guide Skyrim AE for Beginners - V 3.1.0

[markvarley]

@Aylis some suggestions:

 

recent additions to my list;

Fish Plaque Fixes and Improvements
Word Wall Transparency Fix for ENB
Load Screen Shading Fix
Windhelm Entrance Offset Fix - Base Object Swapper
FYX - Water Mesh Optimization
Immersive Death Cycle

 

been using for quite a while;

Interesting NPCs SE (3DNPC)
Realistic Boat Bobbing SE
Real Bows SE - Standalone
Immersive Citizens - AI Overhaul SE
Immersive World Encounters
Extended Encounters
Completionist - Skyrim Completion Tracker
Complete Archery Overhaul RELOADED
Complete Archery Overhaul RELOADED - Arrows and Bolts Expanded
Rare Curios - Bolts Expanded

 

edit: ps, let me know if you'd prefer suggestions in a PM (if at all) ?

 

Edit edit pps: I was just looking at your screenshots and you mention it being too dangerous to get screenshots in a couple of places, why not use console commands? TCAI and TAI

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by markvarley

[alaunus01]

52 minutes ago, Aylis said:

[...]

Btw. Vilja isn't good? I wanted to look into her.

 

It shows its age. IIRC voicework is a tad better than Helgen Reborn. However I would not recommend her nowadays. At least not for repeated performances.

[YuFeng]

49 minutes ago, alaunus01 said:

It shows its age. IIRC voicework is a tad better than Helgen Reborn. However I would not recommend her nowadays. At least not for repeated performances.

 

Interesting. Which followers that are up to date would you recommend then?

[markvarley]

21 minutes ago, YuFeng said:

 

Interesting. Which followers that are up to date would you recommend then?

Have a look at Remiel, Light and Shade SE, Aniya, Secunda, Morgaine.

[wollboi]

@Aylis I'll pour one out for your birdies.

Spoiler

(But, yeah, it was distracting when they'd stand on nothing.)

Edited August 22, 2023 by wollboi

[Aylis]

160 screenshots later (not counting the ones i didn't use) and i'm still not finished...

 

Added Windhelm

Added Dawnstar

Added Kynesgrove

 

'RYFTEN Down' looks good and will be added to the guide.

'RYFTEN - Consistency of windows in Riften' fixes some bugs Bethesda never bothered to fix.

'Save Unbaker' is helping with savegames issues that might pop up otherwise.

_________________________________________________

 

Added instructions to 'Lakeview Manor - Upgrades Enhanced Edition'.

 

Finally got rid of a hole in Whiterun by replacing 'Eli's Breezehome' with another mod. For this we'll need the following mods:

HS Resources

Player Homes - Breezehome

Player Homes - Breezehome - LUX

 

While we're at it i'll be adding those too:

Player Homes - Honeyside

Player Homes - Honeyside - LUX

 

Added Morthal

Added Solitude

Added Dragon Bridge

__________________________________________________

 

But thats it for today. I've been working the whole day on screenshots for 'A journey through Skyrim' and only got one town missing that i could reach. This will be done tommorrow and then i can go through all the suggestions.

Edited August 22, 2023 by Aylis

[Jessica_Degurechaff]

5 hours ago, Aylis said:

160 screenshots later (not counting the ones i didn't use) and i'm still not finished...

 

Added Windhelm

Added Dawnstar

Added Kynesgrove

 

'RYFTEN Down' looks good and will be added to the guide.

'RYFTEN - Consistency of windows in Riften' fixes some bugs Bethesda never bothered to fix.

'Save Unbaker' is helping with savegames issues that might pop up otherwise.

_________________________________________________

 

Added instructions to 'Lakeview Manor - Upgrades Enhanced Edition'.

 

Finally got rid of a hole in Whiterun by replacing 'Eli's Breezehome' with another mod. For this we'll need the following mods:

HS Resources

Player Homes - Breezehome

Player Homes - Breezehome - LUX

 

While we're at it i'll be adding those too:

Player Homes - Honeyside

Player Homes - Honeyside - LUX

 

Added Morthal

Added Solitude

Added Dragon Bridge

__________________________________________________

 

But thats it for today. I've been working the whole day on screenshots for 'A journey through Skyrim' and only got one town missing that i could reach. This will be done tommorrow and then i can go through all the suggestions.

 

Are those edits already made? i just want to check since im about to run dyndolod

 

edit: seems like not, sorry for asking lol

Edited August 22, 2023 by Jessica_Degurechaff

[Aylis]

O.o

 

Those were two headache inducing days. Suddenly i had white spots in Whiterun where the blending between rocks and the ground stopped working.

Textures? No.

Settings? No.

One of the new mods? No

Season? Yes, here's the culprit...

 

So i made a run without seasons. And everything is fine (even with the old save that had issues before). Running around i saw how much 'Seasonal Landscapes' actually changes. Lets just say it also completely changes things it shouldn't touch. The Gildergreen, for example, gets wrecked by it. Wall sections get replaced and so much much more... Another thing is that a lot of the grassy overgrowth seems to be caused by it as well.

 

In the end i will have to remove 'Seasons'. I was always wondering why so many other guides skip it. I guess i just found the answer for that...

 

Thanks to @CokeToes we can now use Nithi's 'Cougar Project'. I wanted to use them, but most of them caused problems. Now i know what mod 'broke' the replacers.

[alaunus01]

On 5/8/2023 at 12:48 PM, alaunus01 said:

A couple thoughts on that seasonal [Landscapes] addition. [...]

 [...]lots of landscape edits. That will turn out well ?

 

6 hours ago, Aylis said:

O.o

 

Those were two headache inducing days. Suddenly i had white spots in Whiterun where the blending between rocks and the ground stopped working.

Textures? No.

Settings? No.

One of the new mods? No

Season? Yes, here's the culprit...

 

So i made a run without seasons. And everything is fine (even with the old save that had issues before). Running around i saw how much 'Seasonal Landscapes' actually changes. Lets just say it also completely changes things it shouldn't touch. The Gildergreen, for example, gets wrecked by it. Wall sections get replaced and so much much more... Another thing is that a lot of the grassy overgrowth seems to be caused by it as well.

 

In the end i will have to remove 'Seasons'. I was always wondering why so many other guides skip it. I guess i just found the answer for that...

[...]

 

Are we tossing ALL the season or only the Seasonal Landscapes addition from May?

[Aylis]

1 hour ago, alaunus01 said:

Are we tossing ALL the season or only the Seasonal Landscapes addition from May?

All. It seems that the landscapes cause this error and and apparently one with meshes for the fern reach and tundra cotton too.

Spoiler

 

On the positive side running DynDOLOD only takes a quarter of the time and we can use the newest version of the tree mod. But i have to fix floating mushrooms and find a good grass mod. Vanilla grass is not that good... ?

Spoiler

 

[Varithina]

35 minutes ago, Aylis said:

All. It seems that the landscapes cause this error and and apparently one with meshes for the fern reach and tundra cotton too.

 

On the positive side running DynDOLOD only takes a quarter of the time and we can use the newest version of the tree mod. But i have to fix floating mushrooms and find a good grass mod. Vanilla grass is not that good... ?

 

 

Hmm, time to stop trying to get DynDOLOD to run then, I will wait till after the new update, and that is after just going through the list and redoing it over the last couple of days, and just today getting it to try to run again, meh, I just got the new saints row game on steam as well as the remastered 3 so games to play.

[Bigglsby]

1 hour ago, Aylis said:

On the positive side running DynDOLOD only takes a quarter of the time and we can use the newest version of the tree mod. But i have to fix floating mushrooms and find a good grass mod. Vanilla grass is not that good... ?

 

 

Since I already went down this path for seasons and grass, I'll throw in my little exp. 

The option that may get you closest to what you had with Seasonal Landscapes is a collection and patch:  https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/67785

For myself, I opted for one and done, and looks pretty good:  https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/26293

 

Good luck on the hunt though, there are lots of individual, as well as mix and match options and patches..  :)

 

And I was also really happy with shorter DynDOLOD runs (and less frequent crashes as well).

 

Also with the good tree mod you're working with, I had noticed in the posts that there is an incorrect/missing texture in the most recent version - for burnt logs (if I recall correctly).  There was a user that posted an addon with the missing texture pulled from an earlier version of the mod.  Just FYI as you're digging into that too. 

[Aylis]

@Bigglsby

You nailed it. Thats the perfect combination for the look i was aiming for. ?

Spoiler

__________________________________________________

 

But there will be a few more casualties along the way...

 

'Ryn's Bleakwind Basin' is broken again (yep, tried to fix that). So i have to remove it as well.

Spoiler

 

To fix a problem with mushrooms we need a patch. Which, of course, needs a prerequisite that isn't compatible with CACO.

Spoiler

 

'Halla' fits in nicely.

Spoiler

But it is overgrown quite a bit.

Spoiler

__________________________________________________

 

Momentary outlook

Spoiler

Seasons

Folkvangr - Grass and Landscape Overhaul

Folkvangr for ENB Complex Grass

QW's Grass Patch 2 - Origins of Forest - Cathedral - Folkvangr

QW Grass 2 for ENB Complex Grass Patch

Seasonal Aspen Trees

Shrubs of Snow - Seasons of Skyrim

Seasonal Aspen Trees - Shrubs of Snow Patch

Turn of the Seasons

Seasonal Landscapes

Seasonal Aspen Trees - Turn of Seasons Patch

Seasonal Landscape - Additions

Seasonal Landscapes - High Poly Project Patch

Seasons of Skyrim - Less Snowy Shacks

Seasons of Skyrim - Remove Unwanted Grass (Like No Grassias)

Seasonal Landscapes - Whiterun Objects SMIMed Patch

Seasonal Landscapes for ENB Complex Grass

Seasonal Unique Flowers and Plants

Ryn's Bleakwind Basin

Ryn's Bleakwind Basin - Skyshards Patch

HS Resources

Breezehome

Eli's Breezehome - Aquariums Addon (FishingCC)

Player Homes - Breezehome

Player Homes - Honeyside

Better Harvesting

Nature of the Wild Lands - Better Harvesting Patch

Complete Alchemy & Cooking Overhaul

Complete Alchemy and Cooking Overhaul - Settings Loader

CACO - Add Fish

CACO - Dragonflies

CACO - Giant Lichen

CACO - Mountain Flowers Patch

CACO - Seasonal landscapes patch

CACO - Upgraded Mortars

CACO - Patches

FYX - Coal in the Shovel

FYX - Shack Kit Walls (Collision)

FYX - Shack Kit Walls (BOS)

FYX - Shack Kit Walls (Bos and LUX)

FYX - Water Mesh Optimization (32 seems to be fine)

?Read the description.

FYX - Whiterun Drawbridge Gate

Seasonal Landscapes - FYX - 3D Whiterun Tree Circle Patch

Player Homes - Breezehome - LUX

Player Homes - Honeyside - LUX

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by Aylis

[YuFeng]

Hmm I just looked over the better harvest and the patch file there and there are only about 5-10 mushrooms that are moved around by it and I don't think it changes the landscape? So why don't we keep CACO and just make a small patch that moves the mushrooms accordingly like it does in the better harvest?

[alaunus01]

5 hours ago, Aylis said:

@Bigglsby

[...]To fix a problem with mushrooms we need a patch. Which, of course, needs a prerequisite that isn't compatible with CACO.[...]

 

12 minutes ago, YuFeng said:

Hmm I just looked over the better harvest and the patch file there and there are only about 5-10 mushrooms that are moved around by it and I don't think it changes the landscape? So why don't we keep CACO and just make a small patch that moves the mushrooms accordingly like it does in the better harvest?

 

If the only thing that patch does is move some stuff around one probably could use a fake empty master again like we did with the ryn's farm patch.

[YuFeng]

I did move over the mushroom and stuff position edits and made two patches that probably might work:

 

 

CACO - Flying Mushroom Patch.esp CACO - Nature of the Wild Lands Patch.esp

 

Since Nature of the Wild Lands is optional I made two patches. Both fix the mushroom positions.

Edited August 25, 2023 by YuFeng

[Aylis]

2 hours ago, YuFeng said:

I did move over the mushroom and stuff position edits and made two patches that probably might work:

I'll check them out.

 

But i was considering to remove CACO anyway. It adds a lot of plants in positions where they float in the air (like the ones at the smaller entrance to Raven Rock).

__________________________________________________

 

Sadly the grass precache files don't work out with 'Whiterun Outskirts'. Lots of floating grass at the apple plantage (similar to the floating grass at Bleakwind).

 

Next rerun of DynDOLOD...

Edited August 25, 2023 by Aylis

[YuFeng]

Mh that would be much more work since we'd have to check ever plant that gets added by caco then. My patches only cover plants that were already there after all. Do you know if they are wrong by default or is it caused by one of the mods we use and if so which one is it?

 

 

Edit: Also it might be feasible to run Better Harvest together with Apothecary and Gourmet.

Edited August 25, 2023 by YuFeng

[Aylis]

22 minutes ago, YuFeng said:

Mh that would be much more work since we'd have to check ever plant that gets added by caco then. My patches only cover plants that were already there after all. Do you know if they are wrong by default or is it caused by one of the mods we use and if so which one is it?

We have a lot of changes in the landscape. So it is almost any mod that does so (Ryn, JK, and so many more). Even the CCC Rare Curios adds some additional plants, thankfiully the misplacement with this mod is rare and mostly in corners you won't get to (so you usually don't get to see them).

 

With the floating mushrooms it is way too obvious to be ignored. 

__________________________________________________

 

Uploaded the modified ini for 'Rudy ENB'. Now everything looks like it should.

[YuFeng]

Yeah then it doesn't seem to be possible to keep caco unless someone can load all mods into the ck without it exploding and then check and move all caco plants one by one. 

[Jessica_Degurechaff]

@Aylis Yup, since even my second install on AE i never bother with seasons unless im going for a very minimalistic modlist. It adds too much variance to take into account.
CACO on the other hand i never had issues with and always try to squeeze it onto modded lists,  but ill take your word for it.

Any ETA for the next update? 

[Galtor]

I am really loving the feel and immersion from your guide.

 

I followed your guide and when I enable CC survival mode...

  ... my carry weight is zero. 

 

By default my carry weight is already reduced to 150

 

I've dug through the mod configs and have not found anything suspicious.

 

Do you know what is causing this?  (I know last time I ran into this it was Sexlab Survival.... but I did not install it for this new game)

[Aylis]

A few screenies

Spoiler

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by Aylis

[YuFeng]

Looks very good.

[kesryth]

13 hours ago, Aylis said:

Momentary outlook

  Reveal hidden contents

Seasons

Folkvangr - Grass and Landscape Overhaul

Folkvangr for ENB Complex Grass

QW's Grass Patch 2 - Origins of Forest - Cathedral - Folkvangr

QW Grass 2 for ENB Complex Grass Patch

Seasonal Aspen Trees

Shrubs of Snow - Seasons of Skyrim

Seasonal Aspen Trees - Shrubs of Snow Patch

Turn of the Seasons

Seasonal Landscapes

Seasonal Aspen Trees - Turn of Seasons Patch

Seasonal Landscape - Additions

Seasonal Landscapes - High Poly Project Patch

Seasons of Skyrim - Less Snowy Shacks

Seasons of Skyrim - Remove Unwanted Grass (Like No Grassias)

Seasonal Landscapes - Whiterun Objects SMIMed Patch

Seasonal Landscapes for ENB Complex Grass

Seasonal Unique Flowers and Plants

Ryn's Bleakwind Basin

Ryn's Bleakwind Basin - Skyshards Patch

HS Resources

Breezehome

Eli's Breezehome - Aquariums Addon (FishingCC)

Player Homes - Breezehome

Player Homes - Honeyside

Better Harvesting

Nature of the Wild Lands - Better Harvesting Patch

Complete Alchemy & Cooking Overhaul

Complete Alchemy and Cooking Overhaul - Settings Loader

CACO - Add Fish

CACO - Dragonflies

CACO - Giant Lichen

CACO - Mountain Flowers Patch

CACO - Seasonal landscapes patch

CACO - Upgraded Mortars

CACO - Patches

FYX - Coal in the Shovel

FYX - Shack Kit Walls (Collision)

FYX - Shack Kit Walls (BOS)

FYX - Shack Kit Walls (Bos and LUX)

FYX - Water Mesh Optimization (32 seems to be fine)

?Read the description.

FYX - Whiterun Drawbridge Gate

Seasonal Landscapes - FYX - 3D Whiterun Tree Circle Patch

Player Homes - Breezehome - LUX

Player Homes - Honeyside - LUX

 

@Aylis what are your thoughts on Apothecary?

Edited August 25, 2023 by kesryth