I have to say beforehand,... the screenshots do not do it justice. You might think the shadows are too dark, but it is not the case like with RLO (if anyone remembers that lighting). The shadows are dynamic as is the lighting and the coloring. So in a next second the screenshot might look totally dirffrent.

 

Interior screenshots with this modlist (kinda;) with: "Zangdar's LUX version of Rudy ENB for Cathedral Weather "

(on a new Char maybe you know her;)

 

 

Spoiler

 

Edited October 20, 2021 by Kalthen

[Kalthen]

19 hours ago, Aylis said:

I tried LUX before and wasn't that impressed. But maybe i had too many of the old mods still in there (or had missing patches)...

Lighting and overhaul mods usually are a matter of taste. That's all the fun in modding, hehe. 

 

LUX came with all the patches needed for this modlist.

 

For the darker areas (which surprisingly didn't bother me at all) like dungeons I also recommend adding Quick Light. You need a lantern mod with LUX.

 

Patches come even for more overhauls, like the Cities of the North series which fits nicely in the modlist IMO. But I wouldn't recommend them for beginners, though. (FPS and also needs a bit of patching).   

[ascendentkunglao]

Anyone have some performance related troubleshooting with a Radeon GPU in mind, I have a Sapphire Nitro + 5700XT with 5600X and 32gb of 3600 CL18 RAM and FPS outside of cities is around high 20s to mid 30s but maxes out easily indoors.  I have the occasional stutter/input lag.  Just trying to pick someones brain when it comes to SSE Display Tweaks, Radeon Adrenalin, and anything that I should consider testing.  Thanks @Aylis, I like many others really do appreciate all the work you put inton this modding guide.  

Edited October 20, 2021 by ascendentkunglao

[kle500]

I found a few graphic bugs which I can't resolve.
The most annoying one being the utter darkness inside Dragonsreach.

Has anyone got a clue what I did wrong?

 

Spoiler

Drgonsreach Interior: (I know it's nighttime, but it's not better in daytime either)

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2021 by kle500

[Alkzis]

I have a small question, when installinf fair Skin, are we supposed to install ONLY the teeth? (?We need the textures for the teeth.) or also the rest? I also use Demoniac CBBE.
Its up to us to pick what we want? What do you guys recommend?

Spoiler

 

[Kalthen]

4 hours ago, kle500 said:

The most annoying one being the utter darkness inside Dragonsreach.

Has anyone got a clue what I did wrong?

This is a Load Order Problem. If you are using the guide, check that you let Window Shadows and the corresponding patches overwrite Luminosity. (If you like Luminosity more, then adjust Rudy ENB. There is an enbseries.ini for it. Won‘t recommend it) Also check that Tamriel Masterlights and ENB Lights are installed and at the correct position. Don‘t use LOOT to sort or you will have to spend some time in SSEdit to check what gets overwritten. That wouldn‘t be a bad idea anyway. If you are familiar with SSEdit (which I highly suggest), the easiest way to find out is - to look at Skyrim.esm -> Cells (don‘t know wich block or subblock out of the top) -> Blocks 1-9 somewhere inbetween you should find Dragonsreach. Check what is last on the right side main window. Red are conflicting values. If it is not the Bashed Patch with the last mod values from Window Shadows/ WS-Jk patch, you will defo need to redo the Bashed Patch after you adjust you LO accordingly.  Hope this helped.

[remodel]

2 hours ago, Alkzis said:

I have a small question, when installinf fair Skin, are we supposed to install ONLY the teeth? (?We need the textures for the teeth.) or also the rest? I also use Demoniac CBBE.
Its up to us to pick what we want? What do you guys recommend?

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I just installed fair skin using any selection my mouse landed on.  The important thing I did was hide everything but the teeth.

 

Right click on the mod in the left pain and open it.

Go to the last Tab for thee files.

Right click on every file listing but the teeth and hide them.  Any mistake can be recovered by un-hiding.

 

Can't give you the name of the files to keep because my PC died.

[wollboi]

@Aylis New patch for Ancient Dwemer Metal and Guards Armor Replacer. Updates the textures on the Markarth guards' armor. Dunno if it's worth including, but would probably make it look nice. I'm checking it out.

https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/38845?tab=description

[jaeos]

On 10/19/2021 at 1:50 AM, Apollonir said:

(Sorry about the image, it wasn’t very helpful anyway so I just deleted it)

 

I’ve only been using the standard start so far because it’s the only way I’ve gotten anything to load, most importantly (or so I thought) a few error messages. Knowing that it’s sensitive to mods though, I’ll be sure to swap back to LAL.

 

I guess I didn’t make it clear in my post, but the last thing I did was remove the handful of extra mods I installed. I’ll do another once-over of my mod list to make sure I didn’t miss any.

 

I also didn’t get any warnings of missing masters when building my bashed patch, so I doubt that’s the problem…unless that doesn’t catch everything? I’m also pretty sure the only LE mods I have are the ones on the mod list, but again, I’ll go through my load order one-by-one and compare it to your list to make sure when I have a spare hour tomorrow.

 

And thanks for the reply! Even if it hasn’t worked for me yet, I appreciate the time you’ve put into this project and to helping plebs like me figure it out.

right click the left pane and disable all mods.

turn on LAL, racemenu, highpoly heads, high poly heads LAL patch and the entire PC section. add any mods until you do not get any warnings.

you should then be able to load into the cell and create the look of your PC you want. 

save and exit. (this gives you a "clean" save at it only has the absolute minimum you would need to start)

turn everything back off and start at the top and turn on all your mods one by one until you get to the bottom. 

if you crash at load, start at the bottom and disable going up. (keep any mods and patches on that it says are masters for higher mods)

when you can load without crashing look at whatever mods are off, turn them back on 3 at a time. This will help narrow down the bad mod faster than doing it one at a time. (plus most people remember things in 3's)

once you have it narrowed down to whatever mod is causing the issue, try re-downloading that one mod and reinstalling from a new download (sometimes the download itself says it's complete, but it's missing a byte and does a bad install)

You should be able to drop this into your active MO2 profile and it should just put those mods active. (Drop these 3 in before you start MO2)

loadorder.txt modlist.txtplugins.txt

Fair warning. it will act like it is locking up if you do not switch to argonian or khajit before you switch to a female. 

Edited October 21, 2021 by jaeos

[akadeadpool]

19 hours ago, kle500 said:

I found a few graphic bugs which I can't resolve.
The most annoying one being the utter darkness inside Dragonsreach.

Has anyone got a clue what I did wrong?

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Drgonsreach Interior: (I know it's nighttime, but it's not better in daytime either)

 

 

 

 

 

Remove Luminosty or use its light weight version (v3) instead.

[ascendentkunglao]

Anyone know how to stop certain armors from constantly being "Schlongified", I'm having an issue where it unequips from follower every time I load into a new cell causing to me to have to MCM menu and clean SOS.

[alaunus01]

1 hour ago, ascendentkunglao said:

Anyone know how to stop certain armors from constantly being "Schlongified", I'm having an issue where it unequips from follower every time I load into a new cell causing to me to have to MCM menu and clean SOS.

 

Sounds like that armor uses the same bodyslot like SOS. Fixing that requires some ESP and nif editing.

[jaeos]

2 hours ago, ascendentkunglao said:

Anyone know how to stop certain armors from constantly being "Schlongified", I'm having an issue where it unequips from follower every time I load into a new cell causing to me to have to MCM menu and clean SOS.

what armor mod? the only ones i know will use the schlong slot is things from sun or Rektas that has 8-9 armor pieces and it's one piece that uses the slot but it prevents the rest of the outfit from showing if you have DD

[buxxuc30]

Hello, I'm so sorry for causing trouble again, but I have problem precaching grass. The console only ran up to 7-8 seconds and loaded about 10 cells before it crashed the 1st time I ran Precache Grass plugin (through MO2):
https://i.imgur.com/Jm9UxxE.jpg
It says Solstheim right when it crashed.

Then every time later it crashed right when the resuming grass cache generation pop up shows without any progress being made.

 

I did some googling and most of the posts I saw said it's because of JK Skyrim, but if everyone here can run it, it should be on my side. I'm not sure what I did wrong. I made sure to run Bashed Patch again for a few times but the crashing persists.

 

Here are the crash logs from the Overwrite folder. Could anyone please have a look and let me know how to solve the issues? It'd be much appreciated. I'm at a total loss right now Thank you again.
 

Crash_2021_10_22_23-38-3.txt Crash_2021_10_22_23-38-40.txt Crash_2021_10_22_23-39-51.txt Crash_2021_10_22_23-40-38.txt Crash_2021_10_22_23-41-51.txt Crash_2021_10_22_23-42-42.txt

[Jessica_Degurechaff]

Just now, buxxuc30 said:

Hello, I'm so sorry for causing trouble again, but I have problem precaching grass. The console only ran up to 7-8 seconds and loaded about 10 cells before it crashed the 1st time I ran Precache Grass plugin (through MO2):
https://i.imgur.com/Jm9UxxE.jpg
It says Solstheim right when it crashed.

Then every time later it crashed right when the resuming grass cache generation pop up shows without any progress being made.

 

I did some googling and most of the posts I saw said it's because of JK Skyrim, but if everyone here can run it, it should be on my side. I'm not sure what I did wrong. I made sure to run Bashed Patch again for a few times but the crashing persists.

 

Here are the crash logs from the Overwrite folder. Could anyone please have a look and let me know how to solve the issues? It'd be much appreciated. I'm at a total loss right now Thank you again.
 

Crash_2021_10_22_23-38-3.txt 62.44 kB · 0 downloads Crash_2021_10_22_23-38-40.txt 62.19 kB · 0 downloads Crash_2021_10_22_23-39-51.txt 46.87 kB · 0 downloads Crash_2021_10_22_23-40-38.txt 48.79 kB · 0 downloads Crash_2021_10_22_23-41-51.txt 54.87 kB · 0 downloads Crash_2021_10_22_23-42-42.txt 54.64 kB · 0 downloads

its 100% normal that it crashes, in fact its expected. 
when its doing the process do not hit the "ok" option on the message (in-game, that message you see on the screenshot) for me that was root of the problem, since everytime i hit OK the game just closed down, i recomend just reading a book or something but do not touch the pc when its prechaching grass.. at least that did it for me. 
__________

All you have to do is make sure the grass mods of the guide are there, then just hit precache grass and let it run, even if it crash it will keep going on his own from where it crashed until its finished (it can take almost an hour or more).

Let it run and ingore the crash messages, do not touch anything, it will keep going from where it crashed.

DO NOT  "ok" option on the message (in-game) 

[buxxuc30]

14 minutes ago, Jessica_Degurechaff said:

its 100% normal that it crashes, in fact its expected. 
when its doing the process do not hit the "ok" option on the message (in-game, that message you see on the screenshot) for me that was root of the problem, since everytime i hit OK the game just closed down, i recomend just reading a book or something but do not touch the pc when its prechaching grass.. at least that did it for me. 
__________

All you have to do is make sure the grass mods of the guide are there, then just hit precache grass and let it run, even if it crash it will keep going on his own from where it crashed until its finished (it can take almost an hour or more).

Let it run and ingore the crash messages, do not touch anything, it will keep going from where it crashed.

DO NOT  "ok" option on the message (in-game) 

 

Thank you so much for your answers. I've read that crashing is normal when precaching, but it just doesn't progress at all as it ctd right at start up, when the screen shows this pop up (after the first time it crashed):

https://i.imgur.com/OYpz42R.jpg

 

I didn't even have the chance to press ` to call for the console then it just ctd. It keeps cycling infinitely. When I checked the overwrite/grass folder, there's only 2 files generated from when I first started the Precaching process. After hours it didn't pop up any other files:

https://i.imgur.com/IxgiI9V.jpg

 

That's why I have this sinking feeling that something isn't right. Is it normal?

[jaeos]

4 hours ago, buxxuc30 said:

 

Thank you so much for your answers. I've read that crashing is normal when precaching, but it just doesn't progress at all as it ctd right at start up, when the screen shows this pop up (after the first time it crashed):

https://i.imgur.com/OYpz42R.jpg

 

I didn't even have the chance to press ` to call for the console then it just ctd. It keeps cycling infinitely. When I checked the overwrite/grass folder, there's only 2 files generated from when I first started the Precaching process. After hours it didn't pop up any other files:

https://i.imgur.com/IxgiI9V.jpg

 

That's why I have this sinking feeling that something isn't right. Is it normal?

I dunno how, but apparently i'm banned from seeing your pics on imgur. you can post screenshots here, just please put them in a spoiler (looks like an eye at the top)

[Jessica_Degurechaff]

3 hours ago, buxxuc30 said:

 

Thank you so much for your answers. I've read that crashing is normal when precaching, but it just doesn't progress at all as it ctd right at start up, when the screen shows this pop up (after the first time it crashed):

https://i.imgur.com/OYpz42R.jpg

 

I didn't even have the chance to press ` to call for the console then it just ctd. It keeps cycling infinitely. When I checked the overwrite/grass folder, there's only 2 files generated from when I first started the Precaching process. After hours it didn't pop up any other files:

https://i.imgur.com/IxgiI9V.jpg

 

That's why I have this sinking feeling that something isn't right. Is it normal?

In cases like this i would reinstall grass related mods. 
Did you check that you deactivated Windows Update? Last windows defender update is 200% more extrict and even apps/folders that should have permits had a hard time doing stuff around.
________________________


Anyone reading this, make a fucking copy of your load and mod order and have it safe somewhere, my pc shut off because windows update and now my entire mod list is not just messed up but also deactivated.

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

 

Spoiler

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Jessica_Degurechaff

[trgdolors]

@Aylis With the release today of JK's Temple of Kynareth, I got to re-wondering about the JK building mod's NOT in your guide. I asked a few weeks ago and no one responded, but that was during a time of intense activity:

 

"Is there a reason JK's Dragonsreach is not on the list? Also, do the Windhelm locations: JK's New Gnisis Cornerclub, JK's Sadris Used Wares, JK's White Phial clash with this guide?
I assume there is a reason these are not in the guide as we have most of the other JK interior stuff."

 

Also, I saw it appeared you were considering other JK mods, so I am curious on the status of that.

 

Slightly related, I saw this crazy thing. I am not suggesting it. It just made me laugh: The Great Cities of JK's North - Patch. At first I thought it was a joke. That is ambitious!