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20 -May -2013 - 13:30
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The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Guides

How to use mods safely in Skyrim

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How to use mods safely in Skyrim

Plus other good tips for the none modded game.

There is a lot of very bad advice out there about load orders, tool usage such as BOSS and TES5EDIT that causes more problems than it solves. As usage of those tools increase, so do the number of people having problems with mods. 

Back in the Oblivion days this same problem came to dominate most forums, the most popular threads were about using tools to cure problems and locked people in to a cycle of crashing and mod issues that people who did not use those tools did not suffer from. 

Despite what you may think, solving mod issues manually is easier than using tools, it is a simple case of trying a few mods at a time without saving your game. Basic background knowledge helps of course and none of that is hard to learn. 

I am going to guide you through the steps needed to first make a stable game, then keep it stable as you add mods. No modding knowledge is required, no knowledge of any tools is required. Just a little self control and common sense is needed here. 

Steps to a 100% guaranteed stable game. 

I am not kidding btw, Skyrim may be buggy but it is stable and you can have a 100% stable game when playing it if you follow this advice.

First lets reset everybody to defaults so we know they work. 

Chapter 1: Creating an Unmodded Stable Game.

Step 1: Delete your Skyrim folder.

Delete your Skyrim folder and reinstall and make sure you are not subscribed to any mods. We do not want mods auto downloading do we. Not for a clean game install test.

Step 2: Delete or move your Skyrim Saves

We will now move your old saves someplace safe. Old saves are how bugs from old installs of Skyrim get passed on to new clean installs of Skyrim. So I recommend deleting them entirely but for those who do not want to do that and want to try and recover their saves and drop that 100% guarantee of a stable game down to 0% and ruin all this hard work, this is how you do it.

Go to Windows Start Menu, then find your name in the menu and click on it. Now click on My Documents and then My Games. Find Skyrim in the list and open that folder. Finally rename the Saves folder to “OLD Saves” so Skyrim will not find them. 

Remember if you keep your saves, all bets are off... those are saves contain the problems that lead you to this guide.

Step 3 Test the unmodded default game

Test the default game with a new character and new save, make sure it is stable before you move on. It should be, if it is not then you have either a driver issue, a hardware issue developing or a corrupt install of Skyrim.

A corrupt install can be fixed like this.

In steams Library menu, find Skyrim, right click and select properties. A window called The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Properties will appear. Go to Verify Integrity of Game Cache. This will check the install has no errors and fix the errors if it finds any. 

After you have done that if problems persist, check your drivers are up todate and your hardware is not failing. If you cannot solve the problem this way, make a post a major Skyrim forum, include your hardware and ask for help. You clearly have issues that that need resolving before you can continue with this guide. 

That concludes the test of the default game, is the game runs well, take a moment to reflect on the fact the default game may be buggy but it is ROCK SOLID STABLE by default. NEVER FORGET THAT.

I will be explaining how to keep it stable from now on and use mods.

Chapter 2: Adding mods to your stable game.

Step 1: Stick to using ESP + BSA style mod releases for now.

Stick to using mods that are packed as ESPs + BSA files like Steam workshop uses, these mods can be entirely deactivated by unticking the mod in Skyrims Splash Screen under Data Files. 

WARNING about mods with loose files:

If mod does not pack its files in to a BSA, it will use the loose file method instead. This is the old way to mod older Bethesda games and was common back in the days of Oblivion and Fallout 3/NV.

Loose files override files found in BSA files, so you could end up using old files in new versions of a mod which would be VERY BAD.

You may also remove a mod using Nexus mod manager and find it has removed files several other mods need. Which would be VERY BAD. 

The Steam Workshop system uses the official ESP + BSA system because its easier to manage mods, it avoids those problems. You just have to worry about conflicts. With the ESP + BSA system, you can completely disable a mod by unticking the ESP. That cannot be done with mods that use an ESP + loose files. The loose files will be used regardless of whether the mod is active or not. 

The exception to that rule is entirely custom material that is not in the default game, that stuff would need the ESP to be active in order to work. But stuff that edits the default game would work without the ESP if it is released as loose file.

For a new player the Steam Workshop system is by far the safest system to stick too, it is dead easy to remove fault mods, it is just 2 files and you can just untick the mod to deactivate it and you are done.

Which is why I recommend you stick to it. 

It is safer and requires no special knowledge on your part.

Step 2: Subscribe to a couple of mods.

Go and subscribe to no more than 2 mods on Steam Workshop, all of these will be ESP + BSA mods because Steam does not allow any other kind of mod so they are safer to use for you. If you know for fact a mod is an ESP + BSA release on other sites, feel free to use those instead.

Apply common sense when choosing mods and know the golden rule, 2 mods cannot edit the same thing in Skyrim. So a good tip is avoid mods that sound like they edit the same thing, if 2 mods edit or add hair, only use 1 of them. If 2 mods edit Whiterun, only use 1 one of them. If 2 mods edit default game companions, only use one of them. 

Custom companions should be fine, custom hair needs the game to edit the race so thats not fine. I make this point because there are exceptions and when you are confident about using mods, I want you to break that rule and apply the conflict rules below instead. But for now, consider that role a solid unbreakable one until you master basic mod usage. 

Believe it not, testing for conflicts as I describe below is the skill you need to master to break the rule above safely. So this guide will teach you what you need to know and you will eventually feel comfortable trying mods that edit the same thing because you will know how to test for issues and learn which mods conflict and which mods will not.

Just do not rush it, take time to master the basics of mod usage before rushing off to do that.

Also avoid unofficial patches, most of the fixes they make are for problems the default game does not even have. Only the odd issue the default game has is actually covered, the rest is a result of untested mod conflicts people failed to look in to before somebody made a patch to fix them.  

You are not going to have any of those issues, so you do not need to use those patches. 

Step 3: Launch Skyrim and wait at the Splash Screen.

Launch Skyrim and at the Splash screen, click on data files and wait... the mods will be downloaded and will appear in the data files list when done. You must wait a short time when launching Skyrim to give mods a chance to update. This is the point when the updating happens. Usually without warning. So give it a minute or so. 

Your mods are now downloaded and ready to use. 

Step 4: Vitally important things to know before playing the game.

Remember Skyrim may be buggy but it is rock solid stable by default. That is what we want from our modded game, Rock Solid Stable Game Play.... nothing else will do. This is an easily achievable goal if you follow the advice in this section.

First DO NOT USE BOSS or any other mod sorting software. Mods that do not conflict, do not need special load orders and will always run properly in your game as the modder intended. 

Mods that conflict will cause you problems, slowly corrupting your game in the background and causing random issues in the mean time that change every time the load order changes. It is the mods that are going to conflict and create problems that need BOSS and need special load orders.

BOSS stops you identifying these mods in game and hides them. So it works against us and needs to be avoided. 

The only time you should allow a conflicting mod to remain in your load order is when the modder says the conflict is intentional. As is the case in my Return to Helgen mod which I delibrately set up a conflict with Matys Medieval Armour mod so if you run Matys mod after Return to Helgen, you see his armour on one of the NPCs. It was a demonstration of how to support Armour mods without needing to include them in your own mod. Nothing more.... but it is an example of a delibrate conflict. Always check the mods docs for these sort of features. 

For most mods there is 1 Golden Rule: 

Compatible mods do not need any special load orders.

So load order software is useless to us because we will only be using compatible mods. That is the secret to a stable modded game. 

Whilst testing your new mods out, NEVER EVER save your game. Damage becomes perminantg when you save your game. The save you make becomes a plague upon your game. So test saves are always throw away saves, we NEVER EVER KEEP THEM.

Whilst playing Skyrim, ALWAYS use manual saves for your important saves, do not reply on Auto Saves except whilst testing. Auto saves are great for tests. These are throw away saves anyway.

You can make test saves by hitting tab and typing “save testsave” in the console, this will create a manual save called TESTSAVE that cannot be confused with other saves. You can call it anything you like.  TEST Save just seems like a good name to me.

When reloading a save, always die first or quit out of Skyrim and reload the game. Skyrim and older Beth games do not reset the game properly when you reload at other times. Dying forces it to reset correctly, as does quitting and relaunching the game. This is actually how you avoid corrupt saves in the default unmodded game.

Have fun when those legendary level 200 characters with that tip.

Step 5: Test the new 2 mods you installed.

In game testing is the only test you can rely on for judging if mods play well together.... or not!!!!!.

Not saving whilst testing isolates the new mods from your normal save. Allowing you to quarantine any new mods for a time until your happy to use them normally.

Now here is the hard part once you have digested the information from the previous points.... READY..... 

Just play normally but focus on the areas the mods have edited, look for glitches, issues, try quests if they edit quests, if you see any signs of problems. Remove 1 of the mods and retest. Then swap the mods and test the other. Find the mod causing the problems and remove it from your game. Keep the mods that work ok. 

I usually just install a new mod and go and play the game but use test saves until I am happy the mods are fine. Nothing complicated.... You just do what players do but avoid infecting your normal saves with horrible mod errors until your happy the mods are safe.

That is all.... Seriously...Nothing complicated or hard about this.

The golden rule here is, if 2 mods conflict, remove 1 and keep the other. 

Have a low tolerance for buggy mods and your game will remain stable, allow them to stay and your game will slowly become a bug fest. 

Step 6:  Add more mods to your game.

If you have finished testing the first 2 mods, go back to Step 5 and add 2 more. Repeat until you have all the mods you want installed and working. 

Always remove problems mods, if your mod list seems to require you to reject a lot of mods, then one of the mods you have installed is conflicting with too much, find it, remove it. You may find several of the mods you have rejected suddenly work fine after that 1 bad mod is removed. 

Final words.

It is of course vastly more complicated than this but you will need to be a REAL MODDER with mods under your belt to appreciate just how complicated it is. I have yet to talk to a tool maker or player that fully appreciates these things like modders do. 

Even then some modders have no common sense what so ever ion regards to this stuff as born out by the mods they produce and the problems they cause.

In the end plain old common sense makes up for a lack of expertese on the modding front. Basic rules such as “if 2 mods conflict, remove 1 and keep the other” and “avoid 2 mods that appear to edit the same thing” will help you over come your noobieness and gain confidence in using mods. 

Eventually you will know enough about mod conflicts after play testing mods to ignore the “avoid 2 mods that appear to edit the same thing” rule entirely. You will start to understand the exceptions. Which is the difficult part. 

In a way this is like the Matrix, a good modder can see the code in the game, he can exploit it, make conflicts work for him, enable features the game simple does not have by exploiting conflicts. But players are a long long way off that point. So do not be distracted by the Girl in the Red BOSS Dress.... it will hurt you every time. 

 

Plus other good tips for the none modded game.If mod does not pack its files in to a BSA, it will use the loose file method instead. This is the old way to mod older Bethesda games and was common back in the days of Oblivion and Fallout 3/NV./pIn game testing is the only test you can rely on for judging if mods play well together.... or not!!!!!.p class=

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House Redoran Mod Lore Notes

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Lore Notes for the TEG House Redoran Mod.

What follows is my research notes taken whilst planning the House Redoran Mod. To understand my reasons for taking the House Redoran mod in some directions plot wise, you must know the lore I am exploring. These notes allow you to see that lore and judge for your self I am correct, if my plot line is plausible or totally out there on a different planet.  

Lore Notes

First off the lore provided by the 2 Elder Scrolls Books (which I appear to have misplace for the moment...humm) was so brief we can actually ignore them now. The DLC provides details that indicates even the brief outline of what happened to Morrowind was not as bad as it sounded.

The impression the books gave was Morrowind was gone, either conquered by the Argonians or destroyed by Red Mountain. The Argonian's only appear to control the southern part of Morrowind and Dumner rebuilt a lot after the Eruption of red mountain.

Red Mountain was supposed to have wiped out Vvardenfell, well it did not. The Redoran where in there 10 days after the eruption rebuilding. Balmora is specifically mentioned as being rebuilt by the Redoran in the books that come with the Dragonborn DLC. So we know that town is back.

Vivec city is completely gone, hit by an asteroid known as the ministry of truth.

Ald'run was destroyed during the Oblivion Crisis and wiped out again by the Eruption of Red Mountain 5 to 6 years later according to the lore from Oblivion and the Dragonborn DLC. No mention of it after that is seen but given it was rebuilt in less than 6 years previously, that means nothing.

The Argonians where supposed to have conquered Morrowind, well they did not, the Redoran stopped them before they conquered the whole of Morrowind. I would guess the new Morrowind probably follows the Vvardenfell coastline that the Redoran controlled and the parts of Morrowind bordering Skyrim as well as Solstheim.

The capital of Morrowind is now Blacklight in the North of Morrowind not far from Skyrim and the Redoran lead the council now. House Hlaalu have been kicked off the council as Imperial sympathisers.

House Telvanni has a small settlement on Solstheim and dialogue briefly mentions other Telvanni mages. Since Telvanni settlements are grown by mages as described in my Telvanni Hall mod which deals with Telvanni refugees to Skyrim, we can assume those mages also grew their own settlements.

But Skyrim lore is clear that only 1 member of the actual Telvanni Family remains and he gets locked up for theft in riften. So House Telvanni is now led by Master Wizards that are NOT related by blood to the Telvanni family.

The old Tribunal was blamed for the eruption of Red Mountain and the destruction of Vivec city. Truth is the ministry of truth crashed in to vivic city and caused Red Mountain to erupt after Vivec was believed to have been captured by the Daedra. All the Tribunes are believed to be dead now, including Vivec and the dissidents that follow the Ashlander ways have taken over the temple and reestablished daedra worship. So the Temple has completely changed too.

Azura, Mephala and Boethia are worshipped instead and collectively known as the Reclamations. I believe this draws a line under the old Neverine betray by Vivic and co.

House Indoril being heavily involved in the priest hood not only took a lot of damage from the fall of the Tribune but is now the House all Priests are considered to be a member of when they become Priests of the New Temple.

House Redoran earned a reputation as Morrowinds protectors and House Telvanni remain Morrowinds master wizards. House Hlaalu are all but outcasts. So the great houses have had a shake up but the lore does clearly state that whilst this state of affairs has lasted a few hundred years already, whether it will last longer than that is anybodies guess. So we may see more changes in the future.

Solstheim was Imperial and Redoran where allowed to set up shop there by the Empire and even took over security for it during the Oblivion Crisis. When the Ebony mine at Raven Rock (the town built by the player in the Solstheim DLC for Morrowind) ran dry, most imperials left Solstheim and when Red Mountain exploded, the Jarls of Skyrim gave Solstheim to the Dunmer in the hope refugees would go there insteads of coming to Skyrim. Redoran being there already seem to have taken charge of the Island.

It is now considered to be part of Morrowind and is refereed to as Morrowind.

Argonians also attacked Solstheim and was repelled by the Elite Redoran Guard stationed there.

All of this was extracted form lore books and Dragonborn dialogue. Some of it inferred rather than specifically mentioned so the lore door is open on those points and not closed, anything could happen. Especially to the Telvanni which is one door Beth left WIDE OPEN in the Dragonborn DLC but learns towards Business as usual for them. So do not count them out yet. The rumours of their demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Teaches of Vivec Notes

Vivec Sermon 4

 To be a ruling king I will have to suffer much that cannot be suffered, and to weigh matters that no astrolabe or compass can measure.'

Vivec Sermon 6

 The Mother is active and clawed like a nix-hound, yet she is the holiest of those that reclaim their days.

 Boethiah and Azura are the principles of the universal plot, which is begetting, which is creation, and Mephala makes of it an art form.

Vivec Sermon 8

 At which Vivec spoke aloud, 'Boethiah-who-is-you wore the skin of Trinimac to cleanse the faults of Veloth, my Queen, and so it should be again. This is the walking way of the glorious.'

Vivec Sermon 9

 YSMIR, the Dragon of the North, who always appears as a great bearded king, had powers innumerable and echoing. He was grim and dark and the most silent of the invading chieftains, though when he spoke villages were uplifted and thrown into the sea. The Hortator fought him unarmed, grabbing the Dragon's roars by hand until Ysmir's power throat bled. These roars were given to Vivec to bind into an ebony listening frame, which the warrior-poet placed on Ysmir's face and ears to drive him mad and drive him away.

Vivec Sermon 11

 Vivec would always be there to advise him, and this is the first of the three lessons of ruling kings:

 According to the Codes of Mephala there can be no official art, only fixation points of complexity that will erase from the awe of the people given enough time. This is a secret that hides another. An impersonal survival is not the way of the ruling king. Embrace the art of the people and marry it and by that I mean secretly have it murdered.

 "According to the Codes of Mephala, there is no difference between the theorist and the terrorist. Even the most cherished desire disappears in their hands.

Vivec Sermon 12

 "According to the Codes of Mephala, there is no difference between the theorist and the terrorist. Even the most cherished desire disappears in their hands.

 GULGA MOR JIL HYAET AE HOOM.

Vivec Sermon 12

 Vivec would always be there to advise him, and this is the second of the three lessons of ruling kings:

 'The ruling king is to stand against me and then before me. He is to learn from my punishment. I will mark him to know. He is to come as male or female. I am the form he must acquire.

Vivec Sermon 15

 Vivec would always be there to advise him, and this is the third of the three lessons of ruling kings:

 'You alone, though you come again and again, can unmake him. Whether I allow it is within my wisdom. Go unarmed into his den with these words of power: AE GHARTOK PADHOME [CHIM] AE ALTADOON. Or do not. The temporal myth is man. Reach heaven by violence. This magic I give to you: the world you will rule is only an intermittent hope and you must be the letter written in uncertainty.'

 Vivec Sermon 22

 And then Vivec withdrew into the hidden places and found the darkest mothers of the Morag Tong, taking them all to wife and filling them with undusted loyalty that tasted of summer salt. They became as black queens, screaming live with a hundred murderous sons, a thousand murderous arms, and a hundred thousand murderous hands, one vast moving event of thrusting-kill-laughter in alleys, palaces, workshops, cities and secret halls. Their movements among the holdings of the Ra'athim were as rippled endings, heaving between times, with all fates leading to swallowed knives, murder as moaning, God's holy rape-erasure of wet death.

 The King of Assassins presented to Vivec the Treasure Wood Sword.

Vivec Sermon 24

 'You shall forever be now my Buoyant Armigers,' he said.

 Finally the bones of Horde Mountain landed and became the foundation stones for the City of Swords, which Vivec named after his own sigil, and the net fell across it all and between, or became as bridges between bones, and since its segments had been touched by his holy wisdom they became the most perfect of all city streets in the known worlds.

 Ayem said:

 'To my sister-brother's city I give the holy protection of House Indoril, whose powers and thrones know no equal under heaven, wherefrom came the Hortator.'

 Seht said:

 'To my sister-brother's city I give safe passage through the dark corners still left of Molag Bal, and I give it this spell as well: SO-T-HA SIL, which is my name to the mighty. It will protect the lost unless their flight is on purpose and fill all the roads and alleys with the mystery paths of civilization, and give the city a mind and make of it a conduit to the full concentrate of the ALMSIVI.'

 Thus was founded the city of Vivec in the days of Resdaynia.

 Vivec Sermon 34 ++++

 Lie Rock, however, used the confusion to launch his own attack on the city-god, Vivec. He was hastened by all three of the black guardians, who wanted him swiftly gone, though they meant no hostility to the lord of the middle air.

 The citizenry of Vivec screamed as they saw a shooting star come down out of the sky hole like a toll-road of hell. But Vivec merely raised his hand and froze Lie Rock just above the city and then he pierced the monster with Muatra.

 'I would have done so myself if I wanted, silly Hortator. I shall keep it there with its last intention intact, so that if the love of the people of this city for me ever disappear, so shall the power that holds back their destruction.'

 The monster accepted Muatra with a peaceful look and his bones became the foundation for the City of the Dead, anon Narsis.

 Vivec Sermon 35

 Later, and by that I mean much, much later, my reign will be seen as an act of the highest love, which is a return from the astral destiny and the marriages between. By that I mean the catastrophes, which will come from all five corners. Subsequent are the revisions, differentiated between hope and the distraught, situations that are only required by the periodic death of the immutable.

 Cosmic time is repeated: I wrote of this in an earlier life. An imitation of submersion is love's premonition, its folly into the underworld, by which I mean the day you will read about outside of yourself in an age of gold. For on that day, which is a shadow of the sacrificial concept, all history is obliged to see me for what you are: in love with evil. To keep one's powers intact at such a stage is to allow for the existence of what can only be called a continual spirit.

Steam Workshop Corrupt Mod Solutions

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After months chasing ghost issues and speaking to other players and mod makers about random issues us modders cannot confirm or fix and checking differences between the mods we send to steam workshop and the mods players receive from Steam workshop. It has been noted that the upload and download process involving steam workshop sometimes corrupts the mods, leading to unexplained problems.

This is not a rare issue and appears to be related to Server Load or Server issues more than anything. Which is a common problem and why services like steam and even Google are constantly upgrading their servers. Nothing you or I can do about it. It was far more common in the old 56k days than it is today with digital connections and better error checking.

For full price games Steam has the Verify Cache System that lets you check the game is okay and grabs the corrupt parts again to fix it. But for mods there is nothing similar. So this doc fills that gap.

I'll now give you an overview of the problem, then quote some instructions you can use to fix the problem if your a modder or player.

A word on File Corruption

IF a modder uploads a file and it becomes corrupt during the upload process, every downloader will experience the same problems. This will look like a mod bug except the modder will not be able to confirm it by testing his original and a modder should NEVER subscribe to his own mod or he risks overwriting any work in process. Re-uploading the mod is the only fix.

If a player downloads a file and it becomes corrupt during the download process. Only that user will have that problem. It will be unique to them and the odds of it striking anybody else will run in to the billions to 1 odds. Several players can there for appear to have several entirely unrelated issues with the same mod that the modder or other players cannot confirm. Redownloading the mod is the only fix for this.

Instructions.

Feel free to cut and paste this next bit in to your docs if your a modder. I recommend actually naming your mods esp and bsa files in the uninstall section if you do this so players can easily see which mod files belong to you.

Instructions on installing, removing and fixing mod issues on Steam Workshop.

Installation

Subscribe to the mod on Steam Workshop and then launch Skyrim, leave the Skyrim Splash Screen up and wait, if you look at data files the mod will appear in there when its downloaded and installed.

Uninstalling the mod

To uninstall the mod, unsubscribe from the mod on Steam Workshop and then delete the mods esp and bsa files (if it has a BSA file, some mods do not).

Breton Warrior adds: I would like to add that using the "delete selected item" function at the bottom of the Data Files 'splash screen' does in fact delete your local files and asks if you also want to unsubscribe that Mod as well.

Player with a Mod Problem ?

It is becoming clear that downloading from Steam Workshop sometimes corrupts the mod in random ways, causing users to report bugs the modder cannot confirm nor fix.

If you experience problems follow the uninstall procedure above but do not unsubscribe form the mod. Then wait for the files to be re-downloaded from Steam Workshop by launching Skyrim and waiting at the Splash screen as explained in the Installation section above.

The new download should fix your problem, but if you experience new problems, do this again and again until all problems are gone. Any problems that keep appearing in each download are real bugs that should be reported to the modder.


Modder getting reports about issues you cannot confirm ?


If all your users are sending you bug reports for issues you cannot confirm, then its likely your upload has become corrupted. You should re-upload the mods again to ensure the version steam hosts is fully functional. If it was the last uploaded version getting corrupted, this will fix the problem.

How to use mods on Steam Workshop

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This video shows you how to download and use mods found on Steam Workshop and explains some common issues you may face. Best viewed in Full HD mode so you can read the Text in the video.

Skyrim Battlemage Guide

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This guide shows a Skyrim Battlemage setup and how to use it effectively by level 20. This particular Battlemage focuses on Heavy Armour, One Handed Weapons and Destruction Spells. But there are other types of Battlemages that also work.

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