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Post by AnDromedary on Jun 15, 2023 17:46:43 GMT
Ok, kids, I am embarking on the endeavor of preparing my Skyrim for some playtime this summer as I am waiting for Starfield to drop. My plan was to start with STEP and then go from there with the addition of some immersive lootable armor and weapon mods. Has anyone done a STEP install before and/or has any tips or recommendations for lore friendly non-gameplay-changing additional mods that are really worth it? STEP I only use to look at it for mod organizer setup and the bug fix mods. I mostly go to reddit/skyrimmods and search for "best mod doing X" and pick the ones I like out of that for the rest. Ah ok. Thing is, I don't really want my mods to "do" that much at all. I kinda want to maintain the vanilla experience, just with mostly better visuals and some additions to equipment, armor, weapons and such.
For example, in my last modding extravaganza a couple of years ago, I installed "Immersive creatures" because the description sounded like it would just add variety to ... well, the creatures. Turned out, it actually added a buttload of encounters to the game, sometimes with ridiculously overpowered monsters, etc. I don't want any of that but just a nicer looking immersive Skyrim experience. From everything I've read, STEP is a good baseline for that at least on the visual side. Hope I am not worng. It's quite the commitment to install that beast.
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Post by Kappa Neko on Jun 15, 2023 19:27:14 GMT
So many awesome new mods that improve the visuals come out all the time, I can't keep track of it anymore. I started a new mod list last year, this time for the special edition and I was completely overwhelmed. Too many choices now. It felt like a complete noob again. I stopped because I decided to upgrade my PC first before going crazy with it again. What I did was watch YouTube videos and then take their mod lists as a base. In my case it was this mod pack here. (I hope I got the hyperlink right on my phone...) The install was completely messed up though. So I did a manual install of the stuff I liked and ignored the stuff I disliked like the NPC overhaul. The ENB also didn't work properly somehow. Never had issues with ENBs before. No idea what I did wrong. So I got a different one. But since then even better stuff has come out. I can probably start over again when I get back to it. First time I did a lore friendly visual overhaul in 2014, which was also my first modding experience, the ENB page had a full mod list with detailed instructions and I just went with it. Worked flawlessly. Since I've done super lore friendly before I wanted something a little different this time. I was focusing on town overhauls. I spend a stupid amount of time making several stuff work together. Required like 20 patches but it turned out pretty great except for some minor instances of bad terrain seams and a few floating laterns. If you want an easy time just do a nice texture pack like Pfuscher, a water mod and a flora mod, maybe an ENB, and be done with it. I've seen super pretty showcase that use only like 20 mods.
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Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
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Post by azarhal on Jun 15, 2023 21:42:48 GMT
STEP I only use to look at it for mod organizer setup and the bug fix mods. I mostly go to reddit/skyrimmods and search for "best mod doing X" and pick the ones I like out of that for the rest. Ah ok. Thing is, I don't really want my mods to "do" that much at all. I kinda want to maintain the vanilla experience, just with mostly better visuals and some additions to equipment, armor, weapons and such.
For example, in my last modding extravaganza a couple of years ago, I installed "Immersive creatures" because the description sounded like it would just add variety to ... well, the creatures. Turned out, it actually added a buttload of encounters to the game, sometimes with ridiculously overpowered monsters, etc. I don't want any of that but just a nicer looking immersive Skyrim experience. From everything I've read, STEP is a good baseline for that at least on the visual side. Hope I am not worng. It's quite the commitment to install that beast. There is a lot of Skyrim mod lists out there. There is even a tool to download some of them for you Wabbajack (https://www.wabbajack.org/, I never use it so I'm not sure how well it works). STEP is just full of stuff that you don't necessarily need. But saying that, you don't need to install everything it list either. And it's always a commitment to install Skyrim mods. That's why I do not uninstall it even if I spend months not playing it.
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Post by AnDromedary on Jun 15, 2023 21:59:33 GMT
And it's always a commitment to install Skyrim mods. That's why I do not uninstall it even if I spend months not playing it. Yeah, true. But this is actually the first time I am really seriously modding the Special Edition. My first modding list was still from Oldrim and the only time I modded to the SE extensively was actually for the VR version. I actually tried to just pull that list over to the SE yesterday but it doesn't work well because there is too much VR specific stuff in it. So since I have to do it from scratch for the non-VR version I thought I'd give it a fresh go. If I get something good going, I'll certainly save that as well. But then, as Kappa Neko said, next time around, there'll probably be a whole bunch of new mods to try.
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Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
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Post by azarhal on Jun 15, 2023 22:35:18 GMT
If I get something good going, I'll certainly save that as well. But then, as Kappa Neko said, next time around, there'll probably be a whole bunch of new mods to try. Use Mod Organizer 2 (which STEP use), easy to make backups or different mod lists for the same game. You can even manage saves with it and execute all the mod tools via its interface. I couldn't live (my modding game life) without it.
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Post by Kappa Neko on Jun 16, 2023 6:12:52 GMT
I tried MO2 and could never get the hang of it. I'm using Vortex for the first time and that works fine so far except sorting the plugins. This stupid thing won't just let me load them the way I want. It will only allow to change groups of plugins relative to each other but I haven't figured out yet how to put a plugin exactly where I want it to load, like at the very bottom. I get the cyclical error all the time. Man, manually sorting my plugins in the txt file for FO4 is easier than this, lol. I even tried changing the load order in said txt file for Skyrim and Vortex will reorganize it the way it deems best. Maddening!
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Post by AnDromedary on Jun 16, 2023 14:51:52 GMT
I tried MO2 and could never get the hang of it. I'm using Vortex for the first time and that works fine so far except sorting the plugins. This stupid thing won't just let me load them the way I want. It will only allow to change groups of plugins relative to each other but I haven't figured out yet how to put a plugin exactly where I want it to load, like at the very bottom. I get the cyclical error all the time. Man, manually sorting my plugins in the txt file for FO4 is easier than this, lol. I even tried changing the load order in said txt file for Skyrim and Vortex will reorganize it the way it deems best. Maddening! Have you been using LOOT? That’s been my goto for load orders for a while and seems to work fine. Just run it after you set things up in the mod manager of your choice. In other news, I did Step‘s initial setup yesterday. So far so good. Now the downloading and installing is in progress… 😅
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Post by Kappa Neko on Jun 16, 2023 16:45:08 GMT
Have you been using LOOT? That’s been my goto for load orders for a while and seems to work fine. Just run it after you set things up in the mod manager of your choice. LOOT is part of Vortex now. You can't not use it, that's the problem. LOOT is fine 99% of the time but not always. And for those instances where you need to add a rule to the plugin order is when all the headache starts for me. I guess that's why most serious modders don't use Vortex. Load order can get really complex and require some adjustments that LOOT doesn't understand. I'll see how far I get with Vortex. Might not touch Skyrim again until sometime next year. So I'll put off fretting until then. Unless Starfield is a major disappointment and I'd rather get into Skyrim again, lol.
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Post by AnDromedary on Jun 16, 2023 16:47:04 GMT
Have you been using LOOT? That’s been my goto for load orders for a while and seems to work fine. Just run it after you set things up in the mod manager of your choice. LOOT is part of Vortex now. You can't not use it, that's the problem. LOOT is fine 99% of the time but not always. And for those instances where you need to add a rule to the plugin order is when all the headache starts for me. I guess that's why most serious modders don't use Vortex. Load order can get really complex and require some adjustments that LOOT doesn't understand. I'll see how far I get with Vortex. Might not touch Skyrim again until sometime next year. So I'll put off fretting until then. Unless Starfield is a major disappointment and I'd rather get into Skyrim again, lol. Oh ok, last time I did modding they still had Nexus Mod Manager. Now I am also using MO2, which still lets you use LOOT as a separate program.
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N6
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
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Post by azarhal on Jun 16, 2023 17:25:27 GMT
LOOT is part of Vortex now. You can't not use it, that's the problem. LOOT is fine 99% of the time but not always. And for those instances where you need to add a rule to the plugin order is when all the headache starts for me. I guess that's why most serious modders don't use Vortex. Load order can get really complex and require some adjustments that LOOT doesn't understand. I'll see how far I get with Vortex. Might not touch Skyrim again until sometime next year. So I'll put off fretting until then. Unless Starfield is a major disappointment and I'd rather get into Skyrim again, lol. Oh ok, last time I did modding they still had Nexus Mod Manager. Now I am also using MO2, which still lets you use LOOT as a separate program. With MO2 you need to run all the modding tools in it. Because your installed mods are actually on a virtual drive in not on your Skyrim install Data folder. You also need to edit the config files for mods and Skyrim via MO2 otherwise you won't see the change. The advantage is that you can never screw up our Skyrim install (the only thing you install in it is the base SKSE), the disadvantage is that things like Nemesis which are half mods/half modding tools are a PITA to run because you need to install some of its files on the real Skyrim installation manually despite running the tool in MO2 and the result being saved on the virtual drive.
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Post by AnDromedary on Jun 20, 2023 14:46:08 GMT
Ok, I am done. Basically did the Step list and a few extra mods, mainly to add some weapons and armor to the game (Immersive, lore friendly stuff). I have really only played Skyrim extensively after it's initial release in 2011, so I am looking forward to going through an improved Vanilla experience again and doing the DLCs as well for the first time. Should be a nice thing to do to shorten the wait for Starfield. Everything seems to work so far but I haven't really started my game yet, just did some performance testing. I only have an HD screen, so it's in 1080p and I mostly used 2K textures only, barely any 4K but this means the setup with highest BethINI, ENB and highest custom LOD settings consistently runs at 60FPS on my mid-range rig. Overall, I am quite happy with how it looks so far. Here are some screenshots from my testing efforts. Might post more as I start my actual run. Time to go adventuring!
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Post by AnDromedary on Jun 27, 2023 16:43:07 GMT
While exploring yesterday, I listened to "A Dance in Fire" (I have the "Audiobooks of Skyrim" mod installed, which I can totally recommend). I never payed much attention to the books in the TES games. I never wanted to take such long breaks during gaming, just to read a book on my PC screen. But with the audiobooks mod, I now get to experience some of them and "A Dance in Fire" was surprisingly fun. If you like the TES lore and haven't read it yet, give it a go. It's a dark comedy about an imperial clerk who is fired from his job and is bamboozled by a former colleague to travel to Valenwood in order to broker a bit of a shady deal there. His adventures there are a lot of fun and the descriptions of Valenwood sound interesting, kind of reminded me of Morrowind/Vvardenfell in some of the weirdness that's going on there. Wouldn't mind seeing that province in a future TES game.
Next up on the list is the sequel The Argonian Account.
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Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
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Post by ergates on Jul 5, 2023 18:42:00 GMT
I tried MO2 and could never get the hang of it. I'm using Vortex for the first time and that works fine so far except sorting the plugins. This stupid thing won't just let me load them the way I want. It will only allow to change groups of plugins relative to each other but I haven't figured out yet how to put a plugin exactly where I want it to load, like at the very bottom. I get the cyclical error all the time. Man, manually sorting my plugins in the txt file for FO4 is easier than this, lol. I even tried changing the load order in said txt file for Skyrim and Vortex will reorganize it the way it deems best. Maddening! That's precisely why I still use the old Nexus Mod Manager. It's simple, it's straightforward, it gives me fine control over my load order and it works.
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Post by Kappa Neko on Jul 6, 2023 5:51:24 GMT
I tried MO2 and could never get the hang of it. I'm using Vortex for the first time and that works fine so far except sorting the plugins. This stupid thing won't just let me load them the way I want. It will only allow to change groups of plugins relative to each other but I haven't figured out yet how to put a plugin exactly where I want it to load, like at the very bottom. I get the cyclical error all the time. Man, manually sorting my plugins in the txt file for FO4 is easier than this, lol. I even tried changing the load order in said txt file for Skyrim and Vortex will reorganize it the way it deems best. Maddening! That's precisely why I still use the old Nexus Mod Manager. It's simple, it's straightforward, it gives me fine control over my load order and it works. That is sadly not possible. My NMM had a weird error message whenever I tried to load it and I could never get it fixed without fucking up my mod list by reinstalling. So that's why I've been modding FO4 manually for years. For that game it's super easy. Skyrim really does need a mod manager. So my old Skyrim setup sits untouched because of broken NMM and the Special Edition I'm trying to get working with Vortex now and it's a learning experience...
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Post by AnDromedary on Jul 8, 2023 15:07:55 GMT
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N5
Games: Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Origin: Talyn82
PSN: Talyn82
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Post by talyn82 on Jul 14, 2023 3:14:30 GMT
I've been a long time Elder Scrolls fan since Morrowind. What are your top three games and why?
1) Morrowind: Best game in the series I've played thus far, and it was the last game in the series with an interesting villain. I love the history and lore of Morrowind. I enjoyed reading the various in game accounts about what really happened at 'The Battle of Red Mountain.' I love the rivalry between the Imperial factions such as the Imperial Cult and the native factions like the Tribunal Temple. Two of my favorite factions are in this game. Great House Telvanni and Great House Redoran. I invested thousands of hours in this game. Played 3 years on original Xbox, then when I discovered mods I played another 7 years on PC. But unlike the later games I can get as much enjoyment out of the vanilla game as with a modded game. I can go on and on about how much I love this game but it would take up too much space. Oh and those who think it's just nostalgia speaking I still play to this day.
2) Oblivion: The main quest I only completed once and I found Mankar Camoran to be somewhat interesting but not as interesting as Dagoth Ur. I enjoyed the faction storylines such as the Dark Brotherhood. But what cemented this game as my number two is the 'Shivering Isles' expansion. Probably Bethesda's best expansion. But what keeps this game alive is the community. Don't get me wrong Morrowind still has a thriving modding community, but in my opinion Morrowind is just as good vanilla as with mods. Oblivion gets better with mods. Such things such as the atrocious broken level scaling and weird npc faces can be fixed with mods.
3) Skyrim: This game I have invested over a thousand hours into it. Why then is it in 3rd place? Because like Oblivion it has a weak main quest, and unlike Oblivion and Morrowind the factions without mods are too short and boring. I did enjoy the dlc's though like Dawnguard and Dragonborn. Dragonborn was great cause we got to go back to Solstheim, and see my Dunmer rise to prominence, but what killed it was that I had to be Dragonborn to fully enjoy it. The gameplay is much better and graphics are better. But like Oblivion the game is only re-playable with mods, and Skyrim has a big modding community which releases a bunch of new mods weekly. So those are my top three.
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Post by AnDromedary on Jul 14, 2023 18:55:00 GMT
I've been a long time Elder Scrolls fan since Morrowind. What are your top three games and why? 1) Morrowind: Best game in the series I've played thus far, and it was the last game in the series with an interesting villain. I love the history and lore of Morrowind. I enjoyed reading the various in game accounts about what really happened at 'The Battle of Red Mountain.' I love the rivalry between the Imperial factions such as the Imperial Cult and the native factions like the Tribunal Temple. Two of my favorite factions are in this game. Great House Telvanni and Great House Redoran. I invested thousands of hours in this game. Played 3 years on original Xbox, then when I discovered mods I played another 7 years on PC. But unlike the later games I can get as much enjoyment out of the vanilla game as with a modded game. I can go on and on about how much I love this game but it would take up too much space. Oh and those who think it's just nostalgia speaking I still play to this day. 2) Oblivion: The main quest I only completed once and I found Mankar Camoran to be somewhat interesting but not as interesting as Dagoth Ur. I enjoyed the faction storylines such as the Dark Brotherhood. But what cemented this game as my number two is the 'Shivering Isles' expansion. Probably Bethesda's best expansion. But what keeps this game alive is the community. Don't get me wrong Morrowind still has a thriving modding community, but in my opinion Morrowind is just as good vanilla as with mods. Oblivion gets better with mods. Such things such as the atrocious broken level scaling and weird npc faces can be fixed with mods. 3) Skyrim: This game I have invested over a thousand hours into it. Why then is it in 3rd place? Because like Oblivion it has a weak main quest, and unlike Oblivion and Morrowind the factions without mods are too short and boring. I did enjoy the dlc's though like Dawnguard and Dragonborn. Dragonborn was great cause we got to go back to Solstheim, and see my Dunmer rise to prominence, but what killed it was that I had to be Dragonborn to fully enjoy it. The gameplay is much better and graphics are better. But like Oblivion the game is only re-playable with mods, and Skyrim has a big modding community which releases a bunch of new mods weekly. So those are my top three. I know this is a bit of a controversial opinion but my #1 is Oblivion. I loved the pretty high fantasy setting and I didn't mind that it was pretty generic. n fact, that was a positive in my book. I just liked all the shiny bits (the water, the armors, etc. Everything seemed to be glittering and those specular shaders were pretty new at the time. I also think Cyrodyl was quite diverse (compare the golden fields of Colovia with the deep green forests and meadows of the Niben valleys or the swamp areas down south near Blackmarch. And yeah, the main quest wasn't that great but the faction quests were very cool and the for me, the quests in TES games are more of a way to get me to explore the world anyway. I think for that, they do work, both in Skyrim and in Oblivion. I am really looking forward to Skyblivion and hope they'll actually manage to complete it eventually.
2) Skyrim: I am not very fond of the nordic setting. It just doesn't provide the variety, an Oblivion had. The world in Skyrim is actually a bit samey. Sure, there are those different biomes with the tundra of Whiterun, the snowy north and the indian summer style Riften but still, it doesn't come close to Oblivion's variety. Also, I didn't like that dull feel of things. Even metal surfaces are dull, there are basically no reflections in Skyrim (compare to what I wrote about Oblivion above). Of course, that does fit the nordic viking setting but I just don't quite like that look so much. However, Skyrim has very nice gameplay and both the leveling of the enmies and the character are much improved.
And I agree, mods make a huge difference in both Oblivion and Skyrim but that is not a negative IMO. Why would I care about the vanilla version when the mods do exist?
3) Morrowind: It was a fantastic game. It's mainly number 3 because it does show it's age, both visually and in terms of a lot of its gameplay. Even back then, I wasn't really a fan of the wikipedia like dialogue. But the world was the most unique of the TES games so far for sure and it was pretty revolutionary in some aspects in ti's time. I played the heck out of it back then. I am just not sure I'd still want to to play it these days.
4) Daggerfall: If I had played it when it came out, I am sure I'd have loved it but it was a bit before my time. I did give it a go later but it was just too hard to really get into long term.
And that's it, that's my list.
Also, on a silly note, here is a screenshot of a recent play session of mine in Skyrim, where I decapitated some evil conjurer and his head just happened to land exactly right on an alchemy table. I felt like I should have used it for some ritual or something.
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talyn82
N5
Games: Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Origin: Talyn82
PSN: Talyn82
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Post by talyn82 on Jul 16, 2023 10:50:13 GMT
AnDromedary I also enjoy the high fantasy setting of Oblivion I always enjoyed the scenery. Coming from Morrowind which was barren and some parts were full of ash. Oblivion's setting was/is beautiful. The factions storylines were great. The Dark Brotherhood and Mages Guild are my favorites. Never tried the Fighters Guild or the Thieves Guild. The Shivering Isles expansion is great for megalomaniacs like myself lol. The only thing holding Oblivion back is the poor main quest and potato head npcs's. But fortunately there are mods for that. As for Morrowind. Yes it shows it's age but luckily there are mods for that too. Daggerfall I got the game for free in a bundle when I bought Morrowind and Oblivion @ GOG.com. I used mods that updated the engine squashed the bugs that were notorious, and enhanced the graphics. I never played it when it was first released. But I did play a bit for the first time two years ago and it was pretty fun. The cities are ridiculously huge, and the world map is just as huge. You can get the game with the enhancing mods installed from GOG.com for free. www.gog.com/en/game/daggerfall_unity_gog_cut
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Post by dazk on Jul 24, 2023 5:10:41 GMT
Hey AnDromedary I have followed all the steps in the guide without any trouble but am up to the part where it says to download the xLODGen file but am unsure which one in the long list to download. I have created the folder for it. Page stepmodifications.org/forum/forum/223-dyndolod-xlodgen/I think I am not understanding what this does and that is why I don't know what file to choose. Is it this one: EDIT: OK so I think I get it this is an optional tool and using it sounds way too complicated for me. So I can just skip this step? I have set up all the other folders and downloaded the files to them but again I have no real idea yet what they are for and the next step is to set-up MO. Can I do that without the xLODGen thing?
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Post by AnDromedary on Jul 24, 2023 7:16:24 GMT
Hey AnDromedary I have followed all the steps in the guide without any trouble but am up to the part where it says to download the xLODGen file but am unsure which one in the long list to download. I have created the folder for it. Page stepmodifications.org/forum/forum/223-dyndolod-xlodgen/I think I am not understanding what this does and that is why I don't know what file to choose. Is it this one: EDIT: OK so I think I get it this is an optional tool and using it sounds way too complicated for me. So I can just skip this step? I have set up all the other folders and downloaded the files to them but again I have no real idea yet what they are for and the next step is to set-up MO. Can I do that without the xLODGen thing? Yes you can skip it but it's really not that much of a big deal. Just use the version they link in the System Setup guide. Well, in the guide, they link to one of theor forum pages that then links to the download for xLODGen.
For reference, this is the part of the system setup guide I mean:
This is the forum page they link to:
And thyis is the download they link to in there:
So you can just use that.
And no, you don't need xLODGen until the very end of the modding process. The program is basically used to generate more detailed LODs (level of detail maps) for textures of objects in the distance. You can play without it of course. Running through the LOD generating processs at the end just makes the game look a little nicer, especially in open areas.
If you go through the STEP list, you'll see that xLODGen (as well as DynDOLOD) is only used at the very end. I'd recommend going through the guide once before actually following the install instructions. This will give you a better idea of the process as a whole and you'll better understand when and for what all the tools are used. Some of them (like xEdit for example) are barely ever used at all in this process but for example I found their guidelines about using BethIni to set up the ini files properly very useful.
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Post by dazk on Jul 24, 2023 10:20:59 GMT
Hey AnDromedary I have followed all the steps in the guide without any trouble but am up to the part where it says to download the xLODGen file but am unsure which one in the long list to download. I have created the folder for it. Page stepmodifications.org/forum/forum/223-dyndolod-xlodgen/I think I am not understanding what this does and that is why I don't know what file to choose. Is it this one: EDIT: OK so I think I get it this is an optional tool and using it sounds way too complicated for me. So I can just skip this step? I have set up all the other folders and downloaded the files to them but again I have no real idea yet what they are for and the next step is to set-up MO. Can I do that without the xLODGen thing? Yes you can skip it but it's really not that much of a big deal. Just use the version they link in the System Setup guide. Well, in the guide, they link to one of theor forum pages that then links to the download for xLODGen.
For reference, this is the part of the system setup guide I mean:
This is the forum page they link to:
And thyis is the download they link to in there:
So you can just use that.
And no, you don't need xLODGen until the very end of the modding process. The program is basically used to generate more detailed LODs (level of detail maps) for textures of objects in the distance. You can play without it of course. Running through the LOD generating processs at the end just makes the game look a little nicer, especially in open areas.
If you go through the STEP list, you'll see that xLODGen (as well as DynDOLOD) is only used at the very end. I'd recommend going through the guide once before actually following the install instructions. This will give you a better idea of the process as a whole and you'll better understand when and for what all the tools are used. Some of them (like xEdit for example) are barely ever used at all in this process but for example I found their guidelines about using BethIni to set up the ini files properly very useful.
I have read and been following the guide to install the all the other things it was just the xLODGen thing that just directed me to a list of a whole heap of files. Not up to the DynDOLOD bit yet but maybe I missed it as the guide I was following the next step is setting up MOR, profiles etc. It's late here, I'll check out the links you provided tomorrow. Thanks for that.
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ergates
N3
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
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Post by ergates on Jul 24, 2023 18:56:41 GMT
I've been a long time Elder Scrolls fan since Morrowind. What are your top three games and why? 1) Morrowind: Best game in the series I've played thus far, and it was the last game in the series with an interesting villain. I love the history and lore of Morrowind. I enjoyed reading the various in game accounts about what really happened at 'The Battle of Red Mountain.' I love the rivalry between the Imperial factions such as the Imperial Cult and the native factions like the Tribunal Temple. Two of my favorite factions are in this game. Great House Telvanni and Great House Redoran. I invested thousands of hours in this game. Played 3 years on original Xbox, then when I discovered mods I played another 7 years on PC. But unlike the later games I can get as much enjoyment out of the vanilla game as with a modded game. I can go on and on about how much I love this game but it would take up too much space. Oh and those who think it's just nostalgia speaking I still play to this day. 2) Oblivion: The main quest I only completed once and I found Mankar Camoran to be somewhat interesting but not as interesting as Dagoth Ur. I enjoyed the faction storylines such as the Dark Brotherhood. But what cemented this game as my number two is the 'Shivering Isles' expansion. Probably Bethesda's best expansion. But what keeps this game alive is the community. Don't get me wrong Morrowind still has a thriving modding community, but in my opinion Morrowind is just as good vanilla as with mods. Oblivion gets better with mods. Such things such as the atrocious broken level scaling and weird npc faces can be fixed with mods. 3) Skyrim: This game I have invested over a thousand hours into it. Why then is it in 3rd place? Because like Oblivion it has a weak main quest, and unlike Oblivion and Morrowind the factions without mods are too short and boring. I did enjoy the dlc's though like Dawnguard and Dragonborn. Dragonborn was great cause we got to go back to Solstheim, and see my Dunmer rise to prominence, but what killed it was that I had to be Dragonborn to fully enjoy it. The gameplay is much better and graphics are better. But like Oblivion the game is only re-playable with mods, and Skyrim has a big modding community which releases a bunch of new mods weekly. So those are my top three. Don't get me wrong I adore Morrowind, and god knows how many hours I put into it, but for me Skyrim is the perfect TES game. Now yes, I'm aware of the way some fans felt about Skyrim - saying that many of the RPG systems are dumbed down, main quest 'boring' etc. etc. But from my own personal standpoint I've turned the game into a precise model of everything I need from a videogame experience - using the power of mods. My heavily modded Skyrim ditches all the introductory sequences with the imprisonment, dragon attack etc. Instead I enter the world as just a 'person', one with no skills in arms, no combat abilities save for a weak punch, no magicka whatsoever. He begins the game beaten, robbed and left for dead in the middle of nowhere, with nothing except a ragged tunic. All his skills and stats are set at zero. After that the story begins, and it's the story I want to play. There are no dragons in my game, no Dragonborn. My protagonist can choose his path. He can be a thief surviving by picking pockets or other kinds of robbery, he can be a trader initially setting up a small flea market in Whiterun and selling his wares to bypassers or guards (and yes there's a mod that allows that) He can be a hunter and fisherman in the wilderness, tracking down game, skinning and dressing the carcasses (and yes the Hunterborn mod allows that, and even allows you to get better at doing these activities as you practice.) He can simply rest in Riverwood, recover his wounds, and get by by doing odd jobs and chopping wood, living in a ramshackle hut on the edge of town. Leaving the village can be a deadly, terrifyinig experience, as a single group of bandits, or even some determined wolves can annihilate me as I have no combat abilities, all I can do is run. How I want my path to go is up to me, I can kick off the whole Dragonborn story at any time simply by approaching Helgan, and running back to the guards with the news that all the townsfolk are dead - which then starts the main quest, allows me to read the runes on temple walls, and brings dragons into the world, or ignore all of it. My last big playthrough had me doing precisely that. I spent ages living in Riverwood, learning to hunt and fish, and then taking my various pelts and fish to Whiterun to sell to the folk who live there. Eventually I made some slow progress with a bow, learning to actually hit some of the things I aimed at. When I next fire up the game I may choose to move things along a little, we'll see. And above all that my game looks phenomenal with my ENB, all the high res texture packs, lighting enhancements, realistic water, realistic weather, pitch-black nights etc. etc. How I play probably sounds as boring as hell to most people, but it's precisely how I like to roll with RPGs. I love the idea of starting out as an absolute nobody with no particular skills rather than 'The Chosen One'.
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talyn82
N5
Games: Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, SWTOR, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Origin: Talyn82
PSN: Talyn82
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Post by talyn82 on Jul 24, 2023 23:37:02 GMT
ergates I agree with everything you said I invested over 1500 hours into the game. The only reason why I put it below Oblivion is because like Oblivion the main quest is boring. But unlike Oblivion the factions questlines are too short. I mean take the Companions for example after 2 or 3 quests they let you in the biggest secret they have. But luckily there are mods for almost everything. So not everyone's Skyrim is the same due to the mods. Also I do not mind that most of the rpg mechanics have been stripped such as the class system. The Elder Scrolls games are true role playing games in my opinion because we have the freedom to play any role and mods enhance the capabilities. Yes, I am using an ENB and a Reshade by Sswaye and my game looks beautiful. Oh yeah what I also like about Skyrim is the weather I prefer Spring, Autumn, and Winter weathers and I can picture myself living in Skyrim. No your way of playing is not boring but it is the way the game is meant to be played. I have spent hours just exploring and not doing any quests. Only your imagination is the limit.
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