(v1.5.1) Mod Organizer 2 & Other tools - From zero to "Hey Sexlab is working!"

[Just Don't]

7 hours ago, YojimboRatchet said:

still new to the HDT stuff tho, so this whole 3bbb and smp is beyond me for now, but thanks, adding it will hopefully help others as well

I think DD should work fine with just installing HDT-SMP, but using CBBE 3B allows you to mix CBPC and SMP as you see fit, which is strongly recommended if you don't want to fine-tweak SMP to your own system spec (an already made preset could cause performance issues if you let SMP enabled in all the NPCs, which I think it's what will happen if you just install SMP without CBBE 3B). But if that's too much for you, you can always come back and add it later. Just remember that there is the DDhotfix to disable SMP in case your game is crashing with SMP-enabled items.

 

Edit: added as optional step 12.

[wookiewiese13]

16 hours ago, dontknowdontcaredontask said:

Oh right, MO must have the old file path for the SKSE executable. Go to the Modify Executables window (the 2 gears icon or select "Edit" in the executable list besides the Run button). There, with SKSE selected you'll have to redirect the "Binary" to point the skse64_loader.exe in your new Skyrim SE folder, and also the "Start in" to the same new Skyrim SE folder. I think that's the only executable that would require this manual tweak, every other executable in that list should be in the same place (working folder or inside MO2 folder).

So this worked perfectly, the game launched, created a default character, and proceeded to follow steps 10.1-10.3. Went to Sexlab in MCM, had to go to 3rd person, but then everything came up as a green OK. Installed successfully, said v 1.63 dev beta 8 was ready, adjusted all mentioned settings, enabled animations and registered around 100 successfully. Then went to the inn, found a npc, cast the spell on both them and myself, they walked to what I assumed was a starting location, stood for a few seconds then poof, game closes, no error message, no warnings, no popups. Just back to my desktop with modmanger still open, no error notifications in the top right. Just a few files in the overwrite (which was empty before launch) that I then moved to a "Log & ini files" folder like mentioned on step 11.1, to make sure that overwrite was empty. To see if it was simply a FNIS or Order issue I went back, removed the generated FNIS files, reran FNIS, no warnings or issues (will include snip of that below) and then also Reran LOOT but it said no adjustment was needed, so I closed that. I then double checked everything that was enabled that was needed for the first test, just to double check, relaunched through SKSE again, didn't continue but instead started a new game again and repeated steps 10.1-10.3. This time when I cast the spell, they didn't move to a new location, just moved around a bit in the general area near each other, my player character then instantly undressed, and then the game crashed in the exact same manner as before. No error messages, no warnings or notifications, no lag then close, no freezing and closing, just closing instantly, I noticed this as modmanger is instantly usable again, as when in game it has the "in use" warning with the unlock option and modmanager is greyed out. 
 

 

And just a general look at my Modmanager as it is right now, exactly the same as when I last launched before it crashed again, leading me here to seek your gracious help once more. (my photos on all my previous posts, the skyrim se file, my working folder, none of that has changed, er, I haven't done anything to change any of that, I figured I'd post a photo of my modmanager just because why not, you might see an issue there)

 

 

And as always, Many thanks for your patience and help!

[Just Don't]

Ok  so CTD when characters start undressing is usually a skeleton problem. I see your FNIS log is detecting a proper skeleton installed (that's why it shows 126 bones instead of the default 99), but when I see your last screenshot, the XPMSSE mod isn't showing the version number nor a conflict flag, which seems odd. Because I have mine installed with the same instructions written here, but mine has the version number and it shows a conflict (with SOS).

 

Can you try reinstalling XPMSSE? It looks like everything is fine in that regard, but at the same time the way it's listed in the left panel seems odd to me.

[Varithina]

You also are showing the bodyslide output as being grey with a red x under the flags section, indicating that what ever is in there is not set up and working correctly either, it might also be worth while moving xp32 to just above the bodyslide and fnis mods, unless some of the mods you have installed specifically tell you to overwrite xp32 that is.

 

Try using your current preset for bodyslide and rebuild only the female body, hands and feet.

[wookiewiese13]

13 hours ago, dontknowdontcaredontask said:

Can you try reinstalling XPMSSE? It looks like everything is fine in that regard, but at the same time the way it's listed in the left panel seems odd to me.

That did the trick, weird. The first time I installed it I selected every option as listed in the guide, finished and installed no problem, this time around did it again after removing it and it now appeared in the list with the overwrite symbol there and the version was there as well. Either way it seems to be working just fine now. 

I also noticed that issue with bodyslide, however I don't think it's because of an error, the file itself is empty, I followed the bodyslide section step for step, even repeated when I noticed the file was empty, it stayed empty. But it seemed to be working as the clothing seemed to match the body type just fine, although I saw the character in only starting clothing, but it moved with the physics and all, no overlap or clipped meshes. And i'm nervous to go about making changes as I've now got it running again lol.

I guess my last question is a simple one, I see you recommended a creature guide, I will probably do that next, however I notice you reference in the Alyis one to remove mods and follow his exactly, is that something I should do for that guide as well? or should I just be able to install in order the mods I don't have on his list (as some overlap of course, skse, fnis ect.) and then just follow his load order structure at the bottom of the guide?

 

And the big known mods, skyrim 2020, the unofficial patch, ordinators perk system, immersive citizens, cutting room, engine fix, diverse dragons ect, Those shouldn't cause issues as long as you follow the instructions and placement clearly right? I've used all these mods before, but this is my first time putting in Sexlab and all that comes with that side of skyrim modding. 

Thanks again for all the help and getting me to the point I got this finally running! Many Cheers! 

 

Edit: Was having a mildly annoying case of horizontal screen tearing, so my stupid ass reopened bethini to try some different settings to see if I could fix it. Then the game started crashing immediately upon launch through SKSE. I had completely forgot you stated this should only be done once at the start of a fresh install after launching once on steam. Is the remedy for this just to uninstall, reinstall then repeat the bethini and fnis steps? 

[Varithina]

8 minutes ago, wookiewiese13 said:

I also noticed that issue with bodyslide, however I don't think it's because of an error, the file itself is empty, I followed the bodyslide section step for step, even repeated when I noticed the file was empty, it stayed empty. But it seemed to be working as the clothing seemed to match the body type just fine, although I saw the character in only starting clothing, but it moved with the physics and all, no overlap or clipped meshes. And i'm nervous to go about making changes as I've now got it running again lol.
 

If you want, give this a try.

Select your body in the outfit/body box, set you preset in its box, Deselect any outfit or group filters.

Tick the build morphs box, if you use morphs that is, chances are that you do.

Hold down the CTRL key and with that held down click the batch build button, that should then pull up a box that shows a list of every outfit you have in bodyslide, normally I just hit the build button.

You will now get a file manager type interface open up, you can now navigate to where ever you want to build the armor/clothing and body to, normally I use a working directory, but anywhere there is not already a directory called meshes will work fine.

Now you should get another box pop up from bodyslide with all the conflicting items, in this are choose which of the conficts you want to use, by selecting them with the little button next to them.

After that choose build, now wait, when this is done, I then zip up the meshes directory, rename it to the current date and body preset, then move it into my mod organiser downloads directory, where I then install it as a mod.  When installed activate that mod and select it on the left pane and it should show what it is overwriting,

 

This way you could if you want use different body presets for different characters, just make sure to build the actual body in it rather than separate.

 

From what I am aware of mo2 change the way it handles some things a few versions back, if the file already exists it will automatically overwrite with the new one, where as before things like bodyslide would output to the overwrite folder.

 

If you rebuild often enough it may well be worth while settings the output directory for bodyslide to somewhere, and that is where the output will go, you could set the output folder to mo2 overwrite, which works, you would then not need to hold down the CTRL key when batch building or at least in theory you would not need to.

[Just Don't]

19 hours ago, wookiewiese13 said:

That did the trick, weird. The first time I installed it I selected every option as listed in the guide, finished and installed no problem, this time around did it again after removing it and it now appeared in the list with the overwrite symbol there and the version was there as well. Either way it seems to be working just fine now. 

Weird, perhaps the install was interrupted for reasons. But let's appreciate that it was an easy fix.

 

19 hours ago, wookiewiese13 said:

I also noticed that issue with bodyslide, however I don't think it's because of an error, the file itself is empty, I followed the bodyslide section step for step, even repeated when I noticed the file was empty, it stayed empty. But it seemed to be working as the clothing seemed to match the body type just fine, although I saw the character in only starting clothing, but it moved with the physics and all, no overlap or clipped meshes. And i'm nervous to go about making changes as I've now got it running again lol.

The empty BS Output can be explained if all the files you built in BS were already in the mod folder (for this guide, the CBBE SE mod), in which case the default behavior is overwriting these already existing files inside the mod folder with the new ones reshaped for your chosen preset. If things are looking fine in that regard, it should be fine. But if you want to check just to be sure: you can double click in the left panel over the "CBBE SE", go to the Filetree tab and expand the meshes\actors\character\character assets to check the body files, or meshes\armor\... and meshes\clothing to check the individual outfits. See the "Date modified" for the .nif files, most of these should match the date you used Bodyslide. And you can always follow Varithina instructions if you really want to tweak where are placed the built files.

 

19 hours ago, wookiewiese13 said:

I guess my last question is a simple one, I see you recommended a creature guide, I will probably do that next, however I notice you reference in the Alyis one to remove mods and follow his exactly, is that something I should do for that guide as well? or should I just be able to install in order the mods I don't have on his list (as some overlap of course, skse, fnis ect.) and then just follow his load order structure at the bottom of the guide?

 

 No, I don't recommend to delete all the mods and follow MNC, because the MNC guide doesn't cover all the things I cover here and because you can install the MNC stuff on top of this modlist. Check that you're following the instructions for Skyrim 64bits (32bits is LE and has LE compatible mods). Install and place the new mods in the same order as they're in the guide, then run LOOT and compare the end result with the recommended loadorder that is included in the MNC instructions, you can manually tweak your loadorder if you think it's needed, although I don't know if that will be necessary.

 

19 hours ago, wookiewiese13 said:

And the big known mods, skyrim 2020, the unofficial patch, ordinators perk system, immersive citizens, cutting room, engine fix, diverse dragons ect, Those shouldn't cause issues as long as you follow the instructions and placement clearly right? I've used all these mods before, but this is my first time putting in Sexlab and all that comes with that side of skyrim modding. 

These mods can be used just fine. If you're adding them to the existing modlist follow the placement example I gave in step 11.2, but remember that you might need to do manual tweaks in some cases (this is a per mod basis and it hasn't much to do with Sexlab or other mods covered here, but are just particular instructions to make certain mods work). LOOT should handle loadorder just fine, but again: some mods have instructions to load them in a certain place, so read everything in that regard.

 

19 hours ago, wookiewiese13 said:

Edit: Was having a mildly annoying case of horizontal screen tearing, so my stupid ass reopened bethini to try some different settings to see if I could fix it. Then the game started crashing immediately upon launch through SKSE. I had completely forgot you stated this should only be done once at the start of a fresh install after launching once on steam. Is the remedy for this just to uninstall, reinstall then repeat the bethini and fnis steps? 

Using BethINI more than once shouldn't be an issue (it's the vanilla launcher that you should avoid). Make sure you're using BethINI with MO closed, you're picking the recommended settings from step 2. The generated files will be in your Documents\My Games\Skyrim Special Edition, you have to move these to MO2\profiles\Default, overwriting the existing ones. If you're still crashing, something else changed.

 

If you want to make manual edits to the ini files (so you don't have to run BethINI every time) you can go into MO2\profiles\Default and edit the ini files manually, or go to MO's own ini editor.

 

Note that the setting you're looking for is in skyrim.ini:

Quote

 

[Display]

iPreventinterval=1

It should be set to 1 to enable V-sync (and prevent screen tearing and going above your display refresh rate). Note that this setting can also be forced on/off through your GPU control panel (it should be set to "application controlled", which means the own game settings will be used).

[YojimboRatchet]

ok, sorry to the "stupid spam" questions i'll be asking over the coming days. i have taken it upon myself to try and at least learn what the hell i am doing, and what is going, so i can better understand how things work and what things are for. if i can understand it to the point that i can explain it to someone, then it means i know what i am doing (mostly lol).

 

and maybe some of these questions are questions that some first timers may also end up reading and helping them out as well. who knows, but worth trying for myself anyway.

 

1 comment though i think you may want to consider. in section 5, where you list the "5.1 Mod List" bolded header, you may want to add an asterix or something either in brackets beside it or under it, to let people know that "if" the want HDT / 3bbb" support, so also look at section 12 at the same time, since some of those installs end up in specific positions based on how you set it up in section 5. just a suggestion though.

 

ok first question for now: in MO2, once you set up LOOT as a shortcut and run it, you have the icon set up and it's simple, but i found out a few days ago, that in the right pane there is a SORT button, which also accesses LOOT and runs, generating a text file in that loot window for any changes made.

 

so what is the difference between both of these "loot"s, and which one should i use (and why/why not)

 

[Just Don't]

41 minutes ago, YojimboRatchet said:

in section 5, where you list the "5.1 Mod List" bolded header, you may want to add an asterix or something either in brackets beside it or under it, to let people know that "if" the want HDT / 3bbb" support, so also look at section 12 at the same time, since some of those installs end up in specific positions based on how you set it up in section 5. just a suggestion though.

Reasonable suggestion, but I'll need to see how I add it without breaking the section continuum too much (thing is: there is step 5 for the mod list, then step 8 for BS instructions, then step 12 which assumes the user has done step 5 and 8 already).

 

41 minutes ago, YojimboRatchet said:

ok first question for now: in MO2, once you set up LOOT as a shortcut and run it, you have the icon set up and it's simple, but i found out a few days ago, that in the right pane there is a SORT button, which also accesses LOOT and runs, generating a text file in that loot window for any changes made.

 

The Sort button you point is from an integrated version of LOOT (you can see its files in ...\MO2\loot). A few years ago this integrated version was always a bit behind in terms of loadorder rules (the "masterlist" that LOOT tries to update each time you use it). So the end result was a bit different between the standalone LOOT (covered in step 6 here) and the integrated one. So it was recommended to go for the standalone and avoid using the Sort button. Nowadays I think both the standalone and the integrated versions of LOOT are the same (they can get updates whenever you use it), but I already made the habit of using the standalone and (IMO) the standalone version has a better  GUI.

• You can preview the changes to your loadorder before applying them
• you can also read all the warnings and messages looking at the same loadorder preview
• LOOT checks for your SKSE version, so you can easily see if your SKSE is up to date
• and it reminds the user to use GenerateFNISforUsers if it detects FNIS installed
• you can even make your own loadorder rules in that GUI (if you ever need to do so, I'd say this isn't something that a beginner user will do, but the option is there).

Overall, the standalone version offers more choice and control over the sorting process. That's why is the method covered in this guide.

[YojimboRatchet]

2 hours ago, dontknowdontcaredontask said:

Overall, the standalone version offers more choice and control over the sorting process. That's why is the method covered in this guide.

is there a way to tell if both LOOTs use the same sorting rules nowadays ? it is just that when i used that SORT button, all the ESM and ESL files drastically re-ordered in a way that the standalone never showed before. and yes i agree yours is much easier to use and follow, and the ability to cancel instead of applying if you're not happy with it is a bonus the SORT doesn't have. although the SORT does show the before and the after lists along with all notes / warnings and so on.

 

which also leads me to a different question, not sure if it's ok to ask here or not, but there are some mods where i get "this file is flagged as xxx but will be treated as xxx in the load order". why does this happen and what does this mean ?

[Just Don't]

43 minutes ago, YojimboRatchet said:

is there a way to tell if both LOOTs use the same sorting rules nowadays ? it is just that when i used that SORT button, all the ESM and ESL files drastically re-ordered in a way that the standalone never showed before. and yes i agree yours is much easier to use and follow, and the ability to cancel instead of applying if you're not happy with it is a bonus the SORT doesn't have. although the SORT does show the before and the after lists along with all notes / warnings and so on.

The masterlist is located in C:\Users\<user_name>\AppData\Local\LOOT\Skyrim Special Edition\masterlist.yaml. Both LOOT versions read/update said file. I did a quick test and didn't see any difference between sorting with LOOT or the Sort button. So if you had a different result it might be something in your end. TBH I can't think of any good reason for this, antivirus/Windows permissions maybe? I can't reproduce the issue and I don't recall having this problem either, so can't say much more (I haven't bothered to even use the Sort button in years, and looking at the log file after it finishes sorting, I'm almost certain that the Sort button is just LOOT without the GUI).

 

43 minutes ago, YojimboRatchet said:

which also leads me to a different question, not sure if it's ok to ask here or not, but there are some mods where i get "this file is flagged as xxx but will be treated as xxx in the load order". why does this happen and what does this mean ?

esl is a new plugin format for Skyrim SE. An esl file is basically a regular plugin (esp) that doesn't count toward the plugin limit (the engine has a hard limit of 255 plugins, so you can't have more than ~250 regular esm or esp files enabled in your loadorder). A plugin can be an esp flagged as an esl (file extension is still .esp, but the game engine treats it like an esl) or it can have the .esl file extension. So you can have a lot of mods with esl plugins without worrying about the plugin limit. But not every mod can use an esl plugin, there is a limit to how many records the plugin can contain, so usually you'll see esl plugins in little/simple mods that change a few things about the game, or in armor/clothing mods. As an user you don't need to do anything about these files, if the mod author did their job right, you'll have a functional mod, LOOT will sort it properly and things will just work®.

[YojimboRatchet]

thanks,, that clarifies a lot. and it helps tremendously, even if basic information, but still goes a long way towards the bigger picture.

 

ok one thing you didn't cover or mention regarding MO2, but i did notice briefly and tried to play with, but kinda of pulled out just cause i didn't want to break anything lol, but i noticed MO2 has something called profiles. from the little i explored, i gather this is to create different profiles for the same game or multiple games. something which could be a definite advantage i assume. but it's a bit complicated, so i will ask a few quick questions.

 

1. you can create a new profile and "mirror" an existing profile. is there a way to turn "off" the mirroring for one of the profiles AFTER you've created and mirrored it ? the reason i ask this, for example, i could create multiple profiles for Skyrim using your mod load order, and then, turn off the mirroring / copy, so i can vary installs in each profile. so i could have say, Slaverun only in one profile, have the Devious stuff i like in another profile, and use another profile for testing new mods and so on. the only mods that would be consistent in each profile would be the base ones from your tutorial, so it's easy to make one profile, then copy into different profiles, but i don't want to keep that mirroring going after that. is that possible ? if so how ?

 

2. how does a profile work in terms of saves, even bodyslide files where some files don't (or won't) be available in one profile but will in another (if that makes sense) and FNIS and so on. would have i to create a different folder system for these profiles or just leave it and MO2 would know the difference ?

[Just Don't]

38 minutes ago, YojimboRatchet said:

1. you can create a new profile and "mirror" an existing profile. is there a way to turn "off" the mirroring for one of the profiles AFTER you've created and mirrored it ?

Right, so you can do what you're saying quite easy with MO profiles. Let's say once you've completed all the steps here you want to copy that profile and change things in the secondary profile.

In MO press the "Profiles" button and you'll see this:

 

Default is my only profile, the buttons are self-explanatory, but for educational purposes:

• Create: create a new profile (default settings, no modlist or loadorder saved).
• Copy: clones the selected profile (this will copy the modlist, loadorder, ini files, etc. every file within the MO2\profiles\<profile_name>).
• Remove: delete the selected profile (this deletes the MO2\profiles\<profile_name> folder and all its contents)
• Rename: rename the selected profile.
• "Use profile-specific Save Games": this will create all your save files inside the MO2\profiles\<profile_name> folder, allowing you to isolate saves between profiles. Disabled by default.
• "Use profile-specific Game INI Files": this is what makes MO use its own set of skyrim.ini and skyrimprefs.ini files. Enabled by default.

So for what you want to do, you should Copy the Default profile, give it a nice name and perhaps use all your profiles with specific save games enabled. You might need to manually move your existing saves from Documents\My games\Skyrim Special Edition to MO2\profiles\<profile_name> if you already have saves for your first/default profile.

 

51 minutes ago, YojimboRatchet said:

2. how does a profile work in terms of saves, even bodyslide files where some files don't (or won't) be available in one profile but will in another (if that makes sense) and FNIS and so on. would have i to create a different folder system for these profiles or just leave it and MO2 would know the difference ?

With the settings described above you have separated saves covered. But other files are a bit different. The thing is MO profiles share the mod list (left panel), so let's say your "Default" has 25 mods installed and active (something similar to the basic mods from this guide), and you copied said profile into "Amazing Profile", where you installed 300 mods. If you switch between profiles (in 2 clicks using this list)

"Default" will have the 25 mods enabled and 300 mods disabled (mods listed with the check mark like this ☐ ).

"Amazing Profile" will have all the 325 mods listed in the left panel enabled.

If any mod is enabled in both profiles, these files will be shared, so in the case of the "Generated FNIS", or the "Bodyslide Output" you'll likely need to create separate mods for each profile and keep them enabled/disabled in the respective profiles. You might share Bodyslide files if you plan to use the same preset, but behavior files from FNIS will cause T-pose if your animations are different between profiles.

 

I thought about doing a little compilation of feature-explanations like this, but I'm not sure if people need or are interested in them. And it might feel that it's a bit too much for someone new to MO or mods. So I've stick to keep things simple and cover the most fundamental and basic stuff to get into a game with a working Sexlab framework.

[YojimboRatchet]

11 hours ago, dontknowdontcaredontask said:

So for what you want to do, you should Copy the Default profile, give it a nice name and perhaps use all your profiles with specific save games enabled. You might need to manually move your existing saves from Documents\My games\Skyrim Special Edition to MO2\profiles\<profile_name> if you already have saves for your first/default profile.

perfect, i assumed as much but good to know i was on the right track. only question left though, is, once the profiles are created using "copy", so that each profile has the same basic mod layout. is it possible to add mods specifically to one profile only without the mod copying to the other profiles ? or will they always copy to each other since the profile was created using the "copy" method ?

 

as i mentioned, i want to create / copy profiles based on your load order from your tutorials. and then add certain mods "only" to certain profiles after the fact.

 

 

11 hours ago, dontknowdontcaredontask said:

If any mod is enabled in both profiles, these files will be shared, so in the case of the "Generated FNIS", or the "Bodyslide Output" you'll likely need to create separate mods for each profile and keep them enabled/disabled in the respective profiles. You might share Bodyslide files if you plan to use the same preset, but behavior files from FNIS will cause T-pose if your animations are different between profiles.

yeah, that was what i was thinking would happen, and why i asked the question. i was thinking of creating seperate folder for the FNIS, Overwrites and Bodyslide files and renaming them according to the profiles naming system to keep it simple. not sure if that would work though long term. but still curious if it would, and if it would end up being complicated lol.

 

11 hours ago, dontknowdontcaredontask said:

I thought about doing a little compilation of feature-explanations like this, but I'm not sure if people need or are interested in them. And it might feel that it's a bit too much for someone new to MO or mods. So I've stick to keep things simple and cover the most fundamental and basic stuff to get into a game with a working Sexlab framework.

 

agreed. don't get me wrong, i love your tutorial, it's very simple and easy enough to follow (except some of the file finding on Nexus for the proper versions can be a bit daunting even with your tutorial lol), but having a seperate tutorial on creating profiles and managing them as well might be a useful thing to make, i mean, if and when someone had the time to, but useful enough still

[Just Don't]

2 hours ago, YojimboRatchet said:

only question left though, is, once the profiles are created using "copy", so that each profile has the same basic mod layout. is it possible to add mods specifically to one profile only without the mod copying to the other profiles ?

Yes, you only copy the files initially, after that any changes will be only applied in the profile you were using.

 

2 hours ago, YojimboRatchet said:

i was thinking of creating seperate folder for the FNIS, Overwrites and Bodyslide files and renaming them according to the profiles naming system to keep it simple. not sure if that would work though long term.

It should work, only thing I'm considering now is the Bodyslide files. If you want to have different body presets in each profile, you'll need to build every file into a separate output folder. This means using the step 8.3 to redirect all the generated files (both new and existing files*) into an specific folder (I would use Overwrite) and then move these files into separate mods named after each profile, so you can easily keep them enabled/disabled in each profile.

 

*: For this you would need to skip the "Create files in mod instead of overwrite", but in Bodyslide Settings->Advanced, the Output path should point to MO2\Overwrite. That way you can go to Profile-1, build everything once and get all the fils in Overwrite, then move them from Overwrite to another mod (right click on the left panel over Overwrite, "Create mod...") and name it after the profile you were using. Repeat for each profile. This will increase the file size of your mods considerably, but it's the only way to guarantee that your different presets will be shown properly in each profile.

[YojimboRatchet]

awesome. that clarified quite a bit for me, and i appreciate the time you took to answer (i may hit you up privately on the overwrite folder process when i get to that point, to make sure i am doing it right lol).

 

different question for you now on the tutorial for HDT (step 12).

 

you mention to install HDT-SMP after CBPC, but before Bodyslide and CBBE SE. the things is, inbetween CBPC and Bodyslide, you have 6 other mods listed (racemenu, FNIS, SKUI, JContainers and papyrus script extender). so where would HDT-SMP be placed in the order, or does it matter at all as long as it's between CBPC and Bodyslide  ?

[Just Don't]

18 minutes ago, YojimboRatchet said:

you mention to install HDT-SMP after CBPC, but before Bodyslide and CBBE SE. the things is, inbetween CBPC and Bodyslide, you have 6 other mods listed (racemenu, FNIS, SKUI, JContainers and papyrus script extender). so where would HDT-SMP be placed in the order, or does it matter at all as long as it's between CBPC and Bodyslide  ?

Doesn't matter really. HDT-SMP has no conflicting files, so the placement in the left panel is irrelevant. I put it near the top because I like to keep all my dll based mods together (unless there is a conflict that requires another placement, in this guide there is no need for that).

 

For the other mods, the initial order (from step 5) should be kept, only adding the new mods (HDT-SMP and CBBE 3BBB) in the mentioned places. I'll rewrite the step 12 instruction to simply say something like this: 

• HDT-SMP can be placed after CBPC
• CBBE 3BBB is placed after Bodyslide and CBBE SE
• Everything else remains the same.

[YojimboRatchet]

8 minutes ago, dontknowdontcaredontask said:

Doesn't matter really. HDT-SMP has no conflicting files, so the placement in the left panel is irrelevant

thanks

[YojimboRatchet]

On 1/9/2020 at 6:29 PM, dontknowdontcaredontask said:

Note: If you have an antivirus software installed I strongly recommend you to add this working folder to the exclusion list.

 

i use Windows Defender only. so i just add the "working folder" to the exclusion list in Defender only ? what about Firewall too for the folder ? i know how to add apps to inclusion / exclusion lists in both, but not sure about en empty folder (yeah i'm getting ready to do a full wipe and restart lol)

 

speaking of restarts, i did discover something which i think you might want to consider mentioning in your steps. Steam Cloud stores saves and files, and some don't automatically get wiped even after uninstalling the game. a user may or may not want to synch to the cloud, but being able to delete any files after uninstalling the game, as well as settings to synch or not to synch before even launching the game for the first time to generate the .ini files, might be something to consider ?

 

may also want to add "one Drive" to the cloud info too. windows adds this as an app, but it can be configured to never start or even synch. but any saves done in My Documents will auto be saved to One Drive otherwise. and the synch is constant. i have turned mine off now. but again, something to consider or people to think about maybe ?.

 

 

EDIT: just checked and noticed BethINI has a new version as of July 2020.  their install notes suggest to click the Default profile first before selecting the profile a user wants (ie low, med, high). not sure if that matters or not, but wanted to let you know just in case.

[Just Don't]

1 hour ago, YojimboRatchet said:

i use Windows Defender only. so i just add the "working folder" to the exclusion list in Defender only ? what about Firewall too for the folder ? i know how to add apps to inclusion / exclusion lists in both, but not sure about en empty folder (yeah i'm getting ready to do a full wipe and restart lol)

Yes, it should be enough to make an exclusion/exception in W. Defender. I've never had to touch the firewall settings while using any of the programs covered in this guide.

 

1 hour ago, YojimboRatchet said:

Steam Cloud ...  "one Drive"

Yeah, I should mention it (Steam Cloud was brought to my attention before, I forgot about it). I'll add a comment about it in step 1. Thanks for the suggestion, I don't use Steam cloud nor One Drive so it never occurred to me.

 

1 hour ago, YojimboRatchet said:

EDIT: just checked and noticed BethINI has a new version as of July 2020.  their install notes suggest to click the Default profile first before selecting the profile a user wants (ie low, med, high). not sure if that matters or not, but wanted to let you know just in case.

You mean this bit of instruction? ""4. Under the Basic tab, click the Default button in the Presets section to reset your INI files to its default state."". That shouldn't matter because BethINI is used right after generating the default ini files (which happens at the end of step 1 when the user launch Skyrim SE through Steam and the vanilla launcher says it'll detect the hardware and apply the recommended settings). I don't see any other changes, but thanks for letting me know so I can check it.

[YojimboRatchet]

awesome, thanks. you're answering every question i have so far to give me a better understanding of things, so it is appreciated. hope i'm helping you along the way as well lol.

 

quick off topic question. if someone wanted to add some things to that base set up from Part 5, like "hair", or "walking/running/combat" animations, or menu related mods (like add it item menu, and ui extentions for example), or the Papyrus utility mod, where would you stick those ?

 

so far with your answers and looking at things, i would put:

 

1. the animations right after FNIS (since the animations in question require FNIS)

2. the hair after the 3bbb body but before the skeleton

3, the papyrus utility right before the papyrus extender

4. the menu related ones i'd put after racemenu

 

am i close ?

 

(i'm also adding Sinful CPB right before 3bbb, and SOS Futanari right after SOS)

[Just Don't]

2 hours ago, YojimboRatchet said:

awesome, thanks. you're answering every question i have so far to give me a better understanding of things, so it is appreciated. hope i'm helping you along the way as well lol.

Actually yeah, it helps to get feedback or just general questions. That way I can improve or change the pertinent instructions.

 

2 hours ago, YojimboRatchet said:

quick off topic question. if someone wanted to add some things to that base set up from Part 5, like "hair", or "walking/running/combat" animations, or menu related mods (like add it item menu, and ui extentions for example), or the Papyrus utility mod, where would you stick those ?

I gave an approximate mod list order in step 11.2 (which I warn is in no way a hard rule and each user has to check for conflicts and tweak their mod list accordingly). Your ideas seem on point for what I suggest and personally use, although I have my UI mods before any of the character look related mods (like CBBE SE, skin textures or the animation stuff, but as I said, if there aren't any relevant conflicts it doesn't matter). When I talk about conflicts I mean the conflict flags (+ and - signs) and the Conflict tab in the mod information window:

Spoiler

The conflict flags allow you to easily spot when there are more than one mod providing the same files (and they're overwriting each other), if you select one (in the screenshot I had Fair Skin Complexion selected) the conflicting mods will be highlighted in green/red so you know which mods are being overwritten a quick glance. Then if you double click over any mod (again the example image shows Fair Skin Complexion) you'll see the info window, in the Conflict tabs there is a detailed list of every mod file that this mod overwrote (top part: Fair Skin is overwriting these files from CBBE SE), and another list of every file being overwritten by other mods (in this example Expressive Facegen Morphs SE is overwriting some Fair Skin Complexion textures, but I know this is fine because Expressive Facegen is providing textures compatible with Fair Skin).

 

 

 

[YojimboRatchet]

thanks for that example, it brings up something else i'd been really trying to figure out about these conflicts in MO2. i see the reds, the greens and the blues on occasion, but i really don't know what they mean or even more, how to understand if they are issues or not. is there a good way to tell or understand by looking at the conflicts to know if an overwritten file is ok or not ? or would something like this, when in doubt, be better asked in the appropriate mods thread, and hope someone answers it then ?

[Just Don't]

3 hours ago, YojimboRatchet said:

i really don't know what they mean or even more, how to understand if they are issues or not. is there a good way to tell or understand by looking at the conflicts to know if an overwritten file is ok or not ? or would something like this, when in doubt, be better asked in the appropriate mods thread, and hope someone answers it then ?

It would depend on the file type. If we're talking about textures or meshes, the differences between letting X mod overwrite Y mod might be purely aesthetic, so you'll have to think about which mod you want to see used in game. In other cases the conflicting files are repeated script or dll files. For example, if you installed PapyrusUtil as a standalone mod you'll see it conflicts with Sexlab, because Sexlab already contains a PapyrusUtil version, in this case you likely want to keep the standalone files (to ensure the game is using the latest one, because there are other mods that might provide an outdated version like Campfire). As I said, there are no hard rules about this. You'll need to check the conflicts and make your choice about which mod will overwrite the other. Anyway, the only cases in which you'll need to worry too much about this is if you're experiencing crashes or major issues on some mod feature. The most known example here is when people let the wrong mod overwrite your installed skeleton mods, which in most cases results in a CTD whenever an actor is naked (here you can say there is a hard rule, always use XPMSSE, never overwrite XPMSSE unless you use MNC, in which case use XPMSSE and only overwrite it with MNC).

 

3 hours ago, YojimboRatchet said:

blues on occasion

Never seen blue conflict  flags, what's that?

[Just Don't]

On 1/9/2020 at 8:29 PM, dontknowdontcaredontask said:

Before moving on, find "Sexlab Framework SE" in your left panel and double click over it. Go to the "Filetree" tab and expand the "Interface" folder, you'll find a console.swf file there which might conflict with other mods. Simply right click on console.swf and select "Hide", the file name will change to console.swf.mohidden, making it unusable by the game. This is the same as removing the file from the folder (moving it to other folder or simply deleting it) but with the added benefit of keeping the file in place (in case you need it in the future). To restore it all you have to do is right click over it and select Unhide, but for this file you should leave it as hidden.

 

Added this bit of instruction in step 5. Recommended to avoid conflicts with mods that change the console (like More Informative Console).